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My HUGE List of Ideas for QoL Improvements & A New Crafting Profession for ESO: Prospector

Korozenn
Korozenn
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After coming back recently into the game after Update 10, I couldn't be happier with all the Quality of Life improvements to ESO. The Craft Bag instantly makes ESO Plus more than worth the money as well, among other benefits like access to all DLC, etc. Of course, with everything there are always QoL improvements and new recommendations that can be made to make it all even better! With this list, I hope ZeniMax takes notice and considers them for future implementation as I think all of this would make crafting in the game a lot more enticing for players, streamlined, and add a ton of depth.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom Hope you get to see this and see what people at ZeniMax think! This is a list for everyone to read through and pick apart, so please feel free to voice off what you think about these recommendations below or if you'd have any concerns regarding these if they were implemented. We can work together to make this possible! Oh yeah, and get some coffee or chips. It's gonna be long. EXTREMELY LONG. If you want to get to the good part, skip to the last section. The section for Overall Enhancements to Current Crafting Professions covers mostly just QoL improvements for ZeniMax.

I came up with all of this after playing the game over the past couple of years off-and-on and witnessed several things that make certain functionalities feel like they just weren't explored enough or could be better streamlined. Hope you guys enjoy! I've put a lot of thought into how this all could work for the game.


OVERALL ENHANCEMENTS TO CURRENT CRAFTING PROFESSIONS:

This is a long list of QoL improvements directed to ZeniMax, but you guys can just read through them if you feel up to the challenge as well. I'll keep it in a spoiler box. ;)
Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Clothing, Enchanting, and Woodworking:
- Remove the Keen Eye passive. (Don't worry. All shall be explained soon enough.)

Alchemy:
- Better filtering options for Traits already learnt on Reagents would be great.
  • For instance, users would be able to select any combination of traits by ticking checkboxes to filter the Creation menu to display only those specific Reagents with those selected traits.
    • For the GamePad interface, this could be delegated to the More Actions button.
    • For the keyboard/mouse UI, it could be done through a Traits tab that could display the icons of the traits instead that you can select/deselect for filtering.
- The Alchemist vendor would also sell common (not all) Reagents at a standard price (much like Grocers do) along with the Potions that they already sell.
  • To encourage exploration and user interaction in the trade economy, Potion/Poison solvents would still need to be found in the game world, traded with other players, and/or bought from a guild store.

Enchanting:
- Hirelings should have a chance of giving you a random glyph of Normal > Legendary quality. The higher the quality, the smaller the chance of obtaining it (duh). Currently, I am unaware if they do this or not already in the game for Enchanters.
- Automatically organize both Aspect and Potency Runes on both the PC and Gamepad Mode interfaces to display all Aspect Runes in order from Common > Legendary on its Sub-Tab/Category (respectively) and Potency Runes by the grade of potency (Least Potent > Most Potent).
- For Essence Runes, organize the runes in the interface to display in the order they do for the Essence achievement (Health > Magicka > Stamina, etc.).
- Any untranslated Runes you have in possession are automatically placed together at the top/bottom and sorted alphabetically.
- Give players the added option of charging their weapons that have lost their enchantment at an Enchanter vendor. The price will change depending on the type of Soul Gem that would be necessary to charge said weapon(s) fully from where the charge is currently at, much like Repairing items could either be done through a Repair Kit or otherwise.
  • Personally, I think this would be a great QoL improvement for a good bunch of users out there that may find themselves running out of Soul Gems a lot as it gives them a second option of charging their weapons other than a full Soul Gem that they may want to conserve for reviving teammates instead.

Provisioning:
- Better filtering options that allow you to manage a list of recipes you have learned on a separate Recipes tab in both PC and Gamepad Mode interfaces. This will display all known recipes. You can choose which recipes you want to have hidden on other tabs here, or you can use this tab to view all Food/Drink consumables that you can cook/brew.
  • On the PC interface, this would be done by having two sub-tabs under the Recipes tab like this: All/Hidden Recipes. All Recipes would show all recipes you know and display those that are hidden in red or gray on their names. The Hidden sub-tab would display all recipes you have hidden from view.
  • For the Gamepad, this would simply be done by utilizing categories for organization instead of sub-tabs under the Recipes tab.
  • All recipes would be sorted by Level > No. of Ingredients Required (1 > 2 > 3) and categorized as they are in Gamepad Mode by the type of benefit(s) they bestow.

As an aside, I cannot stress enough that these types of improvements to filtering should exist more often throughout the game for both the normal keyboard/mouse configuration as well as Gamepad Mode. Features like hierarchical structures in elements of user interface design are integral to games like ESO, and it is better to give us the option to personalize our experiences with the game than none at all. This type of categorization of different types of items is actually why I prefer using the GamePad and its UI over the PC now. :)


Blacksmithing, Clothing, and Woodworking:
- Hirelings are a waste of skill points nowadays, in my opinion, for all crafts except Provisioning. This could be fixed by giving people a chance to earn rare motifs/chapters from Blacksmithing, Clothing, and Woodworking Hirelings (if not already in the drop list that is, which I doubt they are). This is a recommendation for Blacksmithing, Clothing, and Woodworking because the Hireling passive in each skill line is equally redundant.
- Remove the Metallurgy, Stitching, and Carpentry Passives (Arkay's beard, calm down! I'll explain soon! I promise!).
- Remove the Research section entirely from all three crafts and combine it into one for the Prospecting craft below. (This is an option. I've explained why this would help out below.)
- In the Refine menus, sort Raw Materials by the Level of weapons/apparel they create. If the items in question are special types of Raw Materials (i.e. Dwemer Frame and Malachite Shard), keep them at the bottom of the list and have them display in alphabetical order.
- Clean up the Creation menus so that you can navigate from the top to the bottom of the menu with LB/RB in Gamepad mode.
- In the drop-down or More Actions menu of weapons/apparel in your inventory, add an option to Mark an Item for Research. Items marked for research operate much like items that are Locked, but they will instead be able to be researched as long as the trait they have hasn't already been researched for said weapon/armor unit. ("But...what about the fact that the Research tab would be non-existent in the crafting interface?" I'm getting to it! Promise!)
  • In the PC interface, this would place said item in a new sub-tab called Research on your inventory screen, much like marking an item for Junk would do so for Junk items.
  • In Gamepad Mode, it would just display an icon that indicates the weapon or armor unit has been marked for research.


NEW CRAFTING PROFESSION:

Prospecting:
- Description ~ A Prospector (I'll leave you guys to find a name for it, if you don't like it) can buy minerals from other players via a Guild Store or search for Gold Ore, Silver Ore, and other types of mineral deposits found throughout the game's world. After these minerals are mined, the Prospector can proceed to their respective crafting station (I'm tired, it's late, and I'll just call it that. lol) in order to create Trait Gems, Necklaces, Rings, and more! You can still gather Trait Gems from deconstructing items with traits on them as well at a Blacksmithing, Clothing, or Woodworking Station for use at the Prospector's respective crafting station.

- Craft Menu ~
  • Refine: You can smelt the ore you find to create Bronze, Silver, and Gold Ingots. You can also smelt Trait Gems from two of the same, cracked trait gems you collect in the world as well here to create more powerful Trait Gems of the same variety. This process can be repeated to create higher-quality trait gems. (more on this in the FAQ section below)
  • Creation: You'll create new Necklaces and Rings here using the ingots you've made. These can have trait gems applied to them as well, just like you can do in Blacksmithing, Clothing, and Woodworking. The difference here is that you can have up to three Trait Gems applied for a Necklace you create here eventually. Rings can only have one trait gem applied. Rings can be enchanted like a Necklace can be, but their Enchantments are very weak by comparison.
  • Research: This works the same way as Blacksmithing, Clothing, and Woodworking did when the Research skill line was still separate among them. This time, you research all at the Prospector's crafting station to learn traits for weapons, armor, and jewelry. This would massively simplify things, in general, for a bunch of professions, creating that type of synergy that crafting professions need more of (so far, only Alchemy, Provisioning, and Enchanting synergize with weapons or armor in some way). This profession would allow players to feel as if all crafts that they choose to have on their character are more interconnected and seamless in transition.

    - FAQs ~
    • What is the difference between Bronze, Silver, and Gold Ingots? These are used in the Creation menu to make a Necklace or Ring. The quality of the material (Bronze being low tier, Gold being higher) determines the increased potency of Enchantment effects applied to the product made in the Creation menu.
    • What do you mean when you say you can "smelt Trait Gems"? Simple! Gems will now spawn in the overworld next to rock faces and underground, but they'll be hard to find. In fact, no one can see them normally---you will need to master the [Keen Eye] skill to find them as a Prospector! These gems you harvest will be Cracked Gems that cannot be applied until refined at a Prospector's station into a normal quality gem. The grades of gems as you combine them improve as follows:
      • Cracked: A cracked trait gem. This cannot be applied to an item and must be smelted with another gem of the same quality to create the first usable Trait Gem.
      • Normal: The same quality as the Trait Gems that currently exist in the game. They could still be harvested from weapons and armor as well.
      • Fine: A slightly better quality than Normal.
      • Superior: A better quality than Fine.
      • Flawless: A far better quality than Superior.
      • Perfect: The best quality there is.
    • There has to be a catch. Do I have to learn any skills to go into this profession at all?
      • Yup. Prospector will have its very own skill tree, but it is very different than a normal craft as it consolidates their skills into one skill tree. In other words, you end up saving Skill Points you could put towards your character's build instead! Even if you max out the other crafts you were going into! An example of how this skill tree could potentially look is provided below as well. However, as I mentioned above before Prospector's section, the following skills would be removed from the Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Clothing, Woodworking, and Enchanting skill lines in order to allow for this change and avoid redundancies: Keen Eye, Metallurgy, Stitching, and Carpentry. This skill line is meant to work with all other crafting professions (bar Provisioning) closely and actually frees up a lot of skill points for you that would have been redundant otherwise.

        It actually frees up a grand total of 27 Skill Points while using only 20 Skill Points to max out the Prospector tree! Here is an idea of how the skill line could work:
        • Prospector Skill Line (For Example Purposes):
        • Trait Gem Improvement (5 Ranks) ~ You start out with 1 Skill Point already invested in this skill. It allows you to apply a Normal Trait Gem from two Cracked Trait Gems of the same variety to a weapon, armor unit, or piece of jewelry. At Level 5, you can apply a Perfect Trait Gem to said items (see the list above for the qualities other levels unlock). You can only apply Trait Gems to weapons/armor/jewelry at a Prospector's crafting station after this change.
        • Keen Eye (4 Ranks) ~ Gain the ability to see all resource nodes in the game at Level 2 and above. At Level 1, you can spot cracked gems in the overworld. Levels 2-4 will work as they do in the current game, but they will instead be applied to all crafts (except Provisioning).
        • Hireling (3 Ranks) ~ Gives you trait gems, gold/silver/bronze ingots, and has a small chance of finding you a necklace or ring. Level 2 improves your chances to get Flawless/Perfect Trait Gems later on. Level 3 has Hireling delivery for every 12 hours instead of 24.
        • Trait Research (4 Ranks) ~ Works the same way as the game has in effect now for Metallurgy, Stitching, and Carpentry. The difference is you don't need to waste 12 Skill Points and can master them all at once now.
        • Jeweler (3 Ranks) ~ At Rank 1, you can add a maximum of two Trait Gems to a necklace. Three Trait Gems can be added at Rank 2 for a necklace. At Rank 3, the negative effects of adding multiple trait gems (lowering the potency of the traits normally) are completely removed.
        • Entrepreneur (1 Rank) ~ Using the same trait for multiple armor/jewelry pieces will now have less of a diminishing return.

    Phew! That was complicated. Anyways, there's added benefits of a system like this too:

    - Vendor ~ Jeweler
    • A Jeweler sells Unidentified Necklaces and Rings, certain types of Trait Gems, and gives you advice about the Prospector crafting profession where applicable.

    This is a skill line that is just a concept I came up with to have a unique Craft Profession made to supplement others like Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Clothing, Enchanting, and Woodworking and improve upon them all at once with certain skills as well to streamline the entire crafting process. It is one that everyone can go into to improve upon their gear for other professions, thus making Blacksmithing, Clothing, and Woodworking more viable professions for trading purposes as well! To me, the addition of a profession like Prospecting could massively improve upon existing systems in the game while also giving people more reasons to invest time into being a Blacksmith, Clothier, and Woodworker.

    If a player chooses not to go into the Prospector skill line (which...why wouldn't you, ya foo'?), they can still improve upon their gear by getting a friend to help out!

    All that being said, I can only imagine two scenarios with this idea. That's the problem with it that I have, personally.

    Scenario 1) If the ability to add Trait Gems to crafted items and the Research menu on all three main crafts, in general, were removed from the Blacksmithing, Clothing, and Woodworking then subsequently added to the Prospector profession's crafting station instead, it would make the entire crafting process very streamlined and much more deep at the same time. Plus, it makes sense. A Jeweler would be the one to add a trait gem to an item after all. ZOS could even add more Traits to the game and find a way of getting the Prospector profession to sync with currently researched traits a player has upon implementation so research progress isn't lost. Crafting Rings and Necklaces and enhancing them through Trait Gems would be an added bonus to the craft.

    Scenario 2) Research menus are kept as is for professions, some skills mentioned above for Prospector shared by other crafts are removed and kept as they are for Blacksmithing, Clothing, and Woodworking. Prospecting is then just solely used to slot Trait Gems into weapons/armor/jewelry and craft jewelry and/or trait gems to prevent forcing players to invest into the craft. Other skills can be put in place of Keen Eye and Trait Research such as "Metal Detector" to find the cracked gems and another one to improve the properties of jewelry crafted, as two examples.

    I just feel that Trait Gems could be expanded upon so much more, regardless of the outcome. Obviously, adjustments would need to be made to the effects of Trait Gems to prevent people from becoming OP, but I think something like a Prospector skill line could work for almost anyone. Besides, I'm sure every one of us playing this game look for treasure, right? That's what a Prospector is all about! :p

    Let me know what you guys think. I've made this post long enough. lmao
Edited by Korozenn on June 22, 2016 4:02PM
  • willymchilybily
    willymchilybily
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    interesting concept, but huge powercreep and edge case builds would be horrible. the game is balanced around current trait values. making them 3X stronger is too much
    3X the effectiveness of wellfitted/impen means i can get all the benefits from only one or two as I would from a full set gives now.

    twiceborn + perfect divines would almost certainly be the top DPS making mundus stones over 2.5 x Stronger (31% crit chance). oh and whilst im at it lets penetrated >15k or armor with sharpened. and throw on my precise off hand to reach 100% crit chance

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  • Korozenn
    Korozenn
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    interesting concept, but huge powercreep and edge case builds would be horrible. the game is balanced around current trait values. making them 3X stronger is too much
    3X the effectiveness of wellfitted/impen means i can get all the benefits from only one or two as I would from a full set gives now.

    twiceborn + perfect divines would almost certainly be the top DPS making mundus stones over 2.5 x Stronger (31% crit chance). oh and whilst im at it lets penetrated >15k or armor with sharpened. and throw on my precise off hand to reach 100% crit chance

    Yeah, that's been my worry about the idea too. I would hate for it to create this stark gap where people who aren't Prospectors are at a clear disadvantage to others, for instance. That's what Scenario 2 mentions there as well.

    I definitely agree that 3x stronger is definitely too much with current trait gem values, now that you mentioned it. It would probably be something closer to 1.25x or 1.5x if ZeniMax did implement the idea and have some sort of negative repercussion for stacking multiple traits on a Necklace, too. I was just throwing random numbers as an example because I was too tired to look into the values myself while typing this all out (and I'm lazy). Haha. :D

    For instance, say you had a 9% Chance to gain 1 Ultimate from one Trait Gem, 3% Improved Effects from Mundus Stones, and 40 Armor and Spell Penetration on a Necklace that has three Trait Gems applied. It would take the first trait and keep its full effect, the secondary trait would be halved in its effect (1.5% from Mundus Stones instead), and the third effect would be a quarter of its actual potential (10 Armor and Spell Penetration). Those numbers don't mean anything, btw. Just trying to see how we could get this to be a system that doesn't make people OP in Cyrodiil.

    Perhaps instead the Entrepreneur can ever so slightly buff the diminishing returns from having two Rings of the same trait and multiple traits on a Necklace as well instead of affecting every item in general?
  • Sausage
    Sausage
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    First Merchant if anything, I think all Tamriel's Vendors should be up for sales and people fight to get them. Merchant fits much better than some Prospecto, imho Merchant should have been there always. Prospecto sounds like Settler.
    Edited by Sausage on June 22, 2016 2:31PM
  • Korozenn
    Korozenn
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    Sausage wrote: »
    First Merchant if anything, I think all Tamriel's Vendors should be up for sales and people fight to get them. Merchant fits much better than some Prospecto, imho Merchant should have been there always. Prospecto sounds like Settler.

    A prospector is someone who hunts for treasure: minerals like gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, amethysts, sapphires, etc., in real life. Prospecting is the act of doing so. They usually sell their goods to a Jeweler, assess/smelt it themselves, or even create their own jewelry from it for whatever they found near rock/underground. So I thought it would be a great way to go about the whole Jewelry craft while tying in with all other professions (only profession it wouldn't directly affect would be Provisioning, in other words). I think it would be a better name than something like Jeweler as a profession too which is why I chose to go with that. :D

    But I definitely agree. It'd be nice to have some added variety with our choice of professions to go into. I know Spellcrafting is on hold for now, but it would be nice to get an update on where ZeniMax is now with crafting Jewelry, or if they've decided to put that on hold too. :)
    Edited by Korozenn on June 22, 2016 2:51PM
  • Sausage
    Sausage
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    Korozenn wrote: »
    Sausage wrote: »
    First Merchant if anything, I think all Tamriel's Vendors should be up for sales and people fight to get them. Merchant fits much better than some Prospecto, imho Merchant should have been there always. Prospecto sounds like Settler.

    A prospector is someone who hunts for treasure: minerals like gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, amethysts, sapphires, etc., in real life. Prospecting is the act of doing so. They usually sell their goods to a Jeweler, assess/smelt it themselves, or even create their own jewelry from it for whatever they found near rock/underground. So I thought it would be a great way to go about the whole Jewelry craft while tying in with all other professions (only profession it wouldn't directly affect would be Provisioning, in other words). I think it would be a better name than something like Jeweler as a profession too which is why I chose to go with that. :D

    But I definitely agree. It'd be nice to have some added variety with our choice of professions to go into. I know Spellcrafting is on hold for now, but it would be nice to get an update on where ZeniMax is now with crafting Jewelry, or if they've decided to put that on hold too. :)

    I hear you but I think ES's kind of Fantasy should include Merchants as more important thing as now. I think they should do something with the vendors, more you own them, faster you get something, go figure. Maybe they should merge my idea with your!
    Edited by Sausage on June 22, 2016 3:48PM
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