I'm concerned that Zenimax may not have captured the essence of Bethesda's work on the Elder Scrolls series. I've been a fan since Morrowind. Obviously each one of Bethesda's games was a run-away success. What does adding MMO qualities to the game add. What does it subtract? Will we be toasting this game's success, or will we be disappointed in the long run. What does everyone think?

I think personally, that Zenimax has a great team behind them, and that working with Bethesda, they can make an awesome game. I've been wanting to see an MMO of The Elder Scrolls since Morrowind came out. I've been waiting a long time for this. What about you? Are you a Skyrim fan, or are you old school and have played the first Elder Scrolls.

I just want opinions. What is this game to you?

To me it seems like they've really tried to make it as plausible as possible. Setting it in the past allows them creative freedom without affecting the rest of the games, and it seems like they've been in close contact with BGS to make sure everything is correct.

No doubt it'll be different and new, and some things we'll love and some things we'll hate, but that's fine. It's their game and they can do what they like. But in the end I think it will capture the TES essence as well as the "original" games.

The MMO factor will DRAMATICALLY change the TES series, the sooner people accept that the sooner will the get over the "IM I FEEL BETRAYED" period.

I don't feel betrayed. I feel glad that they're taking that next step into the MMO stage. I know it will change the game, but it being set before any of the other games gives it a chance to flesh out what happened before your solo character did in the Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.

I personally just put it in the same category as Redguard and Battlespire. It really isn't part of the single player TES series.

I think if people can separate it from the series and appreciate it for what it has to offer instead of wanting it to be something it's not, they will enjoy it a lot more.

Most definitely. However I think people should do this for every TES game, appreciate each game for what it is.

But most TES players WON'T appreciate it for what it is, you've seen for yourselves on these forums where people type things like "I will equip a sword in my main hand and a healing spell in my other hand" or in posts saying "this IS supposed to be a REAL TES game, the name say says it all!". They obviously haven't done their homework and are holding on to Matt's (was that his name?) promise that it will be reminiscent of other TES games no matter what.

I think I have the most nostalgia with Morrowind. Summoning 100 skeletons to rob a tomb with the staff that made you fly. I miss that kind of stuff.

Don't mistake the loudest for the most

I'll join you as a long-time TES fan, and myself I think we'll find TESO less of a jarring transition from the original series than some will suggest. Many of the more intrusive "game-mechanicky" and un-TES-like features people take to be a necessary feature of any and all MMO's are in fact artefacts of the state of technology when most of the most popular MMO's were created. You needed spreadsheet-like interfaces, cooldowns, and turn-by-turnish combat because that's all that could be supported server and client-side five-plus years ago. Same goes for the level of interaction with objects in the world (or indeed the number of objects themselves). I think we can expect TESO to be more real-time, and more dynamic than the MMO norm we're used to. In conclusion, no worries about TES becoming MMO-like... as things advance MMO's are becoming more TES-like.