ESO Content Releases

Spearblade · April 2

Am I the only one utterly confused with what's happening with content drops? I like to think I follow ESO pretty closely, watching many of the ESO Directs, following forums, reading their Facebook posts...but I cannot for the life of me follow what's happening and when. Like Update 49 was the "setup" for Season 0. And Season 0 is Night Market and their new battlepass thing...and uhhh...Night Market doesn't come out with Season 0, more like the middle of it. And these Class Mastery additions? Also Season 0, but not April 2nd. End of Season 0. Update 50- which is setup for Season 1...I'm guessing.

Is it just me? Feels like being fed content juuuuuust enough to keep from starving, and it's...not great to be honest.

Soarora · April 2

It’s the same system of Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 but with a different coat of paint. That’s how I’m seeing it thus far, anyway. U50 being a part of season zero, for us, probably just means that the battle pass will be around until the end of Q2. In the future, there could be more themeing tied to the battle pass but this battle pass doesn’t seem to relate to the content at all.

tsaescishoeshiner · April 2

The main odd thing is the content coming out after the Update drops. I think once we get in the groove of it, it'll make a bit more sense. A lot of the new content seems tied to Seasons, except for long events like the Night Market. I'm not sure which is which, but they've been announcing the dates pretty clearly when they're near.

Danikat · April 2

I've definitely lost track of what's going on. Although that's partially because I wasn't able to watch the live stream and because yesterday was April Fools I waited until today to read the articles to avoid any fake ones mixed in with the actual news. Which is good because it seems like most of what I saw being posted on social media was fake, the only real article is a link to re-watch the live stream, which I still can't do. Hopefully there will be a text summary at some point.

Nothing against fake announcements for April Fools, they're fun, but when I just want to find out how all this new stuff works I don't want to be reading every article wondering if it's even real.

As tsaescishoeshiner said new releases starting a while after the update is an adjustment but just something we need to get used to. It's probably a good move considering what happened with the Writing Wall and now we're moving into everything being these little mini events that are only up for a few weeks. Hopefully it gives them an opportunity to catch some of the bugs before we're all scrambling to finish stuff before it's taken away again.

Other than that the short version is no new DLC (or chapters or whatever you want to call it) and instead a constant cycle of events like the festivals we've had previously with the rewards seperated out into the season pass.

SeaGtGruff · April 2

I agree that the pacing of the releases seems kind of confusing, but I'm wondering if the main reason it's "staggered" this way is because Season 0 is a transitional release. I mean, last year was a transitional year, but it was more about releasing what they'd been working on so they could move to a different development model-- that is, wrapping up the "old stuff" to clear the way for the "new stuff." This year is still transitional in the sense of laying the foundation for future development. So it could be that future content releases won't need to be as "staggered" as Season 0 is-- but time will tell.

twisttop138 · April 2

So, they're doing it a bit different this year. They're moving away from front loading the content of each season to its Q update. I would argue that it's to stretch it out, maybe put it out when it's ready also. Because let's be very fair. We can be excited for what's coming this year, really happy that it's new and fresh and at the same time recognize that it's very much less then we are used to getting. So front loading it into every Q update/season start date would have us done with everything pretty quick. We start seasons today. Interact with it this month, get used to the new gameplay loop. Then end of April we get night market. Interact with that for the rest of the season. Then in season 1,
Update 50, Qol stuff, then quest lines and then later on the trial, whatever else. Then rumors, favors, seas of Tamriel etc. Staggered releases to keep us busy throughout the year instead of front loading to every quarter.

We'll see how this works out. I'm of the opinion that ZOS is new to this kind of thing and that there will be some growing pains as it gets dialed in. Some patience and understanding will probably be needed on our part. As well as feedback. We should absolutely be letting them know what they're getting right and wrong.

BlueRaven · April 2

It is a bit confusing but it does not help that so little of it is of interest to me.

Maybe thrives guild? Maybe.if there is actually story there, I guess.

High seas looks interesting, again hopefully it has story.

Night market? Pass.

Solo dungeons? Maybe once.

The new battle pass on top of eso+? If you want me to basically pay a double subscription, give me something of interest. Right now I feel like I am just treading water.

At the very least how about giving us some more character slots?

licenturion · April 2

Welcome to the drip‑feed era where the chef brings out one crouton at a time.

We used to feast every year. Now we nibble every month.

The only hope I had left was for 2027 Winterhold. But they said in the stream 'our first excursion zone' and that probably means a small non-traditional and experimental zone.

They’ve repeated the same line a hundred times across streams, articles, and forums “Don't worry! We love telling new stories and exploring new worlds.”

Great. I’d just like to see some actual proof of that instead of words and vague hints if you value story players.
How many quests are we talking about with thieves guild and Sheogorath? How big is Winterhold? Is in all these releases still a 'main quest' and how much side content will there be?

Right now, it feels like they’re dangling vague promises in front of players like me who show up for zones, exploration, story, lore, dungeons...but without giving any concrete details to back it up. And by doing so it only makes me feel like they are delaying the inevitable bad news.