Elder Scrolls Online Combat - This Week In MMO Ep136 (VIDEO)

Written by: QuintLyn Bowers (@QuintLyn) | March 16, 2013 11:17 am

40 Comments

In this weeks TWIMMO, we have new info on Elder Scrolls Online combat, SimCity is playable offline but is an MMO by design and ArenaNet has a new approach to updates.

The Elder Scrolls Online team have been busy answering community questions about the game and this week they covered combat. One of the interesting things about Elder Scrolls Online combat is that they’ve negated most ally targeting in favor of area-of-effect or cone effect healing.

Of course, this will put the healer more in the middle of combat rather than having them hang back so they won’t get hurt while trying to keep everyone alive. This is going to make Elder Scrolls Online combat a little weird for a lot of long time MMO healers, isn’t it?

SimCity continues to upset people.

Maxis has been working on smoothing out all the server issues that people have been experiencing with SimCity and continue to say that the game can’t be changed to include an offline mode.

Of course, that doesn’t stop a few people from trying to do it themselves and one modder even demonstrated how to take the game offline. There were some restrictions to having the game in offline mode, but it looks pretty workable.

Why’s Lord British on Kickstarter anyway?

Lots of devs are going to Kickstater lately, and Richard Garriot is joining them. Like a lot of developers he’s looking for more freedom than working with publishers allows.

And, it looks like we’ll get to see what he’ll be able to do without publisher intervention, because Shroud of the Avatar is pretty close to reaching it’s goal with plenty of time to go.

All that and more plus your viewer questions…

The gang also look at the new Guild Wars 2 update philosophy and TERA’s

And don’t forget, we love your viewer questions — especially video ones. If you have a question you’d like answered on the show, send them to submit@gamebreaker.tv. Remember to make video questions 30 seconds long and upload them to YouTube. Then send us the link via email.

As always, if you missed last week’s episode you can check it out here.

Elder Scrolls Online Combat - This Week In MMO Ep136 (VIDEO)

1:00:41

Live Call-In Show

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Microsoft has pulled back the veil on it's new console the Xbox One!Read more »

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45:20

World of Warcraft

Patch 5.3: Blizzard’s First Ever Live Video Interview!

Legendary is joined by Blizzard's Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street and Brian Holinka for a live video interview!Read more »

24 comments
1:00:49

MMO News

This Week in MMO Ep 144:
WildStar, Rift, Dust 514

WildStar details finally coming out!Read more »

28 comments

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

Lol, Simcity is not a MMO. EA calling it MMO-like settles it, clearly NOT a MMO.

It’s still a multi-player game with a required online gameplay for the single player components.
- Gamizero
  
  i have to agree, it’s no MMO..
  
  if we want to use old school numbers, i.e. xwing vs tie fighter, anything with less than 64 players at once is only an Online multiplayer game and nothing more.
  
  .
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    Personally, I think Gary is just having fun and wants to talk about Simcity.
- scottsummer
  
  Simicity is Marginal Multiplayers Online game.
- http://twitter.com/Akame79 Bostjan
  
  Imho the big problem is that once EA will shut down SC servers = no more SC.
  Sometimes although rarely i play Unreal or Baldurs gate or whatever relic from the pc world, but in the end all that ppl whom bought SC will only have a cd to be used as a dust collector.
Sharuko

Important to note, the 1 million players was an announcement for Tera was by Frogster only represented EU. That didn’t count players in NA, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. So Tera has millions of players. In terms of how many are “actually playing”, that is an argument you can make for any MMO. I was surprised they had 500k before it went F2P to be honest.

Secondly, to me the fact that they are so confident that they want people to see end game is a positive sign as most MMO players spend the majority of their time at end game. If you don’t like the promotion don’t do it, simple as that. Tera is not really for the super casual player.

WoW has similar boosts that let you skip all lower level content, DKs start at 55. RaF lets you boost to level 80. They also had a promotion that gave away level 80 characters to returning players.

And I can’t wait for the Kickstart project. Hopefully it is MMO related.
rulez

I hope Teso gets the healing game right. I’m getting a bit bored with the approach Tera and Neverwinter seem to have, where the healer seems to be supposed to chase individual teammates with a reticle in the middle of 20+ mobs, whenever there is the need for significant burst or emergency heals.

It’s fine trying to get rid of UI dependencies. But not if it just becomes shooting heals at players in 3D instead of 2D. That’s horrible and insulting to call an improvement. It would be nice to get rid of single target heals if they want to get rid of targeting. Pure heals should be more consequently replaced with attacks and de-buffs against mobs, which also buff and heal teammates. So the healers mainly attack the mobs too, like the rest of the group, but with lots of supportive effects added to those combat abilities.

Good healers in classic MMOs never just stared on the UI, disconnected from the “real” action. Instead they are, together with good tanks, the players who actually have the best encounter awareness in a group. I hope developers get better healers on their teams in the future, so the supportive game-play improvements will actually get better and not just different.
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  It’s still hip to be hating on classic MMO game mechanics. It is kind of funny that MMO FPS like Planetside 2 support medics with a direct heal, but fantasy MMO RPS want to poo poo on one player directly healing another player.
DerKomp

There were so few references to Ultima Online this week that it really put a damper on our drinking game.
theunwarshed

i see a game with content designed around the need for specific kinds of tanks (i.e. avoidance tanks or magical tanks, etc.) problematic. does that now mean that your typical mitigation tank is superfluous for that particular content and now will be forced to “sit out”, thus not ever being able to experience it? if so, why specialize as a mitigation tank instead of being just a dps class, which seems a more generalized choice (albeit a “dime a dozen” one)?

Funcom tried to market the 3 tank archetype scheme with AoC and that never lived up to advertised expectations. each one just received a series of buffs/nerfs over the other until they’re individuality was obscured. i don’t think SWTOR’s solution was anymore elegant either. one usually becomes the best class for all at some point, leaving the others as “gimped” undesirables in serious progression content.
http://www.facebook.com/taylor.reid.5667 Taylor Reid

Anything that Gamebreaker puts up on kick starter I will definitely support and throw in some cash. Get on that!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Robert-Caliolo/100003765889295 Robert Caliolo

Sounds like they want TESO to be like RIFT in character Class options. Tanks that evade vs meat shields choices Just like RIFT Tanks.

I would love it if TESO went back to the old EQ style where you need multiple healers to keep a tank and others alive during a raid. Just needing one Mega healer to heal all is a poor option. Maybe a Chloromancer type for a healer or a Blood mage from Vanguard
Mickey Mickey Mouse

Elixabeth you are sexy!

* This is a very good post!
Rich E.

why do people keep praising GW2 as the creator of dodging? Dodging is a gimmick in GW2 – its a temporary immunity from attacks and NOT a dodge. You can dodge in any direction, including STRAIGHT AT THE ATTACK, INTO THE ATTACK, and take no damage…. thats a gimmick.

DC Universe Online is the only true Action Combat MMO… EVER. not TERA, not GW2. Tera is close but DCUO has TRUE dodge, TRUE manual Blocking, Incredible Combo System… REAL PHYSICS. Such an underrated game. its without a doubt the best combat system i’ve ever played.
- saxophone15
  
  Why are some people so opposed to the dodging in GW2? It doesn’t matter if it’s not a “true” dodge. It’s a mechanic that works well in GW2.
  - MMO_NewSkool
    
    Because its not satisfying to play fake mechanics when other games have real dodging. Dodge rolling through a pool of lava and just being immune? Lame.
    
    Not to mention the entire game of GW2 PVE is faceroll easy. Have to get to like Fractals 30 before it starts to get challenging. When you go to fight anything in GW2 there is no tension or sense of danger – no need to prepare. Youre not worried or wondering if youll win the battle. Youre just hoping you get good loot out of the inevitable chest. zzzzz
    - http://twitter.com/cipero Matt Cipriano
      
      And what MMO are you playing that gives you any tension or sense of danger? All of these games are far from the difficulty level of single player games. I really hope you aren’t about to try to say WoW’s 5 mans are any more difficult because they are about just as easy. GW2 was never a raiding game so if you went there looking for raids then that’s your own fault.
      - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
        
        I would have to say all of them create a greater sense of tension and danger than Guild Wars 2. While I enjoy the casual nature of Guild Wars 2, Iv’e never left a Guild Wars 2 encounter feeling the group had a hard fought encounter that required the very best out of the players.
      - http://twitter.com/cipero Matt Cipriano
        
        How? What dungeon in wow requires the best out of people? Raids excluded since you are comparing it to 5 mans in a non raiding game. Competent tanks in WoW barely need a healer for any of the boss encounters in MoP’s 5mans which brings up another point that the difficulty depends on competence of the players playings their classes. If you are with 5 people who know how to utilize their classes then the dungeons are a breeeeeeze, which is no different than GW2′s system. Wow only requires the best out of people on heroic raids, which GW2 doesn’t have anything to compare to that. If that was what you were getting at then I don’t know what to tell you. Obvious is obvious since there’s no raiding in one and raiding in the other. The rest of the pve gameplay is completely casual.
        
        As for the main point, he said when you fight anything..so Dularr I’m guessing when you are out questing you feel tension and danger grinding those dailies? The only time I ever felt tension while questing in WoW was whenever someone tagged a mob before me. And that was literally caused by me not wanting to spend any more time grinding then I had to.
      - http://www.facebook.com/rkingsboro Rob Kingsboro
        
        Just chiming in here… but… Final Fantasy XI. No game I’ve ever played has created more tension during combat. Well, for those of us on “stun duty” at Cerberus or Khimaira (for example), that is… you either stun the attack that only takes one second to ‘charge up,’ or everyone in your party/alliance dies and the enemy you were trying to kill is either taken by another group or disappears until you can get another pop set/it appears again 24-72 hours later.
        
        It sucked, but it was definitely ‘tense.’
      - http://twitter.com/cipero Matt Cipriano
        
        I can’t really comment on FFXI because I’ve never played it. Sounds pretty engaging from what you are saying. I as mostly talking about WoW Swtor and Rift which all have pretty much the same fighting styles and encounter designs that on a 5 man scale are pretty faceroll even if you have a group of people who aren’t cohesive at all. And the questing itself in these games are very simple, easy, and require little skill to complete.
        
        The only time I ever feel that in MMOs is while PvPing. To me, sense of danger and tension as a gaming experience is like the moment in a call of duty search and destroy match where you are the last person on your team alive and there are 2 or 3 on the other team and you have to somehow find a way to defuse or plant a bomb. That’s sometimes intense and very fun..sometimes PVPing makes me feel like that but definitely not the PvE side of the ball.
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  Two of the hosts are from GamebreakerTV’s GW2 show and it seems to be the only MMO that all three play regularly. So, you have to expect a lot of GW2 references.
- HartsHope
  
  I totally agree. Was expecting more from Guildwars2 combat. The illusion of the dodge roll animation makes u think youre really dodging but.. heh not really. DcUniverse is a flippling awesome game too but Im more of a fantasy nerd ;(
- Nemmy111
  
  Why do people praise it? Because it is highly fluid, functional, and necessary for PVP/PVE. Without it the combat would be terrible and imbalanced. DC Universe combat is excessively clunky and you mention the only two things that were decent about it. The physics and manual blocking. The dodging was ok, combos felt like I was playing a dumbed-downed version of Tekken or something.
  - http://www.facebook.com/richard.h.lucht Richard H. Lucht
    
    DCUO combat is anything BUT clunky. just saying.
    - Nemmy111
      
      I played it for 6 months starting around 2012 and it was clunky then. Maybe they changed it, I’ll have to take a look again since its FTP.
  - HartsHope
    
    I call BS. Youve obviously never played DCUO. the combat in DCUO is incredibly fluid and even the haters and complainers admit that… and I’ll add to the poster you replied to by pointing out that DCUO also has destructible environment and the best open world pvp in any game out there now. and the Alerts (dungeon group) in DCUO are more hectic and challenging and fun than full blown raids in any MMO i’ve played, and i’ve played alot. rofl, i can basically fall asleep in GW2′s explorables and just wake up to loot the chest.
    
    Sorry you couldnt handle the intricacies of DCUO’s combat and you got CC’d alot… i did too during my first couple months playing because I, too, didnt grasp the depth of the combat system.. a year later, I can fully appreciate the wonderful ebb and flow of the combat. I have a feeling youre used to easymode and have the attention span of a gnat.
- http://twitter.com/cipero Matt Cipriano
  
  Yea because dodging being just a numerical statistic in the background of combat is any less of a gimmick.
http://twitter.com/RussellGusto Russell Hunt

Gary can you get an interview with RG?
Evilevi501

I thought this was TWIMMO. I avoid Guildcast on purpose, well played greifer well played.
http://twitter.com/JerryWheatfield Jerry Wheatfield

“if you have a lot of options, you’re making them equally viable without making them pointless. There’s no point in having a lot of options if they’re all the effectively the same because that takes away the power of choice.”

As long as the NPC receives X amount of damage and dies without the player dying first, aren’t all play styles “effectively the same”? I think the entire panel has forgotten how play style is ultimately linked to character classes. For example, if an individual gamer likes the role of a battle mage, that is likely how his/her game will be played… for many many hours.
DoctorOverlord

The more I hear, the more I like what TESO plans to do. There’s nothing wrong with taking mechanics that work, they do need to somehow make them their own rather than simply copy them of course.

AoE healing is a mechanic I’ve seen in other games that has managed to make me actually enjoy being a healer. It’s much more entertaining than watching little green bars and feels more like you’re playing the game rather than the UI. It’s good to hear TESO will be using this (and dodging and wep swapping).

I’m glad Gary brought up Mark Jacob’s Camelot Unchained in the section about Richard Garriott’s Shroud. Even though I don’t have much interest in what Jacobs is doing, I think he has a good plan to make a ‘sliver of an MMO’ as Gary puts it. It’s one of the few times I’ve ever heard an old-school MMO dev speaking with common sense rather than hype.

This is in contrast to Garriott’s Shroud which is a laundry list of the typical MMO hype points: It has PvE, PvP, crafting, housing, immersive storylines etcetec. The game is trying to do everything and we’ve seen this before in the post-WoW era. And it’s seldom turned out well.

I will be following both games, not because I have an interest in playing them, but because it will be fascinating to see which approach works in the current evolving MMO market.
http://www.facebook.com/gabe.lopez.14 Gabe Lopez

EA loves to rape their fans up the A$$ with no Vaseline, why are people shocked to this sim city stuff??
zeejay

where your hair down more!
I was like who is that?
- zeejay
  
  … wear…
  it’s late
http://www.facebook.com/BrianOrr.Author Brian Orr

My problem with Simcity is that the blasted thing still wont start up 90% of the time. I have to spend 15 – 30 mins clicking on the icon cause I keep getting an error message before the patcher even starts up. Starting through Origin results in the same problem. There is a small chance that the thing will start up the first time and once I get in I have no problems.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Joseph-Spears/100000045054762 Joseph Spears

*** restred XP is for players that play less than others!!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/obrienweb Chris O’Brien

The healing in TESO sounds a lot like Age of Conan. Healing in AoC is a much more fun position to play because you not only have to heal the group, but you also can do a substantial amount of damage. Having wack a mole healing and staring at health bars in other games is not fun at all.
http://twitter.com/Streamweaver Scott “Streamweaver”

Kickstarter is a good idea for Gamebreaker. It front loads the audience for content and directs it toward effective content development from the get go. I’ll keep an eye out for this.
Zionixia

Give us a show for Tera! We need loving too…

Elder Scrolls Online Combat - This Week In MMO Ep136 (VIDEO)

In this weeks TWIMMO, we have new info on Elder Scrolls Online combat, SimCity is playable offline but is an MMO by design and ArenaNet has a new approach to updates.

SimCity continues to upset people.

Why’s Lord British on Kickstarter anyway?

All that and more plus your viewer questions…

After Dark Ep33:
“Xbox, Go Home”… You’re Drunk!

Patch 5.3: Blizzard’s First Ever Live Video Interview!

This Week in MMO Ep 144:
WildStar, Rift, Dust 514

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