The Elder Scrolls Online

What about a ban bet? Is Utnayan willing to take a ban bet that Blackwulf is a shill? Are you willing to back this up Blackwulf?

Blackwulf_sl said:

The engine is smooth as shit with 100's of players on the screen

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Cheers to that. That was something I noticed - pretty much no stuttering in the very building after the starting area, even though there were at least 50-100 people in there. They seem to have a very nicely optimized engine.

Blackwulf_sl said:

The graphics are fantastic. The engine is smooth as shit with 100's of players on the screen.

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This is something that can't be stated enough. For a stress test I expected to be moving through molasses simply due to the sheer volume of bodies around me but it was smooth as silk. That is with everything set to Ultra and cranked as high as it would let me go.

Having been in a ton of alpha/beta tests over the years followed by years of fully released products to plod through I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that someone figured out how to optimize an MMO engine.

Mugglewump_sl said:

This is something that can't be stated enough. For a stress test I expected to be moving through molasses simply due to the sheer volume of bodies around me but it was smooth as silk. That is with everything set to Ultra and cranked as high as it would let me go.

Having been in a ton of alpha/beta tests over the years followed by years of fully released products to plod through I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that someone figured out how to optimize an MMO engine.

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I'd like to see this, if it's true then it's a fairly large step forward. Was thinking about this the other day, how every MMO game I've played from AO to Warhammer and even WoW (which even if it isn't your cup of tea you have to admit the engine is very smooth) dies a death when there are large numbers of people on screen no matter the level of graphics.

I know nothing about it but I just kind of figured it was a basic limitation of client-server capabilities (i.e. a netcode problem, not a graphics/level of detail problem) with how much shit there was happening at one time in MMOs and not something that could be overcome any time soon, since every game ever (including those specifically designed for PVP) couldn't handle it.

Mugglewump_sl said:

This is something that can't be stated enough. For a stress test I expected to be moving through molasses simply due to the sheer volume of bodies around me but it was smooth as silk. That is with everything set to Ultra and cranked as high as it would let me go.

Having been in a ton of alpha/beta tests over the years followed by years of fully released products to plod through I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that someone figured out how to optimize an MMO engine.

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If you paid attention though, it was at the lack of texturing though - the textures when there's a huge character load are pretty primitive once you start looking at the peripheral areas of the screen. UI and central view stay crisp however.

Hopefully they can polish that bit (just like the laughable "drowning bar" ATM - it looks so out of place right now) to make it less jarringly bad with the low reso textures when they do it, not sure how many people scan the edges of their screen as much as I do, but it's something I noticed really really quick when I was coming onto a pack of people. (Note: Talking after leaving Molag Bol's realm - didn't see it occur in the starting bit)

PS: If Matt Firor is who I think he is (I knew many of ZeniMax by face than name - knew a handful of the staff and would meet them at the office and just got a quick "Hey, meet this guy" or "We're bring X with us for drinks tonight" that names didn't sink in for [I'm terrible with names]) I'd be really shocked if Blackwulf is him - of the BethSoft/ZeniMax people I know, the only one's that would fit would have a Rockville, MD or outlying IP - not a Hunt Valley/Towson, MD IP like most of the ZeniMax guys. There's absolutely some people within the company that I'd expect to give off a Koster vibe like I agree he's been giving - but assuming I'm remembering who he is right from light acquainting, I don't believe it would be him.

Blackwulf_sl said:

Off topic - I just saw the new Riddick Movie. If you liked Pitch Black, you should check it out

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It's pretty clear that Blackwulf is actually Vin Diesel. Fucking shill.

khalid_sl said:

What about a ban bet? Is Utnayan willing to take a ban bet that Blackwulf is a shill? Are you willing to back this up Blackwulf?

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Eh, I don't care one way or the other. Sure, they can run my IP and see I'm nowhere near Bethesda. If that's good enough for you. Or Draegan can vouch for me, but this is just silly. Why are we wasting time on a forum talking about one crazy poster's paranoid delusions? All I ever do to set him and his cronies off is talk about why I think this game is shaping up nicely. I often provide links to articles and interviews I read. Then Utnayan spouts some crazy shit about how Matt Firor rapes his employees and how I'm Matt Firor. It's ludicrous.

Utnayan_sl said:

Really? Who are you? You told everyone here 4 months ago you were a school teacher!

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Bingo! Just a school teacher by day and a fan of MMO's by night. My original loyalty to Zenimax in my posts stems 100% from me being a huge fan of DAOC (best MMO ever) and Elder Scrolls (Arena was one of my first and most favorite RPG's.)

You hate Matt Firor, not sure why, I like him because I've heard from several ex-Mythic employees that he was THE reason DAOC succeeded. You can argue the point all day long. I don't care - he's got the benefit of the doubt until this game releases as far as I'm concerned.

Wage_sl said:

It's pretty clear that Blackwulf is actually Vin Diesel. Fucking shill.

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Dammit, you got me! There goes my anonymity.

Note: Reading up on Matt Firor - can't be him, face isn't familiar and his hire date with ZeniMax is after I hung out at the studio with them anymore (I became disabled in mid 2007 - since then I don't meet people out there anymore - Firor was apparently added in 2009).

I feel like I should be involved in this thread more often.

Utnayan_sl said:

Vaclav you are a pretty cool guy

Didn't we used to bicker all the time?

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Was largely related to me relating too much positivity that Brad was supposedly spewing about Vanguard to her that turned out to be false (or at the very least wrongly emphasized) - yea. [Edit: Secondhand - an old friend from EQ1 was relaying it and clearly either was shilling or something was lost in translation - she was from Ohio so I doubt it was true shilling though, either naive hope presented as fact or believing snakeoil)

Part of why I'm eternally dubious of MMO's now and people speaking too highly of them with "all roses" type talk. (Like Blackwulf has been doing)

I think we ended up at pretty much the same place, just I took longer to get there, heh.

[Plus, doesn't retirement mellow everyone? Think over that timeframe was when I was first coming to grips with my legs only working a few days a week - likely was lashing out a ton more than rational. (And note, far better now, found things that work to help out, besides normal stressed muscle issues anyone can have, probably have a day of downtime on my legs a month or two now... minor impairment now)]

Yeah well I got kind of surprised reading DyneAvenger posts from SA forums here (really...) and then, out of fucking nowhere, Matt Firor is on this thread, answering personal attacks for fun and glorifying his own game to sell 20-30 more boxes.

Every MMO thread in general has its blind gospel followers right now. Blackwulf is not Firor, just like Teekey is not Butler.

To be clear, I don't think ESO is the next coming. I'm not sure what IS to be honest - but I love the TES games, and after hearing relatively negative things going into it, once I started playing I was quite surprised by how "not shit" it was. I have varying reasons for paying a sub, and in swtor I paid one to get empire chars to max, but once they made it F2P I never went back. (Despite how frustrating and shit it was NOT to be subbed.)

I just want something that keeps me coming back. I don't think ESO will be it, but I can almost guarantee I'll play it till the conclusion of the main story arc, just because it was fairly interesting from the start.

Curious to know if Jeremy Soule is doing the soundtrack - I hate to say it but if he is that'll guarantee a CE purchase for that alone. =/

Mainly I just want something that is not wow. FFXIV has my attention right now, and I like a lot of what it has. I like that I have an identity rather than a main and then alts. In ESO, I like the idea that while they've necessitated having a class, you still can vary/customize it based on the weapons you choose to use. Will be interesting to see if they do it in a similar vein to GW2 - IE a plate class with a shield + heavy armor gains tanking abilities, like dmg reduct and crit immunity, or if you equip a two hander if you become more offensive.

I put 200 hrs into skyrim on my first char; I'm sure ESO will probably get me for awhile.

Tuco_sl said:

Utnayan if you have evidence that Blackwulf is someone in the industry then post it. Either way lay off with these creepy personal attacks.

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I have personal evidence of who Blackwulf is and he's not in the industry.

I've played every Elder Scrolls game from Arena to Skyrim. A big reason is they all are fun, deep RPGs from the first to the last and they all have graphics and gameplay improvements from their predecessors. I'm not sure this game has either of those things going for it.

My biggest complaints with my brief time playing was combat was meh, the controls were shoddy, and the game looked bad. The game design has potential but playing it wasn't that fun to me. I was using a keyboard and mouse. I'm wondering if it's more being designed with a controller in mind?

I thought FFXIV was drop dead gorgeous, but boring to play. However, FFXIV's combat was nice. ESO at least doesn't look creepy with the Asian pedophile crap.

Gecko_sl said:

I've played every Elder Scrolls game from Arena to Skyrim. A big reason is they all are fun, deep RPGs from the first to the last and they all have graphics and gameplay improvements from their predecessors. I'm not sure this game has either of those things going for it.

My biggest complaints with my brief time playing was combat was meh, the controls were shoddy, and the game looked bad. The game design has potential but playing it wasn't that fun to me. I was using a keyboard and mouse. I'm wondering if it's more being designed with a controller in mind?

I thought FFXIV was drop dead gorgeous, but boring to play. However, FFXIV's combat was nice. ESO at least doesn't look creepy with the Asian pedophile crap.

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We're you playing in first or third person? I tried both and found the controls far more satisfying in 3rd.