The why

if you look at the champion point system youll easily see that its a purely stats based system. There are guides on what you need to take to get maximum return for your character based on your characters role and most players end up take the exact same thing once the optimal power curve is known. Damage reduction is split up into like 5 different ways and many perks are conditional which means you dont see anything on your character, cant click anything, and adds a mountain of conditional calculations.

i feel that an advancement system you should feel like your choices have real impact. When you get a new skill.. thats impact. When you get a new slot or a slots functionality improves.. thats impact. Current champions system is just a stat machine. Its not visceral or visual, and most choices are must haves for your role, so are not really choices after all.

we can emulate this same power improvement without all the calculations, while providing impact. The same can be said for the advancement system by integrating it into the achievements system. Achievements are huge in eso. They should have more impact in the game. They should be worth getting and you should be able to play the way you want. Love achievements you can do that, love grinding.. you can still do that as well.

when i choose to specialize in fire, i want it to be amazing with skills only fire has. i want it to be impactful and i want players to see that. I dont want to have to read a guide to maximize it. I just want to make the choice...to be fire!. Likewise i want my functionality to grow over time. Not just stats. I want a utility slot and other slot upgrades and i want to be able to improve the slots alloted for light and heavy attacks. This is real and visceral. I can click these things and choose what to put there. Its not just a stat machine.

The game had it right from the start with the skill and bar unlocks but went off the rails with an overly complex stat machine that adds little substance. I need a streamlined system that works for pvp where i can really feel the improvements i get. Not just .2% per level crap. I dont want a bunch of levelling systems tacked on eachother. Just one unified system that constantly gives me tangible rewards for my efforts no matter what they are.

The way i see it, if its not really a choice, it should be standard at this point and zos knows the standard loadout for the cp system based on role. I also see many of these non choices can be readily converted into base stats and have the exact same functionality without all the extra calculation overhead or guides required. At least i can see when my base stats go up and actually use them so these things should be standardized. Save the conditional variables for the armor sets. Give me impact and functionality. The rest should be automatic for playing if thats what everyone is going to choose anyway.

I think this system can do this and i will elaborate further.

Slots and slots and slots

new slots and new functionality for slots dont impact performance but expand greatly what your character is capable on. As an example compared the cp system to the utility slot i propose. the cp gives you statistics but your rotation and abilities dont change. If you were a sorcerer a utility slot to put a pet in would be an impactful event. Even to use this slot to gain a certain passive or buff you couldnt fit in otherwise is better than the current cp system. Theres no performance impact to slot another skill. You still have the gcd governing all skills and moving the light and heavy attacks over the gcd will actually improve performance while adding fuctionality.

Utility, Active & Passive Slots:

This slot takes the place of the previous barswap button. At the first unlock its just a passive slot and you can put any skill in here but cant click on it yet. The second unlock you keep a passive slot but also gain an active slot underneath it you can put any skill in. This slot can also make use of reagents from a potion slot upgrade.

Light and Heavy Attack Slots:

These slots become actually usable and as your achieve milestones you can swap out your basic attacks for other attacks. This crosses over to the scribing and specialization systems where you would find some of these new abilities. Your basic attacks are free with low damage or free with wind up and resource return but this functionality can change as you gain milestones so you can unlock stronger skills, that have stronger effects and for more skilled players some alternates lose the basic functionality of free and resource return for other effects. This is impactful as you can now further choose how to build your player. This opens the door for strategic weaving. Each skill has its own condition on use such as while stunned, while off balance, while under x effect, you or the enemy and rather than just mindless busywork these attacks can exploit the enemy strategically. You can set it up for your own playstyle. The two slots are round robin so you get the functionality from one first, then the second one as follows

rank 1: basic light attack as now
rank 2: slottable basic light attack (free, medium power)
rank 3: slottable alternate light attack with conditionals (stronger, cheap but no longer free)
rank 4: slottable alternate light attack with conditionals and passive or buff possibility ( strongest with cost)


rank1: basic heavy attack as now
rank2: slottable basic heavy attack ( windup with resource gain, medium power)
rank 3: slottable alternate heavy attack ( windup, stronger with lower resource gain) with conditionals.
rank 4: slottable alternate heavy attack with conditionals ( strongest with passives and/or buffs but no resource gain or windup and cost instead.

The chamber slot:
This is a successive slot that you get that can hold up to 3 skills in it. As you use a skill it chambers the next one like a revolver does. At first you get one extra chamber so you can put in two skills witch revolve on use and later you get a third one. Players can decide what skills go there with the limitation that you can only use one at a time and have to cycle all them to use them. This shunts the strategy from manic button pressing to strategic skill loading and this brings us up to 8 slots without adding any extra buttons.

Overcharge slot
This slot charges up so gets more powerful the longer you dont use it ( and meet it conditions) and can be set up a couple of ways.
1) Absorb magic damage to charge 2x
2) Absorb melee damage to charge 2x
3) Do damage to charge 1.5x
4) absorb status effects to charge 3X
5) block to charge 3x
6) other conditions like overhealing or ultimate shunt 2x

like a mini ultimate this is a strategic use slot with potential to amplify effects so also adds another slot without pressing more buttons bring our count up to 9 since this slot can much be more effective than a standard slot from the old setup.

specialization slot augmentation


Ultraslot:

whatever specialization you choose the skill in this slot is further augmented by effects from your chosen specialization

Ultimate infusion:

your ultimate slot is infused with extra power from your chosen specialization.

Reagent slot:

The potion slot can now slot reagents for use with the utility slot. You can forgo the use of potions to use other consumables that will amplify skills slotted in the utility slot.

so you could collect the available skills for slotting here and they work with all weapons. Different skills have different parameters so might alter the reach, speed, damage, channel, projectile etc. These will be found throughout the world, through the scribing system and through the specialization system. In the case of the specialization system they will always add the damage modifier associated with the specialization so weapons can have two damage types. If it was a fire based specialization all your weapons would do fire damage in addition to whatever weapon damage was (not including enchants)

this is impactful because it doesnt just give you extra power but also affects your build and how you play the game but like the utility slot it generally only costs performance when you press the button so will be very friendly for pvp. Getting that new functionality is far superior to getting another 1% this or that. We want the power to come from something we can click, not generally something that just adds on in the background.

combo evasion button: Can combine either roll dodge, sprint or block button with certain effects. This requires specialization and the effect is unique to that specialization.

Other things critical for pvp performance.

Condition Stacking

So when you get a dot or hot on you you get a "condition stack" of whatever that skill is. The idea here is that you can only have one dor effect on you at the same time from each type of skill.

this will dramatically lower game calcularions and end some obscene practices like ball groups.

instead youll get a condition stack based on a damage type. So all poison skills are the same. Once your poisoned your poisoned. Once your on fire your on fire though a higher level ability might override a lower ability like a proc or enchant. Whatever you were hit with first will just refresh otherwise. You wont have ten effects ticking away on you anymore.

the condition stack is based on damage type so each damage type is represented and what happens is when your hit with that effect again ( in dot or hot format) the original only refreshes the original timer but everything after increases your condition stack for that damage type.

so your condition stack can progress to 3 levels as follows for a poison attack:

stack 1: minor defile for the dots duration, poison status x1
stack 2: major defile for the dots duration, poison status x2
stack 3: major and minor defile at the same time for the dots duration. poison status x3 . Non purge-able.

and the case for a hot like regenerating

stack 1: minor fortitude for the duration
stack 2: major fortitude for the duration
stack 3: both at the same time. When the effect ends you are purged for free as well.

The idea here is to dramatically reduce the number of active hots/dots of each type to one but not completely discount the other players contributions through advancing the stacks with crippling or beneficial effects. To make it interesting when you get to max stacks of a dot you can no longer purge it. Max stacks of a hot gives you a free purge when the effect ends. Each damage type would have its own unique condition stack but they all have three levels to them.

these condition stacks would be independent of the existing "status effects" and thus no changes would be required to them. In order to make the stacks efficient they would always have standard effects, no crit, no proc and cause no enchants or other status effects.

in addition to improving performance there is a group play component here where some players could advance the stacks to achieve an effect that could not be done otherwise.

In the past you would have three skills ticking away under the new system there would only be one but powerful conditions would be added that can be exploited instead.

in addition this system could also be used to improve crowd control in this game. Similar to the above you could only have one snare and one hard cc on you at a time but when more than one is on you you again advance stacks that have different effects on you. So when your hit by three different snares you only have one snare on you ( and all snares should be 30% across the board) but each stack after that will slow you down in the form of a speed and other debuffs. Get too many on you and you wont be able to roll dodge out of it.

hard cc could also use this system though i would separate this into roots and stuns with unique immunities for each. Stuns having a longer immunity ( 10 seconds) and roots a shorter (5 seconds) but also using the condition stack for both processes.

for instance stun could have a woozy style debuff so you get stunned ones its just the stun but if you get stunned again while woozy there could be some other effect that climbs with stuns piled on you. Same thing with roots. The difference with the hard ccs is that you would get not only a debuff but a buff as well possibly making your next root or stun within a timeframe much less effective.

This system could also be expanded to pve to expand viability of alternate builds since alternate sources of damage might be better than everyone doing the same thing. Players would then have two strategies available. 1) advance the same condition to get the debuff and 2) use alternate damage types so damage actually hits rather than refresh the counter.

ultimate shunt.

With the ultimate shunt Proc sets now cost ultimate but this unlocks new ultimate powers as well

Ultimate shunt is default 50/50 but you can alter it to your liking. That 50% pool toward your ultimate and 50% pool to power procsets. At a certain milestone you can unlock an additional shunt and you can set the shunt to health, magic or stamina which will regenerate those pools at the cost of some ultimate. Like the above you can decide how much to some degree. Other things might become available to power with ultimate as well like shields, healing or blocking.

this means that your proc sets wont proc without using ultimate for fuel. You can decide the shunt: i.e how much gained ultimate you want to dedicate to proc sets and to your ultimates. You cannot allocate more than 50% total to the shunt(s). So the minimum for your ultimate pool is 50% and the proc and regen shunts can be adjusted with the other 50% or less. This is represented by a small pie chart on the character screen which you can adjust to your liking.

Procs from proc sets will now cost some of your ultimate pool. A basic 1-20 cost depending on the set. Defensive sets would be very cheap ( 2-5) , indirect offensive sets (4-8) single target damage or healing ( 7-14) and aoe dmg or healing(13-20). This is to add a gameplay element to the proc sets and some conditions on use. With the new rules "most" proc sets will have a 100% chance if you have the ultimate saved up. Procs wont fire without ultimate so this balances how many proc sets it is reasonable to wear at a time and reduces required calculations while improving strategy. Offencive dmg procs are generally more expensive than defensive or stat boosting procs. You generally have to make a choice between proc sets and ultimates so both occurances will decrease somewhat and that will also improve performance with less of these effects firing overall as they wont be free anymore so players will have to determine their real build value.

Dungeon Examples


Example#1:

Nightmare Mansion in Rivenspire

You are tasked with fighting your way into the mansion and then holding it until dawn keeping as many people in the mansion alive as possible. This dungeon is also a radially design but also has vertical levels to it. Your team fights your way into the courtyard and makes its way to the mansion's broken front door. Once your inside the door must be repaired with wood available in the mansion ( upstairs). zombies will attack the door for the entire duration of the dungeon so the door must be repaired periodically or youll have to fight the zombies.

once inside you have to rescue all the people in the mansion who are in different rooms upstairs and bring them back to the main chamber. Vampires and zombies and mini-bosses spawn from the basement and come upstairs so you will have to hold off these enemies while someone goes to collect the survivors. Down in the basement is the optional vampire lord boss and an optional quest to find the silver totem.

Random component: find the silver totem in the basement which is in a different location each time you play the dungeon.

fail conditions:
all players die ( simultaneously)
all npc survivors die

win conditions:

basic chest: At least one party member and at least one npc survivor, make it until dawn ( 60 minutes). There is no "timer" except the light that comes through a window. It is another visual cue.
advanced chest: at least one party member survives until dawn and at least 4 npcs survivors make until dawn.
expert chest: at least one party member survives until dawn and at least 6 npc survivors make it until dawn and either the optional boss defeated or silver totem found.
master chest: at least two party members survive until dawn, at least 10 survivors make it until dawn the optional boss is defeated, and the silver totem found.

This type of dungeon reduces the need to specialized roles. Instead of tank you might just need "tanky" which will give the groupfinder some more flexibility in assigning groups. pvp style builds would be more effective here than traditional extreme pve builds which are not well rounded.

Example #2:
Library of Dusk v 2.0 : Lower Vault (dungeon)

you all come down a long stairwell that leads to a large room surrounded by a number of smaller catacombs. In the middle of the room is a large caged off area with a sign over saying that only 2 may enter. Two enter here and the timer starts and the other two must search for the proper sequence of books. Opening the wrong book spawns mobs ( aka army of darkness )and/or bosses in the cage which the other two players must deal with.While the dungeon is in play the boss will taunt you from the other side and some of these taunts will contain hints. Like other dungeons youll also have a helper npc to give clues and explain whats going on during the dungeon. When the proper sequence is completed the other side of the cage opens leading you to the final boss and all players regroup to defeat it. Some books switch players in and out of the cage, teleport you around, spawn chests, weaken the boss, strengthen the boss, activate traps, deactivate traps etc.

The catacombs are also infested and have roamer mini bosses for added chaos. One of the catacombs has an optional challenge boss players can engage if they wish to. In addition to this there is an optional book collection quest that can be completed while the dungeon is running. Finally there is the "visitor" which is a character youve seen elsewhere in the game who may or may not show up anywhere at any time even while your fighting the boss. You do not have to fight everything.

Random component: the sequence books are shuffled each time the dungeon is run so you cannot just remember where they are.

Fail condition: over the top of the cage is a chain that lowers a spike as soon as you start the timer. You have 60 minutes to complete the dungeon before the spike hits causing the dungeon to be "over" , meaning you all get booted with no reward. You cannot enter the catacombs until the timer starts. You can interact with the chain crank outside the cage to buy a little more time. This is done by bashing the crank and can get you an extra 10 minutes. the chain spike is the visual timer. you wont get a sign that says 52 minutes remaining.

Win Conditions

Completing within the 60 minutes will yield a basic chest. The minimal reward
completing within 60 minutes and defeating the optional boss or the "book collection" yields the advanced chest.
completing within 60 minutes, defeating the optional boss ( who also drops the monster helm) and completing the "book collection" yields the expert chest.
completing the dungeon within 40 minutes and defeating the optional boss and completing the "book collection" yields the Master chest.

as you can see these dungeons might take multiple runs to achieve the top rewards and you cant just "reset the fight" your way through it until you " learn" to beat it. Also the hardest parts are optional parts so if the party isnt up to it it can be avoided. The focus is taken off dps, and put on survival, teamwork and problem solving where it should be. Typical player setups might be closer to pvp setups than traditional pve as you might have to be self reliant for parts of the dungeon so this offers players more interesting options in terms of setup. Youll still have an advantage with high dps but it wont be the only factor. This is by design to address a few of the varying metas like making extreme dps builds not quite as advantageous as currently opening up more ways to build a character and also being a little more familiar gear wise to the pvp crowd.

Example #3

The in of body experience at the wyrd tree underroot

this dungeon is a forced first person dungeon meaning that the 3rd person camera will be disabled for certain portions of the dungeon. It will be annoying and awk-wyrd but you will adapt because its part of the challenge.

the wyrd tree is is under attack from within. Daedric forces have excavated tunnels under the wyrd tree and are trying to poison the roots. Your mission is to get down there and deal with the daedra and protect the tree.

this is a radial dungeon with multiple levels. The wyrd tree main root is in the center of the main chamber and is massive which creates a large ring you need to defend at multiple positions from daedra that are being portal'ed in. Outside the main room is the catacombs but some of these are openly visible to the main chamber but on different levels to the main room. The crossbow thingy will be used in select spots.

You do this by destroying the portal generators that are set up in the catacombs off the main chamber. In this dungeon one person has to stay behind, ideally your healer, and heal the root nodes all around the main root. Only one tunnel is open in this one but there are three others will open if someone doesn't stay behind to heal the nodes. The lone player must heal the nodes and fight off any mobs encountered while the other three must go find the portal generators and destroy them. The wyrd tree will also assist the lone player when it can. and there is the dragonguard crossbow in certain areas so players can go back and forth as needed.

The other three must travel the catacombs and find the all portal generators and destroy them. The portal generators are positioned randomly in the catacombs each time the dungeon is reset. In addition there is a optional boss in the catacombs as in other dungeons and my favorite part the spirit inhibitors which are also randomly placed.

The spirit inhibitor prevents you from using the 3rd person camera mode while you are in very general proximity to them and prevents the wyrd tree from helping the lone player. The inhibitors are daedric inventions that prevent the wyrd tree from helping out but they have the side effect of disabling your "out of body" view aka 3rd person camera. They are an optional part of the dungeon and that's also how you will know your getting close to them.

win conditions
Basic Chest : kill all the portal generators before the wyrd tree dies
Advanced chest: all the portals and either the optional boss or the inhibitors
Expert chest : all the portals and the optional boss and the inhibitors
Master chest: all the above and all the the "nodes" healed and defended

lose conditions:
all players die
too many wyrd tree nodes die

random components: portal and inhibitor placements

This is a healer required but no healer support oriented dungeon.

Using this new framework for dungeons all the old dungeons can be given new life, with the exact same art assets and enemies but with the new radial format and a new setting. Since there are so many dungeons this would be a great boon to bring players back to try the same dungeons but in a much different way. Old tired assets cant be given new life and purpose while maintaining the original theme. Once the overlay for the first radial style dungeon is complete ( goals, win conditions, lose conditions) it can be applied retroactively to breathe new life into existing content that players might be tired of over the years as an option. This is extremely efficient delivery of content and the new design will shift focus from mechanic and dps centric design to a true teamwork and communication design which will vastly improve the player experience, bring new and old players into the game and greatly improve replayability and accessibility.

Make even one of these as a test (with existing dungeon assets) and youll be hooked and see the power of it, and so will everyone else. Nothing to lose, everything to gain. The dps/dance move centric formula for dungeons is tired and obsolete. mmo's are supposed to be social.. and they can be but you have to design it that way. There is more than one way to make things challenging.

Class & Subclass Aura

Each class has an aura color. When a player takes a subclass line their aura should change as well to be a combination of the lines colors. So a templar who takes an arcanist line will have all class abilities a single color which is a mix of yellow and green. If a second subclass is added the color will change to be a sublimation of all three classes.

Combined utlity housing with login screen.

A new type of housing but for character logins only. So like a tavern, sewer or other mini base designed solely for character logins and storage. No building allowed but you can access all your characters inventories and chests assuming you selected " log out at base" when you log out of the world. Zos can sell more advanced versions but everyone will get a basic version.

upgraded UI and slots for streamlined gameplay

I believe the way dps and skills work in eso is not optimal and is a very high apm and maintenance system with low impact and alot of busywork. Ive always felt this type of combat system has held the game back and turned alot of players away from it. I would reinvent the ui to be a single bar with more specialized slots that have strategy and impact. Barswap would be retained in a slower form but on the potion wheel to alter the players role setup rather than be a source of dps. So you could be setup for two roles but not at the same time.

changes needed:
Utility slot: the former barswap button will be changed to the utility slots ( passive and active) i have described earlier in my posts on this thread. This brings the non potion or ultimate skills count up to 6 plus a passive( we want to get close to ten to maintain functionality in a simplified format).

The chamber slot:
This is a successive slot that you get that can hold up to 3 skills in it. As you use a skill it chambers the next one like a revolver does. At first you get one extra chamber so you can put in two skills witch revolve on use and later you get a third one. Players can decide what skills go there with the limitation that you can only use one at a time and have to cycle all them to use them. This shunts the strategy from manic button pressing to strategic skill loading and this brings us up to 8 slots without adding any extra buttons.

Overcharge slot
This slot charges up so gets more powerful the longer you dont use it ( and meet it conditions) and can be set up a couple of ways.
1) Absorb magic damage to charge 2x
2) Absorb melee damage to charge 2x
3) Do damage to charge 1.5x
4) absorb status effects to charge 3X
5) block to charge 3x
6) other conditions like overhealing or ultimate shunt 2x

like a mini ultimate this is a strategic use slot with potential to amplify effects so also adds another slot without pressing more buttons bring our count up to 9 since this slot can much be more effective than a standard slot from the old setup.

Light and Heavy Attack Slottables:

Light and heavy attacks would go on the gcd which will bring down the apm but also add more functionality to these skills. New light and heavy attacks would be more powerful but only be able to be weaved strategically. Each of these attacks would have a number of new possible parameters such as when either you or an enemy has a condition such as stunned, off balance, poisoned etc. This adds a strategic element to their use rather than just busywork.

specialization slot augmentation

As discussed in the specialization post choosing a specialization also empowers some slots.

Ultraslot:

whatever specialization you choose the skill in this slot is further augmented by effects from your chosen specialization

Ultimate infusion:

your ultimate slot is infused with extra power from your chosen specialization.

Reagent slot:

The potion slot can now slot reagents for use with the utility slot. You can forgo the use of potions to use other consumables that will amplify skills slotted in the utility slot.

final result would be a move away from the busywork buff/dot /barswap management gameplay to a more strategic combat with less overall skill spam but more powerful abilities. This takes the emphasis off of big rotations and weaving and thus is easier to adopt for newer players as it would allow them to focus more on whats going on on the screen, blocking and evasion.

eso combat system is commonly regarded as one of the worst combat systems outside these forums somehow even worse than older tab target games and this is due to the lack of impact skills have in eso because you have to keep so many active at one time to "play properly". Thus players gravitate toward simplified builds such as templar or arcanist or sorcerer heavy attack builds or simply not do dungeons and trials at all. It certainly plays a role in poor retention and the obvious trend of chapter release, play the story and go dormant again. For many people they literally cannot proceed any further because the system isnt intuitive and is loaded with busywork but that doesnt really become apparent until a couple of months in when they try harder content like dungeons and trials.

This system takes us away from cp stat machine and busywork combat and makes each slot count and have impact. This brings the apm and busywork down but the strategy up while maintaining a similar number of overall effective buttons.

overland upgrade in difficulty.

three new spawning mechanisms will be introduced called the overgrowth, daedric and worm cult/undead effects. These are three flavors of the same effect, a complete takeover of a zone by stronger than usual enemies, with better than usual rewards. These are complete zones based on existing zones that can be swapped out but only one of each three is active in the world at any time. When this is the case you will be notified when you enter an area like this rather than the standard zone.

These rehash zones can have one of the three flavors and each flavor spawns different enemies, sub bosses, bosses and loot.

on the players map it shows that the zone is occupied by the enemy and when you step foot into it you get the same message. Of course enemies arent occupying the zone its just a modified copy of the zone with all thematic enemies spawning everywhere, even the cities and towns. When the zone is finally defeated the previous zone spawns instead.

should be pretty simple to modify the existing zone to the new themes. Since there are only three of these zone takeovers going at any time there is plenty of space for players to avoid the content if they wish.

thematic dressing of zone: Each theme is distinct bur all have similar elements. The bosses will always be in the main city and this will be locked until all the sub bosses and keys are found and defeated. In these zones there is no safe haven and no vendors, and enemies have increased aggro radius. each zone will have minibosses and each miniboss holds a key depending on the theme.

Players will need a 12 keys keys to unlock the final boss in the main city area for the daedric invasion, 4 keys for the undead invasion and only 1 key for the overgrowth. The number of keys is also the number of people that are needed to kill the boss. This accounts for all content types in the game, trials, dungeons and solo. Minibosses respawn every 1 hour in a different location so and you need all the keys for your single shot, and then you need to collect them again. Whoever gets the keys first gets first chance at the final boss. If they fail, the next to do so is up and so on. Players can try once per day on the final boss. You cannot self resurrect in these areas. If you die your kicked out of the zone temporarily. Anyone can participate in the tougher overland content but some might be too tough and need a group or even a trial level effort to overcome. You can also trade your key in for the mystery chest if you do not wish to have a shot at the boss.

Overgrowth is nature gone wild so so buildings will be covered with vines and fungus and packs of various nature based enemies will roam everywhere. Its will always be cloudy, raining and thunder.

Daedric is a simple daedric invasion force so buildings will be burning and the sky will be dark and ash. Portals will be everywhere.

Undead wont have any weather effects or anything like that but will have gangs of undead all over the place and necromancers everywhere. Buildings will be boarded up.

existing enemies and world bosses may be slightly modified for the purposes of adding the content. Similarly loot content will be an consolidated version of zone loot and this includes the dungeons and trials available in that particular zone and available up to gold level. New items may also be added specific to the theme that will be available in any zone the theme is active in.

since all this is based on existing assets it should be pretty easy to do and then when the first three are launched do another three. The only real tech required is the zone replacement tech on the server so when a zone is occupied you get the new crazy version as opposed to the original version. Also when its over to revert the zone to the original but thats not a whole lot of work imo.

another thing that can be redone is to have 3 versions of each specific zone. So the zone we have now, the invasion modified zone and the "rebuilding" zone which has most of the structure of the original zone but missing a few things and new quests to complete to bring the zone back to the original status. The zone wouldnt be completely invaded anymore but some enemies from the invasion might be sticking around. This would offer a medium challenge and be more focused on quests. The zone wouldnt revert to the original until questers completed the job.. rebuilding through quests. Its pretty simple to modify existing zones and switch them out, and might be alot of fun.

so much can be done at minimal cost. Take a chance once and a while.

the tavern prep and refocus on adventure and teamwork

tavern prep

radial dungeons require more communication than standard dungeons where everyone rushes through with reckless abandon. So when you start a radial dungeon with your group you don't start at the dungeon.. instead you start at the tavern and you have 3 minutes or so to discuss the strategy for the dungeon.. like if you were planning a heist. When everyone's ready then your warped to the dungeon scenario.

in the tavern prep the dungeon guide tells you about the dungeon and things that you might need to do with a bunch of tips to make the dungeon go smoother as well as the dungeons backstory. Players can choose to skip this by saying they are ready to go though the dungeon wont start until all players are ready or the 3 minute timer elapses.

this is to help get player communicating ( and have an ale) from the start since radial dungeons are more social and require better communication and teamwork to complete and get the best rewards. These dungeons require players to do more than just perform your chosen role.

refocus on adventure

The point of the radial dungeon is that you can do more than kill stuff. This system leverages other forms of content like splitting up, stealth, seigecraft, finding things, maintenance, environmental destruction etc and has a better story component since you cant rush through. Since its not linear and task based the dungeons require some communication and leadership. Weak players can be assigned easy tasks, strong players difficult ones. Being coordinated enough to get the best rewards is a mighty challenge but also lets weaker players participate. So within these dungeons are all sorts of little adventures players can do and these tasks have a wide range of difficulty so all players can participate, but not every task is made for every player. This lets random groups have fun and get some experience with the dungeon even if they cant access the best rewards in that run. It doesn't lock them out because some obsolete instant kill mechanic or dps requirement. So while the dungeons have a very high skill ceiling to get the best rewards, it also raises the floor high enough to allow players to participate at their skill level.

the only way to do this is to inject variability of little integrated adventures, some of which are achievable by low skill players. Since all tasks are optional and there is a challenge gradient you might not be able to do them all but it gets your foot in the door and keeps you hungry for more. As you do the dungeon over and over the tasks become easier over time youll achieve better rewards. You dont want one and done for this content type. You want players running the dungeons dozens of times until they achieve the best rewards.
Even the most skilled players will find this a challenge, but in the same breath, lesser skilled players can get in and complete it, not necessarily achieving the best rewards.

so zos current model is kill stuff--miniboss--killstuff--boss. Boring and linear.
in the new model it could be anything from seiging (or defending) a structure from invasion. You might have to blow a dam, fix a door, keep a horde at bay while your friends are looking for something. Zos may not have the cutting edge graphics but they have all the bones in the game to make this work and give players what they really want. Challenging repeatable dungeons that are more like the stories and less like the trials that are easy to learn but difficult to master. The new meta wont be dps but flexibility. Youve tried for years the mmo way and results are weak regarding player retention, dungeon sales and trial participation. Its time to get back to what Elder Scrolls is, and that is fantasy adventure. There's still life in this game but adaptation is required.

Elden Hollow 3: Flooding the Elden Hollow.

the fighters guild has had enough of the elden hollow and have a bold plan to shut it down permanently. They want to flood the Elden Hollow and wash away all the evil and end the rituals for good! To this end they have found a cavern directly above the Elden Hollow with and underground stream and reservoir. They want you to set magical charges in weakpoints in the cavern to make a hole in the bottom of the lake, flooding out the Elden Hollow. The denizens of Elden Hollow will try to stop you and every 15 minutes spawn will increase the strength of the reinforcements from the hollow until it becomes unbearable and everyone dies. Enemies will come from all sides but some of these can be blocked and shut down.

the dungeon is in a huge cavern with a pond in the center and bridges over the pond with a small island in the middle where the enemy forge is located. Catacombs in all directions go under the pond and there are certain weakspots that charges can be set at to drain the lake into the Elden Hollow.

this is a radial dungeon like my other examples and follows the same format.

win conditions: blow the lake and flood the Elden Hollow by setting the six magical charges in the caverns catacombs random weak spots which changes each time the dungeon is run.

lose conditions: everyone dies.

static optional objectives
Find and kill the daedric legion commander who drops the new monster helm.

random optional objectives

1) find the key and and find and open the secret Thalmor treasure vault.
2) Find and kill the 4 wood orc scouts and retrieve the information they have.
3) find the poison stash and poison the ritual water, adding insult to injury when it floods.
4) Find the Thalmor remnants, eliminate them and retrieve their "orders"
5) collect 100 orc scalps
6) collect 100 daedric eyes. the big ones still only count as 1!
7) Destroy any 7 ritual sites.

Loot

same as spindleclutch 3 the sets are the same as other Elden Hollows but can have an adornment attached to them which can be done at the enemy forge increasing the potency of these old sets.

Completion rewards:
Wood chest ( survival): gold, materials, at least one dungeon loot item at blue quality
bronze chest( survival and any optional task): gold, materials, at least one adornment and at least one dungeon loot item at blue quality
Iron chest ( survival and any two optional tasks) gold, better materials, one adornment and one other item at blue quality.
Gold chest:( survival and any three optional tasks) gold, possible gold materials, up to 2 adornments, up to 2 dungeon drops up to purple quality, up to one regular loot upgrade.
Platinum chest: ( survival , all available tasks and monster helm achieved) gold , gold mats, up to 3 adornments and up to 1 dungeon drops at gold quality, and one regular loot upgrade. Possible monster helm from Elden Hollow 1 or 2

eso plus subscribers can randomly get up to 250 crowns from platinum chests and other possible cosmetic goodies.

at the conclusion of the dungeon when you watch all the water flood into elden hollow and you think your done, sometimes an optional boss will come up out of the hole.

The next thing. your wont pick a class anymore as all the games skills will be available to you. Instead youll pick a style and there would be a number of styles to choose from/find and each style has its own unique UI, unique number of slottable skills, and certain slots will have certain special effects ( or limitations) added to them. Each style will also have its own unique special thing.

the style then determines how you play the game so you can have to similar characters with all the same skills but play vastly different because you use a different style.

its like martial arts for mmo's. The style is like a layering process for your skill slots.
you get the basic style which has a particular layout and functionality of slots
then you get to augment some of those slots with special abilities that add to whatever you decide to slot there
then you get to specialize adding another layer of special effects to some of the slots you have.

you can then collect every ability in the game and also every style in the game and tailor a character exactlly to how and what you like to play. You can only use one style at a time but you can equip two styles and switch back and forth.

this transcends the class and even the skill system letting you play the same thing in multiple different ways. Each style has its own strengths and weaknesses depending on how you want to play the game.

players like to make basic archetypes like ranger or frost mage etc, but with this you can build your own class but there might be 6 different ways to play a frost mage.

Blackheart Haven 2: The Island Treasure

The mages guild has found a special map of captain blackhearts hidden treasure vault somewhere at sea. With the fighters guild they have secured a vessel to go find this treasure.

In this dungeon you travel on a ship to a number of very small islands at sea. While at sea you will be attacked by waves of enemies. When you dock you have to search for clues to the final location of the vault. You can choose what island the boat goes to and you can revisit islands or you can set sail for home at any time the ship is docked.

the ship can be destroyed so you have to maintain the ship ( repair leaks, damage and bail water) and protect the crew while the ship sails, while holding off the enemies that appear. You can find resources on the islands, and in the hold of the ship itself to repair the ship. The enemies will have a random component to them so wont be the same every time. The islands also have a random cmponent and you wont see each one every time you run the dungeon. Weather is a random component so it might be sunny, raining or a deadly storm when. Weather affects different things. When its raining or storm the ship will fill with water faster, and different enemies might show up and lightning strikes etc.

when you make it to an island the objective is to find clues to the exact location of the vault island. The clues location also changes a bit each run. There are also other things to find like booty and buried treasure and optional enemies to be slain. One of the islands has a boss who has a monster helm and another island has a forge.


Win conditions: Survive the journey with the ship intact and enough crew to sail the ship ( 6).
lose conditions: lose the ship, too many crew members or everyone dies.

once youve found 4 clues you can travel to the vault which will have an optional enemy boss (who has a monster helm) and sarcastic note from captain blackheart about your foolish attempt to steal his treasure.

optional tasks
1) open the vault and defeat the optional boss for both the fighters and mages guild.
2) find all 5 parts of the "booty" for the mages guild.
3) retrieve blackhearts skeleton key for the mages guild
4) find and kill all 4 of blackhearts henchmen and retrieve the "plan" for the fighters guild.
5) loot 100 skulls and crush them into a skull powder keg at the forge for the fighters guild.
6) Find Shifty Pete and end his miserable existance for the fighters guild. Shifty Pete is fast and can teleport to other islands. He doesnt heal but he is hard to catch and kill. He is weak to crowd control so this plays a role in his defeat.

You get two final rewards for this adventure. One from the mages guild and one from the fighters guild and the more of their respective tasks you complete the better the reward chest. You dont need to find the vault but you do need to survive the journey to get these rewards.

like other revamps the loot will be the same from the original but you can enhance it at the forge to new functionality.

this brings high adventure to the dungeon theme so the game isnt just reliant on high dps. This is how eso dungeons should be and this is how you get all those playrs back or new ones looking for a better experience. Everything i have suggested can be done with this game right now. Its time to step up zos.

there are two ways to do the ship. This ship can actually move, and if thats too challenging you can use the the ships hold as a common area and an alarm you zone into the static ship which is under attack. After the attack is over you go back into the hold and repeat the proces or arrive at one of the islands. Using the existing functionality of the ship you can choose your next destination by talking to the captain. The number of attacks is random and you can have up to 3 attacks on route to an island but you will be attacked at least once.

you can do this.

Wayrest Sewers 3: Takeover!

The wayrest Sewers are out of control and its spilling out into Wayrest at Night! People are in fear in the night all doors are locked with no one in sight. The fighters guild wants you to end this menact and make the streets of wayrest safe again at night.

This radial dungeon uses the resources for Wayrest sewers ( 1 and 2) but also has a topside portion which is an exact copy of Wayrest but at night with all the doors locked and windows shuttered. Enemies roam the streets freely during the night coming up from the sewers through various entrances. Minibosses and minions are also holed up at various structures.

This dungeon starts in the sewers but brings you topside when you find a way up. Youll need to find either materials or magic to seal the various entrances which are randomly generated each time the dungeon is run.

your job is to find all these entrances and seal them, clear the streets, and save any hapless folk who were trapped outside. You have until dawn to complete this task (1 hour gametime).

win conditions: find and seal all 6 entrances to wayrest from the sewers below before dawn strikes.

static optional objectives:

1) find and defeat the Pellingaries whom you have to face both at the same time this yeilds the new monster helm.
2) save at least 6 townsfolk and get them to the safehouse

random optional objectives ( you wil be offered 5):

1) Save little Billy who is lost in the sewers.
2) collect 20 necromancer scepters for the fighters guild.
3) find and defeat all 4 Mercenary Assassins.
4) clear the mages guild that has been overrun.
5) clear the fighters guild that has been overrun.
6) clear the church.
7) clear the palace.
8) clear the harbor.

Like other dungeons like this it features a soul forge deep in the sewers, and the same equipment from other wayrest dungeons with the ability to upgrade to new functionality.