The Elder Scrolls Online released in 2014 to poor reception due to its unsatisfactory systems and an overwhelming amount of bugs. Despite this less-than-stellar launch, ZeniMax Online Studios pushed forward with the MMO, which now boasts a much healthier player count to experience a plethora of updates every year.
Despite its recent updates being positively received, many may wonder about the current state of the game in 2023. The Elder Scrolls Online still has a number of flaws that may turn away some players, so ahead of the Necrom expansion it's worth asking whether the game is worth jumping into so long after launch.
Freedom Sets the Elder Scrolls Online Apart
The Elder Scrolls Online is different from traditional MMOs such as Final Fantasy 14 and World of Warcraft in just how much freedom is offered to players. For example, the entire open world scales to the player's level so that they can seamlessly explore zones and quests at their leisure. This is one of the few ways the game employs this philosophy, with its approach to builds and classes being a primary reasons to play The Elder Scrolls Online.
At the moment, The Elder Scrolls Online has six playable classes: sorcerer, templar, dragon knight, warden, night blade, and necromancer. The Elder Scrolls Online is also adding a new class called the arcanist later this year. Each come with their own specifically play style, but they can be specialized as damage dealers, healers, and tanks. This allows the player to embrace their favorite theme and role in tandem.
One thing that shouldn't be ignored is The Elder Scrolls Online's combat. Unlike other traditional MMOs, it has action-oriented gameplay utilizing resources such as magicka and stamina rather than ability cooldowns. Players have a higher degree of control, allowing for PvE rotations and combos that feel gratifying to pull off with a high skill ceiling to reach for.
Gearing is also different in The Elder Scrolls Online, with most of it centering around set piece bonuses. The game's gear score system maxes out at level 160, which can be reached quickly. While some sets are better than others, many situations require the use of particular gear, and gear overall plays a larger part in the player's role - hence allowing any class to play a healer, damage dealer, or tank depending on what they are wearing. While many of The Elder Scrolls Online's sets stand out, few fulfill an all-encompassing role.
Combat Versus Leisure in The Elder Scrolls Online
There is a variety of PvE content through dungeons, arenas, and trials found all throughout The Elder Scrolls Online. Similar to the mainline Elder Scrolls series, these instances also have a strong emphasis on exploration. Not only do bosses drop loot, but there are many chests and items to be scrounged throughout many of these instances. Every piece of content also drops sets of armor, weapons, and jewelry, which come together to give the players unique bonuses such as extra magicka or the ability to drop a flaming comet from the sky. There also varying degrees of difficulty for every piece of instanced PvE.
The Elder Scrolls Online's PvP might also be quite appealing, as there are two game modes to try. The first is open-world PvP in Cyrodiil and The Imperial City. Players can revisit these iconic locations at risk of having to fight with enemy factions (factions are chosen when the player creates their character). The other mode is battlegrounds, which pits players against each other in more typical multiplayer fare like deathmatch and king of the hill. That said, The Elder Scrolls Online has seen few updates to PvP in recent years, as it is apparent ZeniMax's focus is on the open world and PvE aspects.
The Elder Scrolls Online also has a variety of leisurely activities to do during downtime. Some of these include the in-game card game Tales of Tribute, as well as seeking out antiquities through an archeology skill line. Cosmetics and titles can be gathered through many of these activities, and the game boasts a handful of them across the diverse continent of Tamriel. Each zone contains a variety of achievements to accomplish, which may pique the interests of completions. Very few MMOs encourage the same amount of exploration as The Elder Scrolls Online.
The Future of The Elder Scrolls Online
At the Xbox & Bethesda Developer_Direct, ZeniMax revealed the next expansion: Necrom. Launching this year, it will include a new zone to explore, a unique class, and infinite dungeons. The Elder Scrolls Online is also moving away from the annual content cycle, allowing for a greater degree of freedom over its future updates. However, there are quite a few concerns that put the future of the MMO into question, like a variety of bugs that still plague The Elder Scrolls Online. ZeniMax often takes a long time to fix this kind of issue.
Players have also become worried about Elder Scrolls Online's crown store, the in-game cash shop. Though it offers mostly cosmetics, some feel the focus on paid content takes away from regular in-game rewards. The difference in quality between earnable items compared to bought ones is also night-and-day, with many fans feeling like much more effort is placed crown store items. As a result, the game can often feel unrewarding to play as a casual, free experience.
Regardless of its flaws, many are excited for The Elder Scrolls Online's upcoming Necrom expansion and arcanist class. With ZeniMax also promising a quality-of-life and bug fixing update later this year, there are apparent efforts to improve the game's health. For those interested in exploring an expansive open world and meticulously crafting every aspect of a character's being, taking part in one of gaming's most popular franchises, The Elder Scrolls Online still has plenty of merit in 2023.
The Elder Scrolls Online is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
