official The Elder Scrolls Online

[RatherLargeBear]

^ think I'd rather stick rusty nails in my eyes :p :laugh:

 

So where's all the details people, spill!

 

This sums up my thoughts on the beta. Taken from CTRL+ALT+DEL (before the NDA was lifted)

The Elder Scrolls Online is currently in closed beta... they're stress testing, but there is still an NDA in place, so I can't really talk about whether I'm in it, or what I think of it.

 

Instead, let me tell you about these chocolate chip cookies I tried. I've had chocolate chip cookies before, and I liked them well enough... but I didn't think this particular recipe was any good.

They certainly looked like chocolate chip cookies, but they didn't really taste a whole lot like chocolate chip cookies. Something about them was just... off.

 

I don't know, maybe if I absolutely, head-over-heel loved chocolate chip cookies, I would have liked this recipe better. Maybe I'm just not a big enough fan of chocolate chip cookies to begin for me to overlook the weird taste of this recipe. Overall I guess it just felt like this recipe was trading entirely on the established chocolate chip cookie name, rather than trying to be delicious all on its own. And so ultimately these cookies bring nothing new to the table, and everything they do, other cookies already do better.

 

Now, to be fair, this particular recipe is pretty new... perhaps not even quite finished yet. So I did take that into account when tasting the cookies. However, ultimately, when you put certain ingredients together in a certain way, it's pretty clear the kind of cookie you're going to get, and nothing short of major alterations will change the resulting taste. There comes a point when the baker has clearly committed to a certain concoction, and a pinch of salt here or a couple of extra minutes in the oven won't help.

 

Of course, recipes can evolve and change over enough time, and perhaps eventually the baker will tweak and adjust the ingredients to create something special. And I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that will just gobble these cookies up regardless. I personally just think they're bland, and not worth the asking price.

 

[Shadrack]

^ think I'd rather stick rusty nails in my eyes :p :laugh:

 

So where's all the details people, spill!

 

In the video trag3dy posted, the guy described much of the questing as a running through landscape simulator, which I thought was spot on.

 

I only played last weekend for a few hours on 2 different characters.  The beginning sequence/intro tutorial wasn't bad (the first time through) and the first boss fight was promising (although nothing to it since you are healed through it).  The graphics were really nice as were much of the menu screens (but more visual cues are needed throughout the UI).  Overall it is difficult to judge the game based on the limited amount of time that I played it.  Once through the tutorial sequence, the game did seem like a "running simulator".  All the quests consisted of getting from point A to point B and talking to some person.  If there were any mobs planned in the path, they were all killed by the horde of players running everywhere.

 

The game has some potential; out of all MMOs that have chosen "realistic" looking player avatars I felt like this one has pulled it off the best.  That being said, some of the faces resembled JRPG style art and stuck out in the Elder Scroll landscape.

 

I don't think I will be an early adopter.  Probably check in 6 months to see if it is worth picking up then.

[Luc2k]

I'm not much of a MMO player so I'll look at it from a slightly casual POV:

 

- It doesn't look too bad as far a MMOs go, but the animations need some work as they feel choppy. Textures are another problem because not all of them are detailed enough. You can see this even on the high tier armours while creating your character. The most horrible example are the Nord armours with the fur textures.

 

- There's a lot of running, but it's nice that there's not a lot of (if any) "kill X amount of creatures and bring me their foreskin". And like angryjoe says, the Dominion have a more lively starting area visually and loot wise than the Pact at least (10-20 chests around a short stretch of shore).

 

- A big problem with the quests is that horses are fairly expensive when starting out (17K gold for the basic one, 47K for something more advanced). I did some heavy duty chest farming (150+) in the starting area for crafting and buying equipment/bank slots and I've gathered about 4.5K (before expenses). Slots aren't too cheap either and you'll need them if you're serious about crafting (400>2000>5900 etc. every 10 slots).

 

- Traits for each item type will take A LOT of time if you don't invest any skill points. The first trait takes 6h to research and the time doubles with every new one. My math may be off, but if you don't invest any skill points for more research slots it would take 2 months to research everything for just one item (8 traits in total).

 

- I like item crafting overall though since you can take your lowly normal item up to legendary as long as you have the necessary ingredients. Glyph (rune) and potion crafting needs a bit of work, a recipe list because otherwise you'll need to consult an external database since it's time consuming to try combinations, especially with potions.

 

- You can craft 14 armour/weapon styles, but you only start with your race style. Drops for other styles are random I believe. I don't think you can change something once it's made, not yet anyway.

 

- With some quests you have to make a choice. Not sure if there are any deeper consequences apart from the obvious.

 

- My biggest problem (apart from pricing) would be the limited bow range (~30m) and the typical MMO hit detection. I understand limiting range for special attacks or against other players, but it's just painful playing a archer and having such a puny range. Hit detection just sucks because it's hard to impossible to prioritise ranged targets if there's another enemy vaguely in the way.

 

Hope my points aren't too hard to read. Anywho, I wouldn't buy with the current pricing model, but I would consider if it adopted something similar to GW in the long run. The Imperial/Explorer in-game bonuses are just low.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Sounds like too much grinding for my taste, not a fan of fetch quests either :/

[trag3dy]

According to the ESO newsfeed, the NDA was lifted yesterday.  So now we can finally start talking about our opinion of the game.

 

Well that's when that video I posted above was uploaded so I guess that makes sense. I didn't actually think about that.  :laugh:

 

Anyhow the rvr in ESO looks to be similar to GW2 but much improved. It looks like fun. 

I'm not much of a MMO player so I'll look at it from a slightly casual POV:

 

- It doesn't look too bad as far a MMOs go, but the animations need some work as they feel choppy. Textures are another problem because not all of them are detailed enough. You can see this even on the high tier armours while creating your character. The most horrible example are the Nord armours with the fur textures.

 

- There's a lot of running, but it's nice that there's not a lot of (if any) "kill X amount of creatures and bring me their foreskin". And like angryjoe says, the Dominion have a more lively starting area visually and loot wise than the Pact at least (10-20 chests around a short stretch of shore).

 

- A big problem with the quests is that horses are fairly expensive when starting out (17K gold for the basic one, 47K for something more advanced). I did some heavy duty chest farming (150+) in the starting area for crafting and buying equipment/bank slots and I've gathered about 4.5K (before expenses). Slots aren't too cheap either and you'll need them if you're serious about crafting (400>2000>5900 etc. every 10 slots).

 

- Traits for each item type will take A LOT of time if you don't invest any skill points. The first trait takes 6h to research and the time doubles with every new one. My math may be off, but if you don't invest any skill points for more research slots it would take 2 months to research everything for just one item (8 traits in total).

 

- I like item crafting overall though since you can take your lowly normal item up to legendary as long as you have the necessary ingredients. Glyph (rune) and potion crafting needs a bit of work, a recipe list because otherwise you'll need to consult an external database since it's time consuming to try combinations, especially with potions.

 

- You can craft 14 armour/weapon styles, but you only start with your race style. Drops for other styles are random I believe. I don't think you can change something once it's made, not yet anyway.

 

- With some quests you have to make a choice. Not sure if there are any deeper consequences apart from the obvious.

 

- My biggest problem (apart from pricing) would be the limited bow range (~30m) and the typical MMO hit detection. I understand limiting range for special attacks or against other players, but it's just painful playing a archer and having such a puny range. Hit detection just sucks because it's hard to impossible to prioritise ranged targets if there's another enemy vaguely in the way.

 

Hope my points aren't too hard to read. Anywho, I wouldn't buy with the current pricing model, but I would consider if it adopted something similar to GW in the long run. The Imperial/Explorer in-game bonuses are just low.

 

I don't think the cost of mounts will be that much of a problem. During one of the betas I made it to around level 10 and didn't go out of my way to get gold and I had 2-3k. If I put in the effort I'm sure getting the 17k and then 47k won't be that much of a problem.

[HawkMan]

I'll probably be getting this for me and my GF.

 

I did enjoy the last beta weekend even if I don't like the pretend to be an FPS RPG view but I can live with that. I didn't feel like the quests where very fetchy either, either did I feel like any quests where of the WoW style go kill 50 of these, now go kill more of them untill you have 40 of these drops from them that only drops form every third if you're lucky, and then, now go kill another 100... 

 

and it seemed to have a much more reasonable amount of wildlife, it didn't really feel grindy at all. and while the quests did require a lot of walking, there was quests all over, and I've been missing games that actually makes the world seem big, that don't let you teleport to every quest, where the world actually is big and you have to go there. This might be what Vanguard used to be and wanted to be. 

[trag3dy]

Have they said anywhere when we'll be able to download the official release client? The 5 day head start is this friday if I'm not mistaken. I want to get that out of the way.

[Luc2k]

Have they said anywhere when we'll be able to download the official release client? The 5 day head start is this friday if I'm not mistaken. I want to get that out of the way.

Release is on the 4th of April.

[trag3dy]

Release is on the 4th of April.

 

Yeah but if you pre order you get a 5 day head start. Which would make it the 28th...this next friday.

[Luc2k]

Yeah but if you pre order you get a 5 day head start. Which would make it the 28th...this next friday.

Unless you're from the future, it's still February.

[Neu B]

Yeah but if you pre order you get a 5 day head start. Which would make it the 28th...this next friday.

Oh WOW! Are you Marty Mcfly? :rofl:

[trag3dy]

That's my bad. I'm going on only a few hours of sleep in the last 2 days so I might not be thinking things through all the way. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

 

I realize now that I have no idea what I was thinking or why I was thinking it.

[HawkMan]

Basically, March sucks so lets skip it, that's what you thought :p

[trag3dy]

Basically, March sucks so lets skip it, that's what you thought :p

 

That works for me.

[Osiris]

Back beat word on the street is they've added collision detection to combat.  confirmed for pve and initial impressions give it a thumbs up. 

[trag3dy]

Back beat word on the street is they've added collision detection to combat.  confirmed for pve and initial impressions give it a thumbs up. 

 

That's slightly worrying. Anyone who played Warhammer online knows how many issues that caused in that game. Being in fort sieges and getting 1-2 fps was great fun.

 

I get why it's needed though. Just look at GW2 and unintended mechanics (stacking in one spot to defeat aoe) for a great example of why. I just hope the pros outweigh the cons.

[Escape]

That's slightly worrying. Anyone who played Warhammer online knows how many issues that caused in that game. Being in fort sieges and getting 1-2 fps was great fun.

 

I get why it's needed though. Just look at GW2 and unintended mechanics (stacking in one spot to defeat aoe) for a great example of why. I just hope the pros outweigh the cons.

 

The collision is for PVE NPC's only.

[Xilo]

1st one to PM gets a beta code

[Lord Method Man]

If I was in on the last beta will I have access to this upcoming one as well or do I need a new invite?

[Magoo]

So I got a spare beta code for this weekends beta test for the Elder Scrolls Online. if you would like it then please post below and Ill pick at random who will get it

 

I will give the code away some time around 6 pm EST tomorrow 2-26-14

 

Thanks have a good day

[DarkTorizo]

That is really kind of you. :)

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

I have a beta code to give away too if anyone is interested.

 

 

If I was in on the last beta will I have access to this upcoming one as well or do I need a new invite?

 

They've emailed past participants and invited them back today. You should get it soon (Y)

[CosmicPoop]

I seriously cannot wait for this.

[McKay]

I got another beta invite too, the email mentions the NDA is no longer in effect now and encourages us to take screenshots and videos, and share them about. 

[Raa]

I've got two keys to give away as well.

Since all previous ESO testers are getting keys to send to people, i'm just going to post them here. First come, first served.

 

Got a beta key? Share it in this thread too! :)

 

 

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