The Elder Scrolls Online - planned for 2013 release

[Fyle]

I was gonna write a response to this but, way to little info. to even begin.

It should have variety in race if they keep all the same races playable at least. I'm not gonna speculate, I'll give it a chance based on weather it's free to play or pay to play for the most part. which is also why I have a very open mind on D3 and my eye on GW2.

( ^ ^ )/□

[Annubis]

Looking at the new video for the game... I like  some of their decisions.
If they have some kind of try-out, I might do so.

[Yggdrasil]

Looked pretty good to me. Curious to see what they have to show in the future.

[Parn]

Trailer is out.  It is remarkably uninspiring and dull.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jNT5cMwxw0

[Tenchi-no-Ryu]

Here's a better video actually showing you current game play and the world itself.

ESO gameplay

 I have to admit, I'm a huge fan of Elderscrolls world design and the setting, but god damn I can't stand the character design and armor - it looks highly reminiscent of Rift. I do like that they're going a more action oriented role with the combat, but eh, it's kind of hard to get excited for a game like this when there's already all the single player games out there, on top of all the crazy ass mods (like the retexturing of Morrowind). I'll have to agree with Parn though - the genre itself is evolving, but playing an MMO solo kind of defeats the purpose. Solo gameplay is a great convenience, but it doesn't lend to those great moments of comradery and adventure you have with a true multiplayer persistent world experience. I would love to see the kind of persistent presence in an MMO like you saw in SWG, EVE etc. with the kind of personal investment that comes with having a home/shop/family, whatever. Granted you're heading into the whole Second Life school of thought, but think about it. Imagine an MMO with the kind of storytelling you're used to with Bioware/Bethesda games, with an action combat system and a true social/economic component with player homes, social events, player run stores etc. An *actual* persistent world. Of course, its unrealistic to expect players to be online into perpetuity, but that's what AI is for :)

Anyway, interesting debate, game looks decent - lets see how it turns out, and how quickly it goes F2P.

[Annubis]

Anyway, interesting debate, game looks decent - lets see how it turns out, and how quickly it goes F2P.

Didn't both Zenimax MMO go F2P after a year? If so... a year.

[John]

Anyway, interesting debate, game looks decent - lets see how it turns out, and how quickly it goes F2P.

Didn't both Zenimax MMO go F2P after a year? If so... a year.

I think you may have Zenimax/Bethesda confused with another company.  Zenimax Online formed in 2007 and as far as I know, the work has been exclusively on TESO.

[Annubis]

Our President was one of the founders of Mythic Entertainment and was the producer of Dark Age of Camelot and lots of other titles there. Our team is made of many other people who worked at Mythic, as well as NCsoft, Firaxis, Sony Online, EA, and Bethesda Softworks. ZeniMax Online's staff had leadership roles on popular MMOGs like Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer Online, Star Wars: Galaxies, Ultima Online, and The Sims Online.

I almost thought I was wrong for a second there.

[John]

Yeah, the designers worked on MMORPGs previously - but this is Zenimax's first game.

Edit: To be clear, the two games you have highlighted were both produced by Mythic/EA.

[Annubis]

Yes, and Zenimax is mostly Mythic. That quote is from Zenimax's website.

[John]

Aha, I think I see where our disagreement is.  You're arguing that the games these people have worked on previously have gone free to play and I thought you were referring to Zenimax the company.

[Tsi Aileron]

Yeah, except neither of those games are free to play. Dark Age of Camelot has a 14 day trial and Warhammer Online has a "unlimited" trial. Games like DAoC were successful when they came out. 250k-300k subscribers was great.... until World of Warcraft came out. Now you need millions of subscribers to be successful.

[Annubis]

I've been doing some reading on this and I'm actually interested now.
From what I gather, it's not as much as making a TES MMORPG but more of making Skyrim a massive multiplayer game.
That sounds pretty cool.