Skyrim Maybe Included in The Elder Scrolls Online

Although there’s a lack of TESO news, a new (but short) interview with Matt Firor has surfaced according to Digital Spy.

As the game is currently in the alpha test, meaning, the game is only available to friends and family of the developers, there’s been a number of tweaks to the game. One of the featured tweaks is the game’s combat system. During the test, the dev team had the chance to receive feedback and tweak the game’s combat system. It’s unclear exactly what types of tweaks were implemented but one can only guess the devs tweaked the speed of combat or the type of attacks released by the players. Also, it is noted because of the game’s scale, it proves as a challenge to the dev team to pick out all imperfections the game may contain. Thus, players are recommended to drop feedback to the team to polish the game!

Granted, the tweaks in combat will allow players smoother and swifter movements when encountering beasts alike. Perhaps in addition to combat tweaks, spells will be easier to cast and possibly, the reduction of cooldown is reduced.

In addition to nifty combat tweaks, Matt Firor has discussed the possibility of the appearance of familiar faces from TES Skyrim. According to Firor, players will have the freedom to roam around Tamriel to locate these NPCs by using the game’s compass or stumble upon an area and receive rewards directly. Of course, the game does limit where a player can travel according to their level but there will be other areas to explore and things to do.

Basically the game will make sure players will always have something to do whether it’ll be slaying monsters or accepting quests or simply enjoy the lush scenery around them.

Pros and Cons of The Elder Scrolls Going Online

The Elder Scrolls have a long history for a computer game series. The original game that started it all was published in 1994, named The Elder Scrolls: Arena. With such a long history as a single player experience, one might wonder how the game studio will do with a Massively Multiplier Online game.

Pros
The answer is very well, if you watch the few videos that they have published. Bethesda is working to make this one of the best MMOs in history. They have created a unique technology, called “Mega-Server”, that allows all characters to be on a single server. In traditional MMOs, you must pick a single server out of dozens and hope that your friends like that server as well.

Exploration, a traditional Elder Scrolls feature, is said to be one of the focuses of the development team. This is a relief for many fans as most fondly remember viewing beautiful landscapes as far back as Morrowind, the third Elder Scrolls game. The creative team behind the game plans to make this a key part of the game by rewarding you for rabbit-trailing. Whenever you’re on a quest, you’ll be rewarded for taking a side trail by picking up another quest you can do instead. This will be a familiar pattern to all former players of any Elder Scrolls game.

Many players have wished that they could play Morrowind, Oblivion, or Skyrim with their friends, but the game only supports a single player experience. Many mod creators have tried to make multiplayer a reality, but all have come up short in some way. The Elder Scrolls Online will create an end to that need.

However, the series going online isn’t all roses and gum drops. The Elder Scrolls Online Guide on most sites is likely to be confused with previous advice from the single player games which won’t entirely apply to the MMO. TESO leveling tips are also likely, at least at first, to be muddled with the single player experience and other MMOs.

Fans of the series know that recent titles, Oblivion and Skyrim, have favored an action oriented combat system. Pre-Oblivion games like Morrowind and Daggerfall, however, relied somewhat on action to get yourself into position, but then fell to a stat based system where, despite your weapon passing through your enemy, no damage was done. This is not the system fans are hoping for.

Cons
With the recent launch of revolutionary action MMO, TERA, players everywhere have seen that an action MMO is not only possible, but leaps and bounds ahead of it’s stat based cousin. Whether the creators of The Elder Scrolls online follow this new path or sticks to the tried and boring approach laid down by World of Warcraft over a decade ago remains to be seen.

Another disadvantage to Bethesda’s new MMO is that it’s an MMO. Most Elder Scrolls fans are accustomed to a single player experience. Some even buy the game specifically because it’s only a single player game. They’re not looking for a multiplayer experience, so some of the fan base will, inevitably, not play the new MMO. Likewise, however, many gamers who are otherwise uninterested in The Elder Scrolls games will likely pick up The Elder Scrolls Online specifically because it’s a new MMO.

For the former group, paying a monthly subscription to play another Elder Scrolls game will seem like a step down. Players have been used to playing a single player game for free and only playing again for new content in expansions. MMO players will be used to this and not seem to mind, however.

In the end, The Elder Scrolls Online will have something to please everyone and should be a great new direction for the series.

The Elder Scrolls Online History

“The Elder Scrolls Online” is a MMORPG that features custom characters in the continent of Tamriel, which incorporates many areas of previous games. Known for its huge maps and elaborate quests, the “Elder Scrolls” series has delighted players for many years. With the new development, players will be able to have multi-player or single-player options in a revamped environment.

Development of “the Elder Scrolls Online” began in 2007, about a year after the release of “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.” While the series began for PC back in 1994 with the “Arena” release, the action-adventure series didn’t get to the height of its popularity right away. This was in part due to its PC restriction. The series became more popular with its “the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind” and “Oblivion” sequels because they were released on more platforms and took full advantage of the open-ended gaming environment. “Oblivion” was a major success but the technology to incorporate everything into an MMORPG was not fully available.

Demand for the MMORPG increased with the release of “the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” a popular game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, although development for “the Elder Scrolls Online” was already in the works. This will be the first project ZeniMax Online Studios will complete with director Matt Firor.

The game incorporates aspects from previous “Elder Scrolls” games and will keep the same art style seen in III, IV, and V. While set 1,000 years before the events in V, the online game will remain consistent with all of the small details laid out in previous games. The game is designed to submerge the player into the fantasy world with an overwhelming number of quests and PVP options. Because of this immense amount of detail, the game took several years to develop.

During the development several leaks revealed parts of the game early, sparking many rumors about the series. While the game wasn’t officially announced until May 2012, information about the game began to appear online as early as March. The game was later shown at E3 2012 and Quakecon 2012. A short video was also released in early November on YouTube which featured a sneak peek at the content of the game.

“The Elder Scrolls Online” is set for a 2013 release for the PC. This online RPG is designed to live up to the hype of the previous games while incorporating new MMORPG players into the finely detailed continent of Tamriel.

Interview with Matt Firor: The Elder Scrolls Beta

In a recent interview with Matt Firor, Game Director for the highly anticipated Elder Scrolls Online, has given some fans an insight as to what is to be expected in the first ever mmo of the Elder Scrolls franchise. Firor pointed out to The Guardian, the game will be unlike any other mmo without boasting too much about the game’s elements and mechanics.

To stand out in mmos, a game must introduce new and fresh elements toward their gameplay alongside a strong, engaging plot. Fans of the Elder Scrolls series look forward to an enriched storyline which remained present through out the games on consoles. In its first ever debut on the PC, the game is set 1,000 years before Skyrim introducing players to three monarchs battling for the Imperial Throne of Tamriel. According to Firor, players will be exposed to the politics within the TES Online world.

Tamriel contains three Alliances: The Daggerfall Covenant, The Aldmeri Dominion and The Ebonheart Pact.

To demonstrate the scale of the war, PvP has been designed to incorporate the massive numbers of players that will participate in a giant battleground. All three factions and Alliances will participate to prove which Alliance deserves its rightful place on the Imperial Throne.

PvP, in accordance to Firor is modeled fairly. Every player who participates in PvP will have their stats boosted to the max. What the dev team was working on is making the game unique in appearance especially when customization options are almost limitless. What is standard, however, will be the weapons which will seem homogenous, meaning, players can expect many characters using the same sword in combat. But the kick is: The players will have different builds used in battle. Players will always be searching for the best build for their character in order to claim victory for their faction.

In conclusion, more news has yet to surface about the beta launch of the mmo which hopefully won’t be too far off. Right now, players can sign-up for the beta until further notice.