What would roleplayers like to see in TESO?

The following link contains an interview with creature combat designer, Maria Aliprando, and contains a segment where she discusses how Zenimax Online Studios is supporting the roleplaying community.

Youtube link with Time: (From 4:05 to 6:01)
http://youtu.be/qf5LjypWZNs?t=4m5s

During that segment, she describes that Zenimax Online Studios is listening "very intently" to forums both official and community made, and recommends that if you have some great ideas, make them known on the forums (like this one!) Be sure to bear in mind though what sort of resources may be required to create your ideas, as some may be seen as more reasonable than others!

So if you have an idea to improve and support your roleplaying experience in TESO, please feel free to share it below! I'll update the listing with the community's ideas, along with reasons on why they should be implemented.

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Things already planned to be supported:
1.) Survey to help match roleplayers with fellow roleplayers.
2.) A variety of emotes.
3.) Customizable emotes. (Not animated.)
4.) A costume system that changes your appearance. (Example: Noble clothes.)

Things already planned to not be supported:
1.) Chat Bubbles. Source.
Reason: Does not fit developer's artistic style. Might be able to implement through LUA scripting for UI by the community(?)

2.) Free placement of items in the world. Source.
Reason: Technical limitations (Likely server memory related)

3.) Player housing. Source.
Reason: Resource demanding. Not planned at launch.

4.) Description Profile. Source.
Reason: Not supported officially. Can potentially be done through Add-Ons.

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Things TESOF Roleplayers would like:

1.) Animations when a player chats in "say"
Reason: Allows roleplayers to identify when someone is speaking. Adds life to otherwise still conversations.

2.) Active towns and cities; with NPCs walking around, doing activities, and conversing with one another.
Reason: Makes the world feel more alive and immersive for the players.

3.) Additional aesthetic choices alongside Lycanthropy. (IE. Werebear, Wereboar.)
Reason: More choices for players interested in that sort of ability.

4.) Basic clothing wearable by player.
Reason: It would seem odd if players are unable to wear the same clothes as commoners! Just having the option there goes a long way in making the world seem open and immersive (like with the last three Elder Scrolls games.)

5.) Interaction with Furniture
Reason: Allows for usage of chairs and benches that fits into the world in a sensible and natural way.

I think it would be cool if you were allowed to write a brief summary of the character's background. Nothing more than a basic paragraph, 3-5 sentences. It could be something other players could read, if they chose, when inspecting the character.

(August 24th 2013, 08:21 PM)Grape Drank Wrote: I think it would be cool if you were allowed to write a brief summary of the character's background. Nothing more than a basic paragraph, 3-5 sentences. It could be something other players could read, if they chose, when inspecting the character.

Thanks for the contribution Grape Drank!

Often such a write-up is controversial among RPers; some say it allows to get your story out there, while others argue that the story should be unveiled through interaction. A similar idea to this that is brought up quite often is the desire for the ability to express a physical description of your character with a brief written description for anything the character creation tool may not have.

I'll add your idea to the list Grape Drank!

In terms of an idea I thought would be nice...

Animations while talking - So roleplayers will not be getting chat bubbles, which is unfortunate as it makes it difficult to determine who is speaking at any given time (especially in a large crowd!) But by adding animations when using "say" chat, roleplayers will easily be able to determine who is speaking on their screen and match it with the textbox right away.

These animations will include subtle movements of the mouth and light hand gestures that are randomized whenever you type something out, and can vary based on chance and if your line ends with a period, exclamation point, or question mark.

Without an animation while talking (or even shouting), conversations between roleplayers end up feeling lifeless visually. The characters on screen would simply be standing still as they spoke, and not appear particularly active. So animations while talking will both help Roleplayers identify when someone is speaking, and make conversations look like actual conversations!

(August 24th 2013, 08:21 PM)Grape Drank Wrote: I think it would be cool if you were allowed to write a brief summary of the character's background. Nothing more than a basic paragraph, 3-5 sentences. It could be something other players could read, if they chose, when inspecting the character.

Unfortuneately, its been confired that they will not support that at launch, though they do say that there is potential for player addons.

Source: Q&A

Animations while talking would certainly be high on my list. Even the ver simple animations in WOW added character to conversations.

In terms of things I'd like to see, one thing will already be in game: the ability to 'train' with your weapons. I don't know about special abilities, but certainly left-right mouse buttons will be usable without a foe.

Another thing is Immersion in cities/towns. When I'm IC, I want to hear NPC's talking in the background, selling wares and sharing gossip, even just a few lines. They too should have animations. Also, water burbling, carts moving, wood being chopped. Skyrim did this fairly well, and some MMO's do too. It just helps place you in the setting.

Cannibalism and a moving Falinesti, even though both have already been confirmed not to be included :(

That's horrible...:(

(September 1st 2013, 05:01 PM)Thorfinn Wrote: Unfortuneately, its been confired that they will not support that at launch, though they do say that there is potential for player addons.

Source: Q&A

Animations while talking would certainly be high on my list. Even the ver simple animations in WOW added character to conversations.

In terms of things I'd like to see, one thing will already be in game: the ability to 'train' with your weapons. I don't know about special abilities, but certainly left-right mouse buttons will be usable without a foe.

Another thing is Immersion in cities/towns. When I'm IC, I want to hear NPC's talking in the background, selling wares and sharing gossip, even just a few lines. They too should have animations. Also, water burbling, carts moving, wood being chopped. Skyrim did this fairly well, and some MMO's do too. It just helps place you in the setting.

Ah, you're right on that Q&A Thorfinn!

I believe Zenimax has already added the ability to do basic attacks with your weapon even if you're not targeting an enemy. So with that you can have your character do a bit of training, (along with some of the emotes they apparently have like push ups.)

I'd imagine they'd try to make an immersive city too with active NPCs! Though I suppose it would depend on how active they are that would determine the level of immersion it gives.

Thanks for the contribution Thorfinn!

More Khajiit subspecies, obviously not playable bipedal ones but at least have them included. Also more species of Lycanthropes like the werebear and werelion and again have at least some new ones available to play as.

Other than those perhaps new spell/enchantment types.

(September 2nd 2013, 05:03 PM)Took an arrow in the knee Wrote: More Khajiit subspecies, obviously not playable bipedal ones but at least have them included. Also more species of Lycanthropes like the werebear and werelion and again have at least some new ones available to play as.

Other than those perhaps new spell/enchantment types.

I believe for the most part, most of Elsweyr is not in the game, though it's likely they may introduce more their species as they expand into that territory.

I'll add the additional species of Lycanthropes, did you want it to be more of a cosmetic thing or did you mean ones with new abilities and the such? The former may be easier to do/balance!

What sort of new spell and enchantment types were you hoping for?

I hope to see a return to the levitation and recall spells from Morrowind and spells like encumbering your enemy from in Oblivion but for new spells I would like to see more conjurable Daedra and undead, more AOE spells, miniature natural disasters such as a small scale tornado like the one from the Dragonbord DLC (I realize that might be a little overpowered but it'd be cool to see), different strengths of conjurable armor and weapons. And perhaps elemental enchantments on ammunition based weapons eg, exploding fire and ice arrows.

I'm not sure what you mean by cosmetics or new abilities, different species of lycanthropes would have different appearances but perhaps slightly different abilities eg, a werewolf would be faster than a werebear but the werebear would have stronger attacks with perhaps some knock back and staggering effect.

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I forgot to add this but several things that were seen in the game jam 2011 for Skyrim such as moving platforms, dark dungeons, fat giant, mega-sized mudcrabs, well maybe not that last one, and maybe spell combos like paralysis + elemental rune=paralysis rune type thing.

(September 2nd 2013, 05:50 PM)Took an arrow in the knee Wrote: I hope to see a return to the levitation and recall spells from Morrowind and spells like encumbering your enemy from in Oblivion but for new spells I would like to see more conjurable Daedra and undead, more AOE spells, miniature natural disasters such as a small scale tornado like the one from the Dragonbord DLC (I realize that might be a little overpowered but it'd be cool to see), different strengths of conjurable armor and weapons. And perhaps elemental enchantments on ammunition based weapons eg, exploding fire and ice arrows.

I'm not sure what you mean by cosmetics or new abilities, different species of lycanthropes would have different appearances but perhaps slightly different abilities eg, a werewolf would be faster than a werebear but the werebear would have stronger attacks with perhaps some knock back and staggering effect.

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I forgot to add this but several things that were seen in the game jam 2011 for Skyrim such as moving platforms, dark dungeons, fat giant, mega-sized mudcrabs, well maybe not that last one, and maybe spell combos like paralysis + elemental rune=paralysis rune type thing.

Ah, I'm afraid with those sort of gameplay abilities, it would severely affect things like game balance (which in turn affects PvP, exploitation of terrain, simplifies ways of killing monsters, etc.)

I'm sure however that there will be more spells, abilities, and skill trees as the game progresses.

Yeah I thought they would affect things like that especially with the magic. I still would like to see new lycanthropes roaming Tamriel but perhaps not with the abilities that I stated above.

Thanks for telling me the the affect those ideas would have.

Just really good emotes would be best!

Please let them make it so that your character can actually interact with furniture. Older games such as LotrO and WoW have it, developers can't slack on this one =\ Nothing more annoying/hilarious than your character floating above a chair, seemingly balancing on the armrests.

(September 7th 2013, 09:59 PM)Danaris Wrote: Just really good emotes would be best!

That's certainly something that helps out MMO RPers! They certainly have quite a few judging by the emote list they released, but would there be any specific emotes or styles you want?

(September 8th 2013, 06:09 AM)Triskele Wrote: Please let them make it so that your character can actually interact with furniture. Older games such as LotrO and WoW have it, developers can't slack on this one =\ Nothing more annoying/hilarious than your character floating above a chair, seemingly balancing on the armrests.

It certainly would make using them more natural and convenient! I'm surprised that recent MMOs haven't had this feature despite being several years newer than LotrO and WoW. It's actually a bit puzzling why this is so. I'll add it to the list, though /sitchair may be a suitable solution for this if implemented properly!