Category: The Elder Scrolls Online

Here’s a thing that happens sometimes: A high-budget MMO has a tiered beta with an NDA that is lifted in parts. Sometimes those parts include early access for press, and sometimes that NDA lifts for press before anyone else. This has only happened a handful of times, and it never really works as intended. Almost everyone thinks that everyone should be able to talk about what he or she is playing and that games press is wrong.

After going through one of these episodes just last week, we figured it would be a good time to share our (wrong) opinions on how these press-only beta NDA lifts play out.

I’m not sure it would matter if I had an issue with them because I benefit from them so much. There’s nothing inherently wrong with an embargo or press NDA, as usually the problems are in the details. I can admit that I like being “the person who got the exclusive.” That’s just fun and gives my ego a bit of a boost. Call me human. The problem I have with it is when the specifics are so ridiculous that writers are literally worried about even mentioning the fact that they are playing the game. In the end, I’m not sure it matter with AAA titles. No matter how negative the NDA or how much we claim to all hate hype, certain IPs will sell to a point. If we want to see change, we’ll have to see a change to how companies charge for pre-orders, betas, and all that.

I really can’t stand NDAs and the media circus they generate, for press or for anyone. I’m always appreciative when we get to test out a game and post our thoughts for our readers, whether it’s a year or a month or a week before launch, and I appreciate the page views we get thanks to exclusive previews because it’s part of my job to consider page views. But I’ve seen far too many press events (and their subsequent NDA lifts) become carefully structured hand-holding that misleads us into praising games that don’t deserve it — and vice versa when the studios neglect to show us the truly great parts of the game. When we’re close to an MMO launch, the barriers need to come down — for everyone — else the conversation is one-sided and frustrating for everyone involved. Not every genre needs to operate that way, but MMOs survive on community and feedback. Don’t stifle it.

It varies. A lot. If you’re giving press plenty of time to play and plenty of opportunities to interact with potential fans, it’s an acceptable way of doing things. Arguably not ideal, but stuff like WildStar‘s open streaming mean that you have plenty of opportunities to show off the game and let people really understand what the game looks like. On the other hand, if you’re putting a tight leash even on press with a game that’s less than two months from launch… it doesn’t exactly scream confidence in the game that’s being developed or its reception upon launch.

So what it comes down to is developer transparency. Press-only beta stuff is a part of the process, but it should be inviting discussion rather than squashing it. If the press can talk about beta experiences and other long-standing beta testers can’t, flags are raised.

I think press only beta coverage is BS. The blurry distinction between “press” and “not press” drives me crazy, and it irritates me that I’m considered more legitimate because AOL sends me checks. There are plenty of people with quality YouTube channels, Twitch streams, or blogs that aren’t considered “press” by default, but they’re pumping out content that’s influencing game purchases just as much any member of the press I’ve met.

Developers are slowly catching up and beginning to include nontraditional press, but they are too slow and their reach is insultingly limited. If someone’s putting out quality content but has only a few hundred subscribers/followers, he or she is likely to be passed over while “press” access is given to some openly bigoted livestreamer who pulls in big numbers by being a huge jerk. The major issue here is that finding smaller (or larger) content creators who “should” be let into a press beta and therefore be allowed the privilege of a lifted beta NDA would be an absurdly massive undertaking. I think the most reasonable solution is to drop the idea of press-only beta coverage entirely. Go ahead and special invite whoever you want, but anyone else who happens to get in shouldn’t continue to be gagged while a special pen of media players is released onto the world.

There’s no guarantee that someone will be better at producing content just because we’ve crossed the magical barrier into a world where attending E3 is a chore instead of a privilege. How often have you read a major site’s beta preview/review and thought, “I could do better than this”? Well, you should be allowed to try. When a beta NDA drops for the people that company considers press, it should drop for everyone else too.

I really don’t care for the fact that beta coverage is even a thing, whether it’s press-only or a public beta or what have you. Hype is counterproductive for both developers and consumers, and though it will never happen, I sometimes think I’d prefer it if the games industry returned to the days of devs being holed up in their cubicles working on products that gamers rarely even know about until they launch. That might put me out of this particular job, which would be a shame because it’s usually fun, but if the tradeoff was a saner, slimmer industry that featured fewer PR people and other marketing types who add no value whatsoever to a given game from a consumer perspective (and in many cases, actually subtract value), it would be worth it.

In terms of the bad vibes circulating around Elder Scrolls Online, it’s the exact same song-and-dance that we saw with SWTOR. BioWare’s game also had a press-only beta reveal, an NDA that overstayed its welcome, and lots of negative buzz in the MMO community. And none of that mattered in the slightest, nor did any of the negative reviews, because the IP guaranteed its (eventual) financial success. ESO will follow that same path.

Well, let’s be frank about it: Press doesn’t like to complain about it because when we get to talk about something others can’t, we get more attention and hits. It’s unfair, but it’s unfair to our advantage. That said, I hate it. When I was “just” a blogger, I seethed when press got to talk about something that I was still under NDA regarding. Generally, I’m just coming to the opinion that once beta hits, the NDA should go away. Players are far more educated about what alpha/beta entails these days, and they understand that it’s a process, not a finished product. Having an NDA for the players but not the press stifles conversations and discussions that really should happen in order to make these better games.

I don’t see any reason studios should be drawing lines between “press” and “player” when it comes to allowing conversation about a game. The line between “professional games writer” and “enjoyer of games” has almost evaporated. Twitch, YouTube, and other innovations have completely democratized the process of providing feedback about games. From that point of view, there’s no rational argument for locking down the comments of one group while letting another speak. Honestly, doing it that way seriously damages the possibility of creating an actual conversation (as we saw last week).

There will always be a need for professionals who create content about games, I think. Studios obviously can’t rely on people whose jobs aren’t on the line to live up to the agreements of an NDA and some gamers prefer to read reviews or previews from “trusted” sources rather than from some Pokemon fan’s personal blog. But if a developer is opening up part of a game for comments and coverage, that developer should open the conversation to everyone with access to that part of the game. Otherwise fans and players who disagree (or agree, even) can’t engage, and all that does is create frustration for everyone.

Also, stopping players from talking about your game certainly gives off the vibe that you’re not super proud of it. SOE practically threw a parade when EverQuest Next: Landmark‘s alpha launched, but ZeniMax Online seems as if it’s trying to sneak Elder Scrolls Online past the prying eyes of the gaming populace and directly to store shelves. If I were a developer and I loved my game and thought it was beautiful, I’d be re-tweeting and sharing every stream, YouTube video, or player comment I could find, press or not.

Betas and alphas are a joke now, and NDAs are a way to funnel the coverage and extend the hype as long as possible. While people are demanding that Bethesda “take control” of our opinion articles (no, seriously), the truth is that the publisher is eating this up because it keeps its game in the spotlight for a long time. Marketing folks don’t get paid a lot of money to just look good. But it’s the actual quality of the game that should always mean the most, not what we’re allowed to talk about during the honeymoon stage. And that’s a whole different discussion.

Source from:http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/02/13/the-think-tank-how-do-you-feel-about-press-only-beta-coverage/

It’s been about nine months since I first got my hands on The Elder Scrolls Online. Since then, like many of you, I’ve been trapped on the sidelines, watching and waiting for my turn to jump into the game. This past weekend, I got my chance, but I’ve found my experience to be distressingly similar to thosedescribed by other journalists. Like Massively’s Eliot before me, my early foundation was in console gaming, but my reason for avoiding The Elder Scrolls series was very different from his: The Elder Scrollshas always been a single-player series, and after having my world opened by MMOs, I found that going back to single-player games has become difficult. I need people! I need multiplayer options! I need MMOs.

Enter The Elder Scrolls Online and my excitement for it. I knew a lot of the series’ famed freeform gameplay would be cut back in exchange for letting me play alongside my friends, but that was something that I, as a series newbie, was willing to sacrifice. But while my overall impression of the game was positive, I still have this lurking sensation that something important was missing.

Rather than think of ESO an MMO, I decided to think of the game as a single-player RPG with a multiplayer option, the way I play Star Wars: The Old Republic. Instead of investing in the community as I would in a traditional MMO, I focus more on my own storyline and helping friends. I explore the heck of it, but I don’t pursue achievements. I expect an end at endgame, not a living world or repetitive activities to keep me logging in.

With that in mind, I partnered with a friend and rolled an Argonian, appreciating very much the character creator since I skipped past it during my earlier play-through at last year’s E3. The graphics and models in general are much nicer than what I saw in my limited time in Skyrim. The basic controls exemplify what all MMOs should aspire to in that they’re rather simple and use A&D as strafe keys rather than turn keys. Alt, E, R, and other keys the game makes use of are very accessible with just the left hand.

At the start, the game feels linear but still encourages a bit of exploration (e.g., opening a certain bookshelf may increase your heavy armor skill). It felt like playing Dragon Age 2 with a better version ofGuild Wars 2‘s combat — it’s not revolutionary, but it’s fluid enough. I’ve heard complaints about the game feeling “floaty,” which may come from the slow reaction and cast times of the starter mobs, but certain effects (especially exploding corpses) really train you early on to not stand in the red zones.

However, the story is also what you might expect from GW2 rather than DA2. I’m the only one who can save the world, it seems, even though my partner is waiting for me after having done the exact same thing. You’d think that after SWTOR and GW2, quest writers would see that no, we don’t need to be the lone hero. This isn’t a single-player RPG, and most of us immediately lose immersion when we see other people in the same area we “heroically” arrived at. Now, try to imagine walking around a busy city on a normal Monday morning when everyone is pantomiming various circus and fire-fighting related jobs as you try to make your way to work. That’s what emerging from the first tutorial feels like. It’s not so much a world as it is a video game where other people have their own pink elephants to deal with.

One of those other people was my partner. Finally, we could group, right? Nope. I could see an arrow where he should have been, and the game said we were grouped together, but something wasn’t quite right. After some technical jiggery-pokery, we could finally see each other and get to our questing, but the content didn’t quite work for a team. It wasn’t that it was too easy; it was that the entire environment as designed needed only a few people in it to feel overcrowded and broken. In fact, a few quests didn’t update even though we were grouped together, and realizing that we couldn’t share all the awesome stuff we found in the game world also degraded the multiplayer aspect. For example, while we both could loot creatures we killed while in a group, ore and bug nodes and chests were still limited to first come, first serve, mechanics fast becoming more dated by the year.

Several times while climbing mountains, ledges in caves, waterfalls, and other adventure locations, I’d round the bend only to find some other guy wrist-deep in what I expected to be a virgin treasure chest just for me. The combination of instancing to make a world just for me while still using limited node supplies felt contradictory and unwelcome. Apparently while fishing, more people using the same node increases the chances of finding rare fish and speeds the depletion rate, but I could never find enough people who wanted to fish to test it out, probably because crafting doesn’t seem to affect base experience gain, contrary to other TES games.

On the other hand, the crafting experience itself enhanced the MMO feel of the game. While you can’t become a master of everything, crafting basics are all available to you as a newbie. Players can specialize in a few schools or become jacks-of-all-trades, a system intended to encourage trade, though we can expect armies of alts to put an end to that. Skills raise as you use them, but to pick up new skills, you must dip into the pool you’d normally assign to combat skills, which would seem to encourage crafting mules. For example, one skill made resources easier to spot thanks to a smokey aura.

Some crafts amount to simplistic click-to-craft gameplay without minigame or quality considerations, but the customization seems deeper even for lowbies. For example, alchemy and enchanting allowed me to combine various ingredients to make something new. I actually made nothing on my first try and wasted my mats, but that was good motivation for me to get back out there to hunt for more, explore new places for new ingredients, and maybe actually read some of those notes I was blasting through while exploring. A second attempt resulted in a potion that slowed down my run-speed, showing that those who avoid spoiler sites will need to learn what ingredients do and write down or memorize recipes.

Blacksmithing, on the other hand, started with the basic click-to-craft mechanic, but increasing the number of ore used raised the stats (and level) of the item. It also had a lot of visual and stat customizations for me to unlock or change, which reminded me of Albion‘s crafting, but with low levels and low material supply, it was hard to extrapolate. For example, I found a woodworking area inside a dungeon that hinted at special crafting abilities, but I hadn’t learned any recipes I could use there. Apparently there are books scattered around the world that unlock them, but I never found one. I did, however, find several cooking recipes, and the hunt for them was rewarding.

Ultimately, where unsocial nodes and limited leveling paths are disappointments, crafting and exploration are true gems. Rummaging around people’s houses and towns for just scraps of leather, a few wine grapes, or even goat meat is a lot of fun for me. Yes, there are a lot of lockpicks in the first zone, but I enjoyed that little minigame of correctly timing my press and release of various levers with my mouse. It’s not perfect, but it’s more entertaining than simply right clicking and waiting for a success/fail message; knowing that some other guy is waiting next to the chest ready to break it open if I fail added a bit of a sense of urgency.

This is the very feature that is perplexing me about The Elder Scrolls Online: Multiplayer at this early stage seems irrelevant. I can only trust that it blossoms later, but why wait? If my friend is coming along, I want to leave crumbs on the ground for him to follow in case I get lost. I want to toss him a rope, have him help me lift something I couldn’t lift on my own, just something different from the usual MMO murderfests we’ve had for over a decade. The quest design itself has plenty of RPG appeal in that when I was on the main quest, I wasn’t simply tasked with killing 10 rats (that’s reserved for side quests).

But to my irritation, the few choice I’ve made (when given an option) didn’t seem to change anything, in contrast to my experience with SWTOR’s conversation trees and dice roll-offs that created reasons to repeat quests, both alone and in groups. Sure, in ESO, I helped reinforce the wall rather than directly attacked. No one important died, no one blamed a failure on me, and I was once again the hero. The whole thing left me feeling rather hollow, especially alongside my partner, who contentedly treated it just like all the other quests we’d already done — because it was. Much later, I came upon some of the NPCs whom I had helped, all mourning ones I presume I did not. Maybe this was a hint that my decision did matter, or maybe it was just for flavor, but there was no clear indication that my choice had led to that gathering, and I think that says a lot both about the game’s single player RPG qualities and its multiplayer.

As much as I enjoyed my beta weekend in The Elder Scrolls Online, my experience simply didn’t feelsubstantial enough. The bugs alone caused me to take breaks to play other games and get some work done. As much as I’d like to believe in the game and its developers, what we’ve been allowed to see in this current version less than two months from launch just feels incomplete and at odds with the rest of the game. Every time I felt the urge to pre-order, I found myself considering the game as an investment, not as something joyous and wonderful that I’d be playing come April. Like many people, I fully expect the game to go either free-to-play or buy-to-play eventually, and I’ve felt that “founder burn” from other single-player-with-multiplayer-options RPG before. The question of how much the game will be worth after a conversion is too strong in my mind to ignore. I just don’t think the value is there right now for an MMO player like me, and I don’t see an easy fix, with or without PvP.

I still feel the urge to purchase a new multiplayer game or RPG, but it probably won’t be ESO.

Source from:http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/02/14/the-elder-scrolls-online-fitting-into-the-genre-or-forging-its/

Discover more about the creatures of The Elder Scrolls Online in this look at the small but malevolent scamp.

The creatures that inhabit Tamriel come in all shapes and sizes, from massive beasts like the wamasu to small—but still potentially deadly—enemies like the scamp. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at the mischievous little Daedra and how it weaseled its way into ESO.

Fans of Morrowind and Oblivion will definitely recognize this Daedra. Scamps are small, and they aren’t particularly intelligent, but they’re agile combatants who delight in cruelty just as much as any of the larger Daedra. They’re often summoned to perform simple tasks, and make good (if sometimes unruly) messengers and servants.

In ESO, we wanted the scamp to have a big personality despite his diminutive stature. As always, we looked carefully at the existing art and lore for the scamp when we began creating concept art. Our artists wanted to capture the scamp’s agility and attitude in their concepts to give our animators a good base to work from, since animations would be so important in giving the scamp a unique feel.

Even though the Elder Scrolls setting is generally serious, we all know that there’s plenty of humor to be found. The scamp’s behaviors (especially its melodramatic death animation) can be comical, but they fit its size and attitude very well. Its abilities— like fireballs launched from its hands and raining from the sky—are intense and serious, and make it feel bigger than its voice and actions really are.

The scamp’s voice also has a little humor to it. Several of the monsters in ESO speak their own special languages that aren’t comprehensible to the player. Every now and then, you’ll hear the scamp gibbering away crazily in its own little language, which is known to get a laugh or two when noticed.  Be careful, though! The scamp is still dangerous, and you may find yourself locked in a deadly, fiery battle if you spend too long giggling.

You can see a video of ESO’s scamp in action below. Thanks for checking out this edition of Creating ESO, and stay tuned for our next creature feature!

Source from:http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2013/07/26/creating-eso-the-scamp?ref=news-list

Peek behind the scenes and learn how we bring Tamriel to life in The Elder Scrolls Online.

If you’re familiar with The Elder Scrolls, chances are you’ve encountered atronachs of several varieties during your travels—maybe you’ve even summoned some of these powerful Daedra yourself. Do you enjoy the challenge of going head-to-head with these dangerous foes and those who command them? Then you won’t be disappointed; you’ll see plenty of atronachs as you explore Tamriel in ESO. Let’s take a closer look at what you can expect from ESO’s flame atronach.

The flame atronach in Skyrim had a fluidity and otherworldly grace that we wanted to exaggerate for ESO. It floats off the ground, wreathed in fire as it spins and twirls with ease. Our Effects Artists created an intricate effect of flickering flames that dance across the atronach’s body. For all our creatures, we focus on creating believable effects that fit with the creature and look right in the world.

Comfortable both in melee and at range, the flame atronach can lob deadly balls of fire, and it radiates a continuous burning aura, making it quite dangerous at any distance. Unwary adventurers may also find themselves scorched by the Daedra’s most impressive attack, a geyser of flames that erupts from the ground. The flame atronach can even be deadly once defeated, when it explodes in a last-ditch effort to destroy attackers.

Sound effects are critical for any creature—especially for one with so many kinds of movements and attacks. Most of us are familiar with the kinds of sounds fire can make, but how do we create believable audio for a creature of animate, magical flame? Our Sound Designers get a good look at creatures and their animations before they get to work to get an idea of the kinds of sounds they’ll need to create. For the flame atronach, they imagined how its various attacks would sound right away. Utilizing huge sound libraries, they found sounds for swinging torches, campfires, and even an actual geyser.

When they found the sounds they wanted to work from, the Sound Designers got to work combining and adjusting sounds, adding effects, and using videos of the flame atronach to time the sounds just right. They’ve described the process as almost an “audio collage,” piecing together new sounds that fit on a twirling, fiery Daedra by altering recognizable ones. Once the process is complete, our Sound Designers have created believable sounds for a creature that isn’t real at all.

When you’re out exploring, keep your ears open for crackling flames—it may save you! Check out the video below to get a look at the flame atronach in action. We hope you enjoyed this Creating ESO. There’s still plenty behind-the-scenes info we want to share, so make sure to check back for our next edition!

Source from:http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2013/08/19/creating-eso-flame-atronach?ref=news-list

Arm yourself! You’ll be able to craft every item in this image when you play The Elder Scrolls Online.

Smiths in Tamriel add their own personal touches to every weapon, shield, and piece of armor they forge, from choosing a racial style to imparting special bonuses they’ve learned called traits. Master blacksmiths, clothiers, and woodworkers can take ordinary arms and armor and, with the right materials, transform them into equipment worthy of a true hero. In this image, you can see a small sample of the kinds of weapons and armor you’ll be able to craft in ESO if you choose to pursue the fine art of smithing. Represented here are items crafted in each of the nine racial styles, but these are just a few of the items you can create—there are already fifteen different styles for crafters to learn!

Source from:http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2014/03/05/crafted-weapons-and-shields?ref=news-list

The last thing many adventurers see is the fist of the brutish ogrim crashing down on them. Read on to learn more about this tough Daedra and how we brought it to life in The Elder Scrolls Online.

You probably remember the ogrim if you played The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. We’ve brought this Daedra, along with many others you’ll recognize, into the world of The Elder Scrolls Online.  We’d like to take you behind the scenes for a closer look at how creatures like the ogrim go from concept to ferocious in-game opponents.

When creating the ogrim, we first looked at the Morrowind model and existing lore fromThe Elder Scrolls games. This helped us get a feel for the creature and gave us a great starting place for bringing it into ESO. As with any art that goes into the game, the ogrim began life in the concept phase. Concept artists drew up several thumbnails—quick, small sketches—with lots of ideas for visual direction. Once the Art Team settled on a direction, more images were created: color studies and several different, more detailed concepts were developed to be used as reference by Figure Artists. Below, you can see some concept art for the ogrim.

After the concept stage was completed and the artists were happy with the results, Figure Artists began creating the ogrim model you’ll see in-game. Using the concept art to guide them and inform how it should look, they created the lower-resolution model first to get the basic shape and structure just right. This part of implementation is similar to a sketch—it’s the rough outline for the creature. After that, the details were filled out in the higher-resolution version; finer facial details, parts of the skin like spikes and bumps, and similar features were added. Then, to top it off, Texture Artists painted the model, adding color and the finishing touches to the creature. You can see the current in-game model for the ogrim below.

For the ogrim (and all of our other creatures and NPCs), it was important to make sure it fit in with the world. It didn’t just need to look good on its own; it needed to fit into the environment and look appropriate alongside player characters and other enemy creatures. The artists paid close attention to this throughout the process and always work to ensure that every piece of art works with the game’s overall style; consistent visuals help us create and maintain immersion.

Even though the ogrim model was complete, there was still plenty of work to be done. Animators “rigged” the creature, providing it with a skeleton and framework for animations. With that completed, we had all the groundwork needed to get it in the game. At this point, we were really able to develop the ogrim’s personality. An important part of any enemy’s personality is its look, but its behaviors, animations, sounds, and effects really bring it to life. Our Monster Team worked closely with Animators, Effects Artists, and Audio to make sure that you won’t forget an encounter with the ogrim in ESO!

Source from:http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2013/04/09/creating-eso-the-ogrim?ref=news-list