Hello!!...This thread is where we can discuss, news, views...Facts, rumours...Hopes, fears...And everything else that you want to about The Elder Scrolls Online that doesn't warrant it's own thread...If you know what I mean... ...

Plus, the other thread was morphing into this anyways... ...

Also...10 000 points to the first person to get the titular reference... ...

Aaaaamywho...

Ere!!...They've announced four of the classes!!...I can't see that they're the only classes, they're a bit too vague and general...But apparently, whatever you choose, you can use everything anyways...So why they bother I dunno...

Anyways, the two I remember are Dragon Knight, and Templar...No points for guessing the one I'm going for to start with... ...

The Dragon Knight is apparently the one for Heavy Armour/Tank with sword types...And the Templar is more for healing while killing types of knights...*Coughofthenine*...

But they sound cool...

Erm...Oh yeah...I forget the names of the other two classes...But they're built one for stealth and one for Mages...

Definately looking forward to it...I just hope the payment thing doesn't rear it's head...Other than paying for DLCs of course...

Give them to me, you ThreeDog/GNR quote thief!

And remember, don´t feed the Yao Guai. That is all

What rhymes with shoes, and often gives you the blues? That's right, it's time for the cashews! Okay, that doesn't really rhyme... How about news?



One of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon?

I have some questions.

Area progression: when a new area gets unlocked as you level up, does that mean there’s no way to return to an older area? Or maybe there’s no real reason to return?

Player housing: I couldn’t find a yes or no on this, just speculation. Anyone know?

Give me the 10,000 points, I get it! All I had to do was look in the mirror and saw two titulars staring back, knew I had the answer right away!

Oh for Mara's sake! *sputter sputter* It doesn't happen often, but that just sprayed diet coke all over my monitor! Curse you and your nice puppies!



On topic: Oh, how do you pause an MMO when you need to go pee or if you need to *grumble* get another diet coke? Never touched an MMO before.

You can return to the area.



No player housing. Zenimax said they might add it after launch, though.

PvP Info:
•When you join a PvP zone, you’ll be scaled up to approximately level 50. You’ll be able to hold your own, but someone who’s actually level 50 have more skills and abilities than you.
•Siege weapons can be purchased using Alliance points, and rams, ballistae, catapults, and trebuchets can be packed up and re-positioned.
•There will be a PvP rankings system. You’ll be able to earn Alliance Ranks which will grant you titles, as well as giving you access to purchase weapons and armor. There’s even a PvP skill line that you’ll be able to gain access to.
•Leveling through PvP will not be on the same pace as PvE leveling, because other players don’t just show up to die.
•Stealth/Sneaking is a factor in PvP, but there are ways to detect it. Damaging a sneaking player will reveal them , as will spells designed for that purpose. Additionally, sneaking using stamina, and therefore going into battle sneaking will put you at a disadvantage.
•NPC villages will be Alliance-neutral, but if you hold the nearby keep, guards will patrol the town, making it safer for you to do business there (But not 100% safe).

Other Game Info:
•Fast travel is in TESO. Once you visit a point called a Wayshrine, you can travel back there from anywhere on the map. If you’re at a Wayshrine, you can go to any other Wayshrine for free. If you’re out in the wild, it will cost you gold – you’ll also be limited in how often you can do this.
•Yes, you’ll be able to make and eat Sweet Rolls and Fishy Sticks.
•You will be able to loot items from houses, crates, barrels and the like. Plans are that respawn rates for loot will be fast enough that you won’t always find empty containers.
•You’ll be able to get most skill lines in the game, with a few exceptions. You can’t be a vampire and a werewolf at the same time, for example, and there are some class/racial exclusives.

The very ones!!...Difficult to guess though, eh?... ...

Microu...Nah, sorry matey...I woke up in the night and realised how lame the reference was anyways...So don't get all that excited for the points... ...

mALX...Its hard not to have noticed from the amount of times you've ripped yer shirt off lately... ...





As for player housing...I'd heard that they were bringing back the ability to break into houses and then take them as your own...Trouble is, as I thought at the time...If everyone in the world chooses your house, that's a lot of people in one house...

Another thing the mag I read mentioned is that the first quest they did was in a town called Wayrest or something...And the story had that another faction was attacking it and in order to save the fellow inhabitants, quests had to be done...And the amount of people saved is directly linked to however many of these minor quests you do...However, this does lead to incidents where your friend's village has NPCs that he can see and you can't, having saved more people than you...

I also wonder how you pause in-game...

And in-game saving...Are you likely to be able to save anywhere at anytime, go off and do something and pick it back up from where you left off?...Or is that not how MMOs work?...I've never played one either...

Shirts are optional at casa mALX!

http://www.twitch.tv/bethesda/b/439743009?t=40m49s

New gameplay video. Best video yet.

Watching now.

Faction lock is in. (I sound like a broken record, but I really want that Argonian. The lock is going to make guildbuilding a bit harder to say the least)


Controls look good. Compass looks lifted from Skyrim which ain't too bad. (only flaw I have with Skyrim's is that icons already pop up when the location is still far far away.)

Talk about blocking and attacking sounds familiar, even if it isn't all that applicable to a bow. (Non full-power attacks with bows are a waste of time)

Guar is pronounced as Gore? Huh, I always thought it was Goe-war.

Skills level by use. Good.
They're also linked to guilds now? I wonder how much the guilds actually do. Are they actual organizations with bases and quests or just a name on a skilltree. That said, it sounds more morrowindish. Morrowind's skill-based rank-unlocking was a bit awkward, but I liked how you actually had to be good at your supposed job. In Oblivion and Skyrim you can pretty much become Arch-mage barbarian who can't count to two or the conjuring Fighter's guildmaster who can't lift a paperweight.


Fast travel results in a horse animation? Nice but if they really want to impress, make it a Guar. The vid is supposed to be in Morrowind. (extraneous detail, but dangit, they're cuter than horses.)
It looks like weapons can be hotkeyed. That's nice.


Classes aren't limited in their choice of weapon or armour or skills it seems. Good to hear, but why have classes then in the first place?


Exploring gives xp. In other words, you can level (poorly) by being a tourist!

Yes. We can just call them perks. Perks for guilds, perks for race, armor, class, weapons and if you become a vampire or a werewolf. This I like. We have so much to level up on!

Agreed. One of the developers said in an interview about why there are no horses in Morrowind and he said the land is inhospiratable for creatures such as horses because of the ash and flora and because the Dunmer see them as a delicious meal. I wondered why there was a horse running around when a guar( I thought it was pronounced Guu Wuar) in the game.

Looks good. Making me look forward to it more and more everytime I see something new.

I thought it was pronounced Gwar, just like the band.

Me too.

Wow...That's not like Bethesda to change stuff... ...

Oh wait... ....

Fallout 3 does this too. You get experience points every time you discover a location.

1.You can do other faction zones but you must first complete your own faction zone and you'll only see other people from your faction.

7.They're like an archtype,in your build will you be using magic at all?Then you should probaly choose the magic class to get bonuses to maic.

8.That's a bit like WoW,you don't get much but it's nice that you get a little bit of reward for exploration.

It's now confirmed,that ES:O will be 15 dollars a month subscription.

This isn't smart,we've seen with TERA,The Secret World and The Old Republic that subscriptions fees don't work unless you're WoW.

Oh well, that'll be that done for then... ...

Will. Not. Pay. For. Stuff...Cannot afford £500 a year for all the family to be able to play...Which is what it'll end up as...

Well, won't pay for stuff barring DLCs for existing games of course... ...

Just wait,I'll be suprised if it lasts.

Well servers are not cheap, nor the data centers that host them, or the admins that maintain them. Zenimax/Bethesda is going to need some way to generate the money to continue offering the service. So that is either going to be a monthly subscription, micro-transactions where you have to buy all the good things in the game with real world money, or a crap version of the game that is only free for the first x levels in one or two zones, then you have to pay a subscription to get higher level/get to the cool places. One way or another, you are going to have to pay.

And yet, those ones that are doing that Destiny thing are insisting that it's going to be free forever...Having used the money from Halo to pay, in advance, for all the servers...

Therefore Bethesda could easily divert some of the profits from Skyrim into paying for the servers etc and you'll make far more money from the sales of the ESO game overall...From people who will just run to the game as it's free...Plus any from the undoubted DLC packs and, as you say, any micro-transactions...

Why no one realises that if you charge less in the first place, you'll make more money in the end...as more people can afford to buy a cheaper thing...*Shrug*...

Well,they do intend on going for as long as WoW probaly,which is 8 years.

Alot of people buying a cheap box price isn't gonna keep servers up for 8 or so years,but sub fees will.

Also Skyrim money,is Beths money,I don't think they want to give it to Zenimax,even if they did they probaly STILL couldn't afford to keep servers up for a long time.

All I have seen is that Bungie said it won't be a monthly subscription fee. So that means micro transactions or some other way to get money out of players. Using the earnings from Halo is not going to keep them afloat. It will give them operating capital to start with, but it won't keep them going forever. That is just robbing Peter to pay Paul. It gets you bankrupt in the end.

Bungie - Thank you Subrosa - said the story will play out over 10 years...

And I maintain that the server time is already booked, paid for and any fluctuations accounted for...

I'm pretty sure all this has been in the various x-box/Playstation mags over the last few months...

Yes, SR you are right...It's all about the microtransaction and paid-for extra content...But they also say that anyone will be able to do well enough without if they wish...

I agree about the robbing Peter thing, but, if the money's already gone, and it was all already free profit sort of thing, then any money they get from Destiny is (when the development costs and wages etc is done) profit...And if they're right about how FPS people are likely to react when they get into the game...It sounds like easy money...

Hell, I don't do FPS really...Well, not Halo, CoW etc...Does Fallout count?...Anyways, even I'm wondering about it...



I'm not talking about charging virtually nothing for it...

But at the mo they're talking £55 for it brand new...Dunno what that is in dollars...Probably $60-$70...Now I don't know about you or your parents Impy, but £55 is a hell of a lot for me to shell out for a game that I may get bored of...And I work many many hours for reasonable money...

However...£35-£40 is within the realms of "Hell yeah!" and have it sit on the side without too much grief from the wife... ...

So when the ESO people say they're going to charge for it...It's hugely disappointing...Yes, 20 levels free and then pay may be the way it goes...

But charging £15 (which it will be in the UK...None of this exchange-rate mullarky...) likely per person, per month...There's no way we can afford that for four of us...We'd have to be on it all the time...All day...in order to justify that sort of money...Which we won't anyways...

And it's not worth starting it in the first place if we're going to have to give up eventually...It's not worth the money at - more than likely - £55...

So that's one game sale from me down...How many others would have bought the game, just to try it, if there'd been no hint of subscriptions?...Microtransactions don't bother me...I did enough on the ACIII multiplayer...So I'd do so again...I'd even buy the kids and the wife a PSN card to get some stuff if they wished...But a constant £60 a month, just to play...Nah...

Oh, and Elder Scrolls is Bethesda's baby isn't it?...Zenimax may have made (and will run) the game, but it'll still be Bethesda's profits...Zenimax just built the damned thing...All I'm saying is that Bethesda could do more to make more and all that, in the long term...

Even 55 pounds per box copy wouldn't be enough to run the Mega-Servers for 8 years.

They have to use some money to create new content,hire voice actors,hire coders,hire artists.

MMOs are THE most expensive games you can make and are just as,if not more,expensive to maintain for long periods of time.

Yes, I know how business works... ...

And therefore...If there's the slightest chance you can't make it work...Then you shouldn't...

From what I hear, paid-for MMOs are hemorrhaging users...It is unsustainable...

Make it all free to play, and even the most casual of users may pick it up cheap from a shop...

Business people are just getting too greedy these days and it can't be done...They have to start thinking differently and not rely on the old model of charging more money to make it from less people...

Word

While I do know that everything that needs to be maintained has a prize, I´d also like to know where the line goes between enough to keep maintaining while making a decent profit, and just blind greed. A lower prize in the store attracts more players, that can´t be argued. What they can do to keep bringing in cash from the same players is having them pay for both minor and major upgrades and perhaps higher levels, much the same as when you buy a DLC. (Of course the game should be 100% playable without those upgrades and levels.)

Idk... What I do know though is that when the TESO box hits the store, I´ll be there with my collector´s gloves

I can't explain how excited I am now. Finally, after so long, we finally get some information on werewolves.

Yes, I am definitely buying it once it comes out.

"The werewolf’s model and combat animations need to convey a sense of unrestrained savagery. Werewolves use their incredible strength to leap through the air towards their unfortunate targets; they devour them with fervor. They often hunt in packs, destroying everything they can hunt down. We used references like video of hyenas gorging on a zebra to get the feel just right, adding touches like bloodstains on the muzzle after a good feast.

In the game, you’ll find that the abilities in the werewolf skill line work together, allowing you to take advantage of interactions that amplify the thrill of the hunt, making you a more efficient killer and even extending your blood frenzy. All of the abilities put you in the role of the hunter—always in control and right on the heels of your prey."

I WANT WEREBEARS AND WERELIONS AN' STUFF! Also: Edge?

You heard it here folks.

http://www.amazon.com/forum/video%20games?...=Tx5AIH8V0N7E9Y

http://i.imgur.com/VXno9hg.jpg?1

I'm not gonna play the game, but I could seriously buy that...

The molag bal statuette and full map of tamriel... *Drools*

New cinematic trailer is here. Am I the only one excited? I think I am.

New info: We can now choose any race and join any of the three factions. If you preordet.

Oh, I will so get that!

Interesting, I may be preordering soon...

Actually I´m having second thoughts now. What does the regular version contain?

Interesting, when you pre-order the game, not only can you play as an Imperial in any of the alliances, but you can play any race in any of the alliances as well.

Well, got a beta key. So I'll be seeing what's up soon. Of course, as soon as I sign the nda-agreement I can't say anything anymore. Which would be right about....now.

I think the NDA has been lifted as of Friday. My username isn't plastered all over my screen and videos aren't being stripped from YouTube... so I would say everyone can talk away.

NDA is officially lifted now.

Lots of stuff here for the curious: http://esohead.com/

Those that played the beta, what did you think? I enjoyed it, but... they have a lot of work to do. Lots of bugged quests.

It was...not my cup of thea. Apart from the occasional lockup when exiting dialogue, I didn't notice any real bugs though that one was annoying enough.

I do have to give the game credit for trying. Trying to be a mixture between a single player ES game ala Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim, and a more traditional mmo in the vein of you name it. (I was gonna say World of Warcraft but given that I haven't played even a second of it I'm not going to risk being wrong.)
That said, trying is the key word. I honestly think they should have picked one or the other. The combat system for example tries to be the one we've gotten used to since Oblivion. Moving, block beats regular attack beats power attack beats block. But there are three critical flaws in the online version's attempt.

The first of these is the lack of collision-boxes. Players, Npcs and generic respawning critters can all run right through each other. This makes judging distance much harder than I'm used to and I ended up just standing still so the AI wouldn't freak out and we could proceed to slap each other in the face without having an odd merging accident.

The second problem is latency. Even the slightest bit will end up making power attacks or blocks not connect or a dodge fail to trigger. Finally, the third is impact. Because the game has to deal with the aforementioned lack of collision boxes and latency, you don't get the satisfying recoil feel when an attack interacts with a block. There is a third factor to this as well. In the single-player games the AI only had to focus on one enemy, you. But now there could be half a dozen players jumping around and attacking the same target. Who should it aim its animations at? Sure, TES games aren't known for their animation quality, but they do manage to give a nice feel of first-person combat. ESO doesn't. At least not for me.

One animation pro I have to give for it is jumping and landing. This game has the best I've seen in the series by far.


But back to the bad stuff because I am a horribly depressing pessimist. As an mmo you can expect to be surrounded by dozens of other players. I know that. And I admit that everyone, at least as far as I got, fit into the world much better than in some mmos I've tried. Visually speaking I mean. Players look just like Npcs. Which can be a bit of a problem at times, but I like it. The bad part is that the game isn't designed to take the masses of wannabe heroes into account. Gotta sneak into an office to get some dirt on someone? Expect four more players to be jumping over the bed. Gotta go into this temple and fight a boss? Find out that said boss is well and truly contained by half a dozen elven women and the quest completes before you can lift a finger or get your bearings. Sure, the bad guy respawns three times before you can walk out of the door, but mob of fellow heroes saves the day again and again.

That was more immersion breaking than I'd thought it would be.



And finally I'll give my verdict. Worth the box price and the sub on top of that? No, not if you ask me. One or the other and I might consider it. Heck know I've had worse impulse buys. But both and at this rate? Nopes.

The worst criticism I can give to it isn't the off-feeling combat mechanics or the hyperactive mob, but sheer tedium. At the end of the beta weekend I had not even finished the first tutorial island (after the escape from the underworld), and I was bored out of my skull. I couldn't find anything to do but run from point a to point b and the insane respawn rates and density of hostiles that come with an mmo meant that my usual tourist-sightseeing kept being interupted. I tried crafting at the end of the weekend and despite having grabbed every thing that wasn't nailed down and having kept them all in my inventory, I still didn't have enough for a nice shirt or pants.

It's an mmo I guess. The only way to enjoy it is with friends to talk and joke with while you run around.




PS: And despite my overly negative judgement, that Imperial edition is still winking at me. I love my artbooks and want to see Hammerfell badly. That impulse buy might still be coming.

Interesting, I did not have very much trouble with that actually, the whole thing with collision boxes.


I do agree here with latency. I did like the more active combat than other MMOs offer, but there is that issue with latency. I personally did not experience too much during the beta, and when I did I was usually running around.

I know what you are talking about with the attacks too. For me it came and went actually. Sometimes it had that “solid feel” and others it did not. The abilities never had that feeling though, probably because they are key triggered and less active.


Agreed. Animations were for the most part, good.


I was hugely distracted with the hordes of players running around as well, especially the ones that simply take the shortest distance from point A to point B. It would have been far better if people actually tried to look normal rather than just jumping off of cliffs, bridges, off of buildings, ect.

I already pre-ordered, so I will be playing it, but I will probably wait to really start playing after the first few weeks or so, just so that those quest objectives aren’t mobbed all the time.


I participated in a few betas, and you figure out how to pass through the beginning sections more quickly. The second area is far more interesting. I do admit though, it is not nearly as interesting to just explore in this game as it is in the single player games.

ESRB gives us some insight on why ESO is rated M(thank goodness).

Bethesda announced in January that its upcoming subscription-based MMO The Elder Scrolls Online had received an M-for-Mature rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a determination the company did not agree with--despite every other recent entry in the series being M-rated--but would not challenge.

Now, the ESRB product description for The Elder Scrolls Online has been published publicly, giving insight into why the game earned an M-rating. The ESRB's main content descriptors note that the game contains "Blood and Gore, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence."

But it's the ESRB's complete ratings summary that sheds a better light on the M-rating. As you can read in the below text, The Elder Scrolls Online features sexual innuendo in its dialogue ("In his mind, she would be the sheath to every knight's blade"), bloody depictions of severed heads, and drinking games that result in the character's blurred vision and impaired speech.

"This is a multiplayer online role-playing game in which players assume the role of a warrior in the fantastical world of Nirn. As players explore open-world environments, they can perform various quests and complete tasks. Characters use swords, arrows, axes, and magic attacks (e.g., lightning, fire attacks) to kill human-like and fantastical enemies (e.g., orcs, demons, giant insects). Players engage in melee-style combat, hacking and slashing at various enemies; battles are highlighted by cries of pain, impact sounds, and blood splashes. Some sequences depict large amounts of blood streaming up-close as vampires attack/feed on characters. In some quests players have the ability to mount creatures' severed heads onto pikes; some environments depict corpse piles or skeletons hanging from torture devices. Text descriptions or dialogue sometimes contain references to sexual material and/or innuendo (e.g., “She...raped the men as cruelly as Bal had ravished her”; “In his mind, she would be the sheath to every knight's blade”; “No sweetmeat for you”; But it is huge! It could take me all night!”). During the course of the game, alcohol (i.e., wine, mead, ale) can be purchased and consumed by the central character; one sequence prompts players to engage in a drinking contest, resulting in the central character's blurred vision/slurred speech."

And if ESO has skooma in it like the other ES games, you can add depictions of drug use as well.

Anyone want a beta key for this weekend?

Why thank goodness?

For the first time I just saw an add for ESO when I clicked to watch a youtube video!

Did they put spell creation in ESO? .. It's been my feeling that since the #1 complaint of Skyrim was lack of spell creation that in the next ES game we'd have this back.