What do video games inspire you to do?

Have video games inspired you to undertake other activities outside of gaming?  It might be podcasting or figuring out how to make in game food in real life?  For me, it is reading and writing but only specific games invoke those impulses in me.

Reading

Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of those games that drives me to bury my nose in a book.  It isn’t that SWTOR is so boring that it drives me to read, rather the storytelling is so good that I want to continue once I log off for the day.  I loved the books that were published with the release of the game and am sad that there are no more planned novels to be released.  But that’s alright, I have plenty of other books to read to keep me busy for a lifetime.

Neverwinter is also another one of those games that compels me to read.  For the first time ever, I’ve read novels set in the Neverwinter universe and I’ve loved them.  There is something magical about novels that I haven’t put my finger on yet.

Writing

The Elder Scrolls Online inspires me to write unlike any other game I’ve ever played.  Everywhere you look there are scenes and settings that make you want to log off and start writing.  I don’t just mean role play writing or stories but real writing from the characters and ideas that float around in my head.  I’ve found that when I get writers block I just have to log in to ESO and soon enough my fingers are itching to write once again.

So what has gaming inspired you to do?

ESO: Patch 1.6 First Impressions

Patch 1.6 just hit the PTS so I realize it isn’t ready for prime time, let alone release, but overall what were my first impressions?  Mixed at best, some things very well implemented and others not so much.

Provisioning Revamp

Provisioning Revamp VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

All of the sudden there are a plethora of food and beverages never before seen in Tamriel, Mint Chai or Banana Surprise anyone?  The food and drink system has completely been revamped and replaced with food and drinks you’d easily find in any first world country.  It makes zero sense and is completely lore and immersion breaking.  Food and drink is now faction specific but if released in it’s current state you will be selling a lot of provisioning items that are stored in inventory.

Justice System

Justice System VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Those barrels and baskets you’ve looted in every Elder Scrolls game for lock picks, food items, random gold?  They are all now considered theft.  Every items I moused over this morning was theft and this is a huge departure from other Elder Scrolls game. 

Certain NPCs and all guards now have a weird glow outlining them when moused over, presumably to be a visual clue for your current outlaw status.  I did witness one guard chasing and killing a wanted player.  Towns and cities will soon be littered with living NPC’s standing over their dead corpses if the PTS is any judge.  Obviously this is immersion breaking as well.

Also there was no introduction to the Justice System that I ran across this morning.

Collections

I am going to be upfront, I was the most excited about the Collections tab.  It would get the pets, treasure maps from Collector’s Edition, and trophies/trinkets out of my inventory.  So, I am incredibly sad to report that this isn’t true.

Collections VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Pets are out of my inventory true enough, but that is all.  Still there are all those treasure maps and the quest reward trinkets/trophies.  Your inventory woes have not been addressed, alleviated, or reduced.

Removing five pets from my inventory isn’t even a drop in the bucket compared to those treasure maps and trinkets hogging space.  I am incredibly disappointed with the collections implementation as it currently stands.

Appearance Armor

When this was mentioned in the live stream last week my heart sang with joy.  I’ve dreamed of appearance armor since beta.  Try as I might to equip armor in the appearance/costume slot this morning nothing worked.

So if it is only certain armor that gets to be slotted in the appearance slot then how am I getting to play my way?  What if I really like a robe that is low level but some developer never flagged it as being appearance appropriate?  Having an appearance/costume slot that is limiting is pointless and frustrating.

Mounts

Mounts are now shared across the account with stats being shared among mounts.  Yes, I’m cheap and only have the one mount but now it doesn’t matter since stats are shared.  You can still buy the other mounts at a stable but the cheapest mount I saw was 42k but I also didn’t check every stable this morning. 

In no way am I disappointed in mounts or the implementation.

Overall

First impression of the patch was a very mixed bag for me.  Hopefully, there will be improvements based on feedback.  The PTS went live yesterday and I know it is early in the testing but some of these things (TREASURE MAPS & TRINKETS) should have been thought of and implemented by developers since they have been a sore point for almost a year now.  Appearance armor needs work and by god, whatever development team though lore breaking provisioning was a grand idea needs to be replaced!

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Shift in Gaming focus

Last week I canceled the last monthly revolving subscriptions we had to MMOs.  It wasn’t because of expenses but rather out of a complete lack of desire to log in and deal with the MMO environment.  Tired of developers that flat out lie, constant skill resets, communities of various games, and the endless grind for faction or gear.  I would rather curl up on the sofa, turn on the console and play a single player game or co-op game with hubby. 

MMOs are a great value for the money you spend compared with a dinner and movie once a month but given all the other choices of entertainment, MMOs aren’t cutting it anymore.  I’m tired of paying money for content that I have no interest in (i.e.. “end game” raids) and then losing access to that content once I’ve canceled my subscription (i.e.. Lord of the Rings Online).  Give me a single player game where the content I purchase is available to me whenever the mood strikes me to log on and play.

I’ve been burned out before but this time just feels different.  Usually news from Blizzcon interests me or sucks me back in, but this year I could care less: zero interest, haven’t read a single blog or tweet about Blizzcon.  Finding out who the Prophet was in Elder Scrolls Online so early in the story killed it for me, why bother to log-in the remainder of the story was just killed for me.  Everquest 2, and SOE games in general, are routinely killed by the stupidity of their marketing and accounting departments.  Their pricing structures and lack of appreciation of their customers, oh hell their failure to recognize that their pricing is completely out of whack with their competition, is just aggravating and infuriating.

I won’t claim we will never again sub to a MMO but honestly, much like my warden above I believe we are riding into the dawn toward console (XboxOne) and single player PC games.  I’ll still share impressions from games but they won’t be MMOs.  Up first on the console are Halo: Master Chief Collection, Assassin’s Creed: Unity, and then finally DragonAge: Inquisition.  It is truly an excellent week plus of game anticipation.

If you follow on Twitter I will probably be much more active on my other account @stitchersflock or on @Path, send me a DM if you want to add me on Path.  Have fun gaming!

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Elder Scrolls Online: Enjoying Life Immensely

We stopped playing Elder Scrolls Online within a month of launch, mostly because the little things were so highly irritating they were driving both of us bonkers.  We resubbed two weeks ago and while Hubby hasn’t had much time to play, I’ve been enjoying the game once again.  I’m fully immersed in the word, loving every quest and off the beaten path I find. 

As reported by Tamriel Foundry this week from the guild summit meeting with Zenimax, there are upcoming quality of life improvements coming to the game.  A collection system for maps, pets, and trophies immediately springs to mind.  I have so much inventory space that will be freed up with this implementation.  There are also changes coming to crafting which will result in non-faction specific foods and fewer ingredients.

Admittedly, there was no discussion of housing coming and I’m still waiting (impatiently admittedly) for an announcement about housing.  I’m pleased with the state of the game.  The world is full, community is friendly, and there is no pressure to rush to the end game.

I’ve gotten three characters, one per faction, to approximately the same level where they can move on to the next zone.  I am undecided about which character to concentrate on moving forward, so undoubtedly I will continue with my normal play style and play what character and faction I want on any given day.  I’ve taken the pressure off myself with my RP blog and now all my characters are free to write glimpses of their lives.

I am having fun, and after all isn’t that why we play video games in the first place?

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MMO Mobile Apps: Where are they?

The ultimate goal of MMO developers and producers is to make the game so engaging that you are willing to pay out your monthly subscription without a second thought.  And yet, they all fail to fully integrate their game into their customers lives.  Where are the mobile apps that let me manage crafting or research while waiting at the dentist office or on the train?

Truth is, we live in a world where mobile is integrated into almost everything we do on a daily basis.  Players are much more likely to be long term invested in a game that let them check goods for sale, research, crew members, etc. when they can do that from the comfort of the office during a boring meeting or while sitting around the airport waiting for a flight. 

Mobile apps shouldn’t be limited to checking out a players item level or what achievements they’ve earned.  Mobile apps should encompass non-combat, non-quest oriented gameplay, like crating in SWTOR or researching in TESO.  Mobile apps should also be available on all three mobile platforms and not just iOS platforms.  There is no logical reason MMO providers should limit their audience base to iOS.

Maybe, just maybe, game developers are waking up to  the fact that they can only benefit from inclusion of mobile apps into their core game structure.  Right now, I would love to be crafting on my SWTOR characters while catching some early morning sun but …

Never mind Corso is done crafting, here’s hoping I learn that reverse engineering schematic!

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Elder Scrolls Online: First Month of Launch

Elder Scrolls Online released a month ago and while the game is stunningly beautiful, did it live up to my expectations of perfection once I started playing the game on a daily basis?  Complicated question with a short answer, not really.

Don’t misunderstand, I love the game.  I love the depth of character immersion and questing.  I love that I can get lost and uncover quests I would have otherwise missed and that not every NPC is young, fit, and wrinkle free. 

What I’m not loving is the inventory management nightmare and the horribly unbalanced gains in crafting.  It makes no sense that provisioning (cooking) can be leveled to the maximum before a player reaches level fifteen but any other skill you are lucky if you make it to level ten.  Enchanting is the worst of all the skills with the least available raw materials out in the world.  It levels slower than a glacier moves and deconstructing every glyph you craft for a slightly larger miniscule gain is frustrating and irrational.

Inventory management is a mini-game all it’s own.  I don’t mind the high costs associated with increasing bag and bank space.  I would prefer it if I got more space for my gold however.  What truly irritates me to no end is that each and every time I open my bank it is sorted automatically from Z to A and not A to Z.  This one thing makes me grind my teeth every time I open the bank.  I love that there is shared storage, what I don’t love is that there is no individual storage.  Having to create characters just to hold crafting goods, maps, pets, etc. is poor game design.

The director’s letter just released did not give me hope.  There is no mention of housing, not one.  Housing is an integral part of every Elder Scrolls game since Morrowind.  Housing had the potential to solve inventory issues for a lot of players.  Instead, they are working on horse racing?  Really?  Horse racing is a quality of life improvement?  I could care less that other players will now have the ability to kill guards and NPC’s.  All that is going to lead to is an unplayable world where quest givers can be killed by the bored to irritate others.

So now the question becomes, do we renew our subscriptions and give Zenimax and Bethesda the benefit of the doubt?  Or, do we rationally cut our losses now and wait for the bots and gold spam to lessen while the game loses players at an incredible rate?  I’m on the fence.  Part of me desperately wants to play ESO and love it and lose myself in the world but the other part of me is extremely tired of reporting gold farmers, dealing with botters, shuffling inventory, and crafting skills.

I do know that right now, as the game stands it is beautiful, immersive, and frustrating.  I can’t imagine it will be that much better on the consoles either.  Speaking of consoles, not a word of a beta is mentioned in the producer’s letter and not a hint of if they will hit their target release date of June.  My guess is that it will be pushed back.  And honestly, the game is either going to be much better on the console or so frustrating controllers will be flung across rooms globally.

I’ll confess, I haven’t logged into ESO in almost a week.  We have been playing SWTOR and enjoy ourselves.  I will log into ESO this week but probably more out of guilt than a desire to report gold farmers, botters, and to juggle inventory.  I love the beauty and questing but that experience is marred by the negatives for me at the moment.

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LOTRO: April’s Producer’s Letter

Lord of the Rings Online can be an incredibly beautiful game and it always seems to suck me in when my subscription runs out.  We resub (and bought two new expansions) and once again LOTRO goes and does something foolish and I regret the “investment” we made not to be nickel and dimed to death.  Look, $200 a year isn’t going to kill us but it is more a sign of faith in the future.  This year however, LOTRO has finally managed to kill my interest in the game completely.

They just released the Producer’s Letter for April and in it, they once again break yet another promise to the player base.  There will be no update to housing this year despite it’s repeated promises that the update was coming.  However, there will be a new class which I am sure will be heavily monetized and poorly implemented.

The competition is too good for a seven year old game to be fooling around with crap like a new class and broken promises to an already frustrated and fleeing population.  Realms are empty, trying to play on a new realm means losing real world money tied to the old realm, housing is a joke, the game play can be incredibly boring, and gorgeous screenshots aren’t enough to keep players logging in.  If you want to retain a player base, don’t nickel and dime them (ESPECIALLY players that subscribe to your game), don’t break promises, don’t have secret player councils, and don’t have you corporate heads buried so far in the sand you don’t even realize you have serious competition.

My twitter feed alone shows long time players leaving LOTRO for games like Landmark and Elder Scrolls Online.  The team at LOTRO seems oblivious to the fact that players are finding new games to play and sink real world money into, I’m being kind.  I actually believe that the LOTRO team is intentionally burying it’s head in the sand and break promises and ignoring the flight of customers so that they feel “justified” in closing the game down in the next six to eighteen months.  I know that we won’t be buying any more expansions and that we definitely will not be paying for two yearly subscriptions this year.

Rant over, opinion spoken and now I’m off to write for my ESO character blog and get in some ESO playtime before exploring the awesome changes to Wildstar in the upcoming beta weekend.

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Is WOW the old and dying dinosaur on the block?

World of Warcraft announced its technical Alpha for the Warlords of Draenor late last week, hours before The Elder Scrolls Online officially launched. Anyways, Hubby and I got around to talking about WOW yesterday afternoon. Neither of us is even remotely interested in WOW for different reasons. But what we were discussing was whether or not WOW was even relevant to gaming any more. We are both of the opinion that the answer is no and below is why we’ve come to that conclusion.

First, WOW is flat out an old game that is being left behind by the competition. It isn’t fully voice acted, the quests are simple and repetitive, and game play mechanics are bloated and aged. Combat is basically pressing the same combination of buttons over and over again. There is no active dodging for instance. You can just stand there and whack on a creature while doing your nails and watching a movie. The game doesn’t actively require player engagement to avoid death.

 

Second, WOW doesn’t seem to understand that the gaming audience is no longer just young men. It is now a much broader audience of both sexes of all ages. BlizzCon 2013 was the nail in the coffin for me, comments like “It’s a boy’s trip” from Chris Metzen was the straw that broke the camel’s back. If I’m going to play a subscription game, then it isn’t going to a company that devalues women and refuses to include women in their games as anything more than objects of sexual fantasy.

Third, the competition is just so much better in every way. TESO has strong women characters everywhere, active dodging mechanics, and it requires players to think and manage how they play. Wildstar is just flat out funny, once again active dodging mechanics, and unique systems like Path. Landmark, while we haven’t played it nor have any interest in doing so, has a strong legion of fans that enjoy building and creating in the Everquest environment. And those are just three games off the top of my head that are better.

Fourth, WOW just takes too damn long between updates or expansions. Subscribers and fans play the same content over and over and over again for months on end. The endless gear grind progression style is boring. Why stay on the treadmill of the same content when the competition has a large variety of end game content and not just raids. Adventure zones, two-person content, and group content immediately spring to mind. Why would you run the same raid content week after week for months on end with no new content on the horizon when the competition releases content patches ranging from every two weeks to once a month.

WOW has its die-hard fans that want nothing more than to see the competition fail. I get that, I get that I won’t be changing any of their minds. No one single game will be the proverbial “WOW killer” but the competition taken together will kill WOW. Well, the competition and the “boy’s club” that is the team of WOW management. I don’t begrudge those players their fun and enjoyment. The hubby and I won’t be going back ever again.

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Elder Scrolls Online: So, Did it Meet Expectations?

Surpassed every expectation I had from beta, which was high.  I’ve run across one bug so far and it is on a side quest.  I’ve reported it and will come back to complete the quest later.  The game sucks me in, literally time flies by and next thing I know it is time to cook dinner and I wonder where the day went. 

The game reminds me so much of Oblivion that I forget there are other players in the game.  I am wandering around exploring and gathering raw materials for crafting.  I haven’t reached level ten yet on any character, in part because I’m having so much trouble deciding who to play.  The choices are endless and a small change here or there can completely alter game play. 

There are a couple of minor improvements I think they need to work into the game in the first update.  One is a pet inventory system.  Right now I have four pets and that is four bank slots consumed.  Another is for account bound consumables like treasure maps, I had to park one of my characters as a mule simply to hold treasure maps.  They are bank space intensive and clumsily implemented.  Don’t get me wrong, the loot from those pre-order treasure maps is great but having it clutter up bank space indefinitely isn’t great.  Or better yet, give me housing with a trunk and I won’t mind one iota the amount of space the treasure maps consume!

The world is alive and vibrant.  NPCs clearly have lives of their own and while friendly they aren’t intrusive.  The world feels like Oblivion to me, minus all the creepy Oblivion gates of course.  I have discovered more chests and lore books from just wandering around then I would have had I not done so.  The music is amazing and adds so much to the atmosphere.

The Elder Scrolls Online isn’t going to be a game for everyone.  Respec’s are expensive (which I am more than fine with), leveling isn’t lightening fast thru PvE, crafting isn’t make 100 of this and walk away, and grinding mobs is the slowest way to level.  But if you are looking for that kind of game, I can’t imagine you would be interested in TESO to begin with.  However, if you want immersive gameplay with gorgeous scenery, then TESO has more than accomplished that and much, much more.  The launch has been incredibly smooth and incredibly well done and the entire team at Bethesda and Zenimax Online deserve a much needed round of applause.

Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to go make a cup of coffee and head back into TESO.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Quick “Class” Breakdown

So Hubby said I should share, just in case you were on the fence about what “class” to play.

DragonKnight: Ardent Flame – deals AOE

DragonKnight: Draconic Power – increased armor (tanking)

DragonKnight: Earthen Heart – Crowd Control

NightBlade: Assassin --  Close up; quick kills

NightBlade: Shadow – Fears; Pet

NightBlade: Siphoning – Damage over Time

Sorcerer: Dark Magic – Crowd Control

Sorcerer: Daedric Summoning – Pet class

Sorcerer: Storm Calling – AOE

Templar: Aedric Spear – Crowd Control

Templar: Dawn’s Wrath – Damage over Time

Templar: Restoring Light – AOE heals

 

If you are undecided, try a NightBlade DOT Mage.  I played one in Beta, and it was a bloody blast of death and destruction.

 

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Elder Scrolls Online: Changes to Cold Harbor

The very first time I logged into beta for the Elder Scrolls Online way back when I was filled with excitement and trepidation.  Would it live up to previous Elder Scrolls games?  Would my fears be confirmed?  Would I fall in love with the game like I did Oblivion?

Amazing how those answers would be so INCREDIBLY different if this weekend had been my first experience with ESO.  Way back then, the game lived up to its predecessors, my fears were unfounded and I loved the game.  Not just loved it, I told my husband that it was gaming perfection for me.  Now, Cold Harbor DESTROYS that experience entirely. 

The original Cold Harbor was an escape from death as all Elder Scrolls games begin.  Only this time, Daedric Prince Molag Bal was responsible and I had to fight to escape his realm.  It was immersive from the beginning.  A creepy old dude appears and not only can I see and talk to him but I escape from my jail cell as a result.  None of that has changed but here after, the immersive aspect disappears.

The old dude, aka The Prophet, tells me to follow the kind Argonian who opens my cell door and to arm myself.  Used to be you ended up in a forge with a large variety of weapons to choose from, as would make sense in a room known as the FORGE.  New version, there is one weapon and only one weapon choice a sword.  Really a sword?  Yes, I know you can use any weapon in the game with any class but if you are like me and get horrible luck with weapon drops then guess what?  That is your weapon until a better one appears. 

Sucking it up, I equip the sword and moved on.  First play through Cold Harbor this weekend, I played it like every other time I’ve gone through it.  That was a mistake.  Chests and enemies are far less, there is no longer a sense of improving through successful battles.  No weapons, armor, books, lock picks, or recipes dropped and I looted every possible urn, crate, chest, and barrel I could.  I rescued the Prophet, not caring for the first time about Lyris and her sacrifice. 

The new boss battle at Anchor Mooring was a pleasant change however.  But of course I was underpowered with the crappy sword and rags I was equipped with.  The fight which could have felt epic in scale and ferocity, instead felt like I had been thrown to the dogs and would succeed only because the Prophet was throwing heals on me.  Boss done, I felt none of the urgency to escape.  I no longer had to collect shards to assemble the Skyshard, Prophet just magically conjured them up. 

Successful escape from Cold Harbor and I land in some house in Daggerfall.  I walk out the door and NPCs are acting like they’ve heard of my fighting abilities.  Really?  They have sources in Cold Harbor that regularly report back to them?  First reaction?  They are in league with a Daedric Prince and I am OUTTA HERE.  Tried to find a way back to the starter island but no luck there.  I was under-geared and under-leveled for the area I was thrown into and I was dismayed.

I played through Cold Harbor three times since Friday morning and it hasn’t gotten any better.  Now I just rush through to get to the end of a dismal experience that isn’t immersive and isn’t worthy of being in an Elder Scrolls game.  I miss John Cleaves as Caldwell because I flat out don’t believe that Molag Bal has stolen my soul or that I am in any mortal or immortal danger.  I finish the Cold Harbor mess always under-geared and thrown into some random location not caring. 

Luckily, I know how incredibly good the game is but if I were a new player I would be done with the game after this experience.  I wouldn’t give it five more minutes of my time and I would tell everyone not to waste their time as well.  I get that the developers wanted to make skipping “starter” islands a possibility but they implemented that choice in the worse possible manner.  The story is no longer cohesive, immersive, and it makes no sense. Now it is just another random MMO in a sea drowning in random MMOs. 

The forums are filled with other players equally upset with the changes.  I’m praying the developers come to their collective senses in time to save the mess they have turned the game into. 

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Elder Scrolls Online: Rumors

The lifting of the NDA is going to prove to be a blessing and a curse for Zenimax and Elder Scrolls Online.  It is a blessing because true fans of the Elder Scrolls can now openly express their opinions of the game.  Sure, there are purists who go into beta with a preconceived disposition to hate the game because it isn’t single player but if they drop their preconceived expectations, they come to love the game for what it is.

Now for the curse and it is a dozy, the rumor mill of what is and isn’t happening in the closed beta is now running rampant.  There is currently a rumor that starting islands are being removed from the game.  Since no beta invites have been issued yet for the much anticipated and hoped for beta this weekend, it can only be assumed that the rumor was instigated by someone in the ongoing 24/7 closed beta testing group or an individual with malicious intent. 

Personally, I’m thinking that the rumor was started by someone in the 24/7 beta test group who violated their NDA.  Now there is the expectation that the starter islands are gone and that players will immediately go from Cold Harbor to the first city of their faction. 

What the rumor actually states is that the starting islands are now optional.  This will be a boon to those individuals who rush to the “end game” and then begin to whine and moan about how the game is a failure because they’ve reached level cap and there is nothing for them to do.  Sure, starting islands aren’t going to make that much of a difference to those that rush, which begs the question why make them optional in the first place?

Making the starter islands optional does provide and element of freedom that has been present in all of the single player games, I freely admit this benefit.  But this isn’t a single player game and those couple of levels that you gain on the starter island may mean a shift in your play style you didn’t anticipate when you made your character.  You may discover that you hate the way that the Assassination line plays while fighting creatures of equivalent levels or that you are breezing through enemies as a Dragon Knight utilizing a Restoration staff.  Making those discoveries as a level three player against creatures several levels against you will not be a pleasant experience.

I won’t be skipping starter islands, there is too much to experience and figure out on them.  I have enjoyed the stories and quests on every single starter island.  I will have done them multiple times by the time the game releases and I still won’t be skipping them.  If you aren’t an Elder Scrolls lore junkie, then skipping the starter islands won’t help you get immersed in the world either.  You won’t meet characters whose families were devastated by the last war with the Akaviri (2E 572) or meet soldiers stranded by a hurricane out of nowhere.  Personally, meeting these characters made the MMO version of the Elder Scrolls feel like an Elder Scrolls game.

There are plenty of places to roam and explore on the starter islands.  I have yet to feel constrained because I landed on a starter island and couldn’t “escape” until I completed the requisite quest chain.  It’s an Elder Scrolls game after all.  Quest chains are how the story progresses and moves forward.  Quests and the non-player characters are what gives any Elder Scrolls game it’s “flavor” and character. 

Personally, I think making the starter islands skippable is a mistake on the part of Zenimax.  It caters to the crowd that rushes to the end game and in the end, that same crowd destroys the game in the long run.  This move is the first in what is a slippery slope for Zenimax in catering to the “wishes” of the loudest whiners.  I pray that it isn’t a slippery slope they traverse long and that Zenimax stays true to their vision of the game and doesn’t try to continual edit a game based on popular opinion.  That is the slippery slope of doom and will destroy the game.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Lore Tidbits 2

The environment of Elder Scrolls Online is littered with unassuming crates and barrels, much like the ones pictured above from Skyrim.  Don’t assume these are meaningless debris scattered about to fill blank spaces.  Crates and barrels often contain crafting materials, like food stuffs, lock picks, and if you hit the jackpot on occasion a gold or two.  Often in ESO these vessels will be marked as empty but don’t despair chances are that someone looted them before you got there.  Don’t stand around and wait for them to respawn either, just be aware that if you run across them then loot them if you have inventory space.

Lock picking is the bane of my Elder Scrolls love but essential.  First word of advice, always have lock picks on you.   If you think you have sufficient lock picks, purchase more.  I’ve figured out lock picking in ESO, thanks to my hubby, but it isn’t easy and I’ll admit I miss the force feedback from the Xbox Controller.  But as difficult as lock picking can be, it is a thousand times worse when you come upon a chest only to discover you have no lock picks on you and you are forced to walk away from what was obviously the greatest chest of all time because you were too lazy to stock-up on lock picks.

Soul gems are essential.  A filled soul gems are used to refill the “charge” of a magically enchanted item or to resurrect a fallen player in ESO.  Different levels of soul gems refill items to varying degrees and the level of the player dictates the level of soul gem required to resurrect them.  Soul gems are available for purchase either empty or filled in any town of decent size.  Filled soul gems are far more expensive than empty ones, so stock up on empty ones when in town too.  It is not funny when your weapons run out of charge in the middle of no-where and your inventory is devoid of soul gems. 

Soul gems are filled with the use of the Soul Trap spell that all players have access to, it is a good idea to keep this spell on your spell bar.  In addition to filling a soul gem, it is also a damage over time spell available to all players even if the creature fails to die before the Soul Trap spell expires. 

Black Soul Gems are used to store the souls of humanoids in Elder Scrolls lore.    I haven’t personally seen them in ESO but it is a safe assumption they are in the game, it wouldn’t be an Elder Scrolls game without them.   Levels 1-10 in ESO require only petty soul gems to resurrect a player, by the way this is the only way to resurrect a player.

Repairing your own gear is possible in ESO.  General merchandise vendors and others sell repair kits.  Repair kits will prevent your gear from breaking out in the field.  Any vendor in the game can also repair your gear when the store inventory menu is open.  I haven’t yet tested the repair kits in the beta but if they work anything like Oblivion, then the kits are of limited use (i.e. the kit will break as well).  I’m also not sure if the repair kit will level the Armorer stat like in previous games, I will test this in the next beta.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Lore Tidbits for New Players

The fearsome creature above is a mudcrab and in previous games they were deadly.  No seriously, first thing you’d do in Oblivion after escaping the prison and sewers was go beat up on mudcrabs.  They were more than capable of killing you as you leveled up hand-to-hand combat or if you were running around without clothes.

Elder Scrolls Online has removed the mudcrab threat from Nirn, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that mudcrabs haven’t yet become the dangerous and fearsome creatures of games set later in the timeline.  Mudcrabs are now non-hostile, peaceful creatures and a companion pet for those that purchase the Imperial Edition.

The Slaughter Fish or the Chihuahuas of the water, swim to deep or too far and you will be fighting slaughter fish.  Buried treasure at the bottom of the lake or river, safe bet it will be guarded by slaughter fish.  Not really paying attention and swimming, be prepared to be slaughtered by the slaughter fish.  They exist in fresh and salt water bodies and usually your first indication that they are there is the bright red bloom of blood as they take a chunk of your flesh as payment.

 

Don’t be surprised if you come across a player in ESO that stares down at formations like this and looks baffled.  In previous games, this formation would net you loot that sold for a decent amount of gold when you first escape the prison.  Many a time I would be low on cash in Oblivion and I would never fail to stop of loot the seashells.  Now, they are very fond memories of the hundreds of hours I’ve spent in Elder Scrolls games.

Books are scattered about Tamriel all over, in dungeons, in bookcases, on top of barrels, etc.  Don’t blindly pass them by for you never know what book might contain a skill up or amazing and consistent lore throughout all the games.  Reading in Elder Scrolls games is important, only a fool passes up the chance to pick up a book and read.

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Elder Scrolls Online: PvP & the Rest

PVP

I haven’t had the opportunity to participate in PvP the last couple of betas, however I can honestly say it is incredibly enjoyable.  I don’t have any PvP screenshots to share either but the battle are huge and intense. There are quests to do in Cyrodiil in addition to battling the other factions. 

PvP is a viable alternative to leveling via questing but that is something I will skip.  You can enter PvP at level 10 and begin your quest to become Emperor.

The Rest

The game isn’t perfect, but then again it is still in beta and I expect to discover and report bugs.  I have stumbled across and reported more than a couple and I’m fine with that.  Unlike the so-called “professional” reviewers who gave every impression that the game was all but unplayable.  That being said I have not run across any bug that was game breaking or that has caused me to rethink the purchase of collector editions.

I have a wish list, like most players, but nothing on my wish list is so earth shatteringly important to me that it will prevent me from playing and loving the game.  Sure, I’m love a cosmetic armor slot and armor dyes but I won’t find my game diminished if they aren’t included.

I don’t have problems with the combat either.  I don’t get all of the complaints that the combat is “floaty” or fails to connect to the enemy.  I’ve experienced none of that.  If I push a button, the game always responded in a timely manner as expected. I love being a Dragon Knight wielding a restoration staff while effortlessly killing enemies or my heavy plate wearing, damage over time Nightblade battle mage with duel daggers of doom. 

Classes are more of a starting point then anything else.  Oh the complaints and moans from alleged healers that tried to heal standing back and standing still.  Let’s be clear, that healing style doesn’t work in this game and hallelujah for that.  Healing is mostly area of effect based and in melee ranged.  It is a blast to play to be honest.  Mages are incredibly powerful and again a blast to play.  Bow skills are fun and overpowered.  Healing on my Nightblade is fun  and a breeze.  To be honest, healing isn’t complicated or magicka intensive if you think and understand that standing back and healing is the path to failure.

The game is so immersive and challenging that it has brought out my inner role player that I didn’t know existed.  No I won’t be roleplaying in game, but I will definitely be chronicling my characters adventures and exploits.  I’ve got the blog space reserved already (just not set-up yet) and now I just need the ability to reserve character names to get started.  It’s a journey I can’t wait to begin! 

So, ignore the negative reviewers who don’t know what they are talking about.  Journey to Nirn and discover what Molag Bal has planned and experience Elder Scrolls Online for yourself and decide.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Crafting & Economy

Economy

Let’s be clear, stuff isn’t inexpensive and frankly it shouldn’t be.  Armor, weapons, and potions can be purchased from NPC vendors but you will pay the price for having access to NPC produced goods.  Prices aren’t unreasonable but they aren’t meaningless either. 

So you didn’t purchase the Imperial Edition and you want to buy a horse?  Then be prepared to save all your gold because the most basic mount will run you 17,500 gold.  That price does not include the price to feed your one active mount once a day either. 

There has been a lot of complaints about the economy in beta and honestly I think it is all bunk.  In single player Elder Scrolls games, having a horse was a luxury and a rarity.  That same behavior should carry over to the MMO game, failure to do so diminishes the franchise as a whole.  Horses are actually more of an impediment to immersion then they are a necessity in ESO in my experience.  You are MUCH more like to miss lore books, hidden quests, etc. when on horseback then if you are out and about wandering the countryside on foot.

There has also been a lot of talk about the lack of an auction house/broker system.  I have no problem with this being “missing” from the game.  A character can join up to five guild (this does NOT include guilds like Fighter’s or Mage’s) and guilds can establish guild stores.  Guild stores allow you to purchase things from other guild members who may be willing to sell you stuff at prices lower than NPCs. 

Crafting

Crafting is not the over-simplified creation of meaningless goods that exist in other games.  Crafting has six choices: Alchemy, Enchanting, Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Woodworking, and Provisioning. 

So far in beta weekends, you can have every crafting profession.  However, crafting is resource intensive for all skills expect Provisioning.  It is much easier to acquire goods to craft food and beverages because these items are easily located in the crates and barrels all Elder Scrolls players know to scavenge whenever they can.

Nodes do not magically glow out in the wild, until you place a skill point in the profession to make a node glow.  If you fail to pay attention to your surroundings you will miss that maple log or jute plant you could have harvested.  And just because you harvested the raw materials doesn’t mean you can open the crafting menu out in the middle of nowhere and make yourself an upgrade.  No, you need the appropriate crafting station to even open the crafting menu in the first place.  Once again, planning ahead and thinking are required.

Crafting is very fulfilling.  It is complex without being overly so.  It pulls goods from your shared bank storage to craft which is extremely nice.  There is also the chance to fail when crafting an improved item.  That’s right, there is no guarantee that when you go to improve an item it will be successful unless you put enough of the raw component to improve the item into the recipe.  That chance of failure makes the successes all the more sweet.

Crafting will keep you in weapons and armor appropriate for your level that will allow you to succeed, even with the common white level weapon or armor that isn’t improved.  Ignore crafting at your own peril my friends.

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Elder Scrolls Online: Questing

And thus begins your questing experience in Elder Scrolls Online.  Simple, clean and minimal to begin with and yet perfect for the setting of the first quest of the game. 

The prison setting is being called trite and over used by critics but the setting fits with the Daedra at the heart of the main story line.  If Molag Bal were the villain and the story began anywhere else, it would just instantly not make the game an Elder Scrolls game.  So, yeah the game begins in a prison environment but get over it, that’s where it should start.

A common complaint among gamers is that quests boil down to nothing more than, as my husband likes to phrase it, do my laundry bitch quests.  I have yet to run into a single quest that had me go kill ten of this or fetch ten of that.  Quests are far more involved than fetching and retrieving.  I’ve saved a village from a father determined to protect and feed his vampire son.  I’ve acquired tomes of arcane knowledge to help free a mage.  I commune with spirits and defied the express wishes of the undead. 

Quests are varied and unique and make the world and environment come to life.  Do you stop and aid the merchant along the road?  The environment is filled with quests that will never be discovered by standing in town waiting for the quest givers to come to you.

There is no central quest hub crowded with players trying to grab quests and run.  Sure places like the Fighter’s and Mage’s Guilds can be crowded at times with players but stop and think about it.  If your home was under attack from the god or gods that were regularly worshipped and were known to take personal interest in the lives of the world’s inhabitants wouldn’t you be rushing to the nearest organization you thought could help to protect the one’s you love?  So, yeah congested quest givers isn’t a problem for me on those rare occasions it does occur.

The quest dialogue is fully voice acted and isn’t overly long but isn’t too short.  The quests don’t hold your hand and led you from point A to point B.  Players have to think, listen, and figure things out on their own.  There is a directional pointer on the HUD to aid the player, identical to Skyrim in fact, but that is the only “help” in questing that exists in the game.

Immersion in the game is complete and total because of the quests.  They suck you in, they make you care about not only your character but the NPC characters.  The quests are by far the best I’ve experienced in any MMO to date and questing is my thing, it is something that makes or breaks a game for me.  I cannot stress how well done the quests are or how well they’ve managed to completely immerse me in the content.

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