Elder Scrolls Online has now seen its new expansion, Elsweyr, get released today and Bethesda was kind enough to send me the expansion to look at. I have been a fan of how ESO has changed since it first launched, and I must say that Elsweyr continues the tradition of improvement.
Everything felt smoother and easier to handle this time, and I love how the environment is set up. Zenimax Online has managed to somehow make the experience flow better than it did previously, especially the questlines. The basic structure feels slightly more refined and I like that. The sidequests especially are set up in a way that makes them feel more natural to initiate.. In general, everything feels to be arranged to go faster, but not sacrifice any quality in the gameplay.
The world of Elsweyr is a lively one, and I really like the care put in to make it feel more true to the lore. Some of the quests really do go into detail about the lore of the world and the Khajit people, and they provide a lot of information only speculated about previously. In fact, this is the first time we see more of the different varieties of Khajit that had only been talked about previously. Most of the questlines feel unique to Elsweyr or with a Khajit twist, and this is one of the first times I feel that the developers took a big risk in trying something new. Even Summerset didn’t feel like as much of a departure from previous expansions when coming after the Morrowind expansion.
In contrast, Elsweyr actually feels like we have come to a new world, as even longtime staples of the series show up in different ways. We already knew that the Khajit view the Divines and Daedra differently, and that is explored a lot more here. The handling of the dragons is done in a way that continues the plot threads from earlier parts of ESO, and ends up satisfying to players of Skyrim as well. It’s a nice treat to see an iconic part of that game handled well here and actually be done in a way that ends up[ making sense.
The new abilities added by the expansion are a nice touch, and I must say that the developers seem to have taken criticisms of Summerset to heart. A lot of the superfluous nature for abilities is gone, with the new ones just feel right, and there is no padding involved. The new class is intuitively designed, and it is clear this while is a more experimental expansion, there is a great deal of polish involved. The necromancer is fun to experiment with and use in a variety of ways. The way they handled the story is handled well also, but there is a drawback to the class. The drawback being that mixing builds is a lot harder to do. It can be done, but there are a lot of conflicts. That said, I still had a lot of enjoyment with what I played.
I also need to comment on the combat and overall feel of the controls. I was far more impressed now than with any mainline TES entry. Fighting dragons here felt far better than the way you fought them in Skyrim for instance. This felt more like what the series should be and I want Bethesda Game Studios to follow Zenimax Online’s lead. The features of ESO are constantly being expanded and added, but it still feels intuitive. Everything about Elsweyr feels intuitive and that is something we need more of. There is nothing better right now than teaming up with your guild to explore the world of Elsweyr and see ir for yourself.