Americans Are Boring

So this weekend, as many readers are aware, is Elder Scrolls Online's biggest beta weekend yet, with over 500,000 beta keys being given away by Curse.com. After combing through leaked footage, and footage recently released by various media outlets, I have come to the conclusion that Americans are boring and predictable. All of the English speaking videos I've seen depict Questing, PvE, and PvP, with a strong focus on the first hour of gameplay. The only videos I have found depicting crafting come from outside North America, from our Spanish and German speaking friends. Unfortunately the German video I found also has a German UI, so I can't really comment on what is going on in the video. The Spanish video (also embedded below) is using the English UI, so be prepared for my breakdown on the crafting system!

Before I begin on my analysis on the video, I would just like to say sorry in advance if the videos linked are leaked gameplay footage. I respect ZOS, and respect their NDA. With that said, let us listen to some very fast speaking Spanish.

So the first thing you'll notice is that both the Clothing and Blacksmithing stations are located near each other. This is somewhat of a standard in MMOs, to have different crafting stations within close proximity. I for one am glad to see this. I find it a huge time sink to run all over town to work on my different crafts, especially if you need to craft components from one craft to make something in another. If you haven't experienced this, I envy you.

We can also get a glean into the crafting skill lines. They are: Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Clothing, Enchanting, Provisioning, and Woodworking. In the video we see some of the Blacksmithing skill line. Metalworking lets unlock new materials to craft higher tier items. Keen Eye: Ore makes it easier to spot ore gathering nodes (probably some sort of graphic appears on screen). The Miner Hireling will send you crafting materials and possibly "other items" everyday (I suspect these are additives, tempers, or style materials).

Now let us take a look at the crafting interface. On the Creation tab we see Type, Material, Style, and Trait. Also note that there are check boxes for 'Have Items' and 'Have Knowledge'. These will let us filter out what we can't craft, and help us plan how to progress in our crafting skills. The Type and Material toggles are pretty standard for MMOs, so we'll all feel at home with those. As would be expected (espcially if you've played past TES games) the material used affects the look of the item. But here is where it gets interesting with Style. We can craft items in the different racial styles (Dunmer, Altmer, Orc, Nord, etc), which also affect the appearance of the item. Spoiler: Ancient Elf, Reach, Primitive, Daedric and Imperial are also craftable styles. We've already been introduced to the (easiest) way to unlock Imperial. The rest however are not playable races, so there is probably a lot of grinding and opening sacks involved in finding these racial styles. Rest assured, there will be money to be made if you can craft Ancient Elf or Daedric armor. Moving along then, Traits. Traits as we can see are the "additive" ingredients we have long heard about, but never seen. They add effects to crafted items such as Precise which increases weapon and spell critical values, and Defending which increases total armor and spell resistance. We don't get to see all the traits in this video, but I would bet you a sweetroll some traits that are more useful than others. So keep an eye out for Traits.

The next tab we see is Improvement. Pretty straight forward. Select item, toggle quantity value, press Improve. Moving on. Extraction is another common theme in MMOs that we should all be comfortable with. Select item, press Extract, get crafting materials. Moving on.

Research. From what we see here each piece of gear needs each trait to be researched. if we flip back to 0:58 in the video, we see a skill called Metallurgy. I'll bet you TWO sweetrolls this skill has something to do with research. If you're in the beta and have an interest in crafting, I encourage you to check out that skill to learn more.

At 3:18 in the video we get a look at Alchemy, one of the three consumable types of crafting (the others being Provisioner and Enchanting). The interface here is much different than Blacksmithing, which I suspect is why they are showing it. After selecting a Solvent (base liquid, Natural Water in this case) you can select two Reagents. Sadly they didn't have any Reagents to show us in this video. Reagents are things like Mountain Flowers, Imp Stool, Nirn Root, etc. These are harvestable flowers and plants you can find in game.

We also get a look at a blacksmith vendor, where you can buy Style materials. I can't say I'm a fan of this. One of the (what should be rare) materials needed for crafting can be bought from an npc for 21 gold, including the ones for the rare styles (Ancient Elf, Reach, etc). This will severely reduce the value of crafted gear.

Now that you've watched the Spanish video, and understand what they are showing you, I recommend watching the German video. They played a higher level character and better show the Extraction and Improvement process.

Auction Houses? Guild Stores.

Hello Internet! Happy New Year.

For those of you following ESO (Elder Scrolls Online), you probably know that there is no Auction House. Instead, there are Guild Stores. This changes the nature of economy and trade in ESO. Most MMOs go with a system of being able to buy from any player, and being able to sell to any player, and being able to view EVERYTHING currently on the market. With Guild Stores, your market is now limited to a maximum of 1500 players. PLAYERS. You see, each account gets to join 5 guilds. And unless I missed something, the guild cap is 300. It has been said the guild cap will probably rise, I’m guessing to 500. Even still, this puts your market up to 2500 potential buyers.

If you’re a crafter, you’ll have to manage your guilds very carefully. If you’re not a crafter, feel free to skip to the next paragraph. I don’t mind. As a crafter, you’ll need to make sure you’re in active guilds with a ton of people in them. Preferably with no other crafters. You’ll need active and full guilds to maximize that 1500-2500 player base, and have characters that are leveling up and need new gear, more potions, or more food. So if you haven’t yet, check out some guilds, join one or two. Going back a bit, I said “Preferably with no other crafters”. I really meant to say “with almost no other crafters making the same stuff as you”. By being one of the only people crafting a certain item in your guild, say, heavy armour, you’ve now got a niche market. Niche is kind of a funny word, isn’t it? Sounds a bit like quiche. To maximize this niche, you should only focus on the one craft. If you want to craft more than one type of item, that’s cool too. More people will buy your stuff if you’re selling more than one thing!

Even if you’re not crafting, it is still wise to select your guilds carefully if you want to make a buck off the Guild Store. If you like to buy things cheap, and re-sell them for a higher price, you’ll want to be in guilds outside of the Six Degrees of Separation (it’s ok if you need to google that or niche). What I mean is you want to be in guilds with as few people in common as possible. Because if someone is doing the same thing and is in the same guild as four of yours, you’ve got some serious competition. If you’re more of a PvPer or raider, consider joining some non-pvp or raiding guilds too. There will be less chance people are putting up the same items to the Guild Store. Of course, size and activity are also key to making money off any Guild Store. You won’t make any money off guilds with 20 people, and you only ever see yourself online.

As an afterthought, I remembered how Cyrodiil plays into this. I almost even clicked send to Chillbilly to post this article.
Cyrodiil (PvP) unlocks a whole new element to how Guild Stores function. If your guild owns a keep in Cyrodiil, anyone who visits that keep can browse your guild’s store. And likewise, you can browse the Guild Store of any keep your faction owns. So ideally, you want to be in five guilds that each controls a keep. If possible, at least one in each three alliances. If you can achieve this, then you can now sell to everyone playing the game.

I’ll leave you gold goblins for now, with a quote to ponder:
Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.
- Andy Warhol


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Elder Scrolls Preparation

     In order to get the creative juices flowing, I often like to start the morning out with a Yoohoo and a protein shake. I mix them, in my Blenderball from GNC. Just as soon as the frothy milk reaches the top of the bottle I slam it like a sorority sister from Nebraska on her 21st birthday. That's my breakfast. I eat generally 6 times a day with my diet. I do whatever keeps my metabolism as high as possible. What does not get my metabolism moving, is the fact that every close friend of mine, now has a key to the progressive beta of Elder Scrolls online. So now until they end the beta, my friends are in the world of Tamriel without me. With the NDA and my understanding of how Zenimax works, I refuse and they refuse to break that Non-disclosure agreement.

     It sort of puts me at a loss, here I am making the necessary preparations for my gold making website, which is meant to be 100% free to the public mind you. I am unable to start my research in to how things are going to go on the money front. Without any information what so ever from the beta, this has put me in a bad mood.

     So with that disaster, I went forth to find things to keep myself occupied. I have updated the website no less to support this blog, as well as a few other things. I now have 2 writers in my employ. Both are close friends, and they both have access to the *&*^$ beta. However, we have made an agreement that we shall not disclose any information, as it could get us sued up and down. So it's server, website, and blog work for me.

     When dealing with this level of boredom, often times you must find a way to keep yourself occupied. Lest you do not go insane and end up assaulting a renegade band of beavers. Their only plight being to rid the world of flowing water, as they build a large dam. I decided, "No, I am not going to kill, Slopdop, the friendly monk beaver for his information regarding beaver world domination."
Instead rather I will spend my time gloriously looking for ways to better prepare myself for the onslaught of endless gaming nights. The sad fact of the matter is, while I am writing this totally stupid entry, that will be read back years from now, I will realize that I should have been working on the website. Instead of course making myself laugh early in the morning with talks of beavers. It's unfortunate really. With nothing to write I can always find a way to write totally ridiculous material. I understand, and like many of you out there, all 5 of you even, that I am not funny. Well you know what I say to that?

You're right. I am not funny.

But.. I need material on my blog to test with.

Future me. Sorry for the time lost.

-CB