Hello!

This is in ways an open letter to Zenimax and as such I will present myself. First of all I am a roleplaying enthusiast and I have been in charge of the roleplay in one of the largest, but diminishing, roleplay communities. Soon I will most likely not play this game at all. But fear not, this is no a crying post, instead I will surface some of the main concerns I have with this game as a roleplayer and as such why I do no think this game at the moment is very good for this sort of activity. The best games at this are sadly still some of the older MMORPGs who themselves have some major flaws.

What is roleplay?
I will be brief in my explination. It is when players decide to play their character in a "realistic way" as if their character was it's own character in a book. If you have played Dungeons and Dragons you already know the concept. Roleplaying with paper, pens and collective imagination is in fact what once opened up for games like the Elder Scrolls series. Roleplayers are very dependent on community. They love to stick together and mind their own. This is why they are not always noticed to the same extent as they do actually exist. Most roleplayers do however engage in the normal activities of the game without roleplaying them all the time.

Why should we care?
Because the roleplaying community in general is a sizeable one. Of course we are not as many as many other groups of players but we are one that is easily to define. And as roleplayers put much dedication to their character and their community we tend to be very loyal customers who are not afraid to spend money on stupid things. The current community in ESO is small and diminishing, mainly due to some fairly small things. I can also guarantee you that the majority of the fan fiction for a game like this is made by a roleplayer. In many ways the roleplayers are the silent core community, It is the ones who care the most about the lore, story and development of the game. Yet they are not a community that ask for much and they have been used to compromise and fine ways around obsticles, They are harecore people just like a hardcore raider or PvPer but in their own way. And lastly, there are very few, if any, MMORPGs who satisfy roleplayers well.

So here we go:
The megaserver and phasing.
A megaserver is fundamentally an obstacle for roleplayers. While making RP-servers or removing the megaservers is out of the question there are still ways to please the roleplayers. As mentioned above roleplayer like to stick to their own. Both to not be bothered by others but also to not bother others. Roleplayers make guilds and organised communities but sometimes the simply want to walk around and find other new people outside of their guilds who are likeminded and engage with them without the need to organise it all. I know there were plans in the early development to make players fill a form that then determined who you phased with. Some sort of solution like this where roleplayers can check a "roleplaying" box and magically appear with other roleplayers as much as possible would do much.

Rolls and dices.
This is by far the most simple request and yet it has passed both ESO and several other AAA-MMORPGs. The simple option to through a button, chat command or even addon generate a random number which is then displayed to other players. Why is this important? Because dices are important in Dungeons and Dragons. As there is no dueling in the game yet and since roleplayers tent to make up their own scenarios a dice roll is a good way to determine an outcome of any sort of action.

Player housing.
As mentioned roleplayer like to stick to their own much of the time. No place is better for such than some sort of private phased house or area. I have heard that such a play may or may not be in development and several competitors have or are in the process of implementing them.

Turning.
Turning your character to make it look at someone is frustrating. The only way to make the character look at what you are having your cursor on is to attack towards it. Not even in first person does the character align with the camera. This is certainly annoying in roleplaying where you have to choose between swinging the sword or make some sort of circle walk to turn towards another character.

Chat bubbles.
It may break immersion somewhat and I know it is not in line with the clean UI the developers favor. But some sort of chat bubbles would be appreciated by many player as a way to more easily determine who is actually talking. The chat can be very cluttered at times and this would certainly help.

Player profiles.
As I am aware it is at the moment impossible for addons to share information. Which is a reason why you can't simply make an addon for dice rolls. Roleplayers put much thought into their character and despite the huge amount of customisation options there will be details a roleplayer want other likeminded to know about without having to tell it all the time. This can be scars, armor, jewelry or anything related to appearance. Give the players the possibility to make profiles for their character or the ability to develop addons for such.

Duels.
Roleplayers love to fight each other nearly as much as drunken brawlers does at a 4 am near a pub. At this point however they cannot do more than emotes to describe their actions and swing the sword a little at the other player in hopes that the other player will reckon their power and call himself defeated. Some roleplayers prefer dice rolls but I know that many prefer a proper duel with another player to settle who is really the strongest.

Empty places and exploration.
Roleplayers like to explore and they also tend to make up their own challenges. Simply because the clutters of mobs are not always that exciting. In many cases mobs actually make more of a hassle than they add to the roleplay experience. A few somewhat mob-empty and explorable locations would be golden for the collective imagination of a roleplaying brotherhood.

What does this game do well?
There are not only bad things. Else I would not have considered ESO for roleplay at all and I would certainly not have played the game this long. The graphics are amazing and very much helps immersion as does the extensive player customization. The lore in the Elder Scroll series is immense and well thought through while it still leaves opening everywhere for player creativity. The voice acting and quests make much for the immersion and the different zones are great.