The Elder Scrolls Online Interview and Preview

ZeniMax Online’s forthcoming The Elder Scrolls Online was the subject of a couple of new articles this weekend, including an interview with lead PvP designer Brian Wheeler and a new preview that’s sole intention is to share with us “three reasons” why the game is “going to be awesome.”

Let’s start off with the interview, courtesy of The Geek Link:

TGL: What plans do you have for possible future expansions?

BW: We are already looking at various content to do post-launch with Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood. We don’t have all of Tamriel (the whole world) done, so there will be other zones we can release. A lot of that is going to be based on what players ask for. It is an MMO, it is a service provided after the game ships. So, it is going to depend on what players ask for. If they really want more stuff in Cyrodiil in the PvP space, we can add stuff there. If they want more PvE zones, we can add more zones. If they want more skill lines, there is already more stuff we are planning on doing, but you never know what players are going to ask for. That’s the great thing about having a great community with the players, because then you can listen to them. Not just with balance problems, or bugs, or quests, but also what do they want?

And then conclude with the preview at KridjReviews:

While the skills themselves seem to be very similar to other games, the way to access them does not. There are armor skills, class skills, and weapon skills, all of which can be leveled up independently. Let’s say for instance that you’re a mage with a fire staff. Your team is fighting a boss monster and you’re primarily DPSing from range when your healer goes down. Normally this would spell the end for your tank, but you have prepared for this scenario. You press a hotkey and switch your fire staff out for a staff of restoration. Your hotbar of skills also switches to the one you’ve set up for this staff. Now, your restoration skills aren’t quite a high as your skills in fire magic, but it’s enough to keep your tank alive and your team wins the fight. It’s just that easy. ESO doesn’t want you to feel trapped by your choice in class or weapon. In fact all armors and weapons in the game can be equipped to any class. Have you seen the Lord of the Rings a few too many times and really want to try being an archer who dual wields short swords? That’s fine and you can. Want your mage to wear heavy armor? Sure, I’m not saying all of these setups will be ideal ways to play the game and contribute to a teamfight situation, but all of them are possible and can be tailored to how you want to play your character.