User blog comment:Zippertrain85/The Elder Scrolls Online, does it really NEED to be online?/@comment-16047389-20140425164252

-Single Player

ESO is to geared away from it being a good single player game. Unlike Skyrim, difficulty in ESO is mired in zones and level brackets instead of scaling based on level. This is a serious flaw for single player games, but a necessary MMO mechanic.

-Online Player

I get the sense that you haven't played many MMO's. Despite the flaws and exploits already found in ESO, WoW was even worse when it first launched. MMO's are always going to be buggy even after they launch. Fixing bugs in for an MMO is a nightmare, and most fixes are bandages at best. If a single player game had this many issues, then yes one would be justified in frustration. But MMO's, as a rule, require more patience as it takes more time to properly debug. Anyone who cannot handle these issues, which are normal for ALL MMO's, shouldn't be playing MMO's in general, let alone ESO.

-Fees

I'm not even going to discuss this point. The whole "Subscription Based Game" debate has gone on long before ESO was even an idea.

My problem is with people who pick away at MMO's simply for being MMO's. Every single problem you've listed, for example, ultimately comes back to the fact that this game is an MMO or follows MMO conventions. But here's my argument, people who hate MMO's for being MMO's shouldn't play them. The only reason that some members of the Elder Scrolls community are even mad at this game is because it lists itself as an Elder Scrolls game. No one would care if this game was "Dark Age of Camelot 2". I mean, I don't like racing games or sports games just because that is what they are. But you don't see me complaining about them. Why? Because they are games in a genre that was not meant for me.

The real question isn't if ESO is a good game. Every genre has people who will hate a game simply for being a part of its genre. The question is "Is ESO a good MMO?" I'd say that it had a much better launch than most MMO's do. Point is, it is extremely petty for someone to complain about a specific MMO just because they don't like MMO's.