The time has come! Zenimax has answered the questions form our rerolled.org Q&A. We didn’t get all of our questions answered, but Zenimax was tackled a lot of them, and I think you’ll find the information to be interesting. Because these questions came from our site, I’ll be providing some commentary!
First, let’s see how they tackled a question from the most cantankerous character over on rerolled:
Approximately how long has The Elder Scrolls Online been in development? What were some of your original concepts before landing on this one? – From Utnayan
ZeniMax Online Studios was founded in 2007, and from the very beginning we knew we wanted to create an epic online Elder Scrolls experience with three-alliance PVP. Though the project has gone through many changes over the years, as most games do, we have stayed our original course. The Elder Scrolls Online has been our singular focus all along.
While the core original concept has always been to make an online Elder Scrolls game, we have made quite a few changes and improvements to the game in the past couple years. Some examples include adding a first-person mode, an Elder Scrolls style compass, and refining the graphics and art style to give the game a more authentic Elder Scrolls look and feel.
Zenimax is sticking to their guns, here. I think Utnayan was trying to get at the rumors that say ZOS has changed their game design based on the success/failure of other recent MMO games. I think it’s understandable that ZOS would refine and improve their game vision based on outside factors, especially fan demand, so I’m not sure there is much of a story here.
Next, we have a few more details about the open, PVP enabled dungeons:
Can you tell us more about the open dungeons/caves they have mentioned within the PVP zone? – From Quaid
Variety is the spice of life, as they say, and it’s important to us that the PVP experience in The Elder Scrolls Online is no exception. If what you want to do is run around and fight enemy players, you can do that. But if you want a change of pace, we want to make sure you have a multitude of options for how to spend your time in Cyrodiil. In addition to participating in the Alliance War by sieging, defending, or laying claim to keeps, objectives, and resources, there are also towns to visit, quests to undertake, and 18 dungeons/caves to find and explore. In them, monsters and treasure await.
Be on your guard, though—in Cyrodiil, enemy players may be lurking anywhere.
This sounds great, though we’ve known most of this already. All I’m going to add is that I hope some of the dungeons in Cyrodiil are big. Like really big. Do I have to spell it out, Zenimax? I’m talking about Darkness Falls!
Not much to the next question and answer, other than it sounds like we’ve got something to look forward to in the near future:
The Elder Scrolls Online announced endgame content heavily features Player versus Player gameplay where three factions will fight over Cyrodiil, the Imperial City, and The Ruby Throne. Since the game is scheduled to launch around Spring 2014, how come we have yet to see any PvP gameplay yet? – From Bondurant
When the time is right to show PvP, we will do so. Look for it in the near future.
I know the next answer is going to make some of the members of the rerolled forums unhappy:
Are there any plans to adjust the FOV for first-person mode before launch? – From Abefroman
At this time, there are no plans to adjust the field of view for first-person mode in The Elder Scrolls Online before launch.
I’ve heard from some players at conventions that the first-person mode is fine. Some people on rerolled, however, are fairly adamant that it is flawed in some regard. I’m a third person kind of guy, so I have to admit some ignorance on this one. At the very least, it sounds like they left themselves a bit of wiggle room by saying, “…before launch.”
Good news for DAOC fans and PVP fanatics:
How seriously are the devs taking PvP in ESO? Will players still be able to advance their characters at the end game if they log-on mainly to PvP? – From Felmega
It’s an incredibly important part of the game for us, and one we’re working to ensure has depth and great systems. You can hop into the Alliance War starting at level 10, and if you want to level your character up from that point on in PVP, you can. We do not have any PVP-only stats, so you won’t be penalized for leveling up entirely via PVP. It’s a totally viable way to play, and you will still be able to be competitive in PVE content if you level and gear up entirely in PVP.
I can’t see a downside here – sounds like DAOC, and that’s good in my book.
More good news, in my opinion:
Will there be a new / creative way to deal with overuse of crowd control in PVP? Or just a way to fight bracketed so I can stick to the low levels where it isn’t so crazy? I’d also like options to specialize in cc prevention beyond just a smaller cool-down on a break-free type ability. Permanent immunities I’d pay dearly for, or as part of a class like the pale master prestige class from D&D. – From Kharza-kzad
Everyone can spend their stamina to break out of all crowd control effects. This also makes you immune to all incoming crowd control for 8 seconds. There is no cooldown associated with this, but you must have the stamina to do it. As long as you have the stamina and you’re willing to spend it on breaking out of crowd control effects, you cannot be crowd-controlled. In addition to being able to break out of crowd control effects by using your stamina, there are also many skill line abilities that help counter crowd control abilities. Here are just a few examples:
- Heavy Armor Skill Line – Immovable: Become Immune to stun and immobilize effects for several seconds.
- Alliance War Support Skill Line – Purge: Clear two negative effects from all nearby allies. For the next several seconds, reduce the duration of negative effects versus affected allies.
- Alliance War Support Skill Line – Purge: Remove all snare and immobilize effects from all nearby allies and increase their movement speed.
People don’t like being stun-locked, and it sounds like ZOS has acknowledged that. Stamina is a resource everyone has, and it brings more strategy to the table when you have to manage resources around more than just spamming DPS. If you burn your stamina, watch out for CC, in other words.
Finally:
Why haven’t we seen any gameplay beyond level 10 yet? I’m worried that the low-level content is really polished but it won’t be after level 20. – From Bondurant
We have teams working solely on polishing content that will be in the game at launch right now, some of which are dedicated entirely to the higher level content. We have actually shown some higher-level gameplay, but character levels are rarely at the forefront in our video footage. One example, though not higher than level 20, was the live play-through presentation we did at QuakeCon. In it, all characters were around level 16.
Another example is the gameplay footage we released during E3. In it, you’ll see video of just a few of our group dungeons ranging from approximately level 28 all the way up to level 40.
You can expect to see more high-level content in future video releases before launch, but we’re leaving some surprises for you to discover on your own, too.
Not sure this is a great answer – we all have seen the gameplay they are talking about and the complaints and questions stemmed from seeing it! In any case, Bondurant, it looks like they are at least aware of your concern, and will hopefully not let you down.
That’s it folks! Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more footage, and a lot more beta activity in the near future. I, for one, am happy that ZOS has acknowledged the rerolled forums and is willing to listen to our concerns. Let’s hope ZOS doesn’t let us down, because a lot of us have some serious hopes for this game!
Thanks, Zenimax – keep up the good work, and don’t be shy about posting over on rerolled.org!
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