How Well Does The Elder Scrolls Online Run On Your PC?

By Don Woligroski
published

Image Quality And Settings

While Skyrim leverages Bethesda's Creation engine, The Elder Scrolls Online was built on a custom engine created specifically for this title. While ZeniMax Online Studios used the HeroEngine (of Star Wars: The Old Republic fame) as a prototyping tool, it's not what you'll find in the actual game.

To the developer's credit, its engine scales across an impressive range of hardware. The Ultra-High preset is truly worthy of a title called The Elder Scrolls Online, while the lowest settings look more like the original Everquest from 1999. Seriously.

The best-looking combination of settings is impressive, though it's definitely a step down from Skyrim, which I frankly expected. It is good to see that this title accommodates very low-end hardware, even if I don't think you'd want to play at anything under the Medium detail preset.

Ready to start stacking up the graphics cards and processors for a good old-fashioned round-up of PC hardware?

Don Woligroski
181 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Djentleman
    760 is the highest tier nvidia card you used for 1080?
    Reply
  • Immaculate
    Now that this pipe dream is released, where is a Fallout 4 acknowledgement?
    Reply
  • templarklimek
    I'm running it at 4K and in ultra it's very smooth with an I7 and titan black. Having said that I don't plan on staying a subscriber. They got my 80.00 bucks to start and that's it. I can't get over the subpar graphics although I realize it's an MMO and can't have the best graphics going for it. Nor does it have the attention to detail, depth, and immersive ness that I expect in an elder scrolls title. I've gone back to skyrim and all the mods. Skyrim at 4k is a work of art. The MMO seem faked with monsters just keep respawning out of thin air and no real meaning or placement in the world around you. Again I understand it's a MMO and not a detailed single player game. What worries me is how will this affect the Elder Scrolls single player? Are they gonna blow that off?.. ;(
    Reply
  • sarinaide
    Am now tempted to get this, just hope it doesn't flop like SWTOR and D3 did.
    Reply
  • blackmagnum
    FUS RO DAH!
    Reply
  • SchizoFrog
    I played during the final open BETA test and that was enough for me to decide this wasn't for me... and I was gutted by that decision.Any populated area is complete chaos with people, horses and more just spawning out of nowhere all around you. The only way not to get annoyed and distracted is to blank out most of what is going on around you which is a complete contradiction from what is supposed to be an immersive MMO.More than that though is that I found the intro sparse and almost none existent, I felt lost and had no real idea of where I should go, what I should do whren I got there nor why I should do any of it.As for the graphics, it looked good but nothing to blow me away and certainly there was nothing that I felt was better than Skyrim on the same rig, even without Skyrim's mods running. I just want to also add what this article doesn't cover in that your personal PC hardware may well run the game very smoothly but as with any other online game, it's smoothness is more down to the internet connection of yourself and those you choose to game with. From my experience, a fibre connection is an absolute must for smooth gameplay.
    Reply
  • jankeke
    How is the user interface on this ? Is it as bad as in Skyrim ?I am wondering if I should try this game but if the interface is "console-like", it would certainly speak against it.
    Reply
  • Drejeck
    played this game in the beta invitational. it sucks bad just because it changes the gameplay to the boring, old fashion, 1 2 3 4 key skill/spell. i've quit wow because of that, even D3 and GW2 failed at that. The only games I liked nowadays for the combat system are Tera and Neverwinter. TES is nice because you play it like an FPS, and with the gamepad was really nice. just because of this I can judge it a total fail. I've played 3 hours before removing the game. is something changed meanwhile? i want it more action. like a Reckoning Online. no ones roleplays online anymore, the DAoC era is gone.
    Reply
  • Zombie615
    I watch some people play this live on twitch an being a fan ever since Morrowind I have to say I'm not that impressed or interested. There is a part of me that wants to give it a try but there is a bigger part of me saying don't fall for this money pit. $15 a month isn't really the issue speaking of money... it's just the fact that it cost something every month in general. I love the elder scrolls series but I've never been a fan of MMORPG. It takes too much dedication to feel accomplished in a game of this genre an with that said it takes away from the instant gratification I got playing the other games in this series.It should have just been a multiplayer release an not an actual MMORPG. Like just a single player storyline type of thing but with the option to let a group of friends join you. Kind of like Diablo 3 or Dead Island I guess you could say.The PVP idea IMO is trash. A duel arena against other people using your character from your current campaign would had sufficed. Though there is nothing I can say that will change anything so there you have it Zenimax.... You lost another faithful fan on this title. Hopefully you will announce a fallout 4 (offline) title soon or your next Single Player Elder Scrolls title. If not you can count me out forever.
    Reply
  • AMD Radeon
    why Radeon 280X performance falls below GTX 760?
    Reply