New PTS Templates

User

I think for the Craglorn templates, alliance war skill tree should be maxed out too. I doubt we can get or are willing to get that many AP in such empty campaigns.

dragnier wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Just a quick update, we're working on fixing the templates today. We'll let you all know as soon as they're updated.

Just to quickly inform you, I found another skill that wasn't ranked up. I made a v12 Sorcerer and the Crystal Shard skill was not rank four either. Figured this was an oversight.

I wonder about this too. Crystal Shard is the only skill that's rank 1.

Dagoth_Rac

Can we play an Imperial when using a Template? I chose Craglorn and an Imperial Templar, but it keeps saying that he is not an acceptable race for the template. Please open up the template to Imperials. I know we are all a bunch of bourgeois, decadent, Daedra-worshipping jerks, but it is not like all the other races are choir boys! :-)

Drav1n

GTech_1 wrote: »

dravinub17_ESO wrote: »

Where would one find this v12 template you speak of? I created a character and never seen an option for this template.

No new templates here either ... The Pulldown only lists these 3 items: None, Craglorn, Fungal Grotto

What pull down are you talking about? I create a char, it asks me to skip the prison so i do then i load in @ lvl 3. What am i missing here?

Ysne58

The pull down menu is in the upper left corner of the character creation screen.
If you create under Craglorn you will get whatever the latest V12 template there is. I'm not sure it has been updated since yesterday though.

Drav1n

Ysne58 wrote: »

The pull down menu is in the upper left corner of the character creation screen.
If you create under Craglorn you will get whatever the latest V12 template there is. I'm not sure it has been updated since yesterday though.

Thank You!

GTech_1

Yeah, I jumped the gun on this one.
The Craglorn template (in the upper left corner of the character creation screen) is now set to VR 12.
I had figured we would be seeing a *New* template, not a modification to an old template.
I also would have figured that the template would have maxed skills across the board, even in the crafting trees, and the capability to select ANY race.

We need to be able to test *Real* scenarios that *will* be seen on the Live client. This includes testing racial passives and the benefits of Crafting.

As for the Crafting trees: Player created Enchants, Super potions, a full set of player created blues or better ... all of these things make a difference, as they were designed to do, and hence, they should be tested.

Quick Example: The level 50 pots you gave us are a drop in the bucket compared to what my level 48 can create on Live. Just sayin'

AngryNord

So, after being incommunicado for all these days, who seriously still think they'll bother to fix this?

BrierTOG

I am realy dissapointed that they locked up the posibilties so much, how are you supposed to test as you don't have access to crafting and just 3 races for v12. Unless you level up from lvl 1 but that you cant do as fast, at least i can't. I am trying but i am limited as i can't do low level dungeons unless i have others i know that also play pts. So that are a lot of skillpoints you will miss out on.

Also crafting is important if you want people to realy look at sets. But it takes ages to get all traits so you never can the 8 traits sets on things like pts as they take months and months.

lucidoscaub17_ESO

I think that giving us the option to import our existing toons - stats - inventory - cash et all would make the experience far more meaningful.

Additionally allowing players to have their imported toon "leveled up" with a set of "dispensers" that have a cap. The dispensers, which should be located in town, could allow a finite daily amount of skill points, mats and gear choices additionally relevant soulgems, glyphs, gear, gold and pots. Then finally a reset option you can trigger if you "were trying something that is not working".

When I logged to the PTS - my first thought was - great - now I have to run anomalies in order to touch the content we're supposed to test because the gear is dreadful. But OH wait. No pots (to speak of) No way to spend hours farming for them with no crafting abilities. This will take 3 days minimum to be able to get the toon nominally legit.

Making copies of toons to the PTS shouldn't be a big whohah. I've been on a PTS on a number of other games and this was always std. I know how to drive my toon. I'm familiar with her quirks and spent time computing her gear and style. I want to feel unique even on the PTS. My current main toon is V12 and would love to see the new content. It would also be really nice to have the opportunity to alter a few things with her to test the water.

Windshadow_ESO

I am trying to take a V12 template sorc to the point of meaningfully test crafting problems ans its a slow slog. The need to hit certain quests to get the skill point they award can be a problem when they have requirements for pervious quests and those quests have any "capture" parts to them the trick is to remove all weapons etc so you don't one shot these less than lev 15 opponents.
Them you run into the need to learn all the patterns for the armor and weapons... This on a toon that is just for testing... Its a huge investment of time for what at the end is just to help the developers polish this game.

I am doing it in part for 2 main reasons
One, I realy like the game in particular the story elements that are so cleverly woven into the books and other text objects that you find as you play.
Two, even though play on the PTS is rather lonely ( at the east coast morning time that I have available to play) it absence of bots and spammers makes it far more enjoyable than a lot of the exp on the live servers have been over the last few months.

But for the developers to get the best out of us who are willing to put in the low reward time into testing they need to give us the tools to test not just the new content that is in the pipeline but also the tools to test the nooks and crannies of the game like the exploration and crafting parts

Just my opinion

Skirmish840

Just my opinion

It's a lot of peoples opinions afaik...

I rolled a V12 Breton NB yesterday and left it at that because I don't want to test a Breton NB, I want to test a Bosmer NB, so I'll just stick to my Redgaurd DK for the time being until some things change round ere, "If" they change round ere, anyways......

I ain't so good at numbers or statistics, I might even get confused between class skills and weapon skills, but I do have a lot of patience and perseverance and am willing to put a whole lot of effort into testing things like crafting and adventuring, making sure to report any little areas that may be broken. I'm hard pressed being bothered right now, with the way testing is set up and all, it makes me wonder if the Devs even know my fav class, the Night Blade, because I had to buy a second dagger with my V12 created toon, I wasn't given either two swords or two daggers to test with, just one of each, I could have duel wielded staffs though I thought to myself O M G....

I can't see any reason why a GM/Dev couldn't arrange a regular time every week where they "up-skill" all the current lvl 1 characters, so that they can test all of the game. On every other PTS I've been involved with over the years, the development team have been a whole lot more organised and supportive of those people who are willing to give their free time and effort to providing valuable feedback to the Developers to help improve the game for all to enjoy, maybe times and attitudes have changed....

I'm trying hard not to come off as a whiner but your really making it very hard to be positive, especially when we aren't even able to choose our race on anything other than a lvl 1 toon, "Racial Passives" are fundamental to your class choice, without them it makes it impossible to recreate your live toon on the PTS, therefore making it very difficult (reads Impossible) to draw comparisons and make judgements on most changes to any stats or game mechanics.


!I'm beginning to really feel for the testers who've been here on the PTS all along, If this is how it's been, then there's no way they could have had an opportunity to test everything that needed testing effectively, sometimes at all!


Make some BIG changes to the PTS templates please ZOS


EDITED: for grammatical and punctuational errors

AngryNord

I dunno if your scripts allow it, but would it be possible to have the toon you crate start with race-specific arms/armour? A Redguard with a Khajiit helmet and Orc cuirass just looks... weird.. :P

Auldjohn

As has been properly pointed out in this thread PTS = Public TEST Server. Participants are here not just to play, but to test new features, fixes, patches, UI, any and all game features that are works-in-progress before the Update/Patch is deployed on the Live servers, NA and/or EU.

Folks new to PTS may not be aware that the pre-made character Templates are found in a pull down at the top left of the Character Creator screen.

PvE and Dungeon testing currently uses Fungal Grotto for the template and creates an experience character levelled to the dungeon, and the world around it. The PvP template creates a Veteran Rank character, which I believe is currently VR-12, for test Cyrodiil and VR.

If a template is not selected, a new Soul Shriven character is created, and you then have the option of starting in the Cell or the opening area for the chosen Alliance -- although on the PTS instance of Tamriel.

Have fun!! First, read the PTS Patch Notes, then explore, battle, or both,

Remember, the primary reason for PTS, if I understand it correctly, is to test everything, report bugs, and provide feedback to help ZOS put the finishing touches on fixes and study the feedback on new features.

The result of the work on PTS -- by both testers and developers -- is then deployed in an Update and Patch on the Live megaservers.

PTS testers get to try out new goodies first, as well a help smash bugs. ZOS Devs have a larger pool of players to find bugs that internal tests may have missed, and tests conducted on a much wider variety of hardware. Benefit: more bugs smashed and useful feedback on new features.

If we keep in mind that the T in PTS is Test, it's a win-win for all: ZOS Devs, PTS, NA, and EU -- the entire ESO Community. (My 2¢)

Skirmish840

I was aware, I still need to create a Bosmer NB, I need the racial passives, they help to stealth around and do massive damage thankyou

PS: I'd settle for a Cat

Windshadow_ESO

I do wish they would let us know what their template plans are. I like to plan out a testing program and for example I am using the lower lever template to try to get a feel for the problems that new players were reporting with crafting progression.
It is tough to do a lot of the testing due to the limited market for mats on the PTS as well as the long slog to level the crafts.

I was thinking of things that zen could try to help with this would be a set of crafter templates. Then provide these templates to a special guild that the GM would keep stocked with craft mats; they then could have a guild that was matched to the wood crafter template and of course the same for each craft

This could be further refined by providing the template with all research etc to a given level then we could test in a controlled way the progression to the next level of crafting matched to toon level ie lev 30 to 40

What do others think would this be a good option on the testing server?

Skirmish840

I'm not sure it would be good to make crafting restricted to a guild, peeps should have the resources they need to test any given part of the game, whether that be level, crafting xp & resources or race & class, it's ridiculous the way it's set up and provides very little incentive to test.

RivenCsky

Skirmish840 wrote: »

Just my opinion

Your really making it very hard to be positive, especially when we aren't even able to choose our race on anything other than a lvl 1 toon, "Racial Passives" are fundamental to your class choice, without them it makes it impossible to recreate your live toon on the PTS, therefore making it very difficult (reads Impossible) to draw comparisons and make judgements on most changes to any stats or game mechanics.

It is pointless to expect a player to test the game if they cannot reproduce their own class to observe the difference / change. Without a known value how can you make an informed decision on the change? The process you have instilled is only useful for something new and untested.

I understand that you wish to have players test an upcoming release version and for some reason, you are not allowing them to use any class / race combinations. Without this option players cannot verify or test effectively to see if these changes to classes / races / gameplay are actually functional or are implemented correctly. Unlike the Dev team we cannot look into the hard numbers data, we can only go by past experience and what values we can see in the game.

Windshadow_ESO

Skirmish840 wrote: »

I'm not sure it would be good to make crafting restricted to a guild, peeps should have the resources they need to test any given part of the game, whether that be level, crafting xp & resources or race & class, it's ridiculous the way it's set up and provides very little incentive to test.

My thought was that on the PTS only a guild could be provided to supply the mats that on a live server are a product that can be bought from other players or guild stores.

My thought was that these PTS server only guilds would be kept stocked with the needed mats for a craft By the GM,and folks that wanted to test crafting could join them.... So this would be a workaround for testing only

dragnier

Windshadow_ESO wrote: »

Skirmish840 wrote: »

I'm not sure it would be good to make crafting restricted to a guild, peeps should have the resources they need to test any given part of the game, whether that be level, crafting xp & resources or race & class, it's ridiculous the way it's set up and provides very little incentive to test.

My thought was that on the PTS only a guild could be provided to supply the mats that on a live server are a product that can be bought from other players or guild stores.

My thought was that these PTS server only guilds would be kept stocked with the needed mats for a craft By the GM,and folks that wanted to test crafting could join them.... So this would be a workaround for testing only

Just put them on vendors for free, maybe? Would be much easier...

Skirmish840

Yup, there needs to be a "super NPC", you go to him, tell him what you need and bamo, there it is in your unlimited inventory

Hey SNPC I need some strawberry's and a rotten tomato, oh and a bunch of fattened maggots, I'm going to try and make a Rotten Tomatoes Surprise Today

Windshadow_ESO

Very good point guys.
that does make more sense and I expect it would be far Easier to add to the PTS than what I said...

/facepalm. Boy do I feel dumb

Skirmish840

Nah I've experienced this set up before, I think it was during my AOC (Age of Conan) days, we could transfer a copy of our characters over to the PTS and when we landed there was the SNPC ready and waiting to upgrade anything you needed and was focussed on the current needs of the developers, the key problem round here is not being able to copy your live toon to the PTS or being able to recreate it, secondly is not being upskilled in crafting lines and traits.

demonlkojipub19_ESO

Why can we only choose DC races with the templates?

Auldjohn

demonlkojipub19_ESO wrote: »

Why can we only choose DC races with the templates?

My VR Fungal Grotto character is EP.

demonlkojipub19_ESO

Well for the craglorn templates you can only be DC with DC races.

HaljaNifheim

demonlkojipub19_ESO wrote: »

Well for the craglorn templates you can only be DC with DC races.

When Craglorn went into the first round of testing, the V9 templates were open to all alliances. The population of testers at that time were so small that people were not able to get 12 people groups together. So, the choices where narrowed to only one alliance. That helped then. Now, they could most likely change it and it would be ok populations for testing.

Auldjohn

I've found EP V5 Fungal Grotto very sparsely populated. In a week of casual play I only encountered one actual player, though plenty of NPCs.

It's hard to proceed in the dungeons and quests solo.

dragnier

I'm not saying open the other alliances. I have the ability in live to create any race under any alliance.

Why not just allow any race under DC? That keeps the players all together in the same alliance but allows testing of all the races.

Windshadow_ESO

It looks to me as if they don't want our help.... Look how long it has been with out an offical reply to the issues we have been raising here for weeks

indigoblades

I hope they are reading this.

I think at least 50% percent of the bugs could be prevented if there where better TEMPLATES/options to make specialized chars in PTS quickly who are ready to test PVP, all races, all world powers, all morphs, all crafting bonus's and who are powerful enough to PVE/PVP at there LEVEL. The default templates are so general they only encounter the most basic bugs so it is no surprise to me each 1st release of a major revision on LIVE is riddled with bugs ..... which makes the live testers the beta testers

I am trying to be positive and constructive, but i think MORE and better Templates should be ZOS highest priority.