Unfulfilled Promises and Broken Dreams.

LordEcks wrote: »

Playing graphical MMORPGs since there inception has shown me that almost all of them have some unique cool feature (which is often overlooked) they bring to the table.

Since MMOs are constantly updated some games will incorporate these features into their own games. Blizzard was pretty notorious for this.

So I'm curious what you guys think ESO brings thats new and innovative. I'll give some examples to start off:

EverQuest -- Birth of the massive player raid.
DAoC -- Three way PVP system.
WoW -- Questing over grinding for xp (until then almost all games were a grind to max lvl).
Final Fantasy XI -- Unique class system (Job/SubJob) / First cross-platform (consoles&PC) MMORPG.
RIFT -- Another unique class system and of course.. RIFTS (basically non-static Dolomens)
SWTOR -- Unique armor system (Gear upgraded via *plates* inside of static items - allowing you to wear whatever you wanted for the looks)

etc, etc...

What do you feel ESO brings?

AAAHhhhhhhh Rift.......The invasions TOO. Rifts are Meh at best sorta been there done that. The invasions are miniature raids you get to participate in at early levels say 12.

Miss the invasions. DONT miss the combat. TESO combat for life.

Immersive storytelling of the highest quality.

Plus, I like the idea that crafting is and stays a valid way for gearing up a character even at the highest levels, but that's hardly new.

So far ESO has a showing of a big fat goose egg. Come on someone has to have something!

Given time maybe a decent justice system.....

The wide class/skill system seemed innovative but it turned out to be pretty unbalanced and dysfunctional.

Phasing tried to be something new but 'stopping people grouping in an MMO' is probably not a good thing.

ESO talked a good talk but fell over on delivery.

Makarion wrote: »

ESO has probably the best voice acting and among the best quest dialogs. In that regard, it's on par with or superior to many single-player RPGs.

You must play some really poor single player games, or maybe you have not played any for over 10 years...
I'm not saying eso is bad, only most single player games are much better these days.

I don't really get why people go on about this in eso, I think it's pretty lame. There is what, less than ten voice actors? take John Cleese away and what have you?
Often they are cast really badly, an example is the talking tree man thing in Valenwood. A big old tree that has lived for years and years yet has the voice of what sounds like a 15 year old school boy.

vestmanneb17_ESO wrote: »

TESO is the only MMO that's part of the Elder Scrolls lore. What more do you need?

Sadly it's that attitude why they will get away with releasing such ***.. For a TES game it blows in every way.

Blooddancer wrote: »

As with anything, it gets harder to be unique the later you are in evolution. So asking what innovation ESO brings might be a little unfair.
The question might be more constructive if you asked what is ESO doing better and asked after 12 months.
Hopefully they have a few aces up their sleeves for future updates - maybe they have the best ever housing system....

I personally don't think innovative concepts are that hard to come up with for MMORPGs. They may not all be accepted by the players, or some of them become overly accepted to the point where if they arent there people complain about it (Auction House anyone?).

but coming up with new innovative ways to do things isnt that hard in games, I'm just curious to hear the experience of others in regards to what they feel is new to the genre in ESO.

Another example is "Dual Spec". Think this feature loosely translated made its way into ESO as Weapon Swap. I want to say WoW pioneered this idea, but I'm not entirely confident in that statement.

Blooddancer wrote: »

As with anything, it gets harder to be unique the later you are in evolution. So asking what innovation ESO brings might be a little unfair.
The question might be more constructive if you asked what is ESO doing better and asked after 12 months.
Hopefully they have a few aces up their sleeves for future updates - maybe they have the best ever housing system....

I'd be perfectly happy if they copies EQ2's housing system, frankly. Sure, it's antique, but it worked just fine. The Rift one could be fun, too, but probably a bit too involved for the majority of the players. [The Vanguard one is not feasible, since the world doesn't have room for housing plots in non-instanced world space.]

Tannakaobi wrote: »

Makarion wrote: »

ESO has probably the best voice acting and among the best quest dialogs. In that regard, it's on par with or superior to many single-player RPGs.

You must play some really poor single player games, or maybe you have not played any for over 10 years...
I'm not saying eso is bad, only most single player games are much better these days.

I don't really get why people go on about this in eso, I think it's pretty lame. There is what, less than ten voice actors? take John Cleese away and what have you?
Often they are cast really badly, an example is the talking tree man thing in Valenwood. A big old tree that has lived for years and years yet has the voice of what sounds like a 15 year old school boy.

Every Nord in Skyrim same voice actor

JoseDelgadoCub17_ESO wrote: »

Tannakaobi wrote: »

Makarion wrote: »

ESO has probably the best voice acting and among the best quest dialogs. In that regard, it's on par with or superior to many single-player RPGs.

You must play some really poor single player games, or maybe you have not played any for over 10 years...
I'm not saying eso is bad, only most single player games are much better these days.

I don't really get why people go on about this in eso, I think it's pretty lame. There is what, less than ten voice actors? take John Cleese away and what have you?
Often they are cast really badly, an example is the talking tree man thing in Valenwood. A big old tree that has lived for years and years yet has the voice of what sounds like a 15 year old school boy.

Every Nord in Skyrim same voice actor

Oh right. I didn't realise that Skyrim represented 100% of the Single Player rpg's...

It's not really my genre, but my mrs plays some and for only voice acting Dragon Age, any final fantasy game past 9, any modern GTA. Any Mass Effect game.... Far Cry... that's off the top of my head.

In the end I think ESO just didn't deliver on the expectations it engendered. The innovative bits like phasing and skill system are still problematic and the game-play somewhat focused on questing/fighting without doing anything particularly new.

It's not a bad game. It looks good and has a nice story. Combat can be fun. It's just not anything special. In a year or so, when it's in some sort of fit and balanced state, it'll settle into being another second division niche MMO with a small but loyal following. Like LOTRO, Age of Conan etc.

We were just expecting something more and the problem is as an essentially old school MMO pretty much exclusively focused on quest/combat you run the risk of being sunk when something truly innovative comes along.

I guess I want more from an MMO nowadays than a quest rail-road taking me from fight to fight.

ESO decided not to be innovative, it decided to play it safe and it is what it is now. A decent enough MMO but apart from the Elder Scrolls tie-in, nothing remarkable enough to justify subbing.

I've still had my money's worth playing the faction story.

Oh wait.. I've got one! Mega-server tech!

I do have to admit this is the first time I've ever played an MMO and didnt have to worry even slightly about what server my friends were on or server selection in general.

Thats kind of cool....no?

Best feature:
An enjoyable experience every single time I log on and play.