matt-firor
Latest
Elder Scrolls Online says there's still 'work to do' on its console version, no launch date yet
The self-imposed six-month delay of Elder Scrolls Online's console release has come and gone, and it looks as though fans will be waiting a while yet to see the title come to Xbox One and PlayStation 4. In a new Road Ahead post, the team admits that the adaptation has been tricky but that progress is being made. "We have been (and will continue to be) steadily working on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of ESO. They are playable and fun right now, but there's still some work to do before we can set an official launch date," Game Director Matt Firor said. He mentioned that, among other tasks, the team is designing a new UI from the ground-up and adding voice chat for the consoles. Firor also discussed Update 6, which is scheduled for January. The update will contain the new champion and justice systems, the latter of which will allow players to pickpocket NPCs and steal from vendors. However, this will be but the first pass for the justice system, as PvP will be integrated at a later date.
Elder Scrolls game director talks Update 5, performance upgrades
Elder Scrolls Online game director Matt Firor has just released a new Road Ahead update post. Much of what he has to say relates to the forthcoming Update 5, which includes a new vet dungeon, new facial animations, repeatable pledges and writs, dungeon level-scaling, and additional stuff like the Dwemer crafting style and chat bubbles. Firor also mentions "a series of stability and performance improvements for Cyrodiil in the works right now." Additionally, ESO players will be getting new performance options to "cull visual effects" and improve client framerates.
Tamriel Infinium: Examining Elder Scrolls Online's first major update
I've often wondered if my frustration with game creators should be taken out on the game itself. This goes for any game, not just Elder Scrolls Online. Perhaps I love the game, but I believe the creators have had missteps that drag down production, or maybe they set customer expectations to a certain level then didn't quite deliver.
Today's Elder Scrolls Online AMA discusses bug fixes, housing, spellcrafting, and more
The Elder Scrolls Online's Paul Sage, Matt Firor, Rich Lambert, Brian Wheeler, and Nick Konkle descended upon Reddit today along with a bevy of community managers to run another ask-me-anything, perfectly timed after the release of this morning's release of ZeniMax's plans for the game in 2014. Here are just a few of the highlights: Spellcrafting will involve the rediscovering of "traditional" Elder Scrolls schools of magic, like alteration and destruction. Wheeler hinted that aesthetic changes might be en route for the Imperial City. There are no current plans for smaller scale PvP zones or dueling. Grouping, werewolf, quest achievement, and PvP vampire issues are being worked on. SLI support arrives with Craglorn. Lambert confirmed the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood will have their own skill lines. There's no time-frame for player housing right now. "We want to do it right," Community Manager Jessica Folsom said. Guar mounts are also planned sans timeline. Aside from weekly stability patches and "after the dust settles," the team still plans content updates every four to six weeks. The complete AMA is on Reddit for your review. [With thanks to tipster Leiloni!]
The Elder Scrolls Online's Matt Firor posts on the state of the game
Elder Scrolls Online lead developer Matt Firor has posted a state-of-the-game address on the fantasy MMO's forum. Firor says that, yes, ZeniMax sees the groups of bots clustered around the game's dungeon bosses and that yes, it is taking steps to address the problem. "We regularly ban accounts involved in spam and bot activity," Firor says, but the scope of said activity is so large that it accounts for nearly 85 percent of ESO's customer service tickets. There's also a blurb about de-synched quests as well as a brief preview of the game's first major update that ZeniMax is currently prepping for ESO's test server.
Elder Scrolls Online promises 'polished, lag-free launch experience'
ZeniMax Lead Developer Matt Firor rallied the legions of Elder Scrolls Online fans today with a lengthy post about what the studio's done and what it's planning to do to ensure a successful launch of the game. Firor said that beta feedback and testing has been invaluable, prompting the team to streamline the starting experience and make combat "more substantial." He was also impressed by what he saw during testing: "Some of the things we've discovered with your help excite and inspire us -- like seeing that 98% of characters created have a unique appearance, or seeing the first emperor crowned in our epic PvP system -- while other findings challenge us to make the game better." To ready the game for launch, there will be one final stress test this weekend. ZeniMax has prepared megaservers for both North America and Europe, and the studio assured players that playing cross-region will not result in any drop of latency. The team also has a number of overflow servers on the ready to deal with the initial crush. Finally, Firor said that we'll soon hear more about the first post-launch update that will add the Craglorn zone for endgame players. "We will make sure that no matter where you live, every player in North America, Europe, Oceania, and many places beyond will have a polished, lag-free launch experience," Firor promised.
The Elder Scrolls Online won't require a PlayStation Plus membership
If you're looking forward to playing The Elder Scrolls Online on a console, it's going to be cheaper to do so on the PlayStation 4. Why? Because subscribers will not need a PlayStation Plus subscription to subscribe to the game and keep playing online. Xbox One owners, meanwhile, will require an Xbox Live Gold membership in order to subscribe, bringing the cost up ever so slightly beyond the normal price of entry. That's the takeaway from a recent post on the official PlayStation blog by game director Matt Firor. Other important points from this blog entry are the fact that the servers for the game will be split by platforms, meaning that PC players cannot play with PS4 players and vice versa. Firor also stated that while the team does not have an exact timetable, a beta on PS4 is incoming for later this year. The game is launching on the PC on April 4th, 2014.
Meet the voice cast for The Elder Scrolls Online
Voice-overs can really bring MMOs to life, and Bethesda has just unveiled the star-studded cast that will bring depth to and immerse players in The Elder Scrolls Online. Game director Matt Firor stated, "This extraordinary group of actors helps bring the distinctive characters in The Elder Scrolls Online to life." John Cleese, known for his work in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, plays a cheerful and endearingly mad lost soul named Cadwell who is not afraid of anyone. Bill Nighy, who was in Pirates of the Caribbean, is the merchant prince High King Emeric. Kate Beckinsale, of The Aviator and Pearl Harbor fame, is leader of the Aldmeri Dominion and Queen of the High Elves, Queen Ayrenn. And Linda Carter, best known as Wonder Woman, returns to the Elder Scrolls series to reprise her role from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Other cast members include Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter), Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange), Peter Stormare (Fargo), Jim Ward (WALL·E, Despicable Me 2), Jennifer Hale, and Kevin Michael Richardson. Learn more about each actor's part in the official announcement. [Source: Bethesda press release]
The Soapbox: The case against The Elder Scrolls Online's subscription model
The Elder Scrolls Online is one of the most anticipated online titles of 2014. Marking the first true massively multiplayer incarnation of the venerable Elder Scrolls franchise, ESO has the rapt attention of fans, developers, and industry watchers. It is the latest attempt to leverage an existing franchise into MMO territory, one that will without a doubt see a huge launch and immense media coverage through its first few months. Despite the hype, ZeniMax Online and Bethesda raised a few eyebrows last month when they announced that ESO would require a monthly subscription to play. According to game director Matt Firor, the subscription is required to ensure the game is a true "Elder Scrolls experience." Firor contends that predictable revenue streams generated by monthly subs are necessary to guarantee players the massive amounts of high-quality content they have come to expect from games in the Elder Scrolls universe. There's just one small problem: The history of the Elder Scrolls franchise directly contradicts the idea that expansive, interesting content is intrinsically reliant on monthly payments from players.
Gamescom 2013: Firor says ESO's sub will ensure players get '100% of the game' (except for the parts in the cash shop) [Updated]
ZeniMax Online's (or Bethesda's) decision to make The Elder Scrolls Online a subscription-based game certainly drew the ire of a few Elder Scrolls and MMO fans, but game director Matt Firor believes a sub-based payment model ensures the best possible experience for all players. Speaking with Eurogamer, Firor walked through ZeniMax's reasoning in choosing subscriptions as TESO's primary method of generating revenue. He listed two primary motivators: one, to ensure monetization did not interfere with the traditional Elder Scrolls experience, and two, to keep money flowing for future content. When you're in an Elder Scrolls game, you're in a world. We don't want players to hit monetization fees when they're in the world. It's like, I go into a dungeon, if I don't have access to the dungeon it pops up a window: you don't have access to this, go buy 50 credits. We didn't want that experience. That's not an Elder Scrolls experience. Instead, Firor believes charging a monthly subscription ensures players have "100% of the game" and never run into payment walls. He also explained that the forecastable revenue stream created by subs helps the team better plan for content updates. ZeniMax is aiming for new content releases "every month or six weeks, for as long as people want to play the game." Firor mentioned the addition of the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quest lines as examples of content players can expect, saying, "And those are 15 hours of content a piece. We're talking major new stuff, which is going to be coming out constantly." Make of that what you will. In the meantime, check out new screenshots from Gamescom in our TESO gallery: %Gallery-168863% [Update: Reader Pavel points out a German-language interview from Gamescom that claims Firor indicated there will be a cash shop selling at least "fun items and character services like character renames" in the game. Here's the exact sentence untranslated: "Laut Matt Firor wird es in The Elder Scrolls Online einen Itemshop geben, wo ihr Spaß-Items und Charakterservices wie eine Umbenennung des Charakters kaufen könnt."]
The Elder Scrolls Online will be subscription-based [Updated]
WildStar isn't the only upcoming MMO that's dipping back into the subscription well, as The Elder Scrolls Online has announced that it will be subscription-only when it launches. ZeniMax General Manager Matt Firor confirmed TESO's subscription model in an interview with GameStar. "Charging a flat monthly (or subscription) fee means that we will offer players the game we set out to make, and the one that fans want to play," Firor said. "Going with any other model meant that we would have to make sacrifices and changes we weren't willing to make." Firor was adamant that this was the right move for the game. "The Elder Scrolls Online was designed and developed to be a premium experience: hundreds of hours of gameplay, tons of depth and features, professional customer support -- and a commitment to have ongoing content at regular intervals after launch. This type of experience is best paired with a one-time fee per month, as opposed to many smaller payments that would probably add up to more than $14.99/month any way." TESO will offer 30 days of play with the purchase of the client. The subscription price will be $14.99/€12.99/£8.99 a month, and Firor said that the studio will announce pricing discounts in the future. [Update: Fixed quotation.]
Tamriel Infinium: Audience expectations, Elder Scrolls Online, and EverQuest Next
Last week was a huge week for MMO fans. We were expecting some cool news from Sony Online Entertainment about EverQuest Next from SOE Live. Despite not being a huge EQ follower, I was enormously interested in what SOE (one of my personal favorite game developers and publishers) planned on doing with its staple franchise. Then Bethesda announced that for the first time ever the ZeniMax team would show in-game footage of the Elder Scrolls Online on Twitch TV. Specifically, players wanted to see the first-person view not seen at previous conventions. ZeniMax delivered, and the crowd went wild. I believe both presentations were wonderful, and I would be lying if I said that both presentations didn't pique my interest. I would also be lying if I said that I had no concerns about how each of the games will be received. I talked about it with my guild, Nefarious Intent. We have some hardcore Elder Scrolls fans and some MMOers who have been playing EQ games since the '90s. During the course of the debate, we came to the conclusion that the audience of each game expects something completely different and that pitting these two titles together is completely unfair. So of course that's why I have to do just that in today's column. Why are there different expectations between ESO and EQN? How is it going to be completely possible for both games to be highly successful?
Tamriel Infinium: Elder Scrolls Online, the non-MMO MMO
Bethesda revealed an exorbitant amount of information about its MMO The Elder Scrolls Online at E3. With this being the year the game was originally slated to release, I was not surprised. Of course, Massively reporters could not keep their hands off the game. Staffer Jasmine Hruschak and freelancer Andrew Ross both spent some time behind the keyboard stealing cabbages and talking to a dog. I'm not quite sure about the dog thing, but they apparently had fun. In fact, I think Jasmine penned the most revealing quote about the game: "Their dialogues were interesting and well-acted enough to make me curious. This stuck in my mind because it's completely opposite my typical MMO playstyle. I skip cutscenes, I don't read quest text, and I go to new areas as soon as possible." Of course, I'm excited about the release, and despite being an avid MMO fan, I do appreciate the idea that ESO might not be as much of an MMO as we had originally thought. In an interview with Gamereactor, Creative Director Matt Firor stated, "This is more a multiplayer Elder Scrolls game than an MMO." Although this might turn off the standard MMO crowd, I do believe that his curbing our expectations might be a lesson that more MMO developers should learn from.
ZeniMax views TESO as more multiplayer Elder Scrolls than MMO
Game Reactor has published another Matt Firor interview from last week's pre-E3 Elder Scrolls Online preview event. The ZeniMax game director had plenty to say about the game world, the social design elements, and the team's desire to draw in players who may not be MMO fans. "This is more a multiplayer Elder Scrolls game than an MMO. [You'll see] very limited UI, nice and clean, not a lot of bars," Firor explained. "The combat system is very much action-based. It's also soloable, you can solo almost the entire game. We wanted to get Elder Scrolls players who were unfamiliar with online games and MMO terms to get in, play, have fun and get introduced to the multiplayer aspects." [Thanks Jack!]
Massively's pre-E3 Elder Scrolls Online preview
If you're the type to commit your early-morning hours to gaming as I am, you're probably waiting for E3 to open its floodgates. This year's Expo might be a few weeks away, but the gaming community is getting its fair share of glimpses and leaks thanks to publisher previews, and last week, Bethesda and ZeniMax joined forces for a press event in LA to preview The Elder Scrolls Online. Mystery and suspicion has surrounded the game so far; it's the MMO entry in a long series of single-player installments for a beloved IP, so players are anxious to see how the transition from single-player adventuring to massively online gaming will play out. Unfortunately, the build I saw used only a third-person perspective and excluded PvP, but I still got a solid look at the game.
The Elder Scrolls Online's Matt Firor answers closed beta questions
The interwebs have been all aflutter because of the recently leaked video of The Elder Scrolls Online beta footage, and it's left many people clamoring for more beta details. Thankfully, ESO Game Director Matt Firor has stepped forth to provide just that. In a new interview, Firor didn't care to comment on the leak itself, but he was more than willing to answer a number of questions regarding the game's ongoing closed beta. Firor states that the game's beta is progressing "very smoothly so far" and that the team is now "focusing more on the gameplay exerience" and "getting valuable feedback from beta testers." He goes on to explain that the current beta focus is on "moment-to-moment gameplay," including questing, combat, and the game's progression system. Also on the table are questions about the game's AI, the introduction of guilds, the importance of crafted gear, and of course, when the next round of beta invites will go out (spoiler alert: the answer is incredibly nonspecific). Regardless, there's probably some useful information to be found for ESO fans, so click on through the link below to check it out for yourself.
The Elder Scrolls Online lead deals with differences between the MMO and single-player RPGs
With all of the excitement over The Elder Scrolls Online's beta signups, Game Director Matt Firor has his hands full adjusting the expectations of those used to single-player Elder Scrolls titles. Firor danced around several specific questions by The PA Report on how the MMO would tackle the world, heroism, guilds, and politics in comparison to the single-player games. Firor expanded a bit on how the team is putting together the larger world of Tamriel, especially the areas yet unseen by single-player gamers: "The Elder Scrolls IP is very down-to-earth and gritty, so we had to take the traditional 'these are High Elves' fantasy visuals -- tall towers, white marble, landscaped terrain -- and merge them with the grittier and more medieval-realistic (there are poor High Elf farmers, etc.). It came together very well." He said that while players won't always be at the center of attention, game NPCs will recognize great deeds and instancing will be used for important moments. One thing that won't happen as in the single-player titles is for characters to become the heads of game guilds (as opposed to player guilds). Firor also hinted that the Emperor of the world will be based on player PvP performance, but declined to give any further specifics.
The Elder Scrolls Online's Matt Firor on moving the franchise online
There's a lot of pressure on Matt Firor these days as he heads production on The Elder Scrolls Online. Fans of the franchise have a lot of expectations about what the game will look like when it finally launches, but as Firor explains in a recent interview, his main concern is making the best possible game for the widest possible audience. Thus, rather than marketing specifically to everyone who loved Skyrim, the team is concerned with making the best possible overall game for a wider audience. Firor also elaborates on the fact that the success of the game does not determine the future of the franchise. Bethesda and ZeniMax are different studios with different priorities, and the success of either helps the other. If you're interested in the production values behind the upcoming title, take a look at the full interview. It's light on game details, but it's an interesting glance behind the scenes.
The Soapbox: BioWare, meet ZeniMax; ZeniMax, this is BioWare
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. Once upon a time, a group of decision-makers at a big AAA studio set out to brave the wilds of the MMORPG. This studio had several hugely successful single-player RPGs under its belt, and it also had quite a bit of consumer goodwill in the bank thanks to its pre-MMORPG efforts. The studio spent a ton, and I do mean a ton, of money recreating an MMO that already existed in dozens of different games. It also spent a ton of money trying to convince gamers and gaming press that it wasn't making a retread and was instead adding another pillar of awesome to the standard MMO formula. This studio was, of course, BioWare. Unfortunately for Elder Scrolls fans, it's also ZeniMax.
CCP: It's 'deeply wrong' to assume that repetition is the way forward
CCP's got opinions. This isn't news. The Icelandic developer behind EVE Online isn't afraid to share its opinions, which is also par for the course. MMO developers rarely comment on other games, though, and so we read lead EVE designer Kristopher Touborg's thoughts on The Elder Scrolls Online with some interest. PC Gamer provides the setup, in which the magazine shares a quote from TESO's Matt Firor with Touborg. "At this point in the evolution of MMOs, every MMO has tried something at one point or another that you're going to do in your game. There aren't any more truly innovative features," Firor said. Touborg's response was lengthy and fills out most of the source article listed below. "It's kind of waving a white flag. Like, yeah. I don't like that statement. Because I think that's part of why there's such an attrition with MMOs. People go in and play an MMO for a month and they just want to throw up because they've leveled to 60 in ten different titles," Touborg says before going on to express his hopes that developers try something new. "Otherwise the same [MMOs] are just going to continue on the trend we see every time, where they sell a load of boxes and people play it for three months and then they go somewhere else. There has to be something else out there."
