The best thing I can say about Elder Scrolls Online is that I'm still playing it. Normally the time commitments demanded by proper MMORPG reviews leave me so drained that I'd rather watch a marathon of Pauly Shore films than spend more tine in-game. But I've continued to jump back into ESO on a daily basis to flesh out my character and prepare for the upcoming Craglorn content.

But now, admittedly, I'm running out of steam. I've now spent as much time in the max-level player-vs-environment veteran content as it took me to reach the level cap of 50, and I'm only at Veteran Rank 6 (out of 10). Whatever wonders ZeniMax Online manages to cook up for the end game also wait far beyond a slog that few other MMOs are willing to touch.

The Problem with Veteran Rank Questing

In both my review in progress and the final review, I expressed my dissatisfaction with veteran rank questing. If you're unfamiliar, ESO's take on the continent of Tamriel is split up into three major factions, each with around 150 hours of hand-crafted, fully voice-acted content to quest through. Once you hit the level cap of 50 and finish your faction's quest-line, you can quest through the other two faction's zones, facing off against much tougher, level-adjusted versions of those foes. It's akin to questing through max-level versions of the Horde zones in World of Warcraft after finishing your Alliance content. While this is certainly a friendly way to let players experience all the content ESO has to offer, and extend the endgame to boot, the system has a few big problems.

Questing through the storylines of the two other factions shatters much of the camaraderie that's so vital to a faction-based MMO. That feeling remains. The lands of the Ebonheart Pact--Skyrim, Morrowind, and the Black Marsh--are barely a memory now, and I only go back to hunt down stray skyshards for skill points. Occasionally I return to craft or bank in the towns of Riften and Windhelm, but that's only out of a forced feeling of nostalgia and a tiny need to roleplay with my Nord.

It's like letting players sample both the Imperials and Stormcloaks in the same playthrough of Skyrim.

Stronger, too, is my conviction that I wouldn't have enjoyed the game as much had I started out with another faction besides the Ebonheart Pact. The Pact, with its dreamlike fauna and architecture combined with the Viking brawn of the Nords and the wattled huts of the Argonians, delivers an ambiance that's at once evocative of the single player games and leap away from the trappings of conventional fantasy. The Daggerfall Covenant and the Aldmeri Dominion, by contrast, both cling closer to genre conventions and deliver little of the awe that drives the single player games. It's little wonder that Bethesda seems hesitant to use these regions for a traditional Elder Scrolls game. Worse yet, these guys were once my enemies. It's like letting players sample both the Imperials and Stormcloaks in the same playthrough of Skyrim.

Veteran questing feels like leveling through the game not twice but three times.

But the biggest problem is that Veteran questing feels like leveling through the game not twice but three times before you reach the ranks required for the upcoming Craglorn content. "Veteran Rank 10" sounds so attainable, but I sometimes wonder if we would have been better off if ZeniMax had simply called the level cap 150 instead of 50. The only real difference is that you no longer receive attribute points for health, stamina, of magicka as you level, and the main story no longer advances. In all other matters, you continue performing the same actions without the comparatively frequent rewards through the first faction's playthrough.

I wouldn't mind this so much, but this cross-faction endgame quest also has the adverse effect of making leveling an alt account almost unthinkable. In other MMOs, when you hit max-level you might roll a new character to experience a new quest, and explore all the zones you missed. But in ESO, you feel compelled to experience it all on a single character, breaking the in-game lore along the way. It matters little how well-written the quests are if you've seen them all already; even the most dedicated lore lover must be tempted to just grind out level-ups the second time around instead of questing through the same quests for another 150+ hours.

There are times when I wish I'd leveled a Dragonknight or Sorcerer instead of my Nightblade, but the thought of playing through the content for roughly 300 hours again gives me shivers.

Veteran Dungeons are Endgame Done Right

Veteran Dungeons are the best part of ESO's endgame, and a strong reason for group-oriented subscribers to keep coming back.

Not all of ESO's endgame content is a grind, though. I love the Veteran Dungeons, and I spend an inordinate amount of time in them. They're tough in a way the normal dungeons never even hinted, and they require deep coordination that's already created several great friendships. They're the best part of ESO endgame so far, and a strong reason for group-oriented subscribers to keep coming back to the game. I still have a character that largely plays how I wish him to, but the Veteran dungeons expose the faults in the more flighty builds and lead to more skillful, efficient play. Leveling 50 was the fluffy part, letting players build their character how they wanted. Now it's time to get serious, the design seems to say.

I like this, and I suppose that with some tweaks to the Nightblade class, I'll like it more. ( I'm still waiting on ArenaNet to make Rangers more effective in Guild Wars 2's dungeons almost two years later, so I'm not especially hopeful.) The upcoming Craglorn content seems like it's exactly the kind of small grouped-oriented combat I love in an MMORPG, and I'm hoping it'll scratch an itch for a different style of endgame content.

Skyshard Adventures

Hunting skyshards feels fantastic.

I'm also amazed at the sheer number of skills I have now, thanks to the skyshards scattered all over the content for the two extra factions and the occasional ones you get from major questlines. I once fretted over whether I should take up Blacksmithing or Clothing in addition to my additional crafting skills for Alchemy and Provisioning, but now I have enough points to max out all four. I've also picked up dual-wielding as an additional combat skill to complement my usual two-handed and bow setup when I need more straight DPS, and I've even started toying with the crazy idea of making a Nightblade "mage." (That, however, will take a full respec.) It's doable. I may not be able to become a Dragonknight or Sorcerer, but I'm far less locked into my skills as I would be in, say, World of Warcraft.

Hunting skyshards feels fantastic for three major reasons. It provides you a significant, tangible benefit every time you find one (more skill points!). It encourages you to explore out-of-the-way corners or Tamriel, and see everything the world of ESO has to offer. And it's a pleasant, low-impact example of peaceful end-game content, if you're a player that prefers to explore the world instead of bashing your head against other players in PVP, or against highly-tuned bosses in endgame dungeons.

And that's what keeps me going. I've said before that crafting is one of the most enjoyable aspects of Elder Scrolls Online, but I've lately found that crafting myself as I see fit is the chiefest pleasure of all. I'm hoping all that careful thought will pay off come Craglorn, along with the absurd amount of time I put into ZeniMax's game over the last month. I just wish it came sooner. For people who don't have the time to throw at this like I do, Veteran Rank 10 must seem like a myth. If ZeniMax isn't careful, it'll chase off too many of them regardless of the quality of content that waits at the end.