Why does combat in The Elder Scrolls Online feel the way it does? What drives the design decisions of ZeniMax Online Studios? What are the end goals for combat design? Some of these musings try to be addressed in a recent dev blog from the game, in which the dev team outlines what it calls the “aspirational […] core values and vision for ESO’s combat.”
The vision for combat in the game can be summarized in four pillars: freedom of choice in terms of build and playstyle, adherence to an active combat model, an ongoing sense of mastery, and reference to the series’ history. The blog further breaks down each segment with intentions, explanations, and examples of design choices made by the team to hit these goals.
“Outside of some outstanding combat bugs, we believe taking all these into account has now gotten combat in a better place, where ESO is more enjoyable for a variety of playstyles,” the post argues. “Over the course of ESO’s development, we’ve used these values as our guiding principles, along with feedback from the community and hard data metrics.”
The blog also promises that more details about combat updates related to Update 37 will be coming soon, but until then, players who have been asking the question of “why” might find some explanation here. Maybe.
