I should have mentioned that I purchased the Greymoor expansion as my way into ESO. So, I am mainly referring to Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, Orsinium DLCs, etc. (e.g,. the ones you listed).

Most DLC has a stand-alone storyline. Some NPCs from other stories will reappear, but the events are unconnected to anything before or after. Therefore you do not need to buy DLC to understand or complete the content you already have, only to gain access to new stories when and if you want more to do (and other things, like the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild skill lines).

There are 3 exceptions to that, where DLC and chapters tie together:
Morrowind, Clockwork City and Summerset. Morrowind and Summerset (which you will have got with Greymoor) do work as stand-alone stories but to get the full experience you need to play Morrowind, then the Clockwork City DLC, then Summerset.

Wrathstone, Elseweyr and Dragonhold. The Wrathstone DLC is a pair of dungeons, so it's a very short story but it does serve as an introduction to Elseweyr. The story then continues in the Dragonhold DLC.

Harrowstorm, Greymoor and as-yet unannounced DLC later in the year. Like Wrathstone the Harrowstorm DLC is just a couple of dungeons but it starts the story off, then Greymoor will continue it and there will be a follow up released later this year.

So if you're specifically asking about Orsinium, Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood then no, you don't need them. If you're asking about which DLCs to prioritise from the whole list then the answer is Clockwork City and Dragonhold, and maybe Wrathstone and Harrowstorm as well.

SimpleTea wrote: »

So, I am mainly referring to Dark Brotherhood, Thieves Guild, Orsinium DLCs, etc. (e.g,. the ones you listed).

All the DLCs have great stories.

However, Thieves Guild and to an extent Dark Brotherhood have some passives and goodies that will help you if you want to do some crime in the world of Tamriel. So, even if you are not ready to fully invest in the stories, at least start the DB to get a certain dagger, and then start the Thieves and grind on some job board dailies to unlock some skills that you may want to use for Larceny. Once you get the job board opened up early on, you can gain some rep without doing the story.


Note, for Thieves, Countess Jobs are easiest to do.

Also, the optional subscription let's you play all DLC without purchasing them. I think it's around $15 or $16 per month, so for that amount you can try the ones you think you might like before buying them (or if you stayed subbed you don't have to purchase them).

All new major content is DLC except for "the big one" in Q2, the Chapter for each year. After a new Chapter comes out, the most recent chapter becomes "DLC" in terms of subscription access.