I imagine they'll have a free track, and an ESO+/paid premium track. That's how other games do it.

As mentioned, we've yet to be told about how anything will be working with the new seasons. They're going to be announcing details in April.

It's very likely that ESO+ will not be required to engage in seasonal content and there will be alternate monetization methods employed (They mentioned something like Season Passes, which presumably will function similar to buying a "Chapter" where you get access to all the premium content over a specific period of time (AKA: Season) so as to maintain the status quo of ESO+ being optional)

ZoS knows that mandatory subscription doesn't work. It's what they used to have before it had to change due to being unsustainable (Of course, this was also pre-Crown Store supplementing income with cosmetics and account features).

In addition, there's a number of people who have not gotten ESO+ and instead have just been directly purchasing chapters and DLC upon release. Which they will not want to alienate by forcing ESO+ onto.

Honestly, the most pertinent question is more about how will ESO+ incorporate season content?

Since with Chapters, the newest Chapter was not included in ESO+ and instead they waited a year before adding it into ESO+. With Seasons, will this method of waiting a year to incorporate it into ESO+ be maintained? Or will it be added in when the next Season occurs (However long that may be)?

I still have no concept of what a season will even be.

Taril wrote: »

ZoS knows that mandatory subscription doesn't work. It's what they used to have before it had to change due to being unsustainable (Of course, this was also pre-Crown Store supplementing income with cosmetics and account features).

They brought in the crown store at the same time they switched from mandatory to optional subscriptions (literally the same day). I'm sure if they thought introducing a cash shop would have been enough on it's own they'd have done that.

I'm not excited for them either, but I still have a lot of stories I've yet to experience at all. Probably years worth of quests, so it will be a while before I start complaining too much.

I do love new zones though, so those will really be missed. I love at least sightseeing in new locations, especially since they keep looking better and better.

LunaFlora wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

I'm not excited for them either, but I still have a lot of stories I've yet to experience at all. Probably years worth of quests, so it will be a while before I start complaining too much.

I do love new zones though, so those will really be missed. I love at least sightseeing in new locations, especially since they keep looking better and better.

new zones won't be missed because we will still get them.
reread the studio director's letter

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/670691/studio-director-s-letter-2025-beyond/p1
"As 2025 will be a transition year for new content, we are going to have new zone-based content launch in 2025 - but you'll have to wait until April to hear the specifics about how it is different. Stay tuned!"

Keep in mind that ZOS was on a year-long dev cycle since 2016. So the content we are getting in 2025 are things they were working on last year, prior to the new dev cycle being rolled out.

Matt did say there will be new smaller zones past this, possibly even big zones but they might be split between updates like Craglorn was.

LunaFlora wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

I'm not excited for them either, but I still have a lot of stories I've yet to experience at all. Probably years worth of quests, so it will be a while before I start complaining too much.

I do love new zones though, so those will really be missed. I love at least sightseeing in new locations, especially since they keep looking better and better.

new zones won't be missed because we will still get them.
reread the studio director's letter

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/670691/studio-director-s-letter-2025-beyond/p1
"As 2025 will be a transition year for new content, we are going to have new zone-based content launch in 2025 - but you'll have to wait until April to hear the specifics about how it is different. Stay tuned!"

You may want to reread as well, as they stated: "As our focus will not be on adding giant new landmasses – although we will do that from time to time – instead, we will use existing zones and areas to tell new stories. "

So no, we will not be regularly getting new environments to explore as we have with Chapters. "Zone-based content" also means "using existing zones".

LunaFlora wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

I'm not excited for them either, but I still have a lot of stories I've yet to experience at all. Probably years worth of quests, so it will be a while before I start complaining too much.

I do love new zones though, so those will really be missed. I love at least sightseeing in new locations, especially since they keep looking better and better.

new zones won't be missed because we will still get them.
reread the studio director's letter

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/670691/studio-director-s-letter-2025-beyond/p1
"As 2025 will be a transition year for new content, we are going to have new zone-based content launch in 2025 - but you'll have to wait until April to hear the specifics about how it is different. Stay tuned!"

You may want to reread as well, as they stated: "As our focus will not be on adding giant new landmasses – although we will do that from time to time – instead, we will use existing zones and areas to tell new stories. "

So no, we will not be regularly getting new environments to explore as we have with Chapters. "Zone-based content" also means "using existing zones".

i know, and from time to time doesn't mean no more new zones.
plus the prologue for update 46 mentions a new place.

Well, I will still personally miss a regular cadence of new zones to explore. Part of the allure of ESO for me is being able to explore parts of Tamriel we have never seen, as their solo-game chapters take forever to release and I probably won't live long enough to see the zones we got in ESO.

So I will still miss the old system of knowing I have new areas to look forward to, as opposed to the amorphous "time to time" promise (?) we have in the letter.

AScarlato wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

I'm not excited for them either, but I still have a lot of stories I've yet to experience at all. Probably years worth of quests, so it will be a while before I start complaining too much.

I do love new zones though, so those will really be missed. I love at least sightseeing in new locations, especially since they keep looking better and better.

new zones won't be missed because we will still get them.
reread the studio director's letter

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/670691/studio-director-s-letter-2025-beyond/p1
"As 2025 will be a transition year for new content, we are going to have new zone-based content launch in 2025 - but you'll have to wait until April to hear the specifics about how it is different. Stay tuned!"

You may want to reread as well, as they stated: "As our focus will not be on adding giant new landmasses – although we will do that from time to time – instead, we will use existing zones and areas to tell new stories. "

So no, we will not be regularly getting new environments to explore as we have with Chapters. "Zone-based content" also means "using existing zones".

I'm not sure they're doing themselves any favors by having even fewer new areas to explore than there were in 2024. More and more new repetitive tasks like Endeavors, more events, or now Golden Pursuits are no substitute for new areas to explore, at least for me. I'm so bored now that I don't feel like logging in at all, no matter what new login rewards they come up with.