I hope you are right. It's just things like, I imagine if this had been made before Skyrim, Solitude for example, would be a random city, and so would Markarth, with about the same thought put in as the other 70 regular cities, give or take, and then we wouldn't have seen Markarth as a Dwemer ruin carved into a mountain, and we wouldn't have seen Solitude on that huge rock arch and that sort of thing.

Because of the influence I believe it will have (among other things), which is kind of what I've been talking about in this thread.

Its called Hubless design by ZO,instead of the typical questing design that MMO players intuitively recognize - go to town, pick up quests, complete quests, Return to town for reward, TESO aims to allow players to enjoy whatever piques their interest as they wander the world so long as you are appropriately Leveled. the article says the examples ZO showed focus on making each point of interest a self contained module, "not unlike a D&D adventure designed for a single evenings tabletop Roleplaying". an example is that you may not have a quest to clear out the undead infested barrow you stumble across in your travels, but perhaps the shade you free by killing the necromancer at the bottom rewards you for your trouble. townsfolk naturally point players toward some adventures, paraphrasing wounded soldiers, patrols etc et

Like everyone else said, it's 1000 years in the past, alot is going to change in that period. Not to mention that the next SP game might make another HUGE jump into the future.

Like I said, lorewise, it wouldn't make sense for things like Solitude and Markarth to change completely. And man is it weird waking up one day and suddenly SP is a commonly used acronym on the forums.

this

i think its very valid and something i was going to ask but you beat me to it.

They already showed a "half-assed" version of all the provinces. It was called Arena.

My point? This doesn't lock them into anything. Ever. They can always blame it on separate studios.

You should see the early maps and descriptions of the various provinces. Places have been deforested (Cyrodiil), cities have moved (sometimes significantly; Sutch, Ebonheart), areas have been catastrophically altered (Winterhold).

Bethesda isn't afraid to change things up from previous incarnations if it means for a better game (for some value of "better").

I conjecture this game was in development for the last five years. If that is the case, I fail to see how ZMO would have adhered to the lore while designing provinces without sacrificing creativity and uniqueness.

The design of new provinces in the MMO might influence the design for future single-player TES games. Although, using the provinces in the MMO as a basis for the flagship franchise would be detrimental. I would not want to see an endless barren landscape in the next iteration of TES.

I really really really really hope that this MMO is not cannon.

the winterhold area of skyrim nearly got destroyed in the early 4th era...so landscapes change, buildings change, kvatch was destroyed, in the 4th era i bet its been rebuilt and fortified, and unrecognizable from before.
but if you look at the screenshots, you can tell they are sticking to the source material, likely provided by Bethesda. I believe i saw mournhold, and some very nice ordinator armor

oh, and there is one concept art picture of what i am willing to bet is a city in blackmarsh...its so cool, now my desktop background

Damn you beat me to it. Skyrim was pretty vastly different from what it is portrayed as in Arena, but still has some of it's more fundamental features. Bethesda isn't bound by what Zenimax Online does with the provinces; The Elder Scrolls has always evolved and developed and will continue to do so.

really...the gap is 1000 years. a whole milenium, things change. ancient ruins shouldnt...markarth should not change of course. dragonsreach either. but it looks like the artists are sticking to the source material..

the internet was created for [censored]ing though, so go ahead XD

1000 years is enough to even change climate some, also if an Skyrim expansion take us back to Morrowind you would not expect Morrowind graphic.

They should have located this crap to Akavir, to avoid this problem.

I thoroughly agree with the op. The MMO is gona screw the future of the single player franchise. And if you have taken a look at the buildings in skyrim and oblivion. Half of them have been there for century's. At least all the cool ones.

• Any new single-player game will have its events a full millenium after the MMO, ten full centuries in which everything can and will change. f.e. we all know that Morrowind will be destroyed 800 years later.
  
• Arena encompassed all the provinces as well. Did it dictate what High Rock, Cyrodiil, Morrowind and Skyrim would look in the following games?
  
• The leaked GI article states ZeniMax Online have worked closely with Bethesda to ensure accuracy of lore and geography.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/many-headed-talos

It's all about aiming at a wide audience. They'll try to envelop WoW fans, FPS fans, kids, console fans, Skyrim fans etc. Just like with Skyrim and FO. What is creative design?