Earlier this year, The Elder Scrolls Online brought players into Elsweyr for the first time since The Elder Scrolls: Arena back in 1994. 25 years later, players are welcomed back with open arms. When the Elsweyr expansion came out earlier this year, I was absolutely stunned by the entire thing. The new zone brought players into the northern region, known as Anequina, and it was stunning. The story was engaging. The characters were memorable. It was a fantastic addition to The Elder Scrolls Online.

Now, ZeniMax brings players to the southern region, Pellitine, and it is just as fantastic. The world-building is flawless, as is the story it tells. The characters are just as memorable, and the story is addicting right off the bat. Dragonhold might be one of the best expansions for The Elder Scrolls Online (disclaimer: I’ve not played them all, though I’m working on it).

Check out the trailer for the epic conclusion here:

 

The Environment

A couple of weeks ago I sat down with Zone Lead, Jason Barnes, and Loremaster, Leamon Tuttle, as they took me through the wonderful land that is Pellitine. I was amazed. Everything was beautifully crafted and told so much story just in the design. I have always been a fan of how the developers construct Tamriel in The Elder Scrolls Online but being able to walk through with a couple of them is quite eye-opening.

Mr. Barnes acted as the primary guide and showed how much an environment can bring into the story. We started in Senchal, a major port city in Pellitine, and where players begin their journey in the Dragonhold DLC. Even though I am not as deep into the lore of The Elder Scrolls as I would like, it was still easy to recognize parts of the story being told. My guides pointed out that Southern Elsweyr was devasted by the Knahaten Flu, a disease that killed about two-thirds of the population in this region. As one normally does when many citizens get sick, it was decided that the best course of action would be to try to, as Mr. Barnes put it, “burn the plague out.”

The aftermath of the flu and the burnings that followed are evident in the design. As we left the city to explore more of the world, I was taken aback. Amongst the burnt buildings were a plethora of wildflowers. As nature likes to do after a fire, it took hold and flourished. It is quite a sight to behold.

Later in my tour, my guides brought me to what could be my favorite place in the entirety of The Elder Scrolls Online: the Alfiq temple. Since I watched the Dragonhold tour that Mr. Barnes did on Twitch a few weeks prior to my own tour, I was immediately delighted to find out that I would be seeing it. When inquiring about it on our way to see it, Mr. Barnes provided a wonderful piece of advice: “we don’t call them kitty-cats to their face. They get very upset.” The Alfiq have always been my favorite type of Khajiit, mainly because they resemble housecats.

When we arrived, I was about as happy as I could be. There were small Khajiit everywhere whose main purpose was to maintain and protect the temple. It was a gorgeous temple yard that we walked into. Mr. Tuttle pointed out that since the Alfiq are much smaller they don’t need a large place to live and, to hammer home the point that the developers are dedicated to their storytelling through design, the developers made small houses for them that can be seen right in the temple yard.

After exploring the mostly arid lands of Anequina in the Elsweyr DLC, it was nice to see so much color. Having this color contrasted with ruined buildings really is something special and it lends itself to showing how important world-building is as a part of storytelling. The developers’ dedication to bringing lore to life is always apparent and masterfully done.

The New Additions

Everything in the Dragonhold DLC is wonderfully crafted and this includes everything new. Dragonhold sees the introduction of some new mechanics, creatures, and wonderful characters. The care put into each of these is evident and the results are fantastic.

First of all, I have to talk about the best new characters I have ever met: Za’ji and Caska. They are pirates who players must help in order to get to help them. They bicker like an old married couple but are quite helpful and loveable characters. I can’t go into too much detail without spoiling anything, but players meet them early enough into the DLC in Senchal and will likely enjoy their company. If you want to learn more about them, check out the “Meet the Characters” page here.

After meeting Za’ji and Caska, players will be leaving Senchal to explore the rest of Pellitine. They may come across one of two new creatures: the Glyptodon or the Mountain Bristleback. The Glyptodon is a cute, friendly creature that players can come across. They are never hostile and as Mr. Barnes notes “if you do punch him, and you’re a monster, he will hide.” He then demonstrates this and the Glyptodon does retreat into its shell.

The Mountain Bristleback is not nearly as nice of a creature. The large boar-like animal will attack players on sight. As my guides and I approached the animal, Mr. Tuttle proclaimed that he “loves these guys” seconds before the Bristleback attacked us. As awesome are they are to look at, they are quite hostile.

The last addition I’d like to talk about is the Grappling Bow. This was added in and players could get a taste of it in the prologue quest that came out before the launch of Dragonhold. I decided to try it out in the prologue quest. I have to say, I love it. The Bow gives players a new means of traversing the environment and very much feels like a Batman gadget made for the Elder Scrolls Online. I have already seen many requests for the Grapple Bow to have more points added around the whole of Tamriel. I have also heard rumors of a hidden achievement that involves the Bow.

The Dragons

The reason everyone is in Pellintine now. It started when Abnur Tharn released the dragons all the way back in the Wrathstone DLC. Now, it is time to put an end to the dragon threat. In Southern Elsweyr there are still dragons flying about where players can band together to take them done. However, some things have changed since players fought dragons in Anequina.

First off, when players encounter dragons in Pellitine, the environment changes. When starting combat with a dragon, the environment will actually change for the player based on the type of dragon. For ice dragons, the sky will get foggy. Fire dragons turn the sky red. Lighting dragons churn up a storm. This little bit of environment change really helps set the mood when a bunch of players are in an epic battle against a dragon. It’s a nice addition that really pays off.

The combat encounters with the dragons have also changed. In Northern Elsweyr, the dragon encounters see a dragon fly in, land, fly up a bit, and land again. The dragon will repeat this cycle until it is taken down by players. In Southern Elsweyr, the dragons actually have room to roam around the environment as they fight off the players. They can also fly into the air and summon minions to fight for them.

Dragon fights were incredibly different from what players were used to in Skyrim compared to Northern Elsweyr. Dragonhold raises the bar again and creates a completely unique fighting experience. I’ve only fought a couple of dragons in Pellitine, and the experience already seems more engaging than that found in Anequina.

There is also another major update with the dragons: saving cats. From now until December 9, 2019, for every 5 dragons slain a dollar will be donated to Best Friends Animal Society and FOUR PAWS. As of the time this review is written about $85,00 has been raised. For more information on this, check out the official page here.

The Season of the Dragon

The year-long event has been phenomenal through-and-through. This is the first time The Elder Scrolls Online has done a year-long event, and I would say that it has been quite a success. The story told through the event has been phenomenal. As the event went on, the DLC gots better.

It is now time to fight the last of the dragons and save Elsweyr. We’ve seen the rise of the Necromancer class, Usurper Queens, and some loveable Khajiit. The developers did a wonderful job with the Season of the Dragon. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed sitting down and walking through new environments and dungeons with developers throughout the year.

Reviewing the Season of the Dragon renewed my interest in MMORPGs and I now find myself playing The Elder Scrolls Online more in the last month than I ever had before. The Season of the Dragon is coming to a close, but for me, and many others, our adventure into Tamriel is just beginning.

Once again, I would like to thank Jason Barnes and Leamon Tuttle for taking the time to walk me through the Dragonhold DLC. It was a wonderful experience.