The Elder Scrolls Online – Greymoor

Greymoor takes players to a whole new region of tamriel... Skyrim!
Yeah, frustration at not getting to explore something actually new, or see a part of Skyrim that would actually be different in the past (seriously, why is there no expansion including Winterhold? Supposedly it was a massive city before it collapsed into the sea of ghosts!) Theres a lot to like about this DLC... and a lot to feel more... so-so about.
So, the elephant in the room, this expansion is lauded as being a phoned in cash grab, with a lackluster story and quests and relatively little content in Western Skyrim itself... yes and no. What people say about the new zone is accurate, the main story is passable if a little bland, and has a big glaring (spoilery) problem I will get to at the bottom of the review. The side quests outside of that are... there. They certainly existed. Some were pretty good, some were standard fetch quests. Definitely nowhere near the amount of in-depth quests as seen in other expansions like Elseweyr and summerset. On top of that the zone itself has a few graphical bugs, and the quests have issues with unclear and confusing objectives. Definitely a rush job.
So why do I disagree that its a cash grab? (or, more of a cash grab than any of the other 4 major expansions)
Because its clear that dev time wasnt just forgone for a quick buck, it was simply placed somewhere entirely different:
Antiquities.
Antiquities is the true meat and potatoes of this expansion, adding tons of new loot items, equipment, collectable cosmetics, outfit styles and really cool looking, high quality furniture to every zone in Tamriel, including other DLC's and future DLC zones. Each loot item has snippets of lore and (written) dialogue associated with it, most having multiple.
I've enjoyed it quite a lot, the items have really brought my home together. I'm not a fan of the RNG grind for some of the leads (especially on difficult group bosses) but most are pretty simple to find, and often you will find them just playing the game normally.
Combined with a middling to decent zone (blackreach looks really cool, but is a pain to navigate) If you can get this pack on sale before it gets assimilated into the crown store, its pretty worth it.
So, now for the big issue with the story, spoilers ahead, you have been warned.
Like other DLC's, this packs story is part of a greater whole, I knew this going in. But, when you play a pack like Morrowind or Elsewyr, you felt like you got a pretty complete story, with a tease at the end for the next part of the story. You go in, you solve the central crisis, you fight the core established antagonist. Then right at the end you get the little cliffhanger "but wait there's more!" ending setting up the next DLC. Fine. Dandy.
This DLC does not, in any way, stand on its own in terms of story. The entire story spends its time establishing The Grey Host and Rada-Al Saran as your primary antagonists. You thwart their plans, kill their allies, and eavesdrop on these characters.
Instead of you confronting the grey host and Rada-Al Saran, stopping their plans and defeating them. You get a new villain right before the final act, who you fight as the final boss instead, while the Grey Host runs away to the Markarth DLC instead.
Had the Grey Host been more of a background thing (Or at least Rada-Al Saran himself only showing up in the final act rather than most of the quests) this wouldn't be so bad. But the DLC is called GREYmoor, you go to castle GREYmoor, the headquarters of the GREY host.
The ending is incredibly abrupt, with little buildup and fanfair when compared to the final confrontations in all 4 of the previous major expansions, and even most of the smaller expansions too! No expansion feels like I am receiving only half of a story (Even dragonguard, which only makes sense post-Elseweyr, was a complete standalone story) until now.
I fight the final boss (without realizing it, and being disapointed when I noticed I was on quest 7/7) then the Skald-King shows up and contributes... literally nothing to the story and moment other than being a cameo appearance... and thats it. Want to conclude this story! Buy Markarth.
Speaking of which... Oh boy, a city that literally cant have changed in thousands of years, since all the buildings were built by a race that is already gone. What an exciting new locale to explore in Tamriel... sure its thematically appropriate since we are fighting Reachmen a whole lot (holy go-to villains batman! The Reach almost gets as much play in being villains as the Daedra! 2 going on 3 expansions and 4 base game zones?)
We better get a major Black Marsh dlc next... or a plane of oblivion that's not Coldharbor, the Shivering Isles or the Deadlands. Part of why I bought ESO was to see new parts of Elder Scrolls, not revisit old ones.

READ THIS BEFORE PURCHASE!!!
THE GREYMOOR UPGRADE ONLY CONTAIN GREYMOOR AND NO OTHER DLC!!!
TO GET THE FULL PACKAGE WITH ALL OTHER DLC, YOU HAVE TO GET THE GREYMOOR WITH THE BASE GAME!!!!
I made this mistake, I guess people mentioned it somewhere in the review, it was my bad to not read the review, sort of...

I have played this game for quite some time since the Tamriel Unlimited came out, and I completed all of the previous DLCs. I was skeptical about Greymoor at first, especially after reading all of the negative reviews here. In the end though, I enjoyed it.
If you like ESO and are an experienced player, at least somewhat, there's absolutely no reason not to get Greymoor. Sure, it doesn't break any new grounds but it's not made poorly. The story is entertaining, the world is a beauty to behold and experience. There's a lot of content to explore. I even felt sad going through some of the last story quests knowing that the story will be over soon. West Skyrim became a home and enthralled me.
These are the things that I wish were done better:
The above ground map is small, c'mon, I want to wander the woods and mountain glades. Vast underground is nice but not a good substitute.
The main villain.. Just sigh, not going to give any spoilers but they could have done better.
The music is, probably, my biggest issue. . It doesn't sound fitting at all. Lots of wind orchestra and high pitched female chorus that comes in at strange times. It just sounds like a mess and doesn't sound like Skyrim should. I suggest after the first hour of this "opus" to turn the music off and play some chamber medieval music instead (one suggestion would be Corona Borealis - Cantus Paganus). Or just up the ambient sounds. They are very atmospheric and certainly not as annoying as the music.
Conclusion: if you like ESO and at least somewhat vested in its world -- get the expansion, you will have no regrets. If you are a new player -- go through the old content first, enjoy it, and get the DLC in question on sale when the time comes.

Steam should add a number rating system instead of a simple yes/no system
Overall i would give this expansion a 70/100
Story:
Story is not as good as some of the other expansions. Morrowind and Summerset had a good, not great, story because it was a large continuous story from the base game but it was typical mmo story writing, "big bad evil is attacking and we have to put aside our differences to win". Orsinium had the best story for a zone by far. No "our guys are the good one and theirs are the evil ones", just both sides had good points but the devs didn't give you an option for joining the "evil" guys. Orcsinium was also released during the turbulent times of ESO so its highly doubtful the devs are ever going to take notes from then.
Zone:
The zone is ok. The above ground areas is just some, not all, of the areas from Skyrim and not much has changed. The below ground is well done, its very cool and different from other zones.
Antiquities:
This is the part the most people who have played the expansion would give it a negative review. The antiquities system is something new that was added that most people say is a pay to win system that the devs introduced. The system involves you to look for leads in lore specific areas fore rare items and housing items, then requires you to play a few mobile game like mini games to get it or a part of the item. The mythic items are the items that you can dig up if you find 5 parts for them and some people think they are overpowered pay to win items.
Bloodlord's embrace- Its an ok set for pve tanking if you are a magicka tank, stam tanking is still better because you dont need a brain to hold block. If you die if you are a stam tank that means you didnt hold block enough or your healer is dead.
Malacath's brand of brutality- This is the set that nearly all players that think that mythic items are op think is pay to win. The set increases your damage by 25% but sets your crit damage to 0. Most people read the previous sentence and go straight to the forums and type a 2500 word essay. In reality its a bad item. In pve crit damage plays a huge role in how much damage you put out. In pvp people dont realize how much of their damage is actually crit damage. Pvpers say that because everyone runs crit resistance the 0 crit damage trade off doesnt matter. I play almost nothing but pvp and the amount of crit damage I give and take can make the difference of whether someone can heavily pressure me or if i can pressure them, but the band can be ok in 2 specific build types: proc sets and using cold fire siege. Proc sets running the band do very well but running 2 damage sets is going to make you into a glass cannon, you may be able to gank someone but if someone competent catches you they are going to press delete on you. Using the band with coldfire siege is the best usage for it, wear vicious death + Malacath's brand of brutality + coldfire ballista and you pop everyone like zits.
Ring of the wild hunt- It is the best node farming item in the game, but there are other ways to reach the movement speed cap without the ring
Snow Treaders- A fucking joke
Thrassian Stranglers- Very good for solo pve content, terrible for end game pvp and pve because the stacks fall off when you die.
Torc of Tonal Constancy- Bad for pve because in pve you usually only use one resource, stam or mag, not both. Pvp it can be ok but you have to make a build around using it and its hard to juggle around the resources, <50% resources can be very dangerous if you mis-position yourself
------DLC-------
Pearls of Ehlnofey- Generally the same as Torc bad at pve, you have to build around it for pvp.
Ring of the Pale Order- Overpowered for solo pve. I consider this as bad for end game pve because you are losing a lot of damage by having this on and not just getting a better healer. The healing you get for pvp is small and not worth it.
Overall I think I think that this is a meh expansion. If you want to go see all the places in skyrim or see something in the antiquities list that looks cool for your house then get it on a sale other than that you can skip this expansion.

I feel that Greymoor is a decent Chapter for ESO. Not as good as Summerset or Elsweyr, but better than Morrowind and still all have been recommendable.
First of all this is not "Skyrim II" the surface map only covers the Northwestern regions, mainly Solitude and Morthal, as well as a third hold, Karthald, not present in the fourth era. The game does a good job being consistent with TESV geographically, while still being very much it's own beast. Dragons are only present in the under construction village of Dragonbridge as they are mostly gone these days outside of last year's "incident" in Elsweyr. Instead, the main threat to Skyrim is the "Grey Host" a coalition of Vampires, Werewolves, and Reach Witches.
The zone seems deceptively small when viewed from the world map compared to the previous chapter zones. This is not actually the case, it is the largest addition of land when you realize a full 40% of what is added is a new subterranean zone called Blackreach. Not to be confused with the hellish maze in TESV, this is a fully fledged out zone complete with quests, delves, npcs, harrowstorms (this year's version of dolmens, much harder), and even a public dungeon. It is implied that the region explored in Skyrim is only a small corner of this subterranean domain.
Blackreach is amoung the best subterranean zones in an mmo, up there with Moria in lotro. While Western Skyrim is bleak and full of stark whites and grays, Blackreach is full of color. It is divided into four caverns each with a unique aesthetic. Dusktown is a Nordic mining settlement lit by glowing purple geodes, while Greymoor Cavern (after which the chapter gets its name) is a firey, volcanic place dominated by a massive vampiric fortress, the few blue mushroom trees weakly emoting what cool tones are present.
The main quest follows the hero aiding a mission from Jorunn, the leader of Eastern Skyrim and the Ebonhart Pact, attempting to warn his brother Svagrim of Western Skyrim of the aforementioned Grey Host threat. The two hate each other and you must find evidence to prove him. Of course the story gets more complicated from there but the main npc companions are some of the better we've seen. Lyris Titanborn makes her welcome return from the base game. New characters include Svana the wastrel princess of W Skyrim, her drinking buddy Maugh, and new fan favorite Fennorian a young elven vampire part of the base game's House Ravenwatch a group of vampires seeking to aid mortals from the shadows (think TES X Men).
The main story is perfectly good if a bit melodramatic and even modlin at times. A general gothic gloom hangs over this chapter which saw me jumping back to Summerset or Elsweyr occasionally if I wanted something more light hearted. As always ESO's writing shines the brightest with it's side quests, and this chapter is no different.
Finally I will speak of its new mechanic, Antiquities. These are ancient relics found in every zone, including dlc, that must be scryed for with a puzzle and then excavated with a mini game seemingly lifted directly from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Both are fun, though Excavation is far more luck based and challenging. At first you only find treasures akin to ones stolen from npcs with Thieves Guild. As you progress you start finding furnishings and special gear that adds a massive buff in return for a nerf. You may even find parts of an exclusive mount. A good system, but a feel some may get bored quickly. At least ZOS has said future zones will have antiquities as well.
The chapter also adds a new giant themed trial, Khyne's Aegis but I have yet to attempt it so I will not be commenting on its quality. I do know unlike the nonlinear Sunspire it is a "return to normal" trial with the bosses in a set order.
tl;dr:. Fair enough, worth having but not the best.

A much better starting area than the way the vanilla game used to start.
Very atmospheric, and I imagine nostalgic for fans of Skyrim. Enemies in the area are designed to be more interesting than the old starting zones too, with special attacks and all that, making combat feel a bit more dynamic from the start.
I play TESO as a single-player RPG that happens to be online. Multiplayer content is just a little added extra, for me, in this game. And this expansion would be a pretty good expansion for a single player RPG, so I'm happy with it so far.

Hey you, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border? Walked right into that imperial ambush,like us and that thief over there.
You remember this right? We all do.
This one has a similiar opening sequance