The Elder Scrolls Online – For its 10th anniversary, The Elder Scrolls Online takes risks and innovates with a unique spell creation system for an MMORPG

The Elder Scrolls Online marks its 10th anniversary this year. In 10 years, the game has continued to grow in content, with its expansions making us explore Morrowind, Summerset, Elsweyr, Greymoor, Blackwood, High Isle, Necrom and soon Gold roadbut also its 24 DLCs, and numerous updates bringing free content. This impressive offering of content allowed the game, translated into 7 languagesto count 24 million players over the years, and to release $2 billion in revenue since its release: a remarkable financial success.

If the formula is well established in terms of content distribution – an expansion and two or three DLCs per year – it is also well established in terms of level of the Chapter format, which some players criticize for a lack of risk-taking. Indeed, despite interesting features added in the game such as recently the infinite dungeonnew classes likeArcanist bringing elements of gameplay new, or a card game serving as a game within the game, the content of the Chapters itself with its 30 hours of quests and his world events is well established.

The new system ofWriting (Scribing) introduced in the next Chapter Gold Road, however, seems to want to change the situation. The Chapter actually brings the content that players are accustomed to, but it also introduces a system resulting from the creation of spells that could be found in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivionand which has been in the works since the release of TESO, having been put on standby, then resumed to experience different iterations, to finally return to the forefront. It is this truly ambitious and unprecedented system for a MMORPG that we were able to discuss with Kira Ross Schlittproject manager, Brian Wheelerchief combat designer, and CJ Grebbartistic director.

As is often the case when a new system is introduced into TESO, developers prefer to start with a good base and expand it later. The Scripture system will first come with a limited number of SKILLSassociated with weaponswhich will be possible to personalize by modifying three elements: its focus representing its main function, its signature allowing you to add unique effects, and its affix allowing you to associate a buff or a debuff. For example, we can imagine a spell attracting the enemy towards you before inflicting lightning damage on them and reducing their intelligence. Each of the skills can be customized by approximately 250 different waysgiving us a total, at the system output, of 4000 different combinations, all tested individually by the developers. In addition to this, it will be possible to change appearance of skills already existing. This system will not be not accessible before level 30 (or to characters with Champion Points), in order to give new players time to familiarize themselves with the basics of the game.

If developers can take risks such as allowing customization of their character's gameplay bringing thousands of new skills into the game, it is because they have an internal analysis tool allowing them to mathematically monitor the fights to ensure thegame balance. Of course, adjustments will certainly be necessary at first, but the system is robust and proven enough that developers can be confident. Although all 4000 skill combinations have been tested, it is not possible to simulate every imaginable scenario. This is why beta tests will be important to see the situations that players will create.

The heart of Elder Scrollsand one of the fundamental pillars of The Elder Scrolls Online, is to give players the opportunity to explore, experiment, and customize all aspects of their game and their characters. With the Script system, the idea of ​​customization penetrates deep into combat gameplay. The developers hope to see new ways of playing the game emerge, perhaps going beyond the trinity tank/heal/DPS. They also experiment with their game, and study the new ways of playing that will emerge.

It is interesting to point out that by introducing a system such as this, arriving with 4000 new potential skills, the developers will have to redouble their efforts to ensure that the classes maintain a unique identity. THE next classes which will be introduced into the game will have to stand out even more than the previous ones, with unique gameplay elements that cannot be created by existing combinations. Letting players create their own skills therefore presents a double challenge : that of giving them as much freedom as possible while keeping the game balanced, and that of having to surpass ourselves in the future to bring things that really stand out in a gameplay where we can already do almost everything.

We asked the developers what they would dream of implementing in the game over the next ten years, and while they didn't want to get too involved so as not to give the impression of making announcements, they did. gave an interesting answer: what makes so many people stay in the studios after 15 years for some is that crazy ideas like creating spells eventually see the light of day, even if it happens years later. The environment in which they work continues to stimulate them because conversations started around a mead in events like this, dreaming of crazy features, can transform, through hard work, into real innovations implemented in the game .

For these 10 years, The Elder Scrolls Online dares to take risks that make it deserve its place as one of the best MMORPGs today. He takes these risks at the level of gameplay as we saw with this new skill customization systembut also at the level of lore of the Elder Scrolls, since this expansion will introduce a new Daedric Prince, thus shaking up the world of licensing. If Gold Road continues with the classic format of a Chapter, with an area including three biomesthere city of Skingradand an new Test, the game continues to reinvent itself. And at the heart of this constant reinvention is a pillar value: personalization in all its aspects. The game has proven itself and is doing wonderfully: it can now take more risks and bring things to the MMO landscape that the genre has never experienced before.