Elder Scrolls Online to be announced in May 2012

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ZeniMax-Bethesda-Elder-Scrolls-Online-MMO,news-14481.html#xtor=RSS-993

This is interesting. They have the plethora of quests down, but I wonder how the combat in a multiplayer environment is going to play out. Can I hit other players and damage them, will it be a real-time system? Etc.

very skeptical about this because Bethesda have stated many many times that they have no interest in an Elder Scrolls MMO

I don't like it very much...

And yet we know now? Then it was announced now? not future? Any mouse tipster? a website desperate for views? Lie? Cheeseburger? Luchodeer?

@Akyho: Basically this:

An industry source that wishes to remain anonymous revealed the name of the new MMO to us, and confirmed that the game would take place a full millennium before The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

@Funkydupe said:

@Akyho: Basically this:

An industry source that wishes to remain anonymous revealed the name of the new MMO to us, and confirmed that the game would take place a full millennium before The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

I read it. I understand. I was joking. Since its not from a known credible source to pull this info.

@Akyho: Tom's aren't the worst of sites out there, and they made the call to publish the article. You're right, we don't have more on this - hence because it isn't announced, yet.

As long as they're not putting their A-team into this and instead into fallout 4, I'm fine with this. I love the elder scrolls games but just can't get into MMOs so I'll have to wait and see.

@Funkydupe said:

@Akyho: Tom's aren't the worst of sites out there, and they made the call to publish the article. You're right, we don't have more on this - hence because it isn't announced, yet.

Not saying small unknown sites are wrong, Just pretty ballsy. Could be right, could be wrong. We will find out. ~

Does mean that bigger sites like IGN, Gamespot what have you can go "See this dude. He is talking some crazy shit. might be right. we do know..if he is right we will take the credit in giving you the news. If its wrong. BLAME HIM!"

Haha, yes time has a way of revealing the truth of these "leaked title" articles. Lemegeton has a very valid point in that Bethesda has been against the multiplayer setting for some time, but so were BioWare and they made an MMO and added Multiplayer to ME3. Companies change with the gaming climate.

"An industry source that wishes to remain anonymous"

i.e. this is a rumor...

@whyareyoucrouchingspock: Perhaps. The response from ZeniMax and Bethesda was a “no comment.” Then Tom's argumented with the ongoing MMO-related job listings on the company sites.

About a year ago, people claimed this year we would have a elder scrolls online.

People saying the awful spike awards would be the big reveal.

Whatever the case, an Elder Scrolls MMO sounds like the worst idea to me. I don't wan't that world and fiction to be MMO'd to the point where the main saga feels less impactful. It's going to have to be revolutionary if so, because I never want to hear anyone say 'LFG Labyrinthian, derp' Don't care even if the time difference is true either.

There, end of mini rant.

I can't help but feel that the Elder Scrolls world would just be super generic for an MMO, it was always designed to be a huge single player experience, I just can't really see it working in a massively multiplayer environment, unless it was still largely single player but allowed you to group up and explore with others.

Fallout seems much better suited for this.

@Death_Burnout said:

Whatever the case, an Elder Scrolls MMO sounds like the worst idea to me. I don't wan't that world and fiction to be MMO'd to the point where the main saga feels less impactful. It's going to have to be revolutionary if so, because I never want to hear anyone say 'LFG Labyrinthian, derp' Don't care even if the time difference is true either.

There, end of mini rant.

If any game was MMO material it's probably the Elder Scrolls. Hell, I would argue Bethesda single player elements are for the most part, fucking awful.

While this is improbable it isn't at all an impossibility. Bethesda has for years, along with BioWare, taken flack for avoiding Multiplayer. Maybe they've come around to the idea and see it as a way of bringing the Elder Scrolls universe out to those who prefer the multiplayer setting as opposed to the lone wolf scenario.

I've wanted to experience the games with a friend many times. But I personally think it is a big difference between a singleplayer focused game w. co-op (2 or three players doing quests together) like I would want it to be and an MMO where you could see crowds of players running around doing the same quests you are.

Just what I never wanted!

I've still got The Old Republic in the MMO reserved section of my gaming mind. The wound is too fresh. :) All those cloned NPC companions. They were everywhere. Everywhereee!

An MMO makes sense. I lost interest in Skyrim fast because as big as the world was, not one inch of it was interesting. My guy kept getting more and more powerful, but there was pretty much no point to any of it. Even being able to just show another player how badass my character was would have made a difference, and endlessly speaking to the same 5 voice actors would have been less mind numbing if I had a friend to make fun of it with haha

Haha, yes time has a way of revealing the truth of these "leaked title" articles. Lemegeton has a very valid point in that Bethesda has been against the multiplayer setting for some time, but so were BioWare and they made an MMO and added Multiplayer to ME3. Companies change with the gaming climate.

I stand corrected. They were against Multiplayer in Mass Effect though.

@MideonNViscera: True. You don't need to have a massively multiplayer game environment to add 1 or 2 players to a video game as open (by design) as the Elders Scrolls games tend to be though.

Just have one player be the protagonist, the game host and supposed main character with regards to the progression of the Main Story of the game, and have NPCs recognize the other two players as companions or co-protagonists of sorts. That way you'll be able to explore the world together, in context, split up and re-group somewhere doing what you want.

I'm not interested in this idea at all. Can you imagine The Elder Scrolls combat in an MMO? I love the franchise, but I don't want to see it twisted into the MMO format. I like being the sole hero. And, most of all, I like modding out my games to suit my tastes. You can't really do that in an MMO, so much of the unique flavor the series has would be watered down and become flat. Why do all the good franchises have to spin off MMOs these days?

I just hope that is not true,Skyrim was my experience I never want to have anyone come in and ruin it with "lol ROFL talk"...I dont like MMORPGs because you never really can RP in them,atleast without a dedicated Guild wich is hard to find even on RP servers.

I might would be okay with it if it was a choice thing,like coop modus you can join or dont.If they go full on MMORPG I will not go there again,as a huge Bioware fan Iam still not over SWTOR wich I really thought this time it would be a different MMORPG.I just wished they would have made a Kotor 3 in half the time.

And also why has to go anything MMORPG?It almost NEVER works out for them,they do it for a year and then go free to play,and these are the so expensive and time wasting games.Is there really still enough profit to be made in this genre?I simple cant belive they still hope to make a new WoW,that was a one time thing and I dont think any other MMORPG will become such a succes ever again.

The Elder Scrolls games are some of my favourite games of all time, yet for some reason I have absolutely no interest in an MMO whatsoever.

Yeah, I'm not very interested in this either.

The only MMO I have my eyes on right now is Guild Wars 2.

Huh. Not sure I believe at the moment. We'll see soon I guess.

1000 years? That would be about 2E 400, right? Could be interesting.

The only part that has me somewhat interested is them saying that it would take place a millennium before the events of Skyrim. A lot of interesting things were happening back then based on the lore. I guess we'll just have to wait and see as all other TES MMO rumors have been unsubstantiated.

I really hope this isn't true. If I wanted to play an MMO, there are a bajillion clones of one another out there, and then there's WoW. I come to The Elder Scrolls for a vast single player world. The most multiplayer I'd want out of that would be co-op. I just want them to put all resources towards a new Fallout game and then a new Elder Scrolls game.

I'd rather have an Elder Scrolls open world co-op game a la Borderlands.

I kinda doubt they'll go directly from singleplayer to MMO without touching on co-op first.

@FreakAche said:

I'd rather have an Elder Scrolls open world co-op game a la Borderlands.

Yes. It would be amazing to have a small group of friends adventuring. Almost like a Fellowship of the Ring type of deal.

fuck that, give me fallout 4

Damn it, as much as I wouldn't put stock into this actually happening, this may be the first MMO that I will have to play. <_<

I'd just be way more interested in a co-op feature in the standard Bethesda gameplay.

@Poppduder: True. If it wasn't an MMO they could maintain a more advanced and responsive combat system as well as make the gameplay more personal to the group of players in a game.

I'm so happy, MMORPGs and MMO games in general are so rare that Bethesda will surely be able to enjoy huge success! What a great idea! No way would it be a big waste of time and resources to put out a fantasy MMORPG!

I personally don't want this to happen, I like my Elder Scrolls single play because I can feel like I'm making a difference to the world, and actually mean somebody to the npcs, not lost in the sea of "heroes" in MMOs.

Nor do I think it would happen. It's not like there are much solid details (except for the fact their hirings prefers people who worked on and played MMOs), saying there are three factions with a lion, dragon and eagle. That's basically the insignias of ALL fantasy factions. I don't really trust that source. Looks like a tech site desperately tying to get page views by saying it's exclusive.

@Lemegeton said:

very skeptical about this because Bethesda have stated many many times that they have no interest in an Elder Scrolls MMO

It wouldn't be Bethesda developing it. It would probably be Zenimax Online, or whatever the hell that studio's name is.

@BaneFireLord: Apparently so.

Welcome to ZeniMax Online Studios!

We create world-class massively multi-player online games at our headquarters in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

ZeniMax Online is a part of the ZeniMax Media group of companies, which includes Bethesda Softworks, makers of the best-selling, award-winning Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 3.

That website just wants views. Ignore shit like that and wait for Bethesda to make an official announcement.

I guess an Elder Scrolls MMO would be possible, but the timing would make a lot more sense if it was a Fallout MMO. Remember, if you will, that the rights moved from Interplay to Bethesda just a couple months ago.

I'd just hope that Bethesda does something interesting with the MMO form instead of just trying to chase after what WoW did. There need to be some major changes in that field.

@captain_clayman said:

fuck that, give me fallout 4

You mean 4llout?

Well, it's official now. http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/05/03/june-cover-revealed-the-elder-scrolls-online.aspx

Even though this thread was made before the title could cause confusion so let's just keep discussion to this thread. Thanks.