It's just the promotion ZoS did for the chapter. With Morrowind, Naryu was given screen time because the content centred around the Dunmer. With Summerset, they were able to shoehorn the Altmer hero because it's her home turf, with a dash of zazzy Raz. With Elsweyr, Khamira was given screen time as the chapter focused on the Khajiit. Western Skyrim, like Summerset, they were able to shoehorn the Nord hero in there with a touch of Lyris as she's the lead companion. The Blackwood chapter focuses on the Imperials for the first time in ESO history, so they introduced a new female Imperial "hero" that represents the players, much like the heroes from the 3 core factions in the previous trailers. She doesn't play a strong role in the trailer though, as Eveli Sharp-Arrow is the centrepiece for the narrative in the chapter (much like the other lead characters from other trailers). Nonetheless, her purpose is just to act as a filler for the player (albeit, she's not as cool as the other heroes).

And yes, the Argonian in that trailer was a goof. He was there only because the Argonian's are neighbours to the Imperials. A notepad checklist that had to be checked off for the trailer. If ZoS dedicates a chapter to the Argonians, I'm sure you'll see some top-lizard action satisfaction.

Klad wrote: »

I really don't know why [snip] are now the face of Tamriel's warriors

Bah, remember that those trailers is now for non-actual playerbase, their task is to advertise the project. No piece of story, no reflecting a character, no words. Just a CGI picture which trying to be serious. Anyone who's been here long enough knows how a story and characters actually looks like. You know who is these characters, but a potential buyer doesn't, so when you see an annoying or dumb persons the potential buyer see a cool and promising persons.

Klad wrote: »

I really don't know why [snip] are now the face of Tamriel's warriors

Sorry, but I absolutely don't understand what should be so much better about the old trailer characters than about the new ones. I actually think it's better that Eveli and Lyranth are shown, beause they are two characters that we actually have something to do with in the game. The only thing I don't like is that there are only three female characters and not a single male.

The side quests really stand out in Blackwood. There is a recruitment quest (like magnificent 7) in a village, then another theatric story telling one from another featuring a favourite from Summerset. Yet another “Mills and Boons” romance thing which was very sweet.

Overall this one likes Blackwood a lot, and all paws to them storytelling team.

SammyKhajit wrote: »

The side quests really stand out in Blackwood. There is a recruitment quest (like magnificent 7) in a village, then another theatric story telling one from another featuring a favourite from Summerset. Yet another “Mills and Boons” romance thing which was very sweet.

Overall this one likes Blackwood a lot, and all paws to them storytelling team.

As much as I generally liked Summerset, I didn't like the famous theater quest all that well. The whole premise -- actors perhaps being deceptive -- led to a lack of characterization. I didn't dislike or object to it in any way, but it was a bit of a letdown for being one of the most applauded (as it were) side quests in the game.

WeerW3ir wrote: »

This is why an era ended with summerset. The game is not itself since since that. Summerset was the last great story. The ending you could say. Since that you get these forgetable 1 year long stories with forgetable characters

Why does a personal opinion always have to be presented as a "fact"? People have different tastes and there are enough people who also like the stories after Summerset and the concept of the year-long story and don't see it as a "decline" at all. If I personally don't like something, then I make it clear that that is solely my opinion.

If those three characters from the first trailer are so memorable and central to the game what are their names?

For that matter which quests do they appear in? What kind of skills and builds do they use? What are their opinions on the alliance war, daedra worshippers, or any of the other problems facing Tamriel?

"The 3 generic hero figures who were occasionally in trailers" is a prime example of a lack of characterisation. Sure you can imagine they might be a total badass because you never see them say or do anything except fight a couple of enemies, but that's purely you building your own fan fiction to compensate for the absence of information from the developers.

It's not surprising that you prefer your own fan fic, but that doesn't mean the nameless version with no personality in the trailer actually has more characterisation than someone who appears in the game with a name, backstory and their own motivations, interests and opinions. It just means you prefer a character you made up in your own head to some of the ones ZOS wrote into the game.

(It's also important to remember that in any RPG the majority of characters you encounter can't be 'total badasses' able to handle anything solo without trouble, partially because that actually makes for very dull story telling and mostly because it leaves no space for the player character. If they already know everything and don't need any help with even the most dangerous enemies they won't ever come into your story because they don't need you.)

Klad wrote: »

When MMO's are launched there is a roadmap that guides the devs where the game should go and what characters should guide it so when the series started I was naturally impressed with a core of memorable characters When the series started we had these three badasses that took us through awesome adventures.





Now the devs have decided to mix things up...so for some unfathomable reason now we have three very anemic npc's , The annoying elf with the annoying voice, The Chris Cyborg clone whose main contribution is scowling last but certainly not least Lyranth the "Foolkiller" who has [snip] and is compelled to say "Little Mortal" at the end of every sentence.. (Oh I didn't forget the Argonian...he is just a doorstop and doesn't really matter)

I really don't know why [snip] are now the face of Tamriel's warriors



[snip]

They just seem completely weak, devoid of any charisma and no bulk at all which to make matters worse, these two bested A DAEDRIC PRINCE? Come on... There's not even a heroic stance or positioning. They just seem....well for the lack of a better term....pathetic. Remember the AvA Trailers? The DC Hero, AD Hero and EP Hero? NOW THAT was good promotional material and they stuck and have done for the longest time. Not just the trailers though the art that came with it was amazing.

To this day those old trailers are still some of my favourite promotional material to date.

I will say for this recent promotional material for blackwood, someone has been playing too much AC odyssey and Valhalla. Specifically regarding the hero in the middle. Are they trying to make Kassandra/eivor the generic female now? lol Feels really repetitive. Not sure how I feel about ZoS using the repetitive design philosophy of ubisoft haha At least ZoS doesn't kill well written female characters at every chance they get like Ubi.

I would even go as far to argue that in comparison of the first artwork the game had and now this blackwood art - its lost its maturity. The original art was very clearly heroic, mature...seasoned. The second art just looks like a bunch of people slapped on some Armor and said "sureeeee daggy, we'll take you" and then some how won. I feel like I am Abna Tharn right now lol

Come on marketing & Art team, you're better than this! I know you are because I was here in beta it was because of the art and the marketing that got me interested in the first place!

KalyanLazair wrote: »

I really enjoyed Elsweyr, but Skyrim was a total let down. Also, zones have become smaller and smaller with each release, and they don't feel as lively as other zones in the game. Aside from the one or two big settlements, the rest feels kind of empty. In my opinion, the absolute best DLC hands down is Wrothgar. The story is awesome, the area is huge and the exploration of orc culture is fantastic. Morrowind was also very well done, with a lot of stuff to do. I keep going back to both zones from time to time.

I like Summerset, and the story was ok, but I was honestly not that impressed. Zone is beautiful, but it does feel smaller and less full than both Worthgar and Morrowind. Northern Elsweyr had a nice story, and the map size is decent, but it feels empty and traversing with that rift splitting it in half makes traversing it more annoying than challenging. Murkmire is a horrible map, and the argonians felt more like cartoons comic reliefs than a true culture, and don't even get me started on how disappointing Skyrim was.

Oblivion is, by far, my favorite game, so I'm not having high expectations about Blackwood, considering what they did with Skyrim. For me the game has been going downhill ever since Morrowind, at least content wise. Morrowind was the last big map we ever got. The rest have been tiny maps with very little going on outside of the main quest. They keep tossing these two tiny, boring maps, and the two of them together can't even approach what a single big map like Morrowind or Wrothgar is. It's like they've stopped trying.

I can agree with this assessment, I think for me blackwood has been the worst... it was cool at first but then you realise just how little is on the map and it just feels like a DLC zone over a expansion (chapter). They're dropping the ball.

I will say though that summerset was by far my favourite area to run through the quests were interesting the environment was beautiful the story was really intriguing for me, the biggest let down for me with summerset was nocturnal which I still think they haven't fixed; Her character model. "Hi Im the big bad of the entire thing I had so much build up so im not going to show you my true form I will just show you the A typical redgaurd woman in my naughty dress". It was just a gigantic default model. Incredibly boring.