There are some clear benefits to going with a single-server solution in an Elder Scrolls MMO, but are there some potential pitfalls with Zenimax Online's particular implementation? We weigh in below!

Generally, I’m a huge fan of single server solutions, and what Zenimax Online is proposing for The Elder Scrolls Online takes the whole idea a step further. You see, in The Elder Scrolls Online, players will be given the option of setting their own play preferences. Players will be asked what sort of age groups they want to play with or what playstyle preferences they have (ex. PvP, raiding, etc.) and the game will intelligently match up players of like interests when sorting out the populations of zone instances. Instead of just shuffling players into different zone copies by simple load metrics, The Elder Scrolls Online will give players the option of tailoring the community they share the world with to their own individual preferences. The game will even remember players you’ve interacted with and place you in zone instances with them if they’re online. Neat!

Read more of Michael Bitton's The Elder Scrolls Online: Megaservers vs. The Elder Scrolls.

Fortunately, the folks behind The Elder Scrolls Online are a good deal smarter than I am when it comes to this sort of thing, so I’m hopeful they’ve already recognized these concerns and have some sort of solution at the ready.

Maybe this is a question that can be asked of them?

Originally posted by reillan
So my preferences: I only want to group with single ladies between the ages of 18 and 29.  Make it happen, Elder Scrolls.

in my case it wil be  withered old women with walking sticks..but when you look has bad as i do anything will do..on topic i,m not a great fan of phasing,has i understand it i wont be able to go back and help a friend,is that correct or am i wrong?

I don't every recall any of the Elder Scrolls games having an instanced or zoned off world. They've always been open worlds. Some of the things TESO is doing sounds good and true to the IP, while other things are going against what TES games have always been. The latest news is not having an open world, rather having a zoned off and instanced world.

Be true to the IP and do things right, or don't create a MMORPG based on a well known and loved IP. This is the problem with making a single player IP into a MMORPG. They make concessions where they don't need to.

lots of chooo chooo..in the end it will be exactly the same as systems the secret world or guild wars 2 uses...with less servers but more copy-zones...so who cares? instance is instance is server is server is zone is zone is all the same crapp...

"im personally am a huge fan of one server solutions - especially since teso introduces them in their game cause they are paying me off to say that..." chooooo chooooooooo

There are no "solutions" to a one server world. It's either one server or it's not. Of course you have multiple servers to make up that "one server", that's just a term we're throwing around here, but when you start instancing it in any form you just don't have a "one server game world".

SWTOR had a lot of problems, instancing wasn't one. 

The only real problem is community policing.  Small server communities that a player is forced to belong in make it much more likely that people will behave civilly.  With WoW and crossrealm dungeon finding, people are just jerkoffs to every other person.   They have no reason to be nice, and as a social experiment, it shows that most people need that reason.

I won't rule it out working yet, but most of the criticisms listed here just don't make sense.  SWTOR is why SWTOR failed, and instancing was only bad because it removed EVERYONE else but your party from your world, not because it split people up.  Servers already do that.  It's a hollow criticism.

Originally posted by adam_nox

SWTOR had a lot of problems, instancing wasn't one. 

 

The only real problem is community policing.  Small server communities that a player is forced to belong in make it much more likely that people will behave civilly.  With WoW and crossrealm dungeon finding, people are just jerkoffs to every other person.   They have no reason to be nice, and as a social experiment, it shows that most people need that reason.

 

I won't rule it out working yet, but most of the criticisms listed here just don't make sense.  SWTOR is why SWTOR failed, and instancing was only bad because it removed EVERYONE else but your party from your world, not because it split people up.  Servers already do that.  It's a hollow criticism.

Yeah, "hollow" like the sound of crickets on an MMO server.

Phasing, story, instanced zones...it all sounds very familiar...like SWTOR 2.0 familiar.  Looks like another IP is going down in flames.

The only positive mentioned in this article is having the ability to filter the type of players you play with.  That's the only positive aspect I can glean from this unfortunate news.

Originally posted by nate1980

I don't every recall any of the Elder Scrolls games having an instanced or zoned off world. They've always been open worlds. Some of the things TESO is doing sounds good and true to the IP, while other things are going against what TES games have always been. The latest news is not having an open world, rather having a zoned off and instanced world.

Be true to the IP and do things right, or don't create a MMORPG based on a well known and loved IP. This is the problem with making a single player IP into a MMORPG. They make concessions where they don't need to.

If you think back to the ES games, they were indeed instanced. Every time you entered a dungeon or significantly large city and even sub-sections within the city, there were loading screens. Mind youthey were fast enough but nevertheless, they were instances. This isn't quite the same as phasingbut honestly I don't see how phasing is even possible anyways.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
No kaez

The tes single player games are zoned, not instanced. You can't really have instancing in a single player game anyway.

 this is the correct answer