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Returning player's assessment of 20 new features
krachall
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I started playing ESO at launch and have played, off- and- on, ever since. Recently, though, I took a couple years off and just returned to find lots of new features. Most of them are FANTASTIC. I'd say, on the surface, the game is progressing very nicely. Here's one player's unsolicited opinion.
1. Recall to OUTSIDE house.
Love it. Even with the game on a SSD, we spend far too much time staring at load screens. This feature saves us at least one load screen and that's awesome. HOWEVER, I'm surprised they didn't take it to the obvious next step and have inn rooms "outside" be actually outside the inn instead of outside the inn room door. Seems like they made it to the finish line but didn't step over it.
2. Armory system
Maybe my favorite feature in the entire game. I despise playing alts. I have my "main" and he's all I ever want to play. But with the desire to perform different roles sometimes (stealth, PVP, farmer, crafter), I made alts like everyone else. But now, with the armory system, my main character can do almost anything and THAT makes me happy. I'd like to be able to lock builds to prevent accidentally overwriting them and I wish the system would pull gear from storage chests but, overall, this is my favorite new feature. I've spent all my crowns on new armory slots!
3. Skyrim/Deadlands/Blackwood zones/quests
Ugh...I really expected more from these. Let's be honest, ZOS has never been great at writing quests. The majority of quests in this game could be written by a bot:
Talk to (NPC1)
Talk to (NPC2)
Travel to (LOCATION) and destroy/break/bless/curse/cleanse/fill/drink/shatter/repair/collect 3/4/5/6/7 crystals/traps/valves/vials/jugs/ghosts/markers/graves/gems/seals/wards
Talk to (NPC2)
Talk to (NPC1)
The new quests in the new zones and chapters are more of the same with boring writing, bland characters, generic missions but...wait for it...world-ending plots? I'll just accept that quest-writing isn't ZOS' strength. Will give a minor pass on Arox the Mutilator though. He's a keeper.
4. Antiquities.
WOW! Love this entire system. I applaud the varied ways to get get writs, the different levels of randomness (From guaranteed leads to very hard to get leads), and the quality of the rewards.
5. Glowy chests from Antiquities skill
Another game changer for me. I suck at seeing chests as I'm blowing through a dungeon. This is really a nice feature.
6. New CP system.
This is the third system I've seen (I started with the original VP system or whatever it was called). I kinda like the 4-slot system so that super-high level characters can't do everything but I'm quickly approaching the point where I have no non-slottable skills left for CPs. Meh.
7. House occupants
This is harmless and pretty cool. I tend to be more of a dungeon-runner than a "play house and dress-up" player but ZOS continues to make housing more and more rich and I'm embarrassed at how I'm getting sucked into it.
8. Mail
Well look what we have here! After...7 years we finally have a mail system that (kinda) works (kinda) instantly just like games released 22 years ago had! Seriously, it's about time. Mine's been funky (mail icon indicates mail has arrived but mail window is blank) but it could be because of add-ons or something. I'm so happy with it mostly working that I haven't tried to figure out the issues when it doesn't work.
9. Companions
At first I had no interest. The only place I really would use one would be filling out groups for random normals or speeding up arenas...but those are two places companions don't work. So I didn't even buy Blackwood for a while. But after buying it and trying it, I'd say companions are a nice little diversion and make soloing a bit more interesting.
10. Pets
The good: It appears combat pets are no longer blocking crafting stations, writ turn-ins, and NPCs. Maybe I'm wrong but they don't appear to be as annoying as they used to be. The bad: Players are now running around with FOUR pets and there still isn't an option to hide them. I get that some people need their Snow White moment but there's already enough crap on the screen.
11. New Houses
Terrible. Too big and the placeable-to-space ratio is still way to low for these McMansions. I get that they are a good revenue generator and I'm not suggesting they be eliminated but how about adding some medium-sized houses? Medium sized houses are the most fun to me because you can really make them detailed.
12. Event ticket system
I was playing with this was first launched and I hated it. I didn't mind the ticket system itself but having an entire year's worth of events focused on reskinning the same absurd looking High Elf mount removed any interest i had in participating. But it looks like that system has evolved nicely with more options (house, skin, personality, mount, pet)
13. Endeavors
Very nice! It's obviously a long-term grind but it's simple and straightforward enough that it's a nice fill-in feature. It bridges the gap between hum-drum daily rewards and horrible involved grinds.
14. Stickerbook
Most of my long-term friends in ESO claim this is their favorite feature and I can't disagree that it's awesome. My only complaint is that it's tied to a system (transmute crystals) that doesn't have a great solo option. Fix the random normal debacle or give us some other options for grinding transmutes and it would be perfect. But that's a minor gripe with a lot of existing options anyway.
15. Curated loot
Wow! I didn't think I'd ever see this feature in ANY MMO. Nicely done. There are certainly some flaws (coffers not being curated yet some sets are ONLY available in coffers...Hews Bane and Gold Coast specifically) but it's a neat system. And I find myself grinding out sets even though I know I'll never reconstruct them. Nicely done!
16. Mythic items
After years and years and years of the 5-5-2 gear layout it is REALLY cool to mix it up with some single-item sets! Nice.
17. Blackreach
Boooo! I really, REALLY hoped this would be more like the Skyrim version as it's easily my favorite area of that game. Skyrim's Blackreach felt incredible isolated, dark, creepy, remote, ancient, and desolate. ESO's version is nothing like that...there's even a friendly city down there. It feels more like Grand Central Station than Blackreach.
18. Mount speed
I'm not even sure what changed but whatever was done to that old PVP go-fast-for-30-seconds skill to make it permanent go-fast is awesome. Zoom zoom.
19. Mounts
Ok, ZOS, maybe wanna reign it in a bit (pun intended...bwahah) with the anime style mounts that summoning causes a bigger cataclysmic event than an exploding dolmen? Mount design in this game jumped the shark so long ago that I'm surprised we don't have an actual jumping shark mount...that explodes when you summon it.
20. Inventory/crafting interface (in general)
Lots of nice improvements here. Everything from being able to filter in subgroups (armor > heavy) to filtering recipes to be quest-only. I'm sure I'm missing some UI features but they've done a ton of work on these and it shows.
1. Recall to OUTSIDE house.
Love it. Even with the game on a SSD, we spend far too much time staring at load screens. This feature saves us at least one load screen and that's awesome. HOWEVER, I'm surprised they didn't take it to the obvious next step and have inn rooms "outside" be actually outside the inn instead of outside the inn room door. Seems like they made it to the finish line but didn't step over it.
2. Armory system
Maybe my favorite feature in the entire game. I despise playing alts. I have my "main" and he's all I ever want to play. But with the desire to perform different roles sometimes (stealth, PVP, farmer, crafter), I made alts like everyone else. But now, with the armory system, my main character can do almost anything and THAT makes me happy. I'd like to be able to lock builds to prevent accidentally overwriting them and I wish the system would pull gear from storage chests but, overall, this is my favorite new feature. I've spent all my crowns on new armory slots!
3. Skyrim/Deadlands/Blackwood zones/quests
Ugh...I really expected more from these. Let's be honest, ZOS has never been great at writing quests. The majority of quests in this game could be written by a bot:
Talk to (NPC1)
Talk to (NPC2)
Travel to (LOCATION) and destroy/break/bless/curse/cleanse/fill/drink/shatter/repair/collect 3/4/5/6/7 crystals/traps/valves/vials/jugs/ghosts/markers/graves/gems/seals/wards
Talk to (NPC2)
Talk to (NPC1)
The new quests in the new zones and chapters are more of the same with boring writing, bland characters, generic missions but...wait for it...world-ending plots? I'll just accept that quest-writing isn't ZOS' strength. Will give a minor pass on Arox the Mutilator though. He's a keeper.
4. Antiquities.
WOW! Love this entire system. I applaud the varied ways to get get writs, the different levels of randomness (From guaranteed leads to very hard to get leads), and the quality of the rewards.
5. Glowy chests from Antiquities skill
Another game changer for me. I suck at seeing chests as I'm blowing through a dungeon. This is really a nice feature.
6. New CP system.
This is the third system I've seen (I started with the original VP system or whatever it was called). I kinda like the 4-slot system so that super-high level characters can't do everything but I'm quickly approaching the point where I have no non-slottable skills left for CPs. Meh.
7. House occupants
This is harmless and pretty cool. I tend to be more of a dungeon-runner than a "play house and dress-up" player but ZOS continues to make housing more and more rich and I'm embarrassed at how I'm getting sucked into it.
8. Mail
Well look what we have here! After...7 years we finally have a mail system that (kinda) works (kinda) instantly just like games released 22 years ago had! Seriously, it's about time. Mine's been funky (mail icon indicates mail has arrived but mail window is blank) but it could be because of add-ons or something. I'm so happy with it mostly working that I haven't tried to figure out the issues when it doesn't work.
9. Companions
At first I had no interest. The only place I really would use one would be filling out groups for random normals or speeding up arenas...but those are two places companions don't work. So I didn't even buy Blackwood for a while. But after buying it and trying it, I'd say companions are a nice little diversion and make soloing a bit more interesting.
10. Pets
The good: It appears combat pets are no longer blocking crafting stations, writ turn-ins, and NPCs. Maybe I'm wrong but they don't appear to be as annoying as they used to be. The bad: Players are now running around with FOUR pets and there still isn't an option to hide them. I get that some people need their Snow White moment but there's already enough crap on the screen.
11. New Houses
Terrible. Too big and the placeable-to-space ratio is still way to low for these McMansions. I get that they are a good revenue generator and I'm not suggesting they be eliminated but how about adding some medium-sized houses? Medium sized houses are the most fun to me because you can really make them detailed.
12. Event ticket system
I was playing with this was first launched and I hated it. I didn't mind the ticket system itself but having an entire year's worth of events focused on reskinning the same absurd looking High Elf mount removed any interest i had in participating. But it looks like that system has evolved nicely with more options (house, skin, personality, mount, pet)
13. Endeavors
Very nice! It's obviously a long-term grind but it's simple and straightforward enough that it's a nice fill-in feature. It bridges the gap between hum-drum daily rewards and horrible involved grinds.
14. Stickerbook
Most of my long-term friends in ESO claim this is their favorite feature and I can't disagree that it's awesome. My only complaint is that it's tied to a system (transmute crystals) that doesn't have a great solo option. Fix the random normal debacle or give us some other options for grinding transmutes and it would be perfect. But that's a minor gripe with a lot of existing options anyway.
15. Curated loot
Wow! I didn't think I'd ever see this feature in ANY MMO. Nicely done. There are certainly some flaws (coffers not being curated yet some sets are ONLY available in coffers...Hews Bane and Gold Coast specifically) but it's a neat system. And I find myself grinding out sets even though I know I'll never reconstruct them. Nicely done!
16. Mythic items
After years and years and years of the 5-5-2 gear layout it is REALLY cool to mix it up with some single-item sets! Nice.
17. Blackreach
Boooo! I really, REALLY hoped this would be more like the Skyrim version as it's easily my favorite area of that game. Skyrim's Blackreach felt incredible isolated, dark, creepy, remote, ancient, and desolate. ESO's version is nothing like that...there's even a friendly city down there. It feels more like Grand Central Station than Blackreach.
18. Mount speed
I'm not even sure what changed but whatever was done to that old PVP go-fast-for-30-seconds skill to make it permanent go-fast is awesome. Zoom zoom.
19. Mounts
Ok, ZOS, maybe wanna reign it in a bit (pun intended...bwahah) with the anime style mounts that summoning causes a bigger cataclysmic event than an exploding dolmen? Mount design in this game jumped the shark so long ago that I'm surprised we don't have an actual jumping shark mount...that explodes when you summon it.
20. Inventory/crafting interface (in general)
Lots of nice improvements here. Everything from being able to filter in subgroups (armor > heavy) to filtering recipes to be quest-only. I'm sure I'm missing some UI features but they've done a ton of work on these and it shows.
16
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SeaGtGruff✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭1. Recall to outside of house -- When you're inside an inn and use the exit to go outside, there's no loading screen, so recalling to the outside of the entire inn isn't really needed.
8. Mail -- I use no addons at all, and that happens to me sometimes, so it isn't caused by addons. If you close the mail, wait a little bit, and reopen it, sometimes the mail will be there, so I think it's just the "slow loading" issue that pops up from time to time with all sorts of things in the game, especially when you're in a very busy area with a lot of players congregating.
18. Mount speed -- One of the Active Skills in the Assault skill line got a passive effect added to it, so you get the speed boost at all times, even if you don't have that skill slotted on your bar.I've fought mudcrabs more fearsome than me!1 -
Dolphinsgal✭✭✭I agree with most of this...
Houses are too big, we need more space for more items, blocking off large parts of houses isn't fun.
Companions need a way for us to interact that isn't the same as all the other interactions in the game. I want to be able to jump or collect the raw mats without talking to my companion all the time.
Mail system is great, love the reply option.
Not a fan of the newest of the new area (deadlands), but zos did take the information those of us with photosensitivity issues and changed it. I didn't think I'd see that happen and was excited and happy when they did.
I haven't tried the armory system yet, I've heard it buggy on console, so waiting a bit before I try it.0 -
Beilin_Balreis_Colcan✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭10. Pets - it would be nice if other players' pets (and companions) weren't visible to us, because the game would be more realistic and immersive. I'm hardly the first to mention this "Attack of the Clones" feature.PC(Steam) / EU / play from Melbourne, Australia / avg ping 3900 -
whitecrow✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Why do people keep saying that pets no longer block things? Just a couple days ago I had to time my keypress in between the wings of a twilight because the prompt kept disappearing. The problem remains.3 -
Sylvermynx✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Why do people keep saying that pets no longer block things? Just a couple days ago I had to time my keypress in between the wings of a twilight because the prompt kept disappearing. The problem remains.
I haven't had the problem once since they changed the priority. Works perfectly for me.0 -
daim✭✭✭✭✭
"No one ever listens to Zathras. Quite mad, they say." ;D""I am that which grips the heart in fright, hearkens night and silences the light." It was written on my sword, long…long ago." ―Ajunta Pall
PC|EU1 -
_Zathras_✭✭✭✭✭
✭
"No one ever listens to Zathras. Quite mad, they say." ;D
Not the one.. No. Not the one.2 -
Elsonso✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Why do people keep saying that pets no longer block things? Just a couple days ago I had to time my keypress in between the wings of a twilight because the prompt kept disappearing. The problem remains.
As a problem, this is significantly reduced. BUT... not with Ms Flappy Wings. She is still a problem.XBox EU/NA:@ElsonsoJannus
PC NA/EU: @Elsonso
PSN NA/EU: @ElsonsoJannus
Total in-game hours: 11321
X/Twitter: ElsonsoJannus0 -
Elvenheart✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Mount design in this game jumped the shark so long ago that I'm surprised we don't have an actual jumping shark mount...that explodes when you summon it.
Hehehehehehehee! Thanks for giving them a new idea! Next year will be attack of the rainbow sharks!
Seriously, welcome back to ESO and you did a great job of summing up all the wonderful changes that have happened over the years that makes the game it is today. 😊0 -
whitecrow✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Why do people keep saying that pets no longer block things? Just a couple days ago I had to time my keypress in between the wings of a twilight because the prompt kept disappearing. The problem remains.
As a problem, this is significantly reduced. BUT... not with Ms Flappy Wings. She is still a problem.
She's the only one that ever was a problem for me.0 -
Elvenheart✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Dolphinsgal wrote: »Companions need a way for us to interact that isn't the same as all the other interactions in the game. I want to be able to jump or collect the raw mats without talking to my companion all the time.
Mirri: “Yes, sera? What, you don’t like talking to me all the time? Why the fetching fetch not?”0 -
Lysette✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭yeah, number 21 - game is finally able to keep a connection alive - and no longer drop it 3 times per hour.
I strongly agree on the antiquities system - it leads me to places, I've never been before - so it is as well a guidance system to visit interesting places, I missed out on before.Edited by Lysette on December 29, 2021 11:54AM0 -
Ippokrates✭✭✭✭✭Sylvermynx wrote: »Why do people keep saying that pets no longer block things? Just a couple days ago I had to time my keypress in between the wings of a twilight because the prompt kept disappearing. The problem remains.
I haven't had the problem once since they changed the priority. Works perfectly for me.
I still have issues at writs drop site when playing Warden - my own bear block some of the boxes everytime. EVERY! -_-0 -
Lysette✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Ippokrates wrote: »Sylvermynx wrote: »Why do people keep saying that pets no longer block things? Just a couple days ago I had to time my keypress in between the wings of a twilight because the prompt kept disappearing. The problem remains.
I haven't had the problem once since they changed the priority. Works perfectly for me.
I still have issues at writs drop site when playing Warden - my own bear block some of the boxes everytime. EVERY! -_-
So why not dismiss the bear then - I very rarely summon mine, just when I think, I might get in trouble without it.0 -
tomofhyrule✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Why do people keep saying that pets no longer block things? Just a couple days ago I had to time my keypress in between the wings of a twilight because the prompt kept disappearing. The problem remains.
They did change that again and I think they slightly reverted it a bit. Not back to what it was, but there was a new problem.
The old old version would have pets/companions/etc. block everything. Once they fixed that, they didn't block a thing, but that brought up new problems where some activators during quests would become uninteractable since they were technically hiding behind effects as well, making parts of e.g. the Clockwork City MQ and the Coldharbour MQ technically uncompleteable. They ended up fiddling with that a bit so you could still complete the game, but that did make it a bit easier to accidentally talk to Mirri instead of picking a flower.
I'll take 'minor annoyance' over 'quest breaking bug,' honestly.0
