So i'm not finding any examples of Necromancy, alteration, unarmed or speechcraft at all, I'm also only seeing Illusion and Conjuration in two trees... but they're class specific.

There seems to be very little use for stealth as a non-night blade...

No real support for Sword and staff fighters, very minor support for archery

Then the racials seem to be skewed, Non sneaky argonians, imperials without price bonuses.

Am I missing something or is this game thoroughly devoid of many of the core skills found in the older elder scrolls games

on top of that I seem to not be able to kill off random npcs at will. Such as townsfolk/nobility.

What do you guys miss from the old games?

"Then the racials seem to be skewed, Non sneaky argonians, imperials without price bonuses. "

What about sneaky argonians watery escapes.... (sub mode)

And Imperials taxing back health per % hit... (crimson gold)

It's just how ZOS made the game.

I'm just amused at how everyone calls this tes as an MMO but it doesn't even offer many of the core things about a TES game.

The more i read the more I'm reminded of Rift, where everyone can do whatever they want but they all still wind up the same four classes with different graphics

1. There will be compromises when you take a single player game and balance it for MMO - this is not skyrim online and you should see the compromise and accept it for what it is. where it lacks in those things you mentioned, it brings new things to the table.

2. Are you kidding when you say no use of stealth as non nightblade? The whole crouch system is a revolution on this aspect, I had the biggest adrenaline rush hiding near a rock as a sorcerer while a zerg of 50+ passed near me, some even stopping to mine a few resources and still not finding me. You also have to put into the equation the fact that undetected crouched attacks with EVERYTHING will land more damage! Please edit your post and remove that line

3. You are again thinking elder scrolls single player style, linking the racial bonuses to things that dont exist in this game - the game has already done a lot to make racials that matter unlike other games that get scared and give cosmetic bonuses. racial choice will play a big part in how well your character functions according to your spec.

4. Killing random npc folk in an online persistent world would not work - for reasons that should be very obvious to you . We are not in 2002 with Shadowbane's glory days, this is a different kiddie market with consoles and ppl have to make money so they also cater to their needs! Compromises, compromises!

I am sorry I do not call peoples posts trolling easily but I do feel a sense of outright hatred for eso based on false info in this one.

Its a themepark MMO, what did you expect?

Stealth is super useful for every class. Incredibly useful. It doesn't have a skill line attached to it, unfortunately. Maybe that will change some day.

Alteration, Necromancy, etc don't have skill lines of their own....yet. The more successful the game is, the more likely it is for new skill lines to be added. The future has many bright possibilities.

i would first say its hard to make an accurate assessment as to how close teso actually is to other tes games with only hitting lvl 15 and all but yeah ofcourse the skill tree is way different, i think it gives a better feel of progression and how painfull it can be to make wrong decisions later in the game. however, there are many aspects to the game that are from other tes games, i personally get the impressoin of oblivions graphics and skyrims GUI.

im not sure if i follow you on" little or no support on on sword or staff fighters", i didnt get that impressions from the game and i seen plenty of GOOD game play with staffers on youtube, i know personally using one hand and sheild and two hand there is plenty of different combo to choose from to pull snar and stun you opponent, taunts with shields. and way uber dps shots with two handed wpns.

some combos where more class specific, but thats what you choose a class for. its up to you to find a combination of class skills and wpn specific skills to play the game how it best it suites you.