In lore, which DLC chapters/zones are truly end game and the biggest challenge?

Zombocalypse

So, if the starting zones for any of the three alliances are most definitely the legitimate newbie zones, with the next areas being the in lore tougher areas with stronger enemies... Taking into consideration that our RPG character in this game gets more powerful with each level up, which DLC chapters/zones are beginner, then intermediate, then advanced, then elite in terms of progressively stronger challenges and enemies?

I'm kind of crafting a story for my character and I don't want him to finish the toughest overland bosses and quests first, only to realize he started by killing off the unkillable and then every other boss enemy in other zones are actually now supposed to be one-shotted.

Thanks.

Soarora

Interesting to think about, mine just does them in release order. I’d think non-daedric DLCs are easier. So from easiest to hardest, gold coast + hews bane > orisinium > murkmire > high isle + firesong > greymoor + markarth > the elsweyrs > blackwood + deadlands > necrom + gold road

Morrowind/CWC/Summerset I’m not certain, it’s Daedric but less direct, so maybe before or after greymoor + markarth.

Amottica

Technically, none of the zones are end-game, and our players scale to 160 in a manner of speaking, though a fully leveled character with decent CP will be stronger.

So, if you want to start with the main alliance story for the character and then do silver and gold, the zones can be done in the order they were released.

This has a list they claim is in chronological order, which looks like it is the order in which they were released. That makes sense, as time does not seem to progress, and I think a dev has said as much.

https://eso-hub.com/en/guides/chronological-timeline-guide

Zombocalypse

Amottica wrote: »

Technically, none of the zones are end-game, and our players scale to 160 in a manner of speaking, though a fully leveled character with decent CP will be stronger.

So, if you want to start with the main alliance story for the character and then do silver and gold, the zones can be done in the order they were released.

This has a list they claim is in chronological order, which looks like it is the order in which they were released. That makes sense, as time does not seem to progress, and I think a dev has said as much.

https://eso-hub.com/en/guides/chronological-timeline-guide

In, Lore. In, Lore.

freespirit

Craglorn although it is base game was originally designed as "group" content.

They have removed most if not all of the situations where more than one player is needed to stand on plates etc but I do still find even to this day that some of the encounters make me think rather than just blasting everything down!

As far as DLC zones are concerned some stuff has got progressively harder........ actually mostly just progressively more annoying!

Harrowstorms are horrible to solo, Bastion Nymics are a pain but more for the length than the difficulty, There are some other things too but I suggest just play, if you run into hard stuff RUN AWAY!!

Supreme_Atromancer

I think using the "starter" islands as evidence of some sort of progression is not very useful; although in 2014 this was the case, it is no longer meant to be. It doesn't make sense in the context of how the game was changed in 2016 (with One Tamriel), or how new zones are developed since.

It also no longer really holds true that your character gets more powerful with every level up. Arguably you appear to do so early on as you gain more health, magicka, stamina and skill-line passives, but even this is blunted by a power buff new characters have that diminishes as you level, and further character progress is- by design- horizontal, not vertical. i.e., you gain more capabilities, not more power.

Without those assumptions, you're left with what you see only in the game world. You'll be facing trolls and spriggans, reachmen and cultists in many zones, which feels like it eludes any attempt to put things in order of danger levels.

A troll boss in a delve in Glenumbra will be precisely as deadly as a goblin boss in a Western Skyrim delve. Does that suggest that the frosty wastes of Skyrim is less deadly than the "bucolic, green rolling hills" of civilized Glenumbra? Is it simply game-mechanics and balance, or does that goblin just happen to be an advanced warrior of his tribe? Which land is therefore more dangerous?

Relative danger is arbitrary because in ESO the enemies and challenges serve only the pacing of the particular story being told at the time and the stories are designed to be both episodic and playable in any order. You might be facing a dragon in one place, an orc king in another, even Molag Bal himself but story devices- such as mcguffins, powerful allies, etc. make assessments of which areas are more dangerous beside the point.

It means that the traditional progression you might see in old school rpgs where you start with goblins and eventually you gain enough skill and experience to fight dragons is either non-existent in this game, or at best heavily down-played.

Because of that, I think its a reasonable assumption to think you can play in any order you wish because there's plenty of lore suggesting that ALL of Tamriel is exceedingly dangerous in 2e, 582. Some areas might have lowly goblins, others trolls, and yet others crawling with dragons, but danger is literally everywhere, and narrative and lore works to make all challenges arbitrarily challenging, focussing rather on pacing, growing narrative tension/threat, and flavour of the story and events taking place.


If its still important to you, I think you could look at the intended progress order of the zones at release. Its possible they were designed with a sort of order of "mounting threat" cadence. Each faction had a suite of zones with ascending intended level. I'll post a map below if I can find it. Keep in mind that anything released after One T will be hard to fit into this scheme because of what I've written above.

Amottica

Zombocalypse wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

Technically, none of the zones are end-game, and our players scale to 160 in a manner of speaking, though a fully leveled character with decent CP will be stronger.

So, if you want to start with the main alliance story for the character and then do silver and gold, the zones can be done in the order they were released.

This has a list they claim is in chronological order, which looks like it is the order in which they were released. That makes sense, as time does not seem to progress, and I think a dev has said as much.

https://eso-hub.com/en/guides/chronological-timeline-guide

In, Lore. In, Lore.

I caught the part about lore. For lore to dictate what stories are best done first, the stories would have to occur at different times, and as I noted, a dev once noted that the timeline does not progress between the stories. That means there is no lore driver.

Now, some stories continue from one zone to another, such as the yearlong story zones and what led to that.

So, yeah, that is why there is no explanation here concerning the lore outside of what makes sense. That list is right along the lines of what people are suggesting as the order of doing them that makes sense.

Cheers.

Zombocalypse

Amottica wrote: »

Zombocalypse wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

Technically, none of the zones are end-game, and our players scale to 160 in a manner of speaking, though a fully leveled character with decent CP will be stronger.

So, if you want to start with the main alliance story for the character and then do silver and gold, the zones can be done in the order they were released.

This has a list they claim is in chronological order, which looks like it is the order in which they were released. That makes sense, as time does not seem to progress, and I think a dev has said as much.

https://eso-hub.com/en/guides/chronological-timeline-guide

In, Lore. In, Lore.

I caught the part about lore. For lore to dictate what stories are best done first, the stories would have to occur at different times, and as I noted, a dev once noted that the timeline does not progress between the stories. That means there is no lore driver.

Now, some stories continue from one zone to another, such as the yearlong story zones and what led to that.

So, yeah, that is why there is no explanation here concerning the lore outside of what makes sense. That list is right along the lines of what people are suggesting as the order of doing them that makes sense.

Cheers.

Thanks

Zombocalypse

Supreme_Atromancer wrote: »

I think using the "starter" islands as evidence of some sort of progression is not very useful; although in 2014 this was the case, it is no longer meant to be. It doesn't make sense in the context of how the game was changed in 2016 (with One Tamriel), or how new zones are developed since.

It also no longer really holds true that your character gets more powerful with every level up. Arguably you appear to do so early on as you gain more health, magicka, stamina and skill-line passives, but even this is blunted by a power buff new characters have that diminishes as you level, and further character progress is- by design- horizontal, not vertical. i.e., you gain more capabilities, not more power.

Without those assumptions, you're left with what you see only in the game world. You'll be facing trolls and spriggans, reachmen and cultists in many zones, which feels like it eludes any attempt to put things in order of danger levels.

A troll boss in a delve in Glenumbra will be precisely as deadly as a goblin boss in a Western Skyrim delve. Does that suggest that the frosty wastes of Skyrim is less deadly than the "bucolic, green rolling hills" of civilized Glenumbra? Is it simply game-mechanics and balance, or does that goblin just happen to be an advanced warrior of his tribe? Which land is therefore more dangerous?

Relative danger is arbitrary because in ESO the enemies and challenges serve only the pacing of the particular story being told at the time and the stories are designed to be both episodic and playable in any order. You might be facing a dragon in one place, an orc king in another, even Molag Bal himself but story devices- such as mcguffins, powerful allies, etc. make assessments of which areas are more dangerous beside the point.

It means that the traditional progression you might see in old school rpgs where you start with goblins and eventually you gain enough skill and experience to fight dragons is either non-existent in this game, or at best heavily down-played.

Because of that, I think its a reasonable assumption to think you can play in any order you wish because there's plenty of lore suggesting that ALL of Tamriel is exceedingly dangerous in 2e, 582. Some areas might have lowly goblins, others trolls, and yet others crawling with dragons, but danger is literally everywhere, and narrative and lore works to make all challenges arbitrarily challenging, focussing rather on pacing, growing narrative tension/threat, and flavour of the story and events taking place.


If its still important to you, I think you could look at the intended progress order of the zones at release. Its possible they were designed with a sort of order of "mounting threat" cadence. Each faction had a suite of zones with ascending intended level. I'll post a map below if I can find it. Keep in mind that anything released after One T will be hard to fit into this scheme because of what I've written above.

Thanks.

Zombocalypse

freespirit wrote: »

Craglorn although it is base game was originally designed as "group" content.

They have removed most if not all of the situations where more than one player is needed to stand on plates etc but I do still find even to this day that some of the encounters make me think rather than just blasting everything down!

As far as DLC zones are concerned some stuff has got progressively harder........ actually mostly just progressively more annoying!

Harrowstorms are horrible to solo, Bastion Nymics are a pain but more for the length than the difficulty, There are some other things too but I suggest just play, if you run into hard stuff RUN AWAY!!

Thanks