Set 1000 years before the events of Skyrim, and based around the attempts of three gigantic factions to control Tamriel, Elder Scrolls Online is Bethesda's attempt to bring its hugely successful role-playing series into the massively multiplayer space. The game has now launched on PC and Mac (with Xbox One and PS4 versions following soon), promising the same expansive experience as the single player titles, the same bustling world, the same gripping collation of narrative and side-quests – but with thousands of other inhabitants.

Early reports suggest the feel of the world isn't quite the same – some monsters and areas effectively zoned off until participants level up sufficiently. There is also lots of discussion about Bethesda's decision to go with a subscription rather than free-to-play model. But with lots of MMO-flavoured extras, as well as re-engineered combat and crafting mechanics (not to mention over 10,000 non-player characters to meet), there seems to be plenty for interested newcomers to the genre to discover.

We won't review the game on the Guardian for a couple of weeks, just so we can experience the server set-up in its fully functioning form. However, we did manage to get some reader questions to creative director, Paul Sage, who took to his office webcam to provide a bunch of interesting answers.

In short, players will be able to behave as morally or immorally as they please; there's no word yet on mounts other than horses; looking for groups to go on dungeon raids will be easy via an in-game "finder" system; and whatever happened to the Warden class...

• Elder Scrolls Online – exclusive concept art gallery – in pictures

• Elder Scrolls Online – interview with game director part two