After almost twenty years of wandering the hills and vales of Tamriel alone, you'll finally be able to assemble a crack team of dungeon crawlers and cheese wheel collectors to adventure together in The Elder Scrolls Online when it launches on the Xbox One in Spring 2014. Console MMOs are a tricky business when you're starting from scratch, but Zenimax Online Studios also has the unenviable task of transferring a much-loved world, rich in history and lore, into a massive, immersive online environment. We're big Elder Scrolls fans round these parts, so it goes without saying that we're watching this one closely. Here are eleven facts on TESO that you need to know.The story involves Daedric Princes up to their usual nonsense
Molag Bal, the Daedric prince of domination and enslavement, is attempting to merge the worlds of Nirn and Oblivion. Monsters are spilling out into Tamriel, and thus it's up to you and your mates to give them a good kicking and send them back to where they came from. Meanwhile, all the world's nations are being divided by civil war, and full-on battles, involving thousands of warriors, are breaking out in Cyrodiil.
The game has more in common with a traditional RPG than an MMO
So said creative director Paul Sage whilst chatting with Gamespot at E3. He remarked that the game is designed more for RPG fans who want to experience the Elder Scrolls universe together than for hardcore MMO players.
You can wander around, explore and interact with things much as you did in Skyrim, and the game features a minimal HUD rather than reams of the busy-looking cooldown bars and tooltips typical of an MMO title. For the most part, rather than trying to cram the Elder Scrolls universe into an MMO format, developers Zenimax Online Studios has stuck with the winning Skyrim gameplay formula and adapted it up to suit multiple players adventuring together.
Therefore, there won't be raids. Or Auction Houses. Or end-game gear
According to an article on Just Push Start, The Elder Scrolls Online won't offer massive raid scenarios. There won't be gigantic bosses that require dozens of players to fell, but there will be instances that allow up to four players to explore together. Public dungeons will allow more than four players, of course, but they'll just be regular dungeons - so you may have to share the space with players outside your party. Which, as anyone with MMO experience will tell you, is a pain when there are large queues waiting to have their turn with enemy respawns.
The same JPS article also claims there won't be end-game gear grinding, so when you reach level 50, the best gear is obtained only through top-tier crafting. This doesn't sound very promising for end-game content, but developers insist that TESO will "most certainly" receive some expansions. A final blow for MMO-ers: there will be no Auction Houses. Players can trade with one another, but you'll have to find someone to trade with via the game's chat box rather than bartering in public.
You can switch between first and third person
Most fans of the Elder Scrolls series favour the first-person perspective, though this might have something to do with the fact that ice-skating is the default movement animation for third-person avatars. The first-person viewpoint also makes exploring a dungeon and spotting and picking up items much easier.. However, in an always-live MMO game, where enemies can potentially approach from any angle at any time, a bit of third-person situational awareness is sometimes essential. The Elder Scrolls Online will allow players to switch between perspectives at any time.
Cyrodiil will be the only place where everyone can engage in PvP
The races of Cyrodiil have been divided into three distinct factions; the Daggerfall Covenant, the Aldmeri Dominion, and the Ebonheart Pact. These three alliances are in a constant battle for control of the Imperial City and the White-Gold tower, and PvP combat will take a number of different forms. The game promises the largest PvP battles seen in a major online RPG, and can support hundreds of players on screen at once.
Battle types include sieges and territory gains, where the highest ranking player of the winning alliance will become emperor and must hold control for as long as possible. There are also Capture the Flag-style modes in which alliances try to steal an enemy's Elder Scroll and bring it back to their own fortress, conferring its unique buffs on their allies. As you do different things in PvP you'll gain alliance points, which you can exchange for new gear and abilities.
You'll have three alliance, nine races and four classes to choose from
The three factions are divided into nine races, with three available per alliance. Once you choose your race, there are four class types to select from; Dragonknight, Templar, Sorcerer and Nightblade. These loosely fit into the established MMO archetypes of warrior, paladin, mage and assassin respectively, but TESO is a little more flexible with roles in that it allows any class to equip any armour or weapon type.
Eschewing the usual item restrictions means that tanks can wear cloth or healers can wear mail and wield swords - whether that's advisable remains to be seen. Each class has three different skill trees, and in addition to that, each race has a unique skill line as well. Joining Fighter or Mage guilds grants access to yet another new skill tree, so there's plenty to shoot for down the line. And of course, there will be a way to respec your skill points should you get bored of a character build.
There will be mounts
Developers have confirmed that characters start off in the game with a horse. You'll be able to interact with it and feed it different items, and what you feed it will determine how it grows, and whether it gains new bursts of speed or stamina, so the process is a little more involved than in other MMOs. There's no word on whether more exotic mounts will become available later in the game, but there will be a variety of tag-along NPCs and animals that can follow you around at various points during your adventure.
Loot is instanced to individual players
In Skyrim, it takes a Herculean display of willpower to walk into a dungeon and not make off with everything that isn't nailed down. This kind of thinking obviously poses problems when there are other players involved, but ZeniMax Online seems to have come up with an elegant solution. Dropped loot is instanced to each individual player, so if you and a few friends go through a dungeon together, everyone who contributed to a kill will each get the same loot delivered to their inventory.
You can get married
That's right, it's possible to tie the knot in TESO. At the end of the (in-game) ceremony you'll both get an equippable ring, and if you wear those rings when you dungeon-crawl and quest together, you'll both receive an experience bonus. D'awww. Asked whether you can 'marry' multiple players at once, Paul Sage quipped that you could, adding that it might get "expensive". Either these ceremonies cost in-game gold, or Cyrodiil employs some fearsome lawyers.
Guilds come in both in-game and player-created varieties
There will be two kinds of Guilds in The Elder Scrolls Online - in-game guilds and player guilds. In-game guilds work much like they always have in single player Elder Scrolls titles, offering optional quests and skills to their members. Player guilds are similar to the way they work in other MMOs. You can sign up for a guild right now up to when the game launches, reserving its name and organising its members so it's ready and waiting to go when you fire up TESO next spring. Bethesda has promised that guild banks will work in an interesting way, but hasn't spilled the beans on how just yet.
No dragons are planned to appear
Yet, at least...
Source: OXM
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[h=3]References[/h]
Thanks to: Rheena.com
Molag Bal, the Daedric prince of domination and enslavement, is attempting to merge the worlds of Nirn and Oblivion. Monsters are spilling out into Tamriel, and thus it's up to you and your mates to give them a good kicking and send them back to where they came from. Meanwhile, all the world's nations are being divided by civil war, and full-on battles, involving thousands of warriors, are breaking out in Cyrodiil.
The game has more in common with a traditional RPG than an MMO
So said creative director Paul Sage whilst chatting with Gamespot at E3. He remarked that the game is designed more for RPG fans who want to experience the Elder Scrolls universe together than for hardcore MMO players.
You can wander around, explore and interact with things much as you did in Skyrim, and the game features a minimal HUD rather than reams of the busy-looking cooldown bars and tooltips typical of an MMO title. For the most part, rather than trying to cram the Elder Scrolls universe into an MMO format, developers Zenimax Online Studios has stuck with the winning Skyrim gameplay formula and adapted it up to suit multiple players adventuring together.
Therefore, there won't be raids. Or Auction Houses. Or end-game gear
According to an article on Just Push Start, The Elder Scrolls Online won't offer massive raid scenarios. There won't be gigantic bosses that require dozens of players to fell, but there will be instances that allow up to four players to explore together. Public dungeons will allow more than four players, of course, but they'll just be regular dungeons - so you may have to share the space with players outside your party. Which, as anyone with MMO experience will tell you, is a pain when there are large queues waiting to have their turn with enemy respawns.
The same JPS article also claims there won't be end-game gear grinding, so when you reach level 50, the best gear is obtained only through top-tier crafting. This doesn't sound very promising for end-game content, but developers insist that TESO will "most certainly" receive some expansions. A final blow for MMO-ers: there will be no Auction Houses. Players can trade with one another, but you'll have to find someone to trade with via the game's chat box rather than bartering in public.
You can switch between first and third person
Most fans of the Elder Scrolls series favour the first-person perspective, though this might have something to do with the fact that ice-skating is the default movement animation for third-person avatars. The first-person viewpoint also makes exploring a dungeon and spotting and picking up items much easier.. However, in an always-live MMO game, where enemies can potentially approach from any angle at any time, a bit of third-person situational awareness is sometimes essential. The Elder Scrolls Online will allow players to switch between perspectives at any time.
Cyrodiil will be the only place where everyone can engage in PvP
The races of Cyrodiil have been divided into three distinct factions; the Daggerfall Covenant, the Aldmeri Dominion, and the Ebonheart Pact. These three alliances are in a constant battle for control of the Imperial City and the White-Gold tower, and PvP combat will take a number of different forms. The game promises the largest PvP battles seen in a major online RPG, and can support hundreds of players on screen at once.
Battle types include sieges and territory gains, where the highest ranking player of the winning alliance will become emperor and must hold control for as long as possible. There are also Capture the Flag-style modes in which alliances try to steal an enemy's Elder Scroll and bring it back to their own fortress, conferring its unique buffs on their allies. As you do different things in PvP you'll gain alliance points, which you can exchange for new gear and abilities.
You'll have three alliance, nine races and four classes to choose from
The three factions are divided into nine races, with three available per alliance. Once you choose your race, there are four class types to select from; Dragonknight, Templar, Sorcerer and Nightblade. These loosely fit into the established MMO archetypes of warrior, paladin, mage and assassin respectively, but TESO is a little more flexible with roles in that it allows any class to equip any armour or weapon type.
Eschewing the usual item restrictions means that tanks can wear cloth or healers can wear mail and wield swords - whether that's advisable remains to be seen. Each class has three different skill trees, and in addition to that, each race has a unique skill line as well. Joining Fighter or Mage guilds grants access to yet another new skill tree, so there's plenty to shoot for down the line. And of course, there will be a way to respec your skill points should you get bored of a character build.
There will be mounts
Developers have confirmed that characters start off in the game with a horse. You'll be able to interact with it and feed it different items, and what you feed it will determine how it grows, and whether it gains new bursts of speed or stamina, so the process is a little more involved than in other MMOs. There's no word on whether more exotic mounts will become available later in the game, but there will be a variety of tag-along NPCs and animals that can follow you around at various points during your adventure.
Loot is instanced to individual players
In Skyrim, it takes a Herculean display of willpower to walk into a dungeon and not make off with everything that isn't nailed down. This kind of thinking obviously poses problems when there are other players involved, but ZeniMax Online seems to have come up with an elegant solution. Dropped loot is instanced to each individual player, so if you and a few friends go through a dungeon together, everyone who contributed to a kill will each get the same loot delivered to their inventory.
You can get married
That's right, it's possible to tie the knot in TESO. At the end of the (in-game) ceremony you'll both get an equippable ring, and if you wear those rings when you dungeon-crawl and quest together, you'll both receive an experience bonus. D'awww. Asked whether you can 'marry' multiple players at once, Paul Sage quipped that you could, adding that it might get "expensive". Either these ceremonies cost in-game gold, or Cyrodiil employs some fearsome lawyers.
Guilds come in both in-game and player-created varieties
There will be two kinds of Guilds in The Elder Scrolls Online - in-game guilds and player guilds. In-game guilds work much like they always have in single player Elder Scrolls titles, offering optional quests and skills to their members. Player guilds are similar to the way they work in other MMOs. You can sign up for a guild right now up to when the game launches, reserving its name and organising its members so it's ready and waiting to go when you fire up TESO next spring. Bethesda has promised that guild banks will work in an interesting way, but hasn't spilled the beans on how just yet.
No dragons are planned to appear
Yet, at least...
Source: OXM
Join Our Facebook Group For All The Latest News[SUP][1][/SUP][SUP][2][/SUP]
[h=3]References[/h]
- [SUP]^[/SUP] Source: OXM (www.oxm.co.uk)
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Thanks to: Rheena.com