Did we get catfished with Spellcrafting and Group mounts?

cmetzger93

Both were shown in separate events, the work on spellcrafting appeared to have been mostly done and group mounts obviously had the banning issue but they have had time to work out the kinks and rebalance skills for spellcrafting. Can we get an update on either of these things? I was really looking forward to both of them and I am about to give up hope

Dream96

no ETA

colossalvoids

I'd give up on spell crafting already, we yet to see the end of class rebalance they've started long time ago so no ETA is best we'll hear for years.

SeaGtGruff

cmetzger93 wrote: »

Both were shown in separate events, the work on spellcrafting appeared to have been mostly done

When and where was that? I missed it, and would love to see what you're talking about.

cmetzger93

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

cmetzger93 wrote: »

Both were shown in separate events, the work on spellcrafting appeared to have been mostly done

When and where was that? I missed it, and would love to see what you're talking about.

Spellcrafting: https://youtu.be/3LkeMacg-b0

Group mounts: https://youtu.be/5zzf8QNI6Bs

cmetzger93

colossalvoids wrote: »

I'd give up on spell crafting already, we yet to see the end of class rebalance they've started long time ago so no ETA is best we'll hear for years.

I hear you but I just find it hard to believe that something they spent so much development time on would just be scrapped altogether and not come at all in any form eventually.

Elsonso

cmetzger93 wrote: »

colossalvoids wrote: »

I'd give up on spell crafting already, we yet to see the end of class rebalance they've started long time ago so no ETA is best we'll hear for years.

I hear you but I just find it hard to believe that something they spent so much development time on would just be scrapped altogether and not come at all in any form eventually.

It happens. However, I expect that we will see both of them, eventually.

colossalvoids

cmetzger93 wrote: »

colossalvoids wrote: »

I'd give up on spell crafting already, we yet to see the end of class rebalance they've started long time ago so no ETA is best we'll hear for years.

I hear you but I just find it hard to believe that something they spent so much development time on would just be scrapped altogether and not come at all in any form eventually.

I believe there was a speculations based on data minined stuff that some spellcrafting assets were used as antiquities dropped. Same as some of the assets from old Blackwood (adventure zone as craglorn, not the current one) was used in VMA and Murkmire, or like new intro quest having assets from old base game main quest that was scrapped fully before release.

I'd even say some emotes we got through years could be linked to already made assets like new fire boots from the crates, could surely be it.

Anyway spell crafting was shown pretty poorly and was just an idea as it looked to me, not an actual game build with this feature partially implemented. One day they'll need to implement this anyway, community won't be here if they'll proceed with such subpar features we're getting nowadays for the AAA price.

SeaGtGruff

I'd seen the group mounts before, that wasn't what I was asking about. No interest in that, myself.

The spellcrafting information is from way before my introduction to ESO, so I'd never seen it. Thanks for the link!

If it hasn't been released yet, 7 years down the line, it seems safe to say it's probably been scrapped.

Elsonso

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

I'd seen the group mounts before, that wasn't what I was asking about. No interest in that, myself.

The spellcrafting information is from way before my introduction to ESO, so I'd never seen it. Thanks for the link!

If it hasn't been released yet, 7 years down the line, it seems safe to say it's probably been scrapped.

They have to keep coming up with stuff for the chapters, for as long as they have chapters. Spellcrafting is a prime chapter thing, and my feel is that it is just a matter of time before they roll something out. It won't look like what we saw back then, and it will probably be nerfed into the ground and then beat on until it is but a grease stain, but I think we will see it.

zelaminator

Most likely, spell crafting have been scrapped.. and honestly I think that's okay

SeaGtGruff

I thought the basic premise looked pretty cool, although I imagine there must have been a reason it was scrapped outright or perhaps put on the back burner for later.

alberichtano

Honestly I thought those were april fool's jokes. :-O

Alphawolf01A

I had heard somewhere, here in the forums, that the group mount was causing problems with the anti-botting software. The game was mistaking the passenger for a bot being steered by the primary rider. Which is odd since they can't seem to do anything about the spam sorc bots and bot-trains, running rampant throughout the base game zones.

waterfairy

spell crafting willl never be what you think or hope it will be so honestly I don't want to see it addded and butchered by ZoS with "balance" updates. They still can't get the skills right that were in the game from day 1...you honestly believe they'll get spell crafting right?

Cret92

Considering group mounts still have a section in the help menu I'd imagine they'll show up eventually

Amottica

cmetzger93 wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

cmetzger93 wrote: »

Both were shown in separate events, the work on spellcrafting appeared to have been mostly done

When and where was that? I missed it, and would love to see what you're talking about.

Spellcrafting: https://youtu.be/3LkeMacg-b0

It is easy to throw together a simulation but that does not mean a system is anything more than a concept. Video game developers create such videos all the time.

Also, please provide a timestamp for the demo. I do not think people would be interested in watching up to two hours of obsolete information to find this demonstration.

TTHHORR

Vigarr wrote: »

spell crafting willl never be what you think or hope it will be so honestly I don't want to see it addded and butchered by ZoS with "balance" updates. They still can't get the skills right that were in the game from day 1...you honestly believe they'll get spell crafting right?

This hurts but it's true. Unfortunately they also told us they want to focus on gimmicks like companions or digging in your cats litter box minigames instead of adding meaningful gameplay additions like new classes or weapons

sunspinner

Alphawolf01A wrote: »

I had heard somewhere, here in the forums, that the group mount was causing problems with the anti-botting software. The game was mistaking the passenger for a bot being steered by the primary rider. Which is odd since they can't seem to do anything about the spam sorc bots and bot-trains, running rampant throughout the base game zones.

Mostly. It sets off the bot/anti-cheat system because the first rider is doing the steering and the second rider being inactive but still moving. I don't believe they've found a fix yet.

tomofhyrule

I've only ever heard about spellcrafting in terms of 'things that were thrown around but never made it anywhere,' sort of like the Justice system idea where players could hunt down other players with a bounty: they thought it would be cool, found out it would be a nightmare to get it to work properly, and then tried to let the idea die.

You can see in the video that it's not fully developed and is still a lot of concept art or placeholder art. I don't recall a system like that ever making it out of the planning phase. Besides, that video is also from 2014, and ZOS hasn't said a word about it since - I doubt the average player even knows it was in consideration.

Personally, I don't care much about it and I don't see why it's such a huge thing. It would be a balancing nightmare (consider how many complaints we already get about mythic items and P2W),

Now the group mounts did make it a lot farther than that - they were up on PTS last year. The reason those still haven't released was because the person in the passenger seat got their account banned by the anti-cheat software and ZOS had to fix those accounts. Until they deactivate the anti-cheat software or get it to work around it, I wouldn't expect those.

SeaGtGruff

Amottica wrote: »

Also, please provide a timestamp for the demo. I do not think people would be interested in watching up to two hours of obsolete information to find this demonstration.

Jul 18, 2014 -- Oh, you said timestamp, not datestamp.

I watched the beginning, where the programmers are introduced, and noted which one was in charge of Spellcrafting.

Then I played the first part of the video on x2 speed to watch the Imperial City portion, then skipped ahead to the part where the programmer in charge of Spellcrafting gave his part of the presentation:

Edit: Sorry, the timestart thing isn't working when linked for some reason, but it starts at about 52:45.

Sju

If the group mount is still causing issues, then why did they give it away to a Playstation player as part of the contest to win every mount, pet, etc whatever else was included? He had proof he got the mount, saw the screenshots. Also said it was being released this June, probably delayed a bit longer again?

JoeCapricorn

There are a couple of zones that may be scrapped altogether, or at least held off until at some point later.

Murkmire, originally, was going to be a Craglorn sized Adventure Zone. It would have been a lot like Craglorn in that it was a whole zone designed for group questing. Because Craglorn didn't exactly succeed in that manner, and they retooled Craglorn to be more solo friendly, it is safe to say that the original Murkmire (which would have been directly south of Shadowfen) will never come to pass. Parts of it (geographically) are in Blackwood, as the original capital of Murkmire was going to be Gideon (iirc) - the zone was first previewed back in July of 2014, to give you a sense of how old it was. It was one of the first post-Craglorn new add-ons shown, aside from Imperial City and Wrothgar.

A whole story zone set in the Spiral Skein was also apparently in the works. Parts of this can be seen in Maelstrom Arena, as well as various Summerset quests (including the prologue). Whether this zone will come to pass is unknown, but it was cryptically teased along with Clockwork City well before even One Tamriel. I bet portions of this zone may have evolved to become Blackreach as well. Both are dark gloomy realms with lots of glowy glowthings.

Ratzkifal

Spellcrafting I can only see coming if it comes in the form of craftable spell scrolls that are consumable items and share a cooldown with potions. I do think turning it into a spell scroll system is the easiest way to fix the balancing mess it causes. Since it shares a cooldown with potions, you don't add more power to the system but rather new way to engage with it, increasing build diversity without powercreep and without making combat more complicated.

The group mounts are probably more trouble than they are worth for the developers. At least with spellcrafting they can say they are listening to popular demand and introducing one of the most highly anticipated features to date. That's a ton of good PR opportunities there. The group mount doesn't have this sort of support because fewer people even know of it and it's honestly not that exciting because you can just both ride your mount unless your friend is playing a new character without mount training. That might also be a reason for them not doing it. It could cut into their profit margin of selling riding lessons since two players each only need to buy that mount once to permanently sate their thirst for riding lessons.

starkerealm

From what I know, Spellcrafting was deep sixed years ago. ZOS has never come back and said, "yeah, this is dead," but, it's probably not happening.

Not sure what's going on with the group mounts.

Maitsukas

Sju wrote: »

If the group mount is still causing issues, then why did they give it away to a Playstation player as part of the contest to win every mount, pet, etc whatever else was included? He had proof he got the mount, saw the screenshots. Also said it was being released this June, probably delayed a bit longer again?

It probably is a bug, because the group mounts are still in the game data as seen on UESP:
https://esoitem.uesp.net/viewCollectibles.php?category=Mounts&subcategory=Multi-Rider

OtarTheMad

Spell crafting is DOA, that was made by an old team.

They should take those spells and other TES spells we are familiar with and use them in new weapon lines, guild lines, and classes. Cause this game needs TES spells in it... it'd be so fun. I want to summon a Flame Atronach and shoot Ice Spikes.

It was a different time, a different idea for the game when Spell crafting was teased. They were focused on group content and adventure zones. They even made the Veteran zones that we had at the time harder, like you need to group to beat a quest boss hard because they wanted people to group. Well, that failed and they went in a different direction.

zelaminator

IF we get spellcrafting, my ultimate wish would be to get mark/recall from Morrowind

wenchmore420b14_ESO

I think the spellcrafting was put on back burner with Nick Konkel leaving ZoS shortly (6 months?) after the QuakeCon video.
I personally thought it was very cool and wish they had continued with it.
Just my two drakes.
Huzzah!
(PS- I really miss Pauls shirts! )

Marto

It's called the test server for a reason.

Nothing in it is guaranteed to make it to the final cut of the game.

As for spellcrafting, I'm 90% sure that Matt Firor and/or Rich Lambert confirmed it's been shelved indefinitely. If I recall correctly, it was in one of their end of year letters. Many, many years ago.

It probably means that they'll reuse ideas and assets from time to time. Wouldn't be surprised if spellcrafting is what inspired Antiquities.

Brrrofski

I personally wasn't, as the promise of them isn't what kept me playing.

Don't care about the two person mount - not really sure the point of it to be honest.

Spellcrafting could end up being a nightmare to balance and it'll just end up with someone working out a meta and everyone using them. So we might see even less class identity too. Honestly not thath bothered about it to be honest.

If they did bring it in, I would hope it was excluded from PvP. I can see it being nothing but issues. Run this or that or lose. Think it would lead to boring gameplay.