Will you buy The Elder Scrolls: Online?

[OblivionDuruza]

The Imperial race is totally separate from the pre-order bonus, and is included in the Imperial editions of the game, available for each alliance.

It certainly seems that way, and the most they could reasonably get away with without getting hit for false advertising would be letting any of your characters move to other alliances - which seems far less likely anyway, so we have no reason not to take their wording at face value. That's for pre-ordering any edition of the game, both Imperial and Standard, and both physical and digital.

[stevar]

they also have an "upgrade plan"
So it seems they plan to allow anyone to "buy" the imperial character bonus later as well as the explorer pack.
They also mad esome typo inthe price on their FAQ, US fans, this might be your chance for a big discount bonus (yeah the price in euro is correct unfortunatelly )) )

[OblivionDuruza]

The typo seems to have been addressed already, but they wouldn't be legally obligated to honour the typo, especially considering that it's only in the FAQ rather than on a retail sight. Still, I imagine that would have been a mighty fine discount!

[Enodoc]

they also have an "upgrade plan"
So it seems they plan to allow anyone to "buy" the imperial character bonus later as well as the explorer pack.

The upgrade plan is just for the Imperial Edition, not the Explorer Pack. Explorer Pack is pre-order only.

[noobishlord]

After seeing all those tasty Collector Edition bonuses (the physical ones, not the digital ones,) it's not a matter of "Yes, I will buy it" now. I've got it on pre-order. $99 seems awfully cheap to me, I feel like I spent more on Mass Effect 3's Collector Edition and that didn't really have a whole lot in it.

[Marelo]

Pretty much how I reacted, yeah. Pre-ordered the physical Imperial Edition yesterday.

[Lairin Azlyn]

YEp will be getting it! Just a matter of when I can pre-order

[stevar]

well, lucky to be in US someties,

Here in Italy, I could nto find a way to get the physical one. And 99 euro is quite a bit more than 99 dollars.
Yet even amazon.it would not sell it .

In the end standard digital for me, and who know maybe an upgrade to imperial later.

[Lairin Azlyn]

well, lucky to be in US someties,

Here in Italy, I could not find a way to get the physical one. And 99 euro is quite a bit more than 99 dollars.
Yet even amazon . it would not sell it .

In the end standard digital for me, and who know maybe an upgrade to imperial later.

Aw I hear you. When I say yes I mean the Digital (Imperial) version. Living in the Caribbean means it would take weeks before a physical edition would get to me by shipping and it would cost more to pay duty

[The SheoDovah]

If i purchase a system capable of playing it and get proper broadband and if UESPers are still active by the time i do so, i may get it. It may be years before i'm capable of running it and MMOs are not really my thing but TESO does look good. It's also TES. Would probably do a female Altmer mage. Oh and if the sub comes down or not.

[Abel]

A few months ago I answered 'Unsure', but today I don't think I will be playing ESO. Not because of the subscription fee or anything like that, but looking at the gameplay videos and trailers, I just can't get excited for this game. I even got into the last two beta weekends, but I could even be bothered to download the 20gb installer. I was hoping they were going for something special with ESO, but it's just another themepark MMO.

[KryptonianBlood]

A few months ago I answered 'Unsure', but today I don't think I will be playing ESO. Not because of the subscription fee or anything like that, but looking at the gameplay videos and trailers, I just can't get excited for this game. I even got into the last two beta weekends, but I could even be bothered to download the 20gb installer. I was hoping they were going for something special with ESO, but it's just another themepark MMO.

Yeah, agreed. At least we have Everquest:Next to look forward to. It will have the Elder Scrolls series famous Open-Worldliness, which Is what I love about the series. May not have Argonians, but it will be the ES in spirit.

[born2beagator]

A few months ago I answered 'Unsure', but today I don't think I will be playing ESO. Not because of the subscription fee or anything like that, but looking at the gameplay videos and trailers, I just can't get excited for this game. I even got into the last two beta weekends, but I could even be bothered to download the 20gb installer. I was hoping they were going for something special with ESO, but it's just another themepark MMO.

Can you elaborate? I currently sub to SWTOR. Its the only MMO I've ever played and I love it. But I didn't pay up front for it. I downloaded it for free and eventually subbed. If ESO is really worth 60 dollars plus sub, then I might consider switching

[Alarra]

A few months ago I answered "Unsure." Now it's a definite "yes"; I preordered it a week or two ago.

[AngryNord]

Preordered here too. Imperial edition, of course...

[Dohva.]

Definitely no, not for now. It looks rather fun but I just can't justify paying a monthly subscription, even if it is TES. I'm not an MMO fan either, so it wouldn't be worth it. I thought maybe I'd give it a shot, but nah.

[Sorenant]

I don't like MMOs so no. Also a friend of mine who does said it's not that good.

[Haravikk]

It looks pretty good for an MMO, as Tamriel is a good setting, and they have a pretty good lineup for story including a bunch of good voice actors (I think everything is voiced?). In fact story wise it ought to be as good as Skyrim, especially since the three factions of the war have to be fleshed out with the three main starting arcs, unlike Skyrim's pretty lacklustre civil war. Graphically it looks about as good as Skyrim on 360 and PS3, better in some aspects, though it looks to have a somewhat different style.


The main thing for me is going to be price. Skyrim has cost me about £70-80 with all the DLC, but I've played four characters that I've really stuck with (plus a few I lost interest in) for around 140 hours each. In fact my last one managed well over 200 since I decided to only fast travel very rarely (and mostly by carriage). This means I've had easily 800+ hours of gameplay for my money. The main problem with MMO pricing though is that it's always monthly, but I do most of my playing as a huge binge over a two week holiday, or on weekends, but MMO pricing rarely reflects this. It's hard to imagine that it could suck me in more than Skyrim does, and I've been playing Skyrim over the course of over two years, while a typical MMO will cost me just as much for a single year, even if I only spend a fraction of my time playing.

So I'm hoping Elder Scrolls Online will provide more payment options; something that just lets me buy a heap of daily passes would fit my playing schedule a lot better for example, and I expect others may feel the same. But so far it's looking like it'll be much the same as every other MMO payment scheme, which could end up putting me off, even though I'm very interested in the game and would like to support it. The other big factor is how much it manages to be like an Elder Scrolls title; one of the things I like about Skyrim is the really slick interface, granted it could be improved further as buying and selling gets to be a pain in the ass, but most MMOs are very window heavy with clunky chat systems getting in the way, which is something else to become off-putting.

The last thing is the encroaching online aspects; the thing that turned me away from World of Warcraft most was that no matter the quest, I'd found objectives crowded by players, to the point that that difficult boss I was sent to defeat was laughably easy, or that lone person lost in the wilderness I had to rescue had their own private army to help them get home. I get that the point of an MMO is to be able to meet up with and face other players in social areas or PvP, or to bring a group with you on quests, but really besides that you shouldn't see many players, except in areas where it makes sense like larger towns.


So yeah, I'm not completely against the idea of an MMO, but too many just mimic World of Warcraft (and all of its faults) too closely, like it's some kind of golden template to copy that will ensure success. If ESO can steer far enough away from that then I might be tempted, otherwise there are too many things that could put me off in the end, especially when I still have fun playing Skyrim.

[heinz57]

I probably won't get it after playing the beta. It's basically a generic MMO with an Elder Scrolls theme. I was hoping it would be you know... like an Elder Scrolls game.

[MJJ]

After playing two rounds of beta, desperately hoping for an Elder Scrolls experience, my answer is no. It's just too much like every other MMO out there. Now that the NDA is lifted I can go into some specific criticism.

You are very structured in how you explore and roleplay, a game on the rails as some call it. You go from the level X though Y region to the level Y through Z region and so on. You aren't really able to make much an impact on the world where you could be part of shaping events in the stand-alone games; this is a limitation of being a MMO. The other players completely dispel any immersion and every horror story you've heard about how people conduct themselves in MMOs is pretty much true. Any forced grouping is a nightmare if you aren't elite enough or someone gets aggravated that someone else isn't performing the most perfect tactical choices (I saw this twice in two days during a beta where everyone is supposed to be learning).

Besides the failings of being an MMO, and I admit they are not my taste, Elder Scrolls Online fails to deliver the immersion of Skyrim or Morrowind. I know these are high bars to hit but that's what charms me about an Elder Scrolls game. You are just pulled into the lore and the world when it's done right. Elder Scrolls Online falls short I'm afraid.

If there's another beta I get into I'll give it one more shot to see if I enjoy it. However, right now I'm waiting for Elder Scrolls VI instead.

That's my two cents,
MJJ

[Dirty Spaceman]

Now that more information has rolled in, I've changed my stance to "almost certainly" to "well... maybe." From what I've heard, I don't know if it'll be worth the full subscription, but chances are I'll buy the game and play it for at least the subscription-free first month. Beyond that, if I like the game enough, I'll consider paying the subscription. I still don't know whether to get it for PC or Xbox One, though. My PC will be able to run it decently, and I'm sure that's where majority of people will be playing, but I'll make my decision after it comes out.

[Skrofler]

It's funny too see people getting turned off because of MMO elements and "not enough ES". My impression is the opposite, and not because I'm not a very loyal ES fan, but because of the hybrid mess.
ZOS were very clear from the start that they were making an MMO, and it's been obvious throughout development. Thus I expect an MMO first and foremost. With too many concessions made towards single players it becomes a mess, or two half experiences at best. It's like having a half-assed TES game and a crappy MMO all in one game, but why would anyone want that?

I've played too many hours of beta without ever needing the help of others, and that simply misses the definition of an MMO altogether. Sure, there were a lot of players around me, but they only got in my way and I was starting to wonder why I wasn't just playing Skyrim instead.
Despite the lack of group content at lower levels I've seen enough to be confident that the game will be worth the buck levelling up, and as with all MMOs, whether the end game will be worth the fee remains to be seen. The benefit of a really broad MMO title is that there's so much to do that most players will find something worthwhile, there's always (very promising) crafting, roleplaying, exploration and so on.

Yes, I will.

[Anubis]

I wil not buy it.

I played the beta sesión last weekend and I was pretty excited. I already had my doubts, like the fact that they were introducing the whole of Tamriel, while the other ES introduced each a single province, enabling Bethesda to flesh out said zone. I thought they couldn´t possibly implement all of Tamriel´s provinces with the same quality of the single player games; and I also didn´t like the design of the armors, I always liked the realistic feeling of the ES, every npc had their own "feel" to them (for lack of a better expression) and there weren´t hundreds of adventurers with every posible combination of armors.

However, I was overall very much excited for the game, because it seemed like they were changing the whole MMO thing, and I thought that playing with others would be interesting, if they got it right. I don´t judge games based on preconceptions, I always give them a chance. In fact, I was so excited that I pre-ordered the imperial edition, although I mut admit one of the main factors was the inclusión of the lore book. Pvp seemed epic, and I liked the idea of Molag Bal invading Tamriel, even if it felt a bit rehashed. I didn´t fancy the cutscene trailers, I must say I found them a bit childish and too much action packed. An ES isn´t just about action.

Anyways, I was happy that I could experience some more ES until they released the VI one. Then I played the beta.

So the first thing that comes to mind is that the graphics are nice, and that the voice acting is superb. I liked the idea of escaping Coldharbour, with all the prisoners running around, all that chaos. You see, to me, the creative part of a video game is the most important one. In this, I think the ESO failed. Yes, it has some good stuff, but it feels repetitive and lacklustre. I know you can´t expect more of an MMO, but still...I don´t know guys. I think one poster in a previous thread nailed it when he said that there wasn´t any innovation. There was nothing ground-breaking. For the most part, as many have said before me, it makes you go from one place to the next, opposite of what an ES is about. I tried very hard to like this game, but I couldn´t. it´s not an ES, it just has ES skins and art, (and even this felt wrong) and an "ES" name sticked on the box cover.

I mean, war has always been a secondary part in an ES, they have always been quiet places in which you explored all kinds of magical things and were you interact with strange, hilarious, incredible, random and at times complex characters. Strange as it may sound, I think ESO has nothing of this. It´s just a big MMO with big stuff, the covenant running around killing people, dark elves fighting bosmer fighting breton. The new daedras doesn´t seem as original as the previous ones (Morrowind dremora, anyone?). In fact, no creature in ESO does, that I have seen.

What else to say? you can´t have followers, very few summonings, you can´t kill most npcs...Some will surely like it, but not because it is an ES, that I can assure you. I think the technical stuff is there, and it´s good, but it falls short on the creative and immersive part. If they made it free, I would maybe play it for the sake of experiencing what have they done with the lore. But I fear this game will not be remembered fondly by most of the fans.

By the way, hello everyone!

[stevar]

The impressions here are interesting, and strangely contradictory.

I personally like the ES feeling of the game, you do not have to follow the main quest, you can just go out and explore, meet NPC and get unrelated quest by speaking to them.
Yes, you cannot kill NPC. You cannot "save and reload" neither. Well in skyrim you can not kill essentials NPC, tink of the NPC here as being all essential.

[Aranel]

If I had a gaming computer, and a better internet connection (ie: unlimited highspeed internet, not... dialup, like what I have right now, ahaha), I'd probably try out ESO! But since I don't, I probably won't be buying it, atleast not anytime soon - I do plan on trying to save up for a gaming computer, but unless my internet gets improved, I'll probably be staying off of MMOs.