[Megathread] Elder Scrolls Online

[Deleted]

anybody got into beta?

[Forsedar]

Hrm... I'm reading an ask me anything thread on tamriel foundry and I'm hearing some worrisome things. He says projectiles home in on the target. If that's true, what the hell is the point of having a crosshair?

It probably means you don't have to 'lead' the target in order for it to hit. If you are aiming at your target when using your ability, the ability will land even if the target is moving. It would be annoying to have to aim ahead of targets to hit them, mostly because of latency and other extreme factors.

[Flaks]

It probably means you don't have to 'lead' the target in order for it to hit. If you are aiming at your target when using your ability, the ability will land even if the target is moving. It would be annoying to have to aim ahead of targets to hit them, mostly because of latency and other extreme factors.

Yea, this is a great call on their part. Its the reason I can't stand Tera and Vindictus pvp combat.

[Loaf Lord]

It probably means you don't have to 'lead' the target in order for it to hit. If you are aiming at your target when using your ability, the ability will land even if the target is moving. It would be annoying to have to aim ahead of targets to hit them, mostly because of latency and other extreme factors.

Yeah, that makes sense. Probably would have came to that conclusion myself if I wasn't a little drunk. My processing skills go down the shitter. lol

[Deleted]

anybody got into beta?

If I told you that, I'm afraid I'd have to kill you.

[Tuffguss]

I love the graphics and art style and loved playing skyrim... but after watching the videos and reading a tiny bit about TESO it reminds me of GW2 a lot and all of its features which sounded good on paper but really weren't enjoyable in practice :S (weapon skills, no holy trinity primarily).

[Valeron]

I love the graphics and art style and loved playing skyrim... but after watching the videos and reading a tiny bit about TESO it reminds me of GW2 a lot and all of its features which sounded good on paper but really weren't enjoyable in practice :S (weapon skills, no holy trinity primarily).

Well good news for you then, ESO will have the trinity.

[Chickat]

I love the graphics and art style and loved playing skyrim... but after watching the videos and reading a tiny bit about TESO it reminds me of GW2 a lot and all of its features which sounded good on paper but really weren't enjoyable in practice :S (weapon skills, no holy trinity primarily).

ESO has the holy trinity, its just much looser then most games.

[Tuffguss]

Well good news for you then, ESO will have the trinity.

Not a set-in-stone trinity though... my basic understanding thus far is that you 'fill the role you choose' by choosing which weapon+class skills and which type of armor skill you advance down? The thing is I mostly enjoy really challenging pve encounters and the 'everyone can do everything' deal in GW2 resulted in face-roll easy and subsequently boring PVE (in my humble opinion).

I get the most enjoyment out of having to challenge myself and work to constantly improve my level of play, making each step of character/story progression much sweeter and more rewarding. In b4 something like "GTFO elitist wow raider", but I am curious if this game will cater to raiders like me. Fingers crossed, because it looks amazing and I love the elder scrolls universe

[Chickat]

Not a set-in-stone trinity though... my basic understanding thus far is that you 'fill the role you choose' by choosing which weapon+class skills and which type of armor skill you advance down? The thing is I mostly enjoy really challenging pve encounters and the 'everyone can do everything' deal in GW2 resulted in face-roll easy and subsequently boring PVE (in my humble opinion).

I get the most enjoyment out of having to challenge myself and work to constantly improve my level of play, making each step of character/story progression much sweeter and more rewarding. In b4 something like "GTFO elitist wow raider", but I am curious if this game will cater to raiders like me. Fingers crossed, because it looks amazing and I love the elder scrolls universe

To a point everyone can do everything, but unlike in guild wars 2 u actually need a tank and a healer do do any group content. Just think of wow. If every class had 1 tank 1 dps and 1 healing spec. The game wouldn't play too different.

[Valeron]

I get the most enjoyment out of having to challenge myself and work to constantly improve my level of play, making each step of character/story progression much sweeter and more rewarding. In b4 something like "GTFO elitist wow raider", but I am curious if this game will cater to raiders like me. Fingers crossed, because it looks amazing and I love the elder scrolls universe

You understand that they said there aren't raids right?

Also challenge and improvement has nothing to do with a trinity system of play.

[Biomega]

"Raid" doesn't have to mean "large group content", not in every context at least. I prefer to think of it as "high-tier endgame PvE group content" instead - regardless of party size. So in that sense, even a 5-man/4-man/3-man dungeon could be considered "raiding", provided it's adequately difficult. Not the original use of the word, I know, but the way games work and what they offer is different now than at its original inception.

Anyway, from what I understand, there WILL be some sort of endgame PvE content, won't there? I do seem to recall mention of group dungeons, and possibly large world bosses. Provided that these are sufficiently difficult to beat, it's a totally valid form of content. In fact, it may even be easier for many people to organize small groups as compared to large-scale "raids" in the traditional sense. While this of course detracts a little from the "epicness" of things, I think that it can nevertheless be enjoyable just the same. Not every MMO has to have WoW-style endgame content - but, imo at least, every MMO needs SOME form of endgame content. Let's just hope TEOS has more than just "grind through quests on a higher difficulty" as some people seem to fear...

[Valeron]

Well TESO should have been a sandbox but that ship has sailed...

[Tabbycat]

If you wanted to play a pure tanking character you could do so with the Dragon Knight.
If you wanted to play a pure healing character you could do so with a Templar.

But every class can access some skill trees via weapons and armor to allow them to tank and heal. Will they be as good at it as the Dragon Knight and Templar? Unknown. We'll have to wait until the game is released to find out.

Also, Adventure Zones scheduled for release after launch, will have some type of large group instanced raid-like encounters. However, expect them to be a different experience than WoW's raids.

[Chickat]

If you wanted to play a pure tanking character you could do so with the Dragon Knight.
If you wanted to play a pure healing character you could do so with a Templar.

But every class can access some skill trees via weapons and armor to allow them to tank and heal. Will they be as good at it as the Dragon Knight and Templar? Unknown. We'll have to wait until the game is released to find out.

Also, Adventure Zones scheduled for release after launch, will have some type of large group instanced raid-like encounters. However, expect them to be a different experience than WoW's raids.

So they arent launching with raids? The game just failed allready.

[Zeek Daniels]

So they arent launching with raids? The game just failed allready.

Sorry dude but raids dont make the game. Theres plenty of good games without raiding. Raiding didnt save Swtor, and its not growing in alot of games, even WoW. Just face it. Raiding is niche and alot of players dont participate.

[Voidism]

Sorry dude but raids dont make the game. Theres plenty of good games without raiding. Raiding didnt save Swtor, and its not growing in alot of games, even WoW. Just face it. Raiding is niche and alot of players dont participate.

Indeed. I don't understand the raiding focus of some games. Could someone explain why devs put so much effort in raiding content when most people wont experience it or have no interest in that kind of gameplay? Not saying they should scrap it, just weird that raiding is "the" endgame with all the nice armors and stuff.

[Tackhisis]

Of course the raiding is the endgame. There are no people who doesn’t raid or PvP, those has already found themselves Asian grindfests. To make a Western game without a focus is a stupid move.

[Biomega]

It's not about "THE" endgame solution. As soon as you start thinking like that, you're already dividing your playerbase. Good games have several options for their endgame; some have a lot of solo PvE content, some have competitive PvP, some have grindy crafting, some have raiding. What seems to be universally accepted as a truth for any MMO, though, is that you've got to have SOMETHING. If all your game has to offer is its leveling experience, then it's misplaced in the MMO genre.

I'm glad that SWTOR was brought up. Now, let's not go into whether or not that game "failed", but the lack of endgame content (and the lack of quality thereof) is certainly the main argument of those who claim that it did fail. SWTOR is an example of a great, engaging, fun single player (and to some degrees also multiplayer) leveling experience; the problem was that once you hit max level, the things you could do were limited and not very well designed.

The fear is simply that TEOS will fall into the same trap. There needs to be something, anything, to keep people engaged and invested into their characters past the maximum level point. So far, it's a bit sketchy as to what exactly there will be to do. Apparently there's some sort of "post-leveling" system whereby you go and quest through zones at an upscaled, more difficult level. Dugeons are mentioned now and then, but vaguely. I assume there will also be PvP.

We simply need more information. A great solution that I am personally hoping for would be a diverse range of activities, something for every type of player. PvP in small and large groups; PvE in small and large groups; PvE in casual, easy, hard, and expert difficulties; a crafting system that is complex without being grindy; storyline questing that continues past maximum level, without devolving into "kill X of harder type of mob"; challenging max-level group quests; challenging max-level solo quests; and I suppose many more things that really I shouldn't be coming up with, since it's the game designers' job to do it.

It's just a simple truth that has been taught to us by the many not-quite-as-successful-as-they-could-have-been MMOs of the past years. TEOS is not a minor title that can be content with a small playerbase like some of the now-forgotten MMOs. It's a major IP that deserves a lot of attention and a lot of players. And if it doesn't get that, then I'm virtually certain it's because something was done wrong with the design, and not because "it's not for everybody". No game is! But the good ones make sure that they are for many different people, all at once.

[OrcsRLame]

It's not about "THE" endgame solution. As soon as you start thinking like that, you're already dividing your playerbase. Good games have several options for their endgame; some have a lot of solo PvE content, some have competitive PvP, some have grindy crafting, some have raiding. What seems to be universally accepted as a truth for any MMO, though, is that you've got to have SOMETHING. If all your game has to offer is its leveling experience, then it's misplaced in the MMO genre.

I'm glad that SWTOR was brought up. Now, let's not go into whether or not that game "failed", but the lack of endgame content (and the lack of quality thereof) is certainly the main argument of those who claim that it did fail. SWTOR is an example of a great, engaging, fun single player (and to some degrees also multiplayer) leveling experience; the problem was that once you hit max level, the things you could do were limited and not very well designed.

The fear is simply that TEOS will fall into the same trap. There needs to be something, anything, to keep people engaged and invested into their characters past the maximum level point. So far, it's a bit sketchy as to what exactly there will be to do. Apparently there's some sort of "post-leveling" system whereby you go and quest through zones at an upscaled, more difficult level. Dugeons are mentioned now and then, but vaguely. I assume there will also be PvP.

We simply need more information. A great solution that I am personally hoping for would be a diverse range of activities, something for every type of player. PvP in small and large groups; PvE in small and large groups; PvE in casual, easy, hard, and expert difficulties; a crafting system that is complex without being grindy; storyline questing that continues past maximum level, without devolving into "kill X of harder type of mob"; challenging max-level group quests; challenging max-level solo quests; and I suppose many more things that really I shouldn't be coming up with, since it's the game designers' job to do it.

It's just a simple truth that has been taught to us by the many not-quite-as-successful-as-they-could-have-been MMOs of the past years. TEOS is not a minor title that can be content with a small playerbase like some of the now-forgotten MMOs. It's a major IP that deserves a lot of attention and a lot of players. And if it doesn't get that, then I'm virtually certain it's because something was done wrong with the design, and not because "it's not for everybody". No game is! But the good ones make sure that they are for many different people, all at once.

Maybe I'm still high as a kite off new game smell, but one thing I'd love to see for ESO's endgame activities is "maps" like in Path of Exile. While PoE is an ARPG and obviously different things work in different genres, I feel the overall concept for endgame is general enough that it could be applied quite well to any game where gear or resources is a significant factor. For those that are unfamiliar with PoE; maps are items that drop from endgame areas. Using one opens up portals to a randomized zone. You and up to 4 other players can go into this zone and basically just kill shit for loot and xp. Simple enough, but what makes it great is the variety that maps have. Maps can have up to 6 affixes that influence either the players or the monsters in the area, typically with things that increase difficulty. Things like, "players don't regenerate health and mana" or "monsters gain 30% physical resistance". The payoff for this increased difficulty is more loot drops. And of course, the more difficult affixes give the most loot. Maps also have a level; this determines the level of the monsters in the area. This is significant in PoE because the max level is 100, which is almost impossibly grindy, while the highest level normal area is 63.

I'm not saying the idea should be taken entirely and plugged into ESO. I think with a little tweaking though it could be a very significant source of endgame.

Also, developer supported leveling races are the shit in any game that has a decent leveling experience. Just my two cents. And I'm not saying this should be the only form of endgame, but I think these would be some pretty cool features that could keep a lot of the more hardcore players interested for quite some time.