The Elder Scrolls Online - PC

Questing In Bethesda's MMO

Adam Biessener — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:49:00 GMT

The developers at Zenimax Online Studios have promised an MMORPG that satisfies fans of the genre and Elder Scrolls aficionados. The team's pitch is a world stuffed full of content to explore, a combat system closer to an action game than a traditional MMO, and a de-emphasis on number crunching in favor of more organic character builds and interactions. Four hours with an early build of the game bore out the studio's claims for the most part, with some caveats.

Dropped into the starter zone for Bretons, Orcs, and Redguards without the benefit of the tutorial that Zenimax Online is still working on, my Breton templar quickly begins carving a heroic swath through mudcrabs and wolves in his aimless meanderings across the pirate haven of Stros M'kai. The main story thread involves a heist to acquire proof of a pirate lord's continued preying on Breton traders in violation of the Daggerfall Covenant, but in true Elder Scrolls fashion, I take a sharp left turn off the boat in search of whatever lies over the next hill.

Whoever leaves these chests stuffed with goodies scattered around Tamriel, I'm in their debt. The simple lockpicking minigame has just enough challenge to be a nice break from combat and exploration, and the loot often proves superior to the quest rewards I occasionally haul in. One-off quests appear on my radar as I draw near their starting points, and I have a grand time delving into Dwemer ruins, rescuing mad adventurers from themselves, and ending a goblin threat by assassinating their king.

One particular quest deserves mention: an exploration mission found by digging out an unmarked chest from under a wrecked ship. A note with cryptic instructions for buried treasure awaits inside. Its riddles demand some thought, since this special type of quest has no minimap pointers. I didn't finish it -- I was on a clock, and I wanted to see the next zone -- but I love how the quest log tracks your progress through the series of clues without giving anything more away.

Skills, Classes, & Progression

Though you choose one of four classes at character creation in The Elder Scrolls Online, that choice has only slightly more impact than selecting Spellsword or Conjurer in Skyrim. The way it works is that you have access to (eventually) dozens of skill lines, of which your class choice determines three. Weapon styles (one-hand and shield, dual wield, bow, destruction staff, etc.) offer their own skill lines, as do skill lines for light/medium/heavy armor, mages/fighters guilds, races, alliances, PvP, and more. Your rank in a skill line determines which active and passive skills you can unlock with the points you earn for leveling up, exploring, and fighting in PvP.

Skill lines are also how players can gain the benefits and drawbacks of being a werewolf or vampire, though Zenimax Online went into no specifics about those other than that they must be earned through questlines just as they are in mainline Elder Scrolls games.

You can learn as many skills as you find points for - and there's no theoretical limit on skill points, as you continue to earn them past level cap - but only five (plus a powerful ultimate skill) can be equipped at a time and can be freely swapped outside of combat. Passive skills take up no slots, but only apply to skills in their own line, so collecting tons of passives doesn't represent the kind of absolute power growth that can unbalance level-cap PvP.

Finally, each level you gain allows you to boost either health, magicka, or stamina. Some kind of limited respeccing will be available, though Zenimax Online is still working out the details. My experience with the system was extremely positive; it let me experiment with different combat styles and roles without undue cost, while still forcing me to make choices about how I developed my hero.

Stros M'kai's finale dishes out a pleasant surprise: Several of the people I helped with their sidequests show up to aid me by giving me shortcuts around the pirate lord's defenses. One procures a servant disguise, another seduces his way into possession of a key to the lockbox, and a third provides me with an experimental Dwemer-powered stun gun. I would have been able to complete the heist without their assistance, but it's a wonderful nod in a genre that struggles with recognizing players' heroic deeds.

The interaction with these notable NPCs continues in the following zone, the Orc island of Betnikh. They show up to comment on and help me with a few storylines there, and I was gratified to see generic mercenaries tied to other players fulfilling the same tasks. Look how much cooler my experience is because I took the time to befriend these named characters! The change of scenery from Stros M'kai to Betnikh is welcome, trading scorched scrubland for lush forests. Experiencing the island's tragic history firsthand is one of the better solo adventures I've had in an MMO.

Throughout my four hours of play, I never once was asked to kill ten rats, collect twelve bear tongues, or find sixteen scattered relics. Every quest has a decent-to-good story attached to it, and every objective would feel right at home in Skyrim or Oblivion. I hope Zenimax Online can maintain this quality and variety throughout the game, because the questing I undertook in Elder Scrolls Online is a cut above any designer-scripted solo adventuring I've done in similar MMORPGs.

As much as I appreciate the chests and hidden quests in the wilderness, Elder Scrolls Online is unquestionably a more directed experience than the mainline single-player RPGs offer. Much like in a traditional fantasy MMO, Stros M'kai and Betnikh have clear storylines that weave through a defined path with some sidequests to distract you along the way. Experience levels mark milestones in your journey, defining which areas and quests you can meaningfully interact with. I don't personally have a huge problem with the structure; questlines in mainline Elder Scrolls games do much the same with less emphasis on minimap pins and geographical regions.

The interface is minimal in the extreme, keeping all the numbers under the hood and presenting health, magicka, and stamina as simple bars and displaying them only when below full - just like in Skyrim. A single stat determines the power of a weapon or armor of a piece of apparel, though magical equipment at higher levels obviously complicates things. Skills tell you how much damage they do when you're browsing them in the level-up interface, but the numbers are hidden in combat.

The action is as close to traditional Elder Scrolls combat as I can imagine an MMORPG being, given the realities of playing online. The mouse drives everything; it's always bound to your avatar's facing, left-click attacks with your weapon, and right-click blocks. The holy trinity of blocking, dodging, and interrupts -- all accomplished by spending stamina -- is the foundation on which the entire design rests, and it works beautifully. Power attacks are brutal, but stun the user if the strike is blocked. Charged-up or channeled spells ignore normal and power attacks, but can be interrupted with a bash activated by left-clicking while holding block. Directed or ground-targeted attacks generally ignore blocks, but can be dodge-rolled out of with a double-tap of a movement key. Skills are powerful and require significant chunks of your stamina or magicka bar to use. I found myself using one to three skills per encounter while the vast majority of my actions were basic attacks/blocks/dodges/bashes. The end result feels great, and lies closer to Skyrim than World of Warcraft.

As enamored as I am with Elder Scrolls Online's combat in general, it's still an MMO. Collision and timing are necessarily much looser than in Skyrim and similar games. ESO lacks the intimate brutality of Skyrim's melee, though the newly unveiled first-person view narrows the gap significantly at the expense of tactical awareness. I can't vouch for its long-term appeal, as the encounters in the newbie zones are purposefully easy to overcome, and I only saw a tiny fraction of the huge variety of skills in the game.

There's much more to an MMO than the newbie zones, storytelling approach, and basic combat that I experienced firsthand. The team at Zenimax Online is saying all the right things about supporting different playstyles, encouraging players to play together rather than remaining solo throughout the whole game, and the many other elements that go into a successful MMO. The crafting system seems interesting, and progression looks to be a good foundation for open-ended character building (see sidebar). The open-world persistent PvP warfare in Cyrodiil has huge potential; I can see a long and healthy lifespan of alliance-versus-alliance siege warfare across a zone nearly the size of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. For now, I'm reassured that my first hands-on playtime supported the team's claims about combat, questing, and storytelling as much as four hours in an MMORPG can.

The Elder Scrolls Online Opens Beta Registration

Matthew Kato — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:41:00 GMT

Bethesda and ZeniMax Online Studios have announced that beta registration for The Elder Scrolls Online has begun.

If you go to the game's website right now, you can sign up for a chance to beta test the game. No word on exactly when the test will begin.

In the meantime, check out this cinematic trailer for the game. For more on the alliances in the ESO, take a look at this earlier trailer.

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The Elder Scrolls Online is slated for release sometime in 2013 on PC and Mac. Click on the banner to visit our cover story hub on the game.

A Deeper Dive Into The Elder Scrolls' MMO Adventure

Jeff Cork — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:26:52 GMT

Bethesda Online is wading into the MMO waters with its appropriately titled game The Elder Scrolls Online. There's still much to learn about it, but a new trailer is a strong indicator that the game isn't just a generic RPG with the Elder Scrolls' name slapped onto it.

The nine-minute trailer, which is embedded below, highlights a variety of features, including combat, character customization, and how the game fits into the larger Elder Scrolls' lore. The game won't be split into various shards, so players will be able to team up with their buddies with relative ease. And as the trailer's conclusion shows, The Elder Scrolls Online features the epic-scale battles that the other Elder Scrolls games have only dreamed of.

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For even more information on the game, visit our hub page. It includes exclusive interviews with the development team and much more.

Bethesda Reveals New Teaser And Screens For Elder Scrolls Online

Matt Helgeson — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 19:49:00 GMT

Since Game Informer broke the news on Bethesda's new Elder Scrolls MMO, the world has been waiting for more. Today, the company released some new E3 assets for the highly anticipated title.

The trailer isn't long, but we've also got some screens to go along with it.

For more on the game, be sure to check out our Elder Scrolls Online Hub, which features all our special coverage of the game, including interviews, videos, and more.

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Elder Scrolls Online Faction Profile: Ebonheart Pact

Ben Reeves — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:00:00 GMT

During the second era, in a time before any previous Elder Scrolls game, the world of Tamriel descended into a four-way war. In an attempt to conquer the continent, the Imperials – natives to the province of Cyrodiil – made a deal with the Daedric prince Molag Bal. At the beginning of Elder Scrolls Online, players join one of three factions that not only oppose the Imperials and Molag Bal’s undead army, but will also battle one another for the imperial throne. Elder Scrolls Online features three different alliances, three different philosophies, and three different ways to approach the game. Which will you choose? Today we take a deeper look at the Ebonheart Pact, represented by the dragon on the ouroboros.

Zenimax Online’s Take:
“About 50 years prior to the game, an Akaviri invasion came in and basically tried to take over,” says creative director Paul Sage. “What happens now is that the Dunmer and the Nords have formed an alliance because the attack was so bad that they realized they were weak to the Imperial rise. So they form an alliance of convenience with the Argonians. They’re surrounded by all these tides of opposing forces. They feel really threatened, so the Ebonheart’s entire purpose is to band together and make sure they’re no longer in danger.”

Provinces:

Many gamers are familiar with Morrowind thanks to the third entry in the Elder Scrolls series. Homeland of the Dunmer, Morrowind is separated into two parts: Morrowind proper and the island of Vvardenfell. The Sea of Ghosts cuts a giant U through the middle of the province, producing a lot of swampland while mountain ranges to the west isolate Morrowind from other provinces. Vvardenfell has historically been subject to a lot of volcanic activity, and some species depend on this ashfall for survival.

Of all of the provinces, Skyrim is probably the most well known thanks to last year’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Fans of last year’s game will likely be excited to see how ZeniMax Online has recreated the area for an MMO. Home of the Nords, Skyrim is a wealthy and powerful province despite its cold and sometimes inhospitable climate. Skyrim houses four out of Tamriel’s five tallest mountains.

Black Marsh is also sometimes called Argonia as it is home to the lizard-like Argonians. As the name suggests, Black Marsh contains a vast amount of marshlands and rainforests. The Hist, a race of sentient trees, also call Black Marsh home. The province’s tropical climate has made it difficult to cultivate its plant life. In fact, much of this swampland is teeming with poisonous plants and violent predators.

Races:
Dunmer, or Dark Elves, are an ashen-skinned, red-eyed people. Dunmer are often seen as proud, ruthless, and aloof, and are rarely willing to trust other races. Their above-average intellect, strength, and agility make them both strong warriors and capable sorcerers. Many Dunmer have been able to attain a balanced mastery of sword, bow, and destruction magic.

Nords are sometimes called children of the sky, since they are a tall, fair-haired race of humans who hail from the northern realm. The Nords are a militant people with an incredible resistance to cold and magical frost. These enthusiastic warriors are also natural seamen who have prospered greatly from their nautical trade.

Argonians are called Saxhleel in their native tongue of Jel, a term that means “People of the Root.” Argonians have historically been a slave race to invading bands of Dunmer, and years of defending their borders have made the Argonians talented in the art of guerrilla warfare. Naturally immune to many diseases and poisons, these reptilians are also very agile and make excellent thieves and magicians.

If you missed them, check out our profiles on the Aldmeri Dominion and the Daggerfall Covenant. Next week, we take a deeper look at Elder Scrolls Online’s lore and quest system. Check out our Elder Scrolls Online Hub for even more ESO-related content.

Elder Scrolls Online Faction Profile: Aldmeri Dominion

Ben Reeves — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:00:00 GMT

During the second era, in a time before any previous Elder Scrolls game, the world of Tamriel descended into a four-way war. In an attempt to conquer the continent, the Imperials – natives to the province of Cyrodiil – made a deal with the Daedric prince Molag Bal. At the beginning of Elder Scrolls Online, players join one of three factions that not only oppose the Imperials and Molag Bal’s undead army, but will also battle one another for the imperial throne. Elder Scrolls Online features three different alliances. Three different philosophies. Three different ways to approach the game. Which will you choose? Today we take a deeper look at the Aldmeri Dominion, represented by the Eagle on the ouroboros.

Zenimax Online’s Take:
“The name says it all. The Aldmeri Dominion wants to dominate the world. They plan on taking over the world. Submit or die,” explains game director Matt Firor. “The Aldmeri Dominion is like, ‘we’re going to kill everyone that isn’t us. You people are going to help us or else.’”

Provinces:

Valenwood is located in the southwestern region of the Tamriel. Home to the Wood Elves, Valenwood is covered by wide swaths of uninhabited forest. Swamplands and tropical rain forests dominate Valenwood’s coasts, but the nation’s most unique features are a few of its cities which are housed in giant, migratory trees. Valenwood’s capitol Falinesti, actually used to migrate south in the winter, but the tree containing the city has recently stopped walking.

Summerset Isles are a group of islands located southwest of Tamriel. Not much is known about the geography of the Summerset Isles, since it hasn’t been featured in many Elder Scrolls titles, but it is largely inhabited by the Altmer (High Elves.)

Situated on the southern end of Tamriel, Elsweyr is homeland to the various breeds of the cat-like Khajiit. Fertile jungles and rainforests occupy the region's southern end, but much of the rest of the nation is covered in dry plains and harsh badlands. In the south, upper class plantation owners grow the hallucinogenic plant Moon Sugar, which is often processed into the narcotic Skooma.

Races:
The Altmer are a race of High Elf that inhabit the Summerset Isles. Slender with a pale golden hue, the Altmer are among the tallest of all races. They are not as physically capable as humans, and their height makes them less agile, but they are possibly the most intelligent and magically proficient species on Tamriel. Their magical skill also makes them susceptible to magical attacks. However, they are highly resistant to disease.

The Bosmer are also known as the Wood Elves, and as that name implies, they are a people of the forest. Unlike their cousins, the Altmer, these elves prefer a simple lifestyle living in harmony with nature and exploring the beauty of the land. Both agile and quick, the Bosmer are excellent thieves and archers.

Khajiit are a cat-like race known for their natural agility and stealth. This race is not very adept at manipulating magical forces, but their agility and keen intelligence make them fierce warriors. Mobile bands of Khajiit often travel across Tamriel selling wares or distributing skooma. Oddly enough, Khajiit often refer to themselves in the third person.

If you missed it, check out our profile on the Daggerfall Covenant, and come back Friday when we take a look at the uneasy alliance of the Ebonheart Pact. Check out our Elder Scrolls Online Hub for even more ESO related content.

Elder Scrolls Online Faction Profile: Daggerfall Covenant

Ben Reeves — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:00:00 GMT

During the second era, in a time before any previous Elder Scrolls game, the world of Tamriel descended into a four-way war. In an attempt to conquer the continent, the Imperials – natives to the province of Cyrodiil – made a deal with the Daedric prince Molag Bal. At the beginning of Elder Scrolls Online, players will join one of three factions that not only oppose the Imperials and Molag Bal’s undead army, but will also battle one another for the imperial throne. Three different alliances. Three different philosophies. Three different ways to approach the game. Which will you choose? Today we take a deeper look at the Daggerfall Covenant, represented by the lion on the ouroboros.

Zenimax Online’s Take:
“There is a lot of historical friction between the redguards and the bretons,” explains game director Matt Firor. “There have been a lot of little wars between them, and there has been as much internal fighting in High Rock as there has been with external provinces, but it’s a much more settled area and a little more peaceful. The Bretons have given the orcs their own homeland within their territory, and all three races like and respect each other. This faction is a lot more democratic than the others.”

Provinces:

High Rock sits on the northwest end of Tamriel and borders both Hammerfell and Skyrim. The area is highly fertile, features generally mild weather, and is largely populated by the bretons, though it is also the home to the orcs. High Rock was the location featured in The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall – Daggerfall being one of High Rock’s oldest cities and its capital.

Hammerfell is an arid region composed largely of deserts, mountains, and grasslands. Home to redguards, Hammerfell is predominately an urban and maritime province. The interior of the region is thinly populated with tiny farmsteads and beast herds, while the outer rim is pockmarked with large trade cities.

Races:
Bretons are the descendants of the humans who settled in High Rock. They are averaged-sized people with fair hair and fine features. Bretons are supremely intelligent, willful, and very outgoing. What they lack in physical skill, they make up for with their ability to weave spells.

Orcs are also sometimes referred to as Orsimer. This beastly warrior race hails from the Orsinium Area subsection of High Rock between the kingdoms of Menevia and Wayrest. Orcs are unflinchingly courageous and often feared, and orcish armor is often prized for its quality.

Redguards call Hammerfell home but love to travel and adventure on the high seas. Quick and agile, Redguards are often skilled warriors with a blade and shield, and are known for their hardy constitutions and speed, which makes them capable scouts.

That’s all for now. Come back Wednesday when we take a look at the ruthless Aldmeri Dominion. And check out our Elder Scrolls Online Hub for even more ESO related content.

What Elder Scrolls Online Offers Skyrim Fans, MMO Players

Adam Biessener — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT

Zenimax Online faces the difficult task of appeasing several different sets of expectations from gamers who come from different games and genres. Read on for how The Elder Scrolls Online aims to appeal to several different fanbases.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Seeing more of the world. Haven’t you ever been curious what the Argonian homeland looks like, or what riding through Daggerfall in a game with a modern graphics engine would look like? ESO includes sections of every province in Tamriel, so you can explore many of the locations you’ve only read about in books until now.
Lore. The Elder Scrolls franchise has an enormous body of backstory, and ESO is blowing it out even further. Zenimax Online is working hand-in-hand with the loremasters at Bethesda Game Studios to flesh out Tamriel’s Second Era, so lore nuts should have plenty to digest.
Finding adventure wherever you wander. Isn’t that what Elder Scrolls is all about? The Mage Guild’s gameplay revolves around finding ancient texts and bits of lore and runs throughout the entire game. Unmarked dungeons, ruins, caves, and other adventure-filled areas dot the landscape, so wandering through the Black Marsh isn’t a matter of grinding giant bugs for experience as it is a hunt for lost artifacts of ancient Argonian civilization, even though no NPC has given you a specific task to do so.
Touchstones. Daedric princes, birthsigns, guilds, and many more elements that players strongly associate with the franchise are all integral parts of the game. Some things, like player housing, aren’t making the transition to an MMO because of the constraints inherent to an online game, but Zenimax Online is including everything that makes sense.

World of Warcraft

Working with other players. While WoW’s world design and game rules expect you to fly solo outside of designated elite quests and group dungeons, Zenimax Online is going out of its way to make sure helping someone else out always benefits everyone. For instance, there’s no “tagging” and so helping a random stranger kill a monster results in both of you getting full credit.
That old BRD feeling. Blackrock Depths is often mentioned as a favorite dungeon of old-school WoW players for the sense of exploring a huge, hostile city instead of fighting through a series of corridors. ESO’s public dungeons, unless Zenimax Online badly botches the design, should recreate some of what made BRD special...but hopefully without the painful process of finding a group that wants to accomplish the same subset of goals that you’re looking to do.
Non-instanced PvP warfare. Remember the good old days of open warfare in the Hillsbrad Foothills as huge mobs of players fought over Tarren Mill and Southshore? Expand that to the entire province of Cyrodiil. Take out the server-crashing lag, since the engine can handle up to 200 players onscreen and Zenimax Online has still-under-wraps plans to divert excess population. Forget about lowbie ganking, since everyone’s stats are automatically boosted to level-cap status in Cyrodiil. Oh, and there are things to fight over besides murdering helpless questgivers. Like, for instance, keeps whose walls you can bash down with trebuchets.
Familiar but innovative combat. ESO has lock-on targeting and a hotbar, but it shakes up quite a bit within that framework. Limiting the number of available skills to a handful (currently six, but that number could change) but making each ability awesome sounds great. The addition of stamina for blocking, sprinting, interrupting, and disable-breaking should dramatically increase the moment-to-moment depth of combat.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

More fully voiced story. Does anyone want to go back to walls of text after Bioware showed the world how it’s done with Star Wars’ dialogue and story? No, no we do not. And we won’t have to in order to play ESO with its full voice acting.
Working with other players (see WoW entry, above). Outside of flashpoints, cooperating with other players in SW:TOR is extremely limited in scope. That hopefully won’t be the case in ESO.
Dynamic, large-group combat. SW:TOR did a great job of throwing different types of encounters at players even in its solo content, and ESO is following suit. The baseline solo encounter design has players taking on three enemies at a time, and they work together to bring you down by combining skills like lighting oil patches on fire.

Rift

Public content. Rifts are amazing, and Zenimax Online hopes to recreate the sense of working together with random strangers with the Fighters Guild content (destroying Molag Bal’s randomly appearing dark anchors) as well as public dungeons.
Polish and technical competence. Remember when Rift came out, and we were all blown away at how a team of veteran developers with a whole lot of money behind them could put out an MMO that was solid at launch? Well, ESO has a similar situation – game director Matt Firor was heavily involved with Dark Age of Camelot, creative director Paul Sage worked on Ultima Online among others, and team members at Zenimax Online across all disciplines can boast similar credentials. Anything less than a Rift-like level of stability and polish at launch will be a huge disappointment for ESO.

These are just a few elements of The Elder Scrolls Online that should appeal to the fanbases of various games. Fans of the franchise have a lot of questions yet to be answered, like how the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood will work in an MMO setting and how Zenimax Online is going to approximate the rich interactions with objects in the world that we’ve gotten used to since Morrowind. Nonetheless, writing off ESO as “just another MMO” or “WoW with daedra” is doing this ambitious project a grave disservice. Click the banner below to go to the hub, where you can see Firor and Sage explain their philosophies in video interviews, see screenshots, and get more details on the game as we roll them out all month.

First Screen And Details On Elders Scrolls Online

Ben Reeves — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:05:00 GMT

One picture may be worth a thousand words, but even that isn’t enough to convey the breadth of ZeniMax’s new MMO.

Yesterday you got a glimpse of Game Informer’s June cover story, Elder Scrolls Online. Today, we give you an exclusive first look at what the game will look like in action.

What’s going on here?
In this image, you can see a couple player characters battling some Storm Atronachs. Storm Atronach are a species of daedra (divine creatures that come from magical dimensions) that are constructed from stone and held together by magic. The most powerful of all the atronachs, Storm Atronach are immune to normal weapons and shock attacks, are resistant to poisons, and can reflect spells back at their caster.

Is that all?
Behind the battle is a series of daedric ruins. These great towers were built long ago by an ancient race of people, but they’re not the only landmarks players will discover throughout their journey. As players travel through Skyrim, Morrowind, Cyrodiil, and the rest of Tamriel they will encounter various dwarven ruins, ancient nordic tombs, decayed dwemer buildings, and many other ancient locales, some of which players may have discovered in previous Elder Scrolls games.

I still want more!
We know you do, but that’s all for today. If you missed it, Elder Scrolls Online’s first teaser trailer released earlier today, and check back next week for more exclusive Elder Scrolls content.

Teaser Trailer Unveiled

Adam Biessener — Fri, 04 May 2012 14:01:00 GMT

Bethesda Softworks has released the first trailer teasing the upcoming MMORPG based on the Elder Scrolls franchise.

Watch the video below to catch your first glimpse of what The Elder Scrolls Online is all about, or check out our June cover reveal for a few tidbits about the game and our upcoming issue.

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Despite the fact that your brain is full to bursting with everything there is to know about the game, make sure to check out the first screenshot of the game itself, and click the banner to visit the hub for an entire month of exclusive content from video interviews to expanded details that didn't find a home in our June cover story.