What do you guys think about regions with mixed Dolmen-like content?

FabresFour · March 1

For example:

The map is The Southern Swamps, a mysterious region of Black Marsh. In this map, there are three different types of world events: a green dragon that occasionally appears and tries to destroy part of the swamp, a cult of some random Daedra attempting to summon a portal, and a portal that opens from time to time at a specific location, which you can enter to complete a group event.

I'm bringing this up because I feel like ESO's maps lose a lot by having content that is so... constrained?

I mean, why don’t we have dragons in other parts of Tamriel? It’s not like we only fight the dragons that escaped with Kaalgrontiid. Many of the dragons we face were already hiding out there and were just drawn by Kaalgrontiid—so what stops us from running into a dragon at the top of a mountain or deep within a swamp?

Also, what prevents the game from having these types of content mix into different maps? Wouldn’t that be… cool?

I mean, imagine seeing a dragon attacking different regions than Skyrim or Elsweyr.

I don’t know, I just think it would be interesting if Dolmen-like content could "spill over" into other maps.

Nestor · March 2

Dragons are Lazy.

Well, not Lazy, but they run out of gas so they don't fly too far.

VoxAdActa · March 2

Nestor wrote: »

Dragons are Lazy.

Well, not Lazy, but they run out of gas so they don't fly too far.

Definitely lazy. Even in Skyrim, they're's bound to be some dragon who's like, "Woah! There's some crazy chick running around out here killing us and literally eating our literal souls!! Maybe we should fly to Leyawiin or Summerset and do our evil plan there instead." And the other dragons are all "Yeah.... nah. It's cool."

Freelancer_ESO · March 2

You might run into performance issues as you'd either have to keep the npc stuff in memory or load them on the fly for the added content.

SilverBride · March 2

I'm not sure what I think. Would these be be new zones or areas in the current zones?

Thysbe · March 2

FabresFour wrote: »

For example: I don’t know, I just think it would be interesting if Dolmen-like content could "spill over" into other maps.

All "Dolmen Like" Events are linked to the Lore of the respective zone

Geysers - Sea Sloads, Dolmen - Molag Bals Planemeld, Dragons - Elsweyr Story Arc, Vulcanos - Mad Druids

so for me - as one of the few who cares about Story and Lore - this would be a severe break of what happens in this zone, what is its story and what threats are they facing

If you throw it all together the question is - why you need different zones at all and not trow everything together in one Super-Enganging bling bling Megaregion

Tandor · March 2

I enjoy the base game dolmens which seem to be very popular, but hate the geysers, dragons and portals etc that followed in subsequent DLCs and chapters, and which seem to be far less popular.

tmacedo · March 2

I dont think Rada Al Saran has enough resources to export harrowstorms to wherever he likes lol. These things are expensive, you see.

Jokes aside some of these events lose their lore meaning just because you stopped them from spreading in the world. The Dragons are the only one I think that would make sense to be anywhere

But it would be cool if they release a multizone mini event, nothing too big. For example, dwemer machinery outbreaks in all the zones they had influence in (which is basically all north tamriel); Or small Sload assault for southern zones; Maormer raidings in Abecean bathed zones, etc. Im just throwing ideas here, dunno how weird those would be in a lore perspective.

Grizzbeorn · March 2

Thysbe wrote: »

FabresFour wrote: »

For example: I don’t know, I just think it would be interesting if Dolmen-like content could "spill over" into other maps.

All "Dolmen Like" Events are linked to the Lore of the respective zone

Geysers - Sea Sloads, Dolmen - Molag Bals Planemeld, Dragons - Elsweyr Story Arc, Vulcanos - Mad Druids

so for me - as one of the few who cares about Story and Lore - this would be a severe break of what happens in this zone, what is its story and what threats are they facing

If you throw it all together the question is - why you need different zones at all and not trow everything together in one Super-Enganging bling bling Megaregion

This is pretty much my view.
The different World Events in different zones are part of what give each zone, along with its story, its distinctive flavor.
I can understand the desire to have everything homogenized, but I prefer it the way it is.

FabresFour · March 2

Thysbe wrote: »

FabresFour wrote: »

For example: I don’t know, I just think it would be interesting if Dolmen-like content could "spill over" into other maps.

All "Dolmen Like" Events are linked to the Lore of the respective zone

Geysers - Sea Sloads, Dolmen - Molag Bals Planemeld, Dragons - Elsweyr Story Arc, Vulcanos - Mad Druids

so for me - as one of the few who cares about Story and Lore - this would be a severe break of what happens in this zone, what is its story and what threats are they facing

If you throw it all together the question is - why you need different zones at all and not trow everything together in one Super-Enganging bling bling Megaregion

I'm not saying that any dolmen should be scattered across all areas, but rather that those that have the possibility could be.

For example: Dragons—what's stopping them from leaving Elsweyr? We saw dragons flying over the Alliance capitals years ago during the Elsweyr event, didn't we?

What I mean is that sometimes some of these events could be spread across the world, and it wouldn't be a lore mistake—in fact, it would make perfect sense. Honestly, the real issue is that they are limited to specific locations. Blackwood is right next to Elsweyr and Black Marsh, yet suddenly all Oblivion portals only appear in that one specific region of the world? How... curious. As far as I know, metaphysical borders shouldn't prevent portals from appearing in regions near Blackwood. Or, well, Reaper's March, which is literally the border between Valenwood and Elsweyr and... has no dragon attacks. Why? Other than the fact that dragons were introduced in a later content update?

If a dragon, for example, appeared as an encounter in Reaper's March due to the conflict in Elsweyr, it wouldn't just make sense—it would also attract players to content from an older expansion (which not all new players may know about or even be aware of).

What I think is that everything ends up feeling more like "less lore, more game mechanics" when it's confined to a single map without any coherent explanation for it.

Like the dragons (which we see flying all over the world) and the blackwood oblivion portals (which can open anywhere as well). Honestly, I find this at the very least strange, and I would like these events to spill into the world precisely to make sense within the world's lore.

AvalonRanger · March 2

There're no flat ground open level design in the other region.
ESO game engine can't treat Dragon in such kind of place anyway.

FabresFour · March 2

AvalonRanger wrote: »

There're no flat ground open level design in the other region.
ESO game engine can't treat Dragon in such kind of place anyway.

It's not like they can't add a flat area to some maps with the future redesign of the base game.

Thysbe · March 3

FabresFour wrote: »

Like the dragons (which we see flying all over the world) and the blackwood oblivion portals (which can open anywhere as well). Honestly, I find this at the very least strange, and I would like these events to spill into the world precisely to make sense within the world's lore.

if you carry over the events you have to make NPCs mentioning it too and the main quest givers asking you to do something about it. Or do you think the guys in Reapers March will still be throughly freightened by a few Atronachs in their grove when there is a dragon landing space like 200m in front of their village. Shadowfen is not only facing Molag Bal as a threat but suddenly Mehrunes Daegon too.

as I said - the events are lore linked - for me that is just more story immersion breaking niose than there already is.

When I do AD main story I really dont care about the elsweyr dragons and for me they have not yet broken free since thats a prolog you ll do later in the game playing it chronogogically. Abnur is still stuck in Coldharbour and not running around with the Wrathstone.

I sincerely hope ZOS will show more respect and finesse when doing the vanilla redesigns.

LalMirchi · March 3

Some players suggestions are good, others not so much. This is the latter.

Varana · March 3

- Introducing existing world events into other zones? No, that's not worth the effort and disruption. You could argue that it might be possible for dragons and dolmens - dragons can fly, and dolmens are, in-universe, basically continent-wide. They kind of did that in Wrothgar by making one of the world bosses a dolmen under construction. But that would probably overload the zones - imagine Southern Elsweyr with dolmens crammed in there somewhere, or carving out landing spots for dragons in Stonefalls or Auridon.

- Creating a new zone with different world events? Yeah, why not, if it makes sense with the zone story. That would mean creating multiple encounters and mechanics and not being able to reuse the same thing all over the map, though. And while that may be preferable or at least interesting from a player perspective, the budget (time, developers, money...) for that would need to come from somewhere. And with the scaling down of new ESO content, I don't think that's happening.

FabresFour · March 3

Thysbe wrote: »

FabresFour wrote: »

Like the dragons (which we see flying all over the world) and the blackwood oblivion portals (which can open anywhere as well). Honestly, I find this at the very least strange, and I would like these events to spill into the world precisely to make sense within the world's lore.

if you carry over the events you have to make NPCs mentioning it too and the main quest givers asking you to do something about it. Or do you think the guys in Reapers March will still be throughly freightened by a few Atronachs in their grove when there is a dragon landing space like 200m in front of their village. Shadowfen is not only facing Molag Bal as a threat but suddenly Mehrunes Daegon too.

as I said - the events are lore linked - for me that is just more story immersion breaking niose than there already is.

When I do AD main story I really dont care about the elsweyr dragons and for me they have not yet broken free since thats a prolog you ll do later in the game playing it chronogogically. Abnur is still stuck in Coldharbour and not running around with the Wrathstone.

I sincerely hope ZOS will show more respect and finesse when doing the vanilla redesigns.

Well, they're altering events that already occur in the game with update 45, technically making the timeline on the overland maps advance. Content that would only make sense after completing the main quest now appears from Auridon to Reaper's March, or from Bal Foyen to The Rift.

Personally, I find it immersion-breaking that the maps don't evolve according to the timeline. If there's a dragon attacking Elsweyr—wel... in Elsweyr (Reaper's March) then there should indeed be some reflection of that. At least, that's my perspective on it.

wolfie1.0. · March 3

Not sure it could be done but maybe something like a continental invasion... all zone normal dolmen like events retired temporarily for like an invasion that impacts all zones with increased difficulty and zones could be "lost" until certian conditions met.

Not sure it could work, just a thought

FabresFour · March 3

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

Not sure it could be done but maybe something like a continental invasion... all zone normal dolmen like events retired temporarily for like an invasion that impacts all zones with increased difficulty and zones could be "lost" until certian conditions met.

Not sure it could work, just a thought

It would be incredible. My disappointment is exactly with all the map events being “predictable.”

Every map features a specific event that only happens there and doesn't affect anything else in the world. After 10 years of this, it's become... more of the same. The concept of events happening is cool, but in my view, they should do something to “modernize” it.

Thysbe · March 3

FabresFour wrote: »

Well, they're altering events that already occur in the game with update 45, technically making the timeline on the overland maps advance.

so there goes my hope for finesse and respect - I am a bit suprised by that - all info I read was about minor graphical updates and a minor revamp - no major changes

Paramedicus · March 4

Dragons are one of selling points for elsweyr.. or at least they were

SilverBride · March 4

It's not always easy to get a group for Dragons and I can't solo them. The same with Harrowstorms.

Varana · March 5

Thysbe wrote: »

FabresFour wrote: »

Well, they're altering events that already occur in the game with update 45, technically making the timeline on the overland maps advance.

so there goes my hope for finesse and respect - I am a bit suprised by that - all info I read was about minor graphical updates and a minor revamp - no major changes

The way FabresFour put that is kind of blowing things out of proportion, though. They're introducing another option for the Dark Fissure mini-rifts, none of the "big" world events". And it's still Worm Cult-related, so in line with the original story.

Spacefish2323 · March 5

We'll add a whole new type of overland zone. With group encounters. It'll be different and spectacular. We'll call it... idk... how about Craglorn?

FabresFour · March 5

Varana wrote: »

Thysbe wrote: »

FabresFour wrote: »

Well, they're altering events that already occur in the game with update 45, technically making the timeline on the overland maps advance.

so there goes my hope for finesse and respect - I am a bit suprised by that - all info I read was about minor graphical updates and a minor revamp - no major changes

The way FabresFour put that is kind of blowing things out of proportion, though. They're introducing another option for the Dark Fissure mini-rifts, none of the "big" world events". And it's still Worm Cult-related, so in line with the original story.

not a option, a reskin, the dark fissures will not happen anymore (From what I saw, I spent a long time looking and only the soul reapers appeared), only the new soul reaper events, and this only happens with the passage of time on the older zones so.... my point stands