» Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:47 am WARNING: HEAVY READING
I just feel like have to say all of this or I explode 
I know not many people will read it, nobody cares, but hey, this is my opinion and explanation and this is what this forum is for.
Okay, I watched many review of the elder scrolls online, PC gamer, IGN, angry joe, And everything they say is the same.
Why? Because they expect the game to be EXACTLY like skyrim.
They played the beta for 5 hours(they said it in review) and they just dump down the game completely and they behave like they know everything about the game-
and forgetting this:
1. This is not Skyrim singleplayer where you are the only one and everything that decides is your computer specs
2. This is MMO RPG with millions of players played with internet(latency,lags,servers)
3. The technology developers have is not unlimited. They do not have alien technology , You cannot swing monster and expect to see(blood, sound effect) result in 0.00001 second like in normal singleplayer game with no internet connection required.
I do like comparisons but I know some of you dont. But I will compare game mechanics with some big other MMOs there are.
If the game did not meet your requirements of expectations, or the requirements of people in reviews, thats because they expected Skyrim, They expected something perfect, without internet problems, but Zenimax has to use the same technology as the other games.
Compare this game to other MMOs currently on the market and you WILL SEE the Elder Scrolls Online has huge chance to be loved, huge difference between them.
1. Graphics:
wow - cartoony graphics http://warcraftlesstraveled.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ElwynnForestSheepFarmTekton01.jpg
Guild wars 2 - nice graphics out of current MMOs, though textures look like from some indie gamehttp://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/pc/g/u/guild-wars-2-pc-1300713307-192.jpg
Aion - again, old graphics, lighting is really the huge downside http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/014/a/6/aion_in_full_graphics_by_juli12355-d5rgulr.jpg
Rift - graphics looks really bad, low res textures, engine is really bad for graphics http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_P_t-j9n9WHE/TUX6goV-IfI/AAAAAAAAAaU/enF2RkzzExk/s1600/rift.jpg
Skyrim - you probably know this game nice HD textues though - not the best lighting http://international.download.nvidia.com/webassets/en_US/shared/images/guides/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-tweak-guide/Skyrim-Detail-Low-SliderComparison.png
The Elder Scrolls Online - The textures are the best out of these(not counting skyrim), the lighting and the entire engine with effects and its particles is the best of them.
http://assets.vg247.com/current//2013/05/The-Elder-Scrolls-Online-Stormhave2.jpg
http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2012/05/Elder-Scrolls-Online-Sentinel-Docks-PCG.jpg
Now take those 5 pictures, open them near each other and compare it. If you do this, you will not say anymore the graphics svck. If you say it does svck, you are comparing it then with witcher 2 and that is not MMO....
2. COMBAT:
wow - Played it for more than 5 years. you target your enemy, and you press 1,2,3 on your keyboard(PVE), the NPC are dumm, they go and attack you straight away. No immersion, combat has no feel to it, no dodging etc.
Rift - played it when it came F2P for a week. the same as wow. Only its name is rift.
Aion - The same exmaple as wow and Rift
Guild Wars 2 - though I have played only few days, it was a bit better than wow, some NPC had 1 special ability, my abilities were better as well as attack. Though again, target and press.
Skyrim - Now things get much better. The combat is just awesome, First person adds TONof immersion. You swing at your enemy no targeting pressing 1,2,3, you can block, you can power attack. The combat has depth, from blood, the impact of the weapon, the sounds etc.( DO NOT FORGET THIS IS SINGLEPLAYER )
(a bit of NDA but you seen this ALL on official Elder scrolls VIDEOS, or intervies this is nothing new, just saying it from my perspective)
The Elder Scrolls Online :
I have played the beta for more than 30 hours. The combat was something this MMO is much different from others. yes it has its own downsides. I will list them bellow. Left click to attack right click to block, Hold left click to power attack. The same as skyrim. The First person is good though it needs much higher FOV.
You primary damage is your weapon, you swing at your enemy, the blood or the sparks if he wears some armor will sparkle from his body, the sound effect of swing will play, the enemy will even move his body and weight by the side you hit him. When he dies, he will fall to that side where your final hit finished him. You can dodge the enemy attacks, The NPC are not swinging at you. I`ve seen them make some flip with knifes and jump behind my back, I`ve seen them coordinate attacks: The archer was standing beside the melee skeleton warrior, when I tried to go for the arched I got stunned or snared(dont remember which one it was) In some cellar the NPC just throw the oil on the ground and shouted: "Lit it!", the fellow archer took some flaming arrow and fired it to that oil, the oil was on fire and I had to move or dodge by double tapping my WASD key.
The downsides: Latency, yes the hits, the sounds had a bit delay, though I did not even mention it because it was almost unrecognizable. And I am from europe and was playing on NA server! You will ALL be playing on your own continent.
The first person is not very good for combat, you do not have awareness, the FOV is smaller. Though it has that feel that you are actually there.
3. QUESTING:
wow - You all know what this is, no voices, the quest is just WALL of text, nobody will read it. Boring it has little of storyline(it adds a bit on cataclysm) The quest are just kill 10 of it(kill 60 of it in some areas), bring me 10 lion eyes for soup etc.
Rift - the same as wow, no voices, bunch of text, maybe litle bit of quest story.
Aion - Dont know, did not play it
Guild Wars 2 - No voices again, though at least you can interact with that NPC while taking the quest. You have some options you can chat.
Skyrim - (again this is singleplayer) , interesting, the quest have depth, have story, you can talk to almost every NPC in the game, guards will say they took an arrow to the knee, Fully voice acted, interesting quest like pretending you are thalmor while infiltrating the elf party to steal some documents of their role in killing emperor etc. It has even puzzle in it which is awesome.
The Elder scrolls Online - Fully voice acted, the voices are just amazing. Yes you cannot have so super quests like in skyrim where your choices will impact entire war, yes you will always get gold,xp and some weapon or armor at the end of the quest. But you can hear NPC telling you about the quest, you can even talk to him, make choices like ask him who he is, who is the faction or friend he was talking about, you can choose in some quests If you will lie or tell the truth, if the person you caught gets executed by the villagers or not.
4. EXPLORATION:
I will group the wow, Rift, Aion, and Guild wars together - in wow, the world is open, you have ENTIRE continent with no loading screens at all, you have no barriers you cannot go to. But the world is dead, to fill the world blizzard put brainless NPC on every corner. There are NPC everywhere but the roads. The same thing I saw with Rift. The guild wars does it a but better but the exploration is kinda unrewarding.
But every of that MMO will not give you reason to explore, maybe to find the quest giver.
In Elder Scrolls Online you are restricted to your Island when you start, though after than the entire world Opens. The forests and deserts are not covered with some imps or some wolves everywhere to cover it up. The NPC`s are there to give it the reason, there will be wolves where the animals are possesed by daedra, there will be some Bandits when village is under attack, there will be ghosts when they are on some ruins they cannot leave to other world. You can go and you will surely find some places where the loot is, like chests, boxes, even books, and the Skyshards which will reward you one skill point if you collect 3 of them.
Though you can go anywhere you want, you will eventually meet higher level monsters which will be stronger than you. (Same things are in Skyrim, I am sure you died because of that troll that killed you when you had no super gear 
The one thing this game misses is WORLD PVP, yes there is cyrodil but the feel you can get attack by other faction even in your territory is gone with this.
5. PVP
I am tired of logging and queuing some battleground and fight there 15 minutes, capture flag, or kill enemy boss and then be teleported back to where I was. Though there are some PVP places like in wow where many people can participate, you will get mostly 40 people cap or 100, just because of hardwere requirements or Internet issues where the server would not support so many players fighting each other.
In wow you have some funny siege weapons like catapult that is moving by itself with no engine And damaging that one wall that stands between you and the enemy.
The elder scrolls offers entire continent for PVP. The cyrodil is bigger than Skyrim map itself ( I measured that ). You can have 200+ people on screen, fighting the battle, or resource or sieging the castle. You will have siege weapons at your disposal, battering rams, boiling oil, you will just construct it on the battlefield and you can siege the walls of the enemy castle. Your purpose is to hold you keeps and resources while attacking the enemy keeps to crown the Emperor. There is online leaderboard of the best players, you can upgrade your resources of the castle to get better defences from the enemy.
Okay I wont continue because this is not a book, and I guess nobody read it through here. Maybe someone who really wanted to decide if to buy a game or not. In my opinion the game is worth the money.
Don`t listen to reviews they did not spend playing 30+ hours the elder scrolls online, they did not went several dungeons, explore entire province, read through quests what they offer, or participate in entire cyrodil warfare for almost 2 days. Because they just simply have other review to make. I dont say they are lying, I am just simply saying that did not play the game to such depth they can put such review of the entire game.
