A few months back I got the call to sit down with the good people of Zenimax/Bethesda to get an update on what was coming to Elder Scrolls Online. Being a solo Elder Scrolls guy I knew I had to do some legwork first to familiarize myself with the MMORPG version. All this led to me being able to attend the 10th-anniversary festivities in Amsterdam and even interviewing Matt Firor, the president of Zenimax Online. The big news was of course the new Gold Road update. Gold Road is finally out there on all platforms and I went hard on it for the last month to give you all the info you need.
What is Gold Road?
Elder Scrolls Online (ESO in short) has been going strong for 10 years and is slowly but surely populating the whole of Tamriel with great content. Instead of focusing on one part of Tamriel – as they do in the solo games – ESO has multiple “zones” you can visit. These all have their theme and a bigger zone story beyond what is considered the main quest line. The map of Tamriel still has some places that are not accessible. Gold Road opens up that zone previously known from the Oblivion game. The expansion includes a new expansive zone story, delves, public dungeons, world bosses and a new Trial. The Scribing system is also introduced with this update to give the players more ways to personalize (and optimize) their abilities in the game.
The West Weald Zone story is a continuation of the “Secrets of Apocrypha” story arc. The full arc consists of the Scribes of Fate DLC, the Necrom chapter, the Scions of Ithelia DLC and this Gold Road chapter. The good people at Zenimax Online ensured the fans that Gold Road could be played as a standalone expansion without any previous knowledge of the events in Necrom. I was a bit sceptic how they would pull this off but I can fully confirm they did it in a great way. Right when you pick up the West Weald Zone story you get all the condensed info you need to get you going. Leramil the Wise and Torvesard will make a return. Having that connection with these characters from playing Necrom helps with the involvement in the story. But even without that connection, you’ll love to care/fear/love/detest these characters from the content that is presented during Gold Road alone just fine.
A three-way story
West Weald is home to three different subzones: The Colovian highlands, The Gold Road and the Dawnwood. With the introduction of the long-forgotten Daedric Prince named Ithelia, West Weald has undergone a few major changes. Valenwood populated by the wood elves has started to creep into West Weald almost overnight. This new forest area called the Dawnwood is making people in Skingrad – the main hub of the zone – feel uneasy. The threat of the overgrowing forest coincides with what is known as the wildburn. Mirrormoor is creeping through the West Weald announcing the imminent danger of Ithelia, Mistress of the Untraveled Road. The people from the Colovian Highlands with their rich wine businesses are also seeing their vineyards turn to barren land full of mirrorshards.
The main reason why I can fully recommend getting this Chapter is the zone story. It is written so well and throughout the whole story, so engaging. The story takes you through the 3 distinctive subzones with each of their relatable characters. Helping out in each subzone as part of the story grants another piece of the puzzle to solve the dangers imposed by the return of Ithelia. The depth in this chapter is so much better than any chapter before. Necrom – the previous chapter – already saw a big improvement in the story element but Gold Road takes the shiny mirror-encrusted crown of what is in my opinion the best entry for ESO up until now.
So much content
These Chapter updates for ESO are not the cheapest updates to the game and one could argue they have enough to do in the base game as is. These chapter updates – including Gold Road – just give you more stories and more activities to do to keep things fresh. Collecting the new sets of gear from doing daily quests, public dungeons or the massive new trial felt refreshing and exciting. All the things you are used to in other zones are also available in West Weald. You can go scrying for new treasure, go fishing, find lore books, beat unique world bosses with some other players, or simply explore new terrain previously unavailable in the game. I had a great time during the last month going through all this content. Some of it solo but a lot of it with people from the community.
Scribing
To further emphasize the vast amount of content that is added through the Gold Road chapter, Scribing is added to the game. Scribing introduces the ability to expand skill lines with abilities modified to your liking. Before you can start Scribing you’ll need to go to Skingrad enter the Scholarium and complete the questline there. The unstable flow of magic in the Scholarium is a residue of what was once the perfected Art of Scribing. With some help from Votary Nahlia, it’s your time to master this art and create new combinations creating unique ways previously unavailable to get through your future adventures. The questline to fully unlock the altar found in the Scholarium is a “zone story” in itself. The Luminaries – powerful magical beings – all feed their power into the altar once you complete their specific tasks unlocking the full potential.
Scribing adds new ways to modify your skills. These all start from the different available grimoires. These Grimoires add a new “template” skill to your existing Weapon, guild or soul magic skill line. Next, you add three scripts to the grimoire to add unique effects. The focus script will determine the function of the skill. This decides the damage type, healing, stun… The signature scripts decide a unique effect like immobilize, damage shield, … The Affix script adds a buff or debuff of your choice. Making these unique skills comes at a cost in the form of Luminous ink. All the scripts and the luminous ink are obtainable through engaging with the game’s content in the form of random drops. The grimoires will cost you quite a bit but are cheaper for any subsequent alt character you have.
Scribing has the potential to create some unique ways to play the game. People have already figured out a few great combinations and are posting these online. So if you want to have that extra edge while using the Scribing system you can go look for those optimal combinations. Or you could just go and experiment for yourself – something I truly believe is much more fun than copying the “homework” of others. Scribing might change a lot for the way you play the game but it is not necessary. I dabbled a fair bit with coming up with combinations and although I liked using a unique skill, I never felt like it altered all that much for the way I like to play the game. To further emphasize you are not missing out is the fact you can even turn off scribing altogether and not bother with it during your time with the game.
Conclusion
Elder Scrolls Online Gold Road is a hefty update to the world of ESO. A huge amount of content and a great new story can be found in this chapter update justifying getting out the bucks to get this chapter. Scribing is a neat new addition that can be exciting for those seeking mere ways to personalize their game experience in ESO.
