Maintenance for the week of October 12:
• PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 12, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 8:00AM EDT (12:00 UTC)
• Xbox One: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®4: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
• PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 12, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 8:00AM EDT (12:00 UTC)
• Xbox One: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
• PlayStation®4: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – October 14, 6:00AM EDT (10:00 UTC) – 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC)
The Markarth DLC and Update 28 base game patch are now available to test on the PTS! Read the full patch notes here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/categories/pts/
I was applying my walnut to the topic of game-balance fixes...
...with the following 3 goals in mind:
1) Keep it console-friendly, as that change is inevitable, and any changes to the game have to be made within that environment.
2) Avoid the cycle of nerf-and-buff as much as possible. Those may be inevitable, but are never fun.
3) Keep things fun, which means *more* variety, *more* ways to play, never ever less.
This is what I came up with:
We have passives, which apply in a sort of hap-hazard fashion to all skills in a tree (and sometimes outside the skill tree, which is odd and can create game-breaking synergies). We also have a handful of buff skills that take up active slots. Some are great, some aren't so great. What they all have in common is that right now they all lock down a button. That's one less button to be used strategically. You can sometimes stack enough buffs so that you're quite powerful (for example, Sorceror with 2 pets, Bound Armor, and Magelight)...and your gameplay is reduced to hitting one button. That's not very exciting.
So, how about introducing some extra slots purely for some of these buff/passives? This way applying buffs doesn't remove an action button, therefore doesn't restrict gameplay. Take abilities like Molten Weapons, Bound Armor, Haste (I'm not very familiar with NB skills, this may not be an appropriate change), and Restoring Aura off the bar, put them in slots. If you use a menu to apply these skills to slots and not buttons, it's still very console friendly. This could even open up the opportunity for pets outside the Sorceror class.
My thinking is that this system would also open up alternative methods for fixing balance. There could be buff/skills that augment weapon use, or increase stamina regeneration. A player could choose to mini-max in traditional MMO fashion, by applying all damage/healing/survival buffs, or take more balanced options. There could even be slotted skills valuable primarily for both small group and raid play. The mini-maxing and group buff approach would be what end-game content and pvp players use, balance most likely for solo play, questers, and pvp.
So that's what I've got. It would increase variety, increase complexity, and hopefully increase fun. It would also create more opportunity for minor tweaks rather than gameplay-changing nerfs.
I don't know what the process is for getting a recommendation like this to a Dev's attention, but if this sounds good to you, I would appreciate if you'd hit "Agree" or "Insight," or "Awesome." That has to do something, right? Thanks.
1) Keep it console-friendly, as that change is inevitable, and any changes to the game have to be made within that environment.
2) Avoid the cycle of nerf-and-buff as much as possible. Those may be inevitable, but are never fun.
3) Keep things fun, which means *more* variety, *more* ways to play, never ever less.
This is what I came up with:
We have passives, which apply in a sort of hap-hazard fashion to all skills in a tree (and sometimes outside the skill tree, which is odd and can create game-breaking synergies). We also have a handful of buff skills that take up active slots. Some are great, some aren't so great. What they all have in common is that right now they all lock down a button. That's one less button to be used strategically. You can sometimes stack enough buffs so that you're quite powerful (for example, Sorceror with 2 pets, Bound Armor, and Magelight)...and your gameplay is reduced to hitting one button. That's not very exciting.
So, how about introducing some extra slots purely for some of these buff/passives? This way applying buffs doesn't remove an action button, therefore doesn't restrict gameplay. Take abilities like Molten Weapons, Bound Armor, Haste (I'm not very familiar with NB skills, this may not be an appropriate change), and Restoring Aura off the bar, put them in slots. If you use a menu to apply these skills to slots and not buttons, it's still very console friendly. This could even open up the opportunity for pets outside the Sorceror class.
My thinking is that this system would also open up alternative methods for fixing balance. There could be buff/skills that augment weapon use, or increase stamina regeneration. A player could choose to mini-max in traditional MMO fashion, by applying all damage/healing/survival buffs, or take more balanced options. There could even be slotted skills valuable primarily for both small group and raid play. The mini-maxing and group buff approach would be what end-game content and pvp players use, balance most likely for solo play, questers, and pvp.
So that's what I've got. It would increase variety, increase complexity, and hopefully increase fun. It would also create more opportunity for minor tweaks rather than gameplay-changing nerfs.
I don't know what the process is for getting a recommendation like this to a Dev's attention, but if this sounds good to you, I would appreciate if you'd hit "Agree" or "Insight," or "Awesome." That has to do something, right? Thanks.
-
daneyulebub17_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭Actually, my understanding is the "official" way posts come to the devs attention is when the post immediately after the thread starter gets Agrees, Insightfuls or Awesomes.
Something about the way the forum caches it's posts.
So they should go here.This message confirms that you have successfully cancelled your subscription to The Elder Scrolls Online. You will no longer be charged for a subscription on a recurring basis, and your access to the game will expire at the end of your current subscription cycle.
We're sad to see you go now, but we'll be happy to welcome you back at any time! Whenever you're ready to come back, your characters will be waiting for you, just like you left them. You can return anytime by resubscribing on the Manage Subscription page on your Elder Scrolls Online account.
Please print this email and keep it for your records. -
AlexDougherty✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭I agree with points two and three.
But disagree with your first point, since the consoles are going on a seperate server, the PC games should have fully developed controls designed for PCs.People believe what they either want to be true or what they are afraid is true!
Wizard's first rule
Passion rules reason
Wizard's third rule
Mind what people Do, not what they say, for actions betray a lie.
Wizard's fifth rule
Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self
Wizard's tenth rule -
AlexDougherty wrote: »I agree with points two and three.
But disagree with your first point, since the consoles are going on a seperate server, the PC games should have fully developed controls designed for PCs.
Okay, but I really don't see how it matters. As the game stands, with its 5-action-button bar and limited controls anyway, it obviously already has console in mind. My first point was just a caveat that the ideas following didn't require an expansion of the existing control system.
-
Cogo✭✭✭✭✭
✭Even though I was one of them in the start that though, WHAT...only 5 ability slots?!??!
The 5 ability + ultimate + quickslot + double when swapping have made me into a better MMO player. I need to pick what to use, when and if to swap and cant simply have all attacks or whatever. Also, many passives are based on slotted abilities. So even adding only 1 extra slot, would make an imbalance.
I have learned the hard way, that I need a few extra skills that is not in the hotbar, which I put there depend on what I am going to do.
Sure, would be nice, but the way it is, is giving the power to the player to be good.Oghur Hatemachine, Guild leader of The Nephilim - EU Megaserver
Orc Weapon Specialist and Warchief of the Ebonheart Pact - Trueflame Cyrodiil War Campaign
Guildsite: The Nephilim
"I don't agree with what you are saying, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it"
-Voltaire
"My build? Improvise, overcome and adapt!" -
Even though I was one of them in the start that though, WHAT...only 5 ability slots?!??!
The 5 ability + ultimate + quickslot + double when swapping have made me into a better MMO player. I need to pick what to use, when and if to swap and cant simply have all attacks or whatever. Also, many passives are based on slotted abilities. So even adding only 1 extra slot, would make an imbalance.
I have learned the hard way, that I need a few extra skills that is not in the hotbar, which I put there depend on what I am going to do.
Sure, would be nice, but the way it is, is giving the power to the player to be good.
Learning to play with 5 active abilities doesn't make you into a better MMO player any more than learning to walk in crutches makes you a better marathon runner. The limited ability bar is the same thing that Diablo III did, and it's clearly a console consideration. Nearly every other MMO has 9-unlimited buttons, so training on 5 only teaches you to fear choice and limit your style of play.
I don't think you understood the proposal here. It's not to add another hotkey, another active ability--it's to add non-button buffs. Passives are an odd and limited system that are currently horrifically imbalanced, both across classes and across armor types. This is an idea for a system that gives players the opportunity for more customization, by choosing abilities that are like passives but have greater impact and are more specific.
Ah well. I guess nobody liked the idea anyway. They'd rather fight over who's OP and UP this week, and who needs a nerf.
Edited by williamburr2001b14_ESO on June 13, 2014 2:48PM -
AlexDougherty✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭
Sorry just being awkward, I guess what I meant, but didn't say (so nobody could have got) was that I feel that at some point in the near future they need to add a couple of extra slots on the hot bar, just two or three, just to make the game more playable. Because at the minute it feels a bit crowded.williamburr2001b14_ESO wrote: »AlexDougherty wrote: »I agree with points two and three.
But disagree with your first point, since the consoles are going on a seperate server, the PC games should have fully developed controls designed for PCs.
Okay, but I really don't see how it matters. As the game stands, with its 5-action-button bar and limited controls anyway, it obviously already has console in mind. My first point was just a caveat that the ideas following didn't require an expansion of the existing control system.
I now everybody has an opinion on that one, some like it as it is, some want a full customisable hot bar (ie add as many slots as they can assign keys to), and some like me just want a few more.People believe what they either want to be true or what they are afraid is true!
Wizard's first rule
Passion rules reason
Wizard's third rule
Mind what people Do, not what they say, for actions betray a lie.
Wizard's fifth rule
Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self
Wizard's tenth rule -
AlexDougherty wrote: »
Sorry just being awkward, I guess what I meant, but didn't say (so nobody could have got) was that I feel that at some point in the near future they need to add a couple of extra slots on the hot bar, just two or three, just to make the game more playable. Because at the minute it feels a bit crowded.williamburr2001b14_ESO wrote: »AlexDougherty wrote: »I agree with points two and three.
But disagree with your first point, since the consoles are going on a seperate server, the PC games should have fully developed controls designed for PCs.
Okay, but I really don't see how it matters. As the game stands, with its 5-action-button bar and limited controls anyway, it obviously already has console in mind. My first point was just a caveat that the ideas following didn't require an expansion of the existing control system.
I now everybody has an opinion on that one, some like it as it is, some want a full customisable hot bar (ie add as many slots as they can assign keys to), and some like me just want a few more.
I would love full access to all skills. I don't really see the value of limiting us to a handful at a time, *except* the way toggled actives are currently handled (although they usually come at cost anyway, like reduced magicka).
But I don't think it's going to happen, because of the future console plans. It was the same way with Diablo 3. They limited the skills...why? Because, like a lot of PC games, a developer concern is making them play like console games. Personally I don't like it, but in TESO it's a thing that one has to accept when theorizing changes.
I was hoping my idea took traction as a way to expand choices and make play more complex, while offering a new solution to balance. Really it's balance that I think is what needs fixing the most at present.