I do still recommend it, with the caveat that if they are expecting skyrim online or a F2P MMO they won't understand what they are getting in to.

I think the problem is that the game was marketed as a sort of sequel to Skyrim and people were going in with those expectations only to be disappointed. ESO isn't a bad game per se it just needs to be marketed better, that or ZOS can continue Skyrim-ifying the game, something they are beginning with the Justice System in February.
After that, only to remove Veteran Ranks, add Imperial City and Spellcrafting, make it a little more open-world and ESO will easily be one of the best MMORPGs out there.

The marketing wasn't very good so of course it got a stigma attached to it. Also people felt like it was a "cash grab" for some reason.

People expected this game to be Skyrim Online, which it obviously wasn't going to be.

The game is also fairly young, so it is possible to drag the reputation out of the mud. ZOS just has to work really hard for that, and give us lots of content and fixes, patches etc. for the game.

And it seems that's what they're trying to do now.

EDIT: I have recommended this game for my little brother and my girlfriend, who both bought the game during Steam sales (I did too) and we all like it. Maybe the 60€ from base game and 15€/month is a bit too much, and makes many players that quit feel like they weren't getting the game they paid for.

EDIT 2: One more thing I gotta add: My little brother was first all "Oh man doesn't that game suck..?" when I told him I'm playing ESO. Told him to try it at my place.. And he fell in love with the game instantly.

It should release the game in a demo form and let it be free for the 1st 15 levels. Basically put the same restrictions on we had at Beta. Level 15 and the 1st zone of each faction. There are so many people out there who won't buy the game to try it cause of all the negativity surrounding it but if they can try it before they buy, you might get a whole new slew of sub that would normally never be there.

Casterial wrote: »

...do you recommend this game to friends?

The short answer is yes. I think ESO is an awesome game and I've been here since pre-release. However, it does have some significant shortcomings as an MMO.

For example, the grouping tool is very poorly implemented as no one uses it. Sharing PvE quests is still not as easy as games like SWTOR. The economy is both highly fragmented (due to the lack of a more centralized AH) as well as neutered (as you can mostly craft and obtain pretty much everything you need on your own without too much trouble). Instead of being a "sandbox", ESO pretty much "guides" you along the path the devs want you to take (for example, you cant really level through PvP or group content as efficiently as you can from questing). Lastly, because the game favors PvE questing AND forces you to finish the other alliance's zones in Cadwell's Silver and Gold, making alts is not as fun as I wish it would be.

Casterial wrote: »

...do you think it should be A LOT larger than it is now?

LoL

This game is huge... So huge it even makes Dragon Age Inquisition look small

It's not so much that ESO needs to be made bigger, as much as it needs to have many of the bugs worked out, mechanics balanced and refined, and existing content (dungeons, group finder, PvE missions with friends, the economy as a whole, ect) better realized.

The upcoming Champion and Justice systems are huge, and I'm looking forward to both... However, I do fear that some of these major patches are also driving a portion of the player base away. Why? Because anytime you make changes you are going to have winners and losers; people who LOVE the changes and people who are going to quit because of them.

I wonder how many one-man armies of light armor yet at the armor softcap; softcap on magika with set bonuses that allow unlimited spamming of skills that are going to HATE it when their toon is no longer nearly as powerful and is FORCED to be more specialized. While I personally like the changes on paper, I know a lot of people will be upset as they always will be when you make major changes to combat.


In short, ESO needs to double down on making the already existing content better realized. Make PvE grouping MORE fun, FIX the lag in PvP (no more excuses), makes things like writs and pledges more meaningful and rewarding, and seriously ZoS, revamp the economy. Swallow you pride and take a page out of EvE Online playbook as an example of how global AH as well as mega servers CAN go hand it hand.

One thing I think that should be removed though, Imperial Edition and Explorer Edition. Since Imperial was originally a "Big Thing" about pre-buying the game edition (ultimate).... and Explorer was normal "Preorder" they should remove them and keep the buy-horse thing.....


Imperial and Explorer's are both originally pre-ordering editions...... But now almost anyone has them and it kinda' messed with the faction honor and race honor/pride.

Casterial wrote: »

But the sad part of these terrible reviews is "Its nothing like Skyrim." People continue to say this, as if all Elder Scrolls games were like Skyrim.

I started a new game of Skyrim over the Thanksgiving weekend to see if I could recreate any of the new experience I've had with ESO. To start, the opening still looks incredible, and for a moment I considered that Skyrim's graphics are better than ESO. But then I got into the actual game and had to double check that I hadn't loaded up Morrowind by mistake.

The character creation is pretty sparse, almost zero body modifiers. (I feel like even Oblivion's character creation was more robust that Skyrims') The graphics look dated to me now, and the walk animations look incredibly janky. Amazing since those same animation were hailed as far more realistic than Oblivion's. Not all of them are bad though. The weapon animations, especially dual wield, look better in Skyrim. Although ESO has spoiled me by not costing me stamina to swing a weapon. Also still not a fan of the combat system introduced in the past few TES games that require you to move your whole character in a given direction for different power attacks. By comparison, ESO's combat feels faster and definitely more mobile.

Basically ESO has pretty much ruined Skyrim for me, can't really go back that. Figure I'll be here for my Elder Scrolls fix until at least whenever TES VI comes out. (Maybe longer if they keep adding cool stuff.)

Love your guys feedback(:

JackDaniell wrote: »

I have said this before and I will say it again, their is simply no other MMO like eso. Most MMO's come accross fairly similar, but eso is so unique it almost makes a new catagory and standard for the genre.

I have simply never played an MMO with the same attention to detail that eso has. The upcoming justice system will sure as hell have bugs and they will be tweeked and fixed, but I promise that no current MMO will even come close to what this update has to offer. Like all eso fans I patiently await the new updates and fixes, and things can only get more fantastic. Eso will establish a new standard for all MMO's, just give it time to continue to grow

Agree, I can't find myself on any other MMO now, none grab my attention!

zaria wrote: »

jeevin wrote: »

Elder Scrolls players have expectations when playing Elder Scrolls games so comparisons are inevitable, It is named Elder Scrolls Online after all. The launch was pretty horrid agreed but there are other things that detract from that Elder Scrolls experience. No Dark Brotherhood, no Thieves Guild and no player housing. Theres the lack of sandbox elements. Then you have a world you are not free to explore due to the mmo design of level gating "zones" and linear questing to lead you through.

Some of these things will be addressed soon and others later but it's too late to change the reviews and that stigma the game has. Add that to the poor quality of the underlying software and it's not surprising the game gets a poor reputation.

It feels like an elder scroll game with an MMO trapping.
That is why I bought it, people who expected skyrim multiplayer or WOW in tamriel was disapointed.

Most of your missing features would not affect the intial reviews, as it would be medium to high level content. Some complains in the reviews are fixed other are still present.

As for reviews, this is probably why they hold off the console version. They want to fix most issues before releasing.

An Elder Scrolls game in mmo clothing is what the game is. Most of the early reviews I read went along the lines that Eso tries to be both an Elder Scrolls game and an mmo, yet does neither all that well. I tend to agree to a point, I like this game better than most mmos yet it's seriously lacking in the complete Elder Scrolls experience for my taste.

There are lots of improvements and features coming to the game before console launch which is a bitter/sweet thing to me. Sweet because the game is finally getting to that release standard. And bitter because I played through most of the content when the game was in a state of beta. It's a real *** you to pc players from Zenimax.

Cherryblossom wrote: »

I have to say, most of the reviews I've read regarding the game have not featured the "it's not Skyrim".
Most of the bad reviews are regarding the continual bugs, poor UI, combat, lack of play as you want.
In my experience of playing since Beta, I can only agree. This game is currently not a polished game, far from it. But I'm hoping they will fix the issues and this may turn into the game it should be.

I must say though, being since beta this game is much more better than it was. Specially bow and staff play. However, the poor reviews come from people who only have like 1.5hours of gameplay. Like they don't give an MMO a chance lol.