I have been playing elder scrolls since i was a kid in the 90's and mmo's before they were called mmo (the realm, redmoon, ultima online, the list goes on and on.) The main thing with ESO is that it doesnt feel like a Elder Scrolls game. It feels like most other mmo's out there. I wont get into a debate regarding wow, wildfire, swkotor, ect like what has been all over zone chat in the beta's. The game feels hollow, and after you hit the 36 hour mark it feels more like chore to play it. You keep on thinking OK, maybe this next character level will be better or maybe this next quest wont be more of the same. But the thing is, Fallout and TES they have some serious replay value to them even without the mods because you can be whoever you want to be and do whatever you want to do. Its very open world. Eso has alot of quests but the main thing is that you HAVE to do the main questline to get anywhere in it. You cant tell a NPC to basically go shove it. You have to be the good guy. The questlines do feel like you are in a cattle chute. The thing that keeps people playing these games is that you can only do so many quests in a sitting before you get sick of it. In TES there is always something else to do in the meantime, somewhere to go. In Eso you can mine, chop wood, or pull your jute. All of which you are running around trying to beat other people to it. You dont have that leisurely window of, ok i can take my time like the other games did. In the other games you are in a private world that is just for you in eso you are sharing the world with everyone. That is something that doesnt appeal to everyone. Now its understandable that its not what we have come to expect from The Elder Scrolls because technically its NOT a Elder Scrolls game as we have come to know them, its just using the lore from the series. Thats the mistake alot of people are making. They are coming into it thinking OMG A MULTIPLAYER ELDER SCROLLS!!! Then they get there and they have a bad reaction to it because its not what they are used to from a TES game. I think they set it so far "back in time" in the universe because they knew it would make a bunch of people mad because its not what they have come to know, and frankly what they love from a game branded with TES. But at the end of the day it IS a mmo and it appeals to that crowd. If you want a private world then go play one of the other titles. --Grab some mods plently of life still left in the older titles ;) If you are interested in getting together with a group and experiencing it with other people then you will have fun. If you go into with the mindstate that OK, Im playing the "next skyrim or the next oblivion" you will be disappointed because that world is just for you and you only. In that respect you have to admit that TES has always been somewhat of a private kind of series where you could escape to and be whoever you wanted to be and do whatever it is you want to do. I feel thats what alot of people are expecting from Eso and that is why they feel it does not deliver. Eso is more for the human interaction and if you dont have that with a mmo you're gonna have a bad time. All that being said my personal opinion (if you read this far lol) is that a few years ago this game would of been a hit. But today mmo's are dying out and charging a $60 upfront fee then another $15 a month may not be the smartest move. But it is also in a way understandable. They will pull people in with the TES name and once they have your $60 thats it. So it will make money in the beginning. The question is how long will it stay making money? Thats been the hot topic in the zone chats. How long until it goes F2P and at that point what will happen to those of us who paid the upfront fee? Guess we will find out when and if it comes to that. I ordered the $100 physical collectors edition because honestly i just wanted that Molag-Bal statue pretty bad lol. But when the game is released and we can actually go beyond the lvl 15 cap and finish up the "blocked" quests, and make proper guilds i think that is when things will really start to pick up, the games gonna start to shine a bit more and the monthly fees will help to develop new content. For the people who bought it without experiencing the beta or aren't really into mmo's its going to be pretty grueling for them to stick with it. For everybody else I hope to see you in the next beta and also on release after our characters have all been wiped lol /reloadui
