The Elder Scrolls Online Review: Epic Adventure Or Epic Fail?

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I played the beta, hated it. I bought the game anyway because I felt I didn't really give it an honest chance. I leveled up to 35 on my dragonknight and eventually came to the conclusion that I had been doing the exact same string of quests/objectives since level 1. This review is pretty damn spot on as how this game is. I in fact called and had my game refunded and my account canceled. I haven't even had the slightest itch to go back. A completely forgettable gaming experience.
 

This, which I'd much prefer to not necessarily be true.
Particularly in its early years, GW was immensely fun to play with others, especially using Teamspeak or Ventrillo. One of the things that ArenaNet/NCSoft did was then create the Hero system, which made advanced parts of the game much easier to solo, particularly without using out-of-character "gimmick" builds.
Any game I buy, I want to be able to enjoy at any time. Solo games offer that, but a MMO may not. One of the problems with GW2 is that the non-instanced environment and respawns make solo play virtually impossible in many areas.
With that background, JP, no wonder I appreciated the depth of your review, and the snark with which parts were written; the latter appears to have been well-deserved.
 

You had a duplicate post out there. I attempted to delete one of the duplicates. When two of us delete a post (it's like a toggle switch) at around the same time, we see this once in a while.
 
I've never seen such an axe-grinding article on Tomshardware. I expect this type of drama from dailytech.com, Fox or NBC, but not from Tomshardware. This is further evidence by the author, Joe Phisgar, troll defending anything said against the review. A good writer writes his piece and lets it stand for itself. Writing a negative review while maintaining a professional decorum is difficult.
 
I enjoyed your review. I got bored within the first hour of the beta and this was pretty much how I expected the game to be, but somehow worse.

This style of MMO is dead.
 


That's what I'm saying. There's nothing different about this MMORPG that I haven't seen in others other than the graphics.
 
agentsi1511, you made it to level 35? That's impressive. For the skeptics, could you chime in and say whether or not the experience changed from level 20 to 30?

With that background, JP, no wonder I appreciated the depth of your review, and the snark with which parts were written; the latter appears to have been well-deserved.
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Thanks! I've been around MMOs a long, long time. I don't understand the number of people who are claiming I don't know anything about them. I've worked on a few of 'em. Pfft.

This is further evidence by the author, Joe Pishgar, troll defending anything said against the review. A good writer writes his piece and lets it stand for itself.
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I'm not a reviewer, I'm the Community Manager here. I did this review in my spare time over the weekend. My main schtick is engaging with the community, so that's what I'm doing. I don't need to defend the piece, but I'm happy to answer any questions, comments or criticism about the review or how I arrived at the conclusions I did.
 


Sorry about that, most likely due to my browser at work being IE8...

#firstworldproblems
 

I did like the hero system as well, especially mercing my alts! It did help finish some parts of the game if others weren't around to participate ( sadly I still haven't finished Factions, Nightfall, or EotN. ) And as I've said many times, my favorite thing about GW1 was it never felt frivolous. You never felt like a nobody. When other games had you killing 10 rats at level 1, you were investigating Grawl invasions in catacombs and repelling Charr assaults at the wall. The few "fetch quests" actually made sense and had purpose.

I haven't had any problems with solo play in GW2, but that's mainly because I'm in a rather active and friendly guild, so I can always find someone to come around with me. I understand that not everyone is that fortunate. Onus, if you're on Yak's Bend, you're welcome to join up with me most any time. Or even guest over.

And to the person who talks about an "endless grind" in GW2, what game are you playing? The only grinding even remotely necessary is at the end-game if you want full ascended and legendary gear. Personal story and map exploration alone are more than enough to hit lvl 80 and get full exotic gear.
 
'The Elder Scrolls Online is the game you’d get if The Nothing had won and decided to release an MMO based on a best-selling gaming franchise".

This is harsh... So i think i will buy wow next expansion after all...
 
"where you are given the occluded option" Huh? Occluded option? To be honest I stopped reading after that sentence.
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Occluded means stopped up, obstructed, to cover one's eye. The option to head to the newbie zone is not clear, it is a difficult to gauge thing. Are you in the newbie zone already? Is the place you are skipping to already where you are, or is talking to the NPC going to skip you to where you need to go?
 
While I can see your standpoint, I really do.
I do somehow get the feeling that you have a history with TES, right?
Because it seems that those that go into TESO hoping for it to be the next grand game within the Elder Scrolls-series, they get disappointed in the MMO-part of it.
And those going into it hoping its the next big MMO, they also get disappointed.

But those (like me), going into it with the hopes that it will be something in between.
A good MMO and a good Elder Scrolls-game, are pleasantly surprised.

I only played Oblivion and Skyrim, and not that much either.
I'm quite used to MMO's, since I've been playing them for about 10 years.
But so far, I have not felt anything for any MMO since World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, and\or Lord of The Rings Online.

Not even once have there been anything to close the gap.
The only two games that came close were Guild Wars 2 and Neverwinter.
But both lack content, since they are not pay to play.

I'm still at level 23 as we speak. But I've spent around 30-40 hours on that character alone, while other people are vet10 by that time.
Why? Because I've enjoyed everything about it.
The exploring, the challenges, the lore-books, fishing.. you name it.

And while I get that some people dont like it after playing it. That's how it works,
but for some of the comments (and reviews), it seems like they just want to rant it because they can.
Even when I see people writing "I haven't played the game, but it's horrible."
I'm like "... what?"

As my personal reference, I can still remember the early levels when I were exploring.
Suddenly finding skyshards, and then the sun came up and made everything look dashing.
Or in the beta, where I had been online for around 30 minutes, then to suddenly turning my head and seeing that it was now evening, and I had been playing for 3 hours without noticing it, because I was so immersed into the game.

But where you say it's lacking content, I totally disagree.
I stay in touch with the community, and those who play are finding new content every day. And ofcourse, the new contentpatch that will come soon will most likely keep it going for another month or so.
Ofcourse, some will have done the content in a few days. But that's how it always is.

And a heads up. If you thought ESO were "kill 10 of this and 10 of that",
dont try Wildstar.
I pre-ordered the deluxe ed. of Wildstar, but had to get a refund after a few weeks of playing the beta (without cap).
I got so amazingly tired of doing the same three quests over and over again, and they had little to no story behind them either.
 
agentsi1511, you made it to level 35? That's impressive. For the skeptics, could you chime in and say whether or not the experience changed from level 20 to 30?
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I read a few reviews on other sites,one of them showed a poll that was related to time spent in the game. I don't remember the exact numbers but basically anyone who played the game for less than 10 hours generally reviewed it as "bad, horrible, etc". While anyone over 15+ hours in the game "loved it". I felt during beta I was in that group of naysayers. I decided to try and work through it and see if that was actually the case.

In my experience, the game play from lvl 20-30 was no different than 1-10, nor 10-20. In fact, the higher level I achieved the easier everything became. Early on killing more than 2-3 mobs was a life or death situation, by the time I quit I could almost solo the mini rift type events. It never felt challenging, or immersive. I feel like it should be the opposite. Early on should of been easy but as you level things should grow in difficulty and require more players or better skill to overcome. As the author of this review mentions, the fights never last very long. Single target mob is dead inside of 4-8 seconds.

Long story short, even though I was acquiring more levels, more gear, and more skills, I still never felt like the world around me was changing.

Now the only thing I loved and wished EVERY other MMO would do is the 1 server idea. Playing with friends was never easier in an MMO. Just wish it was more enjoyable.
 
I definitely put in way more than 15+ hours in the game.
I wish there was a /played option, I'd be able to give it a number. But I played all through the beta, and started playing from the very beginning of the Imperial Edition early access.
 
Short combat needn't be a bad thing, either. Look at Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. If you know what you're doing, few fights last more than a few seconds and even boss fights can be over in a few minutes. The difference is that both you and the enemies are equally as dangerous. Play smart and you're rewarded. Play foolishly and you will die very quickly.
 
What I find funny about this article is how the author complains about gold farmers. Then I notice the ads on this very page.......Gold sellers. Don't complain about something you promote Tom. I personally like the game. No, its not perfect. In my opinion its one of the better choices out there for an MMO. Will it be around long or do well long term? I don't know and don't care, I am having fun playing it right now.
 
Gold seller ads on the main page? I don't see ads at all with AdBlock+. If you're seeing Forum threads from spammers/scammers, please report them, so a member of the Moderator team can burn it with fire.
 
Why are the things you're calling dungeons not actually dungeons at all? Those are public delves. This is some darksydephil level raging at that apple not being an orange like you expected.
 
I think the reviewers point is that with the number of MMO's out there, ESO failed to even hit the minimum standards on a lot of features, at least at release. Lots of games that way today, I refuse to buy any games at release because unless they are part of a storied franchise or absolutely amazing it will be on a Steam sale in 3-6 months.
 
The game could have been excellent. They tried to make it a multi-player/ single player game and it failed with its implementation. You can run alongside someone else and kill the exact same thing without ever partying with them as there was no difference as far as I went. I play MMO's to play with family and friends. Not to parallel play like a 2 year old does.
 
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