Next ESO Chapter will be more grounded and realistic

opaj

Rich's letter says that the plot won't be apocalyptic, not that it'll be grounded or realistic. For all we know, we'll use the power of Akatosh to time-travel back to ancient Yokuda and take part in Randic Torn's Sword Hunt.

Nanfoodle

Summerset, Wrothgar are among the best story telling they have done. If this is the new content, I will be super excited.

TX12001rwb17_ESO

To be fair even if the villains succeeded besides the first two it would not be world ending, last time Dagon tried to invade Nirn the Tribunal stomped him and the same thing would happen.

cmetzger93

I'm all for the mental health of the development team but as a customer paying for a product I am concerned that the wording of the letter makes it sound like they aren't going to be bringing as much content in 2022 and the chapters have been pretty short already. At the beginning of this year when they announced new server hardware they said they were hiring additional development staff to do larger content updates and now reading this it feels like they are scaling back which is very contradictory

ealdwin

As much as I'd love Breton content, I have a feeling Redgaurd/Hammerfell will be the ultimate Chapter destination. They really haven't been touched on in depth either lore-wise or land-wise, and the Crown/Forebear divide speaks faction-sourced conflict.

Doesn't stop me from hoping for a Jehanna DLC though. (Actually, that'd be kind of nicely rounded. Redguard Chapter, Breton DLC.) Ah well, we'll see next year.

Dracane

Now that was some melodramatic letter.

RedBranch

cmetzger93 wrote: »

I'm all for the mental health of the development team but as a customer paying for a product I am concerned that the wording of the letter makes it sound like they aren't going to be bringing as much content in 2022 and the chapters have been pretty short already. At the beginning of this year when they announced new server hardware they said they were hiring additional development staff to do larger content updates and now reading this it feels like they are scaling back which is very contradictory

@cmetzger93 I agree. The overall tone of the letter was very underwhelming. They are not the words of someone who is excited about the future. Never mind that someone in this position should be the person who can provide a clear vision. I love this game and tend to focus on the positive but this letter is truly uninspiring. I am excited about change of pace and immersion into a political standard… just hope ESO delivers! We cannot be more excited about what’s coming than Zenimax’s Studio Director.

If I was a shareholder I’d be thinking about replacing him 😅 I mean! He has a product to sell and this is two years in a row of excuse-focused letters. This guy needs a publicist!

spartaxoxo

I think it's good they have tempered expectations for the next chapter ahead of time. This one next one won't be a super big release like Elysweyr but something smaller like maybe Blackwood.

We are still in a global pandemic so I understand work from home is still making things more difficult than they want. Wish them well.

Marcusorion1

Game awards 2021 had Pete Hines, senior vice president of global marketing & communications Bethesda - no mention of Starfield, ES 6 or any new game...just that they were hiring for all their companies - Zenimax included. Lowered expectations from the top..

deleted221106-002999

Was kind of hoping they might step out and go dwemer colony of steam-mer cyborgs on one of tamriel's moons, with a steam powered dwemer ship to travel there (and available as house and/or furnishing thereafter, of course).

Admit it: you know you want this, too.

colossalvoids

Hope they're actually getting our concerns right, as the can say whatever they desire but the content we're getting by itself will tell way more.

Love the premise but have worries so to say.

SammyKhajit

This one will be attacked for this, but Sammy really dislikes all the complaints about “princesses”. Firstly, if the notable NPCs are male, no one would be having a belly ache about princes. This one will always defend having more strong female characters, and for more diverse, non gender binary characters. Tamriel is a big place, it can and should contain multitudes.

Secondly, it’s about the storyline. Elswyr had a great storyline. So did Orsinium and likewise, Murkmire and Morrowind (this one has mixed feelings about Summerset on account of the snotty Altmers). Sammy hopes next year we will have better, more complex storyline and getting away from the horror of “year long” releases.

colossalvoids

SammyKhajit wrote: »

This one will be attacked for this, but Sammy really dislikes all the complaints about “princesses”. Firstly, if the notable NPCs are male, no one would be having a belly ache about princes. This one will always defend having more strong female characters, and for more diverse, non gender binary characters. Tamriel is a big place, it can and should contain multitudes.

I'm pretty sure it's not about gender, complaints mostly touching bad writing overall and an absurd amount of cliché thrown into, not just about "princess trope = bad". Eso is already embracing more irl relevant themes (morrowind did also, but in more esoteric way) but the problem is to make it seamless with tes universe before all and not just to "score some points".

If they'll change the theme and tone with same writing quality nothing would really change.

RaddlemanNumber7

I hope it will be Skingrad then, even if that means we bump into the happy couple again.

I fear it will be Redguards. I feel I've already had more than enough of a deep dive into their foetid history of genocides, and their culture of crown/forebear bigotry, piracy and slavery. Far too dirty for my liking. Far too much like real life.

ApoAlaia

I am... cautiously optimistic?

Personally I enjoyed the stories in Murkmire and Wrothgar very much, although in the case of Murkmire I think I enjoyed the side quests more than the main one. There was something about the main antagonist that I didn't find quite... compelling.

Either way given the state of the industry I am hoping that they are in fact committed to the health and wellbeing of their employees and that's not something they've written just because the marketing and communications department determined that it would go down well with x% of their target audience.

I do get a bit of a... 'low energy' vibe from the letter but that's fine by me. I think I would have found it jarring to read an overly enthusiastic letter when for many of us the best we can afford right now in our lives is 'moderately hopeful'.

master_vanargand

Probably next is Imperial.
Imperial did not become the main season story because Cyrodiil was destroyed.

I think The Prophet is back soon.
And I think Whiterun and the new guild skills "The Graybeards" to come.

Rex-Umbra

Wrothgar still the best zone in the game in every aspect especially story though. Hopefully Breton and Redguard will get content to that scale and quility.

TelvanniWizard

I know it would be difficult to pull off but... maormer?

A man can dream...

Edit: just read the "playable" bit. Darn

Hurbster

BlueViolet wrote: »

I'm really pleased to see that they're doing something more grounded and less world ending. I do admit however, I very much enjoyed The Deadlands and stuff; a lot more than Greymoor which I didn't like much at all.
I'm really looking forward to seeing what they're going to be doing.

I also would be happy for more Razum'dar

Greymoor seemed to be 'we'll give you a bit of Skyrim but instead of the bit you really want (Whiterun) here are some technicolour fluorescent glowing caves, oh and Meridia? lol no information for YOU about Kilkreath temple"...

Hurbster

SammyKhajit wrote: »

This one will be attacked for this, but Sammy really dislikes all the complaints about “princesses”. Firstly, if the notable NPCs are male, no one would be having a belly ache about princes. This one will always defend having more strong female characters, and for more diverse, non gender binary characters. Tamriel is a big place, it can and should contain multitudes.

Secondly, it’s about the storyline. Elswyr had a great storyline. So did Orsinium and likewise, Murkmire and Morrowind (this one has mixed feelings about Summerset on account of the snotty Altmers). Sammy hopes next year we will have better, more complex storyline and getting away from the horror of “year long” releases.

If it had been princes instead it would not have changed our complaints about the reused storylines.

Vonkarolinas

About the new chapter next year, take what Matt said and then add to that what Rich said in October, hopefully that will narrow the field a little. A reminder, Rich said in his interview that the chapter next year would take us "When asked plainly if he could tell Game Rant anything about upcoming content in 2022, Lambert said it will be "something nobody is expecting".

Dark_Lord_Kuro

I just hope im more interested in it than wrothgar
Because i found it so borriiiing!
Sure its on the more popular side of the dlc so something seem to have worked for most player that just didnt for me

Also i dont think it mean no yearly story
It could as easily have a overarching vilain, just one that as eyes toward a region instead of the whole world for exemple the veiled heritance where covered for 3 zones in base game ad storyline

Remathilis

I think it would be interesting (perhaps for the small DLC zone) to do a storyline where you aren't hobknobbing with nobility. Each main faction story turns you into the faction leaders personal friend, Wrothgar is about the King, I'm on a first name relationship with the Tribunal, the Proxy Queen of Sunmerset, the Queen of Elswyer, the Thane of Solitude, the Despot of Markarth, and what remains of the Imperial Council. It'd be nice to have a quest where you mostly deal with normal people. I guess Murkmire is the closest to that.

Sylvermynx

I guess I'm a serious minority of one: I didn't care for Summerset or Wrothgar - I have very little use for Altmer or Orsimer to start with, and neither quest line was very compelling to me.

I love Blackwood; I haven't started the Deadlands yet. I'd be very happy with whatever we get UNLESS it's more vampires and werewolves.

whitecrow

I just hope it's not another cult.

rexagamemnon

BlueRaven wrote: »

Follow up:

Ten playable races:

Races that had chapters dedicated to them…

Dunmer
Altmer
Kahjit
Nords
Imperials

Races that had major zone dlcs:

Orsimer
Argonians

Had multiple zones dedicated to them in base game:

Bosmer
Nords
Dunmer
Bretons

Bosmers have not been talked about in a while, neither have Bretons, but they got pretty deep dives in the vanilla zones.

Redguards had a full zone dedicated to them, and Hews Bane was a redguard location, but it was not really about redguards. Craglorn was arguably a redguard location, but again not really about redguards.

I am guessing redguards then. (It also doesn’t hurt that one of the main untouched areas on the map is Hammerfell.)

Blackwood was just as Argonian as Imperial,
Not to mention Blackwood was a lousy chapter for Imperials. Imperials should have a much more amazing Chapter for them, something better than even Orsinium and Summerset combined.

Redgaurds, argonians and imperials recieved minor dlcs aswell.
1)thieves guild
2)blackwood
3)murkmire
Possibly 4- Dark Brotherhood
But that dlcs didnt do Imperials justice either

At this point bretons and wood elves are the only race to not recieve any kind of DLC either to their race or Geographic location

jedtb16_ESO

more realistic?

in a fantasy game?

roflmao....

starlizard70ub17_ESO

These are the places I can see next year's chapter being placed at.

1) The rest of Skyrim, with Winterhold, Whiterun and the large, non-deadric ruins between them. Lots of infighting between the various factions in the College of Mages Guild and Nord nobles around. (You might even get to be there when half the town gets blown into the sea. )

2) Redguard themed area and story. Enough political intrigue going on between factions that deadra are not needed.

3) Britons, pretty much the same as a Redguard themed story, except with Britons.

That's all I can think of off hand. You can put a faction/political storyline in any area, these are just 3 best places I see at the moment.

spartaxoxo

colossalvoids wrote: »

SammyKhajit wrote: »

This one will be attacked for this, but Sammy really dislikes all the complaints about “princesses”. Firstly, if the notable NPCs are male, no one would be having a belly ache about princes. This one will always defend having more strong female characters, and for more diverse, non gender binary characters. Tamriel is a big place, it can and should contain multitudes.

I'm pretty sure it's not about gender, complaints mostly touching bad writing overall and an absurd amount of cliché thrown into, not just about "princess trope = bad". Eso is already embracing more irl relevant themes (morrowind did also, but in more esoteric way) but the problem is to make it seamless with tes universe before all and not just to "score some points".

If they'll change the theme and tone with same writing quality nothing would really change.

Respectfully I have seen plenty of complaints about gender, especially during Greymoor.

NanoTechnicianHQ

There's parts of the empty map that can also provide clues as well.