Elder Scrolls Online Revealed in Latest Game Informer

Well, for those out there who were crowing about how much Skyrim needed multiplayer, I guess you’re getting your wish…kind of.  Zenimax, parent to Bethesda Softworks, has announced an Elder Scrolls MMO, in which players will be able to explore the entire continent of Tamriel, not just a single province at a time as the single player games do.  The game is being developed by Zenimax Online, a studio formed for the sole purpose of creating this game, and will be set a thousand years prior to the events of Skyrim, following the events surrounding an attempted invasion by Molag Bal (he’s a Daedric Prince, and if you don’t know what that is, you need to go play Skyrim…or Oblivion…or Morrowind if you can handle it).  More info is coming in this month’s Game Informer magazine, and they’ll be releasing a teaser for the game some time today I believe.  I’ll post it when it becomes available.

My two cents on the announcement?  I’m not particularly thrilled.  Don’t get me wrong, a lot of MMO’s are really popular and have great content, but its a genre I’ve tried numerous times to get into, but have never enjoyed playing.  Quests always feel shallow, events require a team of players to participate in to be fun, and outside of grinding gold or experience, there’s not really anything to do.  I feel like The Elder Scrolls’ appeal has always been focused on exploring an uncharted world and discovering secrets no other person dares to unearth.  I don’t see the fun in doing so with a party of twelve you had to drum up just to participate in “The Black March Instance”, or whatever it is they lock out to solo players.  Maybe I’m just an antisocial gamer, but this is something I didn’t want, and I’m crossing my fingers it has no effect on Bethesda’s plans for future single-player titles (I want to go to Black Marsh alone, thank you very much!).  Blizzard made WoW, and never looked back at the RTS series it was based on; here’s hoping Zenimax doesn’t follow a similar trend.

Anyway, sorry to be a downer, just wanted to vent that while I had the chance.  So what are your thoughts on an Elder Scrolls MMO?  Leave a comment if you care, and until later, um, later!

UPDATE:  Here’s that teaser trailer I mentioned.  Doesn’t show anything, but might give you an idea of the what the story is about.