So I've just watched an extensive video on "The Elder Scrolls Online".

Can you be a Wizard?

Or are we all these spell slinging hybrids?

Is studying magic to become an expert in it (compared to other players who simply dabble) out the window now?

Just how much specialisation is there in your "Fighter" vs "Mage" vs "Thief" archtypes?

If you want to be a "mage/wizard" then you will want to make a Sorcerer class. They are the "mage" archtype for the game, even though any class you make could technically be called a "mage."

Well that's entirely my point.

Why be a Mage if any character can be a Mage.

Unless there are specific advantages to the Sorcerer class.

If so what are they?

They have three skill lines that are specific to that class that no one else can use: Daedric Summoning, Dark Magic, and Storm Calling.

The sorcerer has three spell-casting oriented skill trees.

No, everybody is a master of all trades in this game. That's just the most logical idea in the world.

Except that your hotbar is so limited that it doesn't matter if you know most of the skills in the game. And the fact that you couldn't use the skills in the Heavy and Medium armor if you are wearing just light, and you can't use all the weapon skills since you can only use 2 at a time. I can keep going on and on.

Welcome to the Elder Scrolls. =)

I'm planning to be a pure mage. Frankly, though, it sounds like your gear and current active skills will determine what you are more than anything (assuming you've taken the time to max all your skills). Other than that, I guess... choose Sorcerer and pump Magicka to the exclusion of all else?

Its too bad because a Sorcerer is a separate class on its own compared too the rest of the schools of magic. I makes it easier to lump all schools under one line of magic then stem it from there but when that happens its not truly a RPG. All magic users have their own magical language and all schools have there own separate school of teaching even a sorcerer. Why the magic line merge I wish I knew.

Your sarcasm meter is broken, you might want to go get it fixed.

That's too bad.

I was hoping the game would be deeper than this.

Is it really an "Elder Scrolls" game or more along the lines of an attempt to copy "World of Warcraft" with a bit of an "Elder Scrolls Theme"?

Since the game was announced over a year ago, ZeniMax Online Studios has been listening to the Elder Scrolls fan base and are working hard to make ESO more like an Elder Scrolls game and less like other MMO's (including WoW) on the market.

I've not been fortunate enough to get my hands on the game, but the reviewers seem to think playing ESO feels pretty much like playing Skyrim.

I wouldn't say that. Honestly, I would say this game will have too much in similarity with WoW aside from they're "in" the MMO space, sort of, and they're RPGs. I think too many people jump to the conclusion of what they expect when they hear the "MMO".

My understanding is that it will work like you will have your skill trees like conjurations, destruction etc. You'll also have your weapon skill trees including healing staves and destruction staves to level through. And on top of that you'll have your world skill lines like the Mages' Guild skill line.

If terms of how different the game will be from TES, I imagine it to be on the same lines of what Skyrim was to Oblivion - that level of difference in the class system. To elaborate on that in Oblivion you didn't have perk trees (don't take that as me saying there won't be perk points because there will be) and you have lots of pre-defined classes like Bard, Assassin, Agent, Acrobat etc. In Skyrim you did have all those pre-defined classes which meant it was more up to the player to get imaginative with their class.

I'm hoping in TESO that the developers won't have a tooltip when you put the crosshair over a player which says: "This player is a dragonknight" because that won't necessarily reflect the player's combat style later into the game.

Yes, you can eventually have a jack-of-all-trades character if you so choose. From my understanding there is no complete need to complete every skill tree if you don't want to do that on that one character.

Don't go in expecting it to work like Skyrim because each game in the single player series behaves differently.

What? I don't get your point. Elder Scrolls was always like that. You always could mix magic with "normal" weapon skills. Of course you can be a
mage and you will have much more powerful and different powers than somebody specialized in, lets say, bows.
Of course everybody COULD become everything theoretically. But just like in the ES-Games you normaly choose one specific specialisation.
I don't understand your complains. SO:

NO. It's just like in the other titles.

So while "The Elder Scrolls Online" is happening is the original "Elder Scrolls" series continuing in it's established vein or is this potentially going to replace it?