So... I finally beaten the entire base game again so have some thoughts (Potential Spoilers ALERT)..

Jusey1

Before I get started... I been playing this game for a long time, since even before Craglorn was released and my original main was a Templar. I recently in 2021 went through the progress of remaking my main character as a Warden as Warden's skills and abilities just felt way better for my main and how I wanted to play him over Templar... Because of this, I also had to redo everything. Every zone, every dungeon, and so on. So, I started everything in order with Ebonheart Pact first (Argonian), than AD and DF before moving on to Coldharbour and finishing the base game. I'm currently in Craglorn now with this character, which I guess is base game but going to discount Craglorn for this post since it is a very separated story...

So, with having almost the whole main game now in recent memory, and after doing it with ESO as it is today instead of how I originally did (I did it back before One Tamriel Update)... I wanted to share some quick thoughts:

Firstly, fun fact. I did pick up Mirri first as the intention was to see how playing through the game would feel with a companion and have learned many interesting things about companions in a nutshell. After completing all of base game content, soloing most dungeons with her, doing some Craglorn stuff, and evening doing a few things on the Gold Coast and so on... Mirri is level 19. The entire base game experience, and then some, isn't enough experience to level up a companion to 20. Luckily, levels for them are account wide but to give you guys how long it takes to level up one... There ya go. Another funny thing I notice is that Mirri was able to follow me into Solo missions, including the final mission in the Imperial City storyline which is funny because companions aren't suppose to be there at all... So yeah, Mirri was there when I beat the crap out of Molag Bal. I thought companions would be disabled in solo missions personally.

Anyways, so about base game quests, zones, exploration, etc... What are my thoughts? Well, I want to give a shoutout to how amazing Coldharbour is, IF YOU DONE the base game first. As in, doing the DF, AD, and EP zones before going to Coldharbour. A lot of the quests in Coldharbour increases heavily in value due to how many re-occuring NPCs you meet throughout your Coldharbour adventure with a special shout out to Cliffs of Failure. When all three of them knew you and remembers you, that quest felt a lot more interesting if you ask me (side note: I sided with Angof as he seems to the only one out of the three that wanted to make amends for what he did. I wouldn't mind ZOS doing a magic retcon somehow just to see him return in a future expansion like they did with other characters to have them return despite the player's choice very obviously making them completely erased)...

So, as for the three alliance zones:

Ebonheart Pact was the weirdest out of the three, I'm just going to say that there. It started out as a story of being invaded by the Daggerfall Covenant, which is a good start. Gets the player interested in the war that is going on, which can lead them to Cyrodiil and PvP... But then once you reach Deshaan, you basically take an entire big turn and are constantly fighting just random bad groups. However, I do think Deshaan's story was alright and it gave newer players of the series a rather good introduction to Almalexia as a character. She felt very on point with her actions and attitude, and for us Morrowind players... You can see that hint of madness in her even back then. From there, the EP went pretty alright but it kept focusing on random stories and never stayed very consistent... Plus the EP's leader was just bad. He barely made any appearances and when he finally was relevant, he was just knocked out for most of it... They honestly should have made a Dark Elf the leader that you meet in Stonefalls or at least Deshaan so that the EP leader has a lot more relevance to the EP zones but really, everything was just random...

As for the Daggerfall Covenant... Some of it was good but most of the good stuff was just side quests or due to Redguards in all honesty. I forgot how much the Redguards really carry the Daggerfall Covenant quest content. Glen and Stormhaven suffer so heavily in the story content but I did like the DF's leader and he was a lot more active, but at the same time he didn't had much of an impact and you mostly see him at the beginning and ending of a zone... However, and ya know what's coming... Rivenspire. Rivenspire is easily the best single zone in the base game by a landslide. Special shoutout to the true intro quest to Rivenspire... Not the one you get when you first get there but the first side quest. Assuming you're following the road and doing each side quest as you come across them... The first side quest gave you a very perfect intro to the zone, give you an idea what is going on in Rivenspire, and give you an emotional optional quest afterwards that I didn't expect. After you help the family with their vampire issues on the farm, you can follow them to a graveyard to get that one extra quest to help them bury their recently deceased, and that's the quest... Small, simple, but honestly really hits the feels for me cause you were just introduced to Rivenspire's Bloodfiend problem and potentially gained a vampire ally which would make you interested in what is going on. It's a really well done intro and the rest of the zone was just fun and honestly well balanced with how everything flows. Rivenspire was when the original devs honestly put in their best for sure...

Side note: I have notice one funny thing. Daggerfall Covenant invades the MOST out of all of the alliances. I probably have more DF NPCs slain than any other faction, which is kinda funny cause I see DF players being the most PvP focus as well, which goes well in hand with how their faction seems to be operating in the war, haha.

Lastly, for the Alderi Dominion... While it doesn't have a Rivenspire quality zone, I'll be honest. AD has the best overall story out of the three. You felt important, you felt like you made an impact, and you help your leader grow as a person throughout your journey from dealing with a lot of the racial tension and politic issues that happens when making a huge alliance like this. Every zone felt connected to this overall story while still retaining their own separate stories as well, so it was the only one out of the three that kept a decent story being told and consistency... Also, second best Khajiit hands down. (Best Khajiit is M'aiq, sorry). But yeah, I felt very invested into Queen Ayrenn, and also I think she is the best and most caring leader out of all three of them.

As for the guilds... I honestly forgot what the Fighters Guild was all about. I did the guilds first just to get ride of the spammy "COMRADE! A WORD!" in every town I go to. Mages Guild was a blast to go through again but Sheogorath honestly carries that questline, because well... Sheogorath, do I need to say more? (I want to use Wabbajack more in ESO)...

Anyways, I think that's everything off the top of my head. I don't want to share my thoughts on Craglorn yet since I am stilling working on Craglorn content, at least not fully. I do have one thing to say. Craglorn is an extremely weird zone... Only zone to have group delves, has a weird arena that isn't like any of the other arenas, constant "ENTERING GROUP AREA", the quests also make annoying announcements as you progress through them, etc. There's just a lot in Craglorn that is ONLY in that zone. I'm glad for that because a lot of it is weird... Can't wait to get Craglorn completed again and move on because you know... The first major DLC is honestly one of ESO's best and I am excited to play through it again.

Actually, since I did the Imperial City. I wanted to do that questline before Coldharbour cause I couldn't remember if it was suppose to take place during the plane meld or after it (felt like it should be during so yeah). Imperial City story was boring, in all honesty. It was mostly just do a bunch of simple quests to figure out a special thing underground and give some divine power to a NPC so she can stop Molag Bal's forces, yada yada... I found my interactions with other players to be a lot more interesting, such as being run over by a pack of player werewolves or finding a completely oblivious AD player and following them for a few minutes because it was funny... But never had issues getting everything done. Fun tip, if you are doing stuff in Imperial City or Cyrodiil, such as clearing a world boss. If another player comes in and kills while you were fighting the boss, and then they fight that boss. Don't res yourself, despite being dead... If that boss didn't reset their aggro, then when they die it counts as a kill for you as long as you are nearby. I cleared a boss that way after being run over by those werewolves because well they all leaped at the boss and me at the same time... So yeah.

I think that's all for now. I might do more threads like this with the idea of discussing different contents of the game, cause yeah but anyways, my thoughts so far...

fiender66

I usually skip long writings in forum, but this one is pleasurable and interesting.

Top of all, Sheo is my preferred Daedric prince by far (and I love the Mages quest), and the Wabblejack staff I'd value above the Maelstrom one, LOL

CP5

"You guys hate each other, remember?!"

Random EP guy "Oh yeah"

Still one of the best parts of any quest I ran.

Jusey1

fiender66 wrote: »

I usually skip long writings in forum, but this one is pleasurable and interesting.

Thanks, I much appreciate this.

jle30303

The Pact's quest is kind of the most disjointed, but then, the Pact is the most disjointed of the alliances.

They need a Nord as leader because the formerly slave Argonians still remember their old status and won't ever bow to a Dark Elf from their as-yet-unforgiven masters, while an Argonian similarly couldn't be in charge because the Dark Elves wouldn't bow to a former slave either. At least the Nords are largely neutral to the Argonians (geographically separated from them), and former-enemies on a reasonably equal basis with the Dark Elves, and he knows how to supply the other leaderships with enough booze that they'll agree to what he says (a typical Nord diplomatic technique, later to also be demonstrated by Jarl Morryn of Whiterun as a roving diplomat in Western Skyrim, in a "Greymoor" sidequest.)

However, the Dominion and Covenant are trying to cover up problems within their own territory as well, in their various provinces... from Altmer supremacism (the Veiled Heritance) and Bosmer feralism (the Blacksap Rebellion and the Hircine cult of lycanthropy run by The Hound, plus Valenwood's own problem with the Wood Orcs of Malabal Tor), to a Reach uprising in Bretony (both Glenumbra and Bangkorai) and a gang of necromancers with a grudge in Hammerfell. Oh, and cultists of Vaermina in Stormhaven, and Baron Montclair's blood-madness in Rivenspire.

The Covenant's invasion of Bleakrock, Bal Foyen and Stonefalls in the Pact lands is the biggest overall invasion by one faction of another - they also go for the north point of the Dominion in Auridon - but the Dominion are pretty invasive too, especially when you see what they're doing in Shadowfen that could result in literal genocide of the Argonians. In fact the Pact seem to have the worst of it when it comes to being invaded by both sides, and do the least amount of counter-invading - for good lore reasons, they're still trying to sort *themselves* out as an alliance. Meanwhile, between the two Ayleid ruins of Ne Salas (Grahtwood) and Salas En (Alikr Desert), both the Covenant and Dominion believe the other side discovered the portal connection, and are unsure whether to use it as an invasion point of their own (each side has separately sent an invasion force, which did not return) or try to seal it off to prevent the enemy coming through. In fact the portal between the two ruins was opened by accident, from the Salas En side, by the hapless Lady Laurent and Stibbons, and is later closed at their asking...

And the fifth zone of each faction (Bangkorai, Reapers March) has either the Imperials, the Worm Cult, or the two of them allied as the Big Bads of the zone, to remind you that despite the three factions fighting each other, they really ought to be paying more attention to a common enemy in Molag Bal who controls both the Worm Cult and the Imperial remnant.

And there are renegade factions within each alliance too. It is doubtful whether the Orcs of Malak's Maw (Deshaan, the Pact) actually answer to the Covenant themselves, despite flying their banners: they seem to be under old personal orders from King Kurog himself, and High King Emeric may not even know. King Faharajad certainly does *not* know of the Redguards who have invaded northern Malabal Tor and allied with the local Wood Orcs (who know nothing of the Covenant and are simply local enemies to the Bosmer): indeed, that invasion flies not the Covenant banner, but the old banner of the Ra Gada, and has been so badly organised that it's ended up allying with literal pirates - the latter of which end up losing their ship to a bunch of travelling entertainers: truly it is, as one of the local missives says, "a sad day for the Ra Gada". Likewise it's doubtful whether the Khajiiti Renrijra Pirates who plague the eastern edges of Shadowfen and Deshaan (of the Pact) are actually under the control of the Dominion - or whether the Dark Elven "Ember-Eye" slavers in the southwest corner of Shadowfen are actually under Pact command. However the "Jackdaws", though officially pirates when they conquer Haven in Valenwood, may actually be acting under Pact orders - the originally Nord gang has taken on board some Dunmer necromancers, and Argonian beast handlers.

King Kurog of the Orcs, meanwhile, is only half-heartedly a member of the Covenant - he won't allow factional warfare within his own kingdom, and deals with agents of Dominion, Covenant and Pact alike within Wrothgar, though his armies fight for the Covenant abroad effectively as mercenaries. One might almost think he secretly views them all as enemies and has only allied with one side to bring down the others, and hopefully weaken the Covenant itself in the process, if only he could control his own people, but then, if there is one thing an Orc likes fighting more than anyone else, it's another Orc...

And the Khajiit lend more moral support than strength to the Dominion: shattered by a Dragon invasion, an Imperial coup and the aftermath of the Knahaten Flu, Elsweyr itself can offer little support beyond the approval of the Mane in Reaper's March, where the Dragons have not yet come. But the Mane is still a powerful figure, at least the equal of the various Bosmer figures - the Silvenar and Green Lady as the spiritual heart of most of Valenwood, the Wilderking (later Wilderqueen) who rules his own little corner, and the Camoran King as the nearest thing to a secular ruler - though he has suffered a rebellion that needed Altmer support to put down, and the Altmer committed war crimes in the process under General Endare...

VaranisArano

Yeah, EP starts strong, then splits off so each of their three races can have their day in the sun, which makes for a disjointed story.

I love it because it's my first alliance. Blood for the Pact!

Nestor

Nice read. Thank you.

I think the Original Zones stories made more sense when we locked into one Alliance until we were finished. Then along came Caldwells which was really a bone for the players that want to do all content on one character for some reason or another. One Tamriel is better in a lot of ways. However, i think every players first character should be dropped on a Starter Island for their Alliance. With an easy way to get somewhere else in case they want to move on. The current Tutorial can work for Alts.

Also, ignoring the books leaves a lot of holes in the lore and can make things more confusing about what is really going on. Take a minute or two to read each book you see.