Joking aside, the lack of mods is something that would be a big issue for me when it comes to MMOs. Although things like what the new Neverwinter game and (I think) Everquest Next are doing bringing in player generated content does show that it is possible in at least a limited form. There you see is part of my issue with ESO. Other companies are trying to innovate if slowly and push the genre forward in more interesting ways. Player made content being one example. What really has ESO added to the genre. First person mode? Anything else? I mean come on the Elder Scrolls games created their own genre. Bethesda could of copied the cRPGs of the time but they didn't they created a new type of open world rpg with the focus on the world. ESO doesn't do that its just trying to imitate existing games with and elder scrolls paint job. Its a competent job but its not inspiring, its not new, its not different.

Shogun Rua's english is not this good. Your statement is irrelevant

I think it's very much an Elder Scrolls game.

Got to wholeheartedly disagree. I loved MMO's before WoW. I've generally hated them since. In my own personal opinion, whatever Blizzard did destroyed the golden era of MMO's and made them mainstream money makers. MMORPG's lost a bit of their soul. But that's history, and happens in every industry, so here we are.

There are mods, and then there are 'foundry' additions. Mods changing core concepts of the game, like damage dealt or adding the need to put on clothing in the cold ... those can be mitigated.

But I hope that Zenimax will add some ability for the controlled addition of player-made content. Maybe not as in depth as what could be done in the creation kit, but at least up to par with what Neverwinter is doing. Only, with real possible rewards. The lack of a reward pretty much killed NWO's foundry for me.

Also, I hope Zenimax adds player housing, and the ability to 'build our own' ala a creation kit would be amazing in my book. To be quite honest, player made houses and player made quests really make me think Elder Scrolls, especially nowadays.

lol..? WoW was a step UP from warcraft in terms of RPG elements.

just 4-5 hours ago, someone opened up a thread on these exact forums , saying that this game is a co-op TES not an MMO. and he was crying and stuff so the moral of the story is:

this game can only be ONE of them at a time and no matter which direction one zeni choose there are going to be ppl who QQ.

All I'm sayin, is when you put lore aside, it feels like another MMO with a different combat system. Same fetch quests, less than convincing wildlife, NPCs that stand around at predetermined point for eternity.

Not to mention, I've yet to see anything faction-wise (Mage and Fighters guild, ook, but no "real" faction based story line it doesn't seem). No moral choices affecting the outcome of my character.. it seems that every race and faction are following the same line of story

And in the main series, you put lore aside and it is just another generic high fantasy sandbox.

I was being sarcastic and being dramatic with the comparison. I know Skyrim Morrowind Oblivion are very similar games and they label it as an Elder Scrolls Game, but people need to stop being so picky and should try to enjoy the game. Too many pessimist and negative attitudes going into ESO.

Hopefully they can do another weekend with the new patch implemented and maybe that will sway a couple of opinions with skipping the starter zone. I found that when I went to the first major city that there was a lot of exploration and I was able to do what I wanted to do. It seems like the root of all evil starts with the starter zones.

Name another generic high fantasy sandbox game then?

ofc the only thing that separates mmos is lore. if u put lore aside u will have urself a typical MMO. u can say the same about wow. put the lore aside and u will have all those [censored] wow clowns that are out there.

or the difference between BF and red orchestra 2, if u put the lore(second world war and old weapons) aside and you will have a tyical FPS.

I dunno I'm well past the starter zones and its just more of the same on a larger scale. I know for me it comes down to being tired of themepark MMOs and sadly ESO is that through and through. I doubt any tinkering could change that for me.

EDIT: Somehow posted on the wrong thread?

Hilarious how many people don't know what Elder Scrolls Online should be. It should be like a MAIN. SERIES. Elder Scrolls game, BUT ONLINE.

This is it. I don't know how far some of your creativity reaches, but simply putting multiplayer into an Elder Scrolls game is completely possible and all people have EVER wanted in Elder Scrolls, which is why this game was made. This game was a decent shot, but intricate AI's that made the world feel alive was a MAJOR feature of the main series which was totally kicked out of the game, along with many other changes.

How hard is it to literally remake Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim, but with multiplayer? That's all people want.

Don't really have to. Without the lore, it would simply be a generic sandbox. Hell Ultima Online was a sandbox, Shadowbane is a sand box, Darkfall is a sandbox, Mortal online is a sandbox. Those are even more sandbox than ES is.

That last line there? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I didn't ask you to speak for me. Which is why you got it wrong.

no ALL ppl because (no offence) this is a pathetic idea! single player TES games have always been about a hero who single handedly saves the world. there is always this feeling of uniqueness. now imagine if u let millions of other dragonborns run around. it will be more like a joke that a game!

u have to make adjustments for ppl to feel like "just another fighting hero"

Sounds like it all comes down to the fact that a majority of you guys don't like the genre of MMO games. If that's the case then ESO is definitely not for you.

It's funny because the basic premise of main story in ESO is exactly like you just described.

Ultima Online I'll give you because it was a great attempt at a proper online living world and was way ahead of its time. Its a shame MMO development adopted the Everquest model instead of the UO model.

Shadowbane I've not heard of, but Darkfall and Mortal are just large scale PvP guild warfare games. They make no attempt at breathing life into the worlds beyond the player generated "content" IE guild vs guild battles and ganking parties. I had high hopes for both, but they both fell into the same trap of relying on the players for all the content.

So no, none of those games really has much in common with the single player Elder Scrolls games. There aren't many games that do because Bethesda carved out a genre of their own that few have tried to emulate.

Relying on players for content is the only way to make a true sandbox as that is the only way you can truly affect the world. Even UO relied heavily on players to make their own content.

MMO development moved away from that type of development because they did not sell well, and still don't.

Further there are non sandbox games that feel like like living breathing worlds.

All this, still the only thing that ultimately makes an ES game an ES game is the lore.

Firstly UO did perfectly well for its day, easily making back its development cost with a healthy profit plus its running costs for many many years, in fact its still running 15 years later. The problem is that Wow came along and everyone since than has had expectations of doing the same (and of course noone has come close). Also a living breathing world type setup is a much greater technical challenge and therefore a higher risk.

As for player content being the only true sandbox I'd call that poppycock. All the best sandboxes to date have been single player games. Applying that to a multiplayer online world is entirely possible then you can have computer generated content providing the bulk of the immerse content and still have room for player generated content.

OP, I'm going to make a small recommendation here. Join the Mage's guild and start the main quest for it. Trust me on this.

Yes UO did, because it was basically the only option. When EQ came out it began to lose subs quick.

Games have applied ES style things to MMOs, they don't sell well this day and age.

I love all the people trying to say that the only thing that makes a TES game is the lore. [censored]! I started playing TES with Daggerfall. It had a very unique (for my experience at that time) feel, style, gameplay, LORE (lol), etc. The freedom, large world, improving skills by using them, first person combat, stealing whatever wasn't nailed down, going into dark dungeons that you randomly found beside the road, etc. Then came Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, and while they all changed slightly the initial feeling I had, they all had that special feeling of something TES. TES for me wasn't just the lore, hell, when I played Daggerfall, I had no clue wtf was happening in the story, I missed the date I was suppose to meet someone, so I ended up just doing my own thing.Daggerfall through to Skyrim all have a similar feel in their gameplay, lore, mechanics, etc. It FEELS like TES. TESO does NOT have that feeling. I don't care if you think that TES means lore and therefore every game that mentions TES lore is a TES Game. I'm talking about a feeling! This game doesn't have that feeling.

As an early reviewer said "It's like TES but on a hollywood studio." It's fake, it pretends to be like a TES game, but something is very off.