The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited - Worth it? [buying?]

[xENJAJVEx]

All of this is just my opinion of course.

But, I played it for nearly 2 years and all I have to say is that it's basically just another MMO with an Elder Scrolls skin. It lacks that certain oomph that a solo Elder Scrolls game has... That oomph is what makes the Elder Scrolls series so great. It could just be the modding... The level of detail... The seclusion... Whatever it may be, ESO just doesn't have it and never will.

Obviously, if you like MMOs... You will like ESO, naturally. Although, I'm sure there are better developed ones out there! If you simply love the Elder Scrolls... Well, you probably won't after playing this garbage... It's the 100% downgrade that gets me... It's so bad. I'll give credit where credit is due though... The main story was pretty good but everything else was just simply meh. It will leave a bad taste in your mouth if you're any kind of TES fan.

In the end it was probably ZOS's shady business tactics that made me quit, personally. For example; everything is now and for the foreseeable future going to be in the Crown $tore. Now, I understand they have to make their money somehow but is it really necessary to have absolutely EVERYTHING behind a paywall? No, I don't think so. And there have been a few sneakier moves such as insanely low drop rates designed only to keep you playing....People call this "RNG"... I call it shady. But, maybe that's just part of the MMO package. Whatever, I would rather give my money to people who actually care about their games and the lore as opposed to those who only care about money which clearly Zenimax are of the latter...

EDIT: To quickly answer your other two questions: the game is very time consuming but most of that is spent looking for groups or doing nothing at all really... Loading screen, infinite loading screens, error 202, 212, 333, 666, blah blah, lag, etc. I'm not even joking. And you basically decide for yourself how long it takes to get good armor because you craft your own sets which is one of the few good things in the game. So if you work at it non stop then it wouldn't take long... On the other hand, there are still pieces that you have to work for. That is if you want to rub shoulders with the elite but they aren't really necessary. See... MMOs are all about numbers so depending on who you ask that +1 damage resistance is definitely worth it. And well if you want to look like a complete and utter muppet wearing "the severed heads of your foes" then have fun grinding your life away to get it. And that's about all I have to say. Everything else in this post should give you a clear answer to your first question... Is it worth the buy? Well, if you can work out the answer to my question below you will find the answer.

A question for you: would you trust a craftsman to build you a house knowing his only concern was for money and profit? Interpret that as you will, I bid thee farewell. :thumbsup:
Answer (a wall of text):

No, you wouldn't because he'd buy only the
cheapest materials and your house would then collapse because
of that and you'd die!

Let's say that ZOS (the developer of TESO) is the craftsman in this case. They've proven to me over time that they only have one thingin mind with this game and that's how much money they can make from it... Just like EA, I guess. And you can't trust those sorts to giveyou good content on a regular basis, fix problems that aren't their"priority" (for example; the lag), etc, and to implement much desired features like character re-customization for example and other things like this that many, manypeople want but because these are things that fans can just "put up with"in ZOS's opinion they can shut up and wait.
But, for how long? Months? Years?

Smaller events like you see in WoW (Halloween events, Darkmoon Faire,etc.) stuff that keeps you interested in the game even after you've clearedall the content are completely non-existent as are features that would probablymake this game 100%, like I said before, a barber shop (character re-customization),faction change, race change, etc, but again they aren't "priority". Stuff that should'vebeen introduced near the beginning but that still isn't in the game! Stuff that wouldmake TESO feel more "alive"... at the moment it feels so empty.
Depressing, almost.

Other things like the overall level of detail, for example; armor and weapons are prettylow detailed, there's a lack of AA (anti aliasing) in the environment, the music getsrepetitive, NPCs are very soulless but I guess you could say the whole game is soullesscompared to any solo Elder Scrolls game. However, it's clear to see that it wouldn't takemuch effort to quickly fix or just improve on some of those things to make the game alittle lessof an eye sore/headache, right? But, they just don't and instead spit out "expansions" at us (like Orsinium) that contain not much more than some pretty views and the sameold quests and group bosses. Nothing at all to make you feel like you're actually part of theworld though.
... I guess it's just stuff we can put up with though isn't it? Essentials, imho. But, opinions...

All of this is probably normal for an MMO. Maybe, I'm stating the obvious here... I thoughtit would've changed over time and that it might have become more of an Elder Scrolls gamethan an MMO. 50/50? But, no. It's just another MMO. That doesn't excuse the fact thatthere's so much stuff missing from this game though ... it's insane. So, before I keep repeatingmyself... I hope you read this far and I hope it helped... Just don't buy it. Please, don't. THE END. :pinch:

Signette : "I've played some and it felt just dumbed down in every possible aspect from combat to quests."

Edited September 28, 2016 by xENJAJVEx

[RattleAndGrind]

 

Dumbed down in what specific ways? I don't get the phrase "dumbed down" I guess. No physics arc when an arrow is shot at something so you have to aim above a distant target?

ends up being about as deep as a puddle.

 

This comment sums it up nicely, I think.

[BlackestPain]

Honestly -bampf- this game. This game was and is the only game I have ever bought that I want my money back. This game is not lore friendly (most MMO aren't), but my biggest issue with the game is how unimportant and unpersonal this game is. If you're expecting a (true) Elder Scrolls game, or even a Fallout game, look away (child, LOOK AWAY!). You'll realize as how mediocre this game is as soon as you fail to accidentally pick up a plate. This is not the online we were asking for when Skyrim was at it's peak. What we wanted was a multiplayer co-op game but don't bother trying to do quest with friends on this. It's nothing but a pain and in all reality, there are MUCH better MMO's out there. - My Opinion

[iXenite]

Honestly -bampf- this game. This game was and is the only game I have ever bought that I want my money back. This game is not lore friendly (most MMO aren't), but my biggest issue with the game is how unimportant and unpersonal this game is. If you're expecting a (true) Elder Scrolls game, or even a Fallout game, look away (child, LOOK AWAY!). You'll realize as how mediocre this game is as soon as you fail to accidentally pick up a plate. This is not the online we were asking for when Skyrim was at it's peak. What we wanted was a multiplayer co-op game but don't bother trying to do quest with friends on this. It's nothing but a pain and in all reality, there are MUCH better MMO's out there. - My Opinion

 

It was never really marketed as a Co-Op Elder Scrolls game, and most certainly was never meant to be Skyrim Online. You're the one who chose to associate it with a single player game, and as such, your disappointment is your own fault. It's a solid game, and a great MMO. Is it like other Elder Scrolls games? No, but it was never meant to be.

[Vagrant0]

 

Honestly -bampf- this game. This game was and is the only game I have ever bought that I want my money back. This game is not lore friendly (most MMO aren't), but my biggest issue with the game is how unimportant and unpersonal this game is. If you're expecting a (true) Elder Scrolls game, or even a Fallout game, look away (child, LOOK AWAY!). You'll realize as how mediocre this game is as soon as you fail to accidentally pick up a plate. This is not the online we were asking for when Skyrim was at it's peak. What we wanted was a multiplayer co-op game but don't bother trying to do quest with friends on this. It's nothing but a pain and in all reality, there are MUCH better MMO's out there. - My Opinion

 

It was never really marketed as a Co-Op Elder Scrolls game, and most certainly was never meant to be Skyrim Online. You're the one who chose to associate it with a single player game, and as such, your disappointment is your own fault. It's a solid game, and a great MMO. Is it like other Elder Scrolls games? No, but it was never meant to be.

 

And yet, arguably, the best experience the game offers is as being a singleplayer experience with the potential for co-op. The quests, on their own, aren't too bad as long as you aren't some TES Lore snob. And many of them are more story focused than the usual "kill 15 rats" stuff that still gets pushed into MMOs these days. Yes, iirc, there are still some quests that have that, but many of them are related to exploring a point of interest and either dealing with a threat or unraveling a puzzle. Most of the instancing weirdness and balance issues are easily ignorable when you look at the game as being a mostly solo experience, or it was atleast during beta/early release when the playerbase was still fairly small and about the only people you saw were around town.

 

But, much is this is why the game itself is pretty bad as a MMO. It's stuck trying to be two very different things and accomplishes neither very well.

[Lisnpuppy]

I don't play anymore (maybe sometime though) and I have much lower expectations that some. I liked it but played as a Single player game more often than not. Only a few quest or te occasional dungeon got me grouped and it was well enough. If I had known more that played I would have likely grouped more. I think I played long enough to get my money's worth.

 

I mean $60..you could blow that for like amusement park ticket in one day.