» Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:47 pm I would like to share my concerns about the possibility that non-major cities in ESO are going to become inanimate lifeless places like they so often become in many MMORPGs. To me there is nothing more sad than entering a city which has beautiful arcitecture, interesting planning, NPCs walking around minding their business but no players whatsoever.
Each major city should have something unique about it, something that you can associate it with. Maybe it holds a festival every now and then during which the towers are torched with bonfires. Or an annual army parade is held and warriors are honoured and remembered. Or the city is known for its weapon[censored]hs which craft unique set of weapons that deal just that bit more damage than your usual weapons you can buy from any vendor. Or maybe the city is known for its posh citizens who feel too much pride in their once-famed past and will not be as friendly with an average player who is yet to make a name for himself.
Another thing that would attract more people to visit towns would be something the players can aquire only in that town alone. Tamriel is huge and its cultures are so different and unique. It would be very nice if you could learn to cook basic pies by visiting any cooking trainer all around Tamriel but you would only learn how to cook that ashen brown looking pie which is baked in mud pots in Balmora or Vivec and there would be no other place except Markarth where you learn a recipe to cook the wonderful pie with a silver coin (literally a septim) added in which grants you a little fortune perk for one hour. People would be encouraged to visit towns as many players are known to have the habit of looking for unique recipes, patterns and so forth. Maybe there could be quests involved for you to be granted to learn that unique recipe. Or you would be given a free sample when you first visit such a vendor who sells his own unique goods.
Knowing that in previous Elder Scrolls games which took place in different regions some animals appeared in more that one game, I would like to see same type of animals, birds, fish have a differing appearance in different settlements. Again, Tamriel is huge and we could imagine it being an equivalent of one continent of our Earth. If dogs living in the colds of Skyrim have the same model and same textures as those living in deserts of Khajiit homeland then it really adds nothing to make you feel you are exploring the world. Surely it wouldn't bee very difficult to make the same type of animal that habits in the north look like his fur can withstand the cold and harsh weather and the one that lives in the ash volcano area looks like his fur is brownish grey from years and years of arid weather. If you can contract diseases from animals it would also be nice if you would suffer a vulnerability to frost schools upon being bitten by a frost wolf and a debuff to fire schools when a sand wolf bites you.
ESO will be fully voiced. This opens huge opportunities to make NPCs sound unique. Just like different dialects we have even in an area of one country so it would be possible to have people speaking in a different accents all around Tamriel. Remember how dark elfish it sounded to be greeted muthsera? Or being called n'wah? I really hope people in different provinces have something unique about the way they talk.
It would be interesting to see what other people think about it. To me it adds so much more when whenever you go to there are people around. And the reason they are around and not all stacked in one major city is because the world encourages them to explore.
