Let's try and get some answers to our TESO questions [mmorpg.com interview suggestions]

DarkPony

After seeing quite some interviews with Zenimax peoples on TESO, I think we are still in the dark on a wide range of issues.

I know we can't expect them to answer everything as they just announced the game but there's no harm in asking

So let's formulate some questions in this thread and I'll combine them all in the OP so our mmorpg.com overlords and overlordettes have some more ammo to go into their next interviews;

General:

What have the people at Zenimax done with TESO to ensure that fans of TES will feel at home in this new game and what have you managed to capture from the original games that made them so great? (by deathshroud)

Are there any unique features besides the TES lisence that TESO brings to the mmorpg table that is either rarely seen, hasnt been seen in a long time or that is unqiue? (by deathshroud)

According to many mmo websites TESO has reportedly been recepted quite negatively. Why do you think that is? And do you think this negativity is unwarranted? (by deathshroud)

Regarding sandbox versus themepark styled games: It seems TESO is based on a typical themepark mmorpg model for a great deal, despite there being clear signs that many mmorpg gamers have had their fill with those and despite TES single player games having strong sandbox roots. Will there still be aspects in which a sandbox model serves as an example for TESO? (by deathshroud)

Exploring:

Will the game be "explore anywhere", "no barriers" and "no instances" with a focus on exploration and discovery? will player recieve messages like you have discovered xxxx? (by deathshroud)

World lay-out & mechanics:

The world is split in multiple faction based provinces and areas. Regarding this I have the following questions:

Will we be able to enter faction areas that are not our own? Will there be anything to do for you there?

Will opposing factions cooperate in PVE areas like in TSW or will they always be considered enemies like in WOW?

Will there be pvp servers where pvp between factions is enabled also in the faction parts of the world or is your faction's area always a huge safe haven?

Will there also be extensive pve related content in the Cyrodil province? i.e. Other reasons to venture there apart from participating in world pvp? (Like open world dungeons that can be accessed by multiple factions at the same time?).

Factions:

Will there be cross faction communication in chat?

If you will have auction halls, will they be cross-faction or separate?

If there will be capital cities, will they be one per faction or one per race?

World design:

In what ways will you try and make the world feel like a living, breathing place? How will you go about translating the liveliness of the single player TES games into TESO? (Lively npc's due to radiant AI and voice overs, critters / wildlife, day and night cycles, underwater swimming, unguided objectives and content, etc).

PVP:

Is there a system of realm points in place (like in DAOC) ? (by rguilbert)

Whilst the idea of realm vs realm gameplay is a nice touch to help seperate the game from other mmorpgs, Warhammer online also has a similar feature. What are you going to do to guarantee yours is better? (deathshroud)

Combat:

It was hinted at over at gamebreaker.com that the combat is quasi action based but still required the use of tab targetting.  I want to know is it similar to GW2 in this aspect.  Or do you actually need to be in range and have a target aquired to fire off an ability/attack? (by Zylax)

Why do you believe that twitch based action style combat is not possible in an MMORPG when there are in fact games that contain such combat like Mortal Online and Darkfall created by indie companies with low budgets and small development teams? (by deathshroud)

Endgame:

Does the game have a traditional vertical progression with a reliance on gear rather then skill?  Or does it employ a more horizontal progression based on player skill and gear is more cosmetic in nature? (by Zylax)

We already know that questing and leveling is more exploration based but is there any method to make content relevant for the life of the character or do old zones/areas become obsolete? (by zylax)

Traveling:

The world is said to be very big, how will we go about navigating it? What are your travel systems?

Death penalty:

Do you already have an idea of what kind of set-backs to dying you will implement? Are you going for the lenient route like many themepark mmorpgs or make it a little more compelling to NOT want to die?

Crafting:

Do you guys have an overall vision on how you want to implement crafting in TESO? What kind of crafting and gathering professions are we likely to see?

Classes:

I've heared there will be freedom to level the skills you want while playing, In what way are you restricted in your class choices? Can a mage character be just as effective as a thief character in using daggers?

Housing:

What precisely is so difficult about player housing that you dismissed it as "too hard?" (by Iceman00)

Please add some more if you have them

 

Mike-McQueen

How about we just let the pony have at Matt and co. on a live feed and we rest of us just pop some corn and watch them squirm frantically as they stutter out answers.

rguilbert

I'd like to know about the rewards for RVR....

 

Is there a system of realm points in place (like in DAOC) ?

 

(Basically, you earned points for killing enemy players.  You could spend the points on various character abilities.  The more points you got, the more the next ability cost ...kind of an exponential progression.  You had a large amount of abilities to choose from.  The system added another purpose to RVR, helped you personalize your character, kept a sense of progress even at max level, etc..   Warhammer had a watered-down version of this, but it wasn't nearly as good.)

PyrateLV

Originally posted by Mike-McQueen

How about we just let the pony have at Matt and co. on a live feed and we rest of us just pop some corn and watch them squirm frantically as they stutter out answers.

Devs wouldnt do an interview with Pony. They want guys that throw slow pitch soft balls, not 100mph bean-balls to the head.

ShakyMo

On cities they already stated there are lots of towns and cities. More than 1 per race.

ShakyMo

Also its more than 4 provinces. Cyrodil is a pvp province. They said both skyrim and Morrowind are in the game, so thats 2 of one of the factions pve provinces. Same with high rock and hammerfell. We know summerset isle is in, we know blackmarsh is kept back for expansion. So probably one of valenwood and elswyr is in the other kept back.

Zylaxx

Combat?

 

It was hinted at over at gamebreaker.com that the combat is quasi action based but still required the use of tab targetting.  I want to know is it similar to GW2 in this aspect.  Or do you actually need to be in range and have a target aquired to fire off an ability/attack.

 

 

Endgame?

 

Is it a more traditional Vertical progression with a reliance on gear rather then skill?  or is a more Horizontal progression based on player skill and gear is more cosmetic in nature?   http://taugrim.com/2012/04/19/why-games-should-scale-horizontally-instead-of-vertically/

 

 

We already know that questing and leveling is more exploration based but is there any method to make content relevant for the life of the character or do old zones/areas become obsolete which is an artificial mechanism to funnel players to higher leveled areas thereby creating an un-intended linear experience which destroys the exploration centric design of the leveling/questing system.

XAleX360

Some things are already known.

 

• First: yes, of course you will be able to enter the other faction areas, otherwise they would have to do a crazy amount of PvE content. PvP will only be enabled in Cyrodill as far as they said, this leads me to believe that in the rest of the game everyone will do PvE together against "monsters", like in GW2 or TSW.
• From the looks of it, I doubt there will be extensive PvE content in Cyrodill. They talked about being able to control Kvatch and the other cities for guilds/alliances. If the above is true, then cross-communication in PvE areas is sure.
• I doubt Radiant AI will be in. As for the unguided content, they already said they will be using the compass and that there will be no quest hubs, but rather you will stumble into quests, ala GW2 (but also ES games).
• As for the death penalty, they didn't go into specifics but said that rather than punishing people they are willing to reward them to play properly with extra XP, loot, and with the finesse mechanics. Which makes me think that the actual death penalty will be rather lenient.
• Lastly, they confirmed every class can use any weapon, so a warrior will be able to use a healing staff and become "pretty good at it", but not as good as a mage, which probably destroys the whole purpose at least for those looking for min/maxing.

iceman00

What precisely is so difficult about player housing that you dismissed it as "too hard?"

BigHatLogan

Originally posted by XAleX360

Some things are already known.

 

• First: yes, of course you will be able to enter the other faction areas, otherwise they would have to do a crazy amount of PvE content. PvP will only be enabled in Cyrodill as far as they said, this leads me to believe that in the rest of the game everyone will do PvE together against "monsters", like in GW2 or TSW.
• From the looks of it, I doubt there will be extensive PvE content in Cyrodill. They talked about being able to control Kvatch and the other cities for guilds/alliances. If the above is true, then cross-communication in PvE areas is sure.
• I doubt Radiant AI will be in. As for the unguided content, they already said they will be using the compass and that there will be no quest hubs, but rather you will stumble into quests, ala GW2 (but also ES games).
• As for the death penalty, they didn't go into specifics but said that rather than punishing people they are willing to reward them to play properly with extra XP, loot, and with the finesse mechanics. Which makes me think that the actual death penalty will be rather lenient.
• Lastly, they confirmed every class can use any weapon, so a warrior will be able to use a healing staff and become "pretty good at it", but not as good as a mage, which probably destroys the whole purpose at least for those looking for min/maxing.

Damn, that sucks.  Oh well, another one for the pile i guess.

DarkPony

Thanks for the replies guys. I added your questions to the OP and rephrased some of my own.

 

PyrateLV

Originally posted by XAleX360

Some things are already known.

 

• First: yes, of course you will be able to enter the other faction areas, otherwise they would have to do a crazy amount of PvE content. PvP will only be enabled in Cyrodill as far as they said, this leads me to believe that in the rest of the game everyone will do PvE together against "monsters", like in GW2 or TSW.
• From the looks of it, I doubt there will be extensive PvE content in Cyrodill. They talked about being able to control Kvatch and the other cities for guilds/alliances. If the above is true, then cross-communication in PvE areas is sure.
• I doubt Radiant AI will be in. As for the unguided content, they already said they will be using the compass and that there will be no quest hubs, but rather you will stumble into quests, ala GW2 (but also ES games).
• As for the death penalty, they didn't go into specifics but said that rather than punishing people they are willing to reward them to play properly with extra XP, loot, and with the finesse mechanics. Which makes me think that the actual death penalty will be rather lenient.
• Lastly, they confirmed every class can use any weapon, so a warrior will be able to use a healing staff and become "pretty good at it", but not as good as a mage, which probably destroys the whole purpose at least for those looking for min/maxing.

This has been neither confirmed nor denied.

My guess is you wont be able to. Remember, the Lead Dev is Matt Firor (of DAOC fame!).

Chances are good that the 3 warring factions will be confined to their own faction specific lands and the PvP land

 

Moaky07

Originally posted by PyrateLV

Originally posted by Mike-McQueen

How about we just let the pony have at Matt and co. on a live feed and we rest of us just pop some corn and watch them squirm frantically as they stutter out answers.

Devs wouldnt do an interview with Pony. They want guys that throw slow pitch soft balls, not 100mph bean-balls to the head.

Unlike some posters around here, Pony at least tries to be respectful.

deathshroud

what i want to know and the questions i would ask them.

 

simple quick question.

What have the people at Zenimax done with TESO to ensure that fans of TES will undoubtedly feel at home in this new game and what have you managed to capture from the original games that made them so great?

 

Some hard questions

What did you love about the original TES games that made you want to turn TES license into an mmo franchise? What great features did you msot love about TES?

 

Will the game be explore anywhere no barriers and no instances with a focus on exploration and discovery? will player recieve messages like you have discovered xxxx?

 

Why do zenimax believe that twitch based action style combat is not possible in an MMORPG when there are games that contain such combat like Mortal Online and Darkfall created by indie companies with low budgets and small development teams?

 

what is the 1 unique feature besides the TES lisence that TESO brings to the mmorpg table that is either rarely seen, hasnt been seen in a lnog time or that is unqiue?

 

Why should gamers part with thweir hard earned money to buy your MMO as opposed to WOW Rift or SWTOR. What are you doing differently?

 

Whilst the idea of realm vs realm gameplay is a nice touch to help seperate the game from other mmorpgs, Warhammer online also has a similar feature what are you going to do to guarantee yours is superior? also wouldnt it of been better to allow guilds to create alliances and prehaps their own realm like armies as opposed to focing them into realms based on race?

 

According to many mmo websites TESO has reportedly recieved one of the most negative reactions to any MMORPG announcement of recent history. Why do you thik that is? and do you think this negativity is unwarranted?

 

Are the peopel at zenimax familiar with the term sandbox and themepark? and do you know what each term means?

 

The mmorpg community as a whole are starting to demand more sandbox style gameplay from their mmorpgs, i believe that a full out sandbox is generally considered to difficult to grasp for the majority of casuals but many are now wanting sandbox like elements to thier themepark mmorpgs to break up the repetition of going from one themepark to the other and palying a similar epxerience each time? Why did zenimax go with a themepark mmorpg  akin to rift daoc and wow as opposed to trying to bridge the gap in the market with the inclusion of more sandbox style features like the original TES games?

 

ShakyMo

I think your wrong about entering other factions pve areas at least on a standard server.

Now they may make a coop server or a full pvp server, in which case yeah.

I'm going of daoc here. If they are going for the same pve / pvp setup this will be the case. Let's face it tsw and gw2 do what they do to save money.

ShakyMo

Oh also I think territory will be conquered for the long term, I highly doubt they would Gimp the pvp with a wow style lake wintergrasp approach.

DarkPony

Updated the OP with Deathshroud's questions (edited here and there and removed duplicates, hope you don't mind).

Will add theJexster's later today. Gota run now!

 

 

AlBQuirky

Sorry if some of these have been asked. These are the questions I have off the top of my head...

Let's face it, TESO says they are after the "general MMO market", which means they are looking to pull some of WoW's subscribers away from WoW. How will their game do this? What are features they will offer that will pull away players from "a game" that they have invested 7+ years developing in a world with 7+ years of tweaking?

Talent trees help a player customize their character somewhat. How does this differ from what ZeniMax plans?

Will the classes be similar to those offered in Morrowind and Oblivion?

BillMurphy

You know, we could probably get these to Matt in the next week or so for a Q&A. Let's have the OP (Looking at you with sexy eyes, DP) compile his top 10 or so and we'll send 'em off. Let me know!

Uhwop

Why did you feel that you needed to deviate from the free form class development that's been a staple of the Eldre Scrolls games for over a decade?

Will players have the ability to forgo combat, in favor of being say a dedicated crafter?  Do you support that kind of divergent gameplay, and how import will crafting be in ESO?