Back from the Beta, several suggestions.
Iamnuff
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So, I played the ESO beta, but didn't have time to actually play the main game until recently, and a couple of things stand out to me.
Not sure if this is the right place for this thread, feel free to move it if not. I'd have liked to put it in Developer Discussions, since it's aimed at them, but only devs can make threads there, and there doesn't seem to be an open "suggestions" thread.
First off, Interaction.
Currently ESO doesn't feel like an MMO, because you're forced to do most things alone. First step to avoid that.
Chat.
Chat is currently hidden 90% of the time. (think it shows up when you get a new party-chat) and this means that you can be standing next to someone talking, and they can't see you.
Solutions:
1: /Say making the chatlog visible when it happens close to you.
2: Chatbubbles. Yes I know chatbubbles are in beta, but A, it's off by default, and B, it doesn't do anything when turned on.
I myself was going through the Mourning stone quest on a new character, and I saw someone struggling with the Moons Puzzle. I had to resort to spamming skills around him, then finally just inviting him to my party to get his attention. Because when I was talking to him from five steps away, he couldn't tell.
We need either /say making chatlog visible, or working Chatbubbles. Both of these thing CAN have options to turn them off, but they should be on by default.
TLDR: Hidden chatlog forces isolation on players, needs a fix or a work-around.
Problem two, even in a party, you're still doing everything solo.
Quest objectives are not shared between party-members, as is standard for almost every MMO.
Honestly I can't think of a single good MMO that doesn't let you do this. It's seriously dragging down my opinion of ESO because it makes Partying up useless for anything but combat. There's no feeling of cooperation.
Example. Quest needs me to light five fires, pull two levers then talk to a dude. I'm in a party with someone else on the same quest.
I light three, he lights two, we pull a lever each, then both talk to the dude.
More people = less running about.
IMPORTANT. Talking to NPCs should not be a shared objective.
Share the busywork of lighting bonfires or killing monsters, but force the players to talk to people separately otherwise the second player misses the quest dialogue. I know, i know, it's obvious, but I've seen it messed up in other MMO before.
Things that may or may-not be already in the game. (I can't tell because i can't ask any other players, since communication is all but impossible unless I want to spam up /zone)
Shared XP for killing monsters together, boosted xp for fighting in a party (incentive to party) non-shared drops (monster drops separate loot for each player)
Currently, the single-player air of the game is the biggest problem in my eyes, taking priority over basically everything else. Clearly the devs don't agree, since we've come this far and it hasn't been fixed yet, but I'm going to make my suggestions anyway.
At the moment, the biggest "cooperation" moment in the game for me was fighting an anchor, and that was mostly random. A bunch of guys all saw it drop at the same time. We all converged on it and started fighting. After we won, we patted each other on the back and went out separate ways. I don't know their usernames we didn't party, and we didn't plan anything ahead of time.
This seems to be the state of non-dungeon coop in ESO at the moment. Do your own thing and occasionally another player who is also doing his own thing will step in and deal some damage to the same enemy you're fighting, helping you out. It really needs to change.
Not sure if this is the right place for this thread, feel free to move it if not. I'd have liked to put it in Developer Discussions, since it's aimed at them, but only devs can make threads there, and there doesn't seem to be an open "suggestions" thread.
First off, Interaction.
Currently ESO doesn't feel like an MMO, because you're forced to do most things alone. First step to avoid that.
Chat.
Chat is currently hidden 90% of the time. (think it shows up when you get a new party-chat) and this means that you can be standing next to someone talking, and they can't see you.
Solutions:
1: /Say making the chatlog visible when it happens close to you.
2: Chatbubbles. Yes I know chatbubbles are in beta, but A, it's off by default, and B, it doesn't do anything when turned on.
I myself was going through the Mourning stone quest on a new character, and I saw someone struggling with the Moons Puzzle. I had to resort to spamming skills around him, then finally just inviting him to my party to get his attention. Because when I was talking to him from five steps away, he couldn't tell.
We need either /say making chatlog visible, or working Chatbubbles. Both of these thing CAN have options to turn them off, but they should be on by default.
TLDR: Hidden chatlog forces isolation on players, needs a fix or a work-around.
Problem two, even in a party, you're still doing everything solo.
Quest objectives are not shared between party-members, as is standard for almost every MMO.
Honestly I can't think of a single good MMO that doesn't let you do this. It's seriously dragging down my opinion of ESO because it makes Partying up useless for anything but combat. There's no feeling of cooperation.
Example. Quest needs me to light five fires, pull two levers then talk to a dude. I'm in a party with someone else on the same quest.
I light three, he lights two, we pull a lever each, then both talk to the dude.
More people = less running about.
IMPORTANT. Talking to NPCs should not be a shared objective.
Share the busywork of lighting bonfires or killing monsters, but force the players to talk to people separately otherwise the second player misses the quest dialogue. I know, i know, it's obvious, but I've seen it messed up in other MMO before.
Things that may or may-not be already in the game. (I can't tell because i can't ask any other players, since communication is all but impossible unless I want to spam up /zone)
Shared XP for killing monsters together, boosted xp for fighting in a party (incentive to party) non-shared drops (monster drops separate loot for each player)
Currently, the single-player air of the game is the biggest problem in my eyes, taking priority over basically everything else. Clearly the devs don't agree, since we've come this far and it hasn't been fixed yet, but I'm going to make my suggestions anyway.
At the moment, the biggest "cooperation" moment in the game for me was fighting an anchor, and that was mostly random. A bunch of guys all saw it drop at the same time. We all converged on it and started fighting. After we won, we patted each other on the back and went out separate ways. I don't know their usernames we didn't party, and we didn't plan anything ahead of time.
This seems to be the state of non-dungeon coop in ESO at the moment. Do your own thing and occasionally another player who is also doing his own thing will step in and deal some damage to the same enemy you're fighting, helping you out. It really needs to change.
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JackalWynter✭✭✭I agree totally, sounds like chat is about as useless on pc as it is on console.
I'm starting to think that this is just a single player game where as you put it 'occasionally another player who is also doing his own thing will step in and deal some damage to the same enemy you're fighting, helping you out'
And you're right, it does really need to change.
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DanielZukoSoul ShrivenI play solo, so i dont know about the shared objective etc, but the chat concern i dont get. I see chat always and with plenty of people talking.
I like that ESO is an MMO you can play solo. Tons of MMO's basically REQUIRE you to play with a guild or a group. I like to play solo more often than not, so i appreciate the chance to do that.
If i want group play i can go to dungeons, or cyrodil.0 -
Iamnuff✭✭wafcatb14_ESO wrote: »We are still in Beta.
No, we aren't. The game launched quite a while ago. First on subscription, then with a B2P model (like guildwars2) Beta ended long ago.0 -
Xendyn✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭lordatheistb16_ESO wrote: »wafcatb14_ESO wrote: »We are still in Beta.
No, we aren't. The game launched quite a while ago. First on subscription, then with a B2P model (like guildwars2) Beta ended long ago.
You Have been gone awhile lol
Just wait, you'll understand.Lag is ruinin' my 'mershun!
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance - Socrates
Member of the Old Guard, keepers of the game's history
PC/NA2 -
Iamnuff✭✭lordatheistb16_ESO wrote: »wafcatb14_ESO wrote: »We are still in Beta.
No, we aren't. The game launched quite a while ago. First on subscription, then with a B2P model (like guildwars2) Beta ended long ago.
You Have been gone awhile lol
Just wait, you'll understand.
You misunderstand. I know things are still a Work-in-progress, but you can't call a game Beta after the beta period ends. You get much less leeway and understanding from players.
Saying "It's still in beta" is excusing problems that should have been dealt with before the beta ended, instead of launching the game, then cooking up entire expansions before dealing with core problems.
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wafcatb14_ESO✭✭✭/Sigh and once again Sarcasm is wasted, and lost. I have been around since Oct 2013, was in the PTS closed Beta as well as the Weekend Beta events, been here since launch too.lordatheistb16_ESO wrote: »wafcatb14_ESO wrote: »We are still in Beta.
No, we aren't. The game launched quite a while ago. First on subscription, then with a B2P model (like guildwars2) Beta ended long ago.
That was pure Sarcasm as in the game is so Fked up that even though it was launched back in April 2014 it is still in a Beta stage because it is Fked up like most games are when they are in Beta.
Personally I seriously doubt they will ever fix the game due to the game being so screwed up, and their only source of cash flow being cash store items, and the occasional DLC they can get people to buy.
pretty much all their efforts will be directed at creating that next new mount skin, or fluffy pet, costume to sell you so they can pay their house and car payment, actually fixing the stuff that`s messed up does n`t appear to be high on the to do list.
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Arreyanne✭✭✭✭I guess the sub model didn't pay for fixing stuff either?
Cuase the game is still as fubar as it was 90 days in with the exception of they did fix the questing thing1