The Elder Scrolls Online

HeyDaniko // November 10th, 2020

Seems funny to ask this question in what I am certain is to be the first of many articles dedicated to this game, but what’s left to be said about a 6-year-old MMO in 2020? An MMO that had an infamously hideous launch back in 2014, followed by a radical turn around in 2015. A comeback second only to Final Fantasy XIV in its miraculous majesty?

Well, other than, “Its bloody brilliant,” I don’t really know what else to tell you.

If you played ESO back in its early days and threw in the towel you certainly wouldn’t be alone. Arguably one of the most anticipated MMORPG releases ever, being a part of the Elder Scrolls universe as it is, ESO drew in tens of thousands of applicants for its closed testing phase, which garnered a largely favourable response.

So, what exactly went wrong when the launch build went live?

Well, the subscription for a start. Now subscriptions to MMOs are something that I personally do not like, and many successful MMOs and other online games, in fact many online services in general, have proven that you really don’t need to charge a subscription to be both sustainable and profitable. At launch ESO was a 50-dollar game with around a 50-hour campaign assuming you didn’t do much of the zone questing; which I would argue you really should because it’s actually much better than I expected. ESO’s launch subscription was comparable in price to that of World of Warcraft in most countries – a game with countless thousands upon thousands of potential hours of play time. People call it WoW for several reasons; you see. So, how on Earth do you expect to contend with the market leader by charging the same amount and yet providing a literal infinitesimal fraction of the content?

You don’t.

You just don’t.

It’s silly to even try – something Zenimax Online Studios thankfully figured out around a year later.

ZoS decided that since the subscription thing wasn’t really working out for them, that they would actually… keep it. Not get rid of it, they decided to just make it optional. Meaning, as “optional” does, that it wasn’t mandatory and you could just choose to maybe… not pay it. Of course, they slowly sprinkled on some incentives on top, and thus ESO+ was born – an optional premium service for a now buy-to-play game. But what exactly does it offer? Well, in my personal opinion as this entire article is, ESO+ is a subscription service done, mostly, right. Its still optional, and of course that’s a win; it includes all of the game’s DLC, only excluding the most recent expansion pack at any point, which at the time of writing this article is around 150 dollars retail right there; it offers you bottomless material storage – something many consider to be a little game-breaking by MMO standards; and double account wide storage space which most MMO players can certainly get behind. All for around 10 dollars a month, so at the very least it’s certainly one of the more palpable attempts at “recurrent user spending” out there.

But is it worth it? Well, if you have some disposable income and you play daily, then absolutely. But if you live pay cheque to pay cheque then you may have other, more important things to invest in. Like food.

The big argument is the bottomless crafting bag which is quite blatantly what ESO+ is entirely about and what, easily, around 80% of its subscribers consciously know they are paying for. The issue is that there is no unsubbed equivalent, not even a capped material storage, which is something many other MMOs offer. In my experience, a capped material storage of 250 of each item is usually fairly standard. Guild Wars 2 even goes beyond by allowing you to buy upgrades to that initial 250. But ESO has nothing. Absolutely no bloody material storage whatsoever unless you subscribe to ESO+. And, honestly, I find that a little unfair. So please, ZoS, just have a think.

But let’s lighten the mood a little and talk about things that the game does well again. The solo experience is probably the best that I have encountered in any MMO (and I’ve played around…7), feeling very much like a single player RPG at times if you ignore the masses of others around you. The dungeons are extremely fun and creative, and the raids (‘trials’ as ESO names them) actually have an easy mode, which is fantastic for scrubs like me who just want to experience the story without tearing any hair out or going grey too early.

And the story really is something worth experiencing, which might sound like a joke when it comes to most MMOs, but I can promise you that the writers really did do a bang-up job of making the plot compelling and the characters, mostly, memorable and entertaining. From the tender suffering of Varen, to the cruel banter between Abnur and literally everyone else, I often found myself laughing, weeping, deliberating and ultimately caring. I wanted to know what came next for the heroes, and so every expansion has been an utter joy to “delve” straight into. It certainly feels a little different to the traditional single player games of the series, and honestly plays more like a Dragon Age game, but once you get used to that it really is a highly addictive and uttlerly completely charming adventure.

Exploration in this game is a gem of its own. Everything looks absolutely stunning, and now with the added depth of field options the world looks even better. The sheer scope of the different environments to sink your teeth into is honestly a little overwhelming at times. There are countless places I want to explore next and just cannot bring myself to narrow down the selection. Everything is impressive, from the bitter icy tundra and forests of Skyrim, to the sprawling deserts of Hammerfell, the fresh grasslands and European architecture of High Rock, the humid swamps of Blackmarsh, and, my personal favourite, the majestic savannas of Elsweyr.

But easily one of my favourite experiences with the game so far has been with its community, but that’s not to say that you won’t find any toxicity whatsoever. It’s the internet; it’s rife. But overall, most ESO players seem to be extremely accommodating and welcoming people – much more eager to teach and explain than berate or bully. But please remember that this game has a population of nearly 14 million players so perhaps I’ve just been incredibly fortunate.

So, to my fellow ESO and indeed other MMO players, what do you look for in an MMO? What keeps you coming back to your MMO of choice?

I’ve been Daniko and thank you kindly for your time.