Elder scrolls online beta, Anyone tried/trying it?

[Sors]

I just managed to log back in, and 20 seconds later the first NPC I talk to gets me stuck....   

[BrightCandle]

I hit quite a few bugs but its an MMO so that is to be expected. But honestly I was bored in 10 minutes, I think of all the MMOs I have played in the last 5 years this is about the worst. The dialog was awful, the story was complete drab and the combat wasn't really anything interesting or special. I didn't even last 2 hours total. Most expensive MMO ever and its generic, dull and doesn't even look very good. I am struggling to find redeeming qualities for the game unfortunately.

[DeViLzzz]

One more look at ESO but I think it will be too addictive like any other mmorpg for me to play. I really can't go back to what I used to do.

[-ism]

I wont be trying it out. My experiences in the MMO department have not been very good at all lately. Nothing really seems to catch my eye right now and ESO just seems to me like it's going to die off rather quickly. 

[DeViLzzz]

Well my session lasted over 8 and a half hours.  The game keeps getting better the more I play it but the more I play it I see the length of my play sessions and cringe.

[That Norwegian Guy]

...I really wanted to like this game but I just can't. It's neither an advancement of the MMORPG genre nor a true Elder Scrolls game. Elder Scrolls is a mostly low fantasy setting, but in TESO they've added some extra ounces of high fantasy to appeal to the MMO crowd. Everywhere I turn there are dark, vibrant purples or pinks in the colour pallettes, the Ashlanders speak an educated, soft and snobby English accent, and everything sparkles like it was Rift 2.0.

The only real props they get from me is for trying to do PvP well. It's not perfect IMO, in my perfect game, they take all the sieges/objectives and the three-faction metadynamics and bring them to the actual questing grounds. While the PvP zones in TESO are big and overall good, remove the PvP and you have nothing there. They are zones just for PvP. Empty husks.

Here's how I rate TESO:



Quests/ Writing: 3/10 - nothing new, but seems even more lazy than usual from an MMO, something I thought impossible.

Skill system 2/10 - 5 active abilities? Come on. My granny could juggle 10.

Combat 3/10 - People seem to be unjustly hyped that "it doesn't have tab targeting". But come on. This is not free aim either, it's just another type of tab targeting not involving tab. I once shot a mob that was 180° behind me. As for the feeling of impact and gravity of combat, it's not there at all.

Itemization 4/10 - I would give a 3 but because it ties in with the great crafting system it's an extra point. Otherwise not very exciting. Not once did I loot something that rustled my jimmies even a little.

Voice acting 2/10 - It has it. That is the most pleasant thing I can say about the voice acting. Except for a couple of characters I met, the rest were utterly malplaced or incredibly bad.

Music 6/10 - Overall rather good. It's not fully orchestral though, lots of samples used. Composition wise it seems to carve out it's own identity rather well instead of riding previous Elder Scrolls' games skirt edges.

World design: 0/10 - If this was any other MMO I'd probably score a 3. But since this is claiming to be an Elder Scrolls game I am not amused. Lots of broken lore, heavily skinner's-boxed "run around that mountain to the other side before you can find the road to go up" style time wasting bullshit and other assorted grievances that all revolve around trying to get the player to waste time. Horrid, horrid design and completely flunked in this category. For shame.

Crafting: 8.5/10 - The one category that gets a standing ovation from me as of now. It is really very good. The only problem is that it ties into the already quite lacking itemization.

 

PvP: Not rated - I have done some PvP and although it is not looking good as of now, I reserve my judgement until I do some more of it.

 

 

Total: 3.5/10 - Would not play it if it were free.
 

[Ethnod]

NDA an all that... been in the Beta for a while. 

 

What I can say atm is that I have already pre-bought the Imperial Edition ($100+) based off beta. Should be tried at least if you liked the Elder Scrolls games. IMHO well worth a look

[xToFxREAPER]

NDA an all that... been in the Beta for a while. 

 

What I can say atm is that I have already pre-bought the Imperial Edition ($100+) based off beta. Should be tried at least if you liked the Elder Scrolls games. IMHO well worth a look

i have a copy of imperial on pre order as well as a few friends. looking forward to that statue.

[Thunderjolt]

Anyone know when it ends? Also I've got a spare code if anyone wants it (Not sure if it works it was from curse.com, but am still willing to give it away)

[Sinel]

Tried it, played through the whole beta, ended up level 14 with "the end of beta area" or something, next area wouldn't load* and main quest told me "invalid permissions" to continue. I can see myself playing it for some months, depending on how much more they add to the game content. Mostly did questing solo and in group, and dungeons in group. Didn't get to play PvP (foreverloading screen.) All in all I'm still going to play it, I ended up sending an email asking if I can upgrade my normal edition digital preorder to the imperial one. The game got a little dull when there was no more quests left to do so I ended up trying some of the other races and classes. Not a fan of the subscription fee but whatever, I've spent more on games and I'll pay for this one for as long as I'll play it (or for as long as I have to.) 

 

7/10 The crafting system was rather simple with still potency to actually be a valid way of gearing up, only problem with this was my resource/ingredient hoarding which left me with a full bank and a full inventory within some hours of play.

 

7/10 Combat, for a tempar healer mage it was simple, almost casual but still felt like I had weight in the team. I also tried the bow briefly, it felt like the bow was actually strong and it did deal quite a bit of damage, which made me feel like my secondary weapon slot would actually be taken by a bow. I tried 2 handers, sword and shield, and dual wielding. I didn't invest skill points into the weapon skill lines though since they didn't really seem any superior to the class or guild skill lines. Melee combat alone felt like it... well, it wouldn't be a way I'd like to do my combating. A friend I was playing with called the combat "messy". I primarily did healing and spell damage so I didn't think it was all that messy. Targeting was a little off in group/mass battle and I couldn't easily choose what I wanted to hit with my spells, but aoe casting should make that problem disappear.

 

8/10 Questing was interesting, most of the quests were short and easy to do, but still introduced an interesting enough story to them that blend into the story of the game. They were of course optional but were still fun and rewarding to do. There were also more challenging quests that I actually failed the first time and had to try again but still not unpassable. The NPCs were immersive and I felt like they actually were NPCs instead of just random quest givers who I don't give a *bleep* about. This was my main way of leveling up.

 

6/10 The skill system was quite confusing. Many skills to pick from, yet I couldn't for the life of me figure out what I should invest into, which to me means they were well balanced and unlocked lots of options for different playstyles.

 

I'm quite sad I didn't get to try PvP, it would've been quite a big factor on my judgement of the game. The combat reminded me a bit of the guild wars 1 system with more variety to it. I loved guild wars 1 PvP. The combat had an elder scroll-sy/mmo-y feel to it, like it was a blend between them, which was a nice compromise they managed to build between the two in my eyes.

 

All in all I would rate the game 7.5/10.

I'll play it. Don't know for how long, but I will.

Getting started with the game is most likely going to cost me the most, and since I have the time to invest into the game I think I'll get my moneys worth out of it. If I didn't play games as much as I do I'm not afraid to admit I wouldn't play it with the subscription fee as big as it is.

 

 

 

*next area wouldn't load as in it would let me go there, but it was empty with pretty much only terrain to see.

[Slater]

From what i've read and heard around the web it seems like its nothing new and the majority of the stuff you can do in ESO you can do in Skyrim. The only exception being the multiplayer aspect. Having said that, my friend and I both believe with the current "business" model of 60 bucks upfront and $15 per month after is definitely the elephant in the room and that unless they change that we both see ESO going F2P within a month or 2.

[Xaring]

I tried it, had to restart the game to get the first quest to initialize, that pretty much set the tone.

It's buggier than DayZ, it basically a WoW clone, they did nothing special, and it doesn't FEEL like an elderscrolls game.

 

I was still sort of humming and hawing because I am a huge elderscrolls fanboy, but then the news of the Imperial Edition dropped and that was it for me. You have to buy a special edition that is much more expensive just to play all the races? It's like they wanted to get that last coffin nail in before the game was even released just to be sure that it fails miserably. 

 

Avatar related.

 

Ive got to argue this. I've playes TES snce oblivion and have enjoyed them very much. This said, i have to say that i did have similar feelings about the combat system in ESO as I did to TES. I mean, you must realise its a MMO, so you can't "freeze" time and select new skills in a fight...

Next up... Im really fed up  of "its a copy of wow" being a problem. WoW is a copy of everquest in first place, so ESO is a copy of everquest if its a copy of WoW, using your logic. Actually, I feel its more related to everquest than to wow.

I agree about the Imperial Edition. Dislike the fact that although its not p2w, you dont have full access to everything without paing those extra 20-40€ for the deluxe edition... But well, ts 20€ more ive got for my personal use =D

 

I played all yesterday and I enjoy the game a lot. A lot bugs still which are annoying but it's beta. But overall I like the slower leveling and story element in this mmo.

+1 Completely agree.

 

Tried it and had major problems with infinite loading screen, falling through the floor when swimming and such. And what is with the crappy speech animations from the characters? Fixing some bugs and a more live combat would help things along, but paying 60 Euros + monthly fees and I cant even play all the races? No way, not worth it one bit. I am a big Morrowind fan and an Elder Scroll fan in general, but this just feels off! Get the mods going for this and it might also help.

 

All in all I am not going to continue playing it after this weekend.

Same thing about the collectors edition. Nevertheless, It was a beta. Id be very surprised if those bugs where steal there for the release date.

 

...I really wanted to like this game but I just can't. It's neither an advancement of the MMORPG genre nor a true Elder Scrolls game. Elder Scrolls is a mostly low fantasy setting, but in TESO they've added some extra ounces of high fantasy to appeal to the MMO crowd. Everywhere I turn there are dark, vibrant purples or pinks in the colour pallettes, the Ashlanders speak an educated, soft and snobby English accent, and everything sparkles like it was Rift 2.0.

The only real props they get from me is for trying to do PvP well. It's not perfect IMO, in my perfect game, they take all the sieges/objectives and the three-faction metadynamics and bring them to the actual questing grounds. While the PvP zones in TESO are big and overall good, remove the PvP and you have nothing there. They are zones just for PvP. Empty husks.

Here's how I rate TESO:

Quests/ Writing: 3/10 - nothing new, but seems even more lazy than usual from an MMO, something I thought impossible.

Skill system 2/10 - 5 active abilities? Come on. My granny could juggle 10.

Combat 3/10 - People seem to be unjustly hyped that "it doesn't have tab targeting". But come on. This is not free aim either, it's just another type of tab targeting not involving tab. I once shot a mob that was 180° behind me. As for the feeling of impact and gravity of combat, it's not there at all.

Itemization 4/10 - I would give a 3 but because it ties in with the great crafting system it's an extra point. Otherwise not very exciting. Not once did I loot something that rustled my jimmies even a little.

Voice acting 2/10 - It has it. That is the most pleasant thing I can say about the voice acting. Except for a couple of characters I met, the rest were utterly malplaced or incredibly bad.

Music 6/10 - Overall rather good. It's not fully orchestral though, lots of samples used. Composition wise it seems to carve out it's own identity rather well instead of riding previous Elder Scrolls' games skirt edges.

World design: 0/10 - If this was any other MMO I'd probably score a 3. But since this is claiming to be an Elder Scrolls game I am not amused. Lots of broken lore, heavily skinner's-boxed "run around that mountain to the other side before you can find the road to go up" style time wasting bullshit and other assorted grievances that all revolve around trying to get the player to waste time. Horrid, horrid design and completely flunked in this category. For shame.

Crafting: 8.5/10 - The one category that gets a standing ovation from me as of now. It is really very good. The only problem is that it ties into the already quite lacking itemization.

 

PvP: Not rated - I have done some PvP and although it is not looking good as of now, I reserve my judgement until I do some more of it.

 

 

Total: 3.5/10 - Would not play it if it were free.

 

 

Quests/ Writing: 7 - I really enjoy this types of quest. Hate wow style where you have got 25 quest up and running.... + sidequests everywhere + a not too bad main story. Ony seen up to lvl 15, and i expect it to get better.

 

Skill system 6 - I don't see whats wrong with this approach... I miss more healing potential in other classes but templar, as for example, sorcerers are limited to healing staffs in order to heal. I also don't quite like the skyshard system... I've missed having a little bit more of space to play around. 

 

Combat 7 - Some bugs still up and running... spell casts cancelling when they should not (used to wow queueing of spells), some funny targetting problems, like hitting and aggroing when didnt want to, things like that. But love the 1st person perspective, love the interrupt/roll/block mechanics. 

 

Itemization 9 - So many to choose from... Seriously, you have not seen good items? Have you done any dungeons at all? as soon as I entered one, blue drops started to appear and they where quite interesting. I wont make spoilers due to NDA.

 

Voice acting 6 - filler NPCs have a "until I received an arrow to the knee" sort of dialogue in cities. It becomes bothersome. On the other hand all the quests, instances, dialogues with NPCs from quests/events are all fully voice over. Compared to wow which has voice overs just on the videos... please? giving it a 2 is just raging and hating. 

 

Music 5 - Didnt actually say at any times "oh, i love this themed song" neither "this song is annoying".

 

Crafting: 8.5 - Most detailed crafting system ive seen in an MMORPG. Ill let it be like you rated it, as I could still improve it a little bit. FOr example i would like to see special recipies to be discovered and such, and didnt see them in the beta

 

PvP: 2.  I dislike it to a maximum... TOO MUCH WALKING. just saying that. dont think its breaking the NDA is it ?

 

Total: 7. It's been the only MMORPG ive been wanting to play after trying it since WoW. When I got bored from it, i tried Rift, GW2, sever F2P ones, Aeon (too laggy)... And this is just a present from heaven under my judgement. Can't wait to get it. and im being strict in my judging. after the NDA is removed, ill make a big post with my thoughts and comments on the forum.

[unidentical]

 

Ive got to argue this. I've playes TES snce oblivion and have enjoyed them very much. This said, i have to say that i did have similar feelings about the combat system in ESO as I did to TES. I mean, you must realise its a MMO, so you can't "freeze" time and select new skills in a fight...

Next up... Im really fed up  of "its a copy of wow" being a problem. WoW is a copy of everquest in first place, so ESO is a copy of everquest if its a copy of WoW, using your logic. Actually, I feel its more related to everquest than to wow.

I agree about the Imperial Edition. Dislike the fact that although its not p2w, you dont have full access to everything without paing those extra 20-40€ for the deluxe edition... But well, ts 20€ more ive got for my personal use =D

Alright, let's do this (smiley face to show that I'm open for friendly debate and discussion, not nerd-raging)

Point one, I didn't actually say anything specific about the combat system because yes I realize that it's an MMO and there are limitations to what is technically possible, but more importantly because I am a Morrowind fanboy and the combat in that game was hilariously basic so I certainly can't fault ESO while putting TESIII on a pedestal. When I say it doesn't FEEL like an elderscrolls game I mean the world and atmosphere. There's sort of a mood to the series, a strangeness that ESO just didn't hit me with.

 

Point 2. Yes, WoW is a copy of other things, but WoW is the big name in the business. There wasn't a team of execs at Zenimax that sat down and said "right, let's cash in on this everquest MMO craze", they looked at WoW because WoW won.

The problem I have with that model is that WoW already won, they did it, and no one can take that title from them because Blizzard has all the money in the world to throw at WoW and a subscriber base that will keep coming back. If Zenimax wanted this to succeed, they needed to be a whole new animal, and they needed to really put their money where their mouth is and make it something very unique and very special and that is exactly what they didn't do. 

That is why I am sad, I had very high hopes for this game because a TES MMO could have been spectacular, but that's not what this is, it's not a TES game first, it's a run-of-the-mill MMO first with a TES skin slapped on it.