Wait, what... (Interesting Update 30 Details from UESP)

ealdwin

Alright... guys, just check out the Blackwood preview UESP has on their blog: https://blog.uesp.net/blackwood-preview-early-access/ (written by @pylawn )

Specifically, this part is particularly interesting:

You can also choose which music you want to listen to on the login screens! You can choose from the base game or any of the Chapter themes, but personally, I hope they let us add the music boxes to this in the future.

Another exciting change coming is the addition of ability timers to our action bars. Now you will be able to see the length of time left on a buff provided by one of your skills, without the need for addons if you’re on PC.

Hurbster

Thats nice, doing my writs in Vivec city always reminds me of how much I liked that music. It will be nice to hear the original theme again.

And dare I hope - selectable character screens ?

Danikat

I thought you could already see buffs (and debuffs) without using addons? I've not used it much because I decided I preferred the way I had Srendarr set up, but I'm sure the option is there.

The option to change the music is nice though. Probably not something I'd use as I'm never on the login screen for long and often have the sound off but I know it's been asked for regularly so it's nice that they're doing it.

ArchMikem

Choosing login screen music isnt being able to turn off the combat music in game.

Still sad.

TequilaFire

I just hope they make the in game music volume setting work on the login screen.
Nothing like timing out dropping to login and waking up the whole house. lol

emilyhyoyeon

Danikat wrote: »

I thought you could already see buffs (and debuffs) without using addons? I've not used it much because I decided I preferred the way I had Srendarr set up, but I'm sure the option is there.

The option to change the music is nice though. Probably not something I'd use as I'm never on the login screen for long and often have the sound off but I know it's been asked for regularly so it's nice that they're doing it.

The current vanilla ability timers don't show on the actual skills (like some PC addons do) and are really awful and hard to read, since it's basically a ''show all active effects feature,'' like showing ESO plus, mundus, etc. Just really cluttered and awful

Alurria

This looks so exciting can't wait!

kringled_1

Danikat wrote: »

I thought you could already see buffs (and debuffs) without using addons? I've not used it much because I decided I preferred the way I had Srendarr set up, but I'm sure the option is there.

Technically you can, but the usability is quite low as what you end up with is a very broad strip of tiny icons, continually shifting, and with no real way to interpret many of them.

The_Old_Goat

I see that they're adding the ability to choose your starting area after completing the new character creation tutorial, that is a huge improvement alone.

EdmondDontes

ealdwin wrote: »

Alright... guys, just check out the Blackwood preview UESP has on their blog: https://blog.uesp.net/blackwood-preview-early-access/

Specifically, this part is particularly interesting:

You can also choose which music you want to listen to on the login screens! You can choose from the base game or any of the Chapter themes, but personally, I hope they let us add the music boxes to this in the future.

Another exciting change coming is the addition of ability timers to our action bars. Now you will be able to see the length of time left on a buff provided by one of your skills, without the need for addons if you’re on PC.

Sure, being able to change the music is nice, but it's not especially relevant to game play.

Action Duration Reminder has been an add-on since the beginning. Making it part of the official game isn't anything new from ZOS either, someone else did that.

TequilaFire

I see we probably won't be putting just any armor set on our companions, special gear drops for them.
Will be interesting to see if companions are in the first PTS release on Monday.

"Companions also have their own gear system and can’t use normal gear that you have found on your journey. However, this new gear will only drop when you have your companion active. Currently, companion gear won’t have any set bonuses, but there are new traits that help their abilities in combat."

Danikat

The_Old_Goat wrote: »

I see that they're adding the ability to choose your starting area after completing the new character creation tutorial, that is a huge improvement alone.

I agree. I'm really looking forward to that. I actually deleted my warden and re-made her after Greymoor came out because the Morrowind intro made no sense at all for her but the Greymoor one was a good fit. It's just lucky they were released that way around, but annoying it was so long between the two.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the new system works and hoping it will be much better than what we have now.

kringled_1 wrote: »

Danikat wrote: »

I thought you could already see buffs (and debuffs) without using addons? I've not used it much because I decided I preferred the way I had Srendarr set up, but I'm sure the option is there.

Technically you can, but the usability is quite low as what you end up with is a very broad strip of tiny icons, continually shifting, and with no real way to interpret many of them.

Oh I see. I remember you couldn't get the timer bars that Srendarr does, which is what put me off using them, but I didn't realise it was that limited.

ealdwin

EdmondDontes wrote: »

ealdwin wrote: »

Alright... guys, just check out the Blackwood preview UESP has on their blog: https://blog.uesp.net/blackwood-preview-early-access/

Specifically, this part is particularly interesting:

You can also choose which music you want to listen to on the login screens! You can choose from the base game or any of the Chapter themes, but personally, I hope they let us add the music boxes to this in the future.

Another exciting change coming is the addition of ability timers to our action bars. Now you will be able to see the length of time left on a buff provided by one of your skills, without the need for addons if you’re on PC.

Sure, being able to change the music is nice, but it's not especially relevant to game play.

Action Duration Reminder has been an add-on since the beginning. Making it part of the official game isn't anything new from ZOS either, someone else did that.

True, but addons are just for PC players, like myself. Console players who can't use addons might find this change interesting. Sure, they might not be the biggest changes (we won't see any hint of combat changes until the Update 30 Combat preview or pts), but they are interesting and often enough requested features.

Destai

Update 30 definitely seems like a step in the right direction. I'm feeling more excited for this expansion than last year's offering.

Just some thoughts on that fantastic blog:
1. Endeavors are promising because they give us a new way to acquire valuable content. I appreciate them adding in-game alternatives to acquiring crown crate content. Seeing a full inventory of what you can get through these is going to be exciting.
2. The portals sound appealing. I know they're banking on some nostalgia here, but those were fun in TES IV, so I'm excited to see them modernized in this game. It'll be interesting to how players are incentivized to do these events.
3. The new tutorial sounds promising, but I'm cautious too.. I appreciate they're making an effort to improve the New Player Experience, but I'm curious to see how this impacts existing characters. Does it help existing character navigate the noise of content they've yet to engage? I hope this solution helps streamline quest delivery for all of us, not just new characters. If not, I'm not sure the value of this solution will be fully realized. Here's to hoping!
4. Companions sound promising as well. The reveals around companions have really whet my appetite to use them. My only real concerns for this are having them obstruct interactive objects and their impact on performance in cities. We already have countless non-combat pets (assuming the companions will behavior similarly) and class pets, so it worries that we'll have these more complex objects with inventories, outfits, mounts, and other calculations that have to happen. Fingers crossed they manage this well.
5. I love that they're adding the ability to chose soundtrack on login. Eventually, sad trombone. It's good to shake it up and revisit old tunes, especially if my current character is on that old content. I only wish they were also giving us the option to disable combat music.
6. Adding cooldowns will help me be better as a console player. Addons are a great place for QoL inspiration and I appreciate them learning some lessons and integrating that functionality for all of us to enjoy.

vibeborn

Looking forward to that. I've been wanting to hear the main main theme in game ever since I heard it the first time

Rex-Umbra

Those features sound dope

JamieAubrey

Cool but you only spend like 10 seconds on the char screen

Cirantille

Yesyesyesyesyes

I want to hear vanilla/summerset again!

Faded

Nice.

I'd also love a skip button for the handful of overland tracks that need skipping, a taciturn/silent PC voice set, and a toggle for repetitive NPC dialogue (Can you believe it? DRAGONS!). Maybe we'll get them, I have faith in the sound and music guys.

There have been tons of small QOL improvements in the past few patches. That's great. Little things add up.

redlink1979

"(...) When you interact with the world in different ways, your companion will react and decide if they like you more or less. For example, stealing from an NPC while your law-abiding companion is out will cause them to not trust you as much. (...)"

My companion will be like:

ZOS_GinaBruno

Hey everyone, we wanted to let you know the ability to change the title music unfortunately got moved out of Update 30 and will instead be in a future update. The ability bar timers are still planned for Update 30, though, which you'll be able to check out on the PTS next Monday.

Faded

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey everyone, we wanted to let you know the ability to change the title music unfortunately got moved out of Update 30 and will instead be in a future update. The ability bar timers are still planned for Update 30, though, which you'll be able to check out on the PTS next Monday.

Well, some day.

newtinmpls

TequilaFire wrote: »

"Companions also have their own gear system and can’t use normal gear that you have found on your journey.

What about crafted gear?

What about the outfit system?

TequilaFire

@ZOS_GinaBruno Could you maybe ask someone if we could get control over the Intro and character screen volume.
It can be scary loud at times. lol

TequilaFire

newtinmpls wrote: »

TequilaFire wrote: »

"Companions also have their own gear system and can’t use normal gear that you have found on your journey.

What about crafted gear?

What about the outfit system?

All we know is in the blog article quote.

pylawn

I've updated the article to mention that it's no longer in Update 30! Sorry everyone!

newtinmpls wrote: »

TequilaFire wrote: »

"Companions also have their own gear system and can’t use normal gear that you have found on your journey.

What about crafted gear?

What about the outfit system?

Also to answer this one (from what I found at least) I couldn't find a way to craft the gear so I don't believe we can make it as it's not like normal gear and is specifically just for companions. You can use outfits though and going to an Outfit station there were new tabs to create an outfit for them. I thought that was already covered in the ESO Live but I can add that to the article to clarify.

ealdwin

pylawn wrote: »

I've updated the article to mention that it's no longer in Update 30! Sorry everyone!

newtinmpls wrote: »

TequilaFire wrote: »

"Companions also have their own gear system and can’t use normal gear that you have found on your journey.

What about crafted gear?

What about the outfit system?

Also to answer this one (from what I found at least) I couldn't find a way to craft the gear so I don't believe we can make it as it's not like normal gear and is specifically just for companions. You can use outfits though and going to an Outfit station there were new tabs to create an outfit for them. I thought that was already covered in the ESO Live but I can add that to the article to clarify.

@pylawn thanks for the update and the original blog post giving some insight into what we can expect in Update 30!

Trevore

Destai wrote: »

Update 30 definitely seems like a step in the right direction. I'm feeling more excited for this expansion than last year's offering.

Just some thoughts on that fantastic blog:
1. Endeavors are promising because they give us a new way to acquire valuable content. I appreciate them adding in-game alternatives to acquiring crown crate content. Seeing a full inventory of what you can get through these is going to be exciting.
2. The portals sound appealing. I know they're banking on some nostalgia here, but those were fun in TES IV, so I'm excited to see them modernized in this game. It'll be interesting to how players are incentivized to do these events.
3. The new tutorial sounds promising, but I'm cautious too.. I appreciate they're making an effort to improve the New Player Experience, but I'm curious to see how this impacts existing characters. Does it help existing character navigate the noise of content they've yet to engage? I hope this solution helps streamline quest delivery for all of us, rather than new characters. If not, I'm not sure the value of this solution will be fully realized. Here's to hoping!
4. Companions sound promising as well. The reveals around companions have really whet my appetite to use them. My only real concerns for this are having them obstruct interactive objects and their impact on performance in cities. We already have countless non-combat pets (assuming the companions will behavior similarly) and class pets, so it worries that we'll have these more complex objects with inventories, outfits, mounts, and other calculations that have to happen. Fingers crossed they manage this well.
5. I love they're adding the ability to chose soundtrack on login. It's good to shake it up and revisit old tunes, especially if my current character is on that old content. I only wish they were also giving us the option to disable combat music.
6. Adding cooldowns will help me be better as a console player. Addons are a great place for QoL inspiration and I appreciate them learning some lessons and integrating that functionality for all of us to enjoy.

I agree with a lot of these statements. I am personally hoping that there will be notifications (like highlights around the ability that is timed, or something) whenever an ability is about to run out, so I can use it again without forgetting that I'm running out of time. Even though the ability to change the login music is being pushed back, I'm hoping they'll still release it (hopefully with the option to disable combat music in the same update!) eventually. After all, we're still waiting for two-person mounts, but I am patient.

SantieClaws

Ah very interesting but also a little tugging at the strings of the heart.

This one remembers her preview article for Elsweyr. The month of so many secrets, so much rewriting of the article in the head while not being able to get a second opinion on any of it as you usually would when writing.

Looking forward to seeing Test Tamriel update 30 for herself next week, mostly anything housing related.

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

YandereGirlfriend

I'm generally lukewarm on this Chapter since it is doing nothing from a combat perspective, but... the Endeavors system sounds like a FANTASTIC addition to the game!

Even if the number required is crazy high (which it probably will be) it is quite good form to at least have an avenue to earn Crown Store items through in-game activities. Well-done, ZOS.

Destai

TequilaFire wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno Could you maybe ask someone if we could get control over the Intro and character screen volume.
It can be scary loud at times. lol

OMG I thought this was just my TV or something. Glad I'm not alone!