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I've been eating up, reading up, every little bit of information I can find on this game; from the lore and combat to the visuals and factions along with the races, classes, and everything else that's out there right now. So, let me jump right into it:
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The combat isn't what I've come to expect from TES. Someone could claim that it's just not possible in an MMO, but I'm seeing modern MMO out there do some amazing things. Yeah, I've read up on the combat system as they've presented it so far and . . . it's neat, sort of, for another setting and game entirely. It's just not TES. I've experiences TES combat enough to know what I'm looking for in a TES game, and I'm not hearing anything about the things that actually draw me to the series.
The races, especially the elves, don't look like the races in the main Elder scrolls series, so far as we've seen. The Altmer lady we keep seeing looks like a Human with pointy ears. Ever look at what Elves in TES look like? Ignore that mods that try and change that, and just look at the base. Elves in TES have very particular facial elements.
The Factions. Just. The factions. Really?
This nonsense about 'practicality' and 'realism' has anyone else read their reasoning behind Altmer architecture? Not practical? I'm sorry, long standing ideas of wha these races do in the world are practical for this setting. We use glass weapons and armor in this universe. Yes. You can make buildings out of it. And you can, in TES and in reality, make buildings out of pottery, we have actual examples of it. What next? Are you going to get rid of all the wonderful, near alien, fantasy elements that made Morrowind, its architecture and its peoples so visually interesting?
The visuals do not look like a TES game, they look more like something from 'that other game'. I love the art in TES, even at its most bland, well, TES bland is breath taking, and their breath taking would knock other game visuals flat on their butts. The architecture in Morrowind, the beautiful forests in Oblivion, the jagged misty, snow capped, mountains in Skyrim. I'm not seeing any of this. I'm not even seeing the same style. I'm seeing a completely different style, 'sometimes' trying to make something I sort of recognize . . . but it's just not there.
Open exploration. Open character advancement. Open combat. Open mixing and matching of abilities. Complete soloability. The ability to steal everything that's not bolted down. The ability to murder and cheat and steal from everyone even people that think you're on their side. The ability to wear and use whatever you want and be viable. The ability to advance in any manner you want and be viable. The ability join in game factions and move through various story archs. All these things and so many more are a part of the very 'base' of a TES experience, and, some of these things, quite simply, are not there.
Classes. I liked the ability to choose classes in TES from the perspective as a starter point for skills, or to make my own personalized class. In Skyrim I was happy too, no classes, just skill and perk advancement via use. I'm . . . just not feeling what I've heard so far from TESO in comparison.
Yes, I realize it's a different team, but when I see them outright changing both new and longstanding TES lore to make systems work (such as factions), systems they didn't have to include, I wonder if it's really TES at all. The Lore is not the TES lore I've come to love and know when they start fiddling with it. The Orcs? Moon Sugar? Skooma? Architecture? Issues of what's practical or realistic on our terms in a universe that is not on our terms? So many things just seem wrong.
Yes, I realize it's an MMO and single player elements simple aren't sensible. However, if you take all those elements we've come to love out . . . is it still TES?
What is this nonsense with the Orcs and their lore justification for being in that faction? What is with this faction nonsense at all? Why are there racial restrictions on some of the factions such restrictions make no sense for? Why do you not understand moonsugar? Why do the Bretons in your concept art look like Nords? Why do the Altmer in your art and game look like Humans with pointy ears instead of like Altmer? Why are there dozens of other visual and lore changes that do not, at all, fit in with the themes of TES? These aren't even things you should be able to get wrong. You can visually see what an Altmer looks like in TES. Open up Skyrim and look for God's sake. And the lore mistakes? You can see the actual lore well recorded in and out of their various games. Go look. No, you don't know better than Bethesda and the, "Things might have happened differently in the past that recorded" is amongst the weakest excuses I've ever heard, when some of these changes aren't things you can mistake - the lore surrounding the Orcs in the Daggerfall faction are a great example of this. No one got that wrong in the time of Skyrim. This litterally did not happen.
Is it? Or is it just an MMO with the TES name? If so, because that's what it seems, even worse an MMO with the TES name that is changing things about TES I love, including lore. When they start changing existing lore, especially lore I like, as well as gameplay elements and visual elements and mechanical elements I liked . . . or just plain removing some of them . . . why am I interested? Without the TES portion what's the point? Without the TES portion it's just any other given MMO, so why should I care about it rather than any other given MMO out there? The TES portion has to be there. If it's not, why even bother slapping the TES name on it? Because, so far, it seems like it's just to make money off a recognized name . . .
And this talk of a monthly fee from the community? Where have you all been lately? The Monthly Fee model no longer works. Every single recent pay to play model, out there, has converted to buy to play or free to play with cash shop. The monthly fee model is no longer viable unless you are WoW or one of the long standing MMOs lucky enough to not be a new MMO. Every. Single. One. A monthly fee is no longer, at all, a viable option. Every single recent release converting away from a monthly fee model is the only needed proof of that. No matter what game may want to be successful like a long standing MMO of a particular name that can still get away with a monthly fee . . . you, any of you new MMOs out there, are not that game. You never will be. Every single recent release has proven that, beyond all doubt. No, you will not be an exception. If anyone tries to tell you differently THEY ARE DELUSIONAL. More importantly, I don't want you to be that bloody game. At all. Stop even looking at that game. Drop the visuals and give us TES style visuals.