Yesterday, Zenimax had its Global Reveal Livestream for the next chapter of The Elder Scrolls Online. With a new zone, new story, and a new class, it seems like this MMORPG is still going strong almost 10 years after its release and isn’t slowing down. The reveal has fans excited about what’s coming this year and crossing their fingers that some bugs and other things will be fixed.
Watch the cinematic reveal trailer here:
Shadow Over Morrowind Casts A Dark Spell Over The Dunmer Province…and Nirn
It looks like we’re heading back to Morrowind for a new storyline known as Shadow Over Morrowind. Fans will be exploring the eastern side, which hasn’t been seen since The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Assuming that a good number of Elder Scrolls fans haven’t played the game (it’s been almost 30 years since Arena came out), this is basically a new area. From what the global reveal showed, the story will take place in Necrom, a large city where the Dunmer/Dark Elves bury their dead. This city has quite a history behind it, and there was nothing revealed about the story itself. However, we do know that we’ll be seeing some familiar faces like fan-favorite Naryu Virian in this next chapter.
Known as the City of the Dead, Necrom is a city that rests on the eastern shores of the province and is one of the eight major cities of Morrowind. Unlike most cities that have an affiliation with one of the Great Houses, Necrom is a neutral city despite being surrounded by House Telvanni lands. The city is surrounded by a large shield-like wall known as the Ghost Fence. This fence is made from the bones and remains of deceased Dumner leaders and great heroes. For the common Dunmer, they can use the remains of their deceased clan members to protect their own ancestral tomb.
The city is said to be built from the remains of GULGA MOR JIL, the eighth and most powerful monster that Vivec, the Warrior Poet God in the Tribunal, has ever faced and it’s a very popular Tribunal myth. Whether the Warrior Poet himself will appear isn’t known, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he makes a cameo or plays a small role in the story. It should be noted that CJ Grebb, ESO’s Art Director, said this.
“Lord Vivec, known as the Warrior-Poet, spun some wild stories about the city’s foundations, which may or may not be true.”
Necrom was built before the Tribunal’s establishment, but it’s up in the air whether Vivec’s stories about the city are true or not. Vivec, much like any other deity in the series, doesn’t answer questions directly and tends to give elaborate explanations that sound fictional. Though it would make sense for the Warrior-Poet to appear to provide some clarification about these stories, fans shouldn’t get their hopes up as he wasn’t mentioned as one of the characters that would appear in the Shadow Over Morrowind.
The Daedric Prince of Knowledge Comes Out To Play
Another area that’s going to play a significant role is Apocrypha, the realm of Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of Knowledge. Fans of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are already familiar with this realm as it appeared in the Dragonborn DLC, but ESO is going to be expanding on this. There will be more areas to explore, but there will be familiar beings like Seekers and Lurkers haunting this realm. What will happen here in the main storyline is unknown, and will keep fans on the edge of their seats.
It’s well-known that Hermaeus Mora is neither a good nor bad Daedric Prince, but at the end of the day: he’s a Daedric Prince. They are known to strike up deals and bargain with mortals so long as it benefits them and their goals. If innocents get hurt or die, so be it.
In Hermaeus Mora’s case, he craves knowledge and will do whatever it takes to get it.
The Arcanist Rises
One thing that was revealed was a new class that’ll be released.
Enter: the Arcanist.
This class looks a little different than most classes in the game. This class doesn’t seem to have an element or status effect connected to it.
For example, the Sorcerer class is a lightning/thunder elemental, Dragonknights are fire and poison, Wardens control nature and ice, Templars are the light and sun, Nightblades are darkness, and Necromancers are death.
From what was seen in the trailer, the Arcanist appears to use powers from Apocrypha to take attack their enemies, and are able to create portals to teleport a short distance away. As of right now, it’s not known if there will be a specific element or status effect that tie into it. Like the other classes, there will be three skill lines that’ll let players choose what kind of build they want.
Either way, ESO fans are excited to have a new class to play.
Future Plans
Like other chapters, The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom will have two dungeons released before the chapter is released. However, in a rare move, Zenimax won’t be releasing two dungeons after the chapter. This surprised most fans, but Rich Lambert, ESO’s Creative Director, said that Zenimax will be focusing on improving quality-of-life and performance, adding new features, and fixing bugs in the second half of the year.
“Last year we had a bit of a bumpy ride in terms of stability,” Lambert said. “A lot of self-inflicted wounds. So we want to shore up a lot of those processes and clean up a lot of that stuff.”
Though this sounds like a good thing that Zenimax will be fixing a lot of problems ESO has, some people are skeptical it will keep its promise. Zenimax has a long history of fixing bugs in the game, but more bugs pop up (especially for console players) from these fixes and when new features are added. All fans can do is cross their fingers and hope that Zenimax will come through.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Scribes of Fate will go live on PC on March 13, and on Xbox and PlayStation on March 28. The Necrom chapter of The Elder Scrolls Online will be available on June 5 for PC and June 20 for Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Fans can pre-order now Necrom now.
-simplesarah
Sarah's Simple Scrawls 