Any guesses where we’re going next chapter?

TaSheen · October 7

Syldras wrote: »

Sarannah wrote: »

Instead of going to a new zone, ZOS could choose to create a new secondary main story for an already existing zone.

I think adding quests to old zones is no bad idea, but I'm sure that some people would be disappointed because they enjoy exploring completely new zones. Also, if just new quests are added, ZOS should not charge the full chapter prize for that. I think it would be okay as something like a small dlc (although that might lead ZOS to sell single questlines through the store at some point, which wouldn't exactly be something I favor - as they would probably be much too expensive).

Sarannah wrote: »

For example a new expansion: "Morrowind: The new era!", where we finally remove the stone from the sky.

It's still there in the 3rd era and it has to for lore

Sarannah wrote: »

This would have a twofold effect, players will want to play the first Morrowind story, and they will want to buy the new expansion in the same zone.

And for everyone who wasn't interested in the first story, the second would be just as useless. Also, it would go against ZOS' "play chapters in any order" concept.

Sarannah wrote: »

At the same time this would save ZOS money due to re-using an already existing zone, allowing them to focus on the main story much more.

I sadly don't think time or money is the problem when it comes to writing. Also, the people who do zone building, graphic assets and such things are not involved in story writing. Completely different team.

Well stated.

Supreme_Atromancer · October 7

Syldras wrote: »

I love these threads! I really have no idea where we're going next year, but some food for thought based on some observations:

1. The Hammerfell elephant is taking up more and more of the proverbial room with each passing year.

2. Its true we haven't been anywhere snowy for a bit. Solstheim has been mentioned in-game recently; Winterhold even moreso. Pre-collapse Winterhold is something a lot of fans would absolutely LOVE the opportunity to explore. Other snowy canditates include the mysterious Blacklight (though we've had dunmer so recently, its hard to imagine) and Jehanna. I dearly wish to see Breton Jehanna one day.

3. If we're beginning a second deep-dive for some of the races, I think orc meat must be back on the menu sooner or later, bois! But where would they go? (Please not High Rock). As pointed out already, there's still a lot of Skyrim to cover. If they wanted to do something different, ZOS might consider the bits of orcish story they themselves have woven into Falkreath's history. They'd also be taking notice of the heavy orcish presence in that region in TES5.

4. "Islands and Daedric Planes"- Matt Firor suggested they could do this in an interview a few years ago. Shivering Isles was one of the most highly-rated DLCs amongst the fandom, and I'd be shocked if it weren't coming sooner than later.

AzuraFan · October 7

MoonPile wrote: »

TaSheen wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

We could go somewhere completely unexpected, like somewhere in Black Marsh.

Oh, I hope not....

Wow there are a lot of agrees with this. Do people really hate Black Marsh? I'd love to see another, fuller expansion on them and more furnishings in the stone style + amazing plants!

It's full of Argonians. Talking reptiles don't do it for me. The same goes for Khajit.

Theist_VII · October 7

After this PTS cycle, my guess is Solisium.

SilverIce58 · October 7

Syldras wrote: »

There are also still bigger parts left of Skyrim, Blackmarch and Morrowind (although I doubt it will be Morrowind again that early). Plus daedric realms. Islands are also possible as a location.

Has anyone noticed that every expansion has been (with the slight exception of Summerset to Elsweyr) completely across the map from the last chapter? Necrom to West Weald is another slight exception, but its the furthest west Cyrodiil could be, so maybe Black Marsh or Winterhold next, as Hammerfell is right next to West Weald.

I also think if they do a year involving a Daedric realm, it'll most likely be another Necrom/Apocrypha type of situation. Sanguine's realm could pop up in a Black Marsh chapter tbh. Shadowfen had a Sanguine themed public dungeon after all.

Syldras · October 7

It's not a bad idea to look at the daedric realms and which one we have already seen in ESO and which ones not.

If I'm not completely wrong (correct me if I am, I haven't played all group dungeons and don't do trials, so I might have missed something), we still completely miss the realms of Malacath, Peryite, Azura and Sanguine.

We have seen bits from the realms of Sheogorath (mages guild questline), Meridia (main quest), Boethia (Dragonstar arena final level), Mephala, Clavicus Vile and Nocturnal (Daedric War story arc), Hircine (March of Sacrifices dungeon, werewolf quest), Vaermina (Covenant quest line) and Namira (Maw of Lorkhaj trial).

If we go to Solstheim, I really do expect them to include some werewolf content and Hircine.

joe_schmo · October 8

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

1. The Hammerfell elephant is taking up more and more of the proverbial room with each passing year.

It's funny because the empty space in Hamerfell is kind of in the shape of an elephant

Supreme_Atromancer · October 8

joe_schmo wrote: »

It's funny because the empty space in Hamerfell is kind of in the shape of an elephant

Oh my god. Someone get Gamerant on the line now!

Syldras · October 8

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Oh my god. Someone get Gamerant on the line now!

It's no elephant, though, it's clearly a fish!

Bradyfjord · October 8

Syldras wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Oh my god. Someone get Gamerant on the line now!

It's no elephant, though, it's clearly a fish!

This is irrefutable proof of the subjectivity of art.

Syldras · October 8

To pick this up again, what to do with the remaining daedric princes?

Syldras wrote: »

It's not a bad idea to look at the daedric realms and which one we have already seen in ESO and which ones not.

If I'm not completely wrong (correct me if I am, I haven't played all group dungeons and don't do trials, so I might have missed something), we still completely miss the realms of Malacath, Peryite, Azura and Sanguine.

We have seen bits from the realms of Sheogorath (mages guild questline), Meridia (main quest), Boethia (Dragonstar arena final level), Mephala, Clavicus Vile and Nocturnal (Daedric War story arc), Hircine (March of Sacrifices dungeon, werewolf quest), Vaermina (Covenant quest line) and Namira (Maw of Lorkhaj trial).

As I said, I think Hircine could be included with Solstheim. Malacath calls for orc content, maybe in the bordering region between Skyrim and Wrothgar.

But what will we do with the remaining ones? Azura, Boethiah, Mephala are the "good daedra" of the Dunmer, maybe they could include that with the remaining regions of Morrowind. Or maybe Azura(h) for the remaining Khajit zone? Nocturnal makes me think of thieves, but relating thieves to Hammerfell again would get a little trope-y (same for putting Peryite in a swamp region, or linking Sheogorath with a part of Cyrodiil again like in TES4).

And what's with the rest?

Sanguine -
Meridia -
Clavicus Vile -
Vaermina -
Namira -

Syldras · October 8

Bradyfjord wrote: »

This is irrefutable proof of the subjectivity of art.

It's more like a Rorschach test.

ArchMikem · October 8

SkaiFaith wrote: »

I need snow... Snow is never enough.
Just saying

I REALLY wouldn't mind Winterhold/The Pale. Some cold snowy terrain of Skyrim's deep North would be nice to explore, granted I'm hoping they also don't skimp on the trees. I love snowy Forests. Snowy wastelands, not so much.

katanagirl1 · October 8

Syldras wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I don’t read the lore section of the forums here to keep up, but that sounds pretty dreadful to me. I despise Rieklimgs, doubly so for their stuff clogging up the Luxury Vendor’s inventory instead of something that is actually nice. As for the Skaal, they were annoying mobs in Clockwork city but that one guy in Fargrave and Apocrypha was alright I guess.

Not Skaafin, Skaal - a "pagan" Nord tribe with their own religion and culture:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Skaal
I think it would be interesting to elaborate on them. In general, there are quite a lot of ruins of different types on that small island, I think it could be interesting to make something out of that (the only question is whether ZOS writes interesting stories and new lore).

LaintalAy wrote: »

When we say 'Hammerfell' is this the same region that earlier games like Redguard and Arena occupy?
Sorry, I don't know too much about those. But most of the other areas available possibly have licensing issues.

Since that one npc from the random encounter in Gold Road mentions the city of Abibon-gora, I suspect it would be the Western coast. That region has been in TES2 Daggerfall (which took place around the Iliac Bay; while TES Redguard was only Stros M'kai; and Arena had whole Hammerfell, but I think Abibon-gora was not on the map as a settlement back then).

Ah, so maybe it wouldn’t be all bad then. You still have those annoying Rieklings, though.

That empty area in Elsweyr bothers me to no end, I would like to see it filled in but it is really too small for a chapter. I don’t know how you can claim Pellitine and Anequina have joined when there is a wide swath of land in between the two of them. For a civilization of that level of technology it would take days just to travel from one border to another I would think. I was sure they would include it in a dlc later, but we don’t get those anymore.

Ilumia · October 8

I don't think we're going there, but my biggest wish is still Falkreath. I know there's a dungeon dlc for it, but that just doesn't cover it. Falkreath was my favorite Skyrim zone. The mountains sloping into the whiterun plains, the vibrant pine forests full of life, lake ilinalta and the numerous streams leading to and from it

LunaFlora · October 8

Syldras wrote: »

To pick this up again, what to do with the remaining daedric princes?

Syldras wrote: »

It's not a bad idea to look at the daedric realms and which one we have already seen in ESO and which ones not.

If I'm not completely wrong (correct me if I am, I haven't played all group dungeons and don't do trials, so I might have missed something), we still completely miss the realms of Malacath, Peryite, Azura and Sanguine.

We have seen bits from the realms of Sheogorath (mages guild questline), Meridia (main quest), Boethia (Dragonstar arena final level), Mephala, Clavicus Vile and Nocturnal (Daedric War story arc), Hircine (March of Sacrifices dungeon, werewolf quest), Vaermina (Covenant quest line) and Namira (Maw of Lorkhaj trial).

As I said, I think Hircine could be included with Solstheim. Malacath calls for orc content, maybe in the bordering region between Skyrim and Wrothgar.

But what will we do with the remaining ones? Azura, Boethiah, Mephala are the "good daedra" of the Dunmer, maybe they could include that with the remaining regions of Morrowind. Or maybe Azura(h) for the remaining Khajit zone? Nocturnal makes me think of thieves, but relating thieves to Hammerfell again would get a little trope-y (same for putting Peryite in a swamp region, or linking Sheogorath with a part of Cyrodiil again like in TES4).

And what's with the rest?

Sanguine -
Meridia -
Clavicus Vile -
Vaermina -
Namira -

they could be coupled with any region really, but if they might show up in regions with shrines or something like that:

Sanguine - Black Marsh, Elsweyr, Cyrodiil.
- Sanguine's Demesne in Shadowfen.
- that vampire clan in Moongrave Fane.
- West Weald shrine, there's also an argonian cultist in a barn just outside Skingrad.

though West Weald wouldn't be used in a prologue quest, every recent Sanguine reference including this stuff could at least mean he'll appear soon.

Azura - Elsweyr, Morrowind, High Rock (or is the bit between High Rock and Skyrim just the Reach?), also Valenwood though the only extra location they have is the southern islands.
- real important to khajiit and dunmer
- Pariah's Abbey in Stormhaven.
- Laeloria in Grahtwood.

Meridia - Summerset isles, Elsweyr, Cyrodiil, Skyrim.
- the temple from summerset zone story.
- the temple in Southern Elsweyr at the Shrine of the Reforged world boss.
- Meridia's Shrine in West Weald.
- Kilkreath Temple in Western Skyrim.

Clavicus Vile - Skyrim, Elsweyr, Morrowind, Black Marsh.
- the shrine we see in TES V, though no clue if that exists in the second era.
- The Jovial Lambasters in the Rimmen Outlaws Refuge. https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Jovial_Lambasters
- his shrine in Vvardenfell.
- his shrine in Odious Chapel, Shadowfen, from the Stillrise Village quests.

Vaermina - Cyrodiil, Skyrim.
- Southwest West Weald shrine near the Kvatch gate.
- Northeast Cyrodiil shrine near Cheydinhal.
- Skald's Retreat in the Rift
- Ten-Maur-Wolk, temple dedicated to both Boethiah and Mina.

Namira - Elsweyr, the Reach.
- Dro-mathra.
- Dark Heart of Skyrim or Blackreach i guess.

Elsonso · October 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

That empty area in Elsweyr bothers me to no end, I would like to see it filled in but it is really too small for a chapter. I don’t know how you can claim Pellitine and Anequina have joined when there is a wide swath of land in between the two of them. For a civilization of that level of technology it would take days just to travel from one border to another I would think. I was sure they would include it in a dlc later, but we don’t get those anymore.

I don't know if they thought they could squeeze some DLC into that space, but now that they aren't doing small zones in DLC, I am assuming not.

LunaFlora · October 8

Elsonso wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

That empty area in Elsweyr bothers me to no end, I would like to see it filled in but it is really too small for a chapter. I don’t know how you can claim Pellitine and Anequina have joined when there is a wide swath of land in between the two of them. For a civilization of that level of technology it would take days just to travel from one border to another I would think. I was sure they would include it in a dlc later, but we don’t get those anymore.

I don't know if they thought they could squeeze some DLC into that space, but now that they aren't doing small zones in DLC, I am assuming not.

High isle is miniscule compared to Central Elsweyr on the world map.
Small on the world map does not have to equal a tiny zone.

plus Central Elsweyr has 3 important khajiit cities Torval, Corinth, and Alabaster.
And a chapter there could always be coupled with an Oblivion zone like Moonshadow or even another Tamriel zone like Topal Island which is east of Elsweyr.

katanagirl1 · October 8

LunaFlora wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

That empty area in Elsweyr bothers me to no end, I would like to see it filled in but it is really too small for a chapter. I don’t know how you can claim Pellitine and Anequina have joined when there is a wide swath of land in between the two of them. For a civilization of that level of technology it would take days just to travel from one border to another I would think. I was sure they would include it in a dlc later, but we don’t get those anymore.

I don't know if they thought they could squeeze some DLC into that space, but now that they aren't doing small zones in DLC, I am assuming not.

High isle is miniscule compared to Central Elsweyr on the world map.
Small on the world map does not have to equal a tiny zone.

plus Central Elsweyr has 3 important khajiit cities Torval, Corinth, and Alabaster.
And a chapter there could always be coupled with an Oblivion zone like Moonshadow or even another Tamriel zone like Topal Island which is east of Elsweyr.

Yes that is possible, but one of the worst immersion-breaking things for me is a zone that is not scaled properly to the size on the map. If that area is scaled properly then there wouldn’t be much in it, though.

I have joked that the zones will get progressively smaller and smaller and we will asymptotically approach filling out the map but never actually get 100%.

Iriidius · October 8

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Morrowind - Gloomy
Summerset - Bright
Elsweyr - Bright
Greymoor - Gloomy
Blackwood - Gloomy
High Isle - Bright
Necrom - Gloomy
Gold Road - Bright

I'm not seeing a pattern here? I guess others maybe have different categorization for it. I guess since Blackwood it's the case. Although I'd mostly classify Blackwood as gloomy because of so much plot taking place in the Deadlands, but the main zone area is bright imo. Same issue with Necrom TBH. Apocropha is gloomy but I don't think Telvanni Penisula is. It feels less Ashen than Morrowind did. More bright.

Seems like every 2year cycle of odd and even year or chapternumber has a gloomy and bright one althought 2 gloomy or 2 bright of different cycle can come after each other.

Iriidius · October 8

Syldras wrote: »

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

If there were to be no Chapter released in 2025 I would not be at all surprised. I think U44 may show the future: refreshing existing parts of the game, accompanied by a variety of FOMO chores using endlessly repeatable quests and the like.

Strategically, that would be a horrible decision. The reduction of new content releases already had a bad influence during the last few years and with no chapter release at all, it would get even worse. Some people only log in right after the summer release right now because they don't really see anything fun to do the rest of the time, and some people have abandoned ESO altogether because there's not much to do most of the time, so they just lost interest. The players who are still here regularly already show a lot of patience, but at some point, patience will have an end.

It would repel new players especially when they can get all chapters in the chapter collection for always the same price despite chapters becoming more. Price even went down from 70€ Greymoor collection with 4 chapters to 60€ Goldroad collection with 8 chapters.
But it would bind players with FOMO stronger to the fame until they get so annoyed of daily to do things that they quit

Jaimeh · October 8

Syldras wrote: »

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

Oh my god. Someone get Gamerant on the line now!

It's no elephant, though, it's clearly a fish!

It's no fish, it's chicken leg!

(Okay, I know this is a reach but it's not that way off the mark(arth))

Elvenheart · October 8

It would make sense for Winterhold to be tied in to the advent of class skill scribing.

Supreme_Atromancer · October 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

That empty area in Elsweyr bothers me to no end, I would like to see it filled in

Yeah, it bothered a LOT of people, apparently. I hope that ZOS is considering it as somewhere we could still visit.

Torval and Corinth would be an excellent place to see our choice of Mane (from the Reaper's March main quest). If we ever do visit that area, I'd personally love to see Alabaster.

And while we're on the topic of forgotten content, this little area close to my heart is in the same situation as central Elsweyr:

OtarTheMad · October 8

Wherever it is I do hope ZOS focuses on areas like Black Marsh, Skyrim, Hammerfell and Morrowind just because they have so much area left. I’d hate to eliminate other areas with little left and just be stuck with those going forward, leaves little mystery.

BlueRaven · October 8

It’s highly doubtful we will be going to Hammerfel, that seems to be the territory of ES VI.

But the fact they randomly added a statue to Sanguine, it may concern that prince in some way.

LittlePinkDot · October 8

Syldras wrote: »

Western coast of Hammerfell or Skyrim (either Whiterun or Winterhold). There are hints for all three locations.

It better be Winterhold... We've been waiting to see what it looked like before most of it had fallen into the sea.

ESO_player123 · October 8

LittlePinkDot wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

Western coast of Hammerfell or Skyrim (either Whiterun or Winterhold). There are hints for all three locations.

It better be Winterhold... We've been waiting to see what it looked like before most of it had fallen into the sea.

If we were allowed to choose, for me it would be either Winterhold or Shivering Isles.

Udrath · October 8

Hopefully the announcement of a new game.

I really enjoyed ESO but the game is very different than when I started, and not as fun for me. Hybridisation really ruined the experience for me and a lot of other changes. Played for the story and progression at first, but the writing and characters really lost my interest after summerset. Stayed for PVP but the fun in that is really limited now and stale.

Supreme_Atromancer · October 8

ESO_player123 wrote: »

LittlePinkDot wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

Western coast of Hammerfell or Skyrim (either Whiterun or Winterhold). There are hints for all three locations.

It better be Winterhold... We've been waiting to see what it looked like before most of it had fallen into the sea.

If we were allowed to choose, for me it would be either Winterhold or Shivering Isles.

Both together wouldn't be terribly outlandish if ZOS wanted to follow on from the base game thread of Mages Guild vs. Sheo

(if College of WH is associated with MG in the 2nd era).