This morning, Bethesda and Zenimax Online have announced not only the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One console June 9, 2015 launch date for The Elder Scrolls Online, but also its transition to buy-to-play this spring. Appropriately titled The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, the monthly subscription fee will no longer be required to play the MMO as of March 17, 2015 on PC/Mac (June for console players).
The Elder Scrolls Online launched earlier this year and Game Director Matt Frior took the opportunity to look back on 2014 and ahead to what's next in 2015.
Bethesda suddenly announced earlier today that The Elder Scrolls Online would be available on Steam "later today." That time has already arrived, and here are a few things to note:
For MMOs, it's less about where you start and more about where you go. Elder Scrolls Online was met with mixed opinions three months ago, but where does it stand now? Where are we headed? Zenimax gives us a heads-up in July's The Road Ahead. It's a long post, but here's the rundown:
"This update delivers new four-player quests and delves, more exploration,
our first 12-player Trials, and a host of fixes and improvements."
Announced in early April and detailed a month ago, the major adventure zone Craglorn is here! The first notable update to Elder Scrolls Online emphasizes max level content, giving you and your 3-11 closest friends new places to explore and overcome. Our European friends have to wait a little longer, roughly ~12 hours for when their own megaserver maintenance is done.
Zenimax Online is back again, with more replies to your Elder Scrolls Online questions. In this Variety Pack, the 14th to-date, the developers answer nine questions on three main topics: loot, tanking and trials. They also briefly mention their maintenance and bots. Not interested in reading the entire Q&A? Here’s the run-down:
From the looks of it, Craglorn is looking good. After enjoying the recent Elder Scrolls Online reveal, we had two new questions for every question it answered. Luckily, Zenimax Online continues their "Ask Us Anything" series with a Craglorn-specific edition. If you're low on time, here's our run-down:
Endgame content can make or break an MMO. Even though Elder Scrolls Online is only three days old, it's time to look toward the future. Luckily, Zenimax Online has already announced its first content update: Craglorn, a major adventure zone with plenty of max. level content.
Hello and welcome to the eleventh edition of the Eorzea Examiner, ZAM’s column on Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. For this column we'll be talking about FFXIV's competition. For those of us playing on the PC, we're well aware of the other fantasy MMO offerings available: World of Warcraft, the EverQuest series, Lord of the Rings Online, etc. We have to remember however that FFXIV exists not only on the PC, but on consoles as well. As I talked about in one of our previous columns, the PlayStation 4 client is a perfectly viable way to enjoy FFXIV. Of course it also helps that there's no fantasy MMO alternative for console players other than FFXIV and its predecessor on the PS3, Final Fantasy XI… for now. This Friday marks the PC and Mac release of Zenimax Online's new MMO, The Elder Scrolls Online, with the PS4 and Xbox One versions not too far behind, due out this June.
PC players will have both games available to choose between right on launch day, but those wishing to play a fantasy MMO on their PS4 will have to wait even longer; the PS4 client for FFXIV won’t be out until April 14th and TESO’s console versions won’t be released until June. That leaves those players (and potential newcomers) with some time on their hands and a decision to make. Do they stick with the Eorzea they know or do they see what Zenimax has to offer in the world of Tamriel? How does their gameplay compare to that of FFXIV? Given that I'm ZAM's FFXIV columnist as well as the person who wrote our preview for TESO, I'm probably the best equipped here to compare the two for any undecided players.
Zenimax Online is here once again to trickle out more details about Elder Scrolls Online. In this Variety Pack, the tenth of its kind, the developers answer ten questions on roughly two topics: character creation and armor. Not much interested in reading the whole Q&A? Cue up our summary:
