The Elder Scrolls Online

**Dudebro** · 01-23-2013, 10:43 PM

An Introduction to The Elder Scrolls Online - YouTube
I tried to find a video that wouldn't need to be clicked but of course it didn't work. Not sure if it's the terrible new youtube layout or the uploaders being morons. The video is worth the click either way.

Here's the link for the closed beta. I signed up and put RU as my guild site.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Beta Sign-Up

This might turn out to be like all the other MMOs, failure, but it has a chance to succeed too. The game looks beautiful so far and it has some ambitious ideas(detailed in the video). I guess it all depends on the payment model they go for. Anyone else interested in this?

**DrunkN** · 01-23-2013, 10:48 PM

Signed up for the beta last night. I would'a put RU as a clan, if I knew you were gonna...

**ARedLetterDay** · 01-23-2013, 11:20 PM

I wouldn't necessarily count Guild Wars or The Old Republic or The Lord of the Rings Online as a failure.. or Dungeons & Dragons Online.

**bearhawk72** · 01-23-2013, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARedLetterDay

I wouldn't necessarily count Guild Wars or The Old Republic or The Lord of the Rings Online as a failure.. or Dungeons & Dragons Online.

Yeah, DDO is something like 6 or 7 years old and still makes a ton of money through micortransactions.

Unless the gameplay is drastically changed, Elder Scrolls Online should do well. Oblivion and Skyrim are basically MMORPG's for the single player.

**KATZ** · 01-24-2013, 08:42 AM

i would give it a go but i cant stand the multiplayer side of multiplayer....

**Dudebro** · 01-24-2013, 10:44 AM

@DN- I put RU down for almost everything. I like to sneak it in so people will wonder and go check it out.

@RedLetter- I mean failure by comparison. The MMO industry is struggling badly and those games are feeling it. LOTR does well but it did have to kill it's subscription model for a reason. They deserve credit for doing well after the FTP switch though, that's pretty rare. DDO was failing hard before they went FTP, not sure how it's doing now. Star Wars is bombing too, already FTP and losing population. GW2 I'm not so sure about but I heard the population isn't growing because it doesn't take long to play all the content, could be way off though.

My point is they all suffer in the current gaming climate. A decade ago things were different and a new MMO had a great chance but now MMOs are a huge risk. Just take Star Wars for example, it's been speculated that it's the most expensive game ever made and it lost a million subscribers shortly after release. They have to be losing money in a big way.

@Katz- You could always solo or stick to very small groups of friends.

Back to the game. I hope they have a good FTP model planned. Elder Scrolls has a huge dedicated fanbase but from what I've read most of the truly die hard hate the idea of multiplayer. They can't count on those people to shell out 15 bucks a month to play.

**KATZ** · 01-24-2013, 10:48 AM

i signed up for the beta, ill try it first, might be pretty decent, i havent liked an mmo since dark age of camelot so we'll see

**Dudebro** · 01-24-2013, 11:01 AM

Anyone else get the highest rating for their chance to be picked?

**CrispyChicken** · 01-24-2013, 03:05 PM

I signed up for the Beta. Hopefully it turns out to be a good game.

**Razeluxe** · 01-25-2013, 02:03 PM

I honestly doubt this's going to be anything unique or whatever. And I have way too many mmos downloaded that I don't play to bother with another. lol.

**Blue Shoe 2** · 01-28-2013, 09:15 PM

I absolutely HATE TES:O for breaking the lore and changing previously established story, sometimes for absolutely crappy reasons. They didn't want to bother rendering the walking city in Valenwood (I forget it's name) so they decided that it stopped walking. Even though it's already established that this only ever happened once, around the same time as Skyrim. Meanwhile, Cyrodiil, which was supposed to be a tropical jungle, appeared in Oblivion as really more of a temperate forest. The explanation was that Tiber Septim' s cold breath killed the jungle and cooled Cyrodiil. TES:O takes place before that. TES:O devs claim it was just a typo in the Pocket Guide to the Empire. A typo spanning several paragraphs, in a book written by a well known scholar living in Cyrodiil and approved by Tiber Septim himself. What.

And they're having Alinor, which is described as a crystal city with giant crystalline butterfly wings and making it a standard medieval city, because "you can't make cities out of poetry". What.

Plus the alliances are idiotic; the Ebonheart Pact, consisting of three races that not only absolutely despise each other, but would absolutely never work together even if the state of the world was at stake; the Nords, who hate the Dunmer and Argonians, the Dunmer, who hate the Nords and enslave Argonians, and the Argonians, who hate both the Nords for being racists and the Dunmer for being slavers.

Then there's the Daggerfall covenant, consisting of the Redguards, Bretons (okay, that makes sense) and... the Orcs. The Orcs who are hunted down for sport by both the Redguards and Bretons. There is absolutely zero chance they'd work together. They'd kill as many Orcs as possible and then team up. It just seems like they chose factions depending on which provinces were close to each other.

So, long story short, If they feel like they can't work with something, Zenimax is retconning the lore to make it work. Don't get me wrong, I'm probably still going to play this game, but I don't approve of what they're doing with the story.

**Razeluxe** · 01-29-2013, 04:38 PM

Since when have MMOs cared about established lore/story? Look at WoW and ToR. This game is just a cash-in (again, much like ToR). I'm mainly just curious to see if it'll flop (again, like ToR)

**Dudebro** · 01-29-2013, 08:10 PM

That is upsetting to hear how badly they're gonna change things. Like Raze points out this is the norm anyways but this seems to go too far. The walking city I can understand but the alliances seem ridiculous. I don't follow the lore that much but my memory matches what BS2 said. The race relation plot is kinda important in these games. Have they explained how this is supposed to fit in? Like some temporary grudging alliance cliche or w/e.

**Blue Shoe 2** · 01-29-2013, 09:04 PM

@Raze I disagree for WoW, the plot moved forward without retconning much. I don't know what ToR is though.

@DB They shoehorned the Ebonheart pact being grudging when there was backlash, but the Daggerfall covenant isn't grudging even though it really, really should be. Also, the Walking City being stationary is a bit of a cop-out, as they could have just hand the city be suspended in the air and have an animation to make it look like thunderous footsteps were shaking the city, so to speak. The only way into the city would be fast travel, and you're golden. Plus, the crystal cities of Alinor turned into a stanrdard village. It wouldn't even drag performance down much if they stuck to the lore, this one seems like a bit of a blatent F-U.

**ARedLetterDay** · 01-29-2013, 10:07 PM

Hey, at least it isn't Bethesda making the game. I'd more upset if they were.

**Razeluxe** · 01-29-2013, 10:36 PM

lol. true true I suppose. you know, it makes me think. I dislike (modern) Capcom, Activision, Bethesda, Bioware, etc, so on....... it makes me wonder who I actually like. lol

**DrunkN** · 01-29-2013, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARedLetterDay

Hey, at least it isn't Bethesda making the game. I'd more upset if they were.

**Blue Shoe 2** · 01-30-2013, 02:12 AM

I think ARedLetterDay is saying that these changes and retcons are at least not by the series' creators. It's somehow worse when a company bastardizes their own story.i don't think he's saying the game's quality will be worse if 'Thesda made it.

**ARedLetterDay** · 01-30-2013, 02:54 AM

^ That.
I just now realized I worded it extremely wrong, lol.

**DrunkN** · 01-30-2013, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Shoe 2

I think ARedLetterDay is saying that these changes and retcons are at least not by the series' creators. It's somehow worse when a company bastardizes their own story.i don't think he's saying the game's quality will be worse if 'Thesda made it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ARedLetterDay

^ That.
I just now realized I worded it extremely wrong, lol.

Oh, I getcha' now. Guess I've been reading too many "Bethesda butchered Fallout 3, all hail Obsidian." opinions and I jumped to a different conclusion about what RLD was saying.

**Razeluxe** · 01-30-2013, 08:37 AM

My only real complaint (other than their games feeling kinda samey) is the level scaling. Back on topic though

So how's the combat going to be, I wonder? The usual MMO watch your guy do stuff while you drum your fingers across the 1234?
Also the story. I really hope it's not another "chosen one" type thing. I don't know why, but being 1 out of tons of chosen ones just feels kinda bleh. (lookin' at you, GW2)

I would look at videos and stuff but i'm so tired right now i'm having trouble typing these sentences! So I shall just wonder instead.

**Blue Shoe 2** · 01-30-2013, 12:28 PM

Well actually, the best player in the game gets to sit on a throne and rule stuff. Also, I've read that players can pool their Magicka together to cast high level spells.

Another thing I hate, the titular Elder Scrolls? Provide buffs in this game. That's right, the Eldritch Tomes of infinite knowledge that strike their readers blind now gives you a +5 to destruction

**Dudebro** · 01-30-2013, 03:39 PM

@BS2- Well it would make no sense for them to flip off their customers intentionally. I assume the decision was made to save time and money. They probably figured the rabid fanbase would get over it. Or they didn't really care about them and just wanted the people who love Skyrim and never played a ES game before it.

@Raze- Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think the chosen one concept is at the core of all their games. A prisoner born of uncertain birth or w/e. It would be another radical change to not be a chosen one.

So how much do we wanna bet that they'll toss the dwemer in at some point and ignore the ongoing mysterious absence thing? I could see that being a big DLC to drawn people in. I'd love to see them and hear their stories but it just wouldn't fit at all.

**ARedLetterDay** · 01-30-2013, 03:53 PM

What if Bethesda secretly modded the Dwemer into the game, so deep and mysterious (like their disappearance) that even Zenimax couldn't find it? And when a player(s) find them, they act like Mai'q the Liar in that they reference outside things just in the speech of a Tamrielic individual, and yell at Zenimax for being a bunch of

...

unfaithful developers?

**Dudebro** · 01-30-2013, 04:02 PM

I would hope they leave them out. In a new game set years ahead of the established story then sure but I believe they said this one takes place a long while before Skyrim.

Btw did anyone get an email about the beta? They said 48 hours I believe, guess I didn't get in.