The celebrations for 10 years of Elder Scrolls Online started in Amsterdam on the 5th of April. I had the opportunity to interview Matt Firor, president at Zenimax Online. Matt’s been working on Elder Scrolls Online for 17 years and used all his expertise to make Elder Scrolls Online the success it is today.
Early on, in ESO’s history you and your team decided to make each new chapter available to every level, a decision I highly applaud. I assume Gold Road won’t be any different in that regard. How hard is it to balance this choice around the storytelling that unfolds during for example Necrom and the Scions of Ithelia DLC? Two updates already hinting towards the events that will take place in Gold Road?
Matt: Finishing Necrom is not required to play Gold Road. You can jump into the story in the middle. You can see it a bit like the Star Wars movies where you can jump in at any point. Some characters will be more familiar if you watch them in order but in the end you’ll get the story regardless of background. Playing Necrom tells you the story of how Hermaeus Mora becomes aware of Ithelia. You don’t need to know that to play Gold Road. Playing them in order will make a bit more sense but nothing stands in the way of a new player just starting with Gold Road.
Why the choice for the West Weald? I assume Skingrad will spark the nostalgia feelings with a lot of Oblivion players. Or did you and your team go for a contrasting region to what was presented in the Necrom chapter? Or is it just one team member who got excited to unfold that particular area of Tamriel?
Matt: For the tenth anniversary, we wanted to sure we had a nostalgic-inducing area. Cyrodil was part of Oblivion. We wanted to take an area that was cool and players would remember. There is also a bit of Valenwood creeping into Cyrodiil to make things slightly different. You get the nostalgia through areas known to fans but there are still some things different to make it stand out.
Without spoiling too much… Bosmer and Imperials aren’t often a good match with the latter often attacking the Valenwood area. Will they ignore their differences with the impending threat of this new forgotten Daedric Prince or will we have a few moral choices to make along the way in terms of who we side with?
Matt: Yes, faction conflict is definitely a theme in Gold Road, just like in other Elder Scrolls stories.. The threat of Ithelia and the forest of Valenwood overtaking parts of the West Weald are featured stories during Gold Road that are on a different level. The Valenwood jungle creeping into the West Weald will feature more around the Wood elves while the Ithelia storyline will feature more around the Colovians.
Are there any new types of enemies introduced in Gold Road and if so what are some of your favorites?
Matt: There will definitely be new and exciting enemies to encounter, but I can’t reveal any specifics just yet, you’ll just have to wait until you play the new chapter.
Will we get to explore Mirrormoor in Gold Road? Is it like I assume filled with crystals, shards and mirror-like constructions? With it being newly introduced lore how much back and forth is there between Zenimax Online and Bethesda to make sure it still fits in the grand scheme of things?
Matt: Nothing is officially revealed about the realm of Ithelia. Players will have to find out through the story. It’s fun to learn as you go. Regarding the new lore introduced. There is a lot of back and forth to get the lore right. There is actually a permanent position of loremaster within the company to ensure everything fits in the bigger story. Having ESO taking place 700 years before the other Elder Scrolls games leaves some room to introduce lore. But still, some of this lore becomes canon for the whole series. The best example is the Murkmire DLC and the Argonians. All this Argonian lore was added by Zenimax Online and all of this had to be ran past Bethesda to make sure it was OK.
Following that answer… Is there a possibility of seeing Ithelia in future Elder Scrolls games
Matt: Can’t talk about that until you’ve played the game. A great question that can’t yet be answered. But all will be revealed when you play through Gold Road.
Scribing is a big and exciting update to ESO. When the idea was first introduced during a preview event I attended I was baffled by the amount of options we’ll get to customize (grimoires, scripts, inks). I assume this will have a huge impact on the way characters get built. Are you as a team just content to let players have their way with the new system and potentially “break” it towards creating an all-powerful META? Or are things calculated / balanced enough to avoid this?
Matt: We did a lot of work to avoid this but players are smart. In case this does happen tweaking will be done. The team also made sure players who don’t want to add scribing in the mix are still good to enjoy ESO as much as anyone.
With all the focus on Scribing, I wanted to ask you about the newly introduced Skill Styles. Will these offer any in-game benefits or are these purely adding more (personal) flair?
Matt: The Skill styles are added to make customization possible without actually changing the numbers. They just make things look cool.
One last question… Can we get some more info on the two companions becoming available at the end of the year? Maybe a small hint?
Matt: Not until we get through Gold Road
Thanks for the interview and success with the upcoming release.
