fleetingyouth_ESO wrote: »

This touches on something I am REALLY passionate about. And it goes for not only the tattoos, but practically everything in the crown store.

I'm not opposed to the crown store, but PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF THE DIVINES:

START WITH THE LORE, for inspiration.

PLEASE STOP throwing random soulless whatever and forcing the lore to fit it.

I understand why you feel this way but ESO is an MMO and it shouldn't be held back solely by the lore. I'd be happy with lots of new lore-friendly cosmetics and don't see a reason why they shouldn't be doing more. But whether the game is considered canon or not it should be free to explore and expand outside of the TES games. At the end of the day, they are different games and not everybody cares about the lore or TES games.

Id rather have better-designed and useful content than lore-inspired stuff. But again we shouldn't have to choose they should be able to do better for both audiences.

Firstly, fair enough. This is likely to be a matter of opinion to some degree, so I'll try to be careful when speaking mine.

What I will point out though, is when some IP is engaged, there is an expectation that there's going to be a genuine care when dealing with that IP. It is cherished by a crowd who's love is what has driven it to success. There's an expectation *from both sides* that there will be ample care in handling the IP, and not selling it out.

After all, someone has engaged the IP in the first place, because there is an appeal to- and a massive benefit from- getting all those passionate IP fans on board. They know that their idea wont float if its just the framework, unless they've created their own unique and compelling IP themselves.

Especially when they've engaged such a notoriously invested audience, every care should be taken.

Please note that I'm not arguing that no inspiration can ever be taken from anything or anyone else, or that if they have some cool idea that people are going to want, that lore should be used as a book to knock ideas over the head.

In fact, there's a GREAT DEAL of room between these two extremes "HEY, ANYTHING GOES, SCREW THE IP, WE'RE AN *MMO*, and "THOU SHALT NOT. NPC IN ARENA 25 YEARS AGO SAID THIS COULDN'T EXIST. NO!"

And I STRONGLY believe this is highlighted by the fact that there is a whole heap of stuff, that with a little thought, could be made to work, but hasn't really been thought about at all.

What I'm actually asking for is not to throw the book at every idea. I'm asking for better, more insightful creative control, so that MUCH of what is possible might be made to fit.

The IP *is* important, even if not to you. Once you sell it out too hard, its lost its soul. And then why bother with it in the first place, except for some cynical cash cow.

Of course lore should matter. What is this, TERA Online? Should we get cars in game, then? AK-47 rifles? How about a spaceship? Even if you don't care about lore I'm sure there are limits on what you can accept in a fantasy rpg setting. Not caring about lore doesn't mean that automatically anything goes, and really, the devs and storywriters caring about said lore doesn't take anything form the crowd that just wants to skip all the dialogue and see flashy images.