ESO BEST ZONE COMPETITION TETRAFINALS ROUND 2 - VOTE'S CLOSED

Tyrion87

Summerset

I will never understand people's obsession with Wrothgar. Aesthetically it is a well-made zone, especially the northern part with snow and frozen waters, but I didn't find questing there that much enjoyable as many people claim. For me quests in Wrothgar were boring, bland, stale and - to some extent - predictable, especially main questline - so glorified by many on this forum.

Summerset, on the other hand, has many memorable moments, absorbing and 'fresh' questline, both main and side, and visually it is, in my opinion, the most beautiful zone in the entire game so far.

Megatto

Wrothgar

I'm choosing the zones purely based on looks. I've always prefered the cold north over the warm south

Aelorin

Summerset

I really love Worhtgar but Elves > Orcs, any day

Darkstorne

Wrothgar

I can't forgive ZOS for the laziness of making every city in Summerset use identical architecture. No sense of character or history to any of them. Imagine if every city in TESV Skyrim looked exactly like Whiterun. That's what ZOS did with Summerset. It's why I'm so glad Chapters focus on one or two cities at a time since then, so they can do the places justice.

Which city from Summerset is this?

Correct answer:

All of them

Especially frustrating when their own concept art map showed such an amazing crystalline version of Alinor:

I guess they needed more time

Pretty environment design though, I'll give them that

Olauron

Summerset

For me Wrothgar main quest and public quest are quests impossible to finish as non of my characters would actively help daedric worshippers (especially Malacath worshippers).

Edit:

Darkstorne wrote: »

Which city from Summerset is this?

That is definitely Shimmerene as that is the place of set crafting stations (approximately).

Darkstorne

Wrothgar

Olauron wrote: »

That is definitely Shimmerene as that is the place of set crafting stations (approximately).

And that's how you know - not by the architecture, but the layout. Summerset features one city design, in several different layouts.

Edit: It's especially odd when you see how much love they poured into Morrowind's Chapter, with unique architecture for Vivec, Balmora, Ald'Ruhn, Sadrith Mora, and Seyda Neen. So much variety! And the detail of Vivec's mosaic ceilings and the carapace of Skar at Ald'Ruhn is stunning. I don't know how that art team suddenly switches to "You know what? Just copy/paste this one building style absolutely everywhere. That'll do."

Olauron

Summerset

Darkstorne wrote: »

Olauron wrote: »

That is definitely Shimmerene as that is the place of set crafting stations (approximately).

And that's how you know - not by the architecture, but the layout. Summerset features one city design, in several different layouts.

By the bridge, staples, etc. Just like I will see the difference of Daggerfall, Wayrest, Evermore; Vulkhen Guard, Velyn Harbor, Haven. I know I will not see the difference of Kragenmoor and Narsis, especially if screenshot is taken from uncommon angle. Morkul and Fharun in Wrothgar are rather non-distinguishable to me.

January1171

Summerset

Darkstorne wrote: »

Olauron wrote: »

That is definitely Shimmerene as that is the place of set crafting stations (approximately).

And that's how you know - not by the architecture, but the layout. Summerset features one city design, in several different layouts.

Edit: It's especially odd when you see how much love they poured into Morrowind's Chapter, with unique architecture for Vivec, Balmora, Ald'Ruhn, Sadrith Mora, and Seyda Neen. So much variety! And the detail of Vivec's mosaic ceilings and the carapace of Skar at Ald'Ruhn is stunning. I don't know how that art team suddenly switches to "You know what? Just copy/paste this one building style absolutely everywhere. That'll do."

Lorewise, it makes sense to me why Summerset would have the same architecture between cities. It has only recently been open to outsiders, so historically it has been very isolated. It is also populated by altmer, who are dedicated to the legacy of their ancestors and making things perfect, not outright changing things. So it makes sense to me that when building cities/etc, they would keep all of the styles the same.

Olauron

Summerset

Darkstorne wrote: »

Edit: It's especially odd when you see how much love they poured into Morrowind's Chapter, with unique architecture for Vivec, Balmora, Ald'Ruhn, Sadrith Mora, and Seyda Neen. So much variety! And the detail of Vivec's mosaic ceilings and the carapace of Skar at Ald'Ruhn is stunning. I don't know how that art team suddenly switches to "You know what? Just copy/paste this one building style absolutely everywhere. That'll do."

There is variety on Vvardenfell because Morrowind is not united. Ashlanders and Telvanni, Hlaalu and Indoril, all of them are opposing others. Imperial Seyda Neen is a result of dragon break.

Wow

Summerset

Summerset wins for me Wrothgar is nice and very well made, but summerset definitely got my vote

SeaGtGruff

Summerset

It looks like this is going to be another close vote.

I was very tempted to vote for Wrothgar, but I eventually went with Summerset because I think it offers a bit more variety in terms of repeatable content-- delves, public dungeons, group bosses, etc. It was mainly the geysers that tipped the scales in favor of Summerset.

Narvuntien

Summerset

I played summerset again recently on a new character, I didn't remember just how intense the stories were. Family, deaths, murderous abuse, plagues, forbidden love, what it means to be yourself time paradoxes it just has everything.

The beauty is obvious but the storytelling was effecting.

Solid_Metal

Wrothgar

THIS IS HARRRRDD !

i personally love how vertical overall landmass and city of the wrothgar, but aesthetically speaking, summerset is much more vibrant and beautiful, while snow covered wrothgar at some point become "dull"

January1171

Summerset

And the vote is tied!

Starlock

Summerset

I like Wrothgar. It set the template upon which future Chapter expansions would model - and most critically, improve upon. Summerset in every way is an improvement upon the template Wrothgar established. It's true that some are going to aesthetically prefer the visuals or story of one zone or the other, but from a technical/design standpoint, Summerset is no contest. The only thing I feel you might be able to argue in Wrothgar's favor is that at the time, it was innovative. Summerset follows and builds upon the template Wrothgar established, but adds far less in terms of new innovations.

Of course, I also just like the Altmer better, as a people, than the Orsimer. And I was beyond thrilled to see an issue of great importance to me actually represented in an RPG - that I did find fresh and innovative. There were also other stories that were equally fresh and innovative. The story in Ebon Standmont? That's some amazing piece of work. The tale in the Illumination Academy? Fantastic. The Direnni Acropolis? Masterful. Sea Keep? And it just goes on and on like that for Summerset...

Reverb

Wrothgar

Thank you @Saucy_Jack for keeping things interesting

Nyladreas

Wrothgar

Wrothgar stole my heart.

snoozy

Summerset

no question here

snoozy

Summerset

elves > orcs

Nord_Raseri

Wrothgar

Wrothgar is more than enough summer for me.

Dark_Lord_Kuro

Summerset

I never understood what people like so much about wrothgar

Reverb

Wrothgar

Tied dead even

Puzzlenuts

Wrothgar

Another close one. Fun

CassandraGemini

Wrothgar

How can Wrothgar have 50% right now, and Summerset 49? What happened to that last percent? Shouldn't it be 51 and 49?

January1171

Summerset

CassandraGemini wrote: »

How can Wrothgar have 50% right now, and Summerset 49? What happened to that last percent? Shouldn't it be 51 and 49?

I think it's because of the forums not rounding percentages- it's really 50.84% and 49.16% (rounded to the 10th)

January1171

Summerset

Side note: I'm much too emotionally invested in this vote. I keep checking every five minutes haha

CassandraGemini

Wrothgar

January1171 wrote: »

CassandraGemini wrote: »

How can Wrothgar have 50% right now, and Summerset 49? What happened to that last percent? Shouldn't it be 51 and 49?

I think it's because of the forums not rounding percentages- it's really 50.84% and 49.16% (rounded to the 10th)

Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Would've probably seen that myself if I had actually bothered to look at the number of votes, instead of just the percentages.

And I know what you mean, I keep checking all the time, too. I think it's pretty awesome how close the last two rounds were.

January1171

Summerset

CassandraGemini wrote: »

January1171 wrote: »

CassandraGemini wrote: »

How can Wrothgar have 50% right now, and Summerset 49? What happened to that last percent? Shouldn't it be 51 and 49?

I think it's because of the forums not rounding percentages- it's really 50.84% and 49.16% (rounded to the 10th)

Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Would've probably seen that myself if I had actually bothered to look at the number of votes, instead of just the percentages.

And I know what you mean, I keep checking all the time, too. I think it's pretty awesome how close the last two rounds were.

You'd think it would be able to round to the nearest percent, but apparently not

pod88kk

Wrothgar

Very close but Wrothgar just gets it by a nose. A massive beautiful area, loads to explore, a fun storyline and Maelstrom

ArchMikem

Summerset

So I really dislike Elves in general, but Summerset had some pretty neat questlines AND the environment was gorgeous in places, and I'm biased toward exploration.