The Elder Scrolls Online tries to explain the new, complex Champion system, but it doesn’t become really understandable. Our author Schuhmann is at least driven to madness by it.
I admit: The new Champion system in The Elder Scrolls Online overwhelms me. It is supposed to come to the test server with update 6 sometime this month and then maybe go live in February, but: I have been reading about it for half a year. It somehow feels to me like a Rubik’s cube that I had as a child. I swear: Every time I wasn’t looking, it turned and changed on its own! I was just a tiny bit away from the ultimate solution that would have impressed everyone. All, I say.
The Champion system in TESO constantly presents me with new puzzles. Every additional piece of information I receive about the system confuses me!
Fair enough, one has to say: Zenimax means well. With angelic patience, they keep explaining the various ideas they want to introduce. A big article has just been published on the website two days ago, which is supposed to clarify how the new Champion system exactly works. Maybe that’s the mistake! They mean it too well.
“Why haven’t we read anything about it on gaming sites yet?” some will now ask.
Because it is much more important that TESO has disappeared from two more Australian stores, of course. I can hear your excited gasps for air from here. Yes, yes, Free2Play is virtually certain! But others, more serious sites should deal with that; we are focusing on something else.
Back to the Champion system: In rough outlines, I understand it.
So far, so good
They want to give players a new opportunity to develop their character after level 50. Because the system until then was (How can I say that nicely?) … pretty stupid. Well, to be honest … you will still carry the old system further in TESO because … um … well, that’s a different topic
In every hour, players should be able to earn approximately “one” Champion point, which they then invest in a “skill” and then they will gradually become stronger. There are very, very many points (3600 is said) to earn, and players can spend a long time on this. So far, so good. That information would be enough for me. And if you care about your mental health, you would stop reading here.
For advanced players, there’s the following information: There will be a kind of “rested bonus”, like in WoW. If I don’t log in for a long time, I can earn the next point faster. Also okay. Then there was already a huge fuss about how many points seasoned players would start with in the new Champion system (they must be more than the poor fresh veterans).
I would be happy and satisfied if I only knew that about the new system.
By Molag Bal, I believe I understand it!
But: The information players receive is significantly more extensive: There are 3 constellations of guardians: Warrior, Rogue, Mage. Let’s refer to that as “superior constellation.”
These 3 superior constellations have 3 smaller constellations beneath them. As soon as you earn a Champion point, it goes into one of the 3 superior constellations and turns in a row; you cannot influence it.
You can then distribute the point itself within the 3 subordinate constellations.
Each “point” in the superior constellations provides, depending on the theme of the constellation, values for mages (Magicka+more), warriors (Health+more), rogues (Stamina+more).
And now it gets nasty: In each of the constellations, there are also stars (how many, they cruelly do not say, I believe from the screens, there are 8). And if you invest points in these stars, you receive a very specific passive bonus.
If you invest 10, 30, 75, and 120 points in the collected stars of one of the “subordinate” constellations, you receive a “passive bonus” for that “subordinate constellation.”
Too little to understand, too much to stay sane
But how one arrives at the total of 3600 Champion points that are circulating … is a total mystery to me, because Zenimax, despite revealing far too much, does not tell me how many points I can invest in a star and how many stars there are in the subordinate constellations? If there are 8 stars, that would be 50 points per star, or what?
So do I need 9*120= 1080 points (6 ½ weeks of non-stop gaming) to unlock all “powerful” bonuses. And the 2520 points (3 ½ months of 24/7 gaming) after that don’t unlock any new bonuses anymore?
Maybe I’m just being silly. Maybe you need algebra to understand this, and when that was in school, I had … a strain!
How much transparency is too much transparency?
These Zenimax guys drive me insane! Some things you just have to play before you can understand them. Is this transparency and openness still manageable? No, I say! But I guess I’m alone in this.
Would you like more good news? The new patch notes for TESO already have over 66 pages, and the two-hour live stream presenting the latest from the world of The Elder Scrolls Online starts tonight.
Oh, I wish every MMO made it so easy to follow!
