The Elder Scrolls Online announced
Bethesda has announced that The Elder Scrolls Online is indeed in development.
The title - an MMO based around the ever-popular Elder Scrolls series - is being developed by ZeniMax Online Studios.
Concrete details are thin on the ground. The next issue of Game Informer magazine will apparently be featuring The Elder Scrolls Online as its cover story, so we'll know a bit more when that hits stores, but for now we do have some unverified information as to what's in the issue, courtesy of NeoGAF. For the time being, consider everything that follows to be nothing more than rumour.
The game will apparently be using the Hero Engine - just like Star Wars: The Old Republic - and will revolve around three player factions; the Ebonheart Pact, the Aldmeri Dominion, and the Daggerfall Covenant. Each will have their own levelling content and each will be able to partake in three-faction world PvP, with 100v100 battles teased. Factions will take over regions of the world map in an attempt to gain control of the Imperial City of Cyrodiil, which makes me think a little of Dark Age of Camelot.
For those less interested in PvP, there will also be raids, dungeons, heroic mode dungeons, and public dungeons. The idea seems to be to move away from the standard MMO dungeon mechanics of carefully pulling each group of enemies, with entire rooms attacking you at once and their AI forcing them to adapt to how you play. And, happily, questing looks to be hubless and a bit more freeform than we're used to, so the traditional Elder Scrolls exploration should be present.
Combat looks like it'll be something a little different, too, but it won't be "real-time". While the game will be third-person and will feature a standard MMO quickbar at the bottom, "stamina" looks like it'll change things up, with players able to block attacks (or stop the secondary effects of attacks) by spending it. The hope is that it'll do a bit to break the holy trinity of Tank/Healer/DPS - and as there's no aggro mechanic, they might be right.
Oh, and everything's set 1000 years in the past, with Mannimarco (the King of Worms), the Imperials, and the Daedric Prince Molag Bal appearing to act as the antagonists. The game will feature most of Tamriel (Skyrim, Morrowind, Summerset Isle and Elseweyr are reportedly mentioned), but with some areas locked off for expansion content.
You can't be a werewolf or a vampire, though. Sob.
The game is due out on both PC and Mac, and if the NeoGAF post is to be believed, it'll be out in 2013. Once we get some confirmed details, we'll let you know for sure.
