The Elder Scrolls Online Beta Expanding

If you haven't done so already, now is the time to sign up for Elder Scrolls Online beta. If you get accepted into the beta, you get an extra code for a friend.

Today, we’re sending out more beta invites for an ESO scale test. If you receive an invite, there will be an extra beta code included that you can give to a friend to join you in Tamriel! For this beta, you are no longer required to follow a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA). We invite you to post your best screenshots, videos, and impressions this weekend, and livestream your adventures for everyone to see. Be sure to use #esobeta to share your favorite moments with the world! Participants this weekend will also unlock an exclusive monkey vanity pet for PC/Mac that you can have at launch.

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No more NDA..awesome now all the stories are going to come out about how unbelievably bad it is. No I'm not talking "its beta and there are problems" bad, that is obvious and anyone should expect problems during beta. I'm talking the game is just fundamentally terribly designed bad.

Dekoth-E- said:

No more NDA..awesome now all the stories are going to come out about how unbelievably bad it is. No I'm not talking "its beta and there are problems" bad, that is obvious and anyone should expect problems during beta. I'm talking the game is just fundamentally terribly designed bad.

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Why, have you been playing it in closed beta and these are your first impressions? While I would agree I don't have high hopes for it, don't you think it should be given a chance before it's lambasted? Who knows they might actually surprise some people.

ravx25 said:

Why, have you been playing it in closed beta and these are your first impressions? While I would agree I don't have high hopes for it, don't you think it should be given a chance before it's lambasted? Who knows they might actually surprise some people.

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Even if he hasn't played it yet, there are plenty of people who are saying that while this game could have been something unique and special in the MMO world, the developers have decided to use the same old tired mechanics and quest design started by WoW. This would probably have been my first MMO since FFXI I would have gotten into, but reading these confessions has given me pause. Now that the NDA has been lifted, though, I am looking forward to watching people stream the game so I can judge for myself. Personally, I still have hope that this game will still be something great.

ravx25 said:

Why, have you been playing it in closed beta and these are your first impressions? While I would agree I don't have high hopes for it, don't you think it should be given a chance before it's lambasted? Who knows they might actually surprise some people.

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These are my impressions after playing it as much as possible during closed beta. It's the same rehashed crap with just an ESO label slapped on and the dreariest environments/character models imaginable. There is no life to the world at all, the quests are unbelievably repetitive, game play is a chore and in general it is really at best a shell of what the ES series is. Unfortunately most people are fixated on complaining about bugs and broken stuff, which is all well and good given it is beta. However even IF all the broken stuff was fixed and I'm sure most will be by launch, the game is still just plain BAD. It is like they looked at all the lessons learned in so many failed MMO's, decided "F it, we're Bethesda, we can do whatever we want and idiots will buy it anyhow".

But don't take my word for it..watch the info starting to come out and try it for yourself.

Dekoth-E- said:

No more NDA..awesome now all the stories are going to come out about how unbelievably bad it is. No I'm not talking "its beta and there are problems" bad, that is obvious and anyone should expect problems during beta. I'm talking the game is just fundamentally terribly designed bad.

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This. I've had many beta invites and the game is just not fun to play. Though I didn't expect much from Zenimax so it may be a little bit of confirmation bias on my part.

the download speeds for the client are ridiculously slow!...

any bets how long till f2p ? will it break swtor record ?

Dekoth-E- said:

These are my impressions after playing it as much as possible during closed beta. It's the same rehashed crap with just an ESO label slapped on and the dreariest environments/character models imaginable. There is no life to the world at all, the quests are unbelievably repetitive, game play is a chore and in general it is really at best a shell of what the ES series is. Unfortunately most people are fixated on complaining about bugs and broken stuff, which is all well and good given it is beta. However even IF all the broken stuff was fixed and I'm sure most will be by launch, the game is still just plain BAD. It is like they looked at all the lessons learned in so many failed MMO's, decided "F it, we're Bethesda, we can do whatever we want and idiots will buy it anyhow".

But don't take my word for it..watch the info starting to come out and try it for yourself.

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I shared much of your opinions after playing (8-10hrs) back in November. I've changed my tune recently after giving it another shot and spending much more time in game. The Dev's appear to be listening to complaints/suggestions and are actively making positive changes. They just added game combat collision detection and will make the starting Islands optional on their closed beta test server. (Wont be in this weekends public beta) Both of these changes should help with the overall starting experience of the game.

NDA has been lifted for almost 2 weeks now and information/videos have been flowing, much of it positive. I'd suggest looking over at youtube or mmorpg for more details.

I started out trying to make an elf mage, and picked up a sword on the initial quest in the intro... couldn't go back and re-choose, ended up having to beat my way through with sword and shield. Got through it, but I admit, I finished the initial quest line, walked around a bit on the island, and then basically logged off. I did a review when they asked my impressions, and I basically said it was bland, there was no real story for me to know or learn about besides the quest, that it didn;t matter which class I picked, I just didn't feel like there was life enough to keep playing...

And I have played a LOT of skyrim, so I am pretty mixed about how I feel about it still, and I spent 5 years playing EQ1, years in Vanguard, Rift, etc. I'm really not feeling hopeful about any of the new MMOs, although I admit I would love to play a psionicist/enchanter again in a "new" version of EQ that had basic rules like the original back in the kunark days...

Ayer Silvershade in each game was the name, so I've been around MMOs way way too long... and after I kinda stopped playing Rift, I'm just not seeing anything to feel interested in, although I am interested in what Goblinworks is doing. At least I could go back to an elven wizard then...

Dekoth-E- said:

These are my impressions after playing it as much as possible during closed beta. It's the same rehashed crap with just an ESO label slapped on and the dreariest environments/character models imaginable. There is no life to the world at all, the quests are unbelievably repetitive, game play is a chore and in general it is really at best a shell of what the ES series is. Unfortunately most people are fixated on complaining about bugs and broken stuff, which is all well and good given it is beta. However even IF all the broken stuff was fixed and I'm sure most will be by launch, the game is still just plain BAD. It is like they looked at all the lessons learned in so many failed MMO's, decided "F it, we're Bethesda, we can do whatever we want and idiots will buy it anyhow".

But don't take my word for it..watch the info starting to come out and try it for yourself.

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Well, no, that's good to hear that you have first hand knowledge. And that really is too bad they're not being creative or imaginative with their world considering all the pitfalls of current MMO's. I would assume you all have a forum for the closed beta - have these concerns been run by them for people in the know like yourself who can see past the bugs/glitches problems? I mean, I would hope the would be smart enough to listen to people supposedly hand picked to help on their beta; after all, these are a small sampling of the customers who will be playing in the end.

I've played probably about 20 hours or so and will add to that this weekend.
I am hoping it gets better. So far, I have not been impressed. I was thinking that it would be a lot like Skyrim with MMO, but it's not. And it's not like they improved on it at all, they just went with the same old tired gameplay that so many others have done.

Personally I'd say the biggest letdown is the combat, it just feels boring and off, no matter how you choose to level your characters.

ravx25 said:

Well, no, that's good to hear that you have first hand knowledge. And that really is too bad they're not being creative or imaginative with their world considering all the pitfalls of current MMO's. I would assume you all have a forum for the closed beta - have these concerns been run by them for people in the know like yourself who can see past the bugs/glitches problems? I mean, I would hope the would be smart enough to listen to people supposedly hand picked to help on their beta; after all, these are a small sampling of the customers who will be playing in the end.

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Yes, there is a forum for the closed beta. And yes, a lot of these sort of things have been stated in there, over and over. Now how much attention is being put towards the gameplay complaints vs the bugs, i can't say.

How is the economy in this game ? Is it as in the other TES games with 8 million Bill Gates running around ?

I thought this game would be bad when it was first announced.
Based on what I am hearing about the beta this is going to be bad.
Goodbye Elder Scrolls.

MindBuster said:

How is the economy in this game ? Is it as in the other TES games with 8 million Bill Gates running around ?

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There is no auction house. Trading is handled by people, specifically by guilds, and the assumption is that the players will form merchant guilds and trading networks.

Also, as for my opinion on the game: very impressed with how quickly the development team has reacted to issues and the community at large. My last subscription MMO, SWTOR, had a team that felt anemic that all but ignored the community, so it's refreshing to see these guys already moving on combat fixes, for example. I feel that one's opinion on the game comes down to expectations...someone expecting a revolutionary, flawless game from a MMO beta is doomed to be negative before they even press play.

This is the first mmo ive acutally paid attention to the quests / story. So its got me hooked.

Did the beta, it's meh at best, but maybe I just don't see the appeal of MMOs in general anymore. The game didn't hold my interest at all, the gfx look dated, the controls were meh, and it just wasn't engaging at all. There was nothing that made you want to explore or that made you wonder how things will turn out.

Generic MMO in a TES setting, might appeal to TES fans but tough to say whether cost will be worth it to many over just playing an offline and greatly modded TES game.

This has been the most uninteresting and boring beta I've ever participated in. I can't get into at all and I'm in round 4 of beta testing now. Seriously I just can't do it.

At least I didn't have to pay to learn how much I didn't enjoy it.

Do you have to actually buy the Imperial pack to play Imperial race? What's so special about Imperial anyway