Maintenance for the week of November 11:
• [COMPLETE] Xbox: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – November 13, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
• [COMPLETE] PlayStation®: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – November 13, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
• [COMPLETE] Xbox: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – November 13, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
• [COMPLETE] PlayStation®: NA and EU megaservers for patch maintenance – November 13, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
The Xbox Live™ service interruption has been resolved. Thank you for your patience.
To The New Player - My Impressions Of The Game (Long Post)
dpayne83_ESO
✭✭✭
Hello All,
So I've been playing ESO for a while as a lot of you have and figured I would do an impression review based on my opinions of the game for newer players. They are neither right now wrong but merely opinions and observations.
Story/Immersion
For years now the Elder Scrolls series has always been about the lore and story. It really does feel that the writers took a lot of time to write the books, quests, and storylines that accompany you on your travels. Some people say that the writing can be sup-par and when I ask they mention it's the way the NPC's talk to them. One of the things I wonder is if perhaps the devs are trying to give each quest giving NPC a personality, so each will talk and act differently when it comes to giving the quest. I mean, if you come to the United States you would expect people to speak English well, but we don't. There are some who say they hit the Veteran Ranks and say there is no story. My answer to that would be if you're not reading the quests and just blowing through the content, then yeah, this is going to seem like a very generic fantasy MMO. Regardless of how well written or not well written there is still a story and lets be honest there's really only so many different ways you can tell a typical fantasy story involving chosen heroes saving the world. That and the quests cleverly hide the typical "kill x many of these" or "get me a x". Most quests are found from exploration and they try and tell a story for an area. For instance I found a smoldering village where nothing was left except the burnt frames of the houses. I was curious as to what happened. A little ways outside of it I was approached by an NPC, who told me the story of what happened and gave me a quest to seek vengeance. What I am not fond of is the linearity of the game. They took a typically sandbox RPG series and made it a themepark MMO.
Setting
Tamriel is huge. We all know this. But the zones are more like subsections of the bigger maps. And I have yet to get the epic feel when I'm standing somewhere. This may be in due to the fact I play in third person instead of first so, yeah, things seem smaller. At the same time I have yet to experience that epic feeling moment; such as standing atop High Hrothgar and looking down upon Skyrim epic. But other than the feeling of the scale the world looks beautiful. Even though the engine is designed for stylized graphics to support a wider range of computers I still think the world the devs crafted is beautiful. From the ambiance, to the atmosphere, to the music. It's hard to deny that the art team at least knows what it's doing.
PvP
I didn't spend as much time in PvP as others will but I at least experienced what it has to offer. For me when I PvP I would prefer perfect balance, an answer to everything that can thrown at you in this environment. Sadly this is near impossible. When I tried the Alliance Wars too often did I see a one sided fight, and for me that's not fun. Even if a fight is one on one you may have a tough time because even though everyone is scaled to 50; a lvl 20 is going to have a very hard time beating a Veteran Rank 1. That and a lot of the best gear require points, which if your alliance isn't doing well, you're not going to get a lot of them. There's isn't a dueling system or any type of small objective-based PvP. So primarily PvP players may be left wanting, unless you're into just constant battling on one map.
Economy
Okay, this is a hot subject but I'll cover it. There is a constant battle between the people who want a global auction house and people who don't. There isn't one in game but instead we have guild stores. These are empty at worst, clunky at best. I have managed to purchase things but it needs some work. Zenimax has stated that they didn't want to implement a global AH because it would disrupt game play. In a sense I can agree and disagree because there are people out there whose sole enjoyment is to just sit in an AH and try and manipulate it to acquire mass sums of money, but hey that's their enjoyment and not mine. I do think that they should up the number of people that can be in a guild from 500, but honestly, I don't want a global auction house. We had a duping bug that let some players take advantage of making stacks of legendary items. If a global AH was in-game, that would have been very bad for the economy due to players acquiring large amounts of gold through nefarious means.
Crafting
This is probably one of my favorite parts of the game and I hate crafting in other games. It's very nice to be able to change style, stats, and quality on any piece of gear you make, based on the materials you have. The best gear in the game can be crafted, which is awesome in my opinion. Biggest gripe, rare motif book prices, it almost felt like the first people do find them look at their gold and said the book is worth twice what I have. They drop in Veteran zones and from what I can tell, often, or maybe I'm just lucky.
I don't find this game perfect. What do I do find is an enjoyable romp through Tamriel that, despite it's bugs, makes me want to explore every corner, find every secret, and grab every skyshard. For me an Elder Scroll game is more about the journey than the end and I find mine quite enjoyable.
So I've been playing ESO for a while as a lot of you have and figured I would do an impression review based on my opinions of the game for newer players. They are neither right now wrong but merely opinions and observations.
Story/Immersion
For years now the Elder Scrolls series has always been about the lore and story. It really does feel that the writers took a lot of time to write the books, quests, and storylines that accompany you on your travels. Some people say that the writing can be sup-par and when I ask they mention it's the way the NPC's talk to them. One of the things I wonder is if perhaps the devs are trying to give each quest giving NPC a personality, so each will talk and act differently when it comes to giving the quest. I mean, if you come to the United States you would expect people to speak English well, but we don't. There are some who say they hit the Veteran Ranks and say there is no story. My answer to that would be if you're not reading the quests and just blowing through the content, then yeah, this is going to seem like a very generic fantasy MMO. Regardless of how well written or not well written there is still a story and lets be honest there's really only so many different ways you can tell a typical fantasy story involving chosen heroes saving the world. That and the quests cleverly hide the typical "kill x many of these" or "get me a x". Most quests are found from exploration and they try and tell a story for an area. For instance I found a smoldering village where nothing was left except the burnt frames of the houses. I was curious as to what happened. A little ways outside of it I was approached by an NPC, who told me the story of what happened and gave me a quest to seek vengeance. What I am not fond of is the linearity of the game. They took a typically sandbox RPG series and made it a themepark MMO.
Setting
Tamriel is huge. We all know this. But the zones are more like subsections of the bigger maps. And I have yet to get the epic feel when I'm standing somewhere. This may be in due to the fact I play in third person instead of first so, yeah, things seem smaller. At the same time I have yet to experience that epic feeling moment; such as standing atop High Hrothgar and looking down upon Skyrim epic. But other than the feeling of the scale the world looks beautiful. Even though the engine is designed for stylized graphics to support a wider range of computers I still think the world the devs crafted is beautiful. From the ambiance, to the atmosphere, to the music. It's hard to deny that the art team at least knows what it's doing.
PvP
I didn't spend as much time in PvP as others will but I at least experienced what it has to offer. For me when I PvP I would prefer perfect balance, an answer to everything that can thrown at you in this environment. Sadly this is near impossible. When I tried the Alliance Wars too often did I see a one sided fight, and for me that's not fun. Even if a fight is one on one you may have a tough time because even though everyone is scaled to 50; a lvl 20 is going to have a very hard time beating a Veteran Rank 1. That and a lot of the best gear require points, which if your alliance isn't doing well, you're not going to get a lot of them. There's isn't a dueling system or any type of small objective-based PvP. So primarily PvP players may be left wanting, unless you're into just constant battling on one map.
Economy
Okay, this is a hot subject but I'll cover it. There is a constant battle between the people who want a global auction house and people who don't. There isn't one in game but instead we have guild stores. These are empty at worst, clunky at best. I have managed to purchase things but it needs some work. Zenimax has stated that they didn't want to implement a global AH because it would disrupt game play. In a sense I can agree and disagree because there are people out there whose sole enjoyment is to just sit in an AH and try and manipulate it to acquire mass sums of money, but hey that's their enjoyment and not mine. I do think that they should up the number of people that can be in a guild from 500, but honestly, I don't want a global auction house. We had a duping bug that let some players take advantage of making stacks of legendary items. If a global AH was in-game, that would have been very bad for the economy due to players acquiring large amounts of gold through nefarious means.
Crafting
This is probably one of my favorite parts of the game and I hate crafting in other games. It's very nice to be able to change style, stats, and quality on any piece of gear you make, based on the materials you have. The best gear in the game can be crafted, which is awesome in my opinion. Biggest gripe, rare motif book prices, it almost felt like the first people do find them look at their gold and said the book is worth twice what I have. They drop in Veteran zones and from what I can tell, often, or maybe I'm just lucky.
I don't find this game perfect. What do I do find is an enjoyable romp through Tamriel that, despite it's bugs, makes me want to explore every corner, find every secret, and grab every skyshard. For me an Elder Scroll game is more about the journey than the end and I find mine quite enjoyable.
0