Since they are sticking to the Race/Faction and Class locks, Ill still pass on this.

TESO is nothing more than DAOC2 with some features from RIFT, GW and a few others, done in an Elder Scrolls theme for marketability

I like that it's story based (instead of "kill x" quests) and the open grouping. I also like that they're taking care to make sure you don't lose your friends even when multiple instances of the server are running. All in all it sounds pretty interesting.

I never liked the Elder Scroll combat system, though. I'll be waiting to see how it's adapted to this MMO. Also I really hope they won't have skills like haggling. When I played Daggerfall I spent hours practicing that skill, but once I moved to Morrowind and was older and more patient it just felt like a chore having to practice haggling, jumping, running....

Originally posted by goofy3k
Sounded awesome right up to the part where they mentioned "mega server" and when the area fills up a nother copy of the zone is made. That is not the way to go, that ruins games. One thing that breaks immersion in an MMO is when you're running in a zone and you know there are copies of the same one but with different people in, that you can switch between at will. That is lame.

Not only that, but you also know that the "change the world" only applies to your own experience and it's different for different player characters. You could play two different characters and "know" two different worlds, in this one "mega" world.

It is lame. I don't know why game developers have this mental block on the meaning of "world". It's like they just can't wrap their minds around the importance of it to the gamers.

Originally posted by PyrateLV

Since they are sticking to the Race/Faction and Class locks, Ill still pass on this.

 

TESO is nothing more than DAOC2 with some features from RIFT, GW and a few others, done in an Elder Scrolls theme for marketability

If only they could capture the magic formula that made DAOC so enjoyable for me, then I'd be happy.

But I suspect they're going to focus too much on standard raiding style end game but will have to wait and see how it turns out.

great article. I will keep the hype very low (GW2 will help me achieve that), but ill certainly keep my eyes on this bad boy.

Now just have to wait the bigger news that it will be Buy to Play with some fluff items ala GW2 cash shop. Then im definitely in. I still havent beaten skyrim so if theres a sub in TESO ill just stay with Skyrim... and GW2.

Originally posted by Axxar
Sounds to me like this megaserver means that each zone will be instanced... a LOT.

Not instanced..."phased". Ya gotta get your marketing lingo right.

"Phased" equals entire zones instanced just for you, saved world data included. Remember to bring a friend so they can see the difference between your world and their world.

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Hey Wookie,

Yeah, definitely has classes.  Which I can understand lamenting, but I think once you see how much each class can be tailored you'll be pleased with the diversity.  It uses the single-hotbar design and entails so many different skills across armor, weapons, and class choice that you really will be a unique character even if you are called a "Dragonknight" or whatnot.

Being that it uses a single hotbar design automatically tells me that this is going to be like Guild Wars 2 / The Secret World already.

My concern would be how it plays out in PVE, questing, PVP Faction Wars, WvW, RvR, or FvFvF, Or Free For All. Then there is the RP players. Just from Screen Shots we can tell no doubtedly that the world of TESO is going to be B-E-A-UTIFUL!!! However the testers will be that I mentioned above. I'm sure that this will be a Pay to Play as well. Typical standard fees I'm asuming. $14.99 per month?  Options to go for less for 3 months, 6 months, 1 year?

I noticed that there was a post stating that the world is going to be sandbox type. Which is good. However, a little Directional support with quests will be appreciated. As for the Factions, I would be opened to have controlled PVP environments, as oppose to just going to a new starting zone area and ganking all the newbies. Give those new lvl 1 characters a chance to get out of the zones and get some gear before shooting an arrow in their knees.

If a players chooses to go into a starting area to kill then let it be on a Faction Based loss; meaning: If you kill a player or NPC (Quest NPC's exclused!!) then you lose Faction with current city or Related Factions. The more you kill then you either become nuetral or Hated. If you've become Hated so much; Then the guards will see through invis or stealth and then you can get instant killed the next time you get close to those city gates. Then you have to do some questing to get some Faction back, if you're able to.

If players are aligned like D&D style (chaotic nuetral etc. etc.), then this would play very nicely into the whole Faction concept. And If there is going to be Dungeons, then they can't make it so hard that it takes overgeared players to go in just to clear. The main concern I have is where this is going to lead to game wise. As of right now, it doesn't sound too TRUE to the TES vision. And One last thing I must absolutely have to add is that no midevil game is complete without a Dragon in it. I'm sorry. but It's true. And I know they have already stated that there will be no dragons. But that's the reason why I added that statement. 

To know that already this game is a mixture of GW2, TERA Online, and Rift is already putting this in a downward spiral. But; being that this is in it's "pre-alpha stages" lol They may change it up still. We'll just have to see about that. I personally didn't have an issue with GW2, only that people got bored with it too soon. Now I'm on a dead server. I didn't have an issue with Tera, but it was nothing more than a Quest Grinding Game. I didn't have any issues with SWTOR, But it too became repetitive with storyline modes that seem to be just slightly different but always the same. No matter how you played it, it still became a game where PVP upto max lvl then do dungeons to further your gear. Then you're done minus the dailies. The only plus out of any of these game was GW2 only because it was Free to Play from the very beginning. And for that I'm happy. I still have my WoW account for now. but that too will be shortly cut off due to the rising demands of todays economy. Quite honestly I will happy if and when they will ever come out with a game that suits to everyone's needs and not be so demanding on paying a subsciption for it to play only to give it up a few months later because it didn't live up to it's expectations. It's not the games that make it bad; it's the game developers lack of imagination and innovated ideas. I see more and more games that are turning into a copy and paste than an original. And I'm not referring to the UI setups.

Either way I look forward to the open Alphas / Betas, I'm hoping to get into both. I'm looking forward to the game and giving my comments and thoughts. Hope this turns out to be a good game. But somehow I just have a bad feeling on it. On a brighter side though... getting back to true Dungeon Crawling Games.. I love my Legends of Grimrock. :)

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Originally posted by parrotpholk

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Originally posted by Dakirn

I had some hope that maybe this would be worth playing but the phasing is honestly a deal breaker for me, someone who plays MMOs with other people.

Hey Dakirn,

I can say that the phasing as you go through the story was jarring.  But they maintain that you'll be able to group with your friends no matter what path they take through the main storyline.  How they do is?  I assume you'll just "join" your friends through the UI.  Definitely not the best solution, but at least you can do it.

Thats not a solution though. Its like they were brainstorming and though how cool it would be if the world changed based on your actions but then after they did it someone reminded them they were  making an MMO not a single player game.  I do not see how they pull this off honestly and do it well.

It's a tough one, that's for sure.  I think that once you "complete" the story mission of a certain area, you're back into the general populace.  But that doesn't change the fact that DURING that mission you'd be cut off from friends without going to the UI and having them join you.  Yep, it's a tricky one.

If they took the area phase like they done in Tera Online, then it wouldn't be a bad thing.. where Each Zone was based on Channels. And each Channel was based on population; and if you were trying to quest in a more population zone you could just easily switch over into a lower populated Channel for that zone to quest. In doing so could free up the problem with typical  "Phasing" issues.  

Originally posted by Gishgeron
  I keep seeing people hate on the phasing...but thats probably the best thing FOR keeping true to TES.  The problem with a persistent world that ALSO changes based on player choice is that most players aren't part of said choice.  They get to play in a world that has already had its changes made for them, which is to say its absolutely NO DIFFERENT than just playing a regular themepark.  The thing about Elder Scrolls is how you affect your world, but outside of phasing it to the player individually you can't really affect it at all.  The only other alternative is to make it a pure PvP game where faction control means something...but even then the average player is still forced to live under the choices made by others.  TES is dear to us for being a single player game.  They've done a great job of recapturing that while still giving us multiplayer.  Think of it less as an MMO, and more like a new TES game with full on multiplayer.  Considering how much about the game in terms of skills and gameplay they change each time...its really not hard to see.

You're right, but that's precisely the problem.

It's not an MMO, it plays like a SPG with multiplayer. And that is exactly why gamers aren't stiking with MMOs released over the last years. Gamers want worlds and true "massively multiplayer" in that world, not Single Player Games, for their MMOs.

Originally posted by adam_nox

I don't get the anti phasing posters.

 

Explain what games are hurt by phasing and HOW.

 

Phasing is pretty much the only way to make instancing not suck as bad.  Instead of segregating all players, you segregate some based on the state of their progress.  You allow the world to change for them, making it feel more alive, something not possible without some form of instancing, or it could only be done rarely in big events and only with marginalizing the majority of the playerbase's experience.

 

Phasing is the future.  If there's bad execution, then blame that, but the concept itself is a tremendous step forward in mmos (and I defend it partially because I posted about it as an idea before any game had ever implemented it).   Phasing doesn't have to separate players, in games where it does, that's bad execution, not bad concept.  Players can still see each other while seeing different versions of the gameworld.

Phasing is the death of social gaming.  It reduces general social interaction by forcing people to group and we all know how that appeals to the mass market.  So you end up with a dead feeling game like SWTOR where no one chats in the general channel and people don't socialize outside of their guild or group.  EverQuest was an incredibly social game, the newer phased / instanced games don't even begin to compare on the social aspects of the older non-instanced MMOs.

Originally posted by Amaranthar

Originally posted by Gishgeron
  I keep seeing people hate on the phasing...but thats probably the best thing FOR keeping true to TES.  The problem with a persistent world that ALSO changes based on player choice is that most players aren't part of said choice.  They get to play in a world that has already had its changes made for them, which is to say its absolutely NO DIFFERENT than just playing a regular themepark.  The thing about Elder Scrolls is how you affect your world, but outside of phasing it to the player individually you can't really affect it at all.  The only other alternative is to make it a pure PvP game where faction control means something...but even then the average player is still forced to live under the choices made by others.  TES is dear to us for being a single player game.  They've done a great job of recapturing that while still giving us multiplayer.  Think of it less as an MMO, and more like a new TES game with full on multiplayer.  Considering how much about the game in terms of skills and gameplay they change each time...its really not hard to see.

You're right, but that's precisely the problem.

It's not an MMO, it plays like a SPG with multiplayer. And that is exactly why gamers aren't stiking with MMOs released over the last years. Gamers want worlds and true "massively multiplayer" in that world, not Single Player Games, for their MMOs.

 

people arent sticking with games they dont like.  shocker. 

For all the whiners saying "omgosh! ESO has classes!? But skyrim didn't!"

Well suck it kids, oblivion and morrowind had 'em.