Overland Content Feedback Thread

TaSheen

Deserrick wrote: »

The difficulty slider should go both ways, like in the single player games, to correct some of the overtuning that has already been brought up.

Agreed!

iVun3

Oh, thanks for the responses on my closed thread.
But I have to say to moderators, when I did a search on 12 different terms about difficulty or challenge on the forums, it all yielded me with 0 results.
Perhaps that's why the forum is being overloaded with these questions, because I got the impression that I was the first person to have ever asked this question on these forums. xD

Also, I have never heard of the term "overland content."
I am only familiar with words like solo difficulty, leveling experience, solo gameplay challenges, questing challenges, leveling challenges, etc.

ellmarie

So there's certain creatures that are friendly in certain lands or you do a quest and they are now non-aggressive in that area. Like the thunderbugs in Malabal Tor are friendly in most areas. I would like more quests in each land/zone that you can choose a creature that will no longer be aggressive. Like the wolves in The Rift or Senche's in Grahtwood. Something like that. Or is that considered too easy for some.

Raltin

my take?

Rather than making things insanely difficult, like what they did with Silorn's group event boss in gold road... and west weald's group bosses... i'm a solo veteran, a professional at kicking butt alone... and i will say that a couple of apocrypha's, and even more of west weald's, world bosses are insane, to the point that a lot of people don't want to bother fighting them... the primary problem being that they do WAAAAYYYYY too much damage, or spam the living daylights out of stuns, knockbacks, knockdowns, fears, etc... This isn't what players were wanting when they asked for 'more engaging/difficult' content.

What i want is... more THOUGHT being required of the players... more puzzles, like that thieves guild vault lock, the simon crystals in silorn, etc... but take something like that, and apply it to combat... make certain opponents have special weaknesses that can be abused by one or more classes, with an ability or two from that/those class(es) wreaking increased havoc on those enemies compared to other abilities...

for example... say you've got a necromancer world boss... summons skeletons... a necromancer PLAYER uses the Skeletal Mage ability... the boss's skeletons are turned from enemies into allies, as the player necromancer takes control of them, and they start attacking the boss... or a templar uses their Cleansing Ritual ability; purging the skeletons of the magic the necromancer boss used to animate them, which insta-kills them.

that illusionist recollection boss in west weald? Where you have to lure wasps to destroy his illusion mushrooms and make him vulnerable again? BAM! nightblade player uses their Aspect of Terror ability next to the mushrooms, the mushrooms are destroyed without having to deal with the wasps!

Vro-Kul-Sha, one of those aforementioned insane apocrypha bosses? He has a horrrrrible mech where he rando-blasts aoe tentacle explosions all over his arena, which deals super-damage and is the primary difficulty when fighting him... have an arcanist hit him with Abyssal Impact; BAM an arcanist's tentacles have stunned Sha and prematurely ended his tentacle phase!

it adds an element of puzzle-solving to combat, where you're not punished for sticking to what you're most comfortable/do best with... but it DOES reward players for branching out, providing a satisfying outcome for putting some thought into your opponent, while likewise further increasing the unique feel and rewarding sensation for choosing to play as a particular class... and maybe that newbie who doesn't have a fully optimized dps build comes along and saves the day just because they have a certain something slotted that you wouldn't have bothered with?

colossalvoids

Most can agree that recently implementation of difficulty felt lazy or "overturned" at some areas but realistically it seems like those WB's who felt more challenging that any Vvardenfell boss are just designed to be an actual group boss and not another dummy for us to solo, as their enrages, stuns or heals are clearly designed to be taken down in group no matter how good your input is. The issue lies in lack of players to participate, no motivation to do so really.
Since the end of the event every wb in weald I encountered was a solo experience and it's at times crystal clear how it was designed with at least 2-3 people in mind to go smoothly.

colossalvoids

Would also add that puzzles in ESO aren't any good and are self solving always with close to zero chances to fail, so I'm not sure those would really fit in zone bosses encounters but will be another glorified immunity phase of sorts.

Raltin

colossalvoids wrote: »

Would also add that puzzles in ESO aren't any good and are self solving always with close to zero chances to fail, so I'm not sure those would really fit in zone bosses encounters but will be another glorified immunity phase of sorts.

part of the problem with the CURRENT puzzle implementation in eso is that while working the puzzle, it GIVES you the answer to the puzzle... take the dwarven door block puzzle in the markarth dlc for example: you have to turn three blocks with four sides each to unlock the door... but when you turn to the correct face on one of the blocks, it lights up, giving away the answer to something you would've had the opportunity to put thought into... so then it just becomes another mindless button-masher, as it boringly auto-solves the puzzle for you... there are WAY too many puzzles like that in eso, but there ARE some good ones... like the block-turn puzzle in skyreach, or the thieves guild vault door puzzle, where you're not spoon-fed the answer. I just want puzzles in quests where i'm not spoon-fed the answers... and the simon puzzle in silorn COULD have been good, but it was made too easy again... only like, 3 lights each that you had to remember the order of... there were 6 pylons on each well, give me a combo of six please!

I'm not talking about adding THOSE into boss encounters... rather, just what i described (certain abilities for different classes having beneficial mechanics for those bosses, but all abilities you'd normally use still having value)

colossalvoids

Raltin wrote: »

colossalvoids wrote: »

Would also add that puzzles in ESO aren't any good and are self solving always with close to zero chances to fail, so I'm not sure those would really fit in zone bosses encounters but will be another glorified immunity phase of sorts.

part of the problem with the CURRENT puzzle implementation in eso is that while working the puzzle, it GIVES you the answer to the puzzle... take the dwarven door block puzzle in the markarth dlc for example: you have to turn three blocks with four sides each to unlock the door... but when you turn to the correct face on one of the blocks, it lights up, giving away the answer to something you would've had the opportunity to put thought into... so then it just becomes another mindless button-masher, as it boringly auto-solves the puzzle for you... there are WAY too many puzzles like that in eso, but there ARE some good ones... like the block-turn puzzle in skyreach, or the thieves guild vault door puzzle, where you're not spoon-fed the answer. I just want puzzles in quests where i'm not spoon-fed the answers... and the simon puzzle in silorn COULD have been good, but it was made too easy again... only like, 3 lights each that you had to remember the order of... there were 6 pylons on each well, give me a combo of six please!

I'm not talking about adding THOSE into boss encounters... rather, just what i described (certain abilities for different classes having beneficial mechanics for those bosses, but all abilities you'd normally use still having value)

I do understand what you mean but I'm hinting at that zos deliberately made puzzles auto-solvable because a lot of folks were stuck on them, same as on some mobs, bosses etc. as there always people who can't do basic things or do not want to. It's bizarre for us but some are actually having hard times with those from base game or early dlcs.

So imo if those principles are implemented as part of usual overland it's going to be auto-solvable ones which just unnecessary prolongs the fight, like immunity phases currently. We have puzzle like things in some trials and dungeons so that's where they expect people to be actively engaged, those would be unnecessary in current version of overland we have now, which is an "easy mode" one. If there would be a separate instance solution anywhere in the future these would be welcomed part for sure. But here and now people want to solo everything and have as less challenge as possible, hence why I'd prefer splitting the playerbase wanting entirely different experiences.

SilverBride

I am not a fan of the puzzles and if I don't solve them the first try I just look up the solution. And I really dislike the quests that give you clues to figure out who was the culprit, for example.

The reason I don't enjoy them is they remind me of those logic problems "Bill is taller than Fred. Fred is taller than Ernie. Ernie is shorter than Alejandro. Alejandro has blue eyes. How tall is Bill?"

disky

colossalvoids wrote: »

Raltin wrote: »

colossalvoids wrote: »

Would also add that puzzles in ESO aren't any good and are self solving always with close to zero chances to fail, so I'm not sure those would really fit in zone bosses encounters but will be another glorified immunity phase of sorts.

part of the problem with the CURRENT puzzle implementation in eso is that while working the puzzle, it GIVES you the answer to the puzzle... take the dwarven door block puzzle in the markarth dlc for example: you have to turn three blocks with four sides each to unlock the door... but when you turn to the correct face on one of the blocks, it lights up, giving away the answer to something you would've had the opportunity to put thought into... so then it just becomes another mindless button-masher, as it boringly auto-solves the puzzle for you... there are WAY too many puzzles like that in eso, but there ARE some good ones... like the block-turn puzzle in skyreach, or the thieves guild vault door puzzle, where you're not spoon-fed the answer. I just want puzzles in quests where i'm not spoon-fed the answers... and the simon puzzle in silorn COULD have been good, but it was made too easy again... only like, 3 lights each that you had to remember the order of... there were 6 pylons on each well, give me a combo of six please!

I'm not talking about adding THOSE into boss encounters... rather, just what i described (certain abilities for different classes having beneficial mechanics for those bosses, but all abilities you'd normally use still having value)

I do understand what you mean but I'm hinting at that zos deliberately made puzzles auto-solvable because a lot of folks were stuck on them, same as on some mobs, bosses etc. as there always people who can't do basic things or do not want to. It's bizarre for us but some are actually having hard times with those from base game or early dlcs.

So imo if those principles are implemented as part of usual overland it's going to be auto-solvable ones which just unnecessary prolongs the fight, like immunity phases currently. We have puzzle like things in some trials and dungeons so that's where they expect people to be actively engaged, those would be unnecessary in current version of overland we have now, which is an "easy mode" one. If there would be a separate instance solution anywhere in the future these would be welcomed part for sure. But here and now people want to solo everything and have as less challenge as possible, hence why I'd prefer splitting the playerbase wanting entirely different experiences.

The thing that bugs me about this is that puzzles could be done in a way which doesn't trouble players who aren't interested in or are incapable of solving them - ZOS could create alternate routes through delves, public dungeons and story areas which present players with non-combat solutions, like something they might do with Infinite Archive, but I think they (rightfully) believe that players will just choose to blast through enemies as quickly as they can instead, so what's the point of creating puzzles if they're not going to be utilized? It also has to be fun to do over and over if the content is meant to be repeated, and more fun than combat. And frankly, TES has never been great at puzzles, so expectations are not particularly high.

Still, I would love to see challenging, repeatable, puzzle-focused alternative content. It just seems like ZOS has observed that there are measurable reasons not to do them. I'll still urge them to try anyway, it would bring me no end of joy to engage my brain a little more in ESO, especially when it comes to overland content. I've already invoked Guild Wars 2 recently but their jumping puzzle exploration and other non-combat content can be really enjoyable and I would love to see ZOS borrow a few ideas from that game.

TaSheen

I like crossword and jigsaw puzzles. CRPG puzzles? Not ever much interest. I really disliked Myst and Riven (I think it was those) because of the puzzles. In ESO, the puzzles are simple, and that's fine, because while I'd rather do that than combat, I'm still not very much interested in them "as content".

I really prefer quests that are more involved than linear. And while puzzles aren't my thing, "investigation" is. I love to follow clues about "whodunit"....

disky

TaSheen wrote: »

I like crossword and jigsaw puzzles. CRPG puzzles? Not ever much interest. I really disliked Myst and Riven (I think it was those) because of the puzzles. In ESO, the puzzles are simple, and that's fine, because while I'd rather do that than combat, I'm still not very much interested in them "as content".

I really prefer quests that are more involved than linear. And while puzzles aren't my thing, "investigation" is. I love to follow clues about "whodunit"....

I'm curious about what the fun of investigation is for you. Is it the act of searching around, or more the storytelling tropes/style? I can't remember a lot of instances where ESO gives the player the opportunity to investigate in a way that isn't simply arriving to bonk someone over the head, but I think the High Isle prologue might have had a pretty good sequence.

I'd also like to how many people go to the trouble of disabling things like quest markers to make searching more interesting. Personally I use a mod called PinKiller which disables quest markers in order to force the player to search. I also use TrueExploration which hides areas of the map you haven't been to. Both of these together make "investigating" a lot more fun, and they really dramatically increase immersion, in my opinion.

Stafford197

Just wanna say this thread has 210K+ views, 7200+ comments, and easily hundreds of other threads have been closed over the years about this exact same topic.

ZOS choosing to literally do nothing as a response is mind blowing.

TaSheen

disky wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I like crossword and jigsaw puzzles. CRPG puzzles? Not ever much interest. I really disliked Myst and Riven (I think it was those) because of the puzzles. In ESO, the puzzles are simple, and that's fine, because while I'd rather do that than combat, I'm still not very much interested in them "as content".

I really prefer quests that are more involved than linear. And while puzzles aren't my thing, "investigation" is. I love to follow clues about "whodunit"....

I'm curious about what the fun of investigation is for you. Is it the act of searching around, or more the storytelling tropes/style? I can't remember a lot of instances where ESO gives the player the opportunity to investigate in a way that isn't simply arriving to bonk someone over the head, but I think the High Isle prologue might have had a pretty good sequence.

I'd also like to how many people go to the trouble of disabling things like quest markers to make searching more interesting. Personally I use a mod called PinKiller which disables quest markers in order to force the player to search. I also use TrueExploration which hides areas of the map you haven't been to. Both of these together make "investigating" a lot more fun, and they really dramatically increase immersion, in my opinion.

Oh, that was apropos of other games in years way back now. There really isn't much of that sort of thing in ESO - or politics which is another thing I love in books (actually, the only game where it was a lot of the "meat" was one I wrote and ran for my daughter and her school friends in the AD&D "playground" of Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms - which is still one of my favorite game-verses.)

I used PinKiller for a while when I started playing, though not TrueExploration, because just about the first thing I ever did in ESO was discover every place I could get to on foot/without wayshrines. But by now, I know where everything is, how to get there, what to do WHEN I get there.... I just have that sort of game mind - in ESO I remember where every treasure chest is, every Thieves Trove, where every quest is found.... and I also remember all that sort of thing about every game I've ever played. Stuff is new once for me, and never again.... but ESO is so much fun, I don't mind it the way I did and do in single player games - which don't offer a whole lot of replay value for me (other than Oblivion and Skyrim because of so many really great player made content mods.)

SeaGtGruff

Raltin wrote: »

Rather than making things insanely difficult, like what they did with Silorn's group event boss in gold road... and west weald's group bosses... i'm a solo veteran, a professional at kicking butt alone... and i will say that a couple of apocrypha's, and even more of west weald's, world bosses are insane, to the point that a lot of people don't want to bother fighting them... the primary problem being that they do WAAAAYYYYY too much damage, or spam the living daylights out of stuns, knockbacks, knockdowns, fears, etc... This isn't what players were wanting when they asked for 'more engaging/difficult' content.

My feeling about some of the newer WBs and incursion events-- i.e., those in High Isle and Gold Road, and to some extent the WBs in Blackwood as well-- is that their mechanics are actually kind of neat and could be fun to do, if not for the huge amount of damage they do. And that even goes for bosses that have immunity stages, which most players seem to hate. West Weald incursion events have (IMHO) the potential to be awesomely complex to clear solo, if only the bosses, mini-bosses, and adds were not so incredibly tough for most players to kill, let alone survive.

I do get that WBs and incursion events are intended to be tackled by multiple players at once, and I do think it's entirely fitting that MMOs should have certain content which is beyond the ability of most players to clear solo. But the drawback of adding such content is that it becomes impossible for many if not most players to engage in if the specific zone-- or the game as a whole-- becomes too underpopulated with players, since it will become increasingly more difficult over time for players to find anyone else to help them clear said content.

Personally, I have always just stayed away from overland content I couldn't handle solo, such as the WBs in Vvardenfell, and later the WBs in Northern Elsweyr. And when the day came when I could finally solo them, I had a blast running around those zones in a big loop and soloing the WBs. But I got so frustrated trying to solo some of the WBs in West Weald that I was on the verge of rage-quitting, until I remembered that my SOP has always been to just focus on the content I could handle and avoid the content which is (currently) too tough for me. But when players become super frustrated by something-- be it WBs, incursion events, grinding for gear or leads, etc.-- that's when they get rage-quitty.

SilverBride

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I do get that WBs and incursion events are intended to be tackled by multiple players at once, and I do think it's entirely fitting that MMOs should have certain content which is beyond the ability of most players to clear solo. But the drawback of adding such content is that it becomes impossible for many if not most players to engage in if the specific zone-- or the game as a whole-- becomes too underpopulated with players, since it will become increasingly more difficult over time for players to find anyone else to help them clear said content.

This is exactly what is happening. Making any across the board increases in difficulty not only drives players away from those zones, but it goes completely against what One Tamriel established that made it so all players could do all zones.

This needs to be corrected, and a difficulty slider established for players to use at their discretion, because these changes are hurting players.

TieWolf

disky wrote: »

It actually reminds me of some of the dynamic events that occur in Guild Wars 2 which I remember very fondly, but those occurred under very defined circumstances in specific locations. I think it could be done, but it would have to happen outside of major gathering areas and in smaller towns or settlements that are purpose-built for it, and when you're at that point, it's really just a new, branching static event type that happens in a defined area which could still be really fun, but almost completely removes the surprise element.

Replying to you, but looking at some other responses to my feedback I want to address in this response as well.

GW2 is absolutely one of the games I had in mind, I just didn't want to say it. It is a very specific set of events that take place to initiate a more dynamic draw for players to come fight [insert big boss that takes 10 minutes to fight]

Another portion again worth stating is that those events in that game are profound means of reward drops. If the rewards weren't worth the time, there's no incentive - and thus the zone remains fairly flat and lacking in energy and activity.

The other game that comes to mind is Rift. Which I feel I can bring up as it is a game that doesn't have a population anymore, but they absolutely nailed dynamic events.

Merchants and such weren't down forever, you just had to revive them and make sure the area was safe again for the city to spend (say 4 or 5 minutes) rebuilding literal destruction of buildings and in some situations (from what I remember, this game is quite old now) crafting areas. It didn't detract super long from being able to access them, but it was the coolest thing to see loads of vet players swoop in with amazing mounts, skills, and combat skills.

In GW2 it was restricted to one area for the main "destruction" but there were subtle ripple effects. Oh the city is mending, better go help the nearby farm so the provisioner merchant has more food for citizens so NPC's can better fight the next inevitable onslaught.

In Rift, if fully neglected (which I got to witness when going into a no pop server) the mobs do continue to expand and destroy - ultimately - the entire map. I don't think that is at all appropriate for ESO in any stretch, but in Rift's prime, it was so much fun to fight beside new players and vet players together.

I think GW2 does a good job at secluding the dynamic events so questers can still carry on with what they are doing comfortably. My original comment is more a general idea - tweak it how it would make sense.

Again though, it all circles back to reward incentive. There are difficult events in DLC zones that remain flat and lacking in engagement. Lord knows I can't take on Harrowstorms alone, but the zone is lacking so substantially in activity and reward incentive that you just won't see many people showing up much after the initial year of hype for DLC zones tapers down.

And for things like dolmens and Harrowstorms, the fights are lacking variety and duration. (again bearing in mind if they simply increased reward incentive, the play style over and over would feel mundane after enough time). I don't have a perfect answer or idea for how to add more variety in mechanics to these larger zone events / fights. Thinking about GW2 on an ice dragon fight, players have to hop onto siege type equipment to break some of the magical shields that the boss is spawning up so the fellas closer to the boss can continue making their way to the boss to continue damage. Things like that would be a big help I feel, but I overall this is a complicated issue.

Difficulty sliders which also adjusts rewards are a good idea, I guess I would have to really really see more improvement in rewards to feel okay fighting the same old stuff over and over again, but with more difficulty. Overland content improvements is just a tough one to take on with a 10 year old game that feels like overland content has been on the struggle bus for far too long.

disky

TieWolf wrote: »

snipped for length

Tackling the problem of overland difficulty is a multifaceted task because there are so many different things people want and so many ways to approach it. It's one of the reasons this thread is as huge as it is. To start with sliders and rewards, while I don't personally care about them because above all I just want the game to be fun to play, it's clear that most players are loot-driven and won't engage in content if the rewards aren't matching the challenge, so I agree that they'll have to improve as the difficulty ramps up. I don't think it should be an immediate thing, however, because as we have seen in this thread, there are players who are very against the idea. I think the best plan is to release a slider feature and allow the community to grow accustomed to it, then later, increase the rewards once it's clear to everyone that it should have always been that way. Unfortunately ZOS has to manage player sentiment on top of improving the game, and it can be a balancing act that I don't think we're capable of fully seeing. Nobody wants to be the next SWG NGE and I think that fear of making too many wild changes and pissing off their playerbase influences a lot of decision making.

I highly doubt the relatively static nature of dolmens, harrowstorms, etc. will ever change, because again, player sentiment is a concern. I'd love to see it, but ZOS knows that a portion of their audience really just likes things the way they are, and those people pay. If we're going to see new ideas then more than likely they will come in the form of entirely new content in new zones, or maybe, possibly added to old zones, but I wouldn't ever count on that. Same with any of the dynamic content ideas you provided from Rift/GW2. If they ever happen it will probably be new zone content. And that's a shame, because I know that Aphren's Hold, the town near Stormhaven, or Dreughside outside of Daggerfall (can you tell I'm a DC main) feel like perfect places to implement this kind of content. Beleaguered towns which could be rejuvenated by player involvement, or ransacked if ignored.

One place I could really see benefit from those ideas is Cyrodiil, if it ever receives the overhaul it deserves. In the month I played Warhammer: Age of Reckoning I remember having a great time defending towns from player onslaught and picking back up in the aftermath, but it could have done with greater interactivity in the town itself, and I could see ZOS making that happen. I'm not actually very into PvP, especially Cyrodiil, but I could definitely see myself doing that kind of thing if ZOS made it available.

Dahveed

Muizer wrote: »

dk_dunkirk wrote: »

I don't know why you need them to attack to make this work.

The only alternative I see would be to spawn new encounters in response to the presence of players who choose to have them, but then the mobs should engage the player specifically, and not interfere with passers-by (unless they choose to get involved).

This makes me think of an old Skyrim mod I used (and modified myself) called "better assassins", and how some sort of mechanic like this could be "ESO-ified" based on already existing mechanics which could be tweaked by ESO devs.

Basically the assassins would spawn on top of the player (or near the player) with invisibility cloaks and then "poof" appear right on top of you and mess you up pretty bad, based on your difficulty settings.

Something like this could indeed be made optional; just think of that one random Werewolf encounter you get if you're have Lycanthropy. WW hunters appear around WW corpses and they say something like "here's another one" (it's been a while so I forget the dialogue). So obviously that spawned encounter is optional, and as far as I'm aware, is unique to the player.

If there were some kind of "switch" that the player could turn on (either through the settings interface, or through a quest, or a curse, something "Eldersrollsish" and immersive they could add to the game, then dangerous and spontaneous encounters like this could happen for those players who decided they wanted them. It could be toggled on and off just like an armoury build or a skill line.

So as you're exploring the world, their encounter script will scan your player if you have this setting toggled on (whatever form that would take) and if "yes", then BAM, here's a deadly group of vengeful Daedric assassins sent by Molag Bal to exact revenge for all the Dolmens you've destroyed. Or maybe an assassin or "thug" (like in Skyrim) because you angered someone. Or maybe just a tough elite gang of bandits who want to rob you.

(Note, however, that they would have to be quick and attack immediately... not like a lot of random encounters we have now that literally just stand there and wait for you to attack.)

Again this would be an optional toggle, so casual players who don't want the stress could opt out completely and just explore casually.



Here's a video showcasing the mod I was referring to... Could you imagine having something like this in ESO? That would be great IMO!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7SIHr426ig

vsrs_au

Dahveed wrote: »

Muizer wrote: »

dk_dunkirk wrote: »

I don't know why you need them to attack to make this work.

The only alternative I see would be to spawn new encounters in response to the presence of players who choose to have them, but then the mobs should engage the player specifically, and not interfere with passers-by (unless they choose to get involved).

This makes me think of an old Skyrim mod I used (and modified myself) called "better assassins", and how some sort of mechanic like this could be "ESO-ified" based on already existing mechanics which could be tweaked by ESO devs.

Basically the assassins would spawn on top of the player (or near the player) with invisibility cloaks and then "poof" appear right on top of you and mess you up pretty bad, based on your difficulty settings.

Something like this could indeed be made optional; just think of that one random Werewolf encounter you get if you're have Lycanthropy. WW hunters appear around WW corpses and they say something like "here's another one" (it's been a while so I forget the dialogue). So obviously that spawned encounter is optional, and as far as I'm aware, is unique to the player.

If there were some kind of "switch" that the player could turn on (either through the settings interface, or through a quest, or a curse, something "Eldersrollsish" and immersive they could add to the game, then dangerous and spontaneous encounters like this could happen for those players who decided they wanted them. It could be toggled on and off just like an armoury build or a skill line.

So as you're exploring the world, their encounter script will scan your player if you have this setting toggled on (whatever form that would take) and if "yes", then BAM, here's a deadly group of vengeful Daedric assassins sent by Molag Bal to exact revenge for all the Dolmens you've destroyed. Or maybe an assassin or "thug" (like in Skyrim) because you angered someone. Or maybe just a tough elite gang of bandits who want to rob you.

(Note, however, that they would have to be quick and attack immediately... not like a lot of random encounters we have now that literally just stand there and wait for you to attack.)

Again this would be an optional toggle, so casual players who don't want the stress could opt out completely and just explore casually.



Here's a video showcasing the mod I was referring to... Could you imagine having something like this in ESO? That would be great IMO!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7SIHr426ig

That reminded me of the invisible assassin in Elden Ring: now THAT was challenging.

Muizer

Dahveed wrote: »

Here's a video showcasing the mod I was referring to... Could you imagine having something like this in ESO? That would be great IMO!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7SIHr426ig

Exactly that! Not only does it allow for harder overland encounters (e.g. an IA like difficulty progression from one encounter to the next, as long as you survive) but it also has good story telling potential (that is, it is saleable chapter content in its own right) and it could be used to spruce up every single existing zone. After all, all these evil cults surely want the vestige dead? It would fit in seamlessly with the existing story lines and finally give us the idea the world is taking notice of us.

Tannus15

overland is so garbage. looks at this

ran into 2 mobs in westweald. literally the only thing i did was keep up crit surge and hurricane. i didn't move, i didn't block, i didn't light attack.
i didn't move or break free.



it's not a game. it's a walking simulator.

Tannus15

add both pets



still no actual player interaction apart from casting hurricane

SilverBride

Many of us prefer it this way.

Tannus15

the question is, how much compromise could you give and still enjoy the game?

SilverBride

Tannus15 wrote: »

the question is, how much compromise could you give and still enjoy the game?

I could agree to a difficulty slider but not to any across the board increase in difficulty. They already ruined World Bosses and Zone Story Bosses for me, as well as Incursions. No more forced difficulty.

Tannus15

My advice to new players is to not get good at the game, because once they are, they won't enjoy overland and questing any more.

I literally told my friend not to look up guides or builds, don't try and improve or get better, just enjoy the game and do whatever. When you are finding it too easy let me know and we'll start doing group content.

SilverBride

Tannus15 wrote: »

My advice to new players is to not get good at the game, because once they are, they won't enjoy overland and questing any more.

That is far from true for everyone. I have 7 characters all geared and with good builds, and I enjoy challenging content. But I also love overland and playing out the story when I want to relax.. which is often.

Jammy420

I am back after a year break. I played overland all of ten minutes, and then I had to stop because it has absolutely 0 substance. I regret purchasing golden road.

Zombocalypse

Stupid question but what exactly is "overland"? For some reason my thread asking that was deleted.