The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind
WE WARDEN RUSH OUT TO GRAB THIS ONE. $89.95 | PC, PS4, XO | www.elderscrollsonline.com
IF YOU’RE AN MMO tart like us, you’ve wandered the massively multi-worlds of almost everything that’s come to the local market. Very few have stuck around in my life longer than a few months, and there are even fewer that I’d consider worth sinking money into a subscription. This is The Elder Scrolls Online — we had all invested several hundred hours into Skyrim, so taking that to the MMOstage sounded amazing. Not long after release, however, the playerbase dwindled, the game went free to play (no subscription required but there are optional in-game purchases) and I (we all) uninstalled.
Looking to remind people ESO still exists, Morrowind adds it’s largest zone to date, Vvardenfell, as well as a new playable class, the Warden while maintaining that free-toplay model. The environment team has done a tremendous job at varying the landscape throughout Vvardenfell — if only it wasn’t, for the most part, rendered in every shade of brown and beige. It’s unfortunate, as ESO is easily one of the better looking MMOs out there. If you’ve played the Morrowind of old, Vvardenfell’s landmarks and scenery might tug at the heart-strings and help you overlook the drearyness.
ESO class setup and combat is quirky. You can play any class, any way you want without restricting yourself to tradtional MMO archetypes of ‘tank’, ‘heal’ and ‘DPS’. You can essentially do all three by being able to kit yourself out with any combination or armour and weapons and talents. So you’ll often see heavy armour battle mages that maintain a healing staff off-spec for when things go south. The new playable class, the Warden, is no different. Using nature-based magic and a war-bear ally to help out, The Warden’s skill trees steer players toward tanking or healing — but again, with the right equipment slotted, being pure DPS is not out of the question.
Morriwind has taken me back to a place I loved for a short period of time and then promptly reminded me why I stopped playing.