Anyone else a little dismayed that so much of the continent will not be explorable at launch?

I used the map on the website and made everything that is not in the game black:

http://i.imgur.com/HRXTAPJ.png

I am quite surprised actually that more did not make it into the game.

That area is for future expansion to the game.

THey have to have areas to make new content for.

I get all of that.

However, other MMOs have never had so little at launch regarding % of a continent.

Guild Wars has roughly 50% left they could add. The WoW main continents were about 90% filled when it launched.

Yes it seems small, bug ingame, trust me, hours of exploration and im not talkin about exploring every inch, even going from 1 point to another takes a lot of time.

Who's to say that the 1/3 of tamriel is not as big as those other games had? When comparing across games, it is relative as there isn't a direct correlation between content and each world.

I do not know WoW very well, but you mean since launch nothing was added to WoW? Since 10 years!!! Bad luck for WoW - TES looks very nice in this case because there is a lot of content to come.

The playable map size is completely arbitrary when comparing to other games. What if WoW launched with every single planet and continent in the mythos on their map, but with only a pithy half-planet to explore out of dozens? What if Guild Wars 2 launched with no additional details on their map - you could only see playable areas. I'm really not sure of what you're basing your comparison on, other than to bash for the sake of it.

When I first heard of Elder Scrolls Online I assumed that we would have a full fledged continent to explore and just about every location would be available.

Maybe my expectations were too high?

I think it's a shame they don't put Vvardenfell from the begining.

Finding a lot more explorable area than was in SWTOR, with their silly exhaustion zones.

It is more important what area is available at launch - not if there are planned new zones and only this should be actually compared with other games at launch.

My issue is how "open" and massive the areas aren't. I want huge, massive open fields as far as the eye can see, like the Whiterun area.

Where is the open area feeling like this:

http://www.icedragonart.com/wowexplorers/the%20barrens/the_barrens_screenshots1.jpg

http://elderscrollsotr.mymiddleearth.com/files/2012/12/2561_the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-ps3-preview-20070207050433023.jpg

http://images.mmorpg.com/images/galleries/full/352012/14494d40-b443-47c2-904b-8760b18e34d5.jpg

Everywhere you go in ESO, it looks like this:

http://assets.vg247.com/current//2013/05/The-Elder-Scrolls-Online-Stormhave2.jpg

There are always rocks and trees blocking the view.

Everyone keeps using the future content excuse but don't we still have 4 other continents on nirn we've never seen before, ya they dropped the ball big time, there ganna spend the next 5 years filling tamriel and where still never going to see those other continents, in either eso or the single player games

They should of done all of tamriel from the start, there still would of been tons of other content to base expansions on, this is really dissapointing to me.