Zenimax assures that ESO is both elder scrolls and mmo, blending the two in a new way. Being fed up with mmo games myself, I'll be tremendously let down if ESO falls into the same unplayable mess category as wow and others. Having played Skyrim until it wore thin, I am looking for an elder scrolls fix until TES VI comes out.
That all being said, I would like to highlight some important design distinctions that will determine what kind of game ESO. In no particular order; whether the game uses auto attack, action bars, its collision detection, first person functionality, the feel of the environments, the quality of the storytelling, and the game's balance.
1. Auto Attack: According to the combat AUA combat is done with timed clicks on PC and Mac, and presumably with the triggers on PS4 and Xbox One. This is good, very good, as including an auto-attack is the best way to turn a MMORPG into a boring RTS with a very small scope.
2. Action Bars: Currently, ESO has a single hotbar with 6 slots, one of which being an ultimate ability. This could prove problematic, as well as taking up screen space, abilities in some modern RPGs feel floaty. I truly hope that zenimax has the good sense to allow players to hide or shrink the action bar. The system Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning used for abilities worked well; hold down a shoulder button to bring up a directional menu with 4 spell slots (this could be adapted to ESO's 6 with the use of two more buttons or keys).
Furthermore, a gulf between the player and their character is created by having abilities make your character dance about in an elaborate attack when all they player did was press a button. I always loved elder scrolls games for providing a physicality to the combat. Even if bears took a few too many hits in Skyrim they felt like real, visceral blows, the sound of the weapons conveyed their weight, and attacks from a distance missed. Compared to wow which has poor sound design and allowed dagger attacks from 5 meters away this is a great system and I hope ESO continues it.
3. First Person: Currently ESO offers a choice between first and third person. First person is synonymous with elder scrolls games and has long since been the best way to play them. Not only does it help you see where you're attacking, but it also makes you feel more like a strong nord scaling the rime-encrusted mountains in Skyrim or a dunmer wandering the ash wastes of Vvardenfell. Having a choice between first and third in a MMO PvP scenario is no choice at all. Playing in third person will always grant you better situational awareness, whether in PvP or PvE. Now personally I'll just play in first person to quest and ignore PvP entirely because I can't be asked with competitive online multiplayer anymore. However, I am not everyone and there are probably some elder scrolls fans that also enjoy multiplayer melee games like Chivalry.
If third person continues to be an option in PvP those that prefer first person will be continually punished for their preference for actually using their character's eyes to see. If ESO actually wants to lead in the MMO industry instead of following wow's poor example then it should use only a first person perspective. Just as Medal of Honor will never surpass Call of Duty, ESO can never beat wow at being wow, because wow it established and has a huge support base or soulless thralls. ESO can only succeed by being the elder scrolls game that's also a MMO, not the MMO set in the elder scrolls universe.
There's also the question of the quality of the first person mode; is it just there as a flimsy sales pit that quickly descends into irrelevance then I'll be thoroughly disappointed. The example of a first person failing would be fighting a mammoth in first person and the camera clipping inside of it's trunk. This will depend largely on the quality of the collision detection...
4. Collision Detection: It's a untested law that MMOs can't have player characters take up actual space. That's probably true in high population capital cities, as standing in line for the bread vendor may be an accurate depiction of life in Daggerfall, but it's hardly fun to play. THAT BEING SAID, there's no excuse for NPCs to have no physicality in an elder scrolls game. The aforementioned stabbing people who are five meters away with a dagger is NOT FUN and most assuredly NOT and elders scrolls game. At present I have heard that there is no collision detection detection for players and NPCs. This will surely be to the detriment of ESO if it is not rectified.
By keeping character and NPC models and animations tight Zenimax may be able to salvage a game without collision detection as well as provide a viable first person experience and fun gameplay overall. Whether ESO will or not is yet to be seen; the proof is in the pudding and the game will have to stand on its merits come release day.
5. Environments: Elder Scrolls open worlds are a shining gem of the genre. Other "open world" games often have designated walking areas with many out of reach walls and ledges, rather severely undermining the concept. The much touted "walk to the top of any mountain you see" feature that Skyrim had will be essential for ESO, a game that heavily emphasizes exploration.
At ESO's announcement it was touted to feature the whole of Tamriel. Further announcements and released maps have added a *except western Skyrim, southern Hammerfell, Vvardenfell & Eastern Morrowind, the Anvil region of Cyrodiil, Solstheim, the majority of Summerset Isles, most of Elsweyr and Black Marsh to that initial map. This sets ESO in roughly half of Tamriel's land mass, an impressive, if over-promised, area. I can accept the marketing being done here, to me the real question is will the included lands be up to the elder scrolls standard. Will players be able to rob NPCs blind of all their spoons, tomatoes, and kettle pots or will these objects feature in an uninteresting background without any real depth. All previous elder scrolls games have focused on a specific province or even smaller area of Tamriel. The question is thus: will ESO be able to bring a larger area to life with the necessary depth of quests, NPCs, and individual character or will it fall into the mediocre medieval theme park bin that MMOs love to populate.
6. Story: When the quest to take down the final boss looks more like a sue in the aforementioned fantasy theme park then it's safe to say the game isn't trying to tell a story anymore. Phasing (changing what NPCs and players are visible and can interact with one another during a certain quest in a certain area) can be used to effectively eliminate this problem. Elder scrolls game aren't known for the best characters or dialogue, but they always form another chapter in a deep and storied world. ESO needs to tell a compelling story in the main quest as well as provide interesting side quests and quest lines.
7. Balance: Simple; don't make enemies damage sponges and balance most skill lines and abilities within a general range of acceptability. It'd likely be beyond anyone to completely balance this game in PvP, but hopefully it will be fair enough to be enjoyable. Also, ridiculous health pools don't make enemies harder, just more tedious. Stronger foes will hopefully entail fun battles with interesting mechanics without descending into wow's choreographed dance battles.
It's not useful to say 3/7 criteria met WILL NOT BUY; that's not the purpose of this thread. The aim of this lengthy article is to highlight specific areas of design that I feel are of import to an elder scrolls MMORPG. ESO's quality and whether it's true to the elder scrolls series will depend largely upon the feel and character of the game.