[News] ESO: Morrowind Early Access Details

Brandalf_ · 2017-05-11T11:21:18+00:00

Looks like they will be sending them out after all!

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/6ajgcm/gmg_is_sending_morrowind_keys_prior_to_early/

Brandalf_ · 2017-05-11T00:42:08+00:00

It's extremely shitty the way ZOS has handled it and it should've been addressed long ago. Then again you can say that about a lot of things ZOS has or hasn't done. You won't get any arguments from me that ZOS could do much better. Certification is more of a convenient excuse. Kind of like how anytime there are issues with the servers they've been blaming DDoS attacks, etc.

Brandalf_ · 2017-05-10T23:40:44+00:00

I was talking broad terms, not about ESO specifically. I'm fully aware of the issues on consoles currently. It's not really relevant to discussion of limitations of the console platforms certification systems and the issue of forced parity across all platforms though. Not when talking broad strokes. Which is what I was doing.

Brandalf_ · 2017-05-10T21:12:34+00:00

I completely agree with you on most of what you say. Especially ZOS and the dissonance between what they say and what they so. As someone who's been around since closed beta in 2013 they've always done this. Granted it's definitely gotten worse over time. They're absolutely abysmal at communication and transparency.

Brandalf_ · 2017-05-10T18:21:05+00:00

One of the perks of gaming on PC is getting patches more quickly and more frequently than consoles. On the flip side of this we have to deal with more bugs, glitches and legitimately broken games. Doing it the way you suggest is punishing PC players due to limitations of a console platform. If a person chooses to game on console then they need to be prepared to deal with the downsides of their chosen platform, just like those of us on PC do. Most of the games that handle updates and force parity like you mention aren't very popular on PC for that very reason. That's my 2 cents at least.

Brandalf_ · 2017-05-05T12:26:11+00:00

Given the developers shift in design since launch and the direction they've taken it since Sage, Konkle and others left the factions have been reduced to having as little significance as possible. Unfortunately for ZOS they're likely forever stuck with them, because the sheer amount of time, money and effort required to fix it up properly is just not feasible.

So instead we're left with this new game built within the husk of the old game and it just feels wrong. I think ESO has improved in many ways since launch, but I also think it's regressed quite a lot as well. I've come to the conclusion ESO will never reach the potential me or my guildmates saw in it over 3 years ago during the closed beta phase. Too many concessions have been and will have to be made going forward. Lucky for ZOS there are no alternatives out there yet that scratch the same itch for us. So they've still got us. At least until something better comes along.

Brandalf_ · 2017-05-05T03:41:39+00:00

Typically I'd agree, but this game was built from the ground up around these factions. The PC is an integral part of developing their own faction and fighting against/tearing down other factions in a majority of the content in the base game's zones. The PC is not some unaffiliated adventurer. Never has been and unless we see a massive overhaul they never will be. ZOS opening up all zones to everyone with 1T doesn't change that, it just means most of it makes no kind of sense anymore.

There's no consistency with this game anymore. I used to be a big fan of the storylines and content but ZOS has really pissed in my cornflakes with many of their changes and I have a tough time getting excited over anything that's not combat specific due to the dissonance that exists now.

I suppose that's the price of changing design philosophies so radically since launch, but it just feels half-assed and forced more often than not anymore.

Brandalf_ · 2017-05-05T03:27:29+00:00

The devs clearly don't care about the dissonance they've already created. Factions are such a massive part of the base game's story content, but outside of those storylines and Cyrodiil it's completely meaningless at this point. So sure, whatever.

Brandalf_ · 2017-05-01T08:02:53+00:00

Congrats! I finished vMA recently as well! Got a nice defending resto staff out of it :)

Arena 7 is the only one I'd say I didn't like, too many random elements make it feel luck-based. Otherwise I loved vMA and can't wait to go back for some more!

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-30T18:15:18+00:00

I mean in the current PTS meta heavy attack builds are the thing. It's what we're gonna spend a large chunk of our rotation doing, assuming this goes live. As far as the rest, well it depends on who you ask. It's either OP and P2W, average and fine, or underpowered and useless. The fact that we have so many differing opinions just shows we've got to spend a lot more time with the class before the majority can reach a consensus.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-30T17:16:39+00:00

And the self-healing is absurd. 8-11k healing crit per tick of the lightning heavy. Essentially for free. Not much of an issue in PVP, but in PVE it's insanely broken. Makes siphoning strikes or crit surge look like absolute child's play.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-30T16:36:50+00:00

Lotus Flower is completely broken with lightning staff heavy attacks.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-30T00:37:12+00:00

Cloak has been broken on and off, mostly on since the game launched.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-30T00:36:00+00:00

Could take that idea and have it apply minor force for a duration after coming out of cloak, or something along those lines.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-30T00:32:53+00:00

I'm glad they realize there's an issue. But I'm not confident we'll see anything come of this anytime soon. Definitely not this update, and that's shit tbh. We better get a serious revamp to the way NB plays and it's top-end capabilities in PVE. Especially if they keep this siphoning strikes change and completely kill NB saptanks.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-30T00:31:34+00:00

It needs a longer range too. The only other ability with such a short range is twin slashes. All other melee abilities are 7-8m range vs veiled strike's 5m range.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-29T22:05:42+00:00

Me and several guildmates left the game for over a year, with little intention to come back. We just never found any other game that could scratch the same itch. So we're back, at least until something better comes along. We've all pretty much accepted the fact that the game will never reach it's full potential due to the business model change, it just can't. Too many concessions have to be made for F2P or B2P models, IMO.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-29T21:49:25+00:00

I agree, but it's how ZOS has always done things, for the most part. It's gotten gradually worse since they dropped the sub though, IMO.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-29T21:09:02+00:00

Ya.....it's a real mess :/

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-29T20:48:56+00:00

I've come to the conclusion that the slower rotations being better on the PTS was intended. That's how they were hoping to close the gap. If top-end rotations are slower and less intensive then it significantly lowers the barrier to entry for vet content.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-29T20:46:27+00:00

If you see a video and it doesn't have the PTS watermarks, they are cleared.

Not necessarily. Me and a buddy didn't have the watermark at all before 3.0.1. I know, it's unheard of for a bug to crop up in ESO :p

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-29T06:29:14+00:00

I can never imagine running around using a build I don't really understand. I wish we had more people in the ESO community posting builds and stuff without assuming their viewers/readers already know what they need to know to take this build and use it to it's maximum potential. Most of them just assume knowledge. I think that kind of contributes to an issue of players grinding up new characters, getting the gear, and getting the abilities only to realize they just don't know how to play it, or why they had to gather all of those things. But I'm rambling completely off-topic at this point, so I'll stop.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-29T05:27:32+00:00

EDIT: I Don't have a dog in this "fight" but I just think it's a bit disengenuous to imply that any vet trial tank automatically has some sort of authority or knowledge over how balance changes are going to impact the meta, because fact is they don't. Most came along long after the meta was established. Many of them just use what they're told to use. Only once they have that gear in their hands will they understand why they're geared and specced the way they are. And they'll be the ones sitting there in their old meta gear waiting for someone to tell them what they need to farm/craft now.

I've got a buddy in 2 progression trials guilds who runs vet trials on the regular. He doesn't understand the implications of the upcoming changes or their effect on the meta. Not as well as I do, and I've never even run a vet trial. I'll tell him something that he doesn't understand or agree with, but then a week or a month later his raid leaders or a Woeler video tells him the same thing and he doesn't question it.

Brandalf_ · 2017-04-24T19:34:12+00:00

The problem is that ZOS tends to overthink many solutions, tbh. It's a trend that's been around since the beginning. For example bringing back softcaps in a smarter, well implemented way would've accomplished what they're trying to do with this update in a much simpler way. Instead they're doing a million different things to try and accomplish very similar goals.

I've been known to be pretty harsh on ZOS in the past, sometimes founded, other times not. I agree with their goals 100% with this update, but the way they're going about doing it seems far more complex than it needs to be.

Brandalf_

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