Not a game for just exploration from the beginning

MattyMatty

Okay so I bought the game and my first number of hours I was initially loving this game and loved the fact that when I first took a proper little wander out of the initial city the map expands and so was chuffed to see it was not like witcher with segmented maps but a continuous open world which is what I loved about ES in all the chapters there has been. Soon came to dawn on me that you can't though just go wandering and exploring because the further out into the world you go I am getting the impression it is levelled - basically I accepted a group invitation but did not accept till a little later on and joined a player in the group which dropped me in Eastmarch and i thought great I will have a little wander and explore around - except I can't as I am a Lvl4 and everything here is livl 30's - I think if it is a case where you can only truly explore further based on your level rather than the world EVERYWHERE has a random mix of Lvl creatures\enemies and you can wander and explore and pick which you are okay to engage and those you wish to skip around p- then this kind of ruins the open world exploration aspect of what could have been an epic breakthrough for RPG

CGPsaint

The different zones have different enemy levels. The starting area obviously has the lowest so that players can start building their character without getting owned. See the map below for a handy guide to zone levels.

MattyMatty

Kinda defeats the point of exploration though!!

And how come not all the areas of the map are highlighted?? Please don't tell me that not all the provinces are included in the game?...

Starting to feel my intial love of this game slipping somewhat now and maybe switch to playing my other new game Shadow of Mordor

Shunravi

Not all the zones are in-game, correct. Being an mmo, they are using them to expand the game.

MattyMatty

Haha!!!
In the immortal words of janice - OH ....My... GOD - by time they populate all the other areas of Tamriel for this game it will be obsolete and old, ergo they won't ever get expanded into as Bethesda and ZOS will have moved on so really the games' title screen should actually read
The Elder Scrolls Online
Tamriel 1/3 Unlimited

Elsonso

Are we talking about exploration or are we talking about conquering?

If you want to explore, you can do so within the limits of your Alliance home zones, no matter your level. You will need to take steps to avoid the zone natives, and there will be some zones with areas that will require questing to unlock the full potential. It is, however, possible to explore every zone I have tried.

Note that it is also possible to largely ignore wayshrine and fast travel when exploring in the Alliances since the zones are connected, except for Aldmeri Dominion and the starter islands.

My character on the EU PC/Mac server is doing this. Exploring the Ebonheart Pact without actively leveling up. The goal here is to log as many places and wayshrine locations as possible without completing any quests other than what is required to get out of Wailing Prison. I am not in any guilds on the EU server, so I am not using Travel To, either.

FlicksZ

Hehe this is first thing I had to tell family. Don't just go wondering and think you can take on the world. Everything has a lvl. Did they listen, hell no off they went

Shunravi

MattyMatty wrote: »

Haha!!!
In the immortal words of janice - OH ....My... GOD - by time they populate all the other areas of Tamriel for this game it will be obsolete and old, ergo they won't ever get expanded into as Bethesda and ZOS will have moved on so really the games' title screen should actually read
The Elder Scrolls Online
Tamriel 1/3 Unlimited

If you want all of tamriel go play arena.

Btw, this is how mmos work. You don't like it don't play the game. < (I hate myself for saying that)

Anyways, what @lordrichter said

zornyan

MattyMatty wrote: »

Haha!!!
In the immortal words of janice - OH ....My... GOD - by time they populate all the other areas of Tamriel for this game it will be obsolete and old, ergo they won't ever get expanded into as Bethesda and ZOS will have moved on so really the games' title screen should actually read
The Elder Scrolls Online
Tamriel 1/3 Unlimited

Not really, the games planned for around 10 years, which is actually fairly standard for an mmo. Some are currently at 15 years and still progressing.

Pallmor

MattyMatty wrote: »

Soon came to dawn on me that you can't though just go wandering and exploring because the further out into the world you go I am getting the impression it is levelled - basically I accepted a group invitation but did not accept till a little later on and joined a player in the group which dropped me in Eastmarch and i thought great I will have a little wander and explore around - except I can't as I am a Lvl4 and everything here is livl 30's - I think if it is a case where you can only truly explore further based on your level rather than the world EVERYWHERE has a random mix of Lvl creatures\enemies and you can wander and explore and pick which you are okay to engage and those you wish to skip around p- then this kind of ruins the open world exploration aspect of what could have been an epic breakthrough for RPG

That's actually the way TES games used to be before Oblivion and scaling. You had to be careful in Morrowind or you could easily wander into areas you couldn't handle at a low level.

AlnilamE

I'm actually thinking of using my last character slot to make a tool that will just explore, steal and open chests and see how far that gets me.

Gidorick

MattyMatty wrote: »

Kinda defeats the point of exploration though!!

And how come not all the areas of the map are highlighted?? Please don't tell me that not all the provinces are included in the game?...

Starting to feel my intial love of this game slipping somewhat now and maybe switch to playing my other new game Shadow of Mordor

this made me laugh @MattyMatty Nice one.

aco5712

tbh 1-50 is like this. Once you get the vet zone unlocked, the difference between vr1-5 is hardly noticeable. And then once you get to the next alliance's zones vr6-10 isnt noticeable. You mainly can feel it when its 1-50 because the mobs are quite a bit stronger and you have a tendency to miss alot of attacks against them which hurts you alot.

CGPsaint

MattyMatty wrote: »

Kinda defeats the point of exploration though!!

And how come not all the areas of the map are highlighted?? Please don't tell me that not all the provinces are included in the game?...

Starting to feel my intial love of this game slipping somewhat now and maybe switch to playing my other new game Shadow of Mordor

1.) You can explore all you want. You will simply need to avoid enemies, or else you will become quite familiar with the resurrect function.

2.) Not all of the areas are currently accessible, however that will change as new DLC becomes available. MMOs have a rather long lifespan, so why rush it?

3.) You're going to stop playing ESO in favor of Shadow of Mordor because you think that it will offer a better experience in regards to exploration??? Have you played Shadow of Mordor??? If this is your line of reasoning, then I'd recommend trading ESO in ASAP and going about your business.

Robbmrp

MattyMatty wrote: »

Kinda defeats the point of exploration though!!

And how come not all the areas of the map are highlighted?? Please don't tell me that not all the provinces are included in the game?...

Starting to feel my intial love of this game slipping somewhat now and maybe switch to playing my other new game Shadow of Mordor

I agree with you there. It would have been really nice to have the zone adjust to your level exactly like Skyrim did. The delivery time frame of the game didn't allow them to do it that way. Hopefully at some point it will be that way as new DLC's that are being added adjust to your level. They have the technology now and can go back and apply it to the original zones. There's multiple discussions about it already.

Cadbury

I believe there's a mod for Skyrim which adds the ability to play with multiple players called Tamriel Online.

Tomg999

I love that the zones are not leveled. To me, that would ruin the game.
IMO, that IS exploring - the further afield you go, the more into dark, dangerous territory you get. I love creeping around two areas ahead of my level. Trying to sneak from a way shrine to grab a skyshard, maybe make the next town or wayshrine, keeping to the roads. When I can beat a single monster maybe 8 levels above me, that's exciting.
It also allows me to pick the level of difficulty I feel like dealing with that session. Maybe try out an area juat ahead, see how I can do. Or go back to an easier area and grab all the lorebooks or a World Boss I missed. Or to try a new skill or build up a weapon.
I don't want to explore a flat, boring, all-the-same world. I want to explore a world with a variety of challenges, which are constantly evolving as my character grows.

Robbmrp

Cadbury wrote: »

I believe there's a mod for Skyrim which adds the ability to play with multiple players called Tamriel Online.

I Just watched a couple videos on that. It's really neat to see how far they've come with it. From the looks of it, they are still working on NPC synchronization and once they have that completed my wife and I may try it out. Currently you both fight NPC's separately so it looks like the other person isn't touching the one your fighting. The last post I saw was from a video in August 2015 so there could be something later I haven't come across yet.

Shadesofkin

This is adorable.

Belidos

MattyMatty wrote: »

Haha!!!
In the immortal words of janice - OH ....My... GOD - by time they populate all the other areas of Tamriel for this game it will be obsolete and old, ergo they won't ever get expanded into as Bethesda and ZOS will have moved on so really the games' title screen should actually read
The Elder Scrolls Online
Tamriel 1/3 Unlimited

MMO's last a long time, heck the first proper MMO to ever be released (Ultima Online) is still running 18 years on and is still fairly popular, and World of Warcraft is what? 12yrs old now? That is how MMO's work, they are designed for the long haul, not for the "short term, get in, get it finished, pat myself on the back" kind of player.

MattyMatty

Okay okay I admit this is my first MMO and I am still playing it and just starting out again on my third character (test driving a few first but going to stick with Dunmer DK)
I was a little hasty in my initial posts and game is growing on me again now. So lets put this one to bed as I may have spoke too soon earlier

Look... I've got cleAN SOCKS. That NPC comment just made me laugh!!!

Xendyn

MattyMatty wrote: »

Okay okay I admit this is my first MMO and I am still playing it and just starting out again on my third character (test driving a few first but going to stick with Dunmer DK)
I was a little hasty in my initial posts and game is growing on me again now. So lets put this one to bed as I may have spoke too soon earlier

Look... I've got cleAN SOCKS. That NPC comment just made me laugh!!!

Yes, some of those NPC lines are hilarious.

Good for you. MMO's are just different from single player games. Get out there, enjoy the stories, make some friends to run the group dungeons with and have fun

MattyMatty

Will do Xendyn

Elsonso

Robbmrp wrote: »

I agree with you there. It would have been really nice to have the zone adjust to your level exactly like Skyrim did. The delivery time frame of the game didn't allow them to do it that way. Hopefully at some point it will be that way as new DLC's that are being added adjust to your level. They have the technology now and can go back and apply it to the original zones. There's multiple discussions about it already.

Morrowind did not scale to the character, meaning that areas might be higher level than the character. This required careful exploration and rapid exits, from time to time, but it provided a range of challenges, until you hit the maximum expected level for the game world.

Oblivion scaled to the character, meaning that every time you went somewhere they were leveled to the character. This had the downside of having more powerful monsters populate areas that had been cleared already and resulted in caves filled with max level monsters. How many Goblin Warlords do they need?

Skyrim leveled the world to the player, but only on first contact. When the zone reset, it was intended that the zone maintain the level that it had when it was first discovered. This was an improvement over Oblivion, but not over Morrowind. It eliminated the problem with the world getting arbitrarily more deadly as the character progressed, but this is paid for in a world that is increasingly easier to deal with.

Elder Scrolls Online goes back to Morrowind in that areas are pre-scaled to the expected level of the character, even within the individual zones, and uses the zone level approach. This adds back into the game the ability to get into trouble, which they have addressed using general nerfs.

Orsinium deviates from the Elder Scrolls Online base game and takes a modified Oblivion approach. The player in Orsinium should find the rather constant world level typical of Oblivion, except that in this case the character scales to the world. This means that Orsinium will always provide the same challenge and returning to it will always be the same boring (eventually) game play.

Thanks for bearing with me on the history lesson to set the stage for....

I prefer the Morrowind approach and find that this makes for more interesting world exploration. The downside to how ESO is going to do it is actually in Orsinium, which will allow players to level in Orsinium. When they return to the base zones, they will find them too easy and may not even get the experience they would normally get if they level too high. For as much as ZOS wants to make these DLC available to everyone, my feeling is that Orsinium fits into the game better as a peer of Craglorn and should have been available only at Level 50. Buy to Play strikes again.

I intend to conquer Wrothgar as an alternative to the Cadwell zones up to VR10. As large as Wrothgar is, it is not big enough for that, so I guess I will see what happens.

Belidos

MattyMatty wrote: »

Okay okay I admit this is my first MMO and I am still playing it and just starting out again on my third character (test driving a few first but going to stick with Dunmer DK)
I was a little hasty in my initial posts and game is growing on me again now. So lets put this one to bed as I may have spoke too soon earlier

Look... I've got cleAN SOCKS. That NPC comment just made me laugh!!!

My favourite funny line is one that keeps coming up in the middle city in stonefalls (I forget its name), some guy keeps saying "oh look here, it's that fancy sob that was in our camp last night. Hey fancy man! Fall on any swords lately?", always makes me laugh, and when i'm chatting away on team speak with my friend we'll both randomly insert a "hey fancy man" into the conversation, especially when someone else logs onto TS.

MattyMatty

For the time of the actual ES chapter for me the most magical and exciting to play was Morrowind. Don't get me wrong I have enjoyed playing all the chapters since my big Arena boxset in the 90's with 8 x 3.5" black plastic floppy discs for installation on my old 486DX266 (showing my age now) but Morrowind had something a bit more magical.
They each have their own pro's and con's - for example for me one of the big annoyances for me in Skyrim was how every NPC had at best only reached the age of speech whether child or adult , to have learnt 3 lines of speech - how much effort would it have been to get the voice actors to just spend another few hours recording tons more lines so that the NPCs weren't almost one-liner robots.
Oh yes and the Ashpile bug also......

ESO is now really taking hold of me, I find I am currently addicted to stealing and selling to the fences to make some quick cash or launder materials to stock up for when I start crafting!!

Oh and did I mention - Look... I've got cleAN SOCKS

AlnilamE

The game definitely grows on you as you play it.

He's to it bringing you many hours of enjoyment. :-)

Scyantific

Game's like Morrowind, you can't go off immediately and expect to be mowing down mobs everywhere.

This is a good thing. Scaling ruined TES games starting with IV.

Elder_III

Welcome to ESO and MMOs, it's a little different, but I think you will enjoy your purchase.

MattyMatty

@ the last 3 posts - thankyou for your encouraging words guys\gals , it does feel like it is one of those games that grows on you.
I admit the first few hours of playing it after it had DLd I was not all too chuffed, but after a few days have had some ups and downs and now it is defo growing on me AlnilamE
And I am realising that I dont now want to play another 2 games I have waiting (no names mentioned) and I do not regret this purchase you are right Elder_III
Finally yes that is what I have been trying to put my finger on about ESO till you pointed it out following my praise of Morrowind - this is an MMO that is more like\feeling of Morrowind than of Obvlivion or Skyrim and that for me is a good thing.

Right I am off to take my weakling Lvl4 Dunmer DK to steal some stuff to raise gold from fences for a bit then throw myself into questing and exploring a bit.
Cheers guys\gals

Oh and did I mention - Look... I've got cleAN SOCKS

That NPC quote just isnt growing old for me!!!

Sausage

Oh its this topic again, theres like million like this.

I think it would be fun to play some MMORPG if it was massive open world game and had fog, can you imagine tons of people exploring the fog, even cooler if the fog appeared once a while back and changed the monsters etc. Some everlasting fog, where true heroes needs to go. Some epic horror dark fantasy game. Gimme now!