[Megathread] Elder Scrolls Online

[Gsara]

They actually had me thinking about playing this game until E3.

[Zanag]

New interview with Paul Sage (Creative Director) from Polygon was put up today: http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/12/442...nd-ps4-players

Here's an interesting quote from that article,

“PC is still untouchable, it’s the PC,” said Sage. “We’re working to perfect UI and gameplay specific to the PC version of Elder Scrolls Online and the console version will have its own UI and be more controller-specific, but PC is going nowhere. “

[Deleted]

I think that MMORPG is the only genre that consoles will fix instead of ruin(like Skyrim). I'm also a fanboy of the TES series, so I'll definitely give this a try.

I only hope that it won't be blown out of proportions like Guild Wars 2, since the game ended up being a big disappointment when you take a look at ArenaNet's manifesto.

[melodramocracy]

*peruses back a few pages*

Huh. Yep, I'll be skipping this one entirely, thanks.

[Markluzz]

I'm actually happy it's coming to consoles, it means it's more game and less grind most likely. And honestly I don't need another grind MMO there is enough of that, I actually like the idea of an open world online game without the grind (haven't found a game like that).

Who knows if it will or not, I am interested in seeing.

[sergel02]

I wonder how fans of the series felt when they knew it could only be on the PC. I have friends who were sad about it because they didn't have a computer that could support the game, or weren't able to play it on the computer for some reason (one computer for the household or such). When it was announced for the consoles, they were ecstatic they had the chance to play the game again.

I do wonder how it'll affect the computer version, and I think we all have reasons to be wary due to a prior record from previous games. However, I still think people are overreacting until we see more of the actual game and are able to play some of it. I do wish they announced it sooner, but they probably weren't certain until they saw the specs for the new systems.

[Materia]

The whole PS4, Xbox, PC fanbase segregation really sucks.

Bad move.

[-aiko-]

The whole PS4, Xbox, PC fanbase segregation really sucks.

Bad move.

Agreed. If they really want to segregate they should have done PC, then combined XB/PS. I wouldn't have liked that either, but splitting 3 ways makes no sense.

[sergel02]

Agreed. If they really want to segregate they should have done PC, then combined XB/PS. I wouldn't have liked that either, but splitting 3 ways makes no sense.

is that how it's being done? thought it was PC/mac folks and then console folks. Seems odd to have them all separated.

oh and an interview. It's like 9 minutes
http://revision3.com/rev3gamesprevie...nline-gameplay

[Deleted]

is that how it's being done? thought it was PC/mac folks and then console folks. Seems odd to have them all separated.

well ... i guess MS won't work together with Sony ... ever. PS+ and Xbox Gold networks will stay separated forever.

[Loaf Lord]

I'm going to wait and see what happens before I go doom saying, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit wary.

[mvaliz]

The whole PS4, Xbox, PC fanbase segregation really sucks.

Bad move.

On the contrary I think it's an absolutely NECESSARY move and welcome it!

PC/Mac gameplay will have a LOT different than console playing... chiefly the ability to type quickly what you want to say. You're going to have PC players yelling at somebody saying "why didn't you tell us of XYZ coming up behind us!?" when they're a headset-bound Console player.

Second that with different control schemes (mouse turning vs controller turning is different, ect). That could be considered player-edge balance issues in PVP. Trust me... that WOULD'VE become a major issue with the player base! :P

---------- Post added 2013-06-13 at 06:28 AM ----------

well ... i guess MS won't work together with Sony ... ever. PS+ and Xbox Gold networks will stay separated forever.

Which is chiefly the reason I'm thinking of avoiding the console one. I really REALLY don't fancy paying an internet fee + a PS4 online fee + a potential ESO fee...

I'd rather skip the middle-man altogether, keep my single-player games bound to PS4 and then play on my Mac instead... not having to pay an online fee for my console. :P

[corebit]

I really don't get the complaining that porting for consoles means the controls and gameplay are "dumbed down"

The UI in all Elder Scrolls games have always been minimal and the developers have said this even before E3 announcement. So there is no way you can put this blame on consoles.

They have always said that you will use around 6 combat abilities on your hotbar. There is no dumbing down here for consoles.

Does 40+ hotkeys and rows upon rows of button bars somehow mean "intelligent" or more "skilled" gameplay? Games like LoL and Starcraft have very simple abilities and buttons, and yet they are considered e-sports and played at the professional level.

[Deleted]

I really don't get the complaining that porting for consoles means the controls and gameplay are "dumbed down"

The UI in all Elder Scrolls games have always been minimal and the developers have said this even before E3 announcement. So there is no way you can put this blame on consoles.

They have always said that you will use around 6 combat abilities on your hotbar. There is no dumbing down here for consoles.

Does 40+ hotkeys and rows upon rows of button bars somehow mean "intelligent" or more "skilled" gameplay? Games like LoL and Starcraft have very simple abilities and buttons, and yet they are considered e-sports and played at the professional level.

A few corrections. There is a big difference between a minimal and functional UI and a minimal UI that works horribly with a mouse and keyboard. Morrowind UI was minimal, but extremely functional with a mouse and the whole inventory/map/spells/attributes menus were visible at the same time and completely customizable. On the other hand Skyrim solution to the problem was to divide everything in a million different text lists which take at least an order of magnitude more time to use on the PC and is almost on the functionality level of text based RPGs. All this was done to make the interface better for navigation with a joypad, so please don't tell me crappy UI can't be blamed on consoles because it's obviously not true.

Just to give you a quick example: an enemy casts a debuff on you. In morrowind a small red icon representing said debuff appears near the border of the screen, you press your inventory button and hover the mouse on the icon and know immediately what the debuff does. In Skyrim on the other hand you were just textually informed that said debuff was applied, then to know what the debuff does you had to go into the inventory, go to spells, go to buffs/debuffs tab, remember what was the name of the debuff from the message, find it in a list and then select it and finally you know what the debuff actually does. This stupidly long procedure was directly the consequence of the limitations of a horrible UI designed with a joypad in mind.

Another point: I don't know about LoL as I'm not really into MOBAs, but Starcraft most definitely doesn't have "simple abilities and buttons". Even a casual (and not very good) Starcraft player like myself use at least 15-ish keybinds all the time and the really good ones use probably much more. The point is that the limits of the joypad compared to a mouse/keyboard setup limits the design of combat mechanics which must be compatible with a slower and more limited control scheme.

[derpkitteh]

has there been any word as to how vampires will work?? is it a permanent state? are there variations of vampirism, like there is supposed to be?

[Luko]

They have always said that you will use around 6 combat abilities on your hotbar. There is no dumbing down here for consoles.

You seem to be more concerned with buttons and less concerned with the biggest difference in the two playstyles: The mouse. If they were to have the PC players in the same server as console players, PvP would be hilarious. It would just be PC players quite literally dancing around console guys, watching them spin in a circle trying to keep up. PVP wouldn't even be about abilities, it'd be about watching console kids turn in place. Why do you think PC FPS's don't play along side the Console FPSs. To me, it'd be hilarious. To people who prefer consoles, the tears would never end.

[Ozolus]

Hey gang, just working on getting a master collection of Screens from ESO and thought I'd share an album with quite a few newer images in it. Enjoy!

http://imgur.com/a/eoS5r

[Edge-]

Hey gang, just working on getting a master collection of Screens from ESO and thought I'd share an album with quite a few newer images in it. Enjoy!

http://imgur.com/a/eoS5r

Are all of those from the playable build? Because I see the hands in first person combat, and last I read the first person combat (with hands) wasn't in the build being demo'd off to media/people at E3.

[derpkitteh]

i like the look of the high elf in that one pic. think i might change my first character to a goth high elf mage. just need to be able to make her a vampire and she'll be perfect.


and oh hell fucking no.... ain't dealing with no fucking sea monsters. i will literally have a heart attack. i have trouble breathing when i just fly or drive over water in a game, but having some giant thing fly out and attack my boat? no way. >.<

[Ozolus]

Are all of those from the playable build? Because I see the hands in first person combat, and last I read the first person combat (with hands) wasn't in the build being demo'd off to media/people at E3.

These are from videos/demos given out in the past two months. Press demos, PodCast footage given, and E3 footage. All internal, nothing that anyone's played at shows, because it's all under NDA.