Well the game has changed, A LOT since launch, but thats goes for every single mmo that ever existed. ALL mmos will changed based on player feedback after a good year or so.
If you want that full elder scrolls feel, play it in first person and go to the ebon heart pack alliance, visiting some of the same areas from skyrim and seeing how they looked a 1000 years ago....massive feels. It's the most elder scrolls like because of morrowind and skyrim taking place in that same geographical area.
Playing the game with a console controller adds a bit of that elder scrolls feel. Can't explain that, its more of a "feel" type thing you have to just experience.
The only thing this game feels similar to other MMOs is the fact that there is hella people running around, raids, and some quest. But the guild, story, and regional quest are more of the elder scrolls type quest. Where you happens to run across a guy who looks hurt on the ground, asking you for help, you help him, and then shit snowballs into you having to save an entire town, going into oblivion, dealing with deadric princes and shit.
It feels very elder scrollsy in that since that you can sneak and pick pocket people, steal shit, kill npcs, go on a flower picking spree, exploring caves and dungeons and shit, reading books, lots and lots of books, learning about the story of what happened in dungeons or caves through journals and messages left behind, clunky combat, and all that shit. It feels more of a multiplayer elder scrolls than a mmo to me.
I've played a LOT of MMOs and there's only two that I play regularly because they are truely unique from other MMOS, Firefall and Elder Scrolls Online. They also are the few who has first person and full controller support.