link Elder Scrolls MMO Announcement Reportedly Coming Soon The series may not remain single-player-only for much longer. Since this is the week of the pipe dream, what with a sequel to Wasteland being funded and a release date for Diablo III finally being made official, now is as good a time as any for some juicy rumors to be floated. Aside from talk of HD re-releases of both Shenmue games and Skies of Arcadia (a subject for another article), it's being reported than an Elder Scrolls MMO is not only in development, but it will also be getting an official announcement fairly soon. The game, known as Elder Scrolls Online, will be announced at some point in May according to a report by Tom's Guide. Sources provided very little information about the game except to say there will be three playable factions (represented by a lion, dragon, and either a phoenix or eagle) and that it is set approximately 1,000 years before Skyrim. That period would also predate the events of Morrowind and Oblivion. This is not the first time there has been talk of an Elder Scrolls MMO. Even before Skyrim was announced, there was speculation that the next game in the series following Oblivion could take on the form of an MMO. On more than one occasion the concept was not entirely shot down by Bethesda. The company also owns a number of domain names that would be perfectly suited to an MMO, but of course simply acquiring domains means nothing. What makes this much more believable is what was revealed in court filings in the case between Bethesda and Interplay over the rights to a Fallout MMO. (The case was settled earlier this year.) Bethesda was said to be working on a "World of Warcraft type MMO" since late 2006, and VG247 later reported it had been told it was, in fact, the long-rumored Elder Scrolls MMO. When the court documents became public knowledge Bethesda attempted to have them withdrawn, though it was obviously too late to avoid having news leak. So while none of this is a confirmation, it's looking more likely than ever that the franchise will not remain single-player-only. Considering what the reaction was to Mass Effect 3 adding an optional, cooperative multiplayer mode, this is going to incite fans even more than that did. The two situations are different, as Mass Effect simply saw a multiplayer mode added onto a previously single-player franchise whereas the TES MMO would presumably be multiplayer-only after a long history of providing solo experiences. But given Bethesda did deliver Skyrim last year and is continuing to update it (including features seen in the Game Jam sizzle, like new kill cams), it's not as if Bethesda decided to abandon its single-player game fans so it could release an MMO. (Just a thought: the MMO being in development could have helped fuel the decision not to integrate any sort of cooperative play in Skyrim, which some fans were hoping to see.) Many fans are sure to be turned off by an MMO, just as many Mass Effect fans were by the addition of multiplayer, but I imagine not all of them will be. Using such a popular single-player RPG franchise as the basis for an MMO could be an effective way of luring in gamers who would otherwise never consider touching the genre. It may not be Call of Duty, but the Elder Scrolls is really big -- in less than a month Skyrim shipped 10 million units and took the title of fastest-selling game in Steam history. And since launch it has continued to be among the best-selling games in the United States according to the NPD Group. Bethesda is already quite accomplished at developing massive worlds for players to explore and interact with. Making an MMO won't be as simple as increasing the size of the world and throwing a bunch of players into it all at once, but Bethesda has a strong built-in fan base and a lot of experience settings gamers loose in a wide-open world, two things that any company looking to release an MMO would love to have.
I'm guessing they turn the combat system into real-time cooldown based gameplay. It would take away the feel of Elder Scrolls. Do not want.
If they keep the same combat and don't turn into that cooldown system it'd be a good step. Don't go the MMO route with comic graphics ala WoW, that would suck. An Elder Scrolls MMO that plays like the solo games would have huge potential imo.
Keeping the same art style is one thing, but they will need to lower the computer requirements for mmo success.
Wouldn't work, all the new players would be getting massacred everytime. You'd end up with a couple of level 81 guys just mutilating and looting everybody.
It'd be cool if they did something like the Morrowind map. And you make it where only behind Ghost Gate would be PvP.
long PDF article from GameInformer, with screenshots http://cs5547.userapi.com/u18690/docs/ad6922b63ef8/TesOnline.pdf The reason to be excited about this is that the lead designer is Matt Firor, who created Dark Age of Camelot, the best PvP game ever imo, way back in 2001
I'm generally not a big fan of PvP in mmo's. Though it was kind of fun in Star Wars Galaxies at the beginning. But it's too easy to ruin it with people having cheats. I hate that. I never played Dark Age of Camelot, but heard good things about it, so maybe it will be different in this game. I read that combat will be a skill activated thing where you press the buttons to activate the skills you have. It's supposed to be kind of like EQ 2. It could be interesting with the ability for people to customize the combinations of weapons, and magic skills they choose if it sticks to traditional Elder Scrolls style, where even in the older games you could make a custom class that focused on the skills you liked to use, and in Skyrim where you didn't have classes at all and used which ever skills you wanted. The huge variation of character creation make it intriguing. Supposedly whoever is the best PVP player from the team that controls the main city will be the emperor. That seems hard to determine who is the best, and will make that zone a nightmare to be in with all the constant fighting there. But it's obviously very early in the process, and we'll have to see. I always have trouble with mmo's because I don't have the time to devote to them that I'd like to and need to in order to have significant character progression. I don't know if I'll be able to play, but I'll definitely keep track of it. It holds promise.
non-instanced, 3-faction PvP makes for a very dynamic game. DAoC has it, and reportedly so will this game. A classic DAoC fight only slightly sped up, a group from one faction (Albion) hits a group from another faction (Midgard) near a keep controlled by the third faction (Hibernia). It's one big world and soon enough the action is reported by other people in the realm and a group from the third faction ambushes the fight. Looks best at 1080p <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RHb2eKl-rog#t=0m58s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I couldn't make head nor tails of the video, but what you described sounds pretty cool. Especially if PvP isn't just about who has the best cheats, and is playing on a T1 line. I'll definitely not write off the game. Reading the Game Informer PDF really got me excited about the possibilities.
I was.. until I played the Beta. The game play is beyond bad. I will not be getting this game and this game will be a complete FLOP
That's a disappointment. Was really looking forward to having a chance to play in several places accross the entire continent. Looks like I will just have to keep waiting for the developers over at Beyond Skyrim to do their work.
Yup. It even feels like a step down from Skyrim. The world unlike single-player Elder Scrolls games is just inorganic. Its just a cookie cutter MMO, with first person perspective, and a uninteresting story shoehorned in there. I'll for sure play it when it inevitably becomes free to play. But I am not paying for this game, nor am I going to pay a monthly subscription for this generic crap.
