Hey there!
Just wanted to throw in my early impressions of the game and give some specific feedback.
Overall this game is one of the best mmos I have ever played hands down. I am the type of gamer who values immersion. In typical elder scrolls fashion the world seems more alive than most mmos. Guild Wars 2 had great art but everything felt cookie cutter and bland to me.
There is one very crucial thing that I would like to change, however.
Suggestion:
All of the obvious time and effort put into lore, storytelling and a vibrant world is wasted without good instancing for certain parts of quests.
Since I am low level I will just give an early example in the starter isle.
{Spoiler}
The Mourning Stone questline had a lot going for it. It had mystery, npcs that seemed interesting, context and undead skeletons with a bit of puzzlework and dungeon delving. Who could ask for more in a story quest?
But when I see 5 other players have already killed all the skeletons it really kills it for me. I am looking forward to an eerie dungeon mystery with an epic evil boss fight and it is trivialized because players ahead of me have cleared the content.
When I see a player ahead of me go to the runes in the correct order and run through the door... its not much of a puzzle anymore.
{Spoiler}
These sorts of quests could really use a player instances. Its one thing to invite your friends to a cool quest. Its another to have the whole megaserver with you
Literally I could go on and on about how awesome the world is. Npcs really feel like they contribute and towns are full of bustling people on everyday tasks. They even greet you when you walk by! Wow! There is an ecosystem to areas and monsters interact with one another. Certain monsters are dominant predators, etc. When I go places I see butterflies, birds, rats, crabs and other things that really add to the immersion. When I realized I could catch a butterfly and use it to fish... as someone who has played mmos since I was a teenager, this is a whole new level for me. It really captured what I loved about Oblivion the first time I played it.
But since it is an mmo it is about playing with others. I realize that. But there are really good ways of being able to do both. Instancing lets you have immersive content while still being able to adventure with others in an open world outside the instanced quests.
Neverwinter does this well, but it falls short in the opposite side of the spectrum. Areas feel closed in without much room for exploration. And it is very linear.
I think with a little bit of instancing ESO could really be the one to get it right and hit the middle ground where things are just balanced right.
So much has been done right already, it just needs that last piece of the puzzle.