The Elder Scrolls Online: Waking Flame DLC paves the way for the grand finale

The season of Gates of Oblivion gets hot: after the Flames of Ambition (the dungeon pack Flames of Ambition) and the explorable area of Blackwood, now the narrative arc of the Oblivion gates brings us the second dungeon pack of the year, that is The Elder Scrolls Online: Waking Flame.

As per tradition, this DLC adds two new dungeons to the plethora of those already present in the game and in previous chapters: among the already very rich PvE content di ESO now also the Red Petal Bastion e The Dread Cellar.

Who has subscribed to the subscription ESO More will be found il DLC Waking Flame already in the pocket, while for the rest of us there is the usual choice:

• buy the Basic DLC per 1.500 crown;
• opt for the version Collector’s Bundle that, in exchange for ben 4.000 crown, also adds the mount to the package Silver Rose Senche-Serval, the lovely pet Ironclad Senche Serval Kitten, and the usual five Crown Experience Scrolls.

X platform playersbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4 e PlayStation 5 they had to wait for the8 Settembre, while who plays on PC, Stadium or Mac was able to take advantage of theUpdate 31 and DLC Waking Flame already since 23 August.

We will soon see the innovations introduced by this parallel update, but in the meantime it's up to the two new dungeons of this DLC.

Red Petal Bastion, the Bastion of the Red Petal

I'll tell you right away: you will remember this dungeon the atmosphere and setting, more than the fight with the bosses which, let's remember, are divided into three mandatory and three optional. I add that Red Petal Bastion, located in the region of Glenumbra, reminded me a little the mechanics of Black Drake Villa of the DLC Flames of Ambition, starting with the identical way in which optional bosses are activated.

A quick look at the lore: the noble order of the Knights of the Silver Rose, or Knights of the Silver Rose, has protected the world of Tamriel from the forces of Oblivion for centuries; except now, no one knows why, they have started plunder shrines and consecrated places, plundering them the sacred relics and piling them inside the Bastion itself.

The vein to which I feel to ascribe this dungeon is more a very soft horror, with a vague comic tinge: in addition to the usual Daedric influences more traditional, this time we are also dealing with one of my favorite entities in the entire (and boundless) lore of The Elder Scrolls. Yes, I am obviously referring to dear, old, uncle Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness.

If the three optional bosses are reduced to a mere artifice to get buffs, and if the last two real boss fights are coordination exercises and little more, the first boss is really interesting: Rogerain the Sly will use skill with a Lovecraftian flavor as Unspeakable Void, Gate of Chaos and Rains of Chaos, but it will also give us a direct quote from the Alien franchise with skill Belly Buster, which emerges from the Unspeakable Void (Unspeakable Void).

Above all, however, Rogerain will turn a random PC into ... a goat. Yup, Goatification turns a character into a cute kid, who can decide to munch an iconic Sweetroll to buff and curate the party, or to gore the Chaos Gate near there.

If the Normal mode it can be tackled a bit by everyone, I would like to wish good luck to those who try to complete the modalities Veteran e Hard Mode di Red Petal Bastion (or something else, for that matter) with a casual party.

The rewards of the Red Petal Bastion dungeon

Also in this area we remain in the sown, with three gear sets plus a monster set:

• light set: Thunder Caller, suitable for Damage Dealers;
• middle set: Grisly Gourmet, for DPS who do not disdain Support;
• middle set: Silver Rose Vigil, of course from Tank;
• Monster Set: Prior Thierric, which could be very tempting to my MagPlar.

Obviously among the rewards we have, in addition to the sets, also a series of achievements, titles, pets and collectibles. In no particular order: the titles "of the Silver Rose"And"Seeker of Artifacts“, Body marking and assorted tattoos of the line Shattered Chivalry, then also the pet Scorion Pyreling and even a new color for the palette of shades available, Moonshadow Orchid.

The Dread Cellar, the Dungeon of Terror

And here the situation changes (cit.): My experience The Dread Cellar was diametrically opposite to that with Red Petal Bastion. The setting of this second dungeon can turn out rather predictable: darkness, monsters, torture halls, fiery monsters and horrifying creatures. Normal administration, for The Elder Scrolls Online.

This dungeon, located in the region of Blackwood, is able to shine in other aspects: in particular in the clash mechanics, which they manage to balance difficulty and innovation without discouraging - relatively - new players, without boring the veterans. In any case it must be said, in all honesty, that I found Red Petal Bastion much simpler than The Dread Cellar.

In short we find ourselves helping gods Imperial Mages in an investigation in search of the truth about this prison which, at least in theory, it should have been abandoned, but recently it seems to emanate strange arcane energies: this is how we find ourselves navigating ancient secrets of the Empire, giant headless spiders, dangerous summoners, titans made of magma and the usual dark optional bosses.

I Waking Flame cultists they will not make our life easy, and along the way we will be able to bring to light the soft underbelly of the Empire: let's just say that obviously the state-mafia negotiation it is not a local prerogative.

In summary, if we wanted to compare the dungeons of ESO: Waking Flame to those of Flames of Ambition as already done for the previous one, The Dread Cellar is more like The Cauldron, to the point that we also see the return of our favorite Dremora, Lyranth, who had accompanied us right into the Cauldron.

The rewards of The Dread Cellar dungeon

Again we have a long list of rewards, intended for those who complete The Dread Cellar in the modalities Normal, Hard mode o Veteran. The 3 + 1 sets are:

• light set: Scorion's Feast, by DPS Magicka;
• middle set: Rush of Agony, from DPS Stamina and maybe even from PvP;
• heavy set: Crimson Oath’s Rive, predictably from Tank;
• Monster Set: Magma Incarnate, from Healer, of course only obtainable in Veteran.

There is no shortage of the usual extras, such as titles Incarnate e The Dreaded, the achievements including The Dread Cellar Conqueror, in addition to the same furnishings and collectibles of the other dungeon introduced by DLC Waking Flame, to which is added the Agonymium Stone memento.

The technical improvements of Update 31

If on one side il DLC Waking Flame it is paid, whether you get it from the Store or have it ESO Plus, on the other Update 31 was obviously made available to all players.

Scrolling through the notes of the patch I jump to different eyes PvP changes, such as the extension of the list of set to which the proc is blocked limited to No-CP campaigns by Cyrodiil and the Imperial City, in addition to adding three sets to the list of those obtainable through the system of Rewards for the Worthy: the light Dark Convergence, the middle Plaguebreak and the heavy Hrothgar’s Chill.

I also read about a necessary change to the priority of interactions of our PC: the gatherings of players will no longer prevent us, perhaps, from interacting with objects such as lootable bodies and resource nodes. Ah, now there is a convenient Reply button under the mail messages.

For the rest we have new collectibles and furnishings, a mountain of bug fixes and two new homes that can be purchased: Sweetwater Cascades, in the lands of the big cats Khajiit, Doomchar Tray, a plot poised between Malabal Tor and Deadlands.

Above all, I see a technical innovation at the moment PC exclusive: Multithreaded Rendering which, albeit in beta, will allow us to activate a separate thread for the rendering process, so as to lighten the CPUs that are a little older than the GPUs. An addition that seems made especially for me, I would add.

For consoles, the ability to activate was introduced HDR modes in the Settings menu, has been added il Dynamic Resolution Scaling. which should give us a more responsive frame rate and higher resolution with the Performance mode su Xbox Series X|S e PlayStation 5.

Ok, now let's face it

Well: now we have completed institutional tasks which a review article should fulfill. At this point I feel compelled to warn you: without a premade party chances are you will never see the optional bosses of the two dungeons.

Collar dungeon finder takes a long, long time to find a party, and precisely the optional bosses skip practically always, at least in mode Normal.

While The Dread Cellar is fun and well structured, with a dark feeling that winks at the swashbuckling genre and the other at that of cosmic horror, of Red Petal Bastion I can only say that it is not the best work in the illustrious story of The Elder Scrolls Online, there.

I conclude with a small reflection: ESO is an MMORPG, and the dungeon packs are definitely not the best for fans of the RPG side. Furthermore, the formula adopted by Zenimaxwhich provides a first dungeon pack on its own, then a true expansion and proper followed by a second pac dungeonk separated and finally from a second expansion, could push storytelling, exploration, lore and role-playing enthusiasts to skip DLCs that only contain dungeons.

And that's a shame, because some of these are certainly valid, if you like dungeons and multiplayer activity in general. I leave you below the trailer for ESO: Waking Flame, to cheer us up before the final speculations.

What to expect after the Waking Flame DLC

La Season of the Dragon ended with expansion Dragonhold, which took us to the southern part of the region of Elsweyr, with legendary dragons and equally memorable half-page lore dumps.

The narrative arc of the Dark Heart of Skyrim ended with markarth, an expansion characterized by a spectacular narrative crescendo culminated in an explosive and bittersweet finish, but without any doubt memorable.

How will it be the season finale of Gates of Oblivion? It is rumored that the next expansion, The Elder Scrolls Online: Deadlands, will take us with great fanfare in the homonymous floor of the Daedric Prince of Destruction: Mehrunes Dagon.

Maybe we will be able to build a bridgehead in the Deadlands, a physical and spiritual fortress like the one already erected in Coldharbour? I don't know if we will somehow retrace the steps of the base game but, even following the revelations obtained in particular in The Dread Cellar, I certainly expect an explorable area well characterized thematically and visually, and - if you allow - I also hope in an equally engaging and captivating story. Yes, I play MMORPGs for history: sue me!