Reviews
The Elder Scrolls Online
As expected, The Elder Scrolls Online (TESO) is being reviewed as an average game. It’s not fiction. It’s reality. There’s nothing new or special about this game and the flaws are endless. For starters, the game lacks what’s truly essential. Instead of featuring Tamriel as a massively multiplayer experience, it presents a standard MMO with The Elder Scrolls as its main theme. And it gets worse, as nearly every system seems to be either incomplete or totally non-intuitive. Instead of becoming a legend among MMOs, TESO has become a despicable disappointment. Here are the top five reasons why this game is already a failure among gamers.
1. Next-Gen: Lack of Interactive and Innovative Content
2. PvP System: Extremely Massive and Imbalanced
The PvP system in TESO is an incredible tragedy. It has been a while since I saw a paid MMO without any kind of structured PvP system. I think the last one was Aion, five years ago. Now, the only PvP option in this game is a huge map called Cyrodiil, where the three factions in Tamriel can massively engage each other in order to obtain further land and bonuses. It seems exciting and fun at a casual level. But anyone who enjoys player-versus-player knows that this is simply a measure of entertainment and leisure. There’s too little skill or tactics involved. And the most successful strategy is gathering the largest army possible – numbers are everything in this super-massive battlefield and it generally leads to victory.
3. Economy: Completely Devastated by Exploits
TESO hasn’t even celebrated one full month of existence yet and its economy has been devastated by a duping exploit. The bug was so easy and simple to use that a normal player could do it accidentally. Evidently, this unleashed chaos in-game, since farming and item creation lost most of their purpose. And even if Zenimax/Bethesda has already dealt with the issue by fixing the bug and punishing most of the abusers, the result of their actions is still visible in every realm. The gold generated from the duping allowed many to purchase or craft items that subsequently originated other superior pieces. There’s simply no real way to track all the “illegal” production cycles that have been creating tremendous deviations.
4. PvE: Back to the Old Days
The old days where mass grinding and eternal solo leveling were part of any MMO seem to be back with The Elder Scrolls Online. Apart from dungeons and PvP, it’s basically impossible to group up and quest together. Why? Well, The Elder Scrolls Online features an instanced system where players must do a great part of their quests by themselves. Even if they’re in a group with players doing the same quests, they won’t be able to share it because this instanced single-player domain inside the global multiplayer world won’t allow them to interact with each other. Also, quests can’t be repeated, which means players can’t help their friends with quests that they’ve completed before. So ultimately, what’s the point of going online if you can’t even quest with other people?
5. Pay-to-Play: The Bold Gold Mine of 2014
I think the most bizarre thing about TESO is the fact that you need to pay so much to experience everything the game has to offer. First, you need to pay 60$ to purchase a copy of the game. Secondly, if you wish to unlock all the features in the game, including the Imperial Race and the Imperial Horse, then you need to spend an additional 20$ to buy the Collectors Edition. Lastly and because The Elder Scrolls Online is a subscription-based game, players will have to pay 15$ a month just to be able to log in. I am sure gamers wouldn’t mind paying all this and much more for a game worth it, a game with distinguishing content, next-gen features, and remarkable gameplay. But the TESO Zenimax/Bethesda has presented us is nothing but a shadow of a game that never came to be, which inevitably, became a failure and a huge disappointment for everyone.
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12 Comments
JensenD
AngryJoe said this is the most non-social MMO ever and it’s true lol I expected so much from this game but it’s quite a failure… sadly.
MetalicSoul
I am more into solo RPG games that are open ended and such, these idiots think they can make an mmo to compete against the big ones is laughable. They need to just put this train wreck of a failure down before they get dragged down too far to be able to save themselves.
VDM
You have some points, I must give you that. But I think you just can’t speak for ‘everyone’. Saying things like: ‘But the TESO Zenimax/Bethesda has presented us is nothing but a shadow of a game that never came to be, which inevitably, became a failure and a huge disappointment for everyone.’ I really enjoy this game. I’m a huge fan of The original Elder Scrolls serie, and yes, TESO is not a real Elder Scrolls game but I DO enjoy it. The vista’s, the lore,… Really, allot of people think this is a good game.
Herropreese
You should try proofreading. This article is riddled with errors.
JS100
Waaaaaaaaaaa. ESO is awesome.
Oshova
1- Lack of interaction? So being a member of up to 5 guilds at any time, with all the chat and grouping that goes with that is a lack of interaction? Damn!
Lack of innovation? You probably have a point here. Graphics wise this is a big leap forward from Skyrim though. And that was the greatest game of the year when it came out. (I’m not saying ESO is the greatest game of 2014…)
2- Yes, the PvP is massive. Although I wouldn’t say unbalanced. I’ve seen a lot of back and forth in the current campaigns. And really it ties in with the story of the game. This is a time of civil war, with 3 alliances all trying to gain control of the capital and be the one true Emperor of Tamriel.
Could it do with something else? Probably. It would be nice to have limited space areas where groups go against each other to achieve objectives. And this could still easily tie into the ongoing civil war.
3- I’m sorry, but is it really that game changing? On other Bethesda games you could just stick a bucket on someones head and steal all the stuff around them… This is just different to that, and has been fixed, along with other major and minor bugs of the game.
4- Firstly, I hear both sides of this. One side saying it’s too hard and grindy, the other saying it’s too soft and easy. It can’t be both, and I would actually say this is more on the easy side to level. In fact the latest patch actually makes the main story quests easier! It is a long game though, with 3 alliance areas to complete, each of which taking a LONG time. There is a lot to play.
Also, grouping. So you can group with anyone… whether you know them or not. The Group Dungeons have a tool to aid in finding a group to do them. Again, you can be a member of up to 5 guilds, and find people to play with there.
Ok, so you can’t help with everything if you have already done the quest. but you can have 8 characters, so why not make a new character to play with that friend you have? Or just help out on the quests that you can?
I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about not being able to play with their friends… Until they worked out how to travel to player. To cut down on lag etc, this game runs on “instances”, so you may be in a different version of the same area. But if you travel to player, it puts you in the same version of that area. Simple.
5- Pay to play.
You have to buy the game!? This is outrageous!!! Who ever thought you would have to spend money on a game!
They made a special edition with extra stuff on it!!! Yet another ground breaking move here!
It’s on a monthly subscription, or game time!? Well that’s it then… damn, they’ve ruined my life.
None of this is outrageous in gaming. And $15 a month really isn’t a lot of money. You get the first month free with the game. So you can play around and see what the game is like. If you don’t like it, you’re not automatically subscribed to pay until the day you die… just don’t play it. If you do want continue playing, then buy time when you can afford it. It’s not like this is the only game in the world, and if you can’t play this then your life is over!
tl;dr
The OP has about 2 minor points correct in my opinion. This is a good game, and you should definitely try it if you have liked any Elder Scrolls game, Bethesda games in general, or really if you have liked any kind of RPG-style game.
Ron
Nope
First gameplay is lacking comparing to other elder scrolls(yes i have played every one of them ,from arena to skyrim)
Seccond:Archery(How mighty have fallen)
Third:245 dollars a year for an average game is NOT PERFECT
Fourth It is soon to be a failure game
so instead of bieng a fanboy,keep up with the limitation.If you are rich ,doesn’t mean that every other person is goying to waste their money
Drakulus
What’s a next gen feature? I hate when people say this isn’t “next gen”. Consoles will never be next gen so this shouldn’t matter. Next gen is just a graphics update. I’m not defending this game by any means, but your logic here is flawed.
Meddier
Yep, this game is pretty much an all-round fail. It does actually have classes, but the class system is quite poorly designed.
XYLUM
I bought ESO for 60 bucks, before it was available on steam…which I disliked, but I did it anyway. Only to see that 2 weeks later, not only was it now available on steam, it was also on sale for to 29.95.
Adding insult to injury, I was not able to to activate my retail copy via steam…
Zenimax wants us “Early Adopters” to buy ANOTHER copy to have it steam managed. You would think a company would want to reward their early supporters, not screw them over at every turn like a shady mobile phone company. That was the final straw for me, I immediately cancelled my subscription.
My only regret in purchasing ESO is that I didn’t listen to my friends and avoid purchasing this title all together.
My experience in ESO felt like a single player game with chat and a cash shop, where you use the group tool to find a few people to run through the dungeons with every so often because you’re completely bored of running around for hours doing handfuls of mostly bland and boring quests for NPC’s that are just as bland and boring.
ESO is a single player game with chat and a cash shop, a few co-op dungeons and a a pvp mode…calling ESO an MMO is a misnomer.
Bethesda could have made a multiplayer DLC for Skyrim, that allowed you to do a handful of scaled dungeons with a group, and a single massive PVP map/mode… and it would have been better then what ESO has turned out to be.
Skyrim Online MMO is what people wanted, Skyrim with all the MMO trimmings…
And this is what they got:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Yes, exactly.
Most of the quests in ESO are thinly veiled “fetch” quests where you run….and run, for a few seconds until you are out of stamina, then you walk… and walk, and walk and gather x number of goblin toes or whatever…. then you run, and walk, and walk, and walk some more back and “turn in” the quest and get your unimpressive rewards…
At it’s core ESO is a RPG… or at least it’s supposed to be, but it doesn’t do a very good job of it…. my character just seemed like some random sword swinging errand boy, that runs a little then walks… and walks… and walks then kills whatever is between him and the goblin ears he needs to complete his current yawn inspiring quest.
The game looks beautiful, but it feels shallow, the characters and quests feel hollow and uninspiring, as well as uninspired.
Inside of 2 days I found myself skipping almost all of the conversations because the dialogue was as bland, flat and emotionless as the NPC’s and their sedated voice acting.
I was further annoyed at the massive amount of running that seemed suspiciously like I was being compelled to break out some more cash to buy a horse… A horse that even at level 20 I am nowhere near where I would need to be, in terms of gold, to be able to purchase with in game currency.
Obvious cash grab is obvious.
The tight storage capacity, and the excessive cost of expanding it was also dubious and felt like a way burn up every last little bit of gold you can scrounge up by adventuring so that you might come to the conclusion that it would just be easier to break out your wallet.
I was completely turned off by the whole running out of inventory space every 40 minutes or so, then needing to travel across the continent to dismantle the unimpressive spoils of adventure that I had accumulated, into raw materials, so that I could sell some off to pay for more storage space to stockpile the rest of it, …in hopes that one day I would be able to craft it into something useful.
The game has beautiful graphics and environments… that are full of boring, “been there, done that” quests and endless time sinks and gold traps.
The objective of the game, from the company’s perspective… is to keep you on an endless hamster wheel of chasing gold and materials… it’s meant to keep you broke…in game and out, and to burn up as much time without progress as possible, so you don’t make it to “end game” territory (which there is next to none of) without paying for at least a couple months worth of subscription fees first.
Eso’s quests are by and large a single player experience, other then seeing people in towns, or having the occasional other player run up and mine the resources you are fighting for…
Doing the story quests offline, in a single player mode would have next to no impact on your gaming experience, …but Zenimax locks your game, the one you paid $60.00 for, behind a subscription wall under the assertion that it is an MMO.
And while they are doing that, they make life hard in terms of travel and inventory management on anyone that is not willing to break out their wallet and spend.
It just seemed like the time I spent playing ESO was highlighted more by the astonishment, disappointment and regret for the purchase then it was by a good gaming experience.
The loyal fans and followers of The Elder Scroll series are being extorted with ESO… it’s a blatant, unapologetic cash grab.
A full price premium purchase, with a monthly subscription… AND micro transactions… in a game designed to burn up time for the sake of holding you hostage until after your next months subscription is paid… No thanks. I cancelled my subscription, like I stated earlier, I still had another 10 or 12 days left on my “free” month, didn’t bother to log in for them and I doubt very seriously that I will be logging in again any time soon.
I guess the rest of the gaming community is already starting to make their displeasure known as well, since ESO was already on sale via steam at 50% off so early after this games release, that is yet another slap in the face to those that have paid full price recently and a pretty strong indicator of what’s to come.
The writing is on the wall.
Despite claims that Zenimax, allegedly, will shut the servers down before letting ESO go B2P
I imagine the announcement that they are dropping the subscription fees isn’t too far off.
When that happens maybe I’ll log back in again and take another look, maybe the focus will have shifted from their customers wallets to making this into an experience worthy of the Elder Scrolls title.
They might start by fixing the quests that were broken and impossible to complete for the entire time that I played their game. I might add these same quests were broken before I joined… and apparently are still broken as of this time.
I am not against companies making money, even copious amounts of it, but don’t be greedy.
Produce a great game and people will spend money for it, for DLC, for expansions, for in game items, etc, etc…but, if the development studio keeps extorting money from their customers with dubious, greedy, cash grabbing antics while simultaneously letting those customers down and making them feel taken advantage of, this game will be a ghost town of broken dreams and unrealized potential in no time.
I uninstalled ESO, reinstalled Skyrim and a healthy handful of amazing Mods from the very active modding community and am enjoying the experience 10x over anything that ESO has to offer.
Using RealVision ENB, and some high res texture packs Skyrim looks stunning… amazing might be the better word.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJx-iBco9Ms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_460811441&feature=iv&src_vid=260dhPHk_yc&v=Z954lWtLUEw
Combine that with the basically endless adventuring possibilities added by the very high end community content, and THEN you have a real Elder Scrolls experience.
ESO is not.
I Just don’t get how you can restrict people from sharing quests and/or adventuring together and call the game an MMO, maybe ESO is an MMO by textbook definition, but not in spirit.
Pepperz
ESO was a complete disappointment to me. It felt neither like a full mmorpg nor a full single player. Zenimax tried to satisfy players of both these play styles but came up short, creating a game that suits neither.
Here are a few of the many things wrong with ESO that someone who purchases should expect prior. It is not anything like Skyrim or Oblivion. Zenimax will try to squeeze pennies from your wallet just to be able to play the race you want to with your friends, otherwise you’ll be on other factions. If you want to be an imperial you’ll have to pay even more on top of that. The quest decisions you make have little impact on the overall game, making your decisions uneventful and unimpressive. Expect for it to lack basic mmorpg interface such as floating combat text and a minimap. Be prepared to have a “classless” class system that contains classes, andalso your customization of your class will be limited by the hotbar which only contains 6 slots, leaving you a ton of spells and abilities you will never ever use. You’ll also spend tons of time searching for Skyshards and lore books for skillpoints you’ll never use, and then you’ll find out you could have gotten those useless skillpoints a lot easier by simply installing an addon that shows you exactly where they are on your map. When it comes to try trading, get used to asking one of your four trade guilds for price checks on everything as the game lacks a basic auction house and only time consuming guild stores. You will inevitably encounter multiple different prices from multiple people as there is no real way to compare your price to the overall average going price with the world economy. Don’t expect to play with your friends unless you are leveling together, as you can’t help your friends with any quest you have already finished. If zerg PvPing is your thing you’ll love the one and only PvP option in the game… You will not however get to face the enemy factions in the open world as they won’t even appear on your screen if you are not in the same faction, and you won’t get to challenge your allies either as their is no duel system implemented. If you want PvP of any kind you will have to settle for the zergfest.
TL:DR: Save your money. Learn from my mistake.
ESOffline
I bought the collectors edition completely stoked for this game pre-release. Eagerly played the beta, twice through. Played the game at launch with all my extras I spent so much extra for, playing imperial.. Having a horse. I’ve played Skyrim for years, I’ve played WoW and it’s clones for a decade. This. Game. Blows. ESO is the worst designed, most boring, solo silo’d piece of trash I’ve ever.. ever played. I played the beta and was not blown away. I thought, it’s just a beta, it will be better. I played the second wave of beta.. Still not impressed. Played for two weeks after launch every day.. And nothing. Skyrim is much much more fun. WoW is 10x a better game. And with all the micro transactions, extortion, and heavy price tag, WoW is a lot cheaper too. I literally spent twice as much buying ESO than I did to buy the entire WoW collection for both myself and my girlfriend. This game will not see another dime of my money. I could be more specific as to its failures but they are written all over this post and in the comments. This is my post to say it sucks, it’s boring, it’s shamelessly greedy, and is a terrible waste of time for any gamer that considers themselves a gamer.