Now that NDA on ESO was lifted maybe ( and I know that I sound like a beggar and generly awfull poster )some nice poster who got in to Beta could share some info so that we can start to have some discussion about stuff that ESO has included , changed. Praised it or damned it . All in all disect.

...Is this a trick? Has it been lifted?

http://elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2014/02/14/the-beta-nda-has-lifted

Note however that you shouldn't share screenshots from before now, as those were never allowed under the NDA.

Has anyone met the Tribunal? Sotha Sil especially! And what about the Maormer, what role do they play?

From the little bit I've played the beta they seem to want to sabotage/destroy the Dominium. Single Maormer have been shown to be able to summon stormclouds,

Okay. So...seeing as I've been something close to an ardent defender of the game (or at least I've advised cautious optimism over knee jerk negativity), I might as well talk. Although I don't want to ramble. This isn't a gameplay review but I have minor reservations about the "feel" of the game. This largely rests in a poor experience with my first character, who was an archer. It didn't quite work the way I'd like and other games have done bows better but I also think that it if a player really specializes in stealth, it will work a bit better. Melee combat felt substantially better. So, yeah. Some concerns on that front but nothing that panics me. Then again, I've never been one for panicking.

The game shines in PvP. Cyrodiil is massive and the experience is very enjoyable. I greatly appreciated GW2's WvW and this certainly does it better. So, if that's your thing, you're in good hands. The designers know what their doing. But I'm pretty sure a lot of them are from DAoC so that would explain it. Lore folks make a fuss about how the Elder Scrolls can be captured but it really is just about faction morale. Sure, there's mechanics benefits but that's not, like, explained as mundane application of the Scrolls power; it's just mechanics. Sort of like how the notion of Emperor works. It's just a mechanic; if you really want to justify it in lore, you can just shrug and say "Well, Second Era was hectic and there were a lot of claimants to the throne." but I think you're trying to hard and should just accept that you're dealing with a gameplay>lore situation.

I found the Domonion side of things to be strong, story wise. Don't want to give much away but seeing as much resistance towards Ayrenn should calm fears that the Altmer are all content with her queenship. There's significant forces at play arrayed against her, both political enemies and circumstances that involve Mehrunes Dagon. (Which covers some of the woes people had about the apparent prevalence of dremora, at least on the Dominion end). The Thalmor exists as a ruling party in the Dominion but are lead by High Elf canonreeves, Bosmer Treethanes, and Khajiiti chieftains. That said, there is still a culture of indoctrination and Altmer supremacy. A college of "Aldmeri Propriety" trains those that would serve the Dominion; in some cases, Bosmer are asked to reject the Green Pact. Although it should be noted that quests centering on this institute focus on curtailing their more extreme ways.

There was a pause on my part when I heard so many Altmer talking about the Eight but taking into account an important ritual site on Auridon, it became clear to be that they were talking about Magnus, Syrabane, Anu, Y'ffre, Tinimac, Xarxes, Mara, and Stendarr. Phynaster slips through the cracks but yeah...there's shrines to the Altmer gods and not just a big, sweeping use of the Alessian Pantheon in the game.

In terms of the Ebonheart Pact, I don't recall as much and don't have as many notes. Telvanni's not into the whole arrangement, the Argonians aren't exactly forgiving and forgetting, and they're facing a lot of pressure from the Covenant. There's more but I'm forgetful. But that should give some people a bit to chew on, lore wise. I could talk main storyline but I don't know how much people really want to know. I like Coldharbour's design, McDowell does a nice Molag Bal, and while the Soulburst and planemeld affair might be too close to the Oblivion Crisis for some, I find there are differences that let me see them as separate enough. And Mannimarco's around and being suitably Machiavellian so that's nice.

Is it the best thing TES? Not at all. Is it the terrifying affront people are fearing? Not really.

PS. Can't speak for the lore books as I wanted to sort of save those for when I explore the game proper at launch. And I did pre order. But I had a lot of hesitation at first. Positive PvP experiences changed my thoughts.

One thing I forgot to ask - how much (and what) of the main story was possible to discover after learning from the Prophet about the 5 companions and how the Soulburst occured?

http://esohead.com/books

Death of Morphotypical entities bothers me way more then it should.

It's easy to dismiss as just one man's hypothesizing.

Masterwork of the Inducer is one of the better new books I've seen. It's about Ayleids and all that nasty torture-magic-art stuff, although not quite as brutal as that might indicate. I don't see it on UESP, so I'll transcribe it here as best I can.

I was wondering about the books. Thanks for this link. I know where I'll be for the next day or so.

Seems I've been ninja'd with the book, scores of times over...

Some books of note:

http://esohead.com/books/238-on-the-detachment-of-the-sheath

http://esohead.com/books/1421-aurbic-enigma-4-the-elden-tree I suggest everyone read this one.

http://esohead.com/books/2166-racial-motifs-1-the-high-elves and look a book series about love between divayth fyr and the mage from the doors of oblivion.

http://esohead.com/books/1877-chronicles-of-the-five-companions-1 I highly suggest you do not read this series of books unless you like being spoiled on the main story.

People might go nuts about the Argonian Maid stuff, which was a valid concern that I was keeping deliberately mum on before the NDA but it still doesn't bother me.

So I have a few questions , and admidly they are quite noobish I guess. How are potentate stuff looking , is there anything about it there , or rather they went with "yep they existed alright... any more questions?" also apperently if voice actor video is to be belive there is a half giant in ESO what is the deal with that?

This one was leaked months ago, I remember, and I still hold it up as an example of the worst writing ESO has to offer. It's basically a random slew of lore buzzwords. Sure, it means something - vaguely - but nothing worth abusing the language for.

Thanks for the rest of the stuff.

If they wanted to include something funny then that was best choice really , if they come up with something orginal people would most likely accused of not understanding lore and so on.

I am not gone comment because to me many of "approved" as great examples of lore writting seem like bunch of lore buzzwords.

So far I don't really care for the writing that I see here (though I haven't looked at your links yet, Benefactor), but to be fair, TES writing as far back as Morrowind has been hit-or-miss, and it's been getting worse rather than better in a lot of cases. There's a lot to look through, too, so hopefully I'll find something more interesting to me in the future.

Regarding the argonian maid:

http://esohead.com/books/1104-the-argonian-maid-an-oral-tradition - the reason given for it appearing in this time period

http://esohead.com/books/1134-the-lusty-argonian-maid-a-song - new song version

Good. Now canon vitches may stop vitchin'

If you read anything read this one http://esohead.com/books/1421-aurbic-enigma-4-the-elden-tree the others I linked where either spoilers or example of retcons and poor writing.

*THIS WEEKEND IS! A! LOREVALANCE!!!*

Hey, a "Books of Note" compilation is a good idea.

I know something I would love even more than that. Commentary on books by you about what you think of them. This is a great weekend of love for The Elder Scrolls.