» Sun Jan 26, 2014 8:13 pm These are the compiled questions from Tamriel Foundry members and answers from Paul Sage. Thank you Paul for being on TF today and thank you Atropos for inviting him!
Topics covered were (mostly) limited to the following:
- group systems (functionality and tools)
- multi-player challenges (dungeons, overland bosses, dark anchors, etc…)
- group gameplay (synergies, group roles, etc…)
- Members were requested not to ask about Adventure Zones due to information regarding endgame PvE coming in the future.
As a healer (especially interested in PvP), approximately how distant can I be from my ′patients′ while still being able to heal decently? That is, will my healing potential drop significantly if I am, say, on 80 – 100 feet away, since healers normally prefer not to be on the frontline? @JamesGoblin
Well, it varies depending on the spell so that is hard to answer. In general, you will do better to stay in range of your intended targets. Probably the tank. Of course, it is all situational. Maybe a safe distance is ~15 to 20 meters.
Can I be facing away from my friendly target, and still heal, or even do it on the move (while walking away)? For more specific example – do we have instant HoTs, and if so, can we use them in the aforementioned way? @JamesGoblin
Again, it depends on the spell. Some are radius and some are non-directed heals, meaning they go to the most hurt member. Some are cone based. It really depends on the spell. But there are spells which are instant that will let you heal while not facing your target, they just won’t be as efficient as those that do.
Connected to 2), can I be walking/running away from friendly/enemy target and having my cam turned backwards? If not so (connected to consoles I guess) – do you plan on implementing such possibility at some point in future for PC/MAC users, to enable them to use at least some advantages of mouse/keyboard? @JamesGoblin
I think I understand what you are asking, and in the middle of combat, I don’t think this is possible.
How important is the use of synergies for success in end game content, both in PvE and PvP? Is it a necessity or just a bonus? @Halmur
They aren’t necessary, but they do provide a large advantage when used correctly and may be the difference between life and death in harder combats. For instance, there is a synergy which allows the people ‘activating’ it to go invisible for a short time, and that can really help when someone has too many enemies aggro’d onto them.
If a player wanted to solo a group dungeon, would they need to be about 10-20 levels higher than the group recommended level in order to survive? Thanks. @CharlesJT
I don’t know that we’ve internally tried to ever gauge this. But I suspect you would need to be at least 10 levels higher, assuming there isn’t an exploit. Even then, it might be difficult.
How can you guarantee that events/dungeons/adventure zones and anchors aren't too easy or will there be different grades of difficulty (like Easy, Average, Hard and Heroic the player can choose from) @Revoil
I am not sure we can guarantee this, but in general Dark Anchors are difficult for two players and ramp up for up to four players. And too easy is always a relative term depending on the player. What some people feel is too easy, others feel is too difficult. It is a fine line.
The finesse-system: Does anything/using the ultimate reduce your finesse and how do you balance the finesse gain between tank (who can block, interrupt easily) and an archer? @Revoil
Finesse is an older system that we have really not brought to the fore much. It isn't dead, but basically, it is the back-end now of building an Ultimate. The better you do in combat, including heals, dodging damage, blocking at the right time, etc. all contribute to raising your ultimate.
You have said that you won't implement that gear-farming-standard for dungeons/ in adventure zones or with overland bosses. What will be the appeal/loot for those events… (except fun)? @Revoil
I’m not sure I understand this question. Hopefully I answer what you are asking. There will be gear which is unique in look depending on how you play and may be unique in stats. As an example, while the gear you earn in a Veteran Level dungeon may not be more powerful than the gear you gain in PvP and vice-versa, it can look different and have different stats.
Will players be able to rate other group members on how well they performed as a Healer,DPS,Tank within the Group, allowing future group leaders insight on a players ability? @Darastix
Not for launch, but I really like the idea of a way to gain reputation.
Will there be incentives for grouping, such as increased XP gains or other buffs? @Darastix
We do give a percentage bonus to grouping right now, so yes.
Can we expect Dungeons to contain various puzzles/traps requiring different skill sets, For example mechanical Traps that need to be disarmed, Puzzles requiring specific types of magic to complete and Riddles of wisdom or random leaps of faith (invisible floors, walking though flames ect) to progress through a path. @Darastix
Right now most traps are of the detect-and-avoid type. The same is true of puzzles. They require player skill more than built-up, in-game skills. This helps everyone to be on equal footing when coming across obstacles.
I know synergies do various abilities but are there any that take on this skill-chain concept or teamwork feature? @Argoth
No, that’s not really how Synergies work. Synergies are much more about reacting to situations and using them at the right time. I think earlier we experimented with more chaining type multiplayer abilities, but these didn’t really work for us, I think because of the active nature of our combat.
Will it be some part of PVE a real competition, expected the best guilds a lot of effort for the development or the goal is to let a large group of friends hang out with each other, having fun, killing casual mode bosses like in single games? So will it be a real MMO type of PVE, and how much if that so? @Etn1eS
I think we have a range of difficulty in what we do, so it will likely appeal to both of the situations you have outlined here. Some of the content is going to be geared to a more casual playstyle, and some will be downright hard.
Are there going to be benefits while being a group XP wise as opposed to leveling Solo? @Morkulth
Currently there are. You get a percentage bonus for being in a group to XP gains.
We have seen groups of four being the base of a group. Are there going to be penalties for grouping with more than 4 people? @Morkulth
Well, you can’t form larger groups than four in certain areas. So no, there won’t be penalties in that way.
Lastly. Is the so called holy trinity (tank, heals and dps) always needed to complete recently released dark anchors and or dungeons? @Morkulth
Nope. Not always needed. The harder content may indeed need it, but Dark Anchors aren’t that hard. Dungeons, sometimes you are going to need to have the archetypes.
If you are in a guild with people in one of the other alliances that you are not in, can you group with them to do instances and such? @Aillorian
This is something you can’t do right now, but I believe we would like to enable this for the future.
How will dungeons work when you repeat them? Is there any NPC response or change in story when returning to them for a second time or does it play out the same way every time? @Icepants
Our dungeons allow you to repeat them as many times as you would like, but the quests in them can only be done once. This means the monsters and events will be active regardless of how many times you have completed the dungeon. However, in Veteran mode, dungeons have a second part or the second half of the story, so you will get an entirely different experience.
In the dev play session video, you battled a dark anchor and Molag Bals minions, but, you were ony three people there at that point. I am conserned about the fact that maybe a zerg fest will be the result when several people is in the same location. This will make the battle much too easy. How do you go about this? @Maribaken
Well, this could potentially happen in any situation, which should eventually would solve itself. People will naturally spread out and there will be many things to do. This is why we have the variety we have.
In vanilla wow there was a large amount of open space in buildings and in the environment that the RP-community could claim “their own”. On these places there were no npcs, questgivers or mobs etc that could bring a large amount of non-RPers into the site, neither were there any mobs attacking you everywhere you or other things that would prevent the hardcoe RP some people love. As a example, some RPers actually “claimed” a house and made their own pub there, with all staff player driven. Will these things be a possibility in ESO? @Maribaken
There are many open spaces and places I suppose you could claim…and I am curious to see how people do this.
Is hunting immersive? If I want to sneak upon a deer, and take it down with my bow, do I have the opportunity to do so, or can I just walk up to it and beat it dead with a club? @Maribaken
We have to make sure people who favor melee weapons can kill prey, but prey or critters as we call them, do run.
Will the mobs be spread across the map, or will there be “chunks” of mobs. E.g. if I walk through a forest, will I encounter a spriggan, a bear, a imp and another bear? Or will I meet a spriggan, a spriggan, a spriggan, a spriggan, a imp, a imp, a imp, a imp, And so on, just like in wow? @Maribaken
Yes and yes. We have a population around certain points of interest which better fit in your latter example because this is where questing takes place, and many people will naturally come to these spots. In areas not like this, the example would be closer to your first.
When it comes to players like me who enjoy playing through dungeons, what do you have in place to have us dungeon crawlers keep returning again and again? I know there will be “Master” dungeons in place for max level characters, but once you finish that story progression, what will have me keep coming back? Is there unique looking chest piece I absolutely have to have so I can show off in town? What kind of benefits will a player receive from repeating a dungeon(s)? @Sibuna-Suroh
I may have alluded to this in a previous post, but yes, there is unique gear in certain dungeons as well as opportunities for better gear. And of course, hopefully the fun of the experience.
Are all quest-related dungeons group applicable or not? @Vampirakiin
Group applicable? I don’t know what this means really, but not all dungeons, caves, etc. are for a group of four if that is what you mean.
How many difficulty levels will end game group dungeons have? @Vampirakiin
We have dungeons which are Veteran level dungeons. These are harder than normal level dungeons. There isn’t a difficulty setting other than this.
Are we able to upload our guild logo in-game? @Vampirakiin
No. There are multiple reasons why, as you might imagine.
How will the loot system work if you and you teammate both contributed to the defeat of your enemy. @jamiezusi
Since the loot is instanced for each of you, you will both get loot provided there is loot to drop. Also, you must significantly contribute to the kill to be eligible for loot.
I’ve heard feedback that the ESO skill concept is resource based instead of based on cooldowns. How do you plan on encouraging a player to use the full range of skills the developers are implementing vs. spamming a one or two abilities simply because it happens to do the most damage or be the only one he needs? @Argoth
Well, ability use should be based on situational and strategic need. If you spam abilities frequently, you are going to have a bad time. You need to reserve your ability use for the appropriate times. This is especially true when you get to later content and group based content.
How is the alliance-change in the 50+/++ parts of the game going to work? @GeraintAmbrosia
Well, I can’t really go into the specifics without spoilers to the story. Let’s just say, a certain entity wants you to see things from a different perspective, and you will be able to travel to the new alliance.
Will the 50+/++ content change my Alliance setting that I’ve chosen at the start of the game to another one and if it does, can I change back to my original alliance when I’m done with the 50 +/++ content? @GeraintAmbrosia
Only while you are in that alliance, but not for PvP campaigns. For those you will always be considered part of your original alliance.
Can I still group up with my friends when I’m doing 50+/++ content and they are not high in level enough? @GeraintAmbrosia
You can, but they cannot come to the other alliance areas, yet…
Will there be areas in the world or dungeons/contested dungeons that will allow for those players who enjoy “grinding” on mobs for xp/weapon skill points to be able to do so? I feel meeting a balance between questing and mob grinding is healthy but I have a feeling this game will be quest heavy and little to no mob grinding. @Extremeties
I believe there are. But questing is probably the best way to gain XP. Things change a little once you get to Veteran Ranks.
Tanking roles – For those of us who enjoy being a “tank” type in these type of games, will there be a traditional tank in this game where you can manage threat of multiple mobs(unsure seeing how there only seems to be 1 taunt that we know of in the game) and also do you guys see yourselves implementing more skill lines for tank types? Theres some fantastic conversations here regarding this topic and some are saying no(which I hope is not the case because Im not looking forward to another Guild wars 2 dungeon mess dying 19821983 times) and some saying yes. Can you comment on this? @Extremeties
I think if you try to get too specific with regards to what works with other games, it might be confusing. For instance, ESO is much more situational than some other games, and more active. Roles can be changed on the fly with weapon swap, and we expect everyone to stay engaged in combat. That said, there is an ability which will better pull monsters off of other players, but players also have abilities which will enable them to stop being the target of certain monsters. An example situation might be:
A tank usually goes into the mix first, then DPS help focus fire or take on adds depending on the situation. Healers will still mix it up, but should only be taking one or two things at a time so they can pay attention to the health of their teammates. The fourth member of the group can be anything, but I generally like a tank with auxiliary heals or another heavy DPS with auxiliary heals.
Will the amount of players present determine how hard the Anchor is? @Galahad
Up to a certain amount of players, yes, absolutely.
Is the fight for each Anchor, or the mobs within the fight random? Or are they the same fight each time? @Galahad
They vary depending on the anchor location and even at the same location.
Will there be a quest sharing system for groups? @Cometdestroyer
Yes. You can share quests with your group-mates.
Do you have a system in place, or plan to have, that would allow you to go back and share the experience with new players that would possibly be in a different quest-progression phase than you? @Remh
We will not have such a system for ship, but this is something we would like to do in the future.
When i destroy a black anchor does it stay gone or do these appear again after a certain time again? @Hallonbowt
They will appear again. Molag Bal doesn’t give up that easily.
Can you please elaborate on the different types of synergies? Can we expect any types of synergies or cooperative strategies that involve making use of items or the environment (such as the oil traps in TES: V)? @Aziah
Synergies are those abilities which another player casts, they are useful by themselves, but take on new dimension if another player comes over and ‘activates the synergy effect’.
Here are a few, though I will get the names wrong:
Supernova – If you activate this it will increase the damage and radius. (AoE damage spell)
Siphoning Attacks – when you activate your attacks leech health
Spear Shards / Blessed Shards – allows activation to recover stamina (good for those hungry tanks)
Consuming Darkness – activation allows people to become invisible for a short time
Storm Atronach – activation increases duration and damage of the Atronach
Does pve content difficulty scale with party/raid size and if so in what way @Prime406
It does at Dark Anchors, but generally by adding more mobs and strengthening them a bit. Other content difficult is set by area allowing players to know what they are getting into.
What kind of rewards can we expect from a Dark Anchor event? @Sir-Hardy-of-Morningwood
You get experience from the mobs and completing the event. You also gain rank with the Fighters Guild. And of course, you get loot drops, especially from the boss.
With respect group gameplay, will there be land and sea group mounts such as carriages, boats? @altanass
No. Not really, however, you can jump to your group mates and arrive at the nearest wayshrine or safe location.
Say a group just wanted to explore, will the wildlife and enemies in the open world beyond scripted events be dense enough to support a roaming experience party? @altanass
Well, overland is tuned more to solo and duo play.
Do effects from beneficial and detrimental actions stack? For example, if a healer can cast a HOT, will other players be able to cast the same spell/action to add to the HOT or will it overwrite? @altanass
It depends on the spell, but in general they won’t stack.
How does looting system work in group and is the gear we find in dungeons (boss, chest, quest) bind on pick up, bind onequip or tradable? @Argalin
Again, the gear is instanced to the player. Some of the gear is tradeable, and some is bind on equip or pickup.
Is it possible to do istanced dungeons in the other faction territories before level 50? For example a lv 20 dungeon in theinitial zone of another faction via lfg system? And what after lv 50? If we go in a lv 50+ zone after we finish our territoriesand we enter in an istanced dungeon wich dungeon will we find? The original levelling dungeon,a lv 50 one or a MasterDungeon? @Argalin
It is. Once you complete the dungeon in your alliance, you can do the same level dungeon in the other alliances. This will be the exact same dungeon as if it were your home alliance.
Are there any differences aside level range from a Dark Anchor to another? Are there special Dark Anchors that require amassive player partecipation or any other form of massive public events? And what about rewards? @Argalin
Different Dark Anchors can have different spawns, but the primary difference is level.
Will there be world bosses? @xShadow-claw
Yes. We showed in a recent video an overland boss fight.
You have promised that we get new content every 4-6 weeks. Is it possible that we can get new dungeons after launch as a part of this content? @xShadow-claw
Our plan is to deliver content this frequently, and we certainly hope to add new veteran dungeons.
How many players can a group have before it reaches it limit? @xShadow-claw
It depends on the situation. PvP can have much larger groups. Dungeons can have groups of 4 players.
How will public dungeons work? Will it scale per number of players in the dungeon? It is instanced or can anyone come in and join? We have 16 dungeons at launch, are public dungeons part of that 16? @SoMuchMass
Public dungeons work much as the overworld, but are really tuned for you to bring a friend or meet a friend. Anyone can come right in. The 16 dungeons or instance are the group (4 player) instances. The public dungeons are not included in that count. I believe there are 16 public dungeons as well.
While grouping, will quests progress as a group or does every member of the group have to complete every stage of the quest?
In SWTOR they had a guild section on their site prior to launch that let you form a guild and invite members.When the game launched these guilds with their members were imported into the game.Will ESO have something similar?
Trying to plan time off from work for launch, which I have to do at least 30 days in advance, so will there be early access(head start) prior to 4/4/14 for people that pre-order the game? @Braxx
It really depends on the type of step. In general, we try to make most of the steps shared, however, certain steps may have decisions a single player makes or involve certain information we want to assure the player has a chance to hear. As for launch and head starts, we'll announce full plans soon.
When playing as a tank in a dungeon encounter, if you use the “puncture” skill from the sword and board line will this give you the total attention of the dungeon boss, in that by using this skill when needed you can maintain the attention of the dungeon boss throughout an encounter even while your other party members are pouring on the damage? @Witness
It will certainly not last forever. But you should be able to maintain attention, unless someone just tried to actively grab it from you.
In a dungeon encounter do stun, knockdowns and snares generate more agro than other types of attacks, and if so should these skills be used primarily by the tank character so that the tank can maintain as much agro as possible. @Witness
Actually, heals can generate a lot of attention from the enemy. But other skills certainly add to it. I’m not trying to be cagey, but some of this you need to find out when you play.
In a game like ESO where any class can play any role when you join a dungeon how will you know which player is the tank, which is the healer and who are the dps, will there be some kind of markings indicating which fits the designated role? @Witness
Using our group finder, you can actively select which roles you can take on. Also, just talking with one another can help determine who is the most effective.
Regarding Dark Anchors, will they be completely open to anyone, similar to rifts in Rift, or world events in GW2? If so, are there safe guards to keep people from just creating one massive zerg party that takes away any of the fun or difficulty of defeating them? @ShadowSurge96
They are completely open events similar to Oblivion Gates, except you don’t enter them. There really aren't safeguards against people “zerging” them as you say, but I believe I addressed some of this in an earlier post.
Group loot is said to be “instanced” or “individualized”. Can you comment on if or how your share of loot pertains to your level of contribution to the fight? @Stonesthrow
Everyone gets an equal share as long as they are a significant contributor. I can't comment further than that.
Does finesse currently play a role in the level/type of loot received? In a 2012 Dev interview, if you were rocking a fight right there was a chance at a special “chest” of loot… @Stonesthrow
We took this out. The finesse system was interesting, but it had some problems and we didn’t feel it added as much as it once had. Combat evolved and we felt it was strong enough without this element.
Say I cast an ability into a group of allies that has the option for a synergy effect. Are there any limitations on the number of times my allies can activate it? Is it once per cast of the ability or can each ally activate it once each? Maybe it’s spammable? @The-Dude
It depends on the synergy, but there are definitely limits. You can’t activate Supernova more than once. Some have durations such as Blood Fountain. I may have left out that the Undaunted Skill line is filled only with Synergy abilities. The Undaunted skill line opens up as you complete dungeons and dungeon challenges. Someone asked me if there were more reasons for dungeons, and I almost left this out. 
In a dungeon can you resurrect a fallenally while engaged in combat? @The-Dude
You absolutely can. If you have a filled soul gem of the appropriate level, you can run over and resurrect them. This takes time though and is a strategic element of combat.
There has been some discussion on this site about Aggro versus Control tanking, and the apparent lack of taunts. Can you describe the ESO vision of tanking (it’s importance, basic mechanic)? @Haas-ta-Thisk
I may have covered this earlier. However, again, tanking involves more than just hitting a taunt over and over. We have a multiple enemy game. Good tanks have good target acquisition. They know what to take on, and what not to. DPS and healers should also know what to take on. A good tank can hold aggro pretty readily with a few mobs, but they aren’t meant to hold all of the mobs. As an example, a tank can take on the big heavy in an encounter and keep its attention pretty easily without a taunt. Now if someone makes a mistake, they might have to use an ability to get away, but the tank should be able to reacquire the target. The taunt, however, is very helpful in harder situations. As we’ve said, other abilities will certainly add more hate, and part of this early game is figuring those out.
In your Dev Play Session I don’t think I see a single melee weapon being used by players. Is this simply a way you guys were playing or are you going to be looking at how melee works and retooling it slightly? It’s a little dissuading to hear about the great synergy the Dragon Knight has with his firestaff, and see literally no one bothering with melee. Will groups just be all ranged? @worm4real
The interesting thing about this video is that we just sat down and played characters we wanted to play. We didn’t overanolyze much. It really was happenstance, and if I hadn’t read it (several hundred times) on the internet, I probably would never have given it a second thought. That said, we are fully aware that some critiques have been about the impact of our melee attacks and the weight of them. However, data on our test shows many, many players prefer melee over ranged. One of the things I should mention is also that viewing is very different from playing. All that said, we’ve made some changes in the past weeks which should make it even better.
Regarding that same video, if these anchor events take place in Cyrodiil just how much of a mess do you intend them to be? Will it be worth opposite sides collaborating? Will it be more valuable to hang back until near the end and rush in to swipe the kill? Or will these anchors be solely PVE objectives with some method of preventing PVP play? @worm4real
I can’t wait to find out. :> I hope they are chaotic in PvP, and I certainly think the thrill of PvP is never knowing when someone will attack.
Will there be some kind of Looking For Dungeon system? I feel like often these systems not only increase the number of unguilded players but they also encourage bad behaviors since it creates a sense of “never seeing that player again”. This obvioulsy might work differently with the mega server. @worm4real
Answered previously, but there is definitely an LFG system. It isn’t just for dungeons, and you can always teleport to a group member.
How frequent will world anchors be? @Elock-Shadowheim
There are generally three in a zone and more are scattered throughout Cyrodiil.
Will player quests impact the enviroment in any way? @Elock-Shadowheim
Yes. They definitely will. We've talked about layering or phasing, and you will see different NPCs, FX, etc. depending on how you do quests.
How long would you say the main storyline be? @Elock-Shadowheim
Very hard question to answer in all fairness. It spans multiple levels, so it really depends on the player. If you could play them all together…? Five – Six hours? This is a WAG.
I am interested, are you planning public groups system, which can be seen in rift for example, when players approaching an obstacle can group together without one player individually inviting them? @Reag
We talked about such a system at one time, but with our open tagging and significant contribution, we didn't feel the need for it.
As someone who has played a lot of MMO’s over the years from DAOC at launch all the way though to FFXIV which I’m currently playing. I've seen a difference in group setup and healing and tanking styles. so my question is for a veteran MMO players how big of a learning curve will it be to learn how to heal in TESO. And how much will it differ from the standard target heal system which most MMOs use. @Willowblade
There are going to be some shifts in your thinking as a healer, certainly. Again, many MMOs have an interface game for healing and ESO doesn't have a lot of interface elements. It is more about being active in the world. Cone heals, AoE heals, and spread heals will be the norm. You'll also have to learn to be very active in combat and note when is the right time to heal based on what’s going on in the world and not a stopwatch or timer element.
Guild cloaks? Will this be a feature at some point (loved them in DAOC. @Willowblade
Stay tuned is what I can say about that for now.
I know we are talking about group systems & game play. as i seen in one of your reply so far you've said group size is 4 in some areas what will be the large group size if any ?anyway cheers paul for taking the time to answer. @Willowblade
Large group size is 12.
Regarding armor classes, in endgame content could gear be altered/modified to better benefit the classes wearing them ” i.e A Sorcerer wearing Heavy Armor, a battle mage type.” Or would they be at a disadvantage compared to A caster wearing light armor, benefiting from its perks. @VonDrak
That would go against our belief that anyone should be able to wear any armor and get benefits from it. Anything is possible in the future, but I don't see that happening now.
In this game is it like all MMO’s were certain areas have certain enemy’s that will overpower you if you're not the right level
or is it more like skyrim where a mudcrab is just a mudcrab and a wolf is just a wolf.
For example:
Say you're in a level 20 spot exploring when you run into a mudcrab. But you're only level 10. Will the mudcrab still be an easy kill or will it be able to kill you since its in a level 20 area? @FusRohDahh
ESO is more like Morrowind in its leveling with regards to monsters. Monsters and players have definite levels. ESO also has zones which are tuned to certain levels. These zones allow you to meet people around your level range and adventure together or just let you know what you are getting into. Once you hit 50 and venture into the other Alliances, level doesn't mean as much and you will be able to go from place to place without worry of being overpowered so much.
I don't see why that would be a problem if you're a player who wants a challenge. Or do you want them to please nobody EXCEPT you? 
Shear/harvest the fiber