Elder Scrolls Online started their journey 8 years ago and is still going strong with its 20 million active players mark. An 8th-year-long journey worth of Story chapters and in-game activities can feel a bit overwhelming for new players and we have to give credit to Zenimax Studios for really trying to focus on both veteran and new players. With their sixth chapter in the online series, their focus hasn’t changed a bit but it has been expanded to a higher goal.
The Elder Scrolls Online is known for its Story Chapters in the MMORPG. Story Chapters have a great resemblance with normal expansions but Zenimax tries to see these chapters as stand-alone chapters that can be played without having to worry about doing all the previous chapters, trying to catch up in the story. These Chapters are intertwined within the main story of the base game and can be seen as parallel storytelling chapters that can happen during the main events, before or even after. As long as all of their story parts fit within the wholesome of the game, it can be considered a success.
“The High Isles is a peculiar Island where the high-class, wealthy nobles go to for a decent vacation”
Zenimax Studios is taking us to the next chapter in their online universe which is called ESO: High Isle which will focus on the legacy of the Bretons. The High Isles is a peculiar Island where the high-class, wealthy nobles go-to for a decent vacation. You can compare this island with the Vegas part of America. Whatever happens on the High Isle, stays on the High Isle. It’s a place that has been touched and doesn’t have a lot of Lore elements to base on. The only known facts are the ones I’ve just told you. It’s a place where the rich people go and where the Breton Culture dominates. Zenimax Studios too this chance to create the High Isles from scratch and will make it their ultimate goal to deliver you a new piece of lore within the ESO Universe.
There are 2 areas where players will be allowed to visit during this new chapter. You have the High Isles, the refuge of the rich and famous but you’ll also have a more dark-themed area that takes different elements from a Rain Forest and the Caldera prison to combine them and create this Isle of Prisoners. The Isle of Prisoners feels like an open-air prison and is home to the most dangerous villains of the Elder Scrolls Universe. It’s also the place where rebellion forces are starting to form and are hiding from the diplomats of the High Isles.
“The story is focused on politics and influencing the pathways for a better world.”
The story of High Isle is a more grounded story than the fantasy-themed story chapters the players already have faced. By ground, the developers mean a lot more non-fantasy stories that really could take place in such a form of society. The story is focused on politics and influencing the pathways for a better world. It’s about a secret order of knights, that can be compared to the Red Cross knights, that try to overthrow the current regiment and threaten the peacefulness of the whole Tamriel. It’s an organization that wants to live in a free Tamriel and they’ll do whatever it costs them.
High Isles will come with a whole new adventurous chapter that can be played by newbies and veteran players. ESO is built in a way that new players can experience the story in whatever order they want. Each story has its own pathway that’s intertwined with all of the others. Each chapter will deliver enough information to get a wholesome picture. The new chapter also comes with a new 12- players trial that will definitely challenge the veteran players. The new trial is called Dreadsail Reef and has been developed with a specific pirate theme. It’s about taking the heroes who need to take a ship towards the Dreadsail Reef where players will face the Dreadsail Pirates. It’s about the alliance taking steps towards a decent cleansing of the threat that tries to overthrow the political organization within Tamriel.
“A few keywords to give you a “hunch” of what to expect: it’s a competitive turn-based, resourceful, prestige theme deckbuilding game.”
Another feature coming with this expansion is the Tales of Tribute activity, which is a new in-game deck-building card game. I’m not making it a “Trading” card game because the cards to build your deck can only be earned in-game by playing the story or completing achievements. Why? To maintain the focus of being a friendly environment for newbies and veteran players, this card game allows you to play and explore this game at your own pace. There will be a ranked mode when the chapter releases, which allows you to earn special in-game items. A few keywords to give you a “hunch” of what to expect: it’s a competitive turn-based, resourceful, prestige theme deckbuilding game.
The resources you’ll be able to manage are coins, prestige, and power. These 3 are the core components that allow you to influence the board and the shared “tavern”. The card game is based upon the lore of the Elder Scrolls environment. How does the game progress… Simply put: you gather resources to buy cards from the shared Tavern deck, these cards can be played as action and help you benefit from the resources, you’ll also interact with the different Patreons to gain influence. Eventually, it’s up to you to gather 40 prestige points to achieve victory or another victory condition is all about gaining favor from 4 Patreons.
“Hopefully they can get it balanced.”
Cards can differentiate from each other as some cards have hit points and others may have special effects to gain some beneficial components. There are also special cards that have combo effects. Combo effects trigger when certain conditions are met. There are also “agent”-cards that need to be dealt with before you can perform certain actions. In other words, the card game feels unique and will suit the Elder Scrolls universe perfectly. Based on my experience with different TCGs, I can already tell that this game will have a lot of potentials to become a great in-game feature of the MMORPG. It has 4 important components that can get players interested: lore-based, tactical, collectible, and interesting mechanics. Hopefully, they can get it balanced.
Like I said before, players will be able to gather different in-game items when they build up their winning reputation within the ranked mode. Possible rewards could be: crafting materials, in-game currency emotes, transmute crystals, … In other words, it’s not something “standalone” but implemented. You’re also not forced to play this game. It’s an extra feature but not a necessary activity to progress the story. Some riddles, however, which allow you to unlock certain cards, can only be found in “discovered” areas.
“In other words, there will be plenty of stuff to do when you’re being re-summoned to the realm of Tamriel.”
High Isle will also come with some interesting quality of life improvements. Some of these improvements have already been implemented for a certain crowd but they will be now made available for PC- players as well. Zenimax confirmed that the “Quick wheel” feature ( that’s already available on consoles) will also be made available for the PC. This wheel will help you gain quick access to your collection of consumables or emotes. Mundus Stones will be able to be saved in the armory and all leaderboards within the game will be totally rewritten. It’s all about making the data a lot more reliable. There will also be AMD FSR support which will allow players ( who met the hardware specifications) to get more framerate and better resolution. It’s a welcomed feature for players with an older PC.
To end this preview article, here are some of the most important things to know:
- The new chapter will have a duration of around 30 hours
- It’s a standalone chapter and time is as you perceive it. You don’t need certain knowledge of previous chapters to follow this storyline
- There will be new companions available
- A new 12-man trial
- A lot more achievements
- Some quality of life improvements
- This chapter will contain the baseline and all other chapters. A whole new package for newcomers
In other words, there will be plenty of stuff to do when you’re being re-summoned to the realm of Tamriel. Don’t forget that this chapter is still in development and is subject to change. For more information, stay tuned to Gaming Boulevard!
