The Elder Scrolls Online
Zenimax Online Studios has released the first gameplay footage for The Elder Scrolls Online. The publisher posted a nine-minute behind-the-scenes video today (below), and in addition to showing off gameplay for the first time, the trailer reveals more of the game's environment, characters, and user functionality.
One of the most striking departures from other MMORPGs is that The Elder Scrolls Online will not feature shards. Instead, all players will be housed on one server. This has been made possible through Zenimax's "Megaserver" technology.
"All your friends are right there. You just create a character, click play, and you go," said game director Matt Firor. "The game is smart about where to put you. It puts you in gamespaces with your friends, your guildmates; it's a way to be connected with everyone and the game figures out where to put you."The Elder Scrolls Online allows players to start off by choosing one of nine races and a class. But from there, Bethesda said, every choice players make with regard to quests and abilities will differentiate them from other players.
The Elder Scrolls Online will cover the entire continent of Tamriel, including the lands featured in previous Elder Scrolls games like Cyrodiil, Skyrim, and Morrowind. The game will be set 1,000 years before the events of last year's hit Skyrim and will put players into the world on the brink of demonic assimilation at the hands of the daedric prince Molag Bal.
In The Elder Scrolls Online, you’ll be able to revisit some familiar places from previous Elder Scrolls games, including areas in the Tamriel regions of Skyrim and Morrowind. Our team has gone to great lengths to carefully recreate many beloved Tamriel locales (those with a keen eye might even spot a few Easter Eggs while exploring ESO). Past meets future as we take a trip down memory lane and revisit great moments in Tamriel's history with a few “now and then” comparisons, featuring locations from previous Elder Scrolls games and The Elder Scrolls Online.
Loremaster Lawrence Schick spends his time creating and breathing life into the deep history and lore at the heart of The Elder Scrolls Online. In our first of many behind-the-scenes developer articles, Lawrence shares with us some of his experiences as our Loremaster, including what it’s like to write new history within the Second Era and why we chose that time period for ESO’s setting. He also explains his approach to weaving ESO’s story into Tamriel’s existing saga, and discusses the careful collaborative effort we’ve shared with Bethesda Softworks Team to ensure lore consistency in ESO.Beta sign-ups for The Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda and ZeniMax Online Studios' highly-anticipated MMORPG, will begin some time in 2013, the game's official Twitter account confirmed yesterday.Exact details weren't revealed, but new announcements will be made next year via the game's official website and social network pages.
