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ESO: Review by Speedhaak
Speedhaak
Member UncommonPosts: 296
Hi Folks,
I want to give you all my personal impressions and a general review of the MMO ESO - This is my 12th year of MMO gaming, I started out with Lineage 2 and FFXI back in 2002/2003 receptively so I've been around the block a few times and I wanted to share my thoughts about ESO and how it relates to my other experiences within the MMO Space. I've a few points to cover, I'll go from General, to Positive, then Negative... so lets start.
GENERAL:
- STORY
This will either be something you agree with or not. But it is my personal opinion, that after all these years there is one aspect of the modern MMO that is inconsistent with the general idea of what an MMO sets out to accomplish. I'm talking about story in an MMO space, or rather a set narrative that 'can' be avoided but proves detrimental to player experience, both in a literal and non literal sense. What do I mean?
What I am talking about is the capacity for players to build and forge a unique story landscape independent to the space in the world they occupy. Currently, a lot of MMOs set out with an over arching story in place that the player can follow, for the purpose and relevance of this review I'll obviously talk about ESO; the story aspect of ESO (while undeniably obvious, as being an Elder Scrolls Game it was always going to be narrative focused I suspect) serves only to isolate players (I'll go into the pros and cons of this later and just keep the topic general for now) in the world.
It is my firm belief that we need to see a shift in focus from developers, away from story and more into player story - If a developer wants to accomplish a compelling story then should they not strive to create a more cohesive single player experience? The entire point of an MMO is to be a part of a world, not the focus of it. Agree or disagree, but some of the best MMO experiences I've had are from games that have just dropped me in a world and let me become who I wanted to be, unshackled by the burdens of destiny and fate - with a band of Guild mates in tow and foes aside. Building relations with the players and world on a more personal level instead of being forced into flimsy bonds set upon you by consequence of the story.
Your very existence in these worlds should be story enough. The bonds you make with your surroundings and the actions you decide to take. And with that lets talk about another aspect of the current/modern MMO.
- SOCIAL CONNECTION
This is a huge problem for me in modern MMOs, and it needs to be addressed with smart design, and thoughtful ingenuity as soon as possible. The vast majority of recent MMOs I have played have suffered from limp, non-interacting communities who just rush about the map in a state of suspended animation; devoid of speech and life. There are many factors in this. First off, lets talk about Phasing, Cross-Server tech and Multiple in-game communities. Phasing. As good as the idea is on paper, in practise it only serves one purpose - disjointed communities. Again, the entire point, the whole focus and goals of an MMO is to be in a massive online space with other players.
Having tech such as phasing in place not only disrupts your ability to meet players, but it always totally breaks immersion when you know you are in an instanced, personalised area of the game with pockets of 200-300 players in another 10 variations on another server. I understand the technical goals of this function but for me it just feels like a huge contradiction to game design in respect to the MMO. I want to feel apart of a community, I want tossee areas, cities and towns bursting at the prim - I don't want to be wandering around the country side for hours on end without so much as a soul to be seen (Yeah, looking at you Guild Wars 2).
When World of Warcraft started introducing cross-server technology, that was it for me - when I started out with WoW our server community was paramount to everyone. You had enemies, friends and relationships with these players. With this came responsibility, and consequence. If you were a griefer or just not a nice guy, it was known, you were known, and as a result your game was affected, as was everyone elses. This is the pinnacle of MMO design, the reputation of a player, his or her guild and how they interact with the world.
Once this was taken away from us, I was done. All of a sudden I was in groups and battlegrounds with complete strangers who I didn't know, didn't care about and once my reputation became nonsensical and unimportant I was gone. Look at it like this, if you mirrored that practise in the real world would you not become disenfranchised in the same way? What's the point in living in a world where everyone you meet is a ghost, a phantom from another world - someone you will more than likely never see again. Someone who doesn't care about you or your personality. Yeah, no thanks. Extremely poor design where community is concerned, extremely good design where server and game stability is concerned. Fine line, so unevenly thread.
I'm going to move onto more specific points about ESO now that you have an understanding of my point of view in relation to the modern MMO. Lets start of with some pros for ESO and work our way down.
- SCORE
What a fantastic and charming set of melodies produced within the world of Tamriel this time 'round. This for me, is one of the best aspects of ESO - not only does it server to add character to the surrounding World but it also instils a sense of wonder and mystery on your quest. A truly great soundtrack that I really can't find any fault with, even the sound design is top notch. Jumping into water from a height has never been so much fun... Sploooosh.
- CHARACTER DESIGN/CREATION
Another well thought out area of ESO - but I suspect we all knew this would be the case anyway. If they hadn't of mirrored TES unique and personalised class systems there would have been a lot of angry fans. It's a breath of fresh air to see an MMO not afraid to take chances where class design is concerned, aside from GW2 (which I think got it slightly wrong if I'm being honest) ESO is the only MMO I can think of that gives you unlimited freedom to create anything and everything you want. And were it not for having to trudge to dull story each time I would have experimented with a lot more character designs.
...and now for the cons
- STORY
As I discussed at the beginning of this topic, I'm at odds with story in an MMO. I don't see the point in it, and it's my opinion that it only servers to hinder and obstruct the player from doing what they actually want to do. For all the freedom ESO provides in your class building, to then restrict you via story seems rather counter-intuitive. I know posters will say you don't have to do the story, but in all honesty, you really do. Having such a rich and diverse class building system would lend itself far more to a more open-ended world where you could gain experience on a more personalised note.
- GROUPING
Absolutely pointless. The only real benefit is you can kill things faster. Not being able to exist in the same 'space' on a quest-line with your friends if you have already completed it, or are at an earlier or later stage is just very bad design. Having to do actions one at a time, like puzzles, or switching levers sets up this kinda queue like system that slows the pace of the game down and only servers to aggravate the players. Grouping should be fast, convenient and rewarding. It is none of the above in ESO.
- UI
I understand what they are trying to accomplish with the minimalistic approach but for what an MMO requires of it's players, I just don't think it cuts the mustard. So many aspects of it are counter intuitive. Visual queues are not unique to games, they are required in all walks of life to identify and navigate content in the world. In ESO it is very very difficult to just do simply things like thank a player for helping take that mob down. I know I'm going to get flamed to high heaven for this but think about it.
Because of the duality of the control system (you have active and then mouse mods, as opposed to just mouse mode in most other MMOs) to do the above in the heat of combat and the moment, you have to chase the player you want to thank and hover your reticle over them to finds out their name, hold F to to toggle to specific window and then whisper them, as opposed to just going 'Right that was ReaperX who just saved my bacon, must send him a tell thanking him' - And why? Because of the absence of visual queues, nameplates, or even just a quick and easy way to identify players from NPCs.
Those are some of my main concerns for ESO, I'd like to talk more about it in a bit but those two hours flew by just there as I wrote this, please remember a lot fo this is just my opinion but I think you'll get an idea of where I'm going in relation to ESO and the modern MMO. Ultimately I think social interaction and community are paramount and need to be identified by developers as THE REASON why players should want to play and exist in your MMO. Providing tools to the contrary while may server to supply a more stable game is destroying what an MMO actually is, and it's up to them to fix this issue with some thinktank time. I've given my 2 cents on the subject, hope you all have a nice day.
Cheers.
Comments
An excellent review, in my opinion. I agree with most of what you wrote. The snippets above very closely mirror my own thoughts about storylines and community in MMORPGs, and the music of ESO.
I don't disagree with the inclusion of story in an MMORPG, but there is a disconnect when there are thousands of protagonists, each saving the world in the exact same way as every other. I see storylines as an attempt to provide meaning for players beyond grinding for experience by killing MOBs. A possible solution might be an overarching story where players are offered bounties or rewards for specific things. I'm thinking about the bards guild, gnoll teeth and orc belt quests from EQ1 here. A bounty system or something.
I wish responsibility and consequence were the new MMO buzzwords, but we shouldn't hold our breath on that idea. You were writing about server communities, and I wonder if we will ever see that again, unfortunately.
And, yes, the sound is very well done, especially the "just wandering around" music.
Well done.
_____________________________
"Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit"
Can't take the opinions of newcomers to the genre seriously, /dismissed.
No need to qualify your reviews with your gaming pedigree, unless to help us understand what sort of MMOS you enjoyed playing to provide a better frame of reference on your opinion.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
@ Alcuin
Thanks for the response. I see your point about story, but it doesn't have to be so intrusive. A very good example of this is Dark Souls - a game whereby mere discovery encourages story. I think if story is going to become a big part of the MMO they need to find a way to introduce it in a fashion that doesn't hinder the game play in such a way as to halt players from proceeding as they like. A huge task and challenge, but I'm sure someone can do it.
I was merely trying to hint at my past experiences with the genre. And I thought the references were clear enough? What do older MMOs all have in common? Player communities were a priority, and story, war, conflict, politics and everything in between were all player driven.
You really really need to get off your high horse mate. Seriously.
Besides the music, that's how I saw the game too. It's not a surprise to see others whom obviously spent considerable time with eso to feel the same way. I happen to notice that was going to be the case while beta testing and chose not to give away my money. It's just a method of voting no on eso.Very good review.
I especially enjoyed how there was no numerical value associated with your score.
My main issues are the 3 month calendar for AvA and phasing in PvE. Other than that, I really feel like it's a decent MMO, though perhaps not worth the sub fee after 3 months.
This being Zenimax's first MMO, I'm not sure how quickly they will respond to concerns...however, I do feel like ESO has plenty of room to grow and may in time justify its subscription.
A good elder scrolls game, a decent MMO, but not quite worth the subscription at this point in time unless you are both a huge Elder Scrolls fan and DAoC addict who can deal with potentially unbalanced AvA.
(Megaservers on GW2 now have you seeing people everywhere, fyi
)
"As you read these words, a release is seven days or less away or has just happened within the last seven days those are now the only two states youll find the world of Tyria."...Guild Wars 2
I find the 'Zenimax is new to the genre, it may take some time before x happens' argument to be counter intuitive. A game advertised to such a degree as ESO was cannot simply fall back on 'we're new to this thing, give us time'. Doing this only allows them to deliver half-baked goods with an empty promise to do it better next time around. This is not about entitlement, it's about demanding a proper product for the price you're paying.
Unfortunately you went from telling something about you and your personal likes directly to Negatives. However ...
What I find interesting is that you say developers should focus more on a player story instead of offering an overarching story that the player may follow. You say that in previous MMOs the focus was more on building relations and that the aspect of social interaction was far more important.
I'm a 15 year MMO veteran and I have experienced games such as UO, DAoC, Lineage 2, Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Aion and the list goes on. To a certain level I agree, but there is something you seem to miss. Building relations and making friends is totally up to you. No matter if you play an asia grinder, SWTOR or TESO. It is your decision to actually talk to other people and make friends with them. I agree that megaserver concepts and group finder systems cater more to quick and meaningless interactions between players, but in the end it is your decision to add that friendly guy you just finished a dungeon with to your friend list. Of course you will then most likely co-exist in different instances, but you can stay in contact and meet for other dungeon runs or other activities.
Another thing that seems to influence your review is nostalgia. Don't get me wrong, I'm with you and I do believe that the difficulties of Lineage 2 or DAoC brought players together. The thing is that WE have changed within the last decade. If a company presented me now with a Lineage2 game, I would say hell no! While the farming and grind brought me together with friends, I wouldn't dare to invest that much time today in a online game. This means that to hook me, a game needs to be challenging but not too time consuming.
Agree. The score is really awesome but I miss big tunes such as the Skyrim intro. That choire that sounded like a russian military choire. I think my neighbors still hate me for having repeated that one at max volume. ;-)
One thing that I dislike are the bards in taverns and them only being capable of 2 or 3 songs. I would like to see more variety in songs.
Agree. The character development system is just great. It is fun to develop a multi purpose character. Zenimax did a great job here.
I do not agree. I'm paying for entertainment. While I love sandboxes, I also love good story driven entertainment. Each zone comes with a big storyline. Then you have got guild storylines and your personal storyline. I hope that Zenimax will introduce further storylines with additional guilds. To me these storylines are something like an entertaining movie. They give me the freedom to mute myself on Teamspeak and to have something like a singleplayer experience. Of course all the other players might disturb this singleplayer experience, but in the end this is a MMO and as such I do not expect it to function as a singleplayer game.
I'm looking forward to Krackenstein or what the first Adventure Zone is called. I think it will add a lot of what you are looking for.
I do not agree. While the zones till level 50 are easy and quick done solo, difficulties arise as soon as you hit veteran ranks. Of course the super pro players will now jump in and say: "Hey, I can solo veteran content!". My answer to this is "Great. Then continue doing so!" and then I group with my friends and have fun together with them.
Grouping is especially fun in Cyrodil. Not only for big scale PvP. Do a Skyshard run with your friends, visit the dungeons or camp strategic routes. The game does not force you to group and it does not offer you a flat bonus in exp for grouping, but do we need this? I don't think so. I like being able to run content alone, but I also like being able to invite my friends into a group to run an instance or exploration.
The thing is, again it is totally up to you.
I like the minimalistic approach. I installed different add-ons and then uninstalled them, because they felt so artificial. In the end I am using that Loot Info Add On, a multi quest tracker and a research helper. Thats it. No big changes but additional information.
But, I agree that it should be easier to thank a player. Some sort of emote macro that lets you say "Thank you <name>" would be interesting. Maybe something for an add-on?
Player driven means that the players start to interact or run certain game systems. In every single MMO you may start to socialize. You simply have to speak to other people. Holding developers respnsible for you not being able to talk to other players is a bit steep and I don't think that you want automated systems searching and making friends for you ... or maybe you do want this? Not sure. ;-)