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Post by tantalyr on Jan 23, 2013 12:03:07 GMT
Here's an article from NBC.com on the announcement that The Elder Scrolls Online will be opening up for public beta testing. Is anyone planning to beta test this new MMO? I really don't have the time to, but as I loved the whole Elder Scrolls single player series, I'd be very interested in comments about the MMO version.
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Post by Deth on Jan 23, 2013 13:55:32 GMT
I signed up to see what it was like as there is nothing else out there that I know about. If I get in I ill let you know.
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xaeris
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Post by xaeris on Jan 23, 2013 15:49:31 GMT
I'd be interested to see some videos and stuff about how the gameplay is actually going to work, because I always wondered how exactly someone's going to do an MMORPG out of an Open Sandbox type game.
In MMORPGs, usually you have to choose a role (at least temporarily!) so that you don't get an MMORPG where everyone eventually has everything maxed out.
But yet, Bethesda's games have always been about total and complete freedom to use/do whatever you want in the world, to build your own characters the way YOU want them built without any rule system slowing you down.
This doesn't really work well in an MMORPG though, I wouldn't think.
That, and it is a FPP game. I wonder how they're going to do things like targeting teammates (there IS going to be PvE Co-Op play, RIGHT?), or is the Melee Range "Lay on Hands" heal the only team-based spell you're going to get? Maybe AoE centered on the caster?
And then back to my earlier point... how are they going to do PvE progression when everybody can be everything? If they change that and put actual classes in the game, surely this would break the spirit of an Elder Scrolls game, suddenly you can't pursue anything you want, or be anything you want, unlike all of the OTHER ES games recently?
And then we come to the subject of raising skills and acquiring gear -- they'd surely have to make this slower and more grindy, otherwise players will play, get the best stuff <1 month and then quit if there's nothing else to do.
Lack of Endgame is what kills most newer MMORPGs nowadays... let's hope ES doesn't go the same way.
Bethesda is usually awesome at making games... but this is their first MMO, so I'm curious to see how they tackle these concerns.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2013 16:55:38 GMT
Just to be clear, Bethesda itself isn't the one making this game. ZeniMax Online is. Yes, they are owned by the same company, but they are separate studios.
I'm curious what back-end they are using for this. Originally (back in 2007/2008) they were licensed the HeroEngine platform, but I haven't kept in the loop so I don't know if they still are or if they switched to something else.
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Post by jingles on Jan 23, 2013 17:04:41 GMT
the hero engine was for prototyping while they developed an in-house client and sever code
yeah I am signing up, might as well I sure as fuck cannot generate any interest in anything else these days game wise
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2013 18:00:55 GMT
the hero engine was for prototyping while they developed an in-house client and sever code Yikes, thats an expensive prototype! Can't imagine spending $1 - $2 million plus development costs for a prototype.
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Post by jingles on Jan 23, 2013 19:56:01 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2013 21:15:19 GMT
Cool. Thanks. I didn't know they had switched. Thats interesting. When I was working at Simutronics on Hero's Journey (using HeroEngine) they had just licensed it and everyone was very excited about it and SWTOR.
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Post by FrithRae on Jan 24, 2013 6:03:39 GMT
Is the beta out on the Hero or on their own?
Considering this has only been in development what...2 years? The fact that beta is starting soon does not give me much hope this will be anything like what we expect from "Elder Scrolls"
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2013 10:30:58 GMT
Is the beta out on the Hero or on their own? Considering this has only been in development what...2 years? The fact that beta is starting soon does not give me much hope this will be anything like what we expect from "Elder Scrolls" If they prototyped their systems in Hero then its been in development for at least 5 years, Frith. They had just licensed Hero when I started at Simutronics in March 2008. The engine was likely already in development while they prototyped systems in HE and while they may not have been able to port code directly across they certainly would have nailed down the mechanics and so writing that code would have been much easier.
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Post by FrithRae on Jan 25, 2013 20:50:40 GMT
Ahh ok good, whew. Yea I was figuring they must have already changed it over to their "own" system before now.
I just know its been what..less than 2 years since the "live" annoucement; which so far in the industry means a pretty fast development schedule.
And of course signed up for beta; I'm not sold ont he game yet but doesnt mean I wouldn't enjoy testing and poking at it for 'em.
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Post by jingles on Jan 25, 2013 23:48:19 GMT
I am curious as to how they will do the skills/class system. To me that is what really shined in the Elder Scroll sames. Would love to be able to be a stealth class who used a bow and poison daggers
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xaeris
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Post by xaeris on Jan 27, 2013 2:53:34 GMT
I am curious as to how they will do the skills/class system. To me that is what really shined in the Elder Scroll sames. Would love to be able to be a stealth class who used a bow and poison daggers This is my #1 question as well. "Elder Scrolls" games (as well FO3/NV) were very good in that they allowed you to be anything, and more importantly, be EVERYTHING as long as you spent the time to raise all that crap. However... This does not work in MMORPGs without limits (Classes that most WoW-Like games have) or Temporary Classes (like Istaria or FFXI). MMORPGs rely upon people interacting with each other for various reasons, and in a PvE environment, people grouping up to take down NPCs. How good would PvE combat seriously be if everybody had high armor, self heals, and high damage output? There'd be no tanks, no healers, no damage dealers, everybody could do everything. You either had this stuff leveled or you didn't, and I'm willing to bet that those who didn't would be told to go level the stuff first before coming to groups once the game got established well. In PvP, it'd be even MORE of a nightmare -- depending on how they handle PvP in the game, players who can be everything would be nigh-unkillable, and when you had two such players fighting each other, then it'd fall down to Latency and FPS if both characters had everything leveled to the max. So.... What do we do? Add classes? Wouldn't that kinda break the Spirit of what an Elder Scrolls game -is-? Add a "Temporary Class" system? Again, that feels like sticking on a limitation in an otherwise open-sandbox franchise. I'm very interested to hear how they plan on solving this particular dilemma.
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Post by FrithRae on Jan 27, 2013 6:14:32 GMT
Yea, we call that Secret World..*chuckles*
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Post by jingles on Jan 28, 2013 10:48:24 GMT
well my thoughts are
You get a skill point per level to spend anyway you like. Level cap of XX levels so you have XX skill points to spend. The higher you go in a skill "tree" the more the next branch or node costs. Sort of like most MMO's these days except no limitations on what or how many skill trees you can choose.
Dump everything into archery and you will be one hell of a archer however your armor is shit and if you try picking up a sword you would probably cut yourself with it. Pump everything into daggers and stealth great, but don't try picking any locks or picking up a bow. Now I am not a game designer and pretty sure the min maxxers would find a way to fuck that up but.....
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