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Hard Character Decisions VS. Available Skill Portfolio
Dreepa
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So given that ESO has more and more evolved into a game that offers you to play the way you want, where you want, with whom you want (1Tamriel, Auto Scaling) I would like to ask: Is the general attribute mechanic still in line with this philosophy?
On the one hand we have a system that allows for everything: Battlemage in heavy armor? Check. Staff wielding Dragonknight warrior in cloth armor: Check. Nightblade magician: Check. Etc. etc.
This seems to be a good thing. On top of that, the game makes fundamental use of the limiting factor to force you to decide. 5 skill vs. a gazillion of unlockable lines. This is good I guess, as it allows you to switch skills if you want to experience something different. Got bored of heavy tanking? Switch something out, play a different style. Maybe even switch from 1h+shield to 2handed.
What I find works against this philosophy of freedom is how attributes work. By influencing the max amount of damage for a specific skill line, through either magicka or stamina, a lot of re-configuration falls flat. So unlocking the lines that go against your attribute specialization is not really a valid tactic. Experimenting with dual wield, when you have chosen the path of magicka is not something worth to try out.
Now with the overall game approach of "do what you want" and "play what how you like" is this not something to overhaul?
Sure, one can argue that it is required to make a new character. However, this is not so easy for people that have a restricted amount of time to play. It is a time heavy investment, and also rather repetitive, as you have to play through the same content again, some of which is heavily narrative driven and not really "fun" playing a 2nd time.
Also, some people only have few hours of time a day so they focus on just one character.
Wouldn't it me more in line with the general philosophy to not make the attribute allocation a limiting factor of what skill to socket in your bar?
Not only would it give people more motivation to try new things out in the late game, but maybe it would also give people more "styles" to play depending on what they want to do that day.
So instead of logging to another character, maybe the game could offer "configurations" for your one main character. Those different configurations could be pre-set combinations of skill and attribute allocation. Something like a "strategic direction package".
You would go to the school of combat strategy and talk to a NPC "Master Of Tactics" and there you could select one of many different configurations you have previously established and saved for your character. For a modest fee. This would then load the preset of morphs, abilities, attributes and equipment.
This would also add long term motivation, as a perfect build can be saved, and then you could just go on and try a different build. But whenever you have a guild raid, dungeon, PvP etc. you just switch your config, play it, and switch back to your experimental or 4fun build-style.
Maybe, just maybe it would be an idea to make attributes not impact the max damage dealt?
On the one hand we have a system that allows for everything: Battlemage in heavy armor? Check. Staff wielding Dragonknight warrior in cloth armor: Check. Nightblade magician: Check. Etc. etc.
This seems to be a good thing. On top of that, the game makes fundamental use of the limiting factor to force you to decide. 5 skill vs. a gazillion of unlockable lines. This is good I guess, as it allows you to switch skills if you want to experience something different. Got bored of heavy tanking? Switch something out, play a different style. Maybe even switch from 1h+shield to 2handed.
What I find works against this philosophy of freedom is how attributes work. By influencing the max amount of damage for a specific skill line, through either magicka or stamina, a lot of re-configuration falls flat. So unlocking the lines that go against your attribute specialization is not really a valid tactic. Experimenting with dual wield, when you have chosen the path of magicka is not something worth to try out.
Now with the overall game approach of "do what you want" and "play what how you like" is this not something to overhaul?
Sure, one can argue that it is required to make a new character. However, this is not so easy for people that have a restricted amount of time to play. It is a time heavy investment, and also rather repetitive, as you have to play through the same content again, some of which is heavily narrative driven and not really "fun" playing a 2nd time.
Also, some people only have few hours of time a day so they focus on just one character.
Wouldn't it me more in line with the general philosophy to not make the attribute allocation a limiting factor of what skill to socket in your bar?
Not only would it give people more motivation to try new things out in the late game, but maybe it would also give people more "styles" to play depending on what they want to do that day.
So instead of logging to another character, maybe the game could offer "configurations" for your one main character. Those different configurations could be pre-set combinations of skill and attribute allocation. Something like a "strategic direction package".
You would go to the school of combat strategy and talk to a NPC "Master Of Tactics" and there you could select one of many different configurations you have previously established and saved for your character. For a modest fee. This would then load the preset of morphs, abilities, attributes and equipment.
This would also add long term motivation, as a perfect build can be saved, and then you could just go on and try a different build. But whenever you have a guild raid, dungeon, PvP etc. you just switch your config, play it, and switch back to your experimental or 4fun build-style.
Maybe, just maybe it would be an idea to make attributes not impact the max damage dealt?
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fred4✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭In other words, you'd prefer hybrid builds to be viable. There, rephrased that in one sentence
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Dreepa✭✭✭In other words, you'd prefer hybrid builds to be viable. There, rephrased that in one sentence.
That would only be one part of it.
The other part would be to "save" character layouts and configuration, and "recall" it as a preset.
Re-focusing a character currently involves a lot of resets and manual labor. This could all be automated into one convenient feature.Edited by Dreepa on May 2, 2017 2:16PM0 -
DMuehlhausen✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭There are more than enough skill points to essentially get any build you want, once you get them all.
There addons, if you are on PC, that allow you to swap gear and skill bar layouts on the fly.0 -
Dreepa✭✭✭DMuehlhausen wrote: »There are more than enough skill points to essentially get any build you want, once you get them all.
There addons, if you are on PC, that allow you to swap gear and skill bar layouts on the fly.
Skillpoints are not relevant. Sure you have it all at the end. It is more about attrib respec, re-morph and equip.0 -
fred4✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Well that would be really nice. Somehow I get the feeling ZOS won't facilitate that. They probably like us making multiple characters and replaying their content over and over. I'd be very happy just making different builds, cause that's essentially what keeps me in the game these days. But I think ZOS want me to spend even more time leveling alts.0 -
Dreepa✭✭✭Could even be done really simple in terms of GUI, something like this:
Edited by Dreepa on May 2, 2017 2:35PM0 -
Dreepa✭✭✭Well that would be really nice. Somehow I get the feeling ZOS won't facilitate that. They probably like us making multiple characters and replaying their content over and over. I'd be very happy just making different builds, cause that's essentially what keeps me in the game these days. But I think ZOS want me to spend even more time leveling alts.
On the other side they have a lot of player that are not doing that, right? I mean, leveling alts.
So those players farm their stuff, and have their character at the peak of their development, and then they have nothing to do. Maybe even leaving the game.
With something like proposed here, the player could farm another set, and would have other goals for his current character. It would still create a lot of playtime farming the gear and raising the skills.
In my opinion it only helps to keep players in the game that have nothing to do.0