Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-5894328-20140102184105/@comment-24590102-20140320022510

Modding is very important to me and it's what sets TES over and above everything else on the market over the past 15 years. 892 hours spent in Skyrim (which I mod) compared with maybe 72 hours spent in Far Cry 3 (which I don't mod) I think says it all.

I enjoy Skyrim and Oblivion because of the mods which allow me to experience the creative expression of other participants and, also, to see the fruits of my own creative expression in these games - and that is what makes all the difference for me. I would and do go as far as to say that this is what distinguishes an RPG from a meagre FPS or FPA.

So, whether I play ESO will depend on a positive answer to all of the following questions: Failing this, then it's no. Period, Full-Stop, End of Story & Arrivederci!
 * 1) Will offline play be free of charge (other than for the usual initial licensing fee such as we've seen in all the other TES games)?
 * 2) Will the opportunity to make plug-ins for the game be continued (at the very least for use in the offline mode)?

I would also hope to see some attempt to develop a working system to pioneer an MMO-modding community as this would vastly enrich the MMO genre and raise the bar. And, yes, it can be done in a way which does not open the doors to wanton abuse of player experience. If anyone's interested, I can draft a quick description of how to go about it.

Assuming it's all 'yes' to my previous questions, this last point (regarding a little pioneer work) will dictate whether or not I take an interest in the online aspect of ESO and, moreover, I will need to see some measures put in place to prevent wealthy players from abusing their money to cheat their way to higher levels (e.g. by purchasing experience, skills, and god-level items) - because it's the wealthy money-cheats who tend to be the worst element of MMOs.