The Elder Scrolls Online is celebrating its tenth anniversary coinciding with the release of Gold Road, a new expansion sending us to West Weald to deal with the resurgence of Daedric Prince Ithelia, and to protect the city of Skingrad. It’s another chapter in the story of Tamriel and one that doesn’t bring any massive changes to the game, instead opting for a sense of continuity that won’t astound fans, but will offer then a pleasant, familiar, yet somewhat grindy time.
Druids and Revelations
The new area of West Weald is where most of the new lore will unfold. It’s a vast place where the city of Skingrad shines, this hub where everything happens and everyone meets, surrounded by a wasteland and some sprawling jungles. It’s in the tradition of previous expansions such as Necrom, offering this big medieval-themed city filled with characters, lore, possibilities, but mostly quest givers. Everything surrounding it balances the empty and the busy, there are enough points of interest to be discovered, it’s fairly beautiful and encourages exploration, making it extremely easy to get sidetracked, and that’s for the best – either because some construction caught our eye or because there is a quest nearby.
The narrative will highlight the motivations of Ithelia and the group of wood elves called The Recollection through various stages, but the overall weight and quality is going to be divisive. Some will appreciate the new developments, but others who are more demanding may see it as fairly shallow in comparison to what The Elder Scrolls Online has offered in the past. Gold Road isn’t exactly peak of the narrative, and in part feels like a missed opportunity in terms of exploring alternate realities, but each player will have to make up their mind about it.
The gameplay doesn’t really bring anything remarkably new to the table, it’s more of the usual quest hoarding with plenty of pressing the “E” key, and trips into dungeons to defeat the occasional boss. Effective but far from memorable, potentially interesting moments such as defending a fortress from the waves of Daedra using a ballista are few and far between, undermined by the decade-old foundations that are starting to show, with waves spawning in a robotic manner, patiently waiting for you to take them out, and NPCs dropping dead because of plot reasons. It’s overly scripted, ultimately turning from promise into disappointment. A mention going to the Lucent Citadel, a new 12-player trial, which is pretty much standard fare, but still interesting to tackle.
Scribing is most likely the main novelty of Gold Road, a new system that offers you deeper customization into your skills. It’s actually an odd one at first, as it pushes you through a fairly lengthy and dull quest line, and ultimately its worth will depend on what you can make out of it with the scripts you collect and the magical ink you get from drops. This adds a promising potential for creativity and unique builds, but the other side of the coin is that it also fosters a grind that can be severe.
Not Quite Golden
Gold Road doesn’t quite hit the highs of the previous expansion Necrom, with a story that has highs and lows but is ultimately average, quests that barely show any signs of massive creativity, and a scribing system that has potential, but is also pushing on the grind. This is one that is bound to divide opinions even among die-hard fans, even if West Weald has some nice sights and points of interest, so make sure to weigh all the pros and cons before embarking on this journey.
