New WARDEN Class Will (?) Introduce New 1-HAND & RUNE Weapon Skill Line

fata13xception_ESO

As many of you already know, a 1handplusrune (i.e., 1-Hand & Rune) game asset was recently discovered/pointed out on reddit.

Alone, this is a really exciting development...

...when paired with the new Warden class, however, it becomes a much bigger discovery.

Now, there's a very important misconception among some who have watched the Morrowind trailer -- that the Warden was shown wielding a 2-Hand sword -- and that this observation renders the 1-Hand & Rune skill line unlikely (at least for the immediate future).

The greater part of the trailer does show the Warden engaging his enemy while swinging his sword with both hands- it is true. Taking a closer look at the footage, however, it is clear that the Warden is shown wielding a sword with two hands... not wielding a 2-hand sword. This is critical! Though he is wielding his sword with both hands, one can see the scabbard hanging from the Warden's left hip... prominently at times. Swinging a 1-handed sword with both hands is not a foreign concept; i.e., Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

You're right, however, in that it does not prove that a 1-Hand & Rune weapon skill line is inbound...

...so let me direct you to ZeniMax hinting/confirming this very thing in the official trailer moments before the footage cuts away to announce Morrowind; i.e., see the ~3 second clip starting at 3:25. Note how the Warden prepares for the incoming threat by reaching for the sword with his right hand while preparing a spell (i.e., rune) in his left hand...



This new class has a new way of fighting.

I'm confident we've not seen the last of Morrowind's incoming systems.

fata13xception_ESO

imgur album

ArchMikem

Wait wait WAIT wait wait.....

....WE'RE GETTING BARE HANDED MAGIC??

AlMcFly

That sounds awesome if true. Won't affect me as I'm a full-time tank, but still eager to see people employing this weapon line. Who knows? Maybe there will be runes that replace shields in terms of stats. That would blow my mind.

jcaceresw

I saw the video multiple times and I believe he drops the sword before launching that ice spell with his hand. The sword drop happens off-screen but I see he makes a gesture of putting apart the sword to the ground. Later, we see him using it with 2 hands before getting stuck into the machine chest and preparing to launch his ultimate.

danno8

Would be great if all the melee magicka builds finally got to use a dual wield option that hits with magic stuff and returns magicka.

Sigtric

Back in early January, Pete Hines tweeted

https://twitter.com/DCDeacon/status/815612922605010946

One thing was Morrowind.. what is the other? The class? Or does the class count as part of Morrowind? Maybe the other thing is new skill lines?

Seraphayel

ArchMikem wrote: »

Wait wait WAIT wait wait.....

....WE'RE GETTING BARE HANDED MAGIC??

No. That's nothing more than a speculation yet.

Yolokin_Swagonborn

Will it be craftable? So, like dual wield, where you craft two swords, if you were to make a crafted set or farm a dropped set you would have to farm/craft a 1h sword and a rune?

Bet those runes only drop in the new content.

WTB Rune of the Warlock 500k gold.


Just kidding it will probably be BoP so you have to buy the DLC "Expansion" to get it.

Tryxus

Awww I was hoping for Illusion Staff

austinwalter87ub17_ESO

As much as I'd like it to be true. I believe it's a stretch. It's not easy to implement all the art styles, as well all customizing all the loot tables throughout the entire game. That's alot of data entry.

AlMcFly

Yolokin_Swagonborn wrote: »

WTB Rune of the Warlock 500k gold.

The only Rune I want is this rune:

fata13xception_ESO

jcaceresw wrote: »

I saw the video multiple times and I believe he drops the sword before launching that ice spell with his hand. The sword drop happens off-screen but I see he makes a gesture of putting apart the sword to the ground. Later, we see him using it with 2 hands before getting stuck into the machine chest and preparing to launch his ultimate.

Yes, and that sword reappears in his scabbard after the dust settles... the same sword. Watch his scabbard throughout the trailer (even from the very beginning)... were he wielding a 2-hand sword to start out with, the scabbard on his hip would not be empty.

This right here at 1:22 is the first we see of the Warden... note his empty scabbard.

timidobserver

austinwalter87ub17_ESO wrote: »

As much as I'd like it to be true. I believe it's a stretch. It's not easy to implement all the art styles, as well all customizing all the loot tables throughout the entire game. That's alot of data entry.

I would agree with this for a normal DLC, but they are selling this one and only accepting cash for payment on top of the subscription.

EldritchPenguin

Yis. Yisssssssssssss. Enhance the master raceness of the already master race Magicka builds.

Zero_Leaf

That trailer also shows Warden using bear animal companion along side with ice magic. I know it confirmed to be one of Warden's ultimates but ....

Universal animal companion crafting skill line confirmed? I don't have any fancy datamained icon file names, but I'm so huped about sinking all that rubedo leather somewhere. Choo-choo, all aboard my universal combat companion crafting skill line!

Ethasa

This, if true, is awesome.
I can finally use one weapon without it being taller than my character.

djyrb

Interesting analysis, but I wonder what purpose it serves ZOS to leave a new weapon type out of the initial announcement. It seems like it could be a strong selling point for the expansion so I don't see why it would be held back from the hype explosion last week.

AlMcFly

djyrb wrote: »

Interesting analysis, but I wonder what purpose it serves ZOS to leave a new weapon type out of the initial announcement. It seems like it could be a strong selling point for the expansion so I don't see why it would be held back from the hype explosion last week.

One explanation is that it may not be tied to the actual expansion. It may come out in the same update as Morrowind, but it might be made available to ALL players regardless of their ownership of Morrowind. To date, they have never tied a weapon skill line to any DLC, they may not start.

Tapio75

I believe these runes are associated with the long waited Spellcrafting, might be coming as last content update this year

NBrookus

djyrb wrote: »

Interesting analysis, but I wonder what purpose it serves ZOS to leave a new weapon type out of the initial announcement. It seems like it could be a strong selling point for the expansion so I don't see why it would be held back from the hype explosion last week.

Because a single announcement with everything in it would generate "x" excitement and go away.

By trickling out new information from time to time, they keep excitement levels up and generate greater anticipation. No doubt each reveal will spur some amount of pre-sales.

Now as to whether this is true... there could be creative license in the trailer and we shouldn't take it as gospel.

Sigtric

AlMcFly wrote: »

djyrb wrote: »

Interesting analysis, but I wonder what purpose it serves ZOS to leave a new weapon type out of the initial announcement. It seems like it could be a strong selling point for the expansion so I don't see why it would be held back from the hype explosion last week.

One explanation is that it may not be tied to the actual expansion. It may come out in the same update as Morrowind, but it might be made available to ALL players regardless of their ownership of Morrowind. To date, they have never tied a weapon skill line to any DLC, they may not start.

It most likely would have to be a core design feature and can't be tied to a paid update. New items would have to be put into the loot tables that everyone uses if there is actually an off-hand rune to be held. So yeah, supposing this is real, it might be in the base game patch that everyone has access to when Morrowind launches, or heck, maybe before or after even.

fata13xception_ESO

djyrb wrote: »

Interesting analysis, but I wonder what purpose it serves ZOS to leave a new weapon type out of the initial announcement. It seems like it could be a strong selling point for the expansion so I don't see why it would be held back from the hype explosion last week.

Plenty of time, my sweet. Plenty of time.

fata13xception_ESO

NBrookus wrote: »

djyrb wrote: »

Interesting analysis, but I wonder what purpose it serves ZOS to leave a new weapon type out of the initial announcement. It seems like it could be a strong selling point for the expansion so I don't see why it would be held back from the hype explosion last week.

Because a single announcement with everything in it would generate "x" excitement and go away.

By trickling out new information from time to time, they keep excitement levels up and generate greater anticipation. No doubt each reveal will spur some amount of pre-sales.

Now as to whether this is true... there could be creative license in the trailer and we shouldn't take it as gospel.

That's my thinking too. Plenty of time to keep us salivating.

And regarding creative license, that could indeed be true.

Karius_Imalthar

Wasn't that in LotRO? Wait, i'm mixing when they introduced separate warden and runekeeper classes.

Sharee

"The greater part of the trailer does show the Warden engaging his enemy while swinging his sword with both hands- it is true. Taking a closer look at the footage, however, it is clear that the Warden is shown wielding a sword with two hands... not wielding a 2-hand sword. This is critical! Though he is wielding his sword with both hands, one can see the scabbard hanging from the Warden's left hip..."

I really don't want to ruin anyone's parade, but that's a promotional video - it is quite possible the company that made it has no deep (or any really) knowledge of TESO mechanics. They might just have given him the scabbard on his side because they thought it looked cool, unknowing that in-game only 1-h weapons have them.

fata13xception_ESO

Sigtric wrote: »

AlMcFly wrote: »

djyrb wrote: »

Interesting analysis, but I wonder what purpose it serves ZOS to leave a new weapon type out of the initial announcement. It seems like it could be a strong selling point for the expansion so I don't see why it would be held back from the hype explosion last week.

One explanation is that it may not be tied to the actual expansion. It may come out in the same update as Morrowind, but it might be made available to ALL players regardless of their ownership of Morrowind. To date, they have never tied a weapon skill line to any DLC, they may not start.

It most likely would have to be a core design feature and can't be tied to a paid update. New items would have to be put into the loot tables that everyone uses if there is actually an off-hand rune to be held. So yeah, supposing this is real, it might be in the base game patch that everyone has access to when Morrowind launches, or heck, maybe before or after even.

Don't see it being a physical, handheld rune. I hope not. That would be terrible.

Tapio75

If its true, its for spellcrafting :P

NewBlacksmurf

Ppl are running with this....can we chill until something more solid is said or at least data-mined.

They are still testing stuff before it hits PTS so the only ideas would be those invited up but there's NDA...

There two other threads running with speculation too

Kodrac

Never take game play from a trailer.

Enodoc

That 1 Hand and Rune icon isn't new. It's been in the data files since launch, and is a remnant of a pre-beta weapon skill line. It had an associated crafting profession called "Runecrafting" which eventually became what is now Enchanting.

Unless someone's found something new and different, like when the Warden disappeared from the datafiles and reappeared with different assets, this is hype over nothing.