After listening to (litterally) hours and hours of interviews from the hands on press event a few months ago, I've come to have a little kernel of fear growing in my heart.  Many of the interviews mention that the game world will be the same size as the single player games, IE SKyfall, morrowind, oblivion.  But quite a few of those same interviews mention that although the game world will eventually be the same size and scope, at release it will be missing areas that were included in our beloved single player games.  These areas are slated to be used for future releases for the game.

Here's the rub that has me worried.  With them holding back areas for future release, and the game world being split into 3 faction areas that are no accessable by the other factions, I'm worried that the game world will be entirely too small.  Akin to the size of vanilla rift.  Which was a large part of the cause for quite a few people leaving the game.

Yes I know I could make a character for each faction, and play through each factions areas.  Thus increasing the playable game size.  But I've always been a loyalist when it comes to games.  I like to pick a faction and stick with that faction my entire play through.  In every MMO I've ever played, I have stuck to one faction.  It gives me a sense of connection and investment in my faction.  I grow to actually care about the story, guilds, and friends I've made with that faction.

Excuse my little mini rant, but this really does have me worried.  Skyrim at release seemed really massive at frist, but once I had played through it a while, I would say the game area was actually about half the size of rift's playable area.  Yes the multitude of dungeon's increases this significantly.  But even then it really wasn't that large of an area once explored fully.

while some area's will turn out to be a bit smaller due to the border regions there will be area's that have never bin seen in the TES games , they aint stupit you know, they wil make sure to have enough space for all to play and yet make it small enough for people to see otehr people and colide in pvp. 

why care about the size anyway?  size does not equal quality , it all depents on how they develop the game systems and how they make use of the space they got.

Originally posted by Eladi

while some area's will turn out to be a bit smaller due to the border regions there will be area's that have never bin seen in the TES games , they aint stupit you know, they wil make sure to have enough space for all to play and yet make it small enough for people to see otehr people and colide in pvp. 

 

why care about the size anyway?  size does not equal quality , it all depents on how they develop the game systems and how they make use of the space they got.

Quite a few people belive that game world size is a great deal actually.  That is one of the many reasons older games like eq1, AC1, etc are still around.  Because they have about 3x the pure landmass that WoW has.  And wow has about 3x the landmass that say .. rift has.  There is definitly a correlation between land mass and popularity.  I'm not exactly saying it's the only thing that makes or breaks a game, but it is definitly one of many contributing factors.

Originally posted by ragz45

Here's the rub that has me worried.

The part that worries me the most is if these parts of the world they are puposely not going to release on launch until later for the purpose of future content, will those parts be just released as game updates or turned into mini fees to unlock as DLC?

Originally posted by bingbongbros

Originally posted by ragz45

Here's the rub that has me worried.

The part that worries me the most is if these parts of the world they are puposely not going to release on launch until later for the purpose of future content, will those parts be just released as game updates or turned into mini fees to unlock as DLC?

I suppose if you want to ensure the future development of TESO comes to a full stop then go ahead and protest against the company pushing out DLC that we have to pay for, what is it with the fact ppl want future expansions/mini expansions for nothing, I'm no charity myself, I certainly do not work for nothing and expect to be paid for what I do when I go to work, likewise I'm sure the designers/coders/artists expect to be paid for thier work aswell.

I'm also in the camp of size does not equal quality, surely we as players would like to see every square inch of the game world to both interesting and fun to explore, rather than huge landmasses that are a monotonous trudge from one POI to another, with hardly a unique feature between the two.

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Originally posted by bingbongbros

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Originally posted by ragz45 Here's the rub that has me worried.

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The part that worries me the most is if these parts of the world they are puposely not going to release on launch until later for the purpose of future content, will those parts be just released as game updates or turned into mini fees to unlock as DLC?

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Cop out imo, Release new areas if game goes well, Never release new areas if game under preforms.

While I look forward to playing the game, that is a very big worry for me as well. Especially with that megaserver idea. The thought of having so many players in say Solitude with it being no bigger than it is in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, is very insane and stupid.

If they're doing the megaserver thing, the actual game world itself has to be very large. If it's just the size of the single players, the end result can be catastrophic at best.

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Originally posted by TheBigDRC
While I look forward to playing the game, that is a very big worry for me as well. Especially with that megaserver idea. The thought of having so many players in say Solitude with it being no bigger than it is in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, is very insane and stupid.

If they're doing the megaserver thing, the actual game world itself has to be very large. If it's just the size of the single players, the end result can be catastrophic at best.

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Odds are your going to be in solitude with like 10 people because there is going to be 100's phases.

Originally posted by Nitth

 

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Originally posted by TheBigDRC
While I look forward to playing the game, that is a very big worry for me as well. Especially with that megaserver idea. The thought of having so many players in say Solitude with it being no bigger than it is in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, is very insane and stupid.

 

If they're doing the megaserver thing, the actual game world itself has to be very large. If it's just the size of the single players, the end result can be catastrophic at best.

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Odds are your going to be in solitude with like 10 people because there is going to be 100's phases.

This is what we will see.  It will be similar to GW1 with many many phases (instances) of the same map with people in each.  There will not be zone lines / loading screens.  That is the big difference.

As far as game size goes.  I would rather have long expanses of grassland with a few landmarks and roaming herds of wildlife or bandits, than a tiny area filled with landmarks every time I turn around.  The second isn't realistic at all.  Villages in midevil times were often no closer than days ride from each other.  It wasn't like turn a corner village, cross a hill village, cross another hill village. (the same goes for ruins, crypt, etc etc)

Originally posted by Nitth

 

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Originally posted by TheBigDRC
While I look forward to playing the game, that is a very big worry for me as well. Especially with that megaserver idea. The thought of having so many players in say Solitude with it being no bigger than it is in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, is very insane and stupid.

 

If they're doing the megaserver thing, the actual game world itself has to be very large. If it's just the size of the single players, the end result can be catastrophic at best.

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Odds are your going to be in solitude with like 10 people because there is going to be 100's phases.

There is that, yeah. I still feel concerned, however.

Ah well, time will tell.

Originally posted by AwDiddums

Originally posted by bingbongbros

Originally posted by ragz45

Here's the rub that has me worried.

The part that worries me the most is if these parts of the world they are puposely not going to release on launch until later for the purpose of future content, will those parts be just released as game updates or turned into mini fees to unlock as DLC?

I suppose if you want to ensure the future development of TESO comes to a full stop then go ahead and protest against the company pushing out DLC that we have to pay for, what is it with the fact ppl want future expansions/mini expansions for nothing, I'm no charity myself, I certainly do not work for nothing and expect to be paid for what I do when I go to work, likewise I'm sure the designers/coders/artists expect to be paid for thier work aswell.

 

I'm also in the camp of size does not equal quality, surely we as players would like to see every square inch of the game world to both interesting and fun to explore, rather than huge landmasses that are a monotonous trudge from one POI to another, with hardly a unique feature between the two.

 

 

What a minute.. I'm sorry.. do you honestly think that a game will come to a full stop if it doesn't charge content to every user as DLC?  Have you been a fetus or a rock for the entire lifespan of this genre?  UO, EQ1, DAoC?  All those MMO's had no DLC's and went on for years and years and years pushing out new content and Expansion Packs on a regular basis.

Now I'm not sure if TESO is going to launch F2P or as B2P, but I assure you if it does either it will most likely have a cash shop which would be their method of "fuck you pay me" and or monthly subscription fees.  Which would elminate your "I certainly do not work for nothing and expect to be paid for what I do" nonsense.

Neither do I expect them to launch with the ENTIRE world developed to completion.  What I said worries me is if in future content they purposely held off development on those areas just for the sole purpose of DLC's, again with whatever business model they choose.

You people need to start expecting the worst from these gaming companies instead of coming into the game all cherry and hopeful.

So the scary part is the mapsize at launch? seriously?

Not the gameplay? Not how class balance will be addressed? Not how faction balance will be addressed in rvr? Not how phasing will affect RvR?

if this is the playerbase the industry is catering to, no surprise all games in the past few years peaked in 1-2 months and then started to agonize.. /shrug

I mean of ALL THINGS that are currently in the dark about this title, you guys worry about pve map size at lauch in a game that has RvR as endgame? A game that is *not* Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim online, but a "sort of daoc-esque backbone" with elder scrolls lore and nothing more (I still don't see why this very simple point is so difficult to understand).

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Originally posted by samvenice
So the scary part is the mapsize at launch? seriously?

Not the gameplay? Not how class balance will be addressed? Not how faction balance will be addressed in rvr? Not how phasing will affect RvR?

if this is the playerbase the industry is catering to, no surprise all games in the past few years peaked in 1-2 months and then started to agonize.. /shrug

I mean of ALL THINGS that are currently in the dark about this title, you guys worry about pve map size at lauch in a game that has RvR as endgame? A game that is *not* Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim online, but a "sort of daoc-esque backbone" with elder scrolls lore and nothing more (I still don't see why this very simple point is so difficult to understand).
 

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Really lol?

Last i checked "end game" is instances, raids, And pvp just like every other themepark.

Also, You worry to much about "balance"

Of course I worry about mapsize.  Gameplay, balance, systems, crafting, chat, etc are also very important.  But none of them has me worried atm.  Every other aspect of the game looks enjoyable and fun from what little we have seen.  But to cite three specific games that both suffered from very small map size, and thus bled subs because of it, Rift, TSW, & SWToR.  Granted SWToR had a myrid of other problems also.  Rift and TSW were both pretty solid games otherwise.

Yet once people started to reach mid game, they started to realize just how "on rails" these maps where.  With very little in the way of exploration, the maps were intended to be uncovered 100% by every player their first play time through.  There was only one leveling path, so alts were a borring grindfest of repetition.

Just as the other very popular thread in the general lounge right now says "We dont want games - we want worlds."  I also want a living breathing world to explore.  Not a densly packed themepark that I can see 100% of within a weekend.

Originally posted by ragz45

Just as the other very popular thread in the general lounge right now says "We dont want games - we want worlds."  I also want a living breathing world to explore.  Not a densly packed themepark that I can see 100% of within a weekend.

I think you're looking at the wrong game, bro. TESO is going to be a themepark and themeparks rely on developer-created content (instead of it being player-generated), so there's always a very finite amount of stuff available. Typically they resort to repeatable/grinding content because no developer can create quality content as fast as players go through it. I totally agree with you, though - I'd like to explore an actual world as well, but it's probably not going to happen in this game nor are there any good fantasy sandboxes out there at the moment. :(