The Elder Scrolls Online DLC Thieves Guild was released just a short while ago. If you’ve spent any time progressing through the storyline or advancing through the Thieves Guild passive skill lines you may have noticed this DLC isn’t anything like the previous two. That said, it does display one major aspect that is missing while offering up some fantastic new gameplay.
This DLC is all about, you guessed it, thievery. There are so many different types of thievery open to you as a player. You might have to go pickpocket, sneak into people’s houses and rummage through their belongings looking for a specific type of item or you might be sent to a cave where you’ll have to put your sneak skills to the test by stealing without ever being seen. Those are what shine the light on the missing feature: the Justice System. I realize that Matt Firor said, “We will not be adding in the previously discussed PvP component of the Justice System.” (source), but when you release such great content like the Thieves Guild it really makes me want to become an Enforcer and patrol the cities looking for people who want to break the law. Matt, I know you say it won’t happen, but I’m here on my proverbial knees begging you to reconsider and find a way. With the Dark Brotherhood coming up in Q2, which will most likely have a very heavy focus on the assassination and other type wrong doings, just makes the PvP aspect of the justice system even more enticing.
If they implemented a PvP aspect for the Justice System it would bring in a lot of problems with griefing and making it hard to complete quests. Which is why they should only allow Enforcers to work in specific cities, the large ones. The ones where the guards aren’t able to patrol the entire city and keep it safe like they could a smaller one. With this rule, the quests would be split up into PvP ones and ones that are in areas Enforcers can’t work. I’m not a developer. I’m just a person throwing out my ideas. But I’d be okay with the Dark Brotherhood being pushed back if it meant we’d get the completed justice system.
Now that I’ve ranted on about how well the Enforcer system would meld with the Thieves Guild let’s actually discuss the DLC itself.
As I mentioned above the Thieves Guild DLC is nothing like we’ve seen from the previous two DLCs. This one is exactly what I’ve been asking for. A way to progress through the game that isn’t strictly combat related. I am working on leveling up my Nightblade (Sneezes-When-Sneaking) through the Thieves Guild storyline and the side quests that encapsulates what the Thieves Guild DLC is all about, thievery. Heists are probably one of the best aspects of this DLC. When you progress far enough through the Thieves Guild Skill Line you unlock the ability to go into these instances. You’re tasked to go into an area and steal a specific amount of things. If you can do it under the allotted timeline you receive additional rewards.
With each DLC Zenimax releases they truly up the beauty of the landscapes. Hew’s Bane is gorgeous, from running across roof tops to hiding in the shadow of a giant statue. This new zone, while small when compared to other zones in the game, offers up a lot of picturesque locations that will make for a fantastic wallpaper.
I’ve said this before, while testing the DLC on the PTS, the biggest issue with this DLC aside from it not having the Enforcers is its repetitiveness. While this DLC is extremely fun, beautiful and most of all doesn’t revolve around killing, it does get repetitive quickly. Similar to Maelstrom Arena, it’s fun to do it a couple times but once you’ve done it repeating it over and over becomes mind numbing. Especially with some of the pickpocket quests. It’s great that the developers have put in the hindsight to have max level players go back through the lower zones making them relevant again but to go to these cities and pickpocket 10 items multiple times is often boring.
All in all though, it comes down to this, is the Thieves Guild DLC worth the 2,000 crowns?
If you play ESO as a casual player you’ll thoroughly enjoy this DLC. If you play at a more constant basis you will find it gets repetitive. Logging in to do the Heist and go pickpocket cities, could be just one of the many things you now log in daily for in ESO though. The main storyline is good and very intriguing but it does not compare to that of Orsinium. This DLC didn’t feel like it enveloped the player as Orsinium did.
If you don’t pick up this DLC you’re not missing out on something crucial to the core game: the skills in the trees are all passive and offer little benefit to the player, you’ll miss on roughly 5 skyshards (the exact number escapes me as I write this). Even though I really like The Thives Guild, it does not compare to Orsinium or Imperial City. It’s much smaller in scale and what it does offer the player can get old. So if you were saving your crowns for something special I might hold on to them a bit longer, unless you're extremely into the idea of playing a thief in Tamriel. For those players, there's no denying this DLC's allure.