http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/03/the-elder-scrolls-online-beta-leaves-us-skeptical/

Apparently the reviewer was stuck with us riff-raff in the weekend beta and didn't get placed in the emptier pts beta where the other game reviewers, Youtubers, f&f are/where.

And no mention of Cyrodiil.

Nothing wrong with skeptics, does not change anything /shrug

Seems like they were looking for TES 6.

since when is sceptical the new negative?

Did you actually read the article and not just the title or url?

The pages and pages of user comments are pretty negative too.

I do like that ZOS butchering the start of the game didn't even get a mention, and they continued to complain about the game not feeling open.

See ZOS? Their complaints go a whole lot deeper than just starting in a 'starter island'. What they're actually asking for is a complete rewrite of how the entire game world works from the conceptual stages up. You simply cannot give them what they want, you're way too far into it for that.

You get a much better view of the general gaming community of those who are interested enough to read an article on ESO from the comment sections there, than you do here at devoted fan Central (the one's right now willing to give a kidney AND a lung based on my subscription fee poll, to play this game).

Hey I'm a Elder Scrolls and MMO fan boi. I'm even totally on board with a subscription. But NOT a $15 per month one. $10 per month (without having to pay a year in advance) is my limit, even though I VERY much like what I've seen so far in the Beta. I'm even hoping to still get the boxed collectors edition. Yes, I would pay $100 for that, but NOT pay a $15 per month subscription fee (yet I'll happily pay $10 per month). Go figure. Don't argue with the psychology of money.

Ha! That's so funny. I used the term "fan boi" in my 1st sentence there as well (but without the space)... and it was automatically converted to "devoted fan". LOL

A lot of it seem to ring "this mmo is an mmo" I think. It's fair it's not what they wanted, but can't really blame an mmo for being just that.

I cant wait for this game to launch and do incredibly well so all of these idiots spouting inaccurate rhetoric and ridiculous hyperbole can eat it.

Any reviewer that makes any comparison to mechanics from a single player game should be drawn and quartered. They simply either don't understand the complexities of MMO's and their limitations, or they're ignorant to the existence of those things and don't care.

It's frustrating. ESO is a GREAT game with HUGE potential and it has a few bugs and glitches that need ironing out, yet you have uneducated reviewers doomsaying it and bandwagoners talking about things that aren't even in the game in an attempt to sound informed and run with the crowd.

This like someone sayin: this game is not exactly what want must be a bad game. I guess he will not find any that he wants so simple whinie type.

While I do agree that the concept of the "Chosen One" is simply stupid in an MMO (it should show right from the start that you are a lowly plebeian grunt, wanna be adventurer, that has a work cut out for him via various bounty quests and adventures), I feel that the writer simply expected a TES VI game in the on-line environment. Not to mention 0 word about PvP.

Yeah, a shallow review. i went and said so ... at length. I don't post there often but it seems I go back to 2003 at that forum.

Yet we get that in MMOs a lot these days. In SWTOR we were the "chosen one" for a class, with all of the other classes also doing their things to the main story, and in Guild Wars 2 we're the supposed "chosen one" for *insert race* *insert background choice 1 and background choice 2* (which doesn't really matter as the different plot lines all converge into one). This sort of design is supposed to give the player a story behind the quests that we are doing besides just to level, but varies in it's success.

For ESO I currently find myself disinterested in the Main story line, but interested more in the faction (Dominion, Covenant, Pact) story line quests. At least the game is "open world" enough for us to blatantly ignore the main quest (as far as I could tell), and somewhat with the faction/area quests.

First time I ever hear of Ars Technica...

My god the comments below that article. Seriously, ES fans are one of the most spoiled and narrow minded fans in the gaming industry (Im am ES fan). The article fails to mention amy of the games strong points and the people that comment are all but happy to oblige and join in on the hate orgy.

As a frequenter of many official game forums I can assure you it's just people in general.

As for the article:

It seems more like click bait to me, but I'm sure people that dislike ESO will agree with the articles content regardless of it's veracity.

Thats what happens when u put someone that hates the game writing an article, they get more attention than nonbiased articles pointing the good and the bad.

I suggest you guys get prepped for a lot more of these popping up. The initial reviews are going to be negative . Then the ball is in zenimax's court to polish and add newer features on the long run. This is coming from someone who has bought the game and will at least play it for the first month.

It sounds like he is letting his personal TES/MMO combination desires blind him to what Eso is really like. Happy with other MMO's to do similar things, yet hating the fact that Eso does those things.

Also, coming from a supposedly experienced gamer, he fails to understand the issues inherent in a stress test, and seems to be of the mindset that this should play like a beta.

He/she has barely touched on much of the game, and seems reluctant to even look.

Thats not to say that my personaly wish for Eso at the beginning was a more TES style game, but I fully undersand & accept the necessity of the compromises.

I get the distinct impression tha this reviewer walked into the stress test with his/her opinion already formed & just did enough to veryify that opinion. All the while, disregarding anything else about the game or the fact that it was not a Beta.

Maybe Im wrong?

But it was by no means a complete review of the same game that I played.

Yep bound to happen.

Most people who love the game are tired of reading the same negative stuff, hence probably cant be bothered to log in/register to comment, even more so when it seems that anyone that did say something positive was down voted.

Fact is, if 5 million people love the game and a million hate it, it will be a huge success. But some of those million that hate it, well it doesn't take many of them in certain forums to make it look like everyone hates the game.

The guild I'm in (that wasn't formed for ESO but was already in existence for other games) , everyone's positive about it, another non TES forum I belong to, it's about 50/50 which is still very good, if 50% of the gamers on there intend to play, Zenimax are on to a winner.

have u read Forbes? They really hate the game haha

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/09/will-the-elder-scrolls-online-have-the-last-laugh-with-its-subscription-fee/

if u scroll down, after u read the article, more articles relating with TESO will show up.

I can't take an article serious if the author writes that he wants loneliness in an MMO. Seriously?
He played a limited access stress test weekend and was only in the starter areas and did not want to encounter people?

Where was his precious view on the open world element of Cyrodiil or the vast freedom of character development? The breaking with tradition in such a way that every class can play as anything they want: tank, dps, heal, support or shades in between.

If you take a look at their commentary section you'll notice that the authors throws in a lot of "reader fac" medals - but only to people agreeing with his assumptions thus steering the whole conversation. Common practice at Ars, sadly, as differing opinions are often even labeled "controversial".

Argueing against the authors in these comments regularly gets people downvoted. Sometimes because their comments svcked, often simply because it was not in line with what has to be true ...

Ars is not always bad, quite the opposite.

Well, this is the risk you take running an effectively open beta with outstanding unfixed issues like the phased quest bug.

I wouldn't go that far. Ars is a cut above gamer rags and the readership is mostly way above the typical fan boi level. Their reviews are usually spot on although I don't recall reading reviews from that author before. I may have and maybe didn't note the byline.