The Elder Scrolls Online nyheter

Här är lite engelskspråkiga nyheter från E3 som kan vara en intressant läsning för er som väntar på TESO

 
Is it going to be possible to do Role-Playing in between factions?
“Right now we’re keeping our factions separate. The reason is we want people to have a kind of Alliance pride that we think aids PvP.  I don’t know what the future will hold but right now the answer is no”
We know from the 50++ zones that we’ll be able to experience the other faction zones and quest lines.  These quests are given to you by members of the opposing faction, and if we are experiencing the same quests as that faction where is the alliance pride coming from? I believe they are striving for the type of Alliance Pride I experienced, and I believe most people experience when they played Dark Age of Camelot.  With DAoC you had no options to experience the other realms zones unless you created a character on that realm.  In ESO it is the opposite and I think by letting us experience that alliance and all the quests it offers there is no alliance pride, your overall experience is blended into one big messy picture.  Again I ask, where is this sense of pride coming from? The sense of ownership, this is my alliance, and I will defend it with my last dying breath.
What about the day and night cycle in The Elder Scrolls Online? Can you give us some details on how long it will be day or night?
“The day/night cycle is definitely there, roughly it’s four times as fast as it passes on Earth.  So you’ll see roughly six switches between the day/night cycles.”
Wait, what? It is roughly four times faster than it passes on Earth, but there are six cycles? So we’ll either see a four hour cycle between day and night or a six hour cycle between day and night.
Elder Scrolls game traditionally have a huge moding community that create new content is there going to be a way to do that for the MMO?
“The first and easiest way you’re going to see is through the UI. The UI is done through LUA, which allows people to mod the UI, from there we’ll see what happens as the game progresses, but that’s how we’re going to start out by allowing people to edit the UI at first.”
If you are unfamiliar with what LUA moding is, think World of Warcraft mods.  WoW mods are LUA mods as well and they edit the UI and how we interact with the game itself.  It doesn’t add new content or change the overall game, just how we interact with it.  I have no issues with mods, I’m glad they are allowing it as it lets the community build some great additions to the game, my only concern with mods are the ones that make the game easier to play.  Any mod that takes the player skill out of the game in my mind should not be allowed.  If you need a mod to tell you when you’re standing in potential death instead of using your eyes there is an issue.
Will there be an Auction House in the game?
“There will be what we call a large player trade mechanism, we haven’t really released details on it yet, we want it to be something a little bit more focused than a huge broad scale one.  We want to keep that smaller community growing outwards”
Sounds to me that they are going to be introducing an Auction House but have it set to only your campaign instead of being able to view items from the entire player base.  This idea will be good when it comes to selling your items as it you won’t have millions of people to contend with.  If you have ever played World of Warcraft and tried to sell trending items on the auction house (Gems, Food, Crafting Materials etc) you are consistently being undercut, imagine trying to manage your auctions when there are thousands of player trying to sell the same thing. With that being said it could also make it a lot more difficult to find that specific item you are looking for, as you have a smaller group of people who would be selling it.

Large scale group combat
Are there going to be raids in ESO?
“What we’ve talked about is Adventure Zones, so I will try to give you a little bit of detail about Adventure Zones and a bit that’s known.  Adventure zones are really for a group of four, and there will be certain areas within the Adventure Zone where you’ll get a large group together of 24 players.  There will be a lot of different activities for those different sized groups, but we do have special things planned for those really large groups.”
In an interview, Matt Firor told Connected Digital World, “don’t think WoW Raids, as Elder Scrolls does not have 50 foot tall gods that you go fight against”, that I agree with, my concern is the End Game they are referring to, just Adventure Zones areas? Guild Wars 2 tried this type of “End Game” and unfortunately Guild Wars 2 flopped hard on the End Game aspect of it.  An MMORPG is designed for the long haul 90% of your time in the world will be at level cap, end game. Of course that small 10% has to be exceptionally detailed and immersive but that 90% needs to be the same. Players need something to strive for; a reason to login.  Star Wars: The Old Republic once you hit level cap, you were pretty much finished.  It came to a point where people were only logging in for “Raid Night” and that is not the way a MMO should be designed. And from everything we know I’m really worried about ESO’s end game goals.
 
Will there be any content especially for role players, special zones or adornments to show off?
“We absolutely want to appeal to everybody, and with role players one of the things we are introducing is costumes.  So we actually have a slot on our character that you can put a costume in, so with one quick drag you can change the entire way your character looks with a different costume, and so there Is a collection game that falls into different costumes, that’s just a hint at what we’re doing for role players, there is going to be a lot more features for Role Players.”
My biggest question for this, does it take up inventory space? There is nothing worse than having a collection aspect within a game and having it take up very valuable bag space.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat and starred at my inventory space looking for an item to throw away just so I can pick up something to add to my collection.
Will there be classic boss fights or will it be more open zone and little mobs?
“To delve deeper into it, it is going to be a large open zone.  When I mentioned before about four player is kind of the launching point for that zone and from there what we do is have areas where there are these big raids.  What we’re looking at is less about single monsters and more about a full experience where people might have to go off in different directions.  You might have to branch off five people from your group over here and five people here and attack things in parallel and with timing.”
Still has be slightly worried about End Game, these areas are sounding a lot like Guild Wars 2 area Cursed Shore, where you have areas that require large groups and other spots for single groups.  As fun as this sounds I think the replay ability of these zones will be low due to it being an Open Zone.  They can’t do too much phasing or as they call it layering, with these areas as it will than began to limit the people who can do the encounter with you.   Only time will tell on how these areas roll out, and I know the ES fans out there that haven’t played an MMO before don’t care to much about the raiding aspect of it but that type of end game is what we’ve come to know and love and to have something new is scary.
 Will there be mounts in the game?
“There will be mounts in the game.  So here is a little sneak peek.  Our mounts aren’t just mounts you pick up.  Players will be able to feed their mounts and the way they feed their mounts will determine how their mounts will grow, so they will actually get to determine certain paths of their mounts and how they behave.”
Praise the eight, we can feed our mounts and it will determine how it will grow. I showed this to a friend and this is what she had to say, “So if I overfeed my mount it will become obese?” I hope so, if ESO is that detailed that we have to feed our mount I really hope we can make it fat, or if we forget to feed the mount is becomes really skinny.  It also determines how they behave, so if we forget to feed it, will the mount begin to hate us and bite us? Not come when we summon it? Perhaps run away?  This sounds exciting.  Another thing to note is Paul specifically said mount, didn’t say horses in an interview last year they said there will only be horses, now they use the word mount instead of horses, makes me wonder if they have changed their stance on the “only horses”.
 Is it going to be possible to have a guild from all three factions?
“Yes, it is going to be possible to have a guild with all three factions.  The reason is because your guild affiliation, you can have 5 guilds you can join and the guilds that you join will be based off your account and so any of your characters can be in any of the guilds you choose to be in.”
It has finally been confirmed.  We’ve been hinted towards this a bunch of times but they have never really came flat out and said yes.  This idea again sounds similar to the way Guild Wars 2 did their guild system.  You can join multiple guilds, even if you join a different server your guild is tied to your account, all of your other characters were still able to join the guilds you’re a member of without having them another member send you an invite.
 
Can you tell us anything about the PvP Rewards?
“Right now PvP there are several different rewards have what we call Alliance Points which you get from various activities, taking keeps, killing other players etc, The Alliance Points can be used to buy different things like different armour or different weapons. […] You have four different skill lines associated with doing well in the alliance war”
So you’ll be able to buy Weapon and Armour with Alliance Points, but will there be a rank system similar to Dark Age of Camelot?  With each rank you were you able to use points to purchase additional abilities, such as being able to climb keep walls, or a purge to remove any CC abilities. Four skill lines associated with doing well in the Alliance war, well we know one is the Emperor Skill Line, what could the other three be?
Will there be any special PvP Gear with special PvP Attributes?
“There will be gear which you can acquire in PvP but that is different than gear that’s special for PvP.  We want to make sure our game doesn’t have special PvP Attributes because we want people to be able to go back and forth very easily. It’s been tough but we’ve been very conscientious of wanting all the gear to have the same stats.”
I can’t tell you how much I loathe the PvP Stat. Certain games like World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic have a stat dedicated just to PvP,  this stat typically reduces the amount of damage you take from another player by a drastic amount.  In ESO they are doing their best to not introduce a PvP dedicated stat to make it easier for player to jump into PvP/PvE whenever they wanted to without having to have two completely different sets of gear.
If you’re a crafter is it possible to put your name on the armour or in the description of the armour?
“Yes”
Literally that is all he said. With a resounding Yes, I couldn’t be happier about this, I just hope they add a bit more than just adding “Made by ” into the tool tip.  Make it so we can in some way identify our crafts, perhaps when we choose weaponsmith we can pick what type of hilts we want to create so all of our weapons would have that style of blade, give it a wavy inlay or an etched look. Of course at some point someone will choose the same design as us but at least it would allow us to build a bit more sense in our crafts.
After watching this interview ESO seems to be on the right track they are listening to the fan base and doing the right changes that we as players want to see.
The mount information has me super excited to feed my pet and see how I can personalize him.  Still worried about the overall End Game experience, the PvP seems to be heading down the right path, but I did say that about Guild Wars 2 prior to release.  The end game “raiding” is still a concern and I think it will be a major concern for me until a lot more information is released or I get to try it at release.  I am really enjoying the way the character progression is turning out, ESO is trying to remove the “cookie cutter” idea and actually allow us to build our characters with the skills we want and still be viable in both PvE and PvP. If this is what they release for a “Pre-E3″ event, I can’t wait to see what they release at E3!
On the PvP issue and zoning at a certain level, what we know for sure is that you’ll be scaled up to approximately level 50. You’ll be able to remain competitive, but a true lvl 50 will have the advantage of having more skills and abilities than you. So in other words, you won’t stand a chance unless the true lvl 50 is really drunk.
Traveling is achieved through a Wayshrine and to do so, you must first visit one (doh !). However travel between Wayshrines is free. But if you’re in a hurry, a fast travel Wayshrine from anywhere will cost you gold, and there are limits to how often you can do this.
Loot Items will spawn in containers, houses, crates, barrels, but the rate at which these things reappear will be frequent enough for you to find items in most of the cases.
Skill lines : Class and racial skills are exclusive to your choices. However, there are some mutually exclusive skill lines—for instance, you cannot be a werewolf and a vampire at the same time.
PVE large-group content : The meaning of the word “raid ” or what we know about it from a “wow” perspective will be slightly different with TESO : “raid,” means different things to different people. When we said we won’t have “raids,” we meant that we won’t have raids in the traditional sense of the word—we’ll have our own way to get large groups together. There will absolutely be large-group PvE activity in the game, but we’re not ready to talk about those systems yet.”
Will your level be scaled up when joining a PvP zone, or will you remain the same level and be a part of a level “bracket”? For example, if I am level 16 and enter a PvP zone, will I be scaled up to max level along with everyone else, or will I remain level 16 and play with people in the 10-19 bracket?
You will be scaled up to approximately level 50. You’ll be able to remain competitive, but a true level 50 will have the advantage of having more skills and abilities than you.
How much emphasis do you put into designing quests that pop up dynamically or require you to decipher their hints, rather than being tied to any specific NPC quest giver? Will we be able to initiate quests through a variety of natural triggers (like entering an area or killing a given mob), or will most quests be centralized to NPCs handing them out?
This is a good question. Our quests are designed with purpose in mind, or “context,” if you prefer. We feel very strongly as a team that quests need to make sense and quest granting should be done in a way that is grounded in the world. While we do have various methods for granting quests, most are given by various NPCs. There are still many that are done in other ways, such as finding books, notes, corpses, etc.
It’s also important to keep in mind that there are many activities that aren’t quests. We feel it is just as important to explore, craft, and do various other activities.
With such an expanse of playable area, will the player be able to fast travel from anywhere so long as certain conditions are met (i.e. not in the middle of battle)?
As long as you have visited a Wayshrine, you will be able to travel to it. Travel between Wayshrines is free. Fast traveling to a Wayshrine from anywhere will cost you gold, and there are limits how often you can do this.
Will I be able to make/eat sweet rolls? I must know!
Yes. And Fishy Sticks, of course.
I read that you can loot items from houses, crates, barrels, etc. How fast will these items respawn? If someone looted the area some minutes ago, will I find only empty boxes?
It is possible that you’d find empty containers, but we hope the rate at which these things reappear will be frequent enough for you to find items in many cases.
You mentioned that there will be permanent character choices that affect the phase of an area—for example, saving a village or not saving a village. Let’s say I did save the village and my friend did not. We are not in the same phase; how will we be able to play together in that specific zone?
In some areas, phasing (or “layering” as we call it) is not based on a choice, but on whether or not you’ve done a certain thing yet. In this case, separation from another player would be temporary. In other areas, it can be based off of a choice you’ve made. Those choices tend to come at the end of the activity for an area, reducing separation.
There are other mechanisms we use to reinforce choice that have nothing to do with layering. You may experience something completely different than someone else based on your individual choices, but the ways we show this don’t separate you from others at all. The latter techniques are used far more frequently than layering. And finally, there are still other solutions we’ll discuss later that enable you to better stay together with others even if you’d normally be in different layers.
Also note that layering and channels are not the same thing. The megaserver places players intelligently into channels to make sure your gameplay experience is good and to prevent overcrowding. So if you’re in Glenumbra, but you can’t see your friend, you may be in a different channel. You’ll simply be able to join your friend in their channel or vice-versa. Channels, however, will be largely invisible, as we’ll try to put you in the best channel with the highest preponderance of your social connections.
Since space on the hotbar will be limited, how will you implement using non-combat spells such as waterbreathing, water walking, magelight, open lock, and persuasion?
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
All spells will be cast through the hotbar or quickslot. European or African?
Besides other class skills, can all skills be acquired in ESO? Will getting the Mages Guild skill line still allow you to get the Fighters Guild skill line?
In general, you’ll be able to get most of the skill lines. As you mentioned, class and racial skills are exclusive to your choices. However, there are some mutually exclusive skill lines—for instance, you cannot be a werewolf and a vampire at the same time.
I recently read that there are no raids in ESO. Is that true? Does the dev team have a plan to keep those hardcore PvE players interested in end-game content with something that will take the place of a raid?
The problem here is the definition of the word “raid,” which means different things to different people. When we said we won’t have “raids,” we meant that we won’t have raids in the traditional sense of the word—we’ll have our own way to get large groups together. There will absolutely be large-group PvE activity in the game, but we’re not ready to talk about those systems yet. We have mentioned adventure zones in the past, but we won’t go into details until those systems are finalized.