Variation

Mashille · February 2016

I commented this on someone else's post but I think it's worthy of having a post of its own if it's adjusted.

After spending a lot of time in the game, looking at a zones content in Cadwell's Silver or Gold can be seen as more of a chore than a delight. Don't get me wrong, I love ESO and on my main toon I completed every single quest there was to do in every zone because I was a completion and enjoyed it. But when it comes to rolling alts however completing these things can be painful more than joyful. This is mainly due to the lack major of variation. Most quests feel the same and don't introduce many new mechanics, hardly any puzzles in dungeons, nothing where you can choose to side with the bad guy instead of the good guys, very few boss encounters where you have to do a specific thing to defeat them like lead them into water, or smash pillars to collapse a room on top of them, stuff like that that adds cool variation to what you are doing etc.

There needs to be more new things in quests rather than kill, kill, talk, talk, run, run, talk, talk.

Adding quests that make people go 'cool' or 'that's awesome' is what we need. As through almost all Alliance main and side quests there is little variation.

Adding or changing quests to contain different things like maybe jumping puzzles, dynamic events, A puzzle where you actually have to use your mind, a unique encounter where you fight something by not using the combat system but instead throwing rocks at certain weak points where you have to aim right or something like that. (I still love the combat though)

Allowing people to REALLY go where they want instead of blocking stuff off with invisible walls. Because transition is also extremely samey with lack of variation, 'to get to this zone you must follow this ONE road that takes you there'. Why not let us be able to climb the mountains in Stonefalls, when reaching the top, get a loading screen and arrive on the same mountains that descend into Deshaan. Same with The Rift and Eastmarch.

I feel like they should hold back on pumping out the DLC's every 3 months and take some time to polish up and improve the quality of the actual game content and quests. Maybe an edit here, an adjustment there, overhaul this and that etc. (Just 1 guys opinion)

Now,I'm not saying that the leveling content is bad, far from it with great voice acting, stories and landscapes, but it really could do with some differences and variation here and there

Thoughts?

Xellos77 · February 2016

24-man raids where 12 people need to focus on the boss and the other 12 have to commit to other mechanics involved in the fight.

Lightninvash · February 2016

I think we need some under water exploration quests or activities. Think it would be cool like the one post suggests idk if its still up on front page or not but it talks about a sea style content that sounds fun with ship raids and such. would be fun.

EDIT: this is the link
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/248055/would-you-want-a-sea-based-dlc

Mashille · February 2016

@Lightninvash

Totally agree, maybe swimming in caves to find treasure.

Or imagine a PvP boat battle with Ballista's where you can board and destroy the other alliances ship.
*Tear rolls down face (I miss you Archeage)

Lightninvash · February 2016

keybaud wrote: »

@Lightninvash

Totally agree, maybe swimming in caves to find treasure.

Or imagine a PvP boat battle with Ballista's where you can board and destroy the other alliances ship.
*Tear rolls down face (I miss you Archeage)

@keybaud yes this was kind of an idea within the link posted in my last post it was more of a general ship v ship idea leaving it for the devs to decide how they could implement it. I say water exploration because more people seem to prefer it over underwater combat/exploration(I would prefer both not just exploration) The downside to the combat part would be Argonians ability to breathe under water. However, it would lead to a new skill line/ more useful potion crafting where you can make potions of water breathing or cast a spell of water breathing or water walking ect. Maybe even having sellable items (bag of air) that allow you to stay under water longer with a limit of how many breaths they can take while under water and a limit of 1 or 2 per char at a time.

Voxicity · February 2016

Hi. Welcome to your first MMO.

Mashille · February 2016

@Vox

I've played MMO's since DAOC...

Xellos77 · February 2016

keybaud wrote: »

@Vox

I've played MMO's since DAOC...

DAOC was the BOMB back in the day. So was UO.

Mashille · February 2016

@Xellos77

I never played Ultima, heard it was great though. I have so many great memories of DAOC, crushing those Hibernian scum....

...Stupid Lurikeen Vampires

Mashille · February 2016

Anyway, people, ignore these DAOC comments and let's get back to the thing I actually posted XD

Voxicity · February 2016

@keybaud @Xellos77

Yeah man, Helbreath and Lineage 2 were some quality MMOs lads :^)

(I can google ''old mmos'' and find the wikipedia page and pick a couple from there too)

Xellos77 · February 2016

keybaud wrote: »

@Xellos77

I never played Ultima, heard it was great though. I have so many fond memories of DAOC, crushing those Hibernian scum....

...Stupid Lurikeen Vampires...

UO was one of the best. Not many people nowadays would be able to handle it (very dated graphics aside). Gankers? Pfft. Try being dry looted of everything you had by PKs steamrolling your noob face.

DAOC was actually my first MMO, though. Lots of fun all-nighters. I worked in a gaming store way back then and had free computer time at-will. Used to invite all my friends after we closed and then it was DAOC until dawn.

Mashille · February 2016

@Vox

Believe what you want, why even bother posting if you're not going to contribute anything?

Voxicity · February 2016

@keybaud

I agree with your points. Happy?

AKSb16_ESO2 · February 2016

Every little quest in ESO is much better than any quest in WoW for example.
I had no single "bring 10 heads" or "kill 15 of that" quest, which is fine for me.

Wollust · February 2016

The money comes from the DLCs, which is why they do not bother with old content. Perks of changing from sub to b2p.

Mashille · February 2016

@Wollust

They still have a large number of player (Like me) who are subscribed still. And taking a bit of time out to improve and build upon the actual game I think would make a massive difference to improving the experience. I know it's probably never gonna happen, like with most of my posts but one can dream

Xellos77 · February 2016

Vox wrote: »

@keybaud @Xellos77

Yeah man, Helbreath and Lineage 2 were some quality MMOs lads :^)

(I can google ''old mmos'' and find the wikipedia page and pick a couple from there too)

Someone need a hug?

Voxicity · February 2016

Xellos77 wrote: »

Vox wrote: »

@keybaud @Xellos77

Yeah man, Helbreath and Lineage 2 were some quality MMOs lads :^)

(I can google ''old mmos'' and find the wikipedia page and pick a couple from there too)

Someone need a hug?

Yes please

Xellos77 · February 2016

Florial · February 2016

I think variation is lacking, not only in this game but some other titles as well. When there isn't much to do outside of combat and questing, things can grow rather stale quickly. I've always have been a fan of games that have a plethora of fun, diversion activities. Some of this fun stuff has kept me playing a game long after I've finished all the quests, main storyline and have run dungeons repeatedly.

Never played DAoC or UO sadly. Asheron's Call was my first MMO and that game kept me entertained for years. Always found something to do. As much as WoW is bashed, look at everything that has been added to the game over the years. Pets, mounts, pet battles, archeology, fishing, cosmetic clothing, holiday events, etc. There was always something to do outside of combat. Sadly I was disappointed in their version of housing but oh well, you can't have everything. Of course WoW has been able to add these things over the years and I would hope that ESO grows in the same way.

I'm a bit off track from what the OP proposes but just a few random thoughts. I do like the OP's ideas though!

Mashille · February 2016

@Gidorick , thoughts on this?

Selstad · February 2016

In terms of variation and fun in quests, I find that The secret world turns out a cracking good show there, and I wish that more MMOs would look into that variation. Sure thing there are fetch quests and kill X quests, but there's also puzzle quests, mystery quests and detective work quests. The variation is just perfect. Wouldn't mind if the quests were a whole lot better in the variations department.

Gidorick · February 2016

Oh I completely agree @keybaud. I don't know how much of it is limitation of the engine and how much of it is a limitation of the direction the writers and designers are given.

Of course, it could primarily be a result of the genre. Kind of like asking for a FPS that doesn't just always shoot or a puzzle game that isn't just about the puzzles... while we DO have games like Mirror's Edge and Portal that change things up in their respective genres most games are usually limited by the expectations of the game type.

What gameplay was there in other TES games that wasn't just... talk, kill, kill, run, run, talk, talk, kill, kill, run, kill?

Personally, it's not so much the variation of gameplay but it's more the variation in narrative. If I have to rescue one more man-child from being lost or help one more person who had their brother, wife, cousin, father get duped by a Daedra I'm going to scream.

That being said there are genuine moments of pure narrative genius in TESO... but we could use more task variation. I really enjoyed having to put out fires the first half-dozen or so times I did it!

sadownik · February 2016

Gidorick wrote: »

Personally, it's not so much the variation of gameplay but it's more the variation in narrative. If I have to rescue one more man-child from being lost or help one more person who had their brother, wife, cousin, father get duped by a Daedra I'm going to scream.

That being said there are genuine moments of pure narrative genius in TESO... but we could use more task variation. I really enjoyed having to put out fires the first half-dozen or so times I did it!

So true! There is simply so much you can do with outdated engine and the need for 2 k quests. For me they all started to look the same after first 100 or so.

Add to that those quests which are simply botched, like the one when you save the village and then put out the fires (yay again bucket i can use), you walk into house just to see the sad scen e- mother despairing over body of her daughter. Daughter was supposed to burn in fire while mother seems intact and to make things worse the fire was from the front of the house and the back wall was teared down. Or that quest where you need to help a girl, find her in the middle of lava lake, go through hoops to get there, then the father appears and just ... teleports her.

Humatiel · February 2016

We need a way to not be required to do silver or gold so long as one toon on the account has done it.

Florial · February 2016

Selstad wrote: »

In terms of variation and fun in quests, I find that The secret world turns out a cracking good show there, and I wish that more MMOs would look into that variation. Sure thing there are fetch quests and kill X quests, but there's also puzzle quests, mystery quests and detective work quests. The variation is just perfect. Wouldn't mind if the quests were a whole lot better in the variations department.

I thought Secret World was a fantastic game in the quest department. With the Thieves Guild DLC, wouldn't it be great to see a bunch of stealth missions like TSW! At least I'm hoping to see some variation from what we've seen already.

Unfortunately TSW suffered from that lack of variety that I mentioned earlier in the discussion. Once the storyline and quests were over, there wasn't that much to do (at least when I played). Not sure if they added a ton more to the game but it became stale rather quickly once you had done all the missions. I did every single one of them, multiple times.

Gidorick · February 2016

I honestly this this thread is just another justification for user created quests. ...

Mashille · February 2016

@Gidorick

Zos should hold an event for modders to create their own small questlines and make it some kind of competition and implement the top 5 let's say into the game. That was people could see how creative and interesting quests Can be.

Selstad · February 2016

Florial wrote: »

Selstad wrote: »

In terms of variation and fun in quests, I find that The secret world turns out a cracking good show there, and I wish that more MMOs would look into that variation. Sure thing there are fetch quests and kill X quests, but there's also puzzle quests, mystery quests and detective work quests. The variation is just perfect. Wouldn't mind if the quests were a whole lot better in the variations department.

I thought Secret World was a fantastic game in the quest department. With the Thieves Guild DLC, wouldn't it be great to see a bunch of stealth missions like TSW! At least I'm hoping to see some variation from what we've seen already.

Unfortunately TSW suffered from that lack of variety that I mentioned earlier in the discussion. Once the storyline and quests were over, there wasn't that much to do (at least when I played). Not sure if they added a ton more to the game but it became stale rather quickly once you had done all the missions. I did every single one of them, multiple times.

Not sure when you left TSW, but they have added a good deal of new missions through DLC packages that are tuned to gear quality level 10 -> 10.1.

Unfortunately, all MMO suffers eventually that "fatigue" in terms of quests running out, it's a common problems that developers face that they can't produce content faster than the players consume it. I do hope that with the thieves guild and in future patches, that they'll add some variation on the quests and some interesting ones as well. Wouldn't mind a "high risk" theft mission with loads of stealth, sneaking around guards and some dire consequences when caught.