Elder Scrolls MMO Announced

[Vaynor]

Link here.

Thoughts? Sounds like it could be awesome, trailer should be up tomorrow.

Edit: Here's a link to the announcement trailer.

Here's a list of facts known about the game so far:

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-Releasing 2013 for PC/Mac
-Developed by ZeniMax Online Studios
-MMORPG
-250 Person Team
-Started development in 2007
-"This time, saving the world from the awakening of ancient evil is only the beginning. What happens when hundreds or thousands of prophesied heroes all think that they should be Emperor?"
-The game is fully voice acted
-Third person perspective
-The game uses a hotbar to activate skills like other traditional MMOs
-Visually it looks like other Hero Engine MMOs like SWTOR
-The general art style is kind of like RIFT or Everquest 2
-You can't be a werewolf or vampire
-Crafting, alchemy, and soul stones will exist in an unrevealed form
-There will be Daedric Princes like Molag Bal, the primary antagonist, and Vaermina, "whose sphere of influence extends to the dream world and the nightmares of mortals", along with some unnamed others
-Constellations will be in the game a la Mundus stones (which work like guardian stones) and also give the answer to things like block puzzles where you step on the blocks in a certain order
-Tons of towns ranging from Imperial City, Windhelm, Daggerfall, Sentinel, Mournhold, Ebonheart, Elden Root, Shornhelm, Evermore, Riften, and a lot more
-Radiant AI will not be present
-There will be mounts, but no flying mounts
-Fast travel exists in the game in the form of wayshrines, which are also your ressurection point, and you can teleport from one wayshrine to any other wayshrine you have already visited
-There most likely won't be dragons
-Sneaking will be in the game, but how it is implemented is undecided
-They're not talking about pets right now
-There will be no player housing
-There will be no NPC romances or marriage
-"It needs to be comfortable for people who are coming in from a typical massively multiplayer game that has the same control mechanisms, but it also has to appeal to Skyrim players."
-Features most of Tamriel including Skyrim, Morrowind, Summerset Isle, and Elseweyr.
-"Not all provinces are included in their entirety; Zenimax Online is keeping large areas inaccessible to save them for use as expansion content. Nonetheless, every major area is represented to some extent."
-As an example, Windhelm is fully implemented, but Winterhold and the mages' college won't be in at launch.
-There are three player factions:
--Ebonheart Pact: The Nords, Dunmer, and Argoninans
--Aldmeri Dominion: Altmer, Bosmer, and Khajit
--Daggerfall Covenant: Bretons, Redguard, and Orcs
-"Recreateing the freedom Elder Scrolls players expect within the World of Warcraft-style mechanics Zenimax Online is using for this MMO would be impossible without changing the way that players interact with the world."
-As such, the game uses a hubless design
-For example, you don't necessarily pick up a quest to do the following, but if you kill all the necromancers in an undead barrow, a shade you free at the end will reward you.
-However, to help you find these events, various NPCs you talk to will tell you where they are happening and put a marker pointing them on your map, which is obviously totally different than receiving a quest.
-Not all quests will have NPCs that indicate where they are
-The game uses MMORPG genre standards such as classes, experience points, and other traditional MMORPG progression mechanics, but they try to present it "around the core fantasy presented by traditiona Elder Scrolls games" such as traveling around and righting wrongs or seeking riches
-The game world is very large relative to Skyrim
-You can explore almost anything you can see
-the game is set 1000 years in the past
-You can't master every discipline
-The imperials are an enemy to all three factions, lead by the noble Tharn family and the King of Worms, Mannimarco, and are hatching a plot to take over all of Tamriel
-But BEHOLD, Mannicmarco is scheming with Daedric prince Molag Bal to take over the world behind the Tharn's back
-Also, your soul has already been stolen by Molag Bal, which is the reason you can come back from death over and over again, and the starting plot is that you're fighting Molag Bal to get your soul back from him
-Hitting the level cap takes about 120 hours
-Each faction has their own leveling content
-An example quest is the story of Camlorn, where you have to stop evil werewolves who have their eyes set on conquest. First, you have to do a "standard MMO kill and collection quest" to sto ghosts from attacking some mages and soldiers. The ghosts are reliving a battle that the werewolf leader was in. You summon a ghost to find out what's going on, and the ghost tells you to wear her dead husband's armor to re-experience the battle he died in. You then get transported hundreds of years into the past to fight this battle. During this battle, you can choose to save the dead man's wife or to pursue the Werewolf leader. ZeniMax chooses to save the man's wife, who then tells you that the Werewolf leader is weak to fire. This information is helpful when you fight him, but you don't actually need to do this quest before fighting the werewolf leader if you don't want to. Basically, you can skip parts of quest chains if you want, but you get some benefit for playing the whole thing. Also, whenever you go back to the town you just saved, everything there hails you as a hero.
-The game features three faction PvP where you fight to take over keeps and use trebuchets and other siege weapons to help do it. At the high end, you can have 100 v 100 battles. There are also farms and mines you can try to take over. Mots of this happens in Cyrodiil where your goal is to take over and hold the Imperial City to get faction wide bonuses for it. If you have played Dark Age of Camelot, this probably sounds familiar. For those who haven't, essentially the entire zone is a giant PvP area will all sorts of points of interest.
-The most accomplished PvP player on your faction becomes emperor whenever you take over the capital
-When you take over Cyrodiil, you will be able to adventure in it as a hostile city a la Kvatch
-The game will have raids and heroic modes for its dungeons as end game content in addition to faction PvP
-There is also balanced PvP for people who prefer eSports
-The game will also have high end public dungeons
-Public dungeons are essentially instances that aren't actually instanced, so anyone can be in them, so imagine a World of Warcraft dungeon that featured everyone on the server in the area instead of just your party
-There are standard instanced dungeons as well
-Back on the topic of the skillbar, you have a limited number of skills you can use at any given time, and can change them whenever you're out of combat
-The number of skills is equal to (paraphrase) "a light and heavy attack with your current weapon that take up the first two slots, a few more spells related to your class, and an ultimate in the last slot".
-The ultimate is used once you gain enough finesse, which is earned by doing well in combat
-You also get a bonus loot chest if you're soloing and max your finesse, and you can also build finesse by comboing with other players
-For example, a rogue can put oil on the ground that a mage can set on fire
-A fighter can also spin in the firestorm a mage puts down, which sends out fireballs
-If you've seen Guild Wars 2 videos, the above will seem familiar
-You can't combo with the abilities of enemy players though, so if an enemy faction player drops an oil slick, you can't set it on fire
-The Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood will be presented, but in what form isn't detailed as their contnet is hard to recreate in an MMO setting
-NPCs will try to work together and use player like behavior when fighting you, and (at least to my understanding) have stamina as well
-They want the AI to be good, so instead of enemies in a dungeon sitting around and waiting to be pulled, you will be attacked by the entire room and they will try to react to how you are playing
-The claim was not demo'ed to Game Informer
-You destroy dark anchors to gain reputation with the Fighter's Guild. They are large hooks that fall from the sky pseudorandomly and have Daedric guardians next to them. They are easier to kill with a group, and once destroyed, everyone who participated gets a reputation boost with the Fighter's Guild, and eventually nets you rewards like new skills and abilities.
-The combat model will not be real time due to latency
-The combat is based around a stamina bar which you can use to sprint, block, interrupt, and break incapacitating effects
-Blocking is the primary focus of these abilities, and can do things like stopping the secondary effects of attacks such as an ice spell slowing you
-Stamina also applies to PvP, so stamina management (and wearing down your enemy's stamina) is important, as your crowd control abilities might be on a long cooldown, and if you use them before the enemy player runs out of stamina, they will probably just block the effect
-ZeniMax feels that having the stamina bar will help break down the Holy Trinity as stamina allows you to do things like tank
-However, healing is still a big part of the game
-There is also no aggro mechanic in the game, which is part of the reason stamina blocking and healing exist

[Starwulf]

So very very disappointed in Bethesda :-(. I won't be touching this game with a 10-foot pole. TES games are single player, and single player for a reason. They aren't meant for this kind of game. Bleck.

[Grinner]

I'm afraid it's going to be like every other medieval fantasy MMO: kill, loot, and level up. Sure, it's cool that they can paste the Elder Scrolls brand name over it, but will it offer anything worthwhile?

[Lamech]

Everything about I like about MMO's (and by MMO's I mean Eve), and everything wonderful about TES's (mods, seeing what inane things you can pull off) while they are both wonderful, mixing them will be... hard.
Also bethsada in my experience can't make a game that doesn't have game wrecking, but easily fixable with "`", glitches. Which while fine in a game with "`" is a terrible idea for a MMO.

This will all end in tears.

[Aidan305]

So very very disappointed in Bethesda :-(. I won't be touching this game with a 10-foot pole. TES games are single player, and single player for a reason. They aren't meant for this kind of game. Bleck.

Personally, I'm interested in seeing what Bethesda can bring to what has become, with a rare few exceptions, a very stale and formulaic genre of gaming.

[Grinner]

It might be worth pointing out that while the dev. team, Zenimax Online Studios, is related to Bethesda, they are not actually Bethesda.

[Vaynor]

It might be worth pointing out that while the dev. team, Zenimax Online Studios, is related to Bethesda, they are not actually Bethesda.

Just about to say this. Yeah, Zenimax Media owns Bethesda, and created Zenimax Online Studios in 2007 specifically to make this game. It's not an elder scrolls game, it's an MMO set in the elder scrolls universe, if that makes sense. I'll reserve judgment until more info is released.

[Leecros]

*sigh


I don't think i really have any words to explain how i'm feeling about this...

It's not an elder scrolls game, it's an MMO set in the elder scrolls universe, if that makes sense.

True, but i've yet to see a series continue(or do well) past an MMO. Never. With maybe the exception of series' that are made initially as MMO's and continue as MMO's with MMO sequels.
I may just be cynical, but this is pretty much the equivalent of someone saying that there won't be another good Elder Scrolls game.

Maybe i'll be surprised, but i doubt it. I can't even comprehend trying to dive into a dungeon while being chatspammed by people, kids, flamers, spammers, bots, and the like. Dealing with the mass of bodies traveling in and out of locations, it won't feel like an adventure, it'll feel like you're just the next person in line.


You're right, this game....won't be an Elder Scrolls game, it will be an abomination.

[Vaynor]

True, but i've yet to see a series continue(or do well) past an MMO. Never. With maybe the exception of series' that are made initially as MMO's and continue as MMO's with MMO sequels.
I may just be cynical, but this is pretty much the equivalent of someone saying that there won't be another good Elder Scrolls game.

Maybe i'll be surprised, but i doubt it. I can't even comprehend trying to dive into a dungeon while being chatspammed by people, kids, flamers, spammers, bots, and the like. Dealing with the mass of bodies traveling in and out of locations, it won't feel like an adventure, it'll feel like you're just the next person in line.


You're right, this game....won't be an Elder Scrolls game, it will be an abomination.

It's not quite the same since Bethesda is not associated with this. This will have nothing to do with the production of TES games.

[Leecros]

It's not quite the same since Bethesda is not associated with this. This will have nothing to do with the production of TES games.

We'll see...

[Gamerlord]

If it is like the more open-world MMOs like EVE Online, it might turn out nicely. If it's a WoW clone (Which it probably will be)....not so much.

[Mando Knight]

The thread looked like it needed that.

I prefer to remain cautiously optimistic, even though I still have neither the computer nor the money to play Skyrim...

[YeahThatGuy]

Anyone see the magazine entry? It looks like a cartoon.

[t209]

If it was released what will the canon be?

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Empire won the civil war or Stormcloaks won the civil war.
Or Akaviri came and smashed the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire.

I think Elderscrolls could go to Multiplayer section since

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1. Empire is in shambles.
2. Canon problems (who should win the civil war or atleast second Great War.

P.S- This is not the only first multiplayer in Elderscrolls. Think battlespire.

[Vaynor]

Anyone see the magazine entry? It looks like a cartoon.

The magazine it's in isn't out yet, do you have a link to where you're seeing this?

[Androgeus]

If it was released what will the canon be?

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Empire won the civil war or Stormcloaks won the civil war.
Or Akaviri came and smashed the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire.

Dragon break, they all won.

[Vaynor]

It takes place 1000 years before Skyrim, not after.

[YeahThatGuy]

The magazine it's in isn't out yet, do you have a link to where you're seeing this?

Oh. I suddenly feel as though linking to it would not be a good idea. Forget I mentioned it.

I will say though that generic third-person RPG experience points and level progression are "in". From what I can tell it's World of Warcraft with Elder Scrolls' lore.

[Prime32]

Dragon break, they all won.

Gotta love that Dragon Break.

[Aidan305]

Oooh, it's going to be available for Mac! Finally, another decent MMO I can play with friends!

[toasty]

TES is gonna be made into an MMO? Another game I can ignore forever.

I've never paid for an MMO, and, baring EVE online, I've never seen the appeal. I've played a little bit of WoW and some other F2P MMOs and they are all the same things: kill monsters and get stronger. The plot lines are ultimately generic and boring. Your character never feels special. You don't get a very big sense of awe. Supposedly the best thing about MMOs like WoW is end game content when you can get with a big clan and go "raiding" all night. But to be honest, I don't see how I'm meant to be entertained before that. That bothers me heavily.

Nope. I'll stick to my singleplayer RPGs and League of Legends. Now there is a game that got the Online experience right.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I have never played a single MMO that I've ever liked. Ever. So, meh.

[t209]

It takes place 1000 years before Skyrim, not after.

So, no tamriel Empire (tiber septim wasn't born yet) but how will the currency be?

[Tebryn]

I'm afraid it's going to be like every other medieval fantasy MMO: kill, loot, and level up.

Can you tell me any game in the genre that the Elder Scrolls is apart of that isn't exactly this? I mean...it's not just MMOs, it's RPGs all across the board. Reducing everything to their base is going to make them look unattractive.

[Grinner]

Can you tell me any game in the genre that the Elder Scrolls is apart of that isn't exactly this? I mean...it's not just MMOs, it's RPGs all across the board. Reducing everything to their base is going to make them look unattractive.

That's a fair point. But compare World of Warcraft to Oblivion.

Like Oblivion, in World of Warcraft, players cross a virtual landscape in search of enemies to slaughter and stuff to take. The difference is in the execution. WoW employs a charging mechanic, which reduces combat to a numbers game and an exercise in rhythm. Contrastingly, Oblivion uses an interface similar to that of an FPS, allowing for better player agency in combat.

In WoW, the difference between victory and loss is your build. In Oblivion, the difference between victory and loss is your own skill.

[houlio]

In WoW, the difference between victory and loss is your build. In Oblivion, the difference between victory and loss is your own skill.

I don't see how the different perspectives make this relevant. Having a competent build in Oblivion is just as much tied to success as having one in WoW is (if not more so due to the silly way the world levels with you). Additionally, both games require "skill" to play. If you cannot get down the proper timing to use your abilities in WoW, it doesn't matter how good of a build you have or what kind of gear you're packing. The same is true in Oblivion. Besides, this ignores the fact that being able to create a usable build at all is a skill in itself, just a different one than being able to click your mouse and hit your keyboard correctly.

Regardless though, I've always felt it strange that the Elder Scrolls did not have an MMO yet, since the world is certainly large, varied, and ridiculously detailed enough for it to work as a setting. However, unless they really embrace the sand-box nature of other Elder Scrolls titles, I won't be terribly interested in this.

[13_CBS]

I...have a bad feeling about this MMO. MMOs are even more high-risk than other AAA games, since the makers have to somehow steal customers from WoW and now SWTOR (unless this Elder Scrolls MMO is going to be sufficiently different that it won't be an issue), and will be a huge money sink. The fact that Bethesda isn't going to be handling this game actually relieves me quite a bit, since I really don't think they're cut out for this sort of thing. Nonetheless, while Tamriel would make for an awesome MMO setting, I'm always suspicious about AAA MMORPGs.

As for the lore...the word is that it's 1000 years before Skyrim. That places the setting of the game to be around the 6th Century, Second Era (Skyrim is set ~200 years into the 4th Era, the 3rd Era was about 400 years long, and the 2nd Era lasted for ~900 years). Some of the more notable events from this period:

2E 560 — The Knahaten Flu
A strain of the Knahaten Flu hits the southern provinces of Tamriel causing many deaths. The Argonians were strangely immune to the flu which has led some to believe they were responsible for it in some way. The flu continued until around 2E 603.

2E 563 — Voyage of the Crimson Ship.
A vessel filled with Kothringi tribesmen fleeing from the Knahaten Flu leaves Black Marsh on 9 First Seed. After spending over a year being turned away from port after port, it sets sail to the west and is never seen again.

2E 572 — The Akaviri invaders of Morrowind were defeated.
The Akaviri invaders were killed when the land mysteriously became flooded. Despite the extensive flooding, almost no Dunmer people were injured or killed. Legend has it that the god Vivec taught the Dunmeri to breathe water and flooded the island.

It'd be really neat to see the Almsivi at the height of their power and such.

[Grinner]

I don't see how the different perspectives make this relevant. Having a competent build in Oblivion is just as much tied to success as having one in WoW is (if not more so due to the silly way the world levels with you). Additionally, both games require "skill" to play. If you cannot get down the proper timing to use your abilities in WoW, it doesn't matter how good of a build you have or what kind of gear you're packing. The same is true in Oblivion. Besides, this ignores the fact that being able to create a usable build at all is a skill in itself, just a different one than being able to click your mouse and hit your keyboard correctly.

In WoW, I've found that "skill" boils down launching skills in a specific order and then waiting for them to recharge. In Oblivion, I usually play melee characters, so combat for me consists of carefully timing my blocks and swings. Personally, I find the latter much more interesting, for it seems more fluid, more visceral.

Then there's the stealth mechanic in Oblivion. If you use a critical multiplier-boosting mod in conjunction with an archery character, there's little more satisfying than finishing a bandit lair completely undetected.

Basically, World of Warcraft's format, while Blizzard has its reasons for using it, fails to immerse me, as a player, into the game.

[factotum]

It takes place 1000 years before Skyrim, not after.

That would put it at around year 500 of the Second Era, IIRC, which is a period just after the Cyrodilic Empire collapsed; that's actually kind of an appropriate time to set an MMO, because Tamriel is composed of loads of warring factions at that point. It does seem like an odd thing to do, although I suppose they could be doing it this way specifically in order to avoid treading on the toes of the single-player TES games (or maybe they're just borrowing ideas from Star Wars: The Old Republic ).

Doubt I'll play it--the 14 months I spent playing WoW was enough for me to realise I lose too much of my life to games like this.

[houlio]

In WoW, I've found that "skill" boils down launching skills in a specific order and then waiting for them to recharge. In Oblivion, I usually play melee characters, so combat for me consists of carefully timing my blocks and swings. Personally, I find that latter much more interesting, for it seems more fluid, more visceral.

Then there's the stealth mechanic in Oblivion. If you use a critical multiplier-boosting mod in conjunction with an archery character, there's little more satisfying than finishing a bandit lair completely undetected.

Basically, World of Warcraft's format, while Blizzard has its reasons for using it, fails to immerse me, as a player, into the game.

That's a fair analysis of the differences between the way the two games work, and I'd largely agree with your point on immersion. However, that doesn't mean that WoW doesn't involve having to learn how to do something in a certain way, which I think is the general definition of skill.

Besides, the pattern of using skills and abilities in WoW really supports the multiplayer framework the game rests on. While it isn't really immersive, as you point out, coordinating a string of skills together to mesh with your allies and seeing it work out is pretty satisfying for me. Furthermore, since WoW is most importantly a multiplayer game, I don't think immersion is quite so important to the game.

Sorry if I'm splitting hairs about this with you, but it tends to be something I enjoy around the end of the semester when arguing for some point or another in various papers makes me want to point things out and argue elsewhere.