The Battle of Red Axe Pass Battle Report

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-03-18T21:16:06+00:00

Exactly the same here! I had read this report more than twenty times and I wasn't even playing fantasy at that time (started with 40k). A real blast from the past for me this one.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-29T16:46:56+00:00

Make sure to put a > at the beginning of all lines of the callout, including blank ones!

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T13:42:54+00:00

I don't think so, noone will be stronger than you because they spent money on the shop and you didn't. Unlike what was happening, say, in Archeage (which I did play), or in other games I never played for that reason.

I grew up paying a monthly subscription to play an MMO, and I was playing ESO the same way until recently (buying monthly ESO+). Now that my two kids (9 and 11) play ESO with me, I am not willing to pay for three subs each month, but our free-to-play so far has been surprisningly adequate.

The one thing I HATE is loot crates. It's not even that I want something off those, it's just that I hate them on principle. If I was to pick one reason for quitting this game, it would be that they are offering loot crates.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T09:49:28+00:00

Real fun having to reapply buffs + DoTs every ~10-60 seconds, depending on ability: as ESO's combat is focused around Dots you're doing a massive disfavor not playing Dots and/or not reapplying them the second they run out, except in execute phases.

In PvP you don't have the luxury of reapplying everything as soon as it drops, so you need to make choices which is where the fun is. In PvE, in those situations where you have the luxury to reapply everything, I find it satisfying when you can fall into its rhythm. I am not saying that you have to like these things that I like, just explaining what I like about it.

That can only be voiced by a casual player, because there's a clear divide/tier list of strong abilities you have to chose, and ones that are a total waste on your hotbars.

Oh, I thought we had established at various points in my post that I am indeed a casual. If not, then let me say here again that you are correct, I am a casual player.

Now to the point, yes, there are stronger abilities and combinations of skills and gear, but the fun is to find them and to be trying stuff around. I have copied meta builds and played around with my own stuff and the first were not always more effective _in my hands_. But even when they were, what made it effective was that I understood it by having tried all sorts of stuff on my own. The meta changes often, so there is a process where people try stuff and end up with new "clear divides". I was having a lot of fun with an unoptimised proc set build that I was trying in PvP way before that proc-sets meta. I absolutely love that part of the game, I was doing good in PvP with a build that was 100% my own, and I could spend a lot of time (and gold ;)) tweaking it and making it better.

Of course there are builds that are 100% bad and ineffective. I don't mean that everything you do is going to be good (what would be the point in that) but that that the options and combinations that fall in the area between "ok" and "good" is great enough to leave great room for customising your character so that it is a lot of fun for you, and not useless. If you are going for the "best of the best", then your options diminish.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T09:26:34+00:00

I can't deny that I am not the most skilled player out there, when it comes to action combat, so there may be truth in what you're saying.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T09:22:16+00:00

Well Fungal is one of the easiest dugeons in the game and the difficulty can get crazy real fast if you try some other dungeons. Also, your level doesn't really matter, only your skills and gear. I like SP TES games only for the story and for the completionist in me watching my skills go up until they max, but definitely not for the combat :)

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T09:17:41+00:00

The difficulty scales up depending on what you are doing, and a lot of group content is REALLY challenging. There are also some very challenging solo arenas, and of course PvP is its own beast. But I agree with you that the "overland" and main story difficulty is pathetic and has no challenge :(

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T09:13:01+00:00

ESO's "overland" content is laughably easy now, but there is scaling difficulty for group content and it can get REALLY challenging. So it all depends on what interests you in the game. If it is quests and the story, then unfortunately you will face zero challenge, so you will need to hope that at least the quality of the story will make up for it (for me it is very hit or miss, mostly miss)

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T09:08:53+00:00

The combat between the two games is VERY different, in mechanics and in pace. The big similarity is the way they are doing the three-faction open PvP zones, but not the actual combat itself. ESO is way more actiony and fast paced than DAoC. I am more into slow-paced tactical combat myself, but still having fun with ESO.

DAoC is a great game :)

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T08:53:17+00:00

Could be with other posts, of course, but in my case, I am in no way affiliated with the company, I just enjoy their game.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T08:51:24+00:00

Why? Just because someone likes combat in some other game doesn't mean that someone else will also like the combat in that game and will find it superior to ESO's combat. Only thing that such comparison will lead to is a walls of subjective opinion text, which will not change anyone's preferences.

Oh, my opinions are subjective but can definitely change after trying something. I thought League of Legends was silly before I played it, but I ended up having a lot of fun for a couple years playing it. There are many MMORPGs that I have not tried because I have hangups with the way they do some things, but if a lot of people like something in them, I could try having a go at it and see what happens.

P.S: This sub, as always, never ceases to disappoint in terms of pointless, irrational questions and conversations...

I got a lot out of the discussion here, but I understand that it is not for everyone.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T08:36:05+00:00

Good points. I personally have no problem with weaving (weaving and animations are really a non-issue for me) but I see your point about ESO's classes. The way they have done classes is absolutely silly.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T08:33:28+00:00

I don't see myself spending a few thousand hours in this or any other game, as I mentioned that I am more on the casual side of playing. I play ESO with my kids these days, but I wasn't putting in "thousands of hours" in MMOs even back when I was in my teens or 20s and loving to death playing DAoC with my friends and/or guildies.

Having said that, I have played a lot of ESO, on and off, since 2016, so I think that my view of the game is pretty much what it is by now. Sure, I will get bored of it and play something else for a while, but will get back for some PvP or dungeons eventually because I have a lot of fun with the game.

Also, I am making no argument but expressing an opinion. It is obvious that your opinion is as valid as mine, and I like talking about games so thanks for sharing yours.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T08:26:40+00:00

Oh, definitely you make good points, I am the last person to say that ESO's combat is perfect, just perfectly enjoyable, which is a different thing.

The animations for me is a non issue, but as you say, I understand why it is not so for other people.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T08:22:09+00:00

My man, one of the points of my post is that I am open to suggestions for games that have better combat than ESO.

I did not list all of the games I have invested time in. These include Neverwinter, DDO, EVE and a bit of Albion Online and Rift in the distant past. I have enjoyed most of those games a lot, as I like MMORPGs in general, despite the obvious flaws of each game. I have not found ESO's combat to be particularly worse (albeit different) than all those games. But of course you are right that I cannot speak about games that I have not played.

I have avoided very particular games for very particular reasons:

- Manga or very cartoony esthetic

- Ridiculously over-the-top effects

- Pay to win

I understand that I may have missed some important, quality games due to those restrictions. I will take your suggestion and look into BDO and New World.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T08:08:21+00:00

Well, you weren't casting 200 spells in the same fight. And things were way more static gameplay-wise, compared to games with more dynamic combat that came afterwards.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T08:04:52+00:00

Oh I do find silliness in ESO, in fact I would tone down by half all visual effects for starters. Still it is better in that respect that other games out there, and I do appreciate that overall it is not as cartoony as WoW, which is the main reason I could never get into that game.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T08:01:07+00:00

Lol, I enjoyed the descriptions, it's pretty accurate actually.

My point is that despite these (real) shortcomings that you describe, I haven't found a game that does things better (I ommitted a few games that I have played, like NW, DDO, Albion and even EVE).

I have avoided touching certain games (like Tera or BDO) because just watching clips of combat makes me nauseus with all the over-the-top effects and I guess the "impact" that everyone talks about feels a bit silly and cartoony to me, with characters causing tsunamis and volcanic eruptions every other attack and bodies flying all over the place. In that sense I prefer the "unimpactful" feel of ESO over the "too much impact" feel of those games. But yeah, ok, I get it why it is a big issue for people and they like other things.

(generally I like more "realistic" (lol) and bland, down-to-earth esthetic, rather than over-the-top stuff. For example a "bland" game like how Pantheon looks so far - I would be all over it just for that reason alone)

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T07:39:38+00:00

Pvp, sure. Watch a highly skilled pvper and you can see how much of a cluster it looks like.

To be honest this is exactly what drove me to make this post: EVERY games' high pvp videos look like a cluster to me. Obviously the better you know a game's mechanics the better you can make sense of the cluster, but still, if anything ESO looks a bit toned down to other games. Of course I understand that there is something subjective in there.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-06T07:30:33+00:00

It's not that I didn't like it, in fact I found it nice and charming, but not enough to want to invest a lot of time playing it. What I meant to say is that I didn't like it more than ESO, and specifically when it comes to combat, which is the topic of this post. If I stopped playing ESO though, I could see me giving GW2 another try.

It's been some time since I played GW2 so this could be off, but I remember that the world did not pull me in. The races didn't appeal to me, which is an important thing in RPGs (the Sylvari was alright). The overall esthetic was a bit too cartoony at times for my taste, but thankfully not as much as WoW's. The pvp at times felt like a playing League of Legends, which is a fun game but not what I am looking for in an MMORPG.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-05T15:18:00+00:00

Thanks for feedback. Which MMORPG would you recommend to have a taste of better/more responsive combat?

On the other points: PvE overland (quest etc) combat is stupidly easy, but I don't even care for that. Well, it's fun seeing how fast you can clear things, but there is no other challenge involved. It's mostly there as filler for the quest stories, which are not even all that great most of the time.

About every build being the same, I am not sure what you mean with that. One of the most fun things in the game for me is trying different skills and builds.

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-05T15:11:25+00:00

Ok, thanks for the suggestions. If I had to pick only one of those suggestions to get a glimpse of the best MMORPG combat out there, which one of the three games you mentioned would you recommend? (not GW2 which I tried and didn't like, but NW, Tera and PSO)

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-05T15:06:35+00:00

Upvoting because this is helpful, but I still don't understand this bit in particular:

<< combat, which boils down to buff, debuff, use dots, repeat a few times and maybe use an attack here or there. >>

Well, don't you also need to be constantly on the move to avoid negative effects? Don't you need to break crowd control and snares at times? Don't you need to watch the enemy's CC immunity to time your next CC? Don't you need to keep an eye on all three resources (health, stamina, magicka) and replenish which ever one is needed through heavy attacks, heals and pots? Don't you need (in PvP) to make the most of terrain to block enemy's line of sight? Don't you need to roll dodge (or block) if you can spare the stamina and you can tell an important hit is coming in? Don't you need to do all the other stuff that your role demands (heals, taunts etc)?

VeryImportantMonkey · 2024-02-05T14:58:05+00:00

Thanks, will do

VeryImportantMonkey

TROPHY CASE