So yet another friend of mine has decided to get ESO on a different platform to me. Xbox One this time. Madness, I know. But with the rumoured NA/EU split, on top of the faction locks, it's looking nigh on impossible that I will get to play with any of my friends.

I've heard a number of reasons given as to why this can't happen. The lack of technological feasibility however is completely bogus. Other MMOs have already done cross-platform, FFIV being the obvious example. The next reason then is the lack of a level playing field. Agreed, mouse and keyboard is better, but they were possible for PS3. They will be available for next-gen consoles too. Besides, what's the problem with adding one more question to the questionnaire regarding your cross-platform preference?

Here's where the real problem lies. People feel that this will result in a flood of immature kids. The mere mention of consoles had ESO's facebook page absolutely swamped with nerdrage. I can understand that, really, I've had enough of little brats ruining things for me too. But that will happen anywhere, and as I say, that's what the questionnaire's gonna be about.

Bottom line - this game has been marketed, right from day one, as an Elder Scrolls game you can play with friends. Whatever you think of ESO going to consoles, it isn't going to change. If however people's attitudes don't change, ZOS will never implement cross-faction servers. They know as well as anyone that it could well result in a mass walkout. The problem is that with things as they are, the playerbase is going to be so fragmented that it will be nearly impossible for two people who know each other to group up in-game. Not to be apocalyptic, but this will cripple the game long-term. It's like a nightclub divided into dozens of little cubicles.

Thus, I ask of the playerbase in general - please, change your attitudes. You can always find a guild that suits you. Without connected servers however, many people like me are robbed of the very purpose of this game - playing Elder Scrolls with friends.

Meh, I don't care if they group up the platforms together but they have to have a reason beyond "its not fair in PvP". I really believe they'll eventually merge them together anyway.

I hope they keep the servers split in a way where we're not all stuck playing with people that don't speak the same language, because man that is annoying.

My only issue with cross platforms is the difficulty patching becomes. You either piss off the PC gamers because they have to wait two weeks to allow a simple bug patch to go through. Or you piss off the console gamers because they are behind in patches compared to PC gamers.

I don't care about immaturity because that is found throughtout all platforms. I just have an issue with the way patches would be handled.

I think that instead of voting for a merge of servers you should try and educate your friend... Or buy an Xbox.

i disagree.

maybe they could give you the option to transfer your character to another platform once every so many days/weeks/months or something, and I don't have a real problem with merging the servers other than the fact that I don't want to hear all the complaints that computer players are at an advantage/etc..

as for XBO/PS4 I don't see why they split the servers honestly... neither system gives an advantage over the other and everyone can buy a modded controller for their console that looks like PS4 or XBO controllers.... so I don't see the difference.

I imagine they're launching with the consoles on their own servers because they anticipate those markets being large enough initially to support it--Given time, those servers may end up merged with the main server as populations fall . Were your friends interested in ESO for PC before the console announcement? You might prefer the PC, but if you're going to have a PS4 or XB1 anyhow, why not join the larger group of your friends on their console, or try to talk them into playing on the same platform as you?

At least it's auto-correcting it to what you meant. I cut it down all the way to XB1 for simplicity, and people still get what I mean.

Also, putting a player with a mouse and keyboard vs. a player with an Xbox/Playstation controller, the Mouse and Keyboard player will perform significantly better. The method of input is just so much easier and more efficient. So the risk (and it's an extremely significant one) is that console gamers will be significantly disadvantaged in any competitive play. They'll get destroyed in PvP, be less responsive in PvE, and I would think have a huge chance of being discriminated against in group selection.

Best to keep them separate, much though I'd like everyone to be together in a perfect world.

So your solution is for me to either tell him (them, actually) to buy a platform he doesn't want, or for me to buy one that *I* don't want? Nice options pal.

Two of them had already decided to buy PS4/X bone before the announcement. They were however considering getting/upgrading a PC to play ESO. Needless to say, they have a lot less incentive to do so now that the game has "come to them", as it were. And as I say, even if I made the switch to console, I still need to choose which one. Plus I miss out on playing with the friends I already have that will be on PC. Whichever way I go, At least one of my closest friends will be cut off. stupid heterogeneous social circle.

Oh, and for the record, I actually meant X *bone*. Just about sums up how I feel about that farce.

The problem is, cross platform stuff hurts business for Sony and Microsoft. They're a bunch of money grubbing [censored]s, sony being less so. With Console specific versions of the game, you can offer promotionals. Go take a look at defiance, they had ALL of the tech ready to put PC, XBOX and PS3 all on the same server. But before release, XBOX and Sony said, no, that they wouldn't allow people on other platforms to interact with theirs. Not to mention Microsoft doesn't allow any outside servers in their system, they all have to be rented from their company. And if you look at the options to buy the game, the XBOX and PS3 versions come with special goodies.

So they feel that this would be a missed opportunity to squeeze a few bucks out of their loyal fans.

Yes. I covered that already. Again, nobody has to play together if they don't want to, and console players always have the option of keyboardage if they want.

Agreed, i wouldn't put anything past Microsoft, but ZOS holds all the cards here. If they don't play nice, they don't get the game. They can't afford to lose that income.

I'd like to see cross-faction severs too. I think it benefits everyone by making the player base bigger.

They've said they created the megaserver so that there are no shards. They want everyone playing together. And yet they've now split the player base across both regional lines and by platform.

I'd like to know what you based that claim on. I don't think its true. Evidence?

http://www.gamesradar.com/pc-gamers-destroyed-console-gamers-in-tests-says-voodoo-pc-founder/

http://www.destructoid.com/pc-gamers-destroy-console-gamers-in-crossplatform-tests-179579.phtml

http://kotaku.com/5593259/rumor-microsoft-killed-plans-for-pc-vs-xbox-360-online-play

Courtesy of Capitol98.

You need only really think about it to know it's true. Have you ever played, say, Black Ops on Xbox and then went and played it on PC? I can attest that it plays a lot smoother - a mouse is infinitely more precise than a joystick. Also, clicking a button on a mouse is less disruptive than pulling a trigger to fire, when you consider that pulling a trigger will naturally jostle and move your entire controller while a mouse click is a relatively unintrusive action on only one part of your gaming input (the mouse) which doesn't affect the rest of your input (the keyboard). Also consider that, on an Xbox controller, your 'look around' feature is controlled by the same thumb that controls your four buttons which probably have to do with jumping, using actions, and a few other things. Further, realize that when you play with a mouse and keyboard you have the advantage of as many as eight digits (all five on your left hand, your thumb and two fingers on your right), plus the motion of your wrist to manipulate your character, versus having to rely on only four digits (two thumbs, two fingers) when using a console controller.

I'm sure you bristle at first because you think I'm being elitist, or bashing console gamers. However, take a moment to really think through what I just talked about, I think you'll easily see why mouse and keyboard input is inherently more efficient and fluid than the current gaming controllers.

computers are ever improving and much more responsive. I agree that a person can be skilled with a controller, but computers have more input options, gaming keyboards, gaming mice that have adjustable dpi, tactical and customizable triggers in their keyboards, gaming mousepads, gamepad's (see razer orbweaver or nostromo.) There are many things that can help give a computer player an advantage over a console player who is limited to a controller. I wouldn't say there is any "hard" evidence that his claim is true, but its a pretty sound claim, and the PC has been seen by majority as the most competitive platform for many years (not going to dig up a source for this, believe it if you want to, if not idrc.)

For the third time, i agree that m&k is superior. Please read my posts above, im already tired of repeating myself.

Nd those articles you blindly reposted - try reading them. As i said in the other thread, they all describe the same thing - Microsoft aborted a cross-platform set-up because console players were getting thrashed. Those articles are mere description, not opinion. Repetition lends it no greater credibility. Besides, theyre probably just reposting from each other.

So, ok, I'm failing to understand something, here....

Your friend will buy an XB One, and you own a PC, making it impossible to play ESO together. Doesn't that mean that it will be impossible for you to play ANYTHING together? Seems to me that your problem goes much farther down the rabbit hole than just ESO. Even if ESO goes cross-platform, that only solves, what, 1% of your problem? Are you going to petition every game made from this point on to go cross-platform, too? That seems unrealistic.

Bite the bullet and buy the same platforms as your friends if you want to play together. That's the more effective solution going forward.

-Travail.

Having the mega server to bring everyone together, then factions to tear everyone apart was one of my main issues with this game when It was first announced that they had factions. But Matt is on such a high horse that I've mostly given up on that as long as hes director.

But going back to the cross platform play, the cards are, unfortunately, in Sony and Mircrosofts hands.

I'd love to agree, but sadly Sony and MS are just too big of giants to let that affect them.

My post was neither in response to you, nor for your benefit but was posted in support of a position that you and I both appear to hold, in response to a direct request for sources confirming our shared opinion. In light of this, your response is incoherent at best. Please refrain from making further such comments, and tone the hostility down a few degrees.