The Elder Scrolls: Online. What an MMO should look like, based on this great game...
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On a Saturday evening, I decided to take TES4: Oblivion off the shelf and reminisce about the past. After quickly completing the main quest, I realized that I wouldn't have the stamina for the guild missions or any other side quests. It became so boring; after the first, second playthrough, etc., it no longer feels like a role-playing game, not even global updates or mods brought back the joy. I'm sitting here, drinking tea and thinking how nice it would be to invite a friend over, sit with him in a warm inn in Bruma, or clear out a cave together, chasing off some bandits. Or maybe a girlfriend, watching the sunset on the beach, taking night walks, having dinner in a cozy apartment with a dead lich in the basement, but she doesn't know that))). Ahh, but that’s not the case; how cool it would be.

I sat there for a while and decided to write a little article about what I would like to see in the TES: Online project.

Let's start with characters; everything is excellent here, diverse races with their own features.

But classes are not so simple. Now that we're online, it's not Oblivion anymore. To create balance among the classes, they need to be carefully worked out. A knight in heavy armor shouldn't be an immortal killing machine; he should have his weak points, like the already implemented low movement speed (I also think attack speed should be reduced), and low magical defense. A rogue should have average physical and magical defenses, but capabilities for skills like acrobatics and athletics should be higher than those of a warrior and mage—well, that’s basically how it is. Concerning mages, if a mage wears only a robe, he has minimal physical defense; with every piece of armor worn, his physical defense increases, but magical defense and spell effectiveness decrease. The most important thing is to correctly balance these spells. Some may need to be removed due to their complete ineffectiveness, for example: persuasion—no matter how much you persuade a real player, they will stay true to themselves.

Regarding combat techniques, things are very complicated. In almost all fantasy MMOs, combat technique consists of mindless clicking on the opponent with the mouse. Personally, I would like the Oblivion combat technique to be transferred to the online project but with some changes, and the changes would be: there should be several types of block: lower block, upper block, and rear block. It would also be nice to return thrust attacks from Morrowind.

Now let's talk about stealth and shooting, and immediately touch upon the issue with the game camera. Implementing stealth and shooting in an online project will be very challenging; the camera needs to be set up so that the player doesn’t see what's happening behind them. I think the first-person view should be removed altogether and something like this should be done:

Just a bit closer to the center of the screen.

By implementing this, realism can be achieved, which will be the foundation for both the stealth and shooting systems. Of course, this also won’t go without developing lighting and sound effects to create the atmosphere. Regarding critical damage in stealth mode, it should be removed, and in general, damage should be realistic: if you get hit in the head, well, say goodbye. This system will allow players to improve and be more attentive.

Next on the list is the game world, its laws, and features. First, let's talk about death. I think it should work like this:

  1. A player who kills another player without any reason, i.e., just commits murder, will bear a mark that will not allow their body to respawn upon their death. A Diablo-style system where to collect your loot, you need to reach your body. That's the punishment for killing other players.

  2. A player who was simply killed and didn’t do anything will respawn with all their belongings.

The guild system will remain almost the same: fighter, mage, and thief guilds, and most likely the Dark Brotherhood or Camona Tong from Morrowind. Players will be able to open branches that will belong to one of these organizations. Other types of structures may be possible: city guard, order of the white horse, order of blood, and others.

Domestic activities should be expanded: I think we need to add seafaring to all the existing ones; it was sorely lacking. As for houses, there should be restrictions: prices for housing should be increased so not everyone can afford it, and a lock system should be included (but the difficulty of opening them should be increased significantly).

Well, that’s about everything I would like to see in this game. I'm looking forward to your suggestions.