OP, you clearly would not have liked any other ES games.
For your points - There are plenty of chances to group with people, you may not have explored enough - I'll get to that later - to find the areas where you'll need a group. Inviting someone is really easy, just look at them and hold F. There is a big menu that pops up. I don't know how you feel the combat is clunky, it all seemed smooth to me. I was playing as a templar using 2 handed weapons. Maybe its different for other classes. I'm pretty sure you had a point about the UI. I have to say, it's pretty much like every other UI in any MMO I've played where you can only have a certain amount of abilities. It's still I for inventory, J for journal, K for abilities, M for map, G for guild, etc, etc. I guess there isn't anywhere to click them so you're lost. Maybe you need a bag UI to click on for inventory - personal preference. Now, for your minimap you want so much. There is a huge bar at the top of your screen and it tells you where to go and what quest your tracking - it's not a minimap you can watch while you're running through the world but it's a guide. I personally like not having to watch a minimap all the time - I find I can enjoy the world around me and look for chests or caves or harvesting nodes. Although, I guess WITH a minimap those are all probably shown to you. So much for exploration.
In the end, the devs just didn't have players of your type in mind. Hopefully they do not change their current model and cater to the WoW formula. Damage numbers for those 1337 DPS, minimap to stare at, ridiculous UI that covers most ofthe screen. No thanks.
Originally posted by Slythe I am very suspicious of how many quests at later levels are buggy, after encountering all the bugged quests in the early levels. By capping people and locking them out of content in the beta, it is obvious (at least to me) that they are hiding something.
you clearly have no clue about the eso beta.
1: this is a old version of the game
2: 99% of the quest are NOT bugged.
3: their phasing system IS bugged (and already fixed on the newer verson)
4: Trading in this version IS bugged. fixed in the later version
5: alot of system were turned of in order to focus test purely on player amount on a laggy server (creating more issues whit the phasing engine in order to find the bugs that cause "bugged quest"
Originally posted by Navek Its mt third weekend in the Open weekends and its grown on me, sure theres bits that are awkward due to catering for consoles and there are more bugs than I like to see this close to launch but it has enough good points and looks great. If the Op likes all those features which were introduced with WoW, I have a hint for him theres a game out there with all of those things its called WoW , play and enjoy it and let the people who enjoy this one play it without having to wade through countless threads of drivel.
There's nothing wrong with referencing good inclusions form other games that have become staples and can be built on. e.g if someone tried to build a new car without a seat belt people would be like wtf? and that is the problem - some new MMO's come out without a seat belt and people are just dumbfounded.
You know that this is touching another problem with players. If some studio wants to make something different or old school then there is general qq and doom & gloom - it's archaic, unplayable, we are doomed, hide!
Then some other studio follows the path you mention and is taking and trying to refine stuff that was introduced in modern MMORPG games. Obviously target no 1 for such refinement is WoW. But then same group suddenly turns their asses around and starts to qq, doom & gloow, WoW CLONE, HIDE!!!!
Seriously with that kind of approach I can understand some devs that simply don't care anymore.
In the end, the devs just didn't have players of your type in mind. Hopefully they do not change their current model and cater to the WoW formula. Damage numbers for those 1337 DPS, minimap to stare at, ridiculous UI that covers most ofthe screen. No thanks.
I agree with your post. Unfortunately, this last paragraph may end up being ironic since they allow player-made add-ons, and therefore all that stuff will eventually work its way into the game whether the majority of players want it or not.
well written post, i have to agree for the most part. the game is def not gonna please most. your common fan will enjoy this outside of that most will move on. this title is def worth the 60$ but after that i have to say its def not worth a subscription. after playing 250+ hours in skyrim then coming to this, it really feels like a striped down version of skyrim with a sub added onto it to make the company money.
This is where I stopped reading. Anything after this is completely pointless and a waste of time. It is very simple....either you are gonna LIKE the game or you are NOT. I don't know why people continue to be compelled to come here and whine about a game like SOMETHING is owed to them. If you think you can do it better, go get investors and design one yourself. Sure, I can post my concerns about the game as well and why I am not going to purchase it......but frankly, who cares? Just more proof the self entitlement generation is worse as ever and your opinion is so important you must start another thread about the same thing that has been started 50950985 times before. /rant off
-Rig
Because this is a discussion board and if nobody ever posted their thoughts on the material (MMO"S) then the site would be empty and dead. I didn't read it as self entitlement but I will say your response came off as a little defensive and you appear offended by his opinions. Agree or disagree all you want but what good is a discussion if your rant only flames the person and not the topic at all? I guess thanks for sharing..
I agree with the OP. I decided this weekend to share the extra key with my lady and see if maybe by grouping in the game, it would improve and it not only made my opinion of the game get worse, but it started a whole new list of reasons I am warning any of my guild members to stay far far away from the game. Phasing was horrid, quests givers were awful because sometimes I would see someone running up to me and she wouldn't. One time we experienced the black arrow disappearing all together for me and not her. Getting together was a pain because sometimes we were both onscreen, and others one of us was represented by a white arrow and nothing more. Needless to say, she got so annoyed that she decided to only participate on saturday and had no urge to jump back in today. Because I enjoy playing my MMO's with my partner, if she aint happy , then I won't be buying 2 copies and paying for 2 subs.
I even tried the game after level 10 on my character from last beta and the game did not get much better after this point. PvP was kinda fun, but the combat felt rough to me so I couldn't really enjoy that. Let me guess, I need to play to at least 20 now before I have really experienced what the game offers since 15 isn't high enough to form an opinion?
You completely missed my point, so let me try and be clearer. I have no problem with healthy debate about a product before public release, the problem I have is the 600940983 same posts over and over again about doom and gloom and Chicken Little. The only thing the OP topic added was a +1 to his post count. It didn't further the discussion about the shortcomings of the game, or the positives for that matter.
-Rig
Former GM and associate game designer for SOE and Square Enix. (2001-2008)
The game needs some work. And I think they partially count on addon community. But ok, they may implement popular addon features in the game in later stages. Games have been doing this, this game may do the same.
But you know, you can't expect a game to meet exactly all your needs at launch, especially an MMORPG. How spoiled have we become? There are the essentials, and there is the framework. At this stage, the only important thing is the essentials, the core of the game. We expect further finetuning to follow, that's why we pay monthly fees afterall. If you don't like the essential core of the game then it simply is not your game. It's like complaining you don't like EVE because it's a game in space.
Besides, some of OP's points are simply bugs and we expect them to address those bugs.
Originally posted by 01Neptune01 I have to agree with the OP on his points. I'll add the game has some great aspects but its just killed by poor, clunky, unresponsive combat and quests from 2005.
not to be pointing out the obvious, but skyrim was like that also.
what makes you think this game will be any different to skyrim except multiplayer?
Can we have another hundred comments about how people who point out flaws in the game are trying to impose their views on everyone else and need to go find another game that they like? No? "Cause whoever forces us to wade through the 100,000th iteration of this irrelevant and tiresome meme in search of meaningful comments is going to receive a special prize from Zenimax. Promise.
I find myself in agreement with the OP. The game UI is absolutely hideous and makes everything a chore. The text box keeps fading away so if people don't get your message within a few seconds of you making it, the box will fade away and disappear until new incoming text opens again, by which time your message is gone. It is also damn hard to read which is another reason people aren't seeing your requests. Some guy I had friended sent me an e-mail because I didn't see his whispers in the chat box. I constantly have to stop, pull up my inventory menu and mouse scroll over the chat box so I can read things.
Lack of any interface showing status effects on your or your enemies creates confusion. I have no clue whether I have some kind of DOT on me or not, or what kind. All I know is my attempts to stealth as a nightblade randomly fail for what I can only assume is the enemy has a DOT on me.
Don't get me started on the tiny, illegible fonts throughout the interface in places where you could easily increase the font size and use a better font.
Inventory management is an utter and absolute nightmare. How can you advertise this as a game with a deep crafting experience and thousands of items to discover and loot when they give you a measly 50 inventory slots to hold all this stuff and charge you an arm and a leg to upgrade them? Even in the Beta where I can just chuck most items since my character is going to be deleted anyway inventory is a constant hassle. When I start my real character and have to find a way to save all the stuff I need it is likely to seriously cripple this game to the point I quit it, just as I did with Fallen Earth, an otherwise okay game that was destroyed with inventory micromanagement hassles. The lack of common sense or respect for the player's game time is staggering.
I am enjoying the Beta, but the amount of typical MMO anti-fun BS and poor design decisions are hamstringing what could otherwise be a great game.
You completely missed my point, so let me try and be clearer. I have no problem with healthy debate about a product before public release, the problem I have is the 600940983 same posts over and over again about doom and gloom and Chicken Little. The only thing the OP topic added was a +1 to his post count. It didn't further the discussion about the shortcomings of the game, or the positives for that matter.
-Rig
So your reasoning behind posting a flame is that this topic has been discussed before? Well let me welcome you to a discussion board once again. BTW, his post had more information discussing the shortcomings of the game as he sees them than your, well. post.. I do enjoy it when people post condescending remarks so let me also try to be clearer. Your post brought absolutely nothing to the discussion and there was no need to attack the OP for his opinion of the game. If ya don't agree then say so, but there is no need for personal attacks.
I do think his title and tone is a little too gloomy for my taste, but I get what he is saying and experienced many of his frustrations regarding the game. The game has been tough to test in every weekend I have tried and I was hoping by playing the third and final starter zone would fix that since many said the Dominion was the better zone but it seemed about on par with the others. I am sure the game will do fine due to the IP alone and the fact that there are quite a few here that seem to enjoy the gameplay thus far. But I do not see this game being a runaway success or a long term MMO for those looking for a new home.
It's not your cup of tea I take it. I saw shades of my own opinion in a lot of those comments you wrote BUT I'm a big Elder Scrolls fan so those sticking points are things I can get around.
I like Dragon Quest, Diablo, Warhammer, the Elder Scrolls Universes so I'd play any and all of those games in online form if the game stuck to its universe and lore roots.
So you mean to tell me that you actually bought Diablo 3 ._. ?
As of February 2014 the game(Diablo 3) has sold 15 million copies across all platforms.
As for those complaining about the UI, isn't this games supposed to have mod support? I don't know this to be fact and have decided to not be involved with the beta, but I thought TESO was going to have strong mod support. It would be kind of strange if it didn't being that mod support has become a staple in TES franchise.
Yep OP it's doomed. The game will only be bought by the developers and studio owners mothers and will go down in flames in a month tops. It will be F2P in exactly 2 weeks and be closed in 3. It's doomed I tell you.
ESO will probably be in the top 5 launch day sales for a MMO and if you combine it with launch day console sales it may very well hit number 1. I have no idea what it's long term viability is as I have not been able to play enough of the game to see but it's really hard and I mean really hard to see this game not being able to coast on it's launch sales alone for at least a year between PC and console sales. Where it goes after that who knows but the PVP does look promising and what we have read on the post 50 content is vague but at least hopeful. It is not a game that is everyone's cup of tea, I get that but there are plenty of people who feel the exact opposite as you do, more than enough to make it a very successful game. After all if all games where based on my personal preferences WoW wouldn't have survived the first year.
So I'm new to ESO, and this is my first time playing ESO Online. Having played it this weekend, there is no way people are going to be paying $15 a month for this. It is going to be a very small player base that is shelling out $180 a year for this frustrating experience.
And this game is exactly that: frustrating. From terrible menus and UI, to clunky combat, to the awful phasing, to terrible targeting mechanics, there isn't much to like.
Right from the start I disliked the first person versus "cursor" UI. It's totally unintuitive, and every time you want to do something with the menus or with groups, etc., it takes extra frustrating steps to go to cursor, access your menus, start a group, even access the chat window via mouse, or access toon and item screens. Hated it, hated it, hated it. Just trying to invite someone to group is a pain in the arse, you can't simply right click them and add them to group, or even see what their name is via a portrait that you can select and keep on the screen.
UI and menus, just awful. Totally unintuitive, seems like only five slots for abilities, and then that utter garbage quickslot wheel which, I guess, is just for potions and food. Why are players forced into this awful UI, with almost no customization?
Questing and grouping -- not happening, ever. This plainly is a solo "mmo." I tried to start many groups, I don't think people even knew they were invited. Many, many invites, ignored. And why bother? Every single time I did manage to get a few people together, people are phased. So we would enter the same cave or location, and boom, people disappear, due to some particular quest subpart that none of us could figure out. Phasing in this game just sucks terribly, ruining any chance of cooperative play. And the bad thing is, phasing is everywhere in this game. From a group play perspective, it's gamebreaking.
Portraits. Where are the character portraits -- or anything -- concerning my character and other characters. Do I have buffs? Do I have a debuff? What is happening to me? What happened to someone else? Zero easy-to-see or use visual cues concerning player status. Heck, it was a pain in the arse just to see what someone's name was. It sucks. It just plain sucks.
Map and lack of minimap. After the first day of beta play, man did I (and two of my friends) get sick and damn tired of hitting "m." In a city, hit m. Leaving a city, hit m. Shrine, m. Wilderness, m. Need a way around this lava, m. Looking for road, m. Travling anywhere? Get ready for m m m m m m m m. This game seriously needs a minimap or overlay. It needs something, because hitting m all day long makes me want to hit another button called "quit."
Combat, clunky as hell, not sharp and crisp. You often can't tell if a particular spell or ability did, or was going to, land, and again, the lack of any real information about monster status and debuffs via a portrait made it awful boring, awfully fast. Hitbox and ranges, difficult to judge with this fourth-rate combat system.
Professions and crafting, oh man. What in the hell is going on? The whole system is a massive feeback loop of misery and boredom. First, there's no intuitive way to see where you are or where you should be progressing with any profession. Out in the field or away from tables, you can't do jack. Just terrible making players run around looking for a particular crafting table, or a cooking fire. I can understand having some location requirements, but seriously, not being able to do any profession levelling while questing or in a dungeon? Inability to make anything on the fly if a player needs it while grouped or questing? Sucks.
Chat window -- needs way more information. For example, if you put the game on auto-loot, and then you loot, "stuff" goes in your bag. You don't know what or how much, you just here the coin sound effect. How exciting. Developers, how about telling the players, via the chat window, what it is they looted? How about group invites and declines -- why is this not in the chat window? (Perhaps in the chat toggles there is a way to make this happen, but by this time I was so annoyed at the game, didn't even bother.)
Wanted to like this game, but I don't see people paying for this annoying player experience.
I understand some of the points here being frustrating. However, you can also say that the way they set everything up in their mmorpg is to be unique to their style and presentation. This isn't WoW, WIldstar, or in my own personal experience, this isn't Dark Age of Camelot 2 (no matter how much I wish it could be).
That being said, the part about phasing and having issues grouping should be addressed. The ability to play with others (connect easily to groups, etc)is the foundation of any mmorpg.
Yep OP it's doomed. The game will only be bought by the developers and studio owners mothers and will go down in flames in a month tops. It will be F2P in exactly 2 weeks and be closed in 3. It's doomed I tell you.
ESO will probably be in the top 5 launch day sales for a MMO and if you combine it with launch day console sales it may very well hit number 1. I have no idea what it's long term viability is as I have not been able to play enough of the game to see but it's really hard and I mean really hard to see this game not being able to coast on it's launch sales alone for at least a year between PC and console sales. Where it goes after that who knows but the PVP does look promising and what we have read on the post 50 content is vague but at least hopeful. It is not a game that is everyone's cup of tea, I get that but there are plenty of people who feel the exact opposite as you do, more than enough to make it a very successful game. After all if all games where based on my personal preferences WoW wouldn't have survived the first year.
The OP, while a bit gloom'n'doom on the future of ESO, brought out a number of points about why he felt troubled by the game. The UI and certain design elements have problems. Then, of course, there's the issue of having Big Beta weekends using older, known buggy/inferior versions of the game. The real question though, is which of these problematic areas can be fixed or modified, and which are baked in. As someone pointed out, MMOs are not static in nature. Things can change. But the more baked in, the less the chances.
Personally, I have some serious issues with the UI. However, that is a trademark of the Elder Scrolls series and Bethesda games as a whole; they've almost always had bad UIs that needed desperatly to be fixed by modders.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
It's not your cup of tea I take it. I saw shades of my own opinion in a lot of those comments you wrote BUT I'm a big Elder Scrolls fan so those sticking points are things I can get around.
I like Dragon Quest, Diablo, Warhammer, the Elder Scrolls Universes so I'd play any and all of those games in online form if the game stuck to its universe and lore roots.
So you mean to tell me that you actually bought Diablo 3 ._. ?
And quite an awesome purchase if he did. I hope you didn't so you miss the fun.
OP way to much drama Sir. This title will do just fine and be played by thousands of ES fans for a very long time. It will be a niche game like so many other titles.
Don't be upset because the interface and UI are not what you wanted or are use to. This isn't a clone of WoW, it is based off of a very successful franchise.
You wrote a huge page on things you didn't like, but forgot to think about what others do like, and that is the Elder Scrolls.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
So I'm new to ESO, and this is my first time playing ESO Online. Having played it this weekend, there is no way people are going to be paying $15 a month for this. It is going to be a very small player base that is shelling out $180 a year for this frustrating experience.
And this game is exactly that: frustrating. From terrible menus and UI, to clunky combat, to the awful phasing, to terrible targeting mechanics, there isn't much to like.
Right from the start I disliked the first person versus "cursor" UI. It's totally unintuitive, and every time you want to do something with the menus or with groups, etc., it takes extra frustrating steps to go to cursor, access your menus, start a group, even access the chat window via mouse, or access toon and item screens. Hated it, hated it, hated it. Just trying to invite someone to group is a pain in the arse, you can't simply right click them and add them to group, or even see what their name is via a portrait that you can select and keep on the screen.
UI and menus, just awful. Totally unintuitive, seems like only five slots for abilities, and then that utter garbage quickslot wheel which, I guess, is just for potions and food. Why are players forced into this awful UI, with almost no customization?
Questing and grouping -- not happening, ever. This plainly is a solo "mmo." I tried to start many groups, I don't think people even knew they were invited. Many, many invites, ignored. And why bother? Every single time I did manage to get a few people together, people are phased. So we would enter the same cave or location, and boom, people disappear, due to some particular quest subpart that none of us could figure out. Phasing in this game just sucks terribly, ruining any chance of cooperative play. And the bad thing is, phasing is everywhere in this game. From a group play perspective, it's gamebreaking.
Portraits. Where are the character portraits -- or anything -- concerning my character and other characters. Do I have buffs? Do I have a debuff? What is happening to me? What happened to someone else? Zero easy-to-see or use visual cues concerning player status. Heck, it was a pain in the arse just to see what someone's name was. It sucks. It just plain sucks.
Map and lack of minimap. After the first day of beta play, man did I (and two of my friends) get sick and damn tired of hitting "m." In a city, hit m. Leaving a city, hit m. Shrine, m. Wilderness, m. Need a way around this lava, m. Looking for road, m. Travling anywhere? Get ready for m m m m m m m m. This game seriously needs a minimap or overlay. It needs something, because hitting m all day long makes me want to hit another button called "quit."
Combat, clunky as hell, not sharp and crisp. You often can't tell if a particular spell or ability did, or was going to, land, and again, the lack of any real information about monster status and debuffs via a portrait made it awful boring, awfully fast. Hitbox and ranges, difficult to judge with this fourth-rate combat system.
Professions and crafting, oh man. What in the hell is going on? The whole system is a massive feeback loop of misery and boredom. First, there's no intuitive way to see where you are or where you should be progressing with any profession. Out in the field or away from tables, you can't do jack. Just terrible making players run around looking for a particular crafting table, or a cooking fire. I can understand having some location requirements, but seriously, not being able to do any profession levelling while questing or in a dungeon? Inability to make anything on the fly if a player needs it while grouped or questing? Sucks.
Chat window -- needs way more information. For example, if you put the game on auto-loot, and then you loot, "stuff" goes in your bag. You don't know what or how much, you just here the coin sound effect. How exciting. Developers, how about telling the players, via the chat window, what it is they looted? How about group invites and declines -- why is this not in the chat window? (Perhaps in the chat toggles there is a way to make this happen, but by this time I was so annoyed at the game, didn't even bother.)
Wanted to like this game, but I don't see people paying for this annoying player experience.
I thought this was going to be another I don't like this mmo, so they may as well not launch it. And to a certain extent it is. The post would be a lot better without the sucks, hate, hate, sucks, sucks. Putting all that aside there are some points that I would support.
The UI. It's not the most user friendly, and you can see it has been limited by console play. I agree in regard to the potions wheel, and hopefully a UI add-on will appear that makes this into a slot bar that can be kept on the screen. I say add-on, then people can choose to leave it as it is or modify it.
5 slot abilities - well 5+1 really, which increases to 10+2 at lvl 15 with the switch weapon ability. Again you can see they appear to be fighting against the limits of a controller.. For people who have played mmo's for years with keyboard and mouse it can feel restrictive. Having a gaming mouse really helps here, but can still feel like you are pressing this button to get to that menu to press that button.
Other games have to design their UI within the confines of limited input keys and seem to work pretty well. But maybe ESO isn't the best here compared with other similar game formats. I expect several add-ons to appear for UI customization.
The cursor (target symbol) - The first time I played I immediately asked if this could be moved around on-screen as in Tera. I'd like to see this feature added.
Portraits - buff/debuff - another open invitation for the add-on writers here. There does appear to be a real lack of character feedback, especially for those with experience of mmo's throughout the years.
Mini-map or overlay - Introduce this asap. Make it a toggle selection so people can stay with the original if they want. But for those who are used to it, this feature cannot come soon enough.
Crafting - didn't do that much, so will not comment
Chat window - qualified agreement with most, if not all of the points here. Looted items, invitations, accept/decline. These would be nice to see, not a game breaker but would be an improvement.
Combat - to me it does feel too remote. It still surprises me that some of the more recent mmo's struggle to match games from several or more years ago. Again not a game breaker, but more of a 6/10 rather than an 8 or 9
The only thing that is doomed is the closed minded genre of gamers that expect all these new generation games to hold there hands like WoW did for so many years. Its about time a company came out with something new and something that actually has a feel of not being rushed along into level cap.
What an inflammatory title. Were you inviting a debate or hoping for blood. It's all well and good to give your impressions but no need to make people get their hackles up from the get go. This game will have its fanbase and perhaps enough to sustain its survival.
Throw this out there: ESO devs removed the minimap intentionally. They didn't like it. The feedback they received was that it wasn't needed. Everyone at the time said the compass was the way to go. Maybe the devs will re-enable it as a toggleable (spelling?) option. Maybe someone will make a mod for it. I don't know.
I just wanted to clear it up, though, that the devs removed the minimap. It's not something they overlooked. They took it out.
Comments
OP, you clearly would not have liked any other ES games.
For your points - There are plenty of chances to group with people, you may not have explored enough - I'll get to that later - to find the areas where you'll need a group. Inviting someone is really easy, just look at them and hold F. There is a big menu that pops up. I don't know how you feel the combat is clunky, it all seemed smooth to me. I was playing as a templar using 2 handed weapons. Maybe its different for other classes. I'm pretty sure you had a point about the UI. I have to say, it's pretty much like every other UI in any MMO I've played where you can only have a certain amount of abilities. It's still I for inventory, J for journal, K for abilities, M for map, G for guild, etc, etc. I guess there isn't anywhere to click them so you're lost. Maybe you need a bag UI to click on for inventory - personal preference. Now, for your minimap you want so much. There is a huge bar at the top of your screen and it tells you where to go and what quest your tracking - it's not a minimap you can watch while you're running through the world but it's a guide. I personally like not having to watch a minimap all the time - I find I can enjoy the world around me and look for chests or caves or harvesting nodes. Although, I guess WITH a minimap those are all probably shown to you. So much for exploration.
In the end, the devs just didn't have players of your type in mind. Hopefully they do not change their current model and cater to the WoW formula. Damage numbers for those 1337 DPS, minimap to stare at, ridiculous UI that covers most ofthe screen. No thanks.
Eladi are you on the PTS test? Thanks.
You know that this is touching another problem with players. If some studio wants to make something different or old school then there is general qq and doom & gloom - it's archaic, unplayable, we are doomed, hide!
Then some other studio follows the path you mention and is taking and trying to refine stuff that was introduced in modern MMORPG games. Obviously target no 1 for such refinement is WoW. But then same group suddenly turns their asses around and starts to qq, doom & gloow, WoW CLONE, HIDE!!!!
Seriously with that kind of approach I can understand some devs that simply don't care anymore.
I agree with your post. Unfortunately, this last paragraph may end up being ironic since they allow player-made add-ons, and therefore all that stuff will eventually work its way into the game whether the majority of players want it or not.
You completely missed my point, so let me try and be clearer. I have no problem with healthy debate about a product before public release, the problem I have is the 600940983 same posts over and over again about doom and gloom and Chicken Little. The only thing the OP topic added was a +1 to his post count. It didn't further the discussion about the shortcomings of the game, or the positives for that matter.
-Rig
The game needs some work. And I think they partially count on addon community. But ok, they may implement popular addon features in the game in later stages. Games have been doing this, this game may do the same.
But you know, you can't expect a game to meet exactly all your needs at launch, especially an MMORPG. How spoiled have we become? There are the essentials, and there is the framework. At this stage, the only important thing is the essentials, the core of the game. We expect further finetuning to follow, that's why we pay monthly fees afterall. If you don't like the essential core of the game then it simply is not your game. It's like complaining you don't like EVE because it's a game in space.
Besides, some of OP's points are simply bugs and we expect them to address those bugs.
not to be pointing out the obvious, but skyrim was like that also.
what makes you think this game will be any different to skyrim except multiplayer?
Can we have another hundred comments about how people who point out flaws in the game are trying to impose their views on everyone else and need to go find another game that they like? No? "Cause whoever forces us to wade through the 100,000th iteration of this irrelevant and tiresome meme in search of meaningful comments is going to receive a special prize from Zenimax. Promise.
I find myself in agreement with the OP. The game UI is absolutely hideous and makes everything a chore. The text box keeps fading away so if people don't get your message within a few seconds of you making it, the box will fade away and disappear until new incoming text opens again, by which time your message is gone. It is also damn hard to read which is another reason people aren't seeing your requests. Some guy I had friended sent me an e-mail because I didn't see his whispers in the chat box. I constantly have to stop, pull up my inventory menu and mouse scroll over the chat box so I can read things.
Lack of any interface showing status effects on your or your enemies creates confusion. I have no clue whether I have some kind of DOT on me or not, or what kind. All I know is my attempts to stealth as a nightblade randomly fail for what I can only assume is the enemy has a DOT on me.
Don't get me started on the tiny, illegible fonts throughout the interface in places where you could easily increase the font size and use a better font.
Inventory management is an utter and absolute nightmare. How can you advertise this as a game with a deep crafting experience and thousands of items to discover and loot when they give you a measly 50 inventory slots to hold all this stuff and charge you an arm and a leg to upgrade them? Even in the Beta where I can just chuck most items since my character is going to be deleted anyway inventory is a constant hassle. When I start my real character and have to find a way to save all the stuff I need it is likely to seriously cripple this game to the point I quit it, just as I did with Fallen Earth, an otherwise okay game that was destroyed with inventory micromanagement hassles. The lack of common sense or respect for the player's game time is staggering.
I am enjoying the Beta, but the amount of typical MMO anti-fun BS and poor design decisions are hamstringing what could otherwise be a great game.
So your reasoning behind posting a flame is that this topic has been discussed before? Well let me welcome you to a discussion board once again. BTW, his post had more information discussing the shortcomings of the game as he sees them than your, well. post.. I do enjoy it when people post condescending remarks so let me also try to be clearer. Your post brought absolutely nothing to the discussion and there was no need to attack the OP for his opinion of the game. If ya don't agree then say so, but there is no need for personal attacks.
I do think his title and tone is a little too gloomy for my taste, but I get what he is saying and experienced many of his frustrations regarding the game. The game has been tough to test in every weekend I have tried and I was hoping by playing the third and final starter zone would fix that since many said the Dominion was the better zone but it seemed about on par with the others. I am sure the game will do fine due to the IP alone and the fact that there are quite a few here that seem to enjoy the gameplay thus far. But I do not see this game being a runaway success or a long term MMO for those looking for a new home.
RIP Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan and Paul Gray.
As of February 2014 the game(Diablo 3) has sold 15 million copies across all platforms.
Ya he did. And a few others as well.
Yep OP it's doomed. The game will only be bought by the developers and studio owners mothers and will go down in flames in a month tops. It will be F2P in exactly 2 weeks and be closed in 3. It's doomed I tell you.
ESO will probably be in the top 5 launch day sales for a MMO and if you combine it with launch day console sales it may very well hit number 1. I have no idea what it's long term viability is as I have not been able to play enough of the game to see but it's really hard and I mean really hard to see this game not being able to coast on it's launch sales alone for at least a year between PC and console sales. Where it goes after that who knows but the PVP does look promising and what we have read on the post 50 content is vague but at least hopeful. It is not a game that is everyone's cup of tea, I get that but there are plenty of people who feel the exact opposite as you do, more than enough to make it a very successful game. After all if all games where based on my personal preferences WoW wouldn't have survived the first year.
By agreeing with the OP I am clearly in the minority.
I don't think this game is anything special.
This game is at best passable for an audience that has been without a mmo they could get behind. A 'desperate' audience.
If you truly enjoy the game, great.
I understand some of the points here being frustrating. However, you can also say that the way they set everything up in their mmorpg is to be unique to their style and presentation. This isn't WoW, WIldstar, or in my own personal experience, this isn't Dark Age of Camelot 2 (no matter how much I wish it could be).
That being said, the part about phasing and having issues grouping should be addressed. The ability to play with others (connect easily to groups, etc)is the foundation of any mmorpg.
This x9000
The OP, while a bit gloom'n'doom on the future of ESO, brought out a number of points about why he felt troubled by the game. The UI and certain design elements have problems. Then, of course, there's the issue of having Big Beta weekends using older, known buggy/inferior versions of the game. The real question though, is which of these problematic areas can be fixed or modified, and which are baked in. As someone pointed out, MMOs are not static in nature. Things can change. But the more baked in, the less the chances.
Personally, I have some serious issues with the UI. However, that is a trademark of the Elder Scrolls series and Bethesda games as a whole; they've almost always had bad UIs that needed desperatly to be fixed by modders.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
And quite an awesome purchase if he did. I hope you didn't so you miss the fun.
OP way to much drama Sir. This title will do just fine and be played by thousands of ES fans for a very long time. It will be a niche game like so many other titles.
Don't be upset because the interface and UI are not what you wanted or are use to. This isn't a clone of WoW, it is based off of a very successful franchise.
You wrote a huge page on things you didn't like, but forgot to think about what others do like, and that is the Elder Scrolls.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
I thought this was going to be another I don't like this mmo, so they may as well not launch it. And to a certain extent it is. The post would be a lot better without the sucks, hate, hate, sucks, sucks. Putting all that aside there are some points that I would support.
The UI. It's not the most user friendly, and you can see it has been limited by console play. I agree in regard to the potions wheel, and hopefully a UI add-on will appear that makes this into a slot bar that can be kept on the screen. I say add-on, then people can choose to leave it as it is or modify it.
5 slot abilities - well 5+1 really, which increases to 10+2 at lvl 15 with the switch weapon ability. Again you can see they appear to be fighting against the limits of a controller.. For people who have played mmo's for years with keyboard and mouse it can feel restrictive. Having a gaming mouse really helps here, but can still feel like you are pressing this button to get to that menu to press that button.
Other games have to design their UI within the confines of limited input keys and seem to work pretty well. But maybe ESO isn't the best here compared with other similar game formats. I expect several add-ons to appear for UI customization.
The cursor (target symbol) - The first time I played I immediately asked if this could be moved around on-screen as in Tera. I'd like to see this feature added.
Portraits - buff/debuff - another open invitation for the add-on writers here. There does appear to be a real lack of character feedback, especially for those with experience of mmo's throughout the years.
Mini-map or overlay - Introduce this asap. Make it a toggle selection so people can stay with the original if they want. But for those who are used to it, this feature cannot come soon enough.
Crafting - didn't do that much, so will not comment
Chat window - qualified agreement with most, if not all of the points here. Looted items, invitations, accept/decline. These would be nice to see, not a game breaker but would be an improvement.
Combat - to me it does feel too remote. It still surprises me that some of the more recent mmo's struggle to match games from several or more years ago. Again not a game breaker, but more of a 6/10 rather than an 8 or 9
What an inflammatory title. Were you inviting a debate or hoping for blood. It's all well and good to give your impressions but no need to make people get their hackles up from the get go. This game will have its fanbase and perhaps enough to sustain its survival.
Ryoshi1 as Rikimaru
Throw this out there: ESO devs removed the minimap intentionally. They didn't like it. The feedback they received was that it wasn't needed. Everyone at the time said the compass was the way to go. Maybe the devs will re-enable it as a toggleable (spelling?) option. Maybe someone will make a mod for it. I don't know.
I just wanted to clear it up, though, that the devs removed the minimap. It's not something they overlooked. They took it out.