Hey all. I wanted to put something positive out into the Internet ether.

I finally have had the time to get back into this game outside of claiming daily log-in bonuses and event tickets (never unsubbed. Just went very inactive), and I’ve been really impressed. I sort of fell-off halfway through Northern Elsweyr, and since coming back I’ve done: the rest of Northern Elsweyr, Southern Elsweyr, Greymoor, The Reach, pieces of the 2021 content, and a slew of dungeons.

It’s been an experience. I don’t want to ramble too long, so bullet points it is:

- Between the transmute station, the “reconstruct item” feature, and the set collection… the ease of creating new builds is awesome. It’s beautiful. You have to earn the items and transmutation crystals in the first place, so there is still a sense of meaningfully “putting in the work,” but the tedium of gearing alts / creating off-spec suits is greatly diminished. I love it.

- Title Update 32 is great beyond words. Personal anecdote time: I had given up on ever getting a burning spellweave inferno staff, but now I knew it wasn’t an “if I would get it” scenario of potentially endless RNG misery, but a “when I would get it” scenario instead. Each time I killed the final City of Ash boss, my chance improved. 1 out of 25, 1 out of 24, so on. Got it after about ten tries.

- By comparison, I got a briarheart greatsword as item 65 of 66 in Wrothgar. Sometimes the RNG hates you. What can you do? I would have given up before Title Update 32, but the light at the end of the tunnel kept me going… and now I’m good.

- The game’s performance is much improved. I’ve had one crash since coming back and the only place that gives me any guff framerate-wise is Blackreach (Dark Moon Grotto and the Reach cave area). If I had to guess, the ceilings being ground-textures and the sheer amount of glowing mushrooms, cyrstals, and dwarven light fixtures aren't doing me any favors. Turned down a few settings and I was fine, though.

- The writing is pretty darn fun. I think my favorite was Southern Elsweyr. I went into that expecting tired modern tropes (Old white dad = must be a villain; daughter = messiah that turns me into her glorified sidekick; paired with a big-tough with minimal personality; daughter kills bad while I’m stuck clapping for the chosen one). None of the afore-mentioned things happened, whatsoever (they ALL happened in Greymoor, ironically, but eh… so it goes). The dad wanted to help but couldn’t spare the men, the daughter was helpful but a bit too green to get into the full thick of it, the big tough was the ever-wonderful Sai Sahan with Kevin Michael Richardson given so many chances to flex his talent and emote, and no one stole my bloody kill. It had nuance, it had silly, it had drama, and it had Za’ji. 10/10 for me.

- Related to the above: you’re showing an increasing willingness to play with stereotypes and dark humor, which is great. I honestly consider it a cornerstone of Elder Scrolls that everyone gets teased. The classy Khajiit painter that makes such amazing war paintings? They’re self-portraits; he’s the guy robbing corpses. The woman that is upset about stereotypes regarding Khajiit drug dealers? She’s they’re front-woman. The Solitude citizens decrying stereotypes about Bretons being magic-abusing lunatics? Their Breton magister is a vampire madwoman that abuses magic like it’s going out of style. After an overly rosy Summerset with no Goblin plantations, no soul-harvesting for enchanted brooms, and woefully limited eugenics… you gave us drugged out Khajiits and drunken, crazy nords. I approve wholeheartedly, haha. We’re all a mix of good and bad. It’s fun.

- Honorable mention: Greymoor giving us a pay-off for 6 years of Rigurt’s adventures was glorious. He’s learned so much, the fiend. Also got married in Wrothgar, from what I recall. I wonder how she’s doing, haha.

So yeah, I’m glad I came back. You’ve been honing your craft and it’s pretty awesome. Admittedly, I still get nervous every time a title update introduces combat changes, but that’s me. Can’t be helped, really. I won’t say they haven’t worked out in the long run, but man… reading those patch-notes can feel like rolling the dice. “Oh, my burning embers that I’ve gotten very fond of over the past five years is getting a substantial change in function… looks like a lateral move, thank God, but how long until the PVP crowd yells about it enough that the healing gets reduced/ the cost increased/ the damage reduced/ it gets changed to one active target at a time only / all of the above? Well, at least they’re fusing brutality and sorcery so earthen heart abilities will give me minor sorcery and minor brutality instead of just the latter… oh, never-mind. Only the major sources are getting fused. Shucks. At least the nerf hammer missed me this time, I think? Guffaw.”

But hey, positives. This game has come a long way and I’m impressed as heck. Too impressed, considering the word count. I’m going to leave out praising the companion system, armory system, and antiquities (all of which I enjoy a lot) and call it. :-P

I’m looking forward to seeing you play around with Bretons again come June, and I’m optimistic about future expansions, too. I’d love to see the team tackle joining a naughty faction like House Dres or an amoral, lovably psycho faction like House Telvanni. We’ll see. Plenty of Tamriel to go.