Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) Columns: Dragon Bones Thoughts & Impressions (Reprinted)

Dragon’s Bones has been out for a little over a week now in Elder Scrolls Online, and it’s been an exciting adventure so far. One of the biggest things that came out of this DLC was the “Base” patch: Update 17. This brings a lot of new and exciting changes to the game that are welcomed and some are just… Meh.

There is a lot of talk within guilds and the community about the new advisors. I don’t mind this as much as I thought I would. From level 2-50 you will get really nice rewards every five levels, with lesser items in the levels between. A lot of people are rejoicing over the level ten reward of a mount, it’s exciting for a lot of newer players who see a price tag and other players with a horse and get jealous. All they must do now is grind nine levels and they have a mount, a glorious mount!

I will say this right off the bat, I am far happier with the leveling advisor than the skill advisor. You basically get recommendation on a build you selected and how to manage points and skills. This to me takes the fun out of the learning experience and the exploration of just picking skills that you think are good and learning from it if they aren’t.

You don’t get the free stuff like you do with the level advisor and overall until they adjust the system a little more I feel like it’s just a waste of time. I know a lot of people will disagree with me, people that like the recommendations or the feel of following a guide but I am not that person. No one is saying you have to use this system and by all means you can completely ignore it, but I just feel like it’s a waste. There must be a segment of players who have issues with figuring out builds, and get frustrated, or else what’s the point?

Housing got a lot of love in a clever way. We can now finally store items in our house. I believe you can get a grand total of 360 item slot storage which is pretty baller. I don’t use housing as much as I probably should, but I always felt like this should have been in housing since the get-go. It is better late than never I will say. I know a couple of hardcore housing lovers that are very excited and probably have already maxed out their coffers. I will probably use the storage more than anything else now out of the housing system.

I haven’t touched the new Outfit system as much as I would like to. This is another thing I think will grow and be enjoyed more when more of it’s available. From what I have played with though, I love the feeling of people able to control pretty much how much character looks like from head to toe. I do like the addition that you can make yourself look like you are wearing Heavy Armor when you are wearing Light. Now, I mostly use Crown Store costumes, so I’m not really going to use this as much as other players will, but I am looking forward to how this Outfit system progresses in time.

The next changes that I am going to talk about is probably the most near and dear to my heart: Combat Changes! For players like myself who love AoE the change where there is no penalty to how many targets you can hit is no longer in action, which means we can do more DPS. Which is something I think we want and need: MORE DEEPS . I think overall this change was really needed and I don’t think they needed to cap AoE targets in the first place.

Interrupts and channeling spells got changed as well, you can move a little quicker when you are channeling but if by chance you are interrupted that skill is put on a three second cooldown. It’s a bummer, but I think it entices you to play more cautiously when using those types of spells.

There are numerous other changes to combat that I have not included in this article, I am sure a lot of people are feeling the effect of the gap closer changes as well and block changes. For me I haven’t noticed as much because like the plebe I am, I don’t block as much as I should or could.

The CP limit has been raised once again by 30, (10/10/10) which makes the grand total of Champion Points 720. I always enjoy when they do this because I am given another goal to achieve and it makes me want to play more until I hit that new limit.

The DLC itself I have not played much due to me moving but from what I have gotten to play it’s been pretty fun. I can’t wait to delve into the two new dungeons to try to obtain the new sets that were released and try to solo them! For those of you who have gotten to play a little more of the DLC side of Dragon’s Bones, what do you think? Do you find it an enjoyable experience or a dud?

What do you all think about the Base Patch changes? Do you enjoy the new advisors? Do you think all the combat changes are warranted?