This week in ESOTR, the crew chats a bit about the new 1.6 Mounted Combat patch as well as the Dawnguard beta key deployment and some of the new Skyrim themed Xbox products now available in The Tamriel Times. We use a listener submitted question for The Banered Mare: synergy skills and their use in ESO. We move on to The Crafting Table, where we cover “Build Your Own Home” by supernastypants and Lou presents “The Mythic Dawn Guard” in his lore segment in The Elder Scroll and clears up some misconceptions between them and The Dawnguard! Your emails and shoutouts are in the Town Square as well as our usual gameplay and tips/tricks littered all through our show! Enjoy!
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I ordered the headphones and a watch from Tweaked Audio. Dude, they sent me a refund of $5 on the watch and put in the notes “Fan of Off The Record”. So they are giving discounts to your fans on more than just the headphones. Sweet!!!
Just started listening recently and am enjoying your podcast. In the discussion you had about what makes TESO unique, I think there’s an important point of distinction about how the synergy attacks work and what exists in other games. As far as I’ve heard, all of the synergy opportunities take the form of an area on the screen that can be utilized if your player enters or targets it (So far, I’ve heard of oil that can be set on fire, a firestorm that can have a whirlwind of fireballs shot out of it, a healing area that allies can use to cast a heal on themselves, and something involving using traps and caltrops together). The reason this is really different than EQ2′s wheel or LOTRO’s fellowship maneuvers is that you have to make more decisions in TESO based on the state of the battlefield. If an opponent throws down oil, do you go through it or around it? What if there are two bad guys and one is a wizard? Go around? But then what if a ranged attacker is taking you down? Maybe sprint around it? Maybe spring through it? Maybe crouch behind a wall and see if the oil gets set on fire by someone else. Similarly, the computer AI has to take the same thing into consideration. Or what if you’re a warrior busy attacking a monster and your friend throws a firestorm down on the other side of the screen? Should you run over there and do your whirl attack? Is it worth burning stamina and sprinting over there? I may be reading too much into the little information that has been given out, but I think TESO’s combat will allow creative and well-coordinated groups of people to really “shape” a battlefield. That seems pretty unique in MMOs.