Yesterday, Bethesda trademarked the title "Brink". At the end of the article there was this paragraph:
"Of note, Bethesda and ZeniMax are also at work on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, having secured $300 million in funding for it and other development projects in 2007. However, Bethesda's MMOG in question is widely believed to be set in the publisher's popular Elder Scrolls universe."
This is possibly the worst MMO idea in history. Not only would it probably fail (Nothing is going to topple WOW), but, more importantly, it completely goes against the values and mentality of the series. Let me break it down:
1. Value
Oblivion and Morrowind are my two favorite games of all time. I've sunk 90 hours in Oblivion and probably just as much in Morrowind. And the best part? I got Morrowind GOTY edition for 8 bucks off Amazon and Oblivion for 20 bucks. For the price of seeing one and two-and-a-half movies, respectively, I have gotten over 180 hours of entertainment. Even for 60 dollars a game, that's still an incredibly good deal.
However, if the next Elder Scrolls game is an MMO, it will be 40-50 bucks initially, then 15 bucks a month for the rest of forever. An awful turn around for what has been possibly the game series with the best value in gaming history.
2. Gameplay
Oblivion, moreso than Morrowind, stands out from other RPGs (I'm looking at YOU Final Fantasy) by having a realtime fighting engine as opposed to turnbased. That, and the way you can kill anyone and pretty much do anything makes it a game best fit for singleplayer. If TES was transferred into an MMO, two of the best aspects of the series would have to be either heavily modified or taken out completly. In an MMO, you can't just go around slaughtering everyone. It would break the game if all the merchants were dead within the first week of the game being released. And the fighting would have to be converted to the realtime/turnbased hybrid of most MMOs, in order to work. Now we don't have Elder Scrolls. Now we have a cheap WOW knockoff.
3. Graphics
Oblivion was beautiful. Absolutely freakin' beautiful. You cannot make an MMO that looks that good. I think Guild Wars is the only thing comprable. And compared to Oblivion, Guild Wars is 2D. 'Nuff said.
4. General Feel
The best part of Oblivion and Morrowind is how it just feels. You know you're the hero. You're the guy (or girl) holding the sword. You're the savior of the realm. Now, picture an Elder Scrolls MMO. You finish a quest to go off and slay an ogre for the Fighter's Guild. After you collect your award, you look around and see another dozen people crowding around the quest giver to do the EXACT SAME QUEST. Then you realize that you are just one little, tiny, insignificant ant, one of several thousand people doing the exact same things at exactly the same time to help save the realm. And you turn off the computer and go and replay Oblivion.
In conclusion, an Elder Scrolls MMO is an awful idea. Bethesda, if you're reading this, I BEG YOU not to make an Elder Scrolls MMO. Just make TES5 single player. And make it awesome. Thank you.