2980

In CoH, I would often hang out at the train station in various zones and buff people with Speed Boost and Inertial Reduction as they appeared. My Kinetic Defender was probably the funnest, most unique, and greatest support character I have ever played. I think they eventually capped the number of +20% damage boost icons a player could have thanks to Fulcrum Shift. I wish I still had the screenshot of around 50 +20% Damage Boosts covering my screen. lol!

2981

I’ve never found another MMO class I liked better than my kinetics/psychic defender.

2982

Absolutely. I wish I could play that character in every MMO I have played since.

2983

raises hand me too, my kin/elec Defender was my favourite character in all the games I’ve ever played, she really was super. And (looks wise) she was my creation.

Moment of silence for the sad and unnecessary demise of a great game :(

Anyway, back to the flawed but kind-of-fun-in-some-ways TESO.

2985

QFMFT. I can’t understand why solving this problem isn’t Job #1 For Every MMO. It seems to me that the only people who have even tried to solve it are the Guild Wars people.

#include <stdrants/levels.h>: The whole concept of “Level” in MMOs is broken and stupid, and should be discarded.

2986

I don’t agree with that at all. I love levels. But there’s certainly ways to compensate for that variable when getting people together and too many MMOs don’t even try.

2987

I don’t mind levels, but the level inflation that requires developers to strain at different ways to differentiate build up of power (especially with the mediaeval weaponry side of things), and then eventually throw their hands up in the air and go for a gear grind, kind of kills it. 40-50 levels seems to be ok and doable without strain, but beyond that it starts to get silly. Frankly, I think that 10 levels or so is pretty much optimum for any meaningful (i.e. you feel the bump up) representation of power differentials and progression between “beginner” and “advanced”.

It’s like, developers fall back on levels as a Pavlovian “ding”, but nothing much more meaningful than that.

Hard to think of an alternative though - unless of course the offline skill system of EVE or something like that, but then that’s not casual-friendly.

Actually, I’ve always felt that colour coding is more psychologically meaningful than levels anyway, so maybe instead of levels you’d just have the colour coding re. what’s weaker than you, more powerful than you, really deadly to you (PURPLE!), etc., and the game would be “aware” of your skillset and record of victories against x,y,z, and tailor encounters on the hoof for you. But maybe that’s too much extra load for the database or something? Also, it might be difficult for people to understand a build system that didn’t give you absolute numbers to represent your skill level, but represented more of a percentage chance against certain things. But what the heck, people are always clamouring for something different in MMOs, why not try something like that?

2988

ESO Client is $16.22 Canadian, which is like $5 US.

2989

ZOS has released details on their upcoming Justice System, which sounds like they’re putting a little bit more Elder Scrolls into Elder Scrolls Online. Basically, it allows players to steal items and pickpocket or attack NPCs. You need to then take these stolen goods to an Outlaw hideout where you can fence them.

Outlaws have to watch out for NPC guards, but the system also allows players to become Enforcers. This allows them to see if people have bounties on them, or if they’ve been caught committing a crime. The Enforcer is then tasked with killing the criminal and then returning to Enforcer tower to claim the bounty. There’s a little bit of a twist there too, as once the Outlaw respawns, if he’s able to track down and kill the Enforcer before he gets to the Enforcer tower, he’ll be able to loot his items back.

It also sounds like the Dark Brotherhood is up next, after this system rolls out.

2990

Oh, and I missed that they’re ditching Veteran Ranks completely and replacing them with a Champion System for endgame. It is reminiscent of Diablo 3’s Paragon levels, in the sense that as you earn Champion points, you rotate which category you spend them in (Warrior, Thief, and Mage). Sounds much better than the current VR grind.

2991

Have they changed the ridiculous Durability issue yet?

2993

The road ahead.

As I’ve mentioned, we have been (and will continue to be) steadily working on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of ESO. They are playable and fun right now, but there’s still some work to do before we can set an official launch date. First and foremost, we want to make sure that two of our most important systems still in development—the Justice and Champion Systems—are included in the console release. Those two systems will introduce a huge amount of content to the game, and we know everyone is looking forward to the new types of gameplay they provide.

It’s also important to note that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of ESO are not just ports of the PC/Mac game. We have completely replaced the PC user interface with a console-specific UI designed from the ground-up with a controller and a living room play experience in mind. We’ve also added voice chat and full integration with XBL and PSN. Expect to see lots of news about our console versions in early 2015.

Who is still playing on PC? How is it?

2994

I started up again two days ago. A group of us have given up on Archeage (ugh), and some had never tried TESO. A few early impressions:

  • The early quest bugs appear to be squashed
  • VR leveling is faster
  • Tons of stuff is being added

I’ve always liked this game.

2995

It’s not bad…but not (to me) worth a subscription.

2996

Yeah, if it goes free to play I’ll be all over it again, because it’s kind of fun in parts (mainly just wandering around a well-known and beloved lore world, encountering quests); but I just couldn’t justify a sub for it.

2997

Quick question for vets

2998

Come on, don’t leave us in suspense! :)

2999

Quick question for vets o this game. How soon into it before you can freely travel to every province on the map?

I don’t have a huge interest in the game but I would like to check out Hammerfell, High Rock, The Black Marshes, Daggerfall, etc.

3000

I don’t know, I haven’t heard any mention of it in the short term. I think the current major feature in development is the Justice/Champion system. My guess would be not any time soon, check back in a couple years (if the game still exists).

3001

Level 50+.

You begin in one of the three factions, which gives you access to the provinces of those three races. When you hit 50, you gain access to one of the other faction areas. You quest there, and then eventually get access to the final faction’s provinces. If you enjoy questing in MMO’s, these are very well done. The voice acting, writing, etc are high quality.