Available Areas on TESO Release

Greetings everyone, time for me to release my next of many new informative threads using knowledge spread throughout the internet!

My latest project ties somewhat into my last release in reference to Sutch and Sancre Tor in the fact that it's important to be able to understand what areas each faction will be able to easy control, what the areas that will be fought over.

Therefore, I'm going to build a map of the playable areas that will be present upon the TESO release, along with what areas we know will be unavailable and released after the official launch date!

Lets start off with a beautiful map of Nirn, adding in what we understand will be the cities of Sutch and Sancre Tor:



I've always enjoyed looking at these maps, and it greatly worried me when I compared the quantity of land the Ebonheart Covenant had in comparison to the Daggerfall Pact. But don't worry, you'll see that this issue gets fixed soon.

While we're labeling points on the map, let's also add in the starting locations for each faction!

The starting location for the Ebonheart Pact, which we know VERY much about due to the feedback of those who were present during the Pre-Alpha private testing, will be located at Bleakrock Isle. This island that is otherwise not visible or identifiable from the original Skyrim map is found to the North East of Skyrim, most likely close to Winterhold as a reference point.
Source: Massively's Hands-On Experience with TESO

One more city is going to be added into Skyrim known as Nimalten, here is the quote I just found as I was looking up something as I wrote this thread:

Quote:You’ll also find towns, like Nimalten in the Rift, that are gone and nearly forgotten by Skyrim’s Fourth Era, but are alive and thriving in ESO’s Second Era.

Source: Ebonheart Pact: Ask Us Anything, Part 2

Anyway, the starting location for the Aldmeri Dominion was provided to us by the developers, claiming that:

Quote:All members of the Aldmeri Dominion will begin their journey on an island called Khenarthi’s Roost just off the south coast of Tamriel.

Source: Aldmeri Dominion: Ask Us Anything, Part 2

Seen on the map below, a few small islands can be found off the coast of Valenwood, which I believe to be the most likely area that we will all start. They could be adding new area similar to what we observed from the Ebonheart Pact, so this is really an assumption.



Moving right along, lets talk about some of the places that we know we CAN and CANNOT visit due to the developers actually telling us.

Lets start with the Ebonheart Pact. One paragraph talks more about what areas will be available in Morrowind:

Quote:The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind takes place on the northern island of Vvardenfell. In The Elder Scrolls Online, you’ll get to explore Morrowind’s mainland and see areas you’ve never seen before, or haven’t seen in to the level of detail we’re presenting it in. One such area is Deshaan, the region of southern Morrowind that borders Black Marsh. That’s not to say adventurers in The Elder Scrolls Online won’t ever be able to visit Vvardenfell.

Source: Ebonheart Pact: Ask Us Anything, Part 1

Basically what this is saying is that we will be able to explore all of the Morrowind mainland, as far down as to the Black Marsh boarder, but we will NOT be able to visit Vvanderfell upon the release of TESO. We will be able to visit it eventually, but we cannot say how long it will take for the area to release. I will therefore update the map accordingly:



Based on a few paragraphs discussing some locations within Skyrim, it appears that the majority of that area will be playable, so you have nothing to fear there!

Argonians who wish to visit Black Marsh, however, have a reason to be mildly upset indeed:

Quote:All members of the Ebonheart Pact will have an opportunity to visit Shadowfen, the northwestern region of Black Marsh that borders on Morrowind and includes the ancient city of Stormhold.

Source: Ebonheart Pact: Ask Us Anything, Part 2

Because they mention only Stormhold in the region of Shadowfen within Black Reach, we can assume that the NorthEast and South of the reigon will be off-limits upon release, making the map of playable area now resemble this:



Looking good, let's move onto the Aldmeri Dominion then yes?

Lets continue to go clockwise and take a look on what's been said about Elsweyr. The developers answered a question about what areas of Elsweyr will be available to play, claiming that,

Quote:At launch, you will be able to explore two corners of Elsweyr: an island off the south coast, and the far northwest corner of Anequina, around the city of Dune and Fort Sphinxmoth. Most of Elsweyr is still in the grip of the Knahaten Flu, and isn’t a place you really want to go until the epidemic has run its course.

Source: Aldmeri Dominion: Ask Us Anything, Part 1

Updating the map accordingly, the playable area of Elsweyr will look like this:



Moving right along in the rotation is Valenwood, I won't waste your time and just start cranking out the quotes and maps:

Quote:A great deal of Valenwood will be playable, from Haven on the Elsweyr border, west past Southpoint, Greenheart, Woodhearth, and north all the way up the Strid Estuary to the border with Colovia. That includes the entire interior between those points, so prepare for lots of Wood Elven goodness.

Source: Aldmeri Dominion: Ask Us Anything, Part 2

Fantastic, all of Valenwood will be playable! For those who didn't understand the reference to Strid Estuary and the boarder with Colovia, this is the Elven term for the heartland of Cyrodiil, and the strait that separates Western Valenwood from that area. Unfortunately, we have more bad news in relation to the Summerset Isles:

Quote:When The Elder Scrolls Online launches, the playable part of the Summerset Isles will be Auridon, the big island between Summerset and the continent that includes the cities of Firsthold and Skywatch.

Source: Aldmeri Dominion: Ask Us Anything, Part 1

Updating the map accordingly yields the following:



Lets hope the Daggerfall Covenant comes out a little better than the other two factions, eh? Information that I have found in reference to areas available upon release for the Daggerfall includes:

Quote:We won’t be getting as far south as Hegathe until sometime after launch, but you’ll definitely be seeing Crown-dominated towns such as Bergama and Lainlyn in the northern reaches of the Alik’r.

Source: Daggerfall Covenant: Ask Us Anything, Part 1

Now this gets a little tricky when I try to determine what areas will be unavailable. We know for a fact from pictures that there will be a city available that boarders the Alik'r Desert, but there are two nearby: Sentinel, and Gilane. They mention that they will not be getting "as far south", meaning that potentially the entire peninsula will be unavailable for launch.

Quite simply, without more information, there is no correct answer as of right now.

The following image is an interpretation of what I believe it to be, assuming that both Hegathe, the nearby town of Gilane, and the southern island containing Stros M'kai will be unavailable, but Sentinel will be:



There is a very good chance that I am incorrect in making this assumption, and I will attempt to contact TESO to see if they can validate my claim.

Even if my map is correct, the Daggerfall Covenant will still most likely be allowed to keep the majority of their land upon the release of TESO.

I do actually want to turn my attention to Skyrim again, based on an article I found. The source is lost, but I did copy the text from it knowing that I may potentially be useful in the days to come, and I was right:

Quote:...For instance, the Nord stronghold at Windhelm is fully implemented, but Winterhold and the mages' college won't be in at launch.

Source: Pending

So sadly, we won't be seeing Winterhold upon launch. Doing a little digging into the lore related to Winterhold, it is confirmed that the city existed as early as the First Era, so it will in fact be released eventually.

Now that we've gone full circle, we need to focus on Cyrodiil itself, at the heart of the continent. We already all know for a fact that the Imperial City won't be released at launch, so I'll get rid of that along with Winterhold:



Finally, I want to talk about something that Sordak mentioned in my release of information on Sutch and Sancre Tor... the fact that, due to the fact that both Elsweyr and Black Marsh aren't added into the game, what's the point of even having a city that far south to fight over?

None of the factions are going to be going out of their way to travel that far South to fight over it, and we understand that the knahaten flu originated from Black Marsh, so why wouldn't it effect the rest of Cyrodiil?

I have therefore come to the conclusion that Leyawiin, due to the fact that it is SO far from where major combat will be taking place, is not going to be available upon the launch of TESO. Updating the map with this addition results in the following, which to me makes the most sense:



Now I understand that there are many of you who will most likely argue against the last few additions to the map, and I personally believe that this is a good thing.

The primary reason that I will lay out my thought process and progressive work is because I'm human like the rest of you, and can sometimes make mistakes.
In fact, I normally write these threads a week in advance and come back to them later to identify MAJOR flaws in my theories or lack of information and clarity, and proceed to edit it until I believe it's ready for a public release.

Anyway, I recent emailed TESO requesting some verification of my hypotheses, so we'll know if I'm correct or not within a few days.

But until then, unless anyone is able to convince me of any flaws that I have created in any of these maps, it appears that this will be the areas available to each faction upon release, assuming that all factions will have access to Cyrodiil as well:



Like I mentioned earlier, I usually construct these types of things over multiple days, and it recently occured to me that the map that I created above looks very similar in nature to one that was previously released by TESO. I'm going to spend the rest of this thread comparing the two, and seeing if we can't learn anything from those comparisons. This is the map released that I was referring to:



Compare very closely the location of each color on the map directly above to the areas that will be accessible during the launch of TESO. They look very similar in some aspects, but there are others that appear different; I will be addressing these differences to attempt to see if we can determine any other areas that will not be added in.

I would like to point out the fact that the coloring of each Alliance seems VERY similar to the areas that I have identified as being accessible upon the launch of TESO, and yet we were specifically told that this map was more to "Show the general location of each alliance."

The map that TESO created, VERY DISTINCTLY, shows that areas such as southern Black March, the area around Hegathe located within the Daggerfall Covenant, and the majority of the land on Vvardenfell and everything to the East of it, all lack coloring to represent where the Alliances are located.



We should also note that it appears that areas on the map close to Anvil are not colored green to represent an influence by Cyrodiil, and the fact that the land Cyrodiil appears to control extends rather far into Skyrim. I point out these aspects specifically to make a point that this map is obviously not completely representative of what areas are expected to be present on release. We will obviously have Anvil, we will obviously have a Skyrim controlled by the Nords.

But, as far as other aspects of the map go for larger references to areas, I believe we can use it as a secondary source for not only my idea that the area dividing Elsweyr and Black Marsh will be uncontrolled, but it also points out that the area to the East of Vvardenfell is not a major area as well. According to the map, there are no major cities or any points of significance in that area, and I therefore have determined to mark the area off as a non-released area.

Here is a large rebuild that I was able to do based on the comparison of these maps, excluding North Eastern Morrowind, upgrading Bleakrock Isle, and adding in Solstheim from the Skyrim Expansion Pack:



And there we have it, the most up-to-date map of what we can expect in TESO to be in upon launch. If you have any suggestions on how to make the map better, or somehow find information about the starting location for the Daggerfall Covenant (I haven't been able to find a single source that even references it) please feel free to share the information and I will give you credit accordingly!

EDIT:

Continuing to work on the map thanks to Sordak, Reichmar12, and Ulfgar-The-Unending, we determined that there will in fact be parts of Vvanderfell that can be visited when TESO launches, but only a very small part of the southern tip of the island.

Also, there is a chance that Western Skyrim will not be in control of the Ebonheart Pact, and may be dangerous to enter. We aren't sure yet if this area will be accessible, PvP, or any other details related to it, so we'll need to continue to research and see what we can come up with.

Here is the new map with edits made:

If I recall correctly, members of the Pact can visit the southernmost areas of Vvardenfell.

Edit: Shit.

good rundown but you missed a few parts. for example an early interview claimed that there will be a public dungoen under the red mountain.
so im pretty sure we will be able to visit vvardenfell. just not in its full glory. wich makes sense since it was under the lockdown of the Temple.
we also know that we will get to see Vivec, and since he hardly leaves vvardenfell thats just one more point towards that.

Also we know for a fact that Winterhold will not be in the game.
another thing that i cannot confirm, but what has been implied is that we wont get to see soltitude. Why? Because its been said that it is eastern skyrim (Traditionally ruled by windhelm) that is joining the pact. Western Skyrim (traditionally ruled by soltitude) is the long time rival of eastern markarth and includes cities such as Winterhold (we know thats not in the game) Markarth (if its not under reachmen controll, ill get to that shortly) and Morthal. Potentialy dawnstar.

as for markarth. we know that the reachmen are as strong as ever leading assaults into both the EP and DC territory. this makes me think that the reach is under their controll. they have allied with molag bal and the empire. Meaning that its save to assume that they hold large parts of the land in western skyrim and eastern high rock.

another argument id like to make is that its very unlikeley well see a fleshed out eastern morrowind. As this is the province of house telvanni. Wich is not part of the Ebonheart pact. While fighting the telvanni in Dres and Indoril teritory makes sense. going into telvanni territory makes none, as there hardly is anything of value there and the war effort is in Cyrod. So i see you already marked that.

But i thought i might give some reasoning on it. as you seem to have blocked it out due to the provisional map, that also shows parts of the sumurset isles that we know wont be in the game.

Good overview, Terminus.

(January 23rd 2013, 10:28 AM)Sordak Wrote: ...an early interview claimed that there will be a public dungoen under the red mountain.
so im pretty sure we will be able to visit vvardenfell. just not in its full glory. wich makes sense since it was under the lockdown of the Temple.
we also know that we will get to see Vivec, and since he hardly leaves vvardenfell thats just one more point towards that.

To be completely honest, I had included Vvardenfell on some of the original sketch maps I did that weren't included here. I almost missed the fact that it says "Not that we won't ever be able to visit," which seemed to imply that you can only visit the island either on specific conditions such as quests, or that it wasn't put into the game yet.

I would LOVE to listen to the source you refer to, because this is one part that I'm still researching into. Morrowind players will be rather annoyed that they can't go back and visit if it's not available.

(January 23rd 2013, 10:28 AM)Sordak Wrote: Also we know for a fact that Winterhold will not be in the game.
Another thing that I cannot confirm, but what has been implied is that we wont get to see Solitude. Why? Because it's been said that it is eastern Skyrim (Traditionally ruled by Windhelm) that is joining the pact. Western Skyrim (traditionally ruled by Soltitude) is the long time rival of eastern Markarth and includes cities such as Winterhold (we know that's not in the game) Markarth (if its not under reachmen control, I'll get to that shortly) and Morthal. Potentialy Dawnstar.

As for Markarth, we know that the Reachmen are as strong as ever leading assaults into both the EP and DC territory. This makes me think that the reach is under their control. They have allied with Molag Bal and the empire, meaning that its save to assume that they hold large parts of the land in western Skyrim and eastern High Rock.

Everything you say seems to check out, and would also explain why the map provided by Cyrodiil expands North into Western Skyrim territory. Here I was, doubting the map that was provided by TESO, when in fact it appears to be correct after all!

Nice job noticing that, I'll begin editing the map once I get back from work to see what it will look like.

ill look if i can find it. i just tried but i cant find it right now. Its old.
Tho the introduction to elder scrolls online video shows quite a few lava areas that look like they are on the red mountain, + a close up of the red mountain itself, wich would be weird if it wouldnt be includet.

At one point you see a huge dwemer dungeon with lava flowing everywhere. sounds rather red-mountain ish to me. Ill still notify you if i find the original source.

(January 23rd 2013, 10:53 AM)Sordak Wrote: At one point you see a huge dwemer dungeon with lava flowing everywhere. sounds rather red-mountain ish to me. Ill still notify you if i find the original source.

No your right, if that isn't Vvanderfell, I don't know what is!
The problem is, they claim that it will eventually be opened, yet they already have pictures of it.

Logic says we can go there, but it seems like part of the island is still off limits. The question is, what parts?

(January 23rd 2013, 11:15 AM)Terminus Zaire Wrote:

(January 23rd 2013, 10:53 AM)Sordak Wrote: At one point you see a huge dwemer dungeon with lava flowing everywhere. sounds rather red-mountain ish to me. Ill still notify you if i find the original source.

No your right, if that isn't Vvanderfell, I don't know what is!
The problem is, they claim that it will eventually be opened, yet they already have pictures of it.

Logic says we can go there, but it seems like part of the island is still off limits. The question is, what parts?

Well, we know that we've seen images of flamey and fiery Dwemer ruins. We know that we're getting a Red Mountain-themed PD. And we know that we're going to see Vivec, and that by this time Vivec had already turned horde mountain into Vivec City.

At the very least, that implies two areas: Vivec City (unless they do something crazy stupid and stick him with Almalexia), and the immediate area around the entrance to the RM dungeon.

Between the two points could be passable land, or it could just be autopilot transport.

(January 23rd 2013, 11:21 AM)Reichmar12 Wrote:

(January 23rd 2013, 11:15 AM)Terminus Zaire Wrote:

(January 23rd 2013, 10:53 AM)Sordak Wrote: At one point you see a huge dwemer dungeon with lava flowing everywhere. sounds rather red-mountain ish to me. Ill still notify you if i find the original source.

No your right, if that isn't Vvanderfell, I don't know what is!
The problem is, they claim that it will eventually be opened, yet they already have pictures of it.

Logic says we can go there, but it seems like part of the island is still off limits. The question is, what parts?

Well, we know that we've seen images of flamey and fiery Dwemer ruins. We know that we're getting a Red Mountain-themed PD. And we know that we're going to see Vivec, and that by this time Vivec had already turned horde mountain into Vivec City.

At the very least, that implies two areas: Vivec City (unless they do something crazy stupid and stick him with Almalexia), and the immediate area around the entrance to the RM dungeon.

Between the two points could be passable land, or it could just be autopilot transport.

well the capital city will be almalexia.
I think Vivec city will be a minor vista.

Tho one thing i wonder is with wich version of Ebonheart they stick.
In Morrowind its on Vvardenfell. according to the lore it is the twin city to almalexia.
Tho the EP name suggests they stick with the lore on that one.

(January 23rd 2013, 11:30 AM)Sordak Wrote:

(January 23rd 2013, 11:21 AM)Reichmar12 Wrote:

(January 23rd 2013, 11:15 AM)Terminus Zaire Wrote:

(January 23rd 2013, 10:53 AM)Sordak Wrote: At one point you see a huge dwemer dungeon with lava flowing everywhere. sounds rather red-mountain ish to me. Ill still notify you if i find the original source.

No your right, if that isn't Vvanderfell, I don't know what is!
The problem is, they claim that it will eventually be opened, yet they already have pictures of it.

Logic says we can go there, but it seems like part of the island is still off limits. The question is, what parts?

Well, we know that we've seen images of flamey and fiery Dwemer ruins. We know that we're getting a Red Mountain-themed PD. And we know that we're going to see Vivec, and that by this time Vivec had already turned horde mountain into Vivec City.

At the very least, that implies two areas: Vivec City (unless they do something crazy stupid and stick him with Almalexia), and the immediate area around the entrance to the RM dungeon.

Between the two points could be passable land, or it could just be autopilot transport.

well the capital city will be almalexia.
I think Vivec city will be a minor vista.

Tho one thing i wonder is with wich version of Ebonheart they stick.
In Morrowind its on Vvardenfell. according to the lore it is the twin city to almalexia.
Tho the EP name suggests they stick with the lore on that one.

Yeah, I know that. But good point on Ebonheart. I'm leaning towards the sister city.

Changes made include:

-Adding in Vivec and Balmora, Balmora was added in based on that faction picture released by TESO
-Detailing Western Skyrim proved to be a challenge because I couldn't leave the area marked under Ebonheart faction control, but I also don't believe that it will be a PvP area. I again used geologic references from the TESO map, such as High Hrothgar and some local mountain ranges to estimate the areas while making sure the map looked clean.

The map that resulted from these changes:


EDIT: Improved image quality

Seriously great work on this. I wonder if The Reach is going to be playable...The Reachmen (Forsworn) inhabit that area in this timeline and I remember one of the interviews/AMAs mentioned them...

why isn't all of it playable?

(January 23rd 2013, 09:11 PM)Terminus Zaire Wrote: Changes made include:

-Adding in Vivec and Balmora, Balmora was added in based on that faction picture released by TESO
-Detailing Western Skyrim proved to be a challenge because I couldn't leave the area marked under Ebonheart faction control, but I also don't believe that it will be a PvP area. I again used geologic references from the TESO map, such as High Hrothgar and some local mountain ranges to estimate the areas while making sure the map looked clean.

The map that resulted from these changes:


EDIT: Improved image quality

what faction pic? i cant remember seeing balmora anywhere.
Id also heavily doubt well see sosltheim on release.

The reach is part of Western Skyrim. Initially. it would also make sense to have been taken back by the Reachmen who are allied with the empire. I wouldnt count on playing there. Probably as an addon where we lay siege on Markarth and kill the the Reachmens Kings. Just an idea tho.

(January 24th 2013, 02:09 AM)grimmjow Wrote: why isn't all of it playable?

Because the map will be huge and the content more detailed than generic. ZOS have stated that Skyrim in TESO will be the same size as Skyrim in TES5, which means that all of Tamriel would be (roughly) 9 times that size. To make a detailed quality MMOG of that size would take so long, and consequently cost so much in development, that it would become too expensive for the players at launch and sales would suffer to the point of disaster.

ZOS need to get some revenue first, and then they can start producing the other areas of the game. They also actually want to save some areas for later in order to prevent all geographic content from growing old at the same time. They always need to keep some part of the game feeling fresh to retain players' interest.