The new chapter High Isle for the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online has been on the live servers for PC since June 06, 2022. A new 12-player raid has also been added with the new chapter. MeinMMO author MiezeMelli has faced the “Dread Sail Reef” in veteran mode and is sharing her experience with you here.
What kind of raid is this? Located in the new High Isle area, the new Dreadsail Reef raid is a 12-player trial. The name describes it quite well, because in this reef you will find a bunch of shipwrecks, but also some dangerous enemies.
The new High Isle Chapter has been on the ESO servers for PC since June 6th, 2022. In addition to the new raid, the chapter also includes a completely new area: the high island and Amenos. There is also a lot of story content and the two companions Funke and Isobel.
If you want more information about the contents of the new chapter, then have a look here:
ESO: Everything about the new expansion High Isle and the content in 2022
Who has played? MeinMMO author MiezeMelli, along with parts of her raid group “Joghurt Intolerant” from her guild “Legends in Four Walls” and a few other players from the group’s circle of acquaintances.
A tangled labyrinth of levers, whirlpools and ships
Even the entrance to the new raid is a real eye-catcher. When you enter the raid, you climb out of the cabin of a mighty ship and your path begins with a deep jump into the sea. Overall, the instance is very open. I think that’s pretty, but for every player with less orientation, a navigation system would sometimes be nice.
And beware! Because the add groups have it all. I too had to realize again: Always keep your distance and don’t stand behind the tank.
What does the first boss look like? The twin bosses “Lylanar & Turlassil” are the first to be encountered. When we jumped onto the boss platform, half the group gave up because the abyss is a bit wider than we thought. This caused a collective laugh.
The boss fight itself is still relatively easy and we got by after a few wipes without really understanding the mechanics. So it’s rather unspectacular.
After defeating the twin bosses, continue through a wooden door and jump back into the water. Down there I was happy about the whirlpool mechanic, which also convinced me in the play report of the new dungeons from Ascending Tide.
But unfortunately the most annoying thing in the whole raid starts right after that: levers! A passage is constantly blocked and several players have to split up in order to operate several levers at the same time. This extremely disturbs the flow of the game and you actually have to allocate leverage in advance.
Otherwise, nobody feels addressed by the announcement or is (like me!) a little overwhelmed, disoriented and prefers to stay with the group before the character gets lost for eternity.
Really, I wonder who on the development team thinks different levers are exciting or fun.
What can you expect from the first mini boss? The mini bosses are more comparable to “big adds”. The “Bowbreaker” is a large turtle, or rather, a Haj-Mota. He charges from right to left from time to time and fell within 51 seconds, even though I threw out my Dragonknight Standard just as he was about to bolt.
Adds and levers are waiting behind the next door again…
How did the 2nd boss go? The reef guard packs a punch and has the most noteworthy mechanic in the whole raid. He keeps summoning effigies, and at certain intervals players must fall down the chasm to play a mechanic. You will meet my beloved water whirlpools again, which I already found so great in the Krallenhorst.
But as my group kept talking about portals, I had absolutely no idea what could be meant here. From the Cloudrest and Felshain raids, I was used to “portals” being glowing, conspicuously visible mechanics. My portal partner was therefore allowed to play the mechanic alone for 3 consecutive tries while I was either dead or confused looking for my idea of portals.
Luckily I understood in the following run that the portals meant the abyss in the middle of the boss map and I was then able to watch what was happening from below. That actually worked relatively well.
In general, however, we had a real problem with the positioning of the group. Somehow nobody really knew what to do with their own feet. Therefore, the group stood all over the place, like a group of startled chickens, and the players were often executed one after the other by the many lightning bolts or poisoned surfaces.
Once, when I was on my way to the abyss, I was even onehit by lightning with about 22.6k damage. So things really come down on the group and the healers don’t have an easy time.
And then come again… levers…
What can you expect from the 2nd mini boss? Like the Bowbreaker, the Sailbreaker isn’t particularly noteworthy. Here we encounter a coral nest mechanic again. Namely from the 1st boss, from Maligalig. An area appears under a player, which you have to place a little further away in a ring-shaped area.
I’m always happy when I recognize mechanics from other areas. This gives a little orientation, even if you are in a raid for the first time.
A particularly nasty add group in front of the final boss
The add group before the final boss really made our group wipe every time. It’s really bad and in the 2nd run it just felt more difficult than the final boss fight that followed.
This final boss is waiting for you! The “Tideborn Taleria” is a giant storm atronach. So it looks impressive. However, it is much lighter than the Reef Guardian. I think that’s a bit of a shame, since the final boss was supposed to be a special challenge.
But if you think about other raids like Rockshire (from Blackwood) or the Halls of Fabrication (from Morrowind), then this is generally a phenomenon that players see a lot in ESO.
We know some of the mechanics from the final boss fight of Coral Eyrie. Here, too, we encounter the “tidal force”. This is countered relatively easily with a dodgerole if you are within the red area that announces the big AOE.
Conclusion: Despite the annoying little things, the new ESO raid is still a real eye-catcher!
Every year, ESO releases a new 12-player raid. Of course, the first thing I look at is: how difficult is the raid? Is it a challenge that can keep me busy for a year? And this is him!
But new mechanics and mechanics that we have known since the release of Ascending Tide are also completely convincing! Above all, the whirlpool mechanics, which you also know from the 1st boss from the dungeon Coral Horst, is an absolute highlight for me. She’s just too funny.
I’m looking forward to the many hours I’ll spend in the raid to get all the achievements!
KittyMelli
Author at MeinMMO
What are your impressions of the new chapter High Isle? Have you already checked out the new raid or not? Let us know in the comments. If you are interested in events in and around ESO, then have a look at our ESO event ticker.