Elder Scrolls Online

Major Melchett

Developed by the team at Zenimax Online Studios, The Elder Scrolls Online merges the unmatched exploration of rich worlds that the franchise is known for with the scale and social aspects of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Players will discover an entirely new chapter of Elder Scrolls history in this ambitious world, set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm.

"It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years," said game director and MMO veteran Matt Firor, whose previous work includes Mythic's well-received Dark Age of Camelot. "The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise."

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/03/el...rld-of-skyrim/
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...ls-online.aspx

Kodiak33 · 05-03-2012, 17:16 | posts: 167

Ugh.

IPlayNaked · 05-03-2012, 18:30 | posts: 6,559

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kodiak33

Ugh.

I was ready to tear into you...but really, you're right, that was essentially my first thought as well. Ugh. It's gonna be awesome...except it won't, and then its going to fail, slowly, pathetically.

villa_youth · 05-03-2012, 18:34 | posts: 638 | Location: England

No doubt this will be subscription based......hmmm.

RoadKillNL · 05-03-2012, 18:42 | posts: 2,549 | Location: The Netherlands

Quote:

Originally Posted by villa_youth

No doubt this will be subscription based......hmmm.

Nothing wrong with that.

It surely doesn't bother me with WoW, seeing what we get for it.

Kodiak33 · 05-03-2012, 20:40 | posts: 167

I just don't like subscription based MMO games, and I worry that it would take away from another possible single player Elder Scrolls game.

That's just my dumb opinion.

Kodiak33 · 05-03-2012, 20:44 | posts: 167

However, if they managed to make an absolutely HUGE game (all of the countries like Daggerfall had)...WOW. I guess day/night changes would be an issue with fast traveling etc.

RoadKillNL · 05-03-2012, 17:54 | posts: 2,549 | Location: The Netherlands

Oh yes!

Still playing WoW since Feb 2006...well playing i mainly log for Raiding and that's it. So i can use something new.

Skyrim was my first Elder Scrolls experience and i'm still blown away by it, so this MMO is a nice treat.

Nomadspy · 05-03-2012, 18:15 | posts: 695 | Location: Bulgarian Empire

TES online and Fallout online would be refreshing.

shoja · 05-03-2012, 18:15 | posts: 1,544 | Location: USA

This is going to be crazy insane! I can finally play in my favorite worlds with my friends. Lets hope Zenimax Online doesn't mess this up.

The Michael · 05-03-2012, 18:38 | posts: 1,456

Thanks, but no thanks.

I'm not really into MMO's... to be honest i haven't really actively played any at all.
Also, to me TES is getting old... i may pick up the next single player TES game, but i'll gladly skip this one.

quaker3 · 05-03-2012, 18:40 | posts: 562

would be totally cool to play with few pals but i fear this game cant be ballanced, if you watch any tes game where you can become godly

scatman839 · 05-03-2012, 19:02 | posts: 8,751 | Location: Dundee, Scotland

coop yes, sure, mmo? no thanks

Xendance · 05-03-2012, 19:16 | posts: 5,289 | Location: Funland aka Happycamp aka Finland

A mmo of a game where you are the guy won't probably work :|

shoja · 05-03-2012, 19:31 | posts: 1,544 | Location: USA

Here we go again, people judging something that they have never played or seen. I stopped judging games when WoW turned out to be the best thing ever after Warcraft III(at least for me). I am not going to tag this game with a "FAIL" from the get go, but instead, I will wait and see what Zenimax is planning on to do with it and then judge.

IPlayNaked · 05-03-2012, 19:56 | posts: 6,559

Quote:

Originally Posted by shoja

Here we go again, people judging something that they have never played or seen. I stopped judging games when WoW turned out to be the best thing ever after Warcraft III(at least for me). I am not going to tag this game with a "FAIL" from the get go, but instead, I will wait and see what Zenimax is planning on to do with it and then judge.

Spoiler: It sucks. Its a bandwagon they're way late to jump on to.

Not sure why companies still look at this MMO thing like its big business, with everyone and their mom/sister ready to jump on. Even some of the best companies are pathetically floundering around in the MMO space because its just not that freaking easy. You can't just make WoW with some new features and expect it to work...

WoW exists on inertia, and that's it. The only reason most people play WoW is because they play WoW, and what a waste it would be to start a new MMO, as a level 1 with no money.

Elder III · 05-03-2012, 19:28 | posts: 1,949 | Location: Ohio

I would love a TES Co-Op game and I think that would work quite well in the game world. While a MMO sounds exciting at first, I can't help but think of how much they will have to change everything that makes TES games so fun in order for it to work in a MMO environment. I'm open to the idea, but reservedly so.

The Laughing Ma · 05-03-2012, 20:02 | posts: 1,927

Surely one of the key aspects of the Elder Scrolls games is the massive amount of mods that spring up around the game, surely an MMO of the same game world will have to have a system in place that prevents people from modding the game? If that's the case then surely that will kill a significant part of what makes the Elder Scrolls games?

signex · 05-03-2012, 20:18 | posts: 3,329 | Location: オランダ

Gief screeeens!!!!

Alex13 · 05-04-2012, 01:00 | posts: 504

The end of the elder scroll series..

Daftshadow · 05-04-2012, 01:23 | posts: 987 | Location: California

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex13

The end of the elder scroll series..

I don't think so. The single player version still has so much more to offer. TES 5,6,7... The online version is just another addition and personally I don't find it appealing at all. Some games should just stay single player.

Just so you know, the online version won't support mods

JonasBeckman · 05-04-2012, 04:20 | posts: 7,728 | Location: Sweden

Quote:

Some scans that were posted.
(EDIT: Alternate link - http://imgur.com/a/fO9Ty#0 )

EDIT: Apparently uses http://www.heroengine.com/

Duke Nil · 05-04-2012, 06:52 | posts: 988 | Location: Good question

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonasBeckman

Some scans that were posted.
(EDIT: Alternate link - http://imgur.com/a/fO9Ty#0 )

EDIT: Apparently uses http://www.heroengine.com/

looks pretty sexy for an mmo, the cities and stuff still look a lot like elder scrolls, and some of that real high fantasy concept art is gorgeous

Wanny · 05-04-2012, 14:28 | posts: 6,943 | Location: Canada, Quebec

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonasBeckman

Some scans that were posted.
(EDIT: Alternate link - http://imgur.com/a/fO9Ty#0 )

EDIT: Apparently uses http://www.heroengine.com/

Terrible... absolutely terrible. I lost all hope now with those screens. Looks like another ****ing standard mmo clone. Why are they doing this?

KodY · 05-04-2012, 14:31 | posts: 554

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonasBeckman

Some scans that were posted.
(EDIT: Alternate link - http://imgur.com/a/fO9Ty#0 )

EDIT: Apparently uses http://www.heroengine.com/

Or if you want the quick overview:

Quote:

-Releasing 2013 for PC/Mac
-Developed by ZeniMax Online Studios
-MMORPG
-250 Person Team
-Started development in 2007
-"This time, saving the world from the awakening of ancient evil is only the beginning. What happens when hundreds or thousands of prophesied heroes all think that they should be Emperor?"
-The game is fully voice acted
-Third person perspective
-The game uses a hotbar to activate skills like other traditional MMOs
-Visually it looks like other Hero Engine MMOs like SWTOR
-The general art style is kind of like RIFT or Everquest 2
-You can't be a werewolf or vampire
-Crafting, alchemy, and soul stones will exist in an unrevealed form
-There will be Daedric Princes like Molag Bal, the primary antagonist, and Vaermina, "whose sphere of influence extends to the dream world and the nightmares of mortals", along with some unnamed others
-Constellations will be in the game a la Mundus stones (which work like guardian stones) and also give the answer to things like block puzzles where you step on the blocks in a certain order
-Tons of towns ranging from Imperial City, Windhelm, Daggerfall, Sentinel, Mournhold, Ebonheart, Elden Root, Shornhelm, Evermore, Riften, and a lot more
-Radiant AI will not be present
-There will be mounts, but no flying mounts
-Fast travel exists in the game in the form of wayshrines, which are also your ressurection point, and you can teleport from one wayshrine to any other wayshrine you have already visited
-There most likely won't be dragons
-Sneaking will be in the game, but how it is implemented is undecided
-They're not talking about pets right now
-There will be no player housing
-There will be no NPC romances or marriage
-"It needs to be comfortable for people who are coming in from a typical massively multiplayer game that has the same control mechanisms, but it also has to appeal to Skyrim players."
-Features most of Tamriel including Skyrim, Morrowind, Summerset Isle, and Elseweyr.
-"Not all provinces are included in their entirety; Zenimax Online is keeping large areas inaccessible to save them for use as expansion content. Nonetheless, every major area is represented to some extent."
-As an example, Windhelm is fully implemented, but Winterhold and the mages' college won't be in at launch.
-There are three player factions:
--Ebonheart Pact: The Nords, Dunmer, and Argoninans
--Aldmeri Dominion: Altmer, Bosmer, and Khajit
--Daggerfall Covenant: Bretons, Redguard, and Orcs
-"Recreateing the freedom Elder Scrolls players expect within the World of Warcraft-style mechanics Zenimax Online is using for this MMO would be impossible without changing the way that players interact with the world."
-As such, the game uses a hubless design
-For example, you don't necessarily pick up a quest to do the following, but if you kill all the necromancers in an undead barrow, a shade you free at the end will reward you.
-However, to help you find these events, various NPCs you talk to will tell you where they are happening and put a marker pointing them on your map, which is obviously totally different than receiving a quest.
-Not all quests will have NPCs that indicate where they are
-The game uses MMORPG genre standards such as classes, experience points, and other traditional MMORPG progression mechanics, but they try to present it "around the core fantasy presented by traditiona Elder Scrolls games" such as traveling around and righting wrongs or seeking riches
-The game world is very large relative to Skyrim
-You can explore almost anything you can see
-the game is set 1000 years in the past
-You can't master every discipline
-The imperials are an enemy to all three factions, lead by the noble Tharn family and the King of Worms, Mannimarco, and are hatching a plot to take over all of Tamriel
-But BEHOLD, Mannicmarco is scheming with Daedric prince Molag Bal to take over the world behind the Tharn's back
-Also, your soul has already been stolen by Molag Bal, which is the reason you can come back from death over and over again, and the starting plot is that you're fighting Molag Bal to get your soul back from him
-Hitting the level cap takes about 120 hours
-Each faction has their own leveling content
-An example quest is the story of Camlorn, where you have to stop evil werewolves who have their eyes set on conquest. First, you have to do a "standard MMO kill and collection quest" to sto ghosts from attacking some mages and soldiers. The ghosts are reliving a battle that the werewolf leader was in. You summon a ghost to find out what's going on, and the ghost tells you to wear her dead husband's armor to re-experience the battle he died in. You then get transported hundreds of years into the past to fight this battle. During this battle, you can choose to save the dead man's wife or to pursue the Werewolf leader. ZeniMax chooses to save the man's wife, who then tells you that the Werewolf leader is weak to fire. This information is helpful when you fight him, but you don't actually need to do this quest before fighting the werewolf leader if you don't want to. Basically, you can skip parts of quest chains if you want, but you get some benefit for playing the whole thing. Also, whenever you go back to the town you just saved, everything there hails you as a hero.
-The game features three faction PvP where you fight to take over keeps and use trebuchets and other siege weapons to help do it. At the high end, you can have 100 v 100 battles. There are also farms and mines you can try to take over. Mots of this happens in Cyrodiil where your goal is to take over and hold the Imperial City to get faction wide bonuses for it. If you have played Dark Age of Camelot, this probably sounds familiar. For those who haven't, essentially the entire zone is a giant PvP area will all sorts of points of interest.
-The most accomplished PvP player on your faction becomes emperor whenever you take over the capital
-When you take over Cyrodiil, you will be able to adventure in it as a hostile city a la Kvatch
-The game will have raids and heroic modes for its dungeons as end game content in addition to faction PvP
-There is also balanced PvP for people who prefer eSports
-The game will also have high end public dungeons
-Public dungeons are essentially instances that aren't actually instanced, so anyone can be in them, so imagine a World of Warcraft dungeon that featured everyone on the server in the area instead of just your party
-There are standard instanced dungeons as well
-Back on the topic of the skillbar, you have a limited number of skills you can use at any given time, and can change them whenever you're out of combat
-The number of skills is equal to (paraphrase) "a light and heavy attack with your current weapon that take up the first two slots, a few more spells related to your class, and an ultimate in the last slot".
-The ultimate is used once you gain enough finesse, which is earned by doing well in combat
-You also get a bonus loot chest if you're soloing and max your finesse, and you can also build finesse by comboing with other players
-For example, a rogue can put oil on the ground that a mage can set on fire
-A fighter can also spin in the firestorm a mage puts down, which sends out fireballs
-If you've seen Guild Wars 2 videos, the above will seem familiar
-You can't combo with the abilities of enemy players though, so if an enemy faction player drops an oil slick, you can't set it on fire
-The Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood will be presented, but in what form isn't detailed as their contnet is hard to recreate in an MMO setting
-NPCs will try to work together and use player like behavior when fighting you, and (at least to my understanding) have stamina as well
-They want the AI to be good, so instead of enemies in a dungeon sitting around and waiting to be pulled, you will be attacked by the entire room and they will try to react to how you are playing
-The claim was not demo'ed to Game Informer
-You destroy dark anchors to gain reputation with the Fighter's Guild. They are large hooks that fall from the sky pseudorandomly and have Daedric guardians next to them. They are easier to kill with a group, and once destroyed, everyone who participated gets a reputation boost with the Fighter's Guild, and eventually nets you rewards like new skills and abilities.
-The combat model will not be real time due to latency
-The combat is based around a stamina bar which you can use to sprint, block, interrupt, and break incapacitating effects
-Blocking is the primary focus of these abilities, and can do things like stopping the secondary effects of attacks such as an ice spell slowing you
-Stamina also applies to PvP, so stamina management (and wearing down your enemy's stamina) is important, as your crowd control abilities might be on a long cooldown, and if you use them before the enemy player runs out of stamina, they will probably just block the effect
-ZeniMax feels that having the stamina bar will help break down the Holy Trinity as stamina allows you to do things like tank
-However, healing is still a big part of the game
-There is also no aggro mechanic in the game, which is part of the reason stamina blocking and healing exist

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=472749

Hero Engine... no wonder it already looks outdated.