The developers of Elder Scrolls Online have announced major changes for the MMORPG in 2026. MeinMMO summarizes how the plans are received by the community.
What has been announced? During a livestream, the developers of Elder Scrolls Online revealed the plans for 2026 on January 7, 2026. Some of the key announcements include:
- The MMORPG is transitioning to a fixed seasonal model with 4 seasons per year, each lasting 3 months.
- All future playable content for ESO will be free for everyone with access to ESO starting from the launch of “Season Zero”. The Content Pass from 2025 is history. Instead, there will be a new Battle Pass system.
- With the upcoming seasons as well as updates, many community requests will be implemented, and experiments will be undertaken (such as the introduction of ship battles on the high seas).
In the course of the stream, the developers announced much more. You can find the full information page in our overview article: The Elder Scrolls Online renovates its payment model in 2026 again, introduces unusual experiments.
Some anger, but also a lot of praise
How is the community reacting to the announcements? At first glance, quite mixed. This is mainly because many players criticize the new payment model. Curious-Tome writes on Reddit: “Monthly subscription plus paid Battle Pass plus paid Premium Battle Pass plus loot boxes… that’s just crazy.”
Other players agree with the criticism:
- InBlurFather explains on Reddit: “It’s ridiculous to have two paid Battle Passes in addition to ESO+. I would have given them a chance if they had announced that ESO+ would be canceled and all previous DLCs/expansions would be granted to all players + a crafting bag with two tiered Battle Passes. But the Premium Battle Pass + ESO+ is crazy.”
- NJH_in_LDN adds on Reddit: “I think ESO has the worst of everything in terms of monetization. There’s a purchase price for the game, a subscription that provides most content (but not all), and now also Battle Passes?”
- Karzak85 criticizes this on Reddit: “So ESO+ and Crown Store AND Battle Pass? Now they just need P2W items and they’ve gold-plated everything.”
Among all the critical comments, there are also players defending the new payment model. The main reason: all upcoming gameplay-related content will be free. Various previously paid content will be gradually integrated into the base game.
- ITrageGuy writes on Reddit: “What am I missing here? This sounds great. The only paid addition is the paid Battle Passes, everything else is free. Are we just hating for the sake of hating?”
“These are all great changes”
What is being praised? Indeed, while scanning the countless comments on Reddit and the official forum, we got the impression that the plans for 2026 are receiving widespread praise apart from the new monetization.
- Cooperharley celebrates on elderscrollsonline.com: “10 out of 10, I’m excited. Great victory.”
- LunaFlora agrees in the forum: “Thank you so much. I’m really looking forward to 2026. I especially love that we can hide all outfit pieces. The visual refresh of the Dragonknight looks so epic, I’m also really looking forward to the Warden.”
- DedlyX7 praises another thing on Reddit: “That the DLCs and Greymoor are landing in the base game is great news for all non-subscribers.”
- Kestrel_Five evaluates the quality of life improvements on Reddit: “These are all great changes that I believe improve quality of life and reduce the grind.”
- Brickthedummydog emphasizes that on Reddit: “It’s nice to see. These are a series of small quality of life improvements that have been demanded for ages!”
How does MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz evaluate the announcement? Over the past years, former Game Director Rich Lambert always explained to me that certain things are either impossible or difficult to implement in the now rather outdated engine of Elder Scrolls Online.
I am thus all the more surprised now that experiments like ship battles on the high seas or the often-requested increase in the number of furniture for certain home sizes are to come.
Also cool: The developers are finally addressing the long-standing criticism regarding the low difficulty level of Elder Scrolls Online: with the selectable difficulty levels for the open world and the apparently very challenging event zone that is to come with Season 0.
I can understand the criticism of the seasonal model and the new Battle Pass. I am not a fan of this type of service and monetization, regardless of the genre. The Content Pass 2025 from last year was even worse because it was expensive and mandatory for anyone wanting the new content.
I therefore find it also very good that in the future, new classes, dungeons, raids, quest content, and zones will simply be received through free updates (if they are good and fun) and that the great content from, for example, Greymoor and Orsinium is to land in the base game.
Some of the comments to the stream also show that many players who currently avoid Elder Scrolls Online are not attracted by the announced improvements. Partly because the crafting bag, which is essential for crafting, still belongs to the paid ESO+ subscription, and partly because many find fighting unenjoyable.
While the developers are planning comprehensive adjustments for all classes, it is likely that the basic combat experience will not change significantly. This keeps many players actually interested in Tamriel at bay. You can learn more about this in the following article: In Elder Scrolls Online, all classes are in for a revamp, player asks: “Are you crazy?”
