[Megathread] Elder Scrolls Online

[Buckwald]

The Elder Scrolls Online's gameplay and mechanics video

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03...chanics-video/

[Valeron]

While I liked that video, there isn't any new gameplay from it. Still richie gives a pretty good rundown on everything in it.

[Buckwald]

Yeah, I was hoping for actual game play and not a looping video of what we've seen. Pax East is almost here, so I'm sure we'll get more.

[Loaf Lord]

caster type characters look boring as shit... as usual.

[Deleted]

caster type characters look boring as shit... as usual.

well, at least it cant be as bad as Skyrim casters.

[Loaf Lord]

I really like the finesse idea. Getting a little extra reward for playing well is cool.

[Valeron]

yeah, have to say that the videos doesn't do the game's combat and animations any favors

[Luko]

yeah, have to say that the videos doesn't do the game's combat and animations any favors

I was really hoping that at this stage in development, they'd have something a little better to show us. There were early videos like this for SWTOR and everyone chanted "They'll be better at release! Just be patient and wait for E3, Pax, etc etc etc etc. Bioware knows what it's doing."

I feel that if there were better combat and spell animations in store for us, we wouldn't still be seeing the stock, boring combat footage being replayed over and over in videos like this. It's really hard for me to get into a game these days when the character animations are this bad, but for now, I'll wait and see.

[Lycanroc]

yeah, have to say that the videos doesn't do the game's combat and animations any favors

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you there. I've played Elder Scrolls games before and for the most part, the animations are fine. However, something about this one just seems...uncanny valley. It makes me uncomfortable to watch it. One thing that was great about Oblivion/Skyrim was the facial animations and these faces seem 100% static, which makes them look unnatural. (Maybe they have other expressions, but from ANY of the videos, I can't tell.) The attacks look like they have NO power behind them either. Even when I was playing in 3rd person in Skyrim, I felt like I could feel the power behind some of my attacks and spells. When watching this, er...no. I don't get that same feeling.

I don't know if uncanny valley is the correct term for this particular thing, but it sure as hell looks "realistically unrealistic" enough to make me feel uncomfortable. Kind of like that awful baby that I heard about from the awful Breaking Dawn movie.

[Remilia]

Well, I like the customization. Combat as usual, just wait and see, really can't see anything in that video.

[trips25]

Definitely, the ability to explore all areas is worth minor inconsistencies. And players can always just think of their character as a defector.

Also, some brand new awesome in-game footage in this vid:

http://www.buffed.de/TES-The-Elder-S...rsion-1061257/

And:

http://www.buffed.de/TES-The-Elder-S...rsion-1061243/

Holy, people are so worked up about all the little things and are missing out on gems like this. The first video with the girl talking about all the mob AI is pure gold to me.

[zito]

Combat looks kinda stiff to me and the "we don't look down on the trinity and you can do it but it's not needed" confuses me. So dungeons are designed with the thought it can be done with 4 dps?

[Valeron]

Combat looks kinda stiff to me and the "we don't look down on the trinity and you can do it but it's not needed" confuses me. So dungeons are designed with the thought it can be done with 4 dps?

that statement confused me a bit too

if the trinity is there, people are going to use it (unless you are doing speed clears and such)

[Remilia]

Well, optional but not mandatory, a bit more lenient than Tera I guess you can put it where you can kill bosses with skill rather than tanking stuff and hope for the best, my interpretation at least.

[OrcsRLame]

that statement confused me a bit too

if the trinity is there, people are going to use it (unless you are doing speed clears and such)

Well, I think in general, people are going to do what they want. For people that care about min/maxing, going for a hard trinity group may not be what's most effective. Without knowing numbers, we don't know if it will be effective to have a group composition similar to wow, or, for example, a group of nothing but healers using greatswords, or whatever. We'll need to see the numbers on individual builds before declaring that one way is optimal.

[Flaks]

that problem is buffered by a smaller gear gap
the gear gap right now is HUGE and that's the problem, not having to take your lumps. you can't do ANYTHING in life without paying your dues first and that's why a lot of people never do shit. it's hard. it should be hard. you should feel left behind when you're left behind. you should have a way to catch up, but it should damn well hurt to do it

No. Absolutely not. This is a freaking game. "Working towards" something and "Dying your way" through something are two very VERY different things. WoW's pvp system right now is NOT working through something. It's joining a bg and getting wrecked because of people who started earlier etc. There's no reason whatsoever that those people should have a handicap (yes, it IS a handicap) when pvp is, at its core, about an even playing field.

[RoninaThorstone]

No. Absolutely not. This is a freaking game. "Working towards" something and "Dying your way" through something are two very VERY different things. WoW's pvp system right now is NOT working through something. It's joining a bg and getting wrecked because of people who started earlier etc. There's no reason whatsoever that those people should have a handicap (yes, it IS a handicap) when pvp is, at its core, about an even playing field.

YES, THANK YOU.

Why should veteran players get to hit new players harder? Why do skilled players deserve a gear advantage over noobs?

Isn't the fact you are a veteran / skilled enough? Why do you need to hit harder/take more hits too?

You might as well allow level capped players into the starting zones of the enemy faction and have them AOE the spawn area for new players.

Uneven playing fields cost the developer new players

[blackyfrost]

No. Absolutely not. This is a freaking game. "Working towards" something and "Dying your way" through something are two very VERY different things. WoW's pvp system right now is NOT working through something. It's joining a bg and getting wrecked because of people who started earlier etc. There's no reason whatsoever that those people should have a handicap (yes, it IS a handicap) when pvp is, at its core, about an even playing field.

so you want it handed to you, that was my point, you don't want to earn what you get, you want it because the others have it. that's what turns an MMO into a big piece of shit. MMOs were never meant to be "here is one for everyone". MOST people simply never had the skill needed to see it all. you get better or you cried and quit EQ to go back to your SNES mario games.

if time spent doesn't equate to anything, why spend it?
reminds me of AI and his practice rant. maybe he practices better and wins a ring

if the scale of difficulty is tuned for the shitty, lazy players, the game is NOT for people who wanna dump time and money into it. fuck, might as well make a buy to win game if that's the case

[Flaks]

so you want it handed to you, that was my point, you don't want to earn what you get, you want it because the others have it. that's what turns an MMO into a big piece of shit. MMOs were never meant to be "here is one for everyone". MOST people simply never had the skill needed to see it all. you get better or you cried and quit EQ to go back to your SNES mario games.

if time spent doesn't equate to anything, why spend it?
reminds me of AI and his practice rant. maybe he practices better and wins a ring

if the scale of difficulty is tuned for the shitty, lazy players, the game is NOT for people who wanna dump time and money into it. fuck, might as well make a buy to win game if that's the case

There's no "handouts" where pvp is concerned because the "working towards something" in pvp comes from you becoming a better player and beating others.

If you want to work towards something like gear so bad then pve is for you. Leave that bullshit out of pvp because there's plenty other, more tangible, more important aspects to pvp than gearing. The gearing aspect of MMO's has NO place whatsoever in pvp. MMO's are definitely based around working towards something but when it comes to pvp, that something shouldn't be gear because it goes against what pvp is.

Would you be happy if in starcraft you were forced to play for at least a month before you could play against gold level players based SOLELY on the fact that those gold level players were able to make roaches and you were still stuck with only zerglings? In SCII campaign this is perfectly fine. On the ladder? Yea hell no.

[RoninaThorstone]

if time spent doesn't equate to anything, why spend it?

Because winning a fair fight against another player is rewarding?
If you aren't going to pvp without a gear grind then you probably don't like pvp.