Recent news since late Fall, however, when the developers invited many press and guild community leaders to test an Alpha build of the guild, has shown that there may be more promise to the game after all. From a more personal standpoint with ideas that I have thrown around, it seems Zenimax Online Studios heard my conversations with friends about what features the next great MMO would have to feature. It's no secret that PvP has been a focus of mine for years and years and having an entire region that was the stage for an entire game itself previously left me in awe. Being able to utilize any weapon and armor combination despite there being classes and 3-faction PvP that would hopefully be a true successor to DAOC was enough to convince me that this is the game I need in 2013. If there is one game I need to buy, its this one.
That is, until I took a step back and had a second look.
I realized that while the game might be a fix temporarily, this won't be the game that holds my attention for years instead of a few months like the games from the last 5 years have. The reason for this as I am beginning to realize is that there is no choice. There are no real customization options to the game, deep down. I know every single person reading this just got a dirty look on their face. So, let me just ask the question you're thinking right now...
What the hell am I talking about?
Let's all recall our own experiences and the many AAA MMOs that have been released over the last decade. You start up the game, pick a faction, create a character, start off with a little cute tutorial, then go town to town in order to progress through the game. Finally you reach the end of gaining levels and if you want to further your gaming experience, you grind out instanced fights until you reach that elite status you always dreamed of having and wait for new content. Is this exactly how it is for every game? No, not exactly. Some games don't actually have factions and everyone is on the same side until the PvP that got thrown together at the last minute comes into play.
Let's dig deeper still, before I answer that question you all are still dying to hear. You always hear about how your experience in any game now is totally different from the guy next to you. Games like to tout off story options and fancy features that let you decide which story path to go down. How many times have you and your friends ended up picking the exact same options? Pretty often, I'd imagine. Really sort of lessens the personal feel of the story when you are completely aware that every other person is doing the same thing you are. Is this something games are likely to just stop doing and move away from? Probably not. Elder Scrolls Online will be more theme park than sandbox. The way that the devs and how things I've read from the alpha test have gone show me that the game will have a linear feel and not be the sandbox MMO the game probably would have been if it was released 10 years ago before the advent of WoW. Am I saying this will be WoW? No, not at all. But no matter how bad Guild Wars 2 and now ESO wish to be their own entity, they are trapped in their own pigeon hole by what the MMO world expects the games to be.
So after all this is put together, what am I getting at? Let me ask you some simple questions:
Why are you forced to be a part of a faction?
Why are economies becoming less important?
Why is player housing and player content not being looked at closer?
Why can't you truly choose how you want to play?
The problem I see with every MMO that has come out and is going to come out recently is the same thing. Solid gameplay, by any means, with no substance. There's no real investment. Honestly, how many of you like being invested in a game because you have to? When the game design requires that in order for you to have fun, you have to grind instances and treat the game like a job instead of an escape from reality.
Games that I have felt invested in were games that had a community driving the game towards something that was bigger than the game as a whole. The game should give you the tools to make your experience truly unique and the it should give the players the opportunity to play for something more than a carrot and stick mentality. Yes, I understand that the Elder Scrolls has its own lore to follow now, but that just means that the lore won't be able to provide that experience. That truly unique experience.
Elder Scrolls Online will launch and receive rave critical reviews. Tons of people will play it and the game will make a lot of money. The question is how long until everyone gets bored again? It's a good thing MMOs are still be churned out every season, because that's how long I see a player making it through any newly released titles.
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