The Elder Scrolls Online

[Solmyr]

If someone could recreate the fun that was had by playing Horde at the beginning of WoW when all the kiddies played Alliance and all the grownups played Horde that would be a game worth looking at.

I assume all the kiddies will be playing the elf faction (which sucks as Khajiit are also in it and they are my favorite race), and the grownups will be playing Redguards/Bretons/Orcs. Nords/Dark elves/Argonians will probably be split 50-50 (and nobody will be playing Argonians).

[Syt]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131590-The-Elder-Scrolls-Onlines-Voice-Cast-Includes-Monty-Python-Harry-Potter-Actors

The Elder Scrolls Online will include performances from John Cleese, Michael Gambon, Malcolm McDowell and Jennifer Hale, among others.

The Elder Scrolls games have, in recent years, made a habit of snagging notable celebrities and actors to fill out the voice cast of its games. Oblivion, for instance, had Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean Stark. Skyrim, in turn, employed the services of Michael Hogan and Claudia Christian. Bethesda Softworks, in turn, has revealed that The Elder Scrolls Online will feature a similarly star-studded cast including actors from Monty Python, Harry Potter and Mass Effect.

According to a release from Bethesda, players venturing into The Elder Scrolls Online can expect voice work from film actors including John Cleese (Monty Python and the Holy Grail), Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean), Kate Beckinsale (Underworld), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2), Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) and Michael Gambon (Harry Potter). Additionally, Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter will reprise her role from Skyrim, while veteran voice performers like Jennifer Hale (Mass Effect) will also feature in the game.

The roles these actors play in ESO will be fairly diverse. John Cleese, for instance, will feature as Cadwell, a "cheerful and endearingly mad lost soul who is not afraid of anyone." Michael Gambon, in turn, will play the "mysterious" Prophet while Malcolm McDowell (who's always fun) will fill the role of Molag Bal, an "evil Daedric god" out for the souls of Tamriel. All in all, it's a really decent mix of voice talent that has us even more excited for the finished product.

Because celebrity voices is what makes or breaks an MMO these days!

[Queequeg]

Bathesda's 5 actors, 100 DC area crackheads policy never ceases to amaze.

[sbr]

There's no way they use 100 crackheads.  I guess half that at best.

[Caliga]

Lynda Carter always voices stuff in Bethesda games... I think she's married to the CEO or something.

[Queequeg]

Would it be that difficult to get actors down from New York?  It's really annoying. 

[celedhring]

Bathesda's 5 actors, 100 DC area crackheads policy never ceases to amaze.

For long time I believed they just used some terrible text-to-speech software.

[CountDeMoney]

Also, I'm the wrong person to try to sell on a PvP area.  I don't do PvP, ever, because the kind of trash-talking, immersion-breaking idiots that tend to flock toward PvP areas are exactly the kind of I try to insulate myself from. 

[CountDeMoney]

ZeniMax has been doing the full-court press for recruiting in the area for TES Online support personnel, since its big hub is just over hill and dale in Hunt Valley.

Guess who just applied for: Call Center Manager?   

[Syt]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/01/29/the-elder-scrolls-online-is-really-very-expensive/

Good gravy, Zenimax must have a lot of money. (Which only fits my firm belief that a company with a name like that is going to be behind the great zombie outbreak.) A sprinkling of their vast coffers has been used to create a very luscious cinematic for The Elder Scrolls Online, featuring your mum as the big baddie. They release this to mark the announcement of an Imperial Edition of the forthcoming MMO, a "premium collector's edition", or as I like to call them, The Expensive Ones For Mad People. Except, bloody hell, this game's going to be expensive for everyone.

Because, blink, the standard version is a touch pricey. £50? For a genre that's now primarily free? Cor. So that's like a decade of subscription, right? Nope, that's 30 days. Before a further £9/€13/$15 (€13 is of course currently worth $17.70 and £10.70, so fuck you, Europe!) monthly tithe. This game costs more than the broadband connection and monthly ISP fee you'll need to play it.

Fork out £70 for the Imperial Edition, and what do you get other than the same game as everyone else? A whopping 30 days subscription! Indeed, no more access to the game, but rather trinkets. You get to be an Imperial in the game, with an Imperial horse, Imperial gear and a "Mudcrab vanity pet". The only useful thing in there, unless you particularly want to be playing as an Imperial of course, is the Rings Of Mara – this is a quest for you and a chum to complete, that then gives you experience bonuses when you play together.

Charging infinity more than most MMOs, and nearly double a standard PC game, before people can even start playing is going to be the mistake we all look back on. It dealt The Secret World a massive blow, and that was cheaper. I still believe there's room for subscription models in MMOs, but I don't think it can be sensibly combined with a whopping great fee to even find out if you want to play it in the first place. That's where the damage is done. Let people into your game for free, then charge them to carry on. It works for drug dealers. Otherwise, you restrict your customer base to those with a spare £50 to spend to find out if they want to spend far more money to play something... Just crazy. Presumably Bethesda are relying on the breathtaking success of Skyrim, to assume that people are going to pay whatever it takes to get back into the Elder Scrolls' world.

But don't let me stop you. You can buy a copy of the game, or its Imperial Edition, right now, before any reviews are out to warn you whether it's any good or not. Gosh, it'd better be good now, eh? The game is out for reals on the 4th April. Hopefully we'll be getting our hands on it for a preview nice and soon.

Euro prices are 55.- and 80.-, respectively. Plus subscription.

Yeah, there goes any interest I may have had in this.

[FunkMonk]

It'll go free-to-play in 12 months anyway. 

[DontSayBanana]

It'll go free-to-play in 12 months anyway. 

Price drop in 9 months, maybe disguised as a "sale," hybrid F2P/freemium in 18.

[Grey Fox]

50% off on GoG by 3rd week of April.

[crazy canuck]

I looked at it.  I just cant get excited about another MMO.

[garbon]

More polished now but I'd suggest a hard pass.