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[Column] Elder Scrolls Online: Avoiding the Wall
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
One of the things that gets to many players is the proverbial wall that's hit once level cap is reached and there is little else to do. In today's Elder Scrolls Online column, we take a look at that phenomenon and what ESO devs are doing to avoid it. Read on and then join the conversation in the comments.
It’s been awhile since I got to sit down and play Elder Scrolls Online back in October, but one thing stood out to me while there. It wasn’t even part of the gameplay demo. It was the presentation that came after. Matt Firor and his team showed us some plans for their Alliance vs. Alliance system (think RVR or WVW). They also told us that they plan on continually opening more and more regions of Tamriel as the game ages, at an alarming planned rate of one a month. Matt’s taken to calling these “Adventure Zones”, and they will serve as new and fresh content for the level-capped players (or so I gathered).
Read more of Bill Murphy's The Elder Scrolls Online: Avoiding the Wall.
Comments
In this game, what can a player do other than kill things?
Social? Economic? Political? How deep will these types of meta-systems be?
Will the world be meaningful? Will the virtual society be functional?
These are the shortfalls that make most themeparks seem shallow and limited. How will TESO be different?
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
My gaming blog
Whats a player to do when they hit the Level cap "Wall"?
Thats easy, grind your Artifacts....I mean Scrolls for Realm...uh sorry... Faction Points.
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
MMo fans do not want to play this game because it looks like another WOW clone and Elder Scrolls fans do not want to play this game because it is nothing like the single player games.
So they managed to piss off two player bases....yea, this game is going nowhere.
read the article and find out?
GW2 had a lot of good ideas but implementation problems, so if TESO can improve on that then they will have a good MMO.
However, we will have to see if that alone will be enough to break through the blind hatred thats already cementing.
I read the article but....if I have to explain.....never mind.
As the newer video shows...There is no emperor, the three kindoms fight for control and players have a chance to have themselves crowned as the new emperor...worst thing an MMO can do is create player hierarchy's.
This takes the PvP ranking system to a whole new elitist level. This now smacks of a game focused on elitists.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
Heh.
Good point.
This game is already saddled with so many poor design decisions (invisible border guards FTL) that it is going to have to go out of its way to do everything perfectly, to have any chance of being good (and especially considering how much is being intentionally left out).
Personally, I think TESO will be nothing more than the "themepark of the week" with ES on the box in order to sell copies.
I'd be happy to be wrong, but I doubt I will be.
I think one of the aspects that should be included to address the issue that you raised is a system like the "Foundry" that is going to be implemented in NWN. By giving the users tools to create their own content, it relieves some of the burden from the developers. I do believe that this will be a terrific addition to the MMO world and how games are designed and created.
Just my two cents, your mileage may vary...
They are more hybrid, the single player equivelent of something like AC in mmo terms.
Minecraft is a single player sandbox, elite is a single player sandbox.
Skyrim isn't, it has story arcs, it has vertical progression, you can't build stuff with the vanilla game.
Exception being if you have hearthfire, that sort of pushes into sandbox territory.
I think it's going to be a tough sell for zenimax to move forward with the general gaming community trying to convince them this is NOT just another themepark.
What they should do is reel-back release date projections, ask their investors to give them another year of development, and focus on bridging thegap between the original elder scrolls RPG and making the multiplayer version more like it.
Players want to steal your furniture from your home, travel anywhere anytime with out borders and they want crafting to be the primary way to obtain gear. If you leave your horse out, they want to take it for a joy ride.
Until you can add some of those features I would roll-back release date and get to cracking on it. It's not impossible to make a hybrid sandbox still, and that's the only other option they have at this point, if they want to NOT just be another themie with the same grind.
But again...This is my opinion and at the end of the day it's just that.
"Not even a cray super computer can make this game run well. Thats what happens when you code an MMO in pascal. " - miglor
TES have never been sandboxes. Morrowind touched on many, many, aspects...but its was still very much a themepark. Skyrim doesn't even touch a few. Its open, and KIND OF freeform in how you approach its rails. But its still an on rails experience, it just happens to have more rails. Morrowind, at least, you could outright KILL main story important NPCs if you wanted. The game would shoot you a "well, guess you can't do the story now" message but it LET you make that choice.
The only real LASTING, world changing, choice you get to make in Skyrim is between Stormcloaks or Empire. Conratulations, that makes the most recent TES game as much of a sandbox and Knights of the Old Republic.
The fact you people keep saying that TES is a giant sanbox is half the trouble with why you seem to hate TESO. Its doing nothing different from its core games. Its an open world, with tons of lore and side quests that are in random little holes all over the place and tons to see and do. No, you can't take over a city and claim it as your own. You can't do that in any other TES game BUT Morrowind, and even then its not YOUR city...there just isn't anyone alive left to contest the fact. At least TESO is going to let you sort of do that in its PvP zone.
The bottom line is, if any of you played Skyrim and loved it then you basically have admitted that the game, as its being presented to us, is exactly something you'll like it. They are trying to keep the combat similar, and you're certain to have plenty of crap to harvest. The only thing you won't be able to do in TESO that you can in recent TES games is gather 1000 bones and pillows for no reason.
Again, though, that is based on what I've seen and read. What we GET is another story. I cannot comment on that. I know what they are SAYING they want to do with it. People that have played demo versions of it have said it has the TES flow. I don't know what else to say except that, once again, TES have always been themepark RPGs. You guys are just dense as hell and don't even realize it.
No its not
3 Faction locked areas (ie-"zones") and Cyrodiil for PvP
Sounds more like core DAOC than anything ES
Tried: EQ2 - AC - EU - HZ - TR - MxO - TTO - WURM - SL - VG:SoH - PotBS - PS - AoC - WAR - DDO - SWTOR
Played: UO - EQ1 - AO - DAoC - NC - CoH/CoV - SWG - WoW - EVE - AA - LotRO - DFO - STO - FE - MO - RIFT
Playing: Skyrim
Following: The Repopulation
I want a Virtual World, not just a Game.
ITS TOO HARD! - Matt Firor (ZeniMax)
^ Pretty much this.
I've followed the vids and interviews (mind you, 90% of them are all about the lore and not the gameplay) and so far I'm disappointed. Being both an MMORPG player and one who enjoys TES games, I can't believe the direction that TESO is heading. It's certainly not the online TES game I hoped for, at least not at the moment based on what I've researched thus far. Even the visuals are a step-down from Skyrim.
The fact that this game is already in beta has me concerned and alarmed. It's usually at this development phase where changes are mere fixes and tweaks, but no longer game-changing overhauls. The game truly needs serious help to the core, but of course, what do we get? Social networking integration!
Being called a "WoW clone" isnt an insult anymore to MMOs, its just part of the initiation process now.
It isnt a "new" idea...its just like DaoC...even WoW had two factions. Its the same game, just different zones as a "warrior" plays exactly the same no matter which faction you choose.
Or did you believe that a Human Paladin was a "new game" when playing a Blood Elf Paladin just because its FOR THE HORDE!
Nope. Youll get one game, chopped into 3 smaller games because you are only allowed to play in 1/3rd of it.
Imagine how much smaller WoW would have been if you couldnt get into the opposing factions zones. Not only would the game have been half the size, you could never invade their cities or attack their towns. Its like SWTOR is now...small because you cant get into half of it.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson