Massive Singleplayer Offline

Rontabs77 · November 11

This is something new.

It is still MMO, but you can play offline. So when one plays offline, it is MSO.

That would be amazing.

Niliu · November 11

And how would that work? How do you access information stored on a server whilst offline?

Rontabs77 · November 11

Multiplayer features such as dungeons, trials, BGs, etc will be unavailable when playing offline.

See here:
YouTube: Massive Singleplayer Offline

The concept is already applied in Elden Ring and Wayfinder.

I'd love to do all the quests as this game has become a comfort game for me. Unfortunately, anything done while online is not secure from the "middle man" anymore.

colossalvoids · November 11

So a simple single player game with an optional multiplayer, that we had for quite a while already without some... Questionable name. Elden Ring is just a single player action rpg, it's not an "offline mmo". Kinda unsure how it has anything to do with ESO though, which is an MMO with usual server side things, structure, balancing, competitive side which can't be compromised by letting people to tinker with anything "offline".

Niliu · November 11

Rontabs77 wrote: »

Multiplayer features such as dungeons, trials, BGs, etc will be unavailable when playing offline.

See here:
YouTube: Massive Singleplayer Offline

The concept is already applied in Elden Ring and Wayfinder.

I'd love to do all the quests as this game has become a comfort game for me. Unfortunately, anything done while online is not secure from the "middle man" anymore.

Those are not MMOs, unfortunately. Like I said, you character data is hosted on a server, you simply cannot access it offline.

Syldras · November 11

Rontabs77 wrote: »

I'd love to do all the quests as this game has become a comfort game for me. Unfortunately, anything done while online is not secure from the "middle man" anymore.

I can understand the want to be able to play the quests offline - which would also apply if the servers shut down some day.

TES Legends will end next January and it's just sad that not even the single player campaigns and stories can be played anymore after that, which means a loss in TES art and lore. While I know of course that UESP documents as much of it as possible, it's still not the same as being able to actually play it. What a pity that new TES fans (and there will be after TES6's release, I'm sure about that) will never be able to experience this.

Just to add: While I understand the need, unfortunately I'm not sure if it would ever be technically possible with such a huge and complex game as ESO. It's just not built for this and it seems too complicated to make such changes, I guess?

Rontabs77 · November 11

I made a post a long time ago on how amazing it would be to have an AI companion, and now we have them. Having my companion do the tanking (Isobel) in dungeons while I heal are some of the best experiences that I have with this game (even on a PUG on some trials).

Now, I am older (and a bit tired), I just want to peacefully enjoy the sights and sounds of Tamriel, so I just hope someday we will have an option to play offline. It would just be an option, the primary mode of ESO would still be online, of course.

Toanis · November 11

Not that I'd recommend it, but Shroud of the Avatar actually has an offline mode.

Obviously you can't play an offline character in online mode because Cheat Engine is a thing.

katanagirl1 · November 12

I could see an equivalent as playing online but not showing other players.

Rontabs77 · November 12

Toanis wrote: »

...you can't play an offline character in online mode because Cheat Engine is a thing...

Elden Ring is making use of BattleEye, and once a player cheats, they wouldn't be able to play multiplayer anymore. That's the caveat right there.

Nerouyn · November 12

Rontabs77 wrote: »

This is something new.

Really isn't. Has been suggested many times.

I don't think it's a terrible idea but their whole monetization scheme is bent towards online and the cash shop. Despite probably only middling success in terms of size of player base, the game has made a decent amount of money.

Though Microsoft might be willing to look at the bigger picture here.

Skyrim is still a huge phenomenon. Much bigger than ESO.

Amazon's Fallout TV show has also been very successful and after many years of saying "no", Todd is now saying "maybe" to an Elder Scrolls adaptation.

So maybe now is the time for this idea to be seriously considered.

Personally I'd love to get my hands on housing minus all of the grind. I've repeatedly burned myself out grinding for money to buy furnishings so I can enjoy that part of the game.

However, I think having conquered all of the various difficulties associated with networking / multiplayer, the better idea would be one I've suggested many times over the years.

Allow multiple, player owned / rented servers and more extensive modding. Perhaps not to the same extent as Skyrim which lets you transform the Elder Scrolls world into anything at all, but more than the current "addons" do which is basically just make the UI suck less.

Interestingly Nightingale was always marketed as a multiplayer online only game but so many people wanted to play it single player that they bought it anyway and then screamed and shouted about the lack of online mode. The devs relented and made one.

Putting aside players not paying attention to every little detail which is a whole other issue, that clearly demonstrates demand for offline play.

Rontabs77 · November 13

Thank you for that eloquent and detailed explanation Nerouyn. Right now it's just an idea, but we'll never know, someday it could get implemented. Just as how AI companions was just an idea and is now one of the main features of ESO.

Niliu · November 13

Rontabs77 wrote: »

Toanis wrote: »

...you can't play an offline character in online mode because Cheat Engine is a thing...

Elden Ring is making use of BattleEye, and once a player cheats, they wouldn't be able to play multiplayer anymore. That's the caveat right there.

Elden Ring is NOT AN MMO, please stop comparing games that keep your character data stored locally to MMOs where data is stored on a server. It's just misinformation.

Niliu · November 13

Nerouyn wrote: »

Rontabs77 wrote: »

This is something new.

Really isn't. Has been suggested many times.

I don't think it's a terrible idea but their whole monetization scheme is bent towards online and the cash shop. Despite probably only middling success in terms of size of player base, the game has made a decent amount of money.

Though Microsoft might be willing to look at the bigger picture here.

Skyrim is still a huge phenomenon. Much bigger than ESO.

Amazon's Fallout TV show has also been very successful and after many years of saying "no", Todd is now saying "maybe" to an Elder Scrolls adaptation.

So maybe now is the time for this idea to be seriously considered.

Personally I'd love to get my hands on housing minus all of the grind. I've repeatedly burned myself out grinding for money to buy furnishings so I can enjoy that part of the game.

However, I think having conquered all of the various difficulties associated with networking / multiplayer, the better idea would be one I've suggested many times over the years.

Allow multiple, player owned / rented servers and more extensive modding. Perhaps not to the same extent as Skyrim which lets you transform the Elder Scrolls world into anything at all, but more than the current "addons" do which is basically just make the UI suck less.

Interestingly Nightingale was always marketed as a multiplayer online only game but so many people wanted to play it single player that they bought it anyway and then screamed and shouted about the lack of online mode. The devs relented and made one.

Putting aside players not paying attention to every little detail which is a whole other issue, that clearly demonstrates demand for offline play.

Do you have proof for any of those erroneous claims? Steams own numbers prove you wrong as far as Skyrim being more popular, along with streaming numbers.

You accuse ZoS of only focusing on what they can monetize. This is flagrantly false as there have been 44 updates, all of which include updates to free content. Also has NOTHING to do with what we're talking about here, like the majority of your post. Fallout TV series has nothing to do with making the game available offline.

You cannot mod this game as it is an MMO. I really think you guys need a refresher on what MMO means.

Nerouyn · November 13

Niliu wrote: »

Do you have proof for any of those erroneous claims?

To nitpick, if the claims truly were erroneous then no such proof could exist, right?

Skyrim's sales numbers are well known - because they're stellar and game developers love to share good news - and has now passed 60 million.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_V:_Skyrim#Sales

Prior to its acquisition by the publicly listed (i.e. on the stock exchange) Microsoft, Bethesda was a privately owned company and not required to publish detailed financials. For that reason and because Zenimax have never publicised details like how many subscribers it has, it's hard to judge just how badly it failed.

Obviously if it had done well then they'd have shouted its success from the rooftops.

They didn't.

With a few exceptions, most MMOs have flopped to some extent. ESO has probably done reasonably well compared to those but not to Skyrim.

Now that it is owned by Microsoft it will be interesting to see those details publicly reported.

Niliu wrote: »

You cannot mod this game as it is an MMO. I really think you guys need a refresher on what MMO means.

Rude much? Ha!

Many multiplayer games can be modded.

Even though limited to things like UI, Zenimax would certainly like to count ESO among them.

Abandoning the single mega-server in favour of smaller, rented and privately operated servers would allow for more substantial modding and have massive potential to improve the game's popularity.

KromedeTheCorrupt · November 13

I’m assuming this is out of fear that one day eso will cease to exist. Which is fairly normal in mmos but most have private servers for that exact reason not sure if there is one for eso though.

I always did wish MMOs would release a single player version of their games before they went under but I’ve ran countless private servers and without other players I tend to quit all of them after having my fun for 2 hours. So I wouldn’t worry about such a thing

Erickson9610 · November 13

KromedeTheCorrupt wrote: »

I’m assuming this is out of fear that one day eso will cease to exist. Which is fairly normal in mmos but most have private servers for that exact reason not sure if there is one for eso though.

I don't think ESO will go under, honestly. Even after TES VI launches, there will still be an audience for an "online Skyrim".