Revamping of Skill Animations, Sounds, and Impact

Zardayne

After playing ESO since PC open betas and being an MMO vet of 20+ years the one thing that has always bothered me about ESO is a lot of the skill animations and it's combat. You know as well as I do that combat plays a huge role in these games and so they need to top notch and keep you engaged. I recently in another thread on the general forum brought up the fact I was recently thinking about my Magden and what I would do to make the class more fun to play by remembering from past games what classes hooked me and why. I feel in my opinion it has to do with the animations of a lot of our skills are pretty bland, their sound effects arn't the best on some, and lastly most of them don't have that feel of power or impact that gets you fired up in the fight. One of the skills that I always feel has an impact is should is uppercut/Dizzying swing. When I hit mobs with that ability bloodlust kicks in. Hit someone with Force pulse and guess what..where's the force? It feels like it should be named pew pew pulse. Here's a list of some of the skills I feel need to be revamped and why. I will admit I havne't played a sorc or NB much so you guys will need to chime in on which of those need help.

Warden
1. Shalks- To me the animation is poorly done. You begin with this highly telegraphed fist slam and then you have to wait..Instead of having these beast crawling from the earth in the line of fire to attack the targets you have these ghost shalks flare up and then roar into an explosion sound. This is an animal skill line, not a ghost beast line. Make it feel more alive!
2. Dive- This ability needs to be a real hawk or eagle. II get it, the class was releasd in morrowind so it had to be some, once again ghostly, appropriate creature. The thing is this should be an animal that is from all zones and not just the cliff racer. I feel the sound of it and it's impact is pretty good.
3. Swarm- I really like the sound and look of this ability. Shame it's not a better skill though so I could have it on main bar. To me its an iconic warden skill, especially for a druidic magden.
4. Living Vines- I really like this ability but the animation wraps the damn vine around have my face like an anaconda. It looks like a rushed skill animation that needs to be tweaked.
5. Artic Wind- To me this ability should show dust being kicked up with more visible effects and a sustained wind sound. Right now it's pretty lame.

Templar
1. Puncturing sweep and Biting Jabs- The poor animation and visuals on this skill have always irritated me. Since we don't have real spears in the game I had to play a stamden early on. IMO the beginning skill and the stamina morph should look like a real spear. Add a glint of reflective light on the tip but all skills don't have to be class specific colors. That;s boring. If you go the mag route it should then turn into a spear of light. Now only that I feel they should have added abit more to the animation except for just 4 boring straight jabs. Add a few different height thrusts or a spin in there, something.
2. Piercing Javelin- I think this should get the real spear/mag spear treatment sweep above would get.

Destruction Staff
1. Force Shock- I mentioned this above but it's impact feels like a wet noodle hitting. There's nothing forceful about it. The animation could also use a better animation. I also feel it should add a slight stagger or mini knockback to the enemy. I'm not talking about a knockdown, just a step back or two.

Dual Wield
1. Flurry- Let's be honest, this skill looks *** poor. I mean would it have killed them to design a skill that looked cool. Maybe a left hand thrust, overhead slash, and then a dual thrust into the target. Something exciting..something entertaining? Another issue is the whole animation when coupled with axes and hammers. This skills animation need to change if you are using those two weapons. Thrusting with 2 hammers or axes just looks stupid and real poorly done.

Bow
1. Ballista- Automated turret..come on man..

One handed & Shield
1. Puncture- Its been a while on this one but doesnt it also suffer from the flurry skill animation with hammers and axes and thrusting?
2. Power Bash- Once again been awhile since I dont tank but if I remember right this ability didn't have that heavy hitting impact a shield bash should. Anyone that's played Lotro, Daoc, or Warhammer know that satisfying feeling when you shield slam an opponent in the face. It just feels right and had the crushing sound to back it up.

Skill's animations I feel they did a good job on
1. Uppercut
2. Reverse Slash
3. arrow spray
4. rapid fire
5. hidden blade
6. whirlwind
7. swarm
8. healing seed
9. Winters Revenge
10. wall of elements
11. destructive touch
12. Stonefist-Awesome visuals, sounds, and impact
13. Obsidian Shield- Just looks so cool
14. Petrify- Awesome looking visuals
15. Dragon Leap
16. Dark Talons
17. Magma Armor
18. Inhale (Looks like the art & animation guys spent a lot of time on the DKs looks and sounds)
19. mages fury
20. Crystal Shards
21. Imbue weapon (I wish this was a toggled buff though)


So what other abilities would you like to see reworked to get on par with the beautiful world we play in?

Purdomination33

A few off the top of my head I find lacking....
-2H melee heavy attack. Looks like an unathletic person trying to swing a baseball bat that is way too heavy. Such a clunky animation.
-S&B light attacks. If you follow the animation all the way through it looks like the person swinging the sword or whatever is about to fall on his face.
-Heroic slash. An uninspiring animation to say the least, similar feel to what you mentioned with pew pew pew Force Pulse. You kind of slash at their thighs maybe? or shins? Just doesn't feel like you are doing any actual damage. Puncture actually feels like you are puncturing someone (but I agree with you on the different weapon types)
-Most the undaunted skills are lame though doesn't matter because about .5% of people out there actually find a use for them.
-Skills from Restro Staff leave a lot to be desired. Area around you kind of sparkles a bit I guess. Which it were a bit more dramatic.

I like the animations for...
-Destructive reach. Feels and looks like you really are sending a flame to knock someone back or stun them. The follow through makes it feel like you are throwing the flame out of your staff, pretty cool in my opinion for a skill that knocks back or stuns.
-Whip. It's a whip of fire. Nough said
-Meteors from Mage's guild Meteor and Skoria. It looks like something fell from the sky and knocked you on yo backside.

Starlock

The thing about art and animation is that opinions about them are a dime a dozen and precisely that - opinions. Some of the stuff you think is bad is fine to me, and some of the stuff you think is fine is bad to me. The same will be true of others who look at any list anybody could come up with. Personally? I rather like that this game isn't full of flashy, over-dramatic visuals. A major reason I stay away from trials is because I can't tell what the blazes is going on as it is with all the visual effects dancing all over the screen (that, and the lag such rendering causes). This is Elder Scrolls, not an anime. =P

TheYKcid

Appreciate you sharing your thoughts and penning this long post. Personally there are some incredibly outdated/poorly-designed base-game assets that I would love to see changed. Sorcs' Lightning Form and its morphs first and foremost (since they obscure my outfits), but also stuff like racial motifs & base zone landscapes.

Unfortunately, ZOS have a very strict and clear policy against modifying art assets once they hit the live game, regardless if they may be deemed shoddy or otherwise. Fixing visual bugs being a reasonable exception, of course.

Matt Firor himself went into detail about this policy and its rationale in a post several months ago. Start reading from paragraph three:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5430473#Comment_5430473

Zardayne

Starlock wrote: »

The thing about art and animation is that opinions about them are a dime a dozen and precisely that - opinions. Some of the stuff you think is bad is fine to me, and some of the stuff you think is fine is bad to me. The same will be true of others who look at any list anybody could come up with. Personally? I rather like that this game isn't full of flashy, over-dramatic visuals. A major reason I stay away from trials is because I can't tell what the blazes is going on as it is with all the visual effects dancing all over the screen (that, and the lag such rendering causes). This is Elder Scrolls, not an anime. =P

No where did I say flashy or anime (which I can't stand). That's why I don't play BDO or countless others out there. That doesn't mean some of ESO abilities can't stand a little polishing. I I'd just like to see some creativity (jabs on a templar-same 4 boring strikes over and over) or weapons used correctly (like I mentioned the DW flurry and puncture axe hammer attacks looking wrong). These kinds of things kill immersion. Some of these animations like I just mentioned might have been acceptable back when I played Asheron's Call in the late 90s but they shouldn't pass the QC department in 2014 (thrusting with hammers and axes, etc).

Exactly! They are opinions. I even stated as much. Opinions that I took the time to express and that I even suggest you put your down as well. If you disagree with one of mine, state why you like it. This was just for open discussion. Instead you offered nothing other than we have differing opinion. That's great! We don't have to agree on everything (even though we did on the anime look for sure).

Zardayne

TheYKcid wrote: »

Appreciate you sharing your thoughts and penning this long post. Personally there are some incredibly outdated/poorly-designed base-game assets that I would love to see changed. Sorcs' Lightning Form and its morphs first and foremost (since they obscure my outfits), but also stuff like racial motifs & base zone landscapes.

Unfortunately, ZOS have a very strict and clear policy against modifying art assets once they hit the live game, regardless if they may be deemed shoddy or otherwise. Fixing visual bugs being a reasonable exception, of course.

Matt Firor himself went into detail about this policy and its rationale in a post several months ago. Start reading from paragraph three:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/5430473#Comment_5430473

Thanks for the link @TheYKcid . I can see his point. I wish it wasn't so but I can understand it. From what I read though animations that are obviously wrong can be. To me that would definitely be the thrusting with hammer and axes on a few of the abilities. It looks silly and unrealistic. This far into the game though and those haven't been fixed, I'm guessing after what I've read those probably wont be. Learn something new everyday.