Board Thread:Online Discussion/@comment-5247041-20130821093041/@comment-7153552-20130824151024

Online is not chapter six. It's not even made by the same Dev Studio. Online is helping fill the gap between five and six because Bethesda take a while to make a game, and they have other IPs to work on. They need time to create the story and fill in holes and figure lore direction and all of that fun stuff. They need to decide what happens to the factions, but they do not need to hang around and wait for Online to be finished to make the next chapter. As I have stated on countless threads:

''ZeniMax Studios openly and forewardly stated that the reason for going with ZeniMax Online in making ESO was to allow for Bethesda to continue forward in their story telling without interrupting, or being interrupted by, Elder Scrolls Online. This also separates the two games should anything negative happen to ESO, meaning that it shouldn't have any hard consequences on the chapters of TES that we know and love, and will come to know and love.''