The Elder Scrolls Online: News and Discussion

[Wyrmwood]

As proposed in the Skyrim thread, this will be a place to discuss and post news, talk about what may or may not be included as well as other general discussion relating back to the MMO, yet not wholly relevant to Skyrim. With Dawnguard on the horizon, there's little point in cluttering the other thread.

Currently, there isn't too much information (though I've included some relevant links below, kindly posted N810 and Urgat in the Skyrim thread) but it can be updated.

Official website (including teaser trailer - narrated by Michael Gambon!)
Leaked concept art and screenshots
Interview with Paul Sage, the creative director

Below are the last few posts from the beginnings of the discussion:

Regarding the MMO: they've announced 3-way faction PVP (ala DAoC). Seems they don'(t do things randomly, at least (insisting on two factions for a PVP game is probably what put Warhammer Online under, imho).
It's Nords+Dark Elves+Argonians VS khajit+Bosmer+Altmer VS Orcs+Bretons+Redguards, btw.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...-director.aspx

Thats a bit boring, honestly. Factioned by geography? And ignoring racial animosity to do it, as well. Also... what about Imperials? Are they not playable?

It might be worth splitting the MMO discussion off to its own thread. Leave the skyrim thread for comments on playing that (and the upcoming Dawnguard expansion, once more stuff about that comes out). Since the MMO is a very different beast and being done by a separate, though related, group, there isn't going to be all that much overlap.

It's before the Empire.
I don't think there's enough info about the mmo to warrant its own topic for now, to be honest.

I'm wondering what the significance of the Ouroboros symbol is. Also, one of those above factions seems suspiciously similar to the Aldmeri Dominion - Khajit, High Elves and Wood Elves. The trailer suggests that the Imperial Province is pretty much on it's own.

[Stormtrooper Clark]

Imperials are the "NPC antagonists" apparently.

[Eumerin]

Grouping the Dunmer with the Nords and the Argonians makes sense from a geography standpoint, but not from a cultural standpoint. The Dunmer and the Nords might be able to get along (though iirc historically they constantly squabbled over their common border). But the Dunmer have always viewed the Argonians as nothing more than a source of slaves (or at least they did right up until the Argonians overran a good-sized chunk of Morrowind...).

[Voss]

Just to follow up- it can't be pre-empire. People have mentioned the Imperial City is a PVP objective. (along with some wackiness that somehow whoever takes it can appoint a temporary emperor, which just sounds bizarre and clunky. And temporary to the point of ridiculousness.

Imperials are the "NPC antagonists" apparently.

Hmmm. I'm starting to get the feeling that the TES lorehounds are going to be very, very angry with this game. The faction mishmash is just bizarre. If I remember rightly, everybody used orcs as mercs, because they have settlements everywhere, and as Eumerin points out Dunmer-Argonian alliances are just right out. I guess the cats can be elf patsies, but again, it takes some bending to deal with that pre-Oblivion to Skyrim.

The fundamental problem, though, is TES has always featured extremely multi-racial communities. Yes there has always been various sources of racial tension, but nobody has racially pure settlements, apart from the orcs way up in the mountains, or possibly certain parts of the high elf lands.

[Dr.Zahnfleisch]

From what I've read so far it seems pretty terrible. Argonians, Dunmer and Nord together...really? The lore has always been a main factor for a succesful immersion and Zenimax Studios is going to ignore essential parts of it just like that? Why not do it right and make every race a faction?

The screenshots didn't convince me either. The esthetic was not what I expected from an Elder Scrolls game. There's much room for improvement and I hope Zenimax Studios are going to make use of it.

[Nocculum]

The trailer, though limited, gives a massive insight into the premise of the game world - if the throne is empty and people are vying for control of the Empire, then frankly, I don't care if you're a stinking Bosmer - I'll take whatever allies I can get to take over the kingdoms.

The screen shots show the game's at least been given some care and attention, graphically at least it's solid - the source material is looked at, and seemingly cared for too (I love the Storm Atronach!)

I'm at least tentatively interested in this

[Urgat]

From what I've read so far it seems pretty terrible. Argonians, Dunmer and Nord together...really? The lore has always been a main factor for a succesful immersion and Zenimax Studios is going to ignore essential parts of it just like that? Why not do it right and make every race a faction?

There should be no faction at all. A game like a MMO TES, it should be like Lineage2, you pick your race, you go play, after a while you make friends, you get pissed off at being killed by the random PK in the wild, so you team up with your friends and create a guild, and then after a while you get in a war with another guild (you actually set your guild to "war" with that guild, instant PVP flag when you see one of them, woohoo ><), and then you figure you need more backbone and you join an alliance (it's like a guild, excepted members are not players, they're guilds), and then, 4 years later, you get server-wide drama because at the siege of Aden, Alliance XXX accepted payment from Alliance YYY and they assaulted alliance ZZZ from behind as they were about to storm the walls, the traitorous scum!
Ah, Lineage2 pvp is the best I've ever had. It's on a totally different scale.

[Eumerin]

Just to follow up- it can't be pre-empire. People have mentioned the Imperial City is a PVP objective.

This might not be as big of a lore problem as you might think.

Tiber Septim's Empire was not the first empire in Tamriel. IIRC, the Nords (who were the first humans on the continent) set up the first empire and presumably gained control of a good-sized chunk of the continent. That empire then collapsed, and Tiber Septim eventually rose to power. In theory, this game could be set between the two Empires. The Imperial City is a natural point of interest for anyone attempting to control the continent regardless of the would-be Emperor's homeland because it's located in a central location.

There are still other lore issues to worry about, though...