General:Creating ESO: Dragonstar Arena

The original article was posted here on August 28, 2014.

A new kind of challenge is coming in Update 4. Find out how we put it together.

The call of the arena has beguiled countless heroes—some simply cannot resist the thrill of a bloody struggle for survival, the deafening roar of adoring fans, and the chance to triumph over unlikely odds. Do you have the steel to emerge victorious in the Dragonstar Arena? When Update 4 launches, you’ll be able to find out what your character is really made of. This new challenge differs from other content you’ve seen in ESO so far, and we want to give you a look at what you can expect and how it came to be.

You’ll start your career in the arena deep in the mountains of Upper Craglorn, where (once you manage to locate the arena itself) you’ll be invited to bring three of your staunchest allies to take on whatever the mysterious organizers can throw at you. There are ten arenas to battle your way through, each of which will pit you against increasingly difficult waves of enemies. Every arena is in a different locale and has themed sets of adversaries and hazards to overcome, and you’ll receive new rewards at the end of each arena before you move on to the next, more difficult fight.

Our goal with the Dragonstar Arena is to bring a new type of content to ESO that can really put standard groups (four players) to the test. We want small groups to experience the difficulty in organization and execution of high-end content like Trials in a format that differs from the Veteran Dungeons we already offer. And, of course, we want everyone to have a shot at some new rewards, too! Sounds simple, but (as with any new content) we met with plenty of challenges of our own as we worked to make it interesting, fun, and worthwhile.

You can probably guess that entertaining combat is crucial to the Dragonstar Arena. When you step into the ring, you’ll be faced with five waves of escalating intensity. If you survive, you’ll receive a reward and move on to the next arena. We came to a couple conclusions as we iterated on development. First, we discovered that just “throw tons and tons of enemies into the battlefield” may have been difficult, but it wasn’t fun. The visual chaos made it too hard to execute a strategy, and just being overwhelmed wasn’t a satisfying challenge, so we reduced the number of enemies and made them much tougher and more interesting. There isn’t any “cannon fodder” in the arena; every enemy you face will be a threat. To emphasize this further, we gave the arena enemies more access to player abilities than we ever have before—you should have seen the look on Creative Director Paul Sage’s face when his Vampire character was obliterated in testing by a Silver-Bolt-throwing enemy he wasn’t prepared for!

We’d reached a place where the enemies themselves felt good. They were diverse (every arena has its own theme and set of baddies), they used interesting abilities, and none of them were trivial. But we needed something else to make the arena stand out. What we came up with really cements the distinct feel of arena combat: hazards. Not only will you need to pay attention to the enemies you’ll face, but you’ll need to be attentive to the arena itself. Poisonous clouds, lava flows, immobilizing blizzards, and much more will hinder you—and put an end to your rise to glory if you’re not careful. Every arena has its own unique hazard that fits its theme, and splitting your attention between killing enemies and reacting to these threats will put you to the test. Some hazards add their own objectives to the arena. For example, in Veteran Mode you’ll face an arena that is threatened by a blizzard. To keep warm and stave off immobilization (or worse), you’ll periodically need to stand near fires in the arena, but you’ll also have to keep them lit even in the chaos of combat. We think the enemies and hazards you’ll face will constitute a refreshing new kind of combat.

Getting the right difficulty, especially when we want to challenge you, is always a fine balancing act. Our original intent was to create a series of arenas that would ramp up in difficulty until, towards the end, only the most skilled groups would be able to prevail—and we succeeded in that regard. The final few arenas were so tough, in fact, that groups of expert testers had difficulty winning. This was great; we had definitely achieved the difficulty we were looking for. But this posed a new question: should completion of the Dragonstar Arena be reserved for only a small percentage of players? In the end, we decided that it would be a much better experience for everyone if we provided two difficulties—normal and Veteran—so we undertook the task to split the two apart.

In normal mode, you’ll be able to grab a group and make a decent dent in the arena. You won’t be able to finish all ten of the arenas without coordination and skill, and each new arena will still be more difficult than the last, but with the right group and good communication, you’ll be able to progress and earn some nice rewards. With a well-organized group, you’ll be able to see it through to the end and earn an achievement, title, and some fine loot. You receive rewards after every arena, so even if you don’t get to the very end, you’ll still walk away with something. Veteran Mode is a different beast entirely. We cranked up the difficulty to sadistic levels, and you’ll need strategy, skill, and tight execution to complete it. We adopted the Soul Reservoir feature from Trials, so your group will have limited resurrections throughout the course of the ten arenas, and (also like Trials) Veteran Dragonstar Arena will feature leaderboards. Some particularly excellent loot will be available, too—we’re introducing a new set of weapons that provide bonuses to specific abilities for those who can manage to get to the end.

We don’t put anything into ESO without the proper flavor, and Dragonstar Arena does not disappoint. In an arena, you expect the roars of the crowd, and you’ll have them. They’ll follow your triumphs and failures, shouting encouragement as you face your opponents. There’s even a sneering announcer who will taunt your team at every turn, reveling in your defeats as he pits you against some of the deadliest situations you’ll ever face. And, of course, there’s more to the story of the arena than you’ll see on the surface. Get far enough, and who knows what you’ll discover? Well, we do—but we’re not about to spoil it.

We can’t wait for you to try the Dragonstar Arena, and we want to know what you think. Make sure to post about your experiences. As we go forward, we want to keep refining our approach, and your feedback will help us make choices about what you’ll see in ESO’s future. And don’t forget that you can help us test the Dragonstar Arena right now on the PTS. We’d love to hear your thoughts before the official launch of Update 4.

(A video is embedded at the bottom of the article. The video can be found here.)