Do you want to see areas of High Rock redone and Breton content overhauled?

Ratzkifal · August 2021

ZOS said before they are going to look at revisiting older zones once the map has been filled. So judging by the current size of the map, it'll probably another 5 years at least before they start revisiting the base game zones for reworks.

Now of course I want them to go back sooner, especially once every other culture got their chapter but Bretons and Bosmer are stuck with the base game quality of writing. That's when I would go back to the base game and after that continue filling in the map. As for how that rework should look like in terms of business model (chapter, DLC, free update or something else), I have no idea. But I do know that Bretons should be more than just Imperials minus Rome!

My expectations for Breton lore include

more mystical in the mundane
more local politics and infighting
traces of elven influence like geneaology being very important to their society
clear differentiation between Direnni and Ayleid architecture, culture etc.
knightly orders being explored in more depth - why they are uniquely Breton, what their role in the society and politics of the land are, who they worship and why and how that is reflected in their actions
if the landscape gets reworked I'd love to see a ton more verticality in their zones. It's called High Rock, but I am not seeing a lot of high rocks, not even that many rocks either. At the very least put them as borders between the zones so you can at least pretend the loading screen was when you crossed those huge mountains. It makes more sense that way too. The only reason there can be so much fracturing happening there for so long is because of the geography. "Find a hill, become king" should be very much literal. The hills should be so nice that it would be easy for any separatist forces to start building a castle on a hill and then defend it forever until they eventually have to be recognized as a new political player that's here to stay (until the next backstabbing intrigue gets rid of them again).

DreamyLu · August 2021

Other

Prefer to see focus set on other things. Such rework would have for me a quite low priority. Nice to have but well...

Aliyavana · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

I'd like to see more cultural expansions into bretons, but a complete revamp would pull too many resources. Jehanna is our last hope.

Nomadic_Atmoran · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

Honestly I want to see an overhaul of most of the base game zones. Mostly to bring them in line with the quality of the DLC zones. I do think some reworks in OG storylines should be in order as well considering how dry some of them can be.

kaushad · August 2021

Wizards. High Rock needs mighty wizards. It's not just about the magic, although that's important in itself; High Rock would be a great place to explain more about classes like wardens, sorcerers and necromancers and maybe the Glimmering Foxbat is Breton? It's about the power of the individual and their passions. Inspiration, curiosity, vanity, anger, love. The wizard's drama becomes everybody's drama.

I don't think it's appropriate to write over what we already have. There's some good stuff in High Rock. Rivenspire is popular. Bangkorai has a load of interesting magic going on although not a lot of it has anything to do with the Bretons.

Something that I'd like to see in the base zones are daily quests. Yes, it's boring doing them all the time, but there isn't that much left to do in these zones. They can be sources of exposition too. In High Rock, the quest givers might include knights, a wannabe knight group, researchers, alchemists, witches, hunters (more in Rivenspire), a merchants' association (perhaps in Wayrest), maybe even Bjoulsae River Horse People, although that would increase the latter's population to one.

Folkb · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

Of course, who would sayno to more lore accurate esthetics.

Supreme_Atromancer · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

Ratzkifal wrote: »

ZOS said before they are going to look at revisiting older zones once the map has been filled. So judging by the current size of the map, it'll probably another 5 years at least before they start revisiting the base game zones for reworks.

Now of course I want them to go back sooner, especially once every other culture got their chapter but Bretons and Bosmer are stuck with the base game quality of writing. That's when I would go back to the base game and after that continue filling in the map. As for how that rework should look like in terms of business model (chapter, DLC, free update or something else), I have no idea. But I do know that Bretons should be more than just Imperials minus Rome!

My expectations for Breton lore include
more mystical in the mundane

more local politics and infighting

traces of elven influence like geneaology being very important to their society

clear differentiation between Direnni and Ayleid architecture, culture etc.

knightly orders being explored in more depth - why they are uniquely Breton, what their role in the society and politics of the land are, who they worship and why and how that is reflected in their actions

if the landscape gets reworked I'd love to see a ton more verticality in their zones. It's called High Rock, but I am not seeing a lot of high rocks, not even that many rocks either. At the very least put them as borders between the zones so you can at least pretend the loading screen was when you crossed those huge mountains. It makes more sense that way too. The only reason there can be so much fracturing happening there for so long is because of the geography. "Find a hill, become king" should be very much literal. The hills should be so nice that it would be easy for any separatist forces to start building a castle on a hill and then defend it forever until they eventually have to be recognized as a new political player that's here to stay (until the next backstabbing intrigue gets rid of them again).

I agree with this. I think that "Bretons are boring" is a notion that's entirely because no one had the imagination to do anything interesting with them. Personally, I'd start with all of these points as a fundamental basis to who they are, then add in the fantastical to make them something that would catch people's imagination.

Aliyavana wrote: »

I'd like to see more cultural expansions into bretons, but a complete revamp would pull too many resources. Jehanna is our last hope.

I really hope they consider this. A good amount of lore is associated with this region and given the current drastic lack of any sort of Breton personality, it would be a big oversight to not capitalise on it.

kaushad wrote: »

Wizards. High Rock needs mighty wizards. It's not just about the magic, although that's important in itself; High Rock would be a great place to explain more about classes like wardens, sorcerers and necromancers and maybe the Glimmering Foxbat is Breton? It's about the power of the individual and their passions. Inspiration, curiosity, vanity, anger, love. The wizard's drama becomes everybody's drama.

Strong agree here, too. I'd be looking at older games for inspiration, and it would be hard to look past the fact that while they were magically inclined in general, they seem to be differentiated from other magical races by their affinity for conjuration in particular. Although that's just a mechanics thing, you could really leverage that to add some personality to them, I think. I love the idea of magic having a kind of creepy, unsettling element to it, especially the sort of magic that requires trafficking with deadric forces for knowledge and power.

Supreme_Atromancer · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

Nomadic_Atmoran wrote: »

Honestly I want to see an overhaul of most of the base game zones. Mostly to bring them in line with the quality of the DLC zones. I do think some reworks in OG storylines should be in order as well considering how dry some of them can be.

kaushad wrote: »

Bangkorai has a load of interesting magic going on although not a lot of it has anything to do with the Bretons..

I'm a big advocate for a redo of the base game zones. I hope that some time in the future they find a good way to make that work because while a lot of us really want this, many don't want it at the expense of new stuff, I guess.

Some parts of base game High Rock are quite nice and evocative. If you ride through the Mountain Pass between Crosswych and Koeglin, for me that's quintessential High Rock right there. But yeah, lots of the High Rock zones are overcrowded and jumbled together. The iconic High Rock "forests" are pretty lacking too, and its a shame that the cities are all so boringly similar - in both appearance and personality.

Bangkorai in particular I think should be called out. Its a corner of the world that should offer so much to explore - being both remote, and on the borderlands of hostile territories. The Ephesus subzone has no story, no history, nothing. In the lore, it was a Redguard region within the Dragontails, so its surprising to find nothing about that in the subzone at all. In fact, the writers seem to have been at such a loss for inspiration, they put a Bandari camp in it and called it a day. You will find absolutely nothing in the area referencing any of the story, history, or anything. In fact the only reason we know it might have been intended is the name of the subzone, and one single lonely dolmen bearing its name. If they DID do an update, it would be awesome if they capitalised on some of the awesome verticality they've brought so far since launch to help make it feel like a distinct region.

Mournoth isn't too bad, though tropical Blackheart Haven doesn't make much sense in the cool temperate, mountainous borders of Skyrim. This region is supposed to represent (at least part of) the Western Reach, which is its own political entity during the time that ESO takes place. There's plenty of Reachmen here, and Jackdaw Cove is pretty awesome, too. But the area is over-crowded with a jumble of structures that run nonsensically into each other - Northmore jumbles into Evermore, which jumbles into Pelin Graveyard, while Troll's Toothpick runs into Jackdaw, which jumbles into Fang Lair, which jumbles into Arlimahera's Sancutm, into Bangkorai Garison. Go and try to explore it and make sense of it. There's no space for the structures to "breathe", and if the world is trying to tell a story, its all jumbled up into alphabet soup. As for the "Western Reach", you won't find any reference to it; there's not one single mention of it anywhere. Instead, Evermore is an exact carbon copy of the other Breton cities, with the same look and identical personality. There's one single reference to the Direnni Viridian Watch - a single sentence on a delve loadscreen. Of course, its just a basic Breton tower, and you can't explore anything about it at all. There's not a single lorebook, not a character to talk about it, no explorable discoveries, nothing.

Looking at how beautiful recent zones have been, we can imagine how much better Mournoth and the Viridian Woods could be. It would be nice if it felt like it was part of the unique region it was meant to be.

comicfan22 · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

Not just High Rock. I want to see all the original zones updated to meet the higher standards set forth by the DLC areas. I want to see the Skyrim Zones match the topology of TES V. I want Auridon to match the style of buildings found on Summerset and the same with Khenarthi’s Roost and Reapers March and Elsweyr and Shadowfen and Blackwood/Murkmire. I want all old zones and items to have HD version reskins at the very least. Hell even Orsinium could do with a facelift since it falls in line with the initial game design looks. I’d pass on new zones for an expansion if they added new stories to older zones to justify the much needed facelift.

luen79rwb17_ESO · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

Totally yes! I'm a huge Breton fan, in fact 80% of my characters are bretons since the beggining. No care for meta races, Breton love first!

Darien and Gabrielle are 2 prime examples of Breton wicked sense of humor and I'm almost sure we will see them together again, hopefully in the forthcomming Chapter of the Bretons!

If ZOS could make High Rock as big as TESII then I'd faint in excitement! But the most probable scenario is a rework of existing zones like the OP said... Or maybe a parallel zone? You know with some crazy ES thing like maybe Numidium back around or shards of it? Creating mini dragon breaks? (aka parallel universes)?! That would be DOPE AF! And a totally lore friendly way to rework High Rock.

Just keep asking for it guys and don't be discouraged by those saying "it's not gonna happen". They said the same about dragons, about necros and so many stuff that fans asked in the past. So hopefully if ZOS hear us with this one too!

Tannus15 · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

honestly I'd love to see an entire base game upgrade pass.
compared to the new zones the old zones are very lack-luster now.

Sheridan · August 2021

No High Rock, and the way they did the Bretons is good the way it is.

I would love to see more breton zones and lore, but I am against the destruction of existing content in any way.

WhyMustItBe · August 2021

Other

I highly suspect they are going to this area for TESVI but that's another topic.

I don't really like the idea of ripping out stuff they already did, unless it is really egregious. More I would prefer it be handled as a future expansion/chapter in that area, since Daggerfall hasn't really been expanded on much in terms of DLC (unless you count Hew's Bane/Gold Coast which seem more like disputed lands).

SydneyGrey · August 2021

Other

I love the ruins. Don't get rid of the ruins!

I'd like SOME of the Breton stuff overhauled, though. Better textures in the original game areas (like Daggerfall, Alik'r, Reaper's March, Stonefalls, etc) would be very welcome.

Veinblood1965 · August 2021

Plans have been made to address this after the bugs, lag in PVP and fake tank issues are corrected.

NotaDaedraWorshipper · August 2021

hcbigdogdoghc wrote: »

s
[*] if the landscape gets reworked I'd love to see a ton more verticality in their zones. It's called High Rock, but I am not seeing a lot of high rocks, not even that many rocks either. At the very least put them as borders between the zones so you can at least pretend the loading screen was when you crossed those huge mountains. It makes more sense that way too.
[/list]

Landscape is a common issue throughout the base game. And even in some dlcs. It's like they don't know what mountains, cliifs or forests are. High Rock doesn't have much mountains and hills to speak of. Valenwood is even worse. It's supposed to be a jungle at its most primal with trees that block out the sun but what do we have? Something that can barely even be called a forest.

CoronHR · August 2021

Love a high rock revamp. Could look gloomier imo. Differentiating textures from wayrest/daggerfall would be important

Thevampirenight · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

CoronHR wrote: »

Love a high rock revamp. Could look gloomier imo. Differentiating textures from wayrest/daggerfall would be important

Well it should look more colorful especially with building architecture like this. thunder-brush-bretoncapital.jpg?width=1042&height=586

and this

And these ones excluding the Cyrodiil one as that isn't related to High Rock.
thunder-brush-15.jpg?width=909&height=586

So if they were to do this with High Rock, then it would look so much nicer and I think would diversify it. Keep Rivenspire how it is but make other cities more colorful and then you get a great feel of High Rock, and it would for sure make it more interesting.

DukeCybran · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

I want my castle overhauled.

Aliyavana · August 2021

Yes I want to see an overhaul of High Rock and Breton content.

kaushad wrote: »

Wizards. High Rock needs mighty wizards. It's not just about the magic, although that's important in itself; High Rock would be a great place to explain more about classes like wardens, sorcerers and necromancers and maybe the Glimmering Foxbat is Breton? It's about the power of the individual and their passions. Inspiration, curiosity, vanity, anger, love. The wizard's drama becomes everybody's drama.

I don't think it's appropriate to write over what we already have. There's some good stuff in High Rock. Rivenspire is popular. Bangkorai has a load of interesting magic going on although not a lot of it has anything to do with the Bretons.

Something that I'd like to see in the base zones are daily quests. Yes, it's boring doing them all the time, but there isn't that much left to do in these zones. They can be sources of exposition too. In High Rock, the quest givers might include knights, a wannabe knight group, researchers, alchemists, witches, hunters (more in Rivenspire), a merchants' association (perhaps in Wayrest), maybe even Bjoulsae River Horse People, although that would increase the latter's population to one.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Gyron_Vardengroet Is one possible breton legendary wizard. It is unknown when he was born exactly, just after the creation of the mages guild.