TheElder Scrolls Onlinechanges with every major update:Horns of the Reach,Morrowind,The Dark Brotherhood, etc. And, now with Update 16:Clockwork Citylaunching today, more changes are coming to the base game. Let’s take a look at this patch that is literally hours away and see just what Zenimax is adding and changing. As always we will stick to the major game changers and important changes, not every nitty gritty thing. For those of you interested in the full list of changes, please see thePatch Notes pageon theESO Wiki.
Clockwork City DLC Additions
We’ll start with the things being added inUpdate 16and first up is the zone itself. Players will get to experience the realm of Sotha Sil who is one of the 3 Gods of the Dark Elf Tribunal, along with Vivec and Almalexia. He is known as the “Clockwork God” and thus the nameClockwork City. The Clockwork City contains2 new Delves,2 new World Bossesas well as a brand newTrialcalled:Asylum Sanctorium. Added with this Trial are brand new “Asylum Weapons” which are similar toMaster and Maelstrom Weapons, in that they contain unique benefits and bonuses. Something interesting about these Asylum Weapons though is that there are two versions of each, allowing players who don’t complete the Trial on Veteran to still gain a slightly less powerful version. In addition to the new Asylum Weapons, Zenimax has also added 3 newCrafted Setsand and 3 newDropped Sets.
Along with the new Weapons and Armor Sets, Zenimax is also adding two new craftingMotifs. TheApostle Stylecan be obtained by completing certain Daily Quests in Clockwork City that aid the Brass Fortress and combat Clockwork foes. And theEbonshadow Stylecan be obtained by completing certain Daily Quests in Clockwork City that aid the Blackfeather Court or pit you against shadowy foes. Also, to complement these new Motifs, Zenimax is also adding 2 new Motifs to the previous DLC:Horns of the Reach. TheDreadhorn Stylecan be obtained by defeating bosses in Falkreath Hold. The chance of obtaining Chapters and Style Items increases with the difficulty of the dungeon. TheBloodforge Stylecan be obtained by defeating bosses in Bloodroot Forge. The chance of obtaining Chapters and Style Items increases with the difficulty of the dungeon.
Trait Tracker
Equipment tooltips now have an icon next to the trait that communicates the trait’s status and inventory views have a column dedicated to displaying this iconography. The Deconstruction screen will now group items based on trait status, such that items that you are more likely to deconstruct are sorted to the top. And finally, the Sell screen at Vendors will list Ornate items at the top.
(no icon) No Trait/Researched
Can Research
Clockwork City Transmutation System
A new way of altering your equipment is available in this update.Transmutationallows you to permanently change the trait of an item to one of your choosing! The requirements to utilize Transmutation are as follows:
What this means is that players will finally be able to change awful Traits on gear they’ve had for months. This will ease the burden of farming for that perfect Sword, Shield, Staff, Bow or what have you, as players can take whatever Trait they have and turn it into something new. This will reduce the price of all equipment at vendors, so be prepared for that. I feel really bad for those players who deconstructed their Maelstrom Staves that didn’t have Sharpened…I’ve been keeping to Burning Spellweave Swords that are not the right Traits and I am so fucking glad I hung on to them! This addition is a godsend!
Clockwork City Class/Weapon Changes
Dragonknight
Nightblade
Destruction Staff
One-Hand and Shield
Restoration Staff
Heavy Armor
What we can take away from this is thatWardensandDragonknightsgot buffed a decent amount. Sorcerers got nerfed pretty hard in PvP, but not so much in PvE. Zenimax isstilltrying to get Templars to use the Eclipse Skill, which they probably will now because it’s much better.
Eye of the Storm got nerfedyet againbecause it is pretty game breaking.Shield WallandPanaceagot huge nerfs.Heavy Armorlost the Weapon and Spell Damage fromWrathand is now only useful to “Tanks”. And finally Zenimax is all but removingDisorientfrom their game as they’ve changed nearly ever Skill that applies it to something else.
Clockwork City Miscellaneous Changes
Final Thoughts
I think for the most part Zenimax got it right here and most of these are good changes. With the addition of the Transmutation system players will be able to save themselves some grinding by using theTransmute Crystals. You’ll still have to farm for the Crystals, but that could be a lot more fun than just running City of Ash 800 times in a row.
Zenimax seems to be slowly trying to separate PvE and PvP, first with Sets and now with Morphs of Skills. We’ll see just how this pans out over time, but they’ll have to be careful. Stamina and Magicka Morphs of Class Skills might pigeon-hole certain Classes into playing PvE or PvP exclusively as Stamina or Magicka if they outright make PvE and PvP Morphs.
Sorcs and Heavy Armor users are going to be butt hurt as hell come launch of Update 16 (particularly PvP Sorcs). While I understand the removal of the Stun, I think they would have been better off to lower the damage of the Skill, since now Sorcs in PvP are pretty hosed. Heavy Armor users lost quite a bit with Wrath, which all but ends the last remaining players' days wearing this in PvP.
I like the addition of the new Asylum Weapons and I like the approach Zenimax is taking with them. It means I need to go farm some gear, but that’s part of the fun right? Also, setting a minimum level cap on the hardest Dungeons (when you use Dungeon Finder) was long overdue, especially since they added the 15 minute penalty if you quit. I might actually be able to get something done now…
Thoughts on the changes? Insights of your own to share? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Also, if you’re playingESO, you’ll probably want to know more about builds! Check out thisMagicka Templar guide, or thesein-depth sets guides.
You would also enjoy10 Things you Missed in Grahtwoodand finding out whyI’m still playingESO3 years later!
