Our author Jürgen has always enjoyed The Elder Scrolls Online, but with the newly announced addon Elsweyr and the season of the dragon, his boldest dreams are coming true. Find out here which 5 features ESO will make even better soon.
That’s why ESO will soon be even better: When the new expansion Elsweyr was introduced with all its features, I, Jürgen, was ecstatic. I had long known it would go to the Khajiit. But that there would be necromancers, dragons, and a big story was surprising.
In the following paragraphs, I will therefore address the five most important new features of ESO and explain why they make the game even better for me.
The Necromancer: A controversial class, but implemented consistently
A necromancer has long been requested by many fans, but other players felt that it didn’t fit in the game. Because their magic is considered evil and corrupted. Necromancers have previously been nasty opponents and one cannot imagine such a necromancer as a hero.
This is how Zenimax solved the dilemma: If you want to play a necromancer as an anti-hero, then in a realistic setting, you would constantly face problems and have to fight against hostility and prejudices. And that is exactly the case in ESO!
Becauase according to Creative Director Rich Lambert, the justice system is triggered when you practice necromancy in front of witnesses. This means that the guards will chase you as necromancers like criminals and a bounty will be placed on you.
This is a consistent decision for more immersion and role-playing, and it was well received by fans. This way, a controversial class can be integrated well into the game, satisfying both necromancer fans and skeptics.
With Elsweyr, every race now has its homeland
So far, you could explore Tamriel in unprecedented scope in ESO. But while there were many areas in Skyrim and among the Argonians, and the Orcs, Dark Elves, and High Elves had their homelands in the game, there was little to see of the Khajiit and their province Elsweyr. Just a remote island and a border area were available.
But with Elsweyr, we finally get to the core lands of the cat folk and can explore these with all their unique flair.
So, if you have always wanted to meet the various races of Tamriel, including the Khajiit in their homeland, you have the opportunity to do so starting June 4, 2019.
Finally, an overarching storyline
One of my major criticisms of ESO was always that the individual DLCs and addons were always self-contained mini-stories. While they were all well told and a nice experience, they were over far too quickly. In 2018, there were undead dragons, then high elves, then werewolves, and finally lizards.
Comparing this to a TV series, ESO was somewhat like Star Trek: The Next Generation. Each episode was self-contained and had little to no impact on subsequent episodes.
In 2019, this is supposed to change in ESO. For the first time, a connected story will be told, which spans all 4 releases of the year and connects them. This way, developers can tell a really big story that is not over after just a few hours. And players have a reason to look forward to the next release throughout the year. A win-win situation.
Dragons are here!
Dragons are simply part of fantasy, and it has always been strange that there were none in ESO. Of course, this had lore reasons, as Skyrim fans know, dragons only play a role in the lore many centuries later with the appearance of Alduin.
Nonetheless, the developers found a reason why there are dragons in ESO through the narrative structure of the Elder Scrolls games. With the giant lizards, ESO finally has essential boss opponents that enrich gameplay as raid and world boss event opponents.
After all, dolmens and geysers from the previous game are all well and good, but an epic battle against a dragon has always been one of the royal disciplines of fantasy MMOs.
Meaningful new features
In addition to the big dragons, the necro, and the new setting, you might almost forget that ESO will soon receive some extremely cool new features. These include:
- Guild Finder: You can join up to five guilds. But searching for them is a challenge. With this feature, it will become easier in the future.
- Zone Finder: A significant feature of ESO is that you have vast zones full of content. The problem with this is that you can get hopelessly lost. With this feature, you can filter the content and target specific areas.
- New Guild Trade UI: What exactly Zenimax is planning here isn’t entirely clear yet, but it can only get better.
All these innovations will make ESO more accessible and comfortable. Ideal if you want to take a look after a long absence.
Jürgen’s Conclusion
So for me, the season of the dragon is already a full success. I love ESO, but the oddly fragmented releases always bothered me. And as a cat fan, I have always wanted to go to Elsweyr and was always annoyed that there was so little to see of this province.
All of this will soon change, and I can’t wait for the season of the dragon to begin. See you in Elsweyr!
