the elder scrolls online

Official Site: The Elder Scrolls Online
Studio: ZeniMax Online Studios/Bethesda Softworks
Launch Date: April 4, 2014
Genre: Fantasy Themepark
Business Model: Buy-to-play on PC as of March 17, 2015
Platform: PC, Mac; Xbox One and PS4 as of June 9, 2015

The MOP Up: Warface heads to PlayStation 4 (August 19, 2018)

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The MMO industry moves along at the speed of information, and sometimes we’re deluged with so much news here at Massively Overpowered that some of it gets backlogged. That’s why there’s The MOP Up: a weekly compilation of smaller MMO stories and videos that you won’t want to miss. Seen any good MMO news? Hit us up through our tips line!

Maybe you’ll discover a new game in this space — or be reminded of an old favorite! This week we have stories and videos from Final Fantasy XIV, Soulworker, Elder Scrolls Online, Pokemon Go, Hellion, The Cycle, MU Online, Warface, Battlerite Royale, Dauntless, Worlds Adrift, SMITE, and Prosperous Universe, all waiting for you after the break!

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Tamriel Infinium: Three key takeaways from the Elder Scrolls Online Murkmire teaser

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Hopefully, everyone saw the Elder Scrolls Online presentation at Quakecon. If not, I’ll have that whole video just past the break. Game Director Matt Firor and Community Manager Gina Bruno stood on stage to give an overview of what ESO has in store for the rest of the year. Of course, Wolfhunter launched a couple of days ago, but I was definitely more interested in the Murkmire presentation.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I believe that Black Marsh is the area of Tamriel that ESO will ultimately be known for, and that’s because no other game in the Elder Scrolls series has touched that area of Tamriel with any significance. Firor explained what we would discover in Murkmire, but I believe his last line explained it best: “Along the way you’re going to get a really deep dive into Argonian culture, philosophy, and religion — really, what drives them, and what makes them so weird.”

During the presentation, Firor and Bruno gave us our first look at the Murkmire DLC in game. During this one-minute clip, we didn’t see much, but I’ve pulled it apart. And I’m going to hopefully reveal some things that you didn’t notice.

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Fallout 76 won’t allow crossplay but is talking up mods and multiplayer

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Bethesda isn’t really that keen on allowing crossplay with its games these days. The studio recently confirmed that Fallout 76 isn’t going to feature crossplay between platforms, nor is Elder Scrolls Legends going to get it any time soon.

No specific reason was given for the decision, although there were heavy hints that Sony’s stance against crossplay was a factor in this. “Fallout 76, sure: It would be nice if I could play on my Xbox and my kid is playing on his PC and we can play together, but if we can’t,” said SVP Pete Hines. “But for Legends it’s absolutely critical.”

At least Bethesda is working on several features to make its communuty happy despite this, including a committment to mod support and an in-game photo mode.

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Functional music boxes are coming in Elder Scrolls Online’s Murkmire

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One of my most beloved possessions in Ultima Online is my music box: I spent months, probably years, collecting each “track” to insert into the box, and then I can run it and play my favorite Ultima songs while I’m puttering around my house sorting loot.

That makes me all the most excited to hear that The Elder Scrolls Online is getting exactly such a feature in the Murkmire DLC later this year.

“For housing, we’re putting music boxes in,” creative director Rich Lambert told VG247 at QuakeCon last week. “It’s this cool thing and we’ve got a ton of music that we’ve written in the game and so we’re putting it all in music boxes.”

Meanwhile, ESO has delivered a breakdown of the Midyear Mayhem PvP event it held this summer. You guys dropped almost a quarter of a million chaosballs, stole over 2.5K elder scrolls, capped over 700K keeps, and murdered 7.5M fellow soldiers. Peace and prosperity for all!

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Elder Scrolls Online’s Wolfhunter DLC is live today with new dungeons and PvP love

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As promised, The Elder Scrolls Online’s next DLC, Wolfhunter, has officially launched today! The patch is for everyone, while the DLC comes with a fee, unless you’re subbed, in which case you can jump right in.

Massively OP’s Tamriel Infinium columnist Larry Everett checked out the DLC ahead of the launch alongside three key developers and found it to be primarily aimed at group dungeon enthusiasts, not so much fans of the game’s storytelling. And that only makes sense, as the pair of werewolf-themed dungeons are at the heart of the content.

But there’s a bit more in the overall update independent of the DLC; all players can look forward two new gear, new outfits, and a ton of updates for battleground PvPers, including some quality-of-life love for Cyrodiil. The werewolf skill line got some buffs too!

Get caught up on all our coverage of the DLC, then check out the trailer!

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Bethsoft: Dodgy reseller lawsuits, new media review policies, and Legends crossplay ultimata

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Today in why we can’t have nice things, it appears that Bethsoft is using its legal weight to crack down on folks selling fully legitimate boxed copies of its games. Polygon’s report follows one gamer who was attempting to sell his unwanted boxed, sealed copy of The Evil Within 2 through Amazon, but was sent a threatening letter from Bethsoft’s legal team accusing him of not being an “authorized reseller.” Though he wasn’t breaking any laws or agreements, the company appears to be trying to scare games out of selling stuff they legally own by threatening them with lawsuits.

Bethsoft, for its part, told Polygon that the problem was the individual’s use of the word “new” on Amazon rather than “pre-owned,” even though the box was still sealed. “We do not allow non-authorized resellers to represent what they sell as ‘new’ because we can’t verify that the game hasn’t been opened and repackaged,” claims the company.

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Global Chat: Is it worth your time to alpha test MMOs?

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Taugrim raises a very interesting question this week on his blog. Namely, is it really worth your time to alpha test MMOs these days? For him, at least, fickle players and unresponsive developers don’t make it a beneficial activity.

“A decade ago, I used to get super excited about upcoming MMORPGs,” he said. “And then I experienced those games losing their playerbase in droves while the developers/publishers failed to meaningfully address the concerns of the community.”

If you’ve been burned one too many times by alpha, beta, and early access testing, perhaps you can relate. Read on for more essays from the MMO blogosphere, and don’t forget to check out this month’s exciting Blaugust Reborn event that’s raging across blogs!

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Elder Scrolls Online drops Murkmire, Wolfhunter trailers, buffs subscriber benefits

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ZeniMax is dropping some good stuff at QuakeCon for players of The Elder Scrolls Online. If you’re a dedicated subscriber, you’re in for some welcome tweaks to the way the sub package works beginning later this year, in addition to some sort of “in-game community event related to Summerset.”

“With the release of Murkmire, members will now get 1650 crowns per month, and access to exclusive offers in the #ESO Crown Store including a free item every month,” the team just announced. “Watch for more details this fall!”

Also released today? The official trailer for the Wolfhunter DLC itself, which is slated to launch next week on PC.

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Elder Scrolls Online hosts free play weekend, hands out freebies, and outlines PvP updates

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Have any grand plans for this weekend? If you have nothing better to do, why not take a trip to Tamriel and enjoy some free goodies from ZeniMax.

Starting on Thursday and continuing through the following Wednesday, anyone can play Elder Scrolls Online’s core game and Vvardenfell for free on console or PC. It’s a nice way to experience Morrowind if you haven’t purchased that yet.

Additionally, you can pick up a free Flame Atronach wolf pet and five Ouroboros crown crates by watching Elder Scrolls Online’s QuakeCon 2018 keynote address this Friday at noon eastern on Twitch or YouTube. The dev team is going to be talking about “all-new information” regarding the Wolfhunter and Murkmire DLC packs, so you might learn something too.

ZeniMax also has a new blog piece out today on PvP changes coming in update 19 to all players, regardless of whether they grab the new DLC next week. It’s worth a peek for its overview of the Istirus Outpost battleground, the new keep recall stones, new keep decay rules, and new PvP cosmetics.

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Tamriel Infinium: Becoming a Wolfhunter with the Elder Scrolls Online devs

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While I have been an MMORPG fan for a very long time, I was also a comicbook fan long before the MCU was a thing. X-Men was my comic of choice. There had to be about a dozen different X-Men titles at one point or another, and many times the characters in those different storylines would cross titles. In fact, a worldwide favorite character like Wolverine could appear in a half-dozen titles in the same month, and that always confused me. How could one person appear in so many places at once? Now, I understand that there was some fudging with the timeline, and it really wasn’t all at once. But he was involved in so many different adventures and troubles that he became the only connecting thread between some of them.

If viewed from a certain perspective, it could be assumed that Wolverine was the cause of trouble that he ran into. Trouble seems to follow him like murder followed Jessica Fletcher. This is the way I’m starting to feel about my character in Elder Scrolls Online. Everywhere he goes, trouble and death seem to follow. In fact, with as many people who have died around my character in ESO, I’m surprised that there is anyone left on the continent of Tamriel at all.

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Massively OP Podcast Episode 181: Some devs just want to watch the world tree burn

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On this week’s show, Bree and Justin sift through the ashes of World of Warcraft’s burning developments, make sense of Chris Roberts’ “You win by having fun!” mantra, get cozy with werewolves and tieflings, and more!

It’s the Massively OP Podcast, an action-packed hour of news, tales, opinions, and gamer emails! And remember, if you’d like to send in your own letter to the show, use the “Tips” button in the top-right corner of the site to do so.

Listen to the show right now:

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Elder Scrolls Online’s Wolfhunter launches August 13: Here’s all the werewolf stuff you should do in the meantime

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Are you prepared for Elder Scrolls Online’s upcoming Wolfhunter DLC? If not, you should probably take a peek at ZeniMax’s guide, which is a tad cheesy admittedly but does include some useful tips for what you should clean up ahead of the werewolf-themed content drop. Probably the most hand tip is to zip through the Fighter’s Guild questing.

“This includes mastering the powerful Abilities of the Fighters Guild Skill Line. This Skill Line is designed to help you combat Undead, Daedra, and Werewolves, and is ideal for the battles ahead. Abilities like Trap Beast are a no-brainer, allowing you to stop a werewolf mid-pounce and deal some nice damage-over-time. However, you could also make good use of Silver Bolts and its morph Silver Leash, allowing you to reduce a beast’s movement speed AND pull them towards you.”

The rest of the suggestions are more in the vein of preparing for the dungeon avalanche (like make sure your regular group is set) or getting into the spirit of things with completing the Faolach questline, picking up themed gear, or contracting lycanthropy by being bitten by a werewolf (or cursed player) yourself. The update launches in just 10 days, so best get started!

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The Daily Grind: When was the last time you went sightseeing in an MMORPG?

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Are you into stopping and smelling the flowers, literally or figuratively?

I started thinking a bit about this thanks to a tweet ZeniMax sent out about Elder Scrolls Online last weekend; the studio was promoting the work of @JXRaiv, who put together a website that allows players to explore all the wayshrines in the game. You don’t even need to log in to enjoy the view. And in fact, I bet most people wouldn’t either. Games seldom reward us for exploration, and when they don’t, we often don’t bother. Even when they do – I’m thinking about Guild Wars 2’s mapping – gamers often just skip past the cutscene to get on to the next one.

Long ago, I decided to go on a tour, by foot, of all the shrines in a different MMORPG; it was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had in an MMORPG. And none of it counted for anything except for my own joy and my own recollection all these years later.

When was the last time you went sightseeing in an MMORPG?

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