In this week’s “Ask Us Anything” the developers at Zenimax Online Studios answered some more questions regarding their upcoming MMO, The Elder Scrolls Online. Since it’s another variety pack this week we get to learn a little bit about PvP, zoning, and even a little about the concept of raids in ESO. Continue reading to get all the info, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
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.