Reddit and WCC News Article about the 2026 ESO Reveal Stream includes additional information!

spartaxoxo · January 8

First of all, it has a nice version of that roadmap image from the stream. I will link that here. So, it's a bit more readable.

Also, in case you missed the watch thread. Here's some slides from it.

Thormar wrote: »

Content outline for Season Zero.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

If you'd like to give feedback on the stream/update in general, please do so in the stickied thread. https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/687182/official-feedback-thread-for-2026-eso-reveal#latest

Anyway, that out of the way. Here's some tidbits that I personally found interesting from the interview.

-Overland Difficulty is releasing as a first version and then more may be added to it later. It will offer three levels of difficulty to start from "more difficult to way more difficult." They want to see if this will be something players respond to and like. The rewards at the start will be just more exp/gold. It will not be coming to dungeons.

-Solo Dungeons will include both a story mode and a challenging mode. No new group dungeons in 2026.

-The Battle Pass is optional! I know they said this in the livestream but it's reiterated in the interview and in the comments on the official feedback thread. New gameplay content will mostly not be pay walled. It will be free.

-Also they mentioned this in the livestream as well but they're trying to include naval battles (I think, but am not sure, as part of that High Seas of Tamriel event).

-Crossplay is coming but not soon because it's very complex . They want to be fair about the very different economies, plus there are technical hurdles. Over the next year, we may see stuff pop up on the PTS for testing for it. (eta: still won't be released in 2026).

- There will still be new, permanent zones in the future. They aren't ready to talk about if there will still be one in 2026.

- There will be new stories with overarching narratives, but they will be less structured and different to the year-long stories of the past. They moved the timeline forward to tell new, exciting stories. This does not exclude never having something that resembles a chapter again but they wanted to experiment with format this year. They say that seasons will still tell plenty of stories.

- Building out new tech to allow players to stumble on to new, dynamic, multistage stuff. It won't always just be about combat.

You can read the full article here. Some of it was covered in the stream.
https://wccftech.com/elder-scrolls-online-zenimax-interview-free-content-battle-pass/

Seraphayel · January 8

I dislike that so much information is in an interview and not available on their own channels. They were truly sparse on insight and details during the livestream, which is already contradicting their new approach of communication.

Also Kevin said that Crossplay is not coming in 2026, so don’t get your hopes up.

Nevertheless, there‘s still some exciting and interesting stuff in the roadmap and the interview that leaves me interested and curious how the year is shaping up to be. That they are so vague about the upcoming events and features is frustrating though. I understand that things are about to change and not set in stone, but just dropping names (like for Sage‘s Vault or the new event) and giving zero further information is unsatisfying teasing.

spartaxoxo · January 8

Seraphayel wrote: »

I dislike that so much information is in an interview and not available on their own channels. They were truly sparse on insight and details during the livestream, which is already contradicting their new approach of communication.

Also Kevin said that Crossplay is not coming in 2026, so don’t get your hopes up.

Nevertheless, there‘s still some exciting and interesting stuff in the roadmap and the interview that leaves me interested and curious how the year is shaping up to be. That they are so vague about the upcoming events and features is frustrating though. I understand that things are about to change and not set in stone, but just dropping names (like for Sage‘s Vault or the new event) and giving zero further information is unsatisfying teasing.

I'm curious if them not being ready to talk about a zone is meant with a wink or a frown, lol. It wouldn't be anything that resembles a chapter either way, but I'm curious what it does mean!

edit

Here's the quote I mean

Is there no new normal zone coming to Elder Scrolls Online in 2026?

Nick Giacomini: We're not quite ready to talk about that right now. There might be.

spartaxoxo · January 8

ZOS_JasonBarnes wrote:

To hopefully help alleviate some fears, a lot of the major story content will be talked about soon as we dive beyond Season 0 and start going into Season 1 and beyond (which are all this year). Hope that helps! Season 0 is focused on what was talked about today + the Night Market, but there's lots of more details coming soonish

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/1q6rsd2/comment/nyaaql1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

ZOS_Kevin wrote:

There is new story content coming. We really only went into some of the new things we are trying. But there will be more new story content this year as well.

And the Night Market will have story as well. The Night Market is designed to come back over time. Not a one and done piece of content and will be available for weeks at a time.

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/1q6r9a5/comment/nya0vxs/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

ZOS_Kevin wrote:

We are working on it, but crossplay won't be a 2026 item. A lot of work needs to go into the process.

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/1q6r9a5/comment/ny9rjex/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote:

Just FYI, we'll be having a livestream on Monday, Jan 12 with the lead of this team to talk through these items in more detail!

Note: This was said about in a discussion about the Player improvements slide.

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/1q6r0wy/comment/nya1fho/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

ZOS_Susan wrote:

Correct. When we add a zone like the chapters were - with a whole new questline. etc, that goes into the base game, is free, and is not time-gated. The exception would be an Event Zone like the Night Market, but those are unique and I don't think are the type of content you're concerned about missing - which will make more sense once we show you more of Night Market.

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/1q6sqf4/comment/nybhvd6/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

spartaxoxo · January 8

I updated the thread to add what I could find on Reddit by searching for ZOS comments in particular. I'm sure I missed some as this is just what search brought up but I think it might be helpful to have some of the additional comments to refer to.

LonePirate · January 8

I hope they are not demolishing the residential section of Anvil to build this new Gold Coast Bazaar. That’s one of the only places in the game where it is easy to farm locks to pick, such as the 15 locks for the newest Golden Pursuit.

They will need to overhaul some of the existing real estate or add something new when they expand on the Thieves Guild this summer. They can probably implement the new Sheogorarth story without much of an overhaul.

I wonder if they will be filling in some of the map between Western Skyrim and The Rift/Eastmarch when that new Skyrim (not “Western” Skyrim) event arrives in the autumn alongside the free Greymoor.

spartaxoxo · January 8

Oh. I hadn't even thought that they might mess up the residential area. I also hope they do not

Tandor · January 8

Thanks for your work on this @spartaxoxo !

allochthons · January 8

Thanks, @spartaxoxo !

spartaxoxo · January 8

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi all! We've seen some questions and concerns about no new group dungeons or a new story zone on the Seasons roadmap. While this is true, there is challenging PvE group content and new quest/story content coming to ESO this year. It's just not coming in the way of a dungeons DLC and a new zone, like it always has in the past. With Seasons, we'll be delivering more types of experiences that may look a little different than what we've done before (and that doesn't mean new dungeons or story zones are off the table forever for Seasons.)

So it's not less, just different. One example that we haven't really talked about yet, but you will see when Night Market comes to the PTS this month, is there are three 4-Player instances (with 1 boss encounter) and one 12-player Trial encounter (1 boss) in that zone. We had a studio playtest today and we can also attest that the Night Market encounters are quite challenging! The Night Market is a unique experience and while it isn't a new dungeon or Trial, we think it'll scratch that same itch.

On the new quest and story side of things, similarly we do have new content coming between the Thieves Guild and Sheogorath major questlines, the Night Market (it also has a full story and quests) and new Trial, the High Seas of Tamriel in-game event, as well as new story content tied to systems, old and new, that we haven't expanded upon yet. The solo dungeons coming in Season Two will also provide a great opportunity for players who enjoy story and haven't yet had a chance to experience the dungeon stories before, starting with Moonhunter Keep and March of Sacrifices.

This is just from the forums so doesn't really fit the rest of these. But I'm just going to put it here anyway because I've seen this question all over the place. So anyone reading this thread may find this answer very useful.

Also want to shout-out the community team for the increased communication. It's awesome to see so many questions being answered so quickly!

katanagirl1 · January 9

I am still catching up with the threads here about the stream so I appreciate the info you have provided here, thanks a lot!

I echo the comments about throwing names of things that are coming without much explanation about them. I didn’t even know what a BattlePass was before this, so I was very confused. I am wary of any changes at this point, based on what we got this past year. It looks promising, if you are someone like me who doesn’t buy cosmetics with crowns much, but the limited time nature of it might be an issue. I am a little afraid to be too hopeful at this point though, I admit. We will see I guess. I still wish we could keep chapters and the format we had before, it is more like what I would prefer to purchase, but that is a thing of the past it seems.