I appreciated The Elder Scrolls Online when it was launched a few years back. It was an ambitious project that snagged the hearts of Elder Scrolls fans and provided a notion that a player could have an endless amount of ES experiences. That concept was intriguing.
Fast forward over a few years and some gamers have been divided about their ESO experiences. Some have felt like it came up short in emulating the single-player adventures of the Elder Scrolls series, while others have appreciated the chance to continue adventures throughout the year with other players. That last part has always been a major ‘want’ for offline ES experiences, as well as Fallout experiences (it’s a tough sell to Bethesda, but I would give anything to have an MP experience in the offline versions).
Dreams aside, The Elder Scrolls Online game survived through the years, and survived well, and in the early part of 2017 the good folks at ZeniMax Online Studios began to prep a huge expansion that harkened back to the days prior to Oblivion. This expansion was named Morrowind.
Now, time for a history lesson. If you’re not familiar with Morrowind, then more than likely you’re young or hit The Elder Scrolls right around Skyrim. Back in 2002, Bethesda released the third title in their Elder Scrolls series called The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. This featured adventures in Vvardenfell and was considered one of the best games out of the series — you know, until Oblivion and Skyrim showed up (some people still debate it is the best). In addition to the PC version of the game, there was also a Nokia N-Gage version in 2002 titled The Elder Scrolls: Travels, which might have been the most legitimate gameplay experience on the little system that didn’t have a prayer.
History lesson aside, the new Morrowind expansion for ESO, which is going to be a full-blown title introducing a new class of characters, including a cool one called the Warden (not related to Dragon Age’s Wardens) that has a strong nature connection, as well as pets, is set to hit in June. Having played as the Warden class for the last few weeks, I can say that I have enjoyed the character and its ease of use. It makes sense within Morrowind and is a great addition to the ESO family. Plus, the class looks cool. Looking cool in the ESO world is a must.
As for other additions to this ESO expansion, there are new adventures/quests to go on, a bigger world so far to randomly discover things (like armor/sword — out of nowhere) and a new way to do PvP, which is called Battlegrounds. While I’m not a huge PvP person, I will say the nastier setup they have intended for Battlegrounds will make PvP a bit more ‘entertaining’. There’s something to be said about quick public matches.
Outside of the above, I can say without a doubt that I have enjoyed Morrowind better than the initial release of ESO. The world seems a bit more alive and explorable, though that might be just me forgetting how ESO works, as it has been a few years since I’ve dove into it. Regardless, I’m looking forward to reviewing this one next month, as it feels like a solid and complete package in the ESO world a notch closer to what my original expectations of ESO were in 2013.
Anyway, ESO’s new expansion/title Morrowind hits PC/Mac/PS4 on June 6th.
Keep an eye out for our review.
