Losing the Battle of the Glowy Dots

Unsurprisingly, I'm still guiding Eivor through adventures that have now spanned Norway, England, and Ireland.  Ubisoft very edgily decided to replace map symbols with glowing dots and I just can't resist finding and completing them all.  Handily though, they also provide a sort of checklist that helps hopeless completionists like me know if we've found all the wealth, mysteries, or artifacts in each region.  And the main story--well, after about 76 hours played, I've progressed the main story a whopping 32%.  Am I upset about this fact?  Nope, not at all!  I'm still enjoying Eivor's adventures and the main story has started tipping toward major plot drama.

One of my beautiful cairns.

Since I decided to complete the Wrath of the Druids DLC early on, it seems like a good topic.  This DLC sees Eivor travelling to Ireland under the pretext of establishing trade in exotic items.  Eivor's long lost cousin has managed to become one of the many regional "kings" in Ireland and is excited to have him/her aid in making Dublin a new trading hub.  The plot thickens once Eivor is in Ireland--there's a new king who wants to unite all the lesser kings.  This task is even more complicated due to the fact that there are competing factions of pagan druids who want to continue their traditional practices rather than converting to Christianity.  One group are the "good" druids and the other are the "bad" druids (you know...the traditional forbidden magic use and whatnot).  The story introduces a new mini-Order to find and slay and some interesting characters.

What's fun/what I liked:

1.) The side part of the DLC is built around establishing Dublin as a trading hub.  This means finding, liberating, and then improving various small trading posts around Ireland.  Each trading post has been taken over by various baddies (bandits, Children of Danu--the bad druids...).  Once Eivor has cleared out the trading post, he/she then has to find a deed in random areas (which, if you're a completionist, you'll be checking out).  With deed in hand, Eivor can establish control of the trading post.  Each post specializes in one of four commodities--delicacies (mead and honey), luxuries, clothing, or texts--and will begin producing them once under control.  Eivor can also raid monasteries and find special supplies that can be used to add new buildings and features to the trading post that will increase the amount of goods they produce.

In Dublin, Azar (Eivor's trading connection) has her own store and Eivor can periodically swing by to collect the accumulated trade goods from a special chest (the goods accumulate on a timer depending on the improvements that Eivor makes to each trading post).  Azar provides a list of demands from various foreign leaders for differing products and there are special rewards for fulfilling each one.

The trading aspect was a fun addition and I enjoyed the fact that it was easy to accumulate and satisfy the trade demands.  The rewards for satsifying Azar's list are worthwhile--there are numerous armor sets, cosmetic ship items, tattoos, and valuable items (like metals to upgrade your gear).

2.) The DLC adds in many new armor sets (some from Azar's trade list and others from exploration/story missions) and most of them are pretty cool.  There's only one that really requires you to suspend reality (an Egyptian themed set).

A shrine in Ireland.

3.) Ireland is beautiful in a different way than England and I found myself taking more screenshots.  Maybe it's because there are fewer trees...or maybe it's because there are random rainbows (no one can resist taking a photo of a beautiful rainbow).

4.) New enemies--the Children of Danu (the "bad" druids) include magic wielding foes who can turn their wolf minions into fierce werewolves and a few other varieties.  This provides some more challenging combat.  One of the new mystery locations (Trials of Morrigan)  in Ireland requires fighting off a group of druids and can be somewhat difficult.

5.) Azar is introduced as a gender fluid character.  It's nice to see games taking a stab at introducing a more diverse set of characters.

What I didn't like:

1.) As part of the storyline you get introduced to Ciara (pronounced kyr-uh)--the court poetess and a still-practicing member of the druidic sect in Ireland.  Ciara represents an important link between the new king and the ancient practices of the druids...but she's one of those characters who is definitely pushed toward Eivor as a romantic interest and, in a way that I found clumsy and offputting (for example--at one point in the storyline, Ciara wants to meet Eivor at a beautiful waterfall...and somehow that meeting ends up with the need for Ciara to bathe in said waterfall).  Sure, Ciara's got a traditional Irish attractiveness (red hair...green eyes), but I hate it when games push a specific character onto the protagonist.  I had Eivor politely refuse and ignore Ciara's flirty hi-jinxs.

2.) I found the ship cosmetic items to be way too over-the-top for my personal tastes.  They're pretty bonkers (a giant, flying eagle or charging horse) and to me, ruin the Viking aesthetic.  I will be keeping a more traditional look for Eivor's longship, thank you very much.

Overall, the Wrath of the Druids DLC...adds more, I guess.  To me, the trade aspect was kind of fun (although some people might find it annoying to have to periodically return to Dublin) and I appreciated the fun armor sets.  The main storyline was okay (nothing great, but nothing horrible).