First impressions: 'The Elder Scrolls Online'
Gamers have long been fond of fantasy games set in The Middle Ages. Wielding mighty axes in full armor or calling upon magic in intricate robes feels incredibly powerful, lending to an immersive role-playing experience.
The Elder Scrolls franchise has a history of delivering such an epic adventure, complete with unprecedented storytelling and superb, detailed environments. Bethesda Softworks continues that saga with The Elder Scrolls Online, opening its traditionally single-player world to millions of users as a massively multiplayer online game.
As is the fate of most MMOs, The Elder Scrolls Online has had its share of launch problems; bugged quests, zones crashing and unpredictable rollbacks were just a few of the worst. Despite these setbacks, I hit the level cap of 50 with roughly 60 hours of playtime.
After selecting one of 10 races among the three feuding alliances – the Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant or Ebonheart Pact -- and one of four classes -- Sorcerer, Dragonknight, Nightblade and Templar -- you choose physical attributes from the color of your hair down to the size of your feet. You can randomly generate these features, but choose your faction carefully, as this dictates your game experience.
During the game's introduction, you'll find yourself locked in a cell in Coldharbour, the realm of the Lord of Lies, Molag Bal. You're also dead. Oh, and you don't have a soul, either.
You will quickly learn from the ghastly prophet helping you that Molag Bal is a Daedric prince whose goal is to invade Tamriel and merge it with his Oblivion plane. Your mission is to defeat him, destroy the unstable plane between Tamriel and Coldharbour and reclaim your soul.
Once you've learned the controls and escaped Coldharbour with some gear and gold, you'll start in your faction's starting zone with two quest lines to guide you. Unlike the menial, grinding errands you might expect from an MMO, the tasks you acquire in early levels of TESO feel important and progressive.
Questing was mostly enjoyable, but when I realized I needed to scour the entire zone for quests before I was ready for the next area, leveling felt like an obnoxious chore I needed to complete in order to get on with the story.
Exploring Tamriel will lead you not only to quests, but also dungeons, world events and bosses, which aren't suited for solo play. Most of these objectives are not instanced and the open-tagging system allows you to flexibly finish these without formally grouping with other players. Instanced dungeons are much more difficult and require a party of four and strategy to complete.
The open-tagging system is a double-edged sword. In densely populated areas, mobs die too quickly and are laughably easy, but with a few other players around, bosses remain a decent level of difficulty that allows you to utilize all of the skills you've chosen and an interesting combat system.
Each class has three available skill trees, but abilities are also available from the weapons, armor and various quest lines you choose. There are over 300 obtainable skill points, giving incredible depth to each class. Every player can also attack with their weapon, block and dodge incoming attacks and interrupt channeled spells. The action bar seems simple, offering slots for up to six abilities, but at level 15, the bar and your weapon can be swapped in and out of combat.
Adventuring alone in sparsely populated areas appropriate for your level is frustrating and feels unbalanced. While the challenge is invigorating, one mistake can end your life. Gear decays when you die, and repair costs are steep.
To find allies, TESO features a built-in Looking For Group tool. By selecting a dungeon suitable for your level and a role as a tank, healer or damage dealer, the system automatically forms a party with other players.
The role you choose does not seem to be taken into account while forming the group, as the few times I queued, I didn't end up in a group that could effectively clear an instance. While TESO's roles feel flexible, these dungeons definitely require a healer and a tank, or the equivalent.
Upon reaching level 10, you are allowed to travel to Cyrodiil, the player vs. player (PvP) zone. You can come and go as you please, but trying to level with PvP combat exclusively is sluggish compared to questing. And while this battle wages in the center of Tamriel, there is little to no connection to the rest of the game -- it is the only place that you will find enemy players, and the majority of the story offers little ties to disputes.
PvP in Cyrodiil is mainly Tower Defense, modeled around the three factions defending and capturing objectives, which control game-wide benefits for your faction -- like a damage increase or additional armor. Though PvP is geared toward brigade movement, you will also find stealth players moving in small groups to catch stragglers and wanderers with spammable grips, stuns and slows. Since abilities are not balanced around one-on-one PvP combat, it's wise to find a group and stick with it.
Reaching level 50 and the end of the main storyline is a momentous event. Though some of the quests fell a little flat for me, this final confrontation with the Father of the Vampires brought me back to how I felt in previous TES games and in the tutorial. I feel like a champion who saved an entire world, and ready to take on whatever the Veteran Ranks (levels past 50) throw my way.
Overall, I am enjoying my time in The Elder Scrolls Online. There are aspects of both solo and group play that fall short in delivering the experience I am hoping for, but it's still early. At this point, I'd definitely recommend picking up the game if you're looking for a new MMO experience.