We are immersed for the first time in the new chapter of The Elder Scrolls Online. Greymoor takes us back to Skyrim around his capital, Soledad.
We are used to the fact that throughout the life of The Elder Scrolls: Online we have been able to visit several of the star enclaves of the saga. We already saw it with the excellent Morrowind expansion, whose level of detail was a direct arrow to the nostalgia of the most staunch fan. After several chapters and many other additional contents, we return to the point where the legend was forged; we return to Skyrim.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor will take us directly to the heart of the Nordic kingdom to alleviate another threat that tries to check the stability of the kingdom. The vampires rise up again in a place already habitual for the adventurers who played the complete package of the fifth installment. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, at FreeGameTips we attended an online preview event in which Rich Lambert, creative director of the project, narrates all the characteristics that will arrive in Tamriel next June. We have already been able to play it.
Familiarity with the environment
One of the keys that Rich Lambert repeats endlessly during his exhibition is the importance of players feeling immersed in an extremely well-known environment. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has long been the most played installment by the current gaming community. It is logical that they want to take advantage of the pull to make Greymoor a set-up of the capital and its surroundings.
Approximately 60% of the chapter's outer explorable map consists of the entire western part of Skyrim. From Soledad, the mountain range that surrounds it, its swamps, the North coast … The millennium between them keeps navigation intact. Walking through this Solitude transports us almost nine years ago, when we did the same in the final stretch of PS3 and Xbox 360. Even the internal structure of the tavern and the throne room is truthful with the future lived in TES: V.
Although, certainly, there are some changes. Just before the entrance to the chapel, a new building is presented in which the antiquarian guild is located, another of Greymoor's main novelties. All the original roads that lead to the city are original. The changes, roughly speaking, lie in the eastern part, since some future cities are now mere refugee camps.
We must remember that the version to which we have had access corresponds to a fairly early build. The playable area has not been completed, the voices have no performance, not even all public dungeons are featured. As for sensations, we would say that we are halfway between Summerset and Morrowind. We also couldn't access everything we wanted to Blackreach. The network of dwarf caves is a vital part of the adventure. It will have its own extension as if another map was attached.
Antique dealers, in search of relics
Perhaps the most important novelty of this chapter in playable matter is the introduction of antique dealers. As we have been telling you in the past weeks, Greymoor will incorporate a new work path that will lead us to search for the lost relics throughout Tamriel. These objects will make us delve into the background of the saga, at the same time that they serve as a currency to receive better objects or as decorations for our homes.
Although we could not experiment with their missions, Lambert introduced us to how they are presented within the TESO scheme. To begin, we must go to the corresponding guild that you have all read in previous paragraphs. The director narrates the importance of these missions. They pose a line of work that is completely different from chaining targets or killing. Here, as archaeologists, we must search for the missing pieces of our ancestors by exploring the environment. No more no less.
Do we want to leave a little space between so much violence? Grab your map and embark on the adventure. Searching for antiques consists of several phases: the first, the search phase, involves completing a minigame. By joining icons of the same type, we will achieve each of the three goals per map. If we fail any, the area to search will be wider, while if we complete the trio the search will be drastically reduced.
Upon reaching the point where we know you are, the excavation will begin. Another minigame will appear, in which we must use various objects to remove land before the turns are over. If we succeed, we will finally find a chest and we can complete the search. Doing it regularly will make us progress in the guild, which little by little will give us more important commissions and rewards. Rewards that will typically be cosmetic items, though we are promised to be able to give us Siege Weapons, Mounts, and new enchanted Jewels.
Changes: on the way to Trial
By basing the plot line on a vampire lord and his faithful, the company wanted to touch up the entire skill tree for these creatures. They want to make vampires a precise build, much more used than it is right now. If the werewolves already had their ration of changes, these would be no less. Feeding will change significantly.
In Lambert's words, Greymoor will touch up many of the points demanded by the community regarding “quality of life”. They were not specified what they would be, but the idea is to "improve their performance and correct many errors". More than 30 hours of purely strict content await us on missions, both main and the story arcs that orbit around it.
Blackreach will be the place where most of the public dungeons will be found, an aperitif with which to equip ourselves facing the star of the chapters: the Trial. The great raid of 12 players will be in the northern part of Soledad, an island where we will enter the so-called "Kyne’s Aegis". Unfortunately, no details were revealed beyond the usual structure of this content.
Skyrim returns
Although the land of the Nordics has had its representation in previous stages, it had not been until Greymoor when we have been involved in the same paths that we traveled in 2011. Soledad is an icon for her fans, and it will be in this chapter when it will become more important than in its first appearance. We are looking forward to fully verifying what this expansion is capable of.
For its part, we will have to wait for the arrival of The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor next June. Along with the expansion, a physical edition will be released with the base game included on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. Everything is ready to embark again on the MMO giant.
