With yesterday’s Wrathstone DLC kicking off the new Season of the Dragon, building hype for May’s Elsweyr chapter, I’ve been reflecting on the other DLCs and chapters (what normal people would call expansions) in The Elder Scrolls Online. I’ve been revisiting some of them on my various alts (I’m currently finishing up my stamina DPS sorcerer, and trying to decide on a healer to level next), so here are my top 5 favorite DLCs and chapters for ESO.

5: Summerset
Ah, Summerset, land of contradictions. On the one hand, it’s really beautiful. On the other hand, it’s almost too beautiful; it’s sometimes so perfect that loses its sense of realism. On the one hand, you have snooty, racist high elves (there’s a lot of racism going on in Tamriel, but the high elves take it to the next level). On the other hand, you have Razum Dar, one of the best and most memorable NPCs in the game. Quite honestly, I almost didn’t put it on this list. Its story felt like warmed-over leftovers from Morrowind: it’s about a different island of different elitist elves trying to stop (some of the same) bad guys trying to steal a different super powerful magical something-or-other. Don’t get me wrong, it was still good and had a lot of content, it just felt a little weaker than some of ESO’s other stories in my opinion.

4: Thieves Guild
This is the only DLC on this list that I haven’t actually finished. The story, while it has a cool “Robin Hood meets Indiana Jones” feel to it, is a little fragmented, and it relies heavily on stealth missions (as you would expect), which sadly don’t work that great in ESO. Yes, you can sneak around, but it’s more efficient to just sprint past all of the of guards, then jump in a basket, which makes them all forget about you (because video game logic). You’ll probably end up doing that anyway, even if you attempt to do everything by stealth, because the detection in this game is a little wonky. What I like best about this DLC is the effect it had on the rest of the world. It introduced stealing to the game, which is more fun than it seems like it should be, and is a great source of money for minimal effort.

3: Murkmire
I love argonians–they’re so weird and awesome–so the fact that we get to finally travel to their homeland alone gives it a place on this list. That said, it honestly wasn’t the most engaging plot–I’m still not sure I understand what the point of the central plot device was–but it was entertaining. And one of the main characters is The Epic Voice Guy from Honest Trailers in argonian form, so that’s a plus. It was also a surprisingly beautiful zone. I was expecting a swamp to be boring and ugly, but ZOS came up with some of the most interesting plantlife and legitimately beautiful vistas and widely varied flora and fauna for this one.

2: Morrowind
While I’m no fan of elves in any universe, ESO has some particularly dislikable ones. But at least these elves have a cool island! It has some of the most unique plant and animal life of the franchise, and plenty of dwemer ruins to explore, which was the biggest selling point for me. Yes, I’m aware that dwemer, despite being called dwarves, are technically elves, and I’ve spent half this post complaining about how annoying elves are, but that just goes to show you that the best elves are extinct elves. Other bonuses include sidequests involving becoming dark elf Batman’s sidekick, helping a mostly-naked nord that was hit with a freezing spell, and pushing an annoying elf “treasure hunter” down a well. It also introduced the warden class, which is by far my favorite for both tanking and healing.

1: Clockwork City
I absolutely love Clockwork City. I really prefer sci-fi to fantasy, but I love the (MMO)RPG genre, which, for better or for worse, is largely dominated by high fantasy settings. So any crossover of the two already has a big draw for me. The sci-fantasy/steampunk/magitech motif is everywhere, with clockwork robots and cyborgs as far as the eye can see. It’s cool seeing Elder Scrolls’ take on a completely synthetic world. Also, about half way through the main quest, there’s a detour involving the Blackfeather Court, a group of sentient crows they brought back from a particularly memorable public dungeon in Stonefalls. In retrospect, they feel a little shoehorned into the quest line, like it was originally designed as a sidequest but some lead designer saw it and said “Dude, we have to make that part of the main quest!” but it’s so goofy and fun that I don’t even mind.

So, what are your thoughts? Any DLCs you would add or remove? Is the order all wrong? Let me know in the comments!