Quests in TES Online will "give the player interesting choices," says ZeniMax

Zenimax Online has explained how quests will work in The Elder Scrolls Online, and it sounds as through your decisions will be playing a key role in your jaunt across Tamriel.

Speaking with Edge, creative director Paul Sage used a run-in with werewolves as one such example.

"You head into town to fight the werewolves, and then, hey, there are these people barricaded in a church," he said. "Do you want to help them out, knowing that, if you do, something else won't be available to you?

"We spend a lot of time trying to work out how to give the player interesting choices like that. I’m okay with people being frustrated with not seeing the cool thing, as long as the thing they did was still cool. When both things are cool, people have bought into the experience. It’s when they don’t care we’ve lost them.”

Decisions made by the player will tie into the lore - not force the player into choices based solely on said lore.

"It's great to be the hero of the world, but it's better to be a hero in someone else's eyes. If your NPC says, 'What you did for me was remarkable,' and you see the effect it has on them and that area, then you can go and add in the lore.

"You create a great quest, and the lore starts to come in naturally and works as this rich backdrop. What you should be concerned with is what’s happening now, though: you have to channel the lore through the personal stuff.”

The Elder Scrolls Online is scheduled for release on PC and Mac in 2013.