I am playing the current beta and have been following this game for a long time. The game is a 8/10 currently.
The Good:
The pvp system is basically DAoC's, with a more centralized fighting area and more "relics" (elderscrolls) to take.
The graphics are pretty good for a MMO.
The music is fantastic. All Elder Scrolls games have great music and this continues the trend.
The voice acting. Nice to have these in any game and they have decent voice actors for just about every single NPC Ive talked to.
The "Meh":
Class/Skill system is okay. I think they have plenty of room to add more classes and skill trees. There appears to be alot of diversity right now but certain cookie cutter builds are already popping up. Hopefully with the addition of new classes we can see just a tiny bit more differences.
The public questing zones/dungeons. Everquest had these long ago and they were a pain in the arse then for the same reasons. People will camp them and they are ridiculously over crowded early game. The same issue will pop up late game as well if they are not careful.
The Bad:
Questing system. It brings nothing new to the table. Standard MMO-fare. There is really nothing that can be done about this, all MMOs have this problem and after playing so many MMOs I just dislike it in general.
Memory leaks. This game needs some work in optimization. Its been getting better but they have some work ahead of them. I run a decent custom built PC and this game has issues.
Class/skill balance. Still a beta so I am not too upset about this one. It took a year before the DAoC devs really started doing balance work on the game and they never quite got it right, so my expectations are a little low here. Currently ranged casters/archers are the top of the totem pole in PVP, melee players generally have a very hard time doing anything before being exploded/pin-cushioned/burnedtoacrisp
All in all, its a decent MMO. It brings in the lore and style of the Elder Scrolls games, while fudging with it a little to fit into a MMO game. The PVP system is almost a exact copy of Dark Age of Camelots RvR system, with the keeps and "relics" to be capture. I loved DAoC, it was my third MMO that I ever played and it stuck with me for years. After the recent shut down of Warhammer Online (The same devs made DAoC), I have been on the look out for a MMO to get into. I played WoW for years (Beta/Release/TBC) and it really no longer appeals to me. So if you are looking for something new, with a old school style of PVP, Elder Scrolls Online might just be what you want. Not the best MMO ever made but one worth a few months of play.
Side note: The ESO crafting system is top notch. I did not include it in my "The Good" section solely based on the fact that I almost never craft but Ive fiddled with it a little and talked to several friends who love it. The enchanting system combined with the trait system makes you feel like you are actually making a decent fucking weapon/piece of armor.
