Brea, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/12/2013 -- At the last E3 gaming convention, Bethesda Studios announced that it was delaying the release of the Elder Scrolls Online game until Spring 2014. No doubt Blizzard, LucasArts, and every other studio with a stake in the Massively Multiplayer Online market breathed a sigh of relief: by all accounts, Bethesda is attempting to grab a large portion of the market with this latest endeavor.

Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) is targeted at two groups of consumers: the fans of the previous Elder Scrolls games such as the highly successful Skyrim, and players of other MMOs who want to try something new or who simply think that ESO is the next big thing. The producers at Bethesda studios state that they want to bring many of the same attractions of the previous Elder Scrolls games to ESO. For example, like in previous games, there is no restriction on the gear a character can use.

After a player’s initial choice of class and race, customization takes on an (allegedly) very organic feel. Players can choose to be a stealthy rogue who also wears heavy armor, or a mage who uses giant, double-bladed axe. The art style and world design of ESO seem to be very similar to that of the previous Elder Scrolls games, only on a much larger scale. The producers have once again gone for the super-realistic and vaguely Norse-feeling look of the previous Elder Scrolls games. The producers also promise new levels of immersion and detail within the world for crafting and exploration.

The makers of the game also vaunt their new “Megaserver” model for hosting players in the virtual world. The producers maintain that, instead of dealing the with the hassle of multiple servers and server changes, players will be automatically sorted into different “instances” of the game. Ostensibly, the server will automatically put a player in the same instance as their friends and guildmates. If the system works as advertised, it would certainly be extremely convenient, but being at the mercy of an online friend matching system seems to portend some problems of its own.

Lastly, the game also promises a new-player friendly PvP (Player versus Player) system, in which “even at level ten” players can be competitive in a combat environment with more experienced players. The PvP system revolves around three different factions which occupy roughly ¾ of the game world, with the last fourth contested. More information on the Elder Scrolls Online can be found on numerous other websites and news centers, starting with elderscrollslevelingguide.com. You can also find the latest info about ESO on any number of gaming blogs, such as tesguide.com