The Elder Scrolls Online

During my hands-on play session with The Elder Scrolls Online at the media event last week, I got a glimpse of the early game experience, and it was delicious. But most MMOs are judged on what awaits players at the max-level endgame, so I sat down with ZeniMax Online Studios creative director Paul Sage to ask about those areas of the game that I didn't get to see.

Specifically, I asked Sage to describe ZeniMax's strategy for keeping players occupied once they hit the level cap at 50. His reply included four main activities: questing in enemy alliance zones, four-player dungeons, adventure zones, and the PvP alliance war in Cyrodiil. Read on for all of the details I gleaned from the interview!

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"Turn on your monitors, and for the next four hours, enjoy your hands-on with The Elder Scrolls Online." Last week, that tantalizing phrase kicked off my visit to ZeniMax Online Studios, but those words must have also conjured some ancient time-bending ritual because those 240 minutes flew by in an instant.

The first thing I did was create a character belonging to the Daggerfall Covenant, which means I was allowed to choose from the Breton, Orc, and Redguard races. There are two other alliances (Aldmeri Dominion and Ebonheart Pact) and six other races that weren't available for this preview (and the Imperials are NPCs). I had to buck my tendency to spend copious amounts of time customizing the minute details of my character in favor of actually getting to the gameplay. I did, however, take a look at some randomly generated characters of the three available races, and the models looked superb.

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You, yes you, are cordially invited to attend one of the least exclusive but most festive shindigs at PAX East this weekend. The Elder Scrolls Online team is throwing a party on Saturday evening for any and all who show up (on a first-come, first-served basis, of course) at the Castle Meeting Space in downtown Boston.

Starting at 6:00 p.m. EST, the party includes Tamriel-inspired foods, music, contests, and the opportunity to play TESO in person. The event is open to anyone 13 and older, so you don't have to be attending PAX to get an advance peek at one of the hottest upcoming MMOs!

The Elder Scrolls Online is going to feature combat, which should come as a shock to precisely no one. But how is that combat going to work? How important will the holy trinity be in practice? How ornate will your attacks and counterattacks be? These and more are all excellent questions, and they're also questions that have been answered in the latest installment of community answers over on the official site. And that's only a small fraction of the information.

At the moment, the trinity setup is not vital but is certainly helpful, as tester groups without a dedicated tank have managed to clear content (albeit with some difficulties). The soft lock system is based more around offense than defense, as healing abilities are not targeted. Players can also feel free to join in when they see other players fighting things, as all players who participate gain the rewards of fighting as in Guild Wars 2. For more information about the particulars of combat, check out the full set of answers.

So you know that the beta for The Elder Scrolls Online is coming up, right? Of course you do! But what you don't know are many details about it. Well, slide on up to the counter here and we'll give you the scoop -- with a cherry on top.

Beta events will begin as smaller, scheduled play sessions (usually on weekends) with a limited play window focusing on something specific. Invitations for the first round of public events will start going out at the end of March, with the tests starting shortly thereafter. Events will become more frequent and last longer as launch approaches, and players can receive separate invites for multiple events.

Testers will be selected based on various criteria and all invites will go to the email players used to sign up for the beta. If you haven't signed up yet, there's still time! Just head to the official site to fill out the beta application.

Prospective players have a lot of questions about The Elder Scrolls Online. What will I need to do to be a tank? How will I heal other people? Will I be carrying around every wheel of goat cheese in the world for no reason? The development team has sat down and answered a variety of player questions in a new feature addressing several assorted topics.

Players interested in tanking will be happy to know that while you will generally want to be in heavy armor, a properly designed character should be able to last for quite some time in light armor. Those who prefer playing a pure role will also be happy to note that while the developers have harped on hybridization a bit, being a "pure" role will be perfectly viable and possible. And lore fans will be happy to see a variety of lore questions answered, especially concerning organizations and races that are important in later games but aren't necessarily around in The Elder Scrolls Online. So odds are good that when you read through the answers, you'll be happy.

Zenimax Online and Bethesda Softworks were feeling generous on this Valentine's Day by giving us a bit of a peek at some concept designs for heavy armor in the highly anticipated Elder Scrolls Online MMO.

The armor concept shows off High Elven, Nordic, and Breton heavy armors.

In addition, the developers celebrated one million Likes on their Facebook page by releasing a short tribute video. And speaking of videos, one more from the TESO team: the eleventh edition of "Developer Question of the Week" features UI designer Kristy Keaton. Check out all the new goodies over at the game's Facebook page.

If The Elder Scrolls Online were to serve snacks to players, what would be on the menu? Now you can find out! On March 10th, the TESO food truck will start a cross-country jaunt across the US to bring tasty treats and swag giveaways to fans.

Starting at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, the truck will make 11 stops over the year at various conventions -- including PAX and PAX East, E3, and Comic-Con -- as well as a number of universities. Joining the kick-off festivities in Austin will be composer and singer Malukah. For more details on other tour dates, check out the official announcement.

With all of the excitement over The Elder Scrolls Online's beta signups, Game Director Matt Firor has his hands full adjusting the expectations of those used to single-player Elder Scrolls titles. Firor danced around several specific questions by The PA Report on how the MMO would tackle the world, heroism, guilds, and politics in comparison to the single-player games.

Firor expanded a bit on how the team is putting together the larger world of Tamriel, especially the areas yet unseen by single-player gamers: "The Elder Scrolls IP is very down-to-earth and gritty, so we had to take the traditional 'these are High Elves' fantasy visuals -- tall towers, white marble, landscaped terrain -- and merge them with the grittier and more medieval-realistic (there are poor High Elf farmers, etc.). It came together very well."

He said that while players won't always be at the center of attention, game NPCs will recognize great deeds and instancing will be used for important moments. One thing that won't happen as in the single-player titles is for characters to become the heads of game guilds (as opposed to player guilds). Firor also hinted that the Emperor of the world will be based on player PvP performance, but declined to give any further specifics.

It's a very special episode of Massively Speaking, where we learn about puberty and the dangers of drinking! Actually, Teri joins Justin to talk with Star Trek Online's Dan Stahl and Brandon Felczer about the third anniversary of this galactic game. Set phasers to "amused" as we set sail for the podcast frontier!

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Read below the cut for the full show notes.

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So ZeniMax released a spiffy teaser vid for The Elder Scrolls Online last week. The six-minute clip had it all: dank dungeons, luscious locations, and enough daredevil gravity-defying combat to fill an entire summer's worth of action films.

The only problem, to hear some folks tell it, was that none of the thrills, chills, and gratuitous violence on display will be possible in the finished game. The video was a cinematic, you see, and even though there's a decent amount of TESO gameplay footage floating around the internet already, the trailer served as something of a rallying cry for fans who'd rather see the cinematic's budget go toward a gameplay trailer.

What say you, Leaderboard readers? Are MMO cinematics an awful waste of development dollars or do you enjoy them for what they are? Settle the score once and for all after the cut.

Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!

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Bethesda and ZeniMax want you to know that beta signups are officially open for The Elder Scrolls Online.

A new press release trumpets the announcement (though "timing and details of the start of playtests will be provided at a later date"), and the firms have also released a slick new cinematic trailer that will whet your appetite for Tamriel over the course of its whopping six-minute run time.

TESO will make use of ZeniMax's megaserver technology to "avoid the hassle of shard selection." The game will also feature a built-in social network which the company says makes the new MMORPG "one of the most socially enabled games ever created." You can sign up for beta via the game's official website, and we've embedded the new trailer just past the break.

[Source: Bethesda press release]

[Update: ZeniMax has also uploaded an FAQ regarding the beta. Enjoy!]

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[Thanks to groovy webizen Paul for the tip!]

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The word "Daggerfall" has special significance to the Elder Scrolls community, which is perhaps why the Daggerfall Covenant has received considerable interest among those following the development of The Elder Scrolls Online. ZeniMax has a brand-new player Q&A that covers the lore and history of this faction.

The Daggerfall Covenant encapsulates the Bretons, Redguard, and Orcs, and is symbolized by a lion. A significant question is why the Orcs would join forces with the other two races. The devs responded by saying that the race feels inferior to others and is trying to get established as an Imperial province, although it's "an alliance of convenience."

The developers also talked about the variety that's going into the Alik'r Desert, a plague of werewolves that's a significant part of the game, what towns we'll be seeing in the region (Bergama, Camlorn, and Lainlyn), and how the alliance between the races overcomes their religious differences.