Elder Scrolls Online - The Allure of Elder Scrolls Online’s Never Ending Journey - MMORPG.com

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Elder Scrolls Online - The Allure of Elder Scrolls Online’s Never Ending Journey - MMORPG.com

I play a lot of MMOs. So say we all, right? But the one, four years later, I keep coming back to no matter what, is Elder Scrolls Online. It used to be Warcraft, which has become more of a “check out the expansion” title for me. But something about the sheer amount of content, progression diversity, and consistent updates keeps me coming back to ESO when no other game can.

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Kajidourden

I felt the same way about it when I was playing. Eventually the poor balance and animation canceling nonsense turned me off at endgame.

Kajidourden

DMKano said:

Kajidourden said:

I felt the same way about it when I was playing. Eventually the poor balance and animation canceling nonsense turned me off at endgame.

Animation canceling is what adds a ton of depth to PvP

Age of Conan was amazing when they had animation cancelling - they killed it and turned combat into crap.

My character spazzing out and looking retarded is not appealing to me, regardless of the damage output.

Scot

DMKano said:

Kajidourden said:

I felt the same way about it when I was playing. Eventually the poor balance and animation canceling nonsense turned me off at endgame.

Animation canceling is what adds a ton of depth to PvP

Age of Conan was amazing when they had animation cancelling - they killed it and turned combat into crap.

I am not disagreeing with the beneficial effect on PvP, but is this what we want to show of our PvP skills? It just seems a lame way to do it.

Zeppel80

I've been playing ESO on and off since I played in beta. I guess I feel that eventually one realizes that it's all just more of the same. No matter what zone you're in, it's basically the same enemies with basically the same AI. Sure, there are special attacks some have, but, when I walked into Clockwork City for the first time recently, I knew exactly what would happen and how it would play out.

I'm a melee player at heart, but in ESO only the magic builds have any real variety. Stamina builds are all dual wield and bow and the rotation varies little from class to class. Yes, DK or Warden have different abilities, but they're just different curtains in the same room. Maybe the upcoming changes will make 2H weapons viable, but it's still much less variety than a magic build. I'd love to be able to have the option of a dual wield/2H build or to have the build variety something like Grim Dawn has; totally impractical, I know.

Sovrath

For me it's the lore/places art design (well, to a point, mostly what they took from the single player games).

I actually think they got crafting "right" as far as allowing players to pick a design and then assign a level of efficacy with the chosen materials.

In the single player games one might lean toward better gear but not like the design.

Now that I've found a class that seems to work better for me I find myself less frustrated.

SlyLoK

I would probably never stop playing ESO if they would stop putting dlc dungeons out of reach for casual players. I love the dungeons the game offers but it is getting to the point where I skip the majority of the new ones because they aren't worth my time.

I thought that is why they added vet difficulty for the extra challenge and higher grade loot but it seems they balance new non vet dungeons around high champion point players.

Less of a problem on PC because communication is easier.. console on the other hand not so much. No one uses voice chat and you can't type fast enough to communicate in game. Wipe once or don't kill fast enough and people disband.

Kajidourden

Zeppel80 said:

I've been playing ESO on and off since I played in beta. I guess I feel that eventually one realizes that it's all just more of the same. No matter what zone you're in, it's basically the same enemies with basically the same AI. Sure, there are special attacks some have, but, when I walked into Clockwork City for the first time recently, I knew exactly what would happen and how it would play out.

I'm a melee player at heart, but in ESO only the magic builds have any real variety. Stamina builds are all dual wield and bow and the rotation varies little from class to class. Yes, DK or Warden have different abilities, but they're just different curtains in the same room. Maybe the upcoming changes will make 2H weapons viable, but it's still much less variety than a magic build. I'd love to be able to have the option of a dual wield/2H build or to have the build variety something like Grim Dawn has; totally impractical, I know.

Yep.  There's a designated weapon for build types, and it's obviously baked-in when you look at the skills.

Even if the current meta stayed the same it would be nice to at least have one viable alternative to every weapon for build-types. 

Literally every stamina DPS is running DW/Bow.  That is boring as fuck, even worse than a game where you pick a class and have a weapon-type....because at least in that case there's some variety/flavor in what everyone is using.

The game claims build freedom but their system forces you to max stamina or magicka and then says "Here's the stamina weapons and here are the magicka weapons".  And even once you get down to that point there's really no choice unless you just like being gimp.

Ikeda

Bought into the hype and played in Beta.  Then bought the CE and tried playing again (since I never got far).  Then I bought into the expansion (digital CE) and nope.  Still nothing.  It's very cookie cutter.

Viper482

I keep coming back too, just never stay long lol.

Viper482

Kajidourden said:

Zeppel80 said:

I've been playing ESO on and off since I played in beta. I guess I feel that eventually one realizes that it's all just more of the same. No matter what zone you're in, it's basically the same enemies with basically the same AI. Sure, there are special attacks some have, but, when I walked into Clockwork City for the first time recently, I knew exactly what would happen and how it would play out.



I'm a melee player at heart, but in ESO only the magic builds have any real variety. Stamina builds are all dual wield and bow and the rotation varies little from class to class. Yes, DK or Warden have different abilities, but they're just different curtains in the same room. Maybe the upcoming changes will make 2H weapons viable, but it's still much less variety than a magic build. I'd love to be able to have the option of a dual wield/2H build or to have the build variety something like Grim Dawn has; totally impractical, I know.

Yep.  There's a designated weapon for build types, and it's obviously baked-in when you look at the skills.

Even if the current meta stayed the same it would be nice to at least have one viable alternative to every weapon for build-types. 

Literally every stamina DPS is running DW/Bow.  That is boring as fuck, even worse than a game where you pick a class and have a weapon-type....because at least in that case there's some variety/flavor in what everyone is using.

The game claims build freedom but their system forces you to max stamina or magicka and then says "Here's the stamina weapons and here are the magicka weapons".  And even once you get down to that point there's really no choice unless you just like being gimp.

Agreed. I don't understand why ANY mmo has this tpe of imbalance between specs. Why not just bump others up small amounts at a time until they are equally effective? Is that over-simplifying the real process or what? Because it seems logical to me.

The cynic in me believes that they rotate through what is the most effective because it gets everyone re-rolling into the new overpowered spec making them stick around longer and spending more $$$$$$.

mgilbrtsn

I keep coming back.  It's not the most 'exciting/innovative' game in existence, but when I get the itch for some casual adventuring, this is my go to.  

Chaserz

Seeing a pretty new zone is nice but the level scaling world-wide, lack of noticeable character progression with the champion system grind, and the expensive guild store -lack of a simple auction house, buries it.

eddieg50

Yea level scaling has taken the challenge away, shame really

Hariken

Zeppel80 said:

I've been playing ESO on and off since I played in beta. I guess I feel that eventually one realizes that it's all just more of the same. No matter what zone you're in, it's basically the same enemies with basically the same AI. Sure, there are special attacks some have, but, when I walked into Clockwork City for the first time recently, I knew exactly what would happen and how it would play out.



I'm a melee player at heart, but in ESO only the magic builds have any real variety. Stamina builds are all dual wield and bow and the rotation varies little from class to class. Yes, DK or Warden have different abilities, but they're just different curtains in the same room. Maybe the upcoming changes will make 2H weapons viable, but it's still much less variety than a magic build. I'd love to be able to have the option of a dual wield/2H build or to have the build variety something like Grim Dawn has; totally impractical, I know.

This along with the boring combat as been my issue. For an elderscrolls game you are locked in either stamina or magic build. I wish you could have more freedom with builds in the game.

Iselin

@Sovrath

Just curious... what class / build finally clicked for you?

And to those saying that stamina builds are all about DW/Bow, if you're a veteran hard-mode raider, I get you... I understand. But if you're not, all I can say is WTF?

I have a bow/bow warden that works great in vet dungeons and a 2HD/bow sorc that does as well. And that's just for PVE. If you PVP at all you'd know there are umpteen different builds that work well if you know how to work them... even Pelinal hybrids that use both 2HD and a staff and a mix of of magicka and stamina abilities.

This whole thing of you must be DW/bow for melee is HM trials min/max thinking with people who never play those believing it applies to them too... it doesn't.

And @BillMurphy

Me too, bud. I may leave it for a month or two now and then when something else grabs me but this has been home for me for 4 years and counting.

azarhal

I returned to ESO (again) too. Never got really far, actually the farthest I got was during closed beta and it that was level 20. Then I wait until the game got B2P, bought it and tried again, and it didn't click. I came back for One Tamriel and again, it failed to grasp me. Then bought Morrowind and nope. Even nostalgia couldn't make me play the game.

A few weeks ago, I got invited to Summerset beta and I reinstalled the base game (then looked at the PTS size and said nope). So I'm currently playing ESO, tried like 10 characters, then started reading and saw the "go magicka or stamina or sucks" and what I was doing wrong finally made sense and I got the game to click. I started with a stamina build (tried warden and sorcerer), but I ended up having more fun rolling a full magicka Templar build with resto and destruction staves.

I agree that the build have no variety unless you go magicka though, which is why I always had issues. I was either rolling sucky hybrids or tried to use melee weapons with magicka builds or class skills with stamina builds to have variety with my weapon. That's why I'm having more fun with my Templar. I got a lot more skills to choose from to make my build.

Sovrath

azarhal said:

I was either rolling sucky hybrids or tried to use melee weapons with magicka builds or class skills with stamina builds to have variety with my weapon. That's why I'm having more fun with my Templar. I got a lot more skills to choose from to make my build.

This was sort of my issue as I kept imagining a particular character and just not getting it to work in "worst case scenarios".

Since I don't enjoy creating builds and have no patience with comparing which food I should be using in conjunction with particular armor sets along with what skills I need to "keep up" with blah blah blah - omg, I'm sensing my eyes glazing over just writing this - playing the game was a slog.

It seems a Stamina Nightblade taking advantage of drains at least allows me more success than my templar so at the moment "it works".

Sovrath

Iselin said:

@Sovrath

Just curious... what class / build finally clicked for you?

I'm able to find success with a Stamina Nightblade.

Dual wield, mostly drains. I did discover the "sneak up and attack and do more damage" option that of course makes sense as it comes from the single player games but I'm not really into thief/assassin characters so I tend to forget about that bit.

The drains/siphoning abilities help keep my health up and I've been able to take out much more powerful enemies or even groups that I just couldn't seem to do with my templar.

Octagon7711

I find lots to do and I can easily pick if I want to quest, just grind, or explore during a session. An easy to remember learning curve means not having to create a new character just to relearn the game. I also have no problems with animation canceling and think it adds to the thrill of the game. In short like GW2 I can take a long break from the game and get right back into the swing of things very quickly.

Main gripe is the limited skills bar. Coming from games that had twenty skills on your skill bar I got use to having skills I used a lot, skills I used from time to time, and skills I seldom used but came in handy for specific situations. I miss that when I play this game.

bcbully

The best western lore i’ve experienced. 

azarhal

Octagon7711 said:

Main gripe is the limited skills bar. Coming from games that had twenty skills on your skill bar I got use to having skills I used a lot, skills I used from time to time, and skills I seldom used but came in handy for specific situations. I miss that when I play this game.

Another thing I'm not that much a fan off. It's slightly better after level 15, but I have to constantly switch weapon to use X or Y which is kinda annoying  which resulted in me technically only having like 8 different skill slotted because some are duplicated between bars (it's even worst if you use summons, they go "pof" when you switch if they aren't on the next bar).

DavodtheTutt

Thanks for the nod to us former denizens of City of Heroes. And ... yes, until there's another game that gives the same feels... yes, it's too early.

Albatroes

You'd think this mmorpg was a soloer's dream given that 90% of it can be solo'd.

Ahnog

I just started playing ESO. When I started I commented to a podcaster that I wasn't impressed. She said, "Hang in there. A lot of things aren't impressive at start, but grow on you. ESO certainly did that. I'm hooked.

Kajidourden

Iselin said:

@Sovrath

Just curious... what class / build finally clicked for you?

And to those saying that stamina builds are all about DW/Bow, if you're a veteran hard-mode raider, I get you... I understand. But if you're not, all I can say is WTF?

I have a bow/bow warden that works great in vet dungeons and a 2HD/bow sorc that does as well. And that's just for PVE. If you PVP at all you'd know there are umpteen different builds that work well if you know how to work them... even Pelinal hybrids that use both 2HD and a staff and a mix of of magicka and stamina abilities.

This whole thing of you must be DW/bow for melee is HM trials min/max thinking with people who never play those believing it applies to them too... it doesn't.

And @BillMurphy

Me too, bud. I may leave it for a month or two now and then when something else grabs me but this has been home for me for 4 years and counting.

Yeah....the game totally doesn't pigeonhole you at multiple levels....let's look shall we?
-Create a character 
-Pick a race (minor bonuses, not a bad thing imo but it is there)
-Pick a class.  Here again, skills are VERY biased towards build types and roles
Templars= Obvious healers
Dragon Knights= Obvious tanks
Nightblade= Obvious Stamina DPS
Sorcerer= Obvious Magicka DPS
-So let's say I pick Sorcerer not reall knowing any better.
-I start using my stat points, have to max out either stamina or magicka due to shitty damage scaling
-I take a liking to 2H weapons for DPS
-2H weapons are shit for DPS, Most of my sorc skills are magicka based, my weapon is totally stamina based
-So I can't choose how to spend my stat points, I can't choose which weapon I want to use, and if I wanted to tank for instance my class is shit at it.

For "freedom" that is all very restrictive.