Ask Us Anything: Combat
Zenimax puts the spotlight on combat in ESO
In another edition of Ask Us Anything, Zenimax sheds some light on how combat will work. Mainly the targeting system, how class customization is handled, how experience will be shared/stolen, and some details on pvp, like how skill plays into fights.
The Elder Scrolls Online uses a soft targeting system, meaning you have to aim your abilities and attacks, but they will go through enemies to hit your target. Some juicy details were revealed on healing, specifically that they are mostly not targeted abilities but have areas of effect so healing is more about personal awareness and what is going on around your avatar.
Another aspect that really intrigues me is an excerpt of a letter made by an internal tester. The tester covered the team he had for a low level dungeon. His tank was a sorcerer who dual wielded and used heavy armor, and one of the two healers was a Templar in light armor dual wielding. What this says to me is tanks wont necessarily need shields, and healers will have a lot more offensive capabilities than in many MMOs. A small detail I took note of was that the party size for the dungeon was 4, instead of the more common 5.
PvP starts at level 10 and people can level purely through pvp. There was a lot on how to use personal skill in PvP, the basics of course are managing stamina and magicka, dodging, weapon swapping, and denial abilities. It was stated that a small coordinated group could certainly defeat a larger force with the right strategy.
A last small detail that I thought sounded interesting was how a bow can be charged. Holding down the left mouse button will make your attack more powerful, I see this creating a really interesting dynamic when coupled with sneaking, possibly creating an extremely deadly option for stealth based characters.
The full AUA can be found here. The Elder Scrolls Online beta is incoming, if you haven’t signed up yet make sure you do.
I hope to see you in Tamriel.