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Elder Scrolls Online devs rework its endgame, “want it to be more exciting to get to level 50”

The Elder Scrolls Online: destined for ever fancier gear.

The Zenimax team are feeling a little downtrodden. Our Nick’s Elder Scrolls Online review probably didn’t help. But they’re living with it.

“I know sometimes there is as much criticism as there is praise out there in internet-land for the game,” they write. “But that shows a passionate fan base that cares about the game, which is very important to acknowledge.”

Acknowledge, and address. Zenimax plan to start with the game’s Veteran system – and provide more compelling things to do in Tamriel past level 50.

The spectre of Diablo III looms large – it looks like itemisation is going to be one of ESO’s long term bugbears post-release. At the moment, Zenimax are working on endgame gear that’ll be “harder to acquire but more worthwhile”.

As with any MMO, it’s as much a matter of social status as pragmatism – the new gear is designed to “make others envious”.

“To do this, we’ll adjust soft caps so that they don’t kick in quite as quickly,” say Zenimax. “We have to be very careful about how much we adjust numbers, because the greater the variance, the more people can hurt their intended builds.”

Elsewhere, Zenimax are in the very early stages of giving players more points to play when hitting a new veteran rank. As it stands, they’re missing out on the meaningful customisation of pre-level 50 character development.

There’ll be more dungeons too, of course, and a provision to allow existing dungeons to level to the group leader.

It’ll take more than an endgame to fix ESO, though. The rest of the new development blog covers balance issues with the Dragonknight and Nightblade, ultimate spamming in PvP, accidentally split groups, and delves not yet “worth exploring”. What’s your main worry with the game that would be Elder Scrolls?