Today in The Elder Scrolls Online subreddit, the development team participated in a two hour Ask Us Anything, focusing on ESO coming to consoles and the change over to Tamriel Unlimited. I've been monitoring the AMA since it went live and have pulled all of the questions, along with their answers, from it, which are below. These are all direct copies, so expect more than my average amount of typos! There's a lot of really great answers here, which I do encourage anyone interested in The Elder Scrolls Online to read, but I will warn that this article is extremely long. Key points are that the Crown Store will not be pay to win, the team is hoping to add in controller support to desktop gaming, mount skills are tied to characters and not mounts, and most changes going into the game will give the playerbase extra options overall.


Will you be changing the drop rates of items purchasable in the crown store (eg: potions, soul gems) so that it is more difficult to obtain these items in the world?

We won't be changing the drop rate of items that have Crown Store versions.

 

Could your next version of the ESO box say on the code sheet that it's a scratch-off? That would save... some people a lot of humiliation.

Lottery tickets must be a very disappointing affair for you. I'll see what I can do.

 

Will there be a Beta available for the console version prior to release? I was in the initial beta, however, found the keyboard controls too frustrating for me to handle. (more of a console gamer) so decided to pass on the PC release.

I've been waiting eagerly for the console version, but wanted to be able to test drive it before committing to spending the $60 for the game.

Yes, we're absolutely planning to have a Beta available prior to console release. More details about it will be available as we get closer to launch.

How much will each DLC pack cost if we do not have a subscription

That has yet to be determined but we intend to price around standard DLC pricing.

 

We know that players will be able to keep items and gear earned in a DLC from a plus membership, should they allow they're membership to lapse. However another interesting scenario arises. Will players without a plus membership AND without having purchased a specific DLC be able to purchase items in a guild store from a DLC they do not own or have access to? A "No" answer means you are "punishing" the player's who own the content by limiting the pool of players they can sell to, but a "yes" would allow B2P players to acquire items and gear that perhaps they shouldn't be able to get.

Yes. Players who have access to DLC and get normal drops from that DLC they will be able to sell it in the Guild Store.

We are not done with the first DLC so some things can change. In general though... Typical items, weapons and armor can be freely traded/sold to those that do not own the DLC. But some/many capstone rewards will be highly visible and not tradable.

But can players who don't have that dlc buy them?

Yes. They can.

 

Hi ESO. I have been looking forward to this game all year and can’t wait for it to become available on the PS4. I would like to know if Chatbox will be available on console versions, as it is on the PC? I am deaf myself so I would be relying on Chatbox to allow me to communicate with other people on the game.

Yes, you have the option of using the text chatbox on console as well. Furthermore, you can plug in a standard USB keyboard into your PS4 and use it to type, if you want.

The chat window collapses by default, but can be pinned to the HUD if you want.

 

I want to ride around on Bears. Can we have bears?

We too want you to ride around on a bear!

 

Can we hope for a PVP arena DLC?

We are still looking at plans for possible 'battlegrounds' being introduced to the game. Whether such content would be DLC (paid for expansion) or something we deliver in a normal update is not known at this time.

Can you please clarify what you classify as "Thematic Armor"? Does this refer to DLC themed costumes? Are you planning to sell Motifs? Or are you talking actual armor sets with stats/set bonuses that will directly breach the Buy 2 Win model that you saying you will avoid?

Some of the costumes in the Crown Store look like some of the most favorite armor sets in the game, turned into a costume. There are a few lower level armor "looks" in the game right now that are pretty cool, and we've gotten some commentary that players sometimes don't want to upgrade to a new armor piece in the game because they like the they way they look. So, we have several costume packs that basically give you the look of some in-game full armor sets (Lion Guard, for example). We have no plans to sell armor or armor pieces in the Crown Store, just costumes that look like them.

 

Are there plans to allow us to dye costumes for a bit more versitility so that everyone doesn't look "the same"?

We are looking into dyeing costume functionality, but it won't be available at Tamriel Unlimited launch.

 

How do you plan to address the Guild vs Justice System Tabard conflict?

Tabards and costumes will take up the same slot, for now. We are looking into ways to split them apart so you can have a costume with a Tabard over it, but we aren't going to support it at Tamriel Unlimited launch.

 

With the release of consoles in June, do you plan on giving the PC version a controller implementation option?

I currently use Xpadder to play ESO with an Xbox controller because I love the feel of kicking back while playing, but also love the addons and graphics PC offers.

This is something we are shooting for and it's a goal to have gamepad support for the PC version of the game, but this won't be available at the same time as the console release.

I hear you on the enjoyment of using a controller with the game. I go back and forth myself!

 

So the other day a dev post on the forums talked about the changes to mounts, but I still find myself a little bit confused.

What's going to happen to the +10 stat of the more expensive horses? Will that be transferred to all of my horses as well? Will it be trainable now? Or will I have to buy these more expensive horses now to still get a +10 to my preferred stats?

So with the new system your character will have what we call Riding Skills that will replace what was previously tracked on each mount. This maps to the 3 attributes you had previously (speed, capacity and stamina). The highest value you have on your existing mounts will transfer over to the new riding skill system.

With this change, you can choose the look of the mount you want without sacrificing bonuses since that's determined by your Riding Skill now.

 

Will Plus subscribers be able to obtain clothes [blacksmith attire] or mounts through PVE [questing, vendors, crafting] without having to spend additional money on the Crown store?

Some items will be available exclusively through the store, some will be available exclusively in-game, and some items will be available through both. Plus subscribers will be granted an amount of Crowns they can use to buy things from the store. How they use their Crowns will be completely up to them.

Some of the costumes in the game simply look like popular lower-level armors (Lion Guard, for example) or fan-favorite NPCs (Crafty Lerisa), and some of those outfits can be made by crafters, as they look like standard armors.

However, some costumes are custom-made for the Crown Store - for example, Blacksmith, Wedding Dress, etc. - and those are available only in the Crown Store. If you are a Plus member, you will still have to purchase those in the Crown Store, but you'll be given 1500 Crowns/month as part of ESO Plus benefits to make those purchases.

Can you detail what will be a "DLC" and what will not be considered DLC. I think we want to understand what kinds of content will be free and what will be paid for going forward... also how often we can expect to see "DLC".

It is likely that large updates such as a zone will be DLC. Such zones might come with new items, new style books, etc. This will almost certainly be paid for content. We also have plans to introduce systems, balance changes, new abilities as updates that are not paid for. It is important to note that this model is relatively new, and we will keep players informed as to what exactly constitutes DLC long before the DLC becomes available.

 

Quick question in relation to the release on console:

Subscription for PLUS will be an option on PC, but will PLUS be offered to console players? What will be the equivalent option for them, or will there be no PLUS option?

Hi Browntown_07, we are currently working out the details of how membership will be handled on the console and will be releasing more information in the future.

 

Can i obtain the content of 'Explorer's Pack', if i buy 'Tamriel Unlimited' Edition?

Will there be 'Tamriel Unlimited Imperial Edition'? Any chance to get to play as Imperial w/o 'Imperial Edition' (box or upgrade)?

You will be able to purchase the digital Imperial Edition upgrade bundle in the Crown Store. It is the same one that is on the ESO website right now - but after Tamriel Unlimited launches, it'll be available in the Crown Store.

And yes, there will be physical ESO: Tamriel Unlimited Imperial Editions available.

 

I had ordered the Imperial Edition with a 180 day subscription when ESO came out. After a few months, though, it lost its luster and I let my subscription lapse.

Since it hasn't been renewed, will I be able to reap the reward of having a previous subscription, or would it need to be active?

Would I be able to access my old characters still, or start anew?

Here's hoping that ESO continues to look and feel like a quality MMO, now that FTP means Pay-to-Play with the inclusion of crowns. Will players who still want to enjoy ESO but don't (or can't) pay the extra money for the "goodies" still be able to progress in a meaningful game?

Your characters are still there and your account will be magically active on March 17 as subscriptions will no longer be required. Just patch the client, log in with the account info you used back when you played, and you'll be off and running.

As for your second question - if you don't spend any additional money on the game other than the initial purchase, you'll be playing the same game as everyone else. The game won't be dumbed-down for non-Plus members. You would, however, see players riding cool mounts and wearing costumes you wouldn't have unless you purchased them in the Crown Store.

 

Will there be any type of offline mode in the console versions?

No, there will not be an offline mode for console.

 

Will there be an in game funtion for console players to create guilds/clans?

Yes, the functionality is equivalent to the PC. You can be a member of up to 5 guilds (with up to 500 members each) and can be the guild master of 1 guild.

The console guild screens have a different interface than the PC, of course, but you can do all the same things.

 

when can I expect you to fix block-casting so PVP isn't a ridiculous sword+shield fest?

Block casting is at the top of our list of combat issues to be addressed in the future. One of the biggest changes to PvP is the additon of increased AoE caps - Abilities can how hit up to 60 targets! Additionally we've rebalanced the way ultimate is generated so it will be more balanced and fair for all classes. Ultimate generation is a static value instead of based on your number of hits and critical strikes.

 

when are DKs going to be balanced in PVP? Call this QQ, but when a guy can charge into and vampire cloak out of 20+ enemies when he is all by himself, something is seriously wrong.

With regard to class balance we're gone over all abilities in the game with patch 1.6. The main focus was buffing weaker abilities. However there there a few abilities such as the DKs Reflective Scales that we tweaked to be more in line with the rest of the game. This ability now can only reflect 4 projectiles instead of an infinite number.

 

Will houses ever be a thing for players?

We have a number of things we'd love to add to the game. We are not currently working on housing, but it is on the top of the list of things we want to add.

<no question>

A quick note about version 1.6. It has a ton of new features and items that we have talked about, but also some things that we haven't talked about enough. Here's a general list, in no certain order. I'm sure I missed some, but these are the larger ticket items:

  • Justice System
  • Champion System
  • Crown Store and Collections
  • Combat animation and timing fixes - this was one of the most requested features over the last seven months. We've done many months of tweaks and fixes to animations, timing, and overall "feel" to make combat feel better and weightier. These fixes go live in 1.6, you'll see them on PTS and will be included in the console release.
  • More player separation fixes: we've gone back through quests and reduced the phasing as much as possible that results in players being separated from one another.
  • Provisioning Update
  • Re-balancing player abilities to be more consistent and better balanced across different builds

 

What is he approx dollar to crown conversion? Also, can you give us some examples of how much a mount or follower will cost?

PTS will be up soon! You will be able to preview the offerings at that time.

 

Will we be able to ( in the future ) be able to change our characters appearance like in Skyrim ?

We'd definitely like to introduce a "barbershop" feature into the game that would allow you to adjust your appearance.

 

It was announced that DLC will be scalable to all levels to be accessible upon purchase, yet character progression is more meaningful when it unlocks new places to go and new things to do. At the same time, good end-game content requires more than just a difficulty slider (such as clever mechanics). Will there still be new zones that require level 50 or completion of certain quest lines? I am wondering, for example, what challenges Cadwell's Silver and Gold were preparing us for in in-character/rp/lore terms.

Certainly leveling is one clear way to provide accomplishment, but I think with the Champion System we'll be looking at other ways to provide a great feeling of accomplishment. To be blunt, however, I think the days of gating content by level are probably behind us.

 

Many members of the ESO team have previously said that the reason for going sub only was so they didnt "have to make sacrifices because of using a different model".

I think many of the community would like to know if/what sacrifices will now be made because of the B2P model? and if none, what has changed since launch to make this possible?

We don't foresee any huge changes, other than us keeping an eye on the Crown Store and making sure that we have items there that people want to purchase. DLC will be gated to players who have purchased the pack directly on the Crown Store or are Plus members.

 

Subscribing after the launch of eso+ will earn you 1500 crowns, however to show your appreciation to those who have supported, tested and paid for this game for many months, you are awarding 100 crowns per month..

This to me sounds like more of an insult than a kind gesture, is this going to be changed, or can you explain this decision?

We also have 3, 6, and 9 month subscriber loyalty rewards (we've already given out the 3 and 6 month rewards), and we'll have a special loyalty reward for all of you who have subscribed from original launch through the Tamriel Unlimited transition. I mistakenly called this the "12 month" reward on our twitch show the day before yesterday, what it is intended to do is to make sure that people who subscribed the entire time the game was sub-based get a really cool exclusive reward. Expect details on that soon.

 

Under the right conditions(3 way fights @ emp keep, scroll fights, etc), Cyrodiil lag/fps performance issues become very noticeable, even on a high end machine. Considering the fact that console hardware specs aren't quite up to par with current high end machines, does ZOS plan on taking steps to relieve consoles of those issues? Example: Reduce population caps in AvA campaigns?

As I mentioned in another answer, performance is our top Cyrodiil concern, and we are looking at several ways of addressing it. Some of these will be in 1.6. As with anything going to console, we will evaluate performance and make adjustments as necessary, though it may or may not be population caps.

We're actually planning another playtest where you can join the devs on the PTS for some PvP action! More details will be posted next week.

 

Can the ESO team give the community an assurance that the Store WILL NOT sell these set items as it would effectively make the essence of the game, the journey the player goes on to EARN these items, irrelevant?

We have no plans to sell weapon or armor sets in the crown store.

 

what is the plan regarding PVP, buff servers, and emperor flipping?

To be competitive at the highest level of PVE content, buff servers are essential. This also makes it so that cross faction alliances can team up and deny another alliance their buffs, thus making them less competitive with nothing they can do (not when 2 factions team up).

If I might make a suggestion to keep players vested in PVP: Tie buffs outside of Cyrodiil to PVP rank, incentivising PVP without letting troll-playing and cross-faction alliances preventing one alliance from being as competitive. Then, have some other kind of in-campaign buff for keep ownership to make it worthwhile to have a home campaign.

Our most important priority for the Alliance War is to keep working on improving performance. Next priorities include incentivizing players to play in smaller groups and we have considered making the Cyrodiil buffs only apply to Cyrodiil.

 

why was the decision made to multiply attribute (and other) values instead of just rebalancing them with minor adjustments for 1.6? It's a logical fallacy that % bonuses will be more powerful, as they'll simply scale with the increased values, the numbers will look higher, but the relative value of a % increase with 150 health vs 100 magicka/stamina will be the same as with 1500 health vs 1000 magicka/stamina (or 160 vs 90, or 10,000 vs 700 or whatever different ratio was selected). By scaling the attributes so much, it just makes it confusing to players to readjust to what values of health/magicka/stamina etc are suitable for which content and goals.

This is mainly a display of progress. Not being able to see progression, even if it exists behind the scenes is often confusing to people. We made the decision so people can see their progress clearly.

 

with regards to the Crown Store and the Buy-to-Play model, a common theme with Free-to-Play/Buy-to-Play models and content cash-gates with cash shops is that in order to remain competitive, the best gear/potions/etc are obtainable in the cash shop. This is likely the #1 cause for playerbase dissatisfactino with the model. Will you promise us, in writing that the Crown Store will have nothing superior to in-game acquireable goods?

Our goal with the Crown store is to offer convenience and cosmetic items. Convenience will allow people to save themselves time. It will not allow people to get the best items or become more powerful in the game than another player could achieve. I will say openly that some people feel 'time-saving' items are buy-to-win such as being able to gain experience faster. But our perspective is that removing time barriers is something players want, without providing an unfair advantage in power.

 

Now that it doesn't require a subscription to play are you planning or considering to translate the game(text or text+voice, I prefer only text) into spanish. A lot of spanish people would like to play the game but only if it were in spanish.

Market demand is what drives our translation efforts. Spanish is not currently slated, but the answer is we would love to.

 

Can you tell us your target resolution and frame rate for PS4 & XB1 versions?

the targets are 30 fps and 1080p resolution for both platforms.

 

is there a chance to see the console UI available on PC for those who want to play with a controller?

we're definitely looking to add controller support to the PC game (including the same UI as console), but that won't be available until after console launch.

 

Are you talking WoW style battlegrounds or DAoC style battlegrounds?

ESO Style battlegrounds. Currently looking at defined play times (12 minutes for example) with objectives centering around varying play-styles. Capture the flag, kill the Emperor, etc. These are all still in the exploratory phase.

are the new riding stats higher than previous feeding stats?

Yes they are higher than the previous feeding stats.

 

The DLC that is playable as soon as you purchase it: Do you scale to it or does it scale to you? How will this affect play with friends who buy the DLC together but are at differing points/levels of the game?

The player will scale to the content. Our hope is it will make playing with your friends even easier.

 

Are you planning on implementing PvP balances/fixes?

This includes WoE broken, snipe strength, and the usual problems (dark cloak, etc.).

The combat team is continuing to support all current abilities with future updates for free to all customers.

With update 1.6 we've made a number of balance fixes to all abilities, as well as bug fixes for abilities such as Dark Cloak. In Cyrodiil we've updated the Battle Spirit buff to give players a buff that adds more health and damage reduction.

 

with the crown store, will we see it popping up and sparkling, annoyingly, every time we open the game? Or will this store be on a separate tab and sort of subdued until you want to make a purchase?

Will things like DLC, hoodies, plushies, posters, and other items you normally purchase with real life money be available with total or even partial payment with crowns?

Will there be in game methods to earn crowns, such as getting the fastest trial time, dominating pvp, or rewards for running a character through to top level?

We're aiming for 1.6 to hit PTS sometime next week, so you'll be able to see the Crown Store then. And a note - part of the purpose of PTS is to test and assess the viability of items on the Store, so we can (and probably will) adjust Crown prices for some items and even add or remove items between PTS and going live.

That being said, we're going to have a bunch of costume packs, some discrete costumes, six or so mounts (two guars), six or so vanity pets, stamina potions, health potions, magicka potions, repair kits, soul gems, and the digital Imperial Edition upgrade bundle. We may have a couple of other bundles as well.

You won't be able to purchase any real-world items (hoodies, etc.) with Crowns - those are spent in the crown store only for in-game items. There will be no method in-game earn Crowns.

 

what will happen to prepaid subscription cards? Will they be automatically converted into pro time?

Any game time cards already applied to an account after the launch of Tamriel Unlimited will add the equivalent duration of ESO Plus membership to your account.

Does that apply to non-prepaid sub cards? Like, if I have a current sub that runs through March 17th will the remaining time I have be converted?

Yep!

 

Will we get new content before console release?

Yes, Update 6 will be available on PC before console release. We're actually aiming to have this on the PTS next week.

 

Will xp-gain crafting-xp etc for non-subscribers actually decrease, or will it stay the same compared to now?

XP was not adjusted down to push ESO Plus. Those bonuses are intended to be a 'thank you' for those committed players.

 

Are there any plans to release Imperials as a standalone-DLC, or altogether make them playable for everyone?

We have not broken the Imperial Race out of the Imperial Upgrade.

 

Will you introduce cloaks (there are early screenshots and artworks of them)?

I too love cloaks but we lost them in exchange for other customizations. Would love to see them return but I dont know if that's in the cards for us.

 

Any plans to either let us dye weapons, or make the base colors less ridiculous?

Expanding the dye system gets discussed internally a bunch.

 

I'm curious as to how patches will work with the new B2P model. Will we still receive monthly patches for the non-sub members that we dont have to pay for with medium to small content (like dyes, vet dungeons, etc.) like we have been and the more "beefy" updates (new zones/larger content) be DLC exclusive?

We plan to have updates that add new systems, address balance, etc. These will come to all players of the game and not have a cost.

There will also be DLC and new store items that will have a crown costs. ESO Plus members will have access to this DLC of course.

 

Also, will the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves guild updates be free patches or be tied to DLC?

We aren't yet ready to discuss how Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild will be introduced.

 

I am a monthly PC subscriber with ESO and will continue to pay monthly but may also buy the game on xbox one will I have all the same privelages as I do on PC or do you have to pay monthy for both platform to have eso plus on both ?

First off, thanks for considering playing on both platforms at once. That's very exciting for me to hear!

There are a few things to go over with regards to this. To answer your specific question, the membership is specific to the platform.

You can, however, choose to link your XboxLive account to your current PC ESO account. This means a few things:

Your initial console log in experience will be much quicker. Just type in your UserID and password and start playing.

If you purchase a transfer for your PC account, you'll have a copy of your PC characters on your XboxOne ESO game. This is a one-time copy, and your characters then progress independently

All your account information is the same, so you won't need to fill out an additional information for Customer Service on console

 

Will former PC players have to play full price to switch to console?

If you had an active account on June 30th of last year, you'll have the opportunity to buy a console version of ESO for $20.

In addition to the discounted price, we will also do a one-time copy of your PC characters to your console account (as they exist just before the console launch date). The characters would then progress independently on each platform.

 

Is spellcrafting still on the table for some point down the line?

Yes spellcrafting is still on the table! We've got a lot of cool abilities planned for this.

 

Will the cash shop be intrusive? I really like the minimal UI you guys have going on in the game, and I would totally hate to have a large spinning dollar/septim/crown/whatever telling me to "BUY ALL THE STUFF", especially if I am a current subscriber.

The crown store is not intended to be intrusive. We do not direct the player to it or pop it up in front of you when you run out of potions.

Its just there when you want it.

Will everything in the crown store remain true to the lore of elder scrolls or will we have silly things like bathing suits, shirt and pink unicorns?

We might have some fun but nothing inappropriate.

 

Also will mounts like Guars have visual upgrades like horses and will the visual upgrades apply to your current mount via the riding skill?

Yep, Guars and other mounts will have the visual upgrades just like horses! Your riding skill determines what visual upgrades show up on them.

Fun fact: When you want your guar mount to go faster, you give him a little smack on the rear :D

 

PC gamers and console gamers will access the same megaserver? They will be able to play together?

Console players will not play on the same megaserver as PC or Mac players. There will be both a North American and European megaserver for PS4, as well as a separate North American and European megaserver for Xbox One players.

PC players and Mac players will play on the same megaservers. XBOX One players will have a separate megaserver. Playstation 4 players will also have their own megaserver.

 

I there going to be a Road Ahead letter this month?

We're working on it; it might be beginning of February.

 

The description of the horse vs rider skills did not make it clear whether the rider skill was going to be a player/account or character skill. Is the rider skill a character skill where each alt will have a different skill?

Riding skill is character based.

 

I would like to know if you still intend to implement Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood and Morag Tong. Some people are quite worried since you said you would implement less systems from now on.

Expect to see Thieves Guild / Dark Brotherhood content in a future DLC pack. We may introduce systems with that DLC pack, although details remain to be worked out.

 

With the store being on PTS, will those who spend real money in it get a some sort of bonus when it goes live? For instance, when RIFT tried their store on the PTS, those who used real money to buy "credits" (crowns) would get double the amount when the store went live. Would be nice to get bonus like that for trying it :)

You won't be able to spend real money on the crown store when it hits PTS. Instead, we'll be giving PTS players some crowns that they can use to explore purchases on PTS. These won't transfer to the live servers.

When we push Update 6 to the PTS, the Crown Store will actually be turned off, but we'll turn it on at a certain time (TBD) to do some focused testing. We'll be granting 5500 crowns to everone to aid in testing, but this will strictly be on the PTS - it will not transfer to the Live megaservers.

 

Hi, I've subbed since early access and have a few characters maxed out. If I change my account from subscription to B2P, do I lose content like the Vet zones or Craglorn?

When we transition to Tamriel Unlimited, you will not lose access to anything currently (systems, content, character count, etc.) in the game.

Everything up to and including 1.6 will be there for you to play without a subscription. This includes veteran zones and Craglorn.

 

When do we get the option to keep our camera centered all the time?

with 1.6 you will have options to change the camera in this way. You can change the horizontal position of the camera in 3rd person view.

 

Can we have a giant mudcrab mount?

How giant? Reference pics, please! ;)

 

whats the point of all this eso premium membership and crown store? we already pay a membership. you are just adding a new name to things? it would be cool if the membership was optional, then you had a play without subscription option.

ESO Plus is our upcoming optional premium membership service for the game. You will not be required to pay a monthly subscription as of March 17th. Be sure to check out our recent article for more information about the service offers:

http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/2015/01/21/your-guide-to-eso-plus-premium-membership

 

For those of us that have been subbed since the beginning, my biggest concern is how will ESO+ benefit us? We already have high level chars, so all the boosts are WORTHLESS. And I know that we will have access to DLC, but until DLC is available, what is the point? And lastly, why such a meagre reward for us pre B2P subs?

First of all, thanks for subbing since the beginning. That's awesome. I just answered the reward question in another post, check out that one.

As for how Plus benefits vet players: the boosts affect all characters on your account, so if you start an alt, they will have the boosts to help you level faster. Also, you'll get 1500 Crowns per month to spend on items in the store.

Can you please talk about your planned pace of content/updates post 1.6? It will be more than a full quarter between 1.5 and 1.6 once 1.6 makes it to the live servers.

We are not going to keep up our 2014 pace of updates in 2015 - and our future update pace will focus more on new adventures and game experiences than system changes. It's time to let the game breathe a little - we've done so many new features so quickly that we want to make sure everyone is on the same page with us. 1.6 alone has a complete rebalancing of most player abilities - we don't want to do that again, for example. Our #1 priority right now is getting Tamriel Unlimited launched on PC, and then focusing on a successful console launch. While we do those things, we have other teams already working on DLC and expect to see that start rolling out at some point after console launch settles down.

 

Will update 1.6 be the last content update before console launch? If not, how do you plan to incorporate patch 1.7 into Tamriel Unlimited without having "day 1 DLC" on consoles and the PR hit that will ensue because of it.

yes, 1.6 is going to be the last major update before console launch, for obvious reasons. We will continue to do interim updates as necessary. As Paul said in another thread on this AMA, we're now developing for 4 platforms at once, and it is inherently more complex. We're committed to having content hit all the platforms at roughly the same time, so it will necessarily slow things down a bit.

 

Please talk about how the PVP portion of the Justice system will work with Tamriel Unlimited. Is this portion now DLC?

This remains to be determined - I've been pretty clear that PvP justice is pretty scary from a game balance perspective, and we need to be very careful how we implement it. If/when it makes it in to the game, it will not be as part of a paid DLC.

 

With no PVP content since launch and the Imperial City being such an integral part of Cyrodiil when launched, will the IC be now considered DLC? It would seem quite difficult to separate the two.

We're working through the details for this right now - stay tuned for details.

 

You said new DLC in Tamriel Unlimited will scale to the player level allowing the player to play the new content regardless of where they are in the leveling experience. Is there any plan to bring this mechanic to the game as a whole?

We have definitely talked about this, but it would be a huge change to the game, and one that would require a major effort to adjust leveling rewards (loot cadence/levels, etc.). We'll keep this on the back-burner for now.

 

Any new dungeons/delves?

Not in this upcoming update.

 

Did the fact that you were going B2P slow down the release of new content? Is that why there has been so little since the summer?

Anything we add to the game does cost dev time, so the answer is "yes." That said, 1.6 has a huge number of changes, and all of those changes, Champion, Balance Changes and Justice had far more to do with it than our Crown Store. This is a big update!

 

With the change to B2P, can we expect the development time of dlc's to take longer? So far we had a new patch every 4 or 6 weeks, will that time (for example) double after the B2P conversion?

It has less to do with a change in model and more to do with the fact that development on four platforms is more complicated than two. We fully expect a longer time between updates. But remember, there will be some updates which are free and some which are DLC. This will impact the schedule because it is a different delivery plan than our current model.

 

Why should PvP players subscribe? We haven't seen a dedicated PvP patch ,at all, from the start of the game. And by that I mean a patch that will introduce (for example) a new and exclusive mechanic into Cyrodiil. How much longer will it take to open the Imperial City?

Imperial City is something we are evaluating internally. To give a look behind the scenes we didn't feel Imperial City was ready for release. When Imperial City is where we are happy with it, we will release it. Again, Cyrodiil performance is out top priority right now.

 

Have you prepared / Are you going to prepare the Megaservers for March 17th? I think a lot of us remember the chaos that happened with the long log in queues and etc.

We've made several changes to the game such as increasing delve size, reducing the phasing, and even lowering the number of players that can be in a delve at one time.

 

Customer support in ESO is great. Can we expect the same kind of treatment after March 17th to both Subscribers and people that only buy the game?

Thank you. I believe we will keep to our current standards.

Are there any thoughts for other consumables for the Crown store? A lot of people do not like the idea of potions that will give you an extra edge over other people (example XP boosts, siege weapons that deal x amount more damage etc.) On a side note, I think a lot of us are very keen with the idea of buying services instead, for example, extra character slots, extra bank space, appearance / race change etc.

It is very tough to provide a value for the money people spend and keep a respect for the integrity of the game. I think we our customization and convenience plan provides a good road for Tamriel Unlimited.

 

Has there been any improvements to the console UI that has adopted popular add-ons features? I.e. sorting/organizing features, permantly marking junk items, DPS meters (optional of course) or other quality of life features?

Additionally, and probably a long shot, but will there be add-on support for consoles?

There will absolutely be numerous useful updates to the console UI, and some of the updates are based on popular PC add-ons. For example, a lot of the functionality in the "Loot Drops" mod is a part of the console UI by default. There are others add-ons we have drawn inspiration from as well, but I'm calling this one out specifically because I really like it.

Unfortunately, there will be no add-on support for consoles.

 

My questions is about the Rings of Mara. The player I married will not be moving to console with me. Does that mean my rings are lost forever? Or will they be reset, since the player is no longer on my server?

Your rings are lost forever. I'm sorry they won't be moving with you.

 

Will we ever be able to change our character names?

This has come up enough times that we know its desired. We will be investigating how/if we can implement this feature.

 

can we expect to see solo content still?

We definitely are planning to support the game with solo content as well as group content. One of our future updates, Orsinium, will be providing solo content for players.

 

Will the PC to console account transfers be available on day 1 (June 9th) of consoles? Maybe even prior to that date so that we can okay with our friends from day 1?

We plan to make the PC/Mac to console character transfer option available to those who are eligible well before June 9th, 2015 (we're aiming for 60 days before.)

 

I currently play on the PC and would like to continue to do so, but I also plan on getting the PS4 version as well to play with friends there. My question is, if I want the ESO+ benefits, will I have to pay for it twice, one for each platform, or, can I use the same account to log into each game?

ESO+ is platform specific so it would require an ESO+ membership on PC and Playstation 4.

 

Now that the PC and console don't share a UI, can we expect improvements to the PC UI?

we definitely have many things we'd love to incorporate into the PC UI to provide quality of life improvements. This is something that the UI group always tries to balance along with getting features online for new systems.

But as an example, there are things we'd like to do to improve inventory filtering. And I know a lot of people want to turn off notifications for trial leaderboard updates. We keep a running list from both internal and external feedback.

 

Will we be able to tell the difference between ESO Plus and non subscribers in the game or via the API?

You won't be able to tell the difference between an ESO Plus and non-ESO Plus player.

 

Any plans to add +10% AP to the bonuses for the plus subscription? It seems like it would fit with the other bonuses and as primarily a pvper, it's the one I would mostly be interested in.

That's a good suggestion. We'll look into that.

 

You said on the FAQ that the crowns can be purchased by your store (i think the website shop). Will the crowns be sold in packs or not?? How much will they cost in EURO/DOLLARS?

Crowns will be sold in packs. Exact pricing is still being determined, as is pricing in Euros and other currencies.

 

The ESO Plus will be the same as cost as the old subscription?

yes, ESO Plus will be the same price as the old subscription

 

Will we be able to purchase a race change?

Race change, name change, alliance change, appearance change are all commonly seen in posts. These services are all being looked into. No promises on any, but we hear you!

 

Will we ever be able to craft Jewelry? Like another Crafting profession?

It's something we'd certainly like to do, but don't currently have an ETA.

 

Will Update 6 go live as soon as it is ready (after Testing on the PTS) or will it come out in March with Tamriel unlimited?

Update 6 will go live as normal after testing on PTS. However, when it goes live, it will have the Crown Store disabled and will remain sub-based until March 17 - when we will enable the Crown Store and everyone who purchased the game since launch will be able to log in and play.

 

Will there be more depth to the beginning levels of the game to make it not feel like its grind, grind, grind until level 50? Like adding puzzle's the way how Skyrim does when exploring caves/caverns?

This is 100% why we added the Justice System. It gives you a really fun side-game to do while you are a questing and leveling.

 

Is there going to be added a level of consequences to your actions: e.g. how all Elder Scrolls have been, if you kill/hit a random by-standard, or get caught stealing by any NPC that you are thrown in jail or pay a fine? If so, when will it be implemented?

Yes, most of what you list here is in the game as part of the Justice System - the consequences are much the same as you find in Skyrim when you engage in criminal activity.

 

Will there be the ability to customize your character in game, barber, tattoo shop etc? What will it cost to pay for it: in-game money or crowns?

As for your question about the barber shop / extra character customization, etc. - this is something we are considering right now, but no details yet.

Are there any plans to add the console VOICE feature to the PC/Mac?

It's definitely something we're looking to add to the PC/Mac version, but it won't be available until after console launch.

 

What is the difference between a Wedding Dress costume and a Woodland Bundle? Does that simply mean there are more costume pieces in the bundles or...?

Yes. The wedding dress is a single dress. The Woodland Bundle has three costumes of various low level armor you could expect to see on a 'woodland scout'.

 

How will combat be balanced around skills being available from DLC only (if indeed skills will be locked behind DLC such as Spell crafting?)

Because all skills in the game are competing for the 5 valuable spots on a player's hotbar, none are balanced to be better than all the others. That would make the game bland and repetetive. Adding new skills to the game is just designed to give the players more options, as opposed to more powerful options.

 

So, if my character has three mounts, currently all maxed in different attributes, does that mean that in 1.6, I will have max speed, stamina, and carrying capacity on every mount I ride?

That's correct, yep. For that character your mounts would be maxed out, regardless of which mount you're on.

 

Can you address concerns of PvP sorcs that don't use pets and suffer from (class skill based) DPS issues when 90% of our offensive class skills can be reflected or otherwise mitigated? Some of use like to use something different than just crushing shock and a destro staff.

Yes I've seen this concern before, thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify comments from the 19th.

Specifically I was commenting on the fact that these classes were getting a completely new ability and that we liked the funtionality of the Sorcerer abilities. We did a lot of work on the sorcerer to increase both the damage and usefulness of their current loadout. For example, Daedric Curse and Daedric Mines deal significantly more damage now and Crystal Shards has a shorter cast time. The Dragonknight's reflective scales now only reflects 4 projectiles instead of unlimited so there should be more opportunites for dealing damage with that ability. We'll be monitoring PTS forums for more feedback on this specific topic.

 

With the rebalancing of Ultimate generation, are you also taking a look at all Ultimate skills costs? For instance the NB skill Soul Harvest has a current cost of only 50 Ultimate and can be used quite frequently and most would say is fairly balanced given what it does.

The new Ultimate generation method would only allow 1 use every 17 seconds using no additional Ult. gen. skills which is far less than what can be done now. Have you guys considered these cases?

We have made tweaks to a few ultimate costs and have also playtested the ultimate generation values extensively in solo PvE, PvP and trial situations. Overall we are very happy with the numbers and hope you will join us on PTS for your feedback.

 

Will these ever be available in the Crown store?

More character slots, Guild slots, Emotes (especially character specific emotes, ie: vampire)

I have seen Character Slots come up a few times and believe it is worth investigating but no promises.

We deffinately want to do something for guilds but this might be a bit further out.

We have looked a bit into Emotes and they come with some challenges but again, this comes up often enough that we will continue to investigate.

Sorry I cant be more specific than this. But I can assure you we will work to grow the Crown Store to deliver the goods and services players want.

 

Any plans to add new skill lines or classes to the game?

The Champion system adds a ton of new passive skill lines. Also, Justice introduces the Legerdemain skill line. Finally, we've made several adjustments to the existing skill lines and abilities. We're probably going to let things settle for awhile after this.

Spellcrafting is still something we'd like to release. We're also planning on supporting new content releases with additional abilities.

 

As a subscriber, if at some point I unsubscribe, will I keep all the content I've experienced up to that point, or will I have to repurchase DLCs or other things not purchased with crowns?

ESO Plus members will keep all the Crowns they receive as part of membership, but you will lose access to any DLC that you haven't purchased if you cancel your membership. In that case, you could purchase the DLC a la carte using the Crowns you received while a Plus member.

As an example, let's say we release a zone like Wrothgar as DLC. As an ESO Plus member, you will automatically have access to Wrothgar. If you stop being an ESO Plus member, you will lose access to that zone. However, you will keep the equipment you find there.

 

Will there be any support for remote play for ps4 via the PS Vita?

It's definitely something we're looking at, though I'm not exactly sure to what extent it will be finalized for launch. We've done some work on this already, and we have been using PS Vitas to play internally. That said, there are some issues we still need to work out before I'd feel comfortable calling it "remote play supported."

 

I've read that you are currently planning to turn the other morph of critical surge into one that increases spell power as well as weapon power, I'd like to ask if and how sorc caster builds are going to be able compensate for their lack of an efficient self-heal once staffs run on spell damage.

We'd like to hear your feedback after playing on the PTS, but are considering making the healing power of critical surge avaliable on the base rank of the ability.

 

When you discuss porting characters over to the console, what will transfer? The character model? Items? skills and progress? champion points? subscription to plus? (So it can be shared pc to console without paying twice) DLC? will the character be "moved" or "cloned", so you can still go back to pc with that char if you want?

Nice, an opportunity to respond with a bulleted list of yes/no. Here ya go: Yes: Character Model Yes: items Yes: Skills and progression Yes: Champion points No: Subscription to plus No: DLC A one-time clone. From then on, each version of the character progresses independently

Basically, it's a one time transfer of your characters' data to your console account, but from then on, your PC account is unique from your console account.

 

Are you planning to add "gear preview " feature into game ? So i can preview how my character will i look with crown shop costumes,or see the look of linked armor in chat etc ?

we actually have item previewing for the crown store so you can see how all costumes, pets, and mounts look in relation to your character before purchasing them. This is something we've talked about expanding beyond the crown store as well.

 

With the addition of the Justice System. Will the Guards be killable with a certain amount of effort or will they be invincible?

Currently, the guards cannot be killed. In order to make it so the Justice System would not be easily exploitable in multiplayer, this was the decision that was necessary. Players will be able to run from guards and even be able to fight them briefly, but they cannot kill them.

 

are sharpened weapon trait going to be fixed( i believe there is slight error in formula of this trait, perhaps, some1 forgot percentile values is 1/100 not 1, thus making this trait way too poverfull)? also will impenetrable trait for armor be brought in line with others in near future( way too OP atm)? also stealth is effy, half-eye should be equal to closed eye, in terms of skill function, atm half-eye stops stealth based skills from working

Yes sharpened will be fixed for 1.6.

Impenetrable has been tweaked in 1.6, it now reduces incoming critical damage instead of reducing the chance to be hit with a critical strike. This means abilties such such as critical surge will now give the caster health. We like the fact that Impenetrable is very powerful in AvA but would like to further adjust the way it works so players have more gearing options in AvA.

Lastly, in 1.6 we fixed some bugs where the eyeball wasn't properly matching the player's stealth state.

 

How will secondary abilities work in PVP after the AOE caps are changed? For Example...Sap Essence from Nightblades, will it hit just 6 for the healing part, or can it hit like 60 people?

Same with Dark Talons as well.

Also recently I asked if Venom Arrow will be blockable similar to Blood Craze in the dual wield line..does this mean the damage will be reduced while blocking or does it mean it just won't apply at all if the target is blocking? Cause it and blood craze would be the only dots that do that in this case.

Secondary effects don't apply for any target hit beyond 6. So the first 6 targets take 100% damage and are affected by the Dark Talons immobilize, the next 24 take 50% damage, and the last 30 take 25% damage.

In update 1.6, Venom Arrow will no longer apply the DoT to be consistent with BLood Craze.

 

Is there any talk of removing costumes from Cyrodiil?

I know you're making money off people looking ridiculous now, but it ruins immersion to have people wearing wedding gowns and jester costumes while they're sieging a castle.

While I totally appreciate the desire to keep wedding dresses far away from keep sieges, we dont want to limit players in this way. I look forward to seeing armies of skeletons and draugr assaulting keeps.

 

I've see the new "rider skill" talked about a few times already and it appears that it will be based of your character's current max-mount attribute of speed, stamina or carry. However, what if I have 3 mounts maxed out in each attribute? Will I be able to choose which one is active or will all three be active?

With the new system, you will be able to max out all 3 attributes. If you have 3 separate mounts that are each maxed out in a different attribute, what will happen is that your riding skill will be mapped to that. So yes, effectively it would max out your riding skill.

This is assuming you're using the mounts that have a base bonus in the specific stat that you've upgraded to its max.


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Last Updated: Mar 15, 2016

About The Author

Vendolyn's been playing MMOs since 1999, although Vendolyn in-game often becomes a long-term shelved alt. When she's not gaming, she's likely marathoning some questionable TV show or babbling about music to no end. She really likes goats.

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