In the fantasy MMO The Elder Scrolls Online, TESO, extensive renovations are taking place. The game is set to move more towards the successful single-player series. The plans for the coming months are now clear.
A true flood of information descended on the participants of the Guild Summit for two days. Zenimax invited representatives from 20 guilds and communities to the headquarters and presented, in hours-long presentations, the changes that will come to The Elder Scrolls Online in the next months and perhaps years. The developers’ vision for TESO is now clearer to see.
The Future in Keywords
We summarize the most important of the planned changes for you:
- After level 50, players will continue to develop with the Champion System. New passive skill trees will be introduced, into which up to 2100 Champion points can be invested. A Champion point should be earnable in approximately one hour in the game.
- The Justice System will be extensive and should bring a kind of “Cops and Robbers” open-world PvP along with new skill lines.
- The Imperial City will be a huge PvE zone (with enabled PvP) in the midst of Cyrodiil, where the factions will compete for dominance.
- The Crafting System will become more logical and clearer. With two new crafting styles and a treasure map system, a lot is planned.
- The Combat System will be made smoother and more exciting.
- For the dungeons, there will soon be daily quests and reward levels.
- For the future, more trials, a hard mode for raids, solo arenas, and new dungeons are planned.
- The world is set to become more interactive, with even more things to interact with in the world – it should make logical sense, for example, apples should come from a basket of apples, not pears.
- In new systems, among other things, spell weaving, poison mixing, and horse racing will be introduced.
What’s Behind It? Zenimax Focuses on Three Pillars
If you let the information sink in and look for a common thread, it becomes clear that Zenimax is focusing on the strengths of the single-player series and mixing that with "that certain something" that ensures players find no end in MMOs.
Pillar 1 – That Certain Something: A Touch of MMO
Thus, they want to loosen the initially very tight item limits so that players find the motivation to search for better armors and weapons. With daily quests and more activities in the world, players should always have something to do. These are the classic MMO mechanisms that TESO initially wanted to avoid, but Zenimax now seems to believe belong in an MMO.
Along with the Champion System, there’s another incentive for players to feel like they are "advancing in the world," even if they do not experience a single "hurrah" moment in one day like finding a new item.
Pillar 2 – Learning from Skyrim Means Exciting Players
On the other hand, the game is clearly steering towards the single-player parts. The world is set to become more interactive, and individual heroes are meant to differ more strongly in their alignment. Here, the Justice System is certainly the decisive factor.
Pillar 3 – Building on the Existing, Completing the Missing
The third pillar is the logical development of what one already has. The Imperial City is a central component in the PvP concept of The Elder Scrolls Online, which is known to be based on Dark Age of Camelot. Even in the MMO classic DAOC, it required a chaotic element like “Darkness Falls” back then to keep the action moving and prevent a standstill at the front lines. That is now to be delivered with the Imperial City.
Additions of an arena mode will surely please some.
The Elder Scrolls Online Impresses with Determination
The impressive thing about the upheaval is how determined and clearly it has been executed and communicated. Even in the first months after the launch, when everything was still chaotic, the foundations for the current decisions must have been laid. No time was wasted. Nothing remained sacred, even the initially tight item limits are currently being loosened. Arenas, which were previously avoided, are being introduced.
The current Guild Summit shows that they are ready to lay all cards on the table and tell the players exactly what they plan. This reflects a trust in the plans and the ability to actually implement them. There must have been a transformation in the philosophy. Hardly any developer company is as transparent and open as this. Zenimax previously appeared rather reclusive and tight-lipped before and shortly after the release.
What Does the Timeline Look Like?
It will be crucial when the three key elements of the upheaval will be introduced. The Champion System may start things off and might debut in Update 5 or 6, towards the end of the year. Perhaps by February/March next year, it will be time for the Imperial City. And in the summer of 2015, it may finally be time for the Justice System.
If these three core elements were to come into the game over the next six to nine months, a lot would already be accomplished. After all, these would be features of a scope that would be spread out over two paid expansions in other games. And not even mentioning some “It would be nice if … but well” systems like spell weaving yet. That would be for later.
And When Will The Elder Scrolls Online Go to Consoles?
The big trump card of TESO is certainly the potential port to consoles, which would be akin to a kind of relaunch. Looking at what The Elder Scrolls Online still intends to do, it is nearly impossible that TESO will still release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as planned this year. They are basically just waiting for an official statement that they will not be able to meet the deadline.
Also, a port in the first quarter of 2015 – as suggested by Amazon – now seems rather unlikely.
If you want to dive deeper into the topic, we recommend the following articles:
- Elder Scrolls Online: Theft, Burglary, Homicide – Details about the Justice System
- Elder Scrolls Online: Everything Changes – Imperial City, Champion System, New Talent Trees
- Elder Scrolls Online Takes a Page from WildStar: Bronze, Silver, Gold in Dungeons
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Crafting and Combat Are Being Overhauled
- Elder Scrolls Online: A Look at the First 4 Months of TESO and Why Everything Will Change Now
