Another Great Elder Scrolls Online Expansion: Elsweyr

While fans of the Elder Scrolls Online are getting a bit spoiled with all the great content coming out for their beloved massive multiplayer online title, they are getting a bit more picky as well. This has been highlighted over the past week or so as reviews for The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr began to surface online. “It’s a great looking expansion, but…” “We enjoyed our time with Elsweyr, but…” We’ve been spoiled, and with the spoiling comes a harder shell that might be hard for Bethesda to break through. What did we think of Elsweyr? Let’s dive in!

Like with the Summerset expansion last year, Elsweyr is absolutely breathtaking. From the magnificent forests, to the oddly appealing cities, to wasted deserts, there are lots of things to do and see in the Elsweyr. And the story that goes along with the expansion sets this up to be one of the better expansions in the series, at least on paper.

The brand new class of Necromancer is introduced this time around, as are Dragons. For those who played through The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, the introduction of dragons to this world should be something to look forward too. And everything is set up perfectly. The Kajhiit’s, hated by most, have become second class citizens in their own country, and to make matters worse, dragons have invaded and are causing havoc everywhere. Like I’ve said before, everything is set up beautifully.

But somehow, the fantastic side quests – potentially the best ESO has given us yet – are overshadowed by a lackluster and disappointing main quest that feels so disjointed from everything else happening in Elsweyr, that you begin to wonder if it could exist in any of the other ESO worlds. When you do encounter dragons, however, they are magnificent, and provide a ton of XP and loot when killed. And for the most part, the provide a fun challenge, although that challenge is not as difficult as it was in Skyrim.

Next to the fantastic side quests littered around Elsweyr, the next best addition to this expansion is the inclusion of the necromancy class. Across the world of the Elder Scrolls Online, necromancy has been banned, most notably by the world wide Mages Guild; because of that, playing as a character that everyone deems bad and unfit is truly exhilarating, and will hopefully create unique dialogue options when I exit the world of Elsweyr and renter the great world of The Elder Scrolls Online.

But it’s not just the taboo of playing someone no one wants you to be; it’s also about how fun it is to play as this character class. Leveling up both Stamina and Magicka will benefit this class in the long run, and raising a few undead along the way. In a fun twist for this character – to set him or her apart from others – is that when your raised minions die, you can harvest their corpses for resources that will allow you to regain stat points. Necromancers can gain benefits from other human corpses as well, making them incredibly unique in this way.

And that ultimately plays into the strategy of this character. Adapting your skills to both attack and ‘feed’ of the dead can be at ricky balance when you become overwhelmed with enemies, but the pay off is fantastic, and incredibly satisfying.

While the lackluster story in Elsweyr does leave a sour taste in my mouth, there are too many other amazing additions to stop me from even thinking about passing on this expansion. The new class is one of the best we have ever seen, and I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the side quests in Elsweyr are the best this world has to offer.