9 Ways Zenimax Could Make ESO Better

nicholaspingasb16_ESO

NUMBER ONE: Dark Anchors

1. Make Them Feel Like an Event

Dark anchors are currently confined to a small area, and have no impact on the world around them. Change that! make it so that anchors, if left open for too long, begin to impact the world by filling it with Daedra of all types. For example, an anchor left open for 10 minutes will begin to send out scamps and clannfears to various towns and cities, harassing players and killing NPC guards at the edge of town. If left open for 30 minutes, an anchor will begin sending organized squads of scamps, clannfears and dremora to raid and seize towns , preventing quests in the town from being completed until the daedra are repelled in a siege-style endeavor. After 4 hours of being open, a massive army of 200 high level daedra will pour out and begin slaughtering players, low level and high level. At this point, a zone will become absolutely overrun, with the only way for players to access it being a concerted effort to siege and take back various cities and towns. The times that these things occur will be adjusted with the zone's population, of course.

2. Cross Over Into Coldharbour

You should have to cross over into Coldharbour to close an anchor. Once the outside defenses of the gate have been breached, you and everyone else can go into the anchor, entering a wailing prison-type zone, where you must clear a large area and fight a zone boss that requires team work to kill. This boss should be big and powerful, and it should feel like a true manifestation of Molag Bal. Around the boss would be areas of different heights, with the boss moving from large cliffs and shooting balls of flame down to ground level where he smashes players with powerful AoE melee attacks. Once defeated, the anchor closes in a flash of light and the players are scattered to various places around around the zone, with a small buff called "Favor of Arkay" that gives you 1 free revive if you die in a PvE zone within the next 2 hours.


NUMBER TWO: Trading

Trading. Zenimax, you can handle this one of two ways. 1: Add a specific trade channel for each zone where people can put up their WTS and WTB offers. 2: Add local auction houses in each zone. While I do enjoy the personal interaction with other players when trading in the current system, an AH would allow trades to happen more quickly and conveniently, with none of the annoying COT fees or having to meet up and do the trade that way.

NUMBER THREE: UI

Currently, the UI is spread across the screen and gives very little indication when i am approaching low stamina/mana. I think that the Stamina, mana and health bars should be clustered together in a pyramid shape, so that all of them can be seen in a single glance. Also, they should have a number and a percentage of the maximum amount on them. The default should basically look something like this:




NUMBER FOUR: Public Dungeons

Public dungeons really do need to be instanced. Having other players run by with duplicate NPC followers from quests (Even if some are named different and wear different armor, they have identical dialogue) is just plain immersion breaking.




Not to mention that having public dungeons ruins the "dungeon crawling experience" that previous ES titles like Oblivion and Skyrim nailed. Instead of sneaking around, listening to NPC conversations and slitting throats, my method of play is cancelled out by players who charge in shouting battlecrys and swinging their axes.

NUMBER FIVE: Paint Armor

Seriously. Not cool. When everything but the shoulder pads looks two-dimensional, you're doing armor design wrong.

NUMBER SIX: Dungeon Design

The dungeons, even the solo ones, are fairly poorly designed. They are often just a few corridors and rooms with clusters of 2-5 npcs, sitting there with no converation or actions. In skyrim, the NPCs would talk, walk around, eat, sleep, mine, craft, and make random noises. The NPCs in The Elder Scrolls Online sit there, static, waiting for something the happen. Sometimes they have very simple patrol paths. but that's about it.

NUMBER SEVEN: Enemy AI

Let's be honest: the AI is brutal. When a mage uses a freezing spell to hold me in place, he should back up so that i can't hit him. Otherwise, what's the point of the spell? The same thing goes for snares and pretty much any stun. Also, enemy NPCs are oblivious. you can walk within 10 feet of a hostile NPC, and they don't notice you. NPCs should be more aggressive, with larger detection areas and less time between when they see you and when they start their attack.

NUMBER EIGHT: Player Collision

I know, people don't want this because of the potential for griefing. So, here's my solution: give players an item that, when used, allows them to walk through other players for 10 seconds. That way, anyone who tries to surround an NPC or block a door, can't.






NUMBER NINE: World Detail

In skyrim, if you wandered, you would find dozens of dungeons, cabins, overturned merchant caravans, bandit camps, spriggan-filled caves, and other locations that had no quests tied to them. ESO has only a handful of areas like this. Sure, there's the occasional camp with a lore book or one cave in a zone with no quest, but the number of large, non-quest locations is severely reduced. As a matter of fact, you can barely walk for 2 minutes in ESO without finding a quest.

glitchmaster999

Half the issues you listed would be completely unreasonable for an MMO, the dark anchor thing where you go into cold harbor wouldn't make sense lore wise but I do agree they need to be a bigger event sometimes. I think they could add giant ones that randomly pop up in town so its like a huge even to stop the invasion.

Armor, collision and world detail are not comparable to skyrim because Skyrim isn't an MMO, stop expecting it to be skyrim over Lan because it isn't. Enemy AI has been getting small improvements as they go along and I agree with that one, UI is completely mod able, mine looks nothing like the one up there but I swap back to the original when I am going for immersion.

Dungeon design is the big one but soon all dungeons in cold harbor are being redone and then the other zones will follow suit. They were designed to be a gap filler until they get the proper dungeons into the game.

The_Sadist

I like some of your concepts and suggestions but some are a little impractical.

EDIT: I told you about the bumping :@!

Ser Lobo

Number 1: Agreed. Coldharbor events should be more ... earth shattering.

And spoiler alert, they need a good explanation whey they aren't over when the big ball and chain is no more.

And what about bosses escaping if you don't kill them fast enough, like in the video?

And as for the 'go into Coldharbor' mechanic, this was an element of Oblivion gates. I like that Anchors are different. I don't mind trips to Oblivion, but I think making such a distinction between Anchors and Gates is important.

Number 2: Town-focused trade merchants are coming. A trade chat would be nice, though, if it (and zone chat) get restrictions on the frequency of posting. Don't expect zone spam to end though.

Number 3: Handled with a mod.

Number 4: These are interesting experiences, to say the least. I like the public environment, but I understand where quests are involved. Making open-world dungeons with what are essentially world bosses inside, and no instancing, would be a way to give the 'instanced story' crowd a boon. But it's not necessary to me.

Number 5: Apparently, according to Paul Sage's recent interview, the dynamics of armor are directly in relation to performance of the system, nothing more. I personally don't want to see puffy, over the top stuff (I like most of what we currently have), but more baggy clothing would be acceptable.

Number 6: Delves (solo dungeons you were mentioning) are getting a huge revamp, and are already on the development block.

Number 7: Agree, wholeheartedly. Back up if you are a caster. Use teamwork. Call for help. Use more abilities. As players, though, it's important that we realize that with smarter AI, comes more difficulty.

Number 8: Just phase any friendly player sharing the same space as us. Solved. Course I'd love player collision in PvP. Would make shield walls and AOE stacks work very differently.

Number 9: I wish, wholeheartedly, that every zone was the size of Cyrodiil. That open, 'this is an actual world' feeling. Hidden areas, open-doorway dungeons, secret entrances, etc. Not everything has to be 'from one quest to the next', though you'd need to implement that system of having the messenger tell you a quest is available, cause already finding certain quest givers is a pain.

Csub

I agree with some of your points and not with others.

Such anchor events would be nice and a zone overrun and then retaken would be awesome but it would be too punishing for both new and old players. Male those mobs slaughter a bit then let them disappear. Rift did this very nicely.

A trade channel would be nice, a zone-wide auction house might work but I think the guild auctions also sound promising, let's see them first.

I like the UI but optional modifications or presets would be welcome.


A toggle for public dungeons to enter solo or public mode would be indeed nice with some cd on solo so we cannot farm perhaps.

Yes, armors should definitely look more real.

Npcs do talk in dungeons but not much and they are not always consistent. Making them more alive and putting more purely interesting spots on the map would be nice indeed.

Combat AI is ok, I like how I dont instantly aggro a mob so I have a chance to avoid a needless fight. Mobs putting tar under me and archers/Mages lighting them up, ice Mages freezing me in them is awesome.

I don't think we need player collision,it would be chaotic at best.

nicholaspingasb16_ESO

glitchmaster999 wrote: »

Armor, collision and world detail are not comparable to skyrim because Skyrim isn't an MMO, stop expecting it to be skyrim over Lan because it isn't.

An MMO can have some areas in the wild with no quests tied to them. There isn't a technical limitation preventing it and it would add to the game. "It's an MMO" isn't an excuse for poor world design. As for collision, they already have it on NPCs, so clearly it is possible. The armor looks like paint for no reason. How much more taxing on low-end systems could it possibly be to make each armor piece and actual model instead of a texture map?

rekina

nicholaspingasb16_ESO wrote: »

NUMBER SEVEN: Enemy AI

Let's be honest: the AI is brutal. When a mage uses a freezing spell to hold me in place, he should back up so that i can't hit him. Otherwise, what's the point of the spell? The same thing goes for snares and pretty much any stun. Also, enemy NPCs are oblivious. you can walk within 10 feet of a hostile NPC, and they don't notice you. NPCs should be more aggressive, with larger detection areas and less time between when they see you and when they start their attack.

Absolutely no. We've all seen what happens in GW2, the endless mob aggro. If they make npcs to be more aggressive with larger recognition you have to be a sitting duck in order to avoid any mob aggro during fight. No dynamic rolling, moving around allowed. No thanks. I love how it is now.

nicholaspingasb16_ESO wrote: »

NUMBER EIGHT: Player Collision

I know, people don't want this because of the potential for griefing. So, here's my solution: give players an item that, when used, allows them to walk through other players for 10 seconds. That way, anyone who tries to surround an NPC or block a door, can't.

Unit collision in MMO often turns out to be very buggy and laggy. It's normal to see your character blinks around because on your client side your movement had no obstacle while the server side see the obstacle on your way. I do agree unit collision would add some nice strategy in pvp aspect and I love that, but practically it would make more trouble than the benefit.

nicholaspingasb16_ESO

rekina wrote: »

nicholaspingasb16_ESO wrote: »

NUMBER SEVEN: Enemy AI

Let's be honest: the AI is brutal. When a mage uses a freezing spell to hold me in place, he should back up so that i can't hit him. Otherwise, what's the point of the spell? The same thing goes for snares and pretty much any stun. Also, enemy NPCs are oblivious. you can walk within 10 feet of a hostile NPC, and they don't notice you. NPCs should be more aggressive, with larger detection areas and less time between when they see you and when they start their attack.

Absolutely no. We've all seen what happens in GW2, the endless mob aggro. If they make npcs to be more aggressive with larger recognition you have to be a sitting duck in order to avoid any mob aggro during fight. No dynamic rolling, moving around allowed. No thanks. I love how it is now.

I've never played GW2, so you might be correct. however, in dungeons specifically, I still think that this is important. As it stands, most dungeons can just be walked through with no fighting whatsoever.

rekina

nicholaspingasb16_ESO wrote: »

I've never played GW2, so you might be correct. however, in dungeons specifically, I still think that this is important. As it stands, most dungeons can just be walked through with no fighting whatsoever.

I don't know how you can prevent that in practice... Some people just want to pass them, some people don't. I know it looks bad that we can actually avoid fights in dungeon and just run past everything, but when you actually implement your idea, then it can be very annoying for some people. I think giving them a choice is better than forcing everyone to one way without an option. At least you lose your chance to get gears/golds when you pass everything, even if they are not super worthy items.

isengrimb16_ESO

rekina wrote: »

nicholaspingasb16_ESO wrote: »

I've never played GW2, so you might be correct. however, in dungeons specifically, I still think that this is important. As it stands, most dungeons can just be walked through with no fighting whatsoever.

I don't know how you can prevent that in practice... Some people just want to pass them, some people don't. I know it looks bad that we can actually avoid fights in dungeon and just run past everything, but when you actually implement your idea, then it can be very annoying for some people. I think giving them a choice is better than forcing everyone to one way without an option. At least you lose your chance to get gears/golds when you pass everything, even if they are not super worthy items.

Mm, yeah, especially in the open world, no, I don't want to fight everything I see or that sees me. I like how I can accidentally come across a dangerous animal, yet be able to back up and let it calm down - just like a REAL animal might do.

If I don't want to fight guys in a delve that are standing somewhere I don't feel the need to be or snoop, I'm fine with passing them up, especially if I'm just after the skyshard (sometimes I miss them my first time around - hell, sometimes I can't find the boss/it takes a long time to spawn and I don't know where it's supposed to be, so I come back and try later.) If I want to kill those guys, I can if I want to. Sometimes I do, especially if I'm after enchantments.

I dislike WoW's mindless AI, and tightly packed mobs that aggro like robots. There were many times in Dread Wastes I was tempted to get rid of the whole computer idea altogether, I hated that place that much.

Most of the rest of the ideas, no fuss; but I'm confused about the public dungeons being instanced thing. I suppose you could have a toggle to instance it, but would it/should it/can it scale to the number of people in the party? ie, if I go in solo, will the six-packs be handle-able, or will I get my face smashed as usual? They're OK when there's some people around, but I've made the mistake of going in them when there was absolutely no one else around, not even bots. Delves I love, though, and can't wait for them to make them bigger.

ThePonzzz

Only thing I agreed with was a trade channel. /zonetrade!

david271749

I like the dark anchor idea. They already ripped off the idea from Rift, but the way they did it is bland. Throw in some deadric invasions every once in a while where npcs try to cover the zone. Zones where people have 100% completion would have a reason to be revisited.

Anastasia

glitchmaster999 wrote: »

Half the issues you listed would be completely unreasonable for an MMO, the dark anchor thing where you go into cold harbor wouldn't make sense lore wise but I do agree they need to be a bigger event sometimes. I think they could add giant ones that randomly pop up in town so its like a huge even to stop the invasion.

Armor, collision and world detail are not comparable to skyrim because Skyrim isn't an MMO, stop expecting it to be skyrim over Lan because it isn't. Enemy AI has been getting small improvements as they go along and I agree with that one, UI is completely mod able, mine looks nothing like the one up there but I swap back to the original when I am going for immersion.

Dungeon design is the big one but soon all dungeons in cold harbor are being redone and then the other zones will follow suit. They were designed to be a gap filler until they get the proper dungeons into the game.

nicholaspingasb16_ESO wrote: »

NUMBER ONE: Dark Anchors

1. Make Them Feel Like an Event

Dark anchors are currently confined to a small area, and have no impact on the world around them. Change that! make it so that anchors, if left open for too long, begin to impact the world by filling it with Daedra of all types. For example, an anchor left open for 10 minutes will begin to send out scamps and clannfears to various towns and cities, harassing players and killing NPC guards at the edge of town. If left open for 30 minutes, an anchor will begin sending organized squads of scamps, clannfears and dremora to raid and seize towns , preventing quests in the town from being completed until the daedra are repelled in a siege-style endeavor. After 4 hours of being open, a massive army of 200 high level daedra will pour out and begin slaughtering players, low level and high level. At this point, a zone will become absolutely overrun, with the only way for players to access it being a concerted effort to siege and take back various cities and towns. The times that these things occur will be adjusted with the zone's population, of course.

2. Cross Over Into Coldharbour

You should have to cross over into Coldharbour to close an anchor. Once the outside defenses of the gate have been breached, you and everyone else can go into the anchor, entering a wailing prison-type zone, where you must clear a large area and fight a zone boss that requires team work to kill. This boss should be big and powerful, and it should feel like a true manifestation of Molag Bal. Around the boss would be areas of different heights, with the boss moving from large cliffs and shooting balls of flame down to ground level where he smashes players with powerful AoE melee attacks. Once defeated, the anchor closes in a flash of light and the players are scattered to various places around around the zone, with a small buff called "Favor of Arkay" that gives you 1 free revive if you die in a PvE zone within the next 2 hours.


NUMBER TWO: Trading

Trading. Zenimax, you can handle this one of two ways. 1: Add a specific trade channel for each zone where people can put up their WTS and WTB offers. 2: Add local auction houses in each zone. While I do enjoy the personal interaction with other players when trading in the current system, an AH would allow trades to happen more quickly and conveniently, with none of the annoying COT fees or having to meet up and do the trade that way.

NUMBER THREE: UI

Currently, the UI is spread across the screen and gives very little indication when i am approaching low stamina/mana. I think that the Stamina, mana and health bars should be clustered together in a pyramid shape, so that all of them can be seen in a single glance. Also, they should have a number and a percentage of the maximum amount on them. The default should basically look something like this:




NUMBER FOUR: Public Dungeons

Public dungeons really do need to be instanced. Having other players run by with duplicate NPC followers from quests (Even if some are named different and wear different armor, they have identical dialogue) is just plain immersion breaking.




Not to mention that having public dungeons ruins the "dungeon crawling experience" that previous ES titles like Oblivion and Skyrim nailed. Instead of sneaking around, listening to NPC conversations and slitting throats, my method of play is cancelled out by players who charge in shouting battlecrys and swinging their axes.

NUMBER FIVE: Paint Armor

Seriously. Not cool. When everything but the shoulder pads looks two-dimensional, you're doing armor design wrong.

NUMBER SIX: Dungeon Design

The dungeons, even the solo ones, are fairly poorly designed. They are often just a few corridors and rooms with clusters of 2-5 npcs, sitting there with no converation or actions. In skyrim, the NPCs would talk, walk around, eat, sleep, mine, craft, and make random noises. The NPCs in The Elder Scrolls Online sit there, static, waiting for something the happen. Sometimes they have very simple patrol paths. but that's about it.

NUMBER SEVEN: Enemy AI

Let's be honest: the AI is brutal. When a mage uses a freezing spell to hold me in place, he should back up so that i can't hit him. Otherwise, what's the point of the spell? The same thing goes for snares and pretty much any stun. Also, enemy NPCs are oblivious. you can walk within 10 feet of a hostile NPC, and they don't notice you. NPCs should be more aggressive, with larger detection areas and less time between when they see you and when they start their attack.

NUMBER EIGHT: Player Collision

I know, people don't want this because of the potential for griefing. So, here's my solution: give players an item that, when used, allows them to walk through other players for 10 seconds. That way, anyone who tries to surround an NPC or block a door, can't.






NUMBER NINE: World Detail

In skyrim, if you wandered, you would find dozens of dungeons, cabins, overturned merchant caravans, bandit camps, spriggan-filled caves, and other locations that had no quests tied to them. ESO has only a handful of areas like this. Sure, there's the occasional camp with a lore book or one cave in a zone with no quest, but the number of large, non-quest locations is severely reduced. As a matter of fact, you can barely walk for 2 minutes in ESO without finding a quest.

---

NUMBER A-1: Make Vet Content Worth Grouping in!

Seriously not cool that Vet+ Content 1 - 10 now provides 'comfortable' all solo/all the time game play and there is no worthy grouping content for players to get themselves some experience and gear up so as not to be ignored when they knock on endgame doors.

**Insightful list of ideas and suggestions nicholaspingasb ;o).

SirJesto

david271749 wrote: »

I like the dark anchor idea. They already ripped off the idea from Rift, but the way they did it is bland.

Dark anchors spawning Daedra is the same as Oblivion gates spawning Daedra in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which came out 5 years before rift.

SFBryan18

1. Seems like this cake is already baked.
2. Trading should be improved.
3. No, use add-ons.
4. Kind of a petty complaint.
5. No comment as I haven't seen it yet.
6. It is true that many of the public dungeons are just lazy.
7. If it can be improved?
8. Meh, I wouldn't care either way.
9. Again, this cake has been baked.

Overall, I didn't feel like these were the most essential things to work on right now. I think performance and cpu bottlenecks is number one.