Elder Scrolls Online

[citizen1080]

Originally Posted by Kayso [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

There were three in my family who were playing together last night for a few hours. We only made it to level 6 and just got to the third zone. A few questions for the people with more beta experience:

Some of my answers are from first hand experience...some are from what I have read/heard.

1. Does it ever open up and get more sandbox? Do you keep having to complete quests to move through zones? Once you get out of the starter zones it opens up and you have a lot more options

2. When does the first dungeon come in? We're playing Dragon Covenant.Level 11/12 is the first instanced dungeon for groups but there are craploads of open world dungeons that have bosses at the end with unique/special loot. I believe they are the torches on your map

3. Does PvP only take place in Cyrodil? at this point I believe that is the case but there is going to be world pvp as well.

4. Any raiding to speak of? High level multi group content is in or will be in at launch is what ive read.

5. Any top end grinds necessary? Faction? Tokens for items? Mats for crafting? etc? You harvest mats like any other game so I guess that's a grind. You grind cyrodil for tokens to buy mounts/pvp armor/other stuff. Not sure about pve token grind

6. In terms of leveling to 50... I'm a nightblade. I'm putting all my points into assassination, dual wield, medium armor. Will I get to like level 30 and get stuck? Will i need to then go back and work on something I normally won't use -- like heavy armor -- in order to level to cap?

There will be min/max builds just like any other game. But from my experience and what I have heard/read about higher levels you can make just about any combo viable. And at 15? you get a second quick swap weapon set which basically makes you a dual class. So you can equip a healing staff in your quick swap and go healer if need be..or sword and board to tank etc. Brings a shitload of utility to your character.

7. We're opening up shrines as we see them. Will there ever be any reason to go back to low level zones? Yes. Once you hit max level the level range and loot on all those open world dungeons bump up so you can go back and do them all over again with new loot.
Appreciate any insight.

[Grimfan]

I wanna state this because I had no idea until I started my playthrough this weekend, your weapon determines your class much more than your class does. What I mean by this is:

Weapon+Shield = Tank/Debuffer, you have a taunt in this line. None of the classes actually get a taunt. You also get a ton of mitigation.
Destruction Staff = Ranged damage + Debuffs, you get a great number of status effects and a decent amount of ranged damage.
Bow = Ranged Damage with some AoE, you don't get as many status effects with the bow but you get a little more damage it looks like.
Resto Staff = Healer
Two Handed Weapon = AOE damage dealer, you get a TON of AoE's, and the charge is insane. Two handed weapons are fun as hell IMO but a bit on the small scale when you start which is sad if you are an orc.
Two one handed weapons = A lot of single target damage. Your frenzy is awesome, and you get a lot of small attacks.

What this also means is that you have the potential to use and level all of them if you really want, which opens the game up even more for me. I think I'll probably be a DK no matter what because I like their skill sets, but I do believe I could be a DK healer and be pretty comparable to a Templar healer.

[citizen1080]

Also. Not happy about this 45 minute queue

[Sirken]

Originally Posted by citizen1080 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Also. Not happy about this 45 minute queue

dat awesome super server technology

[citizen1080]

Originally Posted by Sirken [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

dat awesome super server technology

Yea, it has to be an artificial cap they implemented to test the queue system or something. I realize this is their main stress test prior to open beta but we are no where close to the population launch will bring. Maybe they only have a few shards active in their "super server" cloud.

[LostCause]

cant even log in the game right after i get outta queue i get a eso error ...
def not my comp either only game that does this.


guess other ppl are getting this error aswell so i guess its not just me.

[citizen1080]

Havn't had much time to play this weekend, but enough to cement the fact that I have fun playing. Just bought 2 imperial copies.

[Grubbz]

Originally Posted by citizen1080 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Havn't had much time to play this weekend, but enough to cement the fact that I have fun playing. Just bought 2 imperial copies.

Yeah i ended up buying 3, 2 for my marine buddies and 1 for a family member.

[stormlord]

Looks like it could be a good game if it stays away from the open world pvp or mechanics that're too punishing. But honestly... what makes this game look like it'll be as successful or more successful than previous titles like SWTOR or Rift or Warhammer Online? Those titles started out big but aren't as big anymore.

What I think could be happening is the mmorpg market is saturated and players can't move on from older games they're entrenched with. I do see an open window because WoW is aging a lot and this could open the door for somebody else. Diablo 3 has also not done as well and this could mean the makers of WoW won't rule the next generation. It'll have to be someone else that takes what WoW did and makes it even more friendly and expansive and professional, but I wouldn't expect dramatic increases in the population, unless the game somehow taps into the console market too - an MMORPG that's both desktop and console friendly.

It could be making the game even more accessible is not hte key to a winning game. Maybe it's something else? My opinion is it'll have something to do with console gamers and desktop gamers coming together. Up to this time, with games like WoW and many others, they've been exclusively desktop-based. This will change.

Also have to consider the widespread use of portables and notebook pc's over traditional desktops. That combined with the continued success of consoles means desktop computing is old hat.

Some evidence for my statements:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/20685...-expected.html

Anyway, ESO looks interesting to me, but I think it's just abusing the Elder Scrolls name. Evenso, it may be successful anyway. All commercial activities in some form or another are predatory.

Remember how WoW came from a long line of World of Warcraft games? That reminds me of ESO. The "Elder Scrolls" name also comes from a long line of Elder Scrolls games. I once heard something to hte effect "The past doesn't repeat but it rhymes." Maybe ESO will surprise and do something similar.

Look what WoW did. It relaxed the mechanics by reducing punishments. It added more quests and moved the grind to the end-game, thus moving it mostly out of sight of most casual players. It stylized the graphics to make them age slower. It reduced the system requirements so older systems are viable. It spent $80 million which was huge back then. Many of its makers were previous EQ players - or previous gamers in general. It added more instances, not just for convenience but to set itself apart from older games.

WoW became more accessible to casuals while still having content for 24/7 gamers. Will ESO do this?

[Kayso]

Originally Posted by stormlord [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Looks like it could be a good game if it stays away from the open world pvp or mechanics that're too punishing. But honestly... what makes this game look like it'll be as successful or more successful than previous titles like SWTOR or Rift or Warhammer Online? Those titles started out big but aren't as big anymore....

I think Rift is a very good point to bring up as any new sub fee MMO emerges.

Rift launch was an overwhelming success. Other than not enough servers at launch, it was solid at release and played well. However, I think they were combining servers within a year and have gone F2P.

I played Rift at release. Enjoyed my ride to max level. Enjoyed farming half a dungeon set on expert level dungeons. Enjoyed killing a few bosses in both raid zones. Then, one day, I just never logged in again.

Isn't that ok? I'm just finally working on Bio Shock Infinite. I really like it, but I'll never play it again when I am done. If most people agree that BSI is a good game, why the standard that an MMO has to last 5-10 years in order to be a good game?

If my TESO experience goes just like my Rift experience, I'll be infinitely satisfied. And as far as the "success" of the game goes, as long as Zenimax doesn't loose so much money that we don't get another ES or Fallout sequel some day, who cares?