Is Blackwood a flop?

Gorem

Blackwood is a strike out IMO

-CP changes are garbage, i think the dev had a mild stroke, not even worth any effort grinding for to many slot Ables and not anywhere near enough passives
-Companions great idea Failed Launch Companions should only be allowed outside dungeons and trials
-Blackwood zone is okay not to big and not to small the gates of oblivion are a nice replacement for Dolmens
-Cities and quests are very nice easy to do both
-mythic items are a nice upgrade to the disaster Mythics previously released, some mythic items are so bad they shouldn't even be in the game.

Overall
is this chapter worth the money- no.
is this chapter better than the previous 4 releases - No not at all close, its almost as trash as the Changes to vampires.

all in all it seems they are spiraling downward with player content and will eventually dry up the servers. Kinda reminds me of stuff archage does, pander to the 15% hardcore pvpers and screws the majority over.

Mik195

Elden Hollow seems crowded with players and companions around Undaunted and the Guild rooms. If Blackwood let you pick up the dailies it might he busier, but right now most efficient companion leveling is happening outside the zone.

fiender66

It is not a flop for sure for Zos, for the number of companions I see around.

The chapter in itself is rather weak, IMO. I think it suffers from the greatest part of the effort having gone into the companion thing.

Rhaena

The zone itself is already dead. There is literally nobody in the deadlands portals today, and I can't find anyone for the group events in the public dungeons.

joerginger

Ouch, that was fast! Last year it took a bit longer until the new chapter zone died.

But I'm sure there'll be an event relatively soon that'll reanimate Blackwood for a week.

jircris11

Warstory wrote: »

For the past few days of doing the Blackwood dailies and some harvesting and I rarely seen any other players, even in the cities. I've never seen a chapter so dead right after release and it's kinda disheartening.

personally PC/NA i have seen a lot of people, normally when a chapter drops people wait untill the entire thing drops to run through it. I know i usually do, that way you don't have that "break" in the middle of the story.

Rhaena

joerginger wrote: »

Ouch, that was fast! Last year it took a bit longer until the new chapter zone died.

But I'm sure there'll be an event relatively soon that'll reanimate Blackwood for a week.

Hopefully they do something. The skyrim zones were packed with people yesterday, but there seems to be more to do in them than there is with Blackwood.

jircris11

Rhaena wrote: »

joerginger wrote: »

Ouch, that was fast! Last year it took a bit longer until the new chapter zone died.

But I'm sure there'll be an event relatively soon that'll reanimate Blackwood for a week.

Hopefully they do something. The skyrim zones were packed with people yesterday, but there seems to be more to do in them than there is with Blackwood.

notice you said skyrim zones, full chapter>half chapter. BW still has another 2 parts to release so we will see in time. the first part of it (any chapter) tends to be rather short sadly. so people rush it finish them then go back to a more complete zone.

fiender66

One problem among others IMHO is that it lacks personality. That vast, unpopulated woodland is not something you may wish to return to over and over again, like e.g. Summerset. and WS and the Reach are more similar to the original Skyrim to kindle nostalgia.

The dungeons are not that bad, but nothing memorable. The main zone quest... better let it alone.

Also, it lacks those aggregating items, like dragons and cult spots of Reach/WS. Portals are not enough.

joerginger

jircris11 wrote: »

notice you said skyrim zones, full chapter>half chapter. BW still has another 2 parts to release so we will see in time. the first part of it (any chapter) tends to be rather short sadly. so people rush it finish them then go back to a more complete zone.

No, Blackwood is the chapter. There is no half chapter, just the chapter and then a small DLC half a year later. It seems you mixed up chapter and the "year long story". You're right, the dungeon DLC and the end-of-year DLC will both be follow up parts to the chapter story, but the chapter is finished.

Lugaldu

I think the relative emptiness in Blackwood is also related to the fact that many players want to level their companions and that works best with the dailies of the mages and fighters guild and these are not represented in Blackwood. I don't do it any other way either.

Kendaric

I haven't bought Blackwood yet and if I do it will be precisely for one reason: Companions.

The zone itself doesn't interest me one bit since it's in Black Marsh which is the only part of Tamriel I hate even more than Summerset. Also, the plot doesn't sound too interesting, judging from the pre-quest.

If there was a way to get the companion system without the chapter, I'd immediately use that.

jircris11

joerginger wrote: »

jircris11 wrote: »

notice you said skyrim zones, full chapter>half chapter. BW still has another 2 parts to release so we will see in time. the first part of it (any chapter) tends to be rather short sadly. so people rush it finish them then go back to a more complete zone.

No, Blackwood is the chapter. There is no half chapter, just the chapter and then a small DLC half a year later. It seems you mixed up chapter and the "year long story". You're right, the dungeon DLC and the end-of-year DLC will both be follow up parts to the chapter story, but the chapter is finished.

if you remember how els went, it was north and south in seperate releases. same with skyrim and reach. two halves of a whole "chapter" a "chapter" is a year long thing not a single release.

Rhaena

Lugaldu wrote: »

I think the relative emptiness in Blackwood is also related to the fact that many players want to level their companions and that works best with the dailies of the mages and fighters guild and these are not represented in Blackwood. I don't do it any other way either.

Yeah, it would be nice for them to add the guilds (with dailies) to one of the cities in the Blackwood region. But still, for whatever reason there's just not many people in the area compared to the last expansions zones, which also don't have the mages/fighters guilds.

Destai

No, it’s not. Of course there’s issues, but overall it’s been a smoother launch. The PS5 upgrade is another story, given I can’t zone without crashing approximately 24 times.

I like Leyawiin, it’s a fun spot to steal and stab. It’s also a decent crafting spot. Blackwood as a whole is an attractive zone. I need to try the Oblivion Gates more, but they seem fun on first impression. The public dungeons are pretty good too.

Honestly the story is my only complaint, it’s only better than Greymoor. Overall, it’s a good expansion, not my favorite but still fantastic.

Destai

Dropstitch wrote: »

The problem is that the last two expansions have been sold on gimmicks (antiquities and now companions) rather than solid gameplay, zone design and immersive stories. I would much rather travel Summerset or N Elsweyr (in fact any other expansion) again than either of the two most recent expansions, and I would forgo companions and antiquities to do so.

Legitimately curious, how would you consider Antiquities not legitimate gameplay? How do you differentiate between gimmicks and solid gameplay?

Blinx

it feels more like dlc and not a full fledged chapter

joerginger

jircris11 wrote: »

joerginger wrote: »

jircris11 wrote: »

notice you said skyrim zones, full chapter>half chapter. BW still has another 2 parts to release so we will see in time. the first part of it (any chapter) tends to be rather short sadly. so people rush it finish them then go back to a more complete zone.

No, Blackwood is the chapter. There is no half chapter, just the chapter and then a small DLC half a year later. It seems you mixed up chapter and the "year long story". You're right, the dungeon DLC and the end-of-year DLC will both be follow up parts to the chapter story, but the chapter is finished.

if you remember how els went, it was north and south in seperate releases. same with skyrim and reach. two halves of a whole "chapter" a "chapter" is a year long thing not a single release.

I see. No point in arguing anything with you then. Have a nice day.

StarOfElyon

Personally, i just want a massive area to explore. I wish ZOS would release both parts of the expansion at once.