What's most annoying zone in your opinion?

katanagirl1

Kappachi wrote: »

I'm surprised so many people dislike Malabal Tor, is there any general reason why everyone dislikes that zone in particular? I thought it was a really neat location and the overall scenery was pretty good.

For me, it’s because there is no terrain height information on the zone maps. We really need a topographic map for zones like that one or more visible pathways on the maps. The other zones I have found ways to get around but not that one. I just waste so much time trying to get where I want to go. It seems like the enemies are denser too and slow you down when you can’t find a path and don’t want to stop to fight something every few feet and just want to get out of there.

Billium813

I think the common thread seems to be that players don't seem to like zone terrain that forces them to adhere to paths. Players don't seem to like lots of steep cliffs and rivers because they can't go off road very easily and the zone feels restrictive or "on rails". That's perfectly understandable and valid!

However, I would say, that I also dislike the alternative, which would be flat terrain with large open areas so that players can navigate however they want! I think the inverse could be just as generic and boring. Personally, I wanted High Isle to have a massive Volcano that had long, narrow, winding paths up to the summit for impressive vantage views! Something you could really yeet yourself off of and die a horrific death 1000ft down xD. But instead High Isle is a bit flat and linear, with large fields and I think it's rather uninteresting. Amos is more interesting with foliage, but still rather 2D and flat imo.

Looking back at Malabal Tor, I think it's a great design! I love all the bridges, layered hills, root archs, and foliage. If you stick to the paths, it's really nice! I can also totally see how it's annoying to navigate. There are lots of areas that desperately could use a bridge or a break in the hill and you seem to be punished the moment you try to cross-country as rivers have steep cliffs or are too wide to jump on a mount or sheer hill edges keep barring the direction you want to go. On the whole though, I like the diverse topographical zones of Tamriel.

For zone designers, I would say that they need to be more observant of WHERE they place roads and paths. They need to better connect real activities that are found in the zones. Paths shouldn't just be visually appealing, they need to be functionally appealing too! Otherwise, you get players taking the "best" path and feeling like the terrain is punishing them for doing so; which is just bad design!

BretonMage

I love Malabal Tor, and don't remember having too much trouble navigating it. The regions I dislike for navigating and general ambience are Stonefalls and Coldharbour.

Pelanora

Allikr is the dream zone. After navigation nightmares, I go there just to ride and ride.

Beilin_Balreis_Colcan

I like the variety in the zones. So what if the swamps force you to dismount, or the mountains are difficult to get around ? I call that realism. If everything was designed for the ultimate convenience of those who are always in a hurry to get somewhere, ESO wouldn't be the game I like.

Michae

Shadowfen. I don't have anything against Argonians but the zone's terrible to navigate. Deep water and lots of roots that stop you in your tracks, on top of that most of features slowing you down are poorly represented on your map. They did a better job with Murkmire, it's certainly easier to navigate.

TiberX

Shadowfen. Ugly AF, depressing even

boi_anachronism_

Only reason I dislike shadowfen is because of the kilt node drop. I'm traumatized lol. I don't mind the water dismount stuff, I loved vaardenfell.

Northwold

jaws343 wrote: »

Northern Elswyr. It's so incredibly sectioned off and many of the wayshrines are in odd locations. Lots of running around from place to place to do anything with the zone not really flowing from place to place in a natural way.

I think Northern Elsweyr is a fantastic zone in that it is creative and completely different from anywhere else in the game, let down by the game's truly awful map, which is bad at the best of times, but is more or less unusable there because you can't tell where the obstructions are. If they fixed the map my guess is that the zone would feel a whole lot better.