I have yet to be asked to go kill 10 skeevers

The Elder Scrolls Online will feel familiar to fans of the series. The way the MMO plays, looks, feels, it’s all there; however, don’t go into it expecting Skyrim. I have read this comparison many times by people who have played in the beta. That it’s a Skyrim MMO. As someone who has played every Elder Scrolls game on PC, Xbox and Xbox 360 – each – I can assure you, it is not.

Not only is that a disservice to Skyrim, but The Elder Scrolls Online as well. There are very familiar aspects to the online game such as the directional bar at the top of the screen. There’s your health, mana and stamina bar. Even the skill trees in which the player spends points in various ways to enrich their character is familiar. But that is where the similarity ends, at least from my perspective.

I’m not going to give you a run down of the gameplay. If you have immersed yourself in an Elder Scrolls game in the past, you are already familiar with it. Nothing has changed. Only this time, instead of an RPG which can last upwards of 700 hours, it’s, well, an MMO. Obviously.

Instead, I want to talk about what is different from other MMOS I have played. How does it differ to World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Lord of the Rings Online? On the face of it, not much.

Granted, I have yet to be asked to go kill 10 skeevers, or cut some maple wood for someone’s house, or gather 20 wolf pelts. Just about every MMO out there has small fetch quests players need to complete in the starting levels which, in turn, help build up their character so they are strong enough to go out into the massive, online world. So, this part is extremely refreshing. There’s also no running from one end of the section map to the other to relay messages to other NPCs. Which, in and of itself is nothing more than an extended version of the dreaded fetch quest. Again, refreshing, and well done on Zenimax Online’s part.READ MORE: Elder Scrolls Online Gold