Caution, text wall incoming....

Go anywhere.....be anything......(as long as it's in the proscribed leveling corridor)

After playing this game steady since release it has become abundantly clear that although this game has lots of potential, there are several things that yet need to be addressed. Some of these already have been, some are slated to be, and lots yet have not even come up (at least as far as I'm aware). As such, I'm going to list all of the issues I have run across thus far, and some that I've become concerned about regarding the end game. It's to be noted that I will reference past Elder Scrolls titles. This is only fair in that this is an Elder Scrolls game and Bethesda has set a precedent for being able to expect certain things from the series. It is therefore not unreasonable to expect to see them in THIS Elder Scrolls title.

Here goes (in no particular order)

1. Disposable Zones-

This is an issue by itself that, had I known about it before purchasing the game, might have changed my mind. By disposable I mean the overall layout is geared towards herding players from one end of the map to the other in a very predictable fashion. Once you have completed your questing you move on to the next zone and repeat. There is little reason beyond pure role play to come back to a lower level zone save to gather crafting mats. or skyshards. This is unacceptable for a game with Elder Scrolls in the title. For an MMO it's lazy design. Up to this point Elder Scrolls games have felt "lived in" and "expansive." Neither of those words comes to mind for ESO. Rather "limited", "segmented" and "linear" are what I've used to describe the layout. Every zone is it's on self contained area that doesn't even seem to be aware of the zones around it. Take Stonefalls and Deshaan for instance. They may as well not even be in the same province except for the buildings and plant life. And going from one zone to the next? You can A. Take a teleporter or B. Walk through a jarring load screen. Wandering around in one region and accidentally winding up in another? Nuh-uh.

Sure doing extreme zone overhauls is probably out of the question but what about adding things like radiant quests for higher level or even (gasp) vet ranks for them to have something else to do? Especially for those that want to role play in their alliance of choice. Make the Alliances & zones truly open by removing the zone loading screens and the mountains. It's called world streaming and it's been around for some time.

2. Limited Interaction With Environment-

This is something I believe the devs are addressing but I have a feeling it won't be nearly to the level it should be. Sure you can pick up bread and drinks from tables and you'll probably be able to pick up jewels and weapons after the Thieves Guild goes in. But I can't count how many times I've walked up to a bookshelf or desk or even a camp in the middle of no where and been disappointed by all the items being statics. For this game to really succeed as the successor to Skyrim it needs to have nearly all food/plates/glasses/books/weapons etc. be examinable and lootable and not merely part of the environment. This is one of those standard Elder Scrolls expectations I mentioned earlier.

Also, utility spells and spell scrolls would be nice along with more variations in locked items aside from GENERIC LOCKED CHEST. Locked doors, jewelry boxes, money boxes, desks all would be great! While we're at it, give us buffs for giving beggars money. Give us buffs for praying at temples and shrines. Give us Inn's that are actually Inn's! Meaning we can rent a room and sleep in the bed and have a limited amount of storage space. Sure we can't sleep and have time pass but we could get a "Well Rested" buff simply for renting a room. GENIUS!

Let us sit in the chairs in world, not pull one out of our butt. Let us choose which fishing pole/pickaxe we use.

3. Extreme Copy Pasta-

Do you like that Altmer architecture you see when you get off the boat? How about that Dunmer/Indoril building? I hope so, because you will be seeing it again. A lot. Have you been in one home or an inn? Well, you've been in all of them! There is one basic home. One basic inn. One basic tower per region, with the exact same coat of paint.

How about the layout of that dungeon? Good, because once you've been in the first one, nearly all of the rest have that same design choice. Enter through A. Pass quick exit door B. to the (left/right but mostly left) go to first big room. Kill mobs. Go down hallway to next big room, kill mobs/boss and loot. Unlock chest. Go through quick exit door B. and back out into the zone. Sound familiar? I've summed up nearly all the towns and dungeons in the game.

I realize there may not be a realistic way of rectifying this but at the least make temples and inns feel like temples and inns.

4. Repetitive Nature of Veteran Ranks-

This is something I covered in a previous post but basically we need more options for the Veteran game. It's appalling that the first piece of post-release content is geared for the hardest of the hardcore. Are there really that many VR 10's so far that you need to gear an ENTIRE zone for them? Craglorn should be VR 1 and then scale to your group, that way everyone wins. Or at least the overworld should be VR1 and the dungeons can be a mix from VR 1-10 or something similar. Let us do the two alliances we go to after the MQ concurrently. These zones wouldn't even need to be adjusted because there are already three different versions of these zones in the game. Take Stonefalls, High Rock and Auridon for example. There is a Level 1-15, a VR 1 and a VR 6 of each of these. It would be nothing to add that in, thus giving the VR 1 a grand total of 4 (counting a level scaling Craglorn) areas to quest in.

Being forced into doing every quest in every zone in every alliance to get to VR 10 is UN-ACCEPT-ABLE! You are going to lose more subs to this alone.

5. Limited Mod Support-

I understand perfectly well this is in fact an MMO and mods of the sort seen in past titles is unrealistic. However, it is totally possible to add in user created dungeons and scenarios. It's already been done in Neverwinter. Here again, this is something that would help give the game longevity, Vets something else to do, and once the creation tools were implemented, would cost Zenimax zero dollars.

To conclude this long winded and impassioned plea, think of Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim. Why are people still playing years (or in Morrowinds case, a decade) later? Because they were incredibly detailed in design and vast in scope. The irony is that an MMO needs players who are going to stick with a game for years, yet this Elder Scrolls game possess almost none of the qualities that would ensure it a long life.


Anyone else like to weigh in on changes?