Free to play in 8 months from release. Calling it now. I will be here in the fall of 2014 to see the new article announcing it The Elder Scrolls online "Free to play". Game is way too generic to be $60 and $15 sub fee. Way too many issues with this game and I played many hours of it and couldn't find anything to rant or rave about. All the more reason to check out the new WOW expansion which to me is going to be a big success, blizzard knew they kind of messed up with Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria (didnt play both and havent played in 6 yrs) and they did the best thing ever. Make WOW more RTS like adding garrisons where you build and expand your garrison and recruit npc's to go out and collect resources cannot wait. I was a huge warcraft RTS fan and now WOW is becoming more like the RTS.
My FFXIV ARR referral code for new EU accounts: 5JPF7ZQ3 Step into the amazing world of Eorzea! Use this reference code on a new account and we'll both get goodies for it!
Nothing different here, some valid points mentioned though. Best part was agree'ing that a cash shop with such things as pets taking up develop time instead of real content is a bad idea. As only the Press NDA has been lifted I can't really argue any points, as someone broke the NDA above to do lol.
Haxus Council Member 21 year MMO veteran PvP Raid Leader Lover of The Witcher & CD Projekt Red
Every other post is either telling the OP he's dead on or telling the OP he's dead wrong.
Which is it?
It's mixed, some hate it, some love it, it will be up to the individual rather they like it or not. I could care less about the game, I played the first beta, wasn't interested in coming back for the other two.
I really enjoyed playing the beta and I have to respectfully disagree about the abondoned starting areas the author spoke of. There were so many playing when I was on that I had problems with people snatching items I needed before I could get there. This MMO could still use a little polishing, sure, but it feels like a AAA MMO to me with endgame PVP, which is what I have been waiting for since DAoC. As long as that is as good as what I have seen so far, I am fully onboard.
I think people that frequent the forums are so used to complaining and seeing others complain that they often ignore all the good so that they can rage about a few minor issues.
Currently playing: Rift Played: SWToR, Aion,EQ, Dark Age of Camelot World of Warcraft, AoC
I pretty much agree with this article. Though I admit I didn't get to far into the beta due to problems with loading my character and yes I know it's beta. So I probably got around 3 hours of game time. However, the starter area reminded me more of the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion with all the crazy people running around doing stupid shyt. In fact they should just redo the starting area for all three factions into one location called the Shivering Isles, which would make more sense with what you see going on and wouldn't break the immersion as much. Playing ESO just makes me want to see what Todd Howard does next for the franchise instead of what Zenimax has done by watering down the Elder Scrolls experience.
"And yet there’s a ‘but’ in my voice; this didn’t need to be an MMO. I can see that Zenimax wanted to create an Elder Scrolls title where the story continues after the game hits the shelves, and that’s a fantastic thing to promise. But the trappings of massively multiplayer just don’t fit well, and there’s little social glue to bind players together."
SWTOR 2 in so many ways.
Also, the idea that the story is good is highly debatable as has been pointed out by so many reviews. Its generic and lacks the depth the last 3 TES games had, much of it like the Molag dark anchors doesn't even make SENSE.
Molag is invading the world, yet the world is divided into 3 trying to take over Cyrodiil and not working together?!? There is a common MASSIVE threat, yet they are not working together against that threat while all only focusing on Cyrodiil which is not a threat because the Empire has collapsed?
Again, the DaoC design working against the game.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
I really like what I'm learning about the engine/crafting/etc.
The main thing I dislike is the zone / quest rails. It looks like can't go anywhere and die or take risks outside the limits of that railroad track. If a L1 cant stumble into a L45 giant that scares the jute out of me, its not very real.
-WL
I can't claim level 1 vs 45 disparity, but SWIM has definitely had plenty of the explore into places with big baddies where SWIM should definitely not be yet experiences over the last couple of days.. The more SWIM progresses, the better. Or something.
I wasn't too thrilled with the game until I put in more time. The longer I played the better I liked it. Bugs there were, that is why it is Beta to get a list of them. I do know people who wont be playing for the $15 subscription fee. Wish it was lower.
Questing in Tamriel is great fun, unless youre watching something move. Because ESO is fully voiced, quest text was paired with a talking NPC whose jaw flapped around like a Thunderbirds puppet. Running and walking animations looked peculiar too, as if my characters arse and spine had fused together during an unfortunate toilet accident. Luckily, such abnormalities are hidden as long as he was standing perfectly still.
I lol'd
I have to say the animations has me a bit worried, just the basic running animation looks like the character has something up her arse. They really need to try and make them a bit better for launch.
Originally posted by ThomasN7 There will be people who will like this game and defend it until no end. There will also be people who just down right do not like this game at all. The fact remains though is that for a game that has so many mixed emotions right from the start is not a good impression. First impressions mean everything. There are simply too many questions and issues that surrounds ESO to think this game will be successful long term.
game still has 2 more months
but i agree - a game only gets one chance at launch, first impressions are everything
I questing in a group is a joke and feels like it wasn't even thought about. Quest updates are individual. People see things you're not seeing, no cutscenes keeping group together (something like SWTOR would have been nice), etc etc.
This is a necessity.
The alternative would have been SWTOR with instances all over the place for every quest.
What they have done allows people to be in the same area.
I am very torn - on the one hand I want to like it, on the other hand, with my years of MMO experience and launches and expectations and their outcomes, this feels like it won't last. Somehow like D&D and SWTOR.
I agree to a lot that I have read here and elsewhere, we've seen it all before and maybe even better. Sure, the atmosphere is great somehow, but it doesn't change the fact that there is some lacklustre there which makes the longterm incentive not being there.
Of course I know this only from the press reviews and youtube clips, since there still is a NDA....
I am very torn - on the one hand I want to like it, on the other hand, with my years of MMO experience and launches and expectations and their outcomes, this feels like it won't last. Somehow like D&D and SWTOR.
I agree to a lot that I have read here and elsewhere, we've seen it all before and maybe even better. Sure, the atmosphere is great somehow, but it doesn't change the fact that there is some lacklustre there which makes the longterm incentive not being there.
Of course I know this only from the press reviews and youtube clips, since there still is a NDA....
I know how you feel, when it goes free to play i will sub up then. I would have loved to been excited for this, seriously an ELDER SCROLLS mmo done right would have rocked my world.
Instead years ago i called this just from the wishy washy decisions, the lack of confidence all started to spell what is happening today.
That being said, i would have invested but it's an mmo it'll be around a good long time, and you know from all the press reviews it's going to go free to play, heck SWTOR got RAVE reviews and went free to play within a year.
So once they are done milking box sales, along with subs until the novelty wears off, i can easily wait for free to play, and once it does i'll sub up then..
My faith is my shield! - Turalyon 2022
Your legend ends here and now! - (Battles Won Long Ago)
In vanilla wow if you tried to run off the main path from a starter zone to your main town a village you'd get your A kicked as a low lev char for that zone.
There is some challenge .. right there ... how do I get from A to C without dying ? It gives an immediate sense of danger.
Want to explore .. tough .. you are going to have to be a little more inventive than just running over the countryside.
Nice article. This is why i am going to wait for another 6 months till it becomes worth 15 bucks a month. Moreover i will get it for much cheaper and i won't have missed anything.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' -Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid." -Luke McKinney
Hey Gareth, of the articles I've read criticizing the game this is one of the better ones I have read. The article I read on Massively.com almost made me want to puke in my mouth. That said I really wish you had included some information on the RvR/PvP in the game to see what your thoughts were. I also want to include this because it seems a lot of reviewers are getting at this but don't seem to nail it completely. I'll elaborate below:
One of the things that is going to dog this game is that it's handicapped in a way many other popular IP MMO's were not. What I mean by this is the Elder Scrolls games have always been about large stories in a big open world with tons of freedom. Whereas a title like WoW took somewhat restricted games before it and presented a new huge world for fans to finally explore with all the lore trappings they came to love, ESO actually goes the other direction. It takes a massive world with few restrictions and restricts itself to become an MMO. This restriction is what I feel most players and reviewers are having a hard time with. I could go farther with this but hope it makes the point.
I am very torn - on the one hand I want to like it, on the other hand, with my years of MMO experience and launches and expectations and their outcomes, this feels like it won't last. Somehow like D&D and SWTOR.
I agree to a lot that I have read here and elsewhere, we've seen it all before and maybe even better. Sure, the atmosphere is great somehow, but it doesn't change the fact that there is some lacklustre there which makes the longterm incentive not being there.
Of course I know this only from the press reviews and youtube clips, since there still is a NDA....
I know how you feel, when it goes free to play i will sub up then. I would have loved to been excited for this, seriously an ELDER SCROLLS mmo done right would have rocked my world.
Instead years ago i called this just from the wishy washy decisions, the lack of confidence all started to spell what is happening today.
That being said, i would have invested but it's an mmo it'll be around a good long time, and you know from all the "PRESS REVIEWS" it's going to go free to play, heck SWTOR got RAVE reviews and went free to play within a year.
So once they are done milking box sales, along with subs until the novelty wears off, i can easily wait for free to play, and once it does i'll sub up then..
I still don't understand this logic and I've seen it stated several times so I'm just going to call it out. How is it that the reviewers for SWTOR could be so wrong and that game went F2P in a year but now suddenly you feel that they are oh so right about ESO which proves your point that the game will be F2P in year? Umm, can't the same also be true and the reviewers be dead wrong about ESO as well? Nah, clearly they are all right on the money. :rolleyes:
Comments
Free to play in 8 months from release. Calling it now. I will be here in the fall of 2014 to see the new article announcing it The Elder Scrolls online "Free to play". Game is way too generic to be $60 and $15 sub fee. Way too many issues with this game and I played many hours of it and couldn't find anything to rant or rave about. All the more reason to check out the new WOW expansion which to me is going to be a big success, blizzard knew they kind of messed up with Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria (didnt play both and havent played in 6 yrs) and they did the best thing ever. Make WOW more RTS like adding garrisons where you build and expand your garrison and recruit npc's to go out and collect resources cannot wait. I was a huge warcraft RTS fan and now WOW is becoming more like the RTS.
Bye bye.
My FFXIV ARR referral code for new EU accounts: 5JPF7ZQ3
Step into the amazing world of Eorzea! Use this reference code on a new account and we'll both get goodies for it!
Somewhere in the middle would be my guess
21 year MMO veteran
PvP Raid Leader
Lover of The Witcher & CD Projekt Red
It's mixed, some hate it, some love it, it will be up to the individual rather they like it or not. I could care less about the game, I played the first beta, wasn't interested in coming back for the other two.
I really enjoyed playing the beta and I have to respectfully disagree about the abondoned starting areas the author spoke of. There were so many playing when I was on that I had problems with people snatching items I needed before I could get there. This MMO could still use a little polishing, sure, but it feels like a AAA MMO to me with endgame PVP, which is what I have been waiting for since DAoC. As long as that is as good as what I have seen so far, I am fully onboard.
I think people that frequent the forums are so used to complaining and seeing others complain that they often ignore all the good so that they can rage about a few minor issues.
Currently playing:
Rift
Played:
SWToR, Aion,EQ, Dark Age of Camelot
World of Warcraft, AoC
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
"And yet there’s a ‘but’ in my voice; this didn’t need to be an MMO. I can see that Zenimax wanted to create an Elder Scrolls title where the story continues after the game hits the shelves, and that’s a fantastic thing to promise. But the trappings of massively multiplayer just don’t fit well, and there’s little social glue to bind players together."
SWTOR 2 in so many ways.
Also, the idea that the story is good is highly debatable as has been pointed out by so many reviews. Its generic and lacks the depth the last 3 TES games had, much of it like the Molag dark anchors doesn't even make SENSE.
Molag is invading the world, yet the world is divided into 3 trying to take over Cyrodiil and not working together?!? There is a common MASSIVE threat, yet they are not working together against that threat while all only focusing on Cyrodiil which is not a threat because the Empire has collapsed?
Again, the DaoC design working against the game.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
I can't claim level 1 vs 45 disparity, but SWIM has definitely had plenty of the explore into places with big baddies where SWIM should definitely not be yet experiences over the last couple of days.. The more SWIM progresses, the better. Or something.
I wasn't too thrilled with the game until I put in more time. The longer I played the better I liked it. Bugs there were, that is why it is Beta to get a list of them. I do know people who wont be playing for the $15 subscription fee. Wish it was lower.
I lol'd
I have to say the animations has me a bit worried, just the basic running animation looks like the character has something up her arse. They really need to try and make them a bit better for launch.
This article is too kind.
Great article
Legends of Kesmai, UO, EQ, AO, DAoC, AC, SB, RO, SWG, EVE, EQ2, CoH, GW, VG:SOH, WAR, Aion, DF, CO, MO, DN, Tera, SWTOR, RO2, DP, GW2, PS2, BnS, NW, FF:XIV, ESO, EQ:NL
game still has 2 more months
but i agree - a game only gets one chance at launch, first impressions are everything
EQ2 fan sites
This is a necessity.
The alternative would have been SWTOR with instances all over the place for every quest.
What they have done allows people to be in the same area.
*edited*
Removing what I said in case it violates their NDA. I thought this article meant that it wasn't under NDA any more, but apparently it still is.
I'm excited for EQN.
Legends of Kesmai, UO, EQ, AO, DAoC, AC, SB, RO, SWG, EVE, EQ2, CoH, GW, VG:SOH, WAR, Aion, DF, CO, MO, DN, Tera, SWTOR, RO2, DP, GW2, PS2, BnS, NW, FF:XIV, ESO, EQ:NL
I am very torn - on the one hand I want to like it, on the other hand, with my years of MMO experience and launches and expectations and their outcomes, this feels like it won't last. Somehow like D&D and SWTOR.
I agree to a lot that I have read here and elsewhere, we've seen it all before and maybe even better. Sure, the atmosphere is great somehow, but it doesn't change the fact that there is some lacklustre there which makes the longterm incentive not being there.
Of course I know this only from the press reviews and youtube clips, since there still is a NDA....
--------------------------------------------
Youtube newb:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC96N3cxBuqKTPV2BQNlzGUw
I know how you feel, when it goes free to play i will sub up then. I would have loved to been excited for this, seriously an ELDER SCROLLS mmo done right would have rocked my world.
Instead years ago i called this just from the wishy washy decisions, the lack of confidence all started to spell what is happening today.
That being said, i would have invested but it's an mmo it'll be around a good long time, and you know from all the press reviews it's going to go free to play, heck SWTOR got RAVE reviews and went free to play within a year.
So once they are done milking box sales, along with subs until the novelty wears off, i can easily wait for free to play, and once it does i'll sub up then..
Here we go.
In vanilla wow if you tried to run off the main path from a starter zone to your main town a village you'd get your A kicked as a low lev char for that zone.
There is some challenge .. right there ... how do I get from A to C without dying ? It gives an immediate sense of danger.
Want to explore .. tough .. you are going to have to be a little more inventive than just running over the countryside.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
Hey Gareth, of the articles I've read criticizing the game this is one of the better ones I have read. The article I read on Massively.com almost made me want to puke in my mouth. That said I really wish you had included some information on the RvR/PvP in the game to see what your thoughts were. I also want to include this because it seems a lot of reviewers are getting at this but don't seem to nail it completely. I'll elaborate below:
One of the things that is going to dog this game is that it's handicapped in a way many other popular IP MMO's were not. What I mean by this is the Elder Scrolls games have always been about large stories in a big open world with tons of freedom. Whereas a title like WoW took somewhat restricted games before it and presented a new huge world for fans to finally explore with all the lore trappings they came to love, ESO actually goes the other direction. It takes a massive world with few restrictions and restricts itself to become an MMO. This restriction is what I feel most players and reviewers are having a hard time with. I could go farther with this but hope it makes the point.
I still don't understand this logic and I've seen it stated several times so I'm just going to call it out. How is it that the reviewers for SWTOR could be so wrong and that game went F2P in a year but now suddenly you feel that they are oh so right about ESO which proves your point that the game will be F2P in year? Umm, can't the same also be true and the reviewers be dead wrong about ESO as well? Nah, clearly they are all right on the money. :rolleyes: