The Elder Scrolls Online Website Relaunched, New Media and Articles
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Depending on the class you chose, you'll unlock new abilities as you level, which aren't permanent but rather always changing and adapting to how the player wants to develop their character. One move the Dragonknight receives is Slam, which when activated does 24 points of physical damage. After you've used the ability enough it will level up, and suddenly you'll see yourself using a Slam that now does 25 points of physical damage. Once an ability has reached level five, the ability will then split and it's up to the player how they wish to further develop the ability based on their play style. If we stick with Slam, once it reaches level five you can choose to upgrade it to either a Reverberating Slam or a Shattering Slam; each version will still give you a starting 26 points of physical damage and 50% bonus damage after blocking, but if you choose to go with the Reverberating Slam you'll also stun the enemy for 1.8 seconds and knock them back 800 cm, while the Shattering Slam will stun the enemy for 3 seconds and reduce their armor by 50% for 5 seconds. Both of the upgraded Slams have their advantages, so it's all a matter of personal choice by way of the player, which once again stresses you playing the game how you want and making your character your own.
Another way you'll shape your character's play style is by which weapon(s) you give them, as any character can wield any weapon or armor that they want (so if you want to be a tank using a bow or a magic user wearing heavy armor, you're perfectly able to if that's what you want). Whether the full list had been incorporated or yet I'm not quite sure, but so far players can use a Two-Hander, 1-Hand and Shield, Dual Wield, Bow, Fire Staff, Ice Staff, Lightning Staff, Heal Staff, or 1-Hand and Rune. Much like how the game handles abilities and how the single-player stresses becoming more proficient with weapons the longer you use them, the longer you use a single weapon the more powerful you'll get with it.
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While this is an MMO there's still a sense of choice. At one point in my four hours, I'm given a choice between saving a military base or a civilian encampment. The one I choose survives, and the characters within will make choices within that effect the development of that zone. I'll always see those changes in my game - meaning choices matter and effect the path and flow of quests.
All the familiar races are available to play. There is a worry, though - does this sound too single-player focused? The player needs incentive to group, and in the low-level play I experienced there wasn't much incentive to do so.
This is something the team needs to nail - but for now I can confidently say that they appear to have produced an online game that'll be familiar and satisfying to the Skyrim audience - and it works.
