An idea to make new weapon skill lines easier to implement

LittlePinkDot

It has been said that the reason we don't have new weapon skill lines is because of all the motifs that would be required.

I have an idea on how to avoid this.
The new weapons would be tied to a new chapter to some kind of special crafting/transmorg station. You would only have a few options for how it would look, and you select from a list which set you want it to morph into.

So the new weapons wouldn't be drops from dungeons or overland. You would need to morph it into the set you wanted it to be part of at whatever the special crafting station would be called.

This would make it significantly easier to implement and would provide the profit incentive for ZoS since it would require the purchase of a new chapter/DLC.

fizzylu

Honestly, the "logic" that they can't release new weapon lines because of all the motifs is just a copout anyway. Lots of new weapon lines people ask for would use models that already exist in game, just like restoration staffs and destruction staffs share the same models and how a sword+board user equips the same one-handed weapons as a dual wielder.

Players want a proper spellsword weapon line? Daggers, swords, axes, and maces already exist in game.
Players want more staff options for the other schools of magic? Staffs already exist in game.
Players want a DPS oriented shield skill line? Shields already exist in game.
Players want a melee DPS staff to beat their enemies with? Again, staffs already exist in game.
Players want hand to hand combat? Last time I checked, all characters have fists. They don't need to add a weapon model to this because no TES games had actual gauntlets or knuckles you wore. All it would take is an item that still gets equipped and upgraded, but has no actual visual model.

Yes, releasing something like spears or crossbows would require new models.... but there are plenty of weapon lines that players have asked for that would not. Using the examples above, the only thing they would actually have to do is add an option to sets for hand to hand combat and another item with no appearance that functioned as a rune or focus like object so that the spellsword line can get the stats/set bonus for having two weapons equipped. And yes.... there is no reason these things couldn't have no model because neither do necklaces or rings, and given all the VFX they create for proc sets every single chapter and DLC update, I know it wouldn't be that hard to even do something like create a little VFX to show that the "rune/focus" is equipped. A little white glow at the left hand, for example. Most difficult one would be creating the animations for a melee staff line, but even that has nothing to do with the "but all the motfis~" excuse we've been given for years.

LittlePinkDot

fizzylu wrote: »

Honestly, the "logic" that they can't release new weapon lines because of all the motifs is just a copout anyway. Lots of new weapon lines people ask for would use models that already exist in game, just like restoration staffs and destruction staffs share the same models and how a sword+board user equips the same one-handed weapons as a dual wielder.

Players want a proper spellsword weapon line? Daggers, swords, axes, and maces already exist in game.
Players want more staff options for the other schools of magic? Staffs already exist in game.
Players want a DPS oriented shield skill line? Shields already exist in game.
Players want a melee DPS staff to beat their enemies with? Again, staffs already exist in game.
Players want hand to hand combat? Last time I checked, all characters have fists. They don't need to add a weapon model to this because no TES games had actual gauntlets or knuckles you wore. All it would take is an item that still gets equipped and upgraded, but has no actual visual model.

Yes, releasing something like spears or crossbows would require new models.... but there are plenty of weapon lines that players have asked for that would not. Using the examples above, the only thing they would actually have to do is add an option to sets for hand to hand combat and another item with no appearance that functioned as a rune or focus like object so that the spellsword line can get the stats/set bonus for having two weapons equipped. And yes.... there is no reason these things couldn't have no model because neither do necklaces or rings, and given all the VFX they create for proc sets every single chapter and DLC update, I know it wouldn't be that hard to even create some sort of little VFX to show that the "rune/focus" is equipped. A little white glow at the left hand, for example. Most difficult one would be creating the animations for a melee staff line, but even that has nothing to do with the "but all the motfis~" excuse we've been given for years.

Perhaps motifs are just excuse. Perhaps it's really about money and they don't want to admit it.
Can't have new weapons dropping in old content for free. Has to be tied exclusively to a chapter.
If that's it then either way my suggestion still solves their problem regardless if it was about motifs or not.

merpins

They could also just make a universal skill line. Take Spell Crafting as an example; you get to make your own skills, and have a lot of freedom (from how it was advertised in 2014-2015). Just do the same thing, but don't limit it to spells. Call it Skill Crafting instead of Spell Crafting, and fold in stamina and weapon skills in there. You want a spear skill? You can do that with Skill Crafting, and you don't need a new weapon for it. It would also allow the devs to add more skills to the game at their own pace; after the initial release of this feature, they wouldn't need to release whole skill lines, they could just release a couple new skills to Skill Crafting at a time.

fizzylu

LittlePinkDot wrote: »

Perhaps motifs are just excuse. Perhaps it's really about money and they don't want to admit it.
Can't have new weapons dropping in old content for free. Has to be tied exclusively to a chapter.
If that's it then either way my suggestion still solves their problem regardless if it was about motifs or not.

They could just lock the new weapon lines behind a questline from whatever the new chapter is just like they did with skill lines like Psijic Order, Thieves Guild, and the Dark Brotherhood. "Want to use the spellsword weapon line? Well, you have to do the questline in X chapter to unlock the ability to equip the weapons and get access to the skills." It's the same way antiquities are in old content and zones, but players have to do the questline in Greymoor to unlock the ability to scry and excavate. It's truly that simple and why they refuse to do this is beyond me. I do know that in the longrun their refusal to release new weapons will and already does cost them players though.

Build burnout is real, and the more they continue to make excuses to avoid giving players the things they ask for, the more people will get tired of ESO. As it is right now, ESO is behind every other MMO I know of that lets you choose your own weapon(s) (obviously not including WoW where weapons are just stat items). New World, GW2, and Albion Online all have more build diversity when it comes to weapons.... which is probably why I enjoy the combat more in all of those games currently. GW2 even lightened their weapon restrictions with their recent expansion and already have more planned to be released in the not too distant future. Zenimax devs really seem to be the only ones that don't understand the importance of weapon options and it is sad to see.

LittlePinkDot

fizzylu wrote: »

LittlePinkDot wrote: »

Perhaps motifs are just excuse. Perhaps it's really about money and they don't want to admit it.
Can't have new weapons dropping in old content for free. Has to be tied exclusively to a chapter.
If that's it then either way my suggestion still solves their problem regardless if it was about motifs or not.

They could just lock the new weapon lines behind a questline from whatever the new chapter is just like they did with skill lines like Psijic Order, Thieves Guild, and the Dark Brotherhood. "Want to use the spellsword weapon line? Well, you have to do the questline in X chapter to unlock the ability to equip the weapons and get access to the skills." It's the same way antiquities are in old content and zones, but players have to do the questline in Greymoor to unlock the ability to scry and excavate. It's truly that simple and why they refuse to do this is beyond me. I do know that in the longrun their refusal to release new weapons will and already does cost them players though.

Build burnout is real, and the more they continue to make excuses to avoid giving players the things they ask for, the more people will get tired of ESO. As it is right now, ESO is behind every other MMO I know of that lets you choose your own weapon(s) (obviously not including WoW where weapons are just stat items). New World, GW2, and Albion Online all have more build diversity when it comes to weapons.... which is probably why I enjoy the combat more in all of those games currently. GW2 even lightened their weapon restrictions with their recent expansion and already have more planned to be released in the not too distant future. Zenimax devs really seem to be the only ones that don't understand the importance of weapon options and it is sad to see.

But you can trade items in dungeons. Its possible that having different loot tables in dungeons that it might cause lag. There's definitely some back end coding involved with that.

fizzylu

LittlePinkDot wrote: »

But you can trade items in dungeons. Its possible that having different loot tables in dungeons that it might cause lag. There's definitely some back end coding involved with that.

Why would there have to be different loot tables? I see no problem with the weapon dropping even if you can't use it. Just decon it like something else you wouldn't want or trade it to someone who does want it. It's the same way antiquity leads drop even if you don't have Greymoor. And to offset there being more gear in the RNG, they could just increase gear drops. Gear farming is already pretty tedious and complained about when someone is trying to get a specific set so upping gear drops would be an overall win for everyone, even those who choose not to purchase whatever new chapter/DLC there is. Again, it's that simple.