awesome!

i am looking forward to the 2026 Reveal livestream on January 7. happy to see that it will be right after New Life Festival.
Excited to hear about the first Seasons and other upcoming things.

So the end of year letter was...we got something so cool for you guys. Just wait and see. We can't talk about it now but you just wait and see. Lol.

Credit where credit is due. Your communication is improved. The leadership team feels excited in a way the last team didn't. It feels more real. The first letter wasn't self congratulatory back patting. None of it was and I can respect that. I will say I'm excited for what you have for us on the 7th. This is a make or break time and the tone of those letters convey that. It gives me hope.

Edited for tone.

Really appreciate the transparency we've been getting lately, communication is definitely better now and I hope to see more of that.

Looking forward to what we've got ahead for next year.

L_Nici wrote: »

So the Chapters got replaced by a Season Pass, the Season Pass then was renamed to Content Pass, just to be replaced by seasons again?

"Content Pass" is a bad nomenclature, marketing-wise, it's a red flag for monetization. It makes sense that they'd want to move away from it, people will always associate it with time-limited content.

It's a good start and I really appreciate that problems were acknowledged. Sadly, after this year, I still remain sceptical until I see what's actually on the table, but I keep my opinion open for now and will surely watch the stream.

twisttop138 wrote: »

So the end of year letter was...we got something so cool for you guys. Just wait and see. We can't talk about it now but you just wait and see. Lol.

<snipped for brevity>

It was more than that IMO. They owned up to fumbling the ball in 2025. I'm at least more confident today than I was yesterday that actions will follow the words this time around.

Thanks Kevin.

As another year in Tamriel comes to a close, I want to start with a moment of honest reflection.

This has been a challenging year. While we had high ambitions, we stumbled. Writhing Wall was not the experience that we wanted to deliver or that players deserved. Subclassing introduced and highlighted issues with class identity. Previously, we referred to this year as a “transition” year, yet I feel that there was not enough transition in meaningful ways.

Absolutely refreshing to see this. It felt like the letters of years passed were these tonedeaf victory laps. This doesn't feel aloof. It feels like you guys at ZOS are feeling the issues quite acutely.

Players have been asking us to be more transparent and communicate better; to provide a more rewarding experience; to be more exciting; to address long-standing issues and pain points; to improve combat, class identity, and PvP; and generally make more investment in the core game experience instead of just chasing the next big thing. We hear you. We agree.

The communication's been so improved this year. Huge shoutout to @ZOS_Kevin and @ZOS_JessicaFolsom especially, you've both been allstars and instrumental in really turning around communication. I feel like I'm so much better heard, better understood, and better engaged. So thanks guys.

In terms of being rewarding, for me, that's the single biggest pain point. Bar none. I'll adjust to combat changes, maybe after a little grumbling, but the monetization and lacking rewards just creates so much resentment. Take the new Orc-themed crates - why not have some of that earnable in-game in Orsinium or Maelstrom or something? We have a new beam style that's ~$20 USD. For one skin, guys! One skin!

Meanwhile, I have a house that I've had to earn across several events, do dailies, and wait months to get. It's not fun. The time-gated stuff has to stop already. I'm all about supporting you guys financially, I've spent thousands. But seeing this pattern time and time again just leaves me salty. Respect my time and I'm way more willing to open my wallet.

All that being said, 2026 is the year to prove yourselves. Many people are skeptical because historically goals and promises don't often line up to what we get. Quite frankly, I expect more FOMO, more boring quests, more unwanted changes, and very little progress on our pain points. I hope I'm wrong, I really do. I've spent a lot of time and money in the game, it'd be nice for there to be some excitement again.

We have a LOT to cover in this stream, and we’ll also follow it up with additional blog posts, streams, and AMAs going deeper on all the Big Details. We’ll also share more details in the following months on the topics we’re only able to cover briefly in the show, such as the introduction of optional Overland Difficulty modes that offer greater challenges and rewards.

The livestream’s main topics will be:

Seasons–the new approach to ESO releases that replaces Content Pass
Some of the new content we’ll be introducing over the first few Seasons
QoL improvements, class and combat changes, PvP additions, and in-game events changes
And very importantly, how we are going to approach all this so that we can surprise and delight you with new additions while working to better incorporate your thoughts and feedback as we tackle reworks and improvements to our core features.

We'll go into much greater detail in the 2026 Reveal livestream, so I'll just wrap up my part of this letter by asking you to join us on January 7, plus keep bringing us your questions, thoughts, and ideas. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

I'm really happy that there's AMA's called out here. Those have been eye-opening, even if they're not always comfortable revelations. Glad you guys are sticking with that.

About the whole Seasons thing: I feel like if you guys release seasons and ask full game price for each season, you're gonna have a bad time. Personally, I wouldn't buy them on principle. Now if you guys say, "ok, all non-dungeon Seasons releases are in a single bundle", said bundle is priced the same as chapters, then fine. I'm ok with that. The content pass's optics and pricing were not well received, and it seems like that was understood by leadership. Good.

Anyways, thanks for the letter. Looking forward to January 7th. Hope you guys enjoy the holidays!

Morvan wrote: »

L_Nici wrote: »

So the Chapters got replaced by a Season Pass, the Season Pass then was renamed to Content Pass, just to be replaced by seasons again?

"Content Pass" is a bad nomenclature, marketing-wise, it's a red flag for monetization. It makes sense that they'd want to move away from it, people will always associate it with time-limited content.

So you're saying Content Pass was accurate then? Since it included time-limited content, never to be seen again? ESO should have a red flag for monetisation.

Good to see and liking the communications trends. Will hope I can clear some time on the 7th for the preview.

There has been a lot to be frustrated about of late but good to see it is being noted and that it feels like there is hope on the horizon.

I wish we got something to make us hyped up for the reveal. I'm glad it opened with an acknowledgement that 2025 wasn't the best. It makes me more hopeful about what's coming for 2026 and that there really is a new way of doing things on the horizon. But time will tell the real story.

L_Nici wrote: »

Morvan wrote: »

L_Nici wrote: »

So the Chapters got replaced by a Season Pass, the Season Pass then was renamed to Content Pass, just to be replaced by seasons again?

"Content Pass" is a bad nomenclature, marketing-wise, it's a red flag for monetization. It makes sense that they'd want to move away from it, people will always associate it with time-limited content.

Umm, personally I would say Season Pass has that nomenclature. Just look at Diablo, Fortnite and so on, its always called Season Pass, and I do not like that.

Don't you mean Battle Pass, which is extremely grindy, has a basic & premium tier of rewards, encouraging FOMO (which is something that Fortnite uses)?

If you want examples of a Season Pass (in which you pay once and get access to the content as it releases over time), there's the Assassin's Creed series, which used it most recently for Valhalla:

Or Fallout 4:

Good communication IMO.

I put the livestream date on my calendar. If a truckload of new orginal content is coming I will stay on the train. If there is another year of ‘reimagined old content’ I will probably skip a year and catch up at some point during a sale of a month of ESO+

Credit where credit is due, there is a clear improvement in communication and transparency. I agree with @twisttop138 and @DenverRalphy: I'm more confident today than I was yesterday...but still with a dash of skepticism...

This cannot be another false start. Now that the reorganizations have happened and the team has had time to transition to the new content release system, January 7th is indeed a critical moment. 2026 is gonna make clear where this game is headed and I hope it's all leading to a revitalization of ESO.

This is a terrific game with an outstanding community. With the overall state of MMOs right now, ESO has an opportunity to really stand out and attract new players, bring old ones back and keep the current ones playing. As a reality tv show host loves to say, "Good Luck and DON'T ---- it up!"

Shoutout to @ZOS_Kevin, @ZOS_JessicaFolsom, you two have been leading the way when it comes to improved communication and transparency. To the new leadership team, @ZOS_JoBurba, @ZOS_NickG and @ZOS_Susan, we're counting on you to follow through on these promises at this critical moment for a game we all love.

Lastly, we all know it was a rough year at ZOS/Bethesda, when it comes to the canceled game and loss of treasured co-workers. Too many of us have been through that. It sucks to lose team mates and then have to pick up the pieces and Do More With Less.

Happy Holidays, all. Fingers crossed for an exciting reveal on 1/7/26!