free eso+

Karmen · March 8

Helloo,
Does anyone know when the next free eso+ session for 1 week is?

LunaFlora · March 8

nobody except ZOS knows that.
They announce it usually a week ahead of time when it does happen so it's probably useful to check the website every week or two

Karmen · March 8

I play without eso+ and when there are free weeks I take advantage of them to do the content that I don't usually have access to, I know there was one in December, but I missed it unfortunately

I hope the next one will be soon!
Thank you!

Dragonnord · March 8

LunaFlora wrote: »

They announce it usually a week ahead of time

You sure? Don't remember seeing an announcement saying on x date we'll have free ESO Plus.

rihannsu528 · March 8

Dragonnord wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

They announce it usually a week ahead of time

You sure? Don't remember seeing an announcement saying on x date we'll have free ESO Plus.

It's not likely to be it's own article but is sometimes mentioned in articles about things that occur at the same time.

Sllocsredle · March 8

Karmen wrote: »

I play without eso+ and when there are free weeks I take advantage of them to do the content that I don't usually have access to, I know there was one in December, but I missed it unfortunately

I hope the next one will be soon!
Thank you!

Where can ESO be played for free?

LunaFlora · March 8

Dragonnord wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

They announce it usually a week ahead of time

You sure? Don't remember seeing an announcement saying on x date we'll have free ESO Plus.

the website has a category for Plus posts, mostly trial announcements:
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/category/esoplus

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/67323
yes.
the December 2024 eso plus trial was announced exactly a week before it started.
12 December post for 19 December start of trial.

there are usually also Discussion Threads on the forums, but searching for them is harder.

belial5221_ESO · March 8

It happens every 6-12 months,and last one was December,so at earliest would be June/July.But lately it been a year between,so don't hold breath.

Trier_Sero · March 8

belial5221_ESO wrote: »

It happens every 6-12 months,and last one was December,so at earliest would be June/July.But lately it been a year between,so don't hold breath.

Nope, it's consistently each 5-7 months and haven't been longer than that since I started playing 2 years ago.

EvilGoatKing · March 8

If you have time to kill, farming ESO stream team members on twitch for giveaways can be fruitful, Id have ESO+ rn but I had the option to pick the pink torch bug on my last win, and teh win before that was just straight crowns i think,.. anyways, Since I made the decision to stop giving ZOS money and play without the crafting bag I wasnt in a rush to get plus. Im glad they keep paying the streamers in codes to give out tho,
I mean considering the ESO twitch category on a typical day has <1k viewers and the biggest channel is generally <150 with outliers sometimes seeing 200+ for events,releases,etc..

Even if every person in a channel enters its still a 1 in <150 chance to win.

Good way to get alt accounts too when they giveaway copies of ESO

Dragonnord · March 8

LunaFlora wrote: »

Dragonnord wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

They announce it usually a week ahead of time

You sure? Don't remember seeing an announcement saying on x date we'll have free ESO Plus.

the website has a category for Plus posts, mostly trial announcements:
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/category/esoplus

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/67323
yes.
the December 2024 eso plus trial was announced exactly a week before it started.
12 December post for 19 December start of trial.

there are usually also Discussion Threads on the forums, but searching for them is harder.

That 12 December 2024 date is surely a date typo on the article date, because the article description says "The ESO Plus Free Trial is now live and...", so it can't say "is now live" if the article is from a week before, and they don't modify article descriptions depending on what day it is, so that "is now live" was there since the day they wrote that article (meaning the first day free ESO Plus was live).

You can see that every other article on that page is from the same day free ESO Plus was live. Every single one of them.

I'm pretty sure they never announce free ESO Plus in advance.

Thysbe · March 8

Dragonnord wrote: »

I'm prety sure they never announce free ESO Plus in advance.

playing since u36 without Eso+ sub and I can secund that - can´t remember a free trial beeing announced

I wouldn´t expect free ESO+ coming any time soon, since the new Dungeon DLC will be launched on Monday and for the first 2 weeks it will be ESO+ exlusive.

LunaFlora · March 8

belial5221_ESO wrote: »

It happens every 6-12 months,and last one was December,so at earliest would be June/July.But lately it been a year between,so don't hold breath.

in 2024 it was January, June, and December.

Dragonnord wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

Dragonnord wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

They announce it usually a week ahead of time

You sure? Don't remember seeing an announcement saying on x date we'll have free ESO Plus.

the website has a category for Plus posts, mostly trial announcements:
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/category/esoplus

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/67323
yes.
the December 2024 eso plus trial was announced exactly a week before it started.
12 December post for 19 December start of trial.

there are usually also Discussion Threads on the forums, but searching for them is harder.

That 12 December 2024 date is surely a date typo on the article date, because the article description says "The ESO Plus Free Trial is now live and", so it can't say "is now live" if the article is from a week before, and they don't modify article descriptions depending on what day it is, so that "is now live" was there since the day they wrote that article (meaning the first day free ESO Plus was live).

You can see that every other article on that page is from the same day free ESO Plus was live. Every single one of them.

I'm prety sure they never announce free ESO Plus in advance.

yea i misread it, sorry!

Karmen · March 8

Maybe they do free eso+ promos when there is a dip in the player population, to boost it
We don't know

Sllocsredle · March 10

Karmen wrote: »

I play without eso+ and when there are free weeks I take advantage of them to do the content that I don't usually have access to, I know there was one in December, but I missed it unfortunately

I hope the next one will be soon!
Thank you!

How do you play without ESO+

WhiteCoatSyndrome · March 10

Sllocsredle wrote: »

Karmen wrote: »

I play without eso+ and when there are free weeks I take advantage of them to do the content that I don't usually have access to, I know there was one in December, but I missed it unfortunately

I hope the next one will be soon!
Thank you!

How do you play without ESO+

Have alt characters whose purpose is to be extra bank space
Use the regular bank for mats so you don’t have multiple incomplete stacks on multiple characters taking up unnecessary slots
Sell or dispose of things you don’t need

And for me personally, I stopped doing daily Crafting Writs without an Endeavor or something as incentive because Surveys take up a lot of space and I don’t need more mats. Or the lower-level crafting mats that drop from them. Master Writs take up space too.

opalcity · March 10

Quite often it's just before an event with a lot of bloat loot. So you get a taste of the craft bag, and you get used to grabbing all the loot in dungeons instead of cherry-picking, and then right after you get loads of stuff to immediately fill up your inventory again and make you really miss the freeso+. Probably just a coincidence though.

Karmen · March 10

Sllocsredle wrote: »

Karmen wrote: »

I play without eso+ and when there are free weeks I take advantage of them to do the content that I don't usually have access to, I know there was one in December, but I missed it unfortunately

I hope the next one will be soon!
Thank you!

How do you play without ESO+

I think I'm playing in hardcore mode, you should try
- inventory/bank management (I don't pick up everything)
- rely on the community (guilds, guild merchants, etc.)
- use the free eso+ weeks to fill the craft bag and farm certain sets/achievements

Freelancer_ESO · March 10

I'd expect that it's going to be at least a month away if not longer.

If I recall correctly, on the 10th, they are putting out a Dungeon DLC that will only accessible to people with ESO+ and not otherwise available for sale yet.

This will likely drive an increase in people buying ESO+.

Those people aren't going to be happy if ZOS just gives it away after they paid for it to get to do the Dungeon.

Orbital78 · March 10

Sllocsredle wrote: »

Karmen wrote: »

I play without eso+ and when there are free weeks I take advantage of them to do the content that I don't usually have access to, I know there was one in December, but I missed it unfortunately

I hope the next one will be soon!
Thank you!

How do you play without ESO+

Personal assistant

Sllocsredle · March 10

So there is a new dungeon dlc coming, I have never heard of it before, is there any name for this wonderful discovery?

Freelancer_ESO · March 10

Sllocsredle wrote: »

So there is a new dungeon dlc coming, I have never heard of it before, is there any name for this wonderful discovery?

Fallen Banners

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/67647

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/67577

Amottica · March 10

Sllocsredle wrote: »

Karmen wrote: »

I play without eso+ and when there are free weeks I take advantage of them to do the content that I don't usually have access to, I know there was one in December, but I missed it unfortunately

I hope the next one will be soon!
Thank you!

Where can ESO be played for free?

@Sllocsredle

Zenimax has conducted two different types of trials.

One allows people to create accounts and characters and play the base game for a few days without cost.
The second is for players who have bought the game, allowing them to try ESO+ briefly.

If the person trying the base game decides to buy it, they keep their account progression. Some things, like ESO+ things, are unavailable with the ESO+ trial, like companions.

It is marketing stuff common with B2P MMORPGs.

Sllocsredle · March 10

I think there should be a third trial added

rnklippel · March 10

These are the statistics I've been keeping track of. The big graph shows days until the next occurence (ignore the last bar because it counts the days until today since the last trial). On average we have 127 days (4 months) inbetween two eso plus free trials, but the numbers vary a lot.

TonyH196 · March 10

UESP keeps track of most things in game, couldn't hurt to check out the site https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Events

said no one ever · March 10

if i recall correctly, a free eso+ and a free play of eso come around jesters fest? It tends to be, at least from my perspective, placed when i have already paid for eso+ so i cant benefit from the free play to put off buying it for say a week or however long it lasts.

magnusthorek · March 10

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Have alt characters whose purpose is to be extra bank space

Use the regular bank for mats so you don’t have multiple incomplete stacks on multiple characters taking up unnecessary slots

Sell or dispose of things you don’t need

And for me personally, I stopped doing daily Crafting Writs without an Endeavor or something as incentive because Surveys take up a lot of space and I don’t need more mats. Or the lower-level crafting mats that drop from them. Master Writs take up space too.

I'd like to add to this list something I do as part of my inventory management without ESO+ that's using the big chests from either Master Writs' Vendor or Crown Store efficiently. I have one for non CP150+ crafting materials; one for upgrades/jewellery traits/inks; one for Alchemy Ingredients; and one for Style Stones. Enchanting runes go on a small one.

It *may* get a bit hard after a few months (especially the Style Stones' one), but it works quite well.

Also, having a Guild Bank you own or have deposit/withdraw permissions for CP150+ materials helps a lot.

barney2525 · March 10

Sllocsredle wrote: »

Karmen wrote: »

I play without eso+ and when there are free weeks I take advantage of them to do the content that I don't usually have access to, I know there was one in December, but I missed it unfortunately

I hope the next one will be soon!
Thank you!

Where can ESO be played for free?

ESO can be played for free all the time. It's just you only get access to the specific things you bought. Basic game, DLCs etc. ESO plus gives additional bonuses like unlimited bag for crafting mats, monthly 1650 credits to use in the Marketplace, etc. Normally costs $15 per month. Occasionally they run a week of Free to let players experience the benefits - except they don't hand out the 1650 credits for free.

Mik195 · March 10

Karmen wrote: »

Maybe they do free eso+ promos when there is a dip in the player population, to boost it
We don't know

Well if they do, there will probably be an event in April after they announce their plans since a quarter of the population will stomp off because of something they did, a quarter because of something they didn't do (and high probability that those first two will contradict), and another quarter because of something something pvp. The last quarter just play the game and skip the drama.

WhiteCoatSyndrome · March 10

magnusthorek wrote: »

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Have alt characters whose purpose is to be extra bank space

Use the regular bank for mats so you don’t have multiple incomplete stacks on multiple characters taking up unnecessary slots

Sell or dispose of things you don’t need

And for me personally, I stopped doing daily Crafting Writs without an Endeavor or something as incentive because Surveys take up a lot of space and I don’t need more mats. Or the lower-level crafting mats that drop from them. Master Writs take up space too.

I'd like to add to this list something I do as part of my inventory management without ESO+ that's using the big chests from either Master Writs' Vendor or Crown Store efficiently. I have one for non CP150+ crafting materials; one for upgrades/jewellery traits/inks; one for Alchemy Ingredients; and one for Style Stones. Enchanting runes go on a small one.

It *may* get a bit hard after a few months (especially the Style Stones' one), but it works quite well.

Also, having a Guild Bank you own or have deposit/withdraw permissions for CP150+ materials helps a lot.

This reminds me: if space starts getting really tight I’ll vendor the common trait stones. Style stones occasionally get used for Master Writs and it may be a pain to find a specific one later, so I try to hold on to those, but things like Sapphires and Diamonds are easy to get a hold of later if I somehow find myself out and need one to craft with. (I will note I have been through multiple rounds of ESO+, both free trial and not, so I have a fair number in the Craft Bag. So for newer players this may not apply.)