official The Elder Scrolls Online

[spaceelf]

I'd agree with an NDA for in-house testing, but I don't even know why they bother trying to enforce an NDA when they've opened the beta to any Tom, Dick and Harry who applies.

Well clearly it isn't open to other names who apply :D

 

I haven't gotten the go ahead yet.  Admittedly I did just sign up within the last couple days...but heh.

[Shaun N.]

Had a quick 20 minute play and didn't like it

[n_K]

I think more people need to see how bad this game is, before committing to buy it to try it for a month.

Agreed. I just tried it on my beta account and wow... This needs a LOT of work done on it, I won't go into specifics but from a 'I`ve never played this before' perspective it is god awful, slow and crashy on simple functions, nothing is explained and I'm still at a loss of why things are the way they are.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

I think more people need to see how bad this game is, before committing to buy it to try it for a month.

 

This is true but they should not base that information off of a beta version of the game. If anyone here can remember the World of Warcraft beta it had all sorts of problems and the official version was fantastic.

[McKay]

Well clearly it isn't open to other names who apply :D

 

I haven't gotten the go ahead yet.  Admittedly I did just sign up within the last couple days...but heh.

 

You haven't? Dang unlucky. I'd been applying repeatedly for months and finally got one, but so did 4 of my friends who applied last week. I was basically assuming they were giving it out to anyone after the ease they got it.

[Louisifer]

So, now that the game is visible to anyone does that mean those of us who haven't agreed to any NDA can freely talk/post images/videos while the rest have to keep quiet? :laugh:

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

So, now that the game is visible to anyone does that mean those of us who haven't agreed to any NDA can freely talk/post images/videos while the rest have to keep quiet? :laugh:

 

so far as i know there was something in the EULA for this weekends test about the NDA on it as well. i have not installed the new version yet.

[n_K]

So, now that the game is visible to anyone does that mean those of us who haven't agreed to any NDA can freely talk/post images/videos while the rest have to keep quiet? :laugh:

Everyone in all of the betas has agreed to the NDA three times, once when creating an account, another when redeeming the code and the third time when logging in on the client.

[Louisifer]

Everyone in all of the betas has agreed to the NDA three times, once when creating an account, another when redeeming the code and the third time when logging in on the client.

 

I haven't agreed to any but I know how it looks and plays :p 

[Mystic Mungis]

So after a couple of hours playing I'm still not really sure what to make of it. To me it does just feel kinda like Skyrim with a multiplayer mod, I've enjoyed what I've played so far but I'm not that excited about going back on to play, I'm just not really getting that sucked into it, in all honesty though I think I might buy it when it's released because I do feel like it has a lot of potential but I'm really skeptical about whether I'll pay for a month of game time after the "free" 30 days. 

[HawkMan]

That's a bold statement to make, when there are thousands of bugs that get reported. I haven't worked on a dev team, but I'm willing to bet that list gets sorted based upon how many repeat submissions the have, severity, and so forth. Thus, major bugs that can cause crashes even if only on the client side can get addressed, along with anything that breaks the game balance whether vendors aren't working right, item duplication, exploits, etc.

 

Yes, they do want to stress test the servers, but it's certainly more than that. If you can't get past the first portion of the game, who cares what players will see at the endgame if there are still too many bugs to allow for a playable environment to even make it that far?

 

The bugs they check and fix, are the bugs reported by their paid bug hunting and QnA team, that will perform use case scenarios for repeatability and test thousands of scenarios over and over again. these betas are pure demo PR.

 

Now I did try the game a bit earlier today. and I'm not quite convinced, on one hand i like it when games don't hold your hand, but on the other hand, this game does barely tells you what to do. and everything seems to be done very awkwardly. not a fan of the control scheme which is all set up to be primarily first person either. it doesn't work very well for me, though I figure it would work great on a pad, which I have and could hook up. 

 

it also suffers the same problem most realistic graphics games do. looks great in character creation, but like rift and others before it, they tend to get really bland and flat and plain boring once you get into the actual game for some reason. It's as if they're afraid to use colours and brightness and variety when in combination with realistic graphics.  

 

Also... Watermarks... seriously....

 

I'll give it some more testing tomorrow, but so far it's not looking like a buy for me :/ 

[HawkMan]

This is true but they should not base that information off of a beta version of the game. If anyone here can remember the World of Warcraft beta it had all sorts of problems and the official version was fantastic.

 

By official version I suppose you mean the one after the second or so expansion ? ;)

[trag3dy]

Played tonight for an hour or so. Somehow the combat in the game feels slower than GW2 and we're back to the old mmo mechanic of first come first served. I thought GW2 taught the world that sort of thing wasn't needed anymore. That's a pretty huge mark against the game.

[Slugsie]

Well I've just played for nearly 4 hours solid, and I'm not particularly grabbed by the game. This is my first MMO, so I didn't know what to expect, but this isn't it. As has been said, it feels a lot like Skyrim with a multi player mod, but so much of the interaction just doesn't make much sense. I never really felt like I knew what was happening, or how to decide what I'm going to do. Lock picking is just a joke for example, with no explanation on what to do until *after* your first lock.

 

It looks very nice, but it doesn't play well yet. Hard to see how this can be ready in 3 months, and without huge changes I doubt they'll be getting any money from me.

[trag3dy]

Well I've just played for nearly 4 hours solid, and I'm not particularly grabbed by the game. This is my first MMO, so I didn't know what to expect, but this isn't it. As has been said, it feels a lot like Skyrim with a multi player mod, but so much of the interaction just doesn't make much sense. I never really felt like I knew what was happening, or how to decide what I'm going to do. Lock picking is just a joke for example, with no explanation on what to do until *after* your first lock.

 

It looks very nice, but it doesn't play well yet. Hard to see how this can be ready in 3 months, and without huge changes I doubt they'll be getting any money from me.

 

It doesn't even look that nice. The armor designs are very bland and the animations are terrible nor do the environments look all that great either. And I'm playing on max or near max settings.

[scaramonga]

It doesn't even look that nice. The armor designs are very bland and the animations are terrible nor do the environments look all that great either. And I'm playing on max or near max settings.

 

Maybe too spoilt by all the modding for Skyrim?  Try playing Skyrim as 'vanilla' without any mods (graphical or otherwise), compare, report.

[trag3dy]

Maybe too spoilt by all the modding for Skyrim?  Try playing Skyrim as 'vanilla' without any mods (graphical or otherwise), compare, report.

 

That's great and all except for the game is supposed to be a modern mmo. Skyrim is over 2 years old.

[scaramonga]

That's great and all except for the game is supposed to be a modern mmo. Skyrim is over 2 years old.

 

Fair enough, but 'looks' don't make a great game.  It can look fantastic, but if the 'core' (the actual gameplay) ain't there, well?

 

Take a look at the 'Starflight' videos on the tube, as an example.  A game from the 80's on the Amiga (if you were around then lol) with dire looks and slow processing, but still today, has one of the best 'core' gameplay elements around, something of which a lot of indie developers are using these days, instead of luring folk in with a 'hey look at me', I'm a game from the future, but I have no soul within mentality.

 

I highly doubt this, nor Skyrim, will have the same effect 30 years from now, which is a shame.

[mattmatik]

Fair enough, but 'looks' don't make a great game.  It can look fantastic, but if the 'core' (the actual gameplay) ain't there, well?

 

Take a look at the 'Starflight' videos on the tube, as an example.  A game from the 80's on the Amiga (if you were around then lol) with dire looks and slow processing, but still today, has one of the best 'core' gameplay elements around, something of which a lot of indie developers are using these days, instead of luring folk in with a 'hey look at me', I'm a game from the future, but I have no soul within mentality.

 

I highly doubt this, nor Skyrim, will have the same effect 30 years from now, which is a shame.

 

You can see this with comparing Skyrim and Oblivion. Oblivion, to me, is a much better game in terms of gameplay. Skyrim got boring pretty quick - thankfully, there are some good mods to bring the gameplay out and keep it interesting.

 

As for ESO, I was wary about it when they announced it from reading some of the design ideas and as the development progressed. Sounds like these worries hold up. Now, if it wasn't a subscription-based MMO, I'd be much more excited for it - but I just don't find the justification for paying a monthly fee for 'yet another Elder Scrolls game'. Want me to buy it for $60? No problem. To me, Wildstar looks more interesting - at least they are trying to implement some new ideas.

[trag3dy]

Fair enough, but 'looks' don't make a great game.  It can look fantastic, but if the 'core' (the actual gameplay) ain't there, well?

 

Take a look at the 'Starflight' videos on the tube, as an example.  A game from the 80's on the Amiga (if you were around then lol) with dire looks and slow processing, but still today, has one of the best 'core' gameplay elements around, something of which a lot of indie developers are using these days, instead of luring folk in with a 'hey look at me', I'm a game from the future, but I have no soul within mentality.

 

I highly doubt this, nor Skyrim, will have the same effect 30 years from now, which is a shame.

 

That's all good and well. So far after putting another few hours into this game I don't think the game play is there either though. I wants so badly to be GW2's combat but it's completely hampered by the stupid stamina bar which seems like you use for everything. So whenever you get into combat you can't use your abilities. It's annoying and needs to go away.

[Krome]

Pay to play, it's the only thing that might stop me from buying it. 

Thanks for the answer.  Yes this game is not quite as good as GW2.  It lacks many things which I can list.  As I predicted a couple months ago when I saw the demo, that it will disappoint many Oblivion/Skyrim player-based.

 

1) This game lacks the depth.  I been watching live stream it does not have much content strategy in the dungeon.  You basically do not need to solve or form a plan with the team mate to solve a certain things.  It's all about slashing the enemy.  The only depth to it is, you can dodge and evade incoming target.  I may need to watch more in-game play.

 

2) Graphics are not very artistic or visually appealing.  Graphics are too bland, pale, and too dark.  Overall, I would say it's ok.  Playable but not superior to any current MMO on the market right now.

 

3) This game is P2P and the price is not worth it.  For a P2P, it should have better content.

 

4) Game mechanics, especially the combat mechanics looks stiff.  I have not seen any underwater combat yet but I am going to say if there is one, it's going to be as stiff as land combat mechanics.

 

5) Skill trait logistic seems a bit confusing.  I am sure it requires a bit of getting used to.

 

There's more to list but hate to trying to recall all the points I didn't jot down.

[trag3dy]

As far as I have seen there is no underwater combat.

[HawkMan]

Why are you comparing it to GW2 ? GW is a completely different type of MMO it doesn't need to be like GW it if was like GW you could just play GW.

 

as for armors being bland. yes, that's what happens when you chose a more realistic style for the game over the GW and WoW mega shoulder pad armor and bare naked ladies armors. This would also account for the lack of underwater combat as you don't fight underwater with armor or bow and arrow.

 

These aren't the major faults of the game, though I do prefer slightly more stylized armors, but I also don't like the overdone armors of WoW and GW. I'll be playing it some more today to find out what I actually think about it and see, but as it is, the main problem is they need more color and virbancy in the game, a little better questing system that actually tells you what to do, and maybe a start area without so much loading.. I mean seriously, several tiny rooms with loading inbetween....

[HawkMan]

Played tonight for an hour or so. Somehow the combat in the game feels slower than GW2 and we're back to the old mmo mechanic of first come first served. I thought GW2 taught the world that sort of thing wasn't needed anymore. That's a pretty huge mark against the game.

 

what do you mean first come first serve ? 

[n_K]

what do you mean first come first serve ? 

The first person to attack a creature gets it's loot, other players can't.

 

 

It is essentially a mod for morrowind (yes, the mechanics have gone back in time). What you see on your screen is individual to just you, and you see a bunch of other online players on your screen too, but if they do a quest, kill something etc. then it doesn't effect you or your quest status, it's pretty much single player but you can glance at how far your friends are through it...