I have always been a big fan of the elder scrolls series. Clocked over 1k hours each for morrowind skyrim and oblivion.I was extremely excited when elder scrolls online was introduced and have been searching for tidbits of info about the game since the day it was announced. Obviously an elder scrolls MMO cant have the immersion level of the single player versions and I am well prepared for it. But any successful mmo has always had the developer show off their content a few months before launch. ESO is 2 months away from launch now and I havent heard anything about the various systems Iam actually interested in namely Guilds, PVE content and PVP content(aside from the fact that its 3 faction based). I apologise that I may seem like i am whining about it , but having played MMOs for the last 15-16 years and tested quite a few games in closed BETA, I find the lack of information about various game mechanics troublesome . There has been some negative feedback from various websites about the game , and the game is 2 months away from launch.Never before have I seen an MMO so close to launch (apart from SWTOR) which had so little information about the various game mechanics I was interested in. I have defended you guys on various forums for over a year now . Some people may call it "fanboyish", but it was because i was a genuinie fan for the elder scrolls series and wanted to see you guys succeed.

But over the last month , genuine doubts about the quality of the game have crept into my mind. I was looking for some genuine gameplay videos and instead saw a cinematic video released( as awesome as it was). I check various subforums through the net and I can assure you that a lot of your fans are as worried as I am . All the more worrying is that I can find more information about various gameplay mechanics and features of MMOs which are launching after ESO than ESO itself. Most gaming forums are filled with skepticism as well. Would be awesome if there was some developer feedback and gameplay videos to put everyone's fears to rest, because for the first time I am actually considering waiting to pre-order an elder scrolls game.

Wait for the NDA on beta testers to be dropped so you can read up about the game.

That's what I'm doing.

NDA is all well and good. But there are other games where NDA is active , where we at least know the basic mechanics of the game might it be pvp pve or whatever it is. I have more information regarding basic features about EQN and WSO and those are games are releasing after ESO. And that is my biggest worry. I am not asking for massive info regarding ever single MMO mechanic in the game. I would love to know what differentiates this game from other games in a saturated market, minus the fact that its based in an elder scrolls universe. I would love to know at least what the basic guild mechanics are, low level pvp and low level pve are like. All i have heard of this game is that its a graphically dumbed down version of skyrim and nothing else . Yes there will be "adventures" "dungeons "and what not , but till date I havent seen anything about it and the game is just 2 months away which makes me worry .

I think it very likely there will be an open beta prior to release most games this to test capacity and generate publicity.

Give it a shot at that point.

I already know enough to have pre-ordered

The difference is in the flexibility of the system. Any class can wear any armor and use any weapon. Your weapon choice determines your role more than anything else and you can switch between 2 different weapons in combat. That means that if the tank goes down, you can switch to sword and board and save the day. Or if the healer goes down, you can step up and help out with your restoration staff.

But it's more than just the flexibility of being to wear whatever armor and use whatever weapons. You have 2 different resource pools. How you balance your stat allocations and which abilities you choose will have an huge effect on how you perform. The more points you put into magicka or stamina, the more magicka or stamina you will have. But also, the more powerful your magicka or stamina based abilities will be. So do you invest heavily in magicka to make your magicka attacks stronger and use stamina only for dodging, blocking and sprinting? Do you try to strike a balance so that you can use abilities from both?

And then look at armor. Each armor type gives different bonuses and some of those bonuses are based on how many pieces of that armor type you are wearing. So maybe you are a tank and wearing heavy armor for the additional mitigation, but you have a couple light armor pieces for the magicka regen.

This is actually a big part of it for me. I like the freedom. Sure, it might be a pain to balance, but I like it a whole lot more. Right now, until ESO comes out, I am playing another game where your class choice basically severely limits what equipment you can use and your role in the team. ESO is completely different, where it will be a combination of your Race/Class/Equipment that determines what role you will play. Being able to make my character as "I" see them versus how the "Devs" see them is just right up my alley.