I know this has been talked about before, but I think this is going to hurt this game. I want to roll up a character and go any where I want to even if it will get me killed. This is what makes TES games more fun. The way this game is being made I don't know if i'm going to like it. What do all you think?

Who is to say you're not going to wander somewhere you shouldn't and get yourself killed? But I also do know that this isn't just a single person's game like TES games. This is a game for a lot of people.

http://awesomegifs.com/wp-content/uploads/dead-horse.gif

It is what it is. The developers have built this from the ground up to exsist the way it does, and have taken some steps to alleviate concerns.

I'm with you, I could totally go for Elder Scrolls: Second Life. Travel around, do whaterver the F you want, go Grand Theft Tamriel on people's asses and wipe out villages with your awesome magical might.

However this game will have inherent advantages in this limited system. It will be tighter, and it will be easier to manage player population/ density with their phasing system that naturally precludes the ability to efficiently handle an open world population.

This way it brings you with the kind of players you'd like to play with (ideally), and they are able to keep the experience fairly close to optimal in terms of how crowded the areas are "supposed" to look. I think this improves immersion, and forces players to find the freedom within the restricted system.

I'm not worried, there is a quest hub where you can search for parties to do what you would like to. I think there are enough areas to explore to keep you happy, and the zones sound open "enough" to me to probably* feel like I'm in a fresh world.

I agree with you. I wish we could do PvP in other Alliance zones, instead of only Cyrodil, but at the same time I LOVE that I have areas to play around in where I can relax, take some sleeping tree sap, and mess around without worrying about my lack of attention getting me repeatedly ganked.

Lets me go into the PvP area when I'm in "the zone" and not have to worry when I just wanna go adventure and explore.

I think that there will be no magical barriers stopping you from going *anywhere*. You will however get slaughtered in fairly short order unless you have some big friends.

EDIT: groan. You're talking about PvP. Dead horse is dead.

Nm.

It doesn't sound like the OP was talking about PvP.

I don't think this will hurt the game at all, some restrictions in an MMO are 100% necessary, plus there will be a lot more exploring in ESO than most other MMOs given that is one of the main focuses of the game.

Although the starting areas might seem long to some, after that, you can roam around as you like and get your head smacked in.

Some restrictions are necessary, but many freedoms are possible that the current game does not afford. There could be more sand in this sandbox for sure.

I like what I've seen so far, but they could probably make one or two changes to base systems and allow far more exploration from there.

For example, right now, as we all know, they use level zones to define progression. You go to a quest hub and all the quests are about the same level and all the mobs in that area are about that level. Pretty typical themepark behavior that many are familiar with.

However what if instead of fixed level areas, they actually scale (almost) everything to the player's level?

How exactly would this work? Okay let's break it down.

1. After the starting areas 85% of side-quests would change their difficulty depending on the person's level. You'd never pick up quests that were way too high or way too low level for you. This excludes large quest chains like the guilds and the main quest. Therefore you could still follow the connect-the-dots pattern of the current system if you wanted to but you could ALSO run off anywhere and do any quests you wanted.

2. Other side-quests would only become available at certain levels or after certain prerequisites are met but they would be all over the place, which would encourage backtracking and roaming the world constantly. No more "finished this area, never have a reason to return."

3. Mobs would be in two categories: Scalers and statics. Some mobs would be static, in particular world mobs that have no bearing on quests. However, unlike most MMOs, mobs that are more than 3 or 4 levels above you would IGNORE you since you are no threat to them, allowing you to roam in those areas unimpeded. Quest mobs would be scalers. How would you scale them, especially if a level 50 and a level 10 attack the same mob? Simple, the mobs attack and defense/HP are different depending on the character level. So if the mob hits a level 10 for 30-50 damage, the same hit would do 300-500 damage to a level 50 (arbitrary example numbers, we have no idea what damage scales are like). On the flip side, HP would be percentage-based, not number-based on the mob's end. So if a level 10 player is hitting the mob for 50 damage and the level 50 for 500 and the level 10 version of the mob has 200 HP and the level 50 version has 2000, they are both doing 25% damage.

Now I know this sounds a bit like GW2's zoned down-scaling (which to me was awful) but unlike that system you actually get to feel more powerful as you progress because QUEST MOBS WILL ALWAYS BE THE LEVEL YOU FIRST ENCOUNTERED THE QUEST AT just like...SKYRIM. And don't look at me like that, it could totally be done in an MMO.

Also it could be done where whoever attacks the mob first defines its level, that would be much simpler mathematically but might lead to some instances of people using level 10 alts or friends to grind but then the XP gain would also scale too so it wouldn't be a problem.

4. More roaming spawns and world bosses, but that's just for flavor and to keep people on their toes, IMO.

5. Grouped quests could work one of three ways (if someone is grouped with someone far out of their level range). Could work like above, or it could generate mobs and quests difficulty based on a mean of all levels in the group. Or it could work with some kind of mentor system where the higher level is down-scaled to the lowest group-member's level.

Thoughts?