Elder Scrolls Online: Does It Have A Chance?

It is roughly 1000 years before the Dragonborn set foot into Skyrim and Tamriel is in turmoil.  The Ruby Throne sits empty in the Imperial City and four alliances fight over who is to rule.  The Daedric Prince Molag Bal has taken this opportunity to help plunge Tamriel into darkness.  He is working with the Tharn family who has allied with the Imperials in an effort to put Tamriel back under Imperial rule. 

Elder Scrolls Online allows the player the choice of the nine different races, which in turn will decide which alliance they become a part of.  Let me explain:

                The Ebonheart Pact

                                This alliance includes the Nords, Dunmer (Dark Elves) and the Argonians.  This seems like one of the most unlikely of alliances because not only do the Nords and Dark Elves have a history of conflict but the Dark Elves kept the Argonians as slaves.  The invasion of the Akaviri Slavemasters has pushed them to put the bad blood aside to fight off their common enemy.  They want to rule the empire purely so that they have control of their destinies.

          The Aldmeri Dominion

                                The High Elves, Wood Elves and Khajiit have joined together in this alliance with one goal in mind.  They want to keep control of Tamriel out of the hands of the younger races, who they believe will only bring more disaster to an already dying world.

        

        The Daggerfall Covenant

                                For the Bretons, Redguard and Orcs, low supplies and blocked trade routes have forged this alliance.  A marriage, a war treaty and survival bonding these three races together I am not sure how strong the inner workings are, it will be interesting to see how the game keeps them working towards a common goal once they have ample resources.

By picking which race you want to play you are also deciding who you want to side with in the war, so it seems like it may make the choice a little harder.  I have a concern about this because it may it difficult to balance picking the race you want and still playing with friends.  

The final alliance is one that is unplayable to players.  The Imperials who will be the main “bad guys” in the game will be fighting on three external fronts and one unknown force that will corrode them from the inside.   

PvP

                The developers have put a ton of work into the PvP system in Elder Scrolls Online.  They have boasted that their game will be able to support 100s of players onscreen at the same time engaged in epic battles.  First off I have to say that I am very skeptical when I heard this.  As someone who has played his fair share of MMOs I know that when you get a ton of players into one area everything seems to slow down.  In World of Warcraft for example the spell effects from just 25 players in a raid can slow down a gamer with a less than perfect internet connection, or an older computer.  Guild Wars 2 also features a massive PvP area similar to what ESO is trying for and when massive groups of players battle each other I find certain things (including other players) cannot be seen from as far a distance as normally.  So I think it is safe to say that this is something that I will have to see first-hand in order to believe.  But technical problems aside, I think that if they can pull it off the concept is very cool.  Players fight for control of the Ruby Throne by capturing different resource points across Cyrodiil.  This includes things like fortresses, farms, mills etc.  The alliance that controls the proper strategic points can extend their influences and control the Imperial City.  Siege weapons have been added to make storming castles easier and I think it adds to the feel of an epic battle.  Anyone can aid in the war effort, either with direct actions or by donating gold. 

                I think the coolest thing about the entire PvP system is that when your alliance owns the Ruby Throne, the player with the biggest contribution to the victory is crowned Emperor! (This is done through a leaderboard style scoring system.)  Being Emperor also offers you something other than just being crowned the biggest badass in the game, it will give that player special abilities making him a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. 

Your Character

   

             Character creation in ESO sounds like it is meant to be very similar to any other Elder Scrolls game.   It feels like they want to provide the player with as much opportunity to create a unique character as possible.  This also extends to your class selection as well.  Although you “pick” a class at the beginning it certainly doesn’t limit you at all.  You are able to use whatever weapon and armor combination that you desire; want to play as an archer with heavy armor? Or a mage who swings fearsome battle-axe?  Then do it! You are not limited to any certain play style.  As with Skyrim you are able to put points into the abilities you want to play not just the ones you “have too.”  It will feature a level cap of 50.  Once you play through your alliance and reach the level cap you are able to take that character and play through the other alliances but all the content will scale to your current level so it will continue to provide a challenge even at max level.

                Using a technology called Megaserver; Zenimax plans to get rid of idea of picking a server, with this everyone plays together, in the same world.  I don’t know if this has ever been attempted before with any MMO, but I am concerned about it running into the same problems that I mentioned about the massive PvP battles. 

                Elder Scrolls Online is set to launch on the PS4, Xbox One, PC and Mac at some point next year and will require a subscription fee of $15 a month.  This game looks awesome it does, BUT I don't know if I will buy it.  First off I don’t know if there is enough here to pull me away from WoW, FFXIV and the Xbox One, that I would find myself getting the full worth out of the investment.  I believe that it is trying to enter a market that is tough to crack into.  It is possible that the game will be successful at launch I don’t believe that it has what it takes to be amongst the top games in the MMO category.  After saying all that, I hope that I am proved wrong.

You can click HERE to take a look at all the videos available and then let me know what you think in the comments below.  Will you be playing ESO when it launches or will you continue playing another MMO?