Is ESO going to self destruct before it even launches?

[NickelPlate]

I asked myself the following question:

If this didn't have the Elder Scrolls name attached to it would I be interested? Nope.

I'm going to try the beta this Friday just out of curiosity and because it's free but no way in hell am I paying a wad of cash up front and then a monthly sub for anything. That's bad enough, then all this exclusive pre order crap and talk of micro trans and pay walls too? That pretty much sums up everything I dislike about the "modern" business model for games like these. Oh well, here's hoping Beth makes another SP TES6 although not bloody likely if ESO has any success.

 

[TidusZ]

The way I look at it, is that I bought an excellent collector's set of Elder Scrolls merchandise. On the plus side it also came with a game:biggrin:

This is who you have to thank for the games industry going straight to shit. Probably owns 5 copies of diablo 3 collector's edition.

 

[ShintaiDK]

The racial unlock for preorders, and I am not talking about the imperial race, really was a huge dissapointment for me. Its a game that obvious will cave in for the lowest determinator. It completely breaks the realm and lore immersion.

I removed ESO from my 2014 buy list.

 

[asteldian]

I will be testing it this weekend. Currently I have no MMO on the go, so if the game is good I will likely buy it. I am not necessarilly looking for innovative, I want it to be done well. I want a new world to explore and advance in, the fact it is the same style of play is not a big deal.
Big problem for me with MMOs is that they have all become about the end game and getting there as soon as possible,for me once I am at end game I quickly get bored so end up having to look for a different game.

Games like GW2 and EQN which look to do something different put me off 'no more trinity' makes a very bland game, GW2 was a big disappointment, and EQN between not having a trinity and its graphics has resulted in me having no interest.

In all honesty, I am just going to float from game to game until Pantheon Rise of the Fallen is released (if it manages to) and that isn't due till 2017 and still needs a long way to go for its funding. As far as I am concerned the best way forward for MMOs is taking a big step back - pre WoW is where MMOs really shon and community was a big part of the fun (despite some gameplay mechanics being appalling, such as 24hr respawns!!), so until they go back to group orientated games which are actually tough then I don't see any MMO keeping my attention long enough.

On another note, ESO's decision regarding races is not a huge concern for me, the collectors edition with an exclusive race is abit more distasteful, however, given that the race likely won't actually be any better than the others, technically it will just be a cosmetic thing so not something I will lose sleep over.

My biggest issue with ESO is the outrageous price for the game, clearly they are high on crack because no MMO should be more than £30, especially not with a sub too (which I have no issue with, I like sub games)

 

[ShintaiDK]

ESO is pushing the limits for payment indeed. High box price, subscription and ingame microtransactions.

 

[gothamhunter]

This is who you have to thank for the games industry going straight to shit. Probably owns 5 copies of diablo 3 collector's edition.

Nothing worth in that collector's edition.

Hey, it's an MMO in the ES universe, so I'll enjoy playing it. But did you see that physical CE? The whole thing is beautiful, like a piece of art.

 

[norseamd]

honestly if the collector edition has nice art then go for it. more mad at zenimax then you or other people who buy them. that is what a collector edition should be. a hand made board game from the video game would be nice for some games. but for a really nice collector edition they need to make full armor and arms or something. people will pay a good several grand for that. that is what real armor and weapons cost.

but this stuff that zenimax is trying to pull with the game itself is just too much.surprised they even made skyrim as good as it is. they actually made it more complex than oblivion. usually when you start making games leass complex you never go back up. remember when skyrim was supposed to be dx11. or all that content they took out of the game. like the civil war content. the cities are pretty barren. and they never made that thalmor dlc that everyone wanted like me. and taht the dlc was not horrible but somewhat small for 20. and taht they stopped support for it way early and just blew everyone off and more dlc. they really do not care about their customers. bethesda is the new ea.

 

[gothamhunter]

Here's an unboxing video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbqp7bpalmY

 

[HumblePie]

Here's an unboxing video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbqp7bpalmY

Wahoo! a game that wants to give you digital crabs.

 

[Dahak]

The racial unlock for preorders, and I am not talking about the imperial race, really was a huge dissapointment for me. Its a game that obvious will cave in for the lowest determinator. It completely breaks the realm and lore immersion.

I removed ESO from my 2014 buy list.

While I do agree that it is disappointing that they allow any race unlock, but if it ONLY a pre-order bonus and will not be unlocked at a later time (unless like 3-4 years if it survives that long) then I would be somewhat ok with it

The imperial race unlock is ok, as from a lore point, they are kinda lost as their empire fell and they would be joining anyone who will bring it back

 

[gothamhunter]

Wahoo! a game that wants to give you digital crabs.

So this way I can fully RP then? :hmm:

 

[HumblePie]

So this way I can fully RP then? :hmm:

Heya baby... nice armor rack you got there. Want to check out my sword and crabs sometime?

 

[BoberFett]

Interesting. I didn't know there was a significant difference in look and feel between the old and new. I'll see for myself when I level out of red ridge.

I guess it's in the eye of the beholder, but I find the new zones much more graphically interesting, better models, etc.

 

[lilrayray69]

Here's an unboxing video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbqp7bpalmY

lol that guy's voice is great. The box and stuff is pretty cool, but the digital stuff kind of irks me. Have to get the CE just to play the Imperial race? Significant XP buffs - already? ... :\

 

[v8envy]

"Play as an Imperial

Play as an Imperial and play in any Alliance. Gain unique bonuses, crafting styles, gear and more" -- this doesn't sound cosmetic in the least.

I think I'm done with MMOs. Same model in every one* -- race to level cap, then spend years grinding the same quests with crappy drop rates over and over and over and over and over... Just to get your gear upgraded to where you can grind the next tier.

And the grind & level cap is reset with every expansion.

I see nothing in this title to buck that trend. In addition, Zenimax intent to reach deep into the player's wallets, EA-like, is visible from space. I spend enough time in RL bludgeoning others with my wallet, I don't need that in my escapism.

* Yes, eve (which I played for 6 years) is different, but it's basically a collaborative spreadsheet married to space themed screensaver & chat app. It's hardly a game.

 

[darkewaffle]

Significant XP buffs - already? ... :\

I only played one weekend but I got the impression that levelling is more of a 'long term' activity than "get max level, done" kind of thing. The way it works (I think) is each type of equipment your character can wear has it's own set of skills to be unlocked and levelled when it is equipped. In addition I think your class has like three 'trees' (specializations? something) which can be levelled as well. In essence I think if you're a completionist type or want your character to be able to both tank and DPS adequately you may need to be spend time levelling different weapon types/armor types/'specs'.

 

[Subyman]

I picked it up with the gmg discount. I actually like the sub model for mmos. I think the micro transactions have been over blown. The store will have name chnsges and cosmetic gear. The devs have said there will be stuff just for fun like wows pay for mounts and pets. I have no problem with that as long as they don't charge for normal content.

 

[Markbnj]

"Play as an Imperial

Play as an Imperial and play in any Alliance. Gain unique bonuses, crafting styles, gear and more" -- this doesn't sound cosmetic in the least.

I think I'm done with MMOs. Same model in every one* -- race to level cap, then spend years grinding the same quests with crappy drop rates over and over and over and over and over... Just to get your gear upgraded to where you can grind the next tier.

And the grind & level cap is reset with every expansion.

I see nothing in this title to buck that trend. In addition, Zenimax intent to reach deep into the player's wallets, EA-like, is visible from space. I spend enough time in RL bludgeoning others with my wallet, I don't need that in my escapism.

* Yes, eve (which I played for 6 years) is different, but it's basically a collaborative spreadsheet married to space themed screensaver & chat app. It's hardly a game.

I think you might be wrong about that, but we'll see. Firor is definitely shooting for rvr as the end game, a la DAoC. But since I haven't managed to level out of the starter area during any of the tests yet I haven't experienced it. I've seen some good reports, though.

Anyway, if the idea of a new world to explore and new loot to find doesn't get your interest then I don't know why any fantasy MMO would. Of course, there has never been any good loot to find in recent TES games, so there's that to keep in mind .

 

[v8envy]

Anyway, if the idea of a new world to explore and new loot to find doesn't get your interest then I don't know why any fantasy MMO would. Of course, there has never been any good loot to find in recent TES games, so there's that to keep in mind .

Oh, it grabs, it grabs. Just not a $60 + monthly fee + way more $ to unlock content worth of grab.

Basically, I can get the exploration and random loot drops in any of the dozens upon dozens of existing f2p MMOs. I have yet to see a single thing that makes ESO worthy of being $hundreds/year better than any of them.

 

[tidy]

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[laezyre]

If this game fails miserably, the corporate community is going to take notice. This could limit future funding for MMO's, which can't be good. These guys spent how much on this project? ($200 million?). Maybe public funding is going to be a bigger part of the MMO future.

 

[tidy]

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[Cerb]

If this game fails miserably, the corporate community is going to take notice. This could limit future funding for MMO's, which can't be good.

Why do you say that? Seems to me like that would be a fantastic thing. ES, and now FO, games, have a loneliness to them, a harshness of environment...yet, out of the box, the difficulty and stat scaling is too much designed for casual console players, as has been since Morrowind. This has necessitated mods to fix those aspects, and thus fully take advantage of the rich world they create. If they're going to make a game where that's not even an option, then that casual setup needs to go DIAF, since there will not be an option to make it any more challenging than out of the box. Instead, it looks like they're making it worse, rather than better.

However, part of the thing with such games in the first place is being able to play whatever, and having a fair chance at it. It breaks not only ES game history, but basic player trust, to have pay race unlocks, microtransactions, and so on, for what should rightfully be a free for all. And then they're charging per months on top of that, and not a small fee? Why should more companies making MMOs that go in the opposite direction that a good game should be going be supported? Screw that.

 

[laezyre]

I'm not a fan of microtransaction and Pay to win games, so if failure means they will stop making them, great. I'm more concerned about the huge amount of investment required to make MMO's. I think private funding and kickstarter may be an option. This gives the dev teams more flexibility and accountability to players. Otherwise, companies will shy away from expensive projects after seeing them crash and burn $200 million.

 

[Cerb]

MMOs practically necessitate a high availability server network, and due to people inevitably trying to cheat, will necessitate a lot of CPU power on those servers, to do work that could be done on the clients, if the clients could be trusted. Those operational costs, and the initial investment to make that happen, makes it an expensive venture, and something that's not going to be a good fit for too many indie devs looking to bolster their finances via Kickstarter.