Oh Glarthir. I tried to help you – I really did – but you just wouldn’t believe that there wasn’t a conspiracy against you. Instead I was forced into smiting you until your corpse fell bloody and broken upon the gray, cobbled streets. That moment along with plenty of others cemented the city of Skingrad as a favorite location for me and now in the new ESO chapter, titled Gold Road, I can go there all over again. Though hopefully with a little less Bosmer murder this time.
In the ten years since ESO launched we’ve been sent questing nearly across the entire continent of Tamriel. There are some locations, however, that have remained unseen in the colossal MMORPG. One of these is the West Weald, an area we’ve only explored in the fourth Elder Scrolls game, Oblivion. Now it’s time to head back with a new storyline featuring a hitherto unknown daedric prince as well as the return of the chilly, narrow, paranoid streets of Skingrad.
In Gold Road players are following up on the storyline started in the previous expansion, Necrom. In a move that will probably startle lore fans, a new daedric prince has been added to the pantheon. Ithelia is the prince of fate and destiny who holds a power that threatens to destroy reality. At least she did until she was sealed away and forgotten by the world thanks to Hermaeus Mora and pals. She’s back now and in typical Elder Scrolls fashion it’s up to us to put her back in her box, or at least find out what her plans are.
In addition to the West Weald and the continuation of this multi-year story, there’s plenty of new gameplay tweaks hitting ESO too. The scribing system in particular lets you alter your abilities to create custom effects, similar to spellcrafting in some previous titles. There are new world bosses, public dungeons, delves, and world events that will keep the loot flowing, as well as a slew of cosmetic enhancements.
Gold Road lands alongside update 42 for the MMORPG. One of the most interesting features in this new patch is how the game will put itself into a less intensive mode when you’re idle. Ostensibly aiming at improving ESO’s environmental impact the game will use your GPU less, dim your screen, and reduce resolution and implement a frame rate cap when you’re not actively playing. In-game mail has been overhauled too, which should make getting the daily barrage of crafting materials a little easier to manage.
ESO Gold Road is out now for PC and you can get the full lowdown on what’s new over on the official site.
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