It doesn't seem like a strictly single-player series to me?

He is a young padawan...

Yes that's actually exactly what i mean, for me the World and Lore go hand in hand, they are married and make a very happy couple, if i was to not see them in a TES game it would not be a TES game to me.

True for me as well, but some people like the games purely for the whole do whatever they want thing. Others like to RP. Some like the combat and just kill crap. Etc etc...

Just remember that BGS is not going to be making MMO games. Right now they're focused on Dawnguard, and the MMO development has no impact on their projects, present or future.

For more on why ZeniMax Online is making this game, I'd recommend watching the new video up with game director Matt Firor
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/05/09/the-origins-of-the-elder-scrolls-online.aspx?cache=busted

Some day, I hope to be able to experience disappointment over something I've never even experienced second-hand.

Honestly, I wish Zenimax Online would've just made a new IP, but we all know how that works.

That would fully defeat the point of bringing an online TES game to the fans who have been begging for it for years and years now.

By making something that hardly resembles anything else in the series?

Change is unsettling, especially with a franchise many of us are very attached to. While the choices made for this game have the potential to upset a lore of lore fans such as myself, this interview with Matt Firor eases a few of my worries. His emphasis on collaboration with--and, more importantly, deference to--the loremasters of BSW and Todd Howard lessens my concern for the historical sore-thumb this game could end up being.

Still, that leaves the art style, which, from what we've seen, is very Guild-Warsy. More cartoony and vivid than the traditional artistic palette of the Elder Scrolls. I don't think we have enough to judge it quite yet. Maybe it's just me hoping for the best, but I think Bethesda Softworks' involvement with this project could end up saving it from WoW-clone disaster.

Warcraft? Is that you?

This is probably what people are failing to see. TESO is a spin-off game based on the TES universe and doesnt reflect the actual direction the series is taking, since BethGS is and will be the main engine to drive TES forward.

I agree, it is subjective and if they started releasing a new ES every year CoD style, I'd get bored of it pretty quickly. I don't really have a problem with them making the game as long as it doesn't have any negative impacts on the single player series regardless of its success or failure, and I am under the impression that it will not.

I guess I'm sort of ambivalent about it. I like multiplayer games, and I like TES games and I even like some MMOs, but I'm not happy with many of the development choices that I've read about so far. Aside from the setting it is sounding less and less like an actual ES game. But who knows, they might surprise me.

That would have been great yes. I think they made a mistake when choosing TES though as i'm pretty sure it will backfire on them.

True, there would be no way ZM would authorize a new IP MMO, it's just not realistic. Look at any successful MMO. All of them are attached to some kind of pre-established IP with a built-in fanbase. It was either TES or Fallout.

MMO's are exactly the same, but instead you pay a monthly fee.

This is what happens when a company lusts for money and forgets what made it famous in the first place.

You misunderstand, the game will be an Elder Scrolls game, told from third person. Added to that is a new gamemode which is PvP, and a new feature that lets you play with friends. Complain about the lore, though. Its worth doing.

Apparently, there is some rumor floating around that it will be F2P.

I'm fairly horrified at a TES Online game, and I'd be even more horrified (if it were ever possible) to see it go F2P. At least with subscription, everyone is an equal customer with equal potential to play, while with a F2P, the only people who ever get to have all the content are the people doling out anywhere from 50 to 250 dollars a month to play. Unfortunately, it is VERY likely that TES:O WILL eventually go F2P if it doesn't start as such, as its a cash cow and a more viable market strategy (despite certainly NOT being consumer-friendly).

They can say they're gonna be as lore-friendly as possible all they want. But all MMOs, by their very nature, suffer from something called content inflation. Eventually, they are going to hit a brick wall and will be forced to seek permission to pull stuff out of their behinds or allow the MMO to ultimately stagnate. Another game that comes to mind that originally attempted to be as "lore appropriate" as possible was Lord of the Rings Online -- I think that game may very well tell us a lot about how TES:O is going to be.

As for Zenimax not going with a new IP.... well. I agree that a new IP likely would have been too risky. That said, I think Bethesda should keep its nose out of the MMO business, lest it gets another taste of an anti-consumer river of cash like it did with DLC (hahaha.. I'm sure you older TES players will remember the difference between those Morrowind official mods and those uh... "well crafted" Oblivion pay-for official mods). Besides, nothing about Bethesda screams "we know what we're doing!" when it comes to MMOs.

Agreed.

I agree with you about that, not that I want it. Starting with skyrim and steam you already have to use an online platform to even play the game so I would not be surprised in the least if tes games will have coop play from here on.