[Megathread] Elder Scrolls Online

[Kelimbror]

But there is no debate. You pay for advantage -> it's pay 2 win. There's no gray areas in such simplistic matter. People trying to twist their socks around it are always using arguments that would be easily applied to games with cheat codes to say "they are not really cheats because X" (typically they don't automatically win game for you)

You have even opened the door yourself. Pay for advantage =/= pay to win. You keep proving why you are wrong the more you try to do the opposite.

PS - We're now having a debate. Continuing to insist we aren't having one, while participating in one is a bit silly, yeah?

[Lane]

Most of these have probably already been answered. i r teh slo ;_;

What makes TESO shine?

Personally, I'd say the fact that it plays like a single player RPG. I've felt starved for good stories, meaningful characters, and any feeling of connection with the world in other MMOs. There's no lack of any of that in ESO.

Are there any classes that are in high demand? Are there any classes suffering from the cold shoulder of the developers

Well, ESO's kind of unique in that all classes have access to many of the same abilities, can use any weapon, armor, etc. There are roles that might be in high demand, but since every class can do anything no one is particularly desired over another as far as I know.

3) What is the community like, is there a lot of servers or just a few? Will I spend all my time stuck soloing to get to whatever 'skill threshold' I need to be at, or will I occasionally be able to find a group to do something with (dungeons, pvp, whatever)?

Just the one megaserver, for US or EU. As for group activities while leveling, there are instanced dungeons, public (non-instanced) dungeons, dolmens (sort of like rifts), and world bosses.

I can't comment about the community since the B2P transition. I haven't tried queuing for any dungeons since either, so I don't know how it's changed yet.

5) How is the PvP in the game? (I suck at PvP, but I long since miss the days of WoW Vanilla / TBC PvP, Dark Ages of Camelot, even Warhammer...

ESO's been called the "spiritual successor" to DAoC. I haven't done much PvP myself, but Cyrodiil is a HUGE zone (practically a PvP server within the game), with 3 factions, keeps, siege weapons, quests, exploration objectives, etc.

6) Is there any sort of free trial or invite available to try out the game?

Nay.

And lastly 7) In your opinion, is it worth the money to invest into buying the game?

Hell yeah. :P I thought it was worth it even before all the improvements when there was still a subscription!

[Wilian]

You have even opened the door yourself. Pay for advantage =/= pay to win. You keep proving why you are wrong the more you try to do the opposite.

PS - We're now having a debate. Continuing to insist we aren't having one, while participating in one is a bit silly, yeah?

Paying for advantages has been the definition of P2W ever since the conception because simply put, you cannot buy a victory. You're simply moving goal posts to create a debate. And when I say debate, I mean in grander scale of things, not artificial debate created by people who wish to live in denial because of possibly feeling bad over what could be considered paying for cheats in game.

[Exroyal]

Depends on the advantage, no? Can you, with real money, buy anything in the game which makes you so much better in x or at y compared to another player who didn't pay, then yes, it's P2W.

[mickybrighteyes]

Advantage in game = pay 2 win. There's no debate, it's simple as that. Just because it's advantage against the game rather than other players doesn't change it one bit.

you're example implies any advantage... without defining advantage properly that's too wide and includes things like wow granting mounts to low level players. People could load up an alt and NOT PAY for thier mounts thus saving money... pay to win man... that's like... BUYING GOLD *shakes head*

at some point buying 'advantages' is going to be pay to win. But it's not so simple as "it's an advantage you can buy, therefore pay to win"... the advantage has to effectively make you 'win' in some fashion. If it doesn't help against enemy players... how is it an advantage?

[Hellravager]

What sticks out to me the most is that theres not many classes >.>

[Edge-]

What sticks out to me the most is that theres not many classes >.>

Because classes are more of a "How you do something" rather than a "what you do". It's the same in Rift. There are 4 "callings" (rogue, warrior, mage, cleric), but now each calling can perform all 4 roles (melee/ranged dps, healing, tanking, support), so what calling you are really only determines how you perform said roles.

[mickybrighteyes]

What sticks out to me the most is that theres not many classes >.>

class doesn't really matter in the same way as other games. 10 nightblades can sit there in town and all run with different builds and still be pretty effective at whatever. Though if they ever push 'raid' style content like wow does much of those builds will die out due to desire for min/max stuff.

edit:

I view the 'class' as choosing your spell flavor.

templer - light/holy/restoration
Nb - illusion/blood
DK - FIEEEEEEYAAAAAA.. and earth
Sorc - lightning and conjuration

They all have osme interesting stuff with obvious leaning towards certain actions, but many of the effects a class can get can be replicated through non-class effects (thought these often stack with the classed based option as well... good thing the game isn't as finely tuned to group content imo)

[Hellravager]

Yea true but some classes will be better then others depending upon what your trying to do with said class

[Edge-]

Yea true but some classes will be better then others depending upon what your trying to do with said class

This will always be the case, either by design or due to balancing issues. It's impossible to achieve class performance parity without watering them all down to clone status, so even if a class is designed to be slightly better at tanking, it's totally possible that they will end up the weakest due to poor balancing.

[mickybrighteyes]

Yea true but some classes will be better then others depending upon what your trying to do with said class

realy have to look at the build. the differences aren't that much except for somehting like trying to be a pyromancer as a non-dk. some examples are true, but others... it's like comparing rogue speccializations in wow. (minus the obligatory min/maxing due to lack of content really requiring it)

[wombinator04]

Wish you could switch classes. I'm not liking my DK anymore, really want to be a templar again. But I'm VR1, so no way in hell I'm leveling again. I'd consider it with a 100% xp boost.

I don't know why people like DK. They must be using a stamina build, because a DK magicka build is BOOOOOORING.
Everything is a fucking dot, and you're not any more survivable than a Templar.

I have a level 34 Templar(different faction) who can heal to full every 1.7 seconds, while doing ridiculous damage.

[Tabbycat]

Class is more like choosing which skill line sets you'd like to have. Class is only a very small portion of all of your abilities. It makes up just 3 skill lines. Weapons, armor, mages guild and fighters guild all have their own skill lines. So does Vampire and Werewolf. Then there's the new skill line related to the justice system and another skill line related to souls. I think the Undaunted have a skill line too.

Being able to wield any weapon, wear any armor and play any role is what makes TES TES.

[Champagne Supernova]

Well I've decided to bench my incredibly boring sorcerer with the current build floating about, at least till spellcrafting comes about.

In the meantime, I'm trying to level and build a Templar into a fun 'magey' spec. Here's what I've opted for atm; - http://www.esohead.com/calculator/sk...KpUN8zL7zzK4EX

Thoughts?

Hope Blazing Spear is on par with Elemental ring, if not I'll probably switch it out. As for Radiant oppression, i know it's not an 'execute' but can it be treated as such with the damage multipliers?

[Tidezen]

Wish you could switch classes. I'm not liking my DK anymore, really want to be a templar again. But I'm VR1, so no way in hell I'm leveling again. I'd consider it with a 100% xp boost.

I don't know why people like DK. They must be using a stamina build, because a DK magicka build is BOOOOOORING.
Everything is a fucking dot, and you're not any more survivable than a Templar.

I have a level 34 Templar(different faction) who can heal to full every 1.7 seconds, while doing ridiculous damage.

I do think DK takes some work to be "interesting", it's too easy to just go talons/spiked armor/standard/dragon blood/full plate and call it a day. Or flame mage, that's pretty simplistic too.

1.6 killed my stealth-whip-one-shot magicka DK, so I've been working to find other options. Right now I'm playing around with molten weapons (+40% damage on heavy attacks), destro/resto. Molten weapons, open with heavy, ani cancel into destro clench to root or stun, whip (off-balance), heavy attack, cancel into whip--usually the second whip doesn't go off because I've already killed them. With all the heavy attacks I end most fights full on magicka. If I instead need health I skip the second heavy attack and do the second whip instead for healing.

Just tonight I was testing what 2h can do with molten weapons heavy sneak attack--short story is, it one-shots. This was with a full light armor build with no passives in 2h or medium, all constellation points in magicka passives, and about 60/40 magicka/stam in raw stats. I can't imagine how hard it would hit in a full stam setup--I don't even have Momentum on my DK, that would be an extra 20% right there.

But I personally think I'll stick with the magicka build for now--with resto staff's healing ward+igneous shield, you can outheal nearly anything. DKs are friggin' cockroaches with the right setup, even in light armor.

- - - Updated - - -

Well I've decided to bench my incredibly boring sorcerer with the current build floating about, at least till spellcrafting comes about.

In the meantime, I'm trying to level and build a Templar into a fun 'magey' spec. Here's what I've opted for atm; - http://www.esohead.com/calculator/sk...KpUN8zL7zzK4EX

Thoughts?

Hope Blazing Spear is on par with Elemental ring, if not I'll probably switch it out. As for Radiant oppression, i know it's not an 'execute' but can it be treated as such with the damage multipliers?

For leveling, I'd always go for Reflective Light over Vampire's Bane, because single mobs are quite rare. I have very limited experience with Blazing Spear, but I think you'll probably find Elemental Ring to be the better option for damage unless you're in a group.

Don't worry about Radiant Oppresion, it's an execute and a half. For solo/leveling I'd personally take the healing morph intead, but either way, it hits like a truck. One of the more powerful spells in the game.

[zito]

What part or parts of Skyrim didn't you like? Most Elder Scrolls games are very similar from a base gameplay perspective, with some graphical updates and combat improvements, but the questing, story and exploration focus has been the same and ESO is no different but with the added barrier of levels and level progression kind of barring you from exploring EVERYTHING because a rat in a higher level zone could melt your face....

So if the way Skyrim played and what you were doing is what turned you off, ESO isn't for you because it's the same.

I think skyrim was too directionless for me. Which is ironic since I play GW2 and that's all about freedom but in ES I literally had no idea what to do or what I could do. In GW2 it's pretty much laid out to you. In past ES games? Not really.

So ESO might be what I'm looking for since it isn't entirely directionless but at the same time... it's still elder scrolls.

- - - Updated - - -

Advantage in game = pay 2 win. There's no debate, it's simple as that. Just because it's advantage against the game rather than other players doesn't change it one bit.

That's your definition that advantage = winning regardless of context. In reality that's not the case because winning by definition isn't an advantage. It's a goal. If the goal of ESO was to win by leveling faster then everyone else you would have a point.

[Linthirri Ravensong]

Purchased the game yesterday, and after finally being able to sit down and play it, I decided to get the subscription for it (Even though it's free, I just enjoy it enough to pay)

I really love the gameplay and the world. It gave my exactly what I wanted in a game and I'm incredibly happy I purchased it!

Right now I'm leveling a Wood Elf Sorcerer with Dark Magic / Summoning (can't remember off the top of my head the names, I'm still figuring it all out), not sure if I should try something else or try an Imperial. But so far I'm loving it.

[Evil Inside]

Just got back to playing this after a year-long break. Wow leveling is so much easier and quicker now, I like it. I might stick around now that it's not a PITA to level.

[Greevir]

Purchased the game yesterday, and after finally being able to sit down and play it, I decided to get the subscription for it (Even though it's free, I just enjoy it enough to pay)

I really love the gameplay and the world. It gave my exactly what I wanted in a game and I'm incredibly happy I purchased it!

Right now I'm leveling a Wood Elf Sorcerer with Dark Magic / Summoning (can't remember off the top of my head the names, I'm still figuring it all out), not sure if I should try something else or try an Imperial. But so far I'm loving it.

Glad to hear you enjoy it! Welcome to Tamriel!

[Airlick]

Personally I'm interested to see the changes since long ago. But I never found elder scrolls interesting in general. I think the first game I picked up was skyrim? (I still have it). Played like 40 minutes of it and never picked it back up. Maybe I never understood the appeal. So I' don't really wanna spend the $60 for this when I most likely will never understand this elder scrolls game too.

I also never liked TES games all that much, but I got ESO anyway and found out this game is painfully immersive and plays really nice. You should definitely check it out.