The MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online introduces a new feature with the Greymoor expansion that is designed to keep you engaged in the long term. The antiquity system presents you with puzzles you must solve, as well as exclusive new rewards.
What is this feature? The antiquity system is about exploring the world and unlocking exclusive rewards. It appears with the Greymoor expansion and is the first major feature since the housing system from 2017 that does not focus on fighting or a new class.
In the new system, you will face two challenges in the form of mini-games:
- First, you must find an excavation site
- Then, you need to dig up an artifact at that site
Once you successfully accomplish both, you will gain new progress and receive the found item as a reward. There should be loot for every player type in ESO. The more complicated the puzzles get, the more useful the rewards will be.
The excavation sites are scattered throughout Tamriel, motivating you to explore old areas again.
You need to solve puzzles, but never completely fail
How does the system work exactly? To start your search for antiquities, you first need to find “leads.” Some of these can be found in your quest journal after joining the respective guild, while others you must discover in the open world.
These are color-coded by rarity and thus difficulty, indicating which ones are currently near you.
Clicking on a lead starts the first mini-game, which is meant to narrow down where the excavation site is located.
How does the first game work? You must try to reach as many target fields (marked by a glowing bubble in the image) of the game board as possible within a limited number of moves.
To do this, you click on any symbol, and, like in Peggle or similar mini-games, all adjacent, exactly matching symbols are destroyed. You aim to create a long chain of destruction.
For each field reached, the number of possible locations for an excavation site decreases. If you only reach one target because the game board is too complicated, several possible excavation sites will appear on your map. You can then visit them.
Alternatively, you can restart the board and receive the exact same pattern to experiment with over and over.
How does the excavation site work? Once you’ve solved the first puzzle and reached the excavation site, mini-game number 2 begins.
Using the emerald, you click on various squares, which then indicate by their color how far you are from the treasure. You can then dig it up with the spade and completely uncover it with the small shovel.
Each tool has a limited use, so you shouldn’t guess blindly.
In addition to the antiquity, many excavation sites also contain other treasures that can be found. If you don’t find a treasure, you can simply replay the excavation site.
Will it remain this easy forever? In an interview, Rich Lambert revealed to MeinMMO that they are currently working on expansions to make the treasure search more interesting.
Negative effects such as bombs in Minesweeper could make the search more exciting and risky. The developers want to create a learning curve. It’s very likely that later and special rewards will be placed behind “traps.”
Rewards for Every Player Type
What rewards does the antiquity system bring? Through the new feature in Greymoor, rewards can be found for every player type. These include:
- The new Mythic Gear for every player
- Costumes and embellishments for roleplayers
- Magical siege weapons for PvP players
- New crafting styles and enchantments for crafters
- New furniture for housing fans
- Lore information for fans of the story of “The Elder Scrolls”
A highlight is also the Dwemer Steel Wolf, a new mount that you can obtain through the new feature.
With this major update, ESO aims to keep existing players engaged for a longer time. There are currently particularly many of them, as the servers are bursting at the seams, the developers stated. For the current influx, the capacity of the EU servers has even been increased.
