Should ESO introduce race-specific active abilities and ultimates?

GuyNamedSean · October 2015

Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim all had an ability that could be cast based on your race. The Dunmer, for example, in Morrowind had a spell that increased Dodge Chance, in Oblivion had a spell that summoned a ghost, and in Skyrim had a spell that cast a flame cloak.

Should ESO introduce abilities tied to your race like previous Elder Scrolls games have had?

EDS604 · October 2015

Yes. Active Abilities and Ultimates should be introduced.

yes they should, but first they should fix their poop before introducing it.

Tyrix · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

When is people gonna realize that this is an mmo and not a single-player game?

No - for obvious reasons.

Hiero_Glyph · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

Racial preference is already bad enough since some races have strictly better passives than others. Additionally, some races perform better at specific roles/builds than others. If you added abilities and ultimates you are only commpounding this issue and basically forcing players to use a race in order to optimize a specific build. This may work for a single-player or co-op game, but for an MMO this is a horrible idea and basically punishes players that want to play how they want.

Artjuh90 · October 2015

Yes, but only Active Abilities.

i voted yes so you can make more races strong. all races wont be devided in 3 mayor groups ;health based races (tanks), magicka build races and stamina build races like it is now. with some strong abilty's and weaker passives you can make races more complete alround and brings more versatility in the game

GuyNamedSean · October 2015

Yes. Active Abilities and Ultimates should be introduced.

Tyrix wrote: »

When is people gonna realize that this is an mmo and not a single-player game?

No - for obvious reasons.

What are the "obvious" reasons? Races already have completely distinct passives.

JMadFour · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

Nope. do we REALLY want to all play the same 4 races?

because that is what will happen.

it's already bad enough with the passives, people feeling forced to play a specific race if they want to be a tank or healer or dps role.

with race-based actives, that pigeonholing will only increase.

Sausage · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

Own ultimate for each Race? Start making them, I want to hear.

Speaking of Ultimates, Ive some ideas what they could be, Traps, Turret (slow, and multiple shots with light attacks). Wall/gate-destroyer/repairing. Something what is powerful at range but unusable at close range.

Forestd16b14_ESO · October 2015

Yes, but only Ultimates.

Duh give nords there battle cry back already screw NBs and them being the only ones with fear.

terrordactyl1971 · October 2015

Yes. Active Abilities and Ultimates should be introduced.

Nice idea

Surragard · October 2015

Didn't vote because I'm not strictly against it but I feel like the usual actives have been worked into the passives already (i.e. Redguards active Agility ability in the RPG's manifests itsel as stamina passives in ESO). I don't think it's necessary unless they removed passives to create new active abilities but considering we only have two ability bars my thought is that we're better off having those as passives.

Soulshine · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

Surragard wrote: »

Didn't vote because I'm not strictly against it but I feel like the usual actives have been worked into the passives already (i.e. Redguards active Agility ability in the RPG's manifests itsel as stamina passives in ESO). I don't think it's necessary unless they removed passives to create new active abilities but considering we only have two ability bars my thought is that we're better off having those as passives.

This is why I voted no in the first place. They are not needed given the number of skills already available. I would prefer to see racial passives be improved, but remain passive bonuses so my choices matter more.

nimander99 · October 2015

Interesting idea flesh it out more please

UrQuan · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

As much as I would like to see something like what we had in the single player games, I don't think it would work well in an MMO. People already complain about how the passives make race X much more effective than race Y (and there's some truth to that, but as far as I'm concerned the difference in effectiveness is small enough that it makes little difference unless you're trying for leaderboards or something).

Having racial active skills and/or ultimates would make it that much harder to maintain some sort of balance between the races, and would inevitably lead to certain races being considered essentially useless at certain roles, because another race is so much better at it.

"Oh, you want to tank vet Imperial City Prison with us? But you're not a Redguard, and only Redguards have <<awesome tanking active skill and/or ultimate>> so I'll go find a Redguard instead. Better luck next time."

Gidorick · October 2015

Didn't they have racial ultimates back in the Alpha build? They were gone by the time I joined the beta.

newtinmpls · October 2015

Riiight ... cause things are so balanced now.

CP5 · October 2015

Yes. Active Abilities and Ultimates should be introduced.

I voted yes because I like meaningful choice, not this race=visuals and nothing else that most mmo's have enough of. But as is I doubt ZOS would be able to balance so many new things well enough to justify all races being used, and they likely wouldn't add these until they add in race changes which is what is currently holding them back from making more racial changes.

Jade1986 · October 2015

Yes, but only Ultimates.

Before they do that , we need some weapon tree ultimates.

F7sus4 · October 2015

Uninterested in the idea.

I can't even imagine how much the "race change" thing would become a hot topic after implementing those. Also, balance.

BabeestorGor · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

Nope
Not interested in anything that will tend to pigeonhole races for certain roles even more than at present
Why should every orc be a berserker?

Now additional skillines linked to quests that were easier for some races to begin I could go for.
Perhaps joining the Tribunal Temple (unlikely for a non-Dunmer) would allow ancestor summoning magic to be learnt.

Callous2208 · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

I just don't see a need for it. Think it would cause more harm than good. Mmos I have played with racial moves almost instantly turn into, "use only x race to tank, use x race for pvp or gtfo." Sometimes I wish appearences where the only thing that differentiated races in games.

Morimizo · October 2015

Yes. Active Abilities and Ultimates should be introduced.

Without question, this should have been introduced from the beginning. Make race choices matter please!! It's an elder scrolls tradition.

Junkogen · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

No, because ZOS hates Argonians and then not only would they have bad racial passives but also bad actives.

tennant94 · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

No. It wouldn't be balanced, people will cry for race change or everyone will play as the same race.

tennant94 · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

Morimizo wrote: »

Without question, this should have been introduced from the beginning. Make race choices matter please!! It's an elder scrolls tradition.

Do you know what racial passives are?

Vrienda · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

And lower the chance of them introducing race changes? No way.

dljenner21b16_ESO · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

I like the idea but I hat the thought of anything that pigeon holes a certain race into a certain role.

Davo

FancyTuna8 · October 2015

Yes. Active Abilities and Ultimates should be introduced.

I voted yes, but I wish there had been an option for passive race "abilities". I'm thinking something like a slight bonus to something specific crafting-wise, or even a haircut that is only available to that race. There should be something unique to each race, but not game-breaking or altering. In general, races should be very distinct, but not pigeon-holed. Choice of race is one of the most important in constructing your character, in terms of the flavor. Letting everyone homogenize every choice (such as armor) hurts that. Players like to feel their characters are unique, even if it is just a recipe or bit of flare on armor (such as trim or color choice) that is available only to a race/class/etc....

Levo18 · October 2015

Yes, but only Active Abilities.

Redguard Adrenaline rush - gain unlimited stamina for 20 seconds

bertenburnyb16_ESO · October 2015

No, they definitely should not.

You forgot the option "aaaw helll NO"

The only reason they might even consider this is "cause *** balance"

Aoife32001 · October 2015

Yes. Active Abilities and Ultimates should be introduced.

Most of the "no" votes seem to be on the assumption it will be done poorly--which may very well be the case--but I'm not sure I would vote for less content or fewer customization options based on that possibility. I could understand the "If it's not broke, don't fix it" argument, but the game is poorly balanced as it is. This could be an opportunity to improve balance just as much as it could further weaken it.

As for forcing min-maxers to play certain races, don't they do that already with the current passives? Perhaps if they introduced a Crown Store/one-time race change option it would mitigate that complaint.

I'd be 100% for this. It is well within the tradition of Elder Scrolls, and moreover there is no inherent reason it could not work well in an MMORPG. Certain races in Elder Scrolls have always had certain benefits and drawbacks.

The Elder Scrolls Online

Should ESO introduce race-specific active abilities and ultimates?

Should ESO introduce race-specific active abilities and ultimates? 107 votes