Princely Dawnlight Palace Review

TonyRockaroni · May 2018

Since Princely Dawnlight Palace is FINALLY coming to the Crown Store, I have decided to share my opinions on this manor home! As someone who has wanted a luxurious manor home in Abah's Landing, I've been excited about this place!

For starters, the exterior is awesome! It is extremely spacious, the views are AMAZING, it has a pool that I can ACTUALLY SWIM IN (I'm looking at you, Linchal Grand Manor), AND you can actually walk along the wall wrapping around the palace exterior. There are so many possibilities for the exterior. Plenty of room for a garden, a forge, etc.
But now to address the flaws, no matter how minor. First, the quay. I'm actually not a big fan of the stairs leading down into the water. Maybe it's just me, but I would've preferred some sort of dock. Maybe a pier or something that extends to a beach area, like with Hunding's Palatial Hall. But it's not a major complaint, and it is fixable by building your own pier if you wanted to. But then there's this:

These stairs are located along the side of the palace, and the only way to get to them is by either swimming over to them or by jumping down from the palace wall. There doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy about them, and there's no doorway leading to a secret room or cave or anything. These step are just sorta...there. And I'm not really sure why. maybe it's an extra part of the original area before the palace was made? I have no idea.

Now onto the interior. First, obviously it reuses the interior from Hubalajad Palace. Personally, I would have liked to have the interior from Sulima Mansion, but I'm not going to complain too much about this. The main hall is obviously the main attraction of the interior. I absolutely LOVE this room! Especially the small waterfalls cascading down around the back half of the room. Many possibilities when it comes to the main hall.
Now for the rest of the interior. Some may find it a tiny bit underwhelming for a palace, but I'm actually fine with it. It does have a decent amount of space, even though I wish this place had a kitchen the size of the one in Sulima Mansion and Hubalajad Palace. But...I do have one complaint: they did not keep Magnifica Falorah's bedroom, and that is a bit of a letdown for me. It's not like they couldn't have added it. The towers on the exterior match the layout for one or even two rooms on either side of the main hall's balcony, and we've had rooms with doors before as seen with homes like Tel Galen. So the omission of this room is both puzzling and a bit disappointing to me.

So those are my thoughts on Princely Dawnlight Palace. A few things that could've been added, but I do still find it very appealing. I'm curious to see what others think of this place!

Wreuntzylla · May 2018

Agreed as to the removed bedroom. Since no bedroom, no tunnel either.

TonyRockaroni · May 2018

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

Agreed as to the removed bedroom. Since no bedroom, no tunnel either.

Oh, I didn't care about the tunnel, really. Mainly just the extra bedroom...though now that I think about it, they COULD have added the master bedroom with a tunnel that exited out to those random stairs outside the palace. It would have at least given a reason for those random stairs to exist.

MLGProPlayer · May 2018

I'd rather they remove that staircase, or move it next to the beach. It literally serves no purpose.

Aurie · May 2018

TonyRockaroni wrote: »

Since Princely Dawnlight Palace is FINALLY coming to the Crown Store

Ummm have I missed something?

When? And where did you see that?

TonyRockaroni · May 2018

Aurelle1 wrote: »

TonyRockaroni wrote: »

Since Princely Dawnlight Palace is FINALLY coming to the Crown Store

Ummm have I missed something?

When? And where did you see that?

The May Crown Store Showcase. May 10 to May 14.

dodgehopper_ESO · May 2018

I've been to ancient places in the Mediterranean like Pompeii, Ercolano, Ostia Antica, and so forth. They actually did have stairs going right down to the water. I can't recollect if there were posts to tie off to but I would suspect they did in fact have such things or it may well have been very difficult to load and unload. Beyond this I wasn't too bothered by Dawnlight. In terms of the security of such a place I would have also wanted a portcullis at least built into the architecture to be dropped. This town is supposed to be a merchant/pirate cove over the last millennia. You might think security would be part of a merchant lord's fortified home, and a portcullis is a fairly obvious part that should be on the gate from the docks.

In terms of the interior I love it but I agree with you it might have been nice to have the kind of additions you suggest. Even with all of that I feel this house was much better considered than the Imperial and Nord analogs (Linchal & Hakkvild). Linchal is pretty good overall but the interior is just a bit small for the grandiose entrance. Likewise Hakkvild really conveys the sense of a grand mead hall, but the moment you enter the interior it is immediately very disappointing and honestly the way the doors go upstairs they look halfassed and very poorly conceived. Hakkvild interior is an insult, so much so that I could not bring myself to buy the home despite the fact I was really looking forward to it. I might consider buying Hakkvild one day, either if I have gold coming out of my ears and I've bought everything else, or if they decide to actually do something about its interior. In short I think Princely Dawnlight is pretty well done and I suspect they are getting better at making homes. I would like to see them look back at older places and see about making them a little better where necessary.

Aurie · May 2018

TonyRockaroni wrote: »

Aurelle1 wrote: »

TonyRockaroni wrote: »

Since Princely Dawnlight Palace is FINALLY coming to the Crown Store

Ummm have I missed something?

When? And where did you see that?

The May Crown Store Showcase. May 10 to May 14.

Oh cool.

Imagine there will be a few disgruntled people around, as it's a limited edition.

xbobx · May 2018

i took a look. very stupid house.

Jaraal · May 2018

What I'm most curious about is whether the upper falls area in the main room will be accessible with player made steps / planks, since they purposely made it so you can't jump down there from the balcony, by placing those silly screens in the way. Is there an invisible "wall" there, or not?

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

I'd rather they remove that staircase, or move it next to the beach. It literally serves no purpose.

It does lead to a small, but nice harbor overlook.... which could be decorated nicely if desired. And a walkway could be constructed to the steps along the shore, or a ramp from the wall down to the landing. Or, you could park your fishing boat at the bottom of the steps, with a plank leading onto it.

Jayne_Doe · May 2018

I previewed this on PTS and while very nice in terms of it's size and layout, I definitely could not decorate it the way I'd like to. I'd love to create an outdoor market/bazaar or do some really gorgeous garden/relaxation area around the pool. But, then the interior would be rather bare as lighting will take up a lot of slots. Or, I guess I could just use minimal lighting and decorate it to the hilt and not be able to see any of it.

Also, I've seen a few comments about building here/adding on there - walkways, piers, stairs. All of that will take up slots. As it is, without building even one thing, people are going to run into the limit really fast on this one. Sure, if someone doesn't care, for example, that the large interior hall is basically empty with no details, then yeah...building can be done elsewhere.

I agree that there are a lot of possibilities with this place, but very few of them will actually be realized due to the item limit. I wouldn't be able to decorate any of the spaces to my satisfaction, if I wanted to actually have them all decorated, and I'm not even one for a lot of clutter.

Definitely passing on this one, as with Linchal, Pinnacle, the island, etc. All far too large to really do anything with. Only minimalists or those who are fine with just focusing on one area and leaving the rest alone can enjoy these large monstrosities.

#SmallerHomesforESO

TonyRockaroni · May 2018

Jayne_Doe wrote: »

I previewed this on PTS and while very nice in terms of it's size and layout, I definitely could not decorate it the way I'd like to. I'd love to create an outdoor market/bazaar or do some really gorgeous garden/relaxation area around the pool. But, then the interior would be rather bare as lighting will take up a lot of slots. Or, I guess I could just use minimal lighting and decorate it to the hilt and not be able to see any of it.

Also, I've seen a few comments about building here/adding on there - walkways, piers, stairs. All of that will take up slots. As it is, without building even one thing, people are going to run into the limit really fast on this one. Sure, if someone doesn't care, for example, that the large interior hall is basically empty with no details, then yeah...building can be done elsewhere.

I agree that there are a lot of possibilities with this place, but very few of them will actually be realized due to the item limit. I wouldn't be able to decorate any of the spaces to my satisfaction, if I wanted to actually have them all decorated, and I'm not even one for a lot of clutter.

Definitely passing on this one, as with Linchal, Pinnacle, the island, etc. All far too large to really do anything with. Only minimalists or those who are fine with just focusing on one area and leaving the rest alone can enjoy these large monstrosities.

#SmallerHomesforESO

I actually sort of disagree with you. While Grand Topal Hideaway and Pariah's Pinnacle DEFINITELY could use an increased item limit and Dawnlight Palace would be better with an increase as well, the palace isn't as hampered by the limit as the pinnacle or the island are. As someone who's furnished manors with under 600 items, I feel that Dawnlight Palace's item limit is more of an inconvenience than something that legitimately holds it back from being a home worth having. Is 700 enough to make it perfect? Maybe not. But is it enough to make it look really nice? I'd say so

...that being said, however, those without an ESO Plus subscription are definitely in a completely boat. 350 is definitely not enough to really furnish a manor home like Dawnlight Palace properly. So for those that DON'T have a subscription, I can completely understand someone passing on this place based on item limit alone.

On the plus side, however, the Alinor Crest Townhouse is hopefully a sign of things to come for those who want smaller homes. Yes, it is classified as a large home. But it's not large in the sense that it's too big to do anything with. It's one of the best designed homes in the game so far in my opinion, and as much as I like the palace, the townhouse is certainly more worth it for what you're getting. Especially since you can purchase the townhouse with gold.

xbobx · May 2018

one of my biggest issues with a lot of hows that the townhouse corrects is they do a great job designing the outside or the look of the home and then get lazy when you go inside and see just a big room.

I like individual smaller rooms. I think that makes it easier to decorate within the limitations and it allows you to express your creative side by changing up themes.

thats why i like Amaya lake lodge over something like hundings. Nice grounds work on hundings and you go insisde and just big rooms .

dodgehopper_ESO · May 2018

TonyRockaroni wrote: »

Jayne_Doe wrote: »

I previewed this on PTS and while very nice in terms of it's size and layout, I definitely could not decorate it the way I'd like to. I'd love to create an outdoor market/bazaar or do some really gorgeous garden/relaxation area around the pool. But, then the interior would be rather bare as lighting will take up a lot of slots. Or, I guess I could just use minimal lighting and decorate it to the hilt and not be able to see any of it.

Also, I've seen a few comments about building here/adding on there - walkways, piers, stairs. All of that will take up slots. As it is, without building even one thing, people are going to run into the limit really fast on this one. Sure, if someone doesn't care, for example, that the large interior hall is basically empty with no details, then yeah...building can be done elsewhere.

I agree that there are a lot of possibilities with this place, but very few of them will actually be realized due to the item limit. I wouldn't be able to decorate any of the spaces to my satisfaction, if I wanted to actually have them all decorated, and I'm not even one for a lot of clutter.

Definitely passing on this one, as with Linchal, Pinnacle, the island, etc. All far too large to really do anything with. Only minimalists or those who are fine with just focusing on one area and leaving the rest alone can enjoy these large monstrosities.

#SmallerHomesforESO

I actually sort of disagree with you. While Grand Topal Hideaway and Pariah's Pinnacle DEFINITELY could use an increased item limit and Dawnlight Palace would be better with an increase as well, the palace isn't as hampered by the limit as the pinnacle or the island are. As someone who's furnished manors with under 600 items, I feel that Dawnlight Palace's item limit is more of an inconvenience than something that legitimately holds it back from being a home worth having. Is 700 enough to make it perfect? Maybe not. But is it enough to make it look really nice? I'd say so

...that being said, however, those without an ESO Plus subscription are definitely in a completely boat. 350 is definitely not enough to really furnish a manor home like Dawnlight Palace properly. So for those that DON'T have a subscription, I can completely understand someone passing on this place based on item limit alone.

On the plus side, however, the Alinor Crest Townhouse is hopefully a sign of things to come for those who want smaller homes. Yes, it is classified as a large home. But it's not large in the sense that it's too big to do anything with. It's one of the best designed homes in the game so far in my opinion, and as much as I like the palace, the townhouse is certainly more worth it for what you're getting. Especially since you can purchase the townhouse with gold.

Alinor Crest is a beautiful home in the style of Lake Amaya (another beautiful home). Like I said in my previous post I feel that they are getting better at making homes. I would give Ald Velothi high praises as well but I do believe that they did not make the yard large enough (or level enough) to properly give it the theme players should be able to. The home most likely to have Ashlander tents out front in my view is this Redguard home in the northmost part of the isle, where trading and conversation goes on between the two subcultures the most. I suppose it is possible that Ashlanders might appear at Tel Galen as well, but it strikes me as odd with the dock offloading area being the most likely spot to set up an Ashlander tent. I just feel they didn't think this one through. I love Ald Velothi home but they could have stood to add a little more range to it. Additionally, I would have liked the Veranda to be just a little bit larger to soak in what is one of the best views in the game.

GlennGVZ · May 2018

Does anybody know the cost of the Princely Dawnlight Palace (unfurnished) please?

Wreuntzylla · May 2018

dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »

I've been to ancient places in the Mediterranean like Pompeii, Ercolano, Ostia Antica, and so forth. They actually did have stairs going right down to the water. I can't recollect if there were posts to tie off to but I would suspect they did in fact have such things or it may well have been very difficult to load and unload.

Most (if not all) of these were unintentional. Your mileage may vary by location, but along the Italian Mediterranean coast, the water line is now about 1.4 meters higher than ~300AD. Mostly due to subsidence.

That figure courtesy of rich one percenters at the height of the Roman Empire and their fish tanks.

Vaoh · May 2018

GlennGVZ wrote: »

Does anybody know the cost of the Princely Dawnlight Palace (unfurnished) please?

No confirmed price yet - we will likely not find out until it gets live.

Based on the passed history of these homes, I would place it between 10K-14K Crowns.

MornaBaine · May 2018

It's absolutely beautiful but the fact that they still haven't increased the item slots means it's going to be an absolute nightmare to decorate. And the fact that they still haven't increased player caps ALSO makes it less desirable for the high price they are going to be asking for it. The thing I personally found most disappointing in its design is the lack of balconies overlooking the grounds. Seriously, not a single balcony anywhere. With these deficits I've decided to regretfully pass on it.

MornaBaine · May 2018

Vaoh wrote: »

GlennGVZ wrote: »

Does anybody know the cost of the Princely Dawnlight Palace (unfurnished) please?

No confirmed price yet - we will likely not find out until it gets live.

Based on the passed history of these homes, I would place it between 10K-14K Crowns.

My bet is between 17k and 18k crowns furnished.

Dystopia2020 · May 2018

It's beautiful, I love it, but I am not buying it.
I own Erstwhile already as well as Sleek Creek and Ald Velothi and plan on buying Alinor townhouse.

Now if we had a higher item count I might consider the Palace or Aldmeri Grotto.

agegarton · May 2018

If you buy this as a guild hall, and some of your members do not have the DLC, can they still jump to the house ?

Vaoh · May 2018

agegarton wrote: »

If you buy this as a guild hall, and some of your members do not have the DLC, can they still jump to the house ?

Yes, they can

Same thing applies to the Wrothgar home, Gold Coast home, Morrowind homes, etc.

Grimm13 · May 2018

dodgehopper_ESO wrote: »

I've been to ancient places in the Mediterranean like Pompeii, Ercolano, Ostia Antica, and so forth. They actually did have stairs going right down to the water. I can't recollect if there were posts to tie off to but I would suspect they did in fact have such things or it may well have been very difficult to load and unload. Beyond this I wasn't too bothered by Dawnlight. In terms of the security of such a place I would have also wanted a portcullis at least built into the architecture to be dropped. This town is supposed to be a merchant/pirate cove over the last millennia. You might think security would be part of a merchant lord's fortified home, and a portcullis is a fairly obvious part that should be on the gate from the docks.

I believe they were pointing out that these stairs are isolated on their own. It would make sense if there was a door to enter the house but it's just a small landing to a wall.

You can add add a small piece along the rocks to make a path to the large steps that has an entrance if you like. I also agree that it lacks a sense of security with the open entrance to the water.

agegarton · May 2018

Vaoh wrote: »

agegarton wrote: »

If you buy this as a guild hall, and some of your members do not have the DLC, can they still jump to the house ?

Yes, they can

Same thing applies to the Wrothgar home, Gold Coast home, Morrowind homes, etc.

Thanks. I thought so, but had a sudden attack of indecision when I wrote this. I think this will be my new Guild Hall.

Thehartclan · May 2018

It is a stunning home, the furniture cap is a real deal breaker though. I think the estimates for the price are low; if you think about it none of the other homes before are of this scale in terms of functional space. Yes, the island and a couple others are massive areas, but they are primarily made up of land, not necessarily house. The actual house at the island is not very large. The Princely is true opulence and I could see a much heftier price tag attached, especially given its limited time on the market. My guess is 19-21k Maybe 19 unfurnished and 21 furnished. The Redguard fountains out front are like 2 or 3k alone (each). A 21k crown pack is 150 bucks. No thanks. I’d buy it if the furniture cap were double and they had a 50% off crown sale

MLGProPlayer · May 2018

Thehartclan wrote: »

It is a stunning home, the furniture cap is a real deal breaker though. I think the estimates for the price are low; if you think about it none of the other homes before are of this scale in terms of functional space. Yes, the island and a couple others are massive areas, but they are primarily made up of land, not necessarily house. The actual house at the island is not very large. The Princely is true opulence and I could see a much heftier price tag attached, especially given its limited time on the market. My guess is 19-21k Maybe 19 unfurnished and 21 furnished. The Redguard fountains out front are like 2 or 3k alone (each). A 21k crown pack is 150 bucks. No thanks. I’d buy it if the furniture cap were double and they had a 50% off crown sale

It's a recycled asset. It wasn't particularly difficult to design.

My guess is the price will be the same as Linchal Grand Manor (14k/17k), which itself was grossly overpriced, being it was another recycled asset. Although if sales of that one were poor, I can see them coming down a bit on price for this one.

They certainly won't be going over that price point, I can almost guarantee that. It just wouldn't be smart business.

Ajaxandriel · May 2018

TonyRockaroni wrote: »

But then there's this:

These stairs are located along the side of the palace, and the only way to get to them is by either swimming over to them or by jumping down from the palace wall. There doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy about them, and there's no doorway leading to a secret room or cave or anything. These step are just sorta...there. And I'm not really sure why. maybe it's an extra part of the original area before the palace was made? I have no idea.

I believe it wasn't there this winter... Or could I miss it?

Well the devs should improve this idea a bit because for now it's a bit...pointless ^^'
It could be a good idea to add such a second access, a hidden Thieves-themed access with a backdoor

Thehartclan · May 2018

I guess we will se on price; while I get it’s recycled, I haven’t seen this kind of hype over a house before. And ZOS seems to be fine with gouging people. Need we discuss crown crates?

We agree though, it’s stupid expensive regardless.