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Introduce an ESO version of Civ's Civilopedia to support new players.

kiwi_tea
kiwi_tea
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ESO is huge. It's just massive. And there's very little way for players to access information about the game's mechanics internally within the game. A lot of the most vital information about game mechanics is out there in the community (if it's there at all - I still can't seem to pin down the precise mechanics of siege DoTs, just loads of wild community claims and speculation).

What I'm proposing is a pretty massive undertaking, but it would also be pretty game-changing if newer players had easy, up-to-date access to an official resource that explained things like how each status effect actually works. Global cooldowns and weaving attacks. The fact that repairs in Cyrodiil scale off of your Healing Done stat. What effects the mostly mystified enemy attacks on death recap actually have (ie, does this enemy attack I searched drain my mag, apply a heal absorb, etc). The fact that learning full motifs increases drop rates for master writs (and just how that whole system works in general). Etc, etc, etc.

A huge range of mechanics in the game are heavily obscured and hard to pin down without lots of community support from end-game players, and I know that certainly slowed my own development a great deal. I basically had to just meet the right people because the game wasn't gonna help me, and nowadays I'm see lots of people being drastically misinformed by relatively new players all the time.

I think this is the sort of thing that would have been more valuable early in ESO's lifespan, but if there's life in the game yet, something to this effect would counteract the overwhelming loss of knowledge about game mechanics we've been suffering as end-game players leave or become occasional seasonal visitors. Those players provide pretty much all the knowledge that the game doesn't. If those players aren't part of ESO's target market, as it seems increasingly is the case, perhaps the best way forward is get that info into the game itself.
  • MincMincMinc
    MincMincMinc
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    The encyclopedia already exists, pretty sure its the F1 menu in base keybinds.

    Problem is you are asking zos to add info that they dont know about. Most of what you listed are issues that should be fixed and new players shouldn't need to learn them.

    The game is already so wide for new players to get into stuff, we lose a lot of players to the non existent direction.
    I only use insightful
    BG MMR should NOT reset, zos sponsored smurfing is a terrible design choice.
    PvP needs more incentives, even simple purple/gold mats would suffice.
  • kiwi_tea
    kiwi_tea
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    The encyclopedia already exists, pretty sure its the F1 menu in base keybinds.

    Problem is you are asking zos to add info that they dont know about. Most of what you listed are issues that should be fixed and new players shouldn't need to learn them.

    The game is already so wide for new players to get into stuff, we lose a lot of players to the non existent direction.

    The guides that exist in the game with F1 aren't very comprehensive, and have a pretty "wall of text" UI. They'd make at best a starting point for a broader system similar to the one that has developed over time in the Civ games.

    The F1 guides also don't even include the respective icons for various effects that are, often, represented in the base game UI only as Debuff icons.

    ZOS don't need to "fix" the GCD system, it's baked into the game. Players just have to learn (or gain some rough awareness of it) through contact with mid and end-game players.

    ZOS don't need to "fix" reps scaling off Healing Done stat. It's a fine implementation, even if it's funny that repping a wall in Cyro procs Chokethorn. :expressionless: Players just need to learn this is how ZOS designed the system, and that's how you can rep your siege, walls, etc efficiently. You only learn that from end-game players.

    ZOS don't need to "fix" enemies having named attacks with unique effects that show up on death recap. They just need to give new players a resource for understand what those attacks are and what effects they have. New players can currently only learn that from end-game players (although intuition goes a long way there too).

    ZOS don't need to "fix" the way that writ drops scale from player investments in motifs and research, they just need to make that information accessible to their playerbase. New players can currently only learn that form end-game players.

    In a game this big and complex, those set of short, general overviews with a pretty perfunctory search bar is ... ... good. It's fine. But it would huge to have a more comprehensive system that helps demystify the game. It'd also be nice to counteract the rise of just plain wrong claims about mechanics from less experienced (or perhaps just more casual) players being thrust into the vacuum created by more experienced players leaving.
  • Kyip
    Kyip
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    I know it probably wouldn't work for legal reasons, but links to UESP would be lovely. Years ago, I watched people streaming play of the ESO-era full conversion mods in Crusader Kings 2, in which the base game has links to Wikipedia for historical figures. For that module, Elder Kings, they had UESP links for all the characters. That was cool.
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