The unnoticed secret of ESO that could change everything...

GrimlockSaves

After reaching V12 in a kind of vanity crazed rush, I decided to play the game differently... Two things:

1. I started listening to quest givers and learning the story of what is going on.
2. I started to read lore books.

As if it were some kind of untold secret, and to my surprise, the stories behind quests are incredibly good and entertaining! The lore books are well written and full of entertaining drama and humor. I was reminded of the fact that this is an RPG, not just an MMO.

I then went on to think, maybe there are a lot of bugs and issues, but maybe ZOS had a strong focus on delivering a beautiful MMO world with a rich RPG lore.

Perhaps ZOS has paid attention and realized in all MMOs, class balance and bugs are a constant, but good stories are few and far between. Have you noticed how fixing quests and story progression has taken a priority in many instances?

Maybe they DIDN'T expect fans to superficially disregard quests and story lines (except for when they are broken) to such a monumental degree.

For all the haters and power levelers who are rocking this like an MMO FPS, I highly recommend trying to play it like an MMORPG. Yes, there is no immediate "look at me and my shiny gear" rewards, but there are good stories.

Like ANY relationship in the entire world, if you focus on the negative seek to find faults, you will find them and they will make you a negative and unhappy person. If you focus on the positive and seek good things, you will find them and they will endow you with the patience to weather any puny storm of negativity.

Lord_Draevan

Patience? Perish the thought.
I agree, though, you need to give it time. Expecting the game to be fully polished 2-3 months after release is just absurd, and while there are some serious bugs/exploits out there, they are being looked at. Again, give it time.

c0rp

Hard to imagine...but the people playing this game the way it was meant to be played really enjoy the game.

crislevin

except a whole new zone are not for solos and I can't get any of those stories.

ps, yes, reading those sometimes are quite interesting. I do try at times, but then everybody around me is rushing in and out.

Liquid_Time

Well said.. Yes I rushed most of my levels to enjoy PvP, but I know that I still have PvE to catch me when I fall. Whether it be from being bored in PvP or simply to intoxicated to play effectively.. PvE was well done and will always be there to enjoy- least the 1-49 Zones

HandofBane

c0rp wrote: »

Hard to imagine...but the people playing this game the way it was meant to be played really enjoy the game.

Just to clarify, players who have not and may never reach veteran content are playing "the way it was meant to be played"? Not trashing anyone taking their time, I made it to low-mid veteran level before stopping because veteran content in general sucks ass - I just read fast and don't care much for voice acting unless it really stands out.

zhevon

Hear, hear -

I love the writing and questing; one of my complaints is I often can't read some of the docs because mobs are spawning on top of me. Thanks to Librarian I can read them later.

SDZald

I am a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls world, I was just bummed they made it into an MMO. The only reason I allowed myself to dragged into another MMO was it was ES. I would have been MUCH happier had they put their efforts into another single player game.

Lalai

I've been listening/reading things and I've been enjoying the game. I play quite a bit but am only VR 4 (just hit it yesterday). I can honestly say this is the only MMO where the quests have held my attention and I haven't been concerned with rushing. Yes, in SWTOR I listenedd to my class story for about half the game, but eventually lost interest.. and I definitely didn't pay attention to any side quests.

The only ones I think I don't pay attention to real well are those in groups. Usually because the group is more concerned with speed, and I feel bad making people wait on me. That's also part of why I like that ESO offers up (what I view as) challenging content to a solo player.. though I don't think the challenging stuff should be mandatory. I can take things at my own pace, while still needing to pay attention to combat and the like instead of that stuff being kept to dungeons where I feel rushed to keep up with other players.

Ragnar_Lodbrok

SWTOR had story too, guess story doesnt sell all that well.

Lord_Draevan

Ragnar_Lodbrok wrote: »

SWTOR had story too, guess story doesnt sell all that well.

Unfortunately not.

Svann

I honestly think this is the best of the ES series.

Svann

Ragnar_Lodbrok wrote: »

SWTOR had story too, guess story doesnt sell all that well.

SWTOR story was really awful though. None of the dialogue rang true to me.

UrQuan

I would agree that people who don't take the time to listen to/read the dialogue and read the notes and such are really missing out. I tend to skip through it when I'm playing an alt through something that I've already done on another character, but I always go through it all the first time around. The AD ones are my favorites so far, but they're all good.

Falmer

I have pretty much played like that from Day 1, which is why I guess I love the game.

Did you know... you can actually TALK to NPCs that don't have triangles over their heads...


Absolutely loved following the story of all the people from Bleakrock as they made their way from their village, through the war. I made a point of finding them in each successive zone. I still feel really bad for Aera.

Tamanous

The untold secret is entirely another thing (I posted exactly your point here long ago even in beta). The issue is this game is an RPG yet each new game launch is flooded by mmo players who are a completely different breed that is not connected with old school mmorpg gamers in any way (even if they were once one).

MMO players are rush and grind players. The popular mmos like Wow have converted and attracted too many players into a system they cannot diverge from. Their expectations are set. These players cannot possibly imagine the level of patience and immersion required to enjoy "story". These same players preach endlessly about wanting to create their own story ... yet even in a sandbox they still find the easiest grind to max level, to best gear and any other method less efficient is completely disregarded.

The moto of the mmo players is: "Anything pre-end game does not matter".

These are people who think only in black or white ... because the genre has long since diverged from being an RPG converted into a mmorpg to a formulaic system of easy access for all players. It used to be a niche genre and should never have been anything else. The old school mmorpgs succeeded not because they were flawlessly designed games but solely because of their community. The community was a tight, like minded bunch for the most part. They were players who had similar backgrounds in other types of games (typically RPG and MUDS). New mmos try to attract every person from every background into a formula created to generate money ... not to cultivate community.

ESO is an RPG trying to be an mmorpg. Those approaching it from the opposite vantage point often cannot adjust. They will endlessly deny that they want the same themepark, Wow-style mmo but that is exactly what they want. They want the new Wow and we continuously are delivered the new Wow with each mmo released. Hopefully they get their new Wow and hopefully RPG, sandbox, hardcore, roleplayers, etc can all get their own mmo as well. Sadly though the niche communities, who NEVER should have been mixed, will still be thrown together by the developers who seem to think it will work ... this time ... despite failing for nearly 10 years.

ESO would have benefited more by not trying to please everyone. Sadly they continue their attempt do so.

Cimos

The stories for quests are great, however I think I was involved in 1 too many flashbacks....

Dayv

I've always though the real story aspect of ES games was the back-story not the nominal Main Quest where you save the world. Actually, I've always much preferred the guild quest lines.

Mercurio

The new generation of MMO players don't know what an RPG is. The questing/lore is probably the best ever seen in an MMO, but it is largely wasted on the current cretins who think questing is "grinding".

Coggage

Stories doth not maketh the game, at least not for me. I couldn't give a damn about some made-up backstory, to be honest. I've read waaaay too many of them over the last 15 years to have even the faintest shred of interest left in them.

Lalai

Falmer wrote: »

I have pretty much played like that from Day 1, which is why I guess I love the game.

Did you know... you can actually TALK to NPCs that don't have triangles over their heads...


Absolutely loved following the story of all the people from Bleakrock as they made their way from their village, through the war. I made a point of finding them in each successive zone. I still feel really bad for Aera.

Not only can you talk to them, but a lot of times they'll actually mark areas on your map for you (and you get a little bit of exp when they do that)

Ysne58

My biggest issue is that anyone who cannot get past the forced solo nonsense in the main campaign is blocked from 2/3 of the story content unless they decide to play to though the other two alliances from the beginning.

Hodorius

Something strange happened to me...
I went back to the VR zones and did some quests...
I wanted that achievement and I only missed like 20 of them...
Then I red the quest text FOR THE FIRST TIME...

It´was fun

FrauPerchta

adamrussell52_ESO wrote: »

Ragnar_Lodbrok wrote: »

SWTOR had story too, guess story doesnt sell all that well.

SWTOR story was really awful though. None of the dialogue rang true to me.

Story depended on class. I loved the Agent story line

ebondeath

Agreed, OP. My main is VR6 and I've carefully read all the quests (ok, I skimped a LITTLE on the AD quests, but I think that's because I'm a bit of a mer-cist) and many lorebooks along the way. I primarily play DC, and the DC quests and characters made me feel really involved with the story and my character.

I don't understand people who like to rush through and grind. Power to you if that's your thing, but I can't stand 5 minutes of it and would rather go through VR content 3 times over than grind in Craglorn (and that's my plan). Elder Scrolls has always been about the story, imo, and I'm more excited to be playing in this universe with other people than I am stressed out over issues that will get fixed eventually.

TL; DR: Story is everything to me and ESO delivered.

c0rp

HandofBane wrote: »

c0rp wrote: »

Hard to imagine...but the people playing this game the way it was meant to be played really enjoy the game.

Just to clarify, players who have not and may never reach veteran content are playing "the way it was meant to be played"? Not trashing anyone taking their time, I made it to low-mid veteran level before stopping because veteran content in general sucks ass - I just read fast and don't care much for voice acting unless it really stands out.

Im VR8 still questing and reading lore, listening to NPCs. I allow myself to be immersed into the game because I dont care how "fast" I get anywhere. I still enjoy the PVE content in VR because its all well done.

Ones attitude towards something can determine much. I dont play VR content thinking "i cant believe i have to play this faction blah blah blah". I play it thinking "I wonder what story the next town will bring when I get there, etc." I realize this a hard thing for many new gen gamers who need everything now though.

I think people sometimes forget these video games were created as mmoRPGs. Many people these days seem to just see the "MMO" part of it. In the end, to each his own.

Madval

I love to talk to all NPC, even the quest givers when you finished the quest they have something different to say. They are books really fun to read too.
Even in public dungeon you have notes to read that explain what happened in the Damn dungeon. I enjoy to read them.

Eventually it go like that : *** a note nice ! (3 players enter, pass the note without care) I read the note, advancing quietly in the dungeon (4 others players pass, quickly running and jumping everywhere destroying everything in view will running and jumping like they have a bus to take, without reallising that, they are, the bus). By the time I am to the boss (the buswagon fighted that thing quickly as possible for not waiting the respawn in case another bus come) I fight him alone, quietly, and even have the time to enjoy the scenery. But quick... I hear the next bus tornading their way in.

HandofBane

c0rp wrote: »

Ones attitude towards something can determine much. I dont play VR content thinking "i cant believe i have to play this faction blah blah blah". I play it thinking "I wonder what story the next town will bring when I get there, etc." I realize this a hard thing for many new gen gamers who need everything now though.

While I do agree to a point about the newer generations of gamers, something to keep in mind for the attitude going in is that we get factions and loyalty (as well as showing the worst sides of the other factions) pretty much from day one, especially starting in the Pact. The main questline holds a more neutral stance, then we get Cadwell after all that telling us "guess what you get to go work for the guys you have viewed as bad guys for the past 50 levels!" For someone who appreciates immersion, especially in a game where the devs like to throw that "immersion above all" concept around, that tends to break hard with the idea. There is only so much I, as a moderately-loyal Argonian, can do to impede the Covenant while everyone there imagines I am really a loyal member of their faction.

Veteran content in general was not a well thought out idea, the implementation leaves much to be desired.

kieso

yesterday I read how the lusty argonian maid was polishing this guys spear.

Crisscross

Uh, yeah. I 'discovered' this secret on my first day here. I don't think anyone can deny that ESO has a brilliant questing experience. People aren't having issues with its story. People are having issues with its everything else.

HandofBane

kieso wrote: »

yesterday I read how the lusty argonian maid was polishing this guys spear.

Still mad someone beat me to the name "Polishes-Many-Spears".