Update 44

Lady_Titania · September 10

This update...

Companions:
Crown store companions.
No story questing behind them.
One of them is a repeated race; Kahjiit.
[Snip]

PVP:
Main focus battlegrounds.
No update to Cyrodiil.

The QOL updates are fine.

I do not like this update. I am going to be 100% honest. This is my opinion. I am entitled to my opinion, just like others are entitled to theirs.

In this thread - PLEASE talk about our wants as a community.

Zos can go back and review my thread about companions here: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/658747/gold-road-new-companions-lets-discuss/p1

What I want?.. A sexy high elf male companions and Cyro updates for my pvp guild mates. Easy, right?

[Edited for bait]

DenverRalphy · September 10

Lady_Titania wrote: »

This update...

Companions:
Crown store companions.
No story questing behind them.

Uhhh... and how did you come to that conclusion? Of course there's a story quest behind them. It was even talked about in the live stream.

hiyde · September 10

Lady_Titania wrote: »

[Snip]

LGBTQIA+ inclusion has been part of this game since the start.

[Snip]

The beauty of these forums is that we all get to speak as long as we keep it within the rules established by the forum owner.

[Edited quote]

Lady_Titania · September 10

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Lady_Titania wrote: »

This update...

Companions:
Crown store companions.
No story questing behind them.

Uhhh... and how did you come to that conclusion? Of course there's a story quest behind them. It was even talked about in the live stream.

They stated that there are achievements. Not story.

Theist_VII · September 10

Quests are standard for increasing Rapport with your Companions, it’s how they are fleshed out.

While it’s shady that they are being sold to us separately, I don’t believe their quality will be worse, if anything they should be held to a higher standard.

DenverRalphy · September 10

Lady_Titania wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Lady_Titania wrote: »

This update...

Companions:
Crown store companions.
No story questing behind them.

Uhhh... and how did you come to that conclusion? Of course there's a story quest behind them. It was even talked about in the live stream.

They stated that there are achievements. Not story.

They talked about how the popularity of the Sharp as Night quest inspired them to do the same for the two new companions. It was even mentioned that it was because of how well their story quests were done that made the two new compansions "So near and dear" to her heart.

It wasn't even infered. It was outright stated.

[edit] And Too. Companions have always had achievements, and completing their story quests are integral to a lot of them.

LaintalAy · September 10

Like previous Companions, each will have their own introductory quest that you will need to complete before you can summon them. In addition to being unique new characters (with their own stories, personalities, and quest lines), these two new Companions each also provide a special passive perk when adventuring with them:

Tanlorin grants “Tanlorin’s Finesse,” which provides an increase to the time it takes to pick a lock, an increased chance to force a lock, and a reduced chance to break a lockpick.
Zerith-var grants “Zerith’s Guidance,” which highlights valuable bags of loot found throughout Tamriel.

While these perks are active when adventuring with each Companion in question, they can be permanently unlocked by completing each ally’s unique Achievement.

https://elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/66701

LaintalAy · September 10

So, an introductory quest.

And a reward for completing the achievement.

Syldras · September 10

As I don't PvP, I'll focus on the companions. The most astonishing thing to me is that ZOS could not predict that they would anger a big part of the playerbase by some of the decisions they made this year. In particular:

- Removing the companions from the yearly chapter and putting them into the store instead. Especially since there have been complaints for several years now that content seems to get reduced from year to year while both ESO+ as well as chapter purchases still remain at the same price. They should be free for the people who bought the chapter at least. ZOS could have even given them away for free for everyone as a friendly gesture, especially considering that it's the anniversary year right now.

- Doubling one race instead of giving us one companion of each race first. People have written in the forum many times before that they are waiting for a certain race. And I think everyone, regardless of personal preferences, would have accepted it if ZOS released one companion of each race before doubling, just for the sake of fairness. So now they have disappointed lots of players. What for?

- Not having one male and one female companion this year. They saw the backlash they got when there was no male companion, but two female companions in High Isle. People said they want an equal balance. ZOS seemed to have understood, so they evened out in Necrom with two male companions. But this year they omitted a female companion again. If ZOS also wants to release nonbinary companions from now on, why not giving us three at least - one male, one female, one nonbinary?

Dax_Draconis · September 10

Yay more companions!

Theist_VII · September 10

Well, seeing how this thread hasn’t been locked, I’m just going to repost what I wrote.

I’m sure Zenimax plan on doing some play on Soul Magic to explain how a man is trapped in a woman’s body, and honestly, that doesn’t bother me at all, and it really shouldn’t bother anyone. As long as their questline is done in good taste, I believe we’ll all make it.

What bothers me, is the fact that instead of making an entirely new and interesting kit for that companion, they are combining two existing ones? Dragonknight and Soul Magic? Why not just expand upon Soul Magic and make an entirely new kit around that?

[Snip]

[Edited for Bashing]

LadyGP · September 10

PvP = Cyro and everyone knows it.

Wasn't expecting much but really let down that they didn't mention cyro at all.. well... except when Gina had to stop the stream presentation to say I see you chat mentioning Cyro but today we are talking about BGs.

Surely they knew people were expecting cyro content... right?

For those of you who enjoy BGs I'm stoked for you and hope it's an update you all truly enjoy! As a cyro person.... another year of being disappointed (and server performance is getting even worse).

DenverRalphy · September 10

Theist_VII wrote: »

Well, seeing how this thread hasn’t been locked, I’m just going to repost what I wrote.

I’m sure Zenimax plan on doing some play on Soul Magic to explain how a man is trapped in a woman’s body, and honestly, that doesn’t bother me at all, and it really shouldn’t bother anyone. As long as their questline is done in good taste, I believe we’ll all make it.

I get that you're showing support for it. But what you're describing is Trans-Gender, not Non-Binary.

AzuraFan · September 10

Syldras wrote: »

- Not having one male and one female companion this year. They saw the backlash they got when there was no male companion, but two female companions in High Isle. People said they want an equal balance. ZOS seemed to have understood, so they evened out in Necrom with two male companions. But this year they omitted a female companion again. If ZOS also wants to release nonbinary companions from now on, why not giving us three at least - one male, one female, one nonbinary?

Yep, they repeated a race and didn't give us a female companion. So now we're out of balance again. How will they even this out?

I also sympathize with those who wanted a male companion because again, the repeated race (and for those hoping for a hottie, a khajit isn't going to do it for the majority of them, I'm betting lol).

Lady_Titania · September 10

AzuraFan wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

- Not having one male and one female companion this year. They saw the backlash they got when there was no male companion, but two female companions in High Isle. People said they want an equal balance. ZOS seemed to have understood, so they evened out in Necrom with two male companions. But this year they omitted a female companion again. If ZOS also wants to release nonbinary companions from now on, why not giving us three at least - one male, one female, one nonbinary?

Yep, they repeated a race and didn't give us a female companion. So now we're out of balance again. How will they even this out?

I also sympathize with those who wanted a male companion because again, the repeated race (and for those hoping for a hottie, a khajit isn't going to do it for the majority of them, I'm betting lol).

This is facts. I thought they would have learned by now that balance was key.

I want to say the majority of pve players wanted elves for companions this time around. I still want the other unreleased races as well, all in due time of course.

AzuraFan · September 10

Lady_Titania wrote: »

I want to say the majority of pve players wanted elves for companions this time around. I still want the other unreleased races as well, all in due time of course.

I would have loved a female Bosmer, so she could run around with my female Bosmer main. I didn't want another khajit, and this is the second companions release that doesn't include a female. I prefer female companions so hopefully we'll get at least one next time. We're looking at 2 years with no females now. ZOS has been pretty good at having strong female characters (including villains!) in the game, so to go 2 years with no female companions is disappointing.

xclassgaming · September 10

Drammanoth wrote: »

[Snip]

Hey, Vivec is non-binary so TES has been "woke" since TES 3. Hope this helps!

[Edited quote]

DenverRalphy · September 10

AzuraFan wrote: »

Lady_Titania wrote: »

I want to say the majority of pve players wanted elves for companions this time around. I still want the other unreleased races as well, all in due time of course.

I would have loved a female Bosmer, so she could run around with my female Bosmer main. I didn't want another khajit, and this is the second companions release that doesn't include a female. I prefer female companions so hopefully we'll get at least one next time. We're looking at 2 years with no females now. ZOS has been pretty good at having strong female characters (including villains!) in the game, so to go 2 years with no female companions is disappointing.

To be fair, there was also a release with no male companions either. Currently the tally stands at 3 each male/female.

Lady_Titania · September 10

AzuraFan wrote: »

Lady_Titania wrote: »

I want to say the majority of pve players wanted elves for companions this time around. I still want the other unreleased races as well, all in due time of course.

I would have loved a female Bosmer, so she could run around with my female Bosmer main. I didn't want another khajit, and this is the second companions release that doesn't include a female. I prefer female companions so hopefully we'll get at least one next time. We're looking at 2 years with no females now. ZOS has been pretty good at having strong female characters (including villains!) in the game, so to go 2 years with no female companions is disappointing.

Agreed!! I feel for players that were looking forward to a female companion... since they needed to rebalance last year, this was supposed to be the year for one of each.

TaSheen · September 10

I'm not sure I ever heard them say anything about "balancing gender numbers"....

DenverRalphy · September 10

TaSheen wrote: »

I'm not sure I ever heard them say anything about "balancing gender numbers"....

Yeah, I'd like to see some confirmation on that. Not sayin it isn't true, but just that I've never heard of that outside of player speculation.

Wolfkeks · September 10

xclassgaming wrote: »

Drammanoth wrote: »

LGB has been a part of this game since forever, and seamlessly integrated, which is something that I like (I'm straight btw), but...

introducing wokeness is bad. It is politicising the game and I fear that this may be a huge bone of contention. Not the existence of LGB people, but introducting TQIA+.

Also, as the saying goes "get woke, go broke" - cf. Disney.

Hey, Vivec is non-binary so TES has been "woke" since TES 3. Hope this helps!

And let's not forget this little book in Murkmire!
https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Online:A_Grand_Transformation

TaSheen · September 11

DenverRalphy wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

I'm not sure I ever heard them say anything about "balancing gender numbers"....

Yeah, I'd like to see some confirmation on that. Not sayin it isn't true, but just that I've never heard of that outside of player speculation.

I don't really pay much attention to whatever they're saying outside the forum so while I can say "I'm not sure" with perfect truth, I also have to say, as I did, I don't pay much attention!

Syldras · September 11

Not sure if it makes sense to write a longer (and serious) text, as this thread might get deleted soon anyway, but let's look at this from a different perspective:

Strictly seen, gender isn't the same as biological sex, it is the name of a societal role. In real world history, there were societies who had a named third or sometimes even a forth gender (although it usually wasn't a choice, but most often they put "unmanly" males and "unwomanly" females into extra categories - so there were basically the genders "standard man", "standard woman", "manly woman" and "unmanly man" - so, yeah, not free at all, just different rules they used to sort people). This is gender (roles). And ESO as a fantasy game could have more of these than just man and woman. Fine with me.

The one thing I'd dislike was if they just mimic the current modern Western concept. For me it would feel weird if the companion tells us "I'm nonbinary!" - the same way I, as a gay man, would find it weird if a companion told us "I'm gay!" - because, but that's just me, these terms are concepts that just feel too modern for a fantasy game set in a fictional medieval/feudal age. The fact that people are attracted to people of the same sex or both sexes is as old as mankind. The feeling to be neither man or woman, both or something inbetween certainly also existed ages ago - there are examples. But they didn't use the words that are used for this today, nor did belonging to one of these groups led to people to behaving the way today's modern stereotypes about them are - because these stereotypes weren't a thing back then.

In case of homosexuality, often societies didn't even have any word for it, because it was, well, common. Not everyone, but many people would have romantic interactions with people of the same sex, and that's it. Tamriel seems to be a continent where it's never been seen as a problem, so this would probably be a place where this applies. It would just look strange under these circumstances to have an npc talk about "being gay" instead of just saying (as a man) "I prefer men" or (as a woman) "I like women".

To make sure once more: I'm not anti-LGBT+. I'm gay myself. I have nothing against LGBT+ characters in ESO. But I'd prefer them to not just copy today real world modern clichés, because these fit weirdly into ESO's fantasy society.

This is what makes me sceptical after the first look today. Why does a character that feels to be neither man or woman (I hope I have worded it correctly, it is not my intention to be rude) have to have blue hair in Tamriel? Why the cliché asymmetrical cut? I know, in the real world it's about looking androgynous, but in Tamriel there is no gendering of "long hair = woman, short hair = man". It looks to me like they just put a real world cliché in game. As I've written in another post, I hope this is not a tendency, as I would dislike it if they continue with clichés - as I dislike clichés in general, and also because I really liked how normal and natural they depicted gay and bisexual npcs so far - without relying on cliché depictions. I really hope this won't change.

spartaxoxo · September 11

xclassgaming wrote: »

Drammanoth wrote: »

[Snip]

Hey, Vivec is non-binary so TES has been "woke" since TES 3. Hope this helps!

Daedric princes also exist outside of modern concepts of gender. They can form however they please.

[Edited quote]

Sepultura_13 · September 11

Lady_Titania wrote: »

This update...

Companions:
Crown store companions.
No story questing behind them.
One of them is a repeated race; Kahjiit.
[Snip]

PVP:
Main focus battlegrounds.
No update to Cyrodiil.

In this thread - PLEASE talk about our wants as a community.

The Khajiit Necromancer with the "heavy sack" passive is fine with me. I won't be utilizing the Altmer Dragonknight, as it's passive isn't necessary for me, and my mains are already Dragonknights and Nightblades. I try to avoid unnecessary redundancies.

I'll check out the new BG updates for kicks and giggles, since I do a bit of "Ye Olde PvP" from time to time. I'm disappointed that they didn't remove the most useless ones, which are Crazy King and Domination, IMHO. I hate hate HATE those BGs with a passion, but that's just me. Give me Deathmatch, Chaosball, or Capture the Relic any day, all day. As far as power-ups, I didn't know that they had ever existed in BGs before, since I've only seen them in Maelstrom Arena.

[Edited quote]

WitchyKiki · September 11

Syldras wrote: »

snip

This is so insightful and kind of sums up how I also feel about it, if I remember; High Isle had the spirit tree? creature that came off as non-binary. It was well implemented and flowed naturally, I really liked that. There was no fuss, none of this cliche 'representation' people are so fatigued with. It just was, just like all other topics are touched on in the game. This companion feels immersion breaking.

Unfortunately I see this thread being locked soon, mine was lol.

xclassgaming · September 11

spartaxoxo wrote: »

xclassgaming wrote: »

Drammanoth wrote: »

LGB has been a part of this game since forever, and seamlessly integrated, which is something that I like (I'm straight btw), but...

introducing wokeness is bad. It is politicising the game and I fear that this may be a huge bone of contention. Not the existence of LGB people, but introducting TQIA+.

Also, as the saying goes "get woke, go broke" - cf. Disney.

Hey, Vivec is non-binary so TES has been "woke" since TES 3. Hope this helps!

Daedric princes also exist outside of modern concepts of gender. They can form however they please.

quite right too!

Lady_Titania · September 11

Sepultura_13 wrote: »

Lady_Titania wrote: »

This update...

Companions:
Crown store companions.
No story questing behind them.
One of them is a repeated race; Kahjiit.
[Snip]

PVP:
Main focus battlegrounds.
No update to Cyrodiil.

In this thread - PLEASE talk about our wants as a community.

The Khajiit Necromancer with the "heavy sack" passive is fine with me. I won't be utilizing the Altmer Dragonknight, as it's passive isn't necessary for me, and my mains are already Dragonknights and Nightblades. I try to avoid unnecessary redundancies.

I'll check out the new BG updates for kicks and giggles, since I do a bit of "Ye Olde PvP" from time to time. I'm disappointed that they didn't remove the most useless ones, which are Crazy King and Domination, IMHO. I hate hate HATE those BGs with a passion, but that's just me. Give me Deathmatch, Chaosball, or Capture the Relic any day, all day. As far as power-ups, I didn't know that they had ever existed in BGs before, since I've only seen them in Maelstrom Arena.

It's like you read my mind just now! I forgot to mention that the Altmer passive does me nothing. Kahjiit passive is nice, the glowing sacks. A passive for an increase drop rate of atherial dust would have been better for the altmer imo.

[Edited quote]

Theist_VII · September 11

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Theist_VII wrote: »

Well, seeing how this thread hasn’t been locked, I’m just going to repost what I wrote.

I’m sure Zenimax plan on doing some play on Soul Magic to explain how a man is trapped in a woman’s body, and honestly, that doesn’t bother me at all, and it really shouldn’t bother anyone. As long as their questline is done in good taste, I believe we’ll all make it.

I get that you're showing support for it. But what you're describing is Trans-Gender, not Non-Binary.

What I envision, is a questline for someone who can’t identify themselves, as they are as a direct result of some kind of soul fusion or body transfer.

Either way though, like I said, the only thing that matters is whether or not the questline is mature, and well done. I’m sure nobody wants another parent issues questline after Blackwood!

Sepultura_13 · September 11

AzuraFan wrote: »

Yep, they repeated a race and didn't give us a female companion. So now we're out of balance again. How will they even this out?

I also sympathize with those who wanted a male companion because again, the repeated race (and for those hoping for a hottie, a khajit isn't going to do it for the majority of them, I'm betting lol).

I was hoping for a Bosmer or an Orc necromancer as one of the companions, TBH. As far as "a hottie" goes, I'm one of the few people alive who isn't aroused by pixels, AI-enhancements, or RL cosmetic surgery, apparently.

I didn't take the earlier poll, but I would have voted in the "my expectations are already low so as to avoid disappointment" category. I expected nothing, and got what I expected. My in-game experience won't be affected one iota.