For all the talk about the latest entries in The Elder Scrolls series being single-player MMOs, there are some pretty big issues translating the mechanics of the single-player games over to The Elder Scrolls Online. For starters, there’s the simple fact that the combat in single-player entries is built around the idea that you can pause and pick out your abilities at a slower pace if necessary. A new interview with designers Brian Wheeler (lead PvP designer), Maria Aliprando (creature combat designer), and Nick Konkle (lead gameplay and combat designer) discuss how the team overcame these issues and what players can expect from the game’s battles.
In PvE, players will find that each given monster has a very unique set of behaviors that players can react to, as well as elements that play off one another in the environment. Rather than rewarding players simply for defeating monsters, players will be rewarded with a rating called “finesse” for how the monster is defeated, with greater rewards coming to players with high finesse scores. The goal is to make combat less a matter of winning or losing and more about defeating enemies skillfully. But that only scratches the surface of the full interview, so click on past the break for the full 17-minute discussion.