For roleplayers, what is eso missing to be near perfect?

francesinhalover · January 2023

What would you add to make the game, immersion, roleplaying better?

TaSheen · January 2023

Um. I don't RP in games. I RP in my mind as I'm playing my characters. I'm not really interested in interacting with others in an online game.

The only reason I play this or any other MMO is because - unlike single player games - MMOs are non-static.

Syldras · January 2023

Do you mean (chat) RPing with others or immersing and playing a character's story on one's own (as an opposite to people who see content as just game tasks to solve and don't think about the character they control much)?

Anyway, I think it would help immersion-wise if dialogues would be less generic. If npcs would recognize specifics about the player character (like their race or if the character is a vampire). I know there were dialogue differences in Morrowind and Summerset, but they seemed to have abandoned that. I know there's one instance in Elsweyr where players can mention being a necromancer and one in Western Skyrim where vampire characters can reveal being a vampire (to Lyris, I think?), but it's not more than just one optional line of dialogue somewhere, which is close to nothing and disappointed me, to be honest (especially with the vampirism, as it is, logically, something that is visible and that npcs would recognize). After last year's content I think they probably won't put more effort into dialogue though, I'm afraid.

Another great thing would be if actions really had an impact, and if choices could be made. I know it's a bit difficult and it can't be something large in an MMO, but I think to an extend it could be possible. I know in the base game there were quite a few side quests where at least the outcome could be chosen (saving someone, pardoning someone - or not), but also that seems to have become rarer and rarer.

fizzylu · January 2023

Honestly, what breaks the immersion for me in this game is a lot of the visual aspects. Animations and physics (more like lack of) are a big part of this.... but sometimes things like armor looking like bodysuits and weird obnoxiously glowy mounts with bizarre particle effects can bother me too haha
Oh, and little bonus: one of the things that bothers me most in this game is that both weapons do not show. There's nothing like seeing a little ranger with their bow whip a 2h sword out of thin air. One of the most popular mods for Skyrim is the full equip/armed to the teeth mod or whatever it is called and I thought for sure ESO would have it so that all your equipped gear would show at all times.... but nope. It's crazy to think that the only MMO (that I know of) that has properly done this is New World. Throne and Liberty looks to as well and it's legit one of the reasons why I'm excited to try it out haha

Vevvev · January 2023

The ability to enter a completely empty instance of an open world and make it only available to our guild, group members, etc.... We already have housing, but having dump multiple millions of gold, and hours of time to set up a single RP area for a guild is a lot of work.

Also make PChat's functionalities base game. I'm not even joking, please make the PChat addon base game as the base game chat box is criminally bad and lacking so many features we take for granted on modern chat platforms.

Also.... honestly I don't even know. I'm so burnt out on this game lately I'm sure I'd have a bigger list, but those two things kinda made RPing a little difficult in public areas, and makes newer RPers miss things until we send them to where to get PChat.

rpa · January 2023

Naughty bits?

Syldras · January 2023

fizzylu wrote: »

sometimes things like armor looking like bodysuits and weird obnoxiously glowy mounts with bizarre particle effects can bother me too haha

Glowy mounts and pets that look like plastic animals right out of some toddler's toybox aren't much to my liking either. but, well, they've started that - and it can't be changed anymore, as they can't just disable items that people have bought from the store with real money. But yes, it somehow breaks immersion, especially since you almost never see these things elsewhere in the world, be it in stables or with npcs.

Same goes for many weirdly colored (glowy, scaly on Non-Argonians, lava-like and whatnot) skins that the people of Tamriel would normally see as a strange disease or something like that. And I'm not sure if they would be welcoming of a glowy Spriggan or a decaying zombie in their banks and stores either.

fizzylu · January 2023

Syldras wrote: »

Glowy mounts and pets that look like plastic animals right out of some toddler's toybox aren't much to my liking either. but, well, they've started that - and it can't be changed anymore, as they can't just disable items that people have bought from the store with real money.

They could always stop making them though haha sadly I've lost all faith in the art team for ESO a while back and doubt even that will happen. Still, these are definitely some of the things that bother me most from a RP/immersion viewpoint. Along with the mounts that glide across terrain, but get dismounted in a puddle of water.... no capes or flowy robes, just onesies.... spellcasters not actually being spellcasters, but empowered stick shooters.... and the "pulling weapons out of thin air" bit haha

Kappachi · January 2023

More classes like undead/goblin/dwarven, also a non-combat harpy pet or something for it to be perfect to me for RP.

Syldras · January 2023

fizzylu wrote: »

They could always stop making them though haha sadly I've lost all faith in the art team for ESO a while back and doubt even that will happen.

If this stuff sells (and it obviously does), they won't change a thing, I'm sure.

The more I think about it, what also makes it especially weird is that these mounts just don't fit into the otherwise rather natural look of the surroundings (landscapes, buildings, all that). If mean, there are exceptions where magic is involved, but most places look quite "normal", in my opinion.

BlueRaven · January 2023

In the base game there were quests that required a choice to be made. I miss that.

Also I would like group sizes in pve areas to be 24 players again.

fizzylu · January 2023

@Syldras Exactly haha like I'm not even saying they should not glow at all. There's 100% magical lore in TES and ESO that would warrant some mounts could have some magical attributes.... but at this point some of them are just soooo over the top that I'm just.... confused haha perfect example is one of the recent mounts that came in one of High Isle's new crown crates. I can't recall it's name, but it looked good until you mounted up and it had water spraying everywhere haha like why? It's just a bit much.

Syldras · January 2023

Kappachi wrote: »

More classes like undead/goblin/dwarven, also a non-combat harpy pet or something for it to be perfect to me for RP.

Well, having living Dwemer running around everywhere would be completely against lore and even more immersion-breaking.

fizzylu wrote: »

@Syldras Exactly haha like I'm not even saying they should not glow at all. There's 100% magical lore in TES and ESO that would warrant some mounts could have some magical attributes.... but at this point some of them are just soooo over the top that I'm just.... confused haha perfect example is one of the recent mounts that came in one of High Isle's new crown crates. I can't recall it's name, but it looked good until you mounted up and it had water spraying everywhere haha like why? It's just a bit much.

Yeah, that one doesn't make sense at all. Atronach mounts would be something different.

AScarlato · January 2023

I roleplayed in eSO regularly for about 3 years. The RP guild I created is still active today. I just left the game at the end of 2022 as my New Year's resolution to focus on more important things (to me) and have new experiences.

My feedback:

1. Lowering group sizes hindered RP events with more than 12 people. People dislike being broken up into different groups or left out. Roleplayers use groups for chat purposes and other uses not typical gameplay related.

2. The game has lots of RP-friendly features, such as massive lore to work with and extensive zones and housing. However I find the game exploitative. A lot of things you can purchase for crowns are geared towards roleplayers - things like emotes, houses, outfits, hairstyles, etc. Things that can be vital to crafting a character. These things are often FOMO, RNG through Crown Crates, or priced in exploitative ways like 1000+ gems for a mount or skin. If you removed these things from gem crates, which I find insidious having spent thousands on them and resenting all the money I spent on items I did not even want, and priced them fairly in your already extremely massive real money shop, I'd have a bit less of an issue with this.

3. Small thing - but sitting and eating or drinking. Tons of RP focuses around food and social events, so it's a small thing that should be added. If it is, it shouldn't be 100 gems in a crate, either.

4. Housing limits. The houses are way too large for how little items you can place in it, making roleplayers often have to decide which few areas of a massive manor they can decorate at the expense of others. Houses are so crazy expensive, along with furniture at the prices they are in the crown shop (including things like $40 standing stones, etc.), I don't see why the limits are this small on products this expensive.

Kappachi · January 2023

Syldras wrote: »

Kappachi wrote: »

More classes like undead/goblin/dwarven, also a non-combat harpy pet or something for it to be perfect to me for RP.

Well, having living Dwemer running around everywhere would be completely against lore and even more immersion-breaking.

fizzylu wrote: »

@Syldras Exactly haha like I'm not even saying they should not glow at all. There's 100% magical lore in TES and ESO that would warrant some mounts could have some magical attributes.... but at this point some of them are just soooo over the top that I'm just.... confused haha perfect example is one of the recent mounts that came in one of High Isle's new crown crates. I can't recall it's name, but it looked good until you mounted up and it had water spraying everywhere haha like why? It's just a bit much.

Yeah, that one doesn't make sense at all. Atronach mounts would be something different.

How so? There's a Dwemer in Vvardenfell at this point in time is there not? Just not accessible or able to be met in ESO.

Syldras · January 2023

Kappachi wrote: »

How so? There's a Dwemer in Vvardenfell at this point in time is there not? Just not accessible or able to be met in ESO.

I see a difference between one Dwemer and a whole Dwemer class which would mean masses of players running around like that.

Yagrum Bagarn probably isn't on Vvardenfell at the moment, according to his dialogue in TES3:
"I cannot say what happened. I was not there to observe. I was in an Outer Realm at the time, and when I came back, my people were gone. I left Red Mountain, wandering Tamriel for years, searching our deserted colonies, looking for a survivor or an explanation. Then, a long, long time ago, I returned to Red Mountain, still looking for answers. Instead, I found corprus disease, and I have been here ever since. I have theories, if you are interested."
Corprus isn't a thing yet. The Sharmat still sleeps.

DocFrost72 · January 2023

A troll-be-gone wand.

jtm1018 · January 2023

The divines letting me marry Naryu Virian.

I will serve the tribunal well, let me have her hand in divine matrimony.

colossalvoids · January 2023

I'm not a rper in mmo sense of word but as an RPG player I'm lacking any choice whatsoever here. None of my actions feel impactful nor even matching gameplay to begin with.

StormBlade512 · January 2023

The lackluster dialogue and dialogue/quest choices that are too few and far between. I never feel like I'm playing my character, just the "adventurer" that ZOS have outlined.

Dr_Con · January 2023

There's 2 types of online roleplayers (and many subtypes under this),

Type 1: ones who play within the limitations of a system.

Type 2: ones who want a fully modifiable, customizable system for their roleplay.

I'm pretty sure you know which ones are likely to rp on ESO. It's also clear which type will be attracted to a topic like this.

Yes, ZOS can toss them a bone here and there, but the Type 1 roleplayers are here because the current system makes things possible. Usually a suggestion that helps out a Type 1 Roleplayer will also help out type 2 roleplayers and the rest of the playerbase.

Type 2 roleplayers however, would want to fundamentally alter how ESO works, and would want access to altering the code, and would fund their own servers to operate, and would want to implement all sorts of roleplaying rules and punishments for breaking said rules, and would offer suggestions that may take away from the base game and expansions, rather than add. Suggestions from a type 2 roleplayer usually have good intentions, but wind up shaping the game too much to their own world image or idealized roleplaying game (these are a demographic of high-spending players- both in money and time- who might currently be on FiveM, RedM, GMOD, and some illegal WoW servers).

It's healthy to facilitate relationships between ZOS and the type 1 roleplayers (Official communication might not even be needed, just observe their gameplay style and look for opportunities to improve what players are already doing, that would also help the broader community), but type 2 roleplayers want way too much and would fundamentally alter how the game works for everyone, not necessarily for the better. By making the game better for everyone, Type 1 roleplayers will also have a better game to roleplay in. We as a community should want type 2 roleplayers to become type 1 roleplayers so they don't feel left in the dust, but it simply isn't possible to accommodate all requests from type 2 roleplayers.

Kirawolfe · January 2023

AScarlato wrote: »

3. Small thing - but sitting and eating or drinking. Tons of RP focuses around food and social events, so it's a small thing that should be added. If it is, it shouldn't be 100 gems in a crate, either.

4. Housing limits. The houses are way too large for how little items you can place in it, making roleplayers often have to decide which few areas of a massive manor they can decorate at the expense of others. Houses are so crazy expensive, along with furniture at the prices they are in the crown shop (including things like $40 standing stones, etc.), I don't see why the limits are this small on products this expensive.

I RP with a friend every day. Agree with the first completely, and the second is just helpful for everyone.

A friend of mine has the Bastion and that place is ridiculously big for that item limit. I just created a village in a blank slate notable home and I hit that limit hard myself. I think this is based on what consoles can handle?

I would also add:

- adding facial expressions like smiling, happy, frowning, worried, etc. NPCs carry these expressions, and you can of course coax them out for a little minute by laughing, or using downcast, or angry. But being able to use and hold them would be helpful.

- being able to get into a bed gracefully, instead of using it as a trampoline first XD This has nothing to do with ERP for me, but it comes up in scenarios where a character gets hurt, etc or might be sleeping before an attack, etc.

- being able to hug someone to comfort them. I've seen it happen (House of Reveries quest in Summerset) and it would be cool to be able to do that (consensually) with someone.

Massive kudos to the designers of this game for already being an excellent place to RP - private houses that you can tailor as you see fit, a massive number of emotes and fascinating mementos to use, great character customization and animation. And the storylines are fun to RP through with a friend, most have worked for me without a hitch, even bringing a players who's done a key scene in a major story arc back to that place to experience it again with the same toon.

CameraBeardThePirate · January 2023

Speaking strictly from a solo RP point of view (i.e., as if I were playing a single player TES game), harder overland content. The only thing stopping me from getting into my character and going through quests is just that it's boring. No challenge at all. It's hard to be immersed in the world when everything dies from sneezing in its general direction.

Elsonso · January 2023

francesinhalover wrote: »

What would you add to make the game, immersion, roleplaying better?

What ZOS can do... vs addons... for personal role playing, not performance role playing.

More tools for developing the character to differentiate from others, plus something that recognizes the history of the character as they grow within the game. Characters, right now, are rather one dimensional. They are more avatars of the player than characters.

Examples of where I see ESO lacks the "role playing" game design...

Character specific achievements or an in-game diary or journal that takes note if significant events.
They have personalities, but they are hard to come by. More personalities, and ones that are not flamboyant and exaggerated. Having these without taking out a mortgage or selling my first child to buy Crowns or loot boxes is preferred.
Additional free outfit and armory slots. Right now, the role player tax hits hard here.
All personalities and emotes that players have to acquire through Crowns or RNG should be in the store at all times for Crowns.
Less player-on-rails theme park story. Too many quests are designed like movies that just play out in click-a-scene manner. Game needs better quest design to allow variations in responses and options. They don't have to create wildly different outcomes. Elder Scrolls tends to be "good" and the player is there to "help", but it would be nice to have different flavors of Kool-Aid to choose from, even if they all ended up at similar outcomes.

Sadly, I expect that role players are a primary target for monetization and player taxes, so even though they probably won't do a lot of stuff suggested in this thread, if they did, it would be full $$$.

AD_ThisIsTheWay · January 2023

The current experience traveling to and from peoples homes is a little bit tedious and difficult in my opinion. Having to navigate in the menu, find your friends name in the list... travel to their primary house... it just seems a little clunky and it takes away from the role play experience.

It would be really cool to see some physical portals inside of peoples homes that would allow you to quickly travel to and from other properties. I'm thinking about a furnishing object that would also function as a portal. It would be awesome to have a portal that linked you to your guild hall, or your friends property, or another property that you own, or another location inside of the same property even. Having a physically linked network of housing properties utilizing these 'portal furnishings' would definitely enhance the role playing experience.

everseeing_njpreub18_ESO · January 2023

I don't RP with others as some have said, more so in my own head as i play my character.

What i would ask for is that my world traveling, world saving, dimension hopping, god fighting super hero of a character wouldn't always ask the NPC i am talking to "duhh what should i do now???"

They've added some things were people will recognize you, remember what you've done in some cases, but it always comes down to the NPC saying "go do X" and then i repeat "duhh so i go do X right???"

tomofhyrule · January 2023

I would like to see more of the character cosmetics in the store and available. Nothing's worse than planning out a character and then finding out one of the main parts you need (like their personality or hairstyle) just left the store so you have to wait years for it to return.

I don't do traditional RP, but I do write up my characters' stories as I go. I dragged my feet for ages getting my second character started because he needed Bastian's hairstyle. I pretty much set an alarm for 10am the day that released so I could start him right away as it came out. And it's every bit as perfect as I thought it'd be.

But yes, more personalities and more emotes. I'm that person who will buy every personality whether I need it or not.

I just would like to see more outfit possibilities too. I only buy slots on sale so I'm constantly needing more, but the big thing is that we still don't have a way to hide certain slots. I'd love to make some no-shoulder costumes, or to have the belt hidden so the chest default could come through. Or give us our shirtless barbarians so we can show off our tats. We've now gotten a bunch of event styles that are missing parts, so it seems that even ZOS expects us to make do there.

One thing for me specifically is that my next character is a Maormer, and I'm having trouble figuring out what cosmetics to give him. I doubt they'll ever give us a Maormer race (but even for someone into the lore like me, I wouldn't be mad about that specific race addition...), but it'd be great if we could get a skin that worked or if we could get those ears as accessories. As it is, I'm planning him as a Dunmer with the Arctic Rime skin, but that does leave him a bit on the short side and with sparkly skin, but it's the right color at least. But if we had a skin that looked like Siravaen's, I'd flip him into an Altmer immediately.
...he's also a spearman, if we could ever get that as a weapon...

MerguezMan · January 2023

- dedicated chat channel
- meaningful story choices, possibility to derail part of the ending accordingly (ie. side with vampires instead of kill them all if you're a vampire), possibility to refuse or lie.
- acknowledgement of past actions, guards shouldn't chase you if you don't have a bounty, but other npcs shouldn't trust you if you're known for killing and thieving repeatedly. Even if you saved the world/country, you should still be mistrusted as a known murderer, up to a "moral" point of balance.
- bring back alliance siding, make npcs react accordingly (you can't simultaneously be the champion of 3 alliances, and npcs shouldn't react as if so in DLCs)
- stop spreading the same npc in several regions, have them follow their own story and wait you at a given point in a meaningful order (ie. Clarice Laurent can't be in Coldharbor or Murkmire if you haven't cleared her quest in Glenumbria first ...)
- more cosmetic options (hip plates, shoulder plates, capes, ...), personalities should be ingame rewards for specific behaviour or achievements (such as skeleton skin is a reward for clearing a skeleton village quest...)
- have lasting curses and deseases in the open world (pve only), open possibility to follow an exclusive daedric cult (ie. become a peiryite follower, have Meridia refuse to help you directly because of that)

Non-exhaustive list, ofc

Billium813 · January 2023

I only participate in lite RP from time to time, but I am a HUGE proponent for increasing immersion.

On the RP side, I think the ability to interact with more environment items would increase immersion. More benches and chairs, more cluttered environments (anyone else hate the HUGE OPEN SPACES that mmo design demands? You see it more in Base Zones and its so unrealistic that cities would be built like this...), using emotes while seated, more inter-player interaction emotes (pushing, slapping, high fiving, dancing, rock-paper-scissors), more items that are place able in the world (like the Witch's Bonfire Dust memento, there could be a picnic blanket or spawn a portal to your player home)

I really like the quick-slot emote wheel we have now, but I wish there were more slots! I have so many go-to emotes that I can't choose just 8. I really like the multi-rider mount and hope there will be more in the future. I am hoping for Customized Actions to add more RP elements too, but so far they are pretty disappointing.

BretonMage · January 2023

I only RP a little, and only in my head, but a few things stand out:

1. Houseguests really need to behave a bit more naturally. In TESV, they wander around and idle randomly; sitting down, reading, eating, browsing, etc. In ESO I feel there's little point in having a houseguest that's basically just a walking statue.
2. Let the beds in our homes be interactable.
3. After you finish a quest, and return some time later, it's really awkward to see some characters and places stuck in the state you left them. Like, please can we get Valaste back inside the building and sitting down, preferably with a nice cup of tea?

Billium813 · January 2023

BretonMage wrote: »

I only RP a little, and only in my head, but a few things stand out:

1. Houseguests really need to behave a bit more naturally. In TESV, they wander around and idle randomly; sitting down, reading, eating, browsing, etc. In ESO I feel there's little point in having a houseguest that's basically just a walking statue.

I use Houseguests extensively in my houses to add RP and dynamic motion. I love how they liven up the place and make it feel lived in. I completely agree that it would be awesome if houseguests could sit in chairs, lay on beds, or just randomly interact with each other.

Perhaps if each pathing node had the option of setting an emote for the houseguest to execute? I would be nice to have the house guest wander around the library and actually emote read books.

Maybe nodes could be placed on interactable furnishings; not just locations? Then, houseguests could have a stool in the bar as a node, or a crafting station as a node, or a bed as a node.