I am glad they are investing time to update the older zones. The game is getting static with most of us in the new chapter map while all other maps are almost deserted. While we have completed all zone quests, we do not have the incentive to revisit those older zones.
I'm cautiously optimistic. The seasonal bite sized stuff sounds fine, I'm just worried it will be to obviously patched in and wont feel like it belongs to older zones. I'm most excited about base game love. Very nervous about the PvP specific skills, I'm afraid this will water things down too much and take away choice. I'm a casual player since launch, and mediocre at best at PvP and I don't mind getting ganked or losing to an obvious sweat lord, I usually learn something. I love large scale PvP but I hope we can maintain different kinds of activities, so elite don't get bored and stop teaching us scrubs! Overall I'm glad they are trying something and will try to be fair and constructive. Great video thanks Kal, looking forward to anymore housing tips/vids! That's my favorite content on your channel!
Imagine how cool it would be to enter an actually dangerous zone like Deadlands for the first time, I would mind every enemy every step it would feel so real! But of course im speaking as someone who love the lore and roleplaying...I dont roleplay with other people but love that feeling that that world is real! I basically play as it was a singleplayer game and would love more of it buuut I know its a mmo and not everyone would love it. I dont think they will do anything extreme though. I also like the part about adding new stories to old maps! That are already so much lore and known characters I wish to know even more about them, and not new characters and threaths to the world, we already have enough threaths and enemies on many realms, lets just join forces with existing npcs groups/guilds and face them! I agree with you, after reading the letter I felt it was positive in general.
This is exactly what I'm hoping for as well - I certainly don't think we need every zone to be an edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting experience, but I just feel like something is lost when a zone like the Deadlands is no more challenging than a zone like Auridon. It trivializes the sense of progression and undermines the story/roleplay aspect IMO. I've seen several excellent suggestions on how overland difficulty could be improved but I also recognize this is a touchy subject with a lot of room for error. I'm just excited to hear they are planning to try and address is.
Since the Letter by Matt Firor was published I watched a lot of content about it. Some negative and some positive. Your approach comes as close as possible to mine. I see this as a chance for ESO to finally get rid of longstanding issues with the game but I am also skeptical how they will deliver the new content. I like to play in Cyrodiil. This new campaign doesn't sound all that good to me. Like a dumbed down version of combat but I am willing to wait and see what it is really like. And hopefully, if it is bad, the community will let them know and they scrap it.
#1 players in cyrodill will NOT like their skills repalced having skills you dont like and are forced to use them isnt fun it will have to be an option to turn on or off or it will fail. #2 eso will become a seasonal game like world of warcraft i dont know if i will like that or not most games with seasons replace all their gear every season so i wonder how it will work for eso. #3 im excited for the updated graphics its about time many other games already have graphical overhauls that are much older then eso. #4 Harder overland content for better rewards is a great idea it could make players want to go out in the newly graphical overhauled zones and do stuff.
We're definitely reading between the lines a little bit, but I'm assuming that these Cyrodiil-exclusive skills would be limited to a single campaign unless they are well received. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw them retain a campaign with the current player-caps and skills alongside an alt campaign with pvp-skills and higher player-caps. This is just speculation on my part, but it almost reads as-if the engine can't support both a higher player-cap and the full selection of existing skills.
The graphics update on starting zones.. sure ok nice! The thing is the ugliest thing about the graphics is the characters model's not the zone's.. the must upgrade character graphics/animations
I want new pve guilds like necromancer and Vampires. This would make playing them more immersive. Mini game guild watch unlocks like a tavern brawler miniggame. Mount racing guild wars 2 style there's so much mini game ideas in yakuza that would be great inspiration how to make thematic mini games that aren't card games.,
Everyone keeps bringing up Craglorn, as someone who has played the game for a good long while allow me to remind every one...Craglorn was unpopular when it launched and eventually they had to dial the difficulty down. It was frankly a failed experiment. I can take or leave an Overland difficulty change, as I am fairly well geared player at this point. That said what I do not want is to have to be a in a four man group to run a zone. That is literally the point of Dungeons or group Delves. A little harder, sure no problem, the entire zone is basically a giant dungeon... HARD PASS. I, like a lot of people, do not want to have to group to quest. I quest at my own pace and do not want to be forced to fly through the zone because someone else in the group is the kind skip all the quest text and charge forward. Also, and everyone is entitled to their opinion here, but the biggest reason I play an Elder Scrolls game is for the story telling...and it has been extremely weak of late. I hated the story of Gold Road, it had a few good moments but the ending left me feeling flat and just felt like a HUGE missed opportunity. If they dial back the story content to basically ten or twelve quest a year that I can do in thirty minutes, that will probably be reason enough for me to move along to something else. Unlike yourself Kal, I am not optimistic about this, but we shall see, and hopefully I am wrong.
As a player who wasn't here for day 1 Craglorn, I appreciate your perspective! I also agree, I would absolutely NOT want to see entire zones become inaccessible to solo players, and I certainly don't want to have to group to get basic quests done. But I wouldn't mind if it took me a couple tries to beat the big bad at the end of a zone story, or if there were some zones where you really want to have a good build and a fully kitted out companion before you dive in. I get that we sort of see this with Public Dungeons and World Bosses, but for some reason, that doesn't quite satisfy.
the reason i left Everquest is because it became hard core. you couldn't solo. if you didn't have a group, you were dead, period. and even for casual grouping it was impossible. the reason i left Everquest 2 is because it was beginning to get that way. I like ESO because I can play every zone with a companion. I don't raid. I don't do Cyridiil. but i do love being able to go to every zone and kill any minor mob that attacks me. I don't try to do bosses with just a companion except in the dungeons. so no, if they make some zones so difficult that i can't play them, then i will find another game. i pay for this game and expect to play it my way. it isn't free to play like in everquest where you just log in and don't have to buy anything. you actually have to buy the game. i am a casual player who is just looking to enjoy scrying, fishing, getting house items and crafting. the thing i miss from other games are things like crafting, (potion, spell, etc) depots for the home where you can put thousands of crafting items in storage, 2k plus slots for putting any type of furniture i want in the house, being able to research spells (no, scribing doesn't come close), breakouts- where you can break out of the house into the areas around it, personal banks in addition to account shared bank and guild bank, and the ability to resize furniture to fit into any space. some things are just too big or too small. I also miss a concept that used to be in EQ2 but they took it out, and i would love to find a game that has it- player made dungeons that offer xp and rewards.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! I do suspect any changes to the overworld would likely be limited to specific zones/areas or as an opt-in mechanic. We obviously don't know much today, but in the past, they've spoken at length about how they see the ability to choose your own path as a key game feature. I'll go out on a limb here and say that I think there's 0 chance ESO ever becomes a hardcore pve experience. I'd also be excited to see some of the other stuff you mentioned, improvements to those secondary game systems, housing, storage, player-made experiences. All great suggestions!
I have mixed feelings so yeah. 🤦🏾♀️ I will start off with saying i disagree with the overland difficulty increasing harder i think that’s ridiculous that’s all i gotta say for now.
If they make overland content hard/harder I will unsub and uninstall. There is hard and harder content in the game already (trials/arenas/IA). I am not a sweatlord, I like to chill when I am playing an mmo. Also, the power level difference between a new player and a vet is huge. Try leveling in overland content with zero cp right now, it is hard. Making it harder will just push more new players away
I definitely think there's a right way and a wrong way to approach this. If I were in charge, I'd be specifically looking at an opt-in mechanic and converting a handful of zones/areas into 'vet' with upgraded incentives. I mentioned the Deadlands but Amenos, Apocrypha, and Blackreach come to mind as well. I'd be very, very surprised if overworld content just got harder in general.
Yeah nah, seasonal content is stupid. It does nothing but drive FOMO. If I brought a chapter, I could play at my leasure, my time. You can't do that with seasonal events.
They did clarify that 'Season content' in ESO would still be permanent content additions and not limited-time FOMO stuff. We have to take them at their word for the moment, but I read that as mini-expansions/DLCs and not limited-access battlepasses.
I am glad they are investing time to update the older zones. The game is getting static with most of us in the new chapter map while all other maps are almost deserted. While we have completed all zone quests, we do not have the incentive to revisit those older zones.
I’m comin back 100% this sounds great lol
Don't tease us! Loved your off-meta build videos!
I saw you posting in the ESO subreddit this week and I wondered if you were considering a return!
I'm cautiously optimistic. The seasonal bite sized stuff sounds fine, I'm just worried it will be to obviously patched in and wont feel like it belongs to older zones. I'm most excited about base game love. Very nervous about the PvP specific skills, I'm afraid this will water things down too much and take away choice. I'm a casual player since launch, and mediocre at best at PvP and I don't mind getting ganked or losing to an obvious sweat lord, I usually learn something. I love large scale PvP but I hope we can maintain different kinds of activities, so elite don't get bored and stop teaching us scrubs! Overall I'm glad they are trying something and will try to be fair and constructive. Great video thanks Kal, looking forward to anymore housing tips/vids! That's my favorite content on your channel!
Imagine how cool it would be to enter an actually dangerous zone like Deadlands for the first time, I would mind every enemy every step it would feel so real! But of course im speaking as someone who love the lore and roleplaying...I dont roleplay with other people but love that feeling that that world is real! I basically play as it was a singleplayer game and would love more of it buuut I know its a mmo and not everyone would love it. I dont think they will do anything extreme though. I also like the part about adding new stories to old maps! That are already so much lore and known characters I wish to know even more about them, and not new characters and threaths to the world, we already have enough threaths and enemies on many realms, lets just join forces with existing npcs groups/guilds and face them! I agree with you, after reading the letter I felt it was positive in general.
This is exactly what I'm hoping for as well - I certainly don't think we need every zone to be an edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting experience, but I just feel like something is lost when a zone like the Deadlands is no more challenging than a zone like Auridon. It trivializes the sense of progression and undermines the story/roleplay aspect IMO. I've seen several excellent suggestions on how overland difficulty could be improved but I also recognize this is a touchy subject with a lot of room for error. I'm just excited to hear they are planning to try and address is.
Thank you for the great breakdown Kalam0n.
Since the Letter by Matt Firor was published I watched a lot of content about it. Some negative and some positive. Your approach comes as close as possible to mine. I see this as a chance for ESO to finally get rid of longstanding issues with the game but I am also skeptical how they will deliver the new content. I like to play in Cyrodiil. This new campaign doesn't sound all that good to me. Like a dumbed down version of combat but I am willing to wait and see what it is really like. And hopefully, if it is bad, the community will let them know and they scrap it.
#1 players in cyrodill will NOT like their skills repalced having skills you dont like and are forced to use them isnt fun it will have to be an option to turn on or off or it will fail.
#2 eso will become a seasonal game like world of warcraft i dont know if i will like that or not most games with seasons replace all their gear every season so i wonder how it will work for eso.
#3 im excited for the updated graphics its about time many other games already have graphical overhauls that are much older then eso.
#4 Harder overland content for better rewards is a great idea it could make players want to go out in the newly graphical overhauled zones and do stuff.
We're definitely reading between the lines a little bit, but I'm assuming that these Cyrodiil-exclusive skills would be limited to a single campaign unless they are well received. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw them retain a campaign with the current player-caps and skills alongside an alt campaign with pvp-skills and higher player-caps. This is just speculation on my part, but it almost reads as-if the engine can't support both a higher player-cap and the full selection of existing skills.
The graphics update on starting zones.. sure ok nice! The thing is the ugliest thing about the graphics is the characters model's not the zone's.. the must upgrade character graphics/animations
I want new pve guilds like necromancer and Vampires. This would make playing them more immersive. Mini game guild watch unlocks like a tavern brawler miniggame. Mount racing guild wars 2 style there's so much mini game ideas in yakuza that would be great inspiration how to make thematic mini games that aren't card games.,
Everyone keeps bringing up Craglorn, as someone who has played the game for a good long while allow me to remind every one...Craglorn was unpopular when it launched and eventually they had to dial the difficulty down. It was frankly a failed experiment.
I can take or leave an Overland difficulty change, as I am fairly well geared player at this point. That said what I do not want is to have to be a in a four man group to run a zone. That is literally the point of Dungeons or group Delves. A little harder, sure no problem, the entire zone is basically a giant dungeon... HARD PASS. I, like a lot of people, do not want to have to group to quest. I quest at my own pace and do not want to be forced to fly through the zone because someone else in the group is the kind skip all the quest text and charge forward.
Also, and everyone is entitled to their opinion here, but the biggest reason I play an Elder Scrolls game is for the story telling...and it has been extremely weak of late. I hated the story of Gold Road, it had a few good moments but the ending left me feeling flat and just felt like a HUGE missed opportunity. If they dial back the story content to basically ten or twelve quest a year that I can do in thirty minutes, that will probably be reason enough for me to move along to something else.
Unlike yourself Kal, I am not optimistic about this, but we shall see, and hopefully I am wrong.
As a player who wasn't here for day 1 Craglorn, I appreciate your perspective! I also agree, I would absolutely NOT want to see entire zones become inaccessible to solo players, and I certainly don't want to have to group to get basic quests done. But I wouldn't mind if it took me a couple tries to beat the big bad at the end of a zone story, or if there were some zones where you really want to have a good build and a fully kitted out companion before you dive in. I get that we sort of see this with Public Dungeons and World Bosses, but for some reason, that doesn't quite satisfy.
the reason i left Everquest is because it became hard core. you couldn't solo. if you didn't have a group, you were dead, period. and even for casual grouping it was impossible. the reason i left Everquest 2 is because it was beginning to get that way.
I like ESO because I can play every zone with a companion. I don't raid. I don't do Cyridiil. but i do love being able to go to every zone and kill any minor mob that attacks me. I don't try to do bosses with just a companion except in the dungeons.
so no, if they make some zones so difficult that i can't play them, then i will find another game.
i pay for this game and expect to play it my way. it isn't free to play like in everquest where you just log in and don't have to buy anything. you actually have to buy the game.
i am a casual player who is just looking to enjoy scrying, fishing, getting house items and crafting.
the thing i miss from other games are things like crafting, (potion, spell, etc) depots for the home where you can put thousands of crafting items in storage, 2k plus slots for putting any type of furniture i want in the house, being able to research spells (no, scribing doesn't come close), breakouts- where you can break out of the house into the areas around it, personal banks in addition to account shared bank and guild bank, and the ability to resize furniture to fit into any space. some things are just too big or too small.
I also miss a concept that used to be in EQ2 but they took it out, and i would love to find a game that has it- player made dungeons that offer xp and rewards.
Thank you for sharing your perspective! I do suspect any changes to the overworld would likely be limited to specific zones/areas or as an opt-in mechanic. We obviously don't know much today, but in the past, they've spoken at length about how they see the ability to choose your own path as a key game feature. I'll go out on a limb here and say that I think there's 0 chance ESO ever becomes a hardcore pve experience.
I'd also be excited to see some of the other stuff you mentioned, improvements to those secondary game systems, housing, storage, player-made experiences. All great suggestions!
I have mixed feelings so yeah. 🤦🏾♀️ I will start off with saying i disagree with the overland difficulty increasing harder i think that’s ridiculous that’s all i gotta say for now.
If they make overland content hard/harder I will unsub and uninstall. There is hard and harder content in the game already (trials/arenas/IA). I am not a sweatlord, I like to chill when I am playing an mmo. Also, the power level difference between a new player and a vet is huge. Try leveling in overland content with zero cp right now, it is hard. Making it harder will just push more new players away
I definitely think there's a right way and a wrong way to approach this. If I were in charge, I'd be specifically looking at an opt-in mechanic and converting a handful of zones/areas into 'vet' with upgraded incentives. I mentioned the Deadlands but Amenos, Apocrypha, and Blackreach come to mind as well. I'd be very, very surprised if overworld content just got harder in general.
Fr 🤦🏾♀️💯
they meant increasing the difficulty like adding more bosses and group events like dolmens or maybe even a mini trial world boss in the overland
Ask yourself one thing: how is zos trackrecord of doing things right, and you would be as concerned as I am
Yeah nah, seasonal content is stupid. It does nothing but drive FOMO. If I brought a chapter, I could play at my leasure, my time. You can't do that with seasonal events.
They did clarify that 'Season content' in ESO would still be permanent content additions and not limited-time FOMO stuff. We have to take them at their word for the moment, but I read that as mini-expansions/DLCs and not limited-access battlepasses.