My girl and I pre-ordered the Imperial editions. All we want from the game is multiplayer Elder Scrolls. To play Oblivion or Skyrim as though it were co-op.

Then we tried the beta. Solo it's a lot of fun...out in the woods anyway...but I can play Oblivion or Skyrim again and have fun solo. I want to spend time with her. And my friends.

But every time we tried in the beta, phasing made it so we were swinging at enemies the others couldn't see, or we weren't in the right instance together. Or we had to all make sure we were done talking to the same quest-givers before running off. Or worse yet, we entered dungeons where we never saw an enemy. In one instance I walked in, as people were running past me in both ways, found an item I was looking for, came back and the dialog I had with the quest giver had my character speaking about defeating some boss I never even saw. I'd expect instancing, or at least the option to do so. Not to have twenty other people running through a dungeon that is there for a quest where "You are the only hope for these people". It destroys the immersion. These are elementary considerations for an MMO. This is 2014. You don't make these kinds of mistakes when developing these games. From a game with the Elder Scrolls title, I'd have expected party communication with NPCs to be held to the same standard as the way TOR addresses the issue, with NPCs recognizing you're in a group and addressing everyone at once. Little things like that contribute immensely to a game.

This isn't The Elder Scrolls. This is...frankly it's very sad. I know the history of Bethesda. Of Zenimax. Of Chris Weaver, and of the man who runs Zenimax now. I want to believe that this game will be released in a manner that does justice to The Elder Scrolls line, but the betas suggest otherwise.

I saw a great deal of good things about this game, but a lot of it feels like it was made for a single player experience. Is there any evidence the final release will resolve many of these issues? Can I quest alongside my friends and loved ones in this game we all paid eighty dollars for?

Or will I be sorely disappointed in Zenimax expecting me to pay $15 a month to beta test a game for them, and should simply cancel my pre-order now?

Constructive comments are appreciated. Thank you.

In regards to your concerns about phasing. http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1495263-multiplayer-the-worst-thing-about-this-mmo/

In regards to your later questions. The first month is free. Most people purchase games, play the heck out of them, and then don't revisit them for a while. I suggest you do the same thing for TESO and then decide in the future if you want to subscribe to the game. The physical imperial editions are sold out in a lot of places, so they probably wouldn't have a hard time selling them should they come back into stock. Maybe you could downgrade to the regular version if you want to save some money?

All the best!

I don't know what to say, except that I agree, it's one of the more serious problems at this point. Coming back in a few months, like Mikedzines suggested, may be your best course of action if it's going to be a deal breaker for you.

Edit: Maybe I misunderstood and that isn't what Miked suggested, but it is an option.

This was THE most serious problem for me in beta. As mentioned above, the developers are taking a hard look at it.

They are? The devs are really concentrating on this? Because that would be perfect. I did look at the thread mentioned above, but it was a bit...disheartening. And seemed more an issue with how his friends interact with him. It's good to know it's being discussed though.

Honestly, I'd love to see some official word that this is "on the roadmap". I've no qualms buying the game and waiting--I simply don't want to wait for something that will never come. Frankly we'd be perfectly fine with getting in on the first day, saving our character names, and then not playing for half a year, even if it means wasting that first "free" month. It's worth it just for the open-world feel that ESO gives us. Much better than NWN achieved. Very linear.

We both enjoy roleplaying. We got comments and praise during beta that we actually walk everywhere you'd expect someone to walk. We enjoy it to the point we want the explorer's packs--just to be a little different. To be 'out of place' that much more. As Mikedzines suggested, I brought up that we could downgrade from Imperial Edition to her, but the $20 difference wasn't really the point. It was more the principle of spending money on a game that didn't seem to follow the heart of the series. I'm not sure if that makes sense. It's a little difficult to explain, but it feels like loyalty betrayed. We grew up playing Daggerfall. To see ESO in its current condition, it feels like TES is going into an MMO form to die. It's selling out. And it's heartbreaking.

I applaud their voice acting. Raz is fantastic and by far my favorite NPC. The environment looks amazing, and the quests (mostly in the Dominion) are interesting. If I could play it all offline it would be a wonderful 'lite' version of an Elder Scrolls game. But I'd love to see somewhere that Zenimax admits they're working on making the MM part of MMORPG a higher priority. I realize it's not entirely their fault--so many seem interested in slamming through quests as quickly as possible, and this is a very large segment of the online demographic. They generate more funds than our kind do. But TES is made for our kind...or perhaps I just thought it was. I suppose that's where I feel betrayed. It feels like someone took a game I took to heart, the way Christopher Weaver did, and wrung it out until it appealed to those who are more interested in grinding, slashing and getting to the end game than they are about reading all the little books scattered about, walking to take in the look and feel of the game, and listening to the voice acting put into the game.

I realize I'm rambling, and I'm sorry. It's difficult to explain all this. It just feels as though there is a great deal of work put into the game that could be appreciated and add to immersion, but the implementation breaks that. As though two very different teams with different ideas of how the game should be put together had their solutions laid upon one another. Frankly, that's probably what happened.

A friend and I didn't have any problems with the phasing. We just made sure to always end the quests the same way.

Even choosing the same options would mess with it. During the quest in the Dominion where you must stop the evil spirit 'wearing' the elven wizard, the bone piles would raise NPCs to fight. We must have advanced enough seconds apart from one another that I would see my friend swinging at mid-air for no clear reason. When I asked what he was doing he responded "I'm killing the skeletons! Why aren't you helping!?" It was not only disappointing that it broke immersion horribly, but I felt terrible I could not assist him in a quest when it was our entire purpose for playing the game together.

you really need to keep this simple for yourself b4 ppl start looking from their rectum singularity. is there anything that is going to be a big turnoff when it launches if yes move on for a while if no buy and play.