Official Discussion Thread for "Dark Brotherhood: First Look"

Ghostbane

Fasold666 wrote: »

Still no pvp-update, nice!

You seen the IC stuff.. right?

ShadowHvo

Changes to vampire gameplay..

Now you got me excited and worried!

Can we get a sneakpeak?

Docmandu

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official discussion thread for the blog article Dark Brotherhood: First Look. We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of the next DLC! Which feature are you most excited about?

- Cyrodiil lag fixes
- sound fixes
- stuck in-combat fixes
- class rebalancing
- all the promised fixes delayed to DB DLC
- ..

SpazzmanNDQ

I know mag DKs got a boost last update but it would be great if them finished them by adding a high damage skill and an execute.

Easy fix would be to up the whip damage and have that be your high damage skill and change stone fist in to some sort of execute skill

Elsonso

So, not that this is a bad thing, but it is the expected "assassination" version of the Thieves Guild. I think that the DLC content, namely the Gold Coast and Guild, will hold its own.

It is actually the non DLC content that has me taking notice.

I have reservations about how they intend to move forward, post Veteran Ranks. Will the Champion System be reduced to a Veteran System with bigger numbers?

Can we have LUA control over the nameplates for customization?

Since I store my crafting materials in the bank so multiple characters can access them, I expect the crafting bags to be more bother than they are worth.

While the balance changes have little potential to ruin my day, I am not worried, but am I going to have to sift through pages of QQ to get real information and thoughts about how to use this stuff?

How many weeks of broken game will we have before they fix half and leave the rest for later?

ClockworkArc

I was not expecting so many awesome base game updates. This dlc is already 10x more exciting than Thieve's guild for me. I'm also really glad you've decided to go down the path to reinvigorate Craglorn.

Can you please explain what is meant by rebalancing for the IC dungeons? I was more likely expecting a rebalance of the other four man dungeons to be provide a clearer take off honestly.

Ourorboros

Changes to traits: Does that mean garbage traits will become useful, or useful traits will become garbage? Or both? Happy to see some changes here, and hope they put some real thought into the changes.

BlueThingys

SpazzmanNDQ wrote: »

I know mag DKs got a boost last update but it would be great if them finished them by adding a high damage skill and an execute.

Easy fix would be to up the whip damage and have that be your high damage skill and change stone fist in to some sort of execute skill

I disagree with this. My Magicka DK is a nord (first character race mistake) so i don't get ANY benefits from those passives, but i am still pulling some amazing DPS. Buff the damage on the whip? It already hits for ~9-13k+ crits depending on gear and it's a fast spammable, on top of the several DoT's ticking away constantly. I love my magicka DK and do NOT want it to be buffed because it doesn't NEED it.

It just sounds like you want yours buffed just because it's the class you play.

Lightninvash

I wonder what new pet we will get for playing the DB o.o it should be something awesome looking prob. Maybe it wont have such an odd noise as the ones so far from Wrothgar and TG

Cously

I'll do some lobby for my class:

- Stam Whip + Buffed Damage both morphs
- Execute
- Some escape like bolt style but instead the DK leaves a fire trail on his path, similar to the crypt of hearts boss

All changes are great so far, can't wait to nom on these patch notes.

Question: Why VDSA, AA and HRC aren't mentioned in the scaling/rebalance?
Question: Do you ever plan to complete veteran modes on the remaining grope dungeons?

P.S.: I never planned to quit but this news just renewed my hopes on you!

BlueThingys

@ZOS_GinaBruno, When are you guys (if at all) planning on fixing the constant disconnects in Orsinium? I have to walk to turn in writs, i can't sprint, use my horse at all, open my menu, etc... If i do get lucky enough to turn in my writs, then i am faced with 10-15 disconnects until i can get out of Orsinium.

failkiwib16_ESO

• The removal of Veteran Ranks

I feel like a 5 year old eating candy out of a bowl, and then a big mean hand suddently appears and grabs the bowl of candy and takes it away from me.

• Poison-Making, for those who want to be especially nasty to their enemies

I fear it will bring us new exploits and bugs. At least from a crafters view the useless flowers will do good for more than just levelling a new alt in crafting.

• Toggle-able nameplates for all characters

I had to ask around to find out what this means, it's a huge bonus to roleplayers ^^

• Further improvements and new features to the Grouping Tool including a group ready check, vote-to-kick system, and updated queue timer

I can imagine a lot of trolling comming from the vote-to-kick system, as many players do dungeon runs with their friends and guildies, so this puts the players without a network of friends and guildies in a bad position in a group.
- looking forward to see the new features of the grouping tool though.

• Balance improvements to combat and gameplay abilities including the Fighters Guild skill line, Vampires and stamina abilities

I fear this will bring us new exploits and bugs.

• Sanctum Ophidia Trial scaling, rebalancing and the addition of a Normal and Veteran mode

Thank you
With normal mode, does that mean that non-veterans can enter Craglorn now or?

• In addition, we have numerous changes and improvements for previous DLC game packs including a new District capture system for Imperial City, and rebalancing for the Imperial City dungeons.

Well thank you, at least pvp players will get more incentive to pvp in IC, other than just ganking pve'ers. Wonderful news.

---

Race change?
Barber shop?

Elloa

code65536 wrote: »

rebalancing for the Imperial City dungeons

So, not only are we not going to get any new 4-man content, they're also gonna hit vWGT and vICP with the nerfhammer? (Unless by "rebalancing", they mean "buffing", but somehow I doubt that's what they meant.)

4-person content is such a huge part of this game. It's a MMO, so why in blazes is there so much focus on solo questing in each update? And while I do enjoy running trials, most people in this game have a hard time getting together 12-person groups for that. But the 4-person content? That's fun group content (remember, this is a MMO!) that you can easily clobber together. And we haven't had any updates to 4-person content since the introduction of vICP and vWGT.

So, no new 4-person content. No updates or scaling to vDSA. And now, it looks like we're likely to see nerfs to the only two pieces of challenging 4-person content in the game. Please, no.

I'm a little bit worried on that one too.
I know that ICP and WGT are hard dungeons that you skip when you randomly get them on a ALT character. Cause let's be honest, this is not something you want to do with your lowbie tank you are leveling in medium armor, with no undaunted skills, together with random Vet16 players that will be super pissed at you for failing miserably.
BUT, that doesn't mean those 2 Dungeons need to be nerfed. NO. Remove them from the RANDOM rotation. That's all.

Eshelmen

Excellent post and a great amount of details to tease us with. Thank you.

My question is for the crafting bags.Are these limited? What's the max items they can hold? And will you guys finally allow siege equipment to stack now too?

StrangerTelvani

I wish they will add violence to the game!

Dominoid

Lightninvash wrote: »

I wonder what new pet we will get for playing the DB o.o it should be something awesome looking prob. Maybe it wont have such an odd noise as the ones so far from Wrothgar and TG

It's a Badger. (Seriously)

I'm apparently wrong. There's a badger pet coming with DB I swear.

Cinbri

"Balance improvements to combat and gameplay abilities including the Fighters Guild skill line, Vampires and stamina abilities"
I hope it doesn't mean that magicka templars still will be just underdog class in PvP with useless skills and only best healbot builds.

SpazzmanNDQ

BlueThingys wrote: »

SpazzmanNDQ wrote: »

I know mag DKs got a boost last update but it would be great if them finished them by adding a high damage skill and an execute.

Easy fix would be to up the whip damage and have that be your high damage skill and change stone fist in to some sort of execute skill

I disagree with this. My Magicka DK is a nord (first character race mistake) so i don't get ANY benefits from those passives, but i am still pulling some amazing DPS. Buff the damage on the whip? It already hits for ~9-13k+ crits depending on gear and it's a fast spammable, on top of the several DoT's ticking away constantly. I love my magicka DK and do NOT want it to be buffed because it doesn't NEED it.

It just sounds like you want yours buffed just because it's the class you play.

Sorry I actually play NB this is my first DK and I haven't gotten him to vet ranks yet but when the other classes have high damage skill like Frags, Dark Flare, Merciless Resolve I look for that skill on my DK and it isn't there a 9k whip hit is cool but where is the burst in PvP you don't HV time to apply all your dots and hope they don't get cleansed or healed through. Sure you can talons a guy and spam whip but those skills aren't cheap.

On my NB I can spam strife all day it only cost between 500-700 magicka depending on what I'm wearing. The cheap skill on DK is Burning Embers but is a super long dot. Maybe they don't need to change whip damage but in know Stone fist and Firery Breath are skills that aren't used that much so maybe one of those could be the burst skill.

As far as execute goes I don't really care I don't use them excepts for RO on my Templar but it would be nice if all class had the same options.

kojou

What I am excited about:

Craft Bags for ESO Plus members
Sanctum Ophidia Trial scaling, rebalancing and the addition of a Normal and Veteran mode
District capture system for Imperial City
additional character slots (Time to level a Stamplar )

What I am worried about:

rebalancing for the Imperial City dungeons.
Balance improvements to combat and gameplay abilities including the Fighters Guild skill line, Vampires and stamina abilities
Improvements and adjustments to Item Traits

What I am "meh..." about

The removal of Veteran Ranks
Poison-Making, for those who want to be especially nasty to their enemies
A new passive skill line exclusive to members of the Dark Brotherhood

_________________________________________________________________________

Please don't nerf VWGT. I like how hard it is right now. If anything it needs to be a little harder.

Whenever I see the words "Balance Improvements" my first thought is what skills are they going to wreck this time.

Maybe the new passives for DB will be more interesting than TG, but somehow I doubt it.

ZOS_GinaBruno

Dominoid wrote: »

Lightninvash wrote: »

I wonder what new pet we will get for playing the DB o.o it should be something awesome looking prob. Maybe it wont have such an odd noise as the ones so far from Wrothgar and TG

It's a Badger. (Seriously)

It won't be a pet...

Llevndryn

Goose bumps on my neck...

myrrrorb14_ESO

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Dominoid wrote: »

Lightninvash wrote: »

I wonder what new pet we will get for playing the DB o.o it should be something awesome looking prob. Maybe it wont have such an odd noise as the ones so far from Wrothgar and TG

It's a Badger. (Seriously)

It won't be a pet...

I'm guessing it's a giant Mudcrab mount.

Dominoid

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Dominoid wrote: »

Lightninvash wrote: »

I wonder what new pet we will get for playing the DB o.o it should be something awesome looking prob. Maybe it wont have such an odd noise as the ones so far from Wrothgar and TG

It's a Badger. (Seriously)

It won't be a pet...

Have we mentioned datamining isn't an exact science. ;-)

Latin

Not a big fan of stealth oriented, cloak and dagger gameplay, I hope there is more to the Dark Brotherhood DLC content than meets the eyes in the First Look teaser.

All the costumes, motifs, titles, ranks and crown store cosmetics development are so superficial. I'd rather they focus on getting the mechanics and skill/class/race/content balancing right and solving the ongoing performance/latency issues instead.

Removal of VR is the big one, they really need to get this right. It has to be more than just a name-change from Veteran Rank to Champion Level.

SO scaling is encouraging, but again, would greatly depend on how the level scaling from the removal of VR turns out to be.

There has been so many 'Cyrodiil performance improvements' over the past year or so, without much being particularly noticeable. As such the phrase has lost all meanings to me. Somewhere, there is still a glimmer of hope, but that's all it is.

I wonder what 'toggle-able nameplates' entail. Implied name-change on the horizon?

Item traits adjustments are probably long overdue.

I wonder whether the DLC release will be scheduled to coincide with the launch in Japan; seems like a good marketing opportunity to bundle them together.

Danisheraser

It all looks very good and I applaud Zenimax for keeping up with new DLC. I am however, personally, very tired of crime-specific updates. Yes yes, I know all the hardcore DB-fans are going to yell at me for this, but it seems as if zenimax want's us all to be criminals either killing or stealing. Where is the choice in that? Please give those of us, who plays lawful characters, something to identify ourselves with, in opposition to the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood .

Enodoc

staracino_ESO wrote: »

I have to agree that the base game changes look decent right now. The DLC preview makes me think it is going to turn out to be a carbon copy of the TG DLC (a few hours of content, boring dailies and one motif to camp bosses forever to get). Hopefully they give us a bigger zone with more to do, and integrate the DB into the rest of Tamriel better.

Size-wise, the Gold Coast should be much bigger than Hew's Bane. I'm hoping that because of this, the Gold Coast will have its own storyline separate from the Dark Brotherhood story. The region is too big for its content to be entirely DB-centred. Hew's Bane, conversely, wasn't really big enough for its own storyline, and most of the TG story didn't leave Abah's Landing (and when it did, it was to the rest of Tamriel or its own instances).

lordrichter wrote: »

I have reservations about how they intend to move forward, post Veteran Ranks. Will the Champion System be reduced to a Veteran System with bigger numbers?

I seriously hope not. The Champion System shouldn't change at all from what it currently is, and one of the main parts of that is that your "Champion Rank" is not visible.

Cuyler

Dark Brotherhood DLC Game Pack Features & Content
•Join the Dark Brotherhood and become an assassin for hire
•Visit the Gold Coast, available to characters of all levels, where you can explore Anvil and Kvatch for the first time since The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
•Hours of exciting story content and quests that will have you revisiting your favorite areas of Tamriel
- I'm not too "excited" to do content that I can faceroll through after a few hours. Please, please make this content a little more difficult for those of us who actually know how to do basic mechanics like dodge-rolling, blocking and interrupting. I want to keep buying these DLCs, but don't want to feel like the content is a waste of money because I get bored almost immediately after I one-shot the first npc.

•New, repeatable quest content involving Contracts and the Black Sacrament
•Challenging new group bosses and delves to conquer

IMO, at this point, can't justify the cost of these DLCs for simply QOL and balancing changes, a couple group bosses and some repeatable (mind-numbingly repetitive) daily quests. These DLCs need to have new group content ie. vet dungeons to continue holding the majority of people's attention. You've focused heavily on your solo players in the last two DLCs. Please widen the net to include more demographics.

•A new passive skill line exclusive to members of the Dark Brotherhood
•Unique costumes, motifs and item sets inspired by the deadly Dark Brotherhood
To recap here, looking at these highlights the DLC appears to be more super-easy solo and fluff stuff. I will wait to purchase it to see how good the new item sets are as that is the only thing immediately apparent here that grabs my attention. This seems like a TG copy without a Trial. Where are the vet dungeons?

Base Game Patch Features & Content
•The removal of Veteran Ranks
•Poison-Making, for those who want to be especially nasty to their enemies
I can't wait!

•Toggle-able nameplates for all characters
•Character name display for Xbox One and PlayStation®4
Gratz consolers!

•Item locking to help prevent accidental deconstruction of your most valuable items
Nice. I still find it funny you guys highlight these things though. This should be standard for any AAA MMO, not a "feature" of an upcoming patch. Could keep it in the ...."and more". Maybe some people get excited seeing this, I think...why was this not already there?

•Further improvements and new features to the Grouping Tool including a group ready check, vote-to-kick system, and updated queue timer
Awesome......trolls beware!

•Tons of updates to the Crown Store including additional character slots, motif previews, and hats
This is great! but when is the real meaty stuff coming? Race change? name change? Character re-customization?

•Craft Bags for ESO Plus members
/tears of joy

•Ongoing Cyrodiil performance improvements
I'm not even gonna go here....you guys need to get your act together on this.....Soon (tm)

•Sanctum Ophidia Trial scaling, rebalancing and the addition of a Normal and Veteran mode
This I'm excited to see ramped up. Will we be seeing v16 vicious ophidian? infallible aether?

In addition, we have numerous changes and improvements for previous DLC game packs including a new District capture system for Imperial City, and rebalancing for the Imperial City dungeons.
District capture sounds sweet! When is 2v2, 4v4 and 6v6 coming?

•Improvements and adjustments to Item Traits
•Balance improvements to combat and gameplay abilities including the Fighters Guild skill line, Vampires and stamina abilities
•…and more!
I saved this for last because I think it's really important at this stage in this game ZOS that you stop completely overhauling existing skill lines and core game systems every....single....patch. The CS was added, the game was balanced, vet rank caps increased, the game was balanced, dungeon scaling introduced, the game was balanced, and now vet rank removal. It simply too much to keep up with even for the hardcore players. Take this opportunity with the VR removal "to get it right" as you've stated in your ESO-live casts and give a break going forward. You've got better things to be working on, like new content, bug fixes and cyro lag. Things that actually keep your customers in game.

Cuyler

Elloa wrote: »

code65536 wrote: »

rebalancing for the Imperial City dungeons

So, not only are we not going to get any new 4-man content, they're also gonna hit vWGT and vICP with the nerfhammer? (Unless by "rebalancing", they mean "buffing", but somehow I doubt that's what they meant.)

4-person content is such a huge part of this game. It's a MMO, so why in blazes is there so much focus on solo questing in each update? And while I do enjoy running trials, most people in this game have a hard time getting together 12-person groups for that. But the 4-person content? That's fun group content (remember, this is a MMO!) that you can easily clobber together. And we haven't had any updates to 4-person content since the introduction of vICP and vWGT.

So, no new 4-person content. No updates or scaling to vDSA. And now, it looks like we're likely to see nerfs to the only two pieces of challenging 4-person content in the game. Please, no.

I'm a little bit worried on that one too.
I know that ICP and WGT are hard dungeons that you skip when you randomly get them on a ALT character. Cause let's be honest, this is not something you want to do with your lowbie tank you are leveling in medium armor, with no undaunted skills, together with random Vet16 players that will be super pissed at you for failing miserably.
BUT, that doesn't mean those 2 Dungeons need to be nerfed. NO. Remove them from the RANDOM rotation. That's all.

I need those two keys

Edit: Oh i see. You mean the random activity rotation?

JD2013

Contracted murder and poison making. Happy happy joy joy.

Enodoc

I hope district capture is for all districts and not just 3...