The Elder Scrolls Online

[Bubbles]

Routine layoffs, nothing to see here:

Galway jobs blow with 300 gone at online gaming firm

Up to 300 workers at multinational gaming and software company ZeniMax Online Studios’ base in Galway have been let go over the past two months.

Up to 200 employees were let go after just three weeks with the company – including a week of training.

The workers at the facility in Rahoon are understood to have been hired on short-term contracts, but were let go prior to the completion of the contracts.

The Sentinel was unable to make contact with a representative for the company or its recruitment agency yesterday.

One employee told this newspaper that he was hired in March with around 200 other workers on six month contracts, but has now been let go.

“In April, the company said it wanted 200 more workers. They went through a week of training, worked for two weeks and were let go. These would have been people taken in on two to six-week contracts.

“Four weeks ago, another 50 were let go, and over the last few days, another 20 or 30.

“It’s a disgrace how workers were treated. If they showed up at 10.30pm for the night shift, they were being told to go home at 11pm, that their jobs were gone,” he said.

It’s understood that there are now just over 100 employees at the European customer services centre in the Rahoon Business Park (near B&Q).

People on the official forums have already pointed out that the Connacht Tribune is a notoriously WoW-friendly publication.

 

[Kane]

TESO has been shoved thru the door so they don't need their contract workers anymore. it tells you something about that 'continued committment', these faux MMORPG developers never stop blurting about: It was planned as a fire & forget title all along.

 

[Bubbles]

They are demoing 3V3 ARENA PVP at E3!!!!! It took people a while to notice because the TESO booth was deserted and unstaffed, but now the internet is awash with frenzy. Could TESO become an e-sport?

 

[Angthoron]

Well they could use the unsold boxes for Curling, another popular sport. Would that count?

 

[Zewp]

They are demoing 3V3 ARENA PVP at E3!!!!! It took people a while to notice because the TESO booth was deserted and unstaffed, but now the internet is awash with frenzy. Could TESO become an e-sport?

Watch all 6 players playing ranged characters because that's the only viable build for PVP.

 

[Bubbles]

No worries, it was a false alarm:

Will the PvP we saw at E3 be added to the game?

We set this up specific for shows, such as E3, so we can get small groups working together for a quick PvP-style match.

While it’s a small taste of what our massive PvP is like in the live game, we thought it would be a fun way for folks to fight with / against each other with the limited amount of time they have at shows like this.

This mode isn't in the live game, as it’s something we specifically setup for small, quick matches. However, ESO is a living, ever-evolving game, and if we see lots of requests for smaller style PvP combat, it could be something we add in a later update.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

I don't agree that small scale skirmishes are taste of large scale zerging.

 

[Bubbles]

Well, apparently it's the only gameplay being demoed at their booth, so I guess they consider something that's not in the game and may never be part of the game to be the best part of the game for PR purposes.

 

[RK47]

SONG BOH?!

 

[Bubbles]

Other than some temporary contractors coming off and on at various stages, we have had no change in our staffing and are still hiring. Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver to Frankfurt and launching ESO on the next-gen consoles, are not impacted.

No cause for concern.

 

[Zewp]

Our future plans, such as moving the European megaserver

which you promised would happen soon after launch and which still hasn't happened three months later.

 

[Bubbles]

Three months after launch is "soon" when you consider that TESO will be live for the next 10-15 years minimum.

 

[RK47]

live for the next 10-15 years minimum.

 

[Bubbles]

Infamous funny paper "The Onion" brings its unique brand of scathing satire to bear on Zenimax's break-out masterpiece:

Townsperson In Online RPG Universe Figures Shield, Gold Pieces Should Be Safe In Barrel

CRAGLORN, TAMRIEL—Dusting off his hands with satisfaction before starting again on his path through the Dragontail Mountains, sources confirmed Monday that online RPG townsperson Geldrion Treehelm remained confident his earthly possessions of an iron shield and 221 gold pieces were safe and secure inside an old barrel. “There, that ought to do it,” Treehelm reportedly said to himself as he set the loose-fitting wooden lid back onto the barrel now stuffed with the entirety of his hard-earned fortune, pushing the unsecured cask into the dimmest corner of the room so as to render it completely innocuous and ensure its contents would never be plundered by any travelers wandering the area. “Even if I encounter some thieves on my way through the mountain pass, all I have to do is come back to this barrel and regain all my wealth and weaponry. Talk about clever. With this kind of quick thinking, it’s no wonder I’m already a level 43.” At press time, sources confirmed that while his quest was bound to be a harrowing one, Treehelm himself was not at all worried about the mortal dangers he’d face, equipped as he was with his loyal Mudcrab pet, a strip of leather, and a book of lore.

SPONSORED POST · Bethesda

You know what they say: the best satire is aimed at the most powerful targets.

 

[Excidium]

Why is this game not F2P already

 

[Bubbles]

You really want that mudcrab pet, don't you.

 

[Kane]

Three months after launch is "soon" when you consider that TESO will be live for the next 10-15 years minimum.

 

[RK47]

 

[Erzherzog]

When will MMO-designers realize the PvP is the proverbial Kiss o' Death? There hasn't been a single successful MMO that was PvP-focused, with the partial exception of good ol' DAOC. It's pointless, the people who like it are not computer gamers by and large (they should stick with console gaming, really) and it always leads to these sorts of issues.

Uhh, how about Guild Wars 1? AKA the only game that actually seriously contested WoW in its heyday.

 

[RK47]

they play differently though.

 

[Metro]

If you're going to make a PvP focused MMO you need to go all-in and design the entire game around it. Most 'WoW challengers' don't do this and just ape WoW's 'contained' PvP design. Anyway, I think MMOs are on the decline (well they were Decline but, you know what I mean) -- in the coming years the push will be towards F2P/microtransactional model as no one is going to compete with WoW charging a monthly fee.

 

[DragoFireheart]

So is this game dead yet?

 

[Onholyservicebound]

of Giants, do they actually look like this in game? Has anyone played this thing? (Game in general seems to suffer from awful generic art design)
For example: Unique design:

Spoiler

Generic cartoon lizard version:

Spoiler

 

[Zewp]

Wait till you see the daedra. They're all grey.

But someone earlier in the thread said something about Bethesda apparently refusing to let ZOS use their models for the game or something like that.

 

[DraQ]

Bethesda have no idea how MMO works

That's what you get for your carebear "nonconsensual PvP is grieeeeefing!!!1" MMOronisms - you can't even stab annoying fucktard in the face.

solo play is the new massive multiplayer online experience, all glory to TESO.

being able to play an MMO solo = flawed design.

An MMO shouldn't be group raiding hamsterwheel anyway.

A proper MMO would be a gameworld populated mostly by players and gameplay fueled mostly by player interactions - groups duking it out, deals taking place etc.
Some careers would be naturally better suited for soloing than the others, of course if going solo, many challenges would have to be avoided and a group could make you their bitch in no time.

I like the exploration aspect of MMOs but hate the gameplay.

Play proper TES - you'll still get to do both while only paying once.

Why playing ESO when you could play it's moddable, subscription-free sibling called Skyrim?

Fix'd.

Not to mention MW or DF.

I nominate this page as more entertaining than TESO.

Foregone conclusion.

It's like they've never played an elderscrolls game before. Massive asset reuse is precisely why those games are the size that they are.

The only TES games that recycled assets to the degree ESO allegedly does were Daggerfall (due to its size and generated nature) and Oblivion.

Sure, there has to be asset recycling if you do something large, but not in the form of copypasting the entire sections of the dungeons or duplicating whole dungeon layouts.

...
So, is it dead yet?