The Elder Scrolls Online Beta Review

Yes, the game is currently in beta which means this review is to be taken with a grain of salt as to anything can change. This is a personal opinion review which means it will be bias based on what I like in MMO's. With that said, I believe we are clear on what you are about to read. There will be no in game content posted with this (images, videos, etc) due to the disclosure ToS.


To begin with, the game wasn't what I expected. I'm more than partially let down. The game has its positives and negatives but as a whole I feel this game won't be taking over any top spots in the industry. If this was a one time purchase for the game key & it was free after I may pick it up at some point, but on a level of having to pay monthly for it I will not be adding it to my collection anytime soon. If ever.

- The Positives
The enviornment design is nice, the game looks different from majority of the games we see released. It has a different vibe to the world as whole.

Character control as far as moving is smooth, there is no issues moving about the world itself.

The learning curve is a cakewalk, before I even touched the beta my GF sat on it for about 30 minutes and had no issue playing it and see doesn't play MMOs.

Straight forward quest line, there is no confusing mixture of quest or poorly executed instructions. The game tells you what to do simply put, and you do it.

The nifty thrifty aspects of lock picking & etc that most games don't give you, is included in the game.

The cut scene graphics and presentation is nice, think of a GW2 cut scene and it is in the same ball park. The loading screen images are also nice.


- The Negatives
The combat system is a mess, it is focused around a basic weapon attack on one mouse button with a block on the other and a few skills on your action bar. What makes it a pain is the tiny crosshair that you have to line up on your target to connect with the attack. It feels forced. I watched my girlfriend skip a lot of combat due to how stressful the system is, while I engaged in it to get another aspect and wasn't happy about it.

I feel pvp (if even introduced in the game) will be weak due to the targetting system, sure you can learn how to line it up on the fly while moving but your accuracy for connecting skills will be low.

The same crosshair targetting system is forced on you for interaction with anything in the world, such as chest or players, or npcs, or quest items. It may become a miniscule negative if playing the game is something you do daily it will become second nature but atm it is a bother.

I called the graphics dull, my girlfriend refered to them as "terrible". The game just isn't sharp, crisp.. its almost an eye sore. The map is simple, generic looking. As a side note, you can't really run & change directions with the map overlay up. Quality of life issue.

The actual skills you get are..mediocre. Nothing is amazing, I didn't see a skill that was like "OH SH*T THATS ORIGINAL!" Skill cooldowns don't work decently between the normal mouse attack casting time either.

Way too much RP. You do something, deal with RP. Do something else, deal with RP. Think about doing something else and get Kanye West'd by more RP. "I'ma let you finish.."


Conclusion:
The game is a solid core (in a world where you don't have to pay monthly) but its too simplistic & boring at this point. I've never had access to a beta & not played until my eyes were sore or the company java kicked me off the servers. That was the case here. If you are holding expectations up to Skyrim.. don't it isn't even in the same breath.

The game felt more like a chore than entertainment. A side note is I had collected 250g by the second level, which means there will be no gold market on this game (if the rates are drastically increased on beta). I collected 250g at leve 2 faster than I could collect it on a level 90 in WoW.

At the end of the day if someone bought me the game, paid for my monthly sub I'd play it as a down time thing when I'm sick of my other games a few times a month.

My final rating of the BETA: 6/10

I hope a lot of things change. I was & possibly may be looking forward to this game. I hope the gfx were dulled down for the beta, I hope the gold rates were amped up for the beta, I also hope they figure out a new combat system or loosen the chains on the current one because it is to restricting.