Today has been a long day, with hardships, the lowest form of humiliation, yet also a pretty cool change to the main questline.
We start off our adventure by going to Wrothgar (just to see if I could do it as a Level 11). It is there when I saw just how.. fragile I am by dying..a LOT. Especially during the one where I have to stop everyone from healing this twisted, corrupted tree that grows..hearts (eww). It seemed like I was just ‘doing it wrong’ so much, to the point I had possibly the most humiliating thing happen in an MMORPG. After the people I was with managed to complete the quest, I was waiting for someone to hopefully rez me (after the 5th FAIL to assist)……… and I got my corpse double-teabagged. No fucks given, and they just ran off laughing..at least if I wasn’t still dead, I would see it.
I haven’t seen a teabag since the days of Halo (never played the series, but I’ve seen videos), and to be a victim of one, I could see why it just felt more than an insult.
(And yes, I’m serious. I’m not overreacting this time)
It took me…..I don’t know how long until I finally had the courage to redeem myself. And redeem myself I did. I found a high spot that not a lot of enemies can reach me (but in return my Clanfear won’t reach them) and I was able to pick off almost everyone within a 30 yard radius (while others did their work). I rather be seen as an ‘archer’ instead of someone that enjoys having mobs in their face, and it paid off. I was able to do it again, and DAMN did it feel good to restore my personal honor. I also managed to assist with doing a boss battle without dying! This helped, but it’s going to take weeks to erase that image from my mind.
Back in Orsinium, I kept seeing more and more people with the bear pet. It started to make me both angered and upset at the same time. Trying to ‘teach Zenimax a lesson’ in betraying (and lying) to their subscribers (by ending mine), felt like all I was doing was..’punishing’ myself. I even see people still having an ESO+ account (as a Warden) and that just made it worse. The thoughts in my mind were just eating at me, and I knew of only one way to make the thoughts finally stop; make a forum post and ask “is Morrowind worth it”..but more like, is the Warden worth the $40.
The responses have been overall good so far, with some saying “depends on you”, others say the quests are pretty good and so is the zone, with one saying that they didn’t try hard enough to make certain areas like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Finally, one saying that they feel the price is a bit too steep.
There’s also my original post that got updated, with a few people who are not sure how I never knew Morrowind didn’t come with ESO+. I more than explained the reason in a response (as detailed as possible). Also at this time, I saw it was getting closer and closer to getting on Wurm…..but I decided to say “fuck it” and kept playing ESO. I’m going back to my ‘not coming on unless I have to fund my deed’ thing. Fed up with everything in that game. I want ESO to pull me back into its game and play a fun, true MMORPG again (as it did in 2015/16).
Swapped out a few addons for others I seem to re-remember having (that are quite helpful) and went back to Davon’s Watch to start working on the main questline again. And I’ve been noticing something…strange with it. It never hit me at first, but it surely did after acquiring the ring to access the Amulet of Kings…at Level 17 (which would had been something like Level 35 normally).
When I defeated Mannamarco..as a Level 18 (died six times until I tried pelting him with light attacks to regen Stamina while hitting him with Draining Shot to keep my Health up (and also focusing on adds when they showed up)), I KNEW something was up! Also, holy hell I’m so glad I did that thing! I thought there was just no way. His attacks were always on me and not on my pet. I guess this is to show that you’re getting revenge on the one that took your soul.
Anyway, it’s clear this ‘One Tamriel’ thing has affected the questline. What does that mean? It’s JUST like Skyrim’s single player questline (that can be worked on at anytime). There was never a requirement to defeat Alduin at Level 50, and now the same has come to this!! This, is possibly the greatest thing that has ever happened to the history of MMORPGs. This also means, I can quest in Skyrim (as a Level 4) if I desired to! 😀 NO MORE “I’m not Level 48 and I must scream” anymore! This is better than what Blizzard did for Legion!
Mobs are always leveled to you. There’s no longer a ‘zone level requirement’ when it comes to leveling up!
….However, this is also a bad thing. How so? Because the Dolmens will still be there when Molag Bal is defeated. Sure, they where there before, but at least you had reached max level by then and..well….meh. I don’t know how to end it without a ‘meh’. I guess you could say after you defeat the main questline, Molag Bal’s Doppelganger takes over? I..guess that’ll have to work.
But also, I feel this ‘One Tamriel’ thing is silly. I mean, it wouldn’t if I had bought the game this year. But now with the fact I’ve gotten used to zone level requirements… I hate to say this, but certain freedoms just can’t be granted, in order to keep the flow in check (and I’m not even a purist).
This is an MMORPG, not a single player game. Yet, I feel the game doesn’t even know what it is anymore. It’s been stripped of its former self. I mean sure, the main ‘single player’ questline alone did feel like “why is this a level requirement? This feels silly”…yet it was also a ‘necessary evil’ to make sure the player plays through the game. Taking that away, feels like it’s taken it’s purpose away.
Wow. I feel like all the fun I had for this game just got..zapped out of me by my own words. This is the real reason I quit last year (that and I didn’t enjoy getting my ass handed to me in The Dark Brotherhood). Yes I get the main questline is supposed to set the theme of the game, but it’s going to end just like every other single player game; a sense of emptiness. This is where WoW shined for me. It had set goals to work up towards. Zones were level-based, and every expansion brought more leveling and a new main boss. With ESO? There’s only one main boss (outside of the Morrowind ‘expansion’). Hell, I don’t even know if this thing continues the main questline. If it does, then that’s good. That to me will be worth the asking price. But if it’s just another zone and feels like a DLC that does nothing for the base game (that would interest me), then..there you go.
This is the question I should had originally asked in that thread. This is the ‘make or break’ to me. The final straw, etc. And I have my doubts. I personally feel, as I originally said, this is an overpriced DLC of Zenimax prying on people who played The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, and milking them for everything they’re worth (without them even knowing).
The fact I started in Oblivion, I’m immune to this. Now if they did this for Skyrim and expanded the entire continent (and made the story based on the era of the first Dragon Wars(and seeing Alduin in his prime))? Then I would be jumping on the bandwagon!! 😀 I wouldn’t care if I was getting milked. And it seems the same thing could be said for this (which is why people are defending Zenimax).
Wow, I ranted about this thing again when it wasn’t even the correct blog post title? How silly of me. Let’s get back to the point here, of this ‘One Tamriel’ thing. Yes, it has its perks of being able to quest anywhere. Yet I feel it breaks the flow of the zone questline. In this game, there’s two questlines; main questline (sets up the main bad guy and the reason you are you), and zone questline(quests based around the story of a specific zone). Most zone questlines manage to ark themselves into the next zone to get the player to venture further, yet to allow the player to quest anywhere, breaks that ark (and makes quests as..well, side quests).
I don’t mind questing. But I don’t like questing for no endgame purpose. Mass Effect Andromeda IMO did a pretty good job wrapping the game up for me, giving a few final missions to really end it. This is a proper endgame; one that didn’t make me feel ’empty’ and wanting more. ESO’s endgame.. well, there is no endgame in an MMORPG.
Anyway, as Sai Sahan said, “we deserve a rest”. And since it’s nearly…good LORD 6 in the morning?! I do as well (IRL). Yesterday has been a LONG day.