This week’s Ask Us Anything installment with the developers of The Elder Scrolls Online focused on the pretty cool exploration video that was released last week. Questions regarding crafting, gathering, fishing, book collecting, lockpicking and more were answered. We even received some new information on how many tradeskills players will be able to master at a time and how new schematics are learned.

Here are two of the snippets regarding crafting:

“In The Elder Scrolls Online, you can choose from five crafting professions which allow you to make a variety of useful items, enhancements, and equipment. Each of the crafting professions are reminiscent of ones you’ve seen in previous Elder Scrolls games. They are:

• Weaponsmith – Weapons of all types
• Armorsmith – Armors of all types
• Enchantments – Staffs, Jewelry and Glyphs (enchantments)
• Alchemist – Potions
• Provisioner – Food and Drink”

“You can master up to two crafting fields. Our intention is for the specialists to trade with one another (I make you a sword, and you make me a breastplate). That makes for a healthy economy, and gives every crafter the opportunity to find their specialized niche within the market.”

For the full question and answer Ask Us Anything, make sure to check it out here.

In a brand new video released yesterday, Bethesda showed off some of the ways we’re going to be spending a lot of time, well, distracted in The Elder Scrolls Online. Distracted by shinies, beneficial crafting materials, treasure chests to lock pick, books to read, and even crates and tables in towns that may hold something potentially useful. It seems that going off the beaten path in TESO will be pretty awesome. The game’s fishing system and lock-picking system are also briefly discussed, which both seem to be fairly extensive.

Bring on the exploration! Keep reading to take a peek at the video.

TESO Junkies is looking to add a few more enthusiastic, talented writers to join our team.

All that we ask is that you’re a true fan of The Elder Scrolls Online and can show us that you know a thing or two about writing. You’re more than welcome to set your own schedule and write whenever you feel inspired.

If you have any questions or would like to apply to become a writer for Junkies Nation and TESO Junkies, please feel free to contact Jason at dreagon@rerollz.net or John at johnp@rerollz.com. Make sure to have a writing sample handy when you contact us!

We are also looking for writers for Defiance site, so if you or anyone you know is as pumped as we are for its release, please get in touch or share this article with them!

In this week’s The Elder Scrolls Online Ask Us Anything feature hosted by the developers behind the game, we received another question and answer session that was brimming full of lore goodies. There were also a couple of interesting PvP questions and answers including this one that’s concerning crowd control (CC) abilities and how important they will be as well as how they can be defended against in PvP situations:

How is crowd control going to be applied in massive PvPs (ie: how often am I going to get pulled/knocked down/staggered/rooted/knocked away)? Are there any crowd control immunities? – By Dara Ghorban

Coordinating crowd control and immunities certainly is a big part of the strategy in massive PvP battles. There are many different types of crowd control (including all the ones you mention), as well as a variety of ways to cope with them. Here are some examples, in no particular order:

• The heavy armor skill includes an ability called “Immovable” that costs stamina and makes you immune to stuns and knockbacks and staggers for 8 seconds.
• The CC breaker is a core mechanic available to all players. If you are currently affected by a crowd control ability, you can tap both mouse buttons to break out of it and become immune for 8 seconds. This costs quite a bit of stamina, however, so it’s something you want to do at the right time.
• A PvP-specific ability allows you to remove negative effects (including crowd control) from nearby allies.
• …and many more.

For the full list of questions and answers, check it out here.

In a recent video published by Bethesda and Zenimax, the Lead Loremaster and Lead Writer and finally delved into the main story line in The Elder Scrolls Online. TESO will follow the Elder Scrolls tradition of a “cosmic” threat against Tamriel. This time around, it is in the form of Molag Bal, the Harvester of Souls. This Daedric Prince is determined to merge his daedric realm (aka plane of Oblivion), Coldharbour with the world of Tamriel. We also learn that the player is a “Souless One” — one who has had their soul taken and enslaved by Molag Bal — and that it is prophesied in the Elder Scrolls that a Souless One will thwart the merging of realms.

The video has some really awesome shots of scenery, and some even more awesome shots of enslaved souls chained together moving through Coldharbour.

Click “Continue Reading” to view the full video.

ZAM published an interview yesterday with Matt Firor, Game Director of The Elder Scrolls Online. During the interview, the ZAM team asked about how beta is progressing and what advances are being made regarding certain aspects of the game’s development. While Matt Firor didn’t touch on the events of the recent beta leaks, he did seem extremely confident in the results of the beta test overall. Here are a couple of sample questions and answers from the interview:

There has been a lot of information regarding the huge amount of content for solo and small group play styles at launch. Will there be large encounters for guilds to coalesce around in an organized manner?

There are group instances that can be run with friends and guild mates as well as the PvP system, of course, which will be largely guild-driven. We’re still working on our large-scale PvE systems; expect to see some information on those soon.

The AI of even standard mobs is quite impressive; can we expect large world bosses with similar complexity?

It depends what you mean by “world bosses” – definitely we have very challenging bosses in dungeons, in some PvE leveling areas, and in the main story. You’ll have to use some strategy to defeat these enemies and their minions.

Strategy needed for main story battles? Count me in.

For the compete interview, check it out on ZAM.

This week we sit down with Mark Jacobs and discuss his Kickstarter project: Camelot Unchained. Our conversation ranges from what to expect in the game to going over his founding principles and getting to the bottom of what he wants his game to become. Camelot Unchained looks to bring old school RVR/PVP ideals to a modern game. While not shooting for a AAA game created to support millions of players; Mark Jacobs hopes to fashion a game for RVR players only. Not sacrificing design to make everyone happy, Camelot Unchained hopes to bring RVR to its niche market.

Keep reading to watch the interview.

We are pleased to announce the latest addition to the Junkies Nation Network: Final Fantasy XIV Junkies! In our long-standing tradition of launching and covering the latest and greatest MMORPGs, we bring to you what we hope will be the cornerstone of the FFXIV news and guide community! We will tirelessly dedicate ourselves to bringing you the latest in news, guides, articles and community coverage; when it comes to Final Fantasy XIV info, look no further!

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will be nothing less than a crowning jewel in the MMORPG-scape. Featuring an all-new world designed from the ground up, Square-Enix has over looked nothing in the rerelease of this flagship installment of its Final Fantasy franchise. From it’s new and robust combat system, to it’s chocobo breeding system and player housing; FFXIV:ARR will have something for everyone.

A new world filled with Moogles, magic, chocobos and Magitek armor await you and we here at FFXIV Junkies will be there every step of the way with you. Be it exploring the depths of the deepest dungeons, taking down Ifrit or just decorating your player housing, we’ll be here with all the latest news and information in this realm reborn.

So please, be sure to bookmark us and follow us on twitter!

In this week’s Ask Us Anything hosted by the developers of The Elder Scrolls Online, fans got a chance to ask a variety of PvP-oriented questions. The questions that were answered include topics such as siege weapons, group sizes, resources in Cyrodiil, leveling through PvP, and how towns and hubs will work in Cyrodiil. Here’s a tidbit regarding the ability to starve the enemy of resources during a match:

It has been mentioned multiple times that players can invade areas surrounding enemy keeps in order to starve them of resources. What kinds of resources are these, and how will they affect gameplay?

The three resources around a keep (lumber mills, farms, and mines) fuel its upgrade process. Lumber mills help make keep doors stronger and allow them to repair themselves automatically. Farms make keep guards tougher and stronger, and mines help reinforce the walls, making them harder to destroy and allowing them to repair themselves over time as well. Taking control of resources around keeps also shuts off various patrols in the vicinity, so it’s always advantageous to take resources before laying siege to the keep itself.

For the complete set of questions and answers, check out the full Ask Us Anything.

Beta leaks are of those unfortunate things that seems to happen when you bundle together a highly-anticipated game in development with a closed beta and the wonders of the Internet. The MMORPG community can be a little rabid when it comes to new information at times, especially when it comes to games that are high on their radar. Take The Elder Scrolls Online for example. Radar aplenty.

Fans of The Elder Scrolls are curious how an MMORPG set in the same universe will pan out. MMORPG fans who are just hungry for a lore-rich world, fun dungeons and raids, and an open-ended class system have also taken notice. Crafters and RPers are curious. There’s also the PvP community who hopped aboard the second the development team uttered that tasty “raid vs. raid” phrase. TESO is gaining popularity among the MMORPG community, and that’s awesome. What’s isn’t as awesome is the effect that beta leaks sometimes have on that community.