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Elder Scrolls Online on solo veteran content, dungeon scaling
ZeniMax is back from E3 with a brand-new Elder Scrolls Online ask-us-anything variety pack. Here are the highlights: The Craglorn update will be included as launch content when ESO arrives on consoles. Dungeon-queueing intentionally locks out overleveled characters for balance reasons, but the devs are working on a scaling system that will eventually adjust dungeons to the leader's level. ZeniMax is aware that Enchanting levels slowly. It'll be tweaked in a future update. Using Equilibrium to exchange magicka for health to gain Ultimate power isn't considered an exploit but might be revised in the future. There will eventually be veteran content that doesn't require grouping. Notably, the developers request that players continue to use the report player chat option to help combat bots and gold spammers. More questions and answers await over on the official site.
Elder Scrolls Online answers more pre-order and Imperial Edition questions
Those of you who hang on every word flowing from the Elder Scrolls Online developers will be happy to know there's a new Ask Us Anything on the official ESO website. What does it address this round? Pre-orders and CE edition queries! By default, players will have eight characters with which to explore every facet of the game. But if you want to play with a friend through his faction's zones, you will also need to pre-order, even though you want to play a Khajiit and he's a Nord. In order for both of you to gain the bonus from the rings of Mara, which link you and a friend in the eternal bonds of XP gain, only one player must own the Imperial Edition. And lastly, all the pre-order and Imperial Edition bonuses will be available on launch day, April 4th, but the ability to play any race in any faction will be available as soon as early access starts. Don't forget to redeem those three- and five-day pre-order codes from the retailers! (If you ordered directly from the official website, you don't need to do anything else.)
Here's an Elder Scrolls PvP Ask Us Anything
Ask Me Anything question-and-answer sessions are a good idea, in theory. But, like any other Q&A format in the publisher-controlled game journalism field, they're specifically designed to showcase the game in question as opposed to providing potential customers with complete or completely accurate information. Live AMAs are of course more challenging for devs and their PR handlers than email or forum questions, and it's the latter approach that ZeniMax takes with its latest Elder Scrolls Online publicity push. The AMA -- or really, AUA, for Ask Us Anything in this case -- focuses on ESO's PvP. Pre-screened questions include bits on bottlenecks, siege weapons, ranking systems, and the effectiveness of low-level players.
Elder Scrolls Online Ask Us Anything details character progression
The latest installment of ZeniMax's "Ask Us Anything" question-and-answer feature is all about progression in The Elder Scrolls Online. Players from ESO's French and German fansites, Game-guide.fr and TESOnline.de, have submitted a great deal of questions which are added to the usual variety of inquiries culled from the many corners of the internet, so this entry is particularly lengthy and packed full of information. Throughout the slew of questions and answers, the ESO devs reveal that players will be able to re-spec their characters' attribute and skill points for an unspecified sum of gold and that in addition to the standard skill lines, there will also be two skill lines "designed to be particularly useful" in PvP. On top of that, the devs delve into detail on ability morphing, the potential addition of future skill lines, the role of attributes in character progression, racial traits and skills, and much more. If you're looking to find out more, just head over to the Elder Scrolls Online official site.
The Elder Scrolls Online devs talk war campaigns, lockpicking, and lore in latest Ask Us Anything
It's time once again for another installment of The Elder Scrolls Online's biweekly Ask Us Anything feature, in which the folks at ZeniMax Online tackle a number of questions from information-hungry fans. This round of questions is a true grab bag, and topics run the gamut from PvP mechanics and lockpicking to character naming and a few lore tidbits to boot. On the character naming front, many players (especially those fond of Argonians and Khajiit) will be pleased to know that character names will be able to include "a maximum of four hyphens, apostrophes, or spaces in total," so players should have plenty of room for creative and lore-appropriate (or not) names. The devs also clarify that war campaigns will feature a "soft cap to limit the number of participants from one alliance," so no one faction will have the advantage of overwhelming numbers. Other highlights include details on how lockpicking will function in ESO, plus a couple of lore questions that shed some light on the presence (or lack) of characters such as M'aiq the Liar and the vampire Serana. For all the fine details, check out the full post at ESO's official site.
You asked, ZeniMax answered: Another TESO AMA is here
The folks at ZeniMax Online have posted another edition of their Elder Scrolls Online Ask Us Anything blog feature, this one tackling topics from equipment progression to lycanthropy. Information revealed in the post? Gear will not level, skills will morph only one time, campaigns last for three months and have persistent consequences, guild stores will be accessible by players of the same alliance, and book/chest spawns have some elements of randomness. The ZeniMax team also dodged hard answers on a couple of questions. According to the post, veteran system rewards may or may not remain cosmetic-only and players who become werewolves or vampires may or may not be able to cure themselves and switch sides. Make of that what you will.
This week's ESO AMA is all about the lore
It's time again for the folks at ZeniMax Online to answer questions from the Elder Scrolls Online mailbag, and today's Ask Us Anything entry revolves primarily around the lore of ESO and how it ties in with existing Elder Scrolls canon. According to the post, famous Elder Scrolls landmarks like the Adamantine Tower and the city of Orsinium are present in the world of ESO, though they may appear different than they did in previous games. The post also discusses why orcs, normally isolationist in nature, would want to join the Daggerfall Covenant. Apparently, doing so is the orcs' best shot at establishing their own state. One interesting gameplay tidbit is also revealed; ZeniMax had this to say on the subject of Manes: The selection and accession of a new Mane is, in fact, one of the key events in which players can get involved in northern Valenwood and western Elsweyr. How is a new Mane chosen and accepted? You'll get to see for yourself. If you're a fan of Elder Scrolls lore, the full post is worth a read. This is the 20th Ask Us Anything ZeniMax has posted; previous AMAs have covered everything from stealth mechanics to PvP. New AMAs go up every two weeks.
Latest ESO AMA talks titles, Shadowscales, and sieges
It's time again for ZeniMax Online to field community questions about The Elder Scrolls Online, and this week's Ask Us Anything post covers a wide range of topics from lore to PvP to raw game mechanics. Included in the entry are details regarding three-faction warfare, access to guild stores, the details of becoming an emperor, and plans to balance between factions. ESO players will be able to participate in open sieges on controlled keeps, with the option for two competing factions to team up against the controlling faction or to battle the whole thing out in open warfare. Fans of smaller-scale PvP will be happy to hear that ESO will offer "lots of chance encounters" for open world combat and big-picture strategists will likely welcome the news that factions disadvantaged by numbers will receive special bonuses to help keep resource capturing fair. Smaller details are also discussed; titles are still in consideration, achievements will exist for large quest chains and other feats, and Shadowscales will show their reptilian faces in various ESO locations.
Elder Scrolls AMA talks stealth mechanics and more
Now that the furor of The Elder Scrolls Online's business model announcement has died down, ZeniMax can get back to its regularly scheduled content drip. Wait, who are we kidding? Fans are still frothing at the mouth over TESO's launch subscription, but fortunately none of that discourse makes its way into this week's Ask Us Anything post. Instead, the devs focus on topics like character roles, magic, the UI, and stealth mechanics. This last one is particularly interesting given ZeniMax's description of how the tactic will function in PvP. "If you are in stealth, you will be invisible to enemy players unless they detect you. It will take more than just a casual look in a stealthed player's direction to uncover them," the post explains. "During a recent playtest, one of our developers was ambushed by a hidden enemy. It was a very effective tactic; the ambusher took advantage of the fact that his target wasn't being cautious and using the Magelight ability, which would have thwarted the ambush."
Elder Scrolls Online elaborates on crafting and exploration
ZeniMax scooped up all of the questions that fans had after seeing The Elder Scrolls Online's crafting and exploration video, and answered several of the most pressing of them in a new post. TESO will feature five crafting professions: weaponsmith, armorsmith, enchanter, alchemist, and provisioner. Of these, players are able to train in two fields so that a robust economy will develop between crafters. While there aren't any recipes in the game, players have multiple avenues to combine ingredients and make the same item. The studio indicated that those who have played previous Elder Scrolls games might have an advantage in knowing familiar plants and crafting ingredients and how they interact. Other topics in the AMA include fishing lures, how big your library can get (there's no limit, basically), the use of Mundus Stones, and the difficulty of lockpicking. "Your lockpicking will automatically improve as you level, gradually making chests that were once very difficult to open a much easier prospect. Though your lockpicking skill will increase as you level, the chests you encounter in higher level areas will also be more difficult," ZeniMax explained.
The Elder Scrolls Online's latest Q&A talks phasing, PvP, and more
The latest edition of The Elder Scrolls Online's Ask Us Anything series is live on the game's official website. In it, you'll find a focus on Cyrodiil and PvP, as the well as the answers to questions about fast travel and sweet rolls. In terms of PvP, one thing to note is that zone level scaling will bump everyone up to max level (50). ZeniMax says that "you'll be able to remain competitive, but a true level 50 will have the advantage of having more skills and abilities than you." There's also a bit of info on layers and channeling in TESO, including answers to questions about gameplay choices and how player actions will affect the ability to play with people who make different choices.
The Elder Scrolls Online gets shiny concept art, bi-weekly Q&A
Have you been searching for a way to represent your favorite fantastical faction? Put down the stencils and spray paint: The fine folks behind The Elder Scrolls Online have seen fit to provide you with Twitter and Facebook avatars representing the Ebonheart Pact and its constituent races. Bear the crest of the Pact, Argonians, Dark Elves, or Nords with pride! While you're at it, you might ogle the fancy concept art that accompanies the avatars. If the Ebonheart Pact isn't your fantasy consortium of choice, maybe you simply don't know enough about it. In that case, an upcoming Q&A about the Ebonheart Pact may be just the thing for you. The TESO dev team is starting a bi-weekly Ask Us Anything Q&A to address questions about the game and its development. Each of the Ask Us Anything sessions will focus on a specific topic, which the team requests you keep in mind while thinking up your "anything" to ask. For the inaugural Q&A, which will go up next week, you can ask whatever you like about the Ebonheart Pact. You can find more information on the official site or submit questions through the official Facebook page.
