Matt Firor, director of Elder Scrolls Online took some time today on their official site to take a look at the year ahead and give players a preview of what to expect for the coming year. 2015 was a fantastic year for the game, with the console release helping to infuse “millions of players” into the world, creating a very busy online experience. After acknowledging the successes of the past year, Firor laid out what to expect for 2016. Let’s look at the highlights.
Social Improvements
Acknowledging a desire to make the game’s online ecosystem more open and present a linking and grouping system with less restrictions the following improvements are planned:
- Looking for Group version 2.0, which will go live with the Thieves Guild update. This will fix some longstanding problems with our LFG system and allow players to create groups faster and more efficiently.
- All future DLC will continue to use player level scaling to ensure that players of all levels can play in the same zone together, as we do with Imperial City and Orsinium.
- Enable text chat on consoles later this year to help players – if they wish – to communicate zone-wide with other players, have easier access to emotes, and be able to chat with others using text instead of voice. This will be optional, and we will continue to fully support voice chat on console as the primary means of communication.
- Work on a Looking for Guild system, as well as updates and fixes to make it easier manage player guilds.
Leveling
The leveling and progression system is often a subject of discussion for players and they’re being addressed this year specifically their plans to remove veteran ranks and make the Champion system the primary means of leveling beyond 50. Here is what was laid out in those respects:
- There will be little or no changes to our current 1-50 player leveling system. You will receive one Skill Point per level as you do now, and one point to put into your Attributes (Stamina, Magicka, or Health.)
- From 50+, you will receive Champion Points as you gain Experience, which you can use to further augment your character via the Champion System. The character information window will be updated to show your level, plus your Champion Rating, which is the total number of Champion Points you have accrued.
- You will be able to gain more Skill Points the same way you do now, by completing quests, raising your Alliance War rank, and collecting Skyshards.
- We will continue to slowly raise the Champion Point cap over time as we add more content. The cap is currently set at 501 Champion Points.
DLC and Updates
DLC and expansions are always a part of the MMO experience and this year, ESO has several plans for new content:
- First quarter will see the release of the Thieves Guild DLC pack which will introduce new gameplay elements and story content.
- Second quarter will see the release of the Dark Brotherhood DLC pack. Set on the Gold Coast of Cyrodiil, the pack will add new gameplay elements and story.
- There are plans for further content updates, but no specifics were shared at this time.
- In addition to the expansions, players can look forward to other core game updates such as scrolling combat text (which will go live with the Thieves Guild DLC), character nameplates, the ability for console players to display their character name instead of their PSN ID/XBL Gamertag, among others. Longer term, expect to see information about systems like a character customization shop so you can change your character’s gender, appearance, name, etc., player housing, and other systems
Addressing some often asked questions from the players, Firor stated that they will not be adding in a PvP component to the Justice system as it would be too hard to maintain a sense of fun for the players. Server responsiveness for players is also a continued commitment for the development team albeit one that must be incremental due to logistics. Spellcrafting was the final question addressed, and it seems it’s to be shelved for now but they remain optimistic about its future.
That’s a hefty agenda for the coming year! The game was present on many people’s best games lists and it is carrying a solid momentum into 2016. What are your thoughts on all the changes coming this year?
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18 responses to “Elder Scrolls Online: The Year Ahead”
I don’t doubt the grind will be any different, but as far as I know they are going to keep CP points account wide, like they are now. So once you hit 50, you can jump right into any content you want with any character you want, making alts easier and less time consuming to make.
I don’t mind the grind, it’s an MMO and I played WoW for about 6 years, from vanilla through cataclysm, so I’m used to putting in time. I would just like to be able to make another class and be able to play at the tier I’m at with my main quicker, not play for 3 months and almost get there.
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100% not true
If you do dungeons, pvp and visit wrothgar you don’t even have to do Cadwell’s silver.
The champion point grind will not be any different than the VRs I don’t think
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Heard more than a few people say this, but for some reason I made it to V16 before even finishing Cadwell’s Gold and all I did was questing (not much of a PvPer). I can’t be the only one…
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pffft what kind of nerd would level 1-2 VR a day
*nervous sweating*
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Or you can go to wrothgar/imperial city and power level at the rate of 1-2 VR ranks a day
I’m worried that the game will go to shet for a month or two while they get all the kinks worked out. They will literally have to balance and redo most of the game. That’s no small task!
Cas
Yeah that’s the main reason I’m ok with it. I’ve been playing as much as I can, and in 3 weeks I’ve managed VR 3 to halfway through 7. I’m guessing another 6 weeks until I’m VR16. That is a ton of time, and each alt will take as long as that, so each new character would take me… A few months each?
Oh I forgot champion points transfer….. that makes a lot of sense
I think the main complaint against the VR system is the grind to 16. You have to go through all of Cadwell’s quests, then Craglorn, then Wrothgar, then maybe even have to grind mobs to max level. I have a few alts, but I don’t want to level them much, because of the VR grind. Gear will have CP requirements instead of VR.
With CP requirements, that carry over to every toon you make, you just have to level to 50, then you can immediately get your alt to the point of your main. Much more streamlined, like how Diablo 3 manages champion points after getting max level.
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Honestly the whole switch sounds extremely complicated for no good reason
Was there some problem with the vr system?
I can’t wait for text chat on consoles. Always felt like it should have been included from the beginning.
I’m curious how crafting will then work. Will there be break points for Champion Levels, like a 300 Champion Point Hunding’s Rage set and a 350 Point one?
Cas
We are going to lose the 16 Skillpoints from hitting VR16, as champion points don’t give you skillpoints
So the only way to get extra skillpoints will be to go to other alliance zones, no?
I don’t think you’ll have to do Cadwell’s quests abt more than now, and making alts will be much easier. Just grinding VR is taking forever.
I’m made of right now
Thiefs Guild
Dark Brotherhood
TEXT CHAT ON CONSOLES!
don’t care about anything else after point 3
The VR rank system removal is really odd for me. I guess everyone is going to *have to* do Cadwell’s Silver and Cadwell’s Gold now.
So what’s their reasoning for removing vr ranks?
From what I’ve read, the level requirements for armor and weapons will become CP requirements. Any VR levels you have will be converted to CP as well, so you won’t lose anything. Skill points, I’m not sure on but I’m pretty sure they won’t remove any from you. Any skill points from VR levels will probably be allocated somewhere else.
I’m betting VR16 will be equivalent to max CP, or at least near it. Most likely VR16=300CP. Don’t think there is much information out about it now, because they don’t want people getting the wrong idea.
Neat…. so how will armor work? Vr 16 becomes 50?
Will I lose stats?
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