Given the issues this year, will you pre-order in 2026?

agelonestar

For me, ESO in 2025 has been a disaster.

I can’t think of a single person who was happy about the move from Chapters to Season Pass, but i think we can safely say that whatever you felt about it when Seasons was announced, the implementation hasn’t gone well.

• The volume of new content has shrunk more than a Wagon Wheel (UK joke).
• QoL updates have gone by the wayside.
• No new Companions. Or Skills. Or Races. Or Classes. Or anything actually.
• No major combat updates.
• Events have no new quests.
• Everything is bugged to hell and takes too long to fix - except ToT ofc.
• And communication is as bad as it’s ever been - a new low maybe.

So I wondered, is it just me, or will 2025’s Season Pass affect your decision to pre-order whatever comes out next year?

For me, I won’t pre-order. I’m not spending any more cash until I can see what they release. It will be my first year of not pre-ordering on at least three accounts, which is pretty sad.

metheglyn

Don’t Know

Since we know absolutely nothing about what the next season will be or look like, I can't say if I'd be interested in buying it or not. However, I haven't been pre-ordering the chapters for several years, so it's unlikely I'd pre-order a season.

DenverRalphy

I can't vote because I'm in the "Only after I see it on PTS" camp. I don't need it to launch. But I do need to see exactly what I'm getting.

Aylish

I’m not ordering anything else - I’m done - what a mess!

I‘m gonna see if I can win the next pass in a giveaway again. I won‘t pay for another season of endless shrink and bugs. The content isn‘t worth that much money. Neither in quality nor in quantity…

valenwood_vegan

I’m not ordering anything else - I’m done - what a mess!

Pre-order? I don't anticipate ordering at all, unless I'm totally blown away. But there's no way I would pre-order anything after all the empty words we've been getting.

Destai

I will only order after launch when I can see what I’m buying

For the first time ever, I didn't preorder last year and got the DLC a month or so after its launch. I regret paying full price for it. The content and its development feel much more like a "wait for sale" value. So, if this year is any indication of the release quality going forward, I'll definitely be waiting for a sale going forward. My subscription expires in December, mixed on whether I'll renew it for the full year again.

MashmalloMan

Don’t Know

I vote with my wallet, I'm still interested in the game and want to see it succeed, but I've learned my lesson about the new "content pass". If they not only split the main update zone in two, but also delay it to an update where we previously received a Q4 zone, and gate it behind a server wide event, I'm out, no matter how interested I am in the new mechanic like I previously was for Subclassing, Scribing, and Arcanist.

Honestly they have more work to convince me next year than they ever have in the past 11. Not only did they split our chapter up, they removed the Q4 zone, didn't offer an arena or expansion to IA, no new companions, grimoires, scripts, or tales of tributes decks. Couldn't even finish hybridization, touch up old sets, buff underused subclass lines, or address overland difficulty.

"Transitional year".. Yeah, we feel it. It's increasingly obvious.

To top it off from a more personal interest, they released BG 2.0 as this huge amazing thing 1 year ago only to completely ignore the poor state it's in. The one mode that kept me coming back to the game when I had nothing to do is now destroyed because 2 team matches are incredibly one sided the majority of the time.

And instead of working on BGs or bringing back 4v4v4 and some of those great maps, we continue to get Vengence updates. Something I could not care any less about. Nvm BGs, Cyro, or IC, lets make a brand new call of duty mode to "test" things we already know.

We got mount swimming and broken animations. What an achievement!

Syldras

Don’t Know

Really depends on how the announcement will look like (I hope there will be one - as early as possible), whether it looks interesting and if it provides all details I want to know. And if still in doubt, I'd test on PTS first.

The time when one could basically blind buy is over for a while now. Back when Vvardenfell or Summerset were released, I had no doubts about quality.

spartaxoxo

Don’t Know

I don't know. They said this year was a year of transition. So, I am waiting to see what's in store for us. I am hoping the December letter and the teases they give us early next year inspire confidence. Right now, I am not confident I will even continue playing, let alone pre-order. But, I still hope they can turn it around and next year will seem worth the wait.

Danikat

Don’t Know

It's far too early to say. We have absolutely no idea what we'll be getting so it's impossible to decide now.

Katheriah

I want to see it (working!) on PTS ánd be blown away by the pre-order goodies. Otherwise I'll be patient.

agelonestar

I will only order after launch when I can see what I’m buying

Destai wrote: »

For the first time ever, I didn't preorder last year and got the DLC a month or so after its launch. I regret paying full price for it. The content and its development feel much more like a "wait for sale" value. So, if this year is any indication of the release quality going forward, I'll definitely be waiting for a sale going forward. My subscription expires in December, mixed on whether I'll renew it for the full year again.

That’s really interesting. I have a couple of accounts that I don’t really play, but I use to list junk for sale. I often wait until a new release goes on sale before I buy for those. This year I didn’t bother - I felt like Solstice wasn’t even worth the sale value, tbh. I absolutely regret buying at full price for my main account.

LunaFlora

? we do not know what 2026 contains so why is this being asked?

i only preorder if i like what i see before release. i will decide when the Content Pass and its contents are revealed in 2026.

2025 was supposed to be a transitional year which is why it is not as much as past years.
personally i am not disappointed as we pretty much got what we were told we would.

freespirit

Don’t Know

First time ever I'm firmly on the fence!

I usually delay and buy just before release but next year needs to be pretty special to knock me off this fence!

Radiate77

I’m not ordering anything else - I’m done - what a mess!

Yeah I’m good.

Unless next year marks a turn away from the year pass model, I’m not giving them any money.

shadyjane62

I’m not ordering anything else - I’m done - what a mess!

Not a chance.

Rohamad_Ali

I’m not ordering anything else - I’m done - what a mess!

I will post that this is the end but probably will get duped again within 5 years.

spartaxoxo

Don’t Know

Well.... It just got easier for ESO to keep me as a customer as apparently another MMO that I had just started enjoying just announced it's beginning the shutdown process. It's never getting an update again and won't even have holiday events. Whelp that sucks

Anyway, I hope that ESO does have good year next year. It really needs this transition time to pay off.

Grafahel

Don’t Know

Depends on what the new content will be, although I almost never pre order even if I really like the new chapter. With questing I tend to wait a while anyway because I don't like 50 people doing the same quest as me, so unless there's some new mechanic I want immediate access to I usually wait it out until the first sale in September.

Radiate77

I’m not ordering anything else - I’m done - what a mess!

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Well.... It just got easier for ESO to keep me as a customer as apparently another MMO that I had just started enjoying just announced it's beginning the shutdown process. It's never getting an update again and won't even have holiday events. LOL

Yeah I’m actually sick right now.

New World had a triumphant comeback and had over 50,000 concurrent players on Steam alone, and even that wasn’t enough to save the studio from Amazon.

Makes me wonder how much time is left with ESO considering Microsoft is just as bad if not worse than Amazon.

spartaxoxo

Don’t Know

Radiate77 wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Well.... It just got easier for ESO to keep me as a customer as apparently another MMO that I had just started enjoying just announced it's beginning the shutdown process. It's never getting an update again and won't even have holiday events. LOL

Yeah I’m actually sick right now.

New World had a triumphant comeback and had over 50,000 concurrent players on Steam alone, and even that wasn’t enough to save the studio from Amazon.

Makes me wonder how much time is left with ESO considering Microsoft is just as bad if not worse than Amazon.

Yeah. It makes me worried too especially since Microsoft is all in on AI these days. The letter they wrote (ETA about the layoffs at Zenimax) even explicitly stated it wasn't even about performance and how they think the future is AI. I edited out my lol because I'm not laughing, it's disheartening. It's a bitter lol.

I really hope that ESO gets their 30 years. I doubt I'd play any game that long but I hope they get it anyway. I want ESO to thrive because even though I'm unhappy with the current direction, I have had a lot of good times in this game and a lot of good times with the Elder Scrolls franchise as a whole.

MATH_COW

I will only order after launch when I can see what I’m buying

I will wait to see and maybe get it as cheaper as possible when in good sale if I really decide to buy it.

Because this year I get scam by buying this Content Pass thinking it would be 100% translated as usual.

There is no more reason for me to even care to preorder or to buy day one as for Solstice they did not even dare to translate 100% of the content in french as they were used to in the past.

At the moment Exidel Redoubt, Lep Seclusa and Western Solstice are voiced in french but Naj-Caldeesh, Black Gem Froundry and the second part of Solstice are still missing french voiceover for no reason.

And they don't give any communication about the reason and when it will be back for real (except a "will be back asap" in August but they lied).

They ignored all our post on the forum and don't care. High level of disrespect to the french community.

Doing the story and exploring was the main reason I start playing this game and I want to continue doing this game in my language as it was possible from the begining but maybe they want to spend less money and stop translating into other language. If that so I'll just stop playing this game.

DenverRalphy

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Well.... It just got easier for ESO to keep me as a customer as apparently another MMO that I had just started enjoying just announced it's beginning the shutdown process. It's never getting an update again and won't even have holiday events. Whelp that sucks

Anyway, I hope that ESO does have good year next year. It really needs this transition time to pay off.

Yeah that one kinda stung. Out of left field and only a couple of days after I purchased the premium track. I had just returned to it after I heard it had improved from the first year I played it. I was REALLY enjoying all the things that game got right.

SilverBride

I will only order after launch when I can see what I’m buying

I waited until it went on sale this year to purchase because I wasn't excited by the content pass. If next year is even a fraction as grindy as this year has been I may not purchase at all.

AzuraFan

Don’t Know

It's not a matter of preordering for me. It's a matter of whether I'll be sticking around, which will depend on what they announce (hopefully in January, not April).

Price will also be a factor. If I decide there's stuff coming that interests me, but they're charging a premium, I'll wait for a sale. I'm not paying top dollar for less content again.

Radiate77 wrote: »

New World had a triumphant comeback and had over 50,000 concurrent players on Steam alone, and even that wasn’t enough to save the studio from Amazon.

Makes me wonder how much time is left with ESO considering Microsoft is just as bad if not worse than Amazon.

It shows that no MMO is safe, something I'm sure ZOS knows, given the layoffs this year.

ESO_player123

Don’t Know

No idea. I will wait for PTS and see what the people find there (I do not play on PTS myself).

Gabriel_H

Radiate77 wrote: »

Yeah I’m actually sick right now.

New World had a triumphant comeback and had over 50,000 concurrent players on Steam alone, and even that wasn’t enough to save the studio from Amazon.

Makes me wonder how much time is left with ESO considering Microsoft is just as bad if not worse than Amazon.

50,000 for one month - when new content dropped. Then they went away again.

ESO has consistent numbers meaning predictable revenue, NW did not.

dinokstrunz

I’m not ordering anything else - I’m done - what a mess!

haha what a disaster this year has been for ESO

spartaxoxo

Don’t Know

DenverRalphy wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Well.... It just got easier for ESO to keep me as a customer as apparently another MMO that I had just started enjoying just announced it's beginning the shutdown process. It's never getting an update again and won't even have holiday events. Whelp that sucks

Anyway, I hope that ESO does have good year next year. It really needs this transition time to pay off.

Yeah that one kinda stung. Out of left field and only a couple of days after I purchased the premium track. I had just returned to it after I heard it had improved from the first year I played it. I was REALLY enjoying all the things that game got right.

I literally just posted my first post, swapped to Reddit, and then found out. I actually had just purchased the season pass too! I'm bummed! I feel so bad for the devs of that game. I'm so caught off guard and feel blindsided right now, NGL.

I hope the devs of ESO can keep things going for a long time. They seem like nice people and I will say I do feel a new appreciation for this game, at least. It's easy to focus on the negative when you don't like the current direction.

But I've been playing this game for a long time too! I've been here for a decade! It's had it's ups and downs. I hope for all of our sakes 2026 is an upswing!

Lucjan

I will definitely pre-order regardless

I will buy regardless, just to support the devs. A game this size they need at last a year, more likely even 12-18 months for a course correction after team size reductions and leadership change. All that we are seeing content-wise now and most of us don't seem to like a lot has been in the works for a long time, there just wasn't time to change course and given the situation at ZOS they couldn't just trash it and start from scratch.

Ph1p

I will only order after launch when I can see what I’m buying

2025 is the first year in a long while that I haven't spent any money on ESO and I don't see that changing in 2026. It's not only everything OP has mentioned in their post, but what started to sour the game for me was how in 2024, with regards to PVE content, subscribing basically only provided a single dungeon DLC. Then, ZOS initially locked the first 2025 dungeon DLC behind ESO+, citing the pitiful excuse of a "transition year". Not only that, but we only found out how long the wait would be, when a community manager clarified it... in a forum post... on the release day.

This and many other bad decisions have put me off the game and spending any more money on it. Never say never, of course, but based on 2024 and 2025, I don't have faith in a turnaround at this point.