Evolving ESO Part 1: Extra Activities?

Mashille

Welcome, this is part of a series I am creating to try to help to improve Elder Scrolls Online and make it more complete and polished. This Will Involve a variety of topics covering different areas in Elder Scrolls Online to overall attempt to give ideas to make ESO a better game overall. I hope you enjoy.

The Series So Far:
Part 1: Extra Activities: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-GB/discussion/172838/evolving-eso-part-1-extra-activities-poll#latest
Part 2: Player Housing / Guild Halls http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-GB/post/editdiscussion/172984
Part 3: Skill Lines And Overhauls: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-GB/discussion/173730/evolving-eso-part-3-skill-lines-and-overhauls
Part 4: PvP Enhancement: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-GB/discussion/186852/evolving-eso-part-4-enhancing-pvp

Some Music for you To Listen to while you read:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr-buV4tYOA


I really love ESO and have played since launch but I feel that most activities only involve combat apart from crafting. I would love to some some types of mini games with my friends where you can relax and have a good time or perhaps have a competition.
I have some Ideas for this kind of thing:

- Horse Races: This would be when your Horse speed is Normalized for everyone and you would have to jump over Obstacles and other things while occasionally being shot at by arrows, this would make people have to control their sprint levels because there is a risk of being knocked off your horse and losing time. Probably be for two to 8 players with different race tracks depending on what zone you are in. The winner would get around 1000 Gold (I'm not sure how much is reasonable) Perhaps this could go on to allow other players to bet on the Horse Riders and win some gold.

- Gambling: Personally I think it would be really nice to have some kind of gambling activities in the game such as private games in a tavern or Public games such as frog racing where you would be able to bet 300 to 1000 gold on one of eight frogs. This activity would reset every 15 minutes and at the beginning people would be able to enter a Queue where as long as at least four or more people join the queue and a minimum of 800 gold has been bet then a countdown would start and after the countdown finishes the Frog Race would start and the player that has bet on the frog that came first would get mailed 3/4 of all the gold and the player that bet on the frog that came second would get 1/4 of all the gold.

- Brawls: This activity would really show combat skill. This would be when two to four players are placed in an arena with all their Health, Magicka and Stamina Normalized with their weapons unequipable and their hot-bars disabled also health would not regenerate. The winner of these brawls would get around 1000 gold (I'm not sure how much would be reasonable) and their would also be a scoreboard with the win / loss ratio of all the competitors with a leaderboard for the best.


What are other people's opinions on these and would you like to see them? Thank you for reading.

Mashille

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

Does anyone else have opinions or suggestions on this?

Valymer

I did but then I got caught up playing Gwent, sorry

Theosis

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

I don't think I need to explain liking your ideas

ColoursYouHave

I don't mind (Explain Below)

None of these ideas are anything I'd be interested in, but having them there takes absolutely nothing away from the game for me, so I wouldn't mind it, and could see a lot of people enjoying something like this.

Elder_III

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

I'm very open and interested to any of these ideas or other ideas. It would be nice for Guilds to have something "casual" to do together. As it is now there is 0 Group Activities that don't involve combat (RP is not counted here since it's a unique genre altogether).

Gidorick

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

Heh. Brawls sound fun.

curlyqloub14_ESO

It's nice thought...in theory. But I'd prefer to see actual new content.

Really, the entire Justice system could be considered one of these "activities". And the fact is, it's a gimmick with a short shelf life. People were so excited about the Justice system and Legerdemain when it came out, and ZoS put a lot of work into implementing it. But really, there is no new content there, and the excitement wore off quick. For the first week or two people were constantly running around picking pockets and fleeing guards, and the outlaws refuges were bustling, it was fun and entertaining. But nowadays I hardly see anyone stealing from lockboxes, or fighting/fleeing guards, or escaping into the refuges. The lockboxes in every bank are always spawned, and no one is bothering with them. The only stealing I see happening is mostly just people trying to farm mats for provisioning and such. The skill line that came along with Legerdemain is mostly fluff - really only useful if all you like to do is farm gold. Of course, justice has been a part of Elder Scrolls games, so it seems right that they added it, but for all the hype and time spent working on it, it had a rather short-lived heyday.

My point is, there is only so much thieving, or horse racing, or brawling, that you can do before it gets old...unless they keep adding new stuff to it. And I would prefer ZoS focus their efforts on actual new zones and content than on constantly updating activities like these.

leshpar

I like the idea and would like to see some of your ideas (Explain Below)

I like your ideas. I don't personally think I'd take part in brawls, but I am not against them being added as well.

Gambling and horse races would be awesome.

Sausage

I like the idea and would like to see some of your ideas (Explain Below)

There has been rumours about horse racing. I think its coming. Its kind of becoming the standard, many games has it.

I want Hunting. Hunting mode, you go to own phase, all monters and NPCs are removed and you hunt down some animal.

Zazaaji

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

Just as long as they are always optional, I'll take any extra activities, minigames, or anything of that sort at all.
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Mashille

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

Thanks for the feedback, I came up with this idea because it made the game feel more open and if these activities awarded gold and XP then it would be something enjoyable with benefits to it as well. Perhaps you could have private games with people on your friends list or join open queues. Overall I think it would add to the freedom of doing what you want in ESO.

Mashille

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

To be honest I think a game like ESO really needs these kind of things to make it seem more unique from other MMO's out there and give it more of a sandbox and open feel.

mavrwb17_ESO

From what I remember, ESO have plans already to introduce mount racing.

Gambling will likely never be introduced, as that's a very thin line between legal and illegal. Not sure if you're aware, but gambling is very much a grey area in the US. The only 2 states to have state-wide casino style legal gambling are Louisiana and Nevada. Everywhere else it's rather tightly controlled.

There's also the matter of allowing minors to gamble, even if it is just in an online game. The case could be made that because you are able to buy in-game items for cash, that even gambling with digital in-game currency would be illegal for minors.

Brawls I have no comments on. Not my thing, but I don't see any problem with letting people who are interested in that kind of thing participate.

mavrwb17_ESO

keybaud wrote: »

To be honest I think a game like ESO really needs these kind of things to make it seem more unique from other MMO's out there and give it more of a sandbox and open feel.

ESO was never designed to be a sandbox MMO. In fact, it's very specifically a theme-park MMO.

You could always try out Eve Online if you're interested in a true sandbox MMO. If you're looking for something a little more beginner friendly, maybe try Archeage instead? It's a mixture of sandbox and theme-park features.

Mordria

I don't mind (Explain Below)

Sure. Why not. Anything that adds to the game could be good. I would however rather see brawls take place in taverns, and be hand to hand only. A huge fist fight in a tavern would be hilarious.

Ojustaboo

I remember how long it took for them to sort the frog race out, yet alone horses

Mashille

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

I think if they work on it then it will really pay off and provide people with Masses more to do in the game. Especially people who are feeling like they've done all they need to and don't know what to do.

Robbmrp

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

These would be really fun to do. Why not expand the gambling to go with the horse racing and brawling. People betting on those competing in the contest would be a lot of fun. They could add in new achievements for these things as well. Completing a certain number of races/brawls etc. They could really do a lot with it.

Mashille

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

I Hope to continue this series overtime with more ideas to 'Evolve ESO' What do people think of it so far? Do have the right ideas and should I continue with more?

Whendim_ESO

Aren't they playing dice in Bergamo? Allow players to play against NPC's - it would be a really good money sink. As games go on, the economy gets all out of whack because everyone has more gold than they know what do with. It's one of the reasons player housing generally becomes inevidible.

AdamBourke

I like the idea and would like to see some of your ideas (Explain Below)

I dont mind the idea of brawls so much - but not with normalised stats. I also wouldnt do this. I would prefer duels...

But Horse and frog racing sounds great - especially if you can cheat by drugging the frogs :-D

Mashille

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

I would desperately love to have horse racing with jumps and obstacles. That Would be the best especially with your guild mates

Daemons_Bane

The ideas are fine and all.. but please don't start separate threads for each one it gets out of hand.. there are already other players who do that and it takes up so much space sometimes

Yasha

Valymer wrote: »

I did but then I got caught up playing Gwent, sorry

I was just thinking the same thing.....

Mashille

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

Anyone else care to give feedback on this? I would love to know other people's opinions.

Zorrashi

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

keybaud wrote: »

Anyone else care to give feedback on this? I would love to know other people's opinions.

Add minigames like dice rolling, the tamriellic equivalent of chess, playing poker with other players and other such tavern nick-knacks and you just about have all the fluffy side activities you can possibly need. Also they double as a gold sink I would imagine.

Heromofo

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

Zorrashi wrote: »

keybaud wrote: »

Anyone else care to give feedback on this? I would love to know other people's opinions.

Add minigames like dice rolling, the tamriellic equivalent of chess, playing poker with other players and other such tavern nick-knacks and you just about have all the fluffy side activities you can possibly need. Also they double as a gold sink I would imagine.

Depends on how good your characters poker face is.

Mashille

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

@Zorrashi That's a really cool idea

NovaMarx

I like the idea and would like to see All of your ideas (Explain Below)

Yes to all! As many non-combat activities as possible please

I have also seen a few suggestions about making mini-games dependent on stealing.
For example: There could "underground" games that can only be played if you find/steal the necessary items. These games would then be available to play in one or more of the many Outlaw Refuges. This would also give an extra incentive to steal.

Just a thought

Shadesofkin

I don't mind (Explain Below)

They're fine ideas, they're just not my cup of tea.