Modding is a hallmark of the Skyrim/Oblivion series and shouldn't be discounted quickly. If ESO allowed player added content it would have been a lot more successful and been closer to the spirit of the games. I'm thinking they didn't because they want to charge for additional content.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I didn't bother with many mods in Skyrim et al. and enjoyed games like that just fine.
ESO covers a much wider range of cultures / lore than the SP games so far and the questing and details are very nicely done. So I'd honestly recommend going through the quests once for an ES fan, reading the books and lore, and so on. It's much the same as answering the question "what did I get in Oblivion or Skyrim that I didn't get in Morrowind?" Different game worlds, etc.
I'd also add that I've always found the SP games utterly unchallenging, and the higher difficulty in ESO is refreshing to me.
EDIT: Yea, mods can be cool. They also vary wildly in quality; the story lines, quests, and overall experience in a polished commercial game are far better than fan fiction. Mods shine in terms of things like graphics and balance - emphatically not in story and plot.
Some mods are so good they get added to the next version of the game. In games with player added content Devs decide if they're appropriate or meet certain standards or not and allow them if they are and do. I've played some very well made mods that IMO added to the story by providing answers to questions the regular game didn't address.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Without mods Skyrim and Oblivion are pretty poor. You really want to go down that road.....
I'll go with you,..lets take a walk....
In vanilla Oblivion and vanilla Skyrim, I can break into an NPC's house that was locked, steal some very valuable stuff and while doing that, accidentally get caught by the owner and I end up killing them because they attacked me of course. I end up looting the house key off of them and decide I like the house so much because the location is good and it's spacious with lots of storage and end up keeping it for my own. The next night or so in the game's day/night cycle I get approached by a couple mysterious people, at different times mind you, who believe I might fit in well with his or her organization. Following the quests they each give me eventually leads me to the Dark Brotherhood and/or Thieves' Guild. Can I do that currently in ESO?
That would not work in an MMO. Otherwise I would be able to break into your house/account steal all your stuff...maybe kill your character (perma death)....and now you have nothing. With the NPC now others can not access them. Great for a single player horrible for an MMO. You are comparing apples to oranges by bring up game play that does not work in MMO's.
As to the Dark Brotherhood I hear it is being added.
Ask yourself this honestly. Hypothetical question incomming: If ZOS decided to remove all multiplayer elements from ESO such as seeing no other players running around, no chat, and converted the multiplayer dungeons into singleplayer ones. Which would you rather play then and why? Morrowind, Oblvion, Skyrim or ESO?
Wouldn't that be like a whole complete redesign from scratch? Maybe if you could save the game at any place in ESO and run a dungeon at a single player's leisure you could make the dungeon's 20 times bigger.
I quite enjoyed Skyrim but couldn't stand the copy/paste dungeons and the combat of Oblivion.
The user and all related content has been deleted.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
Without mods Skyrim and Oblivion are pretty poor. You really want to go down that road.....
I still disagree with that. That really comes down to taste.
Mods help expand the games and perhaps flavor them to one's liking but the main thrust of the game play plays the same. Open world, explore and do what you want (for the most part).
Now, having said that, there are a plethora of bugs that certain individuals in the community have fixed which SHOULDN'T be their job.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Without mods Skyrim and Oblivion are pretty poor. You really want to go down that road.....
I'll go with you,..lets take a walk....
In vanilla Oblivion and vanilla Skyrim, I can break into an NPC's house that was locked, steal some very valuable stuff and while doing that, accidentally get caught by the owner and I end up killing them because they attacked me of course. I end up looting the house key off of them and decide I like the house so much because the location is good and it's spacious with lots of storage and end up keeping it for my own. The next night or so in the game's day/night cycle I get approached by a couple mysterious people, at different times mind you, who believe I might fit in well with his or her organization. Following the quests they each give me eventually leads me to the Dark Brotherhood and/or Thieves' Guild. Can I do that currently in ESO?
That would not work in an MMO. Otherwise I would be able to break into your house/account steal all your stuff...maybe kill your character (perma death)....and now you have nothing. With the NPC now others can not access them. Great for a single player horrible for an MMO. You are comparing apples to oranges by bring up game play that does not work in MMO's.
As to the Dark Brotherhood I hear it is being added.
Actually, it could work in an mmo.
Depends on the flavor of game one likes.
I understand that people could break into other's houses in Ultima Online. So that "could" feasibly happen in an mmo as I bet there are players who would like this.
My thought, however, is that it would work better as "solo" instanced content. It's a bit artificial to be sure, but since Themepark mmo's utilize instances to create a unique experience for a party/solo player, the same could happen here.
Designated NPC houses, you break in and you are in an instance. You can steal from that person, even kill him but "everyone" would be able to have the same experience.
Now, you could make it so that everyone could break in but that would border on another realm of the ridiculous with 25 players all sneaking around an npc's living room.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Without mods Skyrim and Oblivion are pretty poor. You really want to go down that road.....
I'll go with you,..lets take a walk....
In vanilla Oblivion and vanilla Skyrim, I can break into an NPC's house that was locked, steal some very valuable stuff and while doing that, accidentally get caught by the owner and I end up killing them because they attacked me of course. I end up looting the house key off of them and decide I like the house so much because the location is good and it's spacious with lots of storage and end up keeping it for my own. The next night or so in the game's day/night cycle I get approached by a couple mysterious people, at different times mind you, who believe I might fit in well with his or her organization. Following the quests they each give me eventually leads me to the Dark Brotherhood and/or Thieves' Guild. Can I do that currently in ESO?
That would not work in an MMO. Otherwise I would be able to break into your house/account steal all your stuff...maybe kill your character (perma death)....and now you have nothing. With the NPC now others can not access them. Great for a single player horrible for an MMO. You are comparing apples to oranges by bring up game play that does not work in MMO's.
As to the Dark Brotherhood I hear it is being added.
Ask yourself this honestly. Hypothetical question incomming: If ZOS decided to remove all multiplayer elements from ESO such as seeing no other players running around, no chat, and converted the multiplayer dungeons into singleplayer ones. Which would you rather play then and why? Morrowind, Oblvion, Skyrim or ESO?
ESO easily. Way more content and storylines to play through. The SP games have mods but the vast majority are of low quality and the best are the graphical overhauls which do nothing for the gameplay.. I remember using OOO for Oblivion and it added tons of changes but the game still felt the same.
Ask yourself this honestly. Hypothetical question incomming: If ZOS decided to remove all multiplayer elements from ESO such as seeing no other players running around, no chat, and converted the multiplayer dungeons into singleplayer ones. Which would you rather play then and why? Morrowind, Oblvion, Skyrim or ESO?
ESO easily. Way more content and storylines to play through. The SP games have mods but the vast majority are of low quality and the best are the graphical overhauls which do nothing for the gameplay.. I remember using OOO for Oblivion and it added tons of changes but the game still felt the same.
I really didn't need an answer from anyone, but thank you for yours. As long as you are truthful about that to yourself then cool.
Ask yourself this honestly. Hypothetical question incomming: If ZOS decided to remove all multiplayer elements from ESO such as seeing no other players running around, no chat, and converted the multiplayer dungeons into singleplayer ones. Which would you rather play then and why? Morrowind, Oblvion, Skyrim or ESO?
ESO easily. Way more content and storylines to play through. The SP games have mods but the vast majority are of low quality and the best are the graphical overhauls which do nothing for the gameplay.. I remember using OOO for Oblivion and it added tons of changes but the game still felt the same.
I really didn't need an answer from anyone, but thank you for yours. As long as you are truthful about that to yourself then cool.
I personally think his evaluation of the quality of mods available is WAY off target. Nexus has almost 40K for Skyrim and 30K for Oblivion. Steam has almost 25K for Skyrim many of which are unique to either site. There are more mods than your PC could even handle at one time that are of high enough quality that could completely and utterly change the very nature of the game. And almost every aspect of Skyrim had someone create an Overhaul for it and make it better. I've played mods that have completely rewritten entire arks in Skyrim. Or others that have added their own Arks that are at least as good as any of Bethesda's.
There is very little in ESO outside of Multiplayer functionality that can't be modded in Skyrim to make it the same, close to or possibly even better than ESO.
Ask yourself this honestly. Hypothetical question incomming: If ZOS decided to remove all multiplayer elements from ESO such as seeing no other players running around, no chat, and converted the multiplayer dungeons into singleplayer ones. Which would you rather play then and why? Morrowind, Oblvion, Skyrim or ESO?
ESO easily. Way more content and storylines to play through. The SP games have mods but the vast majority are of low quality and the best are the graphical overhauls which do nothing for the gameplay.. I remember using OOO for Oblivion and it added tons of changes but the game still felt the same.
I really didn't need an answer from anyone, but thank you for yours. As long as you are truthful about that to yourself then cool.
I personally think his evaluation of the quality of mods available is WAY off target. Nexus has almost 40K for Skyrim and 30K for Oblivion. Steam has almost 25K for Skyrim many of which are unique to either site. There are more mods than your PC could even handle at one time that are of high enough quality that could completely and utterly change the very nature of the game. And almost every aspect of Skyrim had someone create an Overhaul for it and make it better. I've played mods that have completely rewritten entire arks in Skyrim. Or others that have added their own Arks that are at least as good as any of Bethesda's.
There is very little in ESO outside of Multiplayer functionality that can't be modded in Skyrim to make it the same, close to or possibly even better than ESO.
I'm very familiar with skyrim mods and I think it's a "your mileage may vary" on many of them. I won't say "most" but following many of the adventure mods there are numerous people who report issues.
there is a very nice mod, in theory I won't try it, that beefs up the civil war part. It's a wonderful idea as Bethesda is lousy at these sorts of details.
But there were a lot of people reporting issues, things not working. Now, maybe that is user error or maybe the mod did create issues.
There is a very real reason for modders to say "back up your game".
The construction set is buggy and finicky and prone to errors as well so modders have to be very careful with dirty mods.
I'm all for the modding community and have been solidly working with the construction set for a year now and I'm hyper scared that I'm going to accidentally touch something or do something that will cause issues with another player's games. Heck, in my construction set if I duplicate the "markers" cell so that I can clean it out to start a new cell, the marker cell becomes marked as "changed" with the * . Even though I never touched anything inside it.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Ask yourself this honestly. Hypothetical question incomming: If ZOS decided to remove all multiplayer elements from ESO such as seeing no other players running around, no chat, and converted the multiplayer dungeons into singleplayer ones. Which would you rather play then and why? Morrowind, Oblvion, Skyrim or ESO?
ESO easily. Way more content and storylines to play through. The SP games have mods but the vast majority are of low quality and the best are the graphical overhauls which do nothing for the gameplay.. I remember using OOO for Oblivion and it added tons of changes but the game still felt the same.
I really didn't need an answer from anyone, but thank you for yours. As long as you are truthful about that to yourself then cool.
I personally think his evaluation of the quality of mods available is WAY off target. Nexus has almost 40K for Skyrim and 30K for Oblivion. Steam has almost 25K for Skyrim many of which are unique to either site. There are more mods than your PC could even handle at one time that are of high enough quality that could completely and utterly change the very nature of the game. And almost every aspect of Skyrim had someone create an Overhaul for it and make it better. I've played mods that have completely rewritten entire arks in Skyrim. Or others that have added their own Arks that are at least as good as any of Bethesda's.
There is very little in ESO outside of Multiplayer functionality that can't be modded in Skyrim to make it the same, close to or possibly even better than ESO.
I'm very familiar with skyrim mods and I think it's a "your mileage may vary" on many of them. I won't say "most" but following many of the adventure mods there are numerous people who report issues.
there is a very nice mod, in theory I won't try it, that beefs up the civil war part. It's a wonderful idea as Bethesda is lousy at these sorts of details.
But there were a lot of people reporting issues, things not working. Now, maybe that is user error or maybe the mod did create issues.
There is a very real reason for modders to say "back up your game".
The construction set is buggy and finicky and prone to errors as well so modders have to be very careful with dirty mods.
I'm all for the modding community and have been solidly working with the construction set for a year now and I'm hyper scared that I'm going to accidentally touch something or do something that will cause issues with another player's games. Heck, in my construction set if I duplicate the "markers" cell so that I can clean it out to start a new cell, the marker cell becomes marked as "changed" with the * . Even though I never touched anything inside it.
I've done some minor modding for myself and my own games. I keep a "clean" copy of my skyrim folder and a copy of my saves folder. THis is like anything else you do in life with a PC or smartphone.
What's the worst I can do? Lose a day's with of playtime? I've done that by dying at a bad time.
But yes, Mods can be buggy. But you know what else is buggy to the point of almost being broken?
What's something's that LotRO does better PvE wise than Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor? ... one does not simply compare single-player games to MMOs
(For me) the premise of this thread is just wrong.
As I've said before you have to look at the "what" when comparing single player games to mmo's. There's this mantra that keeps creeping up but no thought behind it.
One is single player and the game world revolves around the player and one is multi-player and the game world allows for interaction. So obviously that is a major difference.
but then no one ever goes deeper (and it's not that deep).
Do both games have combat? If so how do they compare. Being single or multiplayer won't necessarily affect that WITH THE EXCEPTION of group based combat scenarios.
Do both games have progression? How do they compare. Do both games have dungeons? If so then how do they compare. One could jump to the party vs non-party argument but there's more. Are the dungeons made well, do they offer stories that are told by the environment, how are they populated, Do they have a lot of detail, are they very linear or do they offer various avenues for exploration, etc.
One could say that the AI for single player games and multiplayer games are different but they don't have to be. I recall trying the first Darkfall and the mobs were much more dangerous than most other mmo's I've tried. As dangerous as any single player game as they weren't just there to be mowed down without paying attention.
There are things that are comparable.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
What's something's that LotRO does better PvE wise than Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor? ... one does not simply compare single-player games to MMOs
(For me) the premise of this thread is just wrong.
As I've said before you have to look at the "what" when comparing single player games to mmo's. There's this mantra that keeps creeping up but no thought behind it.
One is single player and the game world revolves around the player and one is multi-player and the game world allows for interaction. So obviously that is a major difference.
but then no one ever goes deeper (and it's not that deep).
Do both games have combat? If so how do they compare. Being single or multiplayer won't necessarily affect that WITH THE EXCEPTION of group based combat scenarios.
Do both games have progression? How do they compare. Do both games have dungeons? If so then how do they compare. One could jump to the party vs non-party argument but there's more. Are the dungeons made well, do they offer stories that are told by the environment, how are they populated, Do they have a lot of detail, are they very linear or do they offer various avenues for exploration, etc.
One could say that the AI for single player games and multiplayer games are different but they don't have to be. I recall trying the first Darkfall and the mobs were much more dangerous than most other mmo's I've tried. As dangerous as any single player game as they weren't just there to be mowed down without paying attention.
There are things that are comparable.
I understand and respect your view, but for me the underlying architecture of an MMO defines/restricts (to a great extent) its gameplay.
Yes, you can compare some aspects like progression, but again, it's not a fair comparison due to the fact that pogression in an MMO is limited by factors that don't apply to single-player games.
I agree that there are things that are comparable - but you always have to keep things in perspective.
Eso has all the tamriel provinces which is unheard of since Arena. ESO is multiplayer, it has pvp. It also has a much better crafting system.
But yeah the fact that it covers all provinces should excite every real tes fan. Enough said.
Yeh you think it would, but the reality is that it takes more than a map labeled "Tamriel" to make an Elder Scrolls game. Much less excite every real TES fan.
What's something's that LotRO does better PvE wise than Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor? ... one does not simply compare single-player games to MMOs
(For me) the premise of this thread is just wrong.
To make your analogy more inline with the thread topic: What would happen if Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor came out first? Then they come out with ME:SoMO and what you end up with is LOTRO.
I agree that normally comparing a single player game with an MMO is not fair for the MMO, however this is one of the rare cases besides SWTOR where a single player game franchise is re-worked into an MMO format. People are going to discuss the differences. Specially in the fundamentals of the gameplay that were either added or taken away. That's just how it is.
I prefer ESO's main questline to the other games by quite a bit.
I also like ESO's combat a lot more, I hope the next Elder Scrolls game takes some pointers from it. If not... there's always mods.
The clear one is playing with others, of course.
Skyrim/Oblivion do have one big advantage though - content scaling. Only instances scale in ESO (solo or group). If you wander into any cave anywhere in Skyrim/Oblivion it will be relevant to your level. In ESO you generally go zone to zone as you level up, which is fine but really limiting compared to the endless wandering possible in Skyrim/Oblivion.
All over all, not considering mods, I think ESO's strong points put it way in the lead. With mods you can just make Skyrim into whatever you want, so it wins.
Edit: I do see a lot of others agreeing that mods put Skyrim ahead. There is one problem with mods worth mentioning, though... they can wreck your saves. I was using Sounds of Skyrim (along with many many other mods, but SoS ended up being the culprit) back when they found the bug that was causing save file bloat. There wasn't anything I could do to recover my save file, as it kind of sneaks up on you. A 6 mb save? Good that's normal... up to 7 mb well ofc I have been getting stuff... 10 mb, surely because I was exploring.. etc etc into the hundreds and the damn bug kept ballooning the files after the mod was removed. I lost my first character to that : ( Made a second character and kept on going ofc.
Comments
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Some mods are so good they get added to the next version of the game. In games with player added content Devs decide if they're appropriate or meet certain standards or not and allow them if they are and do. I've played some very well made mods that IMO added to the story by providing answers to questions the regular game didn't address.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Wouldn't that be like a whole complete redesign from scratch? Maybe if you could save the game at any place in ESO and run a dungeon at a single player's leisure you could make the dungeon's 20 times bigger.
I quite enjoyed Skyrim but couldn't stand the copy/paste dungeons and the combat of Oblivion.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
I still disagree with that. That really comes down to taste.
Mods help expand the games and perhaps flavor them to one's liking but the main thrust of the game play plays the same. Open world, explore and do what you want (for the most part).
Now, having said that, there are a plethora of bugs that certain individuals in the community have fixed which SHOULDN'T be their job.
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
Actually, it could work in an mmo.
Depends on the flavor of game one likes.
I understand that people could break into other's houses in Ultima Online. So that "could" feasibly happen in an mmo as I bet there are players who would like this.
My thought, however, is that it would work better as "solo" instanced content. It's a bit artificial to be sure, but since Themepark mmo's utilize instances to create a unique experience for a party/solo player, the same could happen here.
Designated NPC houses, you break in and you are in an instance. You can steal from that person, even kill him but "everyone" would be able to have the same experience.
Now, you could make it so that everyone could break in but that would border on another realm of the ridiculous with 25 players all sneaking around an npc's living room.
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
ESO is still behind of course.
But with the cash shop, if they add new dances:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNr-Vfy3eXU
And new mounts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxnig51b13Y
It will be a close call.
ESO easily. Way more content and storylines to play through. The SP games have mods but the vast majority are of low quality and the best are the graphical overhauls which do nothing for the gameplay.. I remember using OOO for Oblivion and it added tons of changes but the game still felt the same.
I really didn't need an answer from anyone, but thank you for yours. As long as you are truthful about that to yourself then cool.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
I personally think his evaluation of the quality of mods available is WAY off target. Nexus has almost 40K for Skyrim and 30K for Oblivion. Steam has almost 25K for Skyrim many of which are unique to either site. There are more mods than your PC could even handle at one time that are of high enough quality that could completely and utterly change the very nature of the game. And almost every aspect of Skyrim had someone create an Overhaul for it and make it better. I've played mods that have completely rewritten entire arks in Skyrim. Or others that have added their own Arks that are at least as good as any of Bethesda's.
There is very little in ESO outside of Multiplayer functionality that can't be modded in Skyrim to make it the same, close to or possibly even better than ESO.
deliver 3 eggs MMO cookie cutter questing GW2 style (ESO)
vs.
real single player RPG experience, branching story, decisions that matter (SKYRIM)
your choice
I'm very familiar with skyrim mods and I think it's a "your mileage may vary" on many of them. I won't say "most" but following many of the adventure mods there are numerous people who report issues.
there is a very nice mod, in theory I won't try it, that beefs up the civil war part. It's a wonderful idea as Bethesda is lousy at these sorts of details.
But there were a lot of people reporting issues, things not working. Now, maybe that is user error or maybe the mod did create issues.
There is a very real reason for modders to say "back up your game".
The construction set is buggy and finicky and prone to errors as well so modders have to be very careful with dirty mods.
I'm all for the modding community and have been solidly working with the construction set for a year now and I'm hyper scared that I'm going to accidentally touch something or do something that will cause issues with another player's games. Heck, in my construction set if I duplicate the "markers" cell so that I can clean it out to start a new cell, the marker cell becomes marked as "changed" with the * . Even though I never touched anything inside it.
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
I've done some minor modding for myself and my own games. I keep a "clean" copy of my skyrim folder and a copy of my saves folder. THis is like anything else you do in life with a PC or smartphone.
What's the worst I can do? Lose a day's with of playtime? I've done that by dying at a bad time.
But yes, Mods can be buggy. But you know what else is buggy to the point of almost being broken?
Vanilla Skyrim.
It was Modders who fixed all the bugs.
What's something's that LotRO does better PvE wise than Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor? ... one does not simply compare single-player games to MMOs
(For me) the premise of this thread is just wrong.
As I've said before you have to look at the "what" when comparing single player games to mmo's. There's this mantra that keeps creeping up but no thought behind it.
One is single player and the game world revolves around the player and one is multi-player and the game world allows for interaction. So obviously that is a major difference.
but then no one ever goes deeper (and it's not that deep).
Do both games have combat? If so how do they compare. Being single or multiplayer won't necessarily affect that WITH THE EXCEPTION of group based combat scenarios.
Do both games have progression? How do they compare. Do both games have dungeons? If so then how do they compare. One could jump to the party vs non-party argument but there's more. Are the dungeons made well, do they offer stories that are told by the environment, how are they populated, Do they have a lot of detail, are they very linear or do they offer various avenues for exploration, etc.
One could say that the AI for single player games and multiplayer games are different but they don't have to be. I recall trying the first Darkfall and the mobs were much more dangerous than most other mmo's I've tried. As dangerous as any single player game as they weren't just there to be mowed down without paying attention.
There are things that are comparable.
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
easy NO
but lorefangs probably still happy
I understand and respect your view, but for me the underlying architecture of an MMO defines/restricts (to a great extent) its gameplay.
Yes, you can compare some aspects like progression, but again, it's not a fair comparison due to the fact that pogression in an MMO is limited by factors that don't apply to single-player games.
I agree that there are things that are comparable - but you always have to keep things in perspective.
Eso has all the tamriel provinces which is unheard of since Arena. ESO is multiplayer, it has pvp. It also has a much better crafting system.
But yeah the fact that it covers all provinces should excite every real tes fan. Enough said.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Yeh you think it would, but the reality is that it takes more than a map labeled "Tamriel" to make an Elder Scrolls game. Much less excite every real TES fan.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
You could play ESO with your friends till they stop, since it's boring as hell.
Or you could play Skyrim till you puke rainbows, get sick of it, and mod it to be a whole new experience again. /Rinse and repeat puking of rainbows.
So mod ESO?
To make your analogy more inline with the thread topic: What would happen if Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor came out first? Then they come out with ME:SoMO and what you end up with is LOTRO.
I agree that normally comparing a single player game with an MMO is not fair for the MMO, however this is one of the rare cases besides SWTOR where a single player game franchise is re-worked into an MMO format. People are going to discuss the differences. Specially in the fundamentals of the gameplay that were either added or taken away. That's just how it is.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
I prefer ESO's main questline to the other games by quite a bit.
I also like ESO's combat a lot more, I hope the next Elder Scrolls game takes some pointers from it. If not... there's always mods.
The clear one is playing with others, of course.
Skyrim/Oblivion do have one big advantage though - content scaling. Only instances scale in ESO (solo or group). If you wander into any cave anywhere in Skyrim/Oblivion it will be relevant to your level. In ESO you generally go zone to zone as you level up, which is fine but really limiting compared to the endless wandering possible in Skyrim/Oblivion.
All over all, not considering mods, I think ESO's strong points put it way in the lead. With mods you can just make Skyrim into whatever you want, so it wins.
Edit: I do see a lot of others agreeing that mods put Skyrim ahead. There is one problem with mods worth mentioning, though... they can wreck your saves. I was using Sounds of Skyrim (along with many many other mods, but SoS ended up being the culprit) back when they found the bug that was causing save file bloat. There wasn't anything I could do to recover my save file, as it kind of sneaks up on you. A 6 mb save? Good that's normal... up to 7 mb well ofc I have been getting stuff... 10 mb, surely because I was exploring.. etc etc into the hundreds and the damn bug kept ballooning the files after the mod was removed. I lost my first character to that : ( Made a second character and kept on going ofc.