Update 1.6 Feedback
MrGhosty
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After having spent some time on the PTS I feel I have spent enough time with a few items to provide some feedback.
Orc and Redguard "polish": Overall I am a fan of the changes though I wish they wouldn't have outright replaced the previous models. This is only a minor gripe but the change from the bulkier light orc gloves to another skin tight number took away some of the personality that style offered. Though I'm sure was due largely to tech limitations, it's a shame to lose the previous models rather than get another alternate style.
The Crown Store: I can't say as I hate most of the offerings, I was never granted crowns to test everything during the crown test so I was largely limited to what could be seen via previews. The Drauger polymorph really didn't float my boat at all, but I felt the other outfits could fit some needs. The bundles are a bit baffling to be honest, I was aware that higher level players preferred the earlier gear levels but with not being able to customize the outfits it seems a very expensive bundle for what little it actually brings.
The mounts and pets provide many options for customization and were nice. My biggest concern with the crown store is the prices. If we assume that $15-$20 equates to 1500-2000 crowns some of the prices on these items seem a bit high. particularly for the costume bundles, some of the pets and several of the costumes for what you actually get. Additionally there seems to be not enough offerings for the crown store launch, there may be more planned for when it becomes active on the 17th of March but I'm not sure the items on offer create much of a demand beyond a basic initial investment.
Animations: The new combat animations and faster response time are great, it helps it feel like a brand new game.
Justice System: Overall the justice system is a great change, I wasn't able to spend a lot of time with it but one problem I did notice is the unkillable guards. From a balance perspective I can see how they would need to be unkillable but I would like the ability to temporarily disable a guard (knock them out/down etc) in order to facilitate an escape or what have you. I'm fine with them being very difficult to bring down but they hit too hard with no means of truly fighting back. I could see this becoming meaningful when a group of players can team up to distract the guards or disable them for a short time in order to facilitate a massive heist or murder spree. This seems like a missed opportunity to me.
Skills: There is not much I can say towards this as I've not been able to really dig into this aspect of the PTS. I'm sad some skills have changed or gone away and happy about others but it is too early to tell exactly how well these have been balanced.
Additional feedback toward the B2P conversion: I felt from the beginning that buy to play should have been the direction this game went so for that much I'm not displeased. From the perspective of someone who bought the imperial edition on day one and has been playing from beta today with no lapse in sub I can't say as I'm seeing much benefit that would encourage me to continue my subscription. As the devs have already stated that development is going to slow down with no content coming until after the console launch I don't see the benefit to continue paying a monthly sub for such paltry benefits. What it would be nice to see was maybe some sort of discount on crown store purchases with membership or something else that justifies spending $15 a month for a sub.
The only thing I could add is that I can't say I'm terribly impressed with what ZOS is offering for those of us who supported the game during this whole process. I don't intend that this should be some insane benefit or something that gives us a major advantage over fellow players but one can't help but feel like we've been dismissed with very little fanfare. We aren't investors, but we did invest in this game. We were understanding when aspects of the game kept being delayed further and further under the idea that this was being done to bring us a better game and future content which our sub was paying for. With the buy to play switch we are no longer the target demographic, I don't have the solution for this problem but how it is answered or whether answered at all in the coming months leading up to the launch of Tamriel Unlimited will greatly influence whether or not I continue subbing to the game.
Overall I am hopeful and excited for Update 6 and I genuinely would like to see my other concerns addressed in some fashion before the B2P launch.
Orc and Redguard "polish": Overall I am a fan of the changes though I wish they wouldn't have outright replaced the previous models. This is only a minor gripe but the change from the bulkier light orc gloves to another skin tight number took away some of the personality that style offered. Though I'm sure was due largely to tech limitations, it's a shame to lose the previous models rather than get another alternate style.
The Crown Store: I can't say as I hate most of the offerings, I was never granted crowns to test everything during the crown test so I was largely limited to what could be seen via previews. The Drauger polymorph really didn't float my boat at all, but I felt the other outfits could fit some needs. The bundles are a bit baffling to be honest, I was aware that higher level players preferred the earlier gear levels but with not being able to customize the outfits it seems a very expensive bundle for what little it actually brings.
The mounts and pets provide many options for customization and were nice. My biggest concern with the crown store is the prices. If we assume that $15-$20 equates to 1500-2000 crowns some of the prices on these items seem a bit high. particularly for the costume bundles, some of the pets and several of the costumes for what you actually get. Additionally there seems to be not enough offerings for the crown store launch, there may be more planned for when it becomes active on the 17th of March but I'm not sure the items on offer create much of a demand beyond a basic initial investment.
Animations: The new combat animations and faster response time are great, it helps it feel like a brand new game.
Justice System: Overall the justice system is a great change, I wasn't able to spend a lot of time with it but one problem I did notice is the unkillable guards. From a balance perspective I can see how they would need to be unkillable but I would like the ability to temporarily disable a guard (knock them out/down etc) in order to facilitate an escape or what have you. I'm fine with them being very difficult to bring down but they hit too hard with no means of truly fighting back. I could see this becoming meaningful when a group of players can team up to distract the guards or disable them for a short time in order to facilitate a massive heist or murder spree. This seems like a missed opportunity to me.
Skills: There is not much I can say towards this as I've not been able to really dig into this aspect of the PTS. I'm sad some skills have changed or gone away and happy about others but it is too early to tell exactly how well these have been balanced.
Additional feedback toward the B2P conversion: I felt from the beginning that buy to play should have been the direction this game went so for that much I'm not displeased. From the perspective of someone who bought the imperial edition on day one and has been playing from beta today with no lapse in sub I can't say as I'm seeing much benefit that would encourage me to continue my subscription. As the devs have already stated that development is going to slow down with no content coming until after the console launch I don't see the benefit to continue paying a monthly sub for such paltry benefits. What it would be nice to see was maybe some sort of discount on crown store purchases with membership or something else that justifies spending $15 a month for a sub.
The only thing I could add is that I can't say I'm terribly impressed with what ZOS is offering for those of us who supported the game during this whole process. I don't intend that this should be some insane benefit or something that gives us a major advantage over fellow players but one can't help but feel like we've been dismissed with very little fanfare. We aren't investors, but we did invest in this game. We were understanding when aspects of the game kept being delayed further and further under the idea that this was being done to bring us a better game and future content which our sub was paying for. With the buy to play switch we are no longer the target demographic, I don't have the solution for this problem but how it is answered or whether answered at all in the coming months leading up to the launch of Tamriel Unlimited will greatly influence whether or not I continue subbing to the game.
Overall I am hopeful and excited for Update 6 and I genuinely would like to see my other concerns addressed in some fashion before the B2P launch.
"It is a time of strife and unrest. Armies of revenants and dark spirits manifest in every corner of Tamriel. Winters grow colder and crops fail. Mystics are plagued by nightmares and portents of doom."
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