Official Discussion Thread for "ESO’s January 2026 Survival Guide"

ZOS_Kevin · January 2

This is the official discussion thread for, "ESO’s January 2026 Survival Guide"

"New year, new adventures! Get your 2026 off to a strong start by checking out what ESO has in store for you this January."

Dithieon · January 2

I am no expert, but I am getting a Nord vibe from this roadmap.Could the next season be Nord themed?

metheglyn · January 2

That's a gorgeous bear mount; my warden will for sure be glad to add that burly mount to his stable.

I'm curious to find out about the base game improvements coming soon, too. I hadn't realized there was anything on the slate for that. And, of course, very curious about the January 7 reveal.

LunaFlora · January 2

awesome!
looking forward to January 7 and 12.

LunaFlora · January 2

Dithieon wrote: »

I am no expert, but I am getting a Nord vibe from this roadmap.Could the next season be Nord themed?

- that update 49 picture is old promo art for the Dragonknight class, the first class to be refreshed.

- the Whitestrake's Mayhem picture has its new outfit style Tava's Goshawk, Tava is a Redguard diety.

- the Bear is a bear, Tamriel has bears in multiple regions, they are not specific to Skyrim.

- the livestream picture has 1 Nord, Lyris Titanborn, but the rest are all different races.

However,
The Elder Scrolls 5 Skyrim is turning 15 this November, so we could get something related to it. But does not have to be the first Season

tsaescishoeshiner · January 2

Dithieon wrote: »

I am no expert, but I am getting a Nord vibe from this roadmap.Could the next season be Nord themed?

The cosmetics in the All-Maker Crates struck me as potential assets for a new zone, and there's certainly a lot of Skyrim left. It would be cool to learn more about the ancient nords and the old religions. (And of course the falmer.)

Elsonso · January 2

Dithieon wrote: »

I am no expert, but I am getting a Nord vibe from this roadmap.Could the next season be Nord themed?

Hmm.

My expectation is that the "roadmap" will be just the next couple months with "To Be Announced "place holders for the rest of the year. We should find out if they are thinking "Skyrim". There will be a "Wall" event in the latter half of the year that may or may not be boring. We will at least find out the name of it.

In general, I am looking forward to the 5 minute summary of what is coming after they finish the show. I can't see spending time watching it live for a trinket Twitch drop.

Gadamlub14_ESO · January 2

well, neither this months roadmap nor the daily logins are exciting thus far. hope there is something neat with the livestream.

M_Volsung · January 3

Dwemer crates when?

Nampy · January 3

With the return of the Wall, will we be able to finish the quest to assist the Stirk?

majulook · January 3

"Writhing Wall Phase 3 Return (January 21–28)

The Writhing Fortress is once again open to the defenders of Solstice who may have missed out on their chance to tackle this massive dungeon during the recent Writhing Wall in-game event."

So a return of the heavily marketed "One Time Event"?

metheglyn · January 3

majulook wrote: »

"Writhing Wall Phase 3 Return (January 21–28)

The Writhing Fortress is once again open to the defenders of Solstice who may have missed out on their chance to tackle this massive dungeon during the recent Writhing Wall in-game event."

So a return of the heavily marketed "One Time Event"?

It's not the full event, just the fortress. They brought it back so people who experienced bugs trying to complete it could experience it as it was meant to be.

Yes, they did market it as one-time and temporary, but since it didn't quite work out as intended, they're giving people another chance to play through the fortress. I have no problem with that.

Syldras · January 3

majulook wrote: »

"Writhing Wall Phase 3 Return (January 21–28)
The Writhing Fortress is once again open to the defenders of Solstice who may have missed out on their chance to tackle this massive dungeon during the recent Writhing Wall in-game event."
So a return of the heavily marketed "One Time Event"?

The main problem I have is that is was planned as a one time event in the first place - what a waste of resources! The whole year is so light on content (Only 13 side quests in East Solstice; the whole island with both parts has about as much content as the small winter story dlcs had some years ago!), talking away one significant part of it just feels wrong. Also I see that much work and care went into building the fortress and designing the quest. It's a pity to just throw all that away.

Ingenon · January 3

majulook wrote: »

"Writhing Wall Phase 3 Return (January 21–28)

The Writhing Fortress is once again open to the defenders of Solstice who may have missed out on their chance to tackle this massive dungeon during the recent Writhing Wall in-game event."

So a return of the heavily marketed "One Time Event"?

I plan to try the Writhing Fortress when it returns. I was able to complete it after several tries when it was first out, but on several of my tries it stopped progressing part way through. I would like to see how it plays now that the developers have worked to remove some of the bugs.

Necrotech_Master · January 3

majulook wrote: »

"Writhing Wall Phase 3 Return (January 21–28)

The Writhing Fortress is once again open to the defenders of Solstice who may have missed out on their chance to tackle this massive dungeon during the recent Writhing Wall in-game event."

So a return of the heavily marketed "One Time Event"?

they clearly stated they were bringing it back this extra time only because of all the bugs and issues when it first happened

i dont think they intended to bring it back at all, but due to all the issues and a chance to try to do some good will for the community they are bringing it back for an extra week to hopefully let people enjoy it without bugs

Lugaldu · January 4

Is the composition of the group in the picture purely random, or are these the people we will meet again in 2026?

Syldras · January 4

Lugaldu wrote: »

Is the composition of the group in the picture purely random, or are these the people we will meet again in 2026?

The picture is old and has already been used several times, for example as a promo pic for the Pan-Tamriel Celebrations in January 2025.

Cooperharley · January 4

I'd rather move forward and focus on adding brand new, polished content rather than having us revisit a very (not to be rude) poorly done in-game event, personally. Let's focus on the year ahead rather than re-doing the Writhing Wall event. How many people are genuinely excited about this? It didn't land like it was broadcasted at all. Let's move on and better the game.

If we're going to revisit stuff, let's improve existing systems like vampire and werewolf, the companions system (hasn't had a single change other than additional companions added since its release), battlegrounds, player retention, rewards, etc.

Edit: grammatical issues

metheglyn · January 4

Cooperharley wrote: »

I'd rather move forward and focus on adding brand new, polished content rather than having us revisit a very (not to be rude) poorly done in-game event, personally. Let's focus on the year ahead rather than re-doing the Writhing Wall event. How many people are genuinely excited about this? It didn't land like it was broadcasted at all. Let's move on and better the game.

If we're going to revisit stuff, let's improve existing systems like vampire and werewolf, the companions system (hasn't had a single change other than additional companions added since its release), battlegrounds, player retention, rewards, etc.

Edit: grammatical issues

It's not an either/or situation. Just because they're bringing back the Fortress so people can experience it without progress-stopping bugs doesn't mean they aren't going to look at improving other systems.

Cooperharley · January 4

metheglyn wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

I'd rather move forward and focus on adding brand new, polished content rather than having us revisit a very (not to be rude) poorly done in-game event, personally. Let's focus on the year ahead rather than re-doing the Writhing Wall event. How many people are genuinely excited about this? It didn't land like it was broadcasted at all. Let's move on and better the game.

If we're going to revisit stuff, let's improve existing systems like vampire and werewolf, the companions system (hasn't had a single change other than additional companions added since its release), battlegrounds, player retention, rewards, etc.

Edit: grammatical issues

It's not an either/or situation. Just because they're bringing back the Fortress so people can experience it without progress-stopping bugs doesn't mean they aren't going to look at improving other systems.

I'm saying I would rather the people dedicated towards improving this event and bringing it back are dedicated towards in game systems that are used daily and have not been improved or added to in quite some time OR be utilized in their specific niche to take what went wrong in this event and dedicate extra time towards a similar future event that would be of a similar sort.

metheglyn · January 4

Cooperharley wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

I'd rather move forward and focus on adding brand new, polished content rather than having us revisit a very (not to be rude) poorly done in-game event, personally. Let's focus on the year ahead rather than re-doing the Writhing Wall event. How many people are genuinely excited about this? It didn't land like it was broadcasted at all. Let's move on and better the game.

If we're going to revisit stuff, let's improve existing systems like vampire and werewolf, the companions system (hasn't had a single change other than additional companions added since its release), battlegrounds, player retention, rewards, etc.

Edit: grammatical issues

It's not an either/or situation. Just because they're bringing back the Fortress so people can experience it without progress-stopping bugs doesn't mean they aren't going to look at improving other systems.

I'm saying I would rather the people dedicated towards improving this event and bringing it back are dedicated towards in game systems that are used daily and have not been improved or added to in quite some time OR be utilized in their specific niche to take what went wrong in this event and dedicate extra time towards a similar future event that would be of a similar sort.

I see. From what I understand, them bringing the Fortress back in fully working condition is for the players who wanted to complete it but literally could not. Them fixing it is not at the expense of other work, but in addition to it: a bug fix rather than new development. I don't care about the Fortress, so it being brought back doesn't matter to me, but I think there are players who want to play through it properly.

At any rate, we'll see in a few days if they have plans to improve any of the other items you mentioned.

Cooperharley · January 4

Cheers

Rohamad_Ali · January 5

We will be watching.

Tra_Lalan · January 5

My guess for the first picture is companions romance options. Hope it will not be "the big" thing we get this patch.

My expectations are low regarding new content, but there are still many things they could do without much cost and get the community satisfied (just to mention the post subclass balancing).

Cooperharley · January 5

Tra_Lalan wrote: »

My guess for the first picture is companions romance options. Hope it will not be "the big" thing we get this patch.

My expectations are low regarding new content, but there are still many things they could do without much cost and get the community satisfied (just to mention the post subclass balancing).

Those are all just main characters in ESO's story around a campfire. Would be cool though!

Syldras · January 5

In the Xor-Hist side quest in East Solstice, there's an Argonian elder who tells us:
"Toteik-vastei iz hikkan. Do you understand?"
As a non-Argonian character, you can only reply: "No, I don't understand."
And he'll say: "And by the knots of my ancestors, we are safer for it. Think nothing more about it."
As an Argonian character, you will understand him: "The great change draws closer"

Make of that what you will.

Cooperharley · January 5

Syldras wrote: »

In the Xor-Hist side quest in East Solstice, there's an Argonian elder who tells us:
"Toteik-vastei iz hikkan. Do you understand?"
As a non-Argonian character, you can only reply: "No, I don't understand."
And he'll say: "And by the knots of my ancestors, we are safer for it. Think nothing more about it."
As an Argonian character, you will understand him: "The great change draws closer"

Make of that what you will.

Alphawolf01A · January 5

Elsonso wrote: »

Dithieon wrote: »

I am no expert, but I am getting a Nord vibe from this roadmap.Could the next season be Nord themed?

Hmm.

My expectation is that the "roadmap" will be just the next couple months with "To Be Announced "place holders for the rest of the year. We should find out if they are thinking "Skyrim". There will be a "Wall" event in the latter half of the year that may or may not be boring. We will at least find out the name of it.

In general, I am looking forward to the 5 minute summary of what is coming after they finish the show. I can't see spending time watching it live for a trinket Twitch drop.

The page says 3 Twitch crates at 15 minutes and 5 more at 30 minutes. I know Twitch crates barely count as incentive most times, but 8 is a nice start.

Edit: Not the above linked page, the one posted today about the livestream event. My bad!