When the chapter Gold Road introduced the new glyph crafting system to The Elder Scrolls Online, the criticism was significant. The idea that players should pay extra to create new abilities was particularly unpopular with many gamers. More than a year later, the developers are changing exactly that.
What has Zenimax announced? Via Steam, the developers of The Elder Scrolls Online explain that the glyph crafting system introduced with the chapter Gold Road last year will soon become part of the base game. Specifically, they state:
- The glyph crafting will be available for free in the base game, for anyone who claims the feature in the Crown Store when the associated Golden Task launches in mid-July!
- If you miss the associated Golden Task, you can still claim the glyph crafting for free from the Crown Store, as this change is permanent.
- There will be a short window between the release of Update 46 and the transition of the chapter Gold Road into the “ESO Plus” subscription and the Crown Store from June to July, during which you won’t be able to buy or access glyph crafting unless you already own it.
The announcement trailer for the chapter Gold Road of Elder Scrolls Online:
Preparation for the Seasons of the Worm Cult
What can I do with glyph crafting? This feature allows you to customize abilities from various skill lines to meet your own needs. There were over 4,000 combinations available at launch for the eleven new skills. Four components can be individually customized:
- Grimoire: The basic concept of your ability. Is the spell an AoE? A targeted attack? A damage-over-time spell?
- Focus Script: Determines the fundamental type of the spell. Does the spell cause damage? Does it heal? Does it have additional effects, like pulling enemies?
- Effect Script: Determines an additional effect. So a healing spell can become a heal-over-time.
- Affix Script: Grants another, additional effect, usually smaller than the previous one. For example, a slight speed boost or some damage reduction for affected allied targets.
Unfortunately, anyone who wants to use glyph crafting and the associated new skills must purchase the chapter Gold Road. Since customizable skills create more options for combat and thus a potential advantage, many players have criticized this as blatant Pay2Win.
Why is Zenimax changing this a year later? MeinMMO was able to talk to Creative Director Rich Lambert about this accusation last year, and his statement at the time was:
Every time. As soon as we release a new class with a chapter, some people complain that it is Pay2Win. We don’t see it that way because the abilities that come with new classes or now with glyph crafting are not really noticeably more powerful than the abilities you can alternatively access.
They are just new and therefore interesting, and some abilities have cool effects. However, our PvP is so skill-based that a less experienced player with the best possible setup of gear and skills will never win against a hardcore PvP veteran. […] Our job is, of course, to ensure that we do not introduce new abilities into the game that are overly powerful.
So, the fact that glyph crafting will become part of the base game in July is likely not related to the Pay2Win criticism. However, the Seasons of the Worm Cult will start in the summer, bringing with them the new subclasses as a free update.
These allow you to freely combine all skill lines of all classes. The system will be unlocked once you reach level 50 with a character. From then on, you will have access to all class skill lines you have already unlocked on your account. Only one of the chosen skill lines must still belong to your original class.
The design and balancing of such a system should be much easier if developers can assume that all players have access to both the subclasses AND the glyph crafting. Or what do you think? You can find more details about the first ESO season here: The MMORPG Elder Scrolls will soon have 3,000 classes
