Official Discussion Thread for "ESO – The Year Ahead"

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

This is the official discussion thread for the blog article ESO – The Year Ahead. Read this special message by ESO Game Director Matt Firor to learn what is in store for ESO in 2016!

Cinbri

"PTS in early February" -Nice. But when will we hear more determinated date?
Say "on ESO Live", Say "on ESO Live" please

ShadowHvo

other features we are working on include scrolling combat text (which will go live with the Thieves Guild DLC in Q1), character nameplates,

Please PLEASE ensure this is 100% optional, and give everyone the option to -not- let others see their character nameplates.

And I really hope that you guys won't neglect the importance of the visual response in the game because of scrolling combat text. There are many of us here who're playing for the Elder Scrolls Experience, and I want to see visually on screen what is going on with effects and abilities, and I have absolutely no desire to be forced into focusing on a bunch of text scrolling down the screen.

Bloody-Goodbyes

What is a character nameplate exactly?

ShadowHvo

Bloody-Goodbyes wrote: »

What is a character nameplate exactly?

A floating plate above your head displaying the characters name.

The difference between that and our current "nameplates", is that our current nameplates only shows up when you hover over your target. Normal, ordinary MMO nameplates (Like the ones they're talking about) are nameplates that are fixed above all characters heads, no matter the guy you target.

Aka, if you have 20 people on screen, all those 20 people will have a big fat plate above their heads displaying their names, and it moves with them.

... I don't want them, and here is why:

Screenshot is stolen from google, but as a former wow player I can 100% confirm this is how it looks like.

timidobserver

Forum explosion in 3...2...1...

Baconlad

Zos...i can not tell you what this means to me and a large portion of player base in sure. Please continue to give us future plans and current projects. Matter of fact I really wish you would keep players informed more over time instead of one massive write-up of plans. There are a few other small things (like templar charge...still) that I hope you are planning and wish you would give insight to. The write up you just posted has cemented my dedication and my wife's for this next year. My only complaint about the champion system is and will remain STOP GEAR GATING US, we are not playing a grind MMO. The small grind that's is needed is the grind to get new and interesting gear sets. I do not like outleveling old content like DSA, trials, craglorn, or the idea of outleveling wrothgar. Gear gating post level fifty through champion points takes away from theorycrafting due to not having as many options available. It also reduces the headache for you to not have to give more powerful gear, but more OPTIONS, that is what theorycrafting is, and that is what this game was about in the first year, when v16 was introduced, our options fell out the window, and forced us to regrind for gear we already grinded for...very off putting for a large majority of players...thank you for this write up and please continue to give us updates for the best mmorpg on the market! Maybe a few buddies will come back who I haven't seen in months!

Kwivur

I demand a re-roll

strikeback1247

Awww I was hoping that the vet removal was coming in Q1

petraeus1

Though I understand the difficulties with Justice PvP, I can't help to be disappointed. It was innovative, it was cool, it was something that would make ESO stand apart, it seemed as if you were already so far developing it. I would have loved it if it was only in one or two DLC zones with battle-leveling, have a lore-friendly reason why towns there needed player guards, have it limited that way. But hey. Maybe a year from now you'll look back at the work you guys did on it and reconsider!

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

ShadowHvo wrote: »

other features we are working on include scrolling combat text (which will go live with the Thieves Guild DLC in Q1), character nameplates,

Please PLEASE ensure this is 100% optional, and give everyone the option to -not- let others see their character nameplates.

And I really hope that you guys won't neglect the importance of the visual response in the game because of scrolling combat text. There are many of us here who're playing for the Elder Scrolls Experience, and I want to see visually on screen what is going on with effects and abilities, and I have absolutely no desire to be forced into focusing on a bunch of text scrolling down the screen.

Nameplates will have toggles so you can choose to turn them on or off. The same goes for scrolling combat text. (And both will be off by default.) We're dedicated to ensuring players have enough visual feedback during combat to play with SCT turned off.

Legoless

Can we expect Thieves Guild info in January, or will it be closer to PTS release?

ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Cinbri wrote: »

"PTS in early February" -Nice. But when will we hear more determinated date?
Say "on ESO Live", Say "on ESO Live" please

Unfortunately, we won't have the PTS date to share during this Friday's ESO Live, but you won't have to wait too long.

ArvenAldmeri

What will happen with those attribute points we got for veteran ranks?

timidobserver

petraeus1 wrote: »

Though I understand the difficulties with Justice PvP, I can't help to be disappointed. It was innovative, it was cool, it seemed as if you were already so far developing it. I would have loved it if it was only in one or two DLC zones with battle-leveling, have a lore-friendly reason why towns there needed player guards, have it limited that way. But hey.

I agree.

@ZOS_BrianWheeler With the nixxing of the justice system part 2, the PvP community now has no clue what you are working on in 2016 if anything? Care to provide some enlightenment beyond fixing lag.

strikeback1247

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Cinbri wrote: »

"PTS in early February" -Nice. But when will we hear more determinated date?
Say "on ESO Live", Say "on ESO Live" please

Unfortunately, we won't have the PTS date to share during this Friday's ESO Live, but you won't have to wait too long.

Sooooo... "soon" ?

:^)

Takllin

While I'm happy we finally got a Road Ahead article, I'm a little disappointed in the lack of new information.

This seems to me, just a summary of everything you've said on other mediums throughout the past year, with a few tidbits of new good and bad information(TG update on PTS early February, LFGuild system and the bad of no Justice System PvP, no Spellcrafting this year, no reliable way to debug/fix Cyrodil issue).

I would have liked to hear more about your plans for the second half of the year, at least a teaser.

That said, I'm thankful for the Road Ahead, I liked it. I wished we had more communication/transparency especially from the people at the top.

Xsorus

Damn was hoping the VR change was going in the next patch *sign*

Also see the PvP justice system is going away...Spell Crafting also on a back burner.

Sausage

I really hope zone chat does not come to Cyrodil. It just leads to organized zergs, Im having tons of more fun on console than I had on PC.

Ghanima_Atreides

ArvenAldmeri wrote: »

What will happen with those attribute points we got for veteran ranks?

Indeed; will current VR characters have theirs removed? It seems like the only way to avoid a permanent advantage on the part of the established player base although I dread the raging that will come with it...

Alorier

More stuff to make the game lag even more ! The end is nigh

Narmaeril

I am looking forward to the Thieves Guild DLC! I am excited about the new story and quests. Let's hear more about this soon

But you get a big sad face from me for....
"Spellcrafting is on the back burner for now."
I love the magic in Elder Scrolls and ESO... Can't wait for this new creative system for players. Please do hurry up, will you?

Greetings

ArvenAldmeri

Ghanima_Atreides wrote: »

ArvenAldmeri wrote: »

What will happen with those attribute points we got for veteran ranks?

Indeed; will current VR characters have theirs removed? It seems like the only way to avoid a permanent advantage on the part of the established player base although I dread the raging that will come with it...

I am afraid though that if they remove those 15 points it is gonna destroy lot of builds. They should transfer those also to the champion system. Till CP 160 you gain one attribute per 10 CP.

Jakhajay

Still no words on buyable additional character slots

Disappointed with the announcement that PVP will not be coming to the Justice system, but I understand, it would be really hard (nigh impossible) to balance. Just look at what PVP balance has done to PVE gameplay and compund it.

ListerJMC

Most of it sounds great, looking forward to the DLCs! I'm actually kind of happy I'll have time to get one of my characters to VR16 before the change hits, since I've been working towards it at the moment.

I was kind of hoping appearance change would be sooner though, going to have to keep my poor purple Redguard covered up a bit longer it seems .

Longer term, expect to see information about systems like a character customization shop so you can change your character's gender, appearance, name, etc., player housing, and other systems that we'll announce in the future. We'll have much more information about all of these as the year progresses.

Gidorick

•We will not be adding in the previously discussed PvP component of the Justice System.

Divinius

We will not be adding in the previously discussed PvP component of the Justice System. We caveated this many times - as I said at the ESO QuakeCon presentation in 2014, it was always going to be very difficult making it fun, but not exploitable. When introducing new systems to the game, our number one goal is to make sure that we don't introduce new problems. Having players enforce justice on the criminal activity of other players has the potential to introduce imbalances and other issues that greatly outweigh any potential gameplay benefits. The game's central concept of "PvP in PvP areas and be safe in safe areas" needs to stay the way it is.

Thank you, thank you, for finally officially killing that horrible idea. I love you.

Xsorus

Man an entire month of Jan with no fixes to pvp; and most of Feb as well...plus magicka dk still being awful... The wait between patches is becoming to long

Saturn

It's a shame Spellcrafting is being pushed off towards next year (or later) as I think it would help in making every class more equal in their ability to perform every role. Plus, when it was explained how it would work it sounded really interesting and exciting.

I kind of wish you would have mentioned something along the lines of "instanced PvP arenas", which is something I really feel is missing from the game. You know, like a matchmaking system that pairs you up against a random team in a 12v12 Capture the Sweetroll, or some other kind of team based mode.
Currently PvP (regardless of server issues) is nothing but "biggest zerg rules" and it has been that way as long as I can remember (something which is currently an even bigger issue due to AoE caps, etc.).
I actually dislike Cyrodiil a lot, which is a shame because I always wanted the sort of "Alliance vs. Alliance vs. Alliance" to work, but when it is all about being part of the alliance with the most players and biggest zergs then it diminishes the whole thing (GW2 was the same way when I last played it), plus if you are a solo player without a group you are usually f**ked.
I think giving PvPers the choice between several types of PvP is always good to keep the game interesting, though world PvP outside of Cyrodiil can obviously never be a thing due to the alliance phasing.

Sidenote: The ~9 months between Nov 2014 and August 2015 was a pretty significant content draught for ESO, which will hopefully never happen again now that you are on track to releasing big content batches quarterly.

I can't wait to see what the Thieves Guild in the 2nd era will be like!

Arthur_Spoonfondle

With the passing of the months and years the disappointment, in Zenimax's handling and development of ESO, grows.

Lettigall

Class and build balancing should have been placed somewhere in that thread, hope it's not been looked as minor issue from ZOS.