1. Everyone knows it's an issue, including the developers. Until we see the launch version, this can't be a valid complaint in a review.

2. Zones are tiered, but not in a way that isolates you. And I found public dungeons separated by a 30-second walk that were 9 levels apart (15 to 24). That doesn't sound like hand-holding or like I'm forced down one road. I found plenty of opportunities to explore, but there's the caveat that you may run into more powerful enemies. Which is what people have been asking for since Oblivion anyway.

Actually it is hand holding... Yes you can do it, but it is not designed at the core to do it a difference.

Dungeons are not scaled as I enter, and mobs are purposely placed so not easy to avoid.. Also terrain is also purposely placed to block or inhibit your movement through the zone.

Look I am not here to bash the game, Like I posted it gives this "feeling" of being on a train and not so open.. I tried to adventure beyond the guided quest paths, and it quickly lost it's appeal... There was not real adventure to it, I didn't come upon some random dungeon or quest, I entered a dungeon with dead creatures and others running through it, the MOB's were either to low or to high for me and I came out feeling I had not accomplished the place.. Why because my MAP still showed the place BLACK like "Undone" and the letters or books I found and read all related to some quest I had not yet been given, while in the place...

So yes it gives this "feeling" that it is tiered and structured on a linear path. It is okay to you and that is great, happy for you.. For me and probably a lot of players I did expect a more Open world "feeling" to this title than say other MMO's just based on the name alone... Maybe I expected too much , but I don't think so.. When I go and play Dungeons and Dragons Online I expect it to have some core features that make it Dungeons and Dragons, I don't think that is too much to expect.

I agree that phasing needs to be fixed but as far as leveling, afaik you CAN go anywhere in your faction at any time. Slaughterfish are only in areas that are the edge if the map (Skyrim used invisible walls -"you can't go that way.") If you try to go alone you will be destroyed (just like Morrowind) but if you group up with 3 or more people, you can take on encounters way above your level. Try doing that in Morrowind.

Dungeons are not meant to be scaled, and please see the Skyrim forums for ample evidence of people who don't like scaled difficulty. It's not a hallmark of the Elder Scrolls series, and it makes perfect sense to have some enemies require you to come back later and/or with friends. As for terrain; it feels natural. There are places in the real world where the terrain will inhibit you from moving in a straight line from point A to point B. Nothing about that is "linear," it's just allowing for the world to have some restrictions.

If you didn't come upon random encounter, locations or quests while exploring, then you weren't exploring very much. I found the best content by ignoring quest markers and seeing what I could find in a new area of the map.

^ This.

Most bloggers know when the best time to write a "hooked" article to get the most possible views/ add clicks and subscribers.

Writing a negative "review" especially on an MMO that's just about to come out, is a great way to get it's fans to come to the site. Look at the captions on the screen shots, they're designed to tick people off. There already are 189 comments, and the OP linked it here in the forums which gives both the site (not as important because it's popular) and the author "social proof." (google the term it's a good read.)

Geez, even I'm drooling at the thought of how many new subscribers they've picked up with this article.

What review? The article is his impression of the weekend beta. Nowhere does it say its a review of full ESO.

KinkerBell,

First read my counter above yours.. I hear what your saying and maybe that is their forcing mechanism for group play.. I don't mind grouping but does not fit my assassin type character very well or often in RP, but even if I accept that you run into problem number 1 again and still this feeling I have to do something artificial to my character in order to just venture outward and explore.

The writer (for lack of a better term) treats the article as a review, and at no point does he imply that the bugs he encountered are anything that could be fixed before launch. He even includes a screenshot of a bug. From a beta. This is the level of amateurish clickbait that the site chooses to post.

Forgive me, I'm not sure what you are calling artificial. That there are beings in the world stronger than your low-level, unskilled character? That is more realistic. You're not going to be able to fight and win against a real boxing champ until you train rigorously.

Well true, but I also brought my love of TES series and features I enjoyed about those games with me as well, and that has helped me appreciate fully voiced NPC's and more other nice features of the game that normally aren't apart of a MMO. SP games or not, there's certain features of TES fans should expect to be in ESO, even if it's a MMO.

Kinkerbell,

I agree, and I am not suggesting that everything be the same "LEVEL" as me... Scaling perhaps is the wrong word, it is a combined effect of the way the dungeon or areas are at the moment, they are tied to quests the lore the letters and even everyone else entering the discovered area is all tied to the quest... I found this confusing at times when I adventured and gave me this feeling of "linear" to it, just my opinion is all..

Also when training outside of quests, I found the process way too slow something wrong there... My skills barely rose when I would fight or "train" as you say outside of the quest line as well.. Last note, it would be nice to still have a reason to come back to the area's I have finished.. Maybe I didn't check this out enough but for me there was no real reason to go back to areas I have out trained in, another issue for me.

I am saying they need to work on the "non linear" type game mechanics more and obviously the glaring instancing/phasing issues... I for one will be buying the game and playing and supporting it at said time just don't know for how long with these current problems. Time will tell all things, until then be well and have fun for that is all that matters...

Ok, read through... You have right to your opinion and I have right to express that I don′t give a dime what you think. Could not care less!!

NEXT!!

Word. Should we meet on the battlefield, may our deaths be honorable!

I dont get this attitude on internet because i dont see it in real life.

On the internet, some people that dislike something will do anything in their power, wasting countless hours and day, trashing and hating on the game, sometime even in irrelevant places. I can understand if you bought a product and are not satisfied, bring it up to the company or the forum, its actually helpful to say why you were disappointed. But making an account on every website that talk about the product just to trash it and spew venom ,its insane. Ive read what some people did just to be able to "hate" on something and its insane.

You dont see people in the shop going to an actual items and try to sabotage or spew hate around do you? "AAAaah this calculator is so much BS, do not buy, i tried it for 5 minutes and it ----. I wish it was more like this calculator!"

LMAO I almost read all the comments in this thread. But stopped.

Look here it is for everyone to see.

ANYONE going into this game with a completely NEUTRAL had some major disappointments. If you claim you werent you are lying. Now the more you played it the more you formed an opinion. if the opinion was critical you saw and dwelled on all the issues the game has. if you went with a positive view you justified and explained away the same things other were critical of.

Everyone is playing the same exact game the only difference is how people form opinions of it in their own heads.

There are some irrefutable issues that really cant be debated. Critics will say theyre game breaking. I suspect most supporters would too. But supporters being the eternal optimists have faith there were reasons why these things happen and that they will not exist when the game goes life. Once the game goes live these people will have to justify that in another way, or continue to have faith the issues get fixed.

There is no debating much of the criticism the game has, none at all. All that can be debated on when or if it gets rectified. Then once you get past the irrefutable stuff you can move onto the opinionated issues. Which will never see a compromise. Fans will still look at it with rose colored glasses and justify any personal issues they might have while critics will have their own reasons. The 'truth' is probably somewhere in the middle.

I would say any negative review of the game will be 100% accurate in the specifics. Just like a positive review that ignore the glaring issues can also be 100% accurate if it is selective in what it talks about. The game isnt all bad, it isnt all good either. It just depends on what people are willing to accept that makes people play or not play the game.

Worrying about what other people think at this point is stupid, there have been more than ample chances for anyone to see the game first hand and do what I said. Those people that refuse to play a game in a beta and buy it sight unseen on some principle are just bad for the future of games. But the future isnt goo anyway so they probably dont make a difference. But they might not be worse than the people who read something and decide NOT to buy it based on that opinion. Two sides of the same coin. But IMO rewarding mediocrity is worse than erring on the side of caution. But in the end if youre interested at all and you have the opportunity you MUST see for yourself to make a valid decision.

in the end there are gong to be a lot more negative reviews than positive ones, and it wont just be to get clicks or views. it will be because the critiques are more than valid. Because there are severe performance issues. regardless of how you want to explain them they exist. People saw them. You write about what you see not about what you hope. Most of the positive stuff the game has already exists elsewhere so it isnt really worth talking about in a review. Because then all you will be doing is comparing the game to something you can play for free,and even though it wouldnt be negative it wouldnt be positive either.

But that is it the fans of the game better be prepared. but in the end it doesnt matter. What matters it what each person thinks individually.

I think it would help if everyone would keep in mind they we've only played through the early part of the game. Maybe it opens up more as you move further into the game?

The points the reviewer made while potentially unrealistic (feeling alone in an mmo for example) aren't necessarily invalid. The things I love about Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind don't really work in an MMO. In fact one of the reasons I keep playing single player RPGs is that I want that single player experience. So I get that he is saying he liked Skyrim more than an Elder Scrolls based MMO, it is his preference and they are ultimately very different things.

I basically agree that this in an Elder Scrolls themed MMO, and I am fine with that and can't wait until the 31st (30th?). But I will go ahead and tell you now that the day TES 6 is released will be the day my ESO time drops off a cliff.

This is a guy's impression of the game. It isn't a game review. He is telling us what he thinks about the game, and how it compares to other games he has liked and hasn't liked.

It isn't a hatchet job, it's just his opinion of a beta of a game that he wasn't planning on playing.

Never even heard of this person.... do they matter? Doubtful.

And all those reasons are exactly why it's shoddily written clickbait.

He never intended to play this game. He clearly never wanted a multiplayer experience to begin with. He can't write very well, and he says some things that are flat-out inaccurate.

I stopped there, because you're utterly wrong. I had very little interest in this game because I have been disenchanted with MMOs in general. I really liked it and will be trying it out. You are mistaking your blind hostility - with hundreds of repetitive posts attacking the game - with a general rule. I'm not lying. On the positive side, your arrogance ensures that no one objective will find you convincing.

Actually not in the least. I started playing the beta in July. I think 8 or 9. It wasnt much back then, but you didnt see me on here spouting about it. The first I mentioned anything was in Sept when we finally got some actual time with developed content. We got a level 30 something zone to look at as well. It was Ok but not anything like I expected. Then they added starter areas and got cold harbor working, so by November it was at a point where it looked like a video game. They took away te original crafting which was a mess and that was reintroduced in Jan. So we all started new toons again and went from the 'real' start of the game and played through the first zone and then the introductory zones for each alliance. At that point it had shaped into what it was going to be. which still wasnt what people expected.

It also started to exhibit the problems which have been talked about ad naseum on here. They existed before but they got worse and worse.

I went into the game hopeful and actually trying to make it better than it was. I let the first few months of the beta I saw slide, because then the 'its beta' arguments were truly valid. I could have even let them slide in November since we didnt know when the game was coming out. But they announced the release date right after that November beta. And up to that point it was by far the most negative reception the game had seen, in the main stream and even on the beta forums.

So once the release date was announced, and only 6 months away the clock was ticking, each beta remained the same, no fixes, no performance improvements and the same mechanical problem that plagued it in August still plagued it in January.

The one single thing that has seen improvement is the log in servers. That is the one thing no one can bash them on. As long as it works with all the over flow servers theyre going to have to create then that is a non issue. But phasing and layering is still a major concern. Its the whole "bug' thing people are citing. Or at least the major reason for these issues. Undoubtedly they have been working on that for as long as they have everything else. But havent figured it out. Thus why theyre going ot have overflow servers, because phasing and layering doesnt work in this game like it is supposed to. Now are they buying time and hoping population decrease or players spreading out 'fixes' it and hoping by the time everyone once again is on the same layer and phase they have it fixed is anyones guess. if a lot of people quit it might 'fix' itself.

I got more and more critical the closer we got to the hard release date and the less and less I saw them be able to fix the glaring issues with the game. I dont even have to talk about the personal choices they made I dont like because the phasing and layering issues are a game killer if they dont get fixed or are chronic. Now it might 'kill' the game down to a level of players than CAN handle it and run perfectly which is good for the guys who like the game and are willing t pay for it, but it surely takes some of the 'epicness' away from it when it was built to house a million or more players and ends up only being able to function properly with 100K or so.

Read the review, found it reasonable for someone like ourselves, coming from a TES background. Personally I was sceptical at first to TESO, but had a blast in beta, so whatevs. Without bothering to go into detail, I felt the devs more or less nailed some core aspect of TES. However there are some good critique in that article; I hope the devs are listening. E.g. emergent gameplay and (even more) freedom to explore.

This reviewer is almost as bad as Angry Joe trying to review a game. What a joke.

Cyrodil is the biggest part of this game and it's probably some of the most fun I've had PVP'ing since the days of UO, DAOC and Darkfall. So for the reviewer to not even talk about Cyrodil is enough for me to not even give this review any weight.

He draws parallell to (the other) TES games. This beeing The Elder Scrolls Online, that's not unreasonable. At all.

I find no faults with this review and points of critique. I'm not in denial. It's a pretty polished, standard modern MMO with an ES paintjob over it. It has a cool class system, fun pvp, nice style and music but it's just a pretty standard MMO. It doesn't really bring anything new to the table.

I look forward to it, I will for sure be in PVP but not sure when... I am a casual player so it takes me a bit longer to get developed or "trained" to the war but I do indeed look forward to the War in cryodill. I find this part of the game very well done as with the graphics/sound etc..