Does ESO have some features that are new and unique in the genre of MMO? like... never ever done before. I have tried to persuade a classmate to play this with me (he's not a TES player) and he asked this question and I didn't know what to answer. I don't have a MMO background to compare and identify unique features.

It doesn't look like it, but that is true for most if not all MMOs being released.

Argonians

/friend convinced

/thread

if something then PvP, grown from DAOC but recreated. Graphics and voice acting - but not all really take care for it, but better then playing cartoon.

Everyone in the same part of the world is playing on the same server (everyone on a console are playing on ONE server for that kind of console)

Mega Servers is unusual although not unique (EVE Online has done it for years)

This is the first ESO game set in this particular era although if you or your friend are not interested in ES Lore this will be meaningless.

New Content is to be provided every 4-6 weeks according to ZeniMax - this is significant and also difficult to believe. I really hope they can stick to it.

The realm vs realm is straight out of DAOC and while not new is superb news as the DAOC PVP was the best I have encountered in MMO gaming since 1998

Nothing really new, but different.

When WoW launched it didn't do much new either.

NDA will prevent getting deeper details

Actually WoW did one thing that was new, and it set the mold for most MMOs to follow. WoW gave us quest-to-level gameplay. Before that (UO, EQ1, AC, & AO) you either wandered around killing random monsters or you sat in a camp or dungeon room for hours on end and killed the same monsters over and over and over.

There were MMO quests before WoW in EQ1 and DAoC, but there were not enough to level up on and most were aimed at acquiring special gear or were part of the introduction to the game for new players. The expectation was that the majority of your experience points were going to come from killing things in the field or dungeon.

Maybe the weird over-the-shoulder 3rd person view from Skyrim? I much prefer the classic overhead 3rd person view myself that every other MMO and virtually all 3rd person view games use.

CoH had quest to level gameplay, and it came out before WoW.

I'm sure WoW had some firsts at launch, but I don't know it (or the entire world of MMOs) well enough to know what. I'm pretty sure its random dungeon finder post-launch had a couple firsts; actually putting people in teams and being cross-server.

Are there other MMOs where you feed and level your horse? Lol. I'm not sure yet, but the way they handle phasing on the mega server and the reaction the NPCs have to give an illusion of a changing world even if you are in the same area as others who see something different even though you can see them might be unique. It might be though my lack of understand of how they are implementing phasing.

Thats why I said didn't do much rather did nothing

Technically WoWs original questing left gaps as well, it too required a bit of grind, or dungeon running, until a few more quests were added smoothing the leveling and removing said gaps Though yes, it changed grind mobs to grind quests (I still prefered EQ's model, my opinion though).

Well the dark anchors are like fates or rifts which is nothing new. Slaughterfish instead of the common exhaustion or fatigue when swimming out too far. Racial Motifs to learn other race-styled gear? Watching some of the vids of the new mobs in the game like the land-croc with lightning breath whatever it was called. Crafting system where the player is actually involved with the crafting like the provisioner sneaking a tasting.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1486669-what-is-completely-original-in-eso/

the daedra!

Great answers, thanks@ all. Even though they may not be pushing the envelope, these particularities should be interesting enough for a newcomer. I am myself very hyped to see the exotic provinces (Argonia, Elsweyr, Valenwood) and that's enough incentive to play, but I'm a TES fan since Morrowind.

Did you really enjoy sitting in a camp or dungeon room all evening killing the same things over and over? I was done with MMOs due to being burned out on the grind until WoW came out.

Most MMOs don't really have anything completely original. Its the combination of features and what the Dev does to improve and move forward the MMO genre.

few things that i think make ESO stand out are:

Action based real time combat.

RvR style PvP done by the creators of the original RvR game DAoC.

Open class system, can make any role with any class as no one role is pigeon holed into any one class.

Hubless quest system, meaning its more like Skyrim and past TES games where you find quests out in the world and not in one central location.

Racial motifs have been done in another form in other games (for what they accomplish).
Mobs with abilities are nothing new, this just portrays them differently.
I can't discuss the crafting, but EQ2 had interactive crafting.

I played an enchanter and people I played with liked keeping me busy Also I prefered the freedom it offered (want to go Seb? Planes? Taelosia? It's up to you, rather than the A to B to C where quests fall into kill XX of YYY or fetch me this, grinding quests is no more exciting than mobs imo) and that you actually had a chat while you played, beyond a possible 'Hi' at the start.

Well I haven't played every MMO ever made, so I can't really speak to things that are totally original in the game, but there are several things that are at least rare in the genre:

1. The Progression System: Pretty free form and open ended, lots of skills and lots of ways to obtain skill points, no hard class system

2. The Combat: Not quite full action combat (because no free-form aiming) but far and away from tab-target MMOs

3. Limited Skill Bar and No Cooldowns: Ties in really well with the first two, but there are far fewer skills available at one time, which makes the choice of each skill slotted more important and strategic. There's also no cooldowns/rotations, everything is resource based.

4. Limited UI: Like an Elder Scrolls game, there's not a bunch of junk on your screen

5. The AI: It sounds like the AI will be innovative (but all devs say this) for the genre. Creatures will work together interactively and the threat mechanics will be more realistic.

6. The Lore: It may sound like a copout, but this is the only MMO with the TES background, history, and setting. That is and should be a selling point for many people.

There's probably more things I'm missing, but the Important thing is that while not any one feature can be completely unique, the particular way they are implemented and the combination of them into one game can still be unique.

Games are holistic experiences. The sum is greater than the parts. Its how all those things work together that really matters.

EDIT:

Like others said:

7. The mount system

8. The megaserver

9. Persistent PvP (meaning the world doesn't reset ever), which again isn't new but is rare

This.

I find gaming much more enjoyable when I can slow down and camp or whatever you want to call it. Makes zones feel like someplace I am in and a part of instead of just hectically running from place to place. Quests are cool. They provide background and story and in a way provide more immersion into the story of the world, but I hope that eventually game companies can evolve the way that they are set-up because the current system most MMO's use now is getting as tired as the grind mobs model.

But on thread topic, I think the coolest new feature is the targeting system. No more click or tab targeting. Fights are more interactive in that character orientation and range to target determine if and who you are hitting.

As others have said, there's almost nothing really NEW in computer games, at the low level of what the elements are, and that applies to SP games as well as MMOs (including all the TES games). But it's all in what elements you pick and how you mix them. Just like cooking... you can take ingredients that every supermarket has and make a dish that's never been tasted before, and is uniquely and surprisingly delicious

In addition to what's been mentioned:

- I think the crafting system has innovative aspects, but can't say more due to NDA.

- Branching phased quests... where you make choices, and your choices have an effect on the world, so the world you see may be different from what other players see. Not brand new with ESO but used far more extensively.

- The particular hybrid of a class system and a free-form skill system; and the hybrid skill development system with a role both for spending points and developing skills through use. Which taken together result in immense flexibility in character development.

- Rewards for exploration... other games have this but more extensive and diverse in ESO. Besides exploration XP, there are tons of things you won't find unless you travel all over the map: skyshards, lore books, questgivers, public dungeons, and a couple of other nifty little secrets to find which I think are still under NDA.

Crafting. It's the only thing I do on MMOs, my wife goes mad at me for how many hours I spend crafting/gathering. I played all big titles in the market. ESO has the most interesting and fun craft system.

Guess I wasn't far enough along in EQ2 to see interactive crafting and or the other games I just see what I see.

There is only a little -if anything- new in ESO. But it is decent mix of modern apporaoch of MMOes(every MMO got "action based" combat these days just as well as world instancing).

new things:

-large shared poll of skills (at least among 25 titles I played none had it)

-no cooldwon (most MMOes goes the other way - almost no resources spent, limited by cooldown)

unqiue things:

- three sided open world PvP (not new but you probably wont find anything like it these days)

The megaserver idea isn't really new or unique unfortunately. It's pretty much a cross between EVEs single giant server and WoWs cross realm zoning.

FFXIV has some pretty interactive crafting, where you need to actually pick and choose abilities as you create something, instead of picking materials from a menu and having them magically turn into an item. So nothing new there either.

I haven't seen skyshards/veteran points to continue character progression going post level cap mentioned, but alas they're very similar to merit points in FFXI, especially the skyshards.

EQ2 had a really cool crafting system. The crafting stations were like little mini games depending on how you did at the game you got better crafting results. I never got far into it though. Unless you went out and got mats yourself it was easy to spend yourself into the poor house trying to level.