On reddit, the question arose about what the Crown Soul Gems in the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) are, as they seemingly only differ from the regular soul gems by name. We clarify.
What are Soul Gems? First, we explain what Soul Gems, or soul stones, are in general. The stones have a fixed place in the role-playing series The Elder Scrolls and first appeared in 1996’s The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall.
Using the spell Soul Trap, you can capture the souls of creatures in soul gems of various sizes and qualities and use them to recharge magical items or create new enchantments.
This is also true in The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind from 2002, as well as in TES 4: Oblivion (2006) and Skyrim (2011).
In 1998, the spin-off Redguard was released, where your task is to obtain a soul gem containing the soul of the second High King of Hammerfell as part of a quest. Reviving him is part of the main quest.
In The Elder Scrolls Online, soul gems are also used to resurrect you and your allies. At the launch of the MMORPG in 2014, you could recharge items of different levels and resurrect players of various ranks depending on the quality of the stone. However, since the major update One Tamriel in 2016, there are only regular soul gems, which no longer have restrictions.
Still, the stones must be charged before you can use them. To do this, you need – as has been the case since Daggerfall – the spell Soul Trap, which allows you to actively capture the souls of creatures. Alternatively, you can use the ability Soul Snare, which gives you the chance to passively and automatically capture the souls of monsters when you perform a heavy attack.
How do Crown Soul Gems differ from regular soul stones?
What are Crown Soul Gems? Besides the regular soul stones, you will also find Crown Soul Gems in ESO.
Crown Soul Gems were part of the list of qualitatively different soul stones until the One Tamriel update of the MMORPG. They allowed the resurrection of players at any level and the complete charging of any item.
This type of soul stone can still be purchased at the Crown Store of The Elder Scrolls Online. However, with the removal of level restrictions with One Tamriel in 2016, there are – as mentioned – no longer soul stones of different qualities.
Since One Tamriel, all soul gems resurrect players up to level 50 and essentially recharge all enchanted items (via The Elder Scrolls Fandom). This means that functionally there is no longer any difference between the regular stones and Crown Soul Gems.
The addition “Crown” now only indicates that it is a purchased soul stone from the Crown Store.
Why do players buy these soul stones? ESO players do not have to search for the stones, which can generally be found all over the game. If you want to be on the safe side and always have a few soul stones at hand, you can simply buy a few Crown Soul Gems in the Crown Store. However, this is not necessary. The items now serve primarily for convenience since One Tamriel.
The MMORPG is very successful. ESO has been performing better in 2020 than it has in the last 5 years – but there were also problems.
