Earrindo wrote: »

I am really trying to be excited, but these forums are making it very difficult.
Sure, I wish they had gone a different route for the architecture on Summerset, but it isn't ugly, and Artaeum looks wonderful.

I hate to be that guy, but i started with MMOs 18 years ago, when it was all subscription based, and you paid for every expansion, and the forums were a helpful and positive place to chat with other people who enjoyed the game you all played.
The ESO forums are just so negative, and pessimistic, and judgmental and most of all entitled, that it makes it really difficult to be excited for something with everyone screaming about how disappointing the new content is and how Zenimax is the devil.
I know not everyone is like this, but even this thread, meant to garner some goodwill, gets hijacked by the disenfranchised.

So yeah, I am stoked. Played Altmer characters since TES III, and even though Summerset buildings dont look quite how I imagined them, I am really excited to go home, as it were, and see what it all looks like in person.

Hymzir wrote: »

So far... No, not really. Haven't even pre-ordered it. Don't care for that flaming senche - have plenty of exotic mounts gathering dust in the stable as is - and not sure weather to go with the collectors edition or just plain old cheap standard version.

I ended up picking up the collectors edition for Morrowind since the freebies in that one felt worth it, but then ZOS decided to pull the one feature I valued the most, i.e. the ability to change stuff into Morag Tong style, from the game. (And no, the free cost of using them in an outfit is not the same thing, it isn't even remotely as useful.)

So that serves as a lesson to be careful with ZOS and what it offers. And what is on offer aint that hot either - not a fan of the ghost horse, nor do I have a character that could use it. Don't care for the emotes either, and while I find the gryphon neat, I do not want it either, and feel the whole inclusion of gryphons a misstep lore-wise anyway.

The outfit style is a new low on it's own... So you get an exclusive motif that is not a motif. You can only use it with outfits and still get to pay for dyeing it. And on top of that, the style has hideous, over the top shoulder pieces, that serve no practical purpose and will just restrict movement of anyone wearing it. The chest portions would not work on a real piece of armor, and would undoubtedly be really uncomfortable to wear, and on top of that you get huge metal hip flaps that will bang against your thighs and generally get in the way. So.. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll pass.

The Psijic portal thingie is the only cool looking bit, but since it's just a memento, it has no practical use, and while cool, is not worth the extra you need to pay for the collectors edition. But I do have collectors edition of the base game, and the collectors edition of Morrowind... So, I don't know, gotta think about it.

As for the content itself... Well what is it that they are offering? More ESO quests? Which is fine I suppose. The MMO aspect places lot of constraints on the kind of quest they can offer, and how they are structured. But the writing has been fine in the past, and I see no reason to expect that it is off lesser quality here. But ultimately, it's just more of the same. Which is often fine on it's own, I mean I like donuts, and have eaten a lot of them along the years and will undoubtedly eat plenty more. I doubt that I'll start calling for changes or innovations on them any time soon. They're donuts, and donuts are fine on their own.

The same goes for quests in ESO. They're fine. Nothing special, but still fun to do. And you get to go through them with your pre-existing characters, so you can roll through them form the start like a boss. Which is also a fun thing to do. I mean it's cool to start a new game, with new mechanics, in a new world, too. But it's also fun to just pick up an old character and go do some new stuff with it, using mechanics you know and understand. So yeah... I'll be playing through Summerset, warts and all.

But am I excited? No. Not really. Since beyond the quests there isn't anything new and interesting in store. No new activity to partake in, no new class to master, no meaningful additions to what you can do in the game. Just a bunch of quests and a new trial, and trials are pointless from my perspective. I do not like repeating content, so trials and farming for gear, or mastering the mechanics and go for achievement or leaderboard, just isn't my thing. Not interested to see if I can go through the same dungeon blindfolded, or while carrying a basket or strawberries on my head. It's still the same dungeon, it's still the same story, it's still the same monsters in the same order. If you like that sort of thing, then that's fine and good for you, but some of us just aren't interested in it.

What people like me wanted was new vistas to explore. New sights to behold and an alien landscape to immerse in. And what we are gonna get is just another ***-hum medieval European themed fantasy fare. Sure it's pretty and prim and all that, but Morrowind it aint. And am talking about the original ES3 version here, not the ESO rehash of the same (which was well done, no doubt about that, but a rehash all the same, playing the nostalgia card pretty heavily too.)

A version of Summerset that was true to the lore, that would've offered all those weird and fantastic things we were promised would've been completely different. The scintillating towers made of crystals in the shape of insect wings, those buildings made out of poetry. The version datamined from discarded bits with it's Orrery in the sky and the Varla lines and atronachs tending the farms and bound daedra doing menial tasks with sunbirds flying above our heads. Now that would've been the Summerest I would be giddy with excitement to visit.

As a side note, the Psijic stuff is still keeping me cautiously optimistic that there will be at least something cool, unique and interesting in the package. But we'll see whether that is true or not once the thing gets on the PTS.

And the expansion part - that is jewelry crafting - is nice, but mostly pointless at this point of the games life. I have tons of gold jewelry and unused sets as is. The ability to improve some bits, or change traits on some pieces, and to be able to run in 2 whole 5 pieces sets of crafted gear is a big thing, but it's not an exciting thing. It's a welcome change from my perspective, but not something that keeps my interest up in the game.

And that's the whole point here. The mundification of ES lore. The unreliable narrator, transcription errors, and embellishing of accounts excuse ZOS keeps using is turning ESO into just another generic fantasy world. The gameplay is fine, but not exceptional, most activities are drowned in boring repetitive grind and the vagaries of RNGesus. I very much doubt that the game would still be going without the ES aspect.

What keeps our interest up, what makes us come back and play some more, is the Elder Scroll universe. The world and it's lore. But if ZOS keeps stripping out everything that is exotic, unusual or unique from the world, then why would any of us give a flying *** about the game anymore?