Nevermind, New Balder's Wait

Message:

Elder Scroll online

What was good:
+ (plus) 3rd prson view so no Vertigo, but...
+ It's pretty, but...
+ Has voice actors like Cleese and Dumbledore, but...
+ Play is Gygax, but...
+ Wants to be MMO with all crafting and fishing, mining, blue and green gear, but...

What was not:
- (minus) Whole is clunky. Not easy to swap weapons (maybe not needed since you can bow in melee).
- Odd to pick up stuff (three keyboard taps?) instead of just click mouse to loot all. You can't really just drag and drop objects from inventory. Doesn't land on ground. Always prompting if you meant to do something. Annoying.
- Tough to see quests, no minimap. Hunting map (M) for where I am and what I think I am doing. Oh wait, is something eating me?
- Tough to find right goals with multiple quests. I did rescue a dog w/ whistle but I was there blowing whistle to no effect and then only after I saw the dog did whistle (tap T) seem to work.
- Not that interesting story arc.You start dead and get resurrected. You fly out into middle of a war. Exposition w/o the baby steps.
- Minigames like lockpick and dialog trees seem difficult to concentrate, out of place in MMO, especially one which implies a pvp element. Your screen becomes pretty cluttered fast.

Example: I was picking lock on a chest and someone else stole the thing (by faster, fancy finger-work in a separate minigame!?!). All I know is it it disappeared after I completed my efffort. I left minigame to see other players reaching in and taking loot. Then chest vanished. No place truly to relax in this, cause it looks like a God of War, race the trail experience.

Found the whole too much like single-player experience, not streamlined for MMO. Like why do I need to select from up to six kinds of bait? Unclear what you're looting from mobs and terrain and why. How much you can carry. How you heal. The block, stomp, roll, extras (of single player) are just clutter.

WoW use of types of battle actions, growing w/ level, seems still the gold standard. WoW crafting still much better to see what you need and why.

Overall, I guess as a chance to co-op play the single-player experience, Elder Scroll online may be fine. But there is much to get in the way of that. Not interested in building the muscle memory to get good.

I'll go back and play solo version (Oblivion), if I have the desire for this style of rpg game.


Yours,