The Elder Scrolls Online

[Xuri]

Working on an MMO is super-exciting at first. After the honeymoon is over, though, it slowly starts sucking your soul dry.  Day by day, it drains you for creativity and motivation, and by the time you're laid off you're a lifeless husk with no faith left in humanity.

[Sky]

Also as I've mentioned before, buzz in the in-game channels was quite positive. For some reason.

It usually is.  Anyone pointing out flaws or criticizing the game get called out as heretics, though, its not unique to ESO.

Some people like to get immersed and enjoy the game without hearing negativity. I get it.

Though as someone not in the beta or w/e, I don't see why I'd want to play this game.

Also, Xuri; why would you have any faith in humanity in the first place? Good people are the abnormality in our race. Most people are stupid, selfish and short-sighted. Cherish those few who aren't.

[Falconeer]

Because he lives in Norway! ( )

[Signe]

Yes, Xuri is a sweet innocent Norwegian boy and Sky is a crazy Viking with a big axe. 

 Here is what I see when I think of Sky:

And Xuri:

[Xuri]

Meow? 

[Lucas]

This is the end result:

[Sky]

[Stormwaltz]

Working on an MMO is super-exciting at first. After the honeymoon is over, though, it slowly starts sucking your soul dry.  Day by day, it drains you for creativity and motivation, and by the time you're laid off you're a lifeless husk with no faith left in humanity.

Nothing drains you of the will to contribute creatively like having to redesign a region from scratch three times as content standards change repeatedly. You work on the area for over a year straight, throwing out thousands of man-hours of work and dozens of ideas you loved because they "don't fit" the latest directives, and at the end it's assigned to a completely different team to restart from scratch again. And months later, their work is also thrown out, and the area is back-burnered for "later development."

Not that I'm saying I experienced this at any point in my career. It's just something that happens.

[Nebu]

Nothing drains you of the will to contribute creatively like having to redesign a region from scratch three times as content standards change repeatedly. You work on the area for over a year straight, throwing out thousands of man-hours of work and dozens of ideas you loved because they "don't fit" the latest directives, and at the end it's assigned to a completely different team to restart from scratch again. And months later, their work is also thrown out, and the area is back-burnered for "later development."

Not that I'm saying I experienced this at any point in my career. It's just something that happens.

Made me think of this. 

[apocrypha]

So, soul-draining development and crazy viking kittens aside... 

I know a bunch of people who are super-excited about this game, so much so that some of them are talking about buying PCs to play it. They're young (20's), console gamers, and the closest they've ever come to playing an MMO before is multiplayer console gaming.

Skyrim has sold 20 million copies, only 14% of which were on the PC, so the market for people who've never played WoW, or WAR or SWTOR is huge, many of whom will stump up a full price box cost and then a monthly sub for a few months without hesitation. I suspect TESO might even give a significant boost to Xbox One sales this summer.

We're a bunch of jaded, cynical old farts who've beaten the crap out of every MMORPG released in the last 15 years, of course we're going to hate this. But we're not who all the money hats are going to come from with this game.

[rk47]

Tell them to do it and report their progress on a weekly basis when the game goes live.
This isn't gonna surprise anyone when it sucks, but hey let's look at it from the MMO virgins perspectives.
We were like that at some point in our lives.

[Malakili]

We're a bunch of jaded, cynical old farts who've beaten the crap out of every MMORPG released in the last 15 years, of course we're going to hate this.

I look forward to a whole new generation of gamers learning to hate their hobby. 

[Falconeer]

So, soul-draining development and crazy viking kittens aside... 

I know a bunch of people who are super-excited about this game, so much so that some of them are talking about buying PCs to play it. They're young (20's), console gamers, and the closest they've ever come to playing an MMO before is multiplayer console gaming.

Skyrim has sold 20 million copies, only 14% of which were on the PC, so the market for people who've never played WoW, or WAR or SWTOR is huge, many of whom will stump up a full price box cost and then a monthly sub for a few months without hesitation. I suspect TESO might even give a significant boost to Xbox One sales this summer.

We're a bunch of jaded, cynical old farts who've beaten the crap out of every MMORPG released in the last 15 years, of course we're going to hate this. But we're not who all the money hats are going to come from with this game.

You know, I didn't put any thoughts into this before but you might be onto something. I am not up to date when it comes to consoles, but I can't think of many "traditional" MMORPGs there outside of Final Fantasy XI/XIV, so this could be the first true shot at it and considering the "new" market and the general quality of the product -and how much it has been thought for consoles from the ground up- this could really be a flop on PC but a resounding success on consoles. And chances are they were aware of this since the beginning.

[apocrypha]

Tell them to do it and report their progress on a weekly basis when the game goes live.
This isn't gonna surprise anyone when it sucks, but hey let's look at it from the MMO virgins perspectives.
We were like that at some point in our lives.

Don't worry, I am very intrigued to see how they find it. I'm staying well away from the discussions because I don't want my cynicism to spill out onto them. I have a feeling that some of them are going to love it and will experience that "My first MMO" feeling that we all had once, many years ago.

You know, I didn't put any thoughts into this before but you might be onto something. I am not up to date when it comes to consoles, but I can't think of many "traditional" MMORPGs there outside of Final Fantasy XI/XIV, so this could be the first true shot at it and considering the "new" market and the general quality of the product -and how much it has been thought for consoles from the ground up- this could really be a flop on PC but a resounding success on consoles. And chances are they were aware of this since the beginning.

Well it's also made me think back to the discussions here and in the Wildstar thread about what would be determined as a success for these games. Are they going to topple WoW with it's X million subs and 10 years of development? No, not a chance. However, are they going to make a pile of money from box sales, subs and then F2P transactions? That looks a lot more likely. So if you're making these games, investing in them or selling them then surely that's a success?

We live in a capitalist world, gaming isn't magically exempt from that, there's only one metric that really matters - profit. Quality, critical acclaim, fan adulation, these things are only valuable if they result in profit.

[rk47]

This is like Blood Bowl Human edition with Unique Apokatieperry Add On Exclusive. 

[Venkman]

So, soul-draining development and crazy viking kittens aside... 

I know a bunch of people who are super-excited about this game, so much so that some of them are talking about buying PCs to play it. They're young (20's), console gamers, and the closest they've ever come to playing an MMO before is multiplayer console gaming.

Skyrim has sold 20 million copies, only 14% of which were on the PC, so the market for people who've never played WoW, or WAR or SWTOR is huge, many of whom will stump up a full price box cost and then a monthly sub for a few months without hesitation. I suspect TESO might even give a significant boost to Xbox One sales this summer.

We're a bunch of jaded, cynical old farts who've beaten the crap out of every MMORPG released in the last 15 years, of course we're going to hate this. But we're not who all the money hats are going to come from with this game.

Huh, yea, now that's curious. I had Skyrim as a PC-mostly game with all the modding, and therefore a TESO not-really-Skyrim MMO doomed to not appeal. But neither MMOs nor high (enough) fantasy PC-style RPGs exist to anywhere near the same parallel on consoles. In a way, an untapped market maybe.

So in other words, TESO could be fine as long as you didn't plan Skyrim to the point where you're writing your own mods for it nor MMOs since the EQACUO days.

Doesn't mean it'll be good for that audience either. Just means their baseline could very well TESO for first-MMO instead of WoW (itself being the Wayne's World Bohemian Rhapsody to us veterans, at which point someone chimes in about M59 or Kesmai  )

Shit though, this means possibly a whole new round of starry-eyed second MMOers. Not sure I have the fortitude to go through a fifth round of that...

[Falconeer]

Unboxing the Imperial Edition, video.

 

[Numtini]

Unboxing the Imperial Edition, video.

 

This made me want to play Skyrim and give the guy in the video a jelly donut with strychnine.

[Paelos]

PLAY AS AN IMPERIAL!
WED YOUR ONLINE GIRLFRIEND WHO MIGHT BE A DUDE!
GIVE HER CRABS!
ENJOY A STATUE OF THE LORD OF RAPE!

[Triforcer]

That video reminded me that every single person on the Internet is a man. 

[Fordel]

Nah, I've been to Moonguard, everyone is actually a lady playing a gay elf dude.

[Ginaz]

Unboxing the Imperial Edition, video.

 

Who the fuck is that guy?

[Nevermore]

He started off as a lowly Lore Apprentice but through hard work he climbed to Lore Journeyman.  Eventually he achieved the lofty title of Loremaster, but that wasn't enough for him.  For he wanted to be the best of the best and so he defeated all his rivals and became the Lead Loremaster.  And his reward for all his hard work and sacrifice?  He gets to open The Box!

[Stormwaltz]

Lawrence Schick. A genuinely, genuinely awesome guy.

[Ingmar]

Oh neat, I hadn't heard that he landed at not-Bethesda.

[Riggswolfe]

Skyrim has sold 20 million copies, only 14% of which were on the PC, so the market for people who've never played WoW, or WAR or SWTOR is huge, many of whom will stump up a full price box cost and then a monthly sub for a few months without hesitation. I suspect TESO might even give a significant boost to Xbox One sales this summer.

That stat shocks me. Not the number of copies but that only 14% were on PC. If any games should be played exclusively on PC it is Bethesday games. The mods are what make those games great, not what it ships with.

[Xuri]

Do those stats include digital sales?

[Ingmar]

Almost certainly, although it looks like it probably doesn't include however many they moved over Christmas in the various sales.

[Stormwaltz]

Oh neat, I hadn't heard that he landed at not-Bethesda.

ZOS has some serious old-school RPG talent as ground level content team leads. In addition to Lawrence, Zeb Cook and Bill Slavicsek are in the design/writing department.

[lamaros]

Skyrim has sold 20 million copies, only 14% of which were on the PC, so the market for people who've never played WoW, or WAR or SWTOR is huge, many of whom will stump up a full price box cost and then a monthly sub for a few months without hesitation. I suspect TESO might even give a significant boost to Xbox One sales this summer.

That stat shocks me. Not the number of copies but that only 14% were on PC. If any games should be played exclusively on PC it is Bethesday games. The mods are what make those games great, not what it ships with.

Complete rubbish. Do you know how few of even those PC players will have modded the game?

Players rarely even patch unless its forced upon them.

Skyrim base game is incredible.

[Tannhauser]

I only have one mod running for Skyrim, it's a inventory sorter.  It keeps me sane.

TESO is going to sell a LOT of boxes, but a few months out it'll be ghost town servers.

[ajax34i]

I've only modded the Skyrim interface, pretty much, because it was a console interface, so I imagine the console players are peachy with the vanilla game.

[Xuri]

I currently have... uh... *cough*over140*cough* mods for Skyrim. At first I was like, yeah, I'm just going to get this one, since it fixes some bugs. Oh, and that one, which fixes some bugs with the mod that fixes bugs. Oh and of course I'll need the other one over there, and I'd be a fool not to include this one, and OOOH this one looks awesome I should try that and Woah I always wantedthatfunctionalityandthisoneisgreatandthatsonecomeshighlyrecommendedandalsothatone... etc -_-

[Nija]

Complete rubbish. Do you know how few of even those PC players will have modded the game?

Players rarely even patch unless its forced upon them.

Skyrim base game is incredible.

What kind of ancient, non-steam world are you living in? It sounds like shitty.

[Ingmar]

I only have a handful of minor mods, mostly little convenience things and bugfixes. Lamaros is right; the base game is a great game in its own right, mods are unnecessary (and a large proportion of them are terrible).