Check out the latest bit of news with The Elder Scrolls online as Massively gets their hands on the game for a few hours of testing.

This is where the first interesting design decision of ESO is seen. The game uses a form of “phasing” for the lack of a better word. As you complete missions, the world changes, and choices you make stay in that zone throughout the rest of your character’s life. At one point after Bleakrock when you’ve made your way to Morrowind, you’re asked to choose between defending docks or a keep from the encroaching forces. Whichever one you choose ultimately means the other suffers. And this choice stays that way permanently for that character. You might wonder how you’ll be able to group with friends who choose the opposite. I wondered too, and was assured by ZOS that there will be a work-around so that you can always help your friends and group up even if your “statuses” in the world differ from one another.

The game is still quest-based as well, though in a far more effective way that’s something of a cross between traditional questing and The Secret World’s investigative missions. No, you won’t be compiling Morse code here, but ESO promotes exploration around every turn. The world’s zones rarely feel “fenced in” and moutains are often there to be climbed because you might stumble upon something that needs doing. NPCs don’t just sit in a town waiting for you to collect their quests and then run out and do them before running back. They’re littered across the map, and each quest has a purpose to drive the story or that area’s overarching story. Simply put, the quests in ESO are quests, but just like in Skyrim they’re there for a reason and to entertain you… not just push you along some leveling path.

One detailed that was mentioned was that combat is handled quite like TERA, where attacks are bound to your left and right mouse button. There will be be only one server that uses the channel method and classes will not be restricted to specific armor types. Read the full article over at Massively.

You can find additional previews at ZAM, Tamriel Foundry, Ten Ton Hammer, and Acolytes Guild.

As things quiet down again in the world of TESO, Gamedynamo.com has publish an article about their thoughts of the game.

Enemies will simulate character builds, and they will work together to bring down the players. As for quests, Matt Firor, ESO’s game director, has promised that they’re going to be much richer than your typical MMO fare. TES Online quests will sort of just pop up as you wander about the world, and grant you rewards and items without really having to turn them in.

Set 1,000 years before Skyrim, The Elder Scrolls Online covers the time period from the Oblivion Crisis up to the Empire’s final defeat at the hands of the Aldmeri Dominion. It’s completely open-world, and it will feature pretty much every location ever covered by an Elder Scrolls title. The Empire is in shambles, and everyone’s bickering over who should sit on the throne. Remember how the last Emperor turned into a dragon and died? It’s a long story.

So if you’re starved for anything Elder Scrolls Online, then follow this link over to Gamedynamo and read the rest of the article now!

RPGamer.com has offered us their opinion on The Elder Scrolls Online from E3 2012. We never get tired of reading about TES so here’s one more opinion based off of what went on at E3 and here’s what they had to say.

The combat in The Elder Scrolls Online will be action oriented. As the developers are trying to stay away from the skill cooldowns commonly found in other MMOs, they have incorporated elements of the combat found in the main Elder Scrolls games. The game will feature different types of attacks, such as normal attacks and charged attacks. Additionally, the player will be able to crouch, sneak, block, and perform other movements in battle. Despite a wide assortment of skills and abilities, the developers are currently working with a minimalist user interface for the game. Although the interface shown in E3 is by no means the final product, its current form simply shows players their health, magic, and stamina.

Make sure you read the whole report on TESO over at RPGamer.

One last preview from last week’s E3 preview from Massively. They talk about their own take on the demo given at the show.

The presentation also took us through a questline that sees the player doing some work for the Mage’s Guild. A werewolf has been causing trouble for a nearby township, and in the meantime, a bunch of ghostly warriors have given the Mage’s Guild pause. It turns out that the ghosts are warriors who killed the (apparently undead) werewolf long ago, and they wish to teach the player the secret to bringing the werewolf down. After being transported back into the past, the player will have to decide whether or not to save a warrior in danger. Should she choose to do so, she’ll be rewarded with a new line of quests from one of the warrior’s present-day descendants. Firor claims that should the player choose not to play savior, the questline will progress differently as a result, which should hopefully help relieve the monotony of playing the same content multiple times on future characters. At any rate, after the player has discovered the secret to defeating the undead werewolf (hint: it’s fire), she’s sent off finish him off for good.

Read the full article here.

Another review from E3, this time from the Escapist, talking about their opinion on what they saw of The Elder Scrolls at E3.

Despite the MMO nature of the game, your own personal story missions will be entirely instanced. You can share the rest of the game with other players, but when it comes time to advance the story of reclaiming your soul from the Daedric prince who stole it, you’re all on your own. This should allow Bethesda to tell a much more personally relevant story. The rest of the time, you’ll be involved in group instances, public quests, and raids. To combat kill stealing and spawn camping, everyone who participates in a given encounter is rewarded for it, so even if you’re late to the party, so to speak, you can still get credit for killing mobs and looting quest items.

The quest we saw was particularly involved. Geared for slightly more experienced characters, this mission focused on liberating the town of Camlorn from the werewolf Faolchu and his rampaging army. The problem is no one knows how to kill this particular werewolf. As the player travels the Glenumbra Moors, he or she comes across the site of an ancient battle. After looting the field for magic weapons, the characters recruit an alchemist to open a rift in time and allow them to travel back to the original battle where they discover Faolchu himself in his pre-wolf form. I won’t spoil the outcome of the story here, but the players learn something about Faolchu in this sequence that will help them in their eventual showdown with the werewolf version.

To read the full accounting hit up the Escapist.