Good article by Matt Firor about Orsinium over at MMORPG.COM

Publius_Scipio · November 2016

Iselin wrote: »

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Vvardenfell is something I am looking forward to. I know it has not been announced, but it is the only zone they have been talking about

Where and when did ZOS openly acknowledge Vvardenfell?

There has been no official acknowledgement yet but a lot of references to it were data mined back in May:

http://tamrielfoundry.com/2016/05/datamining-vvardenfell/

No Ghost Gate/Ghost Fence in vvaredenfell during eso?

ItsGlaive · November 2016

Good article. They really need to get their PR narrative straight though.

The MMORPG piece makes it sound like the idea for moving towards battle levelling came during the development of the DLC, meanwhile their story in this polygon article - http://www.polygon.com/features/2016/10/14/13285014/elder-scrolls-online-one-tamriel-skyrim-mmo - heavily implies it was planned from way before the game's launch, and just happened to be a long journey.

Then again the polygon piece also suggests that the new body/facial language animations for NPCs made it into the game, but they actually stopped at mouth animations in the end, NPCs are still wooden spoons.

Iselin · November 2016

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Iselin wrote: »

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Vvardenfell is something I am looking forward to. I know it has not been announced, but it is the only zone they have been talking about

Where and when did ZOS openly acknowledge Vvardenfell?

There has been no official acknowledgement yet but a lot of references to it were data mined back in May:

http://tamrielfoundry.com/2016/05/datamining-vvardenfell/

No Ghost Gate/Ghost Fence in vvaredenfell during eso?

I guess not. ESO takes place about 300 years before that.

Prof_Bawbag · November 2016

Iselin wrote: »

bellanca6561n wrote: »

It's the best they've done and out-shines all the other zones in the game.

However, it's been a year and we don't have another expansion of that magnitude, alas, nor has one been even announced

Well there's that housing thing...

But yeah, Orsinium is by far the best zone added after the game launched (I'm still looking at you Craglorn)

Just a pity housing will get old fast. I mean, there's only so much self amusement most people can derive from such content.

IrishGirlGamer · November 2016

Iselin wrote: »

5 Lessons Learned from Creating Orsinium

http://www.mmorpg.com/elder-scrolls-online/developer-journals/5-lessons-learned-from-creating-the-orsinium-dlc-game-pack-1000011317

My favorite part of that article:

A good story is a good story.

Really, I can't say how many games with basic or crappy mechanics I've muddled through just because I enjoy the story. That line alone makes me want to believe in Zenimax again. Great stories make great games and players will keep playing them again and again just to experience the story.

I know some players don't like the quests in ESO, but I love them. Some more than others. I won't forget the first time I finished the main quest in Reaper's March. I really enjoyed that story line, and I look forward to going through it again and again.

And yay, Morrowind. Just yay.

Armitas · November 2016

Orsinium was an incredible dlc. The story the atmosphere absolutely amazing. 10/10 if I ignore VMA.

nimander99 · November 2016

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Iselin wrote: »

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Vvardenfell is something I am looking forward to. I know it has not been announced, but it is the only zone they have been talking about

Where and when did ZOS openly acknowledge Vvardenfell?

There has been no official acknowledgement yet but a lot of references to it were data mined back in May:

http://tamrielfoundry.com/2016/05/datamining-vvardenfell/

No Ghost Gate/Ghost Fence in vvaredenfell during eso?

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Ghostfence

Following his reawakening in 2E 882, Dagoth Ur bound himself to the Heart of Lorkhan, the source of the Tribunal's power, and proceeded to set in motion plans to create a theocracy in Morrowind based on the worship of the new-born god Akulakhan.[3] Later that same year, Dagoth Ur and his ash vampires ambushed the Tribunal during their annual ritual bathing in the heart's power, driving them away and preventing them from restoring themselves with Kagrenac's tools. In the years that followed, while Dagoth Ur attempted to spread Corprus disease and the Blight throughout Vvardenfell from his fortress in the crater of Red Mountain, the Tribunal launched intermittent campaigns against the fortress, seeking to force access to the Heart Chamber.[3] While some were successful, and Dagoth Ur and his kin were slain, the Heart always revived them in time. When the Tribunal realized they couldn't destroy him, they created the Ghostfence to contain the threat.[4] They also erected the Ghostgate so that they and others would have access to Red Mountain. They stationed Ordinators of House Indoril and Buoyant Armigers alike to guard the gate. To sustain the fence, the Tribunal were required to constantly focus a portion of their power on the fence.

The game take place in 2E 582-3 so we are a few years before the above, but there could be some real cool quests that we do for the Tribunal that might lead to the awakening of Dagoth in 2E 882, also his ashvampires where still around prior to his awakening so we could run into them and any 6th House Worshipper's.

Edit: Also the events that led to Dagoth Ur being locked away happened in the 1st Era... So yeah, nothing there. Sides maybe some spirit interaction or quests that allow us to relive those events through, say, Indoril Nerevar's eyes. There is precedent since we do that with the last Aylied King in one of the quests already.

I_killed_Vivec · November 2016

Much as I love it (and it is my favourite DLC) I have a slightly different view of Wrothgar...

You have to see it in the context of what was happening in the game. There had been nothing new since Craglorn. For months we (PC players) were kept waiting as the release on console was delayed. Then there were 5 further months of waiting. No new content all that time - and that was when you finished Gold and weren't at max VR. To reach the top you went grinding in Craglorn...

When you put it in that context then any new content would have been well received. Wrothgar was good, but not that good.

I thought the story line was good, but totally predictable.

I mean, who didn't see that coming a mile off? It spoiled it for me because I wanted to challenge the king when I saw what he was doing but the only option available was to carry on dumbly and pretend I hadn't noticed.

As for "great" loot from the dailies, I like the Briarheart set, but despite doing dailies since they came out I still haven't got a full set of purple, robust jewellery. And adding the weapons was just an excuse to dilute the loot tables.

On the plus side, there's a freedom to just roaming around Wrothgar that you don't get in many other zones because they have so many artificial obstructions (all those cliffs in the jungle!). It's something I particularly noticed when 1T came out with its dailies taking me back to zones I hadn't visited for ages... and reminded me why I don't go back there.

Publius_Scipio · November 2016

nimander99 wrote: »

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Iselin wrote: »

Publius_Scipio wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Vvardenfell is something I am looking forward to. I know it has not been announced, but it is the only zone they have been talking about

Where and when did ZOS openly acknowledge Vvardenfell?

There has been no official acknowledgement yet but a lot of references to it were data mined back in May:

http://tamrielfoundry.com/2016/05/datamining-vvardenfell/

No Ghost Gate/Ghost Fence in vvaredenfell during eso?

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Ghostfence
Following his reawakening in 2E 882, Dagoth Ur bound himself to the Heart of Lorkhan, the source of the Tribunal's power, and proceeded to set in motion plans to create a theocracy in Morrowind based on the worship of the new-born god Akulakhan.[3] Later that same year, Dagoth Ur and his ash vampires ambushed the Tribunal during their annual ritual bathing in the heart's power, driving them away and preventing them from restoring themselves with Kagrenac's tools. In the years that followed, while Dagoth Ur attempted to spread Corprus disease and the Blight throughout Vvardenfell from his fortress in the crater of Red Mountain, the Tribunal launched intermittent campaigns against the fortress, seeking to force access to the Heart Chamber.[3] While some were successful, and Dagoth Ur and his kin were slain, the Heart always revived them in time. When the Tribunal realized they couldn't destroy him, they created the Ghostfence to contain the threat.[4] They also erected the Ghostgate so that they and others would have access to Red Mountain. They stationed Ordinators of House Indoril and Buoyant Armigers alike to guard the gate. To sustain the fence, the Tribunal were required to constantly focus a portion of their power on the fence.

The game take place in 2E 582-3 so we are a few years before the above, but there could be some real cool quests that we do for the Tribunal that might lead to the awakening of Dagoth in 2E 882, also his ashvampires where still around prior to his awakening so we could run into them and any 6th House Worshipper's.

Edit: Also the events that led to Dagoth Ur being locked away happened in the 1st Era... So yeah, nothing there. Sides maybe some spirit interaction or quests that allow us to relive those events through, say, Indoril Nerevar's eyes. There is precedent since we do that with the last Aylied King in one of the quests already.

If anything Vvardenfell should have many dwemer ruins to explore. If no ghostfence then I assume we should be allowed to explore red mountain. Maybe the ancestral tombs that dotted the landscape in Morrowind are possibly around in ESO. I'd think a Vvardenfell DLC should have plenty for us to do.

Vanthras79 · November 2016

Are these articles the new modus for ZOS to communicate with the player base. I have seem a lot of articles recently, and very little live episodes from ZOS. Could they be trimming their communication's budget? Some of us miss the gang on ESO Live. Even Natches-the-Potes.

I Loved Wrothgar (even put up with the 'Crashgar' crisis, was that mentioned?), but the newer zones Matt said at one point in another article somewhere would "be smaller and more like little episodes." I have to admit when I heard that I was devastated. Hoping that Vvardenfell comes sooner rather than later, and is even better than Worthgar!

Elsonso · November 2016

Vanthras79 wrote: »

Are these articles the new modus for ZOS to communicate with the player base. I have seem a lot of articles recently, and very little live episodes from ZOS. Could they be trimming their communication's budget? Some of us miss the gang on ESO Live. Even Natches-the-Potes.

They are talking to people who do not own the game when they do interviews like this.

runagate · November 2016

Orsinium was hands down the best DLC.

It is also equally unquestionably the worst city.

Elsonso · November 2016

runagate wrote: »

It is also equally unquestionably the worst city.

That's Orcs for ya....

notimetocare · November 2016

MissBizz wrote: »

Orcs are not awesome.

Orsinium is absolutely the best they have done though. Hope we get another big dlc I can love just as much!

Orcs and argonians are byfar the coolest and most unique races. They are very well written

KingYogi415 · November 2016

I need to join another guild asap.

What about:

Monster hunters Guild

Tresure hunters guild

PIRATE GUILD.

ARRR matey, kill all d'em dirty sea elfs!!!!

xaraan · November 2016

Alucardo wrote: »

I wish they'd release more DLCs like Orsinium, not the garbage with "filler" quests like DBH and Thieves Guild. Orsinium was actually a pleasure to play through.
But yeah, definitely agreed with his points in that article.

Yeah, after being gone from the game for almost a year I was a bit disappointed to see the lack of content added in the time I was gone. Hopefully they get something better out next year (better as in full sized zones).

Cinbri · November 2016

Didnt' even played Orsinium plot, it was too PvEsh.
Orcs maybe great but chimer/dunmers even greater. That historic drama of this nation along with cultural/tradition/religion differences so great there that it were causing genocide wars sometimes. Hope zos will implement Vvardenfell properly upon those things and tho it will be 10 times greater than Orsinium.
P.S.: there was no Ghost Fence at this time but during game realese zos claimed Planemeld caused eruption and tho middle area is not accecible anyway. Wonder if zos will still build Vvardenfell according to this 2y old information and tho making me wonder: does ZOS will shows us how Vvardenfell looked in TES games-serie after Red Year coz literally it happened the same thing - in TES Red Mountain erupted and caused huge destructions on island and tho Morrowind was collapsed in addition to Argonia invasion, in ESO Planemeld caused eruption tho lizards still with us. It would be really awesome if it will be done that way, desolated island with lava everywhere and ash storms.

Elsonso · November 2016

Cinbri wrote: »

P.S.: there was no Ghost Fence at this time but during game realese zos claimed Planemeld caused eruption and tho middle area is not accecible anyway. Wonder if zos will still build Vvardenfell according to this 2y old information and tho making me wonder: does ZOS will shows us how Vvardenfell looked in TES games-serie after Red Year coz literally it happened the same thing - in TES Red Mountain erupted and caused huge destructions on island and tho Morrowind was collapsed in addition to Argonia invasion, in ESO Planemeld caused eruption tho lizards still with us. It would be really awesome if it will be done that way, desolated island with lava everywhere and ash storms.

In documented history, there are only a couple of times anything monumentally interesting happens in Vvardenfell, and the time of ESO ain't one of them. Vvardenfell would seem to be quite the boring place, most of the time. At least, politically. It will be interesting to see what they come up with, but I do expect them to update history considerably when they do.

Cinbri · November 2016

lordrichter wrote: »

Cinbri wrote: »

P.S.: there was no Ghost Fence at this time but during game realese zos claimed Planemeld caused eruption and tho middle area is not accecible anyway. Wonder if zos will still build Vvardenfell according to this 2y old information and tho making me wonder: does ZOS will shows us how Vvardenfell looked in TES games-serie after Red Year coz literally it happened the same thing - in TES Red Mountain erupted and caused huge destructions on island and tho Morrowind was collapsed in addition to Argonia invasion, in ESO Planemeld caused eruption tho lizards still with us. It would be really awesome if it will be done that way, desolated island with lava everywhere and ash storms.

In documented history, there are only a couple of times anything monumentally interesting happens in Vvardenfell, and the time of ESO ain't one of them. Vvardenfell would seem to be quite the boring place, most of the time. At least, politically. It will be interesting to see what they come up with, but I do expect them to update history considerably when they do.

Sure, but history didn't tell us before about Planemeld or Celestials' events or dro-m'athra incursion and yet we are here. And Tribunal was keeping in secret their connection to Heart and covered it by 'raiding to Red Mountain' plus erasing events that were happening on Vvardenfell before Dagoth Ur awekened; so zos can do almost everything they want in this timeframe

Also according to some tes3 books there was heat local wars on Vvardenfell.
P.S.: in last official article zos said it showed Ebony motif: ebon is main resource of Vvardenfell and thus related to dunmers. I see it one more proof that we will see Vvardenfell and crafted Ebon style there

Elsonso · November 2016

Cinbri wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Cinbri wrote: »

P.S.: there was no Ghost Fence at this time but during game realese zos claimed Planemeld caused eruption and tho middle area is not accecible anyway. Wonder if zos will still build Vvardenfell according to this 2y old information and tho making me wonder: does ZOS will shows us how Vvardenfell looked in TES games-serie after Red Year coz literally it happened the same thing - in TES Red Mountain erupted and caused huge destructions on island and tho Morrowind was collapsed in addition to Argonia invasion, in ESO Planemeld caused eruption tho lizards still with us. It would be really awesome if it will be done that way, desolated island with lava everywhere and ash storms.

In documented history, there are only a couple of times anything monumentally interesting happens in Vvardenfell, and the time of ESO ain't one of them. Vvardenfell would seem to be quite the boring place, most of the time. At least, politically. It will be interesting to see what they come up with, but I do expect them to update history considerably when they do.

Sure, but history didn't tell us before about Planemeld or Celestials' events or dro-m'athra incursion and yet we are here. And Tribunal was keeping in secret their connection to Heart and covered it by 'raiding to Red Mountain' plus erasing events that were happening on Vvadenfell before Dagoth Ur awekened; so zos can do almost everything they want in this timeframe Also according to some tes3 books there was heat local wars on Vvardenfell.
P.S.: in last official article zos said it showed Ebony motif: ebon is main resource of Vvardenfell and thus related to dunmers. I see it one more proof that we will see Vvardenfell and crafted Ebon style there

I have no doubt that we will see Vvardenfell in 2017. I also have no doubt that whatever evil lurks there is previously unknown, as the Planemeld and Celestial events were. Tamriel needs more people documenting the 2nd Era so people in the late 3rd and early 4th Era know what has happened. Our descenants are terribly uninformed!

FLuFFyxMuFFiN · November 2016

Orsinium is definitely one of my favorite zones in the game if not my favorite. I love the atmosphere, the story and the music is great. I also loved how the city was under construction when you started and would continue to develop as you completed the story line. I am hoping for more amazing zones like Orsinium.

UrQuan · November 2016

I_killed_Vivec wrote: »

Much as I love it (and it is my favourite DLC) I have a slightly different view of Wrothgar...

You have to see it in the context of what was happening in the game. There had been nothing new since Craglorn. For months we (PC players) were kept waiting as the release on console was delayed. Then there were 5 further months of waiting. No new content all that time - and that was when you finished Gold and weren't at max VR. To reach the top you went grinding in Craglorn...

When you put it in that context then any new content would have been well received. Wrothgar was good, but not that good.

That's just not true. We got Imperial City months before we got Orsinium - that was the first new content since Craglorn. Lots of content there (a whole main storyline, daily district quests, all the roaming bosses and the static boss events in the sewers, the 2 toughest 4-man dungeons the game had seen, and the first really new thing that had been done for PVPers).

Imperial City was the "first new content" and contrary to your point that any new content would have been well received, it wasn't actually that well received. The Orsinium DLC that came a few months later (while most people still hadn't completed all the non-PVP Imperial City content) was far better received.

Darkonflare15 · November 2016

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Iselin wrote: »

bellanca6561n wrote: »

It's the best they've done and out-shines all the other zones in the game.

However, it's been a year and we don't have another expansion of that magnitude, alas, nor has one been even announced

Well there's that housing thing...

But yeah, Orsinium is by far the best zone added after the game launched (I'm still looking at you Craglorn)

Just a pity housing will get old fast. I mean, there's only so much self amusement most people can derive from such content.

I could say the same about any content. When Orsinum came out people rush through that storyline in a week, finish finding the artifacts for the museum, and was still clanoring more "content" It really just depends on the person. It really the simple stuff that keep people playing most of the time. As long Zos makes Housing robust by adding items to be gain from doing the plethora of other things in this game. Like dungeons, pvp,heists, black sacraments, stealing, exploring, dalies, and farming. While also making housing have useful quality of life benefits, housing can become just as engaging as some of the other "content" in this game.

FLuFFyxMuFFiN · November 2016

Darkonflare15 wrote: »

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Iselin wrote: »

bellanca6561n wrote: »

It's the best they've done and out-shines all the other zones in the game.

However, it's been a year and we don't have another expansion of that magnitude, alas, nor has one been even announced

Well there's that housing thing...

But yeah, Orsinium is by far the best zone added after the game launched (I'm still looking at you Craglorn)

Just a pity housing will get old fast. I mean, there's only so much self amusement most people can derive from such content.

I could say the same about any content. When Orsinum came out people rush through that storyline in a week, finish finding the artifacts for the museum, and was still clanoring more "content" It really just depends on the person. It really the simple stuff that keep people playing most of the time. As long Zos makes Housing robust by adding items to be gain from doing the plethora of other things in this game. Like dungeons, pvp,heists, black sacraments, stealing, exploring, dalies, and farming. While also making housing have useful quality of life benefits, housing can become just as engaging as some of the other "content" in this game.

Yep. Housing is gonna take up so much of my time. My ultimate goal is to own a different house for each character according to their race.

UrQuan · November 2016

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Iselin wrote: »

bellanca6561n wrote: »

It's the best they've done and out-shines all the other zones in the game.

However, it's been a year and we don't have another expansion of that magnitude, alas, nor has one been even announced

Well there's that housing thing...

But yeah, Orsinium is by far the best zone added after the game launched (I'm still looking at you Craglorn)

Just a pity housing will get old fast. I mean, there's only so much self amusement most people can derive from such content.

Ha, I was going to vehemently disagree with this and talk about how much time I spent on my housing in Skyrim, and how much I've been looking forward to housing in ESO and how ZOS would have to really screw it up badly for it to get old fast for me.

Then I noticed you said most people. I will freely admit that I am not most people. I have no idea if most people feel the way I do about housing.

NBrookus · November 2016

runagate wrote: »

Orsinium was hands down the best DLC.

It is also equally unquestionably the worst city.

I like the city; to me it's the only one that feels like a real city instead of a master-planned community that was built overnight.

Prof_Bawbag · November 2016

Iselin wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

Orcs are not awesome.

Come over here and say that to my face

Just a pity there was absolutely no way you could make an orc like that in the vanilla version of the game (not sure if mods allowed it, but will assume there's a mod that does). They trolled us so bad with those screens. Even the Breton female mage looked good, yet in-game they looked 50 years old going on 80.

jedtb16_ESO · November 2016

Wycks wrote: »

Orsinium looks good from the outside or from a scenic point of view but it not a very practical city to move around in. They need to hire a city planner or at the least study the popularity of cities in other MMO's, many cities that look beautiful are completely abandoned, while other hubs that are very popular (for good reason) have zero look and feel, like rawl'kha.

It's not rocket science.

it's built on hills......by orcs

Publius_Scipio · November 2016

Vvardenfell may be "boring" during the time of ESO, there are plenty of dwemer ruins, tombs, the major cities like Vivec (I assume) for many quests to be written for the player. NPC's could send you exploring for answers about the dwemer, explore the lore with the tribunal, explore ancient battlefields where the great war took place, speak with ghosts, etc. You know, the usual elder scrolls stuff.

Galwylin · November 2016

Having just finished Orsinium, I have to say it was a great adventure. I have basically no Elder Scroll knowledge. I hadn't played a single game (also just started Skyrim) so all this is new to me. I never cared for Orcs in any game. They just didn't interest me but Orsinium really got my Orc love going. I love someone put the noble warrior into a self destructive race. A race that other races look down upon. And that creation myth is the best I've ever encountered. What race would believe it to be the waste of a god and take pride in it? Orcs are truly one of the most unique Elder Scrolls creation. And that main quest went to places I never expected. All in all, I'm going to love replaying Orsinium on an alt.