Leaked info on Elder Scrolls Online.

Looks like someone at Gameinformer doesn't know how to keep things under wap. A bunch of pictures and some brief descriptions of the gameplay have surfaced in some online forums. If these are really all correct it is a bit underwhelming to say the least.

 

As you can see from the pictures, this is no visual masterpiece like Skyrim. In fact the forum post even mentions the game uses the Hero engine, the same engine that drives Star Wars the Old Republic. So that is a slight bummer for me as visually it will be more cartoonish than your typical Elder Scrolls game. Also it has been said that no all of Tameriel will be explorable at launch so that these areas can be saved for future patches.

 

The info that's supposedly been leaked seems to point to the fact that the majority of this game is turning out to be your typical run of the mill MMO. There will be a hot bar for your abilities like WOW. There will be no player housing and typical PVP.

The little bit of info that points to a tiny bit of difference is that this game will be fully voiced just like SWTOR. It will also have a different way of presenting quests much like the single player versions of the Elder Scroll games. There is also mentioned it will take 120 hours for a player to get level capped and also the ability for a player to become Emperor of the PVP disputed areas.

This mostly sounds like nothing innovative in the MMO market. I hope that most of this info is either incomplete or maybe not even accurate as I am sure that most Elder Scroll fans will seem a little disappointed in the fact that this game seems very little like your typical Elder Scrolls game. However most things that make a great Elder Scrolls game probably wouldn't make a great MMO. But let's save all this banter for when we hear some official news about the game.