What is the best expansion and why? What is your least favorite?

Vaoh

joerginger wrote: »

Orsinium is tis the best expansion because it's the one that predates the renaming of proper DLCs to calling them a "chapter" and thus lacks the now completely formulaic structure we see in all chapters.

If we're talking about the chapters only, I think Summerset is the best because it's beautiful and the story wasn't bad. It's also the last story thast doesn't suffer from the awful "year-long story" which turns the big expensive chapter into a tiny prologue to the tiny end-of-year DLC that is now the grand finale of the story.

The worst is Greymoor. That is, unless the writing in High Isle is even worse. (So far I haven't had enough time to really start its main quest.)

I agree about Orsinium but I don’t think it was realistic for them to keep releasing so much content in that format. Yes it was great while it lasted though.

Hapexamendios

Best - Orsinium

Worst- Murkmire

Nightowl_74

I didn't experience Morrowind as an expansion so it's difficult for me to rate it that way.

Otherwise, my favorites are:

1. Summerset and Greymoor - I love both zones and Summerset has the better story and Psijic skill line, but Greymoor came
with antiquities and Blackreach, so they tie for my favorite.

2. Blackwood- It gets second place due to companions, which I'd been hoping for forever, and a relatively average zone.

3. Elsweyr- My least favorite, although I didn't regret buying it. At the time it was fun exploring a new area, and the zone is
unique, but it's annoying to traverse and I found dragons very underwhelming. Overall I've spent little time there.

Nord_Raseri

Wrothgar was my favorite- love the zone, love the story. Greymoor- love the zone, hate the story. Blackwood is my least favorite- hate the zone, hate the story(I did like some side quests).

Blinx

Summerset is my fav by far, to this day I still go there a few times a week, its beautiful, and I really enjoyed the zone story, as well as the side quests, and Pub Dungeons.

Blackwood is the bottom of the barrel for me, I've completed the zone story, delves, bosses, ,acquired the companions, but meh, something about it doesn't click with me, did not bother to do any of the daily achievements, eventho with AwA it would be much faster, I just don't care to go there, not even doing the zone story with any alts as I have done with prior chapters.
The Deadlands I find more enjoyable, and go there somewhat frequently.

Rowjoh

The Best? take your pick from Summerset, Orsinium, Vvardenfell ('Morrowind') Elsewyr.

The worst? well that's very easy and patently obvious: High Isle.

An unfinished small sparse area with only a few hours worth of content that has been priced at the same level as most AAA titles. A fair number of updates have been good value for money in the past but I'm afraid this isn't one of them.

If that wasn't bad enough, High Isle will be forever infamous for one of the worst mechanics in gaming history, as thousands of players were funneled into the second worst area in the game (Murkmire), to spend hours on end fighting for a lead drop for the Oakensoul mythic ring, camping safeboxes of which there were only a handful at long respawn rates, and which only the lockpicker was able to obtain, all to a backdrop of trolling behaviour and abusive zone chat.

Toxic decision, toxic outcome.

LalMirchi

Best: Summerset with Elsweyr a close second.
Worst: Murkmire

Lysette

Destai wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

im not sure about my "favorite" zones since i like the variety, but there are 2 which i generally disliked

murkmire: i like the story but this zone has some of the most awful wayshrine placement known to the land of tamriel, there is almost nothing near any of the wayshrines in this zone outside of the one in the main town

blackwood: the zone looks neat and i like the "silent hills"-esque bell tolling in leyawiin, but i was not a big fan of the storyline, it actually made me hate eveli, and while i like companions, it started this ridiculous trend of having to run EVERY toon through companion unlocks instead of them being actually an acct unlock

Murkmire is fun, I didn't find the wayshrines that, but the skyshards were oddly placed - especially the waterfall one. I especially enjoyed the music of that zone, super chill.

I had the hots for Eveli until that expansion.

That skyshard at the waterfall is pretty straight forward as well - it says in the zone guide, it is somewhere south of the Dominus Fatum and a road is even leading to it. So what is weird about that, you kill that mob at the falls top and then you hop carefully down and grab the skyshard.

Luke_Flamesword

It's hard to pick favourite, so I will share my feelings about all of them

1. Orsinium
I'm not big fan of orcs, but this was a decent non-chapter chapter Zone design is really great, a lot of interesting quests it's just quality stuff.

2. Morrowind
I was very hyped to see Vvardenfell as big Morrowind fan and that was for me first zone to explore, when I bought game in 2019. After quick look to Vivec and Balmora I just went to base game zones to keep right order of questing, so I came back weeks later and well, I had mixed feelings. It was great to see all familiar places (I really love Vivec architecture textures, such a great work) but also it was dissapointing to see everything so compressed and cut. It's strange to visit this zone, because I have feeling that this place is cluttered with this all compressed places in small map.

3. Summerset
I love vibe of whole zone, it's really beautiful, maybe except disneylandish architecture. Very good chapter with a lot of content and really, realy awful Psijic skilline grind

4. Elsweyr
This is probably my favourite chapter - zone is just outstanding, dragons were fanservice but nice and so far they are best "dolmen" acitivity. Land full of khajiits just can't be bad New class (necro) is my least favourite class so far, I just have hard time to like my necro characters.

5. Greymoor
It was just ok, not bad, not good. Zone is really nice but main quest became lazy written and Antuiquities are... well a bit boring acitivity with easy and repetetive minigame.

6. Blackwood
My least favourite chapter - zone was quite beatiful, but mostly empty with very small numbers of quests and side acitivites. Main quest was totally meh, companions are a nice addition.

7. High Isle
I was really hyped for Breton chapter, but now I'm bit dissapointed. Whole zone is really beautiful, altought I don't like Summerset white rocks everywhere, it makes this zone looks older than Greymoor and Blackwood, where we had sharper/nicer textures. Main quest at this point is just schematic (check out 3 places in first quest, that was in Blackwood too, big battle at the end, etc). Maybe there was not a daedric prince but replacing it with just human doesn't make things new and fresh - this is again next "evil organisation" schematic. It was also way too short, I just met some people and than bum, it's over with of course classic speech at the end and big gathering. I met once all this royals and then suddenly big evil guy comes with "guess who am I!). Geez, I don't know, I just chat with some nobles for 30 seconds, I don't know you people. And then he took of his helmet just to make it more like Scooby Doo scene. Is this that more serious writing than well...

Also I felt that this chapter was way too much filled with "strong female characters" - we have medievel-like knights theme, so 80% quest have strong, good, wise females in charge with only small exceptions. I don't mind things like that, but I felt that this time this was unnatural, just too much of it. Man in this chapter mostly are background, funny addition (like Jakarn or Stibbons) or just pure toxic. We don't even have any male companion this year and speaking of companions - Ember is funny, but missed opportunity as Khajiit (she don't even sound like Khajiit, geez - I know why, but it's not obvoius enough that people want mory khajiiti khajiit?) and Isobel is just female version of Bastian (a bit tonned down, but still). There are so many archetypes, but we get almost the same thing for second time, great...

Oh, and card game? Personally I love it. Cards are so beatuful, I want them irl

redlink1979

Wrothgar is still my favorite

lolvrangsinn

VDoom1 wrote: »

But Summerset, ahhhh....it feels like coming home.

You have described it perfectly for me.

I spend more time in the Summerset zone than anywhere else, and I have the best memories of the chapter quests. I want a whole game of Summerset. I want to LIVE there. *happy noises*

rpa

Morrowind, the Reach, in no particular order Orsinum, DB and Thieves guild, Clockwork City, Murkmire, Summerset. Dragonhold was OK. I still haven't bothered to play Imperial City enough to tell because PvX. Rest I find bit forgettable.
There are parts I like and parts I dislike in everything.

colossalvoids

Chapter wise Vvardenfell and Summerset were pretty solid, both had enough meat on their bones. On the worst ones not owning HI I'd say Blackwood, it's a complete joke of an expansion and rightfully considered so by others, after it even Greymoor looking more attractive.

Treselegant

1. I'd probably put Summerset at the top. It was just very well handled overall. I spent so much time there and the story stayed with me once I'd finished. I had been following Darien's story since finishing Coldharbour in 2014 so it was really something when that finally was resolved. I've done the Clockwork city - Summerset arc several time on my different characters because I enjoyed it so much. I never felt I was completing the area for the sake of getting my money's worth.

2. Second favourite is Orsinium. I've never played an orc in my life but I enjoyed this one a lot. Eveli was a well written character with actual character development which is sadly missing from her later appearance. The twists and turns felt fresh and interesting and when I played it again recently I enjoyed it as much as the first time. The art style of the zone looks great and is a joy to traverse.

3. Morrowind. I took a break from the game for a while once I'd finished Cadwells Gold back in the first years and it was Morrowind that brought me back. Not my favourite story but I have a soft spot for the zone as I play a Dunmer main and enjoy the little interactions with npcs who actually recognise me as such. A small thing but sadly rare these days.

4. Elyswer was good but it's further down the list due to me not visiting the area much once I'd completed it. Very pretty area and a story elevated by the lovely Alfed Molina as Tharn. I like the dragons but I can't solo them so I don't go there often. I play late in the evening and the zone is often very quiet with not enough dragon hunters to go around.

5. Greymoor was something I was very excited about but was very underwhelmed when it arrived. I love vampire stories but this one was all over the place. Fennorian is very sweet and I get why he has fans but he has not much to do in the story besides being led along the path beside you. This is the first expansion I felt really uncertain about after. Markarth was better but some of 'scottish' sounding accents were a bit distracting. The fact one of the merchants in the city has a North Wales accent tickles me no end.

6. Blackwood is my second least favourite with a story that left me scratching my head as to what and why things were happening. One of the betrayals at the end of Deadlands could have been seen from space but I refused to consider it until it actually happened because it seemed so out of character. When the betrayer lay dead, I just stood there feeling bad because it seemed so unnecessary for this poor character to be turned to a pile of ash just because the story needed another twist. Blackwood was redeemed from the bottom slot by the introduction of companions which, as a mainly solo player who likes to get immersed, I'd been quietly hoping for for years.

7. High Isle. Least favourite so far is the current expansion. I resurrected my account on the forums just so I could get it off my chest how much I dislike High Isle. I find it very telling that most other social media engagement around this expansion is about sunflowers and the cat you can pet because those probably are the highlights with this one.

The story is the worst I've seen in years. It had it's moments but mostly I found myself wondering if that was it. There was so much potential in the idea of High Isle but most of the money seems to have gone into the card game and celebrity voices. Bill Nighy gave it his all, trying to make something of his lines but it sounded like an uphill struggle. Lack on intergration of Blackwood companions led to awkward role playing moments where I'm frequently standing next to a guy who's entire family was nearly wiped out by King Emeric and Emeric has complete amnesia about it. I know it would have cost extra, but you know, just another thing bringing me out of the story.

There are few side quests I liked but they ended so quickly and at least one asked an interesting question of the Vestige which I had no way of answering (I ended up responding out loud which confused my partner no end). I bought it because the setting had potential but it was horribly squandered.

yohoia

1. Summerset Really beautiful area/map, very good story, psijic order, jewelry crafting. Use it as hub for all my toons.
2. Orsinium Wrothgar Good story, great map (and large) + solo arenas (very good). Sadly, it is very bad as a hub!
3. Greymoor, Skyrim Also good story, interesting map, Antiquities
4. Blackwood - only because of the introduction of companions (which I love). Rest was meh.
5. Elsweyr - just because of new class and dragons. I didn't like the map (impossible geography, hard to move around)
6. Morrowind - ok map, new class (and Morrowind was my first Daggerfall game and the best of the series)

High Isles is my least favorite. Not that interesting story, nothing much new although I really like the two new companions (Much better than the first two). I have NO interest whatsoever in a card game.

News expansion: I really, really wish they would get us a few new weapon lines + revise/upate the old ones + new companions!

And QOL improvements for companions, such as (1) companions able to wear head pieces, (2) companions able to carry their own gear / equipment templates for companions (3) yellow gear / upgrades for companion gear (4) and PLEASE let us get the companion for all our characters after doing the quest once. I have 14 alts and it is mindnumbingly boring to do the companion quest for all of them...

Kesstryl

I've loved all the previous chapters (and I'm including the conclusion DLC that finishes the story arc), but my favorites were the ones that had the most emotional impact on me. Morrowind certainly did, and contrary to many opinions here, Greymoor did also. I loved Elseweyr and Summerset, but the stories had less emotional impact on me.

The Markarth part of Greymoor was fantastic and I loved revisiting Count Ravenwatch as a character. I think the first part of Greymoor needed more polish in its delivery, but it gave us Fennorian who is in my list of all time favorite NPCs, and his character arc definitely had emotional impact on me. Having dialogue options for vampire alts should not have been overlooked, and that was glaring. Expansion stories in general have a lack of any meaningful choices after Wrothgar.

I generally liked Blackwood and its story, and found the exploration of dremora culture interesting, but was highly disappointed with how dialogue choices made our characters so dumb. And again, the lack of meaningful choices were glaring, such as Dark Brotherhood characters not having an alternative path with Elam.

If you're going to put in NPCs that are part of a faction that one of our characters are in such as vampires in Greymoor and Dark Brotherhood in Blackwood, put the effort in to have those alt characters recognized at the very least, or have an alternate path in the quest for alts in those factions at the very best. For all other characters, give us RP options in dialogue at the very least, even if they have no impact on the trajectory of the quest, just so we can have response choices that reflect the personalities of our alts. It will make content repeatable for multiple alts and feel more special. And by Stendarr's mercy and justice, stop forcing dialogue responses that make our characters so stupid!

I don't think I have a least favorite expansion.

Destai

Lysette wrote: »

Destai wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

im not sure about my "favorite" zones since i like the variety, but there are 2 which i generally disliked

murkmire: i like the story but this zone has some of the most awful wayshrine placement known to the land of tamriel, there is almost nothing near any of the wayshrines in this zone outside of the one in the main town

blackwood: the zone looks neat and i like the "silent hills"-esque bell tolling in leyawiin, but i was not a big fan of the storyline, it actually made me hate eveli, and while i like companions, it started this ridiculous trend of having to run EVERY toon through companion unlocks instead of them being actually an acct unlock

Murkmire is fun, I didn't find the wayshrines that, but the skyshards were oddly placed - especially the waterfall one. I especially enjoyed the music of that zone, super chill.

I had the hots for Eveli until that expansion.

That skyshard at the waterfall is pretty straight forward as well - it says in the zone guide, it is somewhere south of the Dominus Fatum and a road is even leading to it. So what is weird about that, you kill that mob at the falls top and then you hop carefully down and grab the skyshard.

Oh it's not hard to find, it's just easy to jump off of the waterfall and miss it. NBD, just an observation though. I breeze through Murkmire in 30 minutes when doing a skyshard run.

DagenHawk

The Best expansion is a tossup between Elsweyr and Greymoor (Orsinium was a DLC)

The worst is summerset...the writing was Atrocious, and cringe inducing, luckily the devs learned from it.

ForzaRammer

Blackwood was just terrible, companion is overhyped, does too little damage, and just add more thing to render

DagenHawk

ForzaRammer wrote: »

Blackwood was just terrible, companion is overhyped, does too little damage, and just add more thing to render

What??

Lol properly geared with a Bow Miri is a beast...really don't know what you expected.

DivineKitty

In terms of story? I'd say it's a tie between Murkmire and Wrothgar. Entirely self-contained stories that show a race that otherwise has very little screen time. Both stories completely Wrap up all the plot lines, and manage to be interesting. the zones themselves are rather interesting visually as well.

On the opposite end of the Spectrum is Blackwood. ass far as story telling goes, there literally was nothing of note. I had to actually google the Storyline to remember what happened, because literally nothing was interesting enough to ledge itself in my Long term memory, and the side quests were far, far more fun. Having refreshed my memory, i recall that the story felt woefully incomplete. It was leaning hard on the whole "Year of content" thing, and without Deadlands coming to prop it up on stilts, it would be almost nonsensical.
Visually as well, Blackwood really let me down. The west side is basically just flat land with nothing happening, and the west side is like Murkmire without the argonian charm. What were the Argonians doing during the Zone story? IDK, they were just sort of... there in the background, forming the Lizard version of The Avengers and playing a less interesting Game of Thrones with the Imperials.

shadyjane62

Summerset. Morrowind. Elsweyr. After that nothing worth having.

I will forever regret paying for Greymoor and Blackwood in the knee jerk reaction to new content.

I was much smarter this year.

Northwold

Not a popular view but I'd say Murkmire and Hew's Bane. Why? Because they are completely different environments from anywhere else in the game and like breaths of fresh air compared to wading through the cookie cutter fantasy of the rest. Northern Elsweyr came close to doing that again but was let down by the actual content being a bit meh.

Least favourite: Greymoor or Blackwood. Although I would say Summerset felt suffocating to me after about ten minutes, largely because almost every building was made out of the exact same assets. It just felt really artificial and Disney.

Aardappelboom

I don't get what's wrong with greymoor, I actually really liked that one, I have to admit that it was the first chapter where I debuffed myself to make it all a bit more challenging but in general I actually kind of liked the pace, the quests kind of followed up on each other in a logical way.

The side quests were great and the zone was nicely done...

The only thing that I didn't like in Greymoor, but that's not due to the writing, is Lyris, but I don't really like Lyris, so I don't take that into account when evaluating the zone.

ADarklore

Well... I can't really compare too much because I haven't completed many of them, but having been through them unlocking wayshrines... I can say out of those I did complete, Orisnium was my favorite and Summerset was next.

I am glad they added Companions and as long as they add new ones for each subsequent Chapter, I'll be buying it! As for people who say, "Companions don't fit in an MMO"- need to realize that the definition of 'MMO' has changed over the years and is no longer all about 'group content' but is simply, many people playing the same online game at the same time. Thus, Companions DO fit nicely in an MMO and were even added to FFXIV, one of the top MMOs out there.

As for another stating Companions do little damage... they aren't meant to be 'player replacements' although I wish they were, but clearly this person never bothered to equip them properly or level them fully. IMO, complaints about Companions are all about 'user error' than the Companion themselves. Sorry, I digress.

Treselegant

IMO, complaints about Companions are all about 'user error' than the Companion themselves.

Yes, lack of understanding about how they work is pretty common; usually indicated on social media posts by titles such as "companions don't do anything!!!". The rest have unrealistic expectations of them replacing a player. I've done most normal dungeons with a companion and a few base game vet dungeons but obviously their ai is not going to comprehend complex mechanics. The other sort of complaint about their function usually comes from those who don't do much pve anyway and can't comprehend why anyone would want to use the system.