I've made many many threads about this topic, but I'm not gonna give up that easy till I have a proper answer.
Real story, I told my friends to buy ESO so we can have an mmo to play with each others (which they all wanted to try out anyway), but then they quickly left the game, just because of how unpolished the combat felt.
Let's be honest, ESO's combat animation and sound design are... fine, just "fine". I can't say that it's bad while comparing it to many other tittles (WOW, FF14, ...), but at the same time, for an action rpg bearing the name "Elder Scrolls", they aren't satisfying at all.
If you're a veteran players, this might not bother you at all, since you've already been hooked by the game, or have grown custom to these wonky animation. But to people who's new to the game, or want an actual action-packed experience, it's just jarring how weightless and sometimes out right disappointing how combat is presented.
Seriously, you know that you're doing something wrong when there's an article on mmorpg.com criticizes your core gameplay (aka combat)
http://www.mmorpg.com/mobile/features.cfm?read=11358&game=821&ismb=1
And if you think that combat is actually not that important, then there's a whole article talking about how Black Desert Online, a very grinding-focused game with many issues but is still praised to the sky just for its combat.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-03-17-black-desert-onlines-combat-feels-like-a-revolution-for-mmos
And if you still think that ESO's combat isn't that bad, then please look at ESO Steam reviews. There're tons of review about how players quit the game, just because of its wonky, floaty and "mediocre" combat (we all know that "mediocre" part ain't true). Just get to Steam, go to Elder Scrolls Online, filter the negative reviews, and you'll find a tons of complaints about combat (also some other whiny subject).
Before we go in depth to the ugly side of thing, let me get 1 thing straight: There are, of course, some very well made animation and sound design for weapons and skills. My favorite skill of all has got to be "Upper cut" from 2H weapons skill line. It feels super powerful and impactful. Of course thing could be a little better, for example, adding a trail of smoke and rocks being flipped into the air.
Ok, on to the ugly part:
1. Most duel wield and 1H&shield skills look straight up terrible. The skill "puncture" should be named "gently porking". I mean look at this
![image]()
I know that it's a little bit better now, but that's the point, that "little bit better" is almost non present. It feels like the weapons have no weight, and so player just use as minimum effort as he/she can to "gently pork" the victim. I mean look at this
![bloodborne_backstab.0.gif]()
Now that's how you do it right. It feels so satisfying just by looking at it (the gore isn't really needed, but it sure added the sense of power).
2. The base animation design for some skill is just boring and sometimes lazy. I can totally see how "puncture" is a good premise for a skill (you just need to execute it right), but "Low slash"? More like "gently hit someone's knee" (Skyrim's meme not intended). And "Force Shock"? It basically is a beam. That's it, a beam, a light beam, totally boring.
3. Most of the time, the actions don't even connect from the caster to the victim, or to put it in another way, the actions do no impact. You "Puncture" someone, but that person doesn't bleed. You "Force Shock" someone, but he/she looks totally fine, no wounds, no special effect, no splash, no nothing.
4. There're many times when you deal damage to enemies just by hitting the air, literally. I know this might be the result of some hitbox mistakes, but please fix it ZOS, it looks really hilarious.
5. There are some ultimates that feel straight up disappointing to use, such as Radial Sweep and Death Stroke. I'll never forget the reaction of my friend on his first time using Radial Sweep, and he was like "That's it? Are you [snip] kidding me?". These skills suffer the same problems mentioned above: they don't impact the victim, they look pretty lame and cheap. I mean look at Nova, now that's an ultimate (though I think it can have a better entrance animation). Please ZOS, make the ultimate skills feel like actual ultimate, not "slashing someone with 2 blades".
6. Same problems present right on the basic weapons, especially 1H weapons. They all have longer attack range than their actual look, so most of the time you'll just kill enemies by slashing the air. The weapons itself has no sense of weight, the swing feels super weak, and so the impact looks so bland (I do notice some blood, that's good but not enough). Also, the sound design makes me feel like I'm swinging a butter knife, not a fearsome weapon.
Some of you guys after reading this will probably think: "Wait, we'll do animation cancel anyway, so why the hell should ZOS waste time on this?". Well here's the thing: It's not like you can cancel 100% of the animation, most of the time you can only cancel the light and heavy attack animation, you can actually cancel the whole skill animation with bashing or weapon swap, but hey, you don't even do it 100% of the time, not even 80%. Also, an animation overhaul is an unavoidable process. ESO is already 3 years old, if this idea would ever go live, it would be at least 2018, meaning ESO will turn 4 years old. Do you really want to play a 4 years old quality game? When newer entries of the genre are coming out with strong first combat impression (Black desert online, Revelation Online, ....).
And the most important thing: We're playing an Elder Scrolls game, a triple A game, we paid 60$ (most of us) or even more for this game, so why do we have to put up with such an outdated system? Just patting yourself on the shoulder and say "It's alright, this is fine, the game is fine, we just need more content, and please balance the game (like that would ever happen)". Instead, demand more, want more, want more better things, want much more better things. Combat is 1 of the core gameplay mechanic of ESO and it should be treated with more love than now.
And to you ZOS,
@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_RichLambert please don't hold back ESO from its full potential just because of 1 unpolished aspect
. Yes, way way too much. But in crate #86 or #87 I received the Shadow Rider Senche. You have no idea how happy I was! However, when I went to check out the beauty it was not listed under the mounts, but the Storm Steed was...needless to say I was shocked. Not Saying that mount was and is cool, but it isn’t what I opened and isn’t really my style of mount.
I a;lso want to use skills that I haven't really used before -so thta means Unstoppable, Forward Momentum, Veil of Blades - these have been a lot of fun to use so far.
