Elder Scrolls MMO in the works

[Wolfbeckett]

Initial announcement on Ars Technica.

I'm pretty jaded about both MMO's and Elder Scrolls games at this point so my hopes for this one are not exactly sky high.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

I would rather have co-op capability in Elder Scrolls game than this, since I don't particularly care for MMOs.

 

[Civ'ed]

hey, all of tamriel?
I am interested.

 

[Leonel]

I'm very intrigued!

 

[Kozmos]

If they use the maps of Skyrim, Morrowind and Cyrodil they already have and build the others to make it really vast and intricate...they might have something. Good luck on populating it though.

 

[sophie]

I would rather have co-op capability in Elder Scrolls game than this, since I don't particularly care for MMOs.

This, actually. I'd be down for some co-op action in TES. They never do co-op anymore in video games .

 

[Maniacal]

This is going to be a colossal waste of money and effort that is better off being put into TES6. It will not have the high levels of interactivity, immersion, choice and moddability that the TES games do and will suffer greatly because of it. There are too many MMORPGs already out there and we do NOT need another one, especially if it takes anything away from TES6 (and since the TES series already dominates the open world RPG genre with very little competition).

EDIT: Thankfully it is being developed by Zenimax Online Studios instead of BSG so that is good news for TES6. Still should have focuses on co-op instead.

 

[Rub'Rum]

Oh well. Let's see if they can do something good for the MMO genre and invent new things that change the formula. Here's to hope. Down with fashionable cynicism.

Still... Yeah I'd rather see coop.

edit: Apparently it's confirmed for a 2013 release date. At least we won't have to wait 5 years to figure out how it is. (evil stare at all the companies announcing games too early).

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

(and since the TES series already dominates the open world RPG genre with very little competition).

So why should there be another one? If they dominate then surely there's no harm in branching out in genres. Unless you're really desperate for the same game with nicer graphics? Again.

There are too many MMORPGs already out there and we do NOT need another one

I've always found this such an odd argument. Why do you still love the Battlefield series? After all there's too many FPS games out there, or online FPS games, if you want to specify. On other genre's I'm pretty certain platformers were all but done in the mid-90's, but it's still kicking and few people complain when they see another one. Am I mistaken in the fact you're excited for Guild Wars 2 when it comes to MMO's? At least specify you don't want MMO's following the WoW mold.

 

[Maniacal]

So why should there be another one? If they dominate then surely there's no harm in branching out in genres. Unless you're really desperate for the same game with nicer graphics? Again.

There is a very long list of stuff in the TES games that they can improve upon and their domination of that market is bad, real competition would be great for more variety and to put pressure on them to make their games better and deeper.

I've always found this such an odd argument. Why do you still love the Battlefield series? After all there's too many FPS games out there, or online FPS games, if you want to specify. On other genre's I'm pretty certain platformers were all but done in the mid-90's, but it's still kicking and few people complain when they see another one. Am I mistaken in the fact you're excited for Guild Wars 2 when it comes to MMO's? At least specify you don't want MMO's following the WoW mold.

I haven't touched BF3 since New Years, I only bought and use BF2 for Project Reality and my only other "Battlefield" game was Bad Company 2. The only other FPS games I am really interested in are Red Orchestra, ARMA and Napoleonic Wars. I play the occasional other shooter and will probably pick up Borderlands 2 if it is good but there is a lot of variety in the FPS market and while there are lots of saturation and mediocrity there are quite a few gems.

Guild Wars 2 does look promising, being almost the only MMO in years to look like it is going to be a success AND doing something different and better than most previous MMOs (especially WoW). It is much more of an exception rather than a rule. Apparently the ES MMO is going to use the same engine as SW:TOR and use similarly cartoony graphics, it already sounds like yet another WoW clone. It may sound like I am being too harsh with my cynicism but I will be utterly shocked if I am wrong about this (and I am usually okay with making mistakes and being wrong).

I don't really care enough about platformers to pay attention to them other than noticing that there are a lot of indie platformers coming out (and then promptly not paying them any attention).

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

There is a very long list of stuff in the TES games that they can improve upon and their domination of that market is bad, real competition would be great for more variety and to put pressure on them to make their games better and deeper.

So it's good for them to focus on the MMO market and (hopefully) give more variation and competition to those dominating the genre, and at the same time allowing others to catch up with the open-world RPG TES provides and provide more quality games for players? Groovy.

The rest of your post completely missed the point of what I was trying to say: I don't care what you're playing at the moment. I'm glad you're playing games. I just don't understand why folk complain about the over-saturation of the MMO genre when pretty much every other game genre is over-saturated.

 

[Maniacal]

So it's good for them to focus on the MMO market and (hopefully) give more variation and competition to those dominating the genre, and at the same time allowing others to catch up with the open-world RPG TES provides and provide more quality games for players? Groovy.

That'd be nice and hopefully it does happen.

The rest of your post completely missed the point of what I was trying to say: I don't care what you're playing at the moment. I'm glad you're playing games. I just don't understand why folk complain about the over-saturation of the MMO genre when pretty much every other game genre is over-saturated.

Besides NW I have barely played any FPS since December, and my point was that while the FPS market is over-saturated there are always a few good FPS games coming out/around and there is a large variety of settings and changes to gameplay. However, despite the saturation of MMORPGs there are much fewer that are really that great and they require a much greater investment of time and money with much greater risk and are much more likely to fail (and/or be mediocre) than an FPS (which are much easier and cheaper tp produce at a much lower risk which is a major reason why there are so many).

 

[The_J]

mmhh...could be a giant fail.
The TES games already have the problem that the world is big, empty, generic and contains lots of obvious building block system houses, boring autogenerated dungeons, and everything looks like already seen.
And the chances are damn low that a MMORPG will do something against that, rather the opposite.

 

[CivCube]

Doesn't look like it's part of the main series, which is likely a wise choice. Sort of like Battlespire and Redguard.

 

[Maniacal]

Yeah it is set 1000 years before Skyrim.

 

[grandad1982]

Sigh.

Is this the beginning of the end for TES? Maybe I'm being to cynical. It could be great and introduce something to a stagnant market and they could take lessons away from it that will improve the single player game. I have to agree that introducing co-op would have been a really sweet idea as long as the game could be balanced for single player as well as small groups.

Sigh.

 

[Akka]

It's weird that it's set 1000 years before Skyrim. The Empire/Thalmor divide that appeared in Skyrim screamed of "we changed the political background just to offer two competing side so we can make a MMO".

The world background of Tamriel is one that I find quite interesting, so that's nice.
But the very idea of "Bethesda trying to do balance" just have me bursting in laughter. They are worse at it than a 10-years kid.
And their jumping head first into casual retardness in their previous games makes me dubious about it being anything but yet another WoW clone.

Still, there is potential. I'm not expecting a lot but I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[JtheJackal]

What makes a MMORPG is pretty much the exact opposite of what makes the Elder Scrolls games unique and worth while so its hard to be interested. But the fact that it takes place in the past indicates they have put thought into it.

 

[Hehehe]

I daresay a good chunk of TES's fanbase aren't crazy about MMOs (or maybe it's just me?). Also, while I haven't paid too much attention to MMO market, seems to me that a lot of MMOs have come out but not that many have been really successful. I'm a fan of TES and I loved Skyrim but it did feel a bit too familiar, and the last thing I want is a watered down Skyrim. I don't really care either way but I predict failure for this MMO.

 

[OrsonM]

I thought we were done with MMOs.