A little over three years have passed since the release of what I feel is the best MMO to hit the market since Guild Wars 2. I am, of course talking about The Elder Scrolls Online. Don’t get me wrong, upon release the game was a hot mess, from broken quests to broken builds and in true to any Elder Scrolls game, insufferable bugs. However, over the course of these last few years Zenimax has stood by the title and has taken several steps that have not only made the game playable, but rendered it into one of the best games in its genre as of now.
The latest addition to hit The Elder Scrolls Online roster is the paid DLC, Morrowind. Costing around Rs 2,700 on Steam, this DLC is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. However, I was immediately sucked into the atmosphere that the game always manages to create and frankly had a blast during my 80-odd-hour play-through of all the content ESO-Morrowing has to offer. So apart form the main story and side quests, which are fully voice acted to a really good level considering it’s an MMO, there is a brand new PvP mode called Battlegrounds that makes its debut. These are Objective based game modes that take place in an enclosed arena and I found them to be much more satisfying to play as they reward a more varied number of builds. Let me put this in perspective. As an Elder Scrolls from India, my PvP experiences have been rather jarring as I used to get constantly ganked by Magika-Scorcer or builds, the main antagonist in any ESO PvP encounter.
In Battlegrounds however, I saw myself winning my team’s entire games without having to worry about ping or kills, solely by playing the objective and utilising my nightshade and stealth build to its fullest.
Then there are the two Public dungeons as well as the Veteran (End Game) dungeons which I am yet to complete, which will undoubtedly add several 100 hours of awesome grinding fun with a party of up to 12 people. The Morrowind DLC for the Elder Scrolls online managed to take me on a nostalgic trip down memory lane as Zenimax masterfully recreated the iconic locations from the Original Bethesda title and fills in the rest of the world with a very dynamic entity ideal for questing.
Rarely did I find myself getting bored because of having to traverse the landscape. The quest system that Zenimax introduced in TESO was already regarded as one of the best in MMOs till date and they have built on it even further by making them more varied in nature and actually exhilarating. Moreover, there is a lot to look forward to for veterans of the game as Zenimax has introduced a brand new character class, the Warden. Only available to those who purchase the DLC, the Warden is a very balanced character and is an excellent choice for players who primarily solo PvE. All in all ESO Morrowind has prompted me to sign up for a membership for the game. If you’re are an MMO lover, you owe it to yourself to pick up The Elder Scrolls Online right now and maybe even invest in getting the Morrowind DLC as well so as to be able to enjoy the full package right off the bat.
OVERALL
8.0
