The Elder Scrolls Online “Ask Us Anything”: Variety Pack 11

The latest The Elder Scrolls Online “Ask Us Anything” Q&A covers a broad range of subjects, from guilds to kill-stealing to lockpicking. Here’s a couple of snippets to give you a concrete idea:

I’ve played many multi-player games, and 99% of them are eventually plagued with the same enjoyment-killing problem. What is this problem? Kill-stealing. You know, jerks who like to go into areas where people are farming or trying to level and kill-steal them relentlessly. Does ESO have a plan to implement something to prevent this? Emily

Fighting the enemies of your alliance NPCs as well as PCs should be something every aspiring hero jumps at the opportunity to do. We don’t intend to limit helpful behavior in Tamriel by lowering the experience or loot you can take away from a hard-fought victory. If you help someone kill an enemy he is already engaged with, all you can do is take away some of the pride he might have felt by winning the fight on his own. He’ll still receive the full amount of experience and loot. If you did enough damage (or provided enough support), you might get some experience and loot of your own, too. And if the two of you decide to group together, both of you will get even more.

…

When you are picking a lock, will another player be able to kill you while you’re trying to open it? Brenden Warren

Tamriel is a dangerous place. If you let your guard down while you focus on lockpicking, you might get attacked. Enemy NPCs might do this anywhere in the world, and hostile players will love the opportunity to surprise you in Cyrodiil. But then again, you never know what loot might be in that chest . maybe it’s worth bringing a friend to watch your back?

…

How does the lockpicking in ESO work, exactly? Please elaborate. – Toni Ćelić

When trying to pick locks in ESO, you’ll see a set of tumblers. Using lockpicks that you carry in your backpack, you’ll need to force them down into the correct position. If you pay close attention, the game will give you visual and audio hints as to where the right position for each tumbler is. But you’ll also have to fight against the clock and open the lock within a given time. And then there’s the hostile environment you might be in (see above). For a quick glimpse at lockpicking watch the “Exploration and Gathering” video at 1:15 min.