The Elder Scrolls Online: The best news of 2016 – How did the year go for ESO?

Looking back on the year 2016 for the MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online (PC, PS4, Xbox One) – with the best and most important news.

It was a good, but not an outstanding year for The Elder Scrolls Online, considering the reader interest in the title on our page. There was no highlight that peaked interest as high as in June 2015, when ESO came to Xbox One and PS4. However, The Elder Scrolls Online remained stable, even in its third year. It did, however, slightly decline in the second half of the year.

These were the most important news in 2016

The ESO year can be divided like a cake into four pieces. Each quarter was supposed to see an update or a DLC – this went smoothly in 2016, but by the end of the year, some of the cake ran out:

• The 1st quarter saw the arrival of the  Thieves Guild, which came to Tamriel in March. We took a closer look at the adventures in Hew’s Flute.
• In the 2nd quarter, Zenimax released the DLC Dark Brotherhood in May. With that, Zenimax closed two glaring gaps in the base game in the first months of 2016, bringing players new quests and areas, two guilds, and new features. A strong first half of the year, from which the rest of the year would benefit.

• In the 3rd quarter, the DLC “Shadow of the Hist” was smaller. It came in early August, bringing dungeons and cosmetics. We also took a closer look at Shadow of the Hist.
• In the 4th quarter, “One Tamriel” opened the borders, everything has been scaled since then – level differences no longer matter in most of The Elder Scrolls Online. This was not a DLC, but a free update.

By the end of the year, things became quieter until Zenimax presented the Housing expansion “Homestead” for the new year – also a free update. At the end of 2016, lockboxes were introduced to the game.

These were the most read articles about ESO in 2016

The three articles with the most views in 2016 on Mein-MMO about ESO:

• The most popular article about ESO was also the first one we had in 2016. It was the outlook from January 7 “Where is TESO at the beginning of 2016,” which received the most clicks. Here we looked at the general situation regarding ESO, how the game had changed in 2015, and what players could expect in 2016.
• In the second most popular article, we presented the new item sets of the Thieves Guild , also an article from the beginning of the year.
• In third place is “One Tamriel is live, more freedom for the players” from October with the third most views. Here we explain what exactly changes with the update that should open ESO to all players.

Our favorite articles about The Elder Scrolls Online in 2016

Our favorite articles about The Elder Scrolls Online in 2016 all revolve around interviews with Matt Firor, the head behind the title. Between the lines, the recipe for ESO’s success can be read: Less MMORPG, more Skyrim; fewer rules and conventions, more freedom for players.

Somewhat heretically, one could summarize: The more players were given what they expected when they bought ESO, namely a “Skyrim Online,” the more successful the title was, especially on PS4 and Xbox One. Thus, ESO made the turnaround. The MMORPG had started in 2014 with many problems.

This is also interesting for us, as Firor’s statements can be transferred to the genre.

• The Elder Scrolls Online: We are not an MMORPG and therefore successful
• The Elder Scrolls Online: Great success thanks to Buy2Play, DLCs, and Destiny
• At Gamescom, we were able to interview Firor himself: The Elder Scrolls Online: “The heroes are more like mercenaries”

We at Mein-MMO look back at the most important news of our core titles between the years. Yesterday we began with:

FIFA 17: The best news in 2016 – From Champions, The Journey, and the Dab!