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[Column] The Elder Scrolls Online: Progression as Longevity
BillMurphy
Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565
In this week's Elder Scrolls Online column, we take a look at Zenimax' progression model for ESO which should serve to keep players working on their characters long after the max level. Read on for more of Bill Murphy's thoughts on the matter, and see if you agree.
If there's one thing I think will keep me playing Elder Scrolls Online long past the level cap, it's not the three-faction PVP, the story, or the dungeons. It's the idea that my character can continue to get more powerful beyond the level cap without some arbitrary gear grind. Now, we know that ESO is planning dungeons and gear to be a part of the endgame. But, that's never been a draw for me when it comes to being at the max in level-based games. I know that it works for some folks, but aside from the adventure itself, combing through a massive world, what really keeps me playing is the notion of character development.
Read the rest of Bill's Elder Scrolls Online: Progression as Longevity.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
Comments
I'm a unique and beautiful snowflake.
( Note to self-Don't say anything bad about Drizzt.)
An acerbic sense of humor is NOT allowed here.
Joined - July 2004
If it is a traditional themepark MMO, and it totally will be, then there is only one way to have progression. The traditional gear grind+level increase+outdated zones. Everything is funneled into that idea.
Unlocking weapon abilities as progression....hmmm, where have I seen that one before. Ah, yes. Guild Wars 2. Yeah, that one worked out well.
They screwed up, they know it. There is nothing they can do about it. This game started development probably 5 years ago when copying WOW was a good idea. All of a sudden there is a massive change over the past two years where these games are trashed and fail. They release their info about the game, and the game is universallly trashed unlike any other MMO before release.
You know as well as I do that they are up there in there little Bethesda office looking nervously at each other.
So I build a mage with mage specs, casting skills etc and I can...then skill up medium armor and become a mage-like something else?
I am still a mage with intell. Not dex or strength.
Not saying this is a bad thing but it sounds...like..less than THE answer.
Sure, I have a 2 hander and go around slashing things. I decide to go sword and board. I don't see that as a huge change but I suppose there is something to it. Maybe. But I doubt (as it has been presented) it's enough to change how people feel about hitting 'the end'.
Time will tell. I have hopes for so many games. Most are dashed to the floor. *shrug*
I agree.
Another expensive "one-month wonder".
Pass.
And I also think that the so called "gaming press" is trying awfully hard to get people (us) to keep buying these games, over and over.
Just for how long did you play FFXI? Long enough to skill up all your weapons and skills? And so you're still playing, right? Because I would be, almost ten years later, trying to raise my Guarding or Shield on crabs in Boyahda Tree.
I played for about a year. I levelled Brd/Nin to 60/30, played for a bit after that, then quit.
Joined - July 2004
For me, while Themeparks are fun and all, they are just vidego games. I prefer skill-based progression in a huge open "world" for my character to live and adventure in. The problem with themeparks is found at the very foundation of their fundementals. I just mentioned GW2 because it is current and because it takes literally 10 minutes to unlock all the skills a weapon has to offer.
Joined - July 2004
I don't get why they do not just hand the choice to the player. Why do they keep limiting us into a class? I get that is insanely hard to develop some system that stays clear for the devs so they might have a hope to balance everything (if there is PvP involved and to some extent PvE). But I'm quite sure that it is possible to some extent.
EVE managed to do this to some extent, granted it is not the easiest or most fun progression system but you are NEVER locked into something by the game. You want to use close range high dps ships, no problem. Want to be the support/healer just train these ships & modules up. Granted it takes a while but I don't see how a similar system cannot be devised with the added benefit in that actual time invested boosts the speed of progression. In a perfect game you would be able to train everything and all the balancing is done in how much of that stuff you can use at a time. IE. if you go heavy armor, sword & board you are not able to do that much dmg or perform magic or whatever. So the equipment you choose to use determines what type of abilities can use and how effective they are. Not the stats you gained by leveling.
In short, I have my doubts about almost every themepark MMO that released after WoW. They're trying too hard to capture that success. I feel people have seen the themepark and they want something more. They stick to WoW or some of the minor success stories out there due to the social element. But new games will have a very tough time capturing a playerbase that will get them in the black.
But I don't even feel that character progression is the thing that ensures longevity for games like these. Players want to have a lasting impact on the world they inhabit. The themepark was fun, but ppl want to build, explore, conquer, attack, defend stuff they themselves or their guild owns. The "build it and they will come" era is over, "they will come, if they can build it" is a lot more long lasting. Let people devise a lot of the games narrative themselves -> Minecraft, DayZ and some amazing stories come out of there.
the missing link in a chain of destruction.
All spelling and typographical errors are based soely on the fact that i just dont care. If you must point out my lack of atention to detail, please do it with a smile.
am i the only one whose "personal hype meter" actually rose from watching this?
it seems too "theme park-like" for me personally but it will reward exploration and although there are classes you can apparently customize them. so that's a plus for me.
plus by god, it LOOKS so wonderfully "elder scrollsish".
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
In an age where (Arguably) big names like Machinima calls things like Far Cry 3 (and I quote) "Skyrim with guns", I'm just ashemed to live on this planet. Wish we could go back to the N64 era and have proper games once more.
Please listen game devoloppers, Slapping a big name on a game does NOT make it a good game. Please invent something new or atleast make a proper game for once.
As a MMO beta tester and huge fan of TES series I'm inclined to play this game, but I have very very shitty hopes.
STOOPID
When someone does something so utterly moronic that it kills your brain cells at the very thought of it.
Bill you are trying way too hard with this game..............give us video footage and we will make our mind
Too much talk and not enough evidence.
There is no point in over hyping this game, we all know that this game will sell 2+ Million copies already.
The point is, is it going to retain those players after the first month?
No amount of hype can keep players playing if their first month was disappointing.
ESO has to be more Skyrim and less WOW to succeed, that's as simple as that.
At the moment it looks like a mix between SWTOR and GW2 from the information released so far (even if some of them are twisted to make some features look better then they are)
There is already a huge design flaw in my view, the real game should be between level 1 and lvl 49 (the Journey as in every TES game)................it should not start at 50 like every other MMO
Zenimax are losing their chance to revolutionize the MMO industry, the same way Bethesda did with TES for the RPGs with their unconventional approach that makes TES so different from any other RPG on the market.
Settling down for another WOW with a twist, just won't cut it.
I'm still waiting for them to announce at least one unique or inovative system they are going to use for this game. One thing that hasn't been done before?
And how can the dev's fail to realize that what Elder Scrolls fans actually want isn't an mmorpg... What we want is just the world and mythos of Tamriel to run around in, and the freedom to do whatever the hell we want when we get there... together with a thousand or so players at the same time.
Do we really care if it's perfectly balanced? No. Why? Because in the game we want, we can learn any skills, or spells in the game eventually. Balance achived through equal choice, and options for progression. If there are enough abilitys to learn / choose from, the charcters will still be built diversely by the playerbase.
We are witnesses to the end of an age. RIP Elder Scrolls.
Some unique features. Sure. But I honestly think this is going to be another example of a game that fails due to lack of player-driven content.
You can have the best gameplay in the world. But when there isn't anything to do in the end other than PvP the same instanced zones over and over or Raid the same 5 instances over and over... it's going to flop.
I'm sorry Bill, but you're just flat out wrong. GW2 has already proven that the whole "lateral" progression model only works for a fairly small subset of the MMO playerbase. The one problem you came up with is a pretty major problem. Most rogue type players for example wouldnt be caught dead wielding a mace in one hand and a sword in the other. So to suggest that its a meaninful method of progression for them is reaching, badly. Also, to be fair, no one style or mix of weapons can be overly strong vs another and this means that basically you have no real reason to get these other skills other than A. You want to, or B. You don't like the playstyle of your current weapons.
Honestly we just need to move back to the days of EQ, where leveling times were long enough that the idea of "rushing to endgame" was never even thought of. It meant all the content you developed along the way actually god used and played because there was an actual reason to. That sword you got in the level 20 dungeon was worth it because you're not gonna just replace it in 2 hours when you've outleveled it. Just as an example.
That will work for the true mmorpg players, the reality is we're in an industry thats trying to morph MMORPG's into something that non MMO players (which, IMO is about 75% of the current playerbase) will accept. These people are not MMO players, they are console gamers, or single player gamers, or what i believe we've started calling content locusts. They literally only care about chewing through content, replaybility, social aspects to games, world, art, etc, are meaningless, they want story lines and content, cool looking stuff to kill, etc.
MMORPG's simply can't cater to this player/playstyle and be succesful, its non sustainable.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche