We'll admit - we're actually surprised. The Elder Scrolls Online has been revealed, and it has been in development over at Zenimax Online Studios for a few years. What's more, the publisher is promising a 2013 launch for its absurdly ambitious project. While not much is known so far, we've already begun brainstorming the components we think would need to be combined to make the perfect MMORPG out of the franchise...

A majority of MMORPGs offer the ability to play in either first or third person, but very, very few have actually made first person mode actually effective. Usually it's a tool for taking screenshots, or just for admiring the world. The Elder Scrolls games have essentially done the opposite over the years: treated first-person as the "true" mode, while leaving third in to allow players to look at their armor.

With The Elder Scrolls Online, Zenimax Online Studios should truly give players the option of playing with either. Archers might want to see through their character's eyes to get the best angle, whereas fights may choose third to get a better sense of the battlefield.

Ah, Tamriel, the epic, sprawling continent in which all of The Elder Scrolls has taken place. Cyrodiil is home to the center of the empire (and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), Morrowind's land is half continental and half island (and was seen in Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind), Skyrim is the snowy, northern location (and, obviously, contained The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim), and Hammerfell is mostly desert (and was featured in The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall). With the MMO, we want to explore it all seamlessly.

Seriously, look at that world map, it looks like the perfect MMO world already. We want all of it. Not "some" or "most" - all. There are also just enough locations that haven't been explored so that die-hard players will be greeted with something new around every bend.

The Elder Scrolls games don't have the strongest combat, but when compared to other MMORPGs, the battles are definitely a step forward. While much should be changed in the conversion from single-player to massively multiplayer, we think the combat can essentially remain unchanged, save for some polishing and adjustments made to the hit-boxes. If there's PvP, it needs to be just as seamless as fighting NPCs, lest it become completely unplayable.

One of the greatest things about The Elder Scrolls' character creation is the huge list of playable races. Humans are broken up into several categories, as are elves and orcs. But beyond the familiar, there are also the feline Kajiit and the reptilian Argonian.

We want them all included, but we don't just want them thrown in. We want to finally get a good look at their stories, seeing their capital cities and living amongst their people. TES has, for years, focused on the humans, and we think it's time the spotlight is shined evenly across the races.

We'd be upset if we booted up the Elder Scrolls Online's character creation system and were greeted with a typical class selection screen. That's not The Elder Scrolls. The Elder Scrolls is about dabbling in magics, putting a few points in daggers, and then specializing in archery. It's about multi-classing, and we think that TES Online should adapt this to the MMO-space.

It's not unheard of, either - Star Wars Galaxies included something similar, and the upcoming Secret World, too, is opting for a more free-form class system as opposed to a rigid separation.

So, yeah, for as much as we want to see TES Online go for a more free-form, Skyrim-like skill system, we really don't want to see it copied exactly. Skyrim had issues in incentivizing players to explore crafting and other non-combat skills, since they shared a skill point pool with combat. That simply can't be. Break it up: let us earn skills for armorsmithing separately from one-handed weapons and we'll be happy campers.

Oh, and let us respec. Seriously, guys, put that in this time. No excuses.

The Fighters/Thieves/Murderers/Mages Guild/College/Brotherhood have always been an important part of The Elder Scrolls, and we think that they should be a focus of TES Online. That means making them more than a quest-line that will earn players a new title or something - they need to really matter.

Maybe players can only join one, and completing their skill-line makes them an actual member of that operation, giving them different quests based on their allegiance. Maybe it acts like DC Universe Online's mentor system, opening up slightly different options as the game goes on based on which is chosen during character creation. There are plenty of ways TES Online can approach guilds, and we really hope that it's done well.

Star Wars: The Old Republic didn't do everything right, but it did some things very right. One such thing was the addition of companions: characters that would travel the world with your character and keep you company on those long, lonely nights on Hoth. Skyrim included something similar, and we think it makes sense to bring this into TES Online.

But let us have more control. Let us actually equip them, instead of just throwing items into their inventory. Let them give us buffs and bonuses to different abilities. Let them interact with our story. The companions in Skyrim were just sort of... there. It's time they were actually a part of the world.

The last two Elder Scrolls games have both included varying levels of controversial level scaling, to either buff or weaken the creatures of the world to fight at or around the level of the player. This clearly wouldn't work for an MMO, but something else will: bring players down (or up) to the level of the content around them. Guild Wars 2 is taking this same approach, and it makes the MMO model work so much better.

By doing this, it makes it possible for friends to play together regardless of their level. Your level 50 character can fight side-by-side with our level 3 character because we're both adapted to the world around us. It's not the most "realistic" way of handling an MMO, but it's definitely better for exploration, which is what TES is all about.

It's starting to get to the point where full (or at least mostly-full) voice acting is needed in an MMO. With it, players feel connected to the story. Without it, players simply click "next" until they're sent off to kill rats. Since Bethesda has included full voice acting in its last few games we assume it will be in TES: Online, but we're going to mention it anyway, since it's absolutely something we're interested in.

Oh, and hire a few more voice actors, please. We don't want to hear the same dozen people repeating over and over again.

Player housing is one of those things that seems to make it into every other MMORPG. Half the time developers leave it out, the other half it's in at launch. Since owning a home has been a part of TES for years, we'd love to see it in the MMO, and we know just how it can work.

Essentially, it should function identically to how it does in Skyrim. Players can buy houses all over the world, and once they go inside they're given access to their own, personal instance of that house. It's simple, it's clean, it makes you feel like you own a part of the world, and it will give us a place to store all of the nonsense we pick up.

This is the only thing we're saying "blatantly steal from The Old Republic," but... seriously, blatantly steal this from SWTOR, please. In the Star Wars MMO, certain areas of the open-world were given green, translucent doors. These would create a separate instance for each group that went into this area, giving you a location to fight with your friends without making you actually leave the world.

Since half of TES is exploring caves and dungeons, we think this would be the best way to handle it. We'd rather have our group given a little personal slice of world instead of sitting through a loading screen every time we want to play in a new area, and we sure as hell don't want to have to fight other players for kills in an open dungeon. Just take it, Zenimax. It's right there. No one is looking. Take it.

After playing Rift, Warhammer Online, and Guild Wars 2, it's hard to go back to an MMO that doesn't have some sort of public quest system. Seeing something epic going on - like a dragon attack - and reacting with whoever is in the area makes the world feel alive, and breaks up the monotony of completing traditional quests.

While we imagine that a majority of TES:O quests will bring players into instanced locations, having some open, group stuff in the open world would make Tamriel feel more alive, and a living open world is better than a dead open world.

While on the subject of dragons, we want random encounters in TES:O. Some of the most fun segments in Skyrim were the randomly generated ones - fighting off a dragon in the middle of the woods, beating back a bandit attack, or getting jumped by wolves after we left a cave.

These elements give more personality to the world, and, along with public quests, help to make the actual world feel more important and living. It makes you feel like you're playing in an actual place, instead of dancing around a set.

We have no idea what we want from PvP in The Elder Scrolls: Online, but we know that we do want PvP in The Elder Scrolls: Online. Maybe it should be large, instanced battle arenas. Maybe it should be open world PvP. Maybe it should be worldwide PvP combat, with castle sieges and territory capture.

We have no idea what it should be, but it should be, and that's all that matters.

Yeah, yeah, throw your tomatoes and boo your boos. The Elder Scrolls: Online should come to consoles as well as PC/Mac, because that's where a majority of Elder Scrolls fans are these days. Skyrim sold millions on the PS3 and Xbox 360, and there's no reason to believe that many of those players might be willing to jump into a persistent Elder Scrolls world.

And it could work! DC Universe Online did it, and the console version is perfectly fine. So come on, Zenimax, don't leave our keyboard-less friends hanging. Release this on consoles. They'll love you forever.

We'll admit - many of our ideas are picked and plucked from our favorite MMORPGs. But why stop there? We think the developer is likely talented enough to bring some brand new ideas to the genre, adding some elements that could totally change it for the better.

We have no idea what those are, but we want it to try! Maybe reinvent crafting, fix the boring end-game, or make it easier to play with friends. Bethesda has done amazing things in the past, and we believe that Zenimax Online Studios can do amazing things with The Elder Scrolls: Online, too. We just want to see them try to do the unexpected.

Well, that's all we came up with. Now, we turn to you: do you have a specific location you want to explore? A mechanic you want to see? A character you want to play as? What sort of things do you want to see in The Elder Scrolls Online?

And if you want more speculation, check out what we want from Animal Crossing 3DS and who we want in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale's roster.