When comparing The Elder Scrolls Online vs World of Warcraft, the Slant community recommends The Elder Scrolls Online for most people. In the question“What are the best adventure games on Steam?” The Elder Scrolls Online is ranked 48th while World of Warcraft is ranked 53rd. The most important reason people chose The Elder Scrolls Online is:
Elder Scrolls games have always placed the world's unabashedly bizarre mythology in the forefront, and ESO is no exception. Between quest storylines, hundreds of in-game books, passing NPC dialog, and the landscape itself, ESO presents a world that feels bigger than the player and can be incredibly immersive.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Built on twenty years of game lore
Elder Scrolls games have always placed the world's unabashedly bizarre mythology in the forefront, and ESO is no exception. Between quest storylines, hundreds of in-game books, passing NPC dialog, and the landscape itself, ESO presents a world that feels bigger than the player and can be incredibly immersive.
Pro Immersive first person play
While the game can be played in third person (which may work better in PvP), there is an option to play in first person view which keeps in tradition of the view found in other Elder Scroll titles. This gives this MMO the feeling of playing Skyrim or Oblivion, which should appeal to those who are fans or familiar. It is also a unique way to play an MMO, which could appeal to those tired of traditional third person view MMOs.
Pro High immersion as minimalist HUD brings focus to action and the world
Minimalist HUD-approach brings focus to action and the world for immersion rather than focus on hotkeys, cooldowns, and other immersion-breaking intrusions
Pro Good single player TES game
With an MMO-ish progression. Also, has great voice acting.
Pro Excellent controller support
Not only is controller support provided, but a combination of elements of the games design (minimal UI, enforced focus on favorite/preferred actions, and a clear vision to design console support in early on) means play with a controller is a great, comfortable experience.
Pro Unrestrictive class system
ESO's character system is based on skill lines; each class provides three. There are dozens of other skill lines, including all weapons and armor, which are open to all characters. Resource stats (Health, Stamina, Magicka) aren't tied to class either. This means any character can use any gear and be built to fill any role.
Pro High build variety keeps PvP interesting
Though "flavors of the month" will arise in any competitive game, ESO's versatile characters and MOBA-like limitation on simultaneous skill availability greatly reward creative builds and counter-building.
Pro Limited skill bar encourages build variety
There are only six skill slots (five regular and one "ultimate") available at any one time. A character can swap between two equipped weapon sets, making at most 12 total skills available in combat. With well over 100 skills to choose from, finding two characters with exactly the same build is the exception, not the rule.
Pro Very polished
The game is very old now but has been under constant development since release so despite its age it still looks and plays very well.
Pro Most recognized MMO in existence
WoW is the defacto MMO, almost every MMO created after it came out has been influenced by it in some way. Still to this day it is one of the most played MMO's online and has one of the largest brands tied to its name.
Pro Constant stream of new content
Title says it all. Best MMO ever made.
Pro Low system requirements
Due to the stylised 'cartoon' graphics you won't need a top end gaming rig to be able to play WoW and have it look good.
Cons
Con Tedious experience
WoW doesn't offer an engaging story [until endgame] or anything beyond point-and-click gameplay, especially with the many other MMORPGs following its model, which leads it to quickly become tedious.
Con Class homogenisation
In the early days of WoW there were significant differences between the classes; classes had unique skills which defined that class and giving it its identity. Unfortunately, over the years, most of that variety has been stripped away and now all of the classes have minimal differences other than being ranged, melee, healer or tank.
While this was done to (unsuccessfully) bring balance to the classes, it ultimately resulted in a lot of the flavour of the game being stripped away leaving a much blander experience overall.
Con It's all about the destination, not the journey
Vanilla Wow used to have a very slow leveling process, this allowed people to experience and enjoy the world and dungeons as they leveled up. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case and the leveling process has been completely destroyed by being made trivial. It is so fast that if you enter a dungeon you will almost certainly have out leveled any loot you find by the time you finish it. Not that most people worry about loot while leveling as most players have access to heirlooms which further trivialise the leveling process and turn your character into a leveling God.
Con Subscription required
WoW requires a $15-a-month sub to play. This can definitely deter some people from playing. There is a trial mode, but it is very restrictive.