I caveat that I don't play pc games on a daily or even a weekly basis, and I generally consider myself to be immune to gaming addiction, unlike a lot of gamers I know. That said, I really enjoyed playing Elder Scrolls single-player, managed to get through the whole game a couple of times with different characters, and played ESO Beta for a few hours this weekend. I think Elder Scrolls appealed to casual gamers like me because it is to immersive and so believable, and I really think that is one of the key appeals that Bethesda should really try to keep in ESO. To that end, here are a few constructive complaints I had about ESO beta:

1. I don't like when the enemies glow with a red halo around them once you start attacking them. I understand that this is meant to make them stand out against the background or potential allies, but this really takes away from the immersion because it visually jolts you with the reminder that, "Hey, this is just a game and this is just a bunch of pixels in the game. Here's your enemy; here's where you're supposed to hit." If distinguishing the enemy from the background is necessary, please do so in a subtler way - perhaps a plumb bob like the Sims or a tasteful shadow?
2. Others have pointed this point out - having tons of human players running around, literally running the whole time, jumping around, looting everything and generally acting like they're the only person in the game takes away from the immersive experience. This is partially why I couldn't get into WoW. Seeing all the players cluster around the one NPC guy in town we all need to talk to and then running in the same direction to the kill the same enemy takes away from the whole "you're an adventurer, you're the dragonborn" feeling that you get from ES offline. Moreover it limits the movement of the NPCs, as they can't just wander off on a predetermined route to other towns, leaving players just entering the game out of luck in finding them. This might be a toughie since this is true of other MMOs, but I feel like it could be creatively alleviated, such as by only being able to see members of your own team in a given map, instead of everyone on the server. Alternatively, the world would have to be much bigger, to the point where you don't end up with cluster[censored]s left and right.
3. A lot of the NPCs look similar to each other, like, creepily similar. Please differentiate their faces by race, gender, age, and features. Although this leads me to a pro about this game - I really like that we can change the height of our avatars! (Now why can't they do this in the Sims!)
4. Please make the physics of the game more natural - I feel like my avatar's feet are running on air sometimes with no friction whatsoever. In 2014, this shouldn't still be happening.

I appreciate anyone's response to these points, but mostly, I'd really appreciate if Bethesda took these points seriously before the launch!

1. Turn the glow off or all the way down in your graphics options?

2. It's a social game. Sorry that other humans break your immersion with their unplanned and unscripted activities. Much like life, eh?

3. Sorry, the racial diversity distracted me.

4. Indeed. Jumping off the third story of a bridge should break both legs, but those darn nightblades manage it all the time.

dorothy, based on your post it seems to me like you should not play MMO's because they will never live up to your expectations. The issues you have are symptoms of core mechanics within an MMO.

Dorothy, this is an MMO, although mixed (hybrid) solo game feelings could fool us to think otherwise.

I would recommend you to look for a guild and, actually, play with other players instead of being annoyed by their presence on the environment. Don't take this as other thing than constructive criticism as well, please.

If the above recommendation doesn't work for you, better take Skyrim and play it for hours and hours without any other player disturbance.

About physics, there are plenty of stuff to be done before launch and I doubt they are on the list but, it can be implemented in some future patch or expansion, just like any successful MMO are doing for years out there.

dorothy88, your points are obviously well thought out from your own perspective being a casual gamer whom got lost in the ES single player game. But as previously mentioned you may not be at home in an MMO. The multiplayer aspect will deprive you of the immersion you are looking for as it would not be an MMO if others were not involved in the gaming.

The world is well done graphically especially for a Beta and especially for an MMO(think cartoonish WoW crap the norm) the only issue I have graphically is the armor graphics which look as if its a body paint instead of armor, the high elf heavy armor is terrifically extra terrible graphically.

remember with the term MMO comes more resource demands on the servers the more demands the lower the performance, inevitably you should find a btter overall quality in graphics and game play in a solo player game versus an MMO. But as far as MMO's go and the fact its Beta its pretty decent as it is.

I'm sorry but the high elf heavy armor looks awesome.

Dorothy, I agree with the people who posted before me, some things you just can't get in an MMO.

At launch, you should be able to opt to be in a phase with role players, that should help with the jumping around etc..

I felt the same way; however, there is a handy user interface setting where you can turn off the glow on enemies and interactables.

Saying to be "Casual player" but whining MMO having people in it that you don't know... maybe single player games are then better to you.

Dorothy, the glow annoyed me too, I was lucky enough to stumble across the ability to turn down the glow, and I get exactly what you are saying. Luckily it's an easy fix.

Having never really got heavily into MMO's (I've always found other players have ruined my experience of being immersed in a world away from the world) so I'm not one who can comment with any authority at all, by the same breath, I found others on the same quest, speaking to the same people did leave me to feel the story wasn't for the first time revolving around me. And yet at the same time, I've found myself strangely attracted to EOS, I'm wanting to know what's going to happen next. I think the stress test probably is the worst it'll ever get ( here is hoping ) with the sheer amount of people playing. I tend to take my time once released, do things on my time and not with every man and his clanfear.

As for the creepy if not incistuous NPC's, it did strike a chord with me but I put it down to 'one of those things'. My wife and I found it amusing to single NPC's out that are doppelgangers to people we know in the real world, it's a fun game to play albeit a bit nasty.

Physics, I'm waiting on game release for that. I didn't notice it as much in the earlier BETA's but last weekend showed up more than a few inconsistencies, I'm just going to hope for the best and put that down to the older version that we were playing and not the polished works I've come to expect from ZOS.

I agree with all 4 of your points.

1. Company of Heroes 2 suffered from the same glowing fate of red. And guess what. They never changed it, even after the complaints.

I still blame Red Alert 3 for introducing PC gaming to that enemy glow from hell.

2. That's why they need Lotro's Dynamic Layer function. It filters people out of high traffic areas. Yet keeps them on the same server.

3. Sound the same, too. xD

4. Running animations and gravity pull = poorly done.