Let's take a moment from the announcement of The Elder Scrolls VI during the Bethesda conference and talk about something new for the Online counterpart of the series. The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset, the new expansion for Bethesda's famous MMORPG, offers new content for veterans but also opens doors to new players.
An undoubtedly appreciable feature is in fact the possibility of play the new Summerset expansion even from level 1, thus allowing even newbies to get closer to the game. In these days we have thoroughly explored the new expansion, based a lot on the new gameplay, the plot and everything that could push a player to approach The Elder Scrolls Online for the first time.
Welcome to Summerset
Summerset, Land of the High Elves, finally returns to the world of The Elder Scrolls after a long hiatus that has lasted since the '94 release year of The Elder Scrolls: Arena. The opportunity to explore the island is finally granted to all races by the young woman Queen Ayrenn, allowing free trade to people from all corners of Tamriel. This great political openness on the part of the High Elves, however, hides pitfalls and pitfalls revolts by the population who do not want to abandon their customs. Our character will then be called upon to re-establish the crisis situation, setting sail for the island of Summerset where he will be stuck in the mental illusion of K'Tora, at which time we will take control to be then launched, after a short tutorial, in the almost fairytale island of Summerset.
One of the strengths of this new expansion is certainly the storytelling, much better than in the past. The many main story quests, along with the variety of side missions available, allow the player to deepen the Lore of the place and characters, certainly a very important aspect for lovers of the saga. We were also struck by the quantity of dialogues, as well as by the options available for any answers, in short, from this point of view there seems to be the desire of the developers to give players a quality MMORPG experience, but also a product capable of to ensure insights into the world of The Elder Scrolls.
What does not change is obviously the essence of the game itself, which remains similar to the past and does not distort anything, as it should be. Lovers of the base game version will therefore find an expansion full of Lore and content in a package they already love, while those who did not appreciate it are unlikely to change their minds with this new chapter.
Lots of content available
With the new expansion, in addition to the new location and the various quests, six new Delves have been introduced: Wasten Coraldale, Traitor's Vault, Archon's Grove, King's Haven Pass, Tor-Hame-Khard and Eton Nir Grotto. Also added two new Public Dungeons: Karnwasten and Sunhold e Cloudrest, the new Trial in which the following bosses are present: Shade of Galenwe, Shade of Relequen, Shade of Silaeda and Z'Maja. As in the other Trials, also in this one you will have to side by side with 11 other players, facing powerful enemies and the four bosses mentioned above, receiving as a reward three sets of light armor, two heavy and two medium.
Another interesting novelty proposed by the new expansion is certainly the introduction of the Psijic order, who is returning to Tamriel to try to understand the magnitude of the threat looming over it. Everything will then revolve around the political intrigues that occurred in Summerset, which seems to be the main cause of all the problems that are occurring, and which we cannot tell you about to avoid any spoilers related to the main plot. By completing the tasks of the order you will delve into their origins and unlock particular skills, which will complete a special "skill tree". We will have well available five active, five passive and one ultimate skills, each of which will have levels that will be unlocked after reaching a certain Rank in order.
As we have already anticipated, the presence of a fairly in-depth main story line guarantees the new expansion about 20/30 hours of gameplay based on the style undertaken, however, offering a perhaps too limited amount of end game content. PVP still seemed slightly off balance and not at all sufficient to guarantee more hours of farming by the most assiduous players, a component that is usually predominant in any self-respecting MMO.
Not all that glitters is gold
In The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset the contents are not lacking and surely the fans will be more than satisfied, but we cannot fail to mention the lack of a new class or a new race to encourage players to embark on a new path. Only the profession of craftsmanship was introduced (with the jewelry crafting) and the new Psijic order, characterized by an exclusive skill tree, which, however, from our point of view, does not easily integrate with the various builds.
From an artistic point of view Summerset is beautiful, full of greenery, flowers and colors that will often put you in a good mood during your explorations. Particular attention has also been paid to the architecture of the buildings and dungeons that are pleasant to see and explore, even if the limitations of the graphics engine are now evident. Frame rate drops, low resolution textures and suboptimal aliasing management certainly penalize the gaming experience, but we must admit that even with these limitations The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset still manages to offer wonderful views that oblige the player to immortalize them with a screenshot.
In The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset you can finally explore the Isle of Summerset, and we assure you that as soon as you set foot there, you will hardly be able to go back. Outstanding art direction, still fascinating lore, and a great emphasis on storytelling make this expansion one of the best releases. However, there are some shortcomings that must be mentioned, one above all the absence of a new class, partially offset by the new Psijic order and by the new skills that do not seem well integrated in the various builds. Some deficiencies also from the point of view of the end game that does not bring anything new, limiting everything to a pvp in some ways still unbalanced. For the rest The Elder Scrolls Online: Summerset offers a gaming experience similar to the previous chapter, encouraging the player to explore and acquire increasingly powerful equipment, and at the same time also allowing newbies to start their adventure directly from this expansion, which follows an almost completely separate narrative line with the other narrated events. If you are a lover of The Elder Scrolls Online you cannot miss Summerset, while if you have not loved the base game we can guarantee you that you will hardly love this one.
