Hey Friends! I seem to have pretty much played nothing but Elder Scrolls Online this weekend and had a blast doing so. Right now I seem to be going through a little bit of a renaissance with this game and it is happening for a bunch of reasons. Firstly I had been grasping for something to really engage with in the month until the Outriders launch. Secondly and probably considerably more important is that I connected with my friends Bells and Zuu who are themselves having a bit of a revival with the game. This lead to a whole sequence of events that has folks coming back and joining my guild and effectively revitalizing the entire experience.
That is nothing to dilute the fact that Elder Scrolls Online is just a really solid game right now and they seem to have nailed the release cadence for content drops. For awhile now they have been on this cycle of releasing a new expansion every year and then three minor drops throughout that expansion content cycle. On top of that they seem to keep investing in new systems and supporting aging systems like player housing. The myriad of content that is still fresh and viable is staggering to me, because it all more or less centers around build diversity and the gear that you gain after a certain point effectively staying evergreen.
This is more or less accomplished in a structured manner. Each zone has a specific set worth of gear that drops in it, and that set is more or less unique and stays effective regardless of how many new sets get added into the game pending you want to focus on that specific play style. In my travels I stumbled across this listing of the Overworld set drops and zones they drop in. There are also dungeon dropped sets but they are probably more straight forward. Then far as I can tell there are specific activities in that zone that can drop specific items. Based on my research it looks a little like this:
Jewelry – Dark Anchor Chests
Waist/Feet – Delve Bosses
Head/Chest/Legs/Weapons – Overworld Public Group Bosses
Shoulder/Hand/Weapons – Public Group Dungeon Bosses
I spent a good chunk of last night running around in a public dungeon and those drops seem to align with the sort of things I was seeing in there. Essentially you have specific targets that you want to farm in order to get the drops that you need for a specific slot and specific set type.
What is great about this is given enough resources you can turn a random green set piece into something that is actually end game viable. The crafting system and the ability to upgrade rarities of items not only applies to the things you create but also the drops you get out in the world. So you with enough crafting resources you can upgrade the green to blue and then again to purple and again to orange quality essentially capping the item out. If you end up with less than perfect affixes on the item, then there is a way to fix that through transmutation as well. Through all of these interweaving systems it actually becomes fairly reasonable to single out a specific drop and then focus actually getting that thing. The same is true with dungeon loot and while you can get orange items straight up from Veteran content, a lot of players just farm the normal version and convert up whatever rarity they get to drop there.
Weirdly Elder Scrolls Online has been a game where I have rolled a number of alts but never really played them much. I actually decided to focus on one for a bit and played through all of Stros M’Kai, Betnik and Coldharbor on my Bosmer Warden. I am having a blast playing it was Two Handed with Stamina based morphs on the Animal Companion line of skills. During the Morrowind campaign I picked up the Scarlet Judge outfit and I am rocking that appearance for the time being on the character because I think it looks really cool. Coming back to Stros M’Kai which I believe is the first area I ever tested in the game… felt like coming home.
The love and nostalgia that I have for Elder Scrolls Online is significant, but I have to admit a lot of what is making this return trip so enjoyable is all of the folks that are showing up in House Stalwart. Bells and Zuu have been busy recruiting and Zuu is actively decorating the home that will eventually become our Guild Hall. I love these assistants that you can get and consider them to be pretty much the best crowns I ever spent in the game, so it feels super right to have them be our guild bank and guild merchant. I am having a blast and I think this underlines the point that enjoyment in a game is a combination of the game being really good, but also having a bunch of folks around you who are also enjoying the game.
A number of my most enjoyable experiences in MMORPGs has been moments in time where people were just excited about the vibe of the game. While I have yet to actually group up with anyone, just knowing that there are other people around enhances the experience. You have to understand that my wife and I enjoy being in the same room doing completely different things, because just knowing the other is there enhances our evening. The same is true for online gaming. Just knowing that there are friends out there if I feel like talking…. even if I never actually talk… is a positive. Not sure how long this current run will last but I am enjoying the wave before it breaks.
The post Tamriel Renaissance appeared first on Tales of the Aggronaut.
Hey Friends! I seem to have pretty much played nothing but Elder Scrolls Online this weekend and had a blast doing so. Right now I seem to be going through a little bit of a renaissance with this game and it is happening for a bunch of reasons. Firstly I had been grasping for something to really engage with in the month until the Outriders launch. Secondly and probably considerably more important is that I connected with my friends Bells and Zuu who are themselves having a bit of a revival with the game. This lead to a whole sequence of events that has folks coming back and joining my guild and effectively revitalizing the entire experience.
That is nothing to dilute the fact that Elder Scrolls Online is just a really solid game right now and they seem to have nailed the release cadence for content drops. For awhile now they have been on this cycle of releasing a new expansion every year and then three minor drops throughout that expansion content cycle. On top of that they seem to keep investing in new systems and supporting aging systems like player housing. The myriad of content that is still fresh and viable is staggering to me, because it all more or less centers around build diversity and the gear that you gain after a certain point effectively staying evergreen.
This is more or less accomplished in a structured manner. Each zone has a specific set worth of gear that drops in it, and that set is more or less unique and stays effective regardless of how many new sets get added into the game pending you want to focus on that specific play style. In my travels I stumbled across this listing of the Overworld set drops and zones they drop in. There are also dungeon dropped sets but they are probably more straight forward. Then far as I can tell there are specific activities in that zone that can drop specific items. Based on my research it looks a little like this:
Jewelry – Dark Anchor Chests
Waist/Feet – Delve Bosses
Head/Chest/Legs/Weapons – Overworld Public Group Bosses
Shoulder/Hand/Weapons – Public Group Dungeon Bosses
I spent a good chunk of last night running around in a public dungeon and those drops seem to align with the sort of things I was seeing in there. Essentially you have specific targets that you want to farm in order to get the drops that you need for a specific slot and specific set type.
What is great about this is given enough resources you can turn a random green set piece into something that is actually end game viable. The crafting system and the ability to upgrade rarities of items not only applies to the things you create but also the drops you get out in the world. So you with enough crafting resources you can upgrade the green to blue and then again to purple and again to orange quality essentially capping the item out. If you end up with less than perfect affixes on the item, then there is a way to fix that through transmutation as well. Through all of these interweaving systems it actually becomes fairly reasonable to single out a specific drop and then focus actually getting that thing. The same is true with dungeon loot and while you can get orange items straight up from Veteran content, a lot of players just farm the normal version and convert up whatever rarity they get to drop there.
Weirdly Elder Scrolls Online has been a game where I have rolled a number of alts but never really played them much. I actually decided to focus on one for a bit and played through all of Stros M’Kai, Betnik and Coldharbor on my Bosmer Warden. I am having a blast playing it was Two Handed with Stamina based morphs on the Animal Companion line of skills. During the Morrowind campaign I picked up the Scarlet Judge outfit and I am rocking that appearance for the time being on the character because I think it looks really cool. Coming back to Stros M’Kai which I believe is the first area I ever tested in the game… felt like coming home.
The love and nostalgia that I have for Elder Scrolls Online is significant, but I have to admit a lot of what is making this return trip so enjoyable is all of the folks that are showing up in House Stalwart. Bells and Zuu have been busy recruiting and Zuu is actively decorating the home that will eventually become our Guild Hall. I love these assistants that you can get and consider them to be pretty much the best crowns I ever spent in the game, so it feels super right to have them be our guild bank and guild merchant. I am having a blast and I think this underlines the point that enjoyment in a game is a combination of the game being really good, but also having a bunch of folks around you who are also enjoying the game.
A number of my most enjoyable experiences in MMORPGs has been moments in time where people were just excited about the vibe of the game. While I have yet to actually group up with anyone, just knowing that there are other people around enhances the experience. You have to understand that my wife and I enjoy being in the same room doing completely different things, because just knowing the other is there enhances our evening. The same is true for online gaming. Just knowing that there are friends out there if I feel like talking…. even if I never actually talk… is a positive. Not sure how long this current run will last but I am enjoying the wave before it breaks.
The post Tamriel Renaissance appeared first on Tales of the Aggronaut.
Hey Friends! I seem to have pretty much played nothing but Elder Scrolls Online this weekend and had a blast doing so. Right now I seem to be going through a little bit of a renaissance with this game and it is happening for a bunch of reasons. Firstly I had been grasping for something to really engage with in the month until the Outriders launch. Secondly and probably considerably more important is that I connected with my friends Bells and Zuu who are themselves having a bit of a revival with the game. This lead to a whole sequence of events that has folks coming back and joining my guild and effectively revitalizing the entire experience.
That is nothing to dilute the fact that Elder Scrolls Online is just a really solid game right now and they seem to have nailed the release cadence for content drops. For awhile now they have been on this cycle of releasing a new expansion every year and then three minor drops throughout that expansion content cycle. On top of that they seem to keep investing in new systems and supporting aging systems like player housing. The myriad of content that is still fresh and viable is staggering to me, because it all more or less centers around build diversity and the gear that you gain after a certain point effectively staying evergreen.
This is more or less accomplished in a structured manner. Each zone has a specific set worth of gear that drops in it, and that set is more or less unique and stays effective regardless of how many new sets get added into the game pending you want to focus on that specific play style. In my travels I stumbled across this listing of the Overworld set drops and zones they drop in. There are also dungeon dropped sets but they are probably more straight forward. Then far as I can tell there are specific activities in that zone that can drop specific items. Based on my research it looks a little like this:
Jewelry – Dark Anchor Chests
Waist/Feet – Delve Bosses
Head/Chest/Legs/Weapons – Overworld Public Group Bosses
Shoulder/Hand/Weapons – Public Group Dungeon Bosses
I spent a good chunk of last night running around in a public dungeon and those drops seem to align with the sort of things I was seeing in there. Essentially you have specific targets that you want to farm in order to get the drops that you need for a specific slot and specific set type.
What is great about this is given enough resources you can turn a random green set piece into something that is actually end game viable. The crafting system and the ability to upgrade rarities of items not only applies to the things you create but also the drops you get out in the world. So you with enough crafting resources you can upgrade the green to blue and then again to purple and again to orange quality essentially capping the item out. If you end up with less than perfect affixes on the item, then there is a way to fix that through transmutation as well. Through all of these interweaving systems it actually becomes fairly reasonable to single out a specific drop and then focus actually getting that thing. The same is true with dungeon loot and while you can get orange items straight up from Veteran content, a lot of players just farm the normal version and convert up whatever rarity they get to drop there.
Weirdly Elder Scrolls Online has been a game where I have rolled a number of alts but never really played them much. I actually decided to focus on one for a bit and played through all of Stros M’Kai, Betnik and Coldharbor on my Bosmer Warden. I am having a blast playing it was Two Handed with Stamina based morphs on the Animal Companion line of skills. During the Morrowind campaign I picked up the Scarlet Judge outfit and I am rocking that appearance for the time being on the character because I think it looks really cool. Coming back to Stros M’Kai which I believe is the first area I ever tested in the game… felt like coming home.
The love and nostalgia that I have for Elder Scrolls Online is significant, but I have to admit a lot of what is making this return trip so enjoyable is all of the folks that are showing up in House Stalwart. Bells and Zuu have been busy recruiting and Zuu is actively decorating the home that will eventually become our Guild Hall. I love these assistants that you can get and consider them to be pretty much the best crowns I ever spent in the game, so it feels super right to have them be our guild bank and guild merchant. I am having a blast and I think this underlines the point that enjoyment in a game is a combination of the game being really good, but also having a bunch of folks around you who are also enjoying the game.
A number of my most enjoyable experiences in MMORPGs has been moments in time where people were just excited about the vibe of the game. While I have yet to actually group up with anyone, just knowing that there are other people around enhances the experience. You have to understand that my wife and I enjoy being in the same room doing completely different things, because just knowing the other is there enhances our evening. The same is true for online gaming. Just knowing that there are friends out there if I feel like talking…. even if I never actually talk… is a positive. Not sure how long this current run will last but I am enjoying the wave before it breaks.
The post Tamriel Renaissance appeared first on Tales of the Aggronaut.
Featuring: Ammo, Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo and Thalen
Tonight we have a bit of an odd show at the end of a painfully long week. We talk about Outriders some more and how odd it is that they are patching the demo and being completely transparent about it. Since more folks have played it there are some fresh impressions to go along with that. This breaks out into a broader discussion of live service games and the looter shooter genre. From here we sorta make a trip down into comfort gaming and revisiting old familiar stories as a way of regulating mood. Tam and Kodra talk about how they are wired a little differently and their version of this is playing some sort of game where they can enter a flow state and find peace and calm in the challenge.
