291 Hours.

That is how long it took me to become of the Legendary Hero of the Daggerfall Covenant. To stop Molag Bal and save all of Nirn. To collect every single skyshard available to the Daggerfall Covenant.

Every public dungeon. Group Dungeon. Solo Dungeon. Quest. World Boss. All those blasted Dark Anchors and Mage Guild books.

Did I mention I was the Emperor of Cyrodiil for a bit?

And now I get to do it all again in the Veteran Rank content. Seems like they are starting me out in Auridon this time.

Smells like cat.

You know what? I will do it all again. Why you might ask? Simply because Cadwell asked me to.

Could you deny a face like that?

I won't lie to you... NPC after NPC, Quest after Quest, and Skyshard after Skyshard... it could drag on you. How many crazy, inept, or even helpless people exist on Nirn anyways? I had to torch a village of werewolves to help two lovers stay together because one had contracted lycanthropy. Decades of seclusion and safety destroyed by my hand. Or how about the time I got involved in a love triangle between a man, a woman, and her orc lover? I royally messed that one up, but I'm sure the young man will straighten things out when he returns from the military. Even the King of Daggerfall was ready to throw it all away until I stepped in to save him from his own realm of self-destruction.

But I think that is what makes this game... the mountains of diverse content with NPCs that feel real and meaningful in their tiny little bubbles. It was a bit strange that the Wyrd Sisters couldn't help the burning village less two minutes away from them... but those ladies still managed to convince me their plight was more important than the screaming villagers. Don't worry, I did eventually rescue the villagers and become their savior. They too continue to thank me for my efforts just like everyone else in the Daggerfall Covenant.

And I'm only a third of the way through the existing content. The Aldmeri Dominion and Ebonheart Pact each of their own royalty, monsters, and screaming villagers too. All separate storylines and experience.

As far as PvE goes... this is far more content at the release of an MMORPG than I have ever seen.

The vast majority of it is solo content. It has really kept close to the Elder Scrolls with that.

That isn't to say you won't find and help other players... In over 90% of the quests in this game I always found another player or three working towards the same goals, and fighting the same monsters. We helped each other, delved through the dungeons, and completed our objectives faster than we could have done solo. The game made it VERY easy to work with people you meet during your travels and does appear to reward you for working together.

But not with your closest friends and allies. Between the quest phasing and the likelihood of being separated because the game won't stop you from going anywhere in a zone you wish... it was tough trying to level as a group with people you are used to playing with. I know a great number of people who left the game because of this.

I'm not sure if this says something negative about the game, or the types of players that now occupy MMORPGs. I'm younger than many of the players who were in Everquest at launch, or participated in AOL's Neverwinter Nights... but having jumped into Ultima Online solo I don't have a problem adjusting to this. If I wanted to play with people, I simply found people to play with who were in the same area, or doing the same quests. Half the time I played with other people I backtracked to help some random person with a portion of a quest I had already completed.

It seems like a lot of people were just frustrated they couldn't play with their select group of friends all the time or very easily. Understandable frustration, and I expect Zenimax will work on their phasing issues over time. After a few patches I did notice it became easier to help others with stuff I had already completed, but it still wasn't perfect. Still... I could find a way to bring the Multiplayer to the MMORPG without too much difficulty.

In all honesty it was the PvP in Cyrodiil that taught me to work with whoever was around me on the current objective.

As nice as it is to have you and your group together, when the battles start to get 30v30v30 on a few Keeps you start to keep less track of who is around you. Your mission becomes simple: locate the groups that seem to be active and progressing then join up.

Jump in their parties, their voice chats, and just go take some keeps. During my time in Cyrodiil and worked with large bands that consisted of members from six or seven guilds. There were groups of people working with their own guilds, but the ones that seemed to be doing the best were the loose, unaffiliated groups that wanted to accomplish the same thing. That kind of mentality carries over into PvE.

And it was a blast. It is probably the reason it took me near 300 hours to finish one-third of the game. All that PvP with siege and large groups. I did get some great loot every time I participated and a good amount of gold at the end of the ninety day season, so it felt a bit worthwhile. That and the emperor. Really felt good getting that for the few hours I had it.

I'll probably jump back into Cyrodiil for a bit before this next major patch changes up the campaigns. Just stall on the VR content for the time being.

So what about my statement from back in February?

Do I still stand by those words?

I do.

Oh there were less people in PvP because everyone believed that you had to be max level to be worthwhile. It isn't true... you simply had to focus on being with a group instead of solo killing. A few of the classes and skills had some really big bugs, but they were not completely incapable of getting around. The huge number of quests and stuff to do was great... unless you felt forced to do it all as fast as possible so you don't get left behind. And you didn't... the megaserver pretty much ensured every zone was populated with people doing quests. Every single public dungeon I went into during my time there had people in it trying to complete it. I always managed to get people to help me complete the group achievements too.

But you know... It probably has the most content of an MMORPG released this year, and they've put out major patches (1.1, 1.2, and 1.3) pretty quickly. At this pace, I feel like I'm getting my money's worth every month. I don't feel like I've completed all the content and have to wait for the next major gear/raid update to have something to do. They are very open about upcoming changes, and every patch seems to get better. For a company that has never handled an MMORPG before, I believe they have done an excellent job.

If you gave the game a 7/10 at release it can easily become an 8 or 8.5 here in August 2014 with the release of 1.3.

Is it the best MMORPG of 2014?

I'd say so. They've not only fixed the majority of the bugs people complained about, but they are already implementing changes to the game at the request of the players. VR content has been made better, and even the trading/selling is getting an improvement here in August. It will include guild tabards and guild rank changes as well as a dye system based on the achievements in game. I'm expecting another raid/trial/zone content update before the end of the year at the rate they are going. I think I heard there were going to be some improvements to Werewolves too.

This company seems to be on the ball. Whatever stumbles they had out the gate seem to be gone and they are pushing fast to make sure they stay ahead of any new contenders that have appeared and will appear.

Time will tell, and I'm certainly willing to give them that and my money.