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00:00and additional live streams to talk through everything in a lot more detail over the next
00:04few months. Also, a lot of what we are talking about today will be available on our test server
00:09next week. So we recommend everyone get comfy. We have a lot to cover today, and we're going to get
00:16things kicked off by introducing our special guests from the dev team. We have Nick Giacomini,
00:21Game Director for ESO, and Susan Kath, Executive Producer for ESO. We formally introduced both in
00:27their current roles last year, and you might have seen them around in live streams, videos,
00:32and interviews since then. Both are longtime ESO fans and seasoned game devs. So welcome both.
00:39Thank you. Very excited to be here. Yes, agreed. Very excited to be here. And I want to bring up
00:45one last thing before we get started, which is that, as Jess said, we have a lot to get through
00:51today. And one of the things that we're going to be talking about is transparency in our feedback
00:56Luke and telling you guys things that we maybe haven't historically always told you. And one
01:01of those things that I'm going to talk to you about is the fact that we currently have about
01:0447,000 cameras on us to do all of this. And Jess and Gina have a big old stack of notes.
01:11We have about 5,000 pages of notes here.
01:14So much to tell you about today. And Nick and I have monitors in front of us to remind us of all
01:20of the things that we need to tell you today.
01:21So all of that is to say that if it sometimes looks like we are reading things, that's because
01:27we have so much stuff we have to remember that we probably are.
01:30And we want to get it right.
01:32Transparency, yes. And we want to get it all right.
01:34So thanks for having us.
01:36We want to make sure we don't forget anything, especially the really exciting stuff, right?
01:40All right. So before we reveal what is to come, we feel like it's important to just briefly talk
01:46about how the past has informed the future. So Nick, we'll start things off with you.
01:50Let's talk a little bit about ESO up until this point.
01:53What have we learned over the years with subscriptions and chapters and what have you?
01:58And how are we looking to evolve?
01:59Yeah, absolutely.
02:02You know, ESO, we're coming up on 12 years in just a few months, which is pretty crazy.
02:07It's pretty wild.
02:09And when I look back at ESO's history, it's full of a lot of resilience and transformation.
02:15And, you know, over those 12 years, we made a lot of innovative decisions when we needed to.
02:21You know, like One Tamriel, Homestead, introduction of chapters and so on, right?
02:26They were the right decisions at the time for building the Games Foundation.
02:30And they show that we're capable of making big fundamental changes when we need to.
02:36And this is another one of those moments.
02:40The game, we've heard that from you, our players, that the game has become more predictable
02:46than we'd like and too formulaic.
02:48And frankly, we think that we can make the game more rewarding and exciting.
02:53And change things up.
02:53Right.
02:54Yes, exactly.
02:55And part of that is because the chapter model was limiting.
03:00You know, it took 18 months longer than that in order to do.
03:03It was all hands on deck to support.
03:06And that intensity and lead time just didn't really leave that much room to react to player
03:10feedback, address longstanding issues.
03:14So, you know, we saw this past year as a transition year.
03:17And while we learned a lot, we knew that we needed greater change.
03:21So, we're going to be doing more this year.
03:24Like you said, we want to create ESO with the community.
03:28It's something that players have been asking us to do for a really long time, right?
03:31To pause and work on addressing pain points and building the future of ESO together.
03:38This is the beginning of a major shift, just like one Tamriel was a decade ago, where we're
03:42going to be making major changes just in a completely different way.
03:45Yeah, and, you know, when we were talking internally about the future of ESO, one of the founding
03:52pillars of conversations was that of player trust and something internally we were calling
03:57the dev community feedback loop.
03:58So, we know that we've always incorporated player feedback in the dev process, but we
04:04know that we could have greater transparency and just be better about following up with the
04:08community.
04:08So, like Nick was saying, the chapter model that we had been following for the past few
04:14years, the whole timeline was like this speeding train that we couldn't really stop, and it
04:19really did restrict our ability to just be more flexible.
04:22But I think with Seasons, that's really going to introduce an opportunity to allow us to listen
04:27and react a lot more to community feedback in a much better way.
04:31So, what does this look like for all of you?
04:33It means earlier visibility into the things that we're working on.
04:36It means engaging with you earlier in the process and sharing the results of your input on dev
04:43efforts, all of which we know that you've been asking for for a really long time.
04:47Exactly.
04:48So, with Seasons, every team at Zoss, including leadership, like Susan and Nick, consider player
04:54engagement and trust to be the foundation upon which ESO's future is built.
04:59You'll see this in different forms as we evolve our approach and explore what works best for
05:04us and for you.
05:05It may take shape in the way of earlier and more frequent first look and community Q&A
05:10live streams, articles and video content, or early polls, Reddit AMAs, or feedback and
05:17preference surveys.
05:19We recognize that actions do speak louder than words, though, and we've already begun laying
05:23the groundwork for some of the dev community feedback loop efforts with things like the Guild
05:28Summit we held early last year, which informed some of the efforts you're going to hear about
05:34today, and the long-term class identity, vision, goals, and roadmap we shared last December.
05:41We'll continue to expand and evolve based on your feedback.
05:45So, later in the show, you'll also hear more about our community collaboration and next steps
05:50as we develop ESO together.
05:52All of this resulted in the big changes we're going to be talking about and sharing with all
05:57of you today. So, Nick and Susan, let's hop right in to what's coming to ESO.
06:02Absolutely. Well, we're happy to welcome you to our new content model, Seasons.
06:07With Seasons, updates and content will still arrive quarterly, but we're moving away from that
06:13predictable, templated release cadence that players are familiar with, that featured zone,
06:19dungeons, and so on.
06:20We're still going to be telling incredible stories and exploring new areas of Tamriel and beyond,
06:26but the delivery will be different. Each season may look completely different.
06:32This will give us the flexibility to make our game more exciting and invest in addressing
06:37long-standing pain points, add features and improvements players have been asking for,
06:41and update and iterate on the core game rather than always just tasting something brand new.
06:46So, key difference is variety and choice. We want to be building what's important to you,
06:52players, and we believe that this new model is the best way to do so.
06:57So, speaking of big changes, now is a good point for us to talk about one of the first big changes
07:03that we're going to be introducing. We've always charged for most of the new content and features
07:09because they were part of the whole chapter model, not the chapter every year. We felt like ultimately
07:14that this created barriers to play where, depending on whether you owned a chapter or not,
07:19depending on whether you could play with your friends or not, and with so many versions and
07:22DLCs on sale at any given time, it could actually get pretty confusing to try and sort out what you
07:27needed to buy to play with your friends.
07:28Yep, one of the biggest questions we always got.
07:30Absolutely. So, we're going to change that. Starting with Season Zero, all new content and features
07:37are all going to be available for free for anyone who owns ESO or who plays via Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Plus.
07:44Yeah, this is a really exciting change. So, it's going to include if we do any new zones or
07:48any new stories or new systems that we release.
07:52Exactly. To be specific, there will still be some paid content, and we're going to talk a little bit
07:58about that later. But in general, the things that were rolled out as part of chapters,
08:03those will just be game updates from now on. And speaking of game updates, this is also probably
08:11a good time to point out that as part of all of this, with Update 49 in March, we are going to go
08:16ahead and roll the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood, and Arsenium into that main game as well.
08:21Awesome.
08:21Yeah, this is a huge change for ESO, and I really love that we're not just making all the new content
08:27available to everybody, but to your point, it's just going to be so much simpler for players to
08:31understand what to buy to.
08:32All right. Now, let's talk a little bit about the team's vision for how seasons are going to work
08:37in ESO. Susan, what would you say makes up a typical season?
08:42Well, for starters, I kind of hope we don't actually have typical seasons. That's kind of the point of
08:47all of this.
08:47Touche.
08:48So, the seasons themselves can actually be anything we want them to be in terms of content.
08:54But experimentation, variety, you're going to hear those words a lot today, trying new things.
09:00These are the touchstones that we are building seasons on. We're still going to be the elder
09:05schools on, like, we'll mix in new systems, features, stories, zones, all of those things
09:10that everyone knows and loves about ESO. But we want to look at them through a new lens and
09:16ask ourselves about everything. Okay, but it's like, what if? Right? So, stuff like, what if there
09:24were dragons here? Or, you know, what if you could do this content solo instead of with a
09:29group? Or, what if you did this content with a group? What's up in Winterhold?
09:35So, all of that said, seasons are going to happen four times a year. They will be three
09:39months long. And each one is going to contain a Tamriel tome and access to the Gold Coast
09:45Bazaar.
09:45And one last big change as part of this. And absolutely one of those things that we said,
09:52okay, but what if? About when we launch Update 49 in March, we are going to move to a simultaneous
09:58release schedule with PC and consoles now releasing on the same day. Their patches, their updates,
10:04all of that going forward.
10:05That's really cool. And I think that really kind of mirrors what exactly we're trying to
10:10do here this year with, you know, taking a look at things that we've always done just
10:15because we've always done it that way. And identifying areas where we can change things
10:19up and make things better for the community.
10:21Yeah, actually, based on player requests.
10:23Yes.
10:23That okay, but what if? That is actually exactly how we came around to doing the simultaneous
10:28releases. We had a few people on the team go, okay, well, actually, can we?
10:33What if we did? Can we just do this?
10:34Let's. Let's do it.
10:35Love it.
10:36So, all of that said, Nick, you want to talk about the roadmap?
10:42I do. Yes. Very exciting.
10:45I've been waiting.
10:46I have. I've been waiting. And yeah, exactly. We want to, I think what if is a good way
10:52to, is a really good way to put it. We want to walk away from too predictable and instead
10:58be exciting, different. Something that players also have been asking us a lot for is more
11:04transparency, more visibility into what's coming. In the past, we've held a lot back like to
11:10the last, until the last minute. But we're trying to be more transparent and we'll try
11:16to provide players with an idea of what to expect, what we're thinking. Just know that
11:20this is, it's a living plan, right? And things may change. And we want that. That's part of
11:27this. We don't want to be beholden to an 18-month roadmap that we can't adjust. We want to be
11:33able to change based on feedback and what we learn. So let's talk a little bit about what's
11:38coming to Tamriel in 2026. There's a lot on this roadmap and I'm going to list these off
11:43quickly, but we're going to go into more of these later, either in the stream or in
11:48upcoming announcements. So in Season Zero, players can experience the first ever Event Zone,
11:54the Night Market. And that's going to be, well, it's going to be a lot more challenging than our
12:00usual content. We're also going to be launching a whole suite of changes to improve visuals for
12:05class and weapon abilities and start to provide better class identity and make more builds viable.
12:11We'll have brand new Thieves Guild content coming later this year. So, you know, the next
12:15Thieves Guild story in the game, there'll be new stories, some new systems to experience the
12:21content with, like the vault, rumors, favors, and dynamic events. Shia Gorath is returning to
12:27Tamriel. I'm personally, yep, I'm personally very excited for players to experience this story.
12:33Let's see, there'll be a new trial for our in-game community and for players who prefer to take the
12:38game on solo. We have a few things coming. First, we're planning to launch an early version
12:45of Overland Difficulty. There's a lot that we want to do here. So this is just, it's just a first
12:51step for this highly requested feature. But again, just like we were talking about earlier, this is
12:56something we want to get to players soon and adjust based on feedback and do more with it in the future.
13:03So, and we're also introducing solo dungeons later in the year, where players will get to take on
13:09some of our existing dungeons and new solo modes with dedicated rewards. Like Overland Difficulty,
13:16we're planning to start small here. So maybe two or three dungeons to begin with.
13:20And we want to see what players think and if they want more.
13:24That's awesome. It seems like a really good way to learn dungeons.
13:26Yes, yes, yes, exactly. Like, in fact, we're planning to have, I mean, things are currently
13:32in development, so it may change, but we're planning to have multiple modes, including a
13:36story mode. So that's something that, you know, I personally experience, I know that our players
13:40have experienced where they just want to, they want to do the quest, but groups will just run ahead.
13:44And enjoy the story.
13:45Right, right, exactly. And also other modes for, you know, more of players who want more of a challenge.
13:50So we want to have, like, different levels of difficulty for solo.
13:53That's exciting. I'm super excited about this, because I'm a solo player. I love playing MMOs.
13:59I like a lot of other people being around me playing, but I like to play by myself.
14:02Yep.
14:02And so I'm really excited for all of those changes.
14:07Yes, very excited, too. So, yeah, that's going to be coming in 2026. And if players like it, then,
14:13you know, more to come. Let's see what else. We're doing some experimental content.
14:19So, like, there's some that's, well, it's involving seas and ships and naval battles.
14:24All right, yep. We're trying things out and still figuring it out. But, you know, the team
14:29has the space to run with their best ideas here, and that's something that we want.
14:33Let's see, we're investing pretty heavily in PvP this year, and we're providing many player
14:39experience improvements and addressing a lot of pain points that players have expressed.
14:43Both of these, what we're going to do here for PvP and for addressing these, we're going to talk
14:48more in a bit. So, yeah, as just mentioned earlier, like, this new approach is going to
14:54hopefully allow us to work hand-in-hand with our desire to craft ESO's future with and for
15:01the community. We want to hear your thoughts and feedback early and often to help us build
15:07the Tamriel that you want to experience.
15:09What's also really cool about this new way of allowing the dev team to kind of experiment a
15:15little bit more is they'll participate in game jams, you know, maybe once a year or so. And I think
15:22having them have the opportunity to potentially put some of these really kind of creative and unique
15:28ideas into the game is going to be really exciting for players.
15:31Yes. And actually, that's happening. One of the, well, I'm not ready to talk about it.
15:37Oh, come on, Nick. Just between us.
15:40But that's happening. We are actually releasing things that came out of the game jam that were
15:46purely like passion projects from the people here at ZOS. And we're putting them in the game. And I
15:52think there's going to be a lot more of that.
15:53Oh, that's so exciting. I've seen some of them and now I wonder which ones they are. That's exciting.
15:58I have a pretty good idea.
16:01All right. So as we look to the future, we want to share what we're working on with you. Like we've
16:06said much earlier and more often than we have in the past. And hopefully everything we're going
16:11through right now is a testament to that. And in turn, we want to get your feedback earlier and
16:15more often as well. So this means we may share things with you that range anywhere from the early
16:20conceptual phase to actively in development, things that are not yet set in stone. This content could
16:27be experimental, like we've mentioned, or something we're actively developing and need
16:31live feedback on. So this is a big pivot for us. And while it won't happen overnight, you'll
16:37see it continue to evolve over time based on your feedback.
16:40Yep, exactly. Like we want to be more transparent. We want to change the way that we engage with
16:46the community to be more transparent, more collaborative and provide more opportunities for player input
16:51and feedback so that we can incorporate that into our plans. So, you know, recent surveys,
16:56posts asking for feedback and suggestions, showing the roadmap like we are today with the farther
17:01outlook. Like those are just steps in that direction.
17:04Right. So as we head into 2026, seasons, and ESO's next era, all of you will play a critical role
17:12in the game's future development. So please do continue to let us know what you'd like to see and hear
17:17from us on our official social media channels, forums, Reddit, Discord servers, and the feedback
17:24surveys we send out.
17:25Yeah, I think at the end of the day, we just want to make the game that the community wants to be in
17:31and enjoy. You know, it is a game. It should be fun.
17:34Yeah, exactly. All right. Now let's take a closer look at what's in season zero specifically.
17:41We're going to start things off here with two things that Susan actually touched on earlier,
17:45Tamriel Tomes and the Gold Coast Bazaar. These are two brand new features launching with season zero
17:51that are going to allow you to earn all sorts of in-game rewards. And we will also talk about
17:56how ESO Plus evolves in this new seasonal world. Afterwards, we're going to get into the night
18:01market and a whole slew of quality of life improvements that you are definitely going to
18:06want to hear. But first, Susan, why don't you talk to us about Tamriel Tomes?
18:10Sure. So Tamriel Tomes is our take on a battle pass for ESO. And each season is going to have
18:18a unique Tamriel Tome that is available for the duration of the fall season. Everyone will have
18:23access to the free version of the season's tome, and you'll progress the tome by completing weekly
18:29and seasonal challenges and earning tome points. You earn points, you unlock pages in the tome,
18:34and then you can use those points to choose your rewards.
18:36When the team set out to design Tamriel Tomes, we wanted to make sure that it met a few really
18:41important goals for us. First, we wanted everyone to be able to participate in it. No matter what
18:46your interests are or how you play ESO, challenges will cover everything from quests to trials to
18:53PvP and crafting dungeons. And you'll have the option to re-roll the weekly challenges during the
19:01season if you are interested in the current options that you've got on deck for that week.
19:06Nice.
19:07Yeah. So players will be able to re-roll on their own. Like, they don't have to wait for a maintenance
19:11or wait for us to do it. They can just say, I don't like these weekly challenges and just
19:15push a button.
19:16Yeah, exactly.
19:17Second, it was really important to us that this had compelling rewards. The team designed the free
19:24tone to include exciting rewards all season long. So in season zero, for example, you'll be able to
19:32earn new cosmetics. There's a brand new armor. There are 10, I think, weapon styles. There's a
19:39new skill style for bigger. And additionally, you're going to be able to earn 8,000 seals of
19:44endeavor, six crates, furnishings, trade bars, which we'll talk about in a minute, and even more stuff
19:51over the course of the season. And yes, I did just say you can earn seals of endeavor as part of
19:56Tamriel Tomes. And that's part of the big drive to cut down on complexity and confusion.
20:03We want to move away from having multiple types of challenge lists to complete every single day.
20:09I don't know about you. I have enough to-do lists, yes, in my life on a normal basis. I need things a
20:16little bit simpler when I go home and I want to relax and play the game. So we are going to go ahead
20:20and eliminate the daily login rewards and the endeavors challenge systems. But we're moving
20:26all of that into Tamriel Tomes. So you will earn endeavor seals as part of the Tomes system now.
20:33And the things that you used to encounter in the daily login rewards, those would be the sorts of
20:36things that are available for you to select from within the Tomes system. So just streamlined.
20:41Lots of rewards still streamlined. Yeah.
20:43Yeah. And one other thing, just building on that, is that the challenges are weekly and seasonal as
20:50opposed to endeavors, which we had the dailies and the weeklies. And it's like, it does feel like,
20:54oh no, I have to do this today. I have to do this today. So we're hoping that the weekly nature of this
20:58is going to allow more flexibility for players.
21:00Yeah. And just kind of release some of that pressure.
21:02Yeah. I was kind of bummed out if I knew I wasn't going to complete, you know, I would,
21:08I would like your daily login. If you're away for a few days or something, it's like, oh,
21:12I guess I'm not going to get this.
21:13I'd do one of the endeavors challenges and I'd be like, oh, cool. I did that. And then I'd look
21:17at the other ones and I'd be like, well, not actually.
21:19If you're a completionist, that is all of those. So, yeah. So anyway, hopefully this is more
21:25engaging, engaging way to do all of this. We're excited about it.
21:28Okay. So the last thing to note with the Tamriel Tomes is that there are two paid
21:33premium upgrade options that are going to be available for Tamriel Tomes. And depending
21:36on what those upgrades are, they're going to unlock additional tier, um, additional tiers
21:41of reward choices. There'll be bonus items. There'll be, uh, additional cosmetics. Um,
21:47there's a personality, uh, amount, outfit styles, and more stuff that will happen there.
21:52So with both of the premium options, you will also get the ability to keep unlocking pages
21:58and rewards in a season's tome, even after the season ends. So you can actually complete
22:03it on your own schedule in your own timeline.
22:05Um, also one thing I do want to quickly note is that we are not taking away any rewards for
22:11completing things in game, like the dungeon hard modes or doing quests or what have you.
22:15This is just going to be another way for everyone to earn different types of rewards by doing
22:19various activities. Um, all right. So this seems like a good time to talk about the Gold Coast
22:24Bazaar, which was the other thing that you had mentioned. This is the new in-game storefront
22:28that will allow you to unlock in-game rewards just by playing through the game. And it will
22:33also be a way to acquire older items, which is again, something that we've seen from the
22:37community that they've been wanting for a pretty long time.
22:41Yep. I mean, yeah. So we, Tamriel Tomes is going to offer a lot of unique rewards, like
22:46both the free and the paid, uh, tracks, but we didn't want to stop there. So yeah, we're launching
22:51the Gold Coast Bazaar, um, uh, alongside our first season. And it's a store dedicated to
22:56earnable, uh, rewards for players. So just like you said, over the years, we've introduced
23:01so many limited time cosmetics, um, through Golden Pursuits, daily login rewards, Twitch
23:07streams, the anniversary spotlights, events, um, and so on. And if you miss them, it was either
23:12impossible to get them again, or we would reintroduce them like unpredictably or inconsistently.
23:18The Bazaar provides a consistent and reliable place for players to finally be able to claim
23:24these rewards. Um, we'll also have some utility items and some new, uh, brand new items that have
23:29never been seen before in the Bazaar. And we're going to continue to add to the Bazaar over time.
23:34Uh, in fact, uh, in the future, we're planning to make some previous crates and their contents
23:39earnable in the Bazaar. That's something else that players have asked for. Yep. Um, that's not going
23:43to be present in season zero, but it'll likely be in, uh, uh, the next season or the season after
23:49that. Let's see. Items, uh, are going to rotate in and out, but we're trying to avoid frustrating
23:54FOMO. Most items will be up for long durations, like the entirety of a season, um, or longer. And
24:00we're hoping to bring things back quickly. You may have noticed that I keep saying earnable. So
24:05to redeem items from the Bazaar, players will need trade bars and trade bars are primarily earned,
24:11uh, in Tamriel tomes and also elsewhere in the game. We've tried playing the game. Yes, exactly.
24:17We've tried to balance this carefully with the majority of trade bars in the free track, um,
24:21of the tomes. We're planning to include a small amount, uh, in, um, the paid version as a bonus
24:27reward for our players who support the game, um, with the remaining earned through other in-game
24:31activities. Now, some of the things we're talking about, um, are things that you previously,
24:36um, earned from events. Well, we're getting rid of event tickets, um, with seasons. So
24:42players who have event tickets will receive an appropriate amount of trade bars for the
24:46number of event tickets that they have. But unlike event tickets, there's going to be no
24:50cap, um, for how many trade bars players can have. Yep. And critically, trade bars cannot
24:56be purchased for crowns. They must be earned by playing the game. So the Bazaar, it's,
25:01it's designed to give players more options and choice over the rewards that, um, that
25:06you earn, right? Um, there'll be around a hundred items in the Gold Coast Bazaar in
25:11the first season with more coming each season. That's great. So this calls back to players
25:15asking for more ways to earn rewards just by playing the game. Yes, exactly. Nick, um,
25:20is the change with event tickets, is that coming with season zero? Yes, that is coming with
25:25season zero. Fantastic. That's great. Okay. So we've talked a bit about Tamriel Tomes and
25:29the Gold Coast Bazaar at this point. So ESL Plus also was a part of the holistic design when we
25:35were thinking about how to give players more choice and how they earn rewards in game and more ways to
25:42earn through gameplay specifically. So Susan, can you tell us a little bit about how Tamriel Tomes
25:48and the Gold Coast Bazaar interface with ESL Plus and what's it, what this means for those players?
25:53Sure. Um, so for starters, first, most important, we aren't changing the price of ESL Plus and we're
26:00not taking anything away from it. ESL Plus members are going to continue to have access to all of the
26:06past chapters and DLCs, but they're also going to get new benefits layered on top of the membership
26:10that already exists starting with season zero. So first, um, plus subscribers will get a monthly
26:17grant of Tone Points to spend on any of the Tone Rewards. And they're also actually going to earn Tone
26:22points at an accelerated rate. Nice. And then beginning with this month, any ESL Plus subscribers
26:29will receive credit every month towards a free premium plus season upgrade. Now, once you've
26:36accumulated 12 months of being subscribed and that's total months, uh, you will be awarded a premium plus
26:43season upgrade that you can spend on any season. Now we do have some new improvements coming for
26:49everyone and ESL Plus subscribers will have some extra benefits for a few of the things that Susan
26:55will talk about in just a second. Um, let's actually get into those game improvements now because there
27:00is a lot of stuff in here that addresses some longstanding requests and pain points. And I'm
27:05personally really excited about this stuff.
27:07I'm also, I'm very excited to share all this stuff. It's a lot. Um, okay, so let's dig into
27:12the list. Um, with season zero, we're going to start to see updates from a new team that has been
27:19devoted to finding and focusing on the community's most requested quality of life features and other
27:25improvements. So they have been gathering these from community wishlists, from surveys, from summits,
27:31from lurking on forums and seeing what you all are talking about. Um, they are looking at, uh,
27:37last year's requests that we put out, for example, for top pain points and using all of that to build
27:41a backlog of work, um, that they can devote their time to. So we're going to keep doing more of that
27:46in the future as we continue to build out this group schedule of work as well. So update 49 will
27:53include the first wave of all of these changes specifically focused on reducing friction and
27:58respecting player playtime. To start with, we're going to add the ability to respect skills and
28:04attributes directly from the UI at no cost. Nice. We kind of thought of this as we talk all about
28:11being experimental. Hey, why don't you guys get experimental as well? Let's do that too. Yep.
28:17So, um, we're going to go back to the 30 day listing window for guild traders. We didn't really
28:21see a lot of effect from the change that we rolled in previously and nobody really liked it. So we're
28:28going to go ahead and roll that back out and take it back to 30 days. Great. Uh, we are making
28:32outfit slots account wide within we're adding faster writer training. Uh, we're going to allow
28:38for three stat increases instead of one at a time. And, um, speaking of writing, we are adding a brand
28:46new mount available for gold and we're going to move 16 mounts out of the crown store and put those
28:51up for, uh, gold purchase as well. Okay. So we are also increasing the furnishing limits on over half
28:59of our houses as part of a plan to boost furnishing limits across all of our houses. Um, for example,
29:05the cap on large homes is going to increase from 328 to 415. Nice. Yes. It's going to be so much more
29:13room for activities. Yeah. Susan, that's actually a very frequent question we get from the community
29:18is increasing furnishing limits so they can add more to their house. And previously we had looked
29:24at it and there were some technical limitations, but what has changed now where we were able to do
29:28this? So this technical limitations do still exist for some of our houses. Um, one of the things that
29:34we looked at it, you know, in that spirit going back to, as I said earlier, that spirit of, okay,
29:39but what if, um, what we looked at here was we said, all right, well, let's try and solve this
29:44problem. We can't solve it for every single house across the board right now. There are still
29:48technical limitations related to the largest of our houses, but that doesn't mean we can't update
29:53some of the others as we go. So that's kind of how we're looking at it. Let's not hold the whole
29:58thing. If we can make a large chunk of it better while we continue to solve the problem behind the
30:03scenes for the rest. That's great. Um, we are also going to go ahead and add longer antiquities
30:08exploration times, and we're increasing the duration across all difficulties. And for those last two
30:14in particular ESO plus subscribers, we'll get an additional boost above and beyond what the standard
30:19value is. So all in all, we're still a few months away from the update. There might be a few more
30:26things. In fact, there are probably some more things that Nick knows about that I don't actually
30:31know about yet that are going to make it into that. So we'll talk about those over the next couple
30:35of months as we lead up to the updates. Um, and then the last thing is with this group,
30:40which I'm excited about, they've got longer term stuff going on in the background as well.
30:45So these are things that won't be in the next update. But the team is busy working on some
30:50bigger, longer initiatives, like allowing guilds to send mail to their guild members, um,
30:56cross play and guild housing and more. That's exciting.
31:01I hope how you just kind of casually drop something like guild mail and then move on from it.
31:05Gina, we have so much stuff to talk about today. Like if we, if we weren't casual about some of
31:10them, we'd never stop talking to each other. I suspect viewers wouldn't mind if this went for
31:15five or six hours and we just talk about everything. Um, all right. So let's now shift over to the
31:20night market. Um, Nick, why don't you first cover what exactly an event zone is? Yeah. Um, so an event
31:27zone is, um, it's the first type of a new experimental content and the night market is our first one of
31:34these. And the core idea behind the event zone is, uh, it's simple. It's limited time, um, highly
31:40focused, and it's designed for us to try new concepts, mechanics, and importantly, new difficulty
31:45levels. So, uh, it gives the team the space to be creative and gather feedback. The night market,
31:51it's a PVE zone. It's set in Fargrave and it's filled with challenging encounters. We wanted to
31:57experiment with a zone designed to be, uh, genuinely difficult. Um, so this zone is specifically geared
32:03toward experienced players and groups, uh, but it's designed to be accessible by anyone. Um,
32:09it's a fantastic place to try group content for the first time. You don't need a guild, uh, to have
32:13fun here, but we're hoping that it's a fun place for guilds to take on. And we believe that, um, the
32:19zone's difficulty will naturally encourage players, uh, to, to work together. To be clear, like this is,
32:25um, we talked about Overland difficulty earlier. This is not Overland difficulty. This is,
32:29we are also doing Overland difficulty, um, later in 2026, but this zone is going to be,
32:35uh, well, more difficult. The night market is going to feature three factions and you can choose
32:41one to align with each time, uh, the zone becomes available and there will be a competition, uh,
32:46between the factions to see, um, well, who can make the most progress in the night market.
32:51Like any zone, the night market is going to have its own unique rewards. And, uh, the most notable
32:56is, uh, a brand new house, um, that players will unlock and upgrade by progressing through
33:02the zone. Uh, I think the house is pretty cool and unique. Um, and it's going to be the first
33:07time, um, there's a bank that's actually included inside the house. How cool. Yeah. So we're planning
33:12to release, um, also, uh, a brand new functional reward type, uh, with the event zone that, uh,
33:18we think is going to affect gameplay, um, in an exciting way. The night market begins on April
33:2229th and we'll run through mid June, but this isn't a one and done event. We're planning to bring
33:27it back at least once in 2026. And, uh, if players enjoy it, we can bring it back more often
33:33in the future or potentially make it permanent. We're introducing this content to gather feedback
33:38and data on what works, and we'll take those learnings and apply them potentially to this event
33:43zone, um, to the next event zone, or even future seasonal content to ensure that, um, we're always
33:49improving the experience. All right. So in addition to the event zone, we also have the first wave of
33:55updates for the class and combat work we talked about in December going live with season zero.
34:00So Nick, would you tell us a little bit more about that? Yes. Yes. Um, like we've been talking
34:05about throughout this, the health of the base game and reinvesting in existing parts of the game is
34:10really important, right? The improvements that Susan just talked about, um, are one step in that
34:14direction. And another one is that we're, um, planning to invest heavily. We are investing
34:19heavily in, um, foundational experience of, uh, of ESO. So as part of that, we're reviewing and
34:25improving the combat experience. This is ongoing. It's going to be released in parts over the course
34:30of the next few years. So this isn't just a single update. Um, and, uh, the responses from the class
34:36survey we shared last September, last September and, uh, the combat and vision roadmap we released in
34:42December, those were crucial in helping us to prioritize and shape the team's, uh, work on this.
34:48What's going to be included as part of this first is a visual refresh for all of our classes and
34:53combat skill lines. Um, and also mechanical updates to reduce floatiness and deliver a more modern field.
35:00And ESO was made over, over 10 years ago, right? Close to 12 years at this point. And we've learned a lot
35:05since then. And newer classes have benefited from that. We want all classes to benefit from what we've
35:11learned, uh, while still feeling unique and staying true to their core. Critically, we remain dedicated
35:16to the, the play your way core combat pillar. However, um, we recognize that with the introduction
35:22of subclassing, um, that's created issues at odds with that goal, you know, specifically impacting class
35:28identity, peer classes, build viability, and, uh, flexibility. We're working on addressing these issues, uh,
35:35with these efforts. We want class identity, identity to be clearer. We want peer classes to be
35:40competitive and we want as many builds as possible to be viable across all content.
35:45So the first major wave of this work is arriving in March. Um, and the March update will feature the
35:52Dragon Knight class. And that will include a visual refresh, uh, for many of its abilities.
35:57It's really cool to see, uh, how these are shaping up and I, I really can't wait for players to get to
36:03experience them. We're also making adjustments to the skill lines to make them feel like a more
36:11complete kit, um, to make pure pure classes more viable. As a bonus, you can also earn a full set of
36:17blue skill styles for Dragon Knight abilities in game, uh, in season zero.
36:21We're also, as part of the March update, uh, including a visual refresh for the two-handed weapon skill
36:30line. And we're going to keep, um, working on, uh, those weapon skill lines as a part of this.
36:37We're also going to be revamping werewolf visuals that will likely come in June. Um, and that'll include the
36:43werewolf model. And as part of that, we're actually going to be including, uh, a female werewolf model that's going to be free.
36:49And that's something that players have been requesting for years. And so we're just going to keep, um, going with this, you know, uh, every loss, uh, multiple times a year. And, um, again, feedback is an important part of this. We want to hear from players. Um, we know, is this, is this the right direction? Um, what should we be doing differently? And that's part of this. To be clear, like this doesn't mean that we won't make other changes to classes along the way. Uh, we do want to address outstanding issues throughout development, not just focus on one
37:19class at a time at the expense of all else. However, our primary focus will be on addressing each class holistically, uh, revamping them both visually and mechanically again, to modernize them, um, and tackle, tackle major player, um, concerns like class
37:34identity, build viability and flexibility. It's, it's a different way we could go about it is to try to hit like many classes all at once again, again, and again, and again, but taking a step back and looking
37:46at the classes, looking, uh, where we want the classes to be again, based on feedback from players, uh, we thought was really important to be able to do this as well as possible.
37:54I think it's also important for us to touch on PVP and some things that we're doing for the PVP community.
38:00Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like I mentioned earlier, uh, when we were going over the roadmap, um, we are making some pretty big investments in PVP this year.
38:07So first we'll continue our PVP vengeance work, um, after the March update and we'll share learnings and a new plan shortly after that.
38:14We're going to be launching, uh, a new PVP progression system.
38:18Um, that's going to include dedicated PVP rewards, including unique cosmetics that we're planning to update regularly, and that's likely coming in June.
38:27The team's also bringing back three-sided battlegrounds. Um, that's again, something that players have been asking for, um, probably starting with a three-sided battleground weekends to see what players think.
38:37Uh, if it's received positively, we'll make it available more often, um, or potentially make it a permanent load.
38:42Cool. Um, we'll be addressing pain points and quality of life improvements, uh, with PVP.
38:47Just a few examples. We're planning to add ways to get around Serietal faster.
38:53We're going to be fixing the, um, Alessia, Ash, and, uh, Chalman keeps to stop the issue of players slingshotting into the inner keeps, which players have understandably, um, expressed frustration about.
39:04We're fixing a couple of battleground maps like, um, Riemann's Folly and, um, Huntsman's Fortress, uh, to address spawn camping issues.
39:12And, uh, those are just a few examples. There'll be more things like this, um, over the course of, uh, of the next year.
39:18Um, and just like everything we've talked about today, all of this will be available to all players who own ESO, like no new chapter or DLC required.
39:27This focus on base game health, uh, transparency, and listening to your feedback. Um, it's not just a temporary goal. It's the foundation of our new model and the key to ESO's future.
39:39Um, I've said this before, but, but ESO is nothing. It's nothing without you, the players. And we truly believe that by building this game with you, that we can make the next decade of Elder Scrolls Online the best one yet.
39:50All right. Well, we covered a lot in this show. And while we'll have web articles going up with more details shortly, we did just want to quickly summarize everything we just went through.
40:01So first, seasons are coming to ESO. This is going to introduce a host of new and varied and sometimes even experimental content that will be free for all ESO players.
40:11Each season will also introduce a Tamriel Tome. This is going to give you new ways to unlock in-game rewards with both paid and free options.
40:20And we're adding the Gold Coast Bazaar for even more items.
40:24Season Zero is going to kick off all of those quality of life features that we covered in addition to the visual refresh and mechanic updates for the classes and the combat skill lines.
40:34As a reminder, the next game update will roll out March 9th on all platforms simultaneously.
40:40And moving forward, all updates and patches are also going to occur on the same day.
40:44Just really exciting for console players.
40:46Season Zero is officially going to kick off on April 2nd, along with the first Tamriel Tome.
40:52And that's going to be followed by the Night Market launching on April 29th.
40:57And remember, if you want to get a first look at Season Zero and a lot of the things we covered today, it will be available on the test server next week.
41:04So your feedback on our future plans, as we've said a few times throughout today's stream, whether it's about Season Zero, Update 49, or anything else from the roadmap, is very important to us.
41:15And we're eager to hear what you think about the future of our game.
41:18So watch for a survey link in chat following today's stream.
41:22If you miss it, don't worry.
41:23We'll share it a few different places, too.
41:25Speaking of, let's return to this year's roadmap.
41:28As you might have noticed, there's a lot of fun stuff listed there for this year's Seasons.
41:34We can't wait to share more details with all of you during our Seasons Direct this spring.
41:39For more on Season Zero specifically, we'll also have more live streams and previews between now and the season launch, including one next week, I think, right?
41:47We will be talking with the team who is doing a lot of those quality of life features, so we can just get into more detail about a lot of those things.
41:54So stay tuned for details on our website and social channels soon.
41:56We want to give a huge thank you to our special guests, Nick and Susan, for joining us in this very important live stream today.
42:03Do either of you have any final words for the ESO community?
42:07Yes, absolutely.
42:09Thank you to hosting us on this live stream.
42:11Thanks, Nick, for hanging out here on the couch and talking about all this stuff, all of us.
42:16And a big thank you to all of you.
42:19We're so excited to share this with you.
42:21Thank you for being a part of Tamriel for this last decade and more.
42:26Yeah, yes.
42:28Thank you so much for playing and for supporting this game that we love.
42:32And welcome to the next decade of Elder Scrolls Online.
42:35It's going to be fun.
42:36Yeah, ESO is changing.
42:38But we are really excited to start this journey of seasons and work together with all of you a lot more.
42:44Thanks for tuning in today.
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