Official Discussion Thread for "Creating ESO: Identity and Update 3"

ZOS_GinaBruno

This is the official discussion thread for the blog article Creating ESO: Identity and Update 3. We hope you enjoyed this peek into development for some of our upcoming systems!

heavy_artillery

Will Achievements to obtain dyes be retroactive? Will the Noxiphilic black for becoming a Vampire, for example, be available to you if you became a vampire before the update?

LadyNerevar

Super excited for the dyes. Can't begin to count how many times I've wished to have this awesome armor I'm wearing not be olive green or something.

A suggestion for a future feature/contest: letting people design new guild icons.

KleanZlate

heavy_artillery wrote: »

Will Achievements to obtain dyes be retroactive? Will the Noxiphilic black for becoming a Vampire, for example, be available to you if you became a vampire before the update?

Yes they are retroactive and what's more they are tied to your account, not your character. So if you have a high level character that has a long achievement list you'll unlock colors for all your characters.

MrGhosty

For the guild store, will those fees we've been paying to list items in the store start to go into the guild bank to use for bidding on the traders or will we be expected to front the gold ourselves or pass a hat through the guild for collections? My guildies and I would be much happier paying the listing cost if we knew it was going towards something like getting our stuff out there without having to front additional costs.

jaggedhbb16_ESO

Is there a date we can look forward to? Or is this a "Soon (TM)" moment?

Jack-0

Hats off to the devs! First of all, what a wonderful article, I really do appreciate the open explanations of your decision making processes - it's very refreshing. And that note at the end 'room to grow' - I like that you welcome and encourage your players' input.

The dye system sounds fantastic, tying it to achievements is great - it makes achievements more desirable rather than just having them for the sake of having them, and provides a good cosmetic reward for earning them. I particularly like your efforts to make popular dyes readily accessible and not incredibly difficult to obtain. What colour will be associated with being a werewolf?

The guild store idea is reasonable, however I would prefer it if it were possible for every guild to have a public vendor if they want one, and in fact, why tie it down to guilds at all? Do you remember Ultima Online? Players could place houses on plots of land, build them from the ground up, and open them to the public and place vendors to sell their wares. They could then rent vendors out to other players too. Strategically placed shops would of course attract more customers and in turn be the most desirable places to rent a vendor in, but those shops located in the wilderness could thrive with a little effort on advertising in towns and opening gates (portals) to the shop location. I would absolutely love it if you 1. implement player housing and 2. let us turn them into shops if we so desire.

Keep up the good work

Kronen

Sharee

I'd like to use this opportunity, and the first sentence of the article "The importance of customizing your character can’t be overstated" to ask:

Any chances to change the visual effect of the sorcerer bound armor skill so that it does not overwrite the customizations you did on your character?

Tyr

jaggedhbb16_ESO wrote: »

Is there a date we can look forward to? Or is this a "Soon (TM)" moment?

It's already on the PTS and they have said early august for the live release.

masle

You are telling something about Markarth, is Reach comming soon?

CirithValaria

Great reading! And awesome work overall,THANK YOU so much
Only improvement left is to add shields into the system...someday.

masle

They may show something at gamescom in Germany......

manbearpig777

I can't wait to customize my character with greater detail.
Just a suggestion but where is the option to hide helmet at will?
Thought it would be a good idea in next update

ZOS_GinaBruno

manbearpig777 wrote: »

I can't wait to customize my character with greater detail.
Just a suggestion but where is the option to hide helmet at will?
Thought it would be a good idea in next update

You can actually hide your helmet now. If you go into Settings, it should be in the Gameplay tab.

Volldagora

If I understood correctly, I don't have to buy anything in order to dye my character's armor, right? Or do you still need something (except the dye station) for the process to occur?

DarkAngel247

manbearpig777 wrote: »

I can't wait to customize my character with greater detail.
Just a suggestion but where is the option to hide helmet at will?
Thought it would be a good idea in next update

There is also an add-on that will allow u to set a key bind in the control customization/settings that will allow u to hide or unhide your helmet. The Add-on is called HelmToggle and u can find it here and download it: http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info418-HelmToggle.html

hiyde

"When we went into testing for the system, the feedback was clear: some testers were unhappy that the “best” black (the one we thought would actually be less desirable) was tied to a difficult Trials achievement. The effect of rarity on desirability was fascinating."

Clearly the author never visits the forums.

Oh and suggestion: put the 'garish' colors behind the hardest 12 man content and require 5,000 completions of said dungeon to earn the dye. Either that or I expect you to mail free sunglasses with every sub.

P.S. Did anyone else have a National Geographic narrator voice in their head when they read that part?

arkansas_ESO

Volldagora wrote: »

If I understood correctly, I don't have to buy anything in order to dye my character's armor, right? Or do you still need something (except the dye station) for the process to occur?

In the PTS at least, the only thing you need to dye your armor is a dye station (found in most major towns), armor to dye, and colors unlocked. You don't need to purchase a paintbrush or anything similar.

Surragard

I'm happy that the decision was made to not have dyes be a buyable/tradeable commodity. While I'm sure it would have been healthy for guild stores and the economy I enjoy the ability to switch out my characters appearance at will and would rather have a low bar for doing so. I used to play CoH and I loved that you could change out your character's look and tweak it without having to buy dyes. At the same time, I do like the extra step of tying it to achievements so that you can feel like you earned something, and have the dye available permanently on that character. Overall, I agree that this was the best way to balance the system.

James-Wayne

Loving all the new content and updates coming, please keep them coming!

As for update 3 I would like to address a few issues. The first issue is with the colour dyes, is it possible for crafters to forge their armour, apply colours we have achieved ourselves and then LOCK the colours so we can then sell the gear. This would be an added advantage for crafters like myself and help those people that do not want to look for achievements. By locking the colours it enables someone to wear set coloured armour pieces (say for a guild, guild can have their own armour styles too) but doesn't allowed them to use the colours themselves, kind of like the bound items I guess.

Second issue, is it possible to allow guilds with more then 1 person to also create tabards. We have a small (but mighty) 4 person guild group but with the current setup are not allowed to use tabards as you need more then 10 people. Although we are a small group we are still a guild and should still be able to wear our tabards proudly into battle. We would really like this option to be considered.

Any feedback you could provide would be appreciated, thanks again and see you in Tamriel!

hiyde

waynesiviourrwb17_ESO wrote: »

is it possible for crafters to forge their armour, apply colours we have achieved ourselves and then LOCK the colours so we can then sell the gear. This would be an added advantage for crafters like myself and help those people that do not want to look for achievements.

They were very specific in this article that their intention was to make the dyes free and bound to achievements.

This suggestion wouldn't be very different than selling dye packs, which they specifically are not doing.

I think people will be surprised how many dyes will unlock on Day 1 from just having played the game already.

waynesiviourrwb17_ESO wrote: »

Second issue, is it possible to allow guilds with more then 1 person to also create tabards. We have a small (but mighty) 4 person guild group but with the current setup are not allowed to use tabards as you need more then 10 people. Although we are a small group we are still a guild and should still be able to wear our tabards proudly into battle. We would really like this option to be considered.

My impression on guild tabards is they are to help make your guild identifiable and to help build some reputation/awareness. Yours is 4 people with (seemingly) no plans to grow and I don't think that type of guild is the target. There SHOULD be benefits reserved for guilds that are larger than a few people.

You have options. You can grow your guild to meet the requirement or wear the tabards from up to 4 other larger guilds that you can join. That seems appropriate and fair.

James-Wayne

hiyde wrote:

My impression on guild tabards is they are to help make your guild identifiable and to help build some reputation/awareness. Yours is 4 people with (seemingly) no plans to grow and I don't think that type of guild is the target. There SHOULD be benefits reserved for guilds that are larger than a few people.

You have options. You can grow your guild to meet the requirement or wear the tabards from up to 4 other larger guilds that you can join. That seems appropriate and fair.

I agree with to make guilds identifiable and create reputation and awareness, most definitely! But is this option purely for a large guild... when a smaller guild takes a keep in combat from a larger guild or crushes two rival teams in the upcoming 4 player Dragonstar Arena, I want us to be known!
There SHOULD be benefits reserved for guilds that are smaller than 10 people but greater then 3 as ESO has 4 player groups.

I have no issues growing our guild but do have a issue wearing another guild tabards that I do not support. Larger guilds shouldn't bully smaller guilds, that is appropriate and fair.

ayriennub17_ESO

hiyde wrote: »

waynesiviourrwb17_ESO wrote: »

is it possible for crafters to forge their armour, apply colours we have achieved ourselves and then LOCK the colours so we can then sell the gear. This would be an added advantage for crafters like myself and help those people that do not want to look for achievements.

They were very specific in this article that their intention was to make the dyes free and bound to achievements.

This suggestion wouldn't be very different than selling dye packs, which they specifically are not doing.

I think people will be surprised how many dyes will unlock on Day 1 from just having played the game already.

waynesiviourrwb17_ESO wrote: »

Second issue, is it possible to allow guilds with more then 1 person to also create tabards. We have a small (but mighty) 4 person guild group but with the current setup are not allowed to use tabards as you need more then 10 people. Although we are a small group we are still a guild and should still be able to wear our tabards proudly into battle. We would really like this option to be considered.

My impression on guild tabards is they are to help make your guild identifiable and to help build some reputation/awareness. Yours is 4 people with (seemingly) no plans to grow and I don't think that type of guild is the target. There SHOULD be benefits reserved for guilds that are larger than a few people.

You have options. You can grow your guild to meet the requirement or wear the tabards from up to 4 other larger guilds that you can join. That seems appropriate and fair.

The benifits reserved for larger guilds are guild banks and stores. A small group of close friends shouldn't be penalized for wanting something to call their own.

Volldagora

arkansas_ESO wrote: »

Volldagora wrote: »

If I understood correctly, I don't have to buy anything in order to dye my character's armor, right? Or do you still need something (except the dye station) for the process to occur?

In the PTS at least, the only thing you need to dye your armor is a dye station (found in most major towns), armor to dye, and colors unlocked. You don't need to purchase a paintbrush or anything similar.

Oh, yay! =D

Let's just hope that it won't throw off the natural colors of the time period as I saw in the screenshots in the recent thread on the upcoming updates...

Elder_Jelly

i noticed you say that there will be a dye given for becoming a vampire, well what if u r already a vampire? will that already be available at update 3?

hiyde

"The benifits reserved for larger guilds are guild banks and stores. A small group of close friends shouldn't be penalized for wanting something to call their own."

They're guild tabards, not group tabards. This isn't penalization, it's a perk/feature for larger guilds. If you don't wish to be in one, or grow one, then it's not a perk for you. Not every single feature/perk/reward in an MMORPG is intended for every single player.

In addition to the other options I mentioned, here's another: custom dye your armor to match each other.

Pantherin

I do not like the guild tabbards taking up the outfit slot.

I think there should be an additional slot created for a tabbard so we can wear both.

I wish there were cloaks or designs on shields much like DAoC.

Additional slots for a back item.

jamie.goddenrwb17_ESO

So given the recognition of the importance of character appearance and the first pic being a heavy armor character with a 2h weapon (could be a staff but I'm selectively ignoring that possibility ) does that mean it is possible that viable 2h weaps and heavy armor combo might be viable in the future?

Also fantastic article, I am absolutely loving the work you guys are doing. It is very greatly appreciated!

TheRealMcKoy

Crazy idea and probably not doable without great effort given the whole megaserver concept, but...a configuration option to allow players wearing artistically authentic to Elder Scrolls colors to be grouped/phased together? As I stated in my post when this was first announced, having these dyes fit naturally into the environment is an important thing for some of us. I want to escape into the world of Tamriel and get away from loud, primma donna, and in-your-face environments/behaviors. Looking carefully at the video announcing guild heraldry and the dyes...some of those outfits are pretty psychedelic and others look like outfits better suited to a space alien game. They all look good, but just not in Tamriel. I appreciate the desire for people to have that ultimate level of customization and I don't propose taking it away from them, either. "This is ESO, baby! Play it how you want!" I get it and I appreciate it, but I am just not thrilled about some of what I've seen with the colors. Phase us "traditionalists" together, I guess is what I am asking (not very effectively).

James-Wayne

hiyde wrote: »

"The benifits reserved for larger guilds are guild banks and stores. A small group of close friends shouldn't be penalized for wanting something to call their own."

They're guild tabards, not group tabards. This isn't penalization, it's a perk/feature for larger guilds. If you don't wish to be in one, or grow one, then it's not a perk for you. Not every single feature/perk/reward in an MMORPG is intended for every single player.

In addition to the other options I mentioned, here's another: custom dye your armor to match each other.

Currently everyone can create a guild but the ONLY real perks for guilds start at 10 or more people so having a simple perk like creating your own tabard would give smaller guilds their first perk. I agree not every feature is available for every player but a feature as simple as this should be available to more then just large guilds. Hiyde if you could discuss with us the negatives to enabling this feature for smaller guilds I may understand your proposal better?

You mention custom dye your armour to match each other so unlike large guilds who can simply create one tabard for all members, you want smaller guilds and all the players within that guild to discover all the achievements required just to show the colours (and no emblem) for their guild. Explain to me how this is appropriate and fair?

I'm happy to listen to your feedback when you put sufficient evidence to support your feedback. Till then we can only wait for ZOS to answer the question as I'm sure these questions would have come up in their meetings and therefore they would have better answers to suit.

Goldenjaguar_ESO

Speaking of player identity, any plans to let us hide our account login name? I don't want 5 guilds worth of strangers knowing half my log in information. I'd rather they see my character's name instead.
Does this mean that our race choices will soon matter? Because right now people don't seem to care whether or not I am a wood elf, dark elf, or breton. The only time so far that my race has actually been brought up was during the starting area for the Ebonheart pact, when you ask why the races are working together.