The Elder Scrolls Online

 PC
User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 2703 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,210 out of 2703
  2. Mixed: 447 out of 2703
  3. Negative: 1,046 out of 2703
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  1. capthavic
    Apr 13, 2014
    4
    As much as I loved Oblivion and Skyrim I could only play the beta for about an hour before getting so bored I quit and uninstalled the game right then and there. It's just so...average. Not bad but not great either, doing nothing mechanically or visually outstanding in a genre littered with the corpses of countless "me too" fantasy games. It's everything you would expect from a genericAs much as I loved Oblivion and Skyrim I could only play the beta for about an hour before getting so bored I quit and uninstalled the game right then and there. It's just so...average. Not bad but not great either, doing nothing mechanically or visually outstanding in a genre littered with the corpses of countless "me too" fantasy games. It's everything you would expect from a generic fantasy mmo and nothing more. There is just no reason for it to exist as it brings nothing to the table that hasn't been done so many times before.… Expand
  2. johann1978
    Apr 7, 2014
    4
    What can i say? The Game is no Singleplayer Elder Scrolls, because its a MMORPG. And the Game is not really a good MMROPG because Bethesda will make the Singleplayer Fans happy.
    And so the Game is not really a MMO and not really am Elder Srolls....
  3. guinevere2
    Apr 19, 2014
    4
    Gameplay is very good, itemization is one of the best I have seen in games....but it all goes down the drain when you take all the exploits, hacks, mass boting in every public dungeon, not working skills into consideration. The communication from Zenimax side is almost non existent limited to generic one-two sentence post on their forum. The economy of the game was utterly broken 2 weeksGameplay is very good, itemization is one of the best I have seen in games....but it all goes down the drain when you take all the exploits, hacks, mass boting in every public dungeon, not working skills into consideration. The communication from Zenimax side is almost non existent limited to generic one-two sentence post on their forum. The economy of the game was utterly broken 2 weeks after the release because exploiters were duplicating items making a tons of cash. Zenimax did absolutely nothing to counter that, they just banned the exploiters leaving the broken economy to the players. A clear sign to me they are not here to stay, just grab as much money as fast they can. It is a fine game for a month or so, just for solid pve experience, and that is all. Unless it does not bother you that you will have to grind your ass off to get that legendery items when the guys next to you have all of that, millions of golds and they crafting skills maxed out thanks to an exploit. Well, it does bother me.… Expand
  4. CoreDave
    Apr 4, 2014
    4
    Its not terrible, its just very disappointing coming from the heritage of a game series that dared to be different from the crowd and define its own genre of open sandbox rpg gaming. Elderscrolls online just leaves me feeling like the makers really just wanted to make a new RvR game in the same mould as DAoC or WAR. Its so standard MMO, so been there done that, so uninspired it just hurts.Its not terrible, its just very disappointing coming from the heritage of a game series that dared to be different from the crowd and define its own genre of open sandbox rpg gaming. Elderscrolls online just leaves me feeling like the makers really just wanted to make a new RvR game in the same mould as DAoC or WAR. Its so standard MMO, so been there done that, so uninspired it just hurts. Where there is an attempt to incorporate some of the elements of the single player games it feels clunky or doesn't quite work because the fundamental starting point was your bog standard MMO the like of which we've seen time and again for the last 10 years. Take questing. full voice, lots of effort put into back story you say? Well yes, but because the questing and character advancement model is essentially the same as most MMOs (That being you advance by completing quests which give you xp to spend on level ups), the world is necessarily packed with quest givers, most of whom give 5 min quests which we've all done a million of before, kill 5 bears, pick 10 flowers, blah blah blah. The end result is all the fancy voice acting and back story just wastes your time because the fundamental activity is so mindless. I could go on and on about the disappointments in ESO, but it all boils down to one thing. Its nothing new, its not in the spirit of the single player games, its just another near enough carbon copy of a gameplay model that doesn't fit with the IP that's been forced into it. Come on Devs, can't you be a bit braver than this. If Bethesda had just copied the successful model of the time then Arena would of been a scripted on rails experience like Final Fantasy. The MMORPG world is crying out for something new, something different. Enough with the era of the WoW-a-like.… Expand
  5. Acidosis
    Apr 10, 2014
    4
    I followed this game way from early January 2013 till now...and I am heavily disappointed. The things they promise such as impact-full quest, smooth active combat/game-play, elder scroll's feel, adventuring, player significance in the world and other player feedback during early alpha was not taken into full consideration. The quest in this game is lackluster and doesn't impact theI followed this game way from early January 2013 till now...and I am heavily disappointed. The things they promise such as impact-full quest, smooth active combat/game-play, elder scroll's feel, adventuring, player significance in the world and other player feedback during early alpha was not taken into full consideration. The quest in this game is lackluster and doesn't impact the game/npc in anyway, the combat still feels floating and animations are terrible for a 2014 game, elder scroll's feel aspect of it only comes from environment and music and adventuring is heavily controlled not to mention the dungeons mechanics are one of the worst I had seen. Players would rush to loot chest in dungeons and get all the loots instead of helping the group to make it through the dungeon. Even if you were to kick the player, the player will still exist in the same instance of dungeon and will continue to troll you and your group. It is a very terrible experience and it has been happening more frequently now.

    I will justify why I only give this game a 4/10

    One point is for their soundtrack/in game music.
    Second point is for their immense voice acting, which always make an mmorpg more lively.
    Third point is for recreating previous ESO game locations and make it look awesome
    Fourth point for me fan-boying till now. I really wish the game is more polish, solid and better but it isn't

    I can't give it another 6 points because I didn't enjoy any of the beta testing, broken promises which i stated above and the game isn't polished enough. The persistent in-game bugs are one of the worst I had encountered in all the mmorpgs i had played. They even beat GW2 in bugs award. SWTOR, Neverwinter and FFXIVARR were almost bug free even during the beta testing.

    I had a group of friends who were hyped up for the game as me but everything just fall flat. It may not be much but 11 of us including me will not be playing this game anymore. Five of us bought it and all of them regretted it.    … Expand
  6. cafebabe
    Apr 4, 2014
    4
    I'm very disappointed by this MMO. PvE is so badly unbalanced. Its just frustrating. In some key quests, you fight mobs alone easily, but when you touch a boss, you need a group or be 10 levels ahead. That's just so frustrating. The fighting is just bad. You cannot really focus on one enemy. The server often lag too much so blocking or evading attacks is just a roll of dice. The weaponryI'm very disappointed by this MMO. PvE is so badly unbalanced. Its just frustrating. In some key quests, you fight mobs alone easily, but when you touch a boss, you need a group or be 10 levels ahead. That's just so frustrating. The fighting is just bad. You cannot really focus on one enemy. The server often lag too much so blocking or evading attacks is just a roll of dice. The weaponry and armor is boring and the _very good_ voice overs cannot compensate the repetitiveness of the quests. I will not go further than the 30 days included with the high price for the game, unless there are a lot of bugfixes and balancings.… Expand
  7. 23skidoo
    Apr 5, 2014
    4
    I just could not get past the aesthetic feeling that I was playing Age of Conan again. The colors, or lack thereof, create a dreary atmosphere. I also found the quests to be an uninspired rehash of all the previous MMO's that I have played. After playing both the ESO and Wildstar Betas I found it easy to choose Wildstar as my next MMO. I know, some of you will say that Wildstar hasI just could not get past the aesthetic feeling that I was playing Age of Conan again. The colors, or lack thereof, create a dreary atmosphere. I also found the quests to be an uninspired rehash of all the previous MMO's that I have played. After playing both the ESO and Wildstar Betas I found it easy to choose Wildstar as my next MMO. I know, some of you will say that Wildstar has cartoony graphics, but I prefer my games to feel colorful and vibrant, unlike the bleak Goya-esque atmosphere of ESO.… Expand
  8. terrible_lizard
    Apr 10, 2014
    4
    I was in on the Mac beta and was able to play this for a couple weekends before the official release. So, full disclosure, I have not played the official release. The reason why I have not played the official release is that based on my time with the beta, this is a bad game. No way I would pay for this game after playing the late-stage beta. I am big fan of Skyrim and Oblivion, and I haveI was in on the Mac beta and was able to play this for a couple weekends before the official release. So, full disclosure, I have not played the official release. The reason why I have not played the official release is that based on my time with the beta, this is a bad game. No way I would pay for this game after playing the late-stage beta. I am big fan of Skyrim and Oblivion, and I have played many of the MMOs that are out there (if only the free versions, in some cases). This game is a laughably average and dull MMO with a coat of Elder Scrolls paint. If you must play an MMO, grab a copy of GW2 which is a better game in every respect and has no subscription fee. ESO feels like a cynical ploy to milk fanboy cash. Having said all this, I will be keeping an eye on ESO because I know the devs can make it better if they keep working at it. If FF13 A Realm Reborn can be salvaged, then perhaps so can ESO.… Expand
  9. Garloz911
    Apr 16, 2014
    4
    Honest to god I do not understand why this is an MMO. It plays as a console game that got ported to PC and has a few adventures. Yes the quests are pretty neat so that's nice. But in all honesty here it does nothing new. I hate being "that guy" but the PvP is copy paste of guild wars. All arguments aside if you compare the two they really have the same PvP. PvE in ESO is neat because youHonest to god I do not understand why this is an MMO. It plays as a console game that got ported to PC and has a few adventures. Yes the quests are pretty neat so that's nice. But in all honesty here it does nothing new. I hate being "that guy" but the PvP is copy paste of guild wars. All arguments aside if you compare the two they really have the same PvP. PvE in ESO is neat because you have long adventures.... alone... by yourself... in an mmo... (cough cough SWTOR). But the dungeons actually are really well done. Besides the console UI that should never have happened and the PvP which is copy paste it is an Elder Scrolls game and feels like one. When they slapped MMO on it though it really is a huge let down that brings nothing new into the universe.… Expand
  10. bombrero
    Apr 24, 2014
    4
    I was in the beta for a long time until right before it was launched, and all I have to say is that it must not be considered an Elder Scrolls game (It degrades the ES lore for it's own fitting sake), but it fails as an MMORPG too. As an MMORPG, and having played World of Warcreft, Tera and Guild Wars 2 (I played more than these, but these here are the better templates to compare TESO'sI was in the beta for a long time until right before it was launched, and all I have to say is that it must not be considered an Elder Scrolls game (It degrades the ES lore for it's own fitting sake), but it fails as an MMORPG too. As an MMORPG, and having played World of Warcreft, Tera and Guild Wars 2 (I played more than these, but these here are the better templates to compare TESO's aspects) I couldnt find anything new or revolutionary in this game, or even any aspects with a better or refreshing execution than in the previous games i had played. First time I played, I noticed the combat felt floaty and shallow, since I had the expectations that this would be the strong aspect of the game. The combat was slightly tuned throughout the following beta sessions, but it ended being a mix of Guild Wars 2 and Tera systems that ended up feeling inferior than its counterparts. The quest had no appealing, and the rewards were discouraging, something we beta testers complained about several times during all of the beta sessions, but was never fixed, just like much other things, like race mixing, trade systems, ability approach and development, npc's placement and presence on important areas, broken quest that were never fixed, and for god sake, the party system! You cant share a quest with your friends. Well, you can, but they still will have to do them by themselves, so it doesnt matter that you shared a mission it will be the same as going alone, since you will have to perform the same actions, but with two or more people, meaning less loot , and more time to complete, since there are more people gathering objectives. We complained about those things, we filled the surveys in each beta session, and we got ignored. You looked up in forums just to see hundreds of people complaining about the same problems, which never got fixed.

    In the end, it ended up being a mediocre to average MMORPG that made you constantly think: "This was so much better in Tera/GW2/WoW depending on the aspect you were analyzing".    … Expand
  11. Rsharp254
    Sep 28, 2019
    4
    I have played from the very beginning, all the way back to Beta when the game looked horrendous. While the overall game and gameplay has improved 1000% - the combat still sucks the life out of me every single time I try to play again. It's...simplistic and borderline stupid! At level 5 you spam 3 basic attacks, at level 30 you spam almost the same type of attacks and even at max levelI have played from the very beginning, all the way back to Beta when the game looked horrendous. While the overall game and gameplay has improved 1000% - the combat still sucks the life out of me every single time I try to play again. It's...simplistic and borderline stupid! At level 5 you spam 3 basic attacks, at level 30 you spam almost the same type of attacks and even at max level / max champion level - you are still spamming the same damn 3 type of attacks you were when you were level 5. Sure those attacks morphed and got better...but the simplicity of the combat is just the worst combat I have ever seen, in any MMO!!!
    Now the other parts of the game, stealing/sneaking/chest hunting - I could almost play this entire game for that and nothing else. That is until I am forced to fight and I quickly remember why I quit very shortly after coming back.

    Not considering the combat - this game could easily be 9/10
    But...since the combat is something you'll be doing 100,000 times over and over, it's a 4/10.    … Expand
  12. Demonik420
    Apr 8, 2014
    4
    this game is the worst thing to EVER happen to The Elder Scrolls series.. Lets hope they can sweep this under the rug FAST and start work on the next SINGLE PLAYER entry to the series!.

    honestly I'd rather play TES:Arena, a 20 year old game than this lame excuse for a TES MMO
  13. WhiteTalpa
    Apr 11, 2014
    4
    awful controls i mean like sometimes it doesnt even work, the lagg is awful considering it doesnt even look that great and i mean my pc can handle better looking games, the quests are boring... the npc look like actual players so thats really confusing and it meant ive died a couple of times...because i have to put it in low graphic setting some of the quest npc wont even load into theawful controls i mean like sometimes it doesnt even work, the lagg is awful considering it doesnt even look that great and i mean my pc can handle better looking games, the quests are boring... the npc look like actual players so thats really confusing and it meant ive died a couple of times...because i have to put it in low graphic setting some of the quest npc wont even load into the game right away i have to stand there and wait for it to load there are so many more reasons why this is an awful MMORPG if you're a fan on elder scrolls you're gonna be disappointed and if you're a fan on MMORPGS you're gonna be disappointed.… Expand
  14. SickSigma
    Aug 10, 2014
    4
    This was the worst possible way to adapt TES to the MMO category.
    They've essentially added network capability to a really bad Elder Scrolls game, sucked out all the flavor and atmosphere, made everything generic, and made everything into a gold grind.

    I am embarrassed for Bethesda.
  15. Rekia
    Apr 27, 2014
    4
    As a single player experience, it's obviously lacking, as most MMOs are. The thing that really ruins it for me is that it doesn't do the multi player experience well either. I gave it 4 because it is fun for about 10 hours, by yourself, but then you start to want more out of an MMO.

    The idea of this game is great, but the actual implementation of it is severely lacking. The Elder    As a single player experience, it's obviously lacking, as most MMOs are. The thing that really ruins it for me is that it doesn't do the multi player experience well either. I gave it 4 because it is fun for about 10 hours, by yourself, but then you start to want more out of an MMO.

    The idea of this game is great, but the actual implementation of it is severely lacking. The Elder Scrolls IP is really the only thing that makes this game playable.

    Pros:

    - I've always wanted to explore more of Tamriel and this game allows you to explore a lot of different cultures and environments in the Elder Scroll's lore.

    - Action based combat similar to Guild Wars 2

    - A lot of the quests actually have very interesting stories

    Cons:

    - Imagine an Elder Scrolls game where you couldn't run around collecting all the Daedric artifacts, hoarding random stuff you find in people's homes, or decorating your own home - basically there's a lot of limitations in this game that make me feel very "homesick" for a real Elder Scroll's title.

    - The action based combat is very unresponsive and basically a watered down version of GW2's very successful combat system . You only get 5 skills and an ultimate on your bar at any time, and only skills that are on your bar gain experience and level up. It ends up being that everyone has to choose the same five skills because you don't really have room for situational skills.

    - And by unresponsive, I mean sometimes you want to switch your weapon in combat to pull out that bow, but it takes 2+ seconds after hitting the hotkey before it registers. Sometimes enemies will appear to be several feet away, or facing the other direction, and yet still hitting you. Which makes the dodge mechanic pointless since the red ground indicator is not always in the correct spot. Also, dodging doesn't always work, even with full stamina.

    - Dodging takes stamina. Blocking takes stamina. Weapon skills take stamina, so if you used all your stamina using your weapon skills (there is no auto attack, so you probably did) then you don't get to dodge or block that huge attack that may or may not one shot you. I hope you like caster classes because they're just 100 times better than any melee weapon or bow based build.

    - Some classes and weapon types are just better than everything else, the combat is not at all balanced, not even remotely.

    - Many progression halting bugs. All of the quests are part of a quest chain. Each icon on the map is one quest chain area that you must complete in order to get enough experience to continue on to the next area. There are MANY bugs that prevent a quest from being done, which prevents the quest chain from being continued, which means your character might be super underleveled for the next area.

    - Dungeons and killing monsters barely rewards any exp, only quests are worth decent exp.

    - The end game content consists of doing all the quests in the other faction's areas with absolutely no role play or story reason for doing it. I started out as a a loyal member of the Daggerfall Covenant helping the King against the Aldmeri Dominion and the Ebonheart pact, but now I'm helping the Aldermi queen for some reason. Basically, the reason is because it's the only thing to do at level 50+ and rather than have new content for end game, they recycled the other quest areas, basically eliminating any desire to make an alt of these other factions.

    - More bugs. There's a bug that basically makes it so that you can no longer attack or do anything in combat until you die. Certain weapon skills cause it, so it happens often. There's a bug where everything in your entire bank disappears and all the bank upgrades you bought are gone. There's a bug where your helmet randomly disappears while you craft. A lot of skills are bugged too.

    - Phasing. All the quests are phased, so you're in a different "phase" or instance of the game after completing a quest. You know how in World of Warcraft, when you're in a different phase from your group member, it asks "Your friend is in a different phase, would you like to join them?" This game does not do that. There is NO way to join your friend in their phase, and ALL the quests are phased, so the only way to level with a friend is to never do anything without them. You'll never be able to help a guildy or a random person with their quests.

    - Many instances are solo. Some quest lines can only be done solo and you can't help or be helped during them. Really hope you chose a caster based build because the game gets impossibly hard for melee characters later on.

    So in conclusion, this game is pretty fun at first, then disappointing. I'd put it in the "borrow from a friend, but don't spend $60 on it" category.    … Expand
  16. Yalingo
    Apr 19, 2014
    4
    Very disappointing game. The launch was a mess and the customer support is even worse. The gameplay is slow and clunky, the questing is 10 year old wow style and the servers are rife with gold spammers, bugs and stability issues.

    Avoid.
  17. Molec_man
    Jul 9, 2014
    4
    At first glance, I thought this game was great. I loved the combat flexibility and ease of switching my builds. Unfortunately, as I progressed that ease and limited combat variation became boring. Upon reaching Veteran rank, I lost all motivation to continue on. The bots were everywhere and the landscape was dull and drab. The dungeons didn't draw me in, there was no reason to do themAt first glance, I thought this game was great. I loved the combat flexibility and ease of switching my builds. Unfortunately, as I progressed that ease and limited combat variation became boring. Upon reaching Veteran rank, I lost all motivation to continue on. The bots were everywhere and the landscape was dull and drab. The dungeons didn't draw me in, there was no reason to do them multiple times as you leveled and the questing seemed like the same old same old. It reminds me of what happened with the build up of SWTOR. In the end, they should have just made a KOTOR 3. Same here. In the end, they should have just made a new single player Elder Scrolls game like the previous installments (Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim). Wasted effort Zenimax.… Expand
  18. ISB5223CDN
    Jun 26, 2014
    4
    Started with hope, ended with failure. Everyone who has ever played an elder scrolls game, wanted this to succeed. I knew it was in trouble when the community board had an official poll regarding "would you still play if eso went f2p". That was after one month of it being live. Shortly after that, they announced it would be delayed for consoles. This game had promise and made promises andStarted with hope, ended with failure. Everyone who has ever played an elder scrolls game, wanted this to succeed. I knew it was in trouble when the community board had an official poll regarding "would you still play if eso went f2p". That was after one month of it being live. Shortly after that, they announced it would be delayed for consoles. This game had promise and made promises and both were broken repeatedly. The group system is farce. This is the first MMO that doesn't have shared progress. I play with my son, and through the hundreds of quests, I believe we found 2 or 3 that had shared progress. The veteran system is not solo-friendly. As opposed to the 1-50 which is very solo-friendly. It feels like they actually designed the game to force soloists to conform to group play after 50. It's not impossible to level solo, just hard and be prepared to grind creature kills. There is another way though, the pvp daily quests, but your faction better control the majority of the map for that. The pvp is a game of capture the flag akin to any fps title out there, only here, gear and levels matter. Also pvp has a huge flaw with the mage aoe groups. They run in packs, and I mean run, so they are hard to target with siege machines and ground aoe. I could go on about veteran, but I'll end it by saying, get in a pvp guild if you want to war in Cyrodil and level like you did pre-veteran. The scenery is nice, but it's not skyrim quality. So I end this (cause I could go on) by saying "A lot of expectations, very few of them met."… Expand
  19. AeonAmadi
    Apr 9, 2014
    4
    I really wanted to like the game but it just turned out being what you expect.

    The fun part about Skyrim was exploring the world, opening treasure chests and collecting loot - and you can TOTALLY do that in TESO.... Only with the added stipulation of thousands of other players beating you to it. The crafting system is amusing at first but eventually just turns into a chore as even if    I really wanted to like the game but it just turned out being what you expect.

    The fun part about Skyrim was exploring the world, opening treasure chests and collecting loot - and you can TOTALLY do that in TESO.... Only with the added stipulation of thousands of other players beating you to it. The crafting system is amusing at first but eventually just turns into a chore as even if you became the best blacksmith you can be, you can't use the gear you create without being a certain level.

    PVP in Cyrodil seems promising at first but then you realize the subtle nuances of how aggravating it can really be. Going in at level 10, you're automatically doomed to lose any solo PVP you encounter as level 50+ (veteran ranks) can solo three or more level 10s and a level 27 can ace you; even with HP and Damage ratings all being balanced out to level 50 regardless of level. It even gives you a cheeky little warning saying that you'll be at a "slight disadvantage" because you haven't maxxed out your skills but it doesn't really matter because the PvP is practically designed around being level 50. Which is interesting because you don't gain XP from participating in PVP.

    Beyond that, PVP also has another annoying aspect in the form of logistics. In order to get close to the battlefield, you often times need to spawn at a Home Base (an area for your alliance to spawn at) which is more annoying/frustrating to use than necessary. You have to find a flat piece of ground which can't be anywhere near a graveyard, keep or other landmark - presenting you with the problem of: "Holy ****, why did level design make Cyrodil a giant ****ing hill that I can place this thing on". Assuming you manage to get past that irritating aspect, there's the factor of it costing the same amount as SIX TREBUCHETS and only having enough spawns for 20 people. Which wouldn't be so bad if you could rez people with any sense of ease but good luck with that considering that in order to rez people you need a filled Grand Soul Gem, regardless of their level. Healers have no way of rezzing people, and all this adds up to one big Walking Simulator with intermittent, frustrating combat that isn't at all enjoyable unless you've gone through every quest in the rest of the game to get to level 50.

    Questing is about as annoying as one might expect from an MMO. "Fight 6 of these" and "Go here to get the next part of the quest just to walk back" are rampant with dungeons having absolutely no loot (at least as far as I saw). There are a few that are really interesting and captivating as the Elder Scrolls usually has, but the rest are bland, boring and uninspired. To exacerbate this irritating factor, the regions seem needlessly open and spread out, being as there's usually nothing of interest that doesn't revolve around questing and if it is of interest, there won't be anything of value in it.

    These sort of things wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that you can't access the forums without invitation and sending in suggestions to the developers is done through a website which has a non-functional 'send' button. For $60 + $15/month subscription, it's a terrible buy.    … Expand
  20. wawekar
    Nov 21, 2014
    4
    Update. Can't explain it much, tired of using the same old skills day after day after day. Tired of no real market except in guilds. Really? You could not add a market in fighters guild, mages guild etc. You put in the guilds hands?. Needless to say my score is now a 4. You will play for a month and then it becomes quite dull.

    Apr 10, 2014 9 The Elder Scrolls Online Image    Update. Can't explain it much, tired of using the same old skills day after day after day. Tired of no real market except in guilds. Really? You could not add a market in fighters guild, mages guild etc. You put in the guilds hands?. Needless to say my score is now a 4. You will play for a month and then it becomes quite dull.

    Apr 10, 2014
    9
    The Elder Scrolls Online Image
    Excellent game. At first I wasn't interested it seemed it was going to be boring. However once you start to learn all the mechanics it becomes quite fun. I love saving a "town" to have it become a thriving community.
    Crafting takes a bit, but is not tedious. The only reason I am giving them a nine, is because I have contacted support numerous times and my issue has not been resolved. The game itself is great, but I can see support might kill it    … Expand
  21. DrStrange
    Aug 1, 2014
    4
    Where most MMO's will do their best to engage you at the start, Elder scrolls fails to even set the pace. As you begin your adventures immediately you find yourself surrounded by dull colors, uninspired environments, and NPCs that give a new meaning to generic. The classes the player chooses from are traditional warrior, rogue, and mage archtypes however their skillset is awkward andWhere most MMO's will do their best to engage you at the start, Elder scrolls fails to even set the pace. As you begin your adventures immediately you find yourself surrounded by dull colors, uninspired environments, and NPCs that give a new meaning to generic. The classes the player chooses from are traditional warrior, rogue, and mage archtypes however their skillset is awkward and uninteresting.

    The PVP places the character in what was the map of Oblivion where you are left basically to your own devices. There is no raid group unless player formed to join, there is no life too it, its just mediocore to say the least. That can be said about the entire game its just underwhelming you are better off staying with WOW or SWTOR as they are atleast capable of keeping the players attention.

    Overall Elder Scrolls community seems to be your average Mentally disturbed and quick to anger populace where you will find yourself grinding for loots to keep up with the next guy. The developers of this game clearly never played a Elder Scroll game and the proof is everywhere.    … Expand
  22. TheWaffle
    Jun 20, 2020
    4
    I have to watch the company logo animation and accept 4 different end user license agreements every-time I log on? No thanks.
  23. Fancypenguin
    Apr 23, 2014
    4
    Hey kids! Do you like The Elder Scrolls? Have you always wanted to play it online and explore the vast expanses of Tamriel with friends? Well too bad, you're going to be incredibly disappointed. Where do I even begin with the disappointment in this game? There are so many incredibly stupid design choices its baffling. First things first, I just have to come out and say that this game isHey kids! Do you like The Elder Scrolls? Have you always wanted to play it online and explore the vast expanses of Tamriel with friends? Well too bad, you're going to be incredibly disappointed. Where do I even begin with the disappointment in this game? There are so many incredibly stupid design choices its baffling. First things first, I just have to come out and say that this game is a HUGE cash grab. They lock the imperial race behind a pay wall right off the bat. You have to buy the collector's edition to unlock it. WHAT THE F*** This is downright criminal when you're already paying 60$ for the game plus a 15$ subscription fee. Next, there aren't instanced dungeons, meaning that if somebody else is in a dungeon and they kill the boss or take loot out of a chest you then have to wait for it to respawn. I'M SORRY, IS THIS THE ORIGINAL ULTIMA ONLINE? IS IT 1997? This is unacceptable in MMO's now a days. Get used to standing around in dungeons waiting for loot to respawn, or for bosses to respawn so you can run through a mosh pit of people, hoping to get 1 hit on it so as to complete the quest or continue the quest line. Gold is WAY too hard to get, every enemy drops like 1 or 2 gold and horses are incredibly overpriced. Why? Well you didn't think Zenimax and Bethesda would miss the chance to sell you the collector's edition that comes with a horse would ya? The story is generic and uninteresting and while the game is fully voice-acted which is great, it is very hit and miss quality wise. The graphics look dated, but are quite good for MMO standards. Questing is a huge disappointment. Every quest is the stereotypical MMO "kill x amount of x" Or "Fetch x" uninspired and dull. One of my favorite gaming moments is that quest for the Dark Brotherhood in Oblivion where you have to go to a dinner party and assassinate each person in the house 1 by 1 without the others finding out its you. That was awesome. Why aren't there more quests like that in this game? Oh that's right, because its an MMO, its legally obligated to have watered down gameplay and quest variety. The game has a huge amount of content, which can only be added on to as time goes on. This would be great if everything wasn't so far away with so little to do while traveling between quest objectives. Maybe the most heinous, inexcusable offense of ESO is the fact that it takes the signature open world of The Elder Scrolls franchise and condenses it to linear paths to get to the next quest objective. Sure the game is open world, but you won't want to explore anything because you can only really gain experience from completing quests, and not from fighting enemies, you know like a real elder scrolls game! Another serious design flaw is the fact that every enemy levels with you, meaning that instead of having some enemies be a low level and some being a higher level, they just make mud crabs level 30 when you're level 30. This takes all the immersion and exploration factor out of the game because you're rarely if ever going to find an enemy that you can't handle. Overall, when quests aren't being bugged out, (honestly about 2/3 of them) they're dull and uninteresting anyway. Another stupid design choice is the fact that, because dungeons and quests aren't instanced, when you play with friends, every person has to do everything separately, whether it be getting quest objectives or doing puzzles in group dungeons, defeating the purpose of playing with friends which, you know IS THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS GAME! Crafting makes no sense and pvp can be summed up by two words: Running Simulator. Combat is stiff and repetitive and impossible in the weightless and floaty 1st person view. The customization is a step up from past ES games, even if the armor all looks the same and the soundtrack is amazing. When the only thing the game gets truly right is the soundtrack, you know its having a rough go. I went into this game as both a fan of The Elder Scrolls and to some extent a fan of MMOs, knowing that it wasn't going to be a Skyrim like experience, but was so disappointed in both aspects. Ultimately, ESO is nothing more than a lazy cash-in that preys on starstruck ES fans and both Bethesda and Zenimax know it. It doesn't help that the modern Gaming hype machine has brainwashed them into thinking this is a good game. There are far better MMOs out there, like Guildwars 2, FFXIV ARR and hell even WOW is still going strong. This game is un-fulfilling to both fans of MMOs and the Elder Scrolls series. If this did not have the ES name on it, it would be just another mediocre MMO that wouldn't get any time in the limelight. Not worth 60$ plus 15 bucks a month. Wait till it goes F2P or P2W which honestly probably won't be too long. Hopefully Bethesda takes the riches from this game and makes a good Fallout game or new single player ES game.… Expand
  24. Isca
    Apr 5, 2014
    4
    EXTREMELY disappointing. This game does still have huge potential to be worth playing, but at launch there are some major issues spoiling it:

    - For an MMO, it feels BARREN. There is little interactivity with other players due to the nature of the chat set up. It is very confusing to see who sent a message, and all you see is 'shells' of other players darting around. You are mostly    EXTREMELY disappointing. This game does still have huge potential to be worth playing, but at launch there are some major issues spoiling it:

    - For an MMO, it feels BARREN. There is little interactivity with other players due to the nature of the chat set up. It is very confusing to see who sent a message, and all you see is 'shells' of other players darting around. You are mostly ignored if you try to interact with them. Sure, you can join guilds and clubs, but unless you know the person, every other player is an annoying distraction that can't or won't interact with you.
    - For an RPG - the character development is linear and confusing. You feel like you are controlling something that already has its path laid out ahead, rather than having control of its destiny.
    - The quests are EXTREMELY BUGGED, at least 1/3 quests have NPCs missing, or they are doing something so that you can't forward the quest. The quests themselves are mostly childish 'put this here' 'take that there' kind of affairs. Even Runescape has more engaging and challenging quests.
    - The enemies and bosses are virtually impossible to beat without dying several times over each time, which makes continuity impossible. It's like water torture trying to kill some of them (doing the same routine 20 times over, until you feel like punching your PC monitor). Mudcrabs level up along side you?? Really? All of a sudden the mudcrabs that were lvl 2 when you were lvl 2 are suddenly lvl 20 ... just as you hit lvl 20. This is the same for all PVM - There's no advantage in leveling combat skills.
    - There's little interactivity with the game world. You ask why your character can't pick up the countless weapons, armor and supplies that are just sitting around for the taking, while you struggle to find the right stuff to make a lvl 2 iron knife. Ridiculous.
    - Lag spikes are common. The servers seem to like them
    - There are too many items than you can pick up, store or bank, without any indication as to whether they are useful. The tooltips are pathetic. This will be OK for seasoned players, but for newbies it is very testing.

    On the plus side, the graphics are gorgeous, the soundtrack/ sound effects are amazing, and there is plenty of scope for personalizing your character.

    I was wishing for so much better. It really is a shame.    … Expand
  25. Michael_J_Wall
    Apr 5, 2014
    4
    Well i wanted to like this game but i find myself feeling extremely guilty about how to break it to my friend that i really don't want to be bothered playing it with him every evening.
    Its just extremely tedious & boring having to complete pointless quest after quest just so that your in game Avatar will level up sufficiently for you to actually start exploring and doing things that you    Well i wanted to like this game but i find myself feeling extremely guilty about how to break it to my friend that i really don't want to be bothered playing it with him every evening.
    Its just extremely tedious & boring having to complete pointless quest after quest just so that your in game Avatar will level up sufficiently for you to actually start exploring and doing things that you might like to do.
    It is an improvement on LOTRO where you click on a series of buttons in the center of the screen in order to tell your avatar what actions to perform but that's all it is an improvement.
    This day and age you shouldn't have to spend hundreds of hours jumping through hoops to be able to get stuck into a game and until publishers realize that then they will only have a very limited appeal to the majority of intelligent gamer's.

    Very disappointing 4 out of ten.    … Expand
  26. Pestro
    Apr 5, 2014
    4
    Actually disappointed for once in an MMORPG. Having played SWTOR, Rift, WoW (all expansions included), GW 1 and 2, TESO is boring. One thing I noticed after creating multiple characters since early access is that a little more than half the quests are not only named the same but you do the same thing (difference being the NPC race being modified to fit what ever faction you joined). AtActually disappointed for once in an MMORPG. Having played SWTOR, Rift, WoW (all expansions included), GW 1 and 2, TESO is boring. One thing I noticed after creating multiple characters since early access is that a little more than half the quests are not only named the same but you do the same thing (difference being the NPC race being modified to fit what ever faction you joined). At least SWTOR had a lot more variety quest wise. One problem this game suffers from like SWTOR did was having these giant open environments with little to fill these spaces. Also, the chat system is not very polished as well as a few common aesthetics that other MMORPGs have down well. It seems this game like many new MMORPGs that are being released now are being being developed by developers who pump too much focus and money into a fully voiced game with top-notch voice acting versus focusing on actual playable content and features. World of Warcraft didn't get its lasting appeal because of its voice acting (which is very minimal compared to these other MMORPGs nowadays). WoW's lasting appeal stems from its wide variety of features, world spaces filled with creatures, items and details, less restrictive environmental exploration, and good community activities even when it began and had no expansions. The combat is alright and is much like a cross between TESIII Morrowind mixed with Oblivion with a typical "select your special moves" element. Overall, this game does not warrant its $59.99 price tag and its $15 monthly fee.… Expand
  27. AHeavyHammer
    Apr 6, 2014
    4
    On pen and paper this was a brilliant idea, and it does me great pain that I believe the game deserves no better than a 4/10.

    First and foremost, the attitude the player has going into the game will make or break whether or not they will like it. Expecting the typical Elder Scrolls experience, but being able to play with friends? This isn't the game you want to be going for. Expecting a    On pen and paper this was a brilliant idea, and it does me great pain that I believe the game deserves no better than a 4/10.

    First and foremost, the attitude the player has going into the game will make or break whether or not they will like it. Expecting the typical Elder Scrolls experience, but being able to play with friends? This isn't the game you want to be going for. Expecting a new MMO in a continent that we've surely all grown to love? Then the game offers that, and by all means, don't hold back from buying it if you believe the monthly fee is worth it.

    However, the game has a few standout issues. The biggest concern would have to be the size of the world versus where the player will often be going. While there are many places to explore, the areas often will only have a generic quest typical to MMOs, and after the player completes this quest, they will be given no incentive to return. The art team spent a bit too much money on a world that, in the end, will serve as a draw-distance horizon 80% of the time.

    The next issue is the combat, although it's not as bad overall . The melee combat specifically, while done well, is very weightless, often seeming like a heavy two-handed hammer is as easy to swing as a dagger. The spells, however, are mixed between good and bad. Zenimax definitely did the right thing in bringing back Oblivion's and Morrowind's style of spellcasting, where spells do not have to be bound to a hand, laving room for a weapon and shield, or two weapons. This also works very well with the limited number of keybindings, so the player does not have to enter the spellbook every time to change between spells. However, although the developers promised there would be no specialized classes, the four classes that were introduced have a bit too much separation between available spells. While this isn't necessary a horrible thing, it definitely takes away from the player making their character different from all of the other characters playing the same base class.

    On the topic of characters, customization is also lacking based on what Zenimax could have done. Hairstyles, for example, are low on number and generally don't have an aesthetic appeal. Scars, as well, are seriously lacking, and could certainly use more variety.

    Overall, although this is far from being the worst game of the decade, it certainly falls short on what it promises to be. The box price is a little on the high side with the $15 monthly price coming after the first free month, especially if you decide to purchase the Imperial Edition. There is also the problem with lore inconsistencies, but that would be touching upon personal preference. As a standalone MMO, this would definitely be worth the price, but it certainly doesn't live up to its namesake, and hardcore fans of the series should approach the game cautiously, but definitely not avoid it entirely.    … Expand
  28. tysonwritesel
    Apr 6, 2014
    4
    Boring Boring Boring. The music is overrated, the voices are annoying. Game looks like Myst or something. Nothing of interest here even to fantasy people, I say this one belongs on the Dragon Age heap. Yeah, if you were a Dragon Age freak you might like this. Once the spell wears off in about 6 hours... well just keep your $60. Oblivion was top, Skyrim was a notch lower with thatBoring Boring Boring. The music is overrated, the voices are annoying. Game looks like Myst or something. Nothing of interest here even to fantasy people, I say this one belongs on the Dragon Age heap. Yeah, if you were a Dragon Age freak you might like this. Once the spell wears off in about 6 hours... well just keep your $60. Oblivion was top, Skyrim was a notch lower with that stupid interface... this doesn't even chart. Enjoy your $60 Zenimax, hopefully the game will be fun next time.… Expand
  29. MMOGUY2014
    Apr 8, 2014
    4
    I was expecting more honestly... Just plays like all the other cookie cutter mmo's nothing great about this game.... Wish I could return it and get my money back honestly... Boring.....Levels easily....Not going to last a year..... Kinda pissed off they hyped this game like they did... not the greatest, not the worst.... but definitely not worth monthly subscription... canceling it beforeI was expecting more honestly... Just plays like all the other cookie cutter mmo's nothing great about this game.... Wish I could return it and get my money back honestly... Boring.....Levels easily....Not going to last a year..... Kinda pissed off they hyped this game like they did... not the greatest, not the worst.... but definitely not worth monthly subscription... canceling it before it renews... tossing to a friend and letting them play it.… Expand
  30. imaguy23
    Apr 11, 2014
    4
    What a waste of money, from an MMO perspective its a complete clusterfark. Where do i start... let's see the sub model that you would think would be worth it but turns out it's not. The look and feel is completely devoid of anything resembling Skyrim. It's like they took Skyrim and pulled out all the worst parts then tried to hammer it into the shape of an MMO. Nothing feels right, thereWhat a waste of money, from an MMO perspective its a complete clusterfark. Where do i start... let's see the sub model that you would think would be worth it but turns out it's not. The look and feel is completely devoid of anything resembling Skyrim. It's like they took Skyrim and pulled out all the worst parts then tried to hammer it into the shape of an MMO. Nothing feels right, there are no "Oh wow look at that" moments, the whole world feels contrived. Nothing is explained so be prepared to be wasting hours trying to figure it out or jumping from browser to game googling every 10 minutes. The quests are boring and unoriginal nothing like Skyrim and it looks gaudy. The server response times are a joke unless you live somewhere near their servers. I can't believe they put this thing out there... with all the money and talent they have what nutter thought this was a good idea... you know who the pin head who listened to those couple of whining MMO air bags who jump from one MMO to the next every month well you made you're bed now lay in it because this thing is going to be F2P within a year tops the writing is on the wall all you need to do is open you're eyes to see it.… Expand
  31. Darkmoon99
    Apr 14, 2014
    4
    I find myself very disappointed in this game. While it uses the world and lore of Elder Scrolls it loses the sandbox aspect of the Elder Scroll series of games. Rather than being able to learn any skills and advance them through use/training you are forced into one of 4 classes of the same old variety - warrior, mage, thief and priest. Each class gives you 3 skills that you can learn forI find myself very disappointed in this game. While it uses the world and lore of Elder Scrolls it loses the sandbox aspect of the Elder Scroll series of games. Rather than being able to learn any skills and advance them through use/training you are forced into one of 4 classes of the same old variety - warrior, mage, thief and priest. Each class gives you 3 skills that you can learn for that class plus your choice of weapons and armor. However the choice in armor is a false choice. The only armor that "sorcerers" gain benefit appropriate for their "class" is light armor. Same with the "thief" class in medium armor and so on. Furthermore skill usage doesn't raise skills, just having items equipped or on skills on your skill bar raises them as you gain experience.

    By discarding the open sandbox advancement aspect of the single player Elder Scrolls games and adopting the same old four cookie cutter class aspects just makes ESO another of the same tired old "been there, done that" MMO. I loved Skyrim and enjoyed the previous Elder Scrolls games, but unfortunately ESO doesn't live up to it's history.    … Expand
  32. i1dallas
    Apr 16, 2014
    4
    I never played WoW, but if this game is better then WoW, then I am glad I didn't waste my time playing WoW. TESO is not a bad MMO, it has lots of things to do to keep you busy. But is it a game that will draw me back every day? Not really, the only reason I am playing it right now is because I have paid for a game that will only let me play for 30 days so I am trying to get my moneyI never played WoW, but if this game is better then WoW, then I am glad I didn't waste my time playing WoW. TESO is not a bad MMO, it has lots of things to do to keep you busy. But is it a game that will draw me back every day? Not really, the only reason I am playing it right now is because I have paid for a game that will only let me play for 30 days so I am trying to get my money worth. That is the biggest reason why I gave this game a 4. If this was the buy once, free to play after model, I would have given it a 6. The only other MMO I can compare TESO to is GW2 and in my opinion GW2 is way better. If TESO decides to go the way of GW2 buy once and free to play, I might give it another try, since I already paid for a game that I was only allowed to play for 30 days... **sigh**… Expand
  33. Jeevin
    Apr 21, 2014
    4
    What experience do you want from an Elder Scrolls game? The lore? Deep characters and stories? Epic quests? The freedom to loot or steal anything? Freedom to explore? Buying and kitting out your own house in your favorite town? Organising your book collection? Just to lose yourself in the immersive world of Cyrodiil? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before you play TheWhat experience do you want from an Elder Scrolls game? The lore? Deep characters and stories? Epic quests? The freedom to loot or steal anything? Freedom to explore? Buying and kitting out your own house in your favorite town? Organising your book collection? Just to lose yourself in the immersive world of Cyrodiil? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before you play The Elder Scrolls Online because it fails on most of the above and is almost certain to disappoint.

    The Elder Scrolls Online ditches the key elements and freedoms that this much loved series is known for in favor of the money grubbing mmo business model. The story is shallow. The questing serves to string you along for as long as possible, this is especially apparent in the latter "zones" where the quests send you all over to greatly extend your play time. Crafting whilst easy to get into and feels rewarding is once again designed to string you along for the most longest time possible through research. Research time for traits on crafted gear can take weeks. Yes weeks. And you can only research a couple of items at a time in any craft. It would take months to fully research a craft in this game. You waste alot of money and time just unlocking inventory and bank space! And upgrading your horse! In fact you can see the business model comes before game play in every aspect of this game. How people get sucked into this crap is beyond me.

    The game lacks immersion too. Quest writing ranges from quite good to just plain dumb. Quest givers are surrounded by other gamers who are also busy being the only possible hero to help. Enemies respawn thirty seconds after being killed, this is especially frustrating in dungeons where you decided to read a book you saw, only to have enemies you only just killed start smacking you! At the end of dungeons other players are lined up waiting for the boss to spawn and your lucky to get a shot in to claim the kill. The world is static too, you can't pick up things you see, see that sword there? Well it's glued to the bench thats glued to the ground. The list goes on!

    You can't blame Zenimax for wanting to make the most money possible by making an mmo it's just a shame they used the Elder Scrolls IP to do it.    … Expand
  34. Arkeden
    Apr 21, 2014
    4
    Compared to many MMO's that set the standard for what a great multi-player online role-playing game should be, Elder Scrolls Online falls short in multiple areas.

    1) The spell animations, design, and variations are extremely limited. Ex: A Mage can only use Fire, Ice, and Lightning Spells. The ONLY true healer class/spells are holy. Many players like to see cool and colorful spell    Compared to many MMO's that set the standard for what a great multi-player online role-playing game should be, Elder Scrolls Online falls short in multiple areas.

    1) The spell animations, design, and variations are extremely limited. Ex: A Mage can only use
    Fire, Ice, and Lightning Spells. The ONLY true healer class/spells are holy. Many players like to see cool and colorful spell animations that make them feel powerful. ESO's spells are on the more subtle side.    … Expand
  35. Graay
    Apr 23, 2014
    4
    Decent PvP. Acceptable audio. Average combat. Mediocre visuals. Awful PvE.

    The Elder Scrolls Online is a thoroughly average MMO with a thin veneer of TES paint. The only thing more disappointing than the quality of the game is my fear that this will negatively impact Bethesda's core series. Much like SW:ToR, this game has no heart or soul and is obviously a cash-grab using namesake alone.
  36. ngmr97
    Apr 27, 2014
    4
    I don't have much to say, but please, you can't ask for monthly fees by creating just an alright game. A lot of people complained about World of Warcraft's monthly paids but it was successful anyways, and that were because it was an outstanding game and a huge innovation in the MMO market. TESO is not even innovative, is just another MMO condemned to the model F2P.
  37. 211216819
    Apr 28, 2014
    4
    It was a big disapointment... Best graphic i ever saw in a mmopg (the world is just beautyful and everthing is different), BUT the quests just have to much bugs.... there are quests where you run hours of hours and dont know what to do... for example one quest could be "find xyz" GREAT if u missed the "filmsequence" you dont know anything about the quest and can read about the questIt was a big disapointment... Best graphic i ever saw in a mmopg (the world is just beautyful and everthing is different), BUT the quests just have to much bugs.... there are quests where you run hours of hours and dont know what to do... for example one quest could be "find xyz" GREAT if u missed the "filmsequence" you dont know anything about the quest and can read about the quest afterwards to get some information.... I really wanted to enjoy it but hours / days of searching for something you dont find ist just frustrating and not fun.....and the pvm is also buged ... for example if the montser infornt of you uses a skill and u just walk away from the montser (getting out of the hit range) the monster will hit you! ....… Expand
  38. John_Mullins
    Apr 28, 2014
    4
    I have now spent over 2 weeks in the game, a week of attempts at solid playtime.. and the second week desperately trying to convince myself to even click the .exe file to load the game. Even after doing so, my play time gets less and less each load up.

    Ignore the "OMG THIS GAME IS TEH BEST EVAH!" reviews on here.. seriously. Your gold prices are absolutely INSANE. Seriously. My    I have now spent over 2 weeks in the game, a week of attempts at solid playtime.. and the second week desperately trying to convince myself to even click the .exe file to load the game. Even after doing so, my play time gets less and less each load up.

    Ignore the "OMG THIS GAME IS TEH BEST EVAH!" reviews on here.. seriously.

    Your gold prices are absolutely INSANE. Seriously. My level 10 Templar just got a 2,000 GOLD REPAIR BILL.. at level TEN. TEN. As in, 1 and 0. TEN. What the ()*#%$ is this crap?! 17k for ONE horse... you're kidding me right?

    Third - While I applaud your battle against spambots, you guys simply aren't doing enough. WHY do I have to ignore a bot, THEN report a bot, THEN type and select dropdown menus, THEN submit the repot, THEN wait around for confirmation? Go play WoW. Take a page from their book. (please, Im BEGGING you at this point..) Click name - Report Spam. BAM. DONE. Instantly Reported/Screenshot/Ignored. All in ONE mouse click. ONE. This is 2014, not 1998. I shouldn't have to feel like I'm working with DoS just to submit a spambot report. DON'T turn into FFXIV ARR and just put this on the back burner.. THIS NEEDS ADDRESSED ASAP.

    Fourth - Spambots are annoying... Bots FLOODING dungeon bosses are even more so. Seriously. My wife and I cannot complete a SINGLE dungeon because of the 30+ Bots named IHSDHSCBHA and ASCFRFJSAS using Templar Spear. Honestly, it's so beyond annoying that it's becoming outright anger inducing at this point.

    Fifth - This is why almost EVERY MMO moved far far away from "public" dungeons ala EverQuest 1998, "Camping" mobs, idiot trains, and a flood of bot farming kills any sense of "immersion." Not to mention there is ZERO challenge involved in any of them due to the fact there is a constant congo line of players running in and out.. so no mobs are ever up to actually FIGHT. IT IS 110% MIND-NUMBINGLY BORING.

    Sixth - Mages suck. Im sorry, I hate to say it.. I dont WANT to say it.. but it's true. They are absolutely TERRIBLE. Unless you take a VERY specific skill selection (freedom of customization is OUT the window for a mage.) you are 100% useless. 99.99% of the time, Im out of mana before I've killed the 2nd mob on a 3 mob pull.. I guess I just tell jokes to the last mob and hope it dies laughing? Meanwhile the Templar/Nightblade/Dragonknight are still wailing away full power with no downtime.

    Seventh - Have I mentioned yet the gold prices in this game are absolutely jacked up beyond all human reason and comprehension? Seriously. When It costs 100 gold to MAIL an item to someone... YOU. ARE. WRONG. 10 Gold JUST to send a regular mail is obnoxious to begin with.. but ADDING massive amounts of gold cost for EACH item sent in said mail is just plain stupid. Flat cost, with a SMALL fee PER item sent, NOT a ridiculous fee per VALUE of item sent.

    The game's grouping is a COMPLETE disaster, utterly boring, buggy and just plain tedious. The Dungeons are the EXACT same way.. the "bosses" are a joke, no challenge, no excitement.. nothing.

    No housing, no wives/husbands, no kids, no pets.. armor designs are bland, brown, and look like stuff I saw in Morrowind 20 years ago.. with about as much enthusiasm.

    No Stealing, no assassinations, no crime.. NOTHING. There is NO "Choice" here. You do WHAT they say, WHEN they say it. PERIOD.

    There is no UI, no nameplates, no way to tell good from bad from merchant or beggar. You waste AGES just trying to figure out which NPC's sell what and where.. the entire time you could be doing something actually FUN instead. Using the weak ass excuse of "immersion" as a smoke screen for their absolute failure to realize what an MMO is actually SUPPOSED to be.

    There is NO Customization for 3 of the 4 classes. Especially mages. Want to be a pure storm mage? #(*$ You. You're useless. Want to focus on a healing staff and Dark Magic? (#$# You. YOU'RE USELESS! Want to just summon Daedric minions with some cool storm powers? .. yeah.. you already know where it's going. USELESS. What happened to summoning weapons, armor etc. What happened to the ACTUAL mage SPELLS?!

    The WORST part is you are supposed to be "The CHOSEN ONE! OMG!" ... again.. for the 10,000th game... only now.. there's 2 million+ other "CHOSEN ONES!" running around right next to you.

    This is a cookie cutter mmo with NO free trial and a LIMITED access Beta to steal as much money as possible before it goes Free to play in 6 months once the word gets out how absolutely terrible it actually is. Maybe less.    … Expand
  39. Laxika
    May 4, 2014
    4
    I just want to write down my first impressions with the game. I'm a huge TES fan, played through Morrowind 10+ times at least and played a lot Skyrim too (Well I not really like Oblivion). I immediately jumped into ESO. Well, it was a big learning experience for me. :)

    What I liked in the game: - Voiced dialogues: hell yeah, all of the dialogues was voiced. It was awesome. - TES    I just want to write down my first impressions with the game. I'm a huge TES fan, played through Morrowind 10+ times at least and played a lot Skyrim too (Well I not really like Oblivion). I immediately jumped into ESO. Well, it was a big learning experience for me. :)

    What I liked in the game:
    - Voiced dialogues: hell yeah, all of the dialogues was voiced. It was awesome.
    - TES world/story: yeah I really like the storyline of the TES games.
    - Hard: the game is not easy to play. (Yeah I got killed a few times when not paid enough attention.) This is pretty rare nowadays.

    What I disliked:
    - Quests everywhere: well, in this game I find quest everywhere what's really annoyed me. I don't want to play WoW or smthing like that (really dislike WoW), I want to play a real TES game. Morrowind/Skyrim was all about exploring. Yess, there was a few quest (I'll never forget the quest with the pillow lady in Balmora haha), but not quests to the max level. After like 3-4 quest I stopped listening to the npcs and just clicked all the dialogues randomly till I got the next quest stage. (This ruined the voiced dialogues part very quickly.) I got frustrated after like 15 quest so I went out to do some exploring. I started to search about random daedra shrines/barrows/caves/bandit strongholds etc, but haven't found any cool while in the old TES games it took me less than 5 mins to find a random Tomb/Cave etc! (Ok, I found a cave with a quest in it but thats it.) What i found is a hella lot more quests (what annoyed me even more).
    - World map: everything on the map is a scaled down version compared to the other games. I know its an MMO, but it's really ruining the TES experience for me. (I don't know if High Hrothgar is in the game or not but it would be something like 20 meter high max. Yeah that's what high mean in this game.)
    Vvardenfell is not in the game: SERIOUSLY WHY?

    I'm pretty disappointed with it. (Not because it's bad, but because it's only TES in it's story/name/world.) If you are liking the TES games because the same reasons as me, don't buy this. If you like WoW type questing stuff just go and play.

    Well, I missed the PvP. (Just tried it for a little. Too little to write anything about it.)

    Fortunately they responded to my chargeback pretty fast. :)    … Expand
  40. koniolub
    Mar 31, 2015
    4
    I gave this game 2 before, now it went b2p and fixed some of the most glaring issuses. Nonotherless, its still good looking, fully vocied medicore MMO. You start in quest hub do quests (at least 95% - go kill/activate/gather) get some more quests on the way, move to another hub.

    When you reach lvl 50 and finish the main story suddenly you find out that you need to do the same amount of    I gave this game 2 before, now it went b2p and fixed some of the most glaring issuses. Nonotherless, its still good looking, fully vocied medicore MMO. You start in quest hub do quests (at least 95% - go kill/activate/gather) get some more quests on the way, move to another hub.

    When you reach lvl 50 and finish the main story suddenly you find out that you need to do the same amount of content x2 and you end up with over 1000 (yes 1k) quests done from which you remember handful.

    In pvp on veteran campaigns you have to be at least lvl 12 to have fighting chance, but dont worrty- PvP works just half the time anyway - massive lags, crashes and so on at least on EU server.

    Overall: still absolutllely on rails themepark MMO painted to look like Elder Scrolls game. If you have nothing to do with 60 $ go ahead, but at your own responsibility.    … Expand
  41. ravenclaw77
    May 17, 2014
    4
    Level 8, 6 hours /played. Extremely disappointing. Combat is boring, I prefer WoW / LotRO / RIFT / FF XIV style. Story is weak for Zenimax / Bethesda. Hard to know where to go or what to do at times. Still lots of bots, lots of vulgar language, lots of gold spammers. Feels strongly as if the developers vastly under-estimated how much work was necessary to make a good MMORPG. Going back toLevel 8, 6 hours /played. Extremely disappointing. Combat is boring, I prefer WoW / LotRO / RIFT / FF XIV style. Story is weak for Zenimax / Bethesda. Hard to know where to go or what to do at times. Still lots of bots, lots of vulgar language, lots of gold spammers. Feels strongly as if the developers vastly under-estimated how much work was necessary to make a good MMORPG. Going back to RIFT because it has fun and challenging combat, top-notch PvP, Great co-op dynamic content, fantastic instances, and a great amount of personal customization / character builds. This game tremendously hurt my view of one of my favorite developers.… Expand
  42. arreyanne
    May 12, 2014
    4
    Can you meh. While the game has the Lore its very much your standard Theme Park. The phasing while in groups in the open world doesn't work to the players benefit.

    There are just no "OMG That was awesome" moments in this game like the Singel player versions
  43. marc5477
    Jul 31, 2018
    4
    Tried it back in beta, and I didnt think much of it at the time. 4 years later, I finally got a copy of game with the Morrowind expansion for $15. The game is just as I remember it, a boring casual experience with no character. A generic grind which is sad, because they clearly put a lot of work into it and it does look decent. But the gameplay is just down right coma inducing.

    1st    Tried it back in beta, and I didnt think much of it at the time. 4 years later, I finally got a copy of game with the Morrowind expansion for $15. The game is just as I remember it, a boring casual experience with no character. A generic grind which is sad, because they clearly put a lot of work into it and it does look decent. But the gameplay is just down right coma inducing.

    1st problem right off the bat. There are only 5 classes to choose from? Yep, thats right, just 5. Okay, but there must be a lot of differences between them right? Nope. Its true they each have a class tree, but all the classes have access to about 20 trees and as it turns out, most builds end up using very few skills from the class trees and most will come from the other ones. Which means that you can literally make a character with any class, use common trees, and they will play exactly the same... think about that for a minute. That said, some classes give advantages to roles they play, like the Dragonknight who has some unique tank skills but even with these distinctions, there is very little to choose from and each class can be boiled down to 2 builds. Either its a magic build, or a stamina build. Rarely, someone will make a Dragonknight tank with just health instead but thats the only exception. To summarize, all the people running around are carbon copies of each other with little to no variation. Mind you, we are in 2018. I expect this back in the late 90s, and maybe early 2000's, but not in a modern game.

    Next, they did nothing to push the front on questing, or combat. Quests are fairly well written and voice acted but they are still the generic quests you see in every RPG since the dawn of time. The real weakness here is that questing is trivially easy. Its so easy in fact, that I would say that this is the most casual MMO I have ever played, much more so than WoW and even more than GW2. One possible reason is that the entire game is level scaled to the player. This means you can go anywhere and enemies will be within your level. And despite looking different, most enemies are the same and are trivially easy to dispatch which makes running around very boring. GW2 handled this much better by only scaling down rather than scaling up which takes away any feeling of progression in the game. This was the big problem with Oblivion and to a lesser extent, Skyrim as well. Level scaling is a big problem and should be used very sparsely in an MMO. As for combat itself, well the skills are what you expect from any MMO. Block, roll, fast attack and heavy attack. Nothing new or exciting in this game. There is a cloaking class and a pet class with, laughably, no pet controls making it somewhat tedious to play. Dont expect to see anything unique, there is nothing of the sort.

    Other features are also lacking. Crafting is a minor step up from the normal select a recipe and click combine, now you can use more resources to increase quality to a defined limit. Still nothing like older games such as EQ2 or SWG. If you are looking to make cool stuff, this is not the game for you. Its entirely too easy with the only limit being the grind to collect materials since there is no easy auction house to buy them. I actually like the fact that there is no auction house in this game, but they players found ways around it by creating trading guilds. The game allows you to join 5 guilds so you can always join several. Unfortunately, the guild shops dont seem to work. At least when I tried them they never seemed to have inventory. Perhaps I had to be in the guild to see their items which is actually very silly. If someone sets up a shop, it should be available to everyone. EQ1 had this feature and it would have been awesome if they didnt also add a search feature to take the immersion out of it.

    Overall, its a very average MMO. It lacks any character and has no defining features. The one big plus is that it went F2P recently so you can pick it up cheap and play without ever subscribing. Unfortunately, without a subscription, you lose some very important features such as bigger bank and more space for trade supplies. As it turns out, this game is insanely loot heavy and you will run out of bank space in the 1st hour and this is how they hook you to subscribe. You can manage it with some alts if you want so its still manageable but it is a chore. There is another review that covers this problem below.

    Give it a shot if you are itching for an MMO but dont invest too much into it. GW2 is superior since it has some unique features and WoW is still viable to this day. Even EQ2 is leagues better in some ways, especially crafting.

    If you are going to buy this, make sure you get the retail box copy! The box copies come with a lot of features included without extra cost and they are cheaper. For example, the digital version of Morrowind costs more than the box copy and does not include the Warden class. You have to buy that separately...    … Expand
  44. snickets
    Jun 3, 2014
    4
    I feel betrayed by Zenimax. 2 Months after launch and Nightblades are still trash, combat is terrible, support is nonexistant. I really wanted to love this game, made a fansite myself, got all my friends to play it with me, but Zenimax decided to push out more content instead of fixing the stuff that was out already. The only decent part of this game is the questing and the music, which isI feel betrayed by Zenimax. 2 Months after launch and Nightblades are still trash, combat is terrible, support is nonexistant. I really wanted to love this game, made a fansite myself, got all my friends to play it with me, but Zenimax decided to push out more content instead of fixing the stuff that was out already. The only decent part of this game is the questing and the music, which is all that kept me leveling until Veteran rank 3, that and the hope that they would fix these issues. So many broken promises. Do yourself a favor and try wildstar, or even WoW. Developers shouldn't be rewarded for putting terrible, unfinished games like this to market.… Expand
  45. Chidawg66
    Jun 4, 2014
    4
    I really tried to love this game. I came in with an open mind and played it slowly through the storyline which everyone said the AD is the best story. The story was okay. The combat system was okay. But after you finish with the story line, it gets really boring. I don't know really what else to do. The endgame is non existent. There really isn't too much to do in this game forI really tried to love this game. I came in with an open mind and played it slowly through the storyline which everyone said the AD is the best story. The story was okay. The combat system was okay. But after you finish with the story line, it gets really boring. I don't know really what else to do. The endgame is non existent. There really isn't too much to do in this game for endgame. After you play through the story, which most of my friends couldn't even finish, there isn't much to do. We all decided that this game is just too boring. Not enough content and it is BUGGY. They fixed a lot of the buggy issues, but it is still buggy.

    The whole phasing idea was a neat idea but it is stupid. I played the game when everyone else was leveling with me. How annoying is it when you are trying to get into the game and follow the plot and after doing all the story correct, you enter in a zone where people have already started the boss fight by the time you hit the boss once, you've completed the quest. I didn't even get to see the opening scene of the fight.

    Dungeons are SUPER boring. OMG. Every solo dungeon pretty much looks like every other solo dungeon. Group dungeons are pretty easy and basically doesn't require much skill. This game really doesn't require much skill. There is also no really great gear. Everything is crafted, and the loot isn't all that great.

    I really had low standards for this game, and enjoyed it somewhat during the lvling from 1 - VR1, but was it worth the $100 I spent on a 3 month subscription and game? Probably not.    … Expand
  46. TinEater
    Jun 8, 2014
    4
    This is really a fantastic game. That game is called Skyrim. Except Skyrim doesn't charge a subscription, and doesn't have gold spam bots swarming all over the dungeons and resource nodes. The game goes out of it's way to separate players from one another, one upping WoW: Cataclysm's baffling decision to "phase" all it's players into isolated bubble version of the game world. ZenimaxThis is really a fantastic game. That game is called Skyrim. Except Skyrim doesn't charge a subscription, and doesn't have gold spam bots swarming all over the dungeons and resource nodes. The game goes out of it's way to separate players from one another, one upping WoW: Cataclysm's baffling decision to "phase" all it's players into isolated bubble version of the game world. Zenimax was trying to make each player the hero of the story, but all they succeeded in doing is creating a strange feeling of isolation. The question is, why is that worth paying $15 a month? You'll get the same experience playing a single-player game with a Twitter window open.… Expand
  47. forrealzzzz
    Jun 13, 2014
    4
    Elder Scrolls Online online is really hard. I died against Edward Norton multiples times while the queen of elves did nothing to save me. She and her Clan of Pusays wouldn't even walk down a dark flight of stairs to help me. Something about shin splints. Elder Scrolls online is like Crimson Skies. But not fun.
  48. FluffyPaws
    Jun 16, 2014
    4
    I have played this game from launch till now, and I must say my interest in this game is fading. I do try to log in once a day as I have met some of the best people I have ever come across in many MMOs I have played, but sadly, the game has become so boring that I struggle to stay online.

    Pros: Community. Personally I feel the player base is decent and after playing for a few months I    I have played this game from launch till now, and I must say my interest in this game is fading. I do try to log in once a day as I have met some of the best people I have ever come across in many MMOs I have played, but sadly, the game has become so boring that I struggle to stay online.

    Pros:
    Community. Personally I feel the player base is decent and after playing for a few months I have yet to come across a really annoying player. Zone chat can go a bit viral but it is nothing like other MMOs.

    Less elitism. Most players look the same and their gears look pretty much the same. No fancy exclusive mounts or rainbow coloured weapons (yet) mean you can kind of relax. Noone is standing behind you trying to inspect you either.

    No UI overload and more immersive gameplay. They really tried to keep the UI minimalistic. It took me a while to get used to, but I do feel it helped me become immersed in the game environment.

    Cons:
    You can't actually play whatever the way you like, as classes are very unbalanced and some skills have little or no synergy. There are some cookie-cutter skills that are clearly superior to others in most situations, and this has discouraged me from trying out different play style.

    Having only 5 skills on the action bar and having to weapon swap feel so limiting and not fun at all.

    Dungeons lack charms or characteristics, and most boss fights are simply tedious while others will just one shot you. There is nothing in between. Non veteran dungeons are not rewarding at all and players are not seeing enough intensives to actually repeat a run, which resulted in lack of people wanting to do a pick up group run.

    Cyrodill (PVP area) is so sparse and empty, you will really need to be patient to actually get to the action. You will most likely spend a lot of time running around trying to get from A to B.

    The bugs. They are simply never ending. I cannot believe that after all the maintenance they had, there are still some crippling bugs that really affect the game play. For example, when you form a group, the game will randomly select you as a group leader, or worse, it will get rid of the leader right from everyone. The result is having to disband the group and trying to reform, hoping that it will work again. There are also numerous bugs within the dungeons that are so infuriating.

    Trading system. It is simply not working. As the guild shop is close to being useless (it is extremely buggy and slow, and you can't even search a specific item), players are forced to use the zone chat to trade.

    Questing is repetitive and predictable. While they managed to avoid the typical fetch or kill type quests, they are still extremely boring. Most of the time you will have to run around to talk to NPCs to find out that there was a betrayal or murder of some sort, then you will be sent to kill the bad guy in the crypt or somewhere similar. Or you will be running around activating some ward or shards to enter a portal. It was interesting in the beginning, but it quickly became old.

    Overall, this was a major disappointment for me and I could only hope that they will either add a good amount of new contents or attempt an overhaul (unlikely).    … Expand
  49. JoshLuck1995
    Jun 9, 2015
    4
    Got this through today, the update took about 40 minutes, it all depends on your internet service, thats nothing to do with the dev.

    But for the game it self, it is poor, i really love the elder scrolls series and i think thats what the problem is, i just doesnt feel like a elder scrolls game therefore producing a feeling of dissapointment, so i tried to look past that and see it for    Got this through today, the update took about 40 minutes, it all depends on your internet service, thats nothing to do with the dev.

    But for the game it self, it is poor, i really love the elder scrolls series and i think thats what the problem is, i just doesnt feel like a elder scrolls game therefore producing a feeling of dissapointment, so i tried to look past that and see it for what it is but it still feels like a let down, the story so far is pretty pants, the gameplay is boring, and it comes across as complete chaos when it comes to interaction with real world players, its just complete chaos, people running about like headless chickens, trying to tea bag you, starting fights with guards who then start on you.

    I now have an issue where i am in Daggerfall and a real world player started a fight with a guard and the guard then attacked me and it placed a bounty on my head as it thought i was the criminal, this was early into the game. it just all feels so chaotic. No structure or enjoyment so far what so ever.    … Expand
  50. XYLUM
    Jul 20, 2014
    4
    I will start out by saying that I think the immersion and "feel" of Oblivion is far more engaging then ESO.

    I know ESO is an MMO , but my experience in ESO was like a single player MMO , where you use the group tool to find a few people to run through the dungeons with every so often because you're completely bored of running around for hours doing handfuls of mostly bland and boring    I will start out by saying that I think the immersion and "feel" of Oblivion is far more engaging then ESO.

    I know ESO is an MMO , but my experience in ESO was like a single player MMO , where you use the group tool to find a few people to run through the dungeons with every so often because you're completely bored of running around for hours doing handfuls of mostly bland and boring quests for NPC's that are just as bland and boring.

    Most of the quests are thinly veiled "fetch" quests where you run....and run, for a few seconds until you are out of stamina, then you walk... and walk, and walk and gather x number of goblin toes or whatever.... then you run, and walk, and walk, and walk some more to go back and "turn in" the quest and get your unimpressive rewards...

    At it's core ESO is a RPG... or at least it's supposed to be, but it doesn't do a very good job of it.... my character seemed like just some random sword swinging errand boy, that runs and runs and runs, and walks and walks, and kills whatever is between him and the goblin ears he needs to complete his current yawn inspiring quest.

    I bought ESO a couple weeks ago, before it was available on Steam, had to pay $60+ for it... and while the game looks beautiful, it feels shallow, the characters and quests feel hollow.

    Inside of 2 days I found myself skipping all the conversations, and skipping through the lore... being annoyed at the massive amount of running that seemed suspiciously like I was being compelled to break out some more cash to buy a horse... A horse that even at level 20 I am nowhere near where I would need to be in terms of gold to be able to buy with in game currency.

    The tight storage capacity, and the excessive cost of expanding it was also dubious and felt kind of like a way burn up every last little bit of gold you can scrounge up by adventuring. So that you might come to the conclusion that it would just be easier to break out your wallet, so you can actually get to the fun part.... that is, even then, elusive, I'm sure.

    I was completely turned off by the whole running out of inventory space every 40 minutes or so, then needing to travel across the continent to dismantle the unimpressive spoils of adventure that I had accumulated, into raw materials, so that I could sell some off to pay for more storage space to stockpile the rest of it, in hopes that one day I would be able to craft it into something useful.

    The game has beautiful graphics and environments.... that are full of boring, "been there, done that" quests and endless time sinks and gold traps.

    The objective of the game, from the company's perspective... is to keep you on an endless hamster wheel of chasing gold and materials.... it's meant to keep you broke...in game and out, and to burn up as much time without progress as possible, so you don't make it to "end game" territory (which there is next to none of) without paying for at least a couple months worth of subscription fees first.

    And while it is doing that, it makes life hard in terms of travel and inventory management on anyone that is not willing to break out their wallet and spend.

    It just seemed like the time I spent playing ESO was highlighted more by disappointment and regret for the purchase then it was by a good gaming experience.

    It feels like the loyal fans and followers of The Elder Scroll series are being extorted with ESO... it's a blatant, unapologetic cash grab.

    A full price premium purchase, with a monthly subscription... AND micro transactions... in a game designed to burn up time for the sake of holding you hostage until after your next months subscription is paid... No thanks. I canceled my subscription today, still have another 10 or 12 days left on my "free" month, I doubt very seriously that I will be logging in anymore though.

    I guess the rest of the gaming community is already starting to make their displeasure known as well, since ESO is on sale via steam at 50% off right now. Another insult to those that have paid full price recently.

    I imagine the announcement that they are dropping the subscription fees isn't too far off either, and when that happens maybe I'll log back in again and take another look, maybe the devs will stop focusing so hard on their customers wallets and focus on fixing the quests that were broken and impossible to complete for the entire month that I played their game, or should I say GOT played BY their game.

    I am not against companies making money, even copious amounts of it, but don't be greedy . Produce a great game and people will spend money for DLC, expansions, in game items, etc, etc...

    But if they keep demanding money from them while simultaneously letting them down and making them feel taken advantage of.... this game will be free to play before you can say dungeons and dragons online.    … Expand
  51. R3DTHR3AT
    Dec 17, 2020
    4
    Очень слабая мморпг с отсутствием мотивации как в пвп и пве. По сути не мморпг вовсе, что в итоге признали и сами разработчики.
  52. dwgr8ergolfer
    Aug 31, 2014
    4
    You can't go from Skyrim to Elder Scrolls Online.... Bethesda and Zenimax dropped the ball on this one. This game had so much potential to be great but Zenimax and Bethesda clearly did not test it nearly enough and just released a game that just doesn't feel good to play.
  53. Big_Bear
    Nov 26, 2014
    4
    A huge disappointment. DO NOT believe any of the positive 10/10 reviews, they are complete bs. You could judge this game as either an ES game, an MMO or even both, but regardless of what you decide this game is, the fact is that it is very poor.

    Like most devoted ES fans, I was very excited about this game, but unfortunately, we haven't been given an ES game, only another poor generic    A huge disappointment. DO NOT believe any of the positive 10/10 reviews, they are complete bs. You could judge this game as either an ES game, an MMO or even both, but regardless of what you decide this game is, the fact is that it is very poor.

    Like most devoted ES fans, I was very excited about this game, but unfortunately, we haven't been given an ES game, only another poor generic WoW clone set in Tamriel.

    Good - Graphics are decent, the increased scale makes cities feel more like actual cities than ES games like Skyrim etc. Character creation is decent and the concept of crafting is good; the idea of crafting multiple sets of the same level gear but differing in appearance depending on faction style really should have been in every scrolls game.

    Bad - as with all MMO's, the role playing element is extremely diluted to the point that it doesn't feel like an RPG at all. The map is unremarkable and generic; ES fans should be loving the fact of seeing mainland Morrowind for the first time but it has nowhere near the impact of the offline scrolls games areas like Skyrim or Oblivion, its just meh. The combat sucks.

    Verdict - Once again an MMO developer has been too afraid to create a unique game and has tried to copy much of WoW in order to steal some of their fan base. What they should have done was appeal to ES fans instead and give us another great scrolls game instead of this mess. 4/10 at best.    … Expand
  54. Jeeves
    Dec 29, 2014
    4
    Elder Scrolls Online(ESO) represents one of the biggest disappointments of 2014 and one of the biggest wasted opportunities in gaming history. Take the expansive world of Tamriel combined with open ended game play that The Elder Scrolls usually affords and add in massively multiplayer so you can share the world with others, sounds like a winning combination yes? Prepare for utterElder Scrolls Online(ESO) represents one of the biggest disappointments of 2014 and one of the biggest wasted opportunities in gaming history. Take the expansive world of Tamriel combined with open ended game play that The Elder Scrolls usually affords and add in massively multiplayer so you can share the world with others, sounds like a winning combination yes? Prepare for utter disappointment.

    The game world is huge and at times beautiful and yet is let down by bog standard theme park mmo design. The game was in very bad shape at release and while many bugs have been squished since then, there are still MAJOR issues with lag, abilities, weapon swapping and general game performance. There are so many changes happening to the game at the moment that endgame is not worth playing and the games developers are so incompetent that any issues they fix several more are implemented. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
    Current endgame players face losing several months worth of character progress as the developers scramble to change the poorly received veteran system and implement a new champion leveling system that looks to change very little of the games current imbalance and seemingly impenetrable wall of leveling.
    Zenimmax Online Studios will go down as being one of the most incompetent development studios with an extremely poor relationship with their playing customers.    … Expand
  55. magnusnet
    Jan 5, 2015
    4
    This game was suposed to be the next big thing: It wasn't.

    I've been playing the game since early beta, Fan of TES franchise since Morrowind, I've sadly seen the decline and the dumbing down of the franchise, at first in Oblivion (which was still extremely enjoyable) and afterwards in Skyrim where the game was dumbed down enough to apeal to the console crowd and thus making millions and    This game was suposed to be the next big thing: It wasn't.

    I've been playing the game since early beta, Fan of TES franchise since Morrowind, I've sadly seen the decline and the dumbing down of the franchise, at first in Oblivion (which was still extremely enjoyable) and afterwards in Skyrim where the game was dumbed down enough to apeal to the console crowd and thus making millions and putting to light a sad fact about nowadays gaming: The easier and dumber it gets, the more people will like it.

    The Elder Scrolls online takes the same path as Skyrim, taking it to a whole new level in the desperate attemmpt to make the franchise popular and as available to the maximum amount of players possible thus diminishing the quality of the game.

    The game itself is extremely easy to play. You can only use a maximum of 5 skills at the same time, cookie cutter builds are easy to obtain and easy to use (some people still manage to suck big time at the game though, don't worry). End game content was unexistant at launch and there are now 3 12 people raids as well as 1 4 people raid for end gamers to be "entertained". Any seasoned MMO player will have an extremely easy time playing this game and will also likely leave it quickly when he realizes that the game rewards never match the difficulty nor the effort put into the encounter.

    Zenimax Online Sutdios itself as a company is a joke. Don't get me wrong, the people working there are awesome and really feel pationnate about the game which is why I'm still playing it, but the people making the decisions must be complete **** with no sense of Public Relations and/or Custommer Relations, they keep making game changing/game breaking patches and have NEVER EVER made any gesture towards their player base in order to compensate them for all the changes they make and all the time that is lost by the players who worked towards goals that end up disapearing.

    After 8 months of running, the game is virtually rebooting, Zenimax is calling it Elder Scrolls 2.0. Imagine Final Fantasy XIV had kept milking their player base during 9 months instead of closing the game and relaunching and you'd have a better understanding of what is going on in the game. The players who where at end game where cheated by Zenimax to continue playing since the company claimed their advancement would be tracked and that the new system would reward the players accordingly so that they woudln't loose advancement, but it was a lie. The advancement was tracked but during the reboot, the company is simply planing to put all the players at the same level regardless of their advancement (and this is not the first time they do this). The worst part of it is that the implemented system actually helps players who haven't cleared late game content to advance faster than players who are at end game thus giving them an advantage over dedicated players.

    Despite all this, the new system actually looks good, it's just a shame that the company behind the game and the people making the decisions care so little about their PC players who are just beta testing the console release where they plan to make millions like they did with Skyrim. When you look at games with much bigger infrastructure issues like League Of Legends, there allways is a lot of rage towards the company when the game isn't working but Riot Games at least tries to make it up to it's players most of the time, ZOS isn't about that, they are about money.

    This game was suposed to be the next big thing, it might still be with the new update, I'm hoping it will since I'm still here, still paying, still believing in it, but the company behind it is probably one of the worst if not the worst in the MMOG industry...    … Expand
  56. Termin8ter
    May 27, 2015
    4
    This is a huge disappointment for the elder scrolls franchise. Skyrim and Oblivion were so good, but stupid Zenimax online decided to take a dump on the franchise. Elder Scrolls Online is over hyped, laggy , glitchy and just plain awful. the only good thing about this horrible game is the soundtrack. So disappointing. *sobs*
  57. drusmanbashir
    Nov 15, 2020
    4
    This game is the video game versioh of a clickbait.. the trailers will show you amazing visuals and paint a picture of an immersive adventure with danger lurking in every corner, super-powers etc.. whereas in reality this is a vast traipse through a landscape filled with monotonous battles - nothing new here from Bethesda which has never disappointed to disappoint. If you're into visualsThis game is the video game versioh of a clickbait.. the trailers will show you amazing visuals and paint a picture of an immersive adventure with danger lurking in every corner, super-powers etc.. whereas in reality this is a vast traipse through a landscape filled with monotonous battles - nothing new here from Bethesda which has never disappointed to disappoint. If you're into visuals and vistas exploring an open world, better pack your bag and go out in real-life. If you're looking for an immersive RPG with intelligent combat, play the Witcher3 or (the outdated) world of warcraft. I have been fooled by this games trailers several times and ended up buying several DLCs only to uninstall it an hour later.… Expand
  58. TobiasKen
    Oct 25, 2015
    4
    If you are looking for an MMO, sure - get this game. If you're looking for an Elder Scrolls game - you can forget about it. I'm not even going to bother giving this a normal review like I usually do. Let me just tell you that this is the worst in the Elder Scrolls Series. I know what you might be thinking - this is an MMO FIRST, then Elder Scrolls. But you can't call it Elder Scrolls whenIf you are looking for an MMO, sure - get this game. If you're looking for an Elder Scrolls game - you can forget about it. I'm not even going to bother giving this a normal review like I usually do. Let me just tell you that this is the worst in the Elder Scrolls Series. I know what you might be thinking - this is an MMO FIRST, then Elder Scrolls. But you can't call it Elder Scrolls when it simply isn't. It is lacking oh so much stuff, and wants you to buy DLC and crowns even after paying for the full game. You're even locked out of an ENTIRE RACE UNLESS YOU GIVE THEM MORE MONEY. Seriously, the combat is worse, you barely get anything out of looting people.

    If you're looking for an Elder Scrolls game, I repeat: DO. NOT. BUY. THIS. GAME.    … Expand
  59. muzmuz
    Apr 11, 2019
    4
    A 2014 game that looks and feels like a 2011 game. Feels even worse to play in 2019. Five years later and the game still looks like a visual bugs galore noticeable at the very first hour of gameplay. Did I forget to mention that this game doesn't have a single Asian server? I'm not a big fan of MMORPGs and Elder Scrolls Online definitely didn't help change that.
  60. Gaming_Bear
    Dec 27, 2022
    4
    I'll start of by admitting that I am not huge into MMOs, but this is game just feels so bland and empty. I came to this game because my friends and I all loved Skyrim, but literally all the elements of what made Skyrim great (the story, the detail of the setting, the beautiful music) are all not here. I am struggling to play this game. At lvl 8 and it all just feels meh.
  61. T-Babyboi
    Apr 7, 2020
    4
    I give it a 4 because I'm below indifference, I call it negative. Let me point out I enjoy the feel of combat, the world looks cool, it's awesome running around with the realization real people, maybe even a group of friends are there with you, but the kicker for me is this.
    The game I think could be played for what it is, spending hundreds of hours getting mostly everything you want out    I give it a 4 because I'm below indifference, I call it negative. Let me point out I enjoy the feel of combat, the world looks cool, it's awesome running around with the realization real people, maybe even a group of friends are there with you, but the kicker for me is this.
    The game I think could be played for what it is, spending hundreds of hours getting mostly everything you want out of the game with very little real money besides base game and maybe major DLC, what phucks my brain is being in a game with options for the indulgencies such as housing, furniture, dyes and more.......only to find out that **** is blocked up behind a formitable grind wall, one so high it is designed, obviously to make you pay for it all.
    Housing things like an in house banker, crafting stations, must be purchased from grind gold or crowns, one phucking the other because both are designed to prevent one or the other.... Making it a loop of mediocrity and tedious trash.
    Idk about anyone else, but when I sit down to play a game in the back of my mind I need to know everything will be accessible to me within a reasonable accomplishment accommodation., otherwise the whole story is mucked with the background noise.... CROWNS.
    It is truly pathetic, the world as we know it cannot function without micro transactions and little schemes, so much time wasted for so little gained.
    I know it's as pathetic I sit here and rant over time lost, expectations let down with general mediocrity, I should move on and not even give this the time of day... And you're right, but I'm so at loss with how ****ty the silver lining of this world really is, I'm better off just **** until I'm dead.    … Expand
  62. Mizuiro
    Jul 22, 2023
    4
    Mediocre MMORPG not because of graphics ( that are bad and boring style by the way) but because of so POOR and boring gameplay mechanics.

    Not even worth it as a free game. An example of how to ruin a great game ( Skyrim , Oblivion, ..) because of not following their main mechanics.

    Also the people everywhere doing the same "unic" quests ruins the atmosphere of "you are the chosen one"..
  63. Capellini
    Feb 23, 2022
    4
    the story is **** didnt understand wtf was happening, i was planing a heist and for some reason i was on a ship traveling the world? dialog is garbage and I could not even find the main story after 10h of pure gameplay. there is just a bunch of things trown at you at the same time and a **** ton of menus, nothing like the single player games and also nothing like other mmos, i dont no ifthe story is **** didnt understand wtf was happening, i was planing a heist and for some reason i was on a ship traveling the world? dialog is garbage and I could not even find the main story after 10h of pure gameplay. there is just a bunch of things trown at you at the same time and a **** ton of menus, nothing like the single player games and also nothing like other mmos, i dont no if there are guilds cause i also could not find apparently race or politics dosnt mean anything and no clear instruction. wanted my money back but just the firsts quest already took more than 2h. Also couldn't find any battles that took affort or at least a friend. I dont know how but gtao is better than this ****… Expand
  64. JackPlack
    Feb 11, 2022
    4
    Too much worse than Skyrim, to boring. Too much reading/skipping dialogues. When skipping whole game is too pointless. Level up system unsatisfying. Ai of mobs to much MMO like. Not much graphics/details, Skyrim is still better, a specially with mods.
  65. sealkv
    Nov 29, 2021
    4
    When I bought ESO , nobody no warned me that in this reality I would be attacked by cretins and trolls, who cause healthy irritation in any normal living person, with their defiant behavior. I'm talking about ostentatious idiocy and trolling. Bethesda not doing anything to put an end to this all these 7 years this ESO has existed. More worse. ZOS( ZeniMax Support) help the scoundrels andWhen I bought ESO , nobody no warned me that in this reality I would be attacked by cretins and trolls, who cause healthy irritation in any normal living person, with their defiant behavior. I'm talking about ostentatious idiocy and trolling. Bethesda not doing anything to put an end to this all these 7 years this ESO has existed. More worse. ZOS( ZeniMax Support) help the scoundrels and trolls when they provoke players to respond and write denunciations about them. And ZOS employees receive their money for blocking game accounts due to the fact that some player said something personally in a private chat to some other player. It is enough to tell the troll in the game that he is a troll, and ZOS immediately block the game account of the one who was not afraid to say out loud what is obvious. This is stealing. If ZOS block game account, they DO NOT RETURN your money. What is the connection between the money paid for the game and a private conversation between two adults in a private chat? I pay $ 500 when buying this product 18+ and lose it due to provocation and trolling. This is how they steal money from people. ZOS wrote a letter to me(automatic mailing robot in response to my complaint about trolling by another player) the following: "If another player said something bad to you (in your opinion), you can add it to the ignore list. If you see harsh words, turn on the automatic blocking of swear words in the game." ZOS made it clear to me that this is how they solve these problems. When I write to ZOS a complaint about the actual trolling in ESO, they send me a spit in my face. ZOS send me a robot letter, where they give advice on how to behave with moral monsters and scum.
    ZOS help the trolls in ESO, that's why they hide their names and positions in ZeniMax because they are afraid to meet me on the street one on one, where they will have to return the money that ZeniMax stole from me when blocked my paid account, just for the fact that I expressed my dissatisfaction with the fact that ESO is propagating abomination. I am sure that ZOS are trolling this game themselves in order to provide themselves with a "job". ZeniMax security service is committed to eliminating threats to "business". And the threat to business is public voice over what you do. And when I say out loud that Bethesda are creating problems in this MMO, ZOS began to fight me. Roughly and effectively, they set provocateurs trolls on me. This happens in ZeniMax "Official Forum". This happens in ESO.
    ZeniMax has created an MMO(product and services on the Internet) that promotes perversions and pathology. Necrophilia,satanism,sexual perversions,drugs. Their bosses receive orders from politicians to reduce the population on Earth. They kill people, kill the health of their soul and mind. What I mean? Here's a simple example. You have made it possible in this game when a player puts on the outer shell of a corpse, and in this form is in the reality of the game among other players. This is a product from in-game Store, the name of this product is Skeleton Polymorph outer shell. There are many such examples. "Scary Clown" shell, or Mount "Rainbow Unicorn", and many others, this is a monstrous abomination created by and for devils anti-humans.
    I am a healthy adult, raised in a traditional strict family, in the correct religious and moral traditions. And I openly say that Bethesda are creating a product that can only please psychopaths and freaks who are actively trying to change this world, making it as ugly and scary as they are. In fact, they create the conflict situations yourself in this game. This is an MMO game. Players kill each other here. All know that. This means ESO is bought by those who want to kill people. That's why they came here.
    Here's what's going on. I meet in the game location another player who has put on a suit of a rotten corpse. Yes. These are the kind of players that walk in your game. And ZeniMax call it "Halloween Party". What kind of holiday is this? It is an abomination that causes anger and nausea, it is a walking corpse, it is a spit in the face of Nature and God. And my normal reaction to that is to destroy this abomination. But they have calculated it all in advance. This is provocation. They have deliberately created this situation. They know perfectly well that walking corpses are an abomination that causes hatred among normal people. And they deliberately create this to incite hatred and conflict in ESO. And when this happens, ZeniMax takes the side of the devils, and block the normal person's game account. I already wrote a letter to Bethesda about this. They are waging a war against normal people. They have created a "troll factory", ESO is a garbage dump, a ghetto for drug addicts, maniacs and freaks and other evil spirits, this is a stinking grave.
    The Bible says, "Judge the tree by its fruit." Judge a person by his actions. So who are Bethesda if these are their actions?    … Expand
  66. Giero
    Jan 3, 2023
    4
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  67. Nyurena
    Jun 3, 2014
    3
    The Good:
    Crafting is fairly easy to pick up and you are not limited in number of professions.
    A world that is quite nice to look at, but fairly hollow if you try to look too deep. Well, at least it was fun to see some Kahjit culture. The leveling system has some good freeform ideas that would be a fun Mod in Skyrim/Oblivion/Morrowind, but the game feels like a cheap cash-in to    The Good:
    Crafting is fairly easy to pick up and you are not limited in number of professions.
    A world that is quite nice to look at, but fairly hollow if you try to look too deep.
    Well, at least it was fun to see some Kahjit culture.
    The leveling system has some good freeform ideas that would be a fun Mod in Skyrim/Oblivion/Morrowind, but the game feels like a cheap cash-in to exploit long time fans of the series.

    The Bad:
    The dungeons are terrible! About 90% of the bosses had 10-20 people swinging at the air over the piles of dead boss and you had better join them if you want to land a hit on the respawn.
    You must compete with other players for chests and many other items, so if you fail your lockpick, then the next person spam clicking “E” on it will jump in your place.
    SPAMBOTSPAMBOTSSPAMBOTSMORESPAMBOTS. (You can’t read anything in chat unless you install a MOD to stop it or only use guild/party chat.)

    IMO:
    They could have taken a great many hints from Guild Wars 2 and made the PVE a fun and cooperative experience, but the other players in this game will only function to steal your thunder as a hero or just steal the loot chest you’ve been working on.

    I absolutely can’t recommend this game to an Elder Scrolls fan OR a basic MMO fan.
    What a waste…    … Expand
  68. Phoenixxl
    Jul 28, 2014
    3
    I played Until Veteran 4.

    Combat system is MEH. Archaic class mix and match system where 75% of people end up being useless in a group . Healers are forced to rely on the AI to know who to heal and ward. You can't select the main tank and heal him for example. There are no true power siphon classes, hybridization is forced on you. Loot / reward system is mediocre and generic. Randomly    I played Until Veteran 4.

    Combat system is MEH. Archaic class mix and match system where 75% of people end up being useless in a group . Healers are forced to rely on the AI to know who to heal and ward. You can't select the main tank and heal him for example. There are no true power siphon classes, hybridization is forced on you.
    Loot / reward system is mediocre and generic. Randomly generated loot was past it's prime even in diablo 2.
    The game engine is simply bad and passé. 50% of what made the last 3 TES games was the engine. This is not one of those games. Period.
    Definite lack of raiding.

    Positive:
    A new and fresh approach to multiplayer pvp in the form of tower/castle capturing.    … Expand
  69. HEISTT
    Apr 5, 2014
    3
    While being a decent MMO to spent some time on, they are using a shady payment model. You do NOT get 30 days of free gametime if you do not have access to a credit card. People without credit cards need to pay another 15 bucks for the second month of subscription to actually active their game product! As I am not able to fund the second month, I cannot claim the game and gametime I paidWhile being a decent MMO to spent some time on, they are using a shady payment model. You do NOT get 30 days of free gametime if you do not have access to a credit card. People without credit cards need to pay another 15 bucks for the second month of subscription to actually active their game product! As I am not able to fund the second month, I cannot claim the game and gametime I paid for. Support department is not helpful either, their messages do not really answer the question at hand and they are just relaying standardized messages. For anyone without a credit card: avoid this company.… Expand
  70. Kitruck
    Apr 8, 2014
    3
    Prácticamente falla en todo. Debería haber sido un Skyrim pero masivo, mismo tipo de misiones, cazas de dragones y otros monstruos en raid, aventuras cooperativas en grupo, etc.
    Pero en lugar de eso, es un MMO que prácticamente falla en todo. Resulta repetitivo, y lo que más debería divertir en un MMO, explorar, te aburre increiblemente cuando llevas un par de horas jugando. Tiene una    Prácticamente falla en todo. Debería haber sido un Skyrim pero masivo, mismo tipo de misiones, cazas de dragones y otros monstruos en raid, aventuras cooperativas en grupo, etc.
    Pero en lugar de eso, es un MMO que prácticamente falla en todo. Resulta repetitivo, y lo que más debería divertir en un MMO, explorar, te aburre increiblemente cuando llevas un par de horas jugando. Tiene una interfaz muy poco intuitiva, unos gráficos peor que su antecesor, y desde luego se aleja mucho de ser un Elder Scrolls.
    Sin duda el juego merece un pago inicial de 40/50 €, pero NUNCA una suscripción. Dentro de unos meses cuando la gente se haya ido, porque se irá, y lo pongan gratis, quizá juegue, mientras no me aburra...    … Expand
  71. krammerlock
    Apr 6, 2014
    3
    It is a huge disappointment. They changed what worked in Skyrim and did not change what did not work. The game is unbalanced, graphics are average at best, combat is boring, stealth is meaningless, and skills are limited. I am playing as a high elf sorcerer and it is a weak character. No good AOE and no meaningful control spells at all. Early in the game any 2 enemies can take you down.It is a huge disappointment. They changed what worked in Skyrim and did not change what did not work. The game is unbalanced, graphics are average at best, combat is boring, stealth is meaningless, and skills are limited. I am playing as a high elf sorcerer and it is a weak character. No good AOE and no meaningful control spells at all. Early in the game any 2 enemies can take you down. Don't bother joining the fighters guild as the first quest line is not possible with a sorcerer. In Skyrim stealth was a real advantage and one can argue the most powerful combat tactic in the game. In ESO it is meaningless. In Skyrim I could learn any spell but in ESO I am constrained to the ones they assign my character. This makes Sorcerer both boring and needlessly hard to play. In Skyrim you could sell almost anything for some gold, but in ESO many things are set to 0 value, even though they may be valuable. In Skyrim you have a much larger inventory than ESO, which is very small especially considering the wide range and number of things you need to collect. The skill tree in Skyrim was the best feature of the game, but in ESO it is gone. Groups do not work like those in any other MMORPG and not for the better. Some quests are so crowded with participants that you can complete them just by standing around. ESO go play a good game like Neverwitner on-line and make some major changes please.… Expand
  72. Ananisapta
    May 9, 2014
    3
    I started WoW in 2005 and since then have played LotRO and GW2. I played Skyrim with all the DLC for about 600 hours. Before that I ran through Oblivion a couple of times. I've also played several of the Fallout series. I'm sorry to say that The Elder Scrolls Online is the low point of this series.

    This game is EXTREMELY BUGGY and the quest difficulty is absurdly unpredictable. This    I started WoW in 2005 and since then have played LotRO and GW2. I played Skyrim with all the DLC for about 600 hours. Before that I ran through Oblivion a couple of times. I've also played several of the Fallout series. I'm sorry to say that The Elder Scrolls Online is the low point of this series.

    This game is EXTREMELY BUGGY and the quest difficulty is absurdly unpredictable. This especially applies to the 'main story' quests. The player economy is broken, making crafting a waste of time. Voice acting ranges bizarrely from very good to very poor. Animations range from good to fair. Scenery has repetitive elements and lacks real artistic flair. Especially bizarre is instance play. Most instances are public, including most of those labeled as 'solo dungeons'. That robs them of all difficulty when other players are nearby. It's very strange to see other players in instances where the story line suggests you are uniquely able to overcome a certain challenge. Often these other players will have carbon copies of the same 'unique' npc who is trailing you around. Occasionally you'll meet an unbeatable boss in a true solo instance that will hold you back as much as ten levels. Often you'll be defeated by buggy combat mechanics -- like, you knock-back a boss who passes through the scenery and then resets the entire fight, or even refuses to engage you after that so you have to abandon the quest or reboot the game to progress.

    It's a crying shame that such a promising series leads experienced players into positions of extreme frustration with such frequency.    … Expand
  73. Terminal-Rex
    Jul 21, 2014
    3
    Following TESO since its original announcement, i was pretty excited when I finally got to sit down and play. I loaded in and the character creation was a fantastic first step in the game, however from there things gradually go downhill. The first thing you notice is that the graphics have been dramatically downgraded (in terms of skyrim), for obvious reasons, being that it is an mmo, thisFollowing TESO since its original announcement, i was pretty excited when I finally got to sit down and play. I loaded in and the character creation was a fantastic first step in the game, however from there things gradually go downhill. The first thing you notice is that the graphics have been dramatically downgraded (in terms of skyrim), for obvious reasons, being that it is an mmo, this is not such a big problem, however a lot of the animations are also poor, which almost emphasise the fact that the graphics are no skyrim and also the fact that you are now playing an mmo. A lot of people will tell you this game is very different from most MMOs, it is not. The same core principles apply to this as to most other MMOs on the market albeit it has a slighlty different look. However one most important things for an MMO to get right, questing, feels hollow and unimmerssive. The biggest problem I have with TESOs questing is that for an MMO the Multiplayer and Co-operative elements are somewhat lacking. If you decide to do a quest you can follow your own path, but as soon as you try teaming up with friends the quest is not shared, unlike for example guild wars where you group up and alll get the same cut-scenes ect ect, This means that you can take the same quest logs but it never really feels like you have teamed up with friend morte like you are playing a single player game whilst your friends also play a single player game at the same moment. The when you are questing alone often you run through rooms which are already being cleared out by other players making your role in the quest utterly pointless, it makes the game completely unimmersive and frankly a little bit boring.

    My verdict is that TESO is no skyrim if you want the skyrim experence buy skyrim, which is a fantastic game. =
    - If you want an online version of Skyrim, this is not the game, it will leave you feeling utterly disappointed as the graphics are worse, the animations are terrible, its unimerssive, the controls are worse, every aspect of the game is a downgrade on Skyrim.
    +(However)+
    - If you want a decent MMO this is also not the game for you, it is sub-par at best, especially in comaprison to other MMOs currently on the market. Some feature seem pretty cool at first glance but in actual fact they are pretty gimmicky and add nothing to the overall experence. It is also a very expensive game in terms of base price and the per month cost compared to some much better MMOs and most importantly it lacks the core multiplayer gameplay that MMOs are supposed to offer.

    This is a game that can surely only dissapoint two target audiences, MMO gamers and Skyrim fans.    … Expand
  74. izazael
    Nov 7, 2014
    3
    Great visuals, great score, and it's fantastic to be able to play in the various areas of Tamriel... I just wish it wasn't released unfinished, buggy, unbalanced, and essentially still a beta game. Every update fixes some seriously broken mechanics and usually seriously breaks a bunch of others. Paying $15/month for a game that doesn't remotely feel complete is an insult.

    I never    Great visuals, great score, and it's fantastic to be able to play in the various areas of Tamriel... I just wish it wasn't released unfinished, buggy, unbalanced, and essentially still a beta game. Every update fixes some seriously broken mechanics and usually seriously breaks a bunch of others. Paying $15/month for a game that doesn't remotely feel complete is an insult.

    I never thought I'd say this, but: unless this becomes F2P, I won't be playing it again.    … Expand
  75. Ceridwen8
    Jun 1, 2014
    3
    I played this through beta & briefly, into live. I don't have a lot to add to the criticism, except to say I found no reason to actually play this mmo. If it's aimed at PvP mainly, I wasn't aware of that when I bought the game, & I had read enough to believe the ES world & story would be paramount. It isn't. The play style itself is awkward & irritating, the races basicallyI played this through beta & briefly, into live. I don't have a lot to add to the criticism, except to say I found no reason to actually play this mmo. If it's aimed at PvP mainly, I wasn't aware of that when I bought the game, & I had read enough to believe the ES world & story would be paramount. It isn't. The play style itself is awkward & irritating, the races basically interchangeable & for some reason, it's too easy to put your, say, High Elf among the Bretons. I'm not sure who they're catering to, but it isn't people who loved Skyrim.

    We already have mmos that cater to PvP, to raids - and I found *nothing* in ESO that offers something new, improved or unique. It's a step back in many ways - shared nodes, cooperative play, character personal story. After trying this, I cycled back through the old mmos I'd played, & depending on your taste, each one offers something unavailable in ESO.    … Expand
  76. ginnk
    May 4, 2014
    3
    Poor Elder Scroll Licence! This game is purely and simply bad! It's not an Elder Scroll game and not an MMO game, a bad mix of them. Pity.
    This game is not playable alone, if you want to level up , you could do this easily till level 7- After, if you wish to play alone, you have to stop the game, you'll can't do it - it becomes very hard to make XP ( 2 days to go to lvl 8, playing 8 hours    Poor Elder Scroll Licence! This game is purely and simply bad! It's not an Elder Scroll game and not an MMO game, a bad mix of them. Pity.
    This game is not playable alone, if you want to level up , you could do this easily till level 7- After, if you wish to play alone, you have to stop the game, you'll can't do it - it becomes very hard to make XP ( 2 days to go to lvl 8, playing 8 hours a day! That's purely inbelievable) Craft system is so ...bizarre - And there are still yet so much graphical bugs! (ressources dissapear just before you can collect them!) and fight are very frustrated, press on keyboard to escape doesn't work all time - sometimes yes, sometimes no... Then you die often - Very desappointing. Well, I go back to GW2, best solo playable MMO ever!    … Expand
  77. Doctor-J
    Oct 2, 2014
    3
    This game is not an Elder Scrolls Game! It is not! It defiles all Elder Scrolls history, it's an average MMO that steals the name along with our money; It has huge maps, but it charges 20 dollars for a horse so you can move through it, since running is totally impossible for people who work and have little time to play. Shame on you Bethesda!! Shame on you for letting this game happen!This game is not an Elder Scrolls Game! It is not! It defiles all Elder Scrolls history, it's an average MMO that steals the name along with our money; It has huge maps, but it charges 20 dollars for a horse so you can move through it, since running is totally impossible for people who work and have little time to play. Shame on you Bethesda!! Shame on you for letting this game happen! There is no excuse for this game!… Expand
  78. matty_o
    May 14, 2014
    3
    You can't give this game 10. Or a 9 or anything above a 5. All the fanboys rating 10 are simply comparing it to WoW instead of Skyrim. No, Elder Scrolls fans deserve better. From the shockingly boring gameplay, to the horrendous group options, to the inability to correctly play coop in the same quest, to the removal of building/modding houses as well as the ability to interact with prettyYou can't give this game 10. Or a 9 or anything above a 5. All the fanboys rating 10 are simply comparing it to WoW instead of Skyrim. No, Elder Scrolls fans deserve better. From the shockingly boring gameplay, to the horrendous group options, to the inability to correctly play coop in the same quest, to the removal of building/modding houses as well as the ability to interact with pretty much anything other than an enemy/resources. The Elder Scrolls charm is long gone. Gold per kill is 1, max 2 even on a boss. Horses are anywhere from 20,000 upwards unless you BUY the Imperial race or the horse. This is a downright slap in the face after paying for the game in full as well as the monthly subscription!
    If you idiots want to keep comparing this game to WoW obviously it's better but it's no where close to what it should be. Definitely not worth $80. The ESO team was good enough to give me a refund, I suggest you all do the same. Wait till free to play rather.    … Expand
  79. Xonerix
    Jan 15, 2021
    3
    Garbage mmorpg, a very bad gimmick of Elder scrolls games. Nothing in the game is interesting enough to keep you playing for long.
    The world map is huge in ESO, but it's literally blueprint copy paste regions everywhere, if you fully completed at least 1 region, then you can count it as if you played the whole game.
    Even though PVE is not p2w, PVP is pay to win, because you can buy DLCs    Garbage mmorpg, a very bad gimmick of Elder scrolls games. Nothing in the game is interesting enough to keep you playing for long.
    The world map is huge in ESO, but it's literally blueprint copy paste regions everywhere, if you fully completed at least 1 region, then you can count it as if you played the whole game.
    Even though PVE is not p2w, PVP is pay to win, because you can buy DLCs that you can complete to gain more powerful skills to use in combat, which gives you unfair advantage over other people that didn't buy that specific DLC.    … Expand
  80. xveganroxx
    Apr 24, 2014
    3
    This is a painfully bad MMO that is skinned with excellent Elder Scrolls lore. The environment is pretty nice, the soundtrack is good, the art design is good if uninspired, and the voice acting ranges from cringeworthy to excellent. That's all the good stuff. Here's the bad: there's no active combat, there's no open exploration, and of course it's priced above every other MMO offeringThis is a painfully bad MMO that is skinned with excellent Elder Scrolls lore. The environment is pretty nice, the soundtrack is good, the art design is good if uninspired, and the voice acting ranges from cringeworthy to excellent. That's all the good stuff. Here's the bad: there's no active combat, there's no open exploration, and of course it's priced above every other MMO offering (game cost + subscription + cash shop). It will be free-to-play soon, which will bring in its own problems I'm sure, but I don't see any fixes for the lack of combat or exploration. If you ever shot an arrow into an enemy from a distance in Skyrim, don't expect anything like that here - you target an enemy and click, there is no aiming involved. You can't explore, either, since if you try to leave the area you're in you'll find the next area has much higher level mobs, so you have to grind, move on, grind, move on, etc. Also, the mob AI is laughable. Enemies don't attack you unless you're 5 feet away from them. There's limited instancing, so when you enter a dungeon everything is already dead and dozens of bots and other players are camping the spawns. This is a mess of an MMO that could only be recommended to masochists or people who are willing to put up with awful gameplay just to experience Elder Scrolls lore. I thought I was one of the latter, but it turns out that I'm not. I think anyone interested in this would be better off playing either WoW or Skyrim (or The Secret World, which has lots of its own problems but does what ESO tries to do in a much, much better way). Avoid this mess of a game.… Expand
  81. Tredent
    Apr 6, 2014
    3
    Often u get underleveled since quest system is badly done so you don't know where to go sometimes etc.
    Even when u do quest for ur same level some "boss" monsters is noway u could solo. Guess they dident look on other mmo's that much.
    Hopefully they patch the game and make it less buggy. Kinda boring to play right now.
  82. archanjo
    Mar 4, 2016
    3
    god this game is terrible.. where should i start with...ok lets see hmmm oh got it
    pros: has uninstall button
    cons : the rest

    so so so bad....i died a little inside
  83. Johan701
    May 1, 2014
    3
    It's a MMO game that ends up being played as a mediocre single player.
    It actually fails at keeping you willing to play it.
    The whole problem of this game has always been and still is, trying to combine the elder scrolls to a MMO environment, someone says they failed, someone says they did a great job, what i think is that they made a mixup that is barely decent in both aspects, the    It's a MMO game that ends up being played as a mediocre single player.
    It actually fails at keeping you willing to play it.

    The whole problem of this game has always been and still is, trying to combine the elder scrolls to a MMO environment, someone says they failed, someone says they did a great job, what i think is that they made a mixup that is barely decent in both aspects, the REAL PROBLEM, sadly is that you don't really want to have a barely decent mixup of these two things.
    That's why people always played single players immersive games and MMOs separetely.

    It lacks the depth and immersion of a real single player "elder scrolls" game. It's not really bad, they made a good effort trying to eliminate the usual mmo-like quests (kill 20 X, gather 15 Y) but they ended up being repetitive in other kind of stuffs(ghosts and dreams anyone?) and that ends up being boring anyway after a bit of time.

    What i found incredibly disapponting on the MMO aspect is the total lacking of game mechanics complexity. There are no builds, the are really no items to choose from.

    It seems like there is a lot of personalization of you character (many skill trees, strange combinations like mages in heavy armor with dual wield)... but it's not really personalization if you can revert that anytime and end up being able to do anything and to complete every single skill tree just by collecting all the skill points.

    When i heard some people from DAOC worked on it, i hoped to finally see a game where equipment wasn't just a dress piece with a color to measure his effectivness for your character.
    I believe i've never seen a mmo with such a dull and pointless equipment system. Crafting is almost useless, enchanting makes a 4/5 dmg difference from droppable glyphs. No personalization, no builds, no creativity involved even here. Nothing even close to resemble daoc really good equip-system.

    PvP is chaotic, the combat system feels strange and doesn't help you at all,.
    You pass all your time trying to understand what to do and where to go, but what happens is just 1 faction alternatively crushing another, forever and ever. You need to make a lot of walking to reach fights that always go entirely 1-way. with not even many people dying.

    Pvp rewards are just non-existent , you make pratically no exp points and after the first levels you advance in rank very slowly, even worse if you aren't in a group.

    Personally i think this mmo is just another useless hole in the water, it could have been an almost-decent single-player experience if he didn't require you so much time to level up and see the main quest ending.

    They tought naming Daoc and inserting a 3 realm RVR pvp system to think people would blindly come to play thing ignoring the fact that it's not 1/8 as deeply structured as daoc was in terms of equipment/builds/classes and setups.

    I mean, even comparing a game with 4 classes with one who had almost 30 different ones? come on...

    Also the 4-people parties are really bad and limitative.    … Expand
  84. Genelegasse
    Apr 21, 2014
    3
    Nothing to see here, fellas... nothing extremely special. It's a huge game! the quests are pretty poor and very spread out, they make a poor effort to explain anything to you of how the game works. So many bugs make it nearly unplayable me and my friends have been stuck in loading screens countless times makes you just want to log out. That's what i'd advise... logging out.
  85. RobertC
    Apr 11, 2014
    3
    Broken quests and dungeons might be overlooked. But, the vanishing banks is over the edge. Add to that the horrid customer service and, this is one to avoid until/if they get their act together. Really sad as, I was a huge fan up until release.
  86. floatingbumblee
    Apr 22, 2014
    3
    One third of TESO players who took the time to review it think it sucks.
    ONE THIRD!
    That's pretty damn sad. Personally each time I turn it back on it feels like i've picked the top off a scab just before it has healed. The "Critic" reviewers saying this game breaks new territory... i uh... really? THIS GAME IS A COOKIE CUTTER of EVERY OTHER MMO YOU HAVE EVER PLAYED only more    One third of TESO players who took the time to review it think it sucks.
    ONE THIRD!
    That's pretty damn sad.
    Personally each time I turn it back on it feels like i've picked the top off a scab just before it has healed.
    The "Critic" reviewers saying this game breaks new territory... i uh... really?
    THIS GAME IS A COOKIE CUTTER of EVERY OTHER MMO YOU HAVE EVER PLAYED only more infuriating because it feels like they spent all their resources on named actors when they could have spent it on fixing bugs and developing thrilling content and making a truely OPEN WORLD (where you can climb **** mountains and swim to OBLIVION if you want to... so annoying).
    Freetoplay FTW!!!!!! You lost me Betheduhyeah... i just dont get yous    … Expand
  87. mietha
    Apr 4, 2014
    3
    This game is the worst $60 I've spent in years. It's not even a bad WoW knock-off. It's more like a bad LOTRO knock-off. Don't believe the semi-hype and don't waste your money. There are many, better, completely free MMOs out there. The ENTIRE time I was playing, all I could think was "I'd rather be playing WoW" and I've not played WoW in years. The combat is a dumbed-down version ofThis game is the worst $60 I've spent in years. It's not even a bad WoW knock-off. It's more like a bad LOTRO knock-off. Don't believe the semi-hype and don't waste your money. There are many, better, completely free MMOs out there. The ENTIRE time I was playing, all I could think was "I'd rather be playing WoW" and I've not played WoW in years. The combat is a dumbed-down version of Age of Conan and every thing else is ripped from LOTRO, D & D Online, WoW, and a host of other games. The VERY few original ideas this game does have are unilaterally bad. Just don't do it.… Expand
  88. tgirgis
    Apr 12, 2014
    3
    If your into open world games like Skyrim, Stay away from this catastrophe. It's an awful SW:TOR clone if I ever did see one, and anyone who tells you otherwise is just trying to convince themselves that it's good.

    I'm amazed at the amount of lies on this page, I mean you can say you like it all you want, but when the word "immersion" gets thrown in, I know it's someone with so much    If your into open world games like Skyrim, Stay away from this catastrophe. It's an awful SW:TOR clone if I ever did see one, and anyone who tells you otherwise is just trying to convince themselves that it's good.

    I'm amazed at the amount of lies on this page, I mean you can say you like it all you want, but when the word "immersion" gets thrown in, I know it's someone with so much emotionally invested in this trash game that they will say anything to see it succeed. As stated by another poster, if you support this game you will be supporting the continued degradation of MMOs and games in general.    … Expand
  89. carsonnapier987
    May 10, 2014
    3
    TESO is as boring as WoW. Until one accumulates an obscene amount of cash the game play resembles a running simulator more than an RPG. The quests are go here, kill that, fetch this bring it back rinse and repeat. The Elder Scrolls immersed me in a world that afforded characters, quests and a storyline I cared about TESO not so much. I quit WoW when it started to remind me of work TESOTESO is as boring as WoW. Until one accumulates an obscene amount of cash the game play resembles a running simulator more than an RPG. The quests are go here, kill that, fetch this bring it back rinse and repeat. The Elder Scrolls immersed me in a world that afforded characters, quests and a storyline I cared about TESO not so much. I quit WoW when it started to remind me of work TESO is already becoming a chore. The graphics are ok but not comparable to PC versions of Skyrim. All in all I paid far too much for the game and the monthly fee adds insult to injury. This is a major disappointment for me.… Expand
  90. ElvenArcher
    Apr 27, 2014
    3
    not a good mmo or multiplayer game
    not a good tes or singleplayer experience
    it's not anything it is meant to be.
    but it is everything it's not meant to be.

    avoid it at all 'costs'... get it?
  91. InsidiaGaming
    Apr 9, 2014
    3
    First of all if you are going to compare this to WoW you are going to have a bad time. WoW has had nearly a decade to get things right, tweak things here and there to find out what works and what doesn't work.

    If you played the ESO beta you'll remember bugs in it (as you do in beta) and some of those bugs are still there. Several times now I've logged out in frustration because of quest    First of all if you are going to compare this to WoW you are going to have a bad time. WoW has had nearly a decade to get things right, tweak things here and there to find out what works and what doesn't work.

    If you played the ESO beta you'll remember bugs in it (as you do in beta) and some of those bugs are still there. Several times now I've logged out in frustration because of quest bugs (such as the boss is supposed to jump down from a balcony to fight you, and ends up getting stuck and floating in mid air). The game is riddled with bugs here and there, putting it simply you'll run into some form of bug probably every 10-15 minutes whether it be a graphics bug, npcs half fallen into the floor, npcs that are "stuck" in combat, audio bugs you name it. This is the main reason why i'm giving it a low score, harsh possibly for bugs but there are that many bugs and at the moment Elder Scrolls Online is flawed and is heading in the same direction as other MMO's. At this rate it'll be free to play in around 8-10 months just in time for everyone to stop playing anyway and play the next WoW expansion when it's released at the end of the year.

    People should not be paying 39.99 for a game, then 8.99 on top of that for a monthly subscription for a bug riddled game from what is meant to be a top studio.

    The graphics are nice, but I've failed to see anything that captures you like that of Skyrim.

    The combat system is buggy, at times I've had to re-position myself because my blade just kept going through the mob and not hitting it (although naturally it could hit me). Even as a caster it just doesn't feel right.

    Character Creation, nothing more than average. Not bad, but nothing special either with a load of wasted templates you'd never use.

    Conclusion: You are not missing anything and chances are you won't gain anything at present only a forever burning hole in your wallet. Big let down from Bethesda who should know better than this, they had the betas, they had the players for it, they had the feedback and it's still ****    … Expand
  92. zombiechan
    May 28, 2014
    3
    It wasn't the bugs that bothered me so much as it was that it was just not Elder Scrolls. I much rather of had a borderlands co-op for games like Morrowind and Skyrim. The combat was interesting and the questing was a little more interesting than most MMOs. But it just wasn't that great, and made me just want to play a real Elder Scrolls game.
  93. Iluvatar21
    May 5, 2014
    3
    ESO plays immersive but feels dull & lifeless. Biggest offense: uses the TES name. A singleplayer game cannot be an MMO & vice versa!
    ===========
    HOW I RATE: 10-9 score: perfect or near-perfect don't exist; 8 score: one of the best games ever. Top score; 7-6 score: great but not one of the best; 5-below score: serious flaws.
  94. TheHoboMan
    Apr 4, 2014
    3
    Bugged quests, clunky combat, bland environments, bland spell effects, clunky looking animations, bad voice acting, cookie cutter classes...the list of bad things in this game go on and on.

    I will give Bethesda a nod for making an attempt, but the game does not feel immersive at all. But I am disappointed that they would put out such a crap product. Some series are just not meant to    Bugged quests, clunky combat, bland environments, bland spell effects, clunky looking animations, bad voice acting, cookie cutter classes...the list of bad things in this game go on and on.

    I will give Bethesda a nod for making an attempt, but the game does not feel immersive at all. But I am disappointed that they would put out such a crap product.

    Some series are just not meant to be made into an MMO..    … Expand
  95. RonStuart
    Apr 4, 2014
    3
    I didn't like it either.Just another mmo exactly and costly too(i hate subscription).I think the game will have problems with userbase if they are going to charge for monthly subscription.After playing evvery Elder Scroll games from arena to Skyrim,it really don't deserve to be in the list.
  96. Deathmain
    Apr 5, 2014
    3
    Après Skyrim on pouvais s’attendre a du contenue et du graphisme au rendez-vous. Hors des graphisme terne, des map qui ce ressemble, des quêtes pas trop épique, un manque cruel d'information a l’écran pour un MMORPG, bref trop casual et surement trop orienter console..
    Bref il va surement faire parti de ces MMO qui s'orientation Free-To-Play rapidement car actuellement il y a un cruel    Après Skyrim on pouvais s’attendre a du contenue et du graphisme au rendez-vous. Hors des graphisme terne, des map qui ce ressemble, des quêtes pas trop épique, un manque cruel d'information a l’écran pour un MMORPG, bref trop casual et surement trop orienter console..
    Bref il va surement faire parti de ces MMO qui s'orientation Free-To-Play rapidement car actuellement il y a un cruel manque de contenue PVE HL.
    Quand au PVP, une map...du même modèle que GW2...tout ce ressemble, rien de nouveaux et encore une fois un manque de contenue évident.
    Amateur de ESO passer votre chemin, casual débutant amusez vous bien...    … Expand
  97. lucasshark33mic
    Apr 25, 2014
    3
    Very much looking forward to this one, but having played the beta my expectations plummeted.

    And the release version is alas no better. On the plus side the game has huge scope, and voice acting throughout (although the delivery is often interminable sloooowww). Now on to the negatives, and alas there are many. - The game is utterly bug ridden. Uncompletable quests, clipping    Very much looking forward to this one, but having played the beta my expectations plummeted.

    And the release version is alas no better.

    On the plus side the game has huge scope, and voice acting throughout (although the delivery is often interminable sloooowww).

    Now on to the negatives, and alas there are many.

    - The game is utterly bug ridden. Uncompletable quests, clipping issues, getting stuck in the middle of scenery and disappearing completely off the gaming area. It still feels like an early beta.
    - The combat is a mess. You have only a minimum of skills available at any one time, and your energy/magic supply to use these runs out after about 1 billionth of on a nano second after each fight begins.
    - User interface is highly unresponsive. I have lost count of the times I have clicked the same skill five or six times before the game actually responds (and no this is NOT because there was no power/magic available).

    With a few months works, and a complete overhaul of the combat system it may yet grow into something worthwhile, but my advise to anyone considering this title is to give it a miss. At least for now.    … Expand
  98. max_lives
    Apr 8, 2014
    3
    Let’s get some things out of the way first:

    This is neither the best TES experience, nor is it the best MMO experience. Of all the things I’ve disagreed with over previous TES games, the opinion that the graphics are amazing is top of the list. While I really enjoy playing through each Elder Scrolls title, the characters, the materials used on scenery (glossy bricks overload!) and    Let’s get some things out of the way first:

    This is neither the best TES experience, nor is it the best MMO experience.

    Of all the things I’ve disagreed with over previous TES games, the opinion that the graphics are amazing is top of the list. While I really enjoy playing through each Elder Scrolls title, the characters, the materials used on scenery (glossy bricks overload!) and the terribly ropey voice and motion capture acting all put a knot in my stomach when I first start playing. But hey, I forget about it after a while and get down to just enjoying the freedom and little side-stories that are going on.

    Now, the graphics in ESO for me are much, much better. Unfortunately, after you’ve gotten over the graphics, the stuff that makes TES games so endearing and involving - the “meat”, isn’t there. The progression-style gameplay and hand-holding takes away all real sense of adventure, and while you can still just go off and explore, don’t expect to be able to enjoy the fruits of your explorations until you’ve gone back to where you came from and followed the breadcrumbs until they lead you to these amazing places you’ve discovered.

    Which aren’t amazing. Most public dungeons are carbon copies of one another - a small circuit, sometimes ending in a Shard - which makes me wonder if the only purpose of these places is to stop lower level adventurers (yes, you, you dirty explorer types!) from farming shards.

    Some of the group dungeons are interesting, until you’ve done them once and realise that actually they’re really a-b-c. There’s no intelligent thought behind them, and when puzzles (cartographic or mental) are present, they’re of the tic-tac-toe variety you expect to find in airport crossword puzzle books. Dungeon Master has more to offer.

    Above ground things aren’t much better. Kill X rats is replaced with Rescue X Guan, or X prisoners, or X *insert bright new idea here*. The point is, there is still copious use of # / # in the Quest Tracker.

    Quest Tracker.The worst quest tracking system I’ve ever seen in any game, single or multiplayer. When you pick up a new quest, or hand in a milestone on a quest you’re on, the tracker changes to highlight something else. Support helpfully informed me to press T to cycle through the quests. Thanks for that. How many quests do you have in your Journal?

    The UI in general is a nightmare. We invented floating windows for a reason, people. FullScreen mode for every-single-aspect of character and inventory management is like stepping back to the ‘80’s. I don’t care if it’s for console too… I’m a PC MMOer and we’re your bread & butter, fools.

    And Chat. Well, you have /zone and you have your /g# guild chats. That’s it. Because there’s no public AH, everyone spams /zone with their WTT messages. So technically /zone is mostly spam. Meanwhile, because everyone can join 5 guilds, /g# is often either dead, or filled with the worst offenders of /zone. I’ve found one guild which isn’t like that, and I like em, but 95% of the people shown as online don’t respond to chat because they’re only listening to some *other* guild … their presence in this guild is only so they can access the guild bank & store. Don’t ask about chat lag…is it 2014 or 1992?

    Crafting is quite good. Anyone can make anything, so you don’t need to worry about selling in a few months.

    Combat blows. I died 3 times last night because the hotkey input was lagging … movement and combat are in separate packets it appears, so you can find yourself able to move but not fight (and NPCs don’t care, pew pew).

    3/10 .. 2 points deducted for wasting $200 on this thing, which is the most galling part of it all.    … Expand
  99. awais142
    May 5, 2014
    3
    An elder scrolls game thats trying too hard to be an elder scrolls game and an mmorpg, cant make its mind up. Graphics are dull textured, the gold you get off enemies is ridiculously low, horses cost way to much and they made sure of that by limiting the gold income from grind. Game is disgusting in party grouping, you cant help other people quest that you have done, so you just watch themAn elder scrolls game thats trying too hard to be an elder scrolls game and an mmorpg, cant make its mind up. Graphics are dull textured, the gold you get off enemies is ridiculously low, horses cost way to much and they made sure of that by limiting the gold income from grind. Game is disgusting in party grouping, you cant help other people quest that you have done, so you just watch them do it on thier own, wtf is the point in grouping for quests then??

    Once again, a game trailer misrepresenting a mission with the cinematic to this quest with an epic invasion of daedric army, which of course only consisting of only 2 enemies ingame at a time and having them greet you like its just another sunny day at the beach really? Tricking your fans with trailers is just sad. Many areas you see people just waiting to kill a boss, where the hell is the innovating combat ? You just wait around for major enemies to spawn during a quest line, its disgusting and very boring. Entire game feels like a borefest, very soon to go free to play in no time.    … Expand
  100. statickinetics
    Apr 14, 2014
    3
    Deceptively beautiful, frustratingly generic and mechanically flawed. In a nutshell.

    I wanted to like ESO, because as someone who has only really enjoyed one MMO (EVE), I have been craving for an experience that will provide actual replayability. Unfortunately, ESO is not that game. Before getting into why this game is fatally flawed, let me just get this out of the way: The world    Deceptively beautiful, frustratingly generic and mechanically flawed. In a nutshell.

    I wanted to like ESO, because as someone who has only really enjoyed one MMO (EVE), I have been craving for an experience that will provide actual replayability. Unfortunately, ESO is not that game.

    Before getting into why this game is fatally flawed, let me just get this out of the way: The world design is excellent. This is probably the only redeemable feature of the game, although you're probably better off admiring screenshots than dropping 60 bucks on the game. Environments are lush and crisp, full of interesting details and creatures. Unfortunately, they are also filled with rote NPCs that drone around and remind you that yes, this is in-fact just another MMO.

    The fatal flaw with ESO is the level progression. This is a game that effectively forces you to PvE, and in particularly forces you to complete quests. Going around killing things nets you practically no XP, at least relative to the quest rewards. And let's be clear: these quests are horrendously boring, rote, and uninspired, full of tropes and cliches from a thousand other MMOs. The plotline is so unoriginal and the dialogue (while voice-acted) so tired and bland that you find yourself mashing the skip button just to get through the quest as fast as possible. The game effectively pushes you down a path to quest-grinding, which discourages random exploring (random exploring being the hallmark of games like Skyrim).

    Once you have gotten through the arduous grind to level 10 so that you can access PvP, you can enter a partitioned area of the map solely dedicated to PvP. At first, this seems promising. The area is very large and full of nodes that can be attacked. There are even siege weapons that can be deployed and battles with large numbers (in the hundreds potentially) are relatively smooth and lag-free. However, the experience quickly loses its allure once you realize that the only way to gain meaningful XP is by completely "quests" which are either rote (scouting missions), impossible (capture some objective on the other side of the map far far away from friendly territory), or time-restricted (kill 20 players... but only available once per day).

    What this means is that you could be running around, killing players, helping cap objectives and generally advancing the fight for your faction and gain zero XP, zero gold and only a random loot item every now and then that gets mailed to you.

    Now, all of this would be acceptable if the combat itself was interesting or dynamic. It isn't. A game like EVE is successful because the PvP is deep, complex and rewarding. There are genuine risks involved and the rush of winning a battle or getting a kill is hard to compare to any other game.

    ESO is the complete opposite. PvP basically involves mass zerg rushes, spamming random buttons and if you happen to die in the mix or get caught out by some hidden gank squad, you just respawn back at base with literally no penalty. No penalties and no rewards = boring, not-fun. The combat is lazy and skill-less. All that matters is you have the right combinations of buttons to push and almost all of the skills are equally effective so there's no real need to worry about optimization.

    Needless to say, my time with ESO didn't last long. Maybe about a week. I won't be subbing past the free month. I uninstalled the game and went back to playing Natural Selection 2, which is game that actually feels rewarding getting kills, capping objectives and winning. ESO fails on all of the fundamentals that make a game rewarding by not offering a challenging experience, or one that provides any incentives in the form of risk/reward. Most importantly, it forces the player down a path to arduous quest-grinding of the worst kind for few rewards or for any real purpose beyond having a bigger number next to your character name.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

4
#4 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
14
#14 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 64 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 36 out of 64
  3. Negative: 1 out of 64
  1. CD-Action
    Jul 23, 2014
    60
    Eight years of development, a team consisting of even 250 people at some points, budget reaching hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s a pity that this ‘Skyrim Online’ disappoints both fans of previous Bethesda games and MMORPG veterans who expected some fresh air in the stale genre. [06/2014, p.44]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jul 8, 2014
    60
    A well done MMO that can lure players not familiar with the genre. But if you've played MMOs before, this one doesn't offer anything new, nor anything exciting.
  3. DarkStation
    Jun 16, 2014
    50
    60 days was more then enough time for me to determine that I would rather spend my time elsewhere.
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