I watched a video of someone who alpha tested it, he said that they only allow 5 hotkeys and that you can first person left right clock fight. In fact it seems much more like an elder scrolls game with multiplier added than just a WoW shell.
the PVP also seem pretty cool with the three factions fighting for control, and even possibly putting an emperor into power. It reminds me of DAoC's PVP, with keeps, siege weapons, and 3 factions fighting in only open world PVP that actually rewards your play style.
But I think that First person is what sold me the most. If it involves locking onto other players, i will likely pass on the game, but if you have to actually aim, then I will def check it out.
What you're forgetting is that the quality of an MMO is determined almost entirely by the community. It doesn't matter what great ideas Bethesda might have or how well they are implemented, if the community sucks then the game will suck. Since I've never come across an MMO where the community wasn't awful, I don't have high hopes for this game.
I guess that depends on what you are looking for. While i think a good community is important, i have come across anumber of people in online games that i have really enjoyed paying with.
My experience with WoW and similar titles was one of having to call my usually higher level friends over every time I needed a party lest I team up with a bunch of whining illiterate pre-teens who could barely play the game by themselves, let alone as a team. I don't assume everyone's experience with these games is the same as mine, I have a hard time believing anyone would actually play them if that were the case, but for me at least a well made multiplayer game can easily be ruined by the people playing it, and though it may be cynical of me to say so I can't help but feel that putting so much effort in to a game like that is a waste of time since it will invariably have the bulk of its population comprised of borderline retarded children.
I really do want to be proven wrong on this, I'd love to find an MMO that I could comfortably say was great or at least good, and if The Elder Scrolls Online is the one to do it then that's just fine. I doubt it will happen but I would like it if it did.
Oh I have encountered a fair number of the illiterate teens that you described. They have been present in especially Swtor. However, I did have two very posistive experiences with what i believed to be pretty good communities. the first was age of conan. While the game could be a bit brutal at times, with people ganking you, the community was pretty good. It was extremely easy for me to find a guild full of peeps that were willing to help me out. In LoTRO I found that pubing with people in the early levels was a breeze, tons of people and most knew what they were doing and were nice about it.
I think one of the best things i have read about the TESO is that its just one big super server, with phasing you can actually choose what age group that you want to play with. this wont stop people from lying, but it will at least screen some of the stupidity from the group of players that you meet.
the last thing that i heard that was really good is that the AI for the mobs is supposed to be pretty smart. If on shoots you with a sticky tar, another will use ever fire attack it has to try to ignite the oil. if one can use a defensive bubble shield, a ranged mob will stay within the shield and fire at you from a protected area.