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A month in: My Experience
Terror
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My wife and I started playing the first week of November, we are both currently V6 characters. We have had a lot of fun. The game is beautiful from a graphics stand point and the lore is great, which makes it hard to enjoy any other game. Here are some thoughts so far:
PvE:
Burnt out is an understatement for questing.
We are burnt out on questing right now and would rather not do Cadwells, which makes progression a bit slower with the other forms of experience gains, as of current the best way we have found to level is grinding mobs in craglorn as opposed to PvP, questing, and redoing group dungeons.
Dungeons lack replay-ability
Group finder lacks rewarding players in any way shape or form, which is tool breaking.
Grinding is fine, but there is no fun, just small boring loops of mobs.
Craglorn hasn't really fulfilled the needs for end-game PvE imho, I know we are trying to be as unique as possible, but we can do much better. The combat system alone is enough to give us an upper hand compared to the casual button smasher in raid environments. (Disclaimer: I have not seen all of Craglorn, but I have participated in some of the content, this is based off my current perception. Which admittedly leaves me little credit for judging this zone and/or it's content.)
I know we are steered away from monitoring DPS, but honestly, majority of players are monitoring their dps to the best of their ability by whatever means anyhow, which means the DPS is discussed openly. I would love a way to see the DPS of others, simply to add the competitive edge to my personal PvE game play. I have gone to great lengths in other games to become the best in class, it adds more dedication to a character, and increases the life span of the game when im spending hours trying to improve my gear and build constantly when finding someone who is doing more dps than I am. (This is just an observation, one that I know will bring a lot of negative attention from those who don't want to fuel any sort of "elitist" attitudes in-game but the fact is, those attitudes are already there, and people will criticize you over something either way. We can agree to disagree, it is just something that I simply would like to see in-game, and have no reason to be with or against any other persons feelings toward this. This would be a feature that I would like not because I want it to make anyone else feel bad, but simply to help improve myself.)
PvP:
(Disclaimer: I have never considered myself hardcore for PvP and actually prefer raiding in other games, but I do enjoy good PvP as well.)
Cyrodiil. Thats all we have.
Don't get me wrong Cyrodiil has ran us 12 hour sessions and we have had a lot of fun...
It took us some playing with our characters, a good bit of research, a nice bit of gold, but we have found viability among the zerg fests and farming spree's and actually do quite well. We have joined 3 major PvP guilds and run with them often. But the fact that we have to be grouped to do anything PvP related is game breaking at this point, we want to test our characters and be the best that we can be. Running head on into a raid group of opposing faction members in a group of two is just ignorant, and good luck happening upon a single player to duel in Cyrodiil. It happens, but not nearly as often as getting ganked, or thinking a guy is by himself and trying to fight him before his stealth or just around the corner crew jump in.
This has actually led to us installing a couple other games last night to try and enjoy our PvP elsewhere, but it is hard to go back to other games with a poor combat system and lacking in graphics.
Basically... 1:1, 2:2, 3:3 arenas would be greatly appreciated!
General:
Target Dummies... much needed. They are in the game already for some npc's, lets just make them target-able for players, give them a high amount of health and self-healing with some insane heals (no animation necessary) or whatever you need to do.
Magicka... the inbalance in magicka's favor... hopefully the Champion System will fix this, I watched the 1h:45m video about the Champion System, it sounds great and much needed, hopefully it will fix a lot of the issues in current balance. But it is all in theory, we have all seen what happens to strong theories at the hands of thousands of dedicated gamers.
Crafting:
I really don't have anything I can say in the crafting aspect of the game, my wife seems to enjoy it but I have not gotten into it yet because I know the champion system is just around the corner and I don't want to spend what little gold I have at the moment leveling the wrong craft.
Guilds:
Loving the guild system and the guild vendors, not much to really say here.
Auctions:
I know there has been discussion over a central auction location, and this I can absolutely agree with. We have been told that there is no easy way to add a single auction house to the game because of the "Mega-Server." There are ways, but no it would not be easy and would require additional resources, however; we could at least centralize vendor locations to eliminate the need to travel through 100 loading screens at the clock of a button just to check a few vendors. - However this isn't something that really effects gameplay so It's no real issue, just a suggestion.
Just some thoughts on the game so far, only a month in since coming back after the BETA.
Thanks for reading!
Edited by Terror on November 30, 2014 1:08AM PvE:
Burnt out is an understatement for questing.
We are burnt out on questing right now and would rather not do Cadwells, which makes progression a bit slower with the other forms of experience gains, as of current the best way we have found to level is grinding mobs in craglorn as opposed to PvP, questing, and redoing group dungeons.
Dungeons lack replay-ability
Group finder lacks rewarding players in any way shape or form, which is tool breaking.
Grinding is fine, but there is no fun, just small boring loops of mobs.
Craglorn hasn't really fulfilled the needs for end-game PvE imho, I know we are trying to be as unique as possible, but we can do much better. The combat system alone is enough to give us an upper hand compared to the casual button smasher in raid environments. (Disclaimer: I have not seen all of Craglorn, but I have participated in some of the content, this is based off my current perception. Which admittedly leaves me little credit for judging this zone and/or it's content.)
I know we are steered away from monitoring DPS, but honestly, majority of players are monitoring their dps to the best of their ability by whatever means anyhow, which means the DPS is discussed openly. I would love a way to see the DPS of others, simply to add the competitive edge to my personal PvE game play. I have gone to great lengths in other games to become the best in class, it adds more dedication to a character, and increases the life span of the game when im spending hours trying to improve my gear and build constantly when finding someone who is doing more dps than I am. (This is just an observation, one that I know will bring a lot of negative attention from those who don't want to fuel any sort of "elitist" attitudes in-game but the fact is, those attitudes are already there, and people will criticize you over something either way. We can agree to disagree, it is just something that I simply would like to see in-game, and have no reason to be with or against any other persons feelings toward this. This would be a feature that I would like not because I want it to make anyone else feel bad, but simply to help improve myself.)
PvP:
(Disclaimer: I have never considered myself hardcore for PvP and actually prefer raiding in other games, but I do enjoy good PvP as well.)
Cyrodiil. Thats all we have.
Don't get me wrong Cyrodiil has ran us 12 hour sessions and we have had a lot of fun...
It took us some playing with our characters, a good bit of research, a nice bit of gold, but we have found viability among the zerg fests and farming spree's and actually do quite well. We have joined 3 major PvP guilds and run with them often. But the fact that we have to be grouped to do anything PvP related is game breaking at this point, we want to test our characters and be the best that we can be. Running head on into a raid group of opposing faction members in a group of two is just ignorant, and good luck happening upon a single player to duel in Cyrodiil. It happens, but not nearly as often as getting ganked, or thinking a guy is by himself and trying to fight him before his stealth or just around the corner crew jump in.
This has actually led to us installing a couple other games last night to try and enjoy our PvP elsewhere, but it is hard to go back to other games with a poor combat system and lacking in graphics.
Basically... 1:1, 2:2, 3:3 arenas would be greatly appreciated!
General:
Target Dummies... much needed. They are in the game already for some npc's, lets just make them target-able for players, give them a high amount of health and self-healing with some insane heals (no animation necessary) or whatever you need to do.
Magicka... the inbalance in magicka's favor... hopefully the Champion System will fix this, I watched the 1h:45m video about the Champion System, it sounds great and much needed, hopefully it will fix a lot of the issues in current balance. But it is all in theory, we have all seen what happens to strong theories at the hands of thousands of dedicated gamers.
Crafting:
I really don't have anything I can say in the crafting aspect of the game, my wife seems to enjoy it but I have not gotten into it yet because I know the champion system is just around the corner and I don't want to spend what little gold I have at the moment leveling the wrong craft.
Guilds:
Loving the guild system and the guild vendors, not much to really say here.
Auctions:
I know there has been discussion over a central auction location, and this I can absolutely agree with. We have been told that there is no easy way to add a single auction house to the game because of the "Mega-Server." There are ways, but no it would not be easy and would require additional resources, however; we could at least centralize vendor locations to eliminate the need to travel through 100 loading screens at the clock of a button just to check a few vendors. - However this isn't something that really effects gameplay so It's no real issue, just a suggestion.
Just some thoughts on the game so far, only a month in since coming back after the BETA.
Thanks for reading!
7
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Leeric✭✭✭✭Yah I never really understood the absence of combat dummies. There is a lot of things in the game that still has me wondering if anyone at ZOS has ever played an MMO before....2 -
Gidorick✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Yah I never really understood the absence of combat dummies. There is a lot of things in the game that still has me wondering if anyone at ZOS has ever played an MMO before....
Or an Elder Scrolls game. LOLWhat ESO really needs is an Auction Horse.
That's right... Horse.
Click HERE to discuss.
Want more crazy ideas? Check out my Concept Repository!4 -
Reilech✭✭✭You are not forced to do Cadwells Silver&Gold quests. You are able to reach level cap in Craglorn, Cyrodiil or dungeons. Quests are just another way.3 -
Terror✭✭✭You are not forced to do Cadwells Silver&Gold quests. You are able to reach level cap in Craglorn, Cyrodiil or dungeons. Quests are just another way.
Your right, I apologize for the use of the word forced. But it is the most viable way to level. Which I understand the champion system will be removing veteran levels any way. So it really isn't a huge issue after the Champion System is released, but as of currently, it does feel "strongly guided" to do cadwells to level, to be viable in PvP you have to be closer to v14 than not, which makes leveling in cyrodiil harder, and otherwise Cyrodiil offers the slowest gain of xp due to discouraging win trading.
Craglorn is how we have leveled from V1-V6 because we refuse to do cadwells at this point in time.
Dungeons are very lacking in replay-ability. I find grinding mobs in Craglorn much more rewarding and fun. Our group dungeons just feel "off" in those factors for me. I can't find any reason to do them, considering all my gear can be crafted at whatever level I need it, and the experience is hardly worth it after the first time through.Edited by Terror on November 30, 2014 1:02AM0 -
Ragefist✭✭✭✭Im rather surprised you actually are burned out on questing. The quests are among the best this genre has to offer
Recently I tried an expansion of WoW and dude that cliché was overwhelming! 99% of quests there follow this pattern:
Grab 3 quests, one to kill X mobs, one to collect X items, one to kill special mobs. Hand in, quest to get to next questgiver, rinse and repeat
Or lets say the new Dragon Age:
Collect X shards in a location, visit X regions in a location, solve X puzzles in a location. Collect X bottles on a wall in location
Makes me feel like im only chasing things around the map and not actually playing an RPG game
You actually need to try some of those. Zero immersion. Then you would realize how amazing job ZOS did with questsEdited by Ragefist on November 30, 2014 2:06AM8 -
Terror✭✭✭I absolutely admire the "disguised" repetition of quest objectives in ESO, absolutely they did a great job, but most of the quest have still been "find object x in location Y","Kill object(s) A in location B." which is to be expected, there's only so much you can ask people to do. Thats not what is bothersome about it. It's just grown tiresome in general.Throughout the entire experience, every time I attempted to do one quest I'd pick up 10 more by time the one was finished, I was able to continue clearing them out, my wife however has gotten to a point of needing to constantly delete quests to make room for more. There have been so many quests it has just grown tiresome. Which is NOT a bad thing, it means there is a lot of content. Which should be applauded.
When we hit level 50 we were simply ready to explore more of what the game had to offer. This far, there hasn't been anything new offered. Just sort of "oh hey congrats on making it into the veteran ranks and zones." PvP still has the same general feeling, group up or get trampled, grind mobs for xp, or continue questing.
Do group dungeons for the achievement but no real reward, do craglorn for no real reward. (The gear would possibly be rewarding, but I can get equal gear through vendors or crafting, nothing really special about any of the open world drops.)Edited by Terror on November 30, 2014 4:02AM0 -
hutchinsonhatch✭✭✭Im rather surprised you actually are burned out on questing. The quests are among the best this genre has to offer
Recently I tried an expansion of WoW and dude that cliché was overwhelming! 99% of quests there follow this pattern:
Grab 3 quests, one to kill X mobs, one to collect X items, one to kill special mobs. Hand in, quest to get to next questgiver, rinse and repeat
Or lets say the new Dragon Age:
Collect X shards in a location, visit X regions in a location, solve X puzzles in a location. Collect X bottles on a wall in location
Makes me feel like im only chasing things around the map and not actually playing an RPG game
You actually need to try some of those. Zero immersion. Then you would realize how amazing job ZOS did with quests
Actually, we don't do anything else than you mentioned, it's just packaged in a different way. Don't misunderstand me, I really like the way the quests are written and think it's an outstanding way to involve the player.
Actually, the best way I have seen so far.Edited by hutchinsonhatch on November 30, 2014 5:16AM1 -
jeevin✭✭✭✭✭Im rather surprised you actually are burned out on questing. The quests are among the best this genre has to offer
Recently I tried an expansion of WoW and dude that cliché was overwhelming! 99% of quests there follow this pattern:
Grab 3 quests, one to kill X mobs, one to collect X items, one to kill special mobs. Hand in, quest to get to next questgiver, rinse and repeat
Or lets say the new Dragon Age:
Collect X shards in a location, visit X regions in a location, solve X puzzles in a location. Collect X bottles on a wall in location
Makes me feel like im only chasing things around the map and not actually playing an RPG game
You actually need to try some of those. Zero immersion. Then you would realize how amazing job ZOS did with quests
The stories in the quests are interesting and can be unique, however most of the time they do indeed boil down to: go to x and kill y, go to x hit y switch and kill z, or collect x deliver to y and kill z. Don't get me wrong, the questing can be fun and interesting, but unique story telling does not make unique questing.
The sheer number of the same quests(albeit with a different story, characters and location, but still the same x, y & z formula) over and over can indeed lead a player to burn out. Some players want to get to endgame, pvp and dungeons/trials. Questing to level 150 should never get in the way of endgame.2 -
Magdalina✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭I'd say they added plenty of replayability to dungeons with the new pledges, don't you agree? The system is obviously not perfect and needs some tweaking(25+ vet DC runs and still no helmet FTL) but there certainly is a point in redoing them now.0 -
zaria✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭
True, even in WOW who is viewed as the king of content ( in quantity, not quality) you end up running the same limited amount of dungeons over and over.I'd say they added plenty of replayability to dungeons with the new pledges, don't you agree? The system is obviously not perfect and needs some tweaking(25+ vet DC runs and still no helmet FTL) but there certainly is a point in redoing them now.
Grinding just make you go in circles.
Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.0 -
Terror✭✭✭I'd say they added plenty of replayability to dungeons with the new pledges, don't you agree? The system is obviously not perfect and needs some tweaking(25+ vet DC runs and still no helmet FTL) but there certainly is a point in redoing them now.
I have yet to do any of the pledges, but being that I'm only v6, if I were running pledges I would end up burning myself out long before v14 since the dungeons would be the same ones, not even level based, running the same dungeons for gear that I can't use or won't use very long. However this could be a different story after veteran ranks are removed, IF they choose to lower the level cap down to 50.
True, even in WOW who is viewed as the king of content ( in quantity, not quality) you end up running the same limited amount of dungeons over and over.I'd say they added plenty of replayability to dungeons with the new pledges, don't you agree? The system is obviously not perfect and needs some tweaking(25+ vet DC runs and still no helmet FTL) but there certainly is a point in redoing them now.
WoW is an example we could use, however they have level and ilvl requirements before unlocking new dungeons to run rather than allowing anyone to run the same dungeon for 12 levels.
Again, I'm not experienced with the pledges therefore I can not fairly judge and I'm basing my comment off pure speculation, not being negative in any way and welcome enlightenment.Edited by Terror on December 1, 2014 3:21PM0 -
Ragefist✭✭✭✭@jeevin Of course, ultimately the game interaction boils down to kill things/click things. Its the way how it is presented to player that makes the difference (insert thx to ZOS for new facial animations, its amazing!).
Some quests are really astonishing while others feel less important... still we agreed its among best in the genre
Didnt get any of that feeling in WoW during leveling, maybe with exception of Velen sacrificing himself. By Srendarr, if WoW leveling didnt take merely 20h I wouldnt even bother with it
In ESO im leveling my 3rd character and I still do enjoy it0 -
AlexDougherty✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭We are burnt out on questing right now and would rather not do Cadwells, which makes progression a bit slower with the other forms of experience gains, as of current the best way we have found to level is grinding mobs in craglorn as opposed to PvP, questing, and redoing group dungeons.
I'm enjoying Cadwell's silver at the minute. The quests give me a direction, and I'm levelling up nicely. Not saying it's for everyone, and I have done the quests already, but it's not a bad system. I played SWTOR, and when the class stories ended, that was it, they just ended, which was a pity, it just made the grind more obvious.
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 rule0 -
Cherryblossom✭✭✭✭✭
✭AlexDougherty wrote: »We are burnt out on questing right now and would rather not do Cadwells, which makes progression a bit slower with the other forms of experience gains, as of current the best way we have found to level is grinding mobs in craglorn as opposed to PvP, questing, and redoing group dungeons.
I'm enjoying Cadwell's silver at the minute. The quests give me a direction, and I'm levelling up nicely. Not saying it's for everyone, and I have done the quests already, but it's not a bad system. I played SWTOR, and when the class stories ended, that was it, they just ended, which was a pity, it just made the grind more obvious.
I'm also up to VR7 and have only got to the 2nd area of Cadwells Silver and got bored. I really don't want to do the other factions on this toon, which is part of the reason I'm bored, you can't get involved in a story that is in fact finished!
As for SWTOR when you finished your class story you were Max Level, for most generally before you finished. The new expansion is also adding all new class stories. This is where I have found SWTOR had more playability as I had 8 stories to do, unlike ESO which has one, which is sort of a triple repeat!2 -
AlexDougherty✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭
True, I do get what you mean, but I meant the quests always give you something to complete, I have two characters in the second vet area, and one in the first vet area.Cherryblossom wrote: »AlexDougherty wrote: »We are burnt out on questing right now and would rather not do Cadwells, which makes progression a bit slower with the other forms of experience gains, as of current the best way we have found to level is grinding mobs in craglorn as opposed to PvP, questing, and redoing group dungeons.
I'm enjoying Cadwell's silver at the minute. The quests give me a direction, and I'm levelling up nicely. Not saying it's for everyone, and I have done the quests already, but it's not a bad system. I played SWTOR, and when the class stories ended, that was it, they just ended, which was a pity, it just made the grind more obvious.
I'm also up to VR7 and have only got to the 2nd area of Cadwells Silver and got bored. I really don't want to do the other factions on this toon, which is part of the reason I'm bored, you can't get involved in a story that is in fact finished!As for SWTOR when you finished your class story you were Max Level, for most generally before you finished. The new expansion is also adding all new class stories. This is where I have found SWTOR had more playability as I had 8 stories to do, unlike ESO which has one, which is sort of a triple repeat!
Sounds good, when I finish this game I will go back, and see the new class stories.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 rule0 -
jeevin✭✭✭✭✭@jeevin Of course, ultimately the game interaction boils down to kill things/click things. Its the way how it is presented to player that makes the difference (insert thx to ZOS for new facial animations, its amazing!).
Some quests are really astonishing while others feel less important... still we agreed its among best in the genre
Didnt get any of that feeling in WoW during leveling, maybe with exception of Velen sacrificing himself. By Srendarr, if WoW leveling didnt take merely 20h I wouldnt even bother with it
In ESO im leveling my 3rd character and I still do enjoy it
I really enjoyed the questing in Eso too. After I had finished my alliance I was burning out but I still pushed through and finished most zone quests. I'm totally burned on quests now.
There are other things that bug me with questing though. Like some when I visit places long after finishing the quest everything is still at that step. The bad guys body is still there, the characters from the quest are still there or even some places the mobs are still aligned with the group you long decimated and killed their leaders. Quests sometimes feel like they're missing that ending or a degree of finality. That next step. Like Queen Ayrenn is still standing at the end of every quest line that involved her waiting to go to that next step you have long since finished.
It's being picky I know but I would like that extra level of polish.0 -
DPS charts have no place in this game! One of the reasons i stopped playing WoW was the elitist bs of staring at peoples DPS and it lead to nasty toxic communites. I hate all add-ons though and that's a major reason why i love FFXIV. 2 things i never want to see in ESO, staring at CDs and DPS charts!0 -
ers101284b14_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭EQOAnostalgia wrote: »DPS charts have no place in this game! One of the reasons i stopped playing WoW was the elitist bs of staring at peoples DPS and it lead to nasty toxic communites. I hate all add-ons though and that's a major reason why i love FFXIV. 2 things i never want to see in ESO, staring at CDs and DPS charts!
Thats funny cause we have DPS charts here and FFXIV doesn't but there is less elitism in ESO than in FFXIV0 -
Vahrokh✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭I'd say they added plenty of replayability to dungeons with the new pledges, don't you agree? The system is obviously not perfect and needs some tweaking(25+ vet DC runs and still no helmet FTL) but there certainly is a point in redoing them now.
You class "put feeble carrot on stick to repeat same tired content forever" as "replayability"?
Replayability, the real one, is when you want to redo content because it branches in sub and sub choices each giving different outcomes and experiences.
What you describe is a "donkey replay" system. Unsurprisingly the masters in this are in WoW, but doing it in ESO too, does not make it any better.Vaerah, Dark Elf Magicka Sorceress
Trials addict, soloer extraordinaire!
Here are my Elder Scrolls Online videos
Here is the Sorcerer Helper addon I have updated to work on current ESO2
