How do you feel about the Colossal Aldmeri Grotto?

Ajaxandriel

I'm asking about the relevance of said (future) homestead, as an estate itself and as an estate meant for the Summerset Chapter.

The question is all about the choice of design - not really how far you will buy it ^^ (one can expect the higher you rank it, the more likely you are to buy, minus the budget restrictions )

(I may explain my own opinion on this later)

-edit- Here we go

Ajaxandriel wrote: »

To sum up my thoughts, I like realistic houses with "credible" landscape and furnishing, "custom places" that can match with actual outdoor spaces of Tamriel. Moreover, I'm quite fond of Altmer (my main charas and other alt are high elves) and the global design of Summerset Isle seems right to me.
So I was really wanting to buy a big house in Summerset. But given this choice of design... I may not buy, idk

Sure, the Colossal Grotto will find some public for it, since some people are voting "fantastic !"
But I'm disappointed that ZOS design team chosed this one for La house of the summerset chapter. Well, to speak frankly, this grotto is underwhelming for some reasons.

* The current item limitation to 700 slots (with ESO+) , you know that already.
- still making such huge projects a bit pointless...
- moreover this space is not divided between interior-exterior, making it harder for later solutions...

* The dark "roof" of rock all over the bay
- the biggest problem as I see it
- bad feeling of confinement / Sword of Damocles over
- blatant lack of sunlight and sky for a house meant for Altmer !
- "unrealistic" impression, but not in a good sense...
- the place would be beautiful and scenic if it were a simple or multiple arch(s) instead (and overhangs, like in Shark's Teeth Grotto)

Examples of real-life grottos in Vietnam - compare the "amount of sky" over the place

* The dungeon-like design
- wrecks, wrecks everywhere ! Oh my auri-el ! ... it is a landfill !!
- with its insane height, its paths, the grotto mimics the public dungeon on the north coast. Could count as a good point
- but the nice "adventure zone!" feeling is pointless with the current furnishing system and its lack of any tool for actual "sandbox/player content"



* The "building-friendliness" : very low
- all vertical
- very few paths
- almost not any "free ground" to use
- will incite owners to put unrealistic "levitating" plancks everywhere ; if I want to build a credible scaffolds, I can't see how, with the current material

* The ship-themed house mixed-up together with dungeon-cove at once instead of any more relevant estate for Altmer
- okay such a place may seem legit lorewise, but there were soooo many estates that would have been more relevant before this one
- so, with the new inn room and Alinor Crest townhouse, no house is even providing us with GARDENS in Summerset?!
- not any actual estate in Summerset?!
- I mean, ZOS, what were you thinking?

* We will be waiting for a redguard-themed ship homestead
- people looking for a ship didn't ask for such an "overkill" home
- like many players I was expecting a pirate themed house to be focused on Redguard context
- I'm in love with the Shark's Teeth Grotto (one of your best designed place imo) for its ambient, the "patina" of its buildings (cob, stones...)
- so, with the "choice" of an aldmeri grotto..... it may never happen now ...and that's feeling sad

* of course - to end with - the foreseeable overprice (for a mere virtual sub-content of an expansion etc. etc.) that will be weighing up on par with a not-so-good impression about the product...

VaranisArano

If you want a ship, picturesque open air ruins, and bleached coral, this is the house for you.

If you don't, well, its a basic ship, open air ruins that don't really lend themselves to being anything but picturesque, and boring bleached coral.

On the PTS, I messed around since crowns were no object and made the ruins into a flower-filled funeral crypt for members of the Altmer royal family and added a bunch of the colored coral to the coral forest to spice it up and make the waters less empty.

tralmekub17_ESO

Nice, but would be better if something change (explain what you'd like to do inside and how they could improve)

I explored it yesterday, and it's nice, but there are some problems that would make me hesitant to purchase it when it becomes available.

When decorating, it could certainly use some ramps to make more areas explorable so that's not really a problem.

This house continues to suffer from the same problems as previous oceanfront homes, which is the inaccessibility of islands that are clearly within its zone. I was able to make it past the slaughterfish and make my way to two, but that's just inconvenient.

This home has more swimmable ocean than any other I've explored, but, like the others, could still use some sort of signal--this could probably be done with furniture--when you're reaching the slaughterfish.

The ship and the view are probably the two biggest selling points in my opinion. The ruins are cool, but fairly useless. I was hoping for at least one habitable room, or a small cave to explore, something to give just a little more dimension to the place.

That said, perhaps there's not another room or a cave, because there is so very much space that can be decorated/furnished already. It would be extraordinarily easy to hit the housing item limit and not even be halfway through decorating.

TL;DR
Good: Ship, pretty ruins & waterfalls, swimmable ocean
Bad: near-inaccessible islands, slaughterfish too close to land, no good indoor space on land, item limit too low.

Woefulmonkey

Well I think the place looks great, but I have no intention of buying another 100$+ home at this time.

I have nothing against Zos selling these 'expensive' homes since they help bring in revenue for actual game development work.

However, it would be nice if they added some new small/medium homes that you can buy 'furnished' with in game gold or at least for under 20$.

It seems like recently everything is either a super massive home that costs 100 'real' dollars or a tiny box apartment.

Not everyone wants to have to decorate a 10 acer estate but that does not mean they only want a single room that can only hold 30 items either.

duendology

if it had Jack Sparrow...I might buy it

Aliyavana

Quite bad ! This house is a blatant failure...(explain why, what should have been done instead)

too big

Wildberryjack

Not that good, the house kind of missed the point (explain why, what should have been done instead)

I voted that it missed the point. We asked for a ship house and sure it is, but, we didn't want all the rest of it, all the land. We wanted ONLY a ship. Better yet, one we could move around to all of the major ports, a traveling house. This one being in a grotto kinda defeats the purpose of it being a boat.

megajra

Nice, but would be better if something change (explain what you'd like to do inside and how they could improve)

I loved it on youtube videos but when I went them by myself it lost part of it's charm, it's too vertical (it's too much effort/time to climb up), I don't think I would ever go to the top after decorating it.

Caelnir

Nice, but would be better if something change (explain what you'd like to do inside and how they could improve)

DjinnRa wrote: »

I voted that it missed the point. We asked for a ship house and sure it is, but, we didn't want all the rest of it, all the land. We wanted ONLY a ship. Better yet, one we could move around to all of the major ports, a traveling house. This one being in a grotto kinda defeats the purpose of it being a boat.

Ofcourse that would be great but creating a moving house is not possible as I am guessing. So having it in such cave is nice touch. I am only disappointed by amount of land you get with it. I really, really dislike gigantic houses they have been releasing for last a year now.

duendology

I think the ship could have been bigger, much, much, much, much bigger... more massive (like Black Pearl kind of massive )... and less land around it ..

duendology

And I agree.. it seems hilarious to me.. each house is bigger. (the item number cap doesn't change though). I wouldn't be surprised at all if at some point ZOS released a house on an island the size of Summerset or something lol :P And the price...oh imagine the price :P

TankinatorFR

Not that good, the house kind of missed the point (explain why, what should have been done instead)

When I have heard about a boat house in an old aldmery hideout, I imagined some aldmer buildings with a boat in front of them, in a really narrow valley, or maybe under a rocky overhang.
But no. In fact, the boat is the smallest part. It is mostly a cavern, and also lots of ship wreck ; and ruins.
By the way, that is strange. if it is a safe harbour, then, why is there so many wrecks ? And who ever think it would be a good idea to put a wreck on top of a cliff to use it as a building instead of actually building something ?
To big, to strange, to oddly designed. It is a beautiful fantasy, but nothing more. At least in my opinion.
It is just not what I wanted.
I wanted a boat in a small harbour.

Also, it is so immense... If at least it was smaller, maybe I could deal with it, but I don't want to run five minute each time I want to go in my character's bedroom, or in the crafting-tables room.

I just hope that, some day, we will get something like a boat with a small dock. Maybe a building (building, not ruins) on the dock, or a place to build it at least. Also lots of rooms, I do love houses with lots of smalls and mediums rooms.

In fact, something "realistic and simple", while I am starting to think that they will only realise "oversized fantasy".
Maybe Alinor Crest Townhouse is a sign of hope ?

thirdgirl

I played with it on the PTS and like it but probably won't buy it. I don't think there's anything wrong with it, it's just not for me. For one thing, it has features (water falls, cavern, water, ruins) that overlap with some of my other houses, and I'm more interested in using the new furnishings to integrate those kinds of things (ruins!) into a couple of my existing houses. I'm also not big into ships or decorating living spaces. I usually end up doing something more conceptual, and I can't come up with a concept for the grotto to save my life.

I love the size though, and even though the color palette and atmospheric feel is a bit too early 19th century landscape painting for my taste, I appreciate the work they put into the environment. It has all kinds of interesting nooks and crannies, views and vistas, and you could do a lot with it. I just can't think of anything to do there that I haven't done elsewhere. Plus I'm already having a hard time affording my expensive statue/achievement furnishing habit, cough, and it's taking forever to finish the other homes I have. The large homes with extravagant environments are my hands down favorites, but it costs a lot of gold to furnish them. Maybe that's a good thing; it extends the hours of play I get out of them, which makes better value for money.

Hopefully they'll feel encouraged to do another kind or size of ship. It must have been hard, even impossible, to come up with one ship that would satisfy everyone. I'm sure everyone has a really different idea of what makes the perfect ship.

Oberick

Nice, but would be better if something change (explain what you'd like to do inside and how they could improve)

The "tower" should have been accessible on the inside. And maybe an indoors room/s somewhere in the ruins.

Wreuntzylla

The bigger picture here is that ZoS is actually responding to requests. People have been asking for a grotto/cove/etc. and pirate ship since the release of housing.

Not what you personally want? Sure, I get that. However, when ZoS actually does something right, we need to give credit where credit is due. Otherwise, they will give up and just make fairy tale manors with blooms of color and glitter...

Enrif

Fantastic ! exactly what I was expecting (explain what you'd plan to do inside)

I actually love it!

sure would be nice to have a ship that's a little bit bigger or a little better ruins, but for my purposes it's perfect. A stealthy hideout in an ancient ruin. And with the coming Nocturnal statue i will devote it to a Daedra Shrine of her. The Thief of the Seas, in Lady Lucks Name

Jhalin

Fantastic ! exactly what I was expecting (explain what you'd plan to do inside)

It’s very picturesque. If you’re after a house-house, then yeah it might now be what you want, but personally I plan on turning the entire thing into one massive smugglers cove, so it’ll suit my needs just fine

My only complaint is the 700 item cap >.> i’m gonna have to get really creative to fill that space

Heru_Elrin

Nice, but would be better if something change (explain what you'd like to do inside and how they could improve)

I actually love the ruins more than the ship. I can see myself doing a lot with this place but would ask that they do away with the furnishing limit all together. It’s such a large environment that I am not sure how one is suppose to use all the space for the purpose of making a home there...especially for those who are looking to use the place as a guild base.

I have noticed that rendering in summerset has proven an issue. Often times when I arrive buildings and structures are pixelated. Not enough server strength I would imagine to process all that is going on. I can understand why allowing more spaces for finishing is proving difficult. Of course how long has Zenimax been making games? I should think we could have moved passed the technical issues but I digress.

Back to the Grotto. I was a bit disappointed at the ship grave yard...like adding trash to someone’s back yard. And the weird rock formations...I would probably spend much on greens to cover them up. But space is the issue here. Yeah, the ship is no dream boat for sure...but the ruin I give two thumbs up. I will be thinking about purchasing it as my second home.

Keep up the good work guys...but keep pushing forward.

MonkLoHan

Not that good, the house kind of missed the point (explain why, what should have been done instead)

I voted "Not that good". Its just a big space that will serve as just a blank canvas for the "Chip and Joanna's" of ESO create stuff.

I think it would have been waaaaaaay better had they made a smaller "One Eyed Willie" type grotto like what was in the Goonies.

Dystopia2020

Meh, something have to change to be worth (explain what you were expecting)

Would need a higher item limit before I would consider a place this size.

zTrok

Not that good, the house kind of missed the point (explain why, what should have been done instead)

I really like the overall design of the place and all the overall texture albeit it looking significantly better on a good PC with ultra high graphics than it's sorta blurry textures you can get at a distance on the one X during my testing. The overall structure is very nice, and the boat is just that, a boat.

My hesitance comes from the idea that this is more of a ruin house (like Pariah's Pinnacle) with lots of ivy and a general overgrown feel, with a boat tacked on to it. I personally just feel that they could have made two separate houses one being a ship, and the other being this Aldmeri Grotto but both of them being more fleshed out. The issue with the ruins is the lack of real interior space. Just an opinion though

LadyAstrum

I like it, but a boat-only option would be nice. I feel it's typical of ZoS that people have been wanting a boat house, but then they put it in a big attached area that will put it out of reach for many people.

Just put a boat house in a dock somewhere, ZoS, maybe with a small beach so it's classed as a medium house available for gold. Is it that hard?

I like the grotto but won't be buying it. I rule-out all crown only houses because I have to use my money on more vital things.

MajesticHaruki

Sick and tired of the extremely low furnishing cap. Period

TelvanniWizard

Not that good, the house kind of missed the point (explain why, what should have been done instead)

The boat´s good, The cave sucks.

G1Countdown

Not that good, the house kind of missed the point (explain why, what should have been done instead)

I feel like ZOS is so busy trying to rack in the money from these crown store items that they forget (or choose to not acknowledge) that there isn't enough furnishing slots in the game to fill that place up.

I also feel that people for a long long time have been asking for a a ship as a home. I think that's where ZOS missed the point. People have been asking for a ship as a home. Not a giant grotto where the ship gets lost in the giant zone. Maybe I'm wrong?

Wildberryjack

Not that good, the house kind of missed the point (explain why, what should have been done instead)

Really I just wanted a ship house. I don't want all that land, just a ship at the dock of a major city.

Linaleah

Fantastic ! exactly what I was expecting (explain what you'd plan to do inside)

I adore it, becasue its absolutely perfect for my pirate/smuggler Khajiit sorc. she has a little land smuggling operation in Sleek Creek house (she's been... well kicked out by her family and community for misbehavior shall we say and it tickles her to have a skooma den right under their noses anyways - its that whole motivated by spite thing)

that said, one must still travel to smuggle things so ship being her actual home (with sleek creek just being a place where she can stay when she is conducting her land operations), in that harbor right under the snooty elf noses, with some of aforementioned snooty elves, secretly her customers.. well that is just perfect.

I plan on making a ship into a comfortable, lush home for her and the rest is going to have small areas with trophies and small playgrounds - for particularly distinguished customers, who of course don't get to see exactly where the little hideout is. for safety reasons, you understand?

normally I'm not much for gigantic ruinous places, but this particular one just.. works for me, for all of the above reasons. and one might say "but earthtear? " not entirely the same, and part of that reason IS a ship.

Madhattr64

Fantastic ! exactly what I was expecting (explain what you'd plan to do inside)

Love it.

Shadow_Akula

Fantastic ! exactly what I was expecting (explain what you'd plan to do inside)

After looking around the place, the grotto grew on me, I see a lot of potential for my ideas. My first main idea would be to focus on fortifying it into my own private Safe harbour? Safe port? Safe ship shelter! I get that the ship wrecks put some people off, saying that it makes it feel unsafe but I think it makes it safer by having the ship wrecking reputation, less prying eyes, less pirates invading, etc. and I think one can’t get shipwrecked if one knows those waters well.
Afterwards maybe I’ll try building some structures test how well things go together... Perhaps continue the themes of my Shadowfall Overlook....

Ajaxandriel

Meh, something have to change to be worth (explain what you were expecting)

To sum up my thoughts, I like realistic houses with "credible" landscape and furnishing, "custom places" that can match with actual outdoor spaces of Tamriel. Moreover, I'm quite fond of Altmer (my main charas and other alt are high elves) and the global design of Summerset Isle seems right to me.
So I was really wanting to buy a big house in Summerset. But given this choice of design... I may not buy, idk

Sure, the Colossal Grotto will find some public for it, since some people are voting "fantastic !"
But I'm disappointed that ZOS design team chosed this one for La house of the summerset chapter. Well, to speak frankly, this grotto is underwhelming for some reasons.

* The current item limitation to 700 slots (with ESO+) , you know that already.
- still making such huge projects a bit pointless...
- moreover this space is not divided between interior-exterior, making it harder for later solutions...

* The dark "roof" of rock all over the bay
- the biggest problem as I see it
- bad feeling of confinement / Sword of Damocles over
- blatant lack of sunlight and sky for a house meant for Altmer !
- "unrealistic" impression, but not in a good sense...
- the place would be beautiful and scenic if it were a simple or multiple arch(s) instead (and overhangs, like in Shark's Teeth Grotto)

Examples of real-life grottos in Vietnam - compare the "amount of sky" over the place

* The dungeon-like design
- wrecks, wrecks everywhere ! Oh my auri-el ! ... it is a landfill !!
- with its insane height, its paths, the grotto mimics the public dungeon on the north coast. Could count as a good point
- but the nice "adventure zone!" feeling is pointless with the current furnishing system and its lack of any tool for actual "sandbox/player content"



* The "building-friendliness" : very low
- all vertical
- very few paths
- almost not any "free ground" to use
- will incite owners to put unrealistic "levitating" plancks everywhere ; if I want to build a credible scaffolds, I can't see how, with the current material

* The ship-themed house mixed-up together with dungeon-cove at once instead of any more relevant estate for Altmer
- okay such a place may seem legit lorewise, but there were soooo many estates that would have been more relevant before this one
- so, with the new inn room and Alinor Crest townhouse, no house is even providing us with GARDENS in Summerset?!
- not any actual estate in Summerset?!
- I mean, ZOS, what were you thinking?

* We will be waiting for a redguard-themed ship homestead
- people looking for a ship didn't ask for such an "overkill" home
- like many players I was expecting a pirate themed house to be focused on Redguard context
- I'm in love with the Shark's Teeth Grotto (one of your best designed place imo) for its ambient, the "patina" of its buildings (cob, stones...)
- so, with the "choice" of an aldmeri grotto..... it may never happen now ...and that's feeling sad

* of course - to end with - the foreseeable overprice (for a mere virtual sub-content of an expansion etc. etc.) that will be weighing up on par with a not-so-good impression about the product...

Defeatist

Nice, but would be better if something change (explain what you'd like to do inside and how they could improve)

@Ajaxandriel

You hit the issues present with this house on the head, I agree with almost all of your critiques of this house. That being said I still am interested in designing this house. There some redeeming qualities to the Grotto and I've got some interesting ideas for how to utilize the space while (hopefully) remaining inside the housing limit.

Since the launch of housing I'd been interested in a seeing ZoS offer a seaside or coastal themed house and no, Hunding's Palatial is more of a spa than a beach house. The dreamy coral setting that Summerset introduced appeals quite a bit to me and the new furnishings have expanded possible strategies for decorating.

The beach and bay below is perfect in terms of being a beautiful and dreamy ocean scene and I would probably build some elaborate, massive coral forest with that area maybe a sunset viewing area on the far islet. The ruins interesting too, I appreciate the fact that there is directionality and verticality to them, you find yourself weaving upward from region to region through the house instead of wandering a palatial sprawl like in the Princely Dawnlight Palace (that was one of the reasons I turned it down). There's potential for each of the areas in the ruins, the spaces are unique, and although there aren't "rooms" in the traditional sense, these could easily be open air rooms or have barriers added if you're into privacy and stuff. The accessible wreck at the peak of the home seems like it would make a great kitchens and a servant's quarters fits well on the lower level.

On the other hand, your observations are absolutely correct. The house is perpetually hazy; there is no time of day during which the house appears clear or illuminated. Tilt your camera angle upward and you find the ceiling is gloomy and mottled looking with poorly applied vegetation. It's amusing that many folks would do away with the cove because for my purposes I'd rather do away with the boat. Either way, ZOS tried to appease too many different player expectations with a single house and failed in doing so. Additionally, there are ship wrecks everywhere. There are wrecks in places that defy the laws of nature. And unlike unwanted foliage, the wrecks cannot be removed. The excessive number of wrecks leads into my next point which is that the Grotto is overall too visually busy: too many wrecks, rocky protrusions, cave formations, sporadic coral clumps, and gangling ceiling vegetation.

So in conclusion, while I am overall a fan of the house, she sure is a fixer-upper.