Exploring The Night Market - Elder Scrolls Online
Not your normal tourist trap
There have been some pretty big changes over at Elder Scrolls Online in recent times. Gone are the traditional annual stories, and in their place is a new “seasons” model that mixes things up in weird and wonderful ways. As a part of this model, the development team have included limited-time locations and the first of those is the Night Market, a communal location designed to get players to team up and take on the toughest baddies this side of Oblivion. Just last week, I was lucky enough to get a personally guided tour through the Night Market with a couple of the ESO developers, and I have to say, I like what I saw.
The first thing that happens when players reach the Night Market is that they choose a faction to support. There are three choices, and each represents a different ideal. One the quest for knowledge, one strength and one the almighty dollar (or Gold as the case may be). I went with the knowledge crew and prepared to get down to business. Players meet up in a central market area where they have access to vendors that provide special equipment based on which faction you support and how much cred you have earned through the Night Market missions.
Speaking of the missions, it was at this point that I teamed up with the Bethesda crew, along with a couple of other fellow journos and set off to explore the mission areas on offer. Now, let me say, this is a tough task. Nothing is easy out there, and there is no way on this planet that there is anyone good enough to take these challenges on solo. We were initially in a group of five, with some really high-level players, and we were still getting our butts whipped on a regular basis. Thankfully, though, help is never far away, and this is where the Night Market really shines.
The whole concept of The Night Market seems to be to get players to join up and have fun together, and the ESO community have seemingly embraced that wholeheartedly. One of our team members put out a request in the game’s groupfinder, and within seconds, we had a full team of 12 players, ready to take on the toughest bosses the Night Market threw at us. What’s more, everyone played their roles to perfection. Tanks, tanked. Healers, healed. Wardens admired their sexy bears. It was a team effort, and everyone immediately fell into their chosen path. Such a satisfying experience.
What was even cooler, though, was that upon tackling a really high-level boss, we were joined by two other groups of 12 players. This became a huge battle, spells, arrows and enemies flying everywhere. Chaos in the best possible way. It reminded me of an amped up version of the main game’s big world events, and the way it brought whole armies of players together with a single purpose was something beautiful.
Once missions were completed, bosses were killed, and teammates were saved, players could then leave the action and head back to the market area to cash in their rewards for some exclusive gear that you can’t get anywhere else in the game. There is also a higher-level meta going on between the three factions, too, but it feels like more of a friendly wager as opposed to true competition. I feel this is because there is a need for everyone, regardless of faction, to work together to succeed.
This is where, in my mind at least, the true genius of the Night Market lives. The team have created a genuine space where players want to help, team up, socialise and challenge themselves without any need to feel competitive with others. Without doubt, it is something that feels rarer and rarer in this day and age, and to see it come together in such a satisfying way was something I truly enjoyed.
Up until now, I have played ESO as a solo player. I mean, I always jumped into world events and occasionally teamed up to tackle a dungeon, but generally, I have treated the game like a huge, single-player Elder Scrolls game. The Night Market has shaken that thinking, and since my time with the devs, I have jumped back in two or three times, each of which was just as satisfying. Maybe, just maybe, after all these years, I am ready to treat ESO like an actual MMO, and if that is the case, that may be the Night Market’s grandest achievement.
