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Correcting Veteran Ranks
Ser Lobo
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First, this is more about the ranks, as of now VR1-VR12, not the content itself. I feel a fix needs to happen to the veteran ranks and how they progress even before the content itself is fixed.
What I'm proposing below is essentially making Veteran Ranks take the game horizontally (same power, more difficulty, more skills, more reward), becoming optional to enjoying the game and more of a mark of pride for those who do harder content.
The Way It Stands
As of right now, Veteran Ranks in Elder Scrolls Online are a means of continual leveled progression, very similar in many ways to the base leveling system of 1-49. With each new level earned, a new skillpoint becomes available and players receive a moderate boost to their base stats. Unlike the base leveling system, players are not given an attribute point to assign to the stamina, magicka or health pools.
As players keep expanding in veteran ranks, they continually gain small increments of power, making them technically superior than players of lesser ranks. And it seems that Zenimax Online Studios has an intent to continue to add veteran ranks, meaning that with time, this power difference will grow larger and larger.
Veteran rank progression IS slower, however, and the power difference is much less than it was at base leveling content. But the onset of 'Power Creep' is already in place.
What is 'Power Creep'
The term 'Power Creep' is often used in MMO discussions to refer to a game design tendency to release progressively better gear and abilities as the game ages. This usually starts with a new set of gear for a dungeon, but eventually spawns into increased level caps and possibly entire new classes or mechanics.
Many MMO designers feel that power creep is the recommended way to entice players into new content. Ala carrot-and-stick approach. Some believe that if a player doesn't feel like he's getting noticibly stronger and more capable, he will lose interest and move on.
Power creep mechanics are often the basis for a 'gear grind' based game, whereas developers start a cycle of releasing a new dungeon or raid, introducing low-chance reward loot that is significantly better than previous loot, which in turn forces the player to grind through that limited content repeatedly, hopefully keeping them entertained long enough for the developer to release the NEXT set of content, with another new dungeon/raid and eve better gear.
Power creep is most obvious at the end of a game's development cycle. It can be observed by the rediculous power difference between low levels, and even former level cap levels, and the latest level cap. This in turn means it's far more difficult for new players to catch up, than older players to 'ride the wave' and remain at max.
Rethink 'Veteran' Content
Veteran: A person who has long experience in a field.
ZOS has the capability of making the veteran ranks a unique system in the MMO genre, IF they can step away from this almost natural evolution of power creep and gear grind.
We start by reverting ALL content post level 49 into level 50 content. All gear is now capped at level 50. All mobs range in difficulty from basic, elite and boss. Players are capable, once achieving level 50, of going into any other zone and experiencing their quests and progression. No linear content line as now.
Veteran ranked content, however, is altered to be ENTIRELY group-focused (standard open world content would NOT be veteran ranked). This includes new zones (Craglorn), new Trials, and Veteran Rank dungeons. These would come with a difficulty label warning players of their experiences.
In this system, we take away the immense skill curve that 50+ and 50++ content provides, giving players more of the enjoyable system already in place at 1-49. If this sounds boring to you, that's because we haven't addressed the players' concern: how do I continue to feel like I'm progressing?
With this, we go back to the above definition: if a veteran is someone who has long experience in a field, wouldn't they be better at what they do?
New Veteran Skill Lines
The concept of new skill lines is not my own. But by combining a slow-progressing skill system (which would initially span only Weapon, Armor and Craft skill lines) with the current veteran ranks, you could further diversify character builds while also providing character progression WITHOUT adding an unnecessary addition to character power.
Each veteran rank earned would provide a special veteran skyshard. These skyshards would only be usable on veteran rank active and passive skills, which would be culminating abilities in specific branches of skill providing new and unique capabilities to players of that skill line.
In example, an archer may have two new veteran rank abilities they can earn, one being a powerful but expensive armor break attack, the other being a group buff. Blacksmiths may earn the capability of producing weapons with two traits, or weapons that can hold additional enchantment stones. Medium armor wearers may earn a passive ability which significantly reduces the cost of dodging.
Since the vast majority of content will no longer be veteran rank content, veteran rank rewards from dungeons, bosses, veteran zones and trials will be significantly increased. Players who are currently VR rank will retain the bonuses of that rank in the new system, simply losing their attribute increases (but keeping available skill points and being rewarded new VR skill points).
These Veteran Skill Points could also be used to purchase new and exciting things, should the player not wish to invest in further improvement of a dedicated skill line. These purchases could be new emotes and stances, new armor and weapon effects, improvements for future homes or guilds, or even special mounts. These things would only be available through a form of 'veteran store'.
The Balance of Power
Player-versus-environment content is easier to balance when all characters are at the same base power capabilities. This is easily seen in first person shooters, but the negative can be seen right here in ESO, where the skill-curve progression of current veteran content is obviously skewed and taking away from players enjoyment of the game.
Player-versus-player content is also easier to balance when all characters are at the same base power. Again, most obvious argument for this is competitive first person shooters. As of right now, the power differences between VR10's and VR1's, much less those who are simply artificially raised to 50 by the system, is immense, and can make all the difference in a fight.
As all players are technically level 50 players after this change, all new content that isn't specifically group oriented would be balanced to a level 50 scale. And since there isn't power creep through gear progression or attribute changes (or skill use, as the skill bar is limited to 6 total abilities), content could be more easily added to and spread throughout the zones.
Adding new guild quests and other non-veteran content would be easier, as it could be made available to all level 50 players, without forcing players who do not wish to make the VR grind into doing so.
Synopsis: Too Long, Didn't Read
Veteran ranks are adding power creep. Power creep makes PvP and PvE less manageable over time. They are also turning the game into a gear grind, though it's obviously not that way at the beginning. Now is the time to make changes to fix this. Make veteran ranks more about horizontal progression than vertical.
What I'm proposing below is essentially making Veteran Ranks take the game horizontally (same power, more difficulty, more skills, more reward), becoming optional to enjoying the game and more of a mark of pride for those who do harder content.
The Way It Stands
As of right now, Veteran Ranks in Elder Scrolls Online are a means of continual leveled progression, very similar in many ways to the base leveling system of 1-49. With each new level earned, a new skillpoint becomes available and players receive a moderate boost to their base stats. Unlike the base leveling system, players are not given an attribute point to assign to the stamina, magicka or health pools.
As players keep expanding in veteran ranks, they continually gain small increments of power, making them technically superior than players of lesser ranks. And it seems that Zenimax Online Studios has an intent to continue to add veteran ranks, meaning that with time, this power difference will grow larger and larger.
Veteran rank progression IS slower, however, and the power difference is much less than it was at base leveling content. But the onset of 'Power Creep' is already in place.
What is 'Power Creep'
The term 'Power Creep' is often used in MMO discussions to refer to a game design tendency to release progressively better gear and abilities as the game ages. This usually starts with a new set of gear for a dungeon, but eventually spawns into increased level caps and possibly entire new classes or mechanics.
Many MMO designers feel that power creep is the recommended way to entice players into new content. Ala carrot-and-stick approach. Some believe that if a player doesn't feel like he's getting noticibly stronger and more capable, he will lose interest and move on.
Power creep mechanics are often the basis for a 'gear grind' based game, whereas developers start a cycle of releasing a new dungeon or raid, introducing low-chance reward loot that is significantly better than previous loot, which in turn forces the player to grind through that limited content repeatedly, hopefully keeping them entertained long enough for the developer to release the NEXT set of content, with another new dungeon/raid and eve better gear.
Power creep is most obvious at the end of a game's development cycle. It can be observed by the rediculous power difference between low levels, and even former level cap levels, and the latest level cap. This in turn means it's far more difficult for new players to catch up, than older players to 'ride the wave' and remain at max.
Rethink 'Veteran' Content
Veteran: A person who has long experience in a field.
ZOS has the capability of making the veteran ranks a unique system in the MMO genre, IF they can step away from this almost natural evolution of power creep and gear grind.
We start by reverting ALL content post level 49 into level 50 content. All gear is now capped at level 50. All mobs range in difficulty from basic, elite and boss. Players are capable, once achieving level 50, of going into any other zone and experiencing their quests and progression. No linear content line as now.
Veteran ranked content, however, is altered to be ENTIRELY group-focused (standard open world content would NOT be veteran ranked). This includes new zones (Craglorn), new Trials, and Veteran Rank dungeons. These would come with a difficulty label warning players of their experiences.
In this system, we take away the immense skill curve that 50+ and 50++ content provides, giving players more of the enjoyable system already in place at 1-49. If this sounds boring to you, that's because we haven't addressed the players' concern: how do I continue to feel like I'm progressing?
With this, we go back to the above definition: if a veteran is someone who has long experience in a field, wouldn't they be better at what they do?
New Veteran Skill Lines
The concept of new skill lines is not my own. But by combining a slow-progressing skill system (which would initially span only Weapon, Armor and Craft skill lines) with the current veteran ranks, you could further diversify character builds while also providing character progression WITHOUT adding an unnecessary addition to character power.
Each veteran rank earned would provide a special veteran skyshard. These skyshards would only be usable on veteran rank active and passive skills, which would be culminating abilities in specific branches of skill providing new and unique capabilities to players of that skill line.
In example, an archer may have two new veteran rank abilities they can earn, one being a powerful but expensive armor break attack, the other being a group buff. Blacksmiths may earn the capability of producing weapons with two traits, or weapons that can hold additional enchantment stones. Medium armor wearers may earn a passive ability which significantly reduces the cost of dodging.
Since the vast majority of content will no longer be veteran rank content, veteran rank rewards from dungeons, bosses, veteran zones and trials will be significantly increased. Players who are currently VR rank will retain the bonuses of that rank in the new system, simply losing their attribute increases (but keeping available skill points and being rewarded new VR skill points).
These Veteran Skill Points could also be used to purchase new and exciting things, should the player not wish to invest in further improvement of a dedicated skill line. These purchases could be new emotes and stances, new armor and weapon effects, improvements for future homes or guilds, or even special mounts. These things would only be available through a form of 'veteran store'.
The Balance of Power
Player-versus-environment content is easier to balance when all characters are at the same base power capabilities. This is easily seen in first person shooters, but the negative can be seen right here in ESO, where the skill-curve progression of current veteran content is obviously skewed and taking away from players enjoyment of the game.
Player-versus-player content is also easier to balance when all characters are at the same base power. Again, most obvious argument for this is competitive first person shooters. As of right now, the power differences between VR10's and VR1's, much less those who are simply artificially raised to 50 by the system, is immense, and can make all the difference in a fight.
As all players are technically level 50 players after this change, all new content that isn't specifically group oriented would be balanced to a level 50 scale. And since there isn't power creep through gear progression or attribute changes (or skill use, as the skill bar is limited to 6 total abilities), content could be more easily added to and spread throughout the zones.
Adding new guild quests and other non-veteran content would be easier, as it could be made available to all level 50 players, without forcing players who do not wish to make the VR grind into doing so.
Synopsis: Too Long, Didn't Read
Veteran ranks are adding power creep. Power creep makes PvP and PvE less manageable over time. They are also turning the game into a gear grind, though it's obviously not that way at the beginning. Now is the time to make changes to fix this. Make veteran ranks more about horizontal progression than vertical.
Ruze Aulus. Mayor of Dhalmora. Archer, hunter, assassin. Nightblade.
Gral. Mountain Terror. Barbarian, marauder, murderer. Nightblade.
Na'Djin. Knight-Blade. Knight, vanguard, defender. Nightblade.
XBOX NA
This is an multiplayer game. I should be able to log in, join a dungeon, join a battleground, queue for a dolmen or world boss or delve, teleport in, play for 20 minutes, and not worry about getting kicked, failing to join, having perfect voice coms, or being unable to complete content because someone's lagging behind. Group Finder and matchmaking is broken. Take a note from Destiny and build a system that allows from drop-in/drop-out functionality and quick play.
Gral. Mountain Terror. Barbarian, marauder, murderer. Nightblade.
Na'Djin. Knight-Blade. Knight, vanguard, defender. Nightblade.
XBOX NA
Ruze is a veteran of the PC Beta, lived through the year one drought, survived the buy-to-play conversion, and has stepped foot in the hells known as Craglorn. He mained a nightlbade when nightblades weren't good, and has never worn a robe. He converted from PC during the console betas, and hasn't regretted it a moment since.
He'd rank ESO:TU (in it's current state) a 4.8 out of 5, loving the game almost entirely.
This is an multiplayer game. I should be able to log in, join a dungeon, join a battleground, queue for a dolmen or world boss or delve, teleport in, play for 20 minutes, and not worry about getting kicked, failing to join, having perfect voice coms, or being unable to complete content because someone's lagging behind. Group Finder and matchmaking is broken. Take a note from Destiny and build a system that allows from drop-in/drop-out functionality and quick play.
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Just put a insightful for you there but I doubt there will be any changes on that matter, at least not this year with console ESO coming at the end of it.
Who knows, if the game (for PC) reach that far, and I hope it happens, we can have something like what you proposed, it's a good idea IMHO.
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ShADoW0s✭✭✭This is a good idea and has been suggested before. Games always gain power creep slowly, it will always happen as new mechanics are implemented, they should have just stopped leveling at 50, and added levels with future content updates. This way they can scale everyone to max level, and PvP may be a bit more balanced, cause right now everyone only get scaled to Vr1, and everyone above gets scaled down (unless you turn off the scaling).
Missed opportunity really, IDK why the beta *** wanted this, and why ZSO accepted their requests. They did however say that they are going to change some things, have to wait until then to see what and how.0