Update 44

Jaimeh

I would have liked a story DLC or new dungeons. Even though Ithelia's story ended with Gold Road (and it's up for debate whether that plot worked or not), they could have made something that is connected to next year, or even a companion story to the chapter, for example, clearing off the Wildburn from the zone (something a lot of players wanted) or something with the rebuilding of the Wood Elf clans in the region, or even an Imperial storyline. Two companions and new BG modes is not enough to keep us occupied till the next update (not to mention that companions are nothing new, just a reskin of an existing system). We gave up Q3 with the exchange of QoL improvement and bug fixes, but now it seems we are giving up Q4 as well. ZOS did say they were moving away fro the 'one year story' format, but they didn't say they were moving away from content altogether... because we lost dungeon DLCs, and now the story DLC (and the subscribers are still paying the same prices). If ZOS intends to downgrade ESO, I think the players deserve to know and I don't want to wait for Matt Firor's end of year letter with more of 'this has been the best year in ESO yet!' because for those of us who have been here long enough, it really seems the content is getting smaller.

AzuraFan

DenverRalphy wrote: »

To be fair, there was also a release with no male companions either. Currently the tally stands at 3 each male/female.

Yes, and I understood why there were two male companions released last time. To even it out. But now we'll be out of whack again, and for those of us who prefer female companions, it'll be the second year in a row with no new ones. If ZOS releases more (I'm sure they will now that they'll be selling them separately), I hope we'll get a female next year.

AzuraFan

Syldras wrote: »

The one thing I'd dislike was if they just mimic the current modern Western concept. For me it would feel weird if the companion tells us "I'm nonbinary!" -

They wrote Isobel well. She never declares anything about herself. You pick up on her attraction to women because she talks about it naturally. I'm hoping for the same thing with the new companion. No declarations. Just talking/behaving naturally. People can choose to pick up on whatever they want to pick up on.

TaSheen

Sepultura_13 wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

Yep, they repeated a race and didn't give us a female companion. So now we're out of balance again. How will they even this out?

I also sympathize with those who wanted a male companion because again, the repeated race (and for those hoping for a hottie, a khajit isn't going to do it for the majority of them, I'm betting lol).

I was hoping for a Bosmer or an Orc necromancer as one of the companions, TBH. As far as "a hottie" goes, I'm one of the few people alive who isn't aroused by pixels, AI-enhancements, or RL cosmetic surgery, apparently.

I didn't take the earlier poll, but I would have voted in the "my expectations are already low so as to avoid disappointment" category. I expected nothing, and got what I expected. My in-game experience won't be affected one iota.

I'm also one of those few with no use for the whole "hottie" thing. Well.... I've no use for sidekicks at all really....

Sepultura_13

Lady_Titania wrote: »

It's like you read my mind just now! I forgot to mention that the Altmer passive does me nothing. Kahjiit passive is nice, the glowing sacks. A passive for an increase drop rate of atherial dust would have been better for the altmer imo.

Oh, absolutely! That would have been a refreshing change. I have no issues with picking locks anywhere, so I just don't see how a lockpicking passive is necessary...especially when it already exists in the CP tree, AFAIK.

Syldras

Theist_VII wrote: »

doing some play on Soul Magic to explain how a man is trapped in a woman’s body

While I usually prefer to let LGBT+ characters just be who they are without making a huge story about it in game (because this would make them stand out as "not normal" again), this would indeed be a story I wouldn't find that bad. Some poor guy's or woman's soul getting transfered into a body of the other sex against their will, by accident, as a victim of an experiment or something like that, causing them distress. This sounds like it could lead to understanding and empathy.

Strictly seen, in the world of TES, reincarnation could also be an issue. I'm wondering now how Lord Nerevar felt about being reborn as a woman...

We also know that according to lore, the physical sex of someone can be magically altered. Or at least Divayth Fyr did this with his clones in the 3rd era.

Personofsecrets

TaSheen wrote: »

I'm not sure I ever heard them say anything about "balancing gender numbers"....

I think that such thing was once mentioned in a stream regarding the TOT patrons.

IncultaWolf

People seem to not realize eso introduced a trans character waay back in Summerset (Alchemy)

This isn't anything new. There's potential for this companion to be really interesting if they do it right, but if being "non-binary" is their entire personality, might be a bit concerning.

Sepultura_13

TaSheen wrote: »

I'm also one of those few with no use for the whole "hottie" thing. Well.... I've no use for sidekicks at all really....

Sidekicks don't bother me in general - I just want them to be relevant and complementary to my characters, and if they have a decent passive then that's a bonus.

Soarora

Drammanoth wrote: »

[Snip]

All I will say is that this isn't the first "TQIA+" character. There's nothing new here to discuss. Alchemy (Summerset) is trans, Dreamer (Blackwood) is nonbinary, Vivec (TES3/Morrowind) is intersex, Jakarn (base game) is pansexual. The ship has long since sailed to be unhappy about this, it's nothing new. I don't understand why people are bringing this up now...?

[Edited quote]

spartaxoxo

We don't know anything about Tanlorin's story to determine anything about the quality of their story, or lack thereof.

Tanlorin is a thief and a lot of the thieves in this world are colorful characters.

All we have to go by is a haircut and a gender. That's not enough.

grizzledcroc

Soarora wrote: »

[Snip]

All I will say is that this isn't the first "TQIA+" character. There's nothing new here to discuss. Alchemy (Summerset) is trans, Dreamer (Blackwood) is nonbinary, Vivec (TES3/Morrowind) is intersex, Jakarn (base game) is pansexual. The ship has long since sailed to be unhappy about this, it's nothing new. I don't understand why people are bringing this up now...?[/quote]

It makes ZERO DAMN SENSE

[Edited quote]

Sepultura_13

grizzledcroc wrote: »

It makes ZERO DAMN SENSE

It explains the Senche-Raht mount in the upcoming crates, I guess?
*in bad Forrest Gump voice* "...and that's all I got to say 'bout that..."

Soarora

Sepultura_13 wrote: »

grizzledcroc wrote: »

It makes ZERO DAMN SENSE

It explains the Senche-Raht mount in the upcoming crates, I guess?
*in bad Forrest Gump voice* "...and that's all I got to say 'bout that..."

I strongly believe that the Khajiit in question is just a guy who loves flowers, but that's just me haha. Guess we'll see what consensus is when we see the description and default name.

Cazador

Soarora wrote: »

Drammanoth wrote: »

[Snip]

All I will say is that this isn't the first "TQIA+" character. There's nothing new here to discuss. Alchemy (Summerset) is trans, Dreamer (Blackwood) is nonbinary, Vivec (TES3/Morrowind) is intersex, Jakarn (base game) is pansexual. The ship has long since sailed to be unhappy about this, it's nothing new. I don't understand why people are bringing this up now...?

Yeah, this pretty much sums it up pretty well. Honestly the companion being non-binary is only a problem if you make it one for yourself. If you do you really only have yourself to blame.

[Edited quote]

M1SHAAN

Lady_Titania wrote: »

[Snip]

[Snip]

[Snip], here are my thoughts on your other thoughts:
- I do not like that the companions are offered via the crown store. I'm glad that they will be permanently obtainable if you have ESO+, but they should also make them free if you own Gold Road, to follow previous years' precedent.
- I believe ZOS has stated that they will have quest content, including a starting quest that you need to do to recruit them. I look forward to doing all of them (though I do not unlock companions on many characters so I don't have to worry about repetition)
- It's disappointing to me also that they didn't think they had a non-Khajiit companion whose story was worth telling. They could have kept this guy for a later year when all the races were represented as companions. It's almost like... representation matters to people.
- When I PvP I generally do Cyro because smashing down walls is fun, so I am also disappointed that there is no update. However, they have clearly stated previously that the PvP update had no relation to Cyro so I was not expecting anything.

[Edited quote and for removed content]

Syldras

M1SHAAN wrote: »

It's disappointing to me also that they didn't think they had a non-Khajiit companion whose story was worth telling. They could have kept this guy for a later year when all the races were represented as companions. It's almost like... representation matters to people.

I'm sorry, but while I agree that they should have made a companion of each race first before doubling one, I don't think this is a good comparison. I see that many people (not even all) care for representation when it comes to gender or sexual identity, things that really exist - but the fictional fantasy races of ESO? No one of us is really a Bosmer or Orc, not even a Nord (to name the three remaining races), even if there are real world similarities (and even then, a Scandinavian doesn't neccessarily have to prefer Nord characters in ESO). It's a matter of likings or preferences, but "Bosmer representation" certainly hasn't the same importance or meaning as "LGBT+ representation", for example. Or am I wrong? I'm open to discussions.

FelisCatus

Sigh mid as always update, zos clearly moving to maintenance mode, I thought breaking the dlc cycle was to focus on qol but in reality it just allowed them to get away with doing less.

LittlePinkDot

Well I like battlegrounds. It would be nice if something were done about Cyrodiil population caps, but I'm happy about the new battlegrounds.

Syldras

Lady_Titania wrote: »

Because people are too quick to start arguments over differences of opinion. Religion and political topics are the same. Look at the community now, no one is happy and everyone is pissed for one reason or another. RL drama needs to stay out of the game.

But where would you draw the line? There are people who aren't okay with gay or bisexual people. And when Skyrim was released, there were even some people who complained about female characters in the game being depicted as too powerful and as equal to male fighters (in particular female Stormcloaks, but also Legate Rikke), which they claimed was "unrealistic". There are always controversies. Should developers avoid everything someone could get angry about? No same-sex couples in ESO, no female fighters in Skyrim? In the end it's ZOS'/Bethesda's decision.

What remains important to me is how they write things. Realistically seen, every human sentiment that exists of Earth could also exist on Nirn. People are people. The question is whether the devs write about it in a way that makes sense for the world the story takes place in.

Blackbird_V

WitchyKiki wrote: »

EnerG wrote: »

Drammanoth wrote: »

[Snip]

[Snip]

[Snip]

As a gay person, I do fully agree with you. I am completely tired of it. To make matters worse, I even get told how I should act and behave as I am part of "LGBT". I've had people have a go at me because I don't like going to pride events. Personally, idc about my sexuality. It's not important, it doesn't define me or what I can do - only my talents and skillset can do that. My sexuality is as important and as interesting as my hair colour. I was born with it, so what? I also believe that censorship in a free world alongside cancel culture only serves to make the problem worse, and never achieves to make the situation better. I believe it's purely selfish.

As for the real topic: I do not use companions whatsoever, but I am confused as to why the lockpicking perk is on the altmer..... and not the khajiit. I feel as though altmer = magic, so having better magical vision to see heavy sacks should come from the altmer, and lockpicking coming from Dr. Meowzers.

---

[Edited quote]

Syldras

Blackbird_V wrote: »

To make matters worse, I even get told how I should act and behave as I am part of "LGBT". I've had people have a go at me because I don't like going to pride events. Personally, idc about my sexuality. It's not important, it doesn't define me or what I can do - only my talents and skillset can do that. My sexuality is as important and as interesting as my hair colour. I was born with it, so what?

"Straight-acting" - it's a really strange term, especially considering the whole talk about "freedom" and "diversity". To me, freedom means being able to live the way I want. I don't accept anyone's attempts to define how I should look, what I should think, what things I should be interested in, or how I should behave, no matter if the people, who for unknown reasons believe they were entitled to make such demands, are straight or gay. Even weirder is that I have the impression that today, to be "truly gay", people expect us to dress and behave like the typical media cliché of a gay person, which just 20 years ago would have been considered an insult... If people choose to live as a cliché, fine with me, none of my business. I won't, because this is not what I am. I'm gay because I like men. And that's it. Nothing more.

Blackbird_V wrote: »

As for the real topic: I do not use companions whatsoever, but I am confused as to why the lockpicking perk is on the altmer..... and not the khajiit. I feel as though altmer = magic, so having better magical vision to see heavy sacks should come from the altmer, and lockpicking coming from Dr. Meowzers.

The Altmer is a thief, the Khajiit a mage/necromancer. So from that perspective, it makes sense.

Hotdog_23

ZOS did a Non-Binary person to check a box off. Nothing more nothing less.

Personally I want them to keep going and do a male and female for each race before they start doing repeats.

To that end for me the new companions are a disappointment. Sure I will unlock and max them out and probably never use them again.

Stay safe 🙂

N00BxV1

I don't really care about Companions... But I do care that we paid the same price for The Gold Road as we did for the previous chapters. And now they're gonna sell the Companions that should've been included with The Gold Road separately? [snip]

[edited for bashing]

Dahveed

Wait, I'm confused. The High Elf companion they're adding isn't female?

Serious question, I'm being honest.

I'm not trying to troll or anything. When I look at the picture they provided I see boobies and a kind of cute Altmer chick and I'm stoked. (I'd rather she had long blonde hair but whatever lol.)

That's supposed to be a man?


EDIT - Just to be very, very clear. This isn't some dig about "wokeness" or anything, I don't even care that much. I'm just from a boomer-ish generation where these "problems" just didn't really exist. People were either just boys or girls, so this is all relatively new to me.

Faulgor

xclassgaming wrote: »

Drammanoth wrote: »

[Snip]

Hey, Vivec is non-binary so TES has been "woke" since TES 3. Hope this helps!

I really don't think this a point people who favor this sort of "inclusion" want to make. Same with the non-static sex of Daedric Princes.

All these instances in the older TES lore of gender non-conformity are reserved for Gods, Demigods, immortals, celestial beings, spirits, whatever - because they serve as a trait to make them seem weird. To give them characteristics that are not applicable to or possible for mortal humanoids. Even sex-mogrification of Argonians serves to show how weird and alien they are compared to humans.
So strange. So different. So interesting. But weird.

Therefore it's not at all surprising that TES3 also had sexual dimorphism in its character system. Transcending sex is for the Gods.

Personally, I prefered it this way. And you might say ah well that's just because you're some sort of conservative (lol), or molded by your backwards cultural upbringing. And while I'd agree that any stance you take on "inclusion" in a fictional world is somewhat colored by your own culture, my actual opinion on this matter is that indiscriminately transplanting the views and sensibilities of particular social strata of the modern day coastal US into the game has led to diminished world building.

E.g., someone might think it's chauvinist not to want to see so many female generals or whatever throughout the game, but that seems like a confusion of goals to me.
I don't look at TES with the expectation that I want my sister or wife (or myself for that matter) to live in this world, I want to see a compelling fictional world with its own rules. And when every society has more or less the same social conventions you'd encounter down the street, I think something is lost. When every race and culture has its share of female generals, the Orc's or Nord's supposed "equality of the sexes among their warriors" is diminished, the world becomes flatter and less interesting.
By all means, have your inclusion - but if you apply it indiscriminately, you turn the people of Tamriel into cultural mush. Maybe there's a reason both Alchemy and this new companion are both Altmer? That'll remain my headcanon for now.

The same is true for the similarities in political organization by the way (how many kings and queens does Tamriel really need?), but that would really get off topic.

[Edited quote]

VDoom1

I casually PvP from time to time, so I do appreciate more variety to the Battleground maps and the different modes etc. That is a good thing that's coming.

No mention of Cyrodiil was surprising and frankly disappointing....

Another good thing was the update to the original base game Coldharbour tutorial. Interesting to see the changes they made there.

Dahveed

Faulgor wrote: »

xclassgaming wrote: »

[Snip]

Hey, Vivec is non-binary so TES has been "woke" since TES 3. Hope this helps!

I really don't think this a point people who favor this sort of "inclusion" want to make. Same with the non-static sex of Daedric Princes.

All these instances in the older TES lore of gender non-conformity are reserved for Gods, Demigods, immortals, celestial beings, spirits, whatever - because they serve as a trait to make them seem weird. To give them characteristics that are not applicable to or possible for mortal humanoids. Even sex-mogrification of Argonians serves to show how weird and alien they are compared to humans.
So strange. So different. So interesting. But weird.

Therefore it's not at all surprising that TES3 also had sexual dimorphism in its character system. Transcending sex is for the Gods.

Personally, I prefered it this way. And you might say ah well that's just because you're some sort of conservative (lol), or molded by your backwards cultural upbringing. And while I'd agree that any stance you take on "inclusion" in a fictional world is somewhat colored by your own culture, my actual opinion on this matter is that indiscriminately transplanting the views and sensibilities of particular social strata of the modern day coastal US into the game has led to diminished world building.

E.g., someone might think it's chauvinist not to want to see so many female generals or whatever throughout the game, but that seems like a confusion of goals to me.
I don't look at TES with the expectation that I want my sister or wife (or myself for that matter) to live in this world, I want to see a compelling fictional world with its own rules. And when every society has more or less the same social conventions you'd encounter down the street, I think something is lost. When every race and culture has its share of female generals, the Orc's or Nord's supposed "equality of the sexes among their warriors" is diminished, the world becomes flatter and less interesting.
By all means, have your inclusion - but if you apply it indiscriminately, you turn the people of Tamriel into cultural mush. Maybe there's a reason both Alchemy and this new companion are both Altmer? That'll remain my headcanon for now.

The same is true for the similarities in political organization by the way (how many kings and queens does Tamriel really need?), but that would really get off topic.[/quote]

It's just CurrentYearism.

Taking current year political correctness and injecting it into fantasy (or film or whatever). We look back at old movies from 60 years ago and they look so strange and backwards - i.e., a husband slapping his wife hard across the face so she "pulls it together" was perfectly normal then but seems crazy now (with good reason). I'm sure 50 years from now (if WW3 doesn't break out) people will look back on our current zietgeist and recoil in horror at how backwards we are.

IMO we should just avoid the problem altogether and stop trying to virtue signal in video games.

Oh well, whatever. Hopefully this doesn't devolve into a big fat annoying political debate. As for ESO I just wish we had more customization options for the companions - for example hairstyles, tatoos, piercings and such. Even if they only applied to just my companion (i.e. I can see my customizations but other players can't, for the sake of performance etc.) I don't like the idea of so many identical Isobels all running around in the same fight, it looks ridiculous.

[Edited quote]

N00BxV1

There is now no doubt in my mind that someone at zos plays Destiny 2...

ESO Update 44 New Grimoire "Banner Bearer":

Banner Bearer is from the Support Skill Line and allows you to throw a banner on your back, leading the charge with an AoE buff to your group’s abilities that match your chosen Focus. No matter what shape your party takes, this new Grimoire will ensure you can give your allies the support they need!

Destiny 2 Strand Titan Aspect "Banner of War":

Defeat a target with a melee attack, finisher, or Sword to raise a Banner of War that pulses with energy, periodically healing nearby allies and increasing melee and Sword damage. Targets defeated by you and nearby allies charge the banner, increasing the speed of its pulses. A tattered banner, every tear and faded stitch a lesson you will not forget. As long as it still waves, you rise to meet any challenge.

Edit: To be clear, both of these abilities place a banner on your character's back that provides buffs to allies.

nbksaske

Did they say eso+ members will get more AP?