Elder Scrolls | Superior Realities

Having not played the original Morrowind or even ESO’s Dark Elf zones from the base game, the first expansion for Elder Scrolls Online largely passed me by, but given the standalone nature of ESO expansions (or “chapters,” as they somewhat obnoxiously insist on calling them), there was nothing stopping me from jumping straight to the next.

When Summerset was announced as the setting of the next one, I was excited. As an Aldmeri loyalist, I’ve wanted to visit Ayrenn’s homeland pretty much since I started playing. The inclusion of Razum-dar, objectively the best character in the game, only sweetened the deal.

So I pre-ordered. I even sprang for the deluxe edition, which is a decision I find retrospectively baffling.

In case it isn’t clear by now, I’m feeling more than a bit of buyer’s remorse.

Taking in the Summersights:

First, the good news.

Summerset is ridiculously, stupidly, unbelievably pretty. I’ve never been the biggest fan of ESO’s visuals — finding both the art style and the graphical fidelity underwhelming — but hot damn this expansion looks good. The white sand beaches, the pale blue of the ocean, the brilliant colours of the flowers and the greenery, the stately architecture… it’s all just breathtaking.

And that’s without getting to the island of Artaeum, which is a delightfully whimsical departure from ESO’s usual low fantasy style.

It’s not just the environments, either. The new armour models are also incredible, and even the new monsters look beautiful in a horrible kind of way. There is no part of Summerset that isn’t a total feast for the eyes.

The music’s pretty good, too, and hey, it’s always good to see Raz again.

But once you move past the superficialities, Summerset has thus far proven a pretty underwhelming experience.

What a Bummerset:

Going in, I was excited about the possibilities for interesting stories in this area of the world. Might we finally explore the Maormer in detail? Perhaps the Sload would take centre stage as a threat unlike anything seen in ESO before? Or maybe we could get some spy games with Raz and Ayrenn?

Then it turned out to be “Daedric cultists are trying to blow up for the world for reasons.”

You know. The exact plot of 95% of ESO to date. Again.

What a waste.

Now, I’m only about halfway through Summerset right now, so maybe there’s some epic twist I haven’t gotten to yet, but right now it feels like I’m just retreading a story I’ve already seen several times before, and didn’t much enjoy the first time around.

It’s not just the story, either. I thought by now ESO would be innovating or improving its mechanics in some way, but aside from the improved visuals, there’s absolutely nothing to distinguish Summerset from any of the zones that launched with the game. The quests are based on the exact same mechanics. The delves play the same. Even the much-vaunted new Abyssal Geysers are just a reskin of the old Dolmens. Don’t get me wrong; I liked Dolmens, and I like Geysers, but again, it’s nothing new.

In fact, if anything, quest design seems to have gone downhill since launch. I don’t remember ever having to do this much back-tracking or repetition in the base game.

I was also hoping by now they might have some more interesting rewards. From the perspective of an endgame player, it’s hard to get excited about quest rewards when a forty-five minute quest gets you only enough gold for one day’s mount training, a pittance of XP, and a single piece of gear that’s little more than vendor trash.

Finally — and I can’t believe I’m saying this — this expansion might be too Elfy. I’ve come to the conclusion the High Elves are by far the least interesting Elves in ESO, but they’re getting 100% of the spotlight in Summerset. That makes sense lore-wise, but it gets old when every single NPC is either a haughty noble or a scholar with their head in the clouds.

I’m almost starting to sympathize with Syp’s point of view here.

I will probably finish Summerset at some point, but right now I’m struggling hard to find the motivation to keep logging in. I look back on the wit and personality of Thieves Guild and wonder how this is even the same game.

It does also have me pondering my future with ESO as a whole. I’ve tended to view it as my new “main” MMO following TSW’s demise, but my actions have not even come close to backing up that intention.

I feel like I should love ESO. On paper, it’s pretty much everything I ever wanted from an MMO. Open build system, level-scaling, strong commitment to story, highly soloable, action combat… But somehow it still struggles to hold my interest.

I think it’s some combination of a story that’s usually interesting but rarely exciting, an incredible sameness of content design, and a very stingy approach to in-game rewards.

It’s such a good game, but yet it’s so hard to get excited about.

Back in February, I injured my hand, and I had to take a bit of time off from gaming. I’m better now, but I’ve fallen out of the habit a little, and I’ve also got a lot on my plate lately in terms of Real Life stuff, so that also has led to me gaming less.

However, I remain a sucker for pretty outfits, so the addition of the outfit system to Elder Scrolls Online has me poking around it again.

Styling and/or profiling:

The addition of an outfit system to ESO is very long overdue, but the good news is it’s a pretty good system. It’s based on crafting motifs, and it’s account-wide, so even your low level alts can get in on the fun.

There’s pretty much no limitations on it, either. You can use light, medium, or heavy armour appearances in your outfit regardless of what you’ve got equipped, and there aren’t any level restrictions on appearances.

Also, weapon dyes! My Barbaric greatsword looks so much better bone white.

I have heard a lot of complaints about the gold cost of creating an outfit, and it is definitely on the higher end, but once your outfit is set-up, it’s permanent. You don’t need to pay again every time you get new gear like you do in WoW. Given that, I don’t think the gold costs are a crippling flaw.

Slightly more problematic is the high cost in real money of additional outfit slots given that they are character-specific and not account-wide, but additional slots are very much a nice to have and not a need to have (even for as rabid a virtual fashionista as I), so even that’s not the end of the world.

My main has gone back to more or less the outfit she had while leveling, with only slight modifications. It’s mostly Argonian pieces, all of which are medium aside from the legs. It gives her a very wild and savage look that fits her Bosmer roots excellently. And I love how well it shows off her tattoos.

Meanwhile, my templar alt has gone full Blood Knight, if it is the wrong universe for that. It’s all red, gold, and black. Mostly she’s using Ra Gada and Imperial pieces, though the Abah’s Watch shield is also a core piece of the look.

I’m very happy with these outfits. Turns out your characters actually can look pretty good in ESO when you’re not forced to use whatever gear happens to drop.

Altoholism once more:

Of course, no point designing the perfect outfit if you don’t actually play the game. I’ve been poking around on my main a little, but the majority of my attention has actually gone to playing my templar.

So far it’s been fun. Even at this low level, she has a pretty solid and enjoyable build/rotation (being overpowered from all those champion points probably helps), and the Dark Elf zones are interesting. Unlike the rest of ESO so far, it’s a pretty unique environment and not quite like anything I’ve seen before. Morrowind definitely has its own unique character.

I also mustered my courage and finally completed a dungeon for the first time. I was tanking, too, which provided me with a quick queue, but also an extra layer of pressure for my first dungeon run in the game.

The DPS were of course channeling their inner Leeroy, but aside from that, it went pretty well. We only had one death, and I don’t think that was my fault. No one complained about my tanking.

Tanking in ESO is an interesting experience. There are single-target taunts, but no other threat modifiers, so it’s actually expected that you won’t be able to keep aggro on everything all the time. Aside from the actual bosses, dungeon mobs don’t seem much stronger than those in the open world, so they’re not going to instantly pound the healers or DPS into the dirt.

It’s a good system. It adds a little chaos to combat, but not too much.

As for the dungeon itself (Banished Cells), it matches the rest of ESO by being competent if unremarkable. The environment is a little bland. The rest of my group was in too much of a rush for me to properly appreciate the story, but there didn’t seem to be much to it anyway.

On the upside, it was very well-paced. Not too many bosses nor too much trash, and the whole thing only took about half an hour.

I’m not sure I’m going to make dungeons my new focus in ESO or anything, but it’s nice to have the option. At least I get fast queues.

Superior Realities

Tag Archives: Elder Scrolls

ESO: Summerset Is Pretty, But Hollow

ESO: Dungeons and Outfits

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