Chat about making scenarios challenging yet fun for all, options for interactions, mini-games, etc.

tinythinker · June 2018

Some people were mentioning all the new job openings as ZOS. Then I heard some players were thinking of applying. Then curiosity-->reading job descriptions, like this one for an Associate Encounter Designer. And this lines stuck out to me:

"Our ideal candidate is passionate about storytelling in a multiplayer environment and finding new ways to delight and terrify players of all skill levels."

"Stage monsters in new and interesting environments"

Which prompted me to think about combat scenarios and mechanics and the environments in which they take place in ESO. I've posted some things before about true darkness (not something you can cheese by adjusting the settings

), platforming on floating/moving boulders (that can be destroyed) in a boss fight, underwater exploration and combat, etc. But in the current iteration of the changes brought about by One Tamriel, catalyzed by the quotes above, some other things occur to me.

For example, scenarios in which an experienced player won't be bored while new players find it accessible (I've posted about fixing the "too easy" problem elsewhere but I'm more focused here on scenarios/situations rather than global fixes, which could still work in tandmen anyway).

So I imagined a situation where mobs come pouring out while you are trying to interact with something for a quest. But a newer player on a less geared and no-CP/low-CP toon, would die. The current fix is "make the mobs weak/new player toon strong". But that can get booooooooooring. That lead to consideration of options for the scenario, like so:

- player-based solution: group up (and make questing while grouped smart/adaptive, so that everyone is phased to the person with least progression)
- player-based solution: better gear/more CP/more practice with the game
- scenario-based solution: external mechanism that can be activated to CC the mobs

Thus if you are high CP/very skilled, just blast the mobs as each new waves comes in. Or get a friend or two to help tank or melt the mobs. Or if weaker and solo, use the device provided by the scenario. As time goes on though, more mobs will come in faster and faster and the device's cooldown and/or limit of affected targets will render it useless.

But then what is the interaction? Right now it would be pickpocketing, lockpicking, turning crystals to attune a light-line puzzle, throwing/hitting switches in the right sequence, or clicking something and waiting for an interaction bar to fill up. Lockpicking and solving tough switch puzzles (where different switches have to be used to control other objects to align them correctly) are the only real mini-games for interaction right now, though. (<--maybe work on this, like, say, adding more value/depth/complexity to speech checks?)

Which leads me to wonder (and hence ask fellow players through via this thread): Would you like to see new ways of making scenarios with expanded options for completion offering challenge in their solutions?

In the scenario given above, it's kind of a timed puzzle. It can be reset if you die. Or if you are grouped it can keep going as long as someone in the party is alive (or if it isn't instanced if someone else with the quest is working on it (hmm...a pop-up option to be grouped with other players doing the same overland scenario?). You have to do some mini-game involving interactions, which may be simple or complex. If alone and strong, at first you can just wipe the mobs but over time you will get overwhelmed, so finishing the interaction ASAP is a priority. Same if alone and using the CC device. Even groups, after a while will get overwhelmed as more and more mobs pour out at faster intervals. So there are options for all skill levels and social comfort levels, but some are obviously easier than others (in this case, encouraging grouping).

It seems like there could be other types of scenarios with these kinds of options (solo+strong/solo+external mechanic/group up) in mind as well. Especially if interaction types are expanded + combined or iterated in new ways. Instead of a "mob rage timer" while completing interactions, maybe:

- using a portable device to disable objects or mobs individually to avoid fighting lots of things at once vs. a group (or a very strong solo player) blasting a way through (fleshed out: weaken mobs and fight them individually one a time with a device with a cooldown, or unlock a safer pathway with a device through mini-game interactions to get around the group of strong mobs, etc., and yes the mobs are *reeeally* strong). Maybe the device used requires doing optional steps to find certain components to recharge or reassemble it.
- have the device be an optional NPC who can help with combat but not some extra content in the scenario that fleshes things out but isn't critical (basically an optional challenge)
- etc.

Anyway, anyone else interested in seeing (more of) such optional pathway scenarios? Not necessarily the exact ones above, but with the design goals they represent? To keep grouping optional yet increase the challenge level in a way that is fair to newer players/weaker toons?