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2020 chapter conspiracy theory - Spellcrafting
Flaminir
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Ok... so before I start I'll give the disclaimer that this is likely just fanciful nonsense on my part... but it's come from a chat a few of us were just having in Discord about next years chapter and it does kind of make sense so thought I'd share as haven't seen the theory anywhere else on here.
So there are already strong hints in the current DLC that we are going to Skyrim for the next chapter, that much has already been discussed in other threads.
But what if the whole process of standardising skills, and associated 'power budgets' that we've gone through the last two patches is actually preparation for a new system in that chapter...
Skyrim..... Winterhold.... Mages College.... SPELLCRAFTING!
I know we've been here before!
But if there was ever going to be an ideal time to add this to the game it would be with the Mages College, and the original plans for it years ago were based on a system that sounded like it would fit a mages guild type backdrop perfectly.
The bit that really makes me wonder though is around skill balancing.
Everybody (ZOS included) had previously dismissed spellcrafting as being a balancing nightmare. What if a skill was too strong, or too weak. How would you decide on the relative power levels and costs of the different combinations of spells?
Previously this WOULD have been a nightmare.... but what if the whole standardisation of skills over the last two patches was to provide the standardised way of creating the spells in spellcrafting? There is now a standard cost and a standard power budget for a skill! That would make the system possible, and easier to create and balance.
Now that I've got this late night conspiracy theory off my chest... feel free to dismiss & discard the theory like the week old Sweetroll it most likely is...
So there are already strong hints in the current DLC that we are going to Skyrim for the next chapter, that much has already been discussed in other threads.
But what if the whole process of standardising skills, and associated 'power budgets' that we've gone through the last two patches is actually preparation for a new system in that chapter...
Skyrim..... Winterhold.... Mages College.... SPELLCRAFTING!
I know we've been here before!
But if there was ever going to be an ideal time to add this to the game it would be with the Mages College, and the original plans for it years ago were based on a system that sounded like it would fit a mages guild type backdrop perfectly.
The bit that really makes me wonder though is around skill balancing.
Everybody (ZOS included) had previously dismissed spellcrafting as being a balancing nightmare. What if a skill was too strong, or too weak. How would you decide on the relative power levels and costs of the different combinations of spells?
Previously this WOULD have been a nightmare.... but what if the whole standardisation of skills over the last two patches was to provide the standardised way of creating the spells in spellcrafting? There is now a standard cost and a standard power budget for a skill! That would make the system possible, and easier to create and balance.
Now that I've got this late night conspiracy theory off my chest... feel free to dismiss & discard the theory like the week old Sweetroll it most likely is...
GM of the Unholy Legacy
EU/EP
Sorcerer Flaminir (Magicka) / Staminir (Stamina)Templar Elixiia (Magicka/Healer) / Lotti Velooni (Magicka)
DragonKnight Xalora Flaminar (Tank) / Unholy-Dragon-Toad (Tank)
Nightblade Aimee Owlious (Magicka) / Myttens (Stamina)
Warden: Frosti-Tute (Magicka/Healer) Boops-Many-Snoots (Stamina/Tank)
11
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Zatox✭✭✭✭But what if the whole process of standardising skills, and associated 'power budgets' that we've gone through the last two patches is actually preparation for a new system in that chapter...
Skyrim..... Winterhold.... Mages College.... SPELLCRAFTING!
I thought about that, but dont think ZOS is brave enough to implement this8 -
Darkenarlol✭✭✭✭✭
✭if we ever will have splellcrafting all those skills gonna be nerfed to
nowhere after 1-3 months after chapter release
but maybe they won't nerf crown store based skill recolors too hard....3 -
Gnortranermara✭✭✭✭✭
✭Yep, been saying it for a while now. I think Rob Garrett was hired specifically to implement Spellcrafting. Standardizing skills is a necessary prerequisite and a huge clue to what they're planning. Unfortunately, it looks grim so far. They're using a too-simplistic formula based too heavily on cost:damage ratio, to the exclusion of most other variables that determine a skill's real power. There's an opportunity here for something great, but my confidence in this team's ability to deliver it has been shattered by the bumbling incompetence over the past year (the gorked racial passives, disruptive nerf/buff/nerf roller-coaster, indefinite CP freeze, and so on). At the same time, some very good and long-needed changes have happened so I know it's not the whole staff that is the problem. The problem seems to be that the PvP Lead became the main Combat Lead and doesn't understand or care at all about the PvE game.2 -
MattT1988✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭I really think people need to be careful what they wish for. Just got a feeling Spellcrafting will turn out to be one of those things people wish they have until they actually get it. I think it’ll be very watered down due to the fact that it would be very hard to balance it fairly if it wasn’t.12 -
Sylvermynx✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I really think people need to be careful what they wish for. Just got a feeling Spellcrafting will turn out to be one of those things people wish they have until they actually get it. I think it’ll be very watered down due to the fact that it would be very hard to balance it fairly if it wasn’t.
Spellcrafting was WAY OP in a single player game. I shudder to think how awful it would be in an MMO.
I don't expect Skyrim until 2021, if then.... but of course, we will eventually see....2 -
MattT1988✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Sylvermynx wrote: »I really think people need to be careful what they wish for. Just got a feeling Spellcrafting will turn out to be one of those things people wish they have until they actually get it. I think it’ll be very watered down due to the fact that it would be very hard to balance it fairly if it wasn’t.
Spellcrafting was WAY OP in a single player game. I shudder to think how awful it would be in an MMO.
I don't expect Skyrim until 2021, if then.... but of course, we will eventually see....
Honestly if they do decide to add something like this into the game I think it’ll be something like “Scroll crafting” and it’ll function basically like poisons do, except designed for magic builds.
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WrathOfInnos✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭If the standardized skill balancing hadn’t been handled so incompetently I might be excited for this possibility.1 -
Flaminir✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭You put faith in Zos' delivery of spellcrafting?
Not at all... I didn't say I thought it was a good idea... or that I thought it was even likely to happen... just that if the chapter is skyrim then it would be a natural fit, and that the skill standardisation would remove the main barrier which they themselves mentioned about putting the system in.
Whether its good or not, or regardless of it being a good idea or not it would be a hugely popular feature and would likely sell a bucket load of chapter copies and bring a load of people back to the game.
Edited by Flaminir on October 25, 2019 12:00AMGM of the Unholy LegacyEU/EPSorcerer Flaminir (Magicka) / Staminir (Stamina)
Templar Elixiia (Magicka/Healer) / Lotti Velooni (Magicka)
DragonKnight Xalora Flaminar (Tank) / Unholy-Dragon-Toad (Tank)
Nightblade Aimee Owlious (Magicka) / Myttens (Stamina)
Warden: Frosti-Tute (Magicka/Healer) Boops-Many-Snoots (Stamina/Tank)1 -
Gnortranermara✭✭✭✭✭
✭I think it’ll be very watered down due to the fact that it would be very hard to balance it fairly if it wasn’t.
That's what everybody says, but OP's "conspiracy theory" here is that's the whole point of standardizing skills, so that it's not hard to balance. The problem is that a simple cost:damage ratio is inadequate and it takes some level of creative genius to design a more comprehensive skill cost algorithm. If they can pull it off then Spellcrafting will fit right in perfectly with everything else.
But... I doubt it will work out, not because it's supposedly "hard to balance" crafted with non-crafted skills, but due to poor judgment with balance decisions generally. The rule that "AOE's cost 60% more" is a great example of how an algorithm can work magic with automating skill costs, but it's also an example of a PvP-centric Combat Lead, jarring heavy-handedness, and glaring oversights (like ground-AOE being over-penalized).
The direction has potential to be phenomenal, if they can get it in the hands of a combat designer with some creative vision, basic algebra skills, and enough spare neurons to actually think about how a skill's attributes and mechanics should affect its cost.Edited by Gnortranermara on October 25, 2019 12:14AM1 -
TheShadowScout✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Personally I think the balancing nightmare is the core of the issue. because adding spellcrafting as a way to custom-build active skills would most likely end up with everyone and their granny running the exact same selection of "super-effective" skills with merely visual differences.
And thus I hope they never implement this like that... and instead give us -scrollcrafting-, allowing characters to make magic scrolls from their known active skills that allow other classes to use those skills at lesser power levels through a consumable, thus firing up the economy... and maybe add a bit more to the crafting line- Like allowing people to do player-crafted style pages, or recipes...
Oh, well. Its a nice dream, right?1 -
SipofMaim✭✭✭✭I'm down.
They'd better be gearing up to start adding something, the poverty of fun on almost every spec is depressing af.1 -
CambionDaemon✭✭✭Remember that they started working on Spellcrafting years ago and then stopped because they couldn't balance it properly, so who knows maybe they have been working on a revised version. Still not holding my breath for it though, still waiting for sword and spell (which was put on hold, due to balance issues).0
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Faulgor✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Yeah that's what we thought with Summerset and Artaeum.
And this year when they teased the Wrathstone tablet which turned out to be nothing but marketing.
I don't think we'll ever see something interesting like Spellcrafting.Alandrol Sul: He's making another Numidium?!?
Vivec: Worse, buddy. They're buying it.1 -
Hapexamendios✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭Think sustain is bad now, wait until people start crafting their own op spells.
One rotation - I need shards!0 -
grizzledcroc✭✭✭✭Tbh they never did say they wernt ever not gonna do it , plus it means they been working on it since it first showed in 2014 I imagine this gives them a long time to think and plan it out.0 -
Ragnarock41✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭They might aswell scrap classes completely if that is their goal. Would only make sense that way.2 -
MLGProPlayer✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I can't believe people still want this system, after experiencing one disastrous balance patch after another. The game would quite literally become an unplayable mess if they ever introduced spell crafting.Edited by MLGProPlayer on October 25, 2019 4:12AM9 -
TempPlayer✭✭✭✭✭Looking back at Morrowind and Oblivion on their implementation of spellcrafting, about how ridiculously overpowered they are due to the player not using the system as designer intented. Why do I get the feeling that if they did implement spellcrafting, it will be something boring as in changing the color of your flame spell or decide which hand you hold your staff, aka, not directly or even remotely related to damage.1
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wenchmore420b14_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Just a reminder...
Spellcrafting has been developed and coded since 2014 and was data mined in ESO files pre Morrowind.
It IS in the system already. Just a matter of IF or WHEN they release it...
My 2 drakes.... Huzzah!Drakon Koryn~Oryndill, Rogue~Mage,- CP ~Doesn't matter any more
NA / PC Beta Member since Nov 2013
GM~Conclave-of-Shadows, EP Social Guild, ~Proud member of: The Wandering Merchants, Phoenix Rising, Imperial Trade Union & Celestials of Nirn
Sister Guilds with: Coroner's Report, Children of Skyrim, Sunshine Daydream, Tamriel Fisheries, Knights Arcanum and more
"Not All Who Wander are Lost"
#MOREHOUSINGSLOTS“When the people that can make the company more successful are sales and marketing people, they end up running the companies. The product people get driven out of the decision making forums, and the companies forget what it means to make great products.”
_Steve Jobs (The Lost Interview)2 -
zaria✭✭✭✭✭
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Remember crafting an spell in Morrowind who summoned lots of elementals, it always crashed the gameSylvermynx wrote: »I really think people need to be careful what they wish for. Just got a feeling Spellcrafting will turn out to be one of those things people wish they have until they actually get it. I think it’ll be very watered down due to the fact that it would be very hard to balance it fairly if it wasn’t.
Spellcrafting was WAY OP in a single player game. I shudder to think how awful it would be in an MMO.
I don't expect Skyrim until 2021, if then.... but of course, we will eventually see....
Or the old fatefull weakness to magic 3 seconds + shock damage in Oblivion, weakness to magic stacked on itself
I assume spellcrafting in ESO would work more like enchanting or at best alchemy.
Far to easy to make stuff like an strong bomb spell if flexible or some some crazy buffs and synergies.
If it works well however it would be an nice functionality.
However I doubt we get it in 2020. Something like an bard skill line is more plausible.
Edited by zaria on October 25, 2019 5:11AMGrinding just make you go in circles.
Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.1 -
gepe87✭✭✭✭✭
✭I remember that crafted Frenzy massive AoE spell from Oblivion. NPC going crazy like headless chicken.
Oh and 100% Chameleon by Armor enchanting
Gepe, Dunmer MagSorc Pact Grand Overlord | Gaepe, Bosmer MagSorc Dominion General
If you see edits on my replies: typos. English isn't my main language0 -
WeerW3ir✭✭✭✭✭
✭Ok... so before I start I'll give the disclaimer that this is likely just fanciful nonsense on my part... but it's come from a chat a few of us were just having in Discord about next years chapter and it does kind of make sense so thought I'd share as haven't seen the theory anywhere else on here.
So there are already strong hints in the current DLC that we are going to Skyrim for the next chapter, that much has already been discussed in other threads.
But what if the whole process of standardising skills, and associated 'power budgets' that we've gone through the last two patches is actually preparation for a new system in that chapter...
Skyrim..... Winterhold.... Mages College.... SPELLCRAFTING!
I know we've been here before!
But if there was ever going to be an ideal time to add this to the game it would be with the Mages College, and the original plans for it years ago were based on a system that sounded like it would fit a mages guild type backdrop perfectly.
The bit that really makes me wonder though is around skill balancing.
Everybody (ZOS included) had previously dismissed spellcrafting as being a balancing nightmare. What if a skill was too strong, or too weak. How would you decide on the relative power levels and costs of the different combinations of spells?
Previously this WOULD have been a nightmare.... but what if the whole standardisation of skills over the last two patches was to provide the standardised way of creating the spells in spellcrafting? There is now a standard cost and a standard power budget for a skill! That would make the system possible, and easier to create and balance.
Now that I've got this late night conspiracy theory off my chest... feel free to dismiss & discard the theory like the week old Sweetroll it most likely is...
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