Polymorphs: Not just a skin

Alucardo

Here's the thought; while wearing a Polymorph, you gain a skill line aptly titled "Polymorph" in your skills section. It has one special ability that scales to your highest attribute/damage.

Just some examples

IMPERIAL CITY POLYS

Xivkyn Augur

Stamina - A basic stamina frost whip that snares enemies. Its damage is scaled from max stamina and weapon damage
Magicka - Winter's reach; you shoot a blizzard that runs across the ground towards its target, dealing high amounts of frost damage to anyone in its path

Xivkyn Dreadguard

Stamina - That sweet ice aoe that Xivkyn Hammerfists place on the ground. Damage of the aoe is obviously scaled from your max stamina and weapon damage
Magicka - On activation, grants minor ward, minor resolve and reflects the next projectile, which also stuns the caster

Xivkyn Tormentor

Stamina - Blink towards the target, hitting them with a blade that stuns and deals damage. This does have a 1 second cast that is interruptible however.
Magicka - A weaker version of Fear that hits only 2 targets, but curses them with major breach on impact for X seconds

QUEST AND CROWN STORE POLYS

I'm not sure whether or not quest polys such as the skeleton, goblin, scarecrow, dragr and pumpkin dude should have skills attached to them, but it would be fun if they had something that wasn't too overpowered. Something roleplayers could use. If you have any ideas, post below!

The idea is that these skills be useful and a lot of fun to use. The primary reason I thought of it was after playing my stam sorc. I pretty much feel like a Nightblade with no "escape" button or useful utilities other than boundless/thundering, which won't help you much. Being able to plant a powerful AOE like the ice circle would most likely keep people at bay, or at least increase my damage against targets inside it.
Also, it means we're not improving a single class, but everyone gets access to these abilities should they be wearing the poly at the time. Once you remove the poly the skill line is removed, but the point you spent remains there for when you wear it again (similar to vamp/werewolf).

Gidorick

Hmm... interesting idea. So this would be kind of like a vampire or werewolf type mechanic that's entirely toggleable by the player.

My knee jerk reaction is to not like the concept because it seems like there's no negatives, like there is to werewolf and Vampire. I personally look for mechanics that add to the"RPG" side of MMORPG... I would prefer these be skill lines like werewolf and Vampire that include negative side effects. Like maybe the Skelton is prone to being knocked down in a heap of bones. This could be accomplished with polymorphs also so that players experience SOME negative effect while wearing the polymorph.

BUT, setting my own preferences aside and considering this concept as an additive for fun I say yes! I love this idea! One possible issue is if the polymorph is only purchasable in the crown store. I don't personally think it's an issue, but there are those that would.

There is also the possibility that the polymoph skills could be visual effects only... but that would be something just for the RP crowd, so I don't think this is the "answer" to the Pay-to-win possibilities.

If they did this... I kind of think Werewolves and Vamp polymorphs might have to be made. If ZOS were to take the Crown Store Polymorphs and make new world skill lines similar to Werewolves and Vampires (as in they get "infected" by them and must "cure" themselves if they wish to no longer be that "thing") they could have the Crown Store polymorphs as being the way players could hot swap between these different infection type world skills without actually getting infected. So... I would suggest ZOS change the "Vampire Bite" and "Werewolf Bite" in the Crown Store into their respective polymorphs.

So bravo @Alucardo ! Setting my own personal dislike for polymorphs as a thing that exists in an TES title aside, I think this would be a great way to make polymorphs more enticing and making them a more active part of the game experience...

I have a concept that is somewhat similar in function to this: Play as Creature (http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/223454/play-as-creatures-concept/p1) except my idea completely turns the player into the creature and is more for open world PVP.

Madness1

I kind of like the idea, it'd give things a bit of a twist. I do see one issue when it comes to balancing though, especially when it comes to PVP if they're going to add an ability and/or passive.

One thing which could be less problematic they could do that'd add immersion would be to add an exclusive emote to each poly, or slightly change their movement annimations/effects.

Alucardo

Thanks for your feedback @Gidorick
I actually really like your idea on the negative side, and it could work rather well. Some examples,

- Pumpkin weak to blades
- Skeleton prone to knock downs
- Xivkyn weak to shock or FG abilities
- Scarecrow weak to fire
- Draugr looks ridiculous. Let's not make it any worse.

With these negative effects, they are somewhat like your play as a creature idea, because you are turning into that creature, not just wearing their skin. I'd actually really want this to be included tbh now you mention it.

As for the polymorph in the crown store - this is why I barely touched the subject, and suggested they not be very strong if they did have abilities.
Currently the only one there is the Draugr and you barely see any one with this poly, for obvious reasons xD

Gidorick

Madness1 wrote: »

I kind of like the idea, it'd give things a bit of a twist. I do see one issue when it comes to balancing though, especially when it comes to PVP if they're going to add an ability and/or passive.

One thing which could be less problematic they could do that'd add immersion would be to add an exclusive emote to each poly, or slightly change their movement annimations/effects.

Exclusive emotes would be great!

Alucardo

Madness1 wrote: »

I kind of like the idea, it'd give things a bit of a twist. I do see one issue when it comes to balancing though, especially when it comes to PVP if they're going to add an ability and/or passive.

One thing which could be less problematic they could do that'd add immersion would be to add an exclusive emote to each poly, or slightly change their movement annimations/effects.

Yes, the idea was to try and make the ability useful, but not too powerful. Also, to give people access to abilities that their class might need, like my stam sorc needing an "oh crap" button, I can just plant down an Ice AoE and hope people want to dance inside it.

Most of the spells I listed are already used by NPCs, so I'm hoping they can just rip the animations from them to keep immersion.
If the abilities are powerful, they should have a 1 sec cast time like the NPCs do. I want to try and keep things balanced as much as possible, but add a bit more flavour into the game at the same time.

Elsonso

I would prefer that they not do skills that benefit combat in the Crown Store. As long as the polymorphs in there were merely visual and did not change any attributes, resistance, damage, etc, then I would have no problem.

On the other hand, I am also increasingly of the idea that they need to terminate the Werewolf and Vampire systems in ESO, including the skill lines, and just make those visual polymorphs available in the Crown Store. Maybe I am not the best person to render a mainstream opinion on the matter.

Speaking of polymorphs... they said during ESO Live that they were going to get into that later, but I don't recall that they did. I guess I will have to go back and look.

Alucardo

lordrichter wrote: »

I would prefer that they not do skills that benefit combat in the Crown Store. As long as the polymorphs in there were merely visual and did not change any attributes, resistance, damage, etc, then I would have no problem.

This is why I suggested the crown store polys have no combat abilities. The Xivkyn ones are fine because the only way to obtain them is through luck and some hard work in game.

dsalter

Alucardo wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

I would prefer that they not do skills that benefit combat in the Crown Store. As long as the polymorphs in there were merely visual and did not change any attributes, resistance, damage, etc, then I would have no problem.

This is why I suggested the crown store polys have no combat abilities. The Xivkyn ones are fine because the only way to obtain them is through luck and some hard work in game.

and paying for a DLC

Alucardo

dsalter wrote: »

Alucardo wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

I would prefer that they not do skills that benefit combat in the Crown Store. As long as the polymorphs in there were merely visual and did not change any attributes, resistance, damage, etc, then I would have no problem.

This is why I suggested the crown store polys have no combat abilities. The Xivkyn ones are fine because the only way to obtain them is through luck and some hard work in game.

and paying for a DLC

Touché. Well played sir

Gidorick

Alucardo wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

I would prefer that they not do skills that benefit combat in the Crown Store. As long as the polymorphs in there were merely visual and did not change any attributes, resistance, damage, etc, then I would have no problem.

This is why I suggested the crown store polys have no combat abilities. The Xivkyn ones are fine because the only way to obtain them is through luck and some hard work in game.

This is the reason I suggested that if ZOS were to do this, they include ways to become these polymorphs in game but have it function similarly to Werewolves and Vampires. If you get one, you can't get the other until you are cured. THEN sell the polymorphs in the crownstore where you can just put the polymorph on and get the benefits.

Iove

Can I use a polymorph to change from a templar to another class in pvp x)

TX12001rwb17_ESO

Gidorick wrote: »

Hmm... interesting idea. So this would be kind of like a vampire or werewolf type mechanic that's entirely toggleable by the player.

My knee jerk reaction is to not like the concept because it seems like there's no negatives, like there is to werewolf and Vampire. I personally look for mechanics that add to the"RPG" side of MMORPG... I would prefer these be skill lines like werewolf and Vampire that include negative side effects. Like maybe the Skelton is prone to being knocked down in a heap of bones. This could be accomplished with polymorphs also so that players experience SOME negative effect while wearing the polymorph.

BUT, setting my own preferences aside and considering this concept as an additive for fun I say yes! I love this idea! One possible issue is if the polymorph is only purchasable in the crown store. I don't personally think it's an issue, but there are those that would.

There is also the possibility that the polymoph skills could be visual effects only... but that would be something just for the RP crowd, so I don't think this is the "answer" to the Pay-to-win possibilities.

If they did this... I kind of think Werewolves and Vamp polymorphs might have to be made. If ZOS were to take the Crown Store Polymorphs and make new world skill lines similar to Werewolves and Vampires (as in they get "infected" by them and must "cure" themselves if they wish to no longer be that "thing") they could have the Crown Store polymorphs as being the way players could hot swap between these different infection type world skills without actually getting infected. So... I would suggest ZOS change the "Vampire Bite" and "Werewolf Bite" in the Crown Store into their respective polymorphs.

So bravo @Alucardo ! Setting my own personal dislike for polymorphs as a thing that exists in an TES title aside, I think this would be a great way to make polymorphs more enticing and making them a more active part of the game experience...

I have a concept that is somewhat similar in function to this: Play as Creature (http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/223454/play-as-creatures-concept/p1) except my idea completely turns the player into the creature and is more for open world PVP.

Here is a weakness, if you look like a daedra you suffer a weakness to silver like the daedra, if you look like an undead you suffer a weakness to silver like the undead.

Acrolas

You'll run into Argonian Syndrome here, where the lack of abilities will outweigh the unique appearance. So instead of wearing what you like, you'll wear what has the best bonuses.

I'd rather have it that you can just dye any weapon/costume/poly/mount/pet in the game. We'll see some crazy colorways but at least that keeps everything strictly cosmetic and personalized.