November saw the releases of Orsinium, the game’s second paid DLC, following the Imperial City drop in late August. Imperial City offered a close quarters battlegrounds for the three alliances to duke it out in the streets and alleys of the famous city, along with two new dungeons, new sets, veteran ranks and a new currency, Tel Var Stones. These stones can be accumulated by slaying foes throughout the new zone and spent on special items, like the new armor sets, at designated merchants. The lack of exciting items to buy said currency did not help to establish it as an integral part of the game as a whole, rather it serves a very limited role in a very limited space. Getting those stones, however, is a thrill like no other. The sewers and streets of the Imperial city offer something akin to a medieval Call of Duty PvP feel. The constant action offered here helped those who enjoy the challenge of PvP combat a quick and easy way to get in and make meaningful progress on their characters without having to roam the endless fields of Cyrodiil looking for a fight and preparing to take strategic objectives. For a while, it looked promising. The Imperial Sewers were flooded with players waging war. But these days (on the PC North American server, at least) the zone is all but deserted, with a modest daily presence of dedicated players and gankers, players waiting to slay unsuspecting foes to steal the Tel Var stones they had just collected. It was a good expansion, but at this point ESO needed something exceptional to boost its public perception.
