Official Discussion Thread for "Watch the 2025 ESO Direct & Learn About the Future of Tamriel"

ZOS_Kevin

This is the official discussion thread for, "Watch the 2025 ESO Direct & Learn About the Future of Tamriel"

"Tune in this April to discover what’s coming to ESO in 2025 in a special livestream followed by the first episode in a new Kinda Funny x ESO podcast series!"

Erickson9610

Can't wait to see what's in store for the future of ESO!

TheRimOfTheSky

Idk why they are waiting so long to announce this but whatever. Kinda absurd to announce a new DLC a month before it comes out. Remember when ZOS used to announce their future content years in advance at places like QuakeCon and even ESO Live? We knew about Clockwork City 2-3 years before it came out, so we had something to be excited about. The waiting game doesn't create hype, it just drags the fans along and burns us out

tsaescishoeshiner

Yay! Excited to learn more and see what the new content release schedule might hold

tsaescishoeshiner

TheRimOfTheSky wrote: »

Idk why they are waiting so long to announce this but whatever. Kinda absurd to announce a new DLC a month before it comes out. Remember when ZOS used to announce their future content years in advance at places like QuakeCon and even ESO Live? We knew about Clockwork City 2-3 years before it came out, so we had something to be excited about. The waiting game doesn't create hype, it just drags the fans along and burns us out

It sounds like the "big" update isn't until August; they mentioned we're no longer doing the "one big Chapter in June" schedule anymore, if I understood correctly. So January used to be the reveal stream for March and June--this year it looks like April is the reveal stream for Q2 and Q3.

WuffyCerulei

Keeping my head up and looking forward to what yall have in store for us.

Twohothardware

I'd really like to see an announcement for Crossplay coming in the future so that there was new competition in PvP on PlayStation. Would also help a lot with finding Trials teams.

DeathStalker

Is this where we will finally learn about the difficulty increase?

Sarannah

How exactly does the code for the monkey pet work? The article said it is sharable, does that mean we can obtain this pet without twitch and without watching the stream? Can multiple players claim one similar code(like when someone shares it on the forums for example)?

As I really do not want to miss out on this special 10th anniversary monkey pet, but do not have my ESO account linked to twitch.

Elvenheart

10th anniversary monkey pet?? I need to read that article! 🐒

Update: I just read it. How funny, they are going to reveal the code for the monkey sometime during the stream, so you can’t just turn on the stream and do other things (like work) to get the monkey! 🙈

LunaFlora

awesome!

cute monkey pet,
i love the new Argonian assets in the promo art from the post ^_^

nebula3832

Just read article saw super rare monkey offer.....only problem it's at 4am our time Australia is there going to be other times this will be available for others around the world?

said no one ever

well if 2025 direct end up meaning no offerings on steam but only direct from bethesda then i'll be saying goodbye to eso.

Fischblut

I'm afraid I don't want any (especially overland) difficulty increase. If this will be done as an option, so it won't affect my gameplay, that's ok... But if I will be forced to suffer from difficult mobs when I want to relax and explore, this would be devastating.

Don't turn this game into something like GW2, where I look at the dangerous mob pack/mini-boss who guard the crafting node (or treasure chest) and think "...I don't really need that loot, I will just pass by and hope that they don't knock me off my mount".
In ESO, I can loot everything guarded by mobs without stress - this pleases me emotionally, rewards the world exploration and gives a real reason to have craft bag!

Elvenheart

A friend and I were duoing Lep Seclusa yesterday with our companions and during the griffon handler boss when all of the exciting things were going on I mentioned that maybe this will be the new Overland experience. The companions were not amused. 😂

Rungar

pretty much a refocus on pvp as the chapters are dead.

Inyhel

Fischblut wrote: »

I'm afraid I don't want any (especially overland) difficulty increase. If this will be done as an option, so it won't affect my gameplay, that's ok... But if I will be forced to suffer from difficult mobs when I want to relax and explore, this would be devastating...

I agree with this. As a solo player I can only beat world bosses with 2.5 mil health or less, but if it gets any more difficult it will make overland exploration miserable.

For those who want harder enemies they should just increase the difficulty of dungeons and trials.

alpha_synuclein

One can just hope the info presented won't be stupidly vague.

said no one ever

i suspect eso direct will mean soon the use of anticheat that will exclude the possibility of steam and linux users so that zos can get a handle on the intrusions on theior servers'

sans-culottes

Inyhel wrote: »

Fischblut wrote: »

I'm afraid I don't want any (especially overland) difficulty increase. If this will be done as an option, so it won't affect my gameplay, that's ok... But if I will be forced to suffer from difficult mobs when I want to relax and explore, this would be devastating...

I agree with this. As a solo player I can only beat world bosses with 2.5 mil health or less, but if it gets any more difficult it will make overland exploration miserable.

For those who want harder enemies they should just increase the difficulty of dungeons and trials.

I disagree. Part of the issue is that “overland” difficulty is effectively nonexistent.

James-Wayne

The future or the fate? Kidding I'm excited for the direct! 😁

CAB_Life

Anything other than a crossplay (not cross-server on account of guilds being so tied to the economy) announcement will be a disappointment. considering how much money they’ve made it’s inexcusable in 2025 to not have this most basic feature.

James-Wayne

The future or the fate? Kidding I'm excited

CAB_Life wrote: »

Anything other than a crossplay (not cross-server on account of guilds being so tied to the economy) announcement will be a disappointment. considering how much money they’ve made it’s inexcusable in 2025 to not have this most basic feature.

The mega server was never developed for cross play so unrealistic to think this is happening, would need a complete rewrite of the technology to achieve it

LalMirchi

CAB_Life wrote: »

Anything other than a crossplay (not cross-server on account of guilds being so tied to the economy) announcement will be a disappointment. considering how much money they’ve made it’s inexcusable in 2025 to not have this most basic feature.

Perhaps the Class Representative could enlighten us on how crossplay could be realistically implemented?

sarahthes

LalMirchi wrote: »

CAB_Life wrote: »

Anything other than a crossplay (not cross-server on account of guilds being so tied to the economy) announcement will be a disappointment. considering how much money they’ve made it’s inexcusable in 2025 to not have this most basic feature.

Perhaps the Class Representative could enlighten us on how crossplay could be realistically implemented?

Class Representatives no longer exist as the program was discontinued several years ago.

CAB_Life

LalMirchi wrote: »

CAB_Life wrote: »

Anything other than a crossplay (not cross-server on account of guilds being so tied to the economy) announcement will be a disappointment. considering how much money they’ve made it’s inexcusable in 2025 to not have this most basic feature.

Perhaps the Class Representative could enlighten us on how crossplay could be realistically implemented?

Cross-play is quite easy to implement, compared to the alternatives, since you're not actually merging servers, the servers are simply playing together. With the advent of add-ons for console, the argument that one side would be at an advantage over the other also no longer holds credence. This also prevents issues with the economy since the servers are still separate. So for example, US PC US Xbox and US PS would all play on their own servers, but would share queues for non-world, instanced content: dungeons, trials (which used to have queues btw), pvp. I would struggle to believe that they do not have the capacity to make servers simply play together, in this day and age. Again, I'm not talking about merging anything or creating new mega servers, simply allowing servers to play together in specific content from the same region. All economies, communities, guilds, and platform specific servers would remain separate. This would vastly alleviate queue times for instanced content, while maintaining the integrity of each server.

And yes, the others are correct that the class rep program was retired in lieu of influencers, make of that what you will.

tomofhyrule

CAB_Life wrote: »

LalMirchi wrote: »

CAB_Life wrote: »

Anything other than a crossplay (not cross-server on account of guilds being so tied to the economy) announcement will be a disappointment. considering how much money they’ve made it’s inexcusable in 2025 to not have this most basic feature.

Perhaps the Class Representative could enlighten us on how crossplay could be realistically implemented?

Cross-play is quite easy to implement, compared to the alternatives, since you're not actually merging servers, the servers are simply playing together. With the advent of add-ons for console, the argument that one side would be at an advantage over the other also no longer holds credence. This also prevents issues with the economy since the servers are still separate. So for example, US PC US Xbox and US PS would all play on their own servers, but would share queues for non-world, instanced content: dungeons, trials (which used to have queues btw), pvp. I would struggle to believe that they do not have the capacity to make servers simply play together, in this day and age. Again, I'm not talking about merging anything or creating new mega servers, simply allowing servers to play together in specific content from the same region. All economies, communities, guilds, and platform specific servers would remain separate. This would vastly alleviate queue times for instanced content, while maintaining the integrity of each server.

And yes, the others are correct that the class rep program was retired in lieu of influencers, make of that what you will.

???

How can you "simply play together" with someone who's not on your server?

They have said several times how ESO's fundamental game architecture is different from other MMOs because of the megaserver system instead of the "worlds" and "shards" system used in other MMOs. In order for players to play together (in dungeons/trials/PvP), they need to be on the same server.

Please see the last time this question came up:

tomofhyrule wrote: »

A lot of people keep arguing that ZOS isn't doing crossplay because of the economies or the addons or whatever. It's actually a lot simpler than that:

It's physically impossible with the current server architecture

ESO, unlike other MMOs, runs on a megaserver architecture. That means that any player on a megaserver will be able to play with any other character on a megaserver, but that also means that server transfers are not possible.

I'm sure if this was easy, ZOS would have done it by now. However, we know that they can only copy data from one server to a blank server like they did when the consoles first appeared. Even the PTS every cycle will wipe the data clear and copy a server over from scratch.

If ZOS were to add something like that, they'd need to essentially make a brand new "crossplay" megaserver and then copy and merge all of the data, which would require the creation of a new tool specifically to do so. That definitely would be rife with conflicts and bugs - see what happened with the PTS debacle from last year. It's not impossible to do so, but it would take a lot of work.

One of the first things they could do to help though would be to create a "server transfer" service where only one data set is transferred from one megaserver to another. That of course would require a heavy investment and likely result in the transferred account losing some or all character names due to conflicts. But if they could get that to work smoothly, then they could possibly start to consider making a way to merge megaservers in the future.

Of course, this is implying that there would be no legalese as well. We know that PC and XBox servers would play nice since they both are under Microsoft, but I'm sure Sony's lawyers would not be happy about a way for people to stop playing on a Sony console and start playing on a competitor's system...

ZOS's official answer: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/#en/answer/25807

We have not built, and do not plan to build, the capability to move individual characters from platform to platform. We were only able to move characters in bulk for consoles once on June 1st, 2015 because the database tables we copied to were brand new (empty). Now that the database tables are filled with other data, the techniques we used before no longer work.

Crossplay in ESO, because of the way the game was designed, is not a matter of "durr, just push the 'crossplay' button and it'll be there!" It would take essentially a rebuilding of the entire server architecture to do it.

Now do I personally think it'd be a good idea? Yeah, it's something they should start thinking about, especially with the dwindling playerbase and how crossplay is seen as a norm by the gaming industry at this point. But it will be a difficult process to do, and will take a lot of time and energy.
I do want to highlight something that Kevin said in a different thread:

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Technical limitations can encompass a lot. Some of it is we would need to build out the tech to make x thing happen. Sometimes it's "we could do x thing, but then it could cause y issue to happen and that could impact performance." So it is working around those problems and hopefully finding a good solution. And those things conflict with the biggest enemy of all, time.

Now that being said, the good news is we are working on things to better adapt to some of the limitations. That is why we asked for that list of top pain points and bugs. And Rich recently followed up to note that we are working on some of those asks right now and have several others on the roadmap internally. We are working to see what can be tackled now and problem solve how to tackle other requests down the line. This is always going back to what Matt said in the end of year letter. This is a year of change and the goal is to better meet the wants and needs of you, the player.

Also want to note that when we note a technical limitation, that doesn't mean we won't do it. It just means we can't right this second. We take this feedback to the team and we continue to evaluate on what is possible and when. The list of pain points and bugs is also helpful to narrow down our focus.

So for Crossplay: Is it possible? Not in the game's current state. Will it ever be? Maybe, if the team devoted a lot of time and energy to it, which would need to involve a lot of work.

Now I personally do believe that it would be a good thing - and dare I say 'needed,' especially since the population on all servers is on a severe decline (and based on what we know of what's coming up, it seems that the endgame communities are going to decrease even further). But to imply that all they need to do is just push a button to make it work is patently wrong. They need to build for that, and it would take a few years to get that settled properly.

CAB_Life

tomofhyrule wrote: »

CAB_Life wrote: »

LalMirchi wrote: »

CAB_Life wrote: »

Anything other than a crossplay (not cross-server on account of guilds being so tied to the economy) announcement will be a disappointment. considering how much money they’ve made it’s inexcusable in 2025 to not have this most basic feature.

Perhaps the Class Representative could enlighten us on how crossplay could be realistically implemented?

Cross-play is quite easy to implement, compared to the alternatives, since you're not actually merging servers, the servers are simply playing together. With the advent of add-ons for console, the argument that one side would be at an advantage over the other also no longer holds credence. This also prevents issues with the economy since the servers are still separate. So for example, US PC US Xbox and US PS would all play on their own servers, but would share queues for non-world, instanced content: dungeons, trials (which used to have queues btw), pvp. I would struggle to believe that they do not have the capacity to make servers simply play together, in this day and age. Again, I'm not talking about merging anything or creating new mega servers, simply allowing servers to play together in specific content from the same region. All economies, communities, guilds, and platform specific servers would remain separate. This would vastly alleviate queue times for instanced content, while maintaining the integrity of each server.

And yes, the others are correct that the class rep program was retired in lieu of influencers, make of that what you will.

???

How can you "simply play together" with someone who's not on your server?

They have said several times how ESO's fundamental game architecture is different from other MMOs because of the megaserver system instead of the "worlds" and "shards" system used in other MMOs. In order for players to play together (in dungeons/trials/PvP), they need to be on the same server.

Please see the last time this question came up:

tomofhyrule wrote: »

A lot of people keep arguing that ZOS isn't doing crossplay because of the economies or the addons or whatever. It's actually a lot simpler than that:

It's physically impossible with the current server architecture

ESO, unlike other MMOs, runs on a megaserver architecture. That means that any player on a megaserver will be able to play with any other character on a megaserver, but that also means that server transfers are not possible.

I'm sure if this was easy, ZOS would have done it by now. However, we know that they can only copy data from one server to a blank server like they did when the consoles first appeared. Even the PTS every cycle will wipe the data clear and copy a server over from scratch.

If ZOS were to add something like that, they'd need to essentially make a brand new "crossplay" megaserver and then copy and merge all of the data, which would require the creation of a new tool specifically to do so. That definitely would be rife with conflicts and bugs - see what happened with the PTS debacle from last year. It's not impossible to do so, but it would take a lot of work.

One of the first things they could do to help though would be to create a "server transfer" service where only one data set is transferred from one megaserver to another. That of course would require a heavy investment and likely result in the transferred account losing some or all character names due to conflicts. But if they could get that to work smoothly, then they could possibly start to consider making a way to merge megaservers in the future.

Of course, this is implying that there would be no legalese as well. We know that PC and XBox servers would play nice since they both are under Microsoft, but I'm sure Sony's lawyers would not be happy about a way for people to stop playing on a Sony console and start playing on a competitor's system...

ZOS's official answer: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/#en/answer/25807

We have not built, and do not plan to build, the capability to move individual characters from platform to platform. We were only able to move characters in bulk for consoles once on June 1st, 2015 because the database tables we copied to were brand new (empty). Now that the database tables are filled with other data, the techniques we used before no longer work.

Crossplay in ESO, because of the way the game was designed, is not a matter of "durr, just push the 'crossplay' button and it'll be there!" It would take essentially a rebuilding of the entire server architecture to do it.

Now do I personally think it'd be a good idea? Yeah, it's something they should start thinking about, especially with the dwindling playerbase and how crossplay is seen as a norm by the gaming industry at this point. But it will be a difficult process to do, and will take a lot of time and energy.
I do want to highlight something that Kevin said in a different thread:

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Technical limitations can encompass a lot. Some of it is we would need to build out the tech to make x thing happen. Sometimes it's "we could do x thing, but then it could cause y issue to happen and that could impact performance." So it is working around those problems and hopefully finding a good solution. And those things conflict with the biggest enemy of all, time.

Now that being said, the good news is we are working on things to better adapt to some of the limitations. That is why we asked for that list of top pain points and bugs. And Rich recently followed up to note that we are working on some of those asks right now and have several others on the roadmap internally. We are working to see what can be tackled now and problem solve how to tackle other requests down the line. This is always going back to what Matt said in the end of year letter. This is a year of change and the goal is to better meet the wants and needs of you, the player.

Also want to note that when we note a technical limitation, that doesn't mean we won't do it. It just means we can't right this second. We take this feedback to the team and we continue to evaluate on what is possible and when. The list of pain points and bugs is also helpful to narrow down our focus.

So for Crossplay: Is it possible? Not in the game's current state. Will it ever be? Maybe, if the team devoted a lot of time and energy to it, which would need to involve a lot of work.

Now I personally do believe that it would be a good thing - and dare I say 'needed,' especially since the population on all servers is on a severe decline (and based on what we know of what's coming up, it seems that the endgame communities are going to decrease even further). But to imply that all they need to do is just push a button to make it work is patently wrong. They need to build for that, and it would take a few years to get that settled properly.

I said it was quite easy compared to the alternatives (mergeing mega servers). I did not say you could simply push a button and it would work. They're a multi billion dollar company who could invest in any number of technological solutions, including temporary servers, which they can easily spin up and do during PVP events, wherein people from multiple servers could be housed temporarily for instances. For example. I have no idea if that would work. If they really wanted to, they could transfer everyone to a more modern server architecture, though I imagine the time and cost involved in something like that makes them leery. Is that my problem as a consumer? No, it is not. I/we only want a functioning and entertaining game. Has anyone else at ZOS considered either of these ideas? We have no idea because access to the development pipeline and methodology has degraded year by year.

Are there hurdles? Of course. But they certainly have the money and technological connections to invest in a solution if they choose to. They are not strapped for cash, staff or resources. They even have Blizzard now under the corporate umbrella, who are the ultimate in cross realm and cross play experts. Let's not pretend otherwise. Saying something is impossible and just leaving it at that is reductive and unhelpful. Everything is impossible until it is done.

TheRimOfTheSky

Here's a some renders from the new Carnaval Crates that show a bunch of Altmer buildings, and it doesn't look to be in Summerset:




The "Play Solstice Rattlers" emote also mentions Solstice sea urchins with a capital "S" so that sounds like a new location. As far as I can tell, this is the only mentioned place in the Crates that hasn't come up before (the mentions of "Wind Keep" and "Tenmar" are already well established in the games so those can't be new)

ArchMikem

nebula3832 wrote: »

Just read article saw super rare monkey offer.....only problem it's at 4am our time Australia is there going to be other times this will be available for others around the world?

I mean, Livestreams are just that. Live. At a very specific time. You can watch the recording of the stream whenever you're awake.

LunaFlora

TheRimOfTheSky wrote: »

Here's a some renders from the new Carnaval Crates that show a bunch of Altmer buildings, and it doesn't look to be in Summerset:




The "Play Solstice Rattlers" emote also mentions Solstice sea urchins with a capital "S" so that sounds like a new location. As far as I can tell, this is the only mentioned place in the Crates that hasn't come up before (the mentions of "Wind Keep" and "Tenmar" are already well established in the games so those can't be new)

Solstice is mentioned in the prologue quest for update 46. the prologue will probably become available after the ESO Direct livestream on April 10.

Solstice spoilers from pts:

Vanus Galerion gets trapped there by the Worm Cult, it's clearly the next zone(s) that we go to.

the livestream's promo images with the monkey pet are also likely on Solstice.