Maintenance for the week of December 16:
• PC/Mac: No maintenance – December 16
• NA megaservers for patch maintenance – December 17, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
• EU megaservers for patch maintenance – December 17, 9:00 UTC (4:00AM EST) - 17:00 UTC (12:00PM EST)
• PC/Mac: No maintenance – December 16
• NA megaservers for patch maintenance – December 17, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
• EU megaservers for patch maintenance – December 17, 9:00 UTC (4:00AM EST) - 17:00 UTC (12:00PM EST)
The issues on the North American megaservers have been resolved at this time. If you continue to experience difficulties at login, please restart your client. Thank you for your patience!
ESO's Most bizarre, interesting years are ahead of us...
Svanir
Soul Shriven
With most of the so called "nostalgia" areas already covered in DLCs and Expansions now, we are left with stories and areas to explore that are unusual, bizarre, new, and untrodden. To me, that's super exciting! Think about it: Sure maybe there are like 2 or 3 areas we all feel like we could easily guess. Hammerfell, Whiterun/Winterhold areas of Skyrim, Telvanni peninsula, maybe more of Black Marsh. But personally, I don't see ESO going back to Skyrim for another full on Expansion, at least, if we're going to continue the "year long adventure" cadence of releases. I could see them doing more Skyrim if they decide to release more one-off/standalone DLCs like Murkmire, Gold Coast, Hew's Bane but with the success and desirability of this model, I am not sure. That said!
We are left with many interesting questions as to what could happen next. As we start narrowing down the landmass of Tamriel, it is possible we could venture to more islands in the future, but I would hypothesize that as we start to zero in on the final pieces of the continent of Tamriel for expansions, ZOS will probably start to throw in total curveballs that take us to places we didn't think existed. Here's a good one to ponder: (SPOILER) Where did Lyranth go/where was she going after Deadlands DLC? She said it was somewhere neither mortals nor daedra had been. Aetherius then? Or somewhere else in the loosely understood "Void"? And if that becomes an expansion or dlc rather than merely a dungeon zone, what would that even look like?
I think it is likely they will want to finish up lore for playable races that haven't had as much love in-game yet, so...maybe more for the Argonians, more for the Redguard, more for the Imperials perhaps and then the world is our oyster. ZOS will hopefully have free reign to put out some totally creative, unusual places. Maybe we could visit even more zones of Daedric Princes. How about a WHOLE expansion trapped in, idk, Azura's realm or a city within Hermaeus Mora's realm of Apocrypha? (Personally my biggest dream would be a desert plains, ancient ruins expansion in Hammerfell where Herma-Mora isn't the BIG BAD, but he's involved and sort of this ammoral figure on the side who is seeking out something forgotten within Hammerfell's ruins meanwhile someone else wants us dead and are tracking us down.)
Another big fantasy of mine would be for ZOS to create an underwater expansion. I don't mean to add in new underwater combat mechanics, but more like the game Champions of Norrath dealt with the concept, where a mermaid grants you a blessing to breathe underwater and you walk on the ocean floor traveling through underwater sea caves and dunes. Maybe something to do with the Sea Sload or Maormer or some other entity underwater. If you look at their newest housing preview from the release event for High Isle, it's clear that it's doable to some extent, to create that feeling of being underwater. It would without a doubt fill a niche in map design and aesthetics that would be immensely beneficial to ESO and just fun as heck to explore.
Another cool idea, also sorta from Champions of Norrath (which is part of the Everquest franchise) is the concept of a "plane of air". So perhaps we visit a realm within Aetherius somehow which is heavenly and resting upon white fluffy clouds? Not sure which Aedra or Daedra would be the rule of this place, but as with the underwater realm, this could be a very wonderful zone addition to ESO. Problem is, I can only think of Aedra who would really be associated with the sky, air, or heavenly things...like Kynareth or Akatosh or maybe Magnus...Meridia is probably the closest "Daedric Prince" but what we have seen of the Colored Rooms so far isn't -quite- what I was thinking. But what about that as an option: Clearly there is something going on with Meridia based on (SPOILER) the base game's story, what happened in Summerset and then what the priests said during Greymoor at her temple. Will we ever be able to walk within the Colored Rooms as an explorable area, or is the reality of Meridia's realm so boring and lifeless to mortals that it wouldn't be lore-friendly to have a city and explorable area?
In any case, I think the more ZOS are free to create their own realms or depict never before seen (But oft written about) realms, the more fun, creativity, and bizarre it will be which will be lots of fun. There are seemingly endless realms and places to visit in the Elder Scrolls which do not rely on previous mainline Elder Srolls nostalgia or memories, and we're moving further and further towards that reality, as High Isle shows. I think it will be good for ESO and good for the Elder Scrolls in general!
We are left with many interesting questions as to what could happen next. As we start narrowing down the landmass of Tamriel, it is possible we could venture to more islands in the future, but I would hypothesize that as we start to zero in on the final pieces of the continent of Tamriel for expansions, ZOS will probably start to throw in total curveballs that take us to places we didn't think existed. Here's a good one to ponder: (SPOILER) Where did Lyranth go/where was she going after Deadlands DLC? She said it was somewhere neither mortals nor daedra had been. Aetherius then? Or somewhere else in the loosely understood "Void"? And if that becomes an expansion or dlc rather than merely a dungeon zone, what would that even look like?
I think it is likely they will want to finish up lore for playable races that haven't had as much love in-game yet, so...maybe more for the Argonians, more for the Redguard, more for the Imperials perhaps and then the world is our oyster. ZOS will hopefully have free reign to put out some totally creative, unusual places. Maybe we could visit even more zones of Daedric Princes. How about a WHOLE expansion trapped in, idk, Azura's realm or a city within Hermaeus Mora's realm of Apocrypha? (Personally my biggest dream would be a desert plains, ancient ruins expansion in Hammerfell where Herma-Mora isn't the BIG BAD, but he's involved and sort of this ammoral figure on the side who is seeking out something forgotten within Hammerfell's ruins meanwhile someone else wants us dead and are tracking us down.)
Another big fantasy of mine would be for ZOS to create an underwater expansion. I don't mean to add in new underwater combat mechanics, but more like the game Champions of Norrath dealt with the concept, where a mermaid grants you a blessing to breathe underwater and you walk on the ocean floor traveling through underwater sea caves and dunes. Maybe something to do with the Sea Sload or Maormer or some other entity underwater. If you look at their newest housing preview from the release event for High Isle, it's clear that it's doable to some extent, to create that feeling of being underwater. It would without a doubt fill a niche in map design and aesthetics that would be immensely beneficial to ESO and just fun as heck to explore.
Another cool idea, also sorta from Champions of Norrath (which is part of the Everquest franchise) is the concept of a "plane of air". So perhaps we visit a realm within Aetherius somehow which is heavenly and resting upon white fluffy clouds? Not sure which Aedra or Daedra would be the rule of this place, but as with the underwater realm, this could be a very wonderful zone addition to ESO. Problem is, I can only think of Aedra who would really be associated with the sky, air, or heavenly things...like Kynareth or Akatosh or maybe Magnus...Meridia is probably the closest "Daedric Prince" but what we have seen of the Colored Rooms so far isn't -quite- what I was thinking. But what about that as an option: Clearly there is something going on with Meridia based on (SPOILER) the base game's story, what happened in Summerset and then what the priests said during Greymoor at her temple. Will we ever be able to walk within the Colored Rooms as an explorable area, or is the reality of Meridia's realm so boring and lifeless to mortals that it wouldn't be lore-friendly to have a city and explorable area?
In any case, I think the more ZOS are free to create their own realms or depict never before seen (But oft written about) realms, the more fun, creativity, and bizarre it will be which will be lots of fun. There are seemingly endless realms and places to visit in the Elder Scrolls which do not rely on previous mainline Elder Srolls nostalgia or memories, and we're moving further and further towards that reality, as High Isle shows. I think it will be good for ESO and good for the Elder Scrolls in general!
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