So I read this on article "Ask us anything..." on http://elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2013/01/18/ask-us-anything-daggerfall-covenant-part-2

and I saw this (which gave me this idea):

Will there be books in game, and if so, will the number of books be comparable to the number in past games? – By Emmy Mariner
There will be more books in ESO than in previous Elder Scrolls titles, including some that you’ve seen before – if their inclusion is appropriate to the Second Era.

In SWTOR there where cubes (some easy to find some hard to acquire). The books in this game could mimic that, it would add another layer of mini games for people who want's to min/max their character or just do something to pass the time. Obviously the stats would be minor depending on the rarity of the books, it worked well in SWTOR, I hope you, Zenimax, would consider doing the same.

I would like to see a similar system, but I think it's far more likely that 'skill books' will just offer limited character boosts like '12 hours, 150% EXP', otherwise, these books would become extremely sought after items and would be sold in the auction house for obscene sums of gold so that there will be the ultra-rich characters who spend months farming gold, who also have the highest stats because of the books.

I would prefer having just lore in TESO's in-game books. I don't mind skill-boosting books in the solo games, but in MMOs I want to get my exp from questing and killing monsters.

Yeah, didn't like the datacrons in SWTOR very much, made you freaking walk the whole world to min-max your character. Sure, it was super fun the first time... not so much on your second char, let alone on the third. So yeah, make them lore only and I'll be happy.

They should only be lore/achievement related. Alternatively, similar to the original TES games, they give you a speed up in leveling your skills (i.e. books can't increase your skills above 100).

Yeah this^

It becomes mandatory and/or annoying to find all the stat booster items. I'd prefer there to be no stat boost books, and for the books to be lore only (a good read).

As long as they stay away from the Super Mario method you had to use to find most datacrons in SWTOR I am in complete agreement with this. I hated the Super Mario game that you had to master to get them damn things and even with a good description from some datacron walkthrough you would almost get to the damn thing only to fall and have to start all over again! God I hated that ...lol

They could easily solve this by making all skill books Bind on Pickup.....and like the OP said make them small increases so that even the player who has them all is not OP compared to the one who has a few or none. My char had like maybe 5 to 10 datacrons total at level cap and I did just fine in PvP against players who had them all and there was WAY more datacrons then 5 to 10 and I probably had closer to 5 then 10...I could go login and check I guess.

As long as they only give temporary boosts of affect things outside of the game itself then that'd be fine. If they're permanent stat boost type things like in SWTOR though then it's a huge no and make the books purely lore only then.

This is totally not how min-max people think. You don't know all the fights in PvP that you lost because you didn't do 10 extra damage, or because you didn't have that 100 extra health from datacrons to keep you alive. Stats are stats, even if it is 1 point of health or one attack power.

Yeah like I said I rarely got steamrolled in any PvP because I knew how to spec my class, Scoundrel and Operative, and I knew how to play my class and even though we got a severe nerf shortly after SWTOR launched I still could kill almost anyone who tried me...never did I feel at all under powered, ever...

Good for you!

However everyone else will feel the need to collect them all - which is an irritant, rather than an addition, to the game.

Exactly, it's not about the real impact it has in game, it is about the impact that has on people's OCD and can be easily avoided. These things are completely unecessary and serve no purpose other than making a bunch of people fell like they HAVE to run around collecting them. Make them lore only. Somone suggested having the books speed up your learning of skills, I'm ok with that as the skill would still be availbale for people who don't wanna collect the books, it would just take a bit longer. They would have to give you a generous bonus though, or the time spent getting the books would not compensate the speed buff and it would be easier to just forget about them.

My opinion though is books should be what Zenimax has announced them to be so far, lore related, optional for those interested in it.

I think books should either be handled as lore-only, or as the way they did it in previous TES games. A book could only advance your skill by one level, and never could your level exceed the level cap. That way people could just level up a certain skill by a killing a few mobs instead of hunting for a book.

Yeah like I said I think they should be in the game however they could use something else that anyone can accomplish like quests and story to find them instead of creating a Super Mario mini game to find them...which makes the whole thing less irritating and frustrating...

That was one of the things I liked about SWTOR, it was actually quite fun- not major boosts at all, but at least it's something. And jumping around to find the secret routes to reach them was really fun.


It would be nice to have both, it's not a lot of stats we're talking about (if we follow the swtor model). I think one hologram gave you 4+ in one of the stats, sometimes more and sometimes less. But there should be loads of generic lore books as well.

I would like to see this. People have some complaints so I will address some of them

1- People compare to SWTOR and the datacrons being mandatory. I would make everything accessible around the world. No books could be found ONLY in dungeons on this one shelf to the left, PVP in a highly contested keep or particular boss fight as a random drop. Books can be found anywhere on shelves you just have to find them. No jumping required. All books can be found in each pvp and pve.

2- As another poster suggested, make the books speed up the rate you learn skills for a particular amount of time. If the book is to grant a level to your stats, once maxed it would no longer to continue leveling. There could be weapon stat books, crafting books, defense books, magic books etc.No needed as everyone will eventually hit max level anyway but will save time in how long it takes to get to that level.

3- Having to repeat the books on multiple toons... figure this one would be easy and make them account wide. Find them on one character and they apply to all characters on the account. However, run two accounts and I hope you remember where they all are so you can find them on your second account.

4-Finding all the books in a series could grant a title.

I really like the idear, they could boost your stats 1 time, and if the are heavy to find it will be even better.

And if there are some jumping puzzel i dont have a problem doing it on an other char.

Since they've already said books don't go into your regular inventory once you pick them up, my guess is they are un-tradeable. After all, how can you trade something that is now in your personal collection (with the exception of course of giving them to the Mages guild)?

I would love to be able to pick up some of the books that have been found in the single player games. And I do hope they give us skill increases (read story about thief, get plus 1 sneak, yay). But I don't want them to be some permanent minor stat thing that you are forced to hunt down in order to make your character viable in the game. That wasn't how it worked with TES. I don't want it working that way in ESO.

I dont want new datacrons (the total stats they give are too much to pass up). It will come to be that these items will be mandatory by people. I'd be OK with items that give temporary bonuses.

I liked the idea of getting datacrons, but only if it's account-wide. I wouldn't mind seeing something similar in TESO as long as it only has to be done once.