Originally posted by Amjoco I feel after about six months It will dwindle down to a niche game with it's fans sticking around to hopefully make it a classic. IMHO, Wildstar will do the same, but with the lack of a historical fan base, it will suffer more than TESO.
This could be happen, reminds on World of Warcraft when a lot of Warcraft fans were excited about the release and backed the game aswell.
Pretty much the definition of linear gameplay. All your character of the same faction will do exactly the same zones in the same order, with no other possible choice. Very far from the other ES games. It's even more linear than WoW, where you still have the choice of different zones to play through. Here, same zones, no choice.
As someone who has also played the game, that's a bit of a stretch. It's definitely not more shoehorned than WoW. At worst, it's the same. However there's quite a few differences the game has that make it less forced (imho) than WoW is.
For starters, outside the tutorial zone, you get a lot more freedom over what you choose to do. Secondly, (similar to WoW), you can go to the zones of other factions and lvl there if you choose (not unlike how it was with WoW Vanilla). Unfortunately I cannot go into more detail w/o breaking NDA =/.
Tbh, the game is going to be quite different than I think a lot of people are expecting / being led to believe. The best comparison I can make would be to say that the PvE (questing & dungeons) is very similar to GW2. The PvP (cyrodil) is very similar to DAoC.
I originally had a lot of doubts about the game, and wasn't even going to try the beta until a friend talked me into it. And I'm definitely glad I gave the game a chance, because it is nowhere near as bad as most of the people on these forums want people to believe. With each passing beta I find myself wanting to play it more, and wanting to experiment w/ more and more things.
Yeah, but fistorm thinks it is open like skyrim and it is not. I'm glad that JLP found that as I've been trying to say this to him over and over.
I woldn't say iot's more linear than WoW but some people are convinced they are getting skyrim online when it has been said over and over that it is not like taht and the game "is" a themepark.
And then theya re going to come here and bitch and complain that they were lied to when all they had to do was pay attention.
Honestly, I'm not sure where you're coming from on that.
The world itself is mostly non-instanced. It's mostly just dungeons & houses that are instanced (not counting cyrodil). You are free to travel wherever you want once you leave the tutorial. However, (not unlike skyrim) if you go to certain areas before lvling a certain amount, you will likely get destroyed. Skyrim does try to scale to your lvl, but it also has some lvl gating in it, though it's mostly tied to your skills, rather than character lvl.
Furthermore you aren't forced to pickup quests in any particular order.
The game really does have a lot in common with Skyrim. No they aren't identical. And yes, ESO is more lvl based than skyrim is (in the sense that your character lvl plays a more significant role). However that doesn't make the game inherently linear. It can certainly be played that way, but you aren't forced into it.
I really don't see how that makes the game more restrictive than WoW. A game that quite literally has you shoved from one quest hub to the next, with absolutely nothing to do or discover in between. No relics, no books, no hidden mini dungeons. ESO has all of those. And you are free to go discover any of them that you choose. You are not restricted to a pre-defined order. You may not be able to handle them at certain lvls, but you can still try.
I run a guild for ESO and our average age is in their 30's and most of us plan to play ESO for 5-10 years according to an unscientific poll I had up for the members.
Ahhh, the hype and the expectations are such great things
I haven't been that enthusiastic about a game in years. =/
Come to think of it... I don't think there ever was one where I went "Wow, I'll be playing this for the coming years!" (even though there were a rare few that fell in the 5-10 years category).
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
I can only speak for myself, but having been fortunate enough to play both games, ESO was as good/better than I had hoped, while unfortunately WIldstar was a bit stale/worse than it looked. For me ESO is clearly the game I'll be playing.
Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard I think ESO will do approximatively like SW:TOR. Good sales, peaking at several million players, and then drop just as fast and eventually go free to play in the second year.
You left out the last part; after "go free to play" is "make loads of money and take it's place as the second most successful game with a sub." TOR is a good place to aim for. Lot more realistic than going after WoW numbers.
Originally posted by Ender4
I've been pretty good at guessing these lately and I expect this one to be a disaster just like WAR, SWTOR and Rift were.
You claim to be good at guessing at the same time you call TOR a disaster? Do you not realize it is the most successful MMO with a subscription option since WoW? Hopefully ESO will be closer to TOR than WAR.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
You claim to be good at guessing at the same time you call TOR a disaster? Do you not realize it is the most successful MMO with a subscription option since WoW? Hopefully ESO will be closer to TOR than WAR.
mostly true but I believe Lineage 1 is more successful than SWTOR as sub game
You claim to be good at guessing at the same time you call TOR a disaster? Do you not realize it is the most successful MMO with a subscription option since WoW? Hopefully ESO will be closer to TOR than WAR.
mostly true but I believe Lineage 1 is more successful than SWTOR as sub game
Didn't realize Lineage had a sub. (Stay away from the Asian grinders myself.) I stand corrected, third most successful MMO with a sub, second most successful western one. Still though, all the "disaster" and "failure" talk around TOR is a little mind-numbing considering how much money it rakes in.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
You claim to be good at guessing at the same time you call TOR a disaster? Do you not realize it is the most successful MMO with a subscription option since WoW? Hopefully ESO will be closer to TOR than WAR.
mostly true but I believe Lineage 1 is more successful than SWTOR as sub game
Keep in mind that Lineage 1's US/EU version was shut down though, so that's only the original Korean version at work.
So yes, it is more successful than SWTOR in a vastly different market - but it was a disaster in the one most of us play in.
Come to think of it... are you sure the Korean version is even a sub game?
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
You claim to be good at guessing at the same time you call TOR a disaster? Do you not realize it is the most successful MMO with a subscription option since WoW? Hopefully ESO will be closer to TOR than WAR.
mostly true but I believe Lineage 1 is more successful than SWTOR as sub game
Internationally it's very possible. Also GW2 and Lineage are owned by the same company, fun fact is that Lineage 1 actually makes more in subs that GW2 does in cash shop and box sales. Just goes to show that the games people think are failures are the successes and the successes are just second priority games for some developers.
Lineage 1 for North America in 2011 was shut down because low subscription numbers, but the world frickin loves it.
In November 2013 NC Soft announced that the game has made USD $1.8 billion and had long since shut down the NA servers.
From that article of F2P/Microtransitions earnings:
CrossFire (SmileGate/Tencent) - $957 million
League of Legends (Riot Games/Tencent) - $624 million
Dungeon Fighter Online(Nexon) - $426 million
World of Tanks (Wargaming.net) - $372 million
Maplestory (Nexon) - $326 million
Lineage I (NCSoft) - $257 million
World of Warcraft (Blizzard) - $213 million
Star Wars: The Old Republic (EA) - $139 million
Team Fortress 2 (Valve) - $139 million
Counter-Strike Online (Valve/Nexon) - $121 million
That makes me believe the Korean Lineage is in fact not a sub game.
Edit: Nevermind, the NCSoft article actually mentions it has subscribers - it just has a cash shop in addition to the subs like so many others.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
You claim to be good at guessing at the same time you call TOR a disaster? Do you not realize it is the most successful MMO with a subscription option since WoW? Hopefully ESO will be closer to TOR than WAR.
mostly true but I believe Lineage 1 is more successful than SWTOR as sub game
Keep in mind that Lineage 1's US/EU version was shut down though, so that's only the original Korean version at work.
So yes, it is more successful than SWTOR in a vastly different market - but it was a disaster in the one most of us play in.
Come to think of it... are you sure the Korean version is even a sub game?
At one point they had over 3 million paying subscribers, so yes it is. Funny thing is the Asian markets are even rougher for subscriptions than the western market, so they are obviously doing something right.
You claim to be good at guessing at the same time you call TOR a disaster? Do you not realize it is the most successful MMO with a subscription option since WoW? Hopefully ESO will be closer to TOR than WAR.
mostly true but I believe Lineage 1 is more successful than SWTOR as sub game
Keep in mind that Lineage 1's US/EU version was shut down though, so that's only the original Korean version at work.
So yes, it is more successful than SWTOR in a vastly different market - but it was a disaster in the one most of us play in.
Come to think of it... are you sure the Korean version is even a sub game?
At one point they had over 3 million paying subscribers, so yes it is. Funny thing is the Asian markets are even rougher for subscriptions than the western market, so they are obviously doing something right.
Yeah, F2P games were popular over there long before the western market shifted towards them.
And I agree; they are doing something right - for that market at least; the majority of western MMO players would bore of that game within minutes.
Games that tend to appeal to the Asian market tend to fail on the Western one though, even after they take months to convert them and tune the grind factor way down (and to nerf the indiscriminate PvP systems they usually have).
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
I see people posting that the big raiding focus of Wildstar is going to be a huge draw and bring in tons of players. I really don't see that happening at all. Hardcore raiders are already a very small part of an mmo community, and add to that the 40 man raiding focus which I think a lot of people are getting wrapped up in the nostalgia of it and not the reality. Obviously there will be exceptions but I think after a few months of dealing with the hassle that comes with large 40 man raids many will lose that magic feeling about them pretty quickly.
Originally posted by Margulis I see people posting that the big raiding focus of Wildstar is going to be a huge draw and bring in tons of players. I really don't see that happening at all. Hardcore raiders are already a very small part of an mmo community, and add to that the 40 man raiding focus which I think a lot of people are getting wrapped up in the nostalgia of it and not the reality. Obviously there will be exceptions but I think after a few months of dealing with the hassle that comes with large 40 man raids many will lose that magic feeling about them pretty quickly.
Yeah, dedicated raiders and PvPers are the steadiest customers if a game can get their loyalty, but as a percentage of the total customer base, they aren't that substantial. The first game that manages to come up with an endgame that hooks soloers/casuals might sound the death knell for substantial developer focus on raids. If a game can manage to keep the bulk of it's players with a different form of content, it won't need to devote such disproportionate effort to satisfying a tiny minority.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
I think TESO has the potential to be great but is so far being seen as lackluster. My experience from the beta was that the glitches were not the problem since of course the game is only in beta. It was the way the game feels. The fighting seems very dull and slow which was a huge surprise to me. Doing a side by side comparison of the combat in Wildstar next to TESO, it was obvious that Wildstar seems a lot more exciting and face paced while TESO felt like a normal tab-based target fighting... Without the tab.
The quests in TESO seem to be a lot more epic and though I don't think I'm allowed to go into detail they don't seem to be like traditional quests you find in other MMOs. Some quests shown in Wildstar you really don't see much of an improvement from WoW. They look to be your usual UPS/Kill that/gather that kind of questing. I'm sure that there is a lot more to be seen and if there is that is great but when it comes to quests, TESO seems to be on the ball.
PVP is hard to say though with Wildstar's better combat system you would think that it would be a lot better. However, what could break the barrier here is how epic the battlegrounds/world pvp will be. When you think about Wildstar you think of the 40 v 40 warplot battles and some mention of World PvP which sounds exciting. But then you have the thought of fighting all across Cyrodiil, three factions battling it out for a chance at the throne. I mean, how can you not be excited?
My verdict, Wildstar will do better. It's familiar yet offers enough innovative ideas that will draw in places of all kinds. I think TESO will do great too but isn't really a game that will attract many types of people rather then those who love a more grimdark and epic fantasy setting.
Honestly, I'm not sure where you're coming from on that.
Well, I currently have 975 hours in Skyrim [mod edit]
My preference is to head out into the world and find the numerous dungeons, mines, caves etc and explore them picking up all sorts of things, "some quests", stories/books (which I read), battling bandits, etc.
I highly doubt you are telling me that you can do the same in ESO . The same stuff. Also, it has been said in interviews that questing is the preferred method of leveling in ESO.
In any case, once the NDA drops I'd be more than happy to elaborate.
edit: there is a difference between heading out and finding all sorts of elaborate places and heading out to find "quest givers".
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
The faction area you start off in is 1 of 3 areas. Which is pretty linear compared to ES single player games.
After you hit 50 you have another 2 areas open up to you that you can explore in anyway you desire like ES games.
Also on top of that you have the PvP area which I'm guessing is non-linear to.
Im under the impression that 1/4 of the game world is linear, 3/4 of it isn't. IMO it sounds like "End Game" in ESO will be like playing Skyrim with friends.
That's my impression from the data released.
Unless you hit level 50 in the betas there's not much you can actually say in regard to the non-linear content that ESO provides when NDA is lifted.
The only sense in which past ES games are non-linear is that their scaling systems allow you to go to almost any part of the map and not get ganked because your level is too low. If you are actually playing through the content (quests) every quest chain is rigidly linear. So the only substantive change for ESO from the past games, in regard to linearity, is that there is no monster scaling. Which makes sense, since scaling wouldn't work in a MMO unless you instanced every single zone to just the player and his group.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.
Honestly, I'm not sure where you're coming from on that.
Well, I currently have 975 hours in Skyrim [mod edit]
My preference is to head out into the world and find the numerous dungeons, mines, caves etc and explore them picking up all sorts of things, "some quests", stories/books (which I read), battling bandits, etc.
I highly doubt you are telling me that you can do the same in ESO . The same stuff. Also, it has been said in interviews that questing is the preferred method of leveling in ESO.
In any case, once the NDA drops I'd be more than happy to elaborate.
edit: there is a difference between heading out and finding all sorts of elaborate places and heading out to find "quest givers".
Dev interviews have stated that there are caves to be found while exploring that are solo instance caves as in Skyrim. They also said that there will be things going on in the zone that you can find and react to. The dev spoke about coming across a sorcerer summoning something and losing control. You could then make a choice of helping the sorcerer, not helping him or killing them both.
From what I understand, the 5 zones past the starter area and first noob island will be fairly large. You should be able to go through the zone and handle most of what is there. So you could follow the story quest and let it lead you around or just take the quest then explore and find what is out in the zone. Even though each zone is for a particular level, you will be able to run around each and play the way you want. Plus if you PvP or craft and gain levels and skills in other ways. More may open up to you so you could do more than one zone if you wish.
[mod edit]
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them? R.A.Salvatore
Honestly, I'm not sure where you're coming from on that.
Well, I currently have 975 hours in Skyrim and have played ESO at PAX and in the betas and the way I play skyrim doesn't really seem to work in ESO.
My preference is to head out into the world and find the numerous dungeons, mines, caves etc and explore them picking up all sorts of things, some quests, stories, battling bandits, etc.
I highly doubt you are telling me that you can do the same in ESO . The same stuff. Also, it has been said in interviews that questing is the preferred method of leveling in ESO.
In any case, once the NDA drops I'd be more than happy to elaborate.
The faction area you start off in is 1 of 3 areas. Which is pretty linear compared to ES single player games.
After you hit 50 you have another 2 areas open up to you that you can explore in anyway you desire like ES games.
Also on top of that you have the PvP area which I'm guessing is non-linear to.
Im under the impression that 1/4 of the game world is linear, 3/4 of it isn't. IMO it sounds like "End Game" in ESO will be like playing Skyrim with friends.
That's my impression from the data released.
Unless you hit level 50 in the betas there's not much you can actually say in regard to the non-linear content that ESO provides when NDA is lifted.
The wild cards are the adventure zones. So I can freely admit that.
However, it is my understanding that once you hit 50 you go to the other areas and play all that content which "plays" like your original 1-50.
That content doesn't play differnetly from your 1-50 content.
You are essentially just going there and doing their quests, their Anchors, etc.
It depends on the level of the mobs. Are they all the same level in every zone? Will there still be progression of difficulty per zone or could you go to any zone and play the same?
A Dev interview did say that the 3rd play through or the 50++ would be more difficult and you may need to bring a partner. They gave an example of needing to have a fire skill to kill trolls in the 50++ area or you won't make it through. So it sounds like the difficulty will be higher with the 3rd play through.
But I agree that you can play the 50+/++ the same as your starter faction. It will be all the same quests and story as if you started in the new faction. They said in the Q&A about an entity giving your character a different perspective on things. Meaning that you will probably have a quest that changes you into someone from the new faction so you can experience it from their point of view.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them? R.A.Salvatore
Comments
"The Society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."
Currently: Games Audio Engineer, you didn't hear what I heard, you heard what I wanted you to hear.
This could be happen, reminds on World of Warcraft when a lot of Warcraft fans were excited about the release and backed the game aswell.
Honestly, I'm not sure where you're coming from on that.
The world itself is mostly non-instanced. It's mostly just dungeons & houses that are instanced (not counting cyrodil). You are free to travel wherever you want once you leave the tutorial. However, (not unlike skyrim) if you go to certain areas before lvling a certain amount, you will likely get destroyed. Skyrim does try to scale to your lvl, but it also has some lvl gating in it, though it's mostly tied to your skills, rather than character lvl.
Furthermore you aren't forced to pickup quests in any particular order.
The game really does have a lot in common with Skyrim. No they aren't identical. And yes, ESO is more lvl based than skyrim is (in the sense that your character lvl plays a more significant role). However that doesn't make the game inherently linear. It can certainly be played that way, but you aren't forced into it.
I really don't see how that makes the game more restrictive than WoW. A game that quite literally has you shoved from one quest hub to the next, with absolutely nothing to do or discover in between. No relics, no books, no hidden mini dungeons. ESO has all of those. And you are free to go discover any of them that you choose. You are not restricted to a pre-defined order. You may not be able to handle them at certain lvls, but you can still try.
I haven't been that enthusiastic about a game in years. =/
Come to think of it... I don't think there ever was one where I went "Wow, I'll be playing this for the coming years!" (even though there were a rare few that fell in the 5-10 years category).
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
I've been pretty good at guessing these lately and I expect this one to be a disaster just like WAR, SWTOR and Rift were.
You left out the last part; after "go free to play" is "make loads of money and take it's place as the second most successful game with a sub." TOR is a good place to aim for. Lot more realistic than going after WoW numbers.
You claim to be good at guessing at the same time you call TOR a disaster? Do you not realize it is the most successful MMO with a subscription option since WoW? Hopefully ESO will be closer to TOR than WAR.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
mostly true but I believe Lineage 1 is more successful than SWTOR as sub game
http://2p.com/229489_1/NCsoft-Released-Q1-2013-Earning-Report-Lineage-Still-Robust.htm
EQ2 fan sites
Didn't realize Lineage had a sub. (Stay away from the Asian grinders myself.) I stand corrected, third most successful MMO with a sub, second most successful western one. Still though, all the "disaster" and "failure" talk around TOR is a little mind-numbing considering how much money it rakes in.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
Keep in mind that Lineage 1's US/EU version was shut down though, so that's only the original Korean version at work.
So yes, it is more successful than SWTOR in a vastly different market - but it was a disaster in the one most of us play in.
Come to think of it... are you sure the Korean version is even a sub game?
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
Internationally it's very possible. Also GW2 and Lineage are owned by the same company, fun fact is that Lineage 1 actually makes more in subs that GW2 does in cash shop and box sales. Just goes to show that the games people think are failures are the successes and the successes are just second priority games for some developers.
Lineage 1 for North America in 2011 was shut down because low subscription numbers, but the world frickin loves it.
In November 2013 NC Soft announced that the game has made USD $1.8 billion and had long since shut down the NA servers.
From that article of F2P/Microtransitions earnings:
That makes me believe the Korean Lineage is in fact not a sub game.
Edit: Nevermind, the NCSoft article actually mentions it has subscribers - it just has a cash shop in addition to the subs like so many others.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
At one point they had over 3 million paying subscribers, so yes it is. Funny thing is the Asian markets are even rougher for subscriptions than the western market, so they are obviously doing something right.
Yeah, F2P games were popular over there long before the western market shifted towards them.
And I agree; they are doing something right - for that market at least; the majority of western MMO players would bore of that game within minutes.
Games that tend to appeal to the Asian market tend to fail on the Western one though, even after they take months to convert them and tune the grind factor way down (and to nerf the indiscriminate PvP systems they usually have).
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
Yeah, dedicated raiders and PvPers are the steadiest customers if a game can get their loyalty, but as a percentage of the total customer base, they aren't that substantial. The first game that manages to come up with an endgame that hooks soloers/casuals might sound the death knell for substantial developer focus on raids. If a game can manage to keep the bulk of it's players with a different form of content, it won't need to devote such disproportionate effort to satisfying a tiny minority.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
I think TESO has the potential to be great but is so far being seen as lackluster. My experience from the beta was that the glitches were not the problem since of course the game is only in beta. It was the way the game feels. The fighting seems very dull and slow which was a huge surprise to me. Doing a side by side comparison of the combat in Wildstar next to TESO, it was obvious that Wildstar seems a lot more exciting and face paced while TESO felt like a normal tab-based target fighting... Without the tab.
The quests in TESO seem to be a lot more epic and though I don't think I'm allowed to go into detail they don't seem to be like traditional quests you find in other MMOs. Some quests shown in Wildstar you really don't see much of an improvement from WoW. They look to be your usual UPS/Kill that/gather that kind of questing. I'm sure that there is a lot more to be seen and if there is that is great but when it comes to quests, TESO seems to be on the ball.
PVP is hard to say though with Wildstar's better combat system you would think that it would be a lot better. However, what could break the barrier here is how epic the battlegrounds/world pvp will be. When you think about Wildstar you think of the 40 v 40 warplot battles and some mention of World PvP which sounds exciting. But then you have the thought of fighting all across Cyrodiil, three factions battling it out for a chance at the throne. I mean, how can you not be excited?
My verdict, Wildstar will do better. It's familiar yet offers enough innovative ideas that will draw in places of all kinds. I think TESO will do great too but isn't really a game that will attract many types of people rather then those who love a more grimdark and epic fantasy setting.
Well, I currently have 975 hours in Skyrim [mod edit]
My preference is to head out into the world and find the numerous dungeons, mines, caves etc and explore them picking up all sorts of things, "some quests", stories/books (which I read), battling bandits, etc.
I highly doubt you are telling me that you can do the same in ESO . The same stuff. Also, it has been said in interviews that questing is the preferred method of leveling in ESO.
In any case, once the NDA drops I'd be more than happy to elaborate.
edit: there is a difference between heading out and finding all sorts of elaborate places and heading out to find "quest givers".
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
The only sense in which past ES games are non-linear is that their scaling systems allow you to go to almost any part of the map and not get ganked because your level is too low. If you are actually playing through the content (quests) every quest chain is rigidly linear. So the only substantive change for ESO from the past games, in regard to linearity, is that there is no monster scaling. Which makes sense, since scaling wouldn't work in a MMO unless you instanced every single zone to just the player and his group.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
Dev interviews have stated that there are caves to be found while exploring that are solo instance caves as in Skyrim. They also said that there will be things going on in the zone that you can find and react to. The dev spoke about coming across a sorcerer summoning something and losing control. You could then make a choice of helping the sorcerer, not helping him or killing them both.
From what I understand, the 5 zones past the starter area and first noob island will be fairly large. You should be able to go through the zone and handle most of what is there. So you could follow the story quest and let it lead you around or just take the quest then explore and find what is out in the zone. Even though each zone is for a particular level, you will be able to run around each and play the way you want. Plus if you PvP or craft and gain levels and skills in other ways. More may open up to you so you could do more than one zone if you wish.
[mod edit]
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
It depends on the level of the mobs. Are they all the same level in every zone? Will there still be progression of difficulty per zone or could you go to any zone and play the same?
A Dev interview did say that the 3rd play through or the 50++ would be more difficult and you may need to bring a partner. They gave an example of needing to have a fire skill to kill trolls in the 50++ area or you won't make it through. So it sounds like the difficulty will be higher with the 3rd play through.
But I agree that you can play the 50+/++ the same as your starter faction. It will be all the same quests and story as if you started in the new faction. They said in the Q&A about an entity giving your character a different perspective on things. Meaning that you will probably have a quest that changes you into someone from the new faction so you can experience it from their point of view.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
What exactly is Counter-Strike Online? Never heard of it... Could they possibly mean CS:GO?
- - "What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?" - -
giving to a new thread so more people can see it, its often asked tooo many times here.