Player Investment: Have you been hooked? (spoilers for Stonefalls)

BlackSparrow · April 2014

I can't be the only one who was initially underwhelmed by the Ebonheart Pact main storyline. It felt like it was just an extension of Cyrodiil, with it's "Oh no, Daggers are attacking!" plot.

Well, I recently finished a particular quest in the Stonefalls storyline. Specifically, the one where

Garyn Indoril dies. I didn't realize how attached I was getting to this character until he went down. I was honestly sort of hoping there would be a quest option to JOIN his father in his murderous revenge rampage, rather than stop him.

I now have a very visceral hatred for Daggers (to the point where it interferes with my ability to play my DC alt). I now kill every Dagger I see, brutally and without mercy. >:(

Am I alone here, or have other players found themselves invested in the storyline like this? If so, what got you into it? If not, what do you think they could do better to improve the Pact to help pull you in more?

LunaRae · April 2014

I personally struggle to get enveloped in a games story line simply because I lack the ability to appreciate a fantasy for what it is. Unfortunately I always reflect back on real life and how these circumstances upon which your main hero gets involved in would never unfold as they do. So many "captains" or other political leaders leak information so readily it makes you wonder why the Ebonheart Pact is still standing.

What I do like about the quests though is I continue seeing a lot of the same characters. I find that to be very realistic, and its refreshing to have repeated interactions with interesting individuals. So frequently you get X quest from Y NPC and once you complete said quest you will never hear or see Y NPC again. ESO gets this right and flows from zone to zone, providing repeated interactions with high ranking officials while mixing things up with random town-folk quests to spice it up.

I kind of wish the very beginning interaction was not coldharbour escape... I'd like it to create a realistic circumstance upon which your character gets a little formal recognition known through the Pact so that when you do get called upon for service (aka a quest line) it's not like a general is randomly talking to some nobody leaking critical information in the hopes they solve their problem.

Compared to the other two factions I felt like they all have their shining moments and less than desirable ones, but ultimately the circumstances just don't add up for me. Maybe I'm just asking for too much realism in an ESO game though, who knows.

umishu · April 2014

RE: BlackSparrow: Definitely agree. I started playing DC alliance on beta and found the storyline to be less interesting than the Pact's. So I went all the way with the Pact's storyline during early access and now live. I also was shocked at that spoiler and now I can't go back to DC

Rotherhans · April 2014

Heh.
I was hooked way earlier already.
Made the error of choosing EP during the ß-weekends and then

proceeded onwards with my merry Bleakrock band to eventually defend the Docks. Only to find pretty much all of them slaughtered inside the damn oh-so-safe fort.
The burial in Stonefalls and the "lamentation of the matron"

didn´t exactly help with staying neutral towards that Daggerfall scum.

Also the Pact´s internal struggle between the D-Elf Slavemasters their former Argoninan slaves and the oddly stuck in between Nords is the most interesting.

On the other hand, Kate Beckinsale

.. damit!

Ackure · April 2014

When this moment in question happened I pulled a WTF. I didn't have the power to stop this. There are quite few optional quests in the game before this where Picking the right of bad choice is rather uncertain. But this one I didn't see coming and couldn't do anything to prevent it. I was also quite attached to the character. I also completely accepted the reaction. But I was confused on how to follow up that quest in particular in the game.

BlackSparrow · April 2014

Rotherhans wrote: »

Heh.
I was hooked way earlier already.
Made the error of choosing EP during the ß-weekends and then
proceeded onwards with my merry Bleakrock band to eventually defend the Docks. Only to find pretty much all of them slaughtered inside the damn oh-so-safe fort.
The burial in Stonefalls and the "lamentation of the matron"
didn´t exactly help with staying neutral towards that Daggerfall scum.

Also the Pact´s internal struggle between the D-Elf Slavemasters their former Argoninan slaves and the oddly stuck in between Nords is the most interesting.

On the other hand, Kate Beckinsale .. damit!

I made the same choice in that scenario. I also went back and checked out the other spot.

To find that just the dog survived, standing next to his master's corpse, was pretty heart-wrenching. I was happy to run into Rana later, at Kragenmour, and have her tell me that the dog was now keeping the matron company.

@LunaRae, I also appreciate the recurring characters. Every time I see an interesting character a second time, it makes me smile, and makes me want to help them with whatever they need this time.

I think that's why it took until the spoiler in my OP to really care about this storyline. Recurring characters are what draw me in, and what I get most connected to.

I do agree that it seems that trust is too quickly earned initially, but at least you do get the feeling that the officers you're working with are finding you trustworthy and are passing the word along to others, and that you're building up a reputation. It's a nice touch that you can walk down the street and hear "That's the hero of insert-battle-here. She stopped the Daggers/daedra/undead!" as you pass.