I have been playing the beta for the last two betas now and I have some things I feel I would like to let be known. I am going to be comparing to WoW because it is the most successful mmo. Perfectly relevant even though you aren't aiming for another rubbish wow clone.

Keep in mind I am only level 7. Maybe my points are irrelevant further down the line, but these are always going to be the levels that sell the game to newcomers. Game svcks for the first 5 hours? Why continue to pay for that?

I also have only played as a Dunmer Dragonknight

1. Quests are far too linear. The tutorial is too long and too "do what I say". I don't mean that each individual quest is too linear, rather the group of quests will always lead to the exact same place in the exact same fashion and everyone will have the exact same gear setup (mostly). If I start in Durotar, for example, I can move along to the Barrens. Don't like the barrens? Fine, I can move along to Silverpine forest. Don't like silverpine? Fine, I can move along to the Ghostlands. This gets more and more varied the more you level up. Once you get past Azeroth, the zones may get less varied, but each zone gets larger and has more quests. There are too few quests to have a varied experience. In WoW, it is common to leave an area without 100% completion and that's no big deal.

2. Maps are too constricted. I spend my time questing around a very small area with far too few things between me and the quest. This is especially prevelant when trying to market to an audience of mostly single player fans. People don't want to have 10 other people doing the same quest as them. Spread out the map, put more quests in the way, all is well.

3. The main Tutorial svcks. Maybe this is just me, but I feel a character should begin his quest as a nobody in nowhere. A small town with nothing significant. I would say to wipe the Molag Bal quest entirely and start us in Tamriel from the start. It is very tedious and I just see it as "a bit in the way of the rest of the game"

4. The races are too close from the beginning. Everyone is friends. One of the great things about WoW is reputations. Especially within the Ebonheart pact, races should begin with low dispositions. Why are the Argonians and Dunmer suddenly best of friends because the king said so? There should be Argonians who refuse to give a quest to a Dunmer until your reputation has been built up with the more low end quests and/or until donations. They also need to spread out. Dunmer start in Morrowind, Argonians start in Black Marsh and Nords start in Skyrim. Each in their own small towns or even on a small island off the mainland. One of my favourite parts of TES that has been slowly dwindling with each game is that there are people who dislike eachother. It svcks when everyone is best of friends always. The world gets boring with no conflict/sleaze. Even in the darkest of times.

5. What is up with dialogue? I feel like I am playing an old-school RPG with pre-rendered dialogue cutscenes. Please fix them. What on Nirn was wrong with the Skyrim system? They had just got it working to a reasonable standard.

6. There isn't enough variety. I will always have the same questline regardless of what race I choose in a side. In WoW, playing as a Gnome, I will likely have a completely different questing experience to a Human and they are on the same side. In ESO, playing as an Orc, I am going to have the exact same questing experience as a Redguard. It really makes me not want to play again. Why bother playing another race for the same experience? It will gett very boring and tedious because I have done it before already.

7. I have had no reason to group with other players outside of dungeons. No boss NPC quests.

8. Money. This is a big topic here and I don't really care for it to take over my thread so I will keep it short: Enough people aren't willing to pay it. You see it everywhere; reddit, here, gaming forums, people just don't think it's worth this much money. We are entering the age of free subscriptions and people are liking it. There are other ways to make money. That is just the way the cookie crumbles, sorry.

Well that's all. Not to say that there aren't great aspects of ESO:

• Use any equipment
• proper (eventual) controller support
• great skill point system
• nice graphical advantage
• not overdone auto-attack
• an actual goddam usable first person perspective
• less than a hundred different skills I need to use at any given time (I'm looking at you, wow)
• etc.

I just don't want to see all of these good features in vain because of the bad features that don't get fixed.

The molag ball quest is the main quest. that would be like bethesda going to release in skyrim and at the last moment just tearing dragons out of the game. or in oblivion removing the story. that cant be done. its the basis of thefaction war and everything.

also, play a little longer and you will soon discover that no race really likes eachother. the dunmer keep khajiit slaves for crying out loud!

This isnt developed by bethesda so TES VI will probably improve upon the questing.

And plenty will play ESO with subscription. And Many also prefer subs

Playing to level 7 isn't really going to tell you a lot about the game. You should explore the world a bit more and get more of the story. Talk to the NPC's beyond just grabbing their quests. Read book, find the stuff that's off the beaten path. There's plenty to do if you just explore. Quests aren't linear. You can go where you want pretty much. Of course, if you get too far ahead you'll get your butt handed to you but you can still pick up the quests.

As far as the starter zones... in the next patch (on the PTR) you'll have a choice between questing on the mainland or questing in the "newbie island(s).

This would be more like starting Oblivion in Oblivion. If you want to make a molag bal storyline, why not simply start it later? It doesn't need to be the very first thing you do, it can be mid-late game content. Why do we need to start directly in there from the first second?

The point is that it only works three ways. On each side, the races are happy fun-time friends at all times. When you have either zero interaction or full interaction it can get dull. What is wrong with having to build a reputation for certain good quests/items?

Game isn't developed by Bethesda therefore quests can be as bad as they like. Got it.

If you actually spent time talking to Lyris and the Prophet you would understand the reason why you start out in Coldharbour. It's setting the stage for the main story.

The stage can be set at any time, though.

It just feels a very cheap attempt at being "wow look how cool we are". In fact, I don't believe any main series TES game has ever started you in anything other than an unremarkable area where you are expected to make yourself remarkable by your own actions.

Hmm yes, well I suppose it would make perfect sensed to be dumped in the middle of Tamriel somewhere and at level 50 discover the entire time you've been questing you didn't have a soul and now suddenly you've got to go to Coldharbour and get your soul back.

Yup, perfect sense storywise. Not immersion breaking at all.

Just based on your last comment, I wonder if this is a game you would enjoy at all. I mean many don't feel that it is a bad game in fact many feel quite the opposite. You are level 7, and that is pretty low even for the beta.

I agree it would be interesting to create people with whom you have to develop a relationship. I do hope they implement that in the future. But what people tend to forget is that not everything comes in the very first release of the game. This is the vanilla for the game and based on peoples feed back and suggestions things get changed and things get added. So if everything is expected right from the beginning then the person with those expectations are going to be shocked and let down. Shocked and let down not because the game is bad, but because they had such unrealistic expectations.

The Cold harbor intro is the start of the storyline, I guess you don't like how they implemented it. To each their own I guess, it would be the same as if Skyrim didn't start in Helgen with the start of the story of the dragon attack. They could have started it in Riverwood and you stumbling upon an empty dragon gravesite but they started with the action of Helgen. So some people like the start of a story others do not I guess.

Aeno

Agreed with the starting quest. It's pretty terrible. Start me off on the start island (or skip), anything other than cold harbor. The overall quality of everything in cold harbor just feels a lot less compared to everything after. Even the prophet is the most generic Warcraft3/Lotr/Deckard Cain/Star Wars/etc old man I've seen in a while. Even the graphics in cold harbor look like ass. It's as if they made it 3 years before everything else.

They said they were working on the linear quest bit. I felt the same way you did. I tried going somewhere without a quest to guide me and ended up having to go back after because I didn't have the "right" quest. One of my favorite things to do in TES games is just to explore and see a random cave and know I can go in it and explore. There doesn't have to be a million quests that guide me through every location in the world.

This is my feedback and suggestions.

Maybe this is just me, but I don't see the harm in voicing it. I think that Helgen was an entirely different situation. The dragons came to nirn, which is a lot different from you going to a plane of oblivion.

You lack imagination. Perhaps there is a mid-level quest to trap you in Coldharbour through a bad deal with Molag Bal in an unavoidable quest, perhaps the ending to another main storyline (some kind of mortal war?). Once you are there you must escape in a similar fashion to the current intro (though a lot more interesting, I found it very boring and tedious). Later on, at the higher levels, you get the quest involving going back to coldharbour for your soul.

There are various ways to implement this, I don't claim to be a storywriter and that was a breeze to come up with. I'm sure the fellas at Zenimax would have no problem.

I totally agree with this!! This would make each race a unique experience to play..and would make it feel more real.. Everything is the same for each race in a faction..that I don't understand..no need for races if that's how it will be..

I think if ESO was more like this it would be much better, and would give you more reason to explore other races cities in your faction..and also give you a reason to actually play another race in the same faction, not just because of the racial passives..

I also agree with the idea of starting as a nobody, then making your way into the main story line as you build your reputation.. then at some point, you become the 'chosen one' or wtv..it would make it a much better experience for a solo player..

Thanks OP, I always disliked people 'bashing' on eso, but you've got a really good point.. good ides I think they should REALLY consider..

Devs please take note!! =]

Yes, I'm sure that if ZOS had the budget of NASA and 20 years to develop the game, the result would be mindblowing. Alas, we have to deal with reality.

Yup this is your feedback and suggestions so I guess it is best to wait till they cater to your feedback and suggestions,no sense in supporting something you don't like, so I guess that ends that for you. I mean I stopped subbing for FFXIV and I still have play time but haven't got on to play, but then I also don't go to the forums constantly either. I pop in and check to see if changes have been made that will make my sub feel worth it, but so far no and I suspect that wont be the case in future.

The Helgen story is no different then a Cold Harbor story. The start of the story is the start they started it with someone who has had their soul trapped, lost, taken, whatever to Cold harbor and they need to escape and fight to keep Molag Bal and his minions from entering our world. Deadra from what I understood enter the world quite often, and the Princes will pop in at their own leisure when they want to cause some havoc, so this isn't anything shocking. No different, this is just how they decided to start the storyline. You could, with the little tid-bit that you came up with at the end of your post put it into a resume and send it to Bethesda or Zenimax and see if they will hire you for their lead story guy...

Aeno

So there should never be feedback on games? Seems detrimental.

Hmm, but what if my feedback is different? Then how do you impose your opinion shoud win over my opinion?

Also you said you are level 7 - not too much progress over two betas. I'm casual player and could make 15 by now with only one beta and what I did last night. That makes your opinion not too realistic or just too brief when compared to my.

Also I did played MMO for few years before - you do not say how long did you played, but again to make comparisions you should have experience on both - you do not have any on ESO and not sure if any in other MMOs.

So my opinion is just play more and then come back. Remember that starting areas are much more solo targetted as many people need to get used to keyboard controls, to fight style and just need to see how game works.

I found a lot of exploration after you get onto continent.

The point of a feedback thread is to see if people agree with the feedback. Take the most popular opinions (not just in bethesda forums) and see what can be done.

In fact, I wish that bethesda/zenimax had a subreddit or something to see the opinions of more than just the people who like the series enough to subscribe to their forums.

The average player isn't going to wait until he has maxed his character before deciding on the worth of a game. The first few levels are some of the most important.

Max at 8 level? Not sure what is maxing then. I actually liked first level becuase I could just see how game works. and if you played WoW - the situation is very similar - you do not need to do raiding in WoW till very high level.

But you are right - the first levels should be more dynamic (or whatever) to avoid aka' your type's of feedback, I'm not arguing against in this.

I remember the first few levels of my WoW experience, ahh memories....really [censored] lol. had people asked me to stop after lvl 7 or 10 and asked me if i would play again that would have been a big fat HELL NO. I mean it was a game but hell lower levels are often times boring, especially in an mmo. Time needs to be given and no one said max level, but I would say a good 30 levels should be given or 25 at least half the max. That way you have earned some of your higher skills, you have a good feel for the game both solo and group, and you can really start to develop your character.

Aeno

I don't think you get his point. If a game isn't appealing for a lot of people even after a few hours, they're not going to bother to play it. A lot of the arguments here has been saying, well you need to play it a little longer or you need to get to a certain level. People who are going to pay a monthly fee are going to want their experience to be worth it from the beginning. The wait and see approach may have been sufficient in the past, but there's way too many options for MMOs now for a game to demand you to wait until it gets good, that's just a matter of fact.

This is why ESO is making the option to allow players to skip the tutorial dungeon if they want, Zenimax understand the important of first impression. Will this be enough to keep gamers interest or not? That will be the question.

I'm getting the point. These are my words:

"But you are right - the first levels should be more dynamic (or whatever) to avoid aka' your type's of feedback, I'm not arguing against in this."

The ZOS decided to skip it as optional step - that is also some solution to it.

Its the Max at 8 levels part I am referring to.

Wait, so I need to slog through 25 levels of 'boring' to get to 'good'? No. A game has to immediately pull me in. If it doesn't, it doesn't, and that's fine, but I'm done with it. I've always hated that. People just assume a game (especially mmorps) has to be slow and tedious in the beginning. that's just laziness on the part of the devs. POE does the same thing. It's awesome once you get some attack speed and move speed and some decent skills, but that doesn't happen for 30 - 40 levels! Make games fun from the beginning! I just loaded up FO:NV modded the other day, and right from the beginning, I'm having a fresh, exciting experience.

I don't buy in to this whole 'give it 30 hours to get good' bit. FF13 is the last game I'll force myself to play waiting for it to get good.

And this is exactly what I been talking about right here. Most people are not willing to wait on the game to be fun, nor should they have to. This is the biggest issue I see with a lot of people who has been playing the game. 4 betas in, and this is the consistent complaint...

And yeah, I feel you on FF13, same damn experience, lol.

I kind of agree that the Molag Baal questline svcks. I don't mind it if my character is the chosen one in a single player game, but I just don't really feel it when MMOs act as though I'm somehow special, when I'm constantly surrounded by hundreds of people who are the same.