Like many, I'm intrigued, but I'm basically hype-resistant after TOR.

If there's open world RvR combined with the already fantastic open ended exploration, this could be hot.

That being said, they need to avoid:

A Trinity style combat system.  Elder Scrolls has never been about tanking, dps, and "healers."  You could do all three, and if you wanted to survive, it was wise to at least have some ability to do all three. 

A straight linear themepark:  That isn't what Elder Scrolls is about.

They also need a heavy bit of the unexpected.  One person relates a story in Skyrim:  they are sent to steal some information from something heavily guarded.  They find no "easy approach", and blood will almost certainly be spilled.  And then......   a dragon attacks.  All the guards rush to fight the dragon, allowing him to slip in and get the info.  This is the kind of "randomness" that made Skyrim special.  Adopting the Bioware approach of "find whatever WoW did, and copy it" would be a travesty for the series.

Imagine a big pvp fight.  People on both sides slinging spells, clashing metal.  Then the Imperials or (even better!) Molag Bal sends his minions, a huge group of dremora to attack everyone.  What began as a straight up predictable fight has turned into a hot chaotic mess.

Or have things like jail, and players can help organize a jail break, only to have the NPC's reinforced by actual players.  Full blown prison riot!

I'll tell you what it means.  NOTHING

When the developers decide to go for a cross between WoW and DOAC there is NOTHING changed.

TES: Online should have been a sandbox FFA PvP game end of story.  For it not to be is an insult to the franchise,

Originally posted by Uhwop

Anyways.  I can't believe that Bethesda would be so stupid as to decide to make an MMO out of their best selling franchise, but completely scrap everything that made the franchise a best seller.  Especially when they've already got millions of loyal fans, and an entire market that is virtually untapped.  

I can we have seen it time and time again, You make it as cheep as possible, and you take advantage of your fans, they are going to buy it up like mad men, they make a hefty profit off the poor saps, and they are happy fans are pissed, but it doesnt matter because they will make millions. Fans will continue to buy the ES games.

TOR cashed in big time off of Star Wars name alone.

Anyways.  I can't believe that Bethesda would be so stupid as to decide to make an MMO out of their best selling franchise, but completely scrap everything that made the franchise a best seller.  Especially when they've already got millions of loyal fans, and an entire market that is virtually untapped.  

This is what confuses / disappoints me the most.

Originally posted by Bainwalker

I'll tell you what it means.  NOTHING

 

When the developers decide to go for a cross between WoW and DOAC there is NOTHING changed.

 

TES: Online should have been a sandbox FFA PvP game end of story.  For it not to be is an insult to the franchise,

TES has never been either of those things, you can say it has until you're blue in the face, but it will not make it true.

Originally posted by Uhwop

Originally posted by GrayGhost79

“bold new direction”

"It needs to be comfortable for people who are coming in from a typical massively multiplayer game that has the same control mechanisms......"

 

"Within the world of Tamriel there are 3 alliances users can join, each consisting of 3 three races to chose from." Come on, Elder Scrolls with faction locked races?

 

"... but unfortunately players are barred from contracting porphyric hemophilia (Vampirism) and lycanthropy (werewolves) themselves."

 

"Making player housing the way fans expect is too hard to implement in an MMO, so Zenimax has no plans to let you accrue realestate."

 

While there was some stuff that made me optimistic the above points have my expectations for this game extremely low. As a fan of Bethesda and TES series as a whole this should be a no brainer for me, but... this doesn't sound like it will be an MMO for me.

I expect certain things from a TES MMO, if technology hasn't progressed to the point where these things are possible it doesn't make sense to me to develop the game anyways. Also wtf? We could have player housing back in the late 90's but it's not possible in 2012/2013? How can a developer with devs from UO state that?

 Easiest answer?  They didn't.

 

Am I the only person that thinks that this would be one of the most epic jokes ever?  Seriously, think about everything those scans are saying.  Is it not perfectly funny!?

 

 

People seem confused.

Zenimax IS BETHESDA.  It was started by the guy that founded bethesda as a means to brach the company out into multiple division.  Bethesda is Bethesda softworks (dev studio), and then bethesda the publishing division.  Zenimax media is the name bethesda uses to lump all of its studios and divisions under.  ID, Arkane, Bethesda SW, etc.  Unlike ID and Arkane though, zenimax online is a bethesda created studio and not a studio that they purchased.   And bethesda does not seem to function like an EA or activision.  John Carmack seems to have free reign to develop games as he wants.

 

Anyways.  I can't believe that Bethesda would be so stupid as to decide to make an MMO out of their best selling franchise, but completely scrap everything that made the franchise a best seller.  Especially when they've already got millions of loyal fans, and an entire market that is virtually untapped.  

Yes... Zenimax Media includes Bethesda but Zenimax Online is a development house under the Zenimax Media name but seperate from Bethesda. They do work with Bethesda though.

So you are correct but you are also incorrect. Check it out, I posted the info maybe a year or so ago breaking down the different companies under the Zenimax Media name.

August 1, 2007 (Rockville, MD) – ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of Bethesda Softworks, announced today the creation of ZeniMax Online Studios. The division will be headed by Matt Firor, a well-known expert in the field of online gaming, and will focus on the Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO) market segment.

Firor was one of the founders of Mythic Entertainment, where he worked for over 10 years on MMO titles. At Mythic he was the producer of the worldwide #1 smash hit Dark Age of Camelot, a MMORPG considered one of the most influential online games of all time. When he left Mythic in 2006, Firor was responsible for all development projects at the company. For the past year, he has been a consultant in the online gaming industry, advising leading publishers interested in entering the online market.

“This could not be a more perfect opportunity for me,” said Matt. “I am extremely impressed with ZeniMax and Bethesda Softworks management – their development philosophy closely matches my own, with an emphasis on quality, innovation, and craftsmanship. I am eager to get back to what I love – the development of cutting edge MMOG titles.”

“We are excited about the opportunities we have in the online gaming space and felt that Matt is the perfect person to lead this effort,” said James Leder, COO of ZeniMax Media. There are relatively few people who have the actual experience and knowledge that comes from having created a successful MMO, and Matt is the real deal. We feel fortunate to have him join our group.”

Firor is a graduate of George Washington University and has worked in the gaming industry for 17 years. He has lectured at the University of Virginia and Massachusetts Institute of Technology on game development topics, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Firor has written articles for Game Developer Magazine and was a regular columnist covering online game development for the Korean gaming magazine “Onplayer”.

http://www.zenimaxonline.com/news_zenimax_online_studios.html

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Originally posted by toddze

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Originally posted by DannyGlover
 

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Originally posted by toddze
Uh I have never liked the Hero engine for a high profile MMO.
You should re-read my last post. once I found out TOR used the Hero engine I knew TOR was going to have an uphill battle, and this was well before TOR launched. The Hero Engine is not an engine you want for your beloved MMO to use.

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why?

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it limits large spaces, doesnt handel large loads(a lot of players) well. Result is smaller "zones" with instances.
dx9
low polygon count
just to name a few, the first one I listed being my biggest beef.

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Originally posted by Puremallace

Originally posted by Classicstar

Easy only way to go is Elder Scroll SANDBOX no other way.

If bethesda desides to going themepark then they alinate the 10s of millions Skyrim/oblivion/morrowind fans, i very doub they goone go themepark route.

Have you played Skyrim? Sit there and look at it and tell me how it is remotely possible to make it into a mmorpg? The housing would have to be instanced...they would need respawn timers...I guess you could turn some stuff into 5 man instances..there is no pvp at all, so you have to add it

Nonsense.....

SWG had player housing that wasn't instanced.  Now just add a lockpicking mini-game (that flags you for pvp the moment you try it) and you can break in, only to have someone come home from a day at the market..... armed with a nasty dagger and you don't notice him.

Again, possibilities are endless, but they've really got some work ahead of them.  But the idea that they would have to instance it to hell is nonsense.

Originally posted by Deron_Barak
I would like to think this is all a ruse. Right after the GI announcement hits there is "leaked" information with some screens and an article that wouldn't take more than a night to write. The teaser trailer tomorrow would be the perfect moment to show the "real" ESO and makes everyone's head explode from keening so loud.

IF if waney for the 2007 article about them using the Hero Engine. We'll have to see I guess. If what was leaked is the real thing I'll have 0 interest unfortunalty. I'll hold on to hope through a conspiracy theory until tomorrow.

Did anyone quote the article about how latency wouldn't allow the ES combat system to work in an MMO environment? I got a chuckle out or that one.

 Who's to say Bethesda didn't leak it themselves?

How funny would that be.  I mean, it's already to perfect. 

As far as housing.  Inns inside town, with houses that are stand alone plots that can be purchased and sold just like they are in the ES games.  A large house in a busy town would be worth a lot of money, especially if there are only a few and everyone else living there has to do so from an inn.  Isn't that exactly how EQ2 is done?  The only reason for any MMO today to not have housing, is for the devs to not want to do the code, or spend the money ont he servers to support the instances.

Blizzard has even stated that they don't have it for no other reason then they don't want to put it in.  They simply feel it wouldn't do anything for the game, or fit what WoW is about.

They should just call it Vanguard 2.

Originally posted by Gravarg

Really, I'm excited and disappointed at the same time.  I love TES.  I've played every single game in the series.  Add to that one of the creators of one of my favorite games (and favorite MMO) of all time, and I'll probably end up buying it just like I did SWTOR.  I don't care how bad the game comes out, it can't be all that bad (SWTOR isn't the greatest ever, but it's still star wars!).

 

I'm disappointed because I've never really though of TES as a MMO, nor did I really ever want to see it that way.  The main reason is that in TES you have a sense of control over the world you're in.  In MMOs, that just doesn't make sense, or well it's impossible to program really.  If you have 500,000 heroes running around changing the world, you're single action isn't going to change much.

 

My only hope is that there will be more than 3 factions actually, but those hoping for 3 factions it might not be so.  People in the world of TES are racist...there I said it.  They have a preconceived notion about you based on your race.  Ever been a high elf and joined the stormcloaks in skyrim?  They dang near want to chop your head off when you enter the keep.  This would lead me to believe that there will be probably 4-5 factions.  Orcs don't really like anyone, not even fellow orcs unless they're in thier tribe.  Khajiit don't really do much but run around peddling their trades.  High Elves are evil magic users (biased lol) that want to destroy everyone.  Wood Elves are hippies.  None of the races want to play with each other.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm skeptical that it will be as grand as everyone is thinking, but if they pull it off (somehow) it'll be one of the greatest MMOs ever. 

Actually, the lore so far on who the three factions is doesn't sound too far off-based.  There was time when Orcs co-operated with the other races in the area, and there did exist an Aldermi Dominion (not sure how the Khajiit would fit in though).

So these kinds of alliances might work.   MIGHT.

Originally posted by grimfall

They should just call it Vanguard 2.

If what the rumors say are true, thats an insult to vanguard.

So many things i could of quoted and raised concerns at in this thread...
However i will voice my one biggest concern.

Will the use their power as a brand to pull people in to an elder scrolls mmorpg?
Or will they use their sandbox game play and legacy?

In a nutshell, are they going to sell out?

Definitely great news. But I've been in a few MMOs now.  I'm more interested in what style of gameplay they are going to offer.  Are they going to gamble for a full sandbox? Run the risk of a player economy? I might have to drop 

Yeah, the stakes are high. 

Originally posted by Mellkor

So many things i could of quoted and raised concerns at in this thread...
However i will voice my one biggest concern.

Will the use their power as a brand to pull people in to an elder scrolls mmorpg?
Or will they use their sandbox game play and legacy?

In a nutshell, are they going to sell out?

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but if they shit on the series I still have GW2 and Archeage (hopefully) to play. Firor helped develope arguably the best PvP MMOs have ever seen. He was also gone before the debacle that is Warhammer Online was released. If the game continues the classless system, I will be curious to see how it turns out in a 3 faction atmosphere.

As it has been with all MMOs recently, hype will be a huge factor in how well this game does. Being an Elder Scrolls game doesn't help. I guess we'll know soon enough if this game is worth what the name implies.

I've always thought that if any IP was going to bring back the sandbox genre, it would be TES.

http://xbigygames.com/the-elder-scrolls-online-screenshots-and-details/

After reading this my excitement died down real fast. Any chance the above link was a hoax?

Originally posted by KhinRunite

http://xbigygames.com/the-elder-scrolls-online-screenshots-and-details/

After reading this my excitement died down real fast. Any chance the above link was a hoax?

Sadly I don't think there is a lot of chance for that :( thats an awful lot of work for an individual or a small team to pull a hoax like that off unless they have been planning it for a very long time lol.

If the game has a huge open world and is more sandbox than themepark with epic open world RvR it could be huge!

No player housing in the Elder Scrolls Online. Doesn't seem like they're going for a sandbox feel.