

Meanwhile, The Shattered Xanmeer features one of the most fun and intense open world boss battles I’ve come across in ESO – where Oblivion portals open and close around you at all sides while a flurry of Daedra swarm over the battlefield. For example, the Sul-Xan Ritual Site faces you up against a group of Argonian priests who each share the same broader health bar. The world boss encounters are way more sophisticated and unique this time around. If you’re not in a guild, it’s still tough to find anyone to group up and play through that one with – even a week after launch on PC – and you’ll definitely need backup.
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That said, good luck getting through it without a full group of 12 players.
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To be precise: there are seven main quests, six delves, nine points of interest with quests attached to them, two public dungeons, six world bosses, 18 skyshards to find, and a brand-new trial called Rockgrove – basically ESO’s equivalent of a raid. The developer, Zenimax Online, is nothing if not consistent! But at least it’s safe to say that the writing is filled with more zingers relative to last year’s comparatively dry Greymoor expansion, the geography of Blackwood itself is more varied and interesting, and the addition of companions that level up alongside you and follow you on your journey make its inherent repetition ever so slightly more interesting. We get the same exact number of quests, locations, skyshards, world bosses, and a new trial – which is the bog-standard configuration of new things that we get in every single new expansion each year. This expansion barely breaks away – at all, in fact – from the formulaic zone design that it’s established over the last several years since its Morrowind chapter in 2017. The setting may be unique, but Blackwood is still very much the same ESO that fans have grown used to. The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood knows exactly which heartstrings it’s pulling here, as its roughly 20 hours of content – minus the endgame raid stuff – is littered with gags and unmissable references to Oblivion that generally end up feeling more endearing rather than stale. For reference, that was several years before we even knew there was going to be a Fallout 3, so it’s safe to say that it’s been a little while. The last time we saw this part of Tamriel was back in 2006, where it occupied the southeastern corner of Cyrodiil in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Returning to the marshes and swamps surrounding the idyllic city of Leyawiin feels like a portal to a completely different time period of The Elder Scrolls lore.
