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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!]
Tamriel Infinium: Look! A video not about Elder Scrolls Online PvP
I know that I've been hypercritical of The Elder Scrolls Online marketing strategy. For the longest time it's felt as if we have been hearing about PvP and nothing but PvP. From the launch announcement trailer to the Emperor skill line, most of advertising for the game has seemed like one big PvP push. Maybe it was. In the first Tamriel Infinium of the year, I predicted that we would see a greater push for PvE content in future ESO advertising, but then all we heard about after that was news about the sub model and more PvP. I wasn't crying in a corner, but I admit that I was disappointed. (OK, maybe I was crying in a corner.) Because I've been critical of ZeniMax's marketing, I should praise the studio when it does something right. And the video the team released on Wednesday was amazing. Don't get the wrong impression when I say amazing. I wasn't knocked out of my chair, but I did find myself completely engaged with the video. That, I think, is more important than feeling a rush of adrenaline following the destruction of a huge keep or the explosion of a Daedric beast. Although a rush might make someone artificially excited about the game, an informative and engaging video will make people want to stick to the game for the long haul. Let me break down this video for you.
Tamriel Infinium: Selling your wares in The Elder Scrolls Online
When it comes to the economy of MMOs, I usually run the other way. I admit that I'm not an economist, nor would I consider myself a crafter by any stretch. But I'm not completely ignorant of how important in-game trading is for the overall health of an MMO. If the auction house or player stores are consistently stocked, then there is an organic element to the larger game. I find that exciting, and despite my aversion to crafting, I do enough material-gathering and playing the trading game to appreciate the finer details of a healthy, growing game economy. Until recently, we have heard only bits and pieces of how the Elder Scrolls Online economy will work. Developers claim to have a robust crafting system, and given the history of the single-player Elder Scrolls games, I can accept that. But how do I get my wares into the hands of other players? Gameplay Designer Nick Konkle spoke to Shoddy Cast about that very thing. Surprisingly, he revealed quite a bit, and although it's a very interesting listen, I don't think any MMO has tried anything like it. I'm scared and very intrigued.
ESO interview dives deep into combat, rare weapons, and arenas
The folks over at ShoddyCast recently sat down with Nick Konkle, lead gameplay designer for The Elder Scrolls Online, and spent about an hour peppering him with questions about features, mechanics, and other cool stuff. Among the topics discussed? Why combat in ESO feels "floatier" than it does in other Elder Scrolls games, whether the game will see an arena or dueling system, and whether devout players can expect to see exceptionally rare and unique items. Also: horse armor. Konkle noted that the team at ZeniMax Online has been working on making combat feel more forceful and that the criticisms of the system were mostly aimed at earlier builds of the game. He was cagey on the subject of arenas, explaining that while an arena system may come via DLC or post-launch content, players shouldn't expect to see it on day one. As for rare items, Konkle explained endgame adventuring will present opportunities to claim very unique and rare items. The full video is worth the watch if you're excited or curious about ESO. Check it out after the break.
ZeniMax releases nine-minute Elder Scrolls Online preview clip
Last month we flew to Maryland to report from The Elder Scrolls Online's first press event. While we were getting some hands-on time with the title, we were also watching a nine-minute video that ZeniMax put together in order to introduce the game to a wide audience. Today the firm has published the clip for the first time, and it features a mixture of fly-through footage, talking head interviews with creative director Paul Sage and lead designer Nick Konkle, and snippets of PvE and PvP gameplay too. See for yourself after the break.
E3 2012: Talking with Nick Konkle about The Elder Scrolls Online's design
Our fellow feathered friends at Joystiq visited the Elder Scrolls Online booth at this week's E3 and caught up with Lead Gameplay Designer Nick Konkle about the game's look and feel. Konkle made the point that each of the Elder Scrolls game had its own aesthetic, and TESO will carry on in this tradition: "Every province has its own look, but we aim for the realistic -- for the cool." Konkle dives into what will make TESO its own unique creature. One of the mechanics he explained was the game's hotbar. The first two buttons are dedicated to whatever weapon you're wielding, the next three are chosen abilities from your class, and the last button is an ultimate skill derived from your class. "In addition to those six things, everyone has these skills that are always available: sprinting, ducking, and blocking," he said. What is ZeniMax doing to ease those familiar with the lore but not MMOs into the game? "From the very beginning, we didn't set out to make a really big, standard MMO," Konkle said. "Nor did we set out to make a Skyrim clone and just put it online. We set out to make a great game. So we don't just have the standard MMO controls, abilities, and rotations like you're used to." You can watch the 11-minute interview after the jump for more information on TESO's combat and social systems.
The Elder Scrolls Online designers talk combat and PvP in a new video
For all the talk about the latest entries in The Elder Scrolls series being single-player MMOs, there are some pretty big issues translating the mechanics of the single-player games over to The Elder Scrolls Online. For starters, there's the simple fact that the combat in single-player entries is built around the idea that you can pause and pick out your abilities at a slower pace if necessary. A new interview with designers Brian Wheeler (lead PvP designer), Maria Aliprando (creature combat designer), and Nick Konkle (lead gameplay and combat designer) discuss how the team overcame these issues and what players can expect from the game's battles. In PvE, players will find that each given monster has a very unique set of behaviors that players can react to, as well as elements that play off one another in the environment. Rather than rewarding players simply for defeating monsters, players will be rewarded with a rating called "finesse" for how the monster is defeated, with greater rewards coming to players with high finesse scores. The goal is to make combat less a matter of winning or losing and more about defeating enemies skillfully. But that only scratches the surface of the full interview, so click on past the break for the full 17-minute discussion.
