In the fantasy MMO The Elder Scrolls Online, almost every design concept that was launched was thrown out the window. Is TESO looking good for Playstation 4 and Xbox One? And were the four months since the release on PC some sort of extended beta test? We take a look at the first four months in TESO and why everything will soon change.
Before Release: Much Hope, But Skepticism
The story of The Elder Scrolls Online is hardly understandable from the outside. Before players set foot in Tamriel, it was already a huge hit. An MMO in the Elder Scrolls universe existed only in the minds of players.
In the fantasies of optimistic fans, a Skyrim emerged that would never end. A Skyrim that would continuously receive new regions, new zones, and new characters. There would always be something to discover, always something new to experience. It was a dream for many players.
Even then, problems were apparent. Critics voiced their concerns. Skyrim had been a classic console success. And so, fans of the single-player series raised objections against the fundamental ideas of the MMO genre: “And am I really supposed to pay every month, even though I already bought the game?”
Skeptical players with MMO experience wondered whether Skyrim could even work as an MMO. How would one experience a unique story in a world where one was just one of millions of heroes? How should items be designed? How could such a beautiful world fit into the rigid structures of a typical MMO? How could one achieve the magical immersion, the feeling of losing oneself in a fantasy world, amidst the harsh reality of an MMO with chats, gold spam, and bots? How could one allow others, the strangers, the non-NPCs into their own fantasy realm? And so, some fans simply wished for the next Elder Scrolls game – and nothing online.
Even then, there were concerns, which grew louder with the beta events.
In the Beta: Fantasy Meets Reality
The majority of fans were only allowed into the game during a series of beta events. Later, Zenimax was criticized: During such “events,” when servers were only open for a few days, players could not really provide valuable feedback. It was merely a PR event.
The beta felt like a cold shower to many players. Overly high expectations were disappointed. Dreams did not stand up to reality checks. Quests were buggy and led to dead ends. NPC animations felt lifeless and waxy, the combat system felt like “air combat,” one did not feel the impact of their own strikes. On the other hand, there was praise for the graphics, the audio, and that the game felt like “Elder Scrolls.”
Upon Release: Incomplete, Mixed, Solid
The release of TESO was overshadowed by numerous problems and issues. Hardly a week went by without some corner catching fire. The Zenimax team seemed overwhelmed by the onslaught of fans and the multitude of difficulties.
Gameplay systems revealed conceptual weaknesses, exploiters ran amok. In-game mail was exploited for item dupes, as were guild banks. Cheaters took advantage of an unfortunate design decision with cave bosses to unleash an endless army of camping bots. Numerous quest bugs also caused frustration and annoyance. Players found themselves in dead ends.
The balance of the individual classes, critically important for a game focused on PvP, was completely absent. Vampires exploited a often overlooked combination of abilities and set bonuses to achieve a godlike status. Dragonknights were too strong, balance issues were enormous – fixes were delayed.
[quote_left]TESO had nothing in common with the polish of a single-player game.[/quote_left] Here there were problems, there were problems. Also technically, dark clouds were gathering on the horizon. Players struggled with account issues, with clients, fought for access to the server. Consumer protection advocates even complained that to utilize the first free 30 days, one still had to provide a valid payment method. TESO was being attacked from all sides.
For fans of the “The Elder Scrolls” series without MMO experience, this hit particularly hard. They were not prepared for such a turbulent start. With the polish of a single-player game that functioned out of the box, TESO had nothing in common.
Alongside Current Problems, Structural Issues Emerged
Experienced MMO players knew that a failed launch did not necessarily indicate long-term difficulties. After all: Most problems could surely be resolved with time. Eventually, every blazing flame would extinguish, eventually every balance fix would be implemented, account issues resolved, and every quest bug fixed.
[quote_right]The game tipped from a hero’s journey to tedious grinding.[/quote_right] But what about the deeper, structural problems? What was to happen with fundamental design decisions that were now causing difficulties? And there were many of those. After reaching level 50, TESO players entered the “Veteran” endgame. Many complained that the game shifted from a hero’s journey to tedious grinding.
Moreover, there were structural problems in the PvP campaigns and with the shallow item progression. Phasing issues ruined group play – to name just a few things that seemed so deeply embedded in the game philosophy that one could hardly expect them to be solved anytime soon.
Console Release Delayed
Around this time, when the future did not look very rosy, Zenimax announced that they would delay the release of the game for Playstation 4 and Xbox One, originally planned for June, by at least six months. The announcement that they would need six more months just two weeks before the release led to speculations about the reasons behind Zenimax (and a lot of anger from console players, but that’s not the point).
Although Zenimax cited “technical difficulties” in the porting process as the reason for the delay. However, some (including us) speculated that they did not want to burden console players with TESO in its current state and did not want to release the MMO in such a difficult atmosphere.
The Time After Release
Thus far, The Elder Scrolls Online has not truly emerged from its release phase. Three major content patches have been rolled out, bringing new zones and features. However, with each of the three patches, new technical problems have also emerged, frustrating those affected. After the second patch, for some, performance deteriorated for months.
However, the changes that have come so far are quite reasonable. The game looks significantly better after the introduction of new lighting conditions and armor dyes. Furthermore, efforts have been made to eliminate most balance errors and quest bugs from the game.
And they have become more accessible to player feedback. At the moment, they have almost every core criticism point from players on a list of things they want to change: The combat system, the PvP, the NPC animations, the veteran endgame, character development, rigid item progression, the introduction of more Skyrim elements, actually everything is on this list.
Fundamental decisions from the paper stage of the game, many core ideas, are now being questioned and actively addressed.
Is the Console Release in Sight?
To observers, it appears as though they are working full steam ahead to make The Elder Scrolls Online a game that resonates with the console community and can engage them.
But the question remains: If so many great ideas are present now and one can improve criticism points like the waxy facial features of NPCs with few changes, why was The Elder Scrolls Online so obviously released prematurely in this form back in April? Wouldn’t it have been better to wait and avoid much hassle?
Why does TESO’s future look so much better than TESO’s present and especially its past?
When looking at the ideas and changes proposed and presented by TESO in recent months, they do not seem like the kind of things that required player feedback from the last months since release to come up with.
That the veteran system was never a good idea from the start, that players wished for arenas and battlegrounds, that the NPC faces were far too waxy, and that fans yearned for a justice system like the one in Skyrim – these realizations likely didn’t require the time since the release to arrive at.
[quote_right]A reborn and revamped The Elder Scrolls Online.[/quote_right] One can only hope that TESO’s future, with all the changes that are now receiving praise, will soon catch up with the present of the game. And one must hope that MMO players will grant the game another chance. Fans of the genre are not known for this, after all.
It is thus fortunate that with the upcoming release on Playstation 4 and Xbox One, a second wave could be launched, in which even some PC players will return to a reborn and revamped The Elder Scrolls Online. One can only wonder if the plan will succeed and if the coming months for TESO will be as turbulent as the last four.
