Concerns and hopes about the Horns of the Reach DLC

VerboseQuips · June 2017

I just heard about the announcement of the two-dungeons-pack DLC Horns of the Reach.

The description of the DLC has left me with some hopes and some genuine worries.

I'll tackle the worries first.

I fear that ZOS is about to waste two very big opportunities. Two of Skyrim's Holds are already included in ESO, and each of those is an entire zone, filled with quests and locations, and containing a group dungeon.
So I really hope the entire Falkreath Hold hasn't boiled down to a mere dungeon, with just one quest and a few bosses.

Then, the College of Winterhold, as a Battleground. Please... I have been eagerly waiting for the wondrous city created by Shalidor to be included in ESO, as we haven't yet seen it in its full glory. I expected the College of Winterhold to come with a questline of similar size to the Sadrith Mora or the Mage Guild's questlines, possibly related to Jhunal, to the Fortress of Ice and to Bromjunaar...
But a battleground... It's unfit for telling any story, unfit to provide any more lore.

I really hope the battleground is just a small arena inside of the College for students to train their skills, and the game saves the larger College of Winterhold for later, for a more compelling visit.

Now on the slightly hopeful side... I am really interested by the presence of Minotaurs in Falkreath Hold because of this sentence in the Song of Pelinal :

And after the first Pogrom, which consolidated the northern holdings for the men-of-'kreath, he stood with white hair gone brown with elfblood at the Bridge of Heldon, where Perrif's falconers had sent for the Nords

It seems to indicate that there once was an Ayleid presence in Skyrim (Falkreath Hold was once part of Cyrod). The presence of Minotaurs - notoriously related to Morihaus - in the Falkreath Hold might indicate we would get to know more about this mysterious Ayleid city of Heldon, about the Men-of-[Fal?]'kreath, and about the links between Morihaus and the thu'um.

Also, learning more about Reachmen is always good. :-)

So, am I the only one who feels these worries about Falkreath and even more about the Winterhold College?

And am I the only one freaking out due to Minotaurian presence in Southern Skyrim?

Turelus · June 2017

I don't think the dungeon DLC will tie off any chance we see more of Skyrim later.

Plenty of chapters and plenty of map left to do.

ArchMikem · June 2017

There was an Ayleid presence in Skyrim, they were called the Snow Elves. The Falmer.

adriant1978 · June 2017

When Horns of the Reach launches, the base game will also get a major (free!) update. This update will include a new Battlegrounds map (Arcane University) and a new Battlegrounds ruleset (Chaos Ball), in addition to new homes, furnishings, cosmetics, Crown Crates and holiday events.

VerboseQuips wrote: »

the College of Winterhold, as a Battleground. Please...

I think you may be confusing the College of Winterhold with the Arcane University.

T1y4hoon · June 2017

Falmer DLC after this confirmed

Morgul667 · June 2017

I hope it will be fun :-)

LMar · June 2017

Yeah it is not the College of Winterhold that will be a battlegrounds map but the Arcane University in the Imperial City. Still a prominent feature being just a map is not the greatest but the Arcane University is probably not in the best shape after the daedric invasion and the Worm Cult having it as one of their bases

deleted008293 · June 2017

Zos could just reuse assets you know. If they want to create a "dungeon" from Eastmarch, they could just cut the zone add few additional assets and a quest to eliberate the city.
But tbh it would be a bit strange that today you are doing quests in a peaceful city while tomorrow it is under siege by daedras.

FluffyReachWitch · June 2017

I've been having the same worries about Falkreath Hold. I'd been hoping to see how ESO handles other zones of Skyrim in the long run. The bit of the trailer we saw looked pretty nice.

But will the hold be fully open to exploration in the long run, or is this the only Falkreath that will appear in ESO? If it is, that means there will be no casual exploration of an open world Falkreath in the same way we can traverse the Rift or Eastmarch. Plus if this is the case, it sets a precedent for other regions of Tamriel to be delivered as dungeons instead of open world areas.

VerboseQuips · June 2017

adriant1978 wrote: »

When Horns of the Reach launches, the base game will also get a major (free!) update. This update will include a new Battlegrounds map (Arcane University) and a new Battlegrounds ruleset (Chaos Ball), in addition to new homes, furnishings, cosmetics, Crown Crates and holiday events.

VerboseQuips wrote: »

the College of Winterhold, as a Battleground. Please...

I think you may be confusing the College of Winterhold with the Arcane University.

Oh gosh, you're right. How embarassing, I feel very stupid now.

Thanks for pointing out the mistake. Arcane Univeristy is less of a loss than Winterhold, I guess, and it would perhaps make sense for the Worm Cult and Molag Bal servants to organize students' fights there for "fun". (Still would have been better to have Arcane University as a place with lore and quests, but okay-ish. )

ArchMikem wrote: »

There was an Ayleid presence in Skyrim, they were called the Snow Elves. The Falmer.

Falmers (Snow Elves) and Ayleids (Wild Elves) aren't the same race. Possible interactions or rivalries between those two Mer people (actually three if you count the Dwemer) in Falrkreath are a topic worthy of interest, in my opinion.
The inaccessible ruin under Greenwall, which looks more Ayleid than Falmer in my opinion, might also be a clue of Ayleid presence in Southern Skyrim.)