The Elder Scrolls Online Update 40 starts rolling out at the end of the month. After previewing bigger content like the Endless Archive dungeon and rewards, the team is taking us behind the scenes of two of the more practical additions: The Group Finder and Grand Master Crafting.
Having an easy way to find a group has been a much-needed tool in MMORPGs for a long time now, and with other games adding or tweaking their own methods. Lead UI Designer Bobby Weir says that they wanted to offer a way to bridge the gap between those with reliable guilds of friend groups when it came to cooking. So, The Elder Scrolls Online drew some inspiration from their guild finder and went ahead on something even more practical.
The major activities that are generally done in a group, like dungeons and trials, got priority in testing, but they broadened the system to include other needs. This option will now exist for other content like Cyrodiil, and Imperial City, which Weir says are “good examples of activities where there's safety in numbers, as are the game’s world bosses and world events”. This is why the team prioritized that kind of common content in opening up this system, but with a tool designed to be a versatile one, they've taken into account the social benefits.
This angle fits into what they're talking about where the gameplay benefits might be fairly small but the social benefits are a lot more fun and valuable. There’s also something to be said for mentorship, which could be another way the tool gets used, particularly with the efforts to grow in new and returning players and updates to starting content.
Grand Master Crafting stations are another big feature on the way. Senior Systems Designer Cullen Lee is ays, “Grand Master Crafting Stations build on our prior Attunable Crafting Stations and help to solve a fundamental problem with the way they expand over time”. The new system Is both a workaround and a consolidation of those features to make storage easier and to lower the number of furnishings you need to use in your home should you want to be a dedicated crafter.
"Players can feed their Attunable Crafting Stations to Grand Master Crafting Stations, giving them access to the function of any consumed station” as long as you unlock the Unsurpassed Crafter achievement first. The team is calling the way the new system works - ” the top end of crafting mastery.” By continuing to add sets, your station will grow physically and visually more complex.
Head to The Elder Scrolls Online for the full preview.
