So what does Zenimax need to do to make ESO a great game? Everyone will have their own view on this, but in the off chance Zenimax is listening to people on this forum, Im going to have my say. Please feel free to comment, but please remember this is just my opinion.

I am a big fan of Dark Age of Camelot (RvRvR was epic, but the PvE was terrible) and I also liked all of the Elder Scrolls games. So I am pretty excitied about the potential for this game.

This is what I believe Zenimax needs to do to make ESO great:

Objective Based PvP with Rewards
DAoC had keeps and relics, GW2 has something similar which is awesome. GW2 really needs realm ranks or something to reward participation - why am I still getting XP? Keeps make for some awesome battles but it is also great to have small sqirmishes away from the keeps. Rift and WAR had none of this and warfronts are the worst idea ever - please no more instance type pvp that is completely meaningless.

3 Realms Each With a Unique Identity
Need 3 seperate teams to balance numbers (lacking in Rift, WAR, WOW and most other MMOs). DAoC also had 3 very distinct realms, so you really felt like you were fighting for your realm against the enemy invaders. Being able to recognise your enemies on the battlefield is important - seeing a bunch of trolls and kobolds run down some elves was awesome. Red, blue and green teams are not cool.

Challenging Combat
Combat needs to take some skill, and it needs to feel like you are really hitting something. I like the stamina bar idea, for spinting, rolling and evading. But also there needs to be reactionary, chain and positional attacks which require timing and some degree of skill. Please stop dumbing this down.

Classes - Lots of Them
One of my favourite things about DAoC was the insane number of classes. They were all very distinct and fun to play, with amazing depth (you could spec them all different ways). This was a nightmare to balance, and for this reason it seems like all MMOs since have gone the opposite way. But having only a few classes is boring - id rather deal with the imbalance and have lots of variety. Rift actually has a great class system which allows you to change as you please.

Graphical Style
I cant stand cartoon style graphics. WOW and SWTOR look terrible in my opinion, and it really puts me off. I really like the graphical style of Rift, GW2 is ok.


Zenimax do sound like they are getting most of this stuff right - so heres hoping ESO is a great game!

Kermit.

I agree with the majority and it appears we had similar DAOC experiences. I completely agree with Graphical Style with the exception that SWTOR is not too cartoony for me... I think it is the subject matter. WoW is over the top toon ville to me and likely why it never ever grabbed me.

I would add.... it has to have a learning curve. Not an impossible puzzle, but a learning process. This may be what you meant by combat skill.
I think the need to learn helps to invest a player in the game.... it is amplified when you do it with friends.

I remember vividly the day I decided to see what was at the top of the map in Asherons Call. I headed out of town... but did not take the road.
About a minute out of town on auto run.... WHOMP! One hit by a Hill Giant.
I literally jumped.

Lesson? The developers try to push you through a story.... let em... follow the road.

Content for all levels/players, not "rush for the level cap and finally get decent gear, THEN you can play the game."

Also please don't cite GW2 as an example of this... its content is really boring and generic, and yes it's grinding, and I was bored by level 40 on my first character and could not be bothered to keep playing.

Im pretty much sold already, lets see Cyrodil, 3 unique fully voiced story, thats enough to buy the game already and of course its ES. I kinda hope theres decent character creator, its kinda must for triple A MMORPGs I think. No doubt they poured [censored]load of money into this. Minimum is really 50 mill, take it like you want.

Its really difficult to answer in< what makes a great MMO?> Too many different styles of MOOs and too many players that they like different things... so we cannot really answer to a part of that question... its something personal if u like/don't like ,the Game Mechanics or Gameplay or Graphic style...

Generally, what makes an MMO great?

• You can say an MMO is great, when it can last in time and it will stay pure as it was when started ( u can see how many mmo's were amazing at the start and now became free-to-play, cause of bad devs actions... its kinda sad really)
  
• Good concept (based story) of an MMO is really important. Most of quests and staff are usually based in a story, so How amazing is to play an online game that has amazing concept. ( when i heard that Elder scrolls is going to be online,i said omg its gonna be epic)
  
• its really sad when u see new mmos or expansions come up and u see all those bugs and staff or that fast ( not good) work.( that happens,cause some people care only about money and they forget or lose their talent blinded by more money.) So a good MMO must have a developer that wants to create something good and stayed focused on its purpose.
  
• In a great mmo, there should't be exploting. That means works properly
  
• Its really nice when developers listening to their people, as it happens on this forum. But they should be able to keep the balance in game from what people suggest to them
  
• its good when the developer can make happy the solo player that likes only pvp and the hardcoe raiding guilds (pve)
  
• Grinding is big disadvantage of a game. Its so bad when people grind something when they don't really like and spend so much time on it, cause its a game and we want to enjoy it till last second . i mean grind = reward = bad, but Play a lot (its like grind, but u have fun) + have skills = reward = excellent

That's my opinion on how a perfect MMO should be

MMOs have two qualities over single-player RPGs that are sadly underutilized. The first, naturally, is the social aspect - there's tremendous potential in grouping, in cooperative activities, in competition, etc. So many MMOs play like single-player games that I just don't bother with them anymore. I'd rather play an actual, on-the-box, well-crafted single-player game for a one-time fee than shell out a monthly sub for a typical MMO.

Two MMOs broke the mold, but neither did very well, unfortunately. City of Heroes offered the best PvE teaming experience I've ever encountered, and Pirates of the Burning Sea had an intriguing territorial PvP system (never played DAoC, so can't comment on it). I've been hoping that other MMOs would incorporate ideas from these games, but it hasn't happened yet...

The other aspect is the idea of a large, persistent world, where things happen even if you're not in the game. Earlier MMOs had housing and city building, but unfortunately this sort of thing was flat out discarded. I'm hoping against hope that games like Minecraft send a signal that, yes, people like to build, and will sculpt the landscape itself if given the opportunity.

However, changing the physical landscape isn't necessary to capture the sense of a dynamic world. Economies based on actual commerce, or political management games (especially in conjunction with territorial games) could capture the same sense. I'm sure others could think of similar things.

So long story short, a "great" MMO would be one that capitalizes on the strengths of MMOs, either in the social aspects, or the dynamic world aspects, or both.

The alternative to faction-based PVP is a system where only players' guilds are competing against each other, which has its own pitfalls, but offers something to people that seek a less restricted game. I'm not sure which one I prefer myself, as I've never seen a good faction-based PVP MMO, but that's my own fault.

But what I'd like to add is a well-designed item and loot system. Without, there's no economy to speak of, and without an economy ... well, it's just not any good.
Most drops should be usable in one way or another, don't create too much dead weight. If possible, no character or account-bound items whatsoever. Not too many currencies, preferably just one. Lots of craftable items and decent, valuable crafting results even at lower skill levels.

Further, there need to be immediate rewards from combat. I don't want to get rewarded after I killed dozens of Horker to turn in as a quest after 30 mintues. Making people wait for their reward is an unneccessary motivation-killer, and it takes a lot of joy out of combat.