Greymoor writing is disappointing and probably the least interesting to date (spoilers)

BlueRaven

I wrote about the weak story a while ago in another thread.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/532915/greymoors-story-and-how-it-could-have-been-better-heavy-spoilers#latest

A common complaint about Greymoor is that the story was the least interesting of the DLC's thus far. Not because of the subject itself, but in the rather predictable story that seemed very simple compared to past DLC's. I just thought I would post my ideas to make the story better by making giving the characters a bit more depth and fixing some of the other elements that are bothering me in the game's world.

Obviously these are just my opinions. (And spoilers.)

High King Svargrim

Basically most of the games story's issues fall on the rather two dimensional depiction of the Western Skyrim's king. In the game he is depicted as a two dimensional bad guy who has a lust for power (vampire), why exactly he is willing to destroy his kingdom to become a vampire lord is not really explored. It's simply written off that he is mad for power. Other dlc's handled a king going bad much better, such as Wrothgar, here it just falls flat mainly because it is so telegraphed that the king is a bad guy, that the player is waiting to see what the actual twist will be. Only to learn later that there is in fact no twist.

However, what if there King had some cause to think his kingdom was in trouble? What if there WAS actual reports of Eastern Skyrim troops amassing near the border? This could easily have been done with a quest that showed the troops were actually vampires dressed as Eastern Skyrim's troops, in fact what if the vampires that take over Karthwatch were dressed as Eastern Skyrim troops to add to that paranoia. THEN the kings motivation in becoming vampire becomes more of a devils bargain. He wants/plots to become a Vampire lord to get power to SAVE his kingdom from a threat of invasion from the Ebonheart Pact, but the whole thing is a trick. And ends up becoming a pawn of the true vampire lord.

Queen Gerhyld

Another problem character who is only briefly shown in game. The king has her killed quite early and without any remorse or anger. Was this a loveless marriage the whole time? The game does not present itself that way. When did the King actually stop loving his family and his kingdom?

Again a better way of having her killed would have been if the Vampire assassin was disguised as an Ebonheart Pack member. Again reinforcing the kings paranoia of an imminent attack.

Also was I alone in thinking the queen was going to turn on us at one point? A nice plot twist would have been if a vampire were to mesmerize the queen making her do a complete 180 in how she treats us. Not essential for the plot but I was a bit surprised that a vampires mesmorize ability basically did not become a plot device somewhere in the story line.

Princess Svana

So the only child of the King and Queen just gets left to her own devices? She feels left out and just goes to a tavern all day? I would have thought the only child of the King and Queen would have been much more spoiled and dotted upon. Instead she seems depressed as she is left out of most of the royal dealings.

To me this makes zero sense, unless... Princess Svana has an older sibling. An older sibling (making the Princess NOT next inline to become ruler) would make her disenfranchisement from the royal court much more believable. She goes along with the Vestige as a way of helping her kingdom yes, but ALSO to show up the older sibling. AND if the older sibling is also willing to become a vampire along with their father, and their transformation is not as successful (becoming a feral vampire instead), then the King Svargrim's rage at his bad decision in becoming a vampire becomes the reason why he needs to be stopped. Instead of thinking clearly he starts attacking everything and the vestige has to put him down.

Princess Svana arc then becomes a bit more interesting. She goes from someone who did not expect to ever lead, to being the sole surviving member of her royal family with leadership thrust upon her. And another interesting twist could have been if she becomes paralyzed in indecision because of the events, creating a (temporary) drama in the court as others players start vying for power during the crisis. THEN having Princess Svana step up and become a leader becomes much more satisfying.

Blackreach

First let me say visually I love the zone, BUT there are WAAAAY too many people down there. The zone should have been much more devoid of above ground interaction.This is a mythical area that is shrouded in legend. There are too many people for me to believe that this area is a secret, nor that it will be forgotten. So how do we fix it?

Dusk Town

Eliminate it. Just start over. The town makes little sense to me.
First how are they getting food? Where is it grown? And if it is being carted from above THEN even MORE people know about the town and Blackreach. And why is there traditional Nord structures down there? Did they really bring all this wood all the way down there? Wouldn't they just find a dry sub-cave and set up there? It's just too much.

Now I understand the area does need a quest hub, so here is a better idea.

Make the quest hub the survivors of the Karthwatch attack. They basically run to a cave or barrow and become trapped in this legendary area. Suddenly the quests of this hub becomes helping them get help (food, medical injuries), find other survivors in Blackreach, and then getting all of them out. I can see it playing out a bit like Bleakrock Isle story arc, and not a weird Ghost hunters story. (There seems to be spirits everywhere in ESO, is anyone really doubting they exist?)

As for the rest of the caverns, quest starters could have been mysteriously malfunctioning dwemer devices, a vampire wanting to leave the bad guy vampires (and maybe joining Ravenwatch?) and the like. You don't need people from above ground giving out quests down there.

Falmer

It also surprised me how little the game goes into them, lore wise. It seems like they were almost an afterthought as so little is talked about them. They exist surrounding Dusk Town, but no one there seems to care or at least seem a bit creeped out about them. When people go missing, I would thought that the Falmer would be their chief concern, but apparently not.

Why this is I don't know, but why more history of the Falmer was not brought up. even in a side quest, seems bizarre to me. I could come up with some quest ideas, but really they should be pretty obvious.

•••

Looking back at it, Greymoor has aged even more poorly then I feared. The story is so listless it’s just surprising. The Morrowind -> Clockwork -> Summerset quest series was so good, it pains me to think that this is where we are now. The next chapter will definitely be a sign if the writing is truly gone, or if Greymoor is just an aberration.

Ratinira

With Markaerh prologue I start loving Verandis even less....

Didn't like him in vanilla story, as I have the feeling that zos were trying hard to show how good he is but he has his village (and I believe that is his village as whom else may belong a village right near counts castle) all turned into bloodfiends and he doesn't care about it at all. His villagers are trying to eat me each time I am passing by! And during main zone quest I didn't have the feeling that he is very eager to fix consequevnes of his actions (not until they became just impossible to ignore).


And with all his suffering in prologue "oh, someone suffer because of me, I shouldn't hurt anyone, I will stop my research so no one get hurt bla-bla..." I just... It was a nice start with a someone you (should) think is good is not good... but it was very clear that it wont last for for long. Good is good, no options, no twists....
Cannot stop seeng V. as a big "fanservice" with nothing else behind. Maybe, maybe Markarth will change something but I am very-very-very sceptical about it.

My hope that their new writer can/should/able/allowed to do something really interresting and unexpected is more dead then alive

Raideen

Clockwork was my favorite story line. Game needs more Sotha Sil.