What Can We Expect from Dungeons in The Elder Scrolls Online

Elder Scrolls Online director Matt Firor has discussed the dungeons in his upcoming MMO on multiple occasions. We’ve been told about the open system being used and how they were made to be solo’ed, but nobody has mentioned the actual contents of these dungeons.

The Elder Scrolls lore gives Firor the opportunity to create some of the deepest and most fascinating dungeons ever seen in an MMO and here’s what we think will be included in TES:O’s dungeons list:

Dwemer Ruins

This is almost a given, The Elder Scrolls Online has to include Dwemer ruins – They literally cover the provinces of Skyrim, Morrowind, High Rock and Hammerfell. These ruins can be large to small dungeons filled with ancient Dwemer artifacts, traps and automatons giving the player a better inside look at Dwemer history. It also wouldn’t be unheard of to come across a group of bandits or thieves looking to score some loot in these ancient wonders.

Falmer Societies

The Falmer, or Snow Elves, had large prosperous societies, an advanced elvish language and an aptitude for magic until the Dwemer betrayed them as they sought refuge from the Nord invaders. The Falmer became blind subterranean slaves after being fed a poisonous fungus by the Dwemer people. With centuries of rage and combat practice the Falmer could end up being a difficult foe in TES:O and hopefully at this time in history they’ve preserved a few of their ancient communities for players to explore.

Red Mountain

The creator of Vvardenfell, located in Morrowind, is a large volcanic mountain fittingly named Red Mountain. As one of the more uncharted areas of Tamriel, Red Mountain gives players the opportunity to explore a place even the natives haven’t ventured. Red Mountain could contain anything from Dwemer creations, hordes of undead, the blight and even a Daedric Prince.

Imperial Strongholds

The Imperial are on a quest to conquer all of Tamriel and have established a few strongholds on the way. Although the base of TES:O’s RvRvR PvP system and centralized in Cyrodiil, the Imperial have also established strongholds in various other provinces – a pesky problem for the locals. Removing the Imperial invaders would make a great quest line that aligns perfectly with past Elder Scrolls lore.

Alyeid Ruins

Alyeid Ruins commonly found in Cyrodiil, a province under great distress during TES:O, could play a key role in the RvRvR PvP system as a PvE and PvP dungeon. The Imperial city, a community that surrounds the most well known Alyeid construct, is the heart of the Imperial Empire granting the ruling faction great power. Players may have to fight their way through the Imperial City and up the White Gold Tower to gain temporary control of Tamriel.

These speculations are just some of the potential dungeons we could see in The Elder Scrolls Online and until its release in 2013 we won’t know much about the actual dungeons included in this upcoming MMO. There’s a lot of potential for some truly great dungeons in TES:O; here’s to hoping ZeniMax takes the time to exploit this advantage.