As customary at the end of the year, ZeniMax Online Studios boss Matt Firor wrote a letter about the state of The Elder Scrolls Online, the popular MMORPG that just celebrated its tenth year of live service.
Firor discussed major changes coming to the structure of upcoming content. The team has focused on delivering annual expansions called Chapters ever since 2017’s Morrowind. They released the eighth this year, Gold Road, which added a new Scribing mechanics that allowed users to tweak skills/spells and three zones in the vicinity of Cyrodiil.
Gold Road will be the last Chapter released for Elder Scrolls Online, though. The team is changing its approach to new content, switching to a seasonal distribution instead. Firor said the Seasons might last anywhere from three to six months, featuring a blend of content like new stories, events, in-game store items, dungeons, and more.
2025 will be a transition year as the team shifts to the new model. As such, players can expect new zone-based content that has been in the works for some time, as well as ‘some larger items.’ According to the Studio Director of ZeniMax Online Studios, the new approach will allow the team to release more varied content more efficiently.
He actually went on to detail the specific areas of focus where ‘experiments’ will be conducted and evaluated based on community feedback:
- Cyrodiil performance. ZeniMax Online Studios will be experimenting with a Cyrodiil campaign where all classes will have PvP-specific (and more performant) skills that replace the standard player skills with the expectation that we can support more players per campaign
- Increasing the difficulty of standard overworld combat
- Improving the overall feel of combat with animation, FX, and potentially audio work
- Experimenting with more zones like Craglorn (although not as large in area or scope), created exclusively for high-end group and soft-group content with associated gear chase
- Adding and refining tools to make guild recruitment, interaction, and management easier and more logical
That’s not all, as the development team also wants to improve the experience of new and returning Elder Scrolls Online users alike. Other objectives include a new PC patcher, improving the visuals of base game zones with updated textures and assets (this will begin rolling out next March), enhancing the game’s PC UI, and other map and UI systems currently in the design/concept stage.
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