In 2026, the developers of Elder Scrolls Online plan to implement several experiments in the MMORPG. These include new difficulty levels for the world of Tamriel. Their concrete plan has now been presented by the devs.
What does Zenimax plan for ESO? With the launch of Season Zero in Spring or Summer 2026, the world of Elder Scrolls Online will receive selectable difficulty levels.
With this, the developers are addressing the long-standing criticism from the community that the MMORPG is significantly too easy in many areas. On the other hand, they want to offer experienced players additional incentives through a greater challenge, but also through additional rewards.
Specifically, there will be bonuses for gold and experience at the new difficulty levels.
What difficulty levels are planned? The current difficulty of Elder Scrolls Online will become the new standard level “Adventurous.” Here, everything will remain the same. In addition, the following 3 options will be available:
- Hardened: You will take 100% more damage from non-player characters (NPCs) and deal 20% less damage. You will receive 50% more gold and 20% more experience from NPCs.
- Masterful: You will take 300% more damage from NPCs and deal 50% less damage. You will receive 100% more gold and 75% more experience from NPCs.
- Soulless: This will be the highest difficulty level at launch. You will take 600% more damage from NPCs and deal 80% less damage. You will receive 200% more gold and 100% more experience from NPCs.
At the start, these levels will affect the open world of Tamriel. This includes Vaults, open dungeons, and story instances. However, they will not affect content such as dungeons, trials, arenas, the Endless Archive, or the new Night Market zone.
The developers emphasize that the system should be as flexible as possible to fit the existing foundation of ESO. Players using different difficulty levels should be able to play together.
Furthermore, the developers explain that tester feedback is crucial to determine how the system will ultimately go live. The specific numbers may still change, for example. Additionally, the devs plan to expand the difficulty levels after Season Zero.
“I love this!”
How does the community react to the announcement? Many players are excited in a recent discussion on Reddit about the new system.
- CappinPeanut writes, for example: “I love this! The boring overworld is why I don’t play ESO – this would get me back. I think that gold and XP (experience points) are a weak incentive, but it sounds like they’re open to adjusting that. Along with a revamp of the combat system, this could be huge for ESO!”
- Few-Hotel4156 adds: “Great news. I quit ESO because of the low difficulty, even though it’s my favorite MMORPG when it comes to questing.”
- a3nter is also excited: “This is sick, this is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.”
However, there are still one or two open questions. Especially the interaction between players using different difficulty levels worries some. Can this system be exploited? The tests will show. Those who want to learn more about the current plans for ESO can check here: The Elder Scrolls Online is once again overhauling the payment model in 2026 and presenting unusual experiments
