Jehanna, Blacklight, Alabaster

Supreme_Atromancer

Three cities I'd still very much love to see one day.



Jehanna, in particular is one closest to my heart- I always wanted to see this snowy Breton city on the Sea of Ghosts ever since 2012 when I played Skyrim. I was so pumped when I heard the news about Wrothgar during its first tease, but I know others are just as passionate about Blacklight and the stretch of land between Northern and Southern Elsweyr.

Do you think we will see these cities one day?

ghastley

The “missing zones” for all three are smaller than the usual chapter zones, and it’s not clear to me if DLC zones are still on the agenda.

SilverIce58

ghastley wrote: »

The “missing zones” for all three are smaller than the usual chapter zones, and it’s not clear to me if DLC zones are still on the agenda.

They could be added as DLCs. Like the spaces look about the size of, if not a little smaller than, The Gold Coast, and Hew's Bane. Maybe one day we'll return to having small DLC's.

sharquez

Easily do a triple city zone DLC for all three that has some interconnected shenanigans like a "Tamriel wide summoning circle that would destroy all life as we know it" or whatever. Or dungeon DLCs ala Falkreath

SilverIce58

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Three cities I'd still very much love to see one day.

The red circle you have for Torval is closer to Corinthe. Torval would be to the west of the province, close to Haven in the Valenwood. Which actually brings up an interesting point where we could have a chapter in the Tenmar Forest/Jungle and feature both of those cities, which I'm sure many people would love more Khajiit content. Not to mention, maybe Falinesti could have been stolen by Rajhin and put somewhere there.

Tenthirty2

I don't think we'll see anything in the immediate future but eventually, yeah I could see it.
There are several unfilled zones that look like ripe opportunities for populating and a zone story plot.

I'd love to see them start filling in the gaps on the map. I think though with the new focus on smaller "half-year" stories and increased QoL\bug fixing it may be another year or two.

Holycannoli

I'd love to see Nibenay and have the Pantherfang Chapel gate open properly for it. It has a bridge leading to a road leading to the Nibenay Valley.

Don't expect to see either of them but I'd love it.

Hammerfell is what I'm looking forward to. That's still years away.

kaushad

SilverIce58 wrote: »

The red circle you have for Torval is closer to Corinthe. Torval would be to the west of the province, close to Haven in the Valenwood. Which actually brings up an interesting point where we could have a chapter in the Tenmar Forest/Jungle and feature both of those cities, which I'm sure many people would love more Khajiit content. Not to mention, maybe Falinesti could have been stolen by Rajhin and put somewhere there.

That circle's for Alabaster, not Torval or Corinthe. I would expect all three cities to appear in such a zone, although I'd be surprised if Alabaster was picked as the hub.

Dr_Con

Hew's Bane is honestly brilliant, I don't know if dedicating an entire year to such an endeavor would be wise, but perhaps 3 smaller zones as a single update, where the zone quests are impacted by the others, might be considered.

ArchMikem

Is Jehanna in this time period really a Breton city though? Being so far displaced from High Rock.

I'd obviously be in full support of completely filling out Elsweyr with creating a Tenmar Jungle connection zone, so players can actually traverse the entire province on foot one day. I'd also love to see the Capital City of the Mane, we could meet Khali or Shazah again!

zaria

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Three cities I'd still very much love to see one day.



Jehanna, in particular is one closest to my heart- I always wanted to see this snowy Breton city on the Sea of Ghosts ever since 2012 when I played Skyrim. I was so pumped when I heard the news about Wrothgar during its first tease, but I know others are just as passionate about Blacklight and the stretch of land between Northern and Southern Elsweyr.

Do you think we will see these cities one day?

Looking at the terrain map the two northern ones is an mountain range with a city at the end. Central Elseweyr is the exception. On map it look like most populated part of Elseweyr and I guess saved for future Khajiit content.

Supreme_Atromancer

ghastley wrote: »

The “missing zones” for all three are smaller than the usual chapter zones, and it’s not clear to me if DLC zones are still on the agenda.

You're right, of course. I think if these cites were to appear within their new direction, it'd maybe be part of some new type of exploration content. Given last year's ToT, I can't even pretend I can predict the sorts of things they could possibly do, but I wondered about a settlement-(re)building system (a la ES:Blades, Fallout), or, based on the observation that these 3 cities could easily represent Alliance War faction strongholds, perhaps some form of PvP.

sharquez wrote: »

Easily do a triple city zone DLC for all three that has some interconnected shenanigans like a "Tamriel wide summoning circle that would destroy all life as we know it" or whatever. Or dungeon DLCs ala Falkreath

Based on the past, this is a distinct possibility. Public dungeons (like Orcrest) are also possibilities. I really hope not, though.

SilverIce58 wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Three cities I'd still very much love to see one day.

The red circle you have for Torval is closer to Corinthe. Torval would be to the west of the province, close to Haven in the Valenwood. Which actually brings up an interesting point where we could have a chapter in the Tenmar Forest/Jungle and feature both of those cities, which I'm sure many people would love more Khajiit content. Not to mention, maybe Falinesti could have been stolen by Rajhin and put somewhere there.

I intended to represent Alabaster with that circle. But yeah, I'd love for all of those cities in central Elsweyr to be visitable, eventually. If the Tenmar Borderlands explorable in Northern Elsweyr were anything to go by, such a zone would be fantastic. And I'd still love to see the Mane I chose during Reaper's March zone quest again in Corinthe.

Tenthirty2 wrote: »

I'd love to see them start filling in the gaps on the map. I think though with the new focus on smaller "half-year" stories and increased QoL\bug fixing it may be another year or two.

I'd love for Jehanna to be a zone connection between Wrothgar and and Western Skyrim.

Holycannoli wrote: »

I'd love to see Nibenay and have the Pantherfang Chapel gate open properly for it. It has a bridge leading to a road leading to the Nibenay Valley.

That would honestly be dope. There are no cities in that Nibenay area, though. At least according to TES4:Oblivion. They'd have to do something really interesting to make that a traditional zone.

kaushad wrote: »

SilverIce58 wrote: »

The red circle you have for Torval is closer to Corinthe. Torval would be to the west of the province, close to Haven in the Valenwood. Which actually brings up an interesting point where we could have a chapter in the Tenmar Forest/Jungle and feature both of those cities, which I'm sure many people would love more Khajiit content. Not to mention, maybe Falinesti could have been stolen by Rajhin and put somewhere there.

That circle's for Alabaster, not Torval or Corinthe. I would expect all three cities to appear in such a zone, although I'd be surprised if Alabaster was picked as the hub.

I agree that based on importance and (probable) size, that would be the safest bet; though by that logic Dragonstar would have been the major hub in Craglorn, and Belkarth a mere objective. Likewise for Davon's Watch vs. Ebonheart. And Summerset is the poster child for any city could serve any purpose. I picked Alabaster for the discussion because I thought that it was interesting that as a port city it might be more important than it otherwise might seem, and makes it somewhat of a parallel with the other two, which are also (likely) mountainous port cities.

Dr_Con wrote: »

Hew's Bane is honestly brilliant

It is! The city is an explorable world within itself. This would be one of the best outcomes I can see. But yeah, who knows how likely it is.

Supreme_Atromancer

ArchMikem wrote: »

Is Jehanna in this time period really a Breton city though? Being so far displaced from High Rock.

This is a discussion in itself. I can see the logic behind this observation, but it is more correct to say it is far displaced from the Iliac Bay cities- its still geographically High Rock, and Wrothgar is not a province. It could amount to the same argument, but I don't think that the existence of the Orcish territory excludes the possibility of Breton Jehanna persisting, and that its remoteness just makes for a more interesting story. *I also think it would be a somewhat shallow take on ZOS's part to equate all of High Rock, with all the stories it could tell to pretty much just the Illiac Bay, especially when you consider the expansive dynamics of other zones.* When you have places like Skyrim, and Morrowind that support 5 or 6 zones representing vast playable space, and unique internal story and personality, you probably want to have more reasons for including parts of High Rock for future content than reasons to forget it.

I'd obviously be in full support of completely filling out Elsweyr with creating a Tenmar Jungle connection zone, so players can actually traverse the entire province on foot one day. I'd also love to see the Capital City of the Mane, we could meet Khali or Shazah again!

100% agree! Reaper's March MQ stands up to this day as an awesome story, and I still would love to be able to see the fruits of my choices!

TinyDragon

sharquez wrote: »

Easily do a triple city zone DLC for all three that has some interconnected shenanigans like a "Tamriel wide summoning circle that would destroy all life as we know it" or whatever. Or dungeon DLCs ala Falkreath

I love this idea, it would fit with the spacing for a summoning circle!

I think these spots represent a great opportunity to relate to the 3 banners war/alliances/HI peace talks (or something like that!)

Cazador

I think we might see them yes. If we can get a chapter sized zone out of a small island archipelago I see no reason why not.

I really want to have at least enough zones to be able to walk across all of Tamriel without having to go through cyrodiil.

Supreme_Atromancer

zaria wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Three cities I'd still very much love to see one day.



Jehanna, in particular is one closest to my heart- I always wanted to see this snowy Breton city on the Sea of Ghosts ever since 2012 when I played Skyrim. I was so pumped when I heard the news about Wrothgar during its first tease, but I know others are just as passionate about Blacklight and the stretch of land between Northern and Southern Elsweyr.

Do you think we will see these cities one day?

Looking at the terrain map the two northern ones is an mountain range with a city at the end. Central Elseweyr is the exception.

I reckon the top corner of Southern Elsweyr, and the S.E. edge of Blackwood suggests that the area containing Alabaster would be somewhat mountainous, just like the other two.

On map it look like most populated part of Elseweyr and I guess saved for future Khajiit content.

That would also be great, imv. I'd just love to be able to explore all these places, regardless.

zaria

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Three cities I'd still very much love to see one day.



Jehanna, in particular is one closest to my heart- I always wanted to see this snowy Breton city on the Sea of Ghosts ever since 2012 when I played Skyrim. I was so pumped when I heard the news about Wrothgar during its first tease, but I know others are just as passionate about Blacklight and the stretch of land between Northern and Southern Elsweyr.

Do you think we will see these cities one day?

Looking at the terrain map the two northern ones is an mountain range with a city at the end. Central Elseweyr is the exception.

I reckon the top corner of Southern Elsweyr, and the S.E. edge of Blackwood suggests that the area containing Alabaster would be somewhat mountainous, just like the other two.

On map it look like most populated part of Elseweyr and I guess saved for future Khajiit content.

That would also be great, imv. I'd just love to be able to explore all these places, regardless.

Middle Elsweyr contains 3 cities and area is named Tenmar Forrest so I expected to be wooden an hilly, think Grathwood.

Found another map Blacklight might not be as bad, it has an extra town and land according to this map.
https://i.redd.it/7wqcbr99k6g71.png
But this has less land
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FiU2mvBWIAArb0e?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
Jehanna looks bleak in both.

Darkstorne

Size on map does not equal size in game.

I'm amazed so many still struggle with that even after High Isle, but we've had tiny map areas with huge playable spaces even in base game zones.

Chapters like to focus on one large hub city and its surrounding environments, towns, and villages. All three of these locations could work perfectly as future Chapters

ghastley

Darkstorne wrote: »

Size on map does not equal size in game.

I'm amazed so many still struggle with that even after High Isle, but we've had tiny map areas with huge playable spaces even in base game zones.

Chapters like to focus on one large hub city and its surrounding environments, towns, and villages. All three of these locations could work perfectly as future Chapters

High Isle did not have land borders to match up. The crossing points in and out of the zone need to be credibly the same distance apart on each side. Many zones have only one “gate” to the next to avoid the comparison, so it’s not unworkable to adjust scale, but extremes are harder.

SilverIce58

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

SilverIce58 wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Three cities I'd still very much love to see one day.

The red circle you have for Torval is closer to Corinthe. Torval would be to the west of the province, close to Haven in the Valenwood. Which actually brings up an interesting point where we could have a chapter in the Tenmar Forest/Jungle and feature both of those cities, which I'm sure many people would love more Khajiit content. Not to mention, maybe Falinesti could have been stolen by Rajhin and put somewhere there.

I intended to represent Alabaster with that circle. But yeah, I'd love for all of those cities in central Elsweyr to be visitable, eventually. If the Tenmar Borderlands explorable in Northern Elsweyr were anything to go by, such a zone would be fantastic. And I'd still love to see the Mane I chose during Reaper's March zone quest again in Corinthe.

Oh man lol, how did I forget about Alabaster, especially when it's in the title? Some lore buff I am haha. I guess I read it in my head as Torval, whoops.
You know for sure if they put all 3 in the zone, one of them is going to be a public dungeon tho, just like Orcrest.

Malthorne

ghastley wrote: »

The “missing zones” for all three are smaller than the usual chapter zones, and it’s not clear to me if DLC zones are still on the agenda.

ESO’s map is wildly inaccurate so I wouldn’t judge it based on that alone.

Supreme_Atromancer

zaria wrote: »

Middle Elsweyr contains 3 cities and area is named Tenmar Forrest so I expected to be wooden an hilly, think Grathwood.

Found another map Blacklight might not be as bad, it has an extra town and land according to this map.
https://i.redd.it/7wqcbr99k6g71.png
But this has less land
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FiU2mvBWIAArb0e?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
Jehanna looks bleak in both.

Good finds, they're some beautiful maps.

u/Bengamey_974 from Reddit, in particular, does some really nice, well-researched work.

I would say, though, that these are all based on ZOS' current map, and given that at least Blacklight would force a change to their map, we can't really know what ZOS would end up doing. Likewise...

Darkstorne wrote: »

Size on map does not equal size in game.

I'm amazed so many still struggle with that even after High Isle, but we've had tiny map areas with huge playable spaces even in base game zones.

Chapters like to focus on one large hub city and its surrounding environments, towns, and villages. All three of these locations could work perfectly as future Chapters

We can't really predict what scale they might go with either. I don't struggle with the idea, I've made the same argument myself in the past. The areas I've highlighted all represent small regional areas on the map, and I wondered if that would lend itself to some new type of content.

SilverIce58 wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

SilverIce58 wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Three cities I'd still very much love to see one day.

The red circle you have for Torval is closer to Corinthe. Torval would be to the west of the province, close to Haven in the Valenwood. Which actually brings up an interesting point where we could have a chapter in the Tenmar Forest/Jungle and feature both of those cities, which I'm sure many people would love more Khajiit content. Not to mention, maybe Falinesti could have been stolen by Rajhin and put somewhere there.

I intended to represent Alabaster with that circle. But yeah, I'd love for all of those cities in central Elsweyr to be visitable, eventually. If the Tenmar Borderlands explorable in Northern Elsweyr were anything to go by, such a zone would be fantastic. And I'd still love to see the Mane I chose during Reaper's March zone quest again in Corinthe.

Oh man lol, how did I forget about Alabaster, especially when it's in the title? Some lore buff I am haha. I guess I read it in my head as Torval, whoops.
You know for sure if they put all 3 in the zone, one of them is going to be a public dungeon tho, just like Orcrest.

"Introducing 2 exciting new public dungeons, Alabaster and Torval, as well as our brand new 4-person dungeon, Central Elsweyr!"

kaushad

zaria wrote: »

https://i.redd.it/7wqcbr99k6g71.png
But this has less land
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FiU2mvBWIAArb0e?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
Jehanna looks bleak in both.

Those maps have either omitted or reduced the Western Reach. There's this idea going around that the eastern border of Wrothgar is the western border of Skyrim or the Druadach mountain range.

Supreme_Atromancer

kaushad wrote: »

zaria wrote: »

https://i.redd.it/7wqcbr99k6g71.png
But this has less land
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FiU2mvBWIAArb0e?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
Jehanna looks bleak in both.

Those maps have either omitted or reduced the Western Reach. There's this idea going around that the eastern border of Wrothgar is the western border of Skyrim or the Druadach mountain range.

I've seen that idea, and think it would make sense. What they actually intend, though, I couldn't guess either way. More recent zone maps are far more careful in sticking with more recent, established (geography) lore. Its hard for me to say whether they consider this space suggested by the map to represent playable space, or that in keeping with their refined direction, some internal map they work off treats the borders of both zones flush.

Either way, I'd say that there could be space for Jehanna if they considered it to exist, even if the borders are intended to be flush. If you pay attention to the Western Skyrim map, the contour line above Mor Khazgur actually suggests the bit of High Rock land biting into Skyrim indicated on the Anthology map. This land does not exist on the Wrothgar zone map, and could therefore constitute a snowy cliff-top city above the Sea of Ghosts.





Such an interpretation might scuttle hopes for the projected "Western Reach" zone people believed possible, though an instanced and un-mappable "Forgotten Vale" would not be precluded- that place was so evocative and unique I'm sure that they'd love an opportunity to do it.

Supreme_Atromancer

Another interesting thing to observe is that if the zones were actually considered flush (internally), it would put the Rkindaleft valley in close alignment with the valley that Deep Folk Crossing sits astride.



Maybe these form two ends to the same pass? It would give much more meaning to the eponymous "crossing".