I started another thread in this forum about occult stuff but I got a little too ambitious, I'm afraid. Should have written Kahreem up first. I'll continue that one's OP eventually.

For now though, what do you think will appear in Elder Scrolls 6? I'm going to put some predictions now, you all can do the same, and let's see if we're right or wrong, eh?

1). Spellmaker will return, definitely. Because that was the #1 complaint back in 2011 about Skyrim. I personally never missed spell making myself, but good lord I remember the feedback from lack of.

2). Mix 'n' match armor / clothing sets will also return. Because that was the #2 complaint (from what I remember). Fallout 4 has definitely shown that Beth even got away from 1-piece suits, and I think they'll further this with ES6 for sure. I hesitate to predict pauldrons will make a return, but from what I've heard FO4 has the character able to wear different things on different sides of his/her body?

3). I think it'll be in High Rock primarily, but not just High Rock. I think it'll be in more than one province, maybe High Rock and Hammerfell. I'm just going by what was seen in the ES6 Trailer. To me, that looks like a northern clime.

That's all for now!

Hmmm....interesting proposition. I'll make a prediction I hope is wrong. I predict ES6 will NOT be major change of direction from the Oblivion/Skyrim formula. We had Arean/Daggerfall, which for all their differences were cast from the same mold. Morrowind was vastly different from those two early entries. Oblivion was hugely different from Morrowind, while Skyrim was more or less an outgrowth of its immediate predecessor. By all rights ES6 should be vastly different from Oblivion/Skyrim, for good or ill. I just don't see that happening. I think its destined to continue down the same path, certainly with lots of differences, but those familiar with Oblivion and/or Skyrim will feel right at home with EQ6. Skyrim was just too popular for them to want to risk rocking the boat too strenuously.

Another predication. Whether EQ6 rocks the boat or not, it will most definitely NOT fulfill my fondest desire for a game-world the save of Daggerfall's. I again hope I'm wrong, but just don't see it.

Here is Khajiit’s TES6 prediction: we won’t see it until the mid 2020’s.

Things Khajiit is expecting:
1. Fallout4-ish armor system (it was pretty good, IMO).
2. A return of the settlement system in some form or another (hopefully with a greatly reduced emphasis; they went a bit overboard in Fallout4).
3. An enhanced crafting system that will allow us to tailor weapons and armor to our characters‘ playstyles.
4. A built in Survival mode

Things Khajiit wants:
1. Improved combat system
2. Improved stealth system
3. Improved economy
4. Improved story with consequences depending on your actions
5. No voiced protagonist!!!
6. Horses with mounted combat
7. In depth alchemy
8. Return of spears
9. Cooking that matters (see #4 under Expectations)

I expect this:
A simplified combat system
A simplified stealth system
A simplified economy
A simplified story with no consequences to any action you take
A voiced protagonist
No horses or mounted combat
No alchemy
No spears
Cooking that is not as good as using the healing spell every character gets at the start of the game.
Removing the perk system. There will just be the three attributes of Health, Magicka, and Stamina.

Lol, but that last one seems really pessimistic. BGS loves perks! Honestly, we will probably get a better idea of what TES6 is going to look like after Starfield is released.

I doubt we'll have a fully voiced protagonist unless they're going to voice every race. Or maybe one voice actor will be the same for all humanoid races, but I doubt it.

I have a feeling that many things will be copied from Fallout 4, which is good, like more dynamic animations, improved character appearance, rain not passing through solid objects, etc.

I also hope the main quest won't feel so rushed, like going from point A to point B is extremely important to do immediately, but that's probably not going to happen.

I don't mind getting TES VI released a few years later, if it means that they won't need to cut out a lot of content.

Oh, good, someone already brought the salt for me. :v

Truth be told I don't have high hopes for TES VI, but then I resigned myself to not even touching the game until it was "complete" (as in all the DLC and such are released), and even then it would have to really "wow" me. I could list a lot of things I wish came with the game, though, in spite of how unrealistic they may be to expect from Bethesda.

If Starfield isn’t good, Khajiit will probably have to take a hard look at getting TES6. BGS games definitely aren’t the preorder games they once were, for this one.

Pretty sure Todd Howard already said somewhere that the voiced protagonist won't return. It didn't go the way they hoped it would.

I have high hopes for VI, simply because of the amount of time they have in between. Even though Starfield is coming first, you can bet your sweet roll that they have been planning VI in some capacity since V released. And now that 76 is done, the developer teams only have Starfield and VI to worry about.

I definitely see the Fallout armor system coming to VI, and it will be excellent when it does. Having each piece separate makes for excellent customization.

Combat will definitely improve. They've already stated that a new animation system will be used in Starfield and VI, so combat will likely have a very different feel from V.

An expanded Hearthfire/settlement system will most likely be in, but not anywhere near as drastic as FO4. Tamriel isn't a wasteland that needs rebuilt. But being able to customize houses on land plots, or even decorate city homes yourself would be awesome in The Elder Scrolls.

TBH, I don't see any kind of economy system coming. But who knows what they can do with their engine and our hardware by that time.

I'm all in for Survival mode, as Khajiit stated. And cooking that matters goes hand-in-hand with that, since you need to be able to eat to survive.

I know it was tounge-in-cheek, but I doubt Alchemy goes away. It'd be nice if they brought back the portable kits, though. Being able to mix potions on the go was cool in Oblivion.

Hm, spears are tricky, but I could see it. They did add the pole hook in Far Harbor, which is pretty damn close to a spear.

I'm curious to see if they bring back weapon/armor degradation with a new system for that. FO76 has it, but that may only be because it is a game about surviving. We'll have to see how gimmicky it is in 76, because it downright sucks in FO3.

---------------------------------

As for location; I really want it to be Hammerfell.

Ah, see I forgot this one. I'm predicting 2020, for two reasons. #1, it's a catchy year, and I predict a catchy date, i.e. 11/11/11 for Skyrim and 04/04/14 for Elder Scrolls Online. #2 the next gen consoles will (hopefully) be out by then. That is what they've been waiting for, according to Hines. I'll have to dig up the interview with him at some point, but according to what I read, they did not feel there was enough of a difference between the Xbox 360 to Xbox 1, and PS3 to PS4. The next generation will be a greater jump in technology.

I tend to be an optimist about this stuff. I'm going to have a blast when 6 comes out, on the night it's released. I probably won't do quests, I'll be exploring mostly, just like I did on 11/11/11. I know most of you will wait for patches and stuff, so I might just be the only resident beta tester.

Honestly, this one is expecting Starfield in 2020. Earlier there was an interview with... Khajiit believes it was The Todd, and he said they had 2 major projects to release before they start full development on TES6. Those were revealed to be 76 and Starfield at this year’s BE3 event. Not trying to rain on your parade, just presenting what little evidence we have.

No parade, and I happen to love rain, so we'll see.

Thanks for your input, everyone.

I can see VI coming sooner than we think. The studio team has grown exponentially in recent years.

Yeah but part of the team is working on mobile games. The rest are working on Starfield which this one isn’t expecting till 2020, next year at the absolute earliest. Then there’s also the fact that they are wanting to wait to develop TES6 on the newest hardware. So yeah, Khajiit would be shocked if we see 6 before the mid 2020’s.

They also said they've been working with console developers for what hardware is to come, and Sony recently announced that they won't be at E3 in 2019. If they unveil a new console at their own event in 2019, it's possible that they could release it by the holiday season.

Who knows....maybe Starfield becomes a launch title and TES VI comes as soon as 2020 0r 2021.

Lol, that’s very optimistic, but Khajiit does hope you are right! Time will tell.

If mid 20's, the time frame between is too long for the amount of people they have now.

Yeah 76 just released, but I believe the Austin studio is supporting that from here on out, which means the regular guys are full at it on Starfield.

Don’t forget that some folks are working on Blades too

I think Montreal works on the mobile games.

I'm wondering what direction they'll go with armour. In Morrowind there were multiple layers, and separate right/left items, and the number of slots has steadily reduced ever since. Skyrim removed the cuirass/greaves separation, so will this continue, and you'll only get a full outfit with all-matching parts? ESO is confusing in this, as it has one-piece costumes, but separates cuirass/greaves/pauldrons.

Some of the consideration will be how many enchantments an outfit should hold, and enchantments are what generally distinguishes the special items from the regular. That feature won't go away soon.

Distinct weapon types need distinct animations, and so there's always a desire to reduce that cost by simplifying. We already lost any difference between one-handed weapons, and axes, blunts, and swords all get swung the same way all the time. I don't expect polearms, as there won't be a single animation that covers both spears and longhammers.

I hope they don't follow ESO down the path of minimising the weapon and replacing the damage-dealing with "skills" that are effectively spells involving the weapons only tangentially.

It's somewhat hard to separate some of the things I want from what I predict. In general, I am confident I will very much enjoy it and find some great ideas, but some ideas will be half-baked and some will be downright puzzling.

Some of the major things I feel at least somewhat confident predicting:
1) Improved companion and other NPC interactions and dialogue: Say what you will about Fallout 4's shortcomings, but Bethesda seriously stepped up their game in companion interactions and the sheer amount of unique dialogue. That being said, the dialogue choices in interacting with other NPCs were often lacking (not to mention the often-aggravating fact that you don't see exactly what your character is going to say for each option until they say it). I think Bethesda will be able to fix much of that issue.
2) More varied weapon/armor selection and customizability: As much as I adore TES (it is my favorite series), one of my major gripes is the mostly gradual reduction in weaponry available as the series has gone on. With what I saw in Fallout 4, I think Bethesda will at least somewhat rectify that. The mods you can put on weapons will likely extend to TES as well, obviously tailored to the game world.
3) The province will be Hammerfell: The craggy look from that teaser looks like badlands from Hammerfell to me. I'd be all for Hammerfell because it is a really interesting province and has perhaps the most varied landscape in Tamriel (Elsweyr comes close). It wasn't my first choice, but I am perfectly fine with it as long as Bethesda realizes its potential.
4) No voiced protagonist: Bethesda has said that it didn't work out the way they hoped, and either way I couldn't imagine it being extended to TES. The races are too varied to reasonably enough voice acting suited for them. I did enjoy the voiced protagonist in Fallout 4, but that's mostly because the voice acting was really good.
5) More fleshed-out faction questlines: Skyrim was sorely lacking in this department, and the cut content clearly showed. The College of Winterhold, while I still loved it, could have been the best faction questline in the entire series if they implemented all that they intended (I assume that the Augur of Dunlain and the Collapse of Winterhold were supposed to be more fleshed out and integrated into the questline, but I can't prove it). There was wasted potential elsewhere too.
6) Greater variety of spells effects and functions: Morrowind had the best variety of spell effects in the series, but the dice-roll system was garbage, similar spells didn't stand out at all (e.g. fireball vs. somewhat bigger fireball), and there was an annoying wind-up for every spell that was even more annoying if the spell failed. Skyrim sorely lacked variety in effects but was by far the best in their actual functionality (e.g. fire bolt vs. fire rune vs. fire cloak, etc.). TESVI could easily have the best spell system if they take the best of both worlds.

That's all I can think of for now. I never ever preorder games, but for TESVI I will consider it. It is not guaranteed, however. This is my favorite series, but I will have to try not to hype myself up too much. Getting too hyped always needs to disappointment no matter how good a product is.

I think they'll continue what they did in Fallout 4. All armor are separate pieces that are worn over outfits or clothes.
Headgear
Chest
Left arm
Right arm
Left leg
Right leg

Agreed. This will be the first TES game that I won't pre-order. Same with Fallout 76; even though they have offered pre-orders to be Beta testers. (a first for Bethesda to give you any kind of reward for pre-ordering; which is why I ended up cancelling my pre-order for Fallout 4).

Between Acadian and SubRosa's sage advice; I've learned to hold off on my excitement and wait to see what I'm getting before buying the games;

*nods in agreement to SubRosa's post above*

Agreed. They have started trending toward becoming linear; and they are gearing them toward younger and younger audiences to try and gain a larger mass appeal. The herding and dumbed down game takes away so much of the roleplay aspects their games used to have that was the main reason I loved them so much.

I wish they would get back to the games they used to produce 20 years ago; but with today's graphics engines/animations/etc.

My wish list:

* MUST improve on the CharGen; including not restricting the ages of our characters like they did in Skyrim.

* Better/more realistic animations outside of combat without a modder having to come in and fix them. (EX: Skyrim NPC females).

* Intricate Spell Making/Enchanting/and Alchemy like they had in previous games (and dropped in Skyrim).

* Mounted combat

* Most definitely different consequences for different choices the player makes (aka: Fallout New Vegas style)

* Provisioning that matters and food that looks edible (without a mod having to make it look tasty).

* Built in Survival modes that are subtle = like the character slows down and pants when tired or hungry; or NPC's don't like you as well if you are dirty, etc. (not a big written sign across your screen that you need to eat or bathe).

* Lighted windows, smoking chimneys, houses whose exteriors match the interiors, and possibly windows you can see out of in certain locations.

* Better companions/better dialogues with companions.

* Better stealth options for Players.

* Much better quests, much better questlines. Skyrim dropped the ball A LOT on questlines when compared to Oblivion's.

* A Construction Set/Creation Kit/Geck style editor and free modding through sites of our choice; not just Steam.

I know they CAN do these things because modders have made mods for their previous games with all these things; it is just a matter of if they will or not.

I don't know about predictions but I do have a wish list:

Vastly increase the mass and scale/size of the game up to ESO size so Buffy can live there for years.

Improve companions. I'm encouraged by what the Skyrim modders did and how Bethesda learned and incorporated much of that into Serana (Dawnguard DLC).

Avoid the horrible hand micromanagement that I had to mod out of Skyrim. In Oblivion when Buffy wanted to cast a spell, she used her free arrow hand and simply cast the spell while keeping her bow in her bow hand. In Skyrim she had to unequip bow, equip spell, squeeze (charge?) spell, cast spell, reequip bow. If I could not have modded that out Skyrim would have been a two week rage quit game.

Character creation - ESO is a nice model where you can easily make great looking characters.

A game that easily accepts mods so playing becomes the focus instead of maintaining a heavily modded game being the focus.

A user friendly Construction Set/Kit.

Solid command console commands to include freezing things to take 'action' screenshots (like TFC 1).

Mounted combat would be very nice.

Improve horse management - learn from the Skyrim mod 'Convenient Horses'.

Learn from Dawnguard that if you complete a guild questline you don't always have to become the guild master. Being the guild master (administrator) of any guild is not compatible with being a questing adventuress.

*derp, didn’t read most recent posts*


Yeah Khajiit suspects it’ll be very similar. This one actually really likes the armor system in Fallout4. In this one’s opinion, it’s the best armor system Bethesda has instituted since TES3. There will probably be a slot for mods and then another slot for enchantments.

My guess is that they won't stray too far from the way Skyrim works. It's proved to be hugely popular and altering a winning formula too much would be a mistake.

ESO's use of skills is really just because it's an mmo. Bethesda are...not very good at making combat, so will likely want to stick with what they already have as much as possible for ES6.
The perk system is where I see any potential simplification being done, as that keeps getting chopped down in both ES and Fallout titles. I can see stuff like lockpicking losing perk trees, or stuff like smithing and alchemy being combined into a single 'crafting' tree.

I really really hope they drastically improve their engine, or make a new one. Fallout 76 has shown Creation to be an old, janky mess and I think we can stop giving Bethesda a free pass for bugs and glitches when other studios now make similarly (or more) massive and ambitious games with a fraction of the issues (I will go insane if I see ES6 articles about all the 'fun' or 'quirky' bugs that people end up finding).

I also agree with Acadian's wish for nice looking characters. If I have to go back to Skyrim-tier Elves from the beautiful ESO-tier elves I will be supremely disappointed.

In ESO the "Outfits" are completely different from the armor; they are not armor at all, but "Disguises." They are one piece so you can wear them over your armor for appearances sake only, they give you no protection whatsoever (ask Jerric! )

The armor in ESO is 7 pieces. (Head, chest, waist, legs, feet, hands, and shoulders). You can also enchant your 3 jewelry pieces for added benefits = 2 rings and a necklace.

Also, the Skills don't replace the weapon damage at all; you can fight without them (you have to use just weapons through a lot of the tutorial dungeon before you level up and can sink points into your Skill lines).

The Skills are more like magic spells; they just improve your chances of victory or surviving. I have a Dragon Knight on my son's game that skipped the tutorial = she has absolutely no Skills right now; and the game just gave her the same greatsword and slave outfit she would have gotten if she had done the tutorial. She has had to fight spiders several times. It takes her longer to kill them than it would if she had spells; and she takes a lot more hits than she might if she used the spells/skills = but she is still able to kill them without the spells. A bigger enemy may kill her before she could kill them if she doesn't use her spells/Skills (or at least she would need to use some healing).

But your bringing this up does remind me of something they used to have that I hope they add to the next game:

* Different fighting styles that you can raise up and become adept in = like Unarmed; or pure Mages.









YES!!! To both of these!!!

I want polearms dammit! Bring back polearms!!

Todd already stated that the Creation Engine isn't going to be replaced, but updated like they always do.

He did say a brand new animation system will be used, though.

I hope they do a better job on the animations; Skyrim's animations felt like a step backwards imho.

I hope better combat comes with it. More than just swing left, right, or down.

We probably won't have to worry about that, since it only works that way in ESO because it's an MMO.

Related to that, though, I'm a little concerned about the art direction for the next game. Adam Adamowicz, one of the artists involved in TES since Shivering Isles and all the way up to Skyrim died several years back. His stuff is...[censored] fantastic IMO, and it's a terrible shame that he's gone now.

With the art style they chose to go with in ESO and Legends (which, tbqh, I loathe in some areas), I'm a little worried that's what we'll get for the next one. And if not, then take a look at pre-SI Oblivion, which has the blandest art direction out of all the games after the "reboot" brought by the Redguard/Morrowind era.

They still have the other person, though, so maybe there's hope.

(Once again, I throw in my vote for ESO's character creator.)

Well, along those lines...I know it's never going to happen, but I think one of the few things that Arena excelled in compared to all the other games is the amount of customization of magical item accessories. I would love to see that return. Don't just give me rings and amulets. I want bracers, bracelets, torcs, belts, marks, and crystals. Again, never going to happen. Just wishful thinking on my part.


But for things that I actually predict, I agree here with the pieces of armor we will see (along with greaves, but I'm sure you meant to include those too). And I think it is the right balance for armor.

And probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't really get why we should be able to wear certain outfits over our armor like in Morrowind. It seems a bit ridiculous to me. I suppose having the reverse would be more sensible (armor over robes), but I think that kind of defeats the purpose of strategically choosing between the defense of armor and the magical superiority of robes.

In Fallout4 “greaves” are included in leg armor. The light armor is just a shin guard type piece (which is what greaves were originally IRL), and the heavier armor adds a thigh piece.

I am concerned about the location for the game. Are they really going to go for High Rock? Oh man- I have had enough with rocks and mountains to last a life time. One of my pet gripes with Skyrim is the lack of freedom in the game- those mountains just end up funneling you in the direction they want you to go and the roads are so boring after the 1000 trip.

Hammerfell would not be so bad, with only mountains on the N/NE border. Plus it would have some nice sea-side towns with docks and trade. The battles against the Akaviri and Nordic pirates would be cool. I would enjoying exploring the domes and mosaics- it would be a bit Assassin Creed.

However; my preference would still be the beast folk of Valenwood, Elsweyr or Black Marsh. I am over human/mer conflict and would enjoy learning about the cultures of other creatures. Plus the game world would be open to explore in every direction and would give me the awesome Oblivion experience again of complete map freedom.

I think we'll get more pieces than we had in Skyrim, not as many as Morrowind though.


I think we'll see more animations too. I don't know about all of what you've listed here, but according to Hines, one of the reasons they did not release ES during the past few years was because they've been waiting for the next generation of consoles to come out. Which only means "more" (hopefully) not "the same as...."






Me too. I'd love to see a southern locale. Part of me thinks Bethesda purposely flew that camera over a rocky-looking area to confuse us.

As much as Khajiit would love to see Elsweyr, Valenwood, or Black Marsh, this one just doesn’t have confidence that BGS could do them justice. Hammerfell is probably the safest province for BGS to do, so that’s where Khajiit is kind of expecting. It would be nice to be proven wrong though.

I hope Khajiit gets to see that one's (His?) homeland. Beth has done desert environments before. It's not really the environment that's the challenge though; it's the cat-people. The NPCs. They'd have to be significantly different from human or elves in some ways. They've mostly played side-roles in earlier games; so the idea would be to see some sort of really wide range of behaviors now that they'd be the main focus of the game.

For instance, in Skyrim the main idea with people was "most of them are downtrodden, weather-beaten, even depressed, and most of them try to get the main protagonist (us) to do things for them." But they can't always follow this same formula for cat-people. Cats in general, real cats, have a lot of different personalities. Some are sit-by-the-radiator-until-my-owner-gets-home, then I'll beg for food, while others are totally hyper and always demanding attention. I'd sort of expect this range of behaviors from Khajiiti in the game.

The main thing which ties all cats together though is their independence. Other than food or occasional attention, they aren't going around relying on humans as much. A lot of them are downright standoffish! I'd expect Khajiiti in game would follow this sort of formula in some ways. Not that they're going around ignoring us all the time, until it gets to be time to beg for food, but that they're not so dependent on us to solve all their problems, the way at lot of NPCs in Skyrim are.

I'm nowhere near an expert on what sort of lore goes on in Elsweyr though, so far as how they behave. Maybe I'm way off-base.

Even in ESO we have yet to visit true Elsweyr (Reaper’s March is basically a boarder area of Valenwood that happens to incorporate a small portion of Khajiit territory), but we have seen Khajiit in important leadership roles. Most of them are quite amiable but get business done when necessary. That said, the Khajiit in the current main game timeline are in a bad spot. They are under the thumb of the Thalmor and so must be careful in their dealings with other non Khajiiti. This one would imagine they might be quite taciturn when we finally meet them.

They painted themselves into a corner with the Khajiit sub-races, as if they ever set a game there, we'd all expect to be able to play most of them. I don't think you'd ever get to play as a quadruped, so it's not quite as many as it could be. I could almost see a game where Khajiit is your only option, but you could pick Suthay, Olmes, etc. in chargen. But adding them all in on top of the other races would be too many.

Ditto with lore declaring much of Black Marsh as too inhospitable for the non-Argonian races. ESO has taken us only to the edges, where things are "milder".

Visiting the same parts of Hammerfell that ESO has already revealed is safer, but the precedents established for fauna and flora tie their hands a bit. Still, they'll have to address that eventually, and sooner is better than later.

WINTER WOLF !!!!!


KAAAAAAABOOOOOOOM !!!!!!!!!




*mALX's head explodes*










That is how I see Khajiit too = have their own slick way of handling/figuring out how to handle problems and obstacles in their path; etc. And some would be laid back outwardly; but kind of have a gleam in their eye that lets you know their minds are not idle; while some would be secretive (thieves and assassins) = stealthy. And then some would be hyper (like you said) to the point of being accident prone; etc.

But here is the biggest question ... would they have six small breasts or two big round ones?

Exactly mALX. Look at the Khajiit caravans of Skyrim for instance. That took some ingenuity and independent thinking to come up with that idea. "Let's go all the way north and become outward traders & merchants." Why would they go this far? The answer is mostly money of course, but I can't ignore the fact that on some level, they also craftily took on the challenge of getting up to the northernmost province because they are simply cats.

Just like real cats: Nobody tells us we cannot go there! If we want to climb that telephone pole, by golly we're going to do it. Now.... how do we get down from here though?

Bold: That sounds like wishful thinking,

Yes hon, I'm typically positive when it comes to this sort of stuff. I can't help it.

Yes! And the Moonsugar addictions = catnip. Have you ever given catnip to your cats? Some of them become complete addicts and ; and some of them just look at you like, "WTF is this Sht? If you are going to come out here and give me a treat, bring that Pounce or Temptations, not this catnip crap!"

I most def see the connection and why Bethesda made Moonsugar a weakness among some Khajiit, lol.












(and I also really liked the way Skyrim had those Khajiit Caravans).

Thanks mALX!!!! It is good to be back.

Great to read what Renee and you are saying about cats. I will try not to hate on Skyrim again other than to say that the discussion on varied personalities is what we need so bad in Elder Scrolls. After playing hundreds and hundred of hours in Skyrim I cannot remember one single NPC in the whole game.

Now Oblivion- wow, that had more awesome personalities just in Bravil alone. Kud-Ei, City Swimmer, the orc in the tavern, the Khajiit in the TG storyline. Or the Skingrad guilds and their bed-hopping antics. Or the Count and his awesome story.

So the number one thing we need in the game is a massive improvement in NPC personalities!

Agreed! I remember (and loved) Elisif the Fair in Solitude; and the sassy housecarl in Riften; but really didn't remember or feel any real liking for anyone else in Skyrim. In Oblivion there were so many compelling characters and stories - and they took the time with longer questlines to get to know the characters (like the friendship that develops with the Player and Modryn Oreyn in the Fighters Guild; etc).

ESO has tried to get back to the longer questline threads that run through your game and more compelling characters; and have done a really good job of it. You can run into someone you worked with in a previous questline later on and may end up doing more quests with them again; and they remember you from before. Even a dog you may have helped in the past = the army picks it up and brings it with them, and when you are doing something in another Province you might run into the dog and it recognizes you; etc. There is one sister and brother who are TRYING to be explorers and you might come across them in dire straits throughout several dungeons across many provinces (and can rescue them if you want to do the quest) = it is very cool the way they continued relationships in ESO.

Lady Laurent and Stibbons, especially. He doesn't change even when his character is killed and his body taken over by a ghost (an optional outcome of the Jewelled Crown of Anton quest).

Those are two of the best characters I've come across in any game. Well, maybe Ma'iq is up there, too, but only some of his incarnations.

Sappy post removed!

Sorry.

Yes, the Stibbons! Two of my absolute favorites! Giblet the dog; Cadwell; Naryu; Darien; and even Razum-dar (like him or not after the Summerset fiasco, lol). I did love finding him laying just inside the entrance to that dungeon on the Gold Coast or Hews Bane = can't remember which; lol) = etc.

It is always a surprise to me when I run into them in different places; like running into an old friend somewhere that you never expected to see there; and it is awesome because they greet you like an old friend. That is one of the things I do love so much about ESO; they at least try to see you become invested in their NPC's lives and storylines.