How Well Does The Elder Scrolls Online Run On Your PC?

[lazymangaka]

It seems to me like there were a lot of people expecting this MMORPG to be a lot less MMORPG-like. I can't really understand what it is that you were expecting, but a single player Elder Scrolls title ala Skyrim was never going to be it.

 

[Tierney11290]

Good article. I agree with everything in this read except the subscription model. I can't stand free to play MMO's and I think the subscription model is the best thing for this game. F2P games often have a horrible community because of the ability to jump from game to game. On top of that, there is way too much garbage in the cash shops that give you an advantage over others. Even when you do play, you are asked to pay a certain amount of money to do PvP, groups, etc (SWTOR anyone?). I would much rather pay the $15 a month and not be bothered by any of that. Yes, p2p MMO's can still have cash shops, but buying the products from there won't put you at an advantage that a f2p game will. If they go f2p with this game, I will quit and I've been immensely enjoying this game since release. The only thing I think they should have done, was allow an offline play. You choose which style you want (offline play has no fee) to play and if you want to switch, you pay a small fee. You can switch as often as you like, but the fee will always be there. That way, those that don't want to play online, may do so.With that being said, the game does take some getting used to. This isn't The Elder Scrolls VI, so don't expect that. All of the Skyrim fanboys (you know who you are) should not put this game at the same level. It does well as an Elder Scrolls game and even better as an MMO. There isn't much innovation, but that doesn't mean the game isn't good (seriously people, stop it with that crap). I also see a lot of people complaining about how big Cyrodiil is. This is because of the way the PvP works. If everything was too close, then attacking/defending wouldn't work correctly. Keep in mind that this isn't just a PvP zone either! There are a TON of dungeons and quests to do in this zone. It's not just blank space. Most people quit playing an MMO prior to level 10, so my suggestion is to just continue playing until about 15-20 (if you are on the edge about playing). This is common for MMO's, so no "Well I shouldn't have to play until then to get attached". Lastly, try playing it like an ES game, not an MMO. The game isn't nearly as good if you don't pay attention to the conversations.Graphics Tip: Use SweetFX, makes the game look way better.

 

[Novuake]

Good article. I agree with everything in this read except the subscription model. I can't stand free to play MMO's and I think the subscription model is the best thing for this game. F2P games often have a horrible community because of the ability to jump from game to game. On top of that, there is way too much garbage in the cash shops that give you an advantage over others. Even when you do play, you are asked to pay a certain amount of money to do PvP, groups, etc (SWTOR anyone?). I would much rather pay the $15 a month and not be bothered by any of that. Yes, p2p MMO's can still have cash shops, but buying the products from there won't put you at an advantage that a f2p game will. If they go f2p with this game, I will quit and I've been immensely enjoying this game since release. The only thing I think they should have done, was allow an offline play. You choose which style you want (offline play has no fee) to play and if you want to switch, you pay a small fee. You can switch as often as you like, but the fee will always be there. That way, those that don't want to play online, may do so.With that being said, the game does take some getting used to. This isn't The Elder Scrolls VI, so don't expect that. All of the Skyrim fanboys (you know who you are) should not put this game at the same level. It does well as an Elder Scrolls game and even better as an MMO. There isn't much innovation, but that doesn't mean the game isn't good (seriously people, stop it with that crap). I also see a lot of people complaining about how big Cyrodiil is. This is because of the way the PvP works. If everything was too close, then attacking/defending wouldn't work correctly. Keep in mind that this isn't just a PvP zone either! There are a TON of dungeons and quests to do in this zone. It's not just blank space. Most people quit playing an MMO prior to level 10, so my suggestion is to just continue playing until about 15-20 (if you are on the edge about playing). This is common for MMO's, so no "Well I shouldn't have to play until then to get attached". Lastly, try playing it like an ES game, not an MMO. The game isn't nearly as good if you don't pay attention to the conversations.Graphics Tip: Use SweetFX, makes the game look way better.

Again, try Guild Wars 2.

 

[ahnilated]

You say: "There was that lack of polish compared to the Elder Scrolls games I'm used to. But again, the finished product is only launching today. "Well from the sounds of it then the game is not "finished" it is beta.

 

[Tierney11290]

Good article. I agree with everything in this read except the subscription model. I can't stand free to play MMO's and I think the subscription model is the best thing for this game. F2P games often have a horrible community because of the ability to jump from game to game. On top of that, there is way too much garbage in the cash shops that give you an advantage over others. Even when you do play, you are asked to pay a certain amount of money to do PvP, groups, etc (SWTOR anyone?). I would much rather pay the $15 a month and not be bothered by any of that. Yes, p2p MMO's can still have cash shops, but buying the products from there won't put you at an advantage that a f2p game will. If they go f2p with this game, I will quit and I've been immensely enjoying this game since release. The only thing I think they should have done, was allow an offline play. You choose which style you want (offline play has no fee) to play and if you want to switch, you pay a small fee. You can switch as often as you like, but the fee will always be there. That way, those that don't want to play online, may do so.With that being said, the game does take some getting used to. This isn't The Elder Scrolls VI, so don't expect that. All of the Skyrim fanboys (you know who you are) should not put this game at the same level. It does well as an Elder Scrolls game and even better as an MMO. There isn't much innovation, but that doesn't mean the game isn't good (seriously people, stop it with that crap). I also see a lot of people complaining about how big Cyrodiil is. This is because of the way the PvP works. If everything was too close, then attacking/defending wouldn't work correctly. Keep in mind that this isn't just a PvP zone either! There are a TON of dungeons and quests to do in this zone. It's not just blank space. Most people quit playing an MMO prior to level 10, so my suggestion is to just continue playing until about 15-20 (if you are on the edge about playing). This is common for MMO's, so no "Well I shouldn't have to play until then to get attached". Lastly, try playing it like an ES game, not an MMO. The game isn't nearly as good if you don't pay attention to the conversations.Graphics Tip: Use SweetFX, makes the game look way better.

Again, try Guild Wars 2.

I have and while that game was fun to level up in and did f2p well, it doesn't have any content what-so-ever. There is no reason to play that game other than WvWvW (which was cool), but even WvWvW can hold attention for so long. So, sorry try again...

 

[logainofhades]

You say: "There was that lack of polish compared to the Elder Scrolls games I'm used to. But again, the finished product is only launching today. "Well from the sounds of it then the game is not "finished" it is beta.

MMO's, even at launch, are still kinda beta like. I still remember the Age of Conan launch. *shudders*

 

[Shinethelight99]

" My advice is do not listen to the negative people in regards to this game Most of them view the game with preconceived notions and are mostly butt hurt single player fanboys that didn't want them to make a MMO."Wow - so anyone that doesn't agree with you is a dearest comrade huh? I've paid to play a number of MMOs. WoW, LotrO, DnDO, SWTOR. I've also played every ES game since Arena. This does not set a new bar for graphics - not even for an MMO. That's expected from an MMO. This does not have a compelling story arc like LOTRO. Not even as good as SWTOR.Is it salvageable? I don't know. Could they really redo the whole story arc to make it like LOTRO? Can they let modders massively improve the GFX like in Skyrim? Can they make PvP global instead of just 1 sector like WoW? (The siege stuff can stay Cryodill only).

You must be playing on a Pentium II the graphics in the game are fine even on Medium settings. From a game design stand point a MMO can't have super state of the art graphics because a GPU is limited in regards to how many characters it can process on screen at once. ESO was designed to have large scale PVP battles. A game like Diablo 3 could never have photo realistic graphics there is too many going on all at once.

 

[Shinethelight99]

Guild Wars 2 has not had anywhere near the content additions that a sub fee game does. When GW2 has been around as long as WoW or EQ come back and talk to me. EQ has had 20+ expansions. WoW - Tons and tons of content added to it. GW2 will never match it.

 

[Shinethelight99]

I'll never understand why ZeniMax decided on an MMO. I think what people truly wanted was an Elder Scrolls game that had co-op so you could share your game world with friends. Or at least that is what I wanted. =P

Yup that's what you wanted. I'm fine with ESO it's the most fun I've had with a multiplayer game in a while. I played Vanilla WoW, DAOC, and Warhammer Online...countless others. This game is being made partially by people that worked on DAOC which was a loved game by many.

 

[Novuake]

Guild Wars 2 has not had anywhere near the content additions that a sub fee game does. When GW2 has been around as long as WoW or EQ come back and talk to me. EQ has had 20+ expansions. WoW - Tons and tons of content added to it. GW2 will never match it.

Your arguing your own point. WoW and EQ has been out how long?
GW2 has been out 1 and a half years. Content updates happen about every 2 months.

 

[gm0n3y]

I've been a huge Elder Scrolls fan since Daggerfall and am concerned that they've gone the MMO route. The monthly fee is what really gets me as I generally want to play a game for a few weeks, then take a few months off before picking it back up again for another couple of weeks. I guess I don't have enough MMO experience, but I expected the graphics to be better than Skyrim's, which I wasn't that impressed with until the high-res mods came out. Skyrim was release in 2011 and I expect more from a new game.As long as this is no way delays the release of any single player games then I guess I don't really care. But considering that I've been waiting for the next Warcraft RTS for more than 10 years, I am seriously concerned about when the next ES game will be released. I kind of hope that this game fails just so that it won't draw resources from the single player development. I understand that they are made by different studios, but there will be some overlap in workforce (not necessarily developers).

 

[a44arana]

I have an i7 4770K not overclocked, with asus gtx 780 (minor oc from asus) and the game runs beautifully with full 60FPS @ 1080p on single monitor setup. i do get the occasional frame drop when screen is loaded but it doesnt go below 50fps in a crowded pvp battle (300+ players on screen)

 

[Doug Lord]

Per Zenimax you need to kill 119,050 mudcrabs to reach lvl 50! Too bad it feels like that's what they EXPECT you to do!

 

[longshotthe1st]

This was the first beta I've been in that I got bored. This game feels like an incomplete version of GW2.

 

[Novuake]

This was the first beta I've been in that I got bored. This game feels like an incomplete version of GW2.

Ill just be gloating here while I go do the new Living world when it finally releases.

 

[RedJaron]

760 is the highest tier nvidia card you used for 1080?

Why no 1080p for GTX 780? Man, it sure is nice when you see a test system, and realize your system meets or beats it. =D Looks like my system would run the game with great at max (As expected).

Um, the 760 was maintaining 60fps on the highest detail settings. I'm pretty sure the 770, 780, and Titan will fare just fine. Why are you complaining about this?

many thing odd and wrong in this article, gpu test has no 780 vs the 290x, and more people run high hz monitor in 1080p than that rare wide thing.the cpu part has amd 8350 that should be expected, but no i5 4670, and still you ppl run aa, pls do not use grafics blur that dont add any fidelety to image. like motionblur, antialiasing and the fucus distance blur thing.

1) There's very little point to pit the 290X against the 780 in this title as both are far above the recommended requirements. As I said above, you can max this game at 1080p with a 760 alone. Adding more cards to the test requires even more time and effort before the article an be posted. Bottomline, it would take additional time without providing any meaningful info.

2) An i5-3550 is close enough to the 4670 to represent that bracket. Again, nothing worth complaining about.

3) The graphic settings used in these reviews are commonly built-in presets, not arbitrary choices by the reviewer just to piss you off. And as already explained, traditional AA actually improves the graphical quality by minimizing edge jaggedness. Motion blur and distance focus are not even mentioned in the article, so they don't need to be brought up. You opinions on them are just that, opinions, not facts that apply to everyone's preference of gameplay graphical quality.

Ill just be gloating here while I go do the new Living world when it finally releases.

I'm really looking forward to the Trait changes on the 15th. Free re-spec at any time? Yes, please!

 

[sjc1017]

There are trait changes coming on the 15?

 

[RedJaron]

There are trait changes coming on the 15?

To GW2, yes.

 

[Novuake]

There are trait changes coming on the 15?

Jip and a LOT more changes.

Here is a full preview : https://www.guildwars2.com/en-gb/the-game/releases/feature-packs/

I am excited about the wardrobe and dye changes!!!!!

 

[Sakkura]

GW2 lacks high-end PvE, at least in my opinion. ESO doesn't seem to be that much better in that aspect. Which is one of the reasons I'm more excited about Wildstar. 8 weeks until headstart.

 

[Novuake]

GW2 lacks high-end PvE, at least in my opinion. ESO doesn't seem to be that much better in that aspect. Which is one of the reasons I'm more excited about Wildstar. 8 weeks until headstart.

GW2 does not have as much Max level content as older MMOs, Butt that is to be expected from newer MMOs, Same goes for ESO.

 

[Phillip Wager]

these FPS numbers are very optomistic. I have a i5 4670k and a nvidia GTX 780 with everything turned to max the highest i will see is around 90 FPS in instances or while looking up at the sky in the main world. however when around a major city or during pvp it drops dramaticaly to an average of 40fps and during heavy fighting in PVP it can drop into the 30s and 20s wich is VERY frustrating. CPU usage does not look like the game is utilizing more than one core wich is a very large shame this is planetside 2 all over again.

 

[Phillip Wager]

also i would like to make a note that during gameplay i rarely see my gpu usage of my gtx 780 go above 70 percent it is usually at 50% you do not need a very expensive graphics card to run this game because it is so poorly optimized you can have the fastest processor on the market and still be cpu bottlenecked. if you was making a gaming rig just to play skyrim i would say get an ivy bridge E or wait for haswell E and then just get you a gtx 760 or 770 and you will still be cpu bottlenecked.

 

[Traciatim]

these FPS numbers are very optomistic. I have a i5 4670k and a nvidia GTX 780 with everything turned to max the highest i will see is around 90 FPS in instances or while looking up at the sky in the main world. however when around a major city or during pvp it drops dramaticaly to an average of 40fps and during heavy fighting in PVP it can drop into the 30s and 20s wich is VERY frustrating. CPU usage does not look like the game is utilizing more than one core wich is a very large shame this is planetside 2 all over again.

or, more descriptive... almost every MMO I've ever played. They all suffer from the exact same problem, more people performance suffers dramatically. You would think it could dynamically use lower quality settings when there are way more people around, but it seems like a problem with almost all MMOs.

 

[Traciatim]

also i would like to make a note that during gameplay i rarely see my gpu usage of my gtx 780 go above 70 percent it is usually at 50% you do not need a very expensive graphics card to run this game because it is so poorly optimized you can have the fastest processor on the market and still be cpu bottlenecked. if you was making a gaming rig just to play skyrim i would say get an ivy bridge E or wait for haswell E and then just get you a gtx 760 or 770 and you will still be cpu bottlenecked.

People complain about this in almost every single MMO too... they claim that it's just an easy fix to reduce CPU usage... but if it was that easy, don't you think the companies that run these games wouldn't just compile the game with -lowcpuversion flag set or something? Also, some tasks don't thread well and some things just can't be done before others, so if there is more work and it relies on things that aren't done yet then you can't just spool up another thread and hope for the best.