The MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online has just introduced the new Necrom Chapter and content for 2023. Overall, the community responded positively to the announcement. MeinMMO author MiezeMelli was also able to convince the new content. You can find out why here.
On June 5th the new ESO chapter Necrom will be released. This year’s “Shadows over Morrowind” tale begins with the DLC Scribes of Fate, which is announced for March 13th.
The new content and plans for this year were presented in the Global Reveal. And I have to say that the developers have hit the bull’s eye in my opinion. I’m really happy that after a long time I’m finally looking forward to an ESO update again.
I wasn’t really excited about the last 2 chapters. The big feature of Blackwood was the companions in ESO. However, these turned out to be not really interesting for me personally. Still, at first I was excited to see familiar areas of Oblivion again.
Finally, the Greymoor Chapter did justice to my Skyrim nostalgia. Unfortunately, things looked different with the Blackwood chapter. I found the main quest really disappointing after the story of Greymoor and Markarth set the bar pretty high.
Also, I’m not a big fan of Eveli Sharparrow. An NPC that sticks at your heels throughout the story. I find her sayings extremely unfunny and her squeaky voice didn’t help at all. Only the Felshain raid could convince me. It was really tricky at the beginning and that always arouses my ambition.
Unfortunately, my enthusiasm didn’t really increase in the following year, because the setting around the Bretons in the High Isle chapter somehow didn’t captivate me at all. Additionally, account-wide achievements were previously introduced to ESO with the Ascending Tide DLC. This was a real slap in the face considering I’ve spent most of my ESO time completing hard raid achievements on multiple characters.
I was also anything but enthusiastic about the numerous combat changes. One or the other has certainly stumbled across one of my articles in which I complained about planned changes.
For me, announcing this year’s content and introducing the Necrom Chapter was a turning point. I have to say that every aspect really convinced me. And that’s despite the fact that I’m generally very critical.
I was really positively surprised that I can be so enthusiastic about every aspect. It’s just great to have such a burning anticipation for upcoming content again.
Who is speaking here? MiezeMelli has been playing The Elder Scrolls Online since beta. She has been streaming ESO on Twitch regularly since early 2018 and has been part of Bethesda’s official ESO Stream Team since late 2020. Since January 2018 she has been creating videos (raid triples, guides, DPS tests) on Youtube. She has a total of over 7000 hours of play on 18 max level characters and 2153 champion points (as of 01/05/2023). Recently you can also find them on the NA server with 464 champion points. Since May 2021 she has been responsible for everything to do with ESO on MeinMMO, especially guides.
The whole atmosphere and the setting of Necrom alone meet my taste 100%: very dark and mysterious. I just always like that and makes me extremely curious about what we will probably see.
The new areas awaken my Skyrim nostalgia
With the new chapter we will be able to explore two new areas: the Telvanni Peninsula and Apocrypha. In the Global Reveal we were able to get a first impression of the landscape. As an absolute Skyrim fan, I was especially happy to see a well-known location from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dragonborn.
It brings back some nice memories because one of my favorite single player quests is in the Dragonborn expansion. Also, I’ve always found the character of Hermaeus Mora really weird and therefore really interesting.
I’m also looking forward to the landscape of Morrowind again. That being said, I think it’s really good that an older region is regaining prominence in ESO. I also think it’s way cooler when the different chapters of ESO are linked together in some way.
If ESO implements the plans the way I envision them based on impressions from the Global Reveal, it will be really good.
The story blurs the lines between good and bad
We already know that we must work with the Daedric prince, Hermaeus Mora, to avert a threat to Nirn. As a result, we do not have a strict division into good and bad. I find such a setting much more exciting because it is also much closer to reality.
And there are a lot of shades of gray between black and white. The last story that really got me into ESO was the story of the Greymoor Chapter and the Markarth sequel. It’s similar there and I really liked it back then.
I’m therefore imagining a really exciting main quest!
The new class looks really cool
Visually, the arcanist fits perfectly into the dark atmosphere of Necrom. He should also have a completely new way of playing. While I wasn’t exactly wanting a new class, it’s piqued my curiosity and I’m really excited to see how to play it.
An endless dungeon is something completely new in ESO
In addition, it was said that we also get an endless dungeon. Rich Lambert spoke of an “endless dungeon with a buddy” to be precise. Will it even be a challenge for a group of 2 players?
That would just be super cool as it was already on my wish list for 2023. You can find out more about this here:
ESO: 9 things the MMOPRG The Elder Scrolls Online 2023 absolutely must bring
I envision an endless dungeon as a great new challenge that will challenge skill in a whole new way. And since I’m always looking for new challenges in ESO, I’m really excited to see what the developers have come up with.
I’m finally getting more character slots
I also think it’s really great that we’re finally getting more character slots in the next chapter. I’ve had character caps for a while now and I’ve always wondered when the count will be increased. I even wrote that in this article at the end of 2021:
9 things the MMORPG ESO 2022 urgently needs to bring
Now two new places are to be added, one of which the players even get for free.
The change of course of the developers was now extremely important
Since Update 32 Deadlands there has been a lot of tweaking to the combat system. I often had the impression that some changes were not really well thought out. Especially the changes of Update 35 were not really well received.
That affected me as well as a large part of the long-time players. It didn’t really go any better in Update 36, as it introduced a lot of bugs and other difficulties.
This even led to a striking number of players in my area giving up ESO. This was particularly noticeable in my raid guilds. Suddenly the groups searched desperately and in vain for substitutes.
That was also the case in my raid group, so we even had to take a forced break because we were simply missing players and you just couldn’t find enough replacements. For me, the ESO Raids are an essential part of ESO and so a very important part of the MMORPG was suddenly gone.
But an ESO post in December made me hope for something better again: It’s finally over! To be honest, I was almost mentally prepared that my beloved combat system and with it my MMORPG ESO would die for me.
I also think it’s really important that there is an open dialogue between the developers and the player community. Because mistakes can happen, but you should simply communicate completely transparently with the community. Otherwise, it feels like being ignored.
So I think it’s very good that that’s exactly what was said in the post. Communication solves so many problems or prevents them from arising in the first place.
Necrom again appeals to many different types of players
With the companion system, the last two chapters brought a feature that is particularly interesting for ESO newcomers. For the endgame, however, the companions are unfortunately absolutely uninteresting.
The overhaul of the champion system also benefited players with a low champion level in particular. This leaves you with only a limited selection of active champion bonuses to choose from. This is exactly what leads to the fact that there is no further progress once you have reached 1800 champion points.
Of course, this is frustrating for players with a high champion point level, as an important reward effect is missing. As a result, ESO veterans have felt a bit neglected over the past few years when it comes to new content or changes.
An announced new class, on the other hand, is interesting for every type of player. Likewise the planned player simplifications and bug fixes in the third quarter. At first I wanted to complain that two more dungeons are not planned as usual.
But when I took a closer look at the planning for this year, I was pleasantly surprised. I think it’s very good that the developers now want to tackle the old construction sites and plan the necessary time for this.
Recently I’ve had the feeling that the connection between the developers and the community could be expanded. For me, the announcement is a clear sign that the developers are approaching their community more and taking the feedback to heart.
I can also well imagine that the problems in PvP will also be tackled in the third quarter. But that’s just a guess so far. I would definitely support that, as PvP in ESO is really unique and actually has incredible potential.