On January 27, the new chapter and contents for 2022 were announced for the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online. However, fans do not seem enthusiastic. The reasons for this are numerous. MeinMMO shows you the main points.
What will ESO offer in 2022? Next year, as usual, a new trial (for 12 players) and a total of 4 new dungeons will be added with the DLC. The new chapter High Isle will be released in the summer and particularly highlights the Breton people.
This comes with the chapter High Isle:
- new area in the Systres Archipelago with High Isle and Amenos
- volcano vents as world events (similar to dolmens, geysers, or storm events)
- approx. 30 hours of new story
- new collectible card game “Tales of Glory”
- new trial “Dread Sail Reef”
- 2 new companions (NPC allies that assist you in combat)
How is the expansion received? In the official feedback thread for the announcement of the 2022 content, there is a very negative trend in player feedback this time. This is shown by the survey from the forum:
The post has received 687 votes so far (as of January 29, 2022, 1:50 PM). More than half of the players want something different than what was announced for the new chapter. About a quarter of players have mixed feelings about the new chapter. Only one-fifth of players are looking forward to the new chapter. A Twitch streamer even shaved his head in disbelief over the big MMORPG announcement from ESO.
Of course, there is again a difference of opinion between long-time or experienced players and new players. Therefore, we strive to reflect all parts of the community by mentioning the given reasons. It is often problematic that some changes elicit extremely different feedback, depending on which part of the community you ask.
Nevertheless, a strong tendency can be recognized in the feedback. It is comparably quiet after the announcement stream. After some announcements, there was anxious speculation, and hardly any other topic was discussed when people met in the evening on Discord or Teamspeak. Here are the main reasons for the disappointment.
1. The Bretons have no nostalgia bonus
How was it before? Especially with the chapter Greymoor featuring Skyrim and the chapter Morrowind, the nostalgia of players was clearly noticeable if they had played The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and TES3: Morrowind.
The last chapter Blackwood also gained a huge bonus from referencing Oblivion and captured the atmosphere of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Summerset simply showed us entirely new landscapes that enchanted us.
Elsweyr also showed us new landscapes and brought dragons into the MMORPG, which had already caused excitement in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. The Summerset Isles at least compensated for the lack of nostalgia with new landscapes and content.
What is missing in the upcoming AddOn: The new expansion cannot score with returning areas from previous games. Players must therefore engage with a completely new region.
But variety is likely to be in short supply here. High Isle is expected to offer no landscape that significantly differs from previous regions. From the announcement stream, we already know where the story is supposed to go.
And it sounds far from promising. Fans are now concerned that the expansion, on first impression, contains neither nostalgic elements nor enough new content to compensate.
It seems nobody is particularly excited about Bretons:
2. High Isle brings no new class
What are the classes in ESO and which ones are there? When creating a character, you choose the race and the class. Each class has 3 unique skill lines. At launch, there were the Nightblade, Templar, Dragonknight, and Sorcerer.
In the following years, these were expanded by the Warden and the Necromancer. Each class has certain passive bonuses for group play. However, there will unfortunately be no new class with the new expansion. This is greatly displeasing to players.
Why is this so disappointing: Many players wished for a new class after 3 years and are disappointed that nothing has happened in this regard since Elsweyr. Even with the last chapter Blackwood, some players were a bit disappointed. Back then, there was also no new class.
Nevertheless, the companions from that expansion at least brought real new content and were completely unknown to players at that time.
Many fans likely assumed that there would be another class at the latest in the next chapter.
All about the classes can be found here on MeinMMO: All classes of ESO ranked – From unpopular to popular
3. No new skill line is coming
What players are missing: Many had wished for a new weapon skill line or just any new skill line, as experienced in the Summerset or Greymoor chapters. These are also missing in the new chapter, as far as we know so far.
What are skill lines? Skill lines consist of active and passive skills. The level of a skill line determines which skills can be unlocked.
The maximum level of a skill line is 50, at which point you have reached the max level of that skill line. You level up whenever you gain experience points using equipped skills from that skill line.
4. A minigame for full price?
What does this mean? Comparing the content of High Isle with previous chapters makes it clear that there is simply less content. It has already been announced that the technical conditions do not allow for more.
However, many players feel it is unjustified to ask for full price for this. User ZahardTLC writes on reddit: “Adding a card game is a good thing for the overall game; side content is always welcome… If it is introduced as side content; not as a selling point for an entire expansion.”
Is it really less content? Let’s take a look at what the chapters of recent years and the new chapter have to offer.
Morrowind
- new trial for 12 players
- new area
- new story
- new class: Warden
- new skill lines: Warden
- new PvP mode: Battlegrounds
Summerset
- new trial for 12 players
- new area
- new story
- new crafting: Jewelry Crafting
- new skill line: Psijic Order
- Geysers as world events
Elsweyr
- new trial for 12 players
- new area
- new story
- new class: Necromancer
- new skill lines: Necromancer
- dragons as world events
Greymoor
- new trial for 12 players
- new area
- new story
- new feature: the antiquities system
- new items: Mythic Items
- altered skill line: Vampirism
- new skill lines: Siphoning
- new skill lines: Excavation
- graphics overhaul with new textures
- storm events as world events
Blackwood
- new trial for 12 players
- new area
- new story
- new feature: companions
- Oblivion portals as world events
High Isle (new chapter)
- new trial for 12 players
- new area
- new story
- new feature: card game
- the existing companion system will be expanded with two more companions
- volcano vents as world events
In comparison with previous chapters, it becomes apparent that High Isle seems a bit leaner. Whether that is the case remains to be seen.
5. Hybridization goes too far, could ruin Elder Scrolls feeling
On January 28, the planned combat changes were published in the ESO forum. Opinions are divided. But it is clear that it will simplify the combat system. This might be quite relaxing for newcomers to the MMORPG at first, but could diminish the appeal of the combat system for long-time or experienced players.
The hybridization was initiated especially with the motto “Play the way you want.” For more than a year, steps in this direction have been taken gradually. However, in practice, it leads to precisely the opposite. Instead of creating more diversity, it leads to a meta where every player plays exactly the same.
However, many players are not big fans, as some comments suggest. User VarisVaris writes, for example, in the ESO Forum: “This is the worst thing that could have happened to the combat system of ESO.“
What is hybridization anyway? Hybridization refers to the offensive attributes Stamina and Magicka.
To date, the following changes have already been made to item sets:
- Sets that grant Magicka OR Weapon Power now grant both.
- Sets that grant Physical Penetration OR Magic Penetration now grant both.
- Sets that grant Critical Magicka OR Weapon Hits now grant both.
Stamina DDs have been nearly extinct in the endgame for quite some time. If all damage effects now scale with the highest offensive resource, it could make the choice even more monotonous. Although the hybridization of set bonuses has changed the meta, it has not led to more diversity.
How far should this go? The resources Health, Magicka, and Stamina are long familiar to Elder Scrolls fans. If these values one day have no value anymore, a part of the Elder Scrolls feeling could be lost.
6. Account-wide achievements are very controversial
What does that mean? In principle, it means that your titles and achievements will affect all your characters on your account from now on.
What is the problem here? Account-wide achievements sound good at first. However, this mainly affects new players or players who have only played one or a few characters for years. Therefore, there are some advocates for this. On reddit, user Capowsky writes: “My god, I can finally start playing my alts and not feel a few hundred hours behind. Thank you!”
However, there are also opposing views. Generally, this is a measure that would have been great for all types of players in the first years after the release. After 8 years, some long-time players have put a lot of time and effort into duplicate or multiple achievements.
This is demonstrated by the comment from KinjiroSSD: “I disagree. This nullifies the meaning of rewards. The rewards, such as dyes, are already account-wide, so their usefulness was a proof that the character accomplished something, like a PvP title or Trifecta.” (via reddit)
Since, according to the announcements, titles will also be usable across characters, it will no longer be recognizable whether a particular character has truly completed the associated achievement. On many Discord servers, experienced players are already mocking that they will likely be roaming around with their new level 5 character and their Godslayer title.
Opinions on this are extremely divided. Nevertheless, it seems to be significantly negatively affecting a certain part of the community. Particularly long-time players who have invested a lot of time and effort into achievements across multiple characters may feel very frustrated by the change.
Therefore, it is now crucial how this initiative is implemented. If it only affects achievement points, it could still be a positive feature for long-time players with multiple achievements. However, if it truly impacts every achievement, it could be extremely frustrating for some players.
Additionally, it would no longer be possible to trace which role a particular achievement was completed with. This is especially important for raid groups. Just because someone is a strong DD does not mean they are also a reliable tank or diligent healer.
When will High Isle be released? The release of the new expansion is planned for June 6 on PC/Mac and June 21 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
So there are still a few months to go until the expansion. Whether the players’ fears will be realized remains to be seen.
What do you think of the planned content for 2022 and the changes? Do you find them good or are you rather disappointed? Let us know in the comments.
If you still haven’t made up your mind about the new content, check out our overview of the High Isle expansion.
