Official Discussion Thread for "ESO Leadership’s 2025 End-of-Year Letters to the Community"

tincanman · December 18

Nick Giacomini wrote:

...and listening to and incorporating your feedback..

I'd prefer a less ambiguous "we're ditching the old maxim 'players don't know what they want' which was and is clearly untrue and unhelpful in favour of truly listening to all feedback and dynamically and timeously incorporating that from planning through pts to release and beyond".

As is and with the recent 'deep dive' (which looks like more a commitment to the same kind of busy-work that we've seen many times before, of empirically groping piecemeal over geological time with, inevitably, the expectation of similar kinds of dubious results ) I remain deeply skeptical.

Focusing on communication is only meaningful if it's actually acted upon, rather than just claiming so. Next pts, for example, if you're told something is broken don't just push it out anyway while internally imagining (and giving players false reassurance) it'll get fixed at some indeterminate time in the future - if that happens again after the avoidable unbalanced subclassing implementation then all this 'listening to and incorporating your feedback' will communicate is a slight shift in tonal design in corporate-speak edicts while confirming no substantive change in real policy or in action.

Renato90085 · December 18

I am optimistic,because is I hear new dev group try to do good change
I still don't know what is,but it first time I can feel they excite

Leighlaa · December 18

I have been looking forward to this letter, and I'm pretty pleased with a lot of things:

I saw this news post advertised everywhere today. The social media/mod team has their ducks in a row, and that is really nice to see. While the algorithms obviously realize I like ESO, it was almost uncanny how often I saw this put in front of me. We asked for you to communicate, and I feel VERY MUCH SO like you've not just waited, but REACHED OUT to me.
The letter is from 3 very significant people. I appreciate getting to know *the team* better, not just 1 person who is going to take it all on their shoulders.
I am especially glad to see that Nick started "with a moment of honest reflection," and it felt that way. We all know how this year's events were received by the community at large. Hiding that or brushing it off would've been disingenuous. Putting it off until the end would've felt like hiding it in the footnotes. Instead, you put it front and center, but you didn't just tuck your tail between your legs either, you offered real solutions for the future, reiterated what we've asked for, and mentioned real examples of what is already in-store for the future.
Nobody likes a negative Nancy, and so it was also nice to see some real hints at what the future livestream and communication avenues hold for the community. I am looking forward to the upscaled overland difficulty SO MUCH I can't even put it into words! AMAs and additional communication opportunities are real examples of what we've requested, and that's fabulous.
I know this is corny but... this letter felt personal. It felt like you cared about me reading it. It feels like you guys care about the game too... in Jo's section especially. I am excited to try new things, EVEN IF THEY FAIL, and I'm excited to have a team that wants to try. I want ESO to last a really long time, and that won't happen if new things aren't tried.

Thank you for your hard work and thank you for sticking with it even when we bluster and get frustrated. It really feels like our current team wants to create a wonderful future in Tamriel, and I'm excited to see it!

Ishtarknows · December 18

generally make more investment in the core game experience instead of just chasing the next big thing. We hear you. We agree.

This is concerning for me. I have little interest in slapping makeup on Deshaan if it means we don't get actual new areas to explore.
We'll have to wait til January to hear more, but my expectations are limited now.

SneaK · December 18

We’ll see, hopefully you touch on the big topics during the stream on Jan 7th. Faith is a funny thing, it can exist even when there’s no reason for it to.

I hope the sentiment from the letter is shared throughout the entire ZOS team. What I see a lot in the office setting is leadership has a vision that workers don’t share and the product gets misaligned. We’ve seen a pretty good increase in communication and transparency from some, but crickets from others who could have been accountable for a majority of the mess.

I will give credit, recognizing that feedback from people who play the game everyday as value add is a big big big first step. This is transition, from “we know” to “WE know” Kudos in that regard.

Would (will) be nice to see some community building events and more gameplay geared marketing showcasing a community’s experience.

DoofusMax · December 18

Speaking as a middling-term player (about five years now), I'm taking a more wait-and-see approach going forward. This year probably has been the most disappointing in terms of content, content delivery, and systemic changes. A few very good changes (stackable writs and surveys, the Furnishing Vault, some dialogue options, etc.) have been offset by some poorly implemented changes in other areas. I'll happily listen to the pitch for the upcoming content, but "totally hyped for 2026" isn't even close.

Radiate77 · December 18

Seasons are great; when they are entirely cosmetic, and themed to content launches.

When that content is only available for a Season, then it all falls apart. I can’t speak for everyone, but I will not play an MMO as a seasonal game, it’s entirely why I chose the genre to begin with.

It’s one thing to have cosmetic overlays, or temporary game modes to have fun with, and another one entirely if an entire map or questline go up in smoke after a few months.

licenturion · December 18

Radiate77 wrote: »

Seasons are great; when they are entirely cosmetic, and themed to content launches.

When that content is only available for a Season, then it all falls apart. I can’t speak for everyone, but I will not play an MMO as a seasonal game, it’s entirely why I chose the genre to begin with.

It’s one thing to have cosmetic overlays, or temporary game modes to have fun with, and another one entirely if an entire map or questline go up in smoke after a few months.

Destiny 2 showed companies that 'vaulting content' is the catalyst for killing a hit game. Since then, no other games tried this horrible thing and ESO-team was pretty adamant last year with the content pass that all actual zone and story content would stay forever. So I don't expect they put effort in content that get deleted after 3 months.

Radiate77 · December 18

licenturion wrote: »

Radiate77 wrote: »

Seasons are great; when they are entirely cosmetic, and themed to content launches.

When that content is only available for a Season, then it all falls apart. I can’t speak for everyone, but I will not play an MMO as a seasonal game, it’s entirely why I chose the genre to begin with.

It’s one thing to have cosmetic overlays, or temporary game modes to have fun with, and another one entirely if an entire map or questline go up in smoke after a few months.

Destiny 2 showed companies that 'vaulting content' is the catalyst for killing a hit game. Since then, no other games tried this horrible thing and ESO-team was pretty adamant last year with the content pass that all actual zone and story content would stay forever. So I don't expect they put effort in content that get deleted after 3 months.

I really hope not. This will 100% kill the game if implemented poorly.

Turtle_Bot · December 19

@ZOS_Kevin Appreciate the letters, while I am definitely in the "wait and see" camp, especially with how this year went, needing to see real action now, and a few things proposed (mainly some class identity stuff) I have some reservations about until we see some more detail on, the change of tone has been refreshing for sure.

I do ask though, if the stream on the 7th can be posted on the forums for those of us who won't get to watch due to time-zones (it's always like 3-4AM where I live when your streams have been live) or other reasons, so that we can also catch up/watch the stream and have a chance to give feedback.

Radiate77 · December 19

Turtle_Bot wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin Appreciate the letters, while I am definitely in the "wait and see" camp, especially with how this year went, needing to see real action now, and a few things proposed (mainly some class identity stuff) I have some reservations about until we see some more detail on, the change of tone has been refreshing for sure.

I do ask though, if the stream on the 7th can be posted on the forums for those of us who won't get to watch due to time-zones (it's always like 3-4AM where I live when your streams have been live) or other reasons, so that we can also catch up/watch the stream and have a chance to give feedback.

There are always follow-up threads that cover everything each year, if I don’t see one, I’ll make one assuming I don’t work that day.

robwolf666 · December 19

OK - they mention Overland Difficulty - but how would that work?
I mean, is it even possible to still have people who have it on a different difficulty to play together?
Or are we talking about different instances? A bit like the old days of Vet levels when you finished your Alliance (Cadwells Silver/Gold).

spartaxoxo · December 19

robwolf666 wrote: »

OK - they mention Overland Difficulty - but how would that work?
I mean, is it even possible to still have people who have it on a different difficulty to play together?
Or are we talking about different instances? A bit like the old days of Vet levels when you finished your Alliance (Cadwells Silver/Gold).

We'll know a little more on the live stream and a lot more in the following months but Gina did actually give some information about how they had been planning on developing at the time in the Overland difficulty thread a while back.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Just to level set, while overland difficulty is in active development, it's not something that will be ready to be released before the end of the year. We're definitely excited to share more information on it as development progresses, though!

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We don't want to exclude anyone with this feature, and I'd like to reiterate the core values that Finn mentioned during the AMA:
This will be optional and no one will be forced into it

There will be varied levels of difficulty players can opt into

We will NOT be separating players

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Fair question. Caveat of "this is still in development" but part of this feature will include proper incentives to opting into more difficult content, without making it feel like you are being punished for not doing it.

ZOS_Kevin · December 19

Turtle_Bot wrote: »

I do ask though, if the stream on the 7th can be posted on the forums for those of us who won't get to watch due to time-zones (it's always like 3-4AM where I live when your streams have been live) or other reasons, so that we can also catch up/watch the stream and have a chance to give feedback.

We’ll have links to the stream and/or vod of the stream available on the forum on the 7th. We’ll also have articles and such covering information in the livestream.

Aliyavana · December 19

I love the amount of recent communication that has been happening.

ZOS_Kevin · December 19

spartaxoxo wrote: »

robwolf666 wrote: »

OK - they mention Overland Difficulty - but how would that work?
I mean, is it even possible to still have people who have it on a different difficulty to play together?
Or are we talking about different instances? A bit like the old days of Vet levels when you finished your Alliance (Cadwells Silver/Gold).

We'll know a little more on the live stream and a lot more in the following months but Gina did actually give some information about how they had been planning on developing at the time in the Overland difficulty thread a while back.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Just to level set, while overland difficulty is in active development, it's not something that will be ready to be released before the end of the year. We're definitely excited to share more information on it as development progresses, though!

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We don't want to exclude anyone with this feature, and I'd like to reiterate the core values that Finn mentioned during the AMA:
This will be optional and no one will be forced into it

There will be varied levels of difficulty players can opt into

We will NOT be separating players

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Fair question. Caveat of "this is still in development" but part of this feature will include proper incentives to opting into more difficult content, without making it feel like you are being punished for not doing it.

We will also have a detailed write up for overland difficulty in the near future. But the stream needs to happen first.

Navithra · December 19

The communication has improved and been a welcome change. I'm looking forward to the stream, but I personally appreciate that the focus of the letters remained on being as straight forward and forthcoming as possible. You affirmed you understand the biggest pain-points you community has, and you've made real attempts since the studio shakeup to communicate and be transparent about what's happening. It's okay to look at the end of the year and be like 'dang we didn't achieve what I set out to do'. It happens. But here's to hoping that the new year brings all of us a very, very awesome ESO. We appreciate you. c:

laniakea_0 · December 19

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

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.

Totally reasonable. Like Nick said, "actions speak louder than words". It's on us to show what we've been working on, no one else.

I think you've really become the player's favorite among the community managers

SpiritKitten · December 19

Devs, before you start adding new content in 2026 can you PLEASE fix the bugs still present in Solstice, like the East world bosses not counting towards the daily quest achievement?

The fact that this bug is still there is just not acceptable. Solstice is not a professional product. Fix it before you start hyping new content on the 7th. A lot of us have no faith in anything you say about this game product going forward, so you may want to temper the hype with actual in-game results.

Did you know, devs, that it is a running joke among players to 'be careful what you ask ZOS for because they will find a way to make it sound like they are giving you what you want but will actually give you what you don't want and didn't ask for?' Yeah, that sentiment has actually been spoken many times among players. What are you going to do to turn that perception around?

We just want a game that works. We want the content to work as intended. Are you really listening to us? Or is that just marketing propaganda?

I only still play ESO for the graphics. I don't like the way the other active mmos on the market look. The new stories in ESO have terrible writing. Cringe. I wish you guys would give us content like Wrothgar, Skyrim, or Elsweyr. The lore and writing were amazing!

2026 is make or break for me. I guess we will see how it goes. But I have no faith. I am just watching and waiting.

I wish my post didn't have to be so negative, but I need you to hear this. I want to love ESO again.

CAB_Life · December 19

“Please be excited…” I’m a sucker for punishment so sure. But if the plan is to roll out one class update per major update you need to scratch that as you’ll bleed out the player base even more during that time. Also, if we’re turning over a new leaf regarding fessing up to our past mistakes, Vengeance should straight up be deleted. It’s so antithetical to ESO and even to the elder scrolls in general that I’m not sure why it’s being seriously considered.

TX12001rwb17_ESO · December 19

Overland difficulty would basically be nerfing the player as opposed to making the enemies stronger, a debuff on you that makes enemies hit harder and you do less damage to them, might as well remove all your gear and CP.

Malyore · December 19

Throwing my voice into the mix that, once again, this continued communication improvement is being seen and appreciated.
Now is indeed the time, after the noticed improvement, for the games direction to improve. At the end of every year of my playing ESO, it is a cautious optimism I hold– only to get followed by a disappointed realism. I won't so eagerly get my hopes up again, due simply to the pattern to date, regardless of any change of ZOS staff

(Unless the people who wrote Clockwork City and Zerith-Var get promoted)

But I agree with others... this is a critical juncture and now is the time to really prove to your community that optimism is warranted and that ESOs development will turn towards a better direction.

My opinion for some of the most important things for the game's improvement? Better stories, AND better narrative. I have not played any new content after Necrom/ Gold Road, as the story and writing felt so bad that I did not want to purchase any new content. This is an Elder Scrolls game first and foremost. Quests are a huge part of that.
Extending that notion of this being an Elder Scrolls game, please add an option to make the crown crate items less ugly to players who do not want to see them. It is averting being surrounded by the obnoxious, out-of-place skins and flashy designs (which are never dared to be used for NPCs due to how erroneous they are.) It's a bad thing when being in a main hub or town of a videogame feels repulsive due to an unavoidable presence of immersionless cosmetics.

Vaqual · December 19

A few unbiased wisdoms for the end of the year:

Don't choose the easy way, we can tell.

Get some outside perspectives before commiting major efforts behind the scenes.

Keep the fantasy grounded. Flashy means nothing without contrast.

Don't spend your time working on negative contributions.

If you mess up, don't let it sit for ages. How do you imagine this looks to your customers?

There may not be any better project coming along for a long time, so just make the best of it.

Don't remove weapons from new animations and consider keeping them displayed for reworks of certain abilities instead and I might consider mercy as an option for 2026

Aliniel · December 19

This year has been an utter disaster. There's no need to sugarcoat it.

And the class rework is planned in a way it will take years to finish. The most game breaking thing ever to happen in this game is planned to take YEARS to address.

If I am to be optimistic, this game is on its last leg and the next year is going to be decisive.
If I am to be realistic, this game is on a downtrend leading to its eventual shutdown.
If I am to be pesimistic, this game is already dead and being animated by necromancers at ZOS.

So, my message to the ZOS team: "Think of this as your final chance. You have already wasted all the second chances you are going to get (from me)."

That being said, I really do hope you finally learned and are going to change the game for the better. I expect most of the decisions we saw this year are still from the old leadership so not all blame can be put on the current leadership team.

flizomica · December 19

SO excited to see overland difficulty options are finally coming! I've been holding off on replaying old zone stories on my alts in anticipation of it being added. Can't wait!

Seraphayel · December 19

I was dreading an announcement for new content was months away. It‘s very refreshing to see it‘s only 3 weeks and I am very much looking forward to the new content model and roadmap.

Now the price just has to be right and the content worth it. I think players would be totally fine if there are two seasons per year and each season costs $19.99.

New World had a seasonal model that wasn’t too bad. I think players are lenient when price and content match each other, something that wasn’t the case for 2025.

Neither the content nor the price were acceptable for most players, so here’s to hearing what you‘ve learned from this year‘s debacle. I‘m cautiously optimistic.

Sarannah · December 19

Thank you for the down to earth end-of-year letters. Transparancy is very important.

And yeah, many things have gone terribly wrong last year, most of all the writhing wall event and all the game's bugs(general and event ones). Personally I am going to stay hopeful and positive. Though I really hope next year will actually show us all the good the change of content release model has done, so far I haven't seen anything good come from this yet. Which as a huge ESO fan/supporter feels really bad.

But overal I am still hoping for many more wonderful years to come, and for ESO to become the best MMO on the market!

PS: Merry christmas/happy holidays/happy new year to everyone!
PPS: Is there a CP expansion coming? Where we can go far beyond the 3600 CP limit. (would love to see the CP system go into the hundreds of thousands or even millions)

Pepegrillos · December 19

I have no idea if they read the stuff we write here, but I will say the following.

To acknowledge when you mess up is a big thing, and until very recently, it was rare around here.

Do your very best to avoid adversarial game design. You have engaged in it for too long.

Try to meet people where they are. There is no point in seeking grand meta-design projects (like homogenization and hybridization) if people don't care for them. Designing systems that people tolerate isn't good enough.

You need to be better at detailing what lies ahead. These games run on hype and hope. ESO has never been particularly good at hyping people, but you could at least try to give them hope (so they don't feel the time they put in is in peril). What do I mean by that? Don't wait till January every year to let them know you've been working on some big system improvement. I can understand not revealing the nature of the chapter/season. However, if you are working on something like crossplay or overland difficulty modes, you need to let people know beforehand.

Do your best to get rid of the in-group / out-group culture the studio has cultivated with its players (I count content creators here too). It's easy to fall into that when you get criticized, but it doesn't help anyone, and it relies on a simplified and belligerent view of reality.

On a different note, rethink what you are doing with the stream team and all that. Playing favorites and surrounding yourselves with sycophants hasn't helped the game. It has created a toxic environment in that space. It might sound irrelevant, but as you know, those spaces (Reddit, and other internet-spaces where super-users, sweatlords, and overly-attached players reside) are these days the layer that mediates between the game and newcomers.

I wish the best to the new leads and I hope you are able to turn the ship around.

Danikat · December 19

I'm glad the letter didn't try to pretend everything in 2025 was great, or tell us that we enjoyed broken releases, temporary content and vague promises that one day things will be better. I'm also glad they're finally being honest that the new model is a season pass. Whether those passes will be worth the price remains to be seen, especially if the plan is to keep taking chunks of it away to encourage FOMO buying before you can make an informed decision.

But as usual it was a lot of words for not a lot of information.
* The Writing Wall event didn't work.
* Content passes are in fact season passes.
* We promise to communicate in future.
* Standard annual statement that bugs and faulty systems will be fixed sometime in the next few years.
* Wait for the follow-up articles after the January hype video for actual info.

I know that's how these types of announcements always go and you're probably not allowed to use it for any useful information, but it does mean for me the only important bit is I need to wait until about the 10th January to make a decision on my future with this game.

Onomog · December 19

tomofhyrule wrote: »

However, I'm holding my optimism until we see what's coming.

This right here. Show me you can walk the walk