Holy moly I hate Grahtwood soooo much (rant)

Vulkunne · August 16

And yet people flock to it like crazy. I know. It's weird, isn't it?

Almost like a second Craglorn... almost.

AlienSlof · August 16

BretonMage wrote: »

Grahtwood gets a bad rap because it's the first zone with cliffs and unpassable rocks you encounter. By the time you get to the others you're more or less a seasoned ESO traveller lol. Northern Elsweyr still annoys me though.

The endless cliffs! They are so annoying! I can see where I want to go, but the cliffs force me to go around half the map to get there. I'm used to playing games where I can climb or fly over them!

I'm not a fan of any of the Valenwood areas; beautiful to look at, but a right pain to traverse.

LootAllTheStuff · August 16

Glenumbra, Bangkorai, and Rivenspire have their share of impassable cliffs, too. There's that one dolmen where, if you take the nearest wayshrine, it'll be done before you ever get there.

It's a bit like: "Here's a gigantic open world for you to explore! Wait, you can't go that way!"

Glorious_Platypus · August 16

LootAllTheStuff wrote: »

Glenumbra, Bangkorai, and Rivenspire have their share of impassable cliffs, too. There's that one dolmen where, if you take the nearest wayshrine, it'll be done before you ever get there.

It's a bit like: "Here's a gigantic open world for you to explore! Wait, you can't go that way!"

No it's a bit like "Here's an absolutely tiny game world for you to "explore" - So we've done everything we can to impede your progress through it to make it seem larger to you !"

Glorious_Platypus · August 16

Malabor Tor is actually incredible. Probably my favorite zone so far. Maybe even more than Summerset...?

I won't go that far yet LOL but it's close

GeneralGrundmann · August 16

I really don't get it that people complain about a realistic landscape.

Cliffs, rivers, boulders, dense trees, oceans, chasms... "natural barriers" exist in real life.

Personally I would go so far and would say they help making a landscape interesting and giving zones a kind of character.

Luckily the engine is unable to support flying mounts so we still have to learn how to traverse the terrain of the different zones on ground level.

And after you discovered all wayshrines in a zone, travelling gets much easier and faster anyway.

Edit for typo

Glorious_Platypus · August 16

GeneralGrundmann wrote: »

I really don't get it that people complain about a realistic landscape.

Cliffs, rivers, boulders, dense trees, rivers, oceans, chasms... "natural barriers" exist in real life.

Personally I would go so far and would say they help making a landscape interesting and giving zones a kind of character.

Luckily the engine is unable to support flying mounts so we still have to learn how to traverse the terrain of the different zones on ground level.

And after you discovered all wayshrines in a zone, travelling gets much easier and faster anyway.

Most places in real life don't have nearly the same density of cliffs, chasms and ravines as the areas in ESO. A valley formed by glacier action in Montana or something, would take you all day or multiple days to walk between sides of the valley.

It's really only National Parks, and even then, small portions within those parks, that might be attractive to hikers/tourists due to their density of natural features, be that canyons or waterfalls or something.

But in ESO it's just everywhere, all the time, always around the next corner. The whole continent of Tamriel is like that. It's very clearly not a sandbox, it's a themepark. Tamriel could be 10x larger in the game, and it would still be small compared to real life - but it would at least feel less cramped and less artificial as a result.

I dunno

GeneralGrundmann · August 16

Oh, that's something we can totally agree on!

Tamriel is a cramped theme park.

It's landscape is not natural realistic literally, but it has realistic natural elements.

And personally I like that approach and the consequences of this, like zones that are more difficult to traverse than others.

But like the thread opener declared, that thread is meant as a rant and other players share the thread openers point of view.

soldierofzion82 · August 16

My favorite zone is and always will be Auridon, but Grahtwood is great too. Eventually, you will find a home too.

katanagirl1 · August 17

BretonMage wrote: »

Grahtwood gets a bad rap because it's the first zone with cliffs and unpassable rocks you encounter. By the time you get to the others you're more or less a seasoned ESO traveller lol. Northern Elsweyr still annoys me though.

There are either unscalable cliffs or a deep ravine through the middle of the zone. Both are equally frustrating until you figure it out. The lack of topographic info on the map makes you think you can get around just fine, lol.

Malprave · August 17

The game’s original zones left a lot to be desired. I agree that these elven zones are some of the worst offenders.

Glorious_Platypus · August 17

Malprave wrote: »

The game’s original zones left a lot to be desired. I agree that these elven zones are some of the worst offenders.

Bro I went to Blackwood on my crafter/main and the zone is, like... literally lightyears ahead of anything I've seen so far. I only went to check out the house so I took the nearest wayshrine and I don't want to spoil the zone for myself too early but dude it is crazy beautiful. I also got distracted at Undertow Cavern which is right next to the wayshrine and I did the quest there and it was probably the most immersed I have been while playing ESO.

10/10, will return one day to finish the zone

BretonMage · August 18

katanagirl1 wrote: »

BretonMage wrote: »

Grahtwood gets a bad rap because it's the first zone with cliffs and unpassable rocks you encounter. By the time you get to the others you're more or less a seasoned ESO traveller lol. Northern Elsweyr still annoys me though.

There are either unscalable cliffs or a deep ravine through the middle of the zone. Both are equally frustrating until you figure it out. The lack of topographic info on the map makes you think you can get around just fine, lol.

The map could use better detail, for sure.

GeneralGrundmann · August 18

BretonMage wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

BretonMage wrote: »

Grahtwood gets a bad rap because it's the first zone with cliffs and unpassable rocks you encounter. By the time you get to the others you're more or less a seasoned ESO traveller lol. Northern Elsweyr still annoys me though.

There are either unscalable cliffs or a deep ravine through the middle of the zone. Both are equally frustrating until you figure it out. The lack of topographic info on the map makes you think you can get around just fine, lol.

The map could use better detail, for sure.

I am with both of you.

Especially as an ESO beginner its frustrating that the map is difficult to read.

For some players it might be immersion breaking, but a red line on the map showing impassable terrain or a black dotted line (less immersion breaking) doing the same, might reduce travel irritation.

Umbracat449 · August 18

Yes, i hated grahtwood too, navigating it is awful. Really awful.

(Graht as in cart)

But most of all I hate that bird they have on repeat endlessly. I have to mute the game if I go there.

SilverIce58 · August 18

Glorious_Platypus wrote: »

Malprave wrote: »

The game’s original zones left a lot to be desired. I agree that these elven zones are some of the worst offenders.

Bro I went to Blackwood on my crafter/main and the zone is, like... literally lightyears ahead of anything I've seen so far. I only went to check out the house so I took the nearest wayshrine and I don't want to spoil the zone for myself too early but dude it is crazy beautiful. I also got distracted at Undertow Cavern which is right next to the wayshrine and I did the quest there and it was probably the most immersed I have been while playing ESO.

10/10, will return one day to finish the zone

If you like Swampy zones, I highly recommend Murkmire. The story is one of the best in game, very self-contained, so you don't really need to do anything before going there besides the prerequisite quest maybe, and in my humble opinion one of the best looking zones (for a swamp hehehe). I regularly travel the place with my new Argonians to give them somewhere nice to enjoy away from the hustle and bustle of the Alliances. The Dominus Fatum is one of my all-time favorite locales 😍.