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• EU megaservers for patch maintenance – December 17, 9:00 UTC (4:00AM EST) - 17:00 UTC (12:00PM EST)
My Elder Scrolls Online - A point of view thread
Harleyquincey
✭✭✭
Greetings everyone. I decided to create this thread for a couple of reasons. Let's make this a place where we do not attack each other, where we really keep a civilized and calm nature no matter what the views might be. Let us make that one thread for completely biased and personal views on the current state of ESO and provide our very own reasoning. Let's make it a thread for ZeniMax to see who likes/dislikes what and for what reason.
I will begin this with a brief introduction of myself, to put things into perspective. Played Ultima Online from 1999 until 2011, Star Wars: The Old Republic from 2011 until 2014 and am now at "home" in ESO. Added to this are tons of other MMOs that never became a mainstay for me or that could just not cut it for me longer than a few months (Neverwinter comes to mind). I have led many kinds of guilds from zany (People in Pink) to close-knit and family-like (The Order of the Grey Wolves) and enjoy PvE, PvP and Crafting to the same degrees.
What made me drastically change my opinion on ESO from "Meh, doesn't sound interesting" to "Okay, going to pre-order right now" was actually playing the betas thanks to some encouragement by a close friend. I am very glad I did that and I am not the kind of person that is easily driven away once he comes to like something.
-Lore-
ESO does an excellent job at making the rich lore come alive, with the way one becomes an important (but not exaggerated) part of it. That was always something that struck me as odd elsewhere - player characters saving the entire world on a daily basis? Nah, not my cup of tea. ESO has only a few of the moments that made me smirk at random goofiness (The "elite" Lion Guard that fails at rescuing a Duke where all takes is walking up a staircase and smashing some pebbles, comes to mind). Yet Sheogorath? Simply outstanding and amazing how it captures the spirit of him and makes him become alive in your head. I also would like to applaud his voice actor, Malcolm McDowell, for this since it is his voice acting that makes him be alive. I have re-started a couple of dialogues just to hear it over again, something I usually do not do. My rating? 9/10
-Quest Design-
This brings me to the quest design itself - and this is only rivalled by SW:TOR in my personal experience. Yes, of course, you have the "archetypical" quest categories that involve bring X to Y for Z and Slay X of Y to receive Z. But wait, there is a lot more. Puzzles and riddles are always dearly loved by myself, especially the way ESO handles those (which is fair, providing you with he solution if you read the Lore around you carefully). I also love not being spoon-fed the next quest chain in some areas, rewarding exploration a lot and also the, for a MMO that is, greater implications of dialogue choices (somewhat akin to SW:TOR in this). The only thing I did not enjoy in quest design, was that a few of them had the occasional "And now? Now you go right back where you just have been - Ahh you have returned? Off you go, same spot pretty please." Other than that, very goodjob. Here's hoping we see a bit (like one or two quest-chains) of extra Vampire/WW content one day
My rating? 8.5/10
-World/Dungeon design-
One of the key things that make or break my enthusiasm for a game is this, I really dislike overused or scarcely decorated locations. See.. ESO does re-use quite a few assets (really? The Bank of Wayrest + the Castle put that close to each another with the exact same building model wasn't the very best idea Made me chuckle a fair bit)
However, despite doing so, most of those still are decorated differently enough on the interior to make them feel less worn-out. Luckily this is only an issue with a few building types and some dungeons and I can understand why this decision was made and it's fine because ..the spots where it is not done? Simply the best I have ever seen in both, a MMO and/or a single player game. You need to realize, dear ZeniMax, my hard drive can only hold so many gigabytes of screenshots and I've already made 463 currently, being Level 47 on my main. That's an average of 10 per level and this alone should show you just "how" good the design really is. It leaves me stunned and speechless in many spots. I feel the urge to simply stop, take in the view, grab a virtual chair and relax. Once I'm done in Daggerfall Covenant, I'll send a good couple of screenshots in to showcase exceptional areas. My rating? 9.5/10
-Game Mechanics-
Ah yes. The core of the aple, eh? Well. My personal hero-of-the-MMO genre in this regard is Ultima Online because no MMO ever since sucesfully rivaled, let alonesurpassed its freedom of choice.. until ESO. I am so sick of all the "Nope, can't do that, because my class is X, not Y" in other games. Why? What if my character indeed decides not to simply be swinging a two-handed axe but also loves to dabble in mind-altering spells? How about my fierce orc-warrior who is an amazing cook at heart? ESO allows me to do just that. Yes, a few mechanics could also use work but there s none that really sticks out for me so I could point my finger at it and say "You were the chosen one!" I like how I can mix up things and am even encouraged (with a heavy smack) to do so and adapt to various kinds of encounters. Yes - it CAN be frustrating not beinb able to progress here or there because one is ill-prepared. But what does that effecitvely do? Exactly, you get better at it. I'm a tank and had a very hard time against Harvester mob types because they need some fast AoE damage on their "adds". Until I figured out a setup that works well for me and with which they now are a breeze for me. The same goes for certain dungeon bosses. You know what? I like that. I like being challenged and "forced" to play smarter, not harder. My rating? 8/10 (a few unpolished spots).
-Customer Service-
Always a crucial thing. Well. This is where the most work is still needed besides bugfixing. See.. I like the CS because it can be astonishingly personal and "Hey, I'm personally responsible for this now and I'll make sure it will be resolved, don't worry" but it also involves the typical easily recognizeable copy+paste templates and this sadly does involve forums. It is getting better, but still there is a long road to travel. I understand it, from a personal perspective, since it's your first MMO as ZeniMax. And I don't understand it, from a personal perspective, because there's been so many MMOs to learn from and the team behind this one doesn't particularly strike me as beginners. Come on, be a bit less distant. Yeah, humans make mistake and I've received support mails with typos! Oh noes! I think better of you, not lesser, due to that since that was clearly not a template there *grins* - and I work in Customer Service myself for a multi-billion dollar company, so I know about the hassle with "It's got to be representing! It got to be spotless and so tightly wrapped up in legal paper that not even She-Hulk and the Aquaman could make it crumble!". It's fine. Just communicate more with us customers and don't be afraid. Yesterday evening had the very best moment of this in my gametime here - when a Gamemaster Neuraminidase offered help by smashing bots to pieces and not being afraid to admit to me that he couldn't see/spot one of those I whisperedto him. So I went to the spot, jumping a few times and poof, magic was done. That was very human, very understandable and it got my two thumbs up here My rating? 6.5/10 with a positive trend (it once was at 4/10).
-Bugs-
Less than expected, more than hoped. I'll just leave it at that, currently stuck at "Will of the Council", was stuck at "Ghosts of Westtry" once, some world bosses never spawn, bank bug affected my spouse. What however actually bugs me the most (pardon the pun) is the broken Vampirism. Out of all those skills only 2/9 skills work as intended, the rest is bugged or broken completely. The ones working proper would be "Blood Ritual" and "Supernatural Recovery". The other ones either don't reapply proper or allow extreme griefing by enabling a vampire to kill 25 players at the same time without getting so much as a dent in the armor (there was a thread detailing this just recently). Needs more work - as always. I'm not an illusional fool that one day all bugs will be fixed. New patches will introduce new bugs occasionally. My rating? 6/10. Trend is massively positive (Craiglorn patch)
Let's make a grand total then:
47.5/60, which equals a rating of 79% of approval, while having a very substantial drift towards better.
So. That's that. A way too long review which will make me sound a fanboy. There you got it. I think I might actually be, after all. Because I love your tackle at the genre, breaking the stereotypical class concept and making me think before I blink. And you know what? Keep it up. Don't let the ever-so-toxic trolls get to you.
Any further reviews are welcome, just please don't write a simple "Me like" or "Me no like" but try to provide some substance, okay? I can understand why someone might really dislike ESO, but it's simply not my own opinion and mine is certainly not the standard for anyone else, either.
Yours truly,
Clavius Lydoris Probus, EU server.
I will begin this with a brief introduction of myself, to put things into perspective. Played Ultima Online from 1999 until 2011, Star Wars: The Old Republic from 2011 until 2014 and am now at "home" in ESO. Added to this are tons of other MMOs that never became a mainstay for me or that could just not cut it for me longer than a few months (Neverwinter comes to mind). I have led many kinds of guilds from zany (People in Pink) to close-knit and family-like (The Order of the Grey Wolves) and enjoy PvE, PvP and Crafting to the same degrees.
What made me drastically change my opinion on ESO from "Meh, doesn't sound interesting" to "Okay, going to pre-order right now" was actually playing the betas thanks to some encouragement by a close friend. I am very glad I did that and I am not the kind of person that is easily driven away once he comes to like something.
-Lore-
ESO does an excellent job at making the rich lore come alive, with the way one becomes an important (but not exaggerated) part of it. That was always something that struck me as odd elsewhere - player characters saving the entire world on a daily basis? Nah, not my cup of tea. ESO has only a few of the moments that made me smirk at random goofiness (The "elite" Lion Guard that fails at rescuing a Duke where all takes is walking up a staircase and smashing some pebbles, comes to mind). Yet Sheogorath? Simply outstanding and amazing how it captures the spirit of him and makes him become alive in your head. I also would like to applaud his voice actor, Malcolm McDowell, for this since it is his voice acting that makes him be alive. I have re-started a couple of dialogues just to hear it over again, something I usually do not do. My rating? 9/10
-Quest Design-
This brings me to the quest design itself - and this is only rivalled by SW:TOR in my personal experience. Yes, of course, you have the "archetypical" quest categories that involve bring X to Y for Z and Slay X of Y to receive Z. But wait, there is a lot more. Puzzles and riddles are always dearly loved by myself, especially the way ESO handles those (which is fair, providing you with he solution if you read the Lore around you carefully). I also love not being spoon-fed the next quest chain in some areas, rewarding exploration a lot and also the, for a MMO that is, greater implications of dialogue choices (somewhat akin to SW:TOR in this). The only thing I did not enjoy in quest design, was that a few of them had the occasional "And now? Now you go right back where you just have been - Ahh you have returned? Off you go, same spot pretty please." Other than that, very goodjob. Here's hoping we see a bit (like one or two quest-chains) of extra Vampire/WW content one day
My rating? 8.5/10-World/Dungeon design-
One of the key things that make or break my enthusiasm for a game is this, I really dislike overused or scarcely decorated locations. See.. ESO does re-use quite a few assets (really? The Bank of Wayrest + the Castle put that close to each another with the exact same building model wasn't the very best idea
Made me chuckle a fair bit)However, despite doing so, most of those still are decorated differently enough on the interior to make them feel less worn-out. Luckily this is only an issue with a few building types and some dungeons and I can understand why this decision was made and it's fine because ..the spots where it is not done? Simply the best I have ever seen in both, a MMO and/or a single player game. You need to realize, dear ZeniMax, my hard drive can only hold so many gigabytes of screenshots and I've already made 463 currently, being Level 47 on my main. That's an average of 10 per level and this alone should show you just "how" good the design really is. It leaves me stunned and speechless in many spots. I feel the urge to simply stop, take in the view, grab a virtual chair and relax. Once I'm done in Daggerfall Covenant, I'll send a good couple of screenshots in to showcase exceptional areas. My rating? 9.5/10
-Game Mechanics-
Ah yes. The core of the aple, eh? Well. My personal hero-of-the-MMO genre in this regard is Ultima Online because no MMO ever since sucesfully rivaled, let alonesurpassed its freedom of choice.. until ESO. I am so sick of all the "Nope, can't do that, because my class is X, not Y" in other games. Why? What if my character indeed decides not to simply be swinging a two-handed axe but also loves to dabble in mind-altering spells? How about my fierce orc-warrior who is an amazing cook at heart? ESO allows me to do just that. Yes, a few mechanics could also use work but there s none that really sticks out for me so I could point my finger at it and say "You were the chosen one!" I like how I can mix up things and am even encouraged (with a heavy smack) to do so and adapt to various kinds of encounters. Yes - it CAN be frustrating not beinb able to progress here or there because one is ill-prepared. But what does that effecitvely do? Exactly, you get better at it. I'm a tank and had a very hard time against Harvester mob types because they need some fast AoE damage on their "adds". Until I figured out a setup that works well for me and with which they now are a breeze for me. The same goes for certain dungeon bosses. You know what? I like that. I like being challenged and "forced" to play smarter, not harder. My rating? 8/10 (a few unpolished spots).
-Customer Service-
Always a crucial thing. Well. This is where the most work is still needed besides bugfixing. See.. I like the CS because it can be astonishingly personal and "Hey, I'm personally responsible for this now and I'll make sure it will be resolved, don't worry" but it also involves the typical easily recognizeable copy+paste templates and this sadly does involve forums. It is getting better, but still there is a long road to travel. I understand it, from a personal perspective, since it's your first MMO as ZeniMax. And I don't understand it, from a personal perspective, because there's been so many MMOs to learn from and the team behind this one doesn't particularly strike me as beginners
. Come on, be a bit less distant. Yeah, humans make mistake and I've received support mails with typos! Oh noes! I think better of you, not lesser, due to that since that was clearly not a template there *grins* - and I work in Customer Service myself for a multi-billion dollar company, so I know about the hassle with "It's got to be representing! It got to be spotless and so tightly wrapped up in legal paper that not even She-Hulk and the Aquaman could make it crumble!". It's fine. Just communicate more with us customers and don't be afraid. Yesterday evening had the very best moment of this in my gametime here - when a Gamemaster Neuraminidase offered help by smashing bots to pieces and not being afraid to admit to me that he couldn't see/spot one of those I whisperedto him. So I went to the spot, jumping a few times and poof, magic was done. That was very human, very understandable and it got my two thumbs up here My rating? 6.5/10 with a positive trend (it once was at 4/10).-Bugs-
Less than expected, more than hoped. I'll just leave it at that, currently stuck at "Will of the Council", was stuck at "Ghosts of Westtry" once, some world bosses never spawn, bank bug affected my spouse. What however actually bugs me the most (pardon the pun) is the broken Vampirism. Out of all those skills only 2/9 skills work as intended, the rest is bugged or broken completely. The ones working proper would be "Blood Ritual" and "Supernatural Recovery". The other ones either don't reapply proper or allow extreme griefing by enabling a vampire to kill 25 players at the same time without getting so much as a dent in the armor (there was a thread detailing this just recently). Needs more work - as always. I'm not an illusional fool that one day all bugs will be fixed. New patches will introduce new bugs occasionally. My rating? 6/10. Trend is massively positive (Craiglorn patch)
Let's make a grand total then:
47.5/60, which equals a rating of 79% of approval, while having a very substantial drift towards better.
So. That's that. A way too long review which will make me sound a fanboy. There you got it. I think I might actually be, after all. Because I love your tackle at the genre, breaking the stereotypical class concept and making me think before I blink. And you know what? Keep it up. Don't let the ever-so-toxic trolls get to you.
Any further reviews are welcome, just please don't write a simple "Me like" or "Me no like" but try to provide some substance, okay? I can understand why someone might really dislike ESO, but it's simply not my own opinion and mine is certainly not the standard for anyone else, either.
Yours truly,
Clavius Lydoris Probus, EU server.
EU Server
Clavius Lydoris Probus - Imperial Dragonknight Tank
Co-Founder of [Black Manticore Brigade]
Proud member of [Sigma Draconis] and [House Zar]
Clavius Lydoris Probus - Imperial Dragonknight Tank
Co-Founder of [Black Manticore Brigade]
Proud member of [Sigma Draconis] and [House Zar]
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