Fantasy MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) definitively breaks away from typical MMORPG conventions since the One Tamriel update. While World of Warcraft and others rely on a clearly defined endgame, a different concept prevails in Tamriel.
“The Elder Scrolls Online is not a game like any other!” With these words, Matt Firor, the chief developer of ESO, describes his game. And he is right, because since its launch in 2014, The Elder Scrolls Online has indeed evolved from an ordinary online role-playing game to a true original in the MMORPG market.
The biggest difference to WoW, SWTOR and the like? There is no endgame in ESO in the usual sense. In the Morrowind expansion, it continues!
Everything was worse in the past!
However, that was not always the case. The Elder Scrolls Online bizarrely had little to do with a ‘real’ Elder Scrolls game at its launch in 2014. In the legendary single-player templates Oblivion or Skyrim, you could run just about anywhere from the very beginning. Thanks to scaling challenges, you would never encounter enemies that were inherently too strong for your level. It was indeed a tough challenge to defeat them, but it was always somehow possible.
This made the entire game world freely accessible and invited exploration at will. This freedom to go anywhere and discover new things has always been the great appeal of the Elder Scrolls games.
But then, The Elder Scrolls Online was anything but free. From the start of the game, players were forced into one of three alliances and were restricted to their territories. You had to grind through these in order.
Anyone wanting to break free from this rigid corset was punished for their audacity, as the creatures in the later areas were far too strong and would instantly rip apart low-level heroes. When you finally reached the endgame at level 50, you could grind endgame dungeons to collect veteran points and could finally grind through areas of the other factions.
Final Destination Endgame
This definition of endgame is common in many online role-playing games like World of Warcraft. You hasten through the leveling phase as quickly as possible to then finally unleash yourself at the maximum level and tackle the big raids and dungeons.
With an expansion that raises the maximum level, the treadmill starts all over again, and you try to reach the new maximum as fast as possible. Otherwise, you’re not in the endgame and can’t play the game as it is meant to be!
This is how it also used to be in ESO. Players clustered in the endgame regions such as Kargstein or the Scythe Market because that was where the best loot at the maximum level could be found. The other beautiful regions, like the Summersets Islands covered in cherry trees or the bizarre volcanic landscapes of the Morrowind mainland, were only visited by scattered stragglers. Then came One Tamriel and turned everything upside down!
Less World of Warcraft, more Skyrim
With the One Tamriel update at the end of 2016, all restrictions regarding race, alliance, and level were completely removed. Your heroes are still formally citizens of the Ebonheart Pact, the Daggerfall Covenant, or the Aldmeri Dominion, but outside of PvP, it actually doesn’t matter. You can go anywhere from the start as you, the adventurer.
As already known from Skyrim and the like, our level also no longer plays a major role. Whether we enter as a freshly escaped vagabond from Coldharbour or as a heavily armored hero with countless champion points, the challenges scale accordingly, and everyone has fun and contributes to the group.
We tried it out in our test: Colleague Leya with her level 3 healing lizard, myself as a level 20 Khajiit thief, and two friends with previous “endgame” heroes went to Kargstein and into dungeons and came back alive and full of loot!
Is there even an endgame?
The Elder Scrolls Online offers you a vast world from the very beginning, which everyone can explore at their own pace. Thanks to scaling, all enemies are appropriate challenges, and you will also always find the loot and crafting materials that are optimal for your relative level. So you don’t have to go resource farming in areas you don’t like. The same ore lies on the beautiful island of Auridon as in the desolate Kargstein.
Only in one thing is there still something like a classic endgame: Raids and dungeons in veteran mode are still very tough.
Because even if a level-3 hero is theoretically raised to the level of the raid, they still lack the special equipment and the many cool skills and perks that give an experienced hero the right edge. This also does not replace the great freedom of One Tamriel – and that’s a good thing! After all, player effort and progress should also pay off somewhere.
Therefore, in ESO, it will also continue with the recently announced Morrowind expansion – expansions are usually ALWAYS purely endgame content in online role-playing games – as before.
The new region Vvardenfell will be accessible to all buyers of the expansion from the very start. Endgame content only exists in the extremely difficult raid “Clockwork City”. If you like, you can even create a new hero, for example, the Warden, and immediately begin your adventure life in the expansion region with your own tutorial. The Elder Scrolls Online wants to consistently continue its course as “Skyrim Online”.
In conclusion, the philosophical question arises in ESO: “If everyone can do everything from the start, is ESO just one big endgame or is there actually no endgame at all?”
Jürgen says: For me, there is practically no endgame in ESO, because the lack of a race to the maximum level and the subsequent grinding through the previously locked endgame content essentially removes the entire definition of classic “endgame”. ESO is simply “game”. Only in the veteran instances does the old endgame still live on, much like a grim old dragon lurking for loot in its remote cave. But anyone just wanting to play an Elder Scrolls game online should have a lot of fun with ESO as a whole – completely without endgame and pressure to perform!
That’s my opinion. Do you see it similarly or do you have a different view? Must there always be an endgame or is the ESO concept a refreshing innovation? Or does it annoy you that in ESO, a total beginner is virtually on par with an experienced veteran? Let me know in the comments!
Interesting: The plans for ESO 2017
