Many Elder Scrolls fans will have given Elder Scrolls Online a go when it first came out, realised it wasn't Skyrim, and then never come back to it. And who can blame them? When the MMORPG was released, it was buggy and, frankly, pretty dull. When you enter a world like Skyrim you can't help but feel a little awestruck. ESO wasn't able to replicate that feeling.
The game has come a long way in the three years since it launched. Subscription fees were abolished, which brought new players into the game. Nowadays, ESO is almost a different game. One major change is the difficulty now scales according to your level, so you can play with your friends regardless of the level difference. This also means you have the freedom to go anywhere without worrying you're going to run into a high-level area and get smashed.
Elder Scrolls Online's Morrowind is the game's first true expansion, offering a new, massive region to explore, a new character class, and new ways to play with other players. The region of Morrowind is more beautiful and varied than many of the other Elder Scrolls areas. In your travels, you'll find towns made of mushroom buildings, lava-drenched landscapes and slick cities laced with gold. Right out of the tutorial I began to feel some of that awe.
However, many of the quests in the expansion were repetitive, and tended to involve going back and forth between two points to talk to the characters involved in the quests. Often these two points were just far enough apart to be annoying. Even the game's story quests suffer from this affliction. The quests are also clearly not designed with multiplayer in mind. Many times it seemed easier and more fun to complete them alone.
Thankfully, Morrowind does have many good multiplayer features, including delves, public dungeons, and a new PvP mode. Each of these modes caters to different skills and a different pace of play. The first public dungeon I encountered was a huge underground chamber that I had to pick my way through over a couple of hours, battle-by-battle. It's a stark contrast to the Battlegrounds PvP mode, where matches last just a few minutes.
Morrowind is a good game, if not a great one, and the scale of the world and its lore is truly impressive. If you're looking for an MMO to play, the expansion provides a place for new ESO players to start, and will give returning players plenty of new things to see and do.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
Rating: M
Stars: 3.5/5
Verdict: It's a whole new world