The Elder Scrolls Online has been revamped with the latest update One Tamriel and now includes more of Skyrim than ever before. Is that enough to keep ZeniMax’s Elder Scrolls MMO attractive in 2017?
The Elder Scrolls Online grew and thrived in 2016. Alongside the long-awaited DLC packs for the Thieves Guild and the Dark Brotherhood, the update “One Tamriel” brought joy. While it didn’t introduce new regions or raids or dungeons, it removed numerous chains and barriers that previously disrupted gameplay.
Less MMO, more success?
Until the release of One Tamriel, ESO was more of a “Star Wars: The Old Republic in Tamriel” rather than a “Skyrim Online”.
The game had the typical Elder Scrolls interface and the regions and races familiar from Skyrim, Morrowind, and Oblivion. However, the gameplay never felt like a “real Elder Scrolls game”. This was due to strict level limits and the distribution of races across three factions.
With One Tamriel, these criticisms have been radically abolished. Everyone can now do everything. Nothing and no one prevents a Khajiit from the Aldmeri Dominion from exploring the vastness of Black Marsh. Previously, this was only possible in the endgame, but now you are allowed to travel anywhere immediately.
Okay, that theoretically was also possible back then (within your alliance), but you would quickly be gobbled up by the first beast in the new area if you didn’t have the right level.
The Elder Scrolls Online 2017 Review: How well does One Tamriel work as a group?
With One Tamriel, the game automatically scales your heroes and gear to the maximum level. As a result, all creatures in The Elder Scrolls Online are a suitable challenge for every hero.
No matter whether we stumble in as a level 4 newbie fresh from the tutorial or are already level 50 with lots of Champion levels under our belt: There is always something to do.
To try this out for myself, I took a level 19 Khajiit Nightblade with me. And not just anywhere, but to the then endgame region Kargstein. Previously, raid groups were appropriately challenged here, but today I can also go in alone. However, my excursion was only partially successful. While I could slay individual enemies and small groups, the many group quests were too tough.
Time for another question: How does One Tamriel work as a group with newbies and veterans? Can I team up with friends who have never played ESO?
So, I called for reinforcements, consisting of two high-level players and MyMMO colleague Leya, who had never been in ESO before. Leya created an Argonian healer – basically just hatched from the egg.
As soon as Leya was out of the Coldharbour tutorial, she teleported to our group in Kargstein and we set out to explore the group instances.
One Tamriel as a group: Beginner-friendly and still challenging
We had already seen that One Tamriel at least works in principle, but we didn’t think that Leya with her poorly equipped lizard would succeed in the dark depths of Kargstein.
Since Leya was our healer, we expected serious wipes, failures, and frustration. But none of that happened. We had surprisingly much success and even though we occasionally got wrecked, our wildly mixed group ultimately succeeded.
After defeating a disgusting tentacle beast in Kargstein, everyone received their own loot tailored to the level of the respective hero. So for me level 19, for Leya level 4, and for the big guys thick endgame gear.
It is still worth having as high a level as possible and, starting from level 50, as many Champion points as possible. This allows you to gain additional points and attributes and optimally develop your hero. Because even if a small lizard at level 4 is scaled up to the values of a level 50 dinosaur, it still only has the skill and attribute selection of a level 4 little buddy.
Therefore, one should not throw themselves into the toughest regions as a newbie despite One Tamriel. “Trials” (raids) and veteran dungeons are still reserved for the big guys and girls.
More MMO than ever!
With One Tamriel, The Elder Scrolls Online gets a hefty dose of Skyrim, but the immense freedom makes all areas of the game livelier. You always receive loot suitable for your level, and the craftable resources found are also adjusted to your crafting level.
There is now no reason to farm only the endgame areas. If you like the magnificent Elven Island Auridon – formerly the starting area of the Dominion – with its cherry trees, just go there and experience your adventures. The loot is just as rich as in Kargstein!
The same goes for dungeons. You can freely complete these at your discretion and no longer just farm those that had the highest level back then. The sets of the respective instances remain the same, of course. So if someone wants the set from the Crypt of Hearts, they won’t find it in the Mushroom Cave. But if you just want cool stuff, you can basically do any dungeon; something useful can always be found.
As a result, all players move around more freely and unconstrained. This distributes the player base across the entire game area. Since One Tamriel, you encounter more players in all areas and can thus enjoy Tamriel as an MMO despite the Skyrim solo focus. A win-win situation for both camps!
A feast for role-players
With the many players now constantly roaming the regions of Tamriel, the game world feels even more alive. After all, players are not that easy to distinguish from NPCs, and all your hero’s actions, from reading log logs to rummaging through your inventory, are represented by entertaining animations. Added to this are atmospheric emotes and the new personalities. This refers to completely new animation sets that you can unlock or buy in the cash shop.
If you choose “Assassin” as your personality, your hero stands ominously and eats an apple in such a threatening manner that it makes one anxious. Gags, on the other hand, wear the personality “Cheerful” and bounce through Tamriel as a permanently grinning joker. Especially cool: With the personality “Drunk”, your hero is constantly intoxicated, slurs, and spills beer from their mug while staggering around.
Personalities and emotes greatly enliven the game, and anyone who enjoys role-playing in MMOs will have a grand time here. By the way, housing is finally set to make its debut in The Elder Scrolls Online in February 2017. A rogue thinks of “housewarming party” here.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Is everything great?
So, does One Tamriel make ESO perfect? Not necessarily, as the scaling heroes and rewards are certainly not to everyone’s taste. Especially advocates of classic MMO virtues may be troubled by the high accessibility of One Tamriel, where even completely new characters can immediately mingle everywhere in the world.
Anyone who believes that progress in the game must be hard-won and that not everything should be “handed out” may turn away from the new Tamriel in horror. The Elder Scrolls Online is therefore definitely a different kind of MMO than, for example, classics like Everquest or the original World of Warcraft.
But The Elder Scrolls Online does not want and should not be that. Rather than a new WoW classic, it is a typical Elder Scrolls game that you play online with other series fans. With the One Tamriel update, this concept has been consistently implemented, creating a niche for ESO where it should thrive well even in 2017. Especially with the upcoming updates that according to lead developer Matt Firor should make The Elder Scrolls Online even better in 2017.
