I had a lot of fun with this chapter and it served as a great reminder that the ESO community on PC-EU is absolutely great. I wanted to do all the world bosses before finishing the main quest. So I waited patiently at one of them for people to happen to run by. They didn't and I tried it myself a couple times without success (sometimes it works alone) so I shouted in chat asking if anybody wanted to help me with this one boss. I got six randoms joining me and we ended up doing all of the world bosses on the map with each of us providing the corresponding daily quest.
A similar thing happened on the group boss in one of the public dungeons where I tried it myself a few times, because usually I can manage them alone with some focus and hard work. But this one was just too overwhelming to do alone. So I resigned myself to come back and do it later and left the area where the boss was. When I got out there was another player just outside killing some mobs and when he was done he just casually asked if I wanted to do the group boss. I said yes as I had been trying it myself several times. Went back in with that player and he took the time to explain every mechanic of the boss to the point where I actually had to tell him to stop because I had figured out the mechanics in my several attempts, but it was so sweet. So we started the boss and just naturally, without any special communication, ended up being me on adds and activating mechanics and him on damaging the boss. I threw some heals his way and helped damaging the boss when I could, and in no time at all we had defeated the boss.
Blackwood was a haven for public dungeons, because not only were there the two usual public dungeons that are present in every big zone, but every Oblivion gate counted as a public dungeon. And these gates were a lot more fun to run through and complete than the original Oblivion equivalents.
Blackwood introduced companions, which is a NPC that follows you around and helps you fight. They also have personalities and different things they like or dislike and you can raise their disposition towards you by doing things they like. As they grow to like you more they will also offer quests for you to do. You can find equipment for them and they level up just like your own character and you can assign skills to them and decide how they will behave in battle. Need a tank? Your companion's got you covered. Except I was as per usual max level when I got to Blackwood and my lowbie companion was brand new and so squishy I decided to just keep them as dps. Do what you can, little guy. Since Blackwood is a starter zone I imagine the companions are more useful for a new character where they level up alongside you. For me, and seemingly for a lot of high level players, the companion was just a sidekick that spent more time lying passed out on the sidelines of the boss battles than actually contributing anything :P
As for the story it reminded me of a detective/mystery story, where the player had to follow clues to find the Ambitions. Extremely powerful weapons according to the legend, that Dagon would use to enter Tamriel. All the new characters in the story were well-written and I ended up pretty attached to more than one of them. I'm happy there was no major character death in this chapter (looking at you Dragonhold and Markarth).
My favourite sidequest was probably the one involving Alchemy from the Summerset chapter, who has returned in this chapter alongside their travelling band of performers. It was a really cute sidequest about following your dreams and being whatever you want to be. But you can never go wrong with Lady Laurent and Stibbons and they both showed up again in this chapter :3 Poor Stibbons keeps getting in trouble.
Eveli was a welcome return. She was first introduced in Orsinium and I loved her back then. I loved her even more after this.
Next up; Fargrave!
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