As much as the game is starting to look more promising (Introduction of 1st person made me consider it a lot more), I still fear something from it that http://virtualshacklesimagestest.appspot.com/serve/elderScrollsOnline.jpg considerably holds true... It's Flashy

Now don't get me wrong, It's certainly not enough to be a huge deal-breaker right now, I know.

Maybe only in my view I see it a bit bothersome, such as the jumping 4 feet into the air and coming down with a Two-handed axe faster than Gravity would like, Constantly making Arrows rain from above like it's nothing, the majority of the population having some major degree of Magic.

Bothersome by means that those kind of things would bewilder even the people of Nirn we know from single-player games, but still livable with none-the-less.

What do I mean by my tag "The future of it all" then? certainly I have stated it's livable, what am I so concerned about?

Well ask yourself this, When Zenimax Studios is adding new content, such as classes, weapons, armor, abilities and skills, What do you think they're going to be like compared to what they started with?

Are they going to add another simple Iron sword design for more choices for low levels? an ability just as simple & good as the ones already there?

Of course not! They're going to want to add something Bigger and Better, to keep the interest of the players. a Class that has abilities more fearsome than it's competitors, Armor more Badass looking than what you've got, Weapons more devastating than the last!

And this would continue, they wouldn't have something New be bland and unworthy to the rest, It's gotta be shiny and appealing.

And what exactly would it all add up to? Give it a few years, and by the Nine, I hope it does not end up something like http://games.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/PC_Screen_007_bmp_jpgcopy.jpg

as an Experienced MMO player, sadly they tend to go in that direction.

Now i'm very glad Bethesda will still be doing Single-player Elder Scrolls games, but can't shrug off the fear that they might get some influence from Zenimax's Ideas, Until I see some written contract that their content would be strictly made as if TESO didn't even exist.

Thoughts? Idea's? facts that argue the contrary to this? feel free to share.

When and if they add new content via patches or expansions then we can criticize them for jumping the shark.

We aren't there yet. It will be a while til we are there. And personally I don't expect there to be armor sets with giant floating halo's or demonic energy wings that flap on occasion like a certain mmo that shall not be name (you know the one). But considering the daedric armors origin and lore if a tier comes out with some reasonable animations, like a sorcerer set style after an atronarch, well I wouldn't be opposed to it.

The 1st comic though... While it's true there are armor sets that look pretty spiffy in the game. Those are high level armors. Comparing it to iron armor is a little lol worthy. I mean by the end of skyrim we had daedric armors, dragonplate, stalrim, or if you were like me and mastered alteration, you could equip plate equivelant armor such as the nordic carved set and still hit armor cap.

Comparing the shiny set to stahlrim or nordic carved. I don't really see too much of a discrepancy. They are both hand crafted custom gear made from the finiest materials available. Why wouldn't the gear look good? The iron set looks like it does because it's cheap materials and low skill to make. I think they will stay true to the art style set forth by the previous styles, without going too far though.

Of course we want good looking gear, which is subjective. But you can boil any rpg down to kill things for loot, use loot to kill harder things, rinse and repeat. Why shouldn't things fron expansions open up more options. Not sure I understand the thread

That'd be nice if we could have such a powerful voice, but Let's not forget other (and new) people would be playing as well, people who would actually like the stuff, and pay Zenimax the big bucks when playing the game for those things.

I see the reasoning yes, The picture of the crouching Khajiit seems to have some simple armor I would assume is Low level. this is the beginning of the game though, and my concern is that we might not be able to stop them from "jumping the shark"

Edit:

The threads point is to express the reason why I'm concerned that there's a possibility TESO might end up comparible in flashiness to Dragon Ball Z.

(a bit over exaggerated there, but you get my point)

Ah, well I hope thier are some flashy/cool looking armors in game. As a warlock in wow the tier 6 raid gear that procced the wing flap every onve in a while was some of my favorite gear back In the day. Obviously they should be difficult to get, and fit the elder scrolls aesthetic, but who doesn't like having something they think is cool looking and sets them apart from those that haven't done the raids. Don't get ne wrong, not advocating anything silly, but I for oone want to be able to get something difficult to get, and awesome looking

I'm mostly dissapointed with the "lore friendly" raining arrows, chains, white glow spells. I have also read that magic is somewhat required in order to be competative. I realise that it's a mmo, and there are limitations, but "raining arrows" just don't feel right in tes lore. This is just my opinion.

I know what picture you're talking about with the khajiit. A solid example of grounded functional lowbie looking armor. For all we know that could be the model for level 30 gear. I doubt it's high end.

Recently they released some concept art for high end heavy armors that look very in line with everything they've established art style wise. There are nitpicks sure. But by in far they aren't outlandish or ostentatious by any means.

We can't really stop them from jumping the shark if they want to. Their game. But that hasn't happened yet. Everything I've seen armor design wise has been pretty acceptable to outstanding. So far they haven't even done the plate armor bikini's yet either. It may or may not even happen. If it does it'll be month's from the launch even for patch content, let alone expansion content.

You aren't paying them to develop their new content, even if that's what your subscription money is funding. You are paying them for the access to their servers and their online persistent world and support system. What they choose to make is wholly up to them. But until they make it we can't criticize it meaningfully. What other mmo's and games have done in the past as mistakes can't be held against ESO.

Certainly, having Valuable hard to get equipment would be acceptable, as long as It isn't Over-done to the point of redundancy, and reasonable to the standards of realism in the previous Elder Scrolls games.

But it's a bit ridiculous when you see like all of the players wearing Talos' Storm Crown, Meridia's Curiass of appalling Light, Gauntlets of the Crusader, all while using their Forged Gold Brand.

I like the abolities I've seen so far personally. Honestly if you didn't have pulls, grabs, aoe attacks it just wouldn't be an mmo. A lot of people really like neat and varied abilities. I love elder scrolls to death bit cone to think of its combat in the single player games was pretty one dimensonal (yes there was magic, melle and archery) but each fight and encounter played out a lot like the last. The variety of abilities reslly opens up the gameplay I think.

unless the arrows are controlled via telekinesis user who has unlimited ammo, it has to involve somekind of magic.

Maybe you're right and they will stay true to the previous games, but It doesn't seem to me that simplicity to the purpose of things is what they're looking for.

The pulling ability: Use your Telekinesis-like magic to pull an enemy toward you, similar to Vampiric grip. It can easily be interpreted as Lore-friendly, and simple enough to be considered a combat worthy technique.

No, we want to conjure and shoot a Fiery Hell chain from our hands that spears the enemy, which you then pull it toward you with your brute strength.

I understand that they have to put in mmo mechanics which aren't or are less present in single player games. I still think that a few new abilities could have been done a bit more lore friendly way. Insted of raining arrows they could have made raining fireballs or raining ice spikes, which would be more lore friendly. As for skyrim goes, i agree that each fight more or less played like the last, but that kinda makes sense. If i play an stealth archer, then of course every fight will more or less involve a bow and an arrow. The most diverse/fun is of course the mage because the array of magic available to him. For me it doesn't make sense that a archer has to have a raining arrows ability.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to have raining arrows but it doesn't make sense to have an non magic archer have that ability. A mage with high mysticism/alteration would of course make sense to use raining arrows, but they why give this mage a bow?

Well I think its a safe bet that there will be fire storm/other aoe effects in game as well. But if there was no rain of arrows spell and they had to use fireballs then you'd have outcry about that. I suppose the middle answer is just animate the pc's hands so that it looks like he's firing off several arrows at once

Well, DLC for the single-player games from Morrowind on has also added fancier, flashier armor, weapons, and abilities. My avatar's from the Morrowind Gold armor, first DLC ever in the series I think Every TES EP, and some DLC in between EPs, has given us fancier armor with better stats, new abilities and so on.. it HAS to, to provide something desirable to the player who's already beaten the game.

But that's not an MMO thing. That's an "additional content" thing.

So it's not that you fear armors will eventually become grandiose to the point that it will eventually betray the art style set former by previous games in the series, it's that you are afraid that they are already making a product with the intent of appealing to people despite what has been set forth in the previous iterations of the series.

Welcome to the free market system. Business with no risk can't only be so successful to a certain extent, especially in a saturated market. So they imitate what works in the genre that they are making this entry in the series while trying to create systems contrary to what in their opinion doesn't work, all the while straddling the line of needing to maintain a meaningful connection to the IP.

A deathgrip is something lots of players love. As I understand it the dragon-knight skillset is based on their own interpretation of the last remnants of akavirian magic left behind over centuries. Their lore justification for the existence of dragon-knights aside; they want to include this arch-type to build off the success of skyrim's dragonborn character. Since mainstay exposure to the recent foray of that iteration proved to be popular. Alot of the people excited for it are skyrim players former, or new fans to the series as a whole whose first introduction to the series was skyrim.

That's a pitch, a pitch used to get investment money to make the AAA title we're all looking forward to. Maybe it's something the producers asked for or a pitch from a dev to get publisher money. However some semblance from past games gets funding.

If they can still make the game they set out to make, at the end of that day. Despite this shackle then I will happily accept it. And look forward to laughing as some poor dragon-knight made the mistake leash me in close range for me to stun blink out.