The Elder Scrolls Online is currently in closed beta… they’re stress testing, but there is still an NDA in place, so I can’t really talk about whether I’m in it, or what I think of it.

Instead, let me tell you about these chocolate chip cookies I tried. I’ve had chocolate chip cookies before, and I liked them well enough… but I didn’t think this particular recipe was any good. They certainly looked like chocolate chip cookies, but they didn’t really taste a whole lot like chocolate chip cookies. Something about them was just… off.

I don’t know, maybe if I absolutely, head-over-heel loved chocolate chip cookies, I would have liked this recipe better. Maybe I’m just not a big enough fan of chocolate chip cookies to begin for me to overlook the weird taste of this recipe. Overall I guess it just felt like this recipe was trading entirely on the established chocolate chip cookie name, rather than trying to be delicious all on its own. And so ultimately these cookies bring nothing new to the table, and everything they do, other cookies already do better.

Now, to be fair, this particular recipe is pretty new… perhaps not even quite finished yet. So I did take that into account when tasting the cookies. However, ultimately, when you put certain ingredients together in a certain way, it’s pretty clear the kind of cookie you’re going to get, and nothing short of major alterations will change the resulting taste. There comes a point when the baker has clearly committed to a certain concoction, and a pinch of salt here or a couple of extra minutes in the oven won’t help.

Of course, recipes can evolve and change over enough time, and perhaps eventually the baker will tweak and adjust the ingredients to create something special. And I’m sure there are a lot of people out there that will just gobble these cookies up regardless. I personally just think they’re bland, and not worth the asking price.