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Level 9 walks from Grahtwood to Repear's March as a Level 9
Belgaraath
Member UncommonPosts: 3,204
For those who wonder if these are zones completely closed off based on your level, they aren't. In this video, a player walks from Grahtwood as a level 9 all the way to Repear's March and does some exploration on the way. Yes you won't be able to fight everywhere, but you will be able to explore to some degree. Crafters might even love the challenge. Is it like the single player games? No..which I prefer, because I hate when things level up with you which is exactly why I heavily Modded Oblivion...in order to make it feel more like an MMO as I prefer leveled areas. Skyrim did a much better job at not leveling up everything as you level. I'll be curious how Dragon Age handles this. Can't wait for that game :-).
Even though I'm taking a break to play Divinity Original Sin and while they rework the Veteran areas, I still think ESO is the best exploration based MMO as:
1) It is NOT quest hub centric. Many quests are obtained through exploring in non city areas and in dungeons.
2) In addition to exploring for lorebooks and skyshards, you will miss out on locations and lore, many of which can be placed on your map by talking with NPCs that DO NOT have quest markers over their heads.
Could they have made it even more open world? Absolutely. However, it is still better exploration wise than other MMOs out there that are PVE centric.
There Is Always Hope!
Comments
I read lore books sometimes before I go to bed, or when I just need a break. So many books, I always say I'm going to take the time to read each that I find.
Any graphical, audio, or gameplay restrictions not seen in other mmos but found in FFXIV can be blamed on one thing.
PS3
Except only a very small subset of the hundreds of books in ESO were ever in a previous TES game. The vast majority of the content on bookshelves and in lorebooks is 100% new to the series.
I confess. I didn't read all the lorebooks or tomes lol. I am not so much a lore person as I am an explore every location person :-). I do enjoy the story though and I generally do let them speak when reading quests and if the notes and books are short, then yes, I'll read those too. If they are more than 2 pages I don't hehe. I have however several times spoke to NPCs that do not have quest markers in taverns and around the world or saw little notes that placed things on my map to explore. I love that kind of stuff :-).
There Is Always Hope!
Actually, there are quest hubs. If you're in your veteran ranks, you probably understood the general scheme of quests:
Zones are squared into multiple questhubs, each containing 2 or 3 quests. If you're veteran ranks, you can easily take any blank map and find all the quest hubs of a zone, thanks to the ultra-detailed-"hold my hand plz" map of the game.
Each questhubs (noted by a symbol on the map, it can be a tree, a castle, a sword, a town) contains one main quest, sometimes one or two sub-quests and "Come Back" dynamic quests. If you came in the zone from the wrong direction, the game will immediatly spawn a NPC to give you a "Come back" quests, this quests doesn't give any reward and directly redirects you to the giver of the main quest of the questhub.
The giver of the sub quests are in general next to the NPC that gives the main quest. Once the main quest of the questhub is finished, the symbol on the map will light on, and you can proceed to the next questhub.
Thank you for sharing this. Although I only played the first month, I easily figured out the "pattern", and could locate the quest givers in every new zone by carefully studying each map and working from the symbols go the the level appropriate area of the map in order to make the experience as efficient as possible.
Why people keep saying there are no hubs, or that the leveling experience isn't clearly directed is beyond me. Sure, you can ignore where they are trying to shove you, but you are purposely ignoring the optimal path when you do so.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
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It's more of a question of taste.
Personnaly, I prefer when the quests are gathered in a town, so you can take them all and then choose a direction and explore what's outside of the safe place. Then you come back in town and feel like you're coming home.
I also like when the map is hidden, and reveal itself as you discover it. In ESO (I take ESO as an example, but it's true for other MMOs), you never stumble on something because you can easily know where you have to go, and what will be there (town, questhubs, anchors).I love the sensation of climbing an hill and then be surprised by a village/haunted castle/landscape "Anor Londo"-style.
Same goes for questmarkers.
In general, in ESO, the levelling seems cool and new for the first ~40 levels, but then you get the general "'scheme" of the questing, and you realize how it is "normalized".
Level 9 walks from Grahtwood to Repear's March as a Level 9
How else would a level 9 walk from Grahtwood to Reapers March other than as a level 9? I don't play the game so maybe I am missing something :S
Is it possible to travel all across Tamriel without doing anything? Sure. You would have to avoid every single monster, go in a directed path that's not blocked by mountains, and move from zone to zone in order.
So it still ends up being more restricted than a real open world. This game would flourish if MORE was done to make the open world experience better.