• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The Elder Scrolls Online |OT| of THE MOST HYPED GAME EVER

Is anyone here experienced in PVP? I'm curious about how long it takes to rais your rank, and unlock the assault/support skill lines fully (which I think is rank 10 to finish the passives, and 6 to finish the actives).

I just hope it's not as slow as Undaunted, which I'm only rank 2 in at almost level 30, having done all 6 dungeons below my level and one of the ones at 30.
 

TheYanger

Member
Something similar happened in Guild Wars 2 and ArenaNet banned all accounts that abused the system. They had 1 central economy, which they controlled very tightly so I can understand why they reacted like they did.

Seemingly the ESO duping bug has been in the game since long into the beta sessions and there's been no action to fix it. This for me will show how much ZENIMAX actually 'care' about the game beyond how much money they can make ASAP before 'cashing out'. I have nothing to back up those thoughts, just the way I feel like this game might go with how poor the actual support network is for the userbase so far.

I may not like ESO, but just to set the record straight, this was NOTHING like the GW2 issue, which was: a vendor sold stuff cheaply and people bought it. They banned anyone that bought more than FOUR of the item from the vendor and made you write an apology email to get reinstated. Anet is complete trash as a company. On the other hand, everyone that abused this blatant bug deserved their ESO bans.
 

Fuz

Banned
I've had this problem a couple of times since the last patch, as well as a weird issue where I'm clearly taking damage but my health bar isn't actually reflecting it. Several times I've gone from displaying full health to barely any in one jump seemingly at random, and sometimes it won't even show any missing health until after death. It makes it hard to gauge when to use pots or escape. I know I'm taking hits, but I can't see how much damage I'm actually taking.

Got that other problem, also. They usually go together for me.
The problem is, I don't have them a couple of times here and there, I have them all the time.

I may not like ESO, but just to set the record straight, this was NOTHING like the GW2 issue, which was: a vendor sold stuff cheaply and people bought it. They banned anyone that bought more than FOUR of the item from the vendor and made you write an apology email to get reinstated. Anet is complete trash as a company. On the other hand, everyone that abused this blatant bug deserved their ESO bans.

People always forget the other, bigger and more gamebreaking, bug.
Very early after the game launch, was possible to forge precursors at a great increased rate by dumping 4 low level (I think they were around lvl 40) crafted weapons in the MF.
The bug was fixed, but they didn't ban anyone for that and they didn't rollback anything. Which resulted in a completed fucked up economy controlled just by a few people who were able to abuse the bug.
 

HowZatOZ

Banned
I will add to the server discussion that this is a norm for MMOs, and emergency maintenance is just a "thing" when it comes to managing so many people logging in and just playing the game. Of course this can't be used as an excuse forever, and having passed the third week we should now start to expect better performance, though of course things will and can break.

So far things have been pretty reasonable in terms of normal maintenance, and I expect the current two days a week standard to disappear when things go more stable. I live in Australia and the current times are a nice change from 7pm maintenance with your typical titles, so I have no complaints there.

As I've said before on the game front, this is a rather addictive game and it's something I haven't felt since vanilla WoW. I actually want to login and play instead of feeling forced. They've done a great job and I'm super excited to see how they play out future content with the rich Elder Scrolls lore.
 

Hellers

Member
The common horse (and the imperial horse, and the store horse) is only a 15% speed buff, making me frequently forget that I have it. The good one is still only 25%, but it also has a 10 point higher cap on the speed, maxing at 74% instead of 64% if you only ever feed it apples.

I'm not sure I think the 10% more speed is worth the 30k price difference, sometimes...

I have an imperial horse but I find myself on foot for most trips. I find it easier to spot harvesting nodes than on a horse :)
 

JORMBO

Darkness no more
I am only 5-6 hours in, but so far the game feels like Skyrim without any of the freedom. The quests are much better then other MMOs, but the world is very boring. I am not sure why this is an MMO as I haven't really seen anyone talking yet, aside from spammers. While there may be more interaction at the level cap right now questing seems completely solo. Other players constantly beating on mobs I am fighting is just annoying.

While I am sure I will get my money worth during the free month, it doesn't feel like a game that should have a subscription fee.
 

Dunlop

Member
. I am not sure why this is an MMO as I haven't really seen anyone talking yet, aside from spammers. While there may be more interaction at the level cap right now questing seems completely solo.

Just hit 21 and it is kinda wearing on me, as I posted previously they pretty much punish you for attempting to rerun a dungeon so it is pointless.

So currently, long stretch of solo quests (granted good solo sotrylines) to get the to advance every 5 levels. Then you also qualify for a dungeon which is so far is run in about 30 minutes and then is pointless to ever run again.

and then you repeat the process

Public dungeons are just camped with bots so you will waste usually 15 mnutes or so just trying to get a hit on the "boss" to get credit for completing the dungeon

I'm used to the solo grind in MMO's but usually there is something else to break the monotony. Personally I enjoy healing in PVE which unfortunately is pretty pointless in this game so far
 

docbon

Member
Can I get an invite to the NA guild.

@Toppah

I'd like an invite to the NA guild too.

@Paznos

Sent you two invites.

Have you tried PvP yet?

Yeah, Cyrodiil has a bunch of daily quests for scouting enemy resources / capturing resource camps and keeps / stealing elder scrolls. There are also some areas like Bruma, where you can quickly complete some PvE stuff while under the constant threat of ganks. Understandable if this isn't your kind of thing, however. And yes, the only reason to rerun the low level dungeons is for a chance at the blue loot drops and the treasure chests scattered about. I wish it was more rewarding in terms of XP as well.
 
I'm used to the solo grind in MMO's but usually there is something else to break the monotony. Personally I enjoy healing in PVE which unfortunately is pretty pointless in this game so far
Huh? How's healing pointless?

I am only 5-6 hours in, but so far the game feels like Skyrim without any of the freedom. The quests are much better then other MMOs, but the world is very boring. I am not sure why this is an MMO as I haven't really seen anyone talking yet, aside from spammers. While there may be more interaction at the level cap right now questing seems completely solo. Other players constantly beating on mobs I am fighting is just annoying.

While I am sure I will get my money worth during the free month, it doesn't feel like a game that should have a subscription fee.
You're only 5 hours in. The game didn't sink in with me until about 10-15 hours in after the end of the first zone. Stick with it a bit longer and see how you feel.

Also, you have to have help to defeat most of the exploration elites/bosses. This is where most of my interaction has occured. Gathering together with 2-3 other people to take down a boss, and then cheering afterward, feels good.

It's the same for dark anchors.

Also there is a ton of interaction in PVP, a ton. Even when you're in a full raid group. Unlike most other MMOs where you random queue for a battleground or arena and there's either silence or qqing.

EDIT: It irks me a little bit that no one but me seems to bring up the special public dungeons that seem to occur once per zone. In Ebonheart pact these are found near the start of each zone. These public dungeons have many elites rather than just one, and layouts as good as the 4 man dungeons. Mob population is pretty much doubled compare to the other public dungeons. There are no campers because there are so many elites.

They also have great story quests. They force you to form a ragtag, unofficial group with other players. You cannot solo most of the mob waves or elites, including the storyline elites unless you are crazy overleveled. At the end of each you are rewarded a skill point.

I know there's only like 4-5 of them total per faction, but they are very well done I think. I really wish they had more public dungeons like that.
 

Hawk269

Member
Huh? How's healing pointless?

You're only 5 hours in. The game didn't sink in with me until about 10-15 hours in after the end of the first zone. Stick with it a bit longer and see how you feel.

Also, you have to have help to defeat most of the exploration elites/bosses. This is where most of my interaction has occured. Gathering together with 2-3 other people to take down a boss, and then cheering afterward, feels good.

It's the same for dark anchors.

Also there is a ton of interaction in PVP, a ton. Even when you're in a full raid group. Unlike most other MMOs where you random queue for a battleground or arena and there's either silence or qqing.

EDIT: It irks me a little bit that no one but me seems to bring up the special public dungeons that seem to occur once per zone. In Ebonheart pact these are found near the start of each zone. These public dungeons have many elites rather than just one, and layouts as good as the 4 man dungeons. Mob population is pretty much doubled compare to the other public dungeons. There are no campers because there are so many elites.

They also have great story quests. They force you to form a ragtag, unofficial group with other players. You cannot solo most of the mob waves or elites, including the storyline elites unless you are crazy overleveled. At the end of each you are rewarded a skill point.

I know there's only like 4-5 of them total per faction, but they are very well done I think. I really wish they had more public dungeons like that.

How do they get triggered though or find them? I played other MMO's, but not for long, so some stuff I am still learning.
 

HolyCheck

I want a tag give me a tag
FPlWNMs.jpg

Took this screenshot. so pretty.
starting to really enjoy the game, especially since i joined the gaf guild (nice to just have a ncie slower, free flowingchat.
 

Dunlop

Member
Huh? How's healing pointless?

It is needed for a dungeon run that takes about 30 minutes and then you need to spend hours doing world quests to qualify for the next dungeon. As metioned I am only 21 atm so maybe it improves at higher levels. My main point is my questioning why they would completely remove the option for people who want to "dungeon grind" or at least make the dungeons a daily quest

I will try PVP out, funny enough I tried it this morning and the transporter was bugged and would not bring me to the "western gate" so I could do the tutorial lol
 

docbon

Member
How do they get triggered though or find them? I played other MMO's, but not for long, so some stuff I am still learning.

You just find them like the rest of the dungeons. You'll know you hit one of the special ones when you see mob packs consisting of 4-5 enemies. The group challenges for these dungeons are also listed in your achievement list as well.
 

Lynq

Banned
PvP is OK if you have a guild. I must say I'd love to see smaller scale PvP. And no, don't tell me "Well you can just go with 4 people and capture a farm or..." like devs say, please. Yea, I'll go with small group and I'll get crushed by 20 people passing by... I'd like to have 5v5 or 10v10 on smaller maps. Maybe in the future... It'd be good for PvP players who don't have time to engage in large scale, long battles.

Also - why the hell there are no assists for healing in PvP? Zenimax, pls.
 

Teletraan1

Banned
It is needed for a dungeon run that takes about 30 minutes and then you need to spend hours doing world quests to qualify for the next dungeon. As metioned I am only 21 atm so maybe it improves at higher levels. My main point is my questioning why they would completely remove the option for people who want to "dungeon grind" or at least make the dungeons a daily quest

I will try PVP out, funny enough I tried it this morning and the transporter was bugged and would not bring me to the "western gate" so I could do the tutorial lol

It was a design decision. The charm of the game seems to be in the exploration. Having people just dungeon grind to cap seems to go against that. Also the way leveling exists in this game and how skill points are handed out you would be severely limiting yourself if you only did dungeon grinding. You would probably lack the necessary skill points to do anything meaningful with your build. I know options and all but thats how it is. The game seems balanced around you doing everything on the map and the @ level dungeons 1x to keep pace with the quest levels.

On a separate note, while the repeated dungeons can be tiring they are nothing new for an Elder Scrolls game. This has been one of the major complaints of the series. Hopefully new content is a little more creative. I did like the Ebonheart post starter area. The active volcanos creaking and cracking really sounded amazing on my home theater setup and just that fact alone has made it one of my favorite areas in a MMO period.
 

Dunlop

Member
The game seems balanced around you doing everything on the map and the @ level dungeons 1x to keep pace with the quest levels.
This makes the game way too linear as you cannot even leave your faction

I've followed the quest lines, I must have missed a few and needed to abandoned a few as they were bugged out but am currently doing quests that are +3 my level

Thankfully I have not problems with these mobs but there doesn't seem to be anyway for me to "catch up"
 
This makes the game way too linear as you cannot even leave your faction

I've followed the quest lines, I must have missed a few and needed to abandoned a few as they were bugged out but am currently doing quests that are +3 my level

Thankfully I have not problems with these mobs but there doesn't seem to be anyway for me to "catch up"
I'll say this again. If you're entering zones underleveled you aren't exploring the zone. The game is designed for you to go off the beaten path (the quest line) and search for other things to do around you. Even with a few bugged quests you should not be entering a new zone 3 levels under 2 at max really.

I just entered the 5th zone for Ebonheart and I am 2 levels over after the first "hub".

Explore, explore, explore.
 

HowZatOZ

Banned
It seems the Ebonheart Pact zones are by far the best from what has been told among other factions in here. I have yet to discover re-used textures or models, dull quests and botters in dungeons outside of Stonefall. Rather strange, but I can't personally tell what the other zones are like, though maybe they have just captured each zone so well in its style of play that it may bore some.
 

hepburn3d

Member
What's with all the bots in the public dungeons/crypts? They just sit on the boss's and spam kill them? I just went in 5 and in every single one there was about 6/7 bots spamming the boss. I don't get it? What are they getting out of it? I'm not annoyed just confused/curious.
 

Alur

Member
What's with all the bots in the public dungeons/crypts? They just sit on the boss's and spam kill them? I just went in 5 and in every single one there was about 6/7 bots spamming the boss. I don't get it? What are they getting out of it? I'm not annoyed just confused/curious.

Blues drop from the bosses which they then sell to vendors and sell that gold on their websites. They have that going on along with gathering and all the other stuff so they are getting gold coming in from all resources I guess.
 

Fuz

Banned
All those "go inside the dream"/"go back in the past" got pretty old pretty quick.

There are so damn many it's annoying... so unimaginative.
 

docbon

Member
All those "go inside the dream"/"go back in the past" got pretty old pretty quick.

There are so damn many it's annoying... so unimaginative.

Daggerfall Covenant has the dream shit in spades. Probably one of my few complaints about some of the side quests. The time travel quest in Glenumbra was cool as heck though.

PvP is OK if you have a guild. I must say I'd love to see smaller scale PvP. And no, don't tell me "Well you can just go with 4 people and capture a farm or..." like devs say, please. Yea, I'll go with small group and I'll get crushed by 20 people passing by... I'd like to have 5v5 or 10v10 on smaller maps. Maybe in the future... It'd be good for PvP players who don't have time to engage in large scale, long battles.

Also - why the hell there are no assists for healing in PvP? Zenimax, pls.

If I remember correctly, I think they're implementing the assist xp for healing some time in the future.

Also, when I healed during the beta weekends, I remember getting a ton of alliance points for healing players. Did they change that for release?
 

Einbroch

Banned
Yeah, I think I'm done with this game. I do not regret my time at all with it, and got enough out of it to validate my purchase. That said, this game has major issues that prohibit me from sinking hundreds of hours. Please note that I only made it to level 28 but have invested more than 60 hours exploring, crafting, PVPing, grouping, etc.

1) The world and storylines are repetitive and predictable. Every tower is the same. Every dungeon is the same. Every town is the same. Nothing feels fresh, and even when they are, it's way too disconnected to the world to feel like they matter. I'm always entering a dream or being whisked off to a far off plain for 10 minutes, then back to boring plains and forests for five hours. Storylines follow the same path, too. It's always a town being overrun by [X] or a corrupt [X] ruining things for the people.

2) The PVE is unrewarding. You can run dungeons 5+ times and not even get a piece of gear that is better than the gear you have for ANY role. I ran the first three dungeons two times each. Only in one run did I get a piece of gear that was unique to the dungeon and better than my gear for a role I wasn't even primarily playing. Also, it's finicky. Healing in particular feels strange. You can't target your heals effectively. If you know the tank is going to be hit by a big hit, you can't get ready for it. That tank better be the lowest health at the time of the cast or he/she ain't getting healed. This worries me about end game balance, speaking of end game...

3) There is no endgame and the only endgame announced has no solid date/time period. You can either level up again, play one of six veteran dungeons, or mass PVP. That's it. Sure, you can craft more gear or collect skyshards, but that's not enough. End game content makes or breaks MMOs, and the fact that this game doesn't really have any is a huge bummer and I can see mass exodus in the coming weeks when people realize there's nothing interesting to do (unless you're into mass PVP).

4) PVP is a huge, HUGE letdown. Not that the mass PVP that's in the game is bad. No, it's actually quite good. Lots of tug and pull, some really epic moments, and so on. But that's all it is. All it is is one map and zerg on zerg action. They say you can make a small group of PVPers and go around like a small gang, but really, that doesn't work. There's no arenas, no battlegrounds, and no world PVP. Veteran content could be super interesting if the opposing faction could attack you. But no. It's all in one mode on one map.

Like I said, I don't regret it at all. I got my 60 hours like I would in an Elder Scrolls game. This game has a lot of really interesting mechanics, but feels like it was rushed out the door, which is strange considering it's development timeline. I would still recommend this game to those looking to play an Elder Scrolls game, but those looking for a long-term MMO to really sink their teeth into? I'd look elsewhere.
 

docbon

Member
Yeah, I think I'm done with this game. I do not regret my time at all with it, and got enough out of it to validate my purchase. That said, this game has major issues that prohibit me from sinking hundreds of hours. Please note that I only made it to level 28 but have invested more than 60 hours exploring, crafting, PVPing, grouping, etc.

1) The world and storylines are repetitive and predictable. Every tower is the same. Every dungeon is the same. Every town is the same. Nothing feels fresh, and even when they are, it's way too disconnected to the world to feel like they matter. I'm always entering a dream or being whisked off to a far off plain for 10 minutes, then back to boring plains and forests for five hours. Storylines follow the same path, too. It's always a town being overrun by [X] or a corrupt [X] ruining things for the people.

2) The PVE is unrewarding. You can run dungeons 5+ times and not even get a piece of gear that is better than the gear you have for ANY role. I ran the first three dungeons two times each. Only in one run did I get a piece of gear that was unique to the dungeon and better than my gear for a role I wasn't even primarily playing. Also, it's finicky. Healing in particular feels strange. You can't target your heals effectively. If you know the tank is going to be hit by a big hit, you can't get ready for it. That tank better be the lowest health at the time of the cast or he/she ain't getting healed. This worries me about end game balance, speaking of end game...

3) There is no endgame and the only endgame announced has no solid date/time period. You can either level up again, play one of six veteran dungeons, or mass PVP. That's it. Sure, you can craft more gear or collect skyshards, but that's not enough. End game content makes or breaks MMOs, and the fact that this game doesn't really have any is a huge bummer and I can see mass exodus in the coming weeks when people realize there's nothing interesting to do (unless you're into mass PVP).

4) PVP is a huge, HUGE letdown. Not that the mass PVP that's in the game is bad. No, it's actually quite good. Lots of tug and pull, some really epic moments, and so on. But that's all it is. All it is is one map and zerg on zerg action. They say you can make a small group of PVPers and go around like a small gang, but really, that doesn't work. There's no arenas, no battlegrounds, and no world PVP. Veteran content could be super interesting if the opposing faction could attack you. But no. It's all in one mode on one map.

Like I said, I don't regret it at all. I got my 60 hours like I would in an Elder Scrolls game. This game has a lot of really interesting mechanics, but feels like it was rushed out the door, which is strange considering it's development timeline. I would still recommend this game to those looking to play an Elder Scrolls game, but those looking for a long-term MMO to really sink their teeth into? I'd look elsewhere.

Gonna miss you einbro ;~;

Re: PVP, if you want to get into small scale stuff, a good thing to do is to identify the questing areas around the map. Places like Bruma are notorious for shoot outs because of the easy to complete quest chains.
 

Hawk269

Member
For those in the NA Guild, I cleaned up the bank a bit today. We had 475/500 slots used and were running out of room. We had a ton of items in various amount of stacks, so I just combined them to make more room. I also removes some of the "White" lower level items per the request of some of Guild Mates that were on-line. I did leave White crafting materials however since those can be useful still. There are also some White gear as well for those just starting out.

All in all, I was able to open about 250 slots in the bank for us to use, so that should be plenty for while. Perhaps, if everyone is in agreement, I can clean it out once a week. If some of you think we should remove even white level gear, perhaps anything below level 5 I can do that as well.

Since we have some items in stacks, if you don't need all of them, just split the stack and deposit the amount you don't need. This way, if someone only needs 20 waters and it is in a stack of 50, you can place the remaining 30 for others to use.

Let me know if everyone is fine with this and like I said, I don't mind taking the time to clean it up once a week or so.
 

Ivory Samoan

Gold Member
For those in the NA Guild, I cleaned up the bank a bit today. We had 475/500 slots used and were running out of room. We had a ton of items in various amount of stacks, so I just combined them to make more room. I also removes some of the "White" lower level items per the request of some of Guild Mates that were on-line. I did leave White crafting materials however since those can be useful still. There are also some White gear as well for those just starting out.

All in all, I was able to open about 250 slots in the bank for us to use, so that should be plenty for while. Perhaps, if everyone is in agreement, I can clean it out once a week. If some of you think we should remove even white level gear, perhaps anything below level 5 I can do that as well.

Since we have some items in stacks, if you don't need all of them, just split the stack and deposit the amount you don't need. This way, if someone only needs 20 waters and it is in a stack of 50, you can place the remaining 30 for others to use.

Let me know if everyone is fine with this and like I said, I don't mind taking the time to clean it up once a week or so.

Awesome work mate, I'm sure the rest of the GAFguild appreciates the effort.

In ESO gameplay news, man - takes a while to get used to dual wielding after using a staff for 15 levels; can't wait for whirlwind...
 
If you're going to rerun dungeons for loot you really need to make sure you farm chests. There are a ton that spawn in each dungeon. They give decent XP, some gold, and usually decent to great items.

In a future patch they're going to make chests grant items to each group member, which will be nice.
 
I'll say this again. If you're entering zones underleveled you aren't exploring the zone. The game is designed for you to go off the beaten path (the quest line) and search for other things to do around you. Even with a few bugged quests you should not be entering a new zone 3 levels under 2 at max really.

I just entered the 5th zone for Ebonheart and I am 2 levels over after the first "hub".

Explore, explore, explore.

That doesn't change the linearity of it though. Game gives you illusion of open freedom, but in reality you are just exploring to find the quests needed to move to the next zone. Its standard theme park zone patching, they simply took away hubs. To not be under leveled you need to find and do a mojortity of the quests available in an area before moving on.
 
That doesn't change the linearity of it though. Game gives you illusion of open freedom, but in reality you are just exploring to find the quests needed to move to the next zone. Its standard theme park zone patching, they simply took away hubs. To not be under leveled you need to find and do a mojortity of the quests available in an area before moving on.
I never once said the game wasn't linear, nor not a theme park. Pretty sure I even called it a theme park.

What makes this such a bad thing anyway?

EDIT: Actually I can see it being a let down if you were coming in expecting a true ES experience where the entire world is yours to explore. That would've been refreshing to see. I like their take on quest hubs though and the game does an alright job at giving you that feeling you're exploring each zone.

It does bum me out that I'm playing yet another theme park MMO, but honestly unless a MMO comes out and tells me it's not a theme park I always assume it is.
 

Jezabel

Member
Ran through the banished cells with three other guys, only for it to glitch out once we had cleared the whole thing. So goddamn annoying.
Just bought the darl elves racial book off the guild store. Gaf guild is the best!
 
Top Bottom