Clockwork city!

worrallj · March 2020

I just did CWC for the first time yesterday (I have a somewhat acute case of restartitis so for the longest time I didn't do anything past morrowind) and I gotta say it was pretty cool! I think it might be the first time ESO has given us a really novel setting, and I thought it was great world building. Lots of things to be intrigued by.

Just wanted to say something nice since I've been known to complain.

seerevaloc · March 2020

I'm glad to read this feedback. I'll play CWC lore too, running from one trial to another make one's life busy and can't play the lore as it deserves.

VaranisArano · March 2020

ZOS did a fantastic job of expanding Clockwork City into a full zone that still feels true to the rather extended dungeon sequence that we saw in TES III Tribunal.

Nestor · March 2020

I need to do some CWC again.

My only concern is some of the World Boss dailies. Is there enough population to get those done.

Chaos2088 · March 2020

-in the voice of Nessa- "I'm not gonna lie, its a good zone. truth be told....Tidy"

nwilliams2107b16_ESO · March 2020

Loved Clockwork city, still one of my favourite zones.

worrallj · March 2020

Nestor wrote: »

I need to do some CWC again.

My only concern is some of the World Boss dailies. Is there enough population to get those done.

Mmmm not reliably but it's doable. I have melee magplar build that does pretty well soloing bosses- self healing sweeps are OP. I die a lot but it's doable, especially if one or two others come help which does happen.

nwilliams2107b16_ESO wrote: »

Loved Clockwork city, still one of my favourite zones.

I love the factotums and the mysteries about them

Kahnak · March 2020

Loved Clockwork City. Sotha Sil is probably one of my favorite characters in the game.

furiouslog · March 2020

Much love for CWC!

The crow shoo animation still makes me laugh.

TheRealCherokeee3 · March 2020

I saw Clockwork and as always had to come in! lol

yep Loove that place! The design team really got into it on that one

redlink1979 · March 2020

Sotha Sil is one of favorite npcs.

Starlock · March 2020

Other than Murkmire, which is easily one of the most well-designed and best-written areas of the game, CWC is also top tier. I'm hoping another developer creates a really good steampunk themed game some day. But not Zenimax or Bethesda - someone else.

SidraWillowsky · March 2020

Sotha Sil and the Tribunal lore in general is possibly the most well-done and fleshed-out NPC/lore in any game I've played. They knocked it out of the park with Sotha Sil and CWC.

Tangent incoming, but with Vivec getting so much background and characterization in Morrowind and beyond (Kirkbride's golden child), and Sotha Sil getting so much character development in ESO, it's glaringly obvious how overlooked Almalexia is aside from being portrayed as a one-dimensional b*tch. We're told she's the compassionate "Mother Morrowind" and a fierce warrior, but we never see that. We see her driven mad in the Morrowind expansion, and we see her kill someone with his mother watching in ESO because he doubts the Tribunal. She's cold and flat and it makes me mad that the one woman in the Tribunal gets this treatment. Once again, the woman in the position of power is a cold, hard b*tch with no redeeming qualities.

ZOS please give her character more dimensionality. There's a massive dearth of strong, not-overly-sexualized women in video games and this is the perfect opportunity to create one...

But yeah, CWC is amazing and one of the only quests that I paid full attention to. Sil is amazing and the conversation you have with him at the end of the quest is phenominal.

PrimusNephilim · March 2020

worrallj wrote: »

I just did CWC for the first time yesterday (I have a somewhat acute case of restartitis so for the longest time I didn't do anything past morrowind) and I gotta say it was pretty cool! I think it might be the first time ESO has given us a really novel setting, and I thought it was great world building. Lots of things to be intrigued by.

Just wanted to say something nice since I've been known to complain.

Definitely enjoyed the story line of the Clock Work City's main quest, I think the best parts were when there was dialogue with Sotha Sil, the ending dialogue was icing on the cake.
~Cheers

worrallj · March 2020

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

Sotha Sil and the Tribunal lore in general is possibly the most well-done and fleshed-out NPC/lore in any game I've played. They knocked it out of the park with Sotha Sil and CWC.

Tangent incoming, but with Vivec getting so much background and characterization in Morrowind and beyond (Kirkbride's golden child), and Sotha Sil getting so much character development in ESO, it's glaringly obvious how overlooked Almalexia is aside from being portrayed as a one-dimensional b*tch. We're told she's the compassionate "Mother Morrowind" and a fierce warrior, but we never see that. We see her driven mad in the Morrowind expansion, and we see her kill someone with his mother watching in ESO because he doubts the Tribunal. She's cold and flat and it makes me mad that the one woman in the Tribunal gets this treatment. Once again, the woman in the position of power is a cold, hard b*tch with no redeeming qualities.

ZOS please give her character more dimensionality. There's a massive dearth of strong, not-overly-sexualized women in video games and this is the perfect opportunity to create one...

But yeah, CWC is amazing and one of the only quests that I paid full attention to. Sil is amazing and the conversation you have with him at the end of the quest is phenominal.

I agree that character development-wise she's *by far* the worst, but just remember she was part of the base game. Base game writing was... Not so good. Very few recurring characters with any depth, lots of random and contrived storylines. In that context, almalexia's horrible character development is not at all out of place.

That said it's a bad look and I agree they need to do something to put her on the same footing as the rest of the tribunal. At the same time, I think the tribunal has gotten a lot of attention and there are other cultures in desperate need of some love as well.

Taleof2Cities · March 2020

My Dunmer Sorc has a good time for sure ...

Integral1900 · March 2020

Gorgeous zone and a great extension to the morrowind story, also, if you take your time and pay attention to the details it becomes one of the most sinister locations. Have to agree with the others, that final conversation was a thing of genius and the prognosticator was a great touch

Katahdin · March 2020

I love the atmosphere and general vibe in cwc.

jm42 · March 2020

CWC and Summerset are best parts because of Sotha Sil, though Summerset is really good itself.

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

it's glaringly obvious how overlooked Almalexia is aside from being portrayed as a one-dimensional b*tch.

Yes, even if she is a villain she must get more attention and complications, because just obvious plain villains are boring. I want to see some moral choises and traps and a villain which you can understand somehow

SidraWillowsky · March 2020

worrallj wrote: »

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

(snipping my own quote)

I agree that character development-wise she's *by far* the worst, but just remember she was part of the base game. Base game writing was... Not so good. Very few recurring characters with any depth, lots of random and contrived storylines. In that context, almalexia's horrible character development is not at all out of place.

That said it's a bad look and I agree they need to do something to put her on the same footing as the rest of the tribunal. At the same time, I think the tribunal has gotten a lot of attention and there are other cultures in desperate need of some love as well.

Good points all around. I'd be thrilled to have more Tribunal content, but that's because it's my favorite. I can definitely understand the need for more depth to and development of other lore though.

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

it's glaringly obvious how overlooked Almalexia is aside from being portrayed as a one-dimensional b*tch.

Yes, even if she is a villain she must get more attention and complications, because just obvious plain villains are boring. I want to see some moral choises and traps and a villain which you can understand somehow[/quote]

Right- even Vivec has SOME redeeming qualities, and I'd say he's mostly a villain. Almalexia has none. Some people -including myself- like to think of what happened in the Tribunal expansion to cause her to go mad about her loss of power was her inability to help her people without it and witness their downfall, like a mother having to watch her children suffer while she is utterly unable to help them. Certainly a more sympathetic point of view and it's perhaps reaching a bit, but even stuff like that would show how much she cares about her people (vs. just being told she does). People tend to react to strong, powerful, no-nonsense female characters by writing them off as b*tchy, unfortunately, but there's no room for even that with Alma because she's so damn flat as a character. I just want to have SOMETHING that I can use to defend her, but right now we've been given nothing that makes her redeemable.

Apologies for the slight derail OP; this has been on my mind for a while and I needed to put it out there. The TES franchise has always done a pretty good job of creating decent female characters, so I have full faith that they could make Almalexia better if they tried.

SidraWillowsky · March 2020

Integral1900 wrote: »

Gorgeous zone and a great extension to the morrowind story, also, if you take your time and pay attention to the details it becomes one of the most sinister locations. Have to agree with the others, that final conversation was a thing of genius and the prognosticator was a great touch

It really is, and I think it really highlight's Sil's flaws, especially his inability to stick to one project and the resulting fallout (the Everwound Wellspring, the souls of saints trapped in the bosses in Asylum Sanctorium), and scattered around are the journals of someone trapped in the CWC (well, I guess they all are, but the author of the journals appears to be being observed like some sort of experiment). The area allows people to exist, but not actually live, if that makes sense.

max_only · March 2020

Yes I love CWC! Even with those horrible stinky Dunmer walking around it’s one of my favorites!

Alinhbo_Tyaka · March 2020

Nestor wrote: »

I need to do some CWC again.

My only concern is some of the World Boss dailies. Is there enough population to get those done.

I've been running CWC for a few weeks now to fill out my crafting motifs and haven't had any trouble having enough players for the world bosses. Both are pretty straight forward for 2 - 3 players who are familiar with them. I generally just go and wait for a few minutes while others show up or find there are already players at the boss. If things are a bit slow asking in zone chat will get players willing to come and help too.

max_only · March 2020

If you are good at dodging you can solo the wraith of crows..

My character that could kite the birds didn’t have enough health for the Imperfect. And I assume that my character with more health wouldn’t be able to kite the birds.

I’m not good at this game either, utterly failed at normal Maelstrom arena’s giantess stage (that’s like stage 3 right?) lol and never been back

YandereGirlfriend · March 2020

Why is there not a Clockwork City anniversary event?

I would much prefer to see an event set there than seeing the DB and TG event for the third time in just over one calendar year.

Alinhbo_Tyaka · March 2020

YandereGirlfriend wrote: »

Why is there not a Clockwork City anniversary event?

I would much prefer to see an event set there than seeing the DB and TG event for the third time in just over one calendar year.

ZOS did have a Clockwork City event November of 2018 but skipped last year. It would be nice if they could run it again or maybe combine it with another event.

Nerouyn · March 2020

SidraWillowsky wrote: »

We're told she's the compassionate "Mother Morrowind" and a fierce warrior, but we never see that.

Could be lies.

The Tribunal are not known for their honesty.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Almalexia_(god)

Before his death, they swore oaths to Nerevar upon Azura that they would never use the Tools of Kagrenac on the Heart of Lorkhan in order to steal its divine essence for themselves. A few years later, Almalexia and her fellow Tribunes broke that oath to become living gods. This led to the transformation of the Chimer into the Dunmer, and the Tribunal became their immortal protectors, leaders, and gods. The truth of how they gained their divinity was covered up; according to the Heirographa, the orthodox public teachings of the Tribunal Temple, their divinity was a more spontaneous result of their supernatural virtue, discipline, wisdom, and insight.

...

Sources conflict on how her husband met his demise. Most attribute it to wounds he received during the Battle of Red Mountain. The Ashlanders, who rejected Tribunal worship, believe that Almalexia and her fellow Tribunes murdered her husband so he would not interfere with their plan to take divine power.

TheFM · March 2020

worrallj wrote: »

I just did CWC for the first time yesterday (I have a somewhat acute case of restartitis so for the longest time I didn't do anything past morrowind) and I gotta say it was pretty cool! I think it might be the first time ESO has given us a really novel setting, and I thought it was great world building. Lots of things to be intrigued by.

Just wanted to say something nice since I've been known to complain.

Clockwork city was my favourite dlc so far. Agreed.

Xarc · March 2020

I like so much CWC

It just reminds me fallout

dazee · March 2020

Kahnak wrote: »

Loved Clockwork City. Sotha Sil is probably one of my favorite characters in the game.

He is a cyborg nerd, everyone loves cyborg nerds. I did find out something pretty shady about him though from his dialouge among other things, it seemed to suggest the Clockwork City itself is part of a plot of his to completely change how the whole world works, to create a world where all sentience is as one, which IMO would be a horrible place to live, and very boring.

Wolf_Eye · March 2020

dazee wrote: »

Kahnak wrote: »

Loved Clockwork City. Sotha Sil is probably one of my favorite characters in the game.

He is a cyborg nerd, everyone loves cyborg nerds. I did find out something pretty shady about him though from his dialouge among other things, it seemed to suggest the Clockwork City itself is part of a plot of his to completely change how the whole world works, to create a world where all sentience is as one, which IMO would be a horrible place to live, and very boring.

I'm so glad someone brought this up. And yeah, it's seems very much like Sotha Sil wants to get rid of independence and autonomy and replace it with just one mind and one mind alone. It's probably the main reason why his apostles refuse to allow people to leave; they must become "one" with the system and get rid of their own wants and needs.

The whole gimmicky religious texts where they describe "one big wheel" with Sil at the center seems to very much point in that direction. Everything must revolve around Sil, and, to that end, everyone must lose their free wills.

Just look at his dialogue regarding Luciana (spoiler)

"Luciana will die. If not here and now, then elsewhere and later. I can delay her death if you wish, but to what end? Consider carefully. Luciana means a great deal to me, but grief cannot be avoided - only deferred."

In other words, it doesn't matter whether Luciana wants to live or die; her feelings about her own life don't matter. Her own emotions and own choices about her own body don't matter.

All that matters is how Sotha Sil will feel about her death. All that matters is how Luciana's death affects him. Otherwise, he'd have sent you on a quest to ask her opinion.

But he doesn't care about her opinion on her own body, all that matters is his opinion, and the opinion of the person he wants to reward for saving him.

And if he truly cared about her like he claims, why wouldn't he choose to defer the grief? And why does HIS grief matter so much that it factors into his choice about her life in a way that's more important than HER grief about HER life?

So again. Sotha Sil is the center of the wheel, and all who live in Clockwork must revolve around him. Everyone's life is forfeit and unimportant except his. No free will or free choices allowed, not even about your own body. Like seriously, I don't know why he didn't just let Luciana choose about her own life if he didn't disregard people's consent in this manner.

It really disturbed me. It's like he no longer sees her as a person, but a broken plaything that he must now throw out.

There's also an additional line that I found very disturbing, but I will have to look for it again because it was a random book in the City that had no easy connection to any particular quest.

Then again. The Tribunal are specifically stated to be problematic, and definitely not "saints". So it should not be at all unusual that Sotha Sil has some very disturbing and possibly evil, over-controlling undertones to him.