In the fantasy MMO The Elder Scrolls Online, a new form of PvE gameplay content is introduced to Tamriel with the Dragonstone Arena. In a behind-the-scenes post, players are explained the thought process behind it.
“Transparency” is the magic word in today’s game development. Nowadays, everyone lets their mature fans look into the pots and shows how the sausage or the content is made. Zenimax has now recognized this as a strategy as well and explains the thought processes behind the new PvE challenge “Dragonstone Arena” in a blog post to the fans.
Two difficulty levels because even the testers were groaning
With the Dragonstone Arena, the intention was to give four players the feeling of facing the same challenges as 12 players in a raid. Therefore, a challenging difficulty level was chosen. It was known from the outset that the arena would have 10 levels, which would get progressively harder. In levels 9 and 10, they had even outdone themselves, and even the best testers sent into the arena were sweating profusely and barely made it out alive with a few scrapes.
As a result, the developers reconsidered and decided to offer the arena in two difficulty levels, “Normal” and “Veteran,” so that everyone can see the last two fights as well. Additionally, this way they have no bad conscience when they confront veterans with a “sadistically” high difficulty level.
Enemies are no cannon fodder in the new The Elder Scrolls Online Arena
For the arena itself, something special was devised to give players the true “arena” feel. The challenges change from round to round; the audience reacts with cheers and applause; among the enemies, there is no cannon fodder. Instead, they now have more and more abilities drawn from the players’ arsenal. This leads to amusing results.
“You should have seen the look on Creative Director Paul Sage’s face when an enemy destroyed his vampire with a silver bolt,” the developers joked in their post to the fans.
This feeling can be experienced by players of The Elder Scrolls Online right now: The arena is open on the test server, and the developers are asking for feedback. With Update 4 expected around mid/late September on the live mega server. Zenimax has yet to comment on this, but the regular schedule allows for content every 6 weeks.
