Maintenance for the week of April 13:
• PC/Mac: No maintenance – April 13

Did they just monetize login incentives via the tome system?

Personofsecrets
Personofsecrets
✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭
While I do acknowledge that the seasonal tome has more interesting rewards than we have been getting, there is a way in which these rewards aren't exlusive.

Most common: We have been getting potions and scrolls for free for a long time.
Moderately common: We have been getting materials and gold for free for a long time.
Less common: We have been getting visual changing items once in a while.

Overall, I don't have a problem with players funding the game. I even encourage others to spend money on the game and encourage development to release new exciting things for us to buy such as limited availability skills or powerful weapons to use in combat. I personally feel that the way that I like to play the game was remorselessly destroyed by development and I still purchased the premium tome with the hopes that the game improves.

That said, I've been a low information player when it comes to the seasonal tome rewards. My first thought was "wait a minute, we just stopped getting all of this stuff for free and now some of it we have to pay for the privilige for?"

Does anyone else feel that way regarding the premium rewards? I definitely have had a chuckle about this transpiring.
Edited by Personofsecrets on April 4, 2026 8:25PM
Rest in Peace:
The Dragonknight
2014-2025

This commemoration is for the class that has constantly been plundered and dismantled by designers for no obvious reason while other classes continue to have coherent skill lines and feel both powerful and cool.
  • Czeri
    Czeri
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    The way I look at it is that we can now choose which "daily" rewards to claim, so for me it's progress. But I guess there are fewer of them now without purchasing the premium unlock.
  • Pcgamer
    Pcgamer
    ✭✭✭
    I do like this new system so thank you zos. Eso plus members get 3 trade bar caches per month. This is a new addition.

    The best thing about this new system is we get to choose what rewards we want and work towards them. We can more of less choose the activities we want to participate in. So maybe this month's premium tomes are not great but wait for next season's tomes might be ones you really want.

    It will take some time to get used to the changes but moving forwards i do see this change as a progressive step for eso. I have already seen the communuty growing with many new players arriving. I notice it more in dungeons.
    Edited by Pcgamer on April 4, 2026 8:45PM
  • ESO_player123
    ESO_player123
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭

    That said, I've been a low information player when it comes to the seasonal tome rewards. My first thought was "wait a minute, we just stopped getting all of this stuff for free and now some of it we have to pay for the privilige for?"

    Does anyone else feel that way regarding the premium rewards? I definitely have had a chuckle about this transpiring.

    I doubt that we would have gotten the cosmetics from the Premium tomes for free if the tomes were never introduced. They would have been added either to the Crown store for direct purchase or put in Crown crates.

    For me the game actually became cheaper since I'm not interested in those cosmetics. I simply choose what I want to grind for in the free tome. That said, I'm not happy that they apparently going to autoclaim some rewards if you have spare tome points above 2000 at the end of the season. If I did not claim something, that means I do not want it. No reason to clog my mail /inventory with unneeded items.

  • heimdall14_9
    heimdall14_9
    ✭✭✭✭
    look at the free stuff them look at the paid it will tell you the real story and what i read is you want nice things pay for them or waste your earnings on junk because you have no other choice
    Nordic-Knights (PSN)/Sir-A-Crowley (PSN)/Sir_Crowley ( PC) 16 account holder !!!!!!!!!!!!! 19x emperor , 99% full game all vet HM SR ND ( U46) release day ESO VET !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ww add-on takes the integrity of the GAME away
  • wolfie1.0.
    wolfie1.0.
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭

    That said, I've been a low information player when it comes to the seasonal tome rewards. My first thought was "wait a minute, we just stopped getting all of this stuff for free and now some of it we have to pay for the privilige for?"

    Does anyone else feel that way regarding the premium rewards? I definitely have had a chuckle about this transpiring.

    I doubt that we would have gotten the cosmetics from the Premium tomes for free if the tomes were never introduced. They would have been added either to the Crown store for direct purchase or put in Crown crates.

    For me the game actually became cheaper since I'm not interested in those cosmetics. I simply choose what I want to grind for in the free tome. That said, I'm not happy that they apparently going to autoclaim some rewards if you have spare tome points above 2000 at the end of the season. If I did not claim something, that means I do not want it. No reason to clog my mail /inventory with unneeded items.

    I dont think they will automatically claim stuff you dont want. All I read was that only 2k tome points carry over to the next tome season.

    Unless you have premium, the tome and any excess tome points will expire.
  • majulook
    majulook
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    wolfie1.0. wrote: »

    That said, I've been a low information player when it comes to the seasonal tome rewards. My first thought was "wait a minute, we just stopped getting all of this stuff for free and now some of it we have to pay for the privilige for?"

    Does anyone else feel that way regarding the premium rewards? I definitely have had a chuckle about this transpiring.

    I doubt that we would have gotten the cosmetics from the Premium tomes for free if the tomes were never introduced. They would have been added either to the Crown store for direct purchase or put in Crown crates.

    For me the game actually became cheaper since I'm not interested in those cosmetics. I simply choose what I want to grind for in the free tome. That said, I'm not happy that they apparently going to autoclaim some rewards if you have spare tome points above 2000 at the end of the season. If I did not claim something, that means I do not want it. No reason to clog my mail /inventory with unneeded items.

    I dont think they will automatically claim stuff you dont want. All I read was that only 2k tome points carry over to the next tome season.

    Unless you have premium, the tome and any excess tome points will expire.

    Yes they will auto claim stuff
    See here https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/8450613/#Comment_8450613
    Si vis pacem, para bellum
  • tsaescishoeshiner
    tsaescishoeshiner
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭
    The free Tome path gives comparable rewards with less work. Most of the daily login rewards were kinda junk.
    PC-NA
    in-game: @tsaescishoeshiner
  • Personofsecrets
    Personofsecrets
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭
    The free Tome path gives comparable rewards with less work. Most of the daily login rewards were kinda junk.

    Not really a great comparison.

    Over 90 days, previously there would be a reward per day as well as a endeavor earning.

    Now there are 55 free rewards and 7 of those are eneavor points which were previously from logging in daily.

    Additionally, 6 rewards are the equivalent of extra Event Tickets.

    Of the rewards that are left over, they are generally more interesting than the consumable rewards which we have received in bulk the past year. That said, if we look back in time just a little bit, then we can remember when costumes, pets, furnishings, and crates were available every month or so for a while.

    That change, from more interesting items to more generic items in the recent times is accurate to call a deliberate choice by development since they enacted that change. Now more interesting rewards are back as part of the new system. Maybe as time goes on the free track rewards will become more and more generic like we have been used to the past year.
    Edited by Personofsecrets on April 4, 2026 9:51PM
    Rest in Peace:
    The Dragonknight
    2014-2025

    This commemoration is for the class that has constantly been plundered and dismantled by designers for no obvious reason while other classes continue to have coherent skill lines and feel both powerful and cool.
  • BretonMage
    BretonMage
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    I think the idea was that the player pays for the upgrade to get the big collectibles. Things like the multi-rider mount and the other flashy, multi-coloured collectibles.

    While we used to get those big collectibles in the first year or so of the daily login rewards (and during the 10 year anniversary), we were generally getting the "normal" login rewards otherwise, which are now in the standard free Tome. I don't really mind it. I'm glad we get to pick the rewards we want, since that means that over the course of time, it should work out that the players get more things they value.
    Edited by BretonMage on April 5, 2026 5:49AM
  • Ishtarknows
    Ishtarknows
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Pcgamer wrote: »

    Eso plus members get 3 trade bar caches per month. This is a new addition.

    Do we? That's great, I had no idea.

    Could someone point me in the direction of how to claim these please. I don't want to miss out thanks.
  • Shagreth
    Shagreth
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    You mean I may actually have to craft/buy potions now? As for scrolls, I don't really need them, so this is a non-issue for me.
  • ADarklore
    ADarklore
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Shagreth wrote: »
    You mean I may actually have to craft/buy potions now? As for scrolls, I don't really need them, so this is a non-issue for me.

    No... you can still buy them with the tome points you get from completing the challenges on the free track.
    CP: 2112 ** ESO+ ** ~~ ***** Strictly a solo PvE quester *****
    ~~Started Playing: May 2015 | Stopped Playing: July 2025 | Returned: March 2026~~
  • Arunei
    Arunei
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭
    I keep asking this question but never getting an answer: What's the point of getting login rewards if you're not playing the game to begin with? Because with the Challenges that's kinda what you do to get the Tome Points.

    I will admit that the reroll system 1000% needs work, so hopefully the devs will listen and improve it. However from what I've seen there are tasks for harvesting mats, killing WBs, killing "shadowy" Daedra (which I knocked out in like 30 minutes just a Dolmen circuit in Deshaan), doing Trials, doing Arenas, and opening Treaaure Chests (not Map ones). Others have mentioned getting things like District or Keep captures in IC/Cyro. It seems there is a variety of tasks are available, hopefully including crafting ones.

    That said, I don't get why people are upset that the things they were getting just for logging in now have to be earned. Because if you were only logging in before to get the items but not actually doing things where you would have used them, then...what was the points of getting them?

    And to add, yes they monetized things, to make up for all actual future content being free. Plus we haven't really gotten Mounts, Costumes, Crates, and other "big ticket" things for a WHILE now, so saying "they removed these to make us pay for them" is a heck of a stretch.
    Edited by Arunei on April 5, 2026 10:53AM
    PC-NA | Been around since closed beta

    Avid RPer. Hit me up in-game @Ras_Lei if you're interested in getting together for some arr-pee shenanigans!

    RP Characters:
    Sarah Lacroix: Breton Vampire who really really REALLY likes likes learning Magick and also her Altmer husbando
    Kaalhil Swiftstrike: Tiny shapeshifting monster hunter Bosmeri lady with enough sass to kill a dragon or ten
    Gwendolyn Jenelle: Friendly healer with a coffee addiction and her own medical practice
    Krisiel: Literally crazy Werewolf, no like legit insane. She nuts
    Kiju Veran: Ex-Fighters Guild Suthay who likes to punch things and is also a spy and ALSO a Werewolf
    Niralae Elsinal: Young Altmeri woman with way too much Magicka and Vampire husbando
    Slondor: TESified Slenderman, except lazier and has more of a thing for deals than Clavicus Vile does
    Marius Vastino: Sarah's Imperial apathetic sire who likes to monologue
    Lirawyn Calatare: Traveling performer and bard who's 101% vanilla bean
    Soliril Larethian: Blind alchemist who uses animals to see and brews plagues in his spare time
  • spartaxoxo
    spartaxoxo
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not really. What you would have gotten from the daily/endeavors, you still get on the free track.
  • FurryCandyHearts
    FurryCandyHearts
    ✭✭✭
    Please note that there are still daily login rewards. It now consists of 15 tome points that you get just for logging in on any given day and you can use those login points, if you wish it, to buy all the stuff many people claimed was useless crap. Please also note that if you subscribe to eso plus you get a cache of 2k tome points for each month you subscribe to it, it seems so. And you get many tome points for doing tasks. Most notable of these to me was the 1500 tome points i got for doing 50 daily tasks.... ie 7 for crafting and 1 for a daily dungeon. Without making any more than my usual effort, that's 8 per day per character, or 32 a day for my 4 characters on NA server AND SO before 2 days have passed i have 1500 tome points for doing the stuff in game that i would normally do. And as i bought all the stuff i could i am on page 5 of the tome and i am fastly closing in on the purchase of a mount that takes 2 riders or a major house that was previously given away for free on one of the previous chapters (sword singers redoubt and others). So no we aren't being gamed like op thinks. You get plenty enough of tome points for just doing what you normally do that you can buy all those things you previously regarded as crap if you wish, or you can suddenly realise that the real problem is that after you used up all your tome points and you look at the seals store and the gold coast bizarre - if you are like me - theres just not much i want to buy. And that's the problem i'm having.
    Edited by FurryCandyHearts on April 5, 2026 12:26PM
  • cyberjanet
    cyberjanet
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I agree with OP. Your daily reward now is the 15 tome points. If you know that you actually have to click on them and claim them.
    Favourite NPC: Wine-For-All
    Mostly PC-EU , with a lonely little guy on NA.
  • ZomZom
    ZomZom
    ✭✭✭
    I'm glad they got rid of the daily cruft but they introduced yet another currency. Currencies are used to nudge players into activities they want us to participate in and it's become a crutch for them and confusing to us. I just wish I could buy everything with gold.
  • peacenote
    peacenote
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭
    cyberjanet wrote: »
    I agree with OP. Your daily reward now is the 15 tome points. If you know that you actually have to click on them and claim them.

    I actually did the math on this in another thread. If you log in every day for 90 days (and happen to not complete any of the other challenges), you do not even earn enough Tome Points to unlock the second free page in the tome. You're limited to the first page. Which is five rewards.

    Whereas in the old system, if you logged in for 90 days, you'd get 90 free rewards. You may not have used all of them... but the odds of getting something you can use or like are much higher receiving 90 rewards vs. 5!

    If, through completing other challenges, you are able to unlock all of the pages in the Tome, which are 10 pages without paying anything, 5 rewards per page x 10 gives you a possible 50 rewards per month, instead of 90.

    I have not tried to do any kind of comparison for the value of the rewards, since it's going to vary by season and it used to vary by month, but I do think ZOS tried to give us more desirable free rewards.
    My #1 wish for ESO Today: Decouple achievements from character progress and tracking.
    • Advocate for this HERE.
    • Want the history of this issue? It's HERE.
  • virtus753
    virtus753
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Pcgamer wrote: »

    Eso plus members get 3 trade bar caches per month. This is a new addition.

    Do we? That's great, I had no idea.

    Could someone point me in the direction of how to claim these please. I don't want to miss out thanks.

    You get one per month, not three. Some people have three right now because they gave retroactive credit for subs from January, February, and March.

    You can see how many you have in your currency list, but you open them from within the Tome. The option is at the bottom, like opening crown crates.

    But please be careful. You may end up with more points than you need at the end of the season, and only 2,000 carry over to next season.
  • tsaescishoeshiner
    tsaescishoeshiner
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭
    It's fair to compare them. There are 8,000 seals in the 97-day free Tome. That's about 547 per week at 13.8 weeks total.

    Daily endeavors used to give us about 540 seals per week (225 per weekly + 7x 45, sometimes more or less).

    So they're very comparable, but honestly, we also have a few crates, styles pages, Crown-exclusive furnishings, and more in the free track. So I personally think we're getting more, and I prefer it (if they would only improve the UI), but I think it's fair to say that they're comparable and unfounded to say that it's a scam/money grab.

    There are fewer things from daily rewards like Crown Potions, but also more non-consumable rewards.

    This is all free, so there's no monetization of daily Seals or daily rewards the way I look at it.
    PC-NA
    in-game: @tsaescishoeshiner
  • katanagirl1
    katanagirl1
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    It seems like everyone is looking at the rewards and do not notice that the grind level went way up to get them, which is probably there in order disguise the bare minimum of new playable content we will be getting.
    Khajiit Stamblade main
    Dark Elf Magsorc
    Redguard Stamina Dragonknight
    Orc Stamplar PVP
    Breton Magsorc PVP
    Dark Elf Necromancer
    Dark Elf Magden
    Khajiit Stamblade
    Khajiit Stamina Arcanist

    PS5 NA
  • couriersix
    couriersix
    ✭✭✭
    We get far more endeavors in a season than previously, and there is less pressure for daily grinding with the new system. I also think the rewards are higher quality, though there are less of them. While I did buy the premium track because there was enough stuff to interest me, I was pretty satisfied with the free track, and managed to get about halfway through the tome before I purchased it just by completing the weekly and seasonal challenges.

    I have a chronic illness and can't log in each day, so I think the new system is fine.
    PC / NA - cp 1700+ - EP magicka necro.
  • Ishtarknows
    Ishtarknows
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    virtus753 wrote: »
    Pcgamer wrote: »

    Eso plus members get 3 trade bar caches per month. This is a new addition.

    Do we? That's great, I had no idea.

    Could someone point me in the direction of how to claim these please. I don't want to miss out thanks.

    You get one per month, not three. Some people have three right now because they gave retroactive credit for subs from January, February, and March.

    You can see how many you have in your currency list, but you open them from within the Tome. The option is at the bottom, like opening crown crates.

    But please be careful. You may end up with more points than you need at the end of the season, and only 2,000 carry over to next season.

    I didn't get any trade bar caches though.
    I have some Premium tome things and some Tome caches, but the OP mentioned getting Trade bar caches and I don't know how to get those.
  • virtus753
    virtus753
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    virtus753 wrote: »
    Pcgamer wrote: »

    Eso plus members get 3 trade bar caches per month. This is a new addition.

    Do we? That's great, I had no idea.

    Could someone point me in the direction of how to claim these please. I don't want to miss out thanks.

    You get one per month, not three. Some people have three right now because they gave retroactive credit for subs from January, February, and March.

    You can see how many you have in your currency list, but you open them from within the Tome. The option is at the bottom, like opening crown crates.

    But please be careful. You may end up with more points than you need at the end of the season, and only 2,000 carry over to next season.

    I didn't get any trade bar caches though.
    I have some Premium tome things and some Tome caches, but the OP mentioned getting Trade bar caches and I don't know how to get those.

    Trade bar caches don’t exist.
  • FlameDark
    FlameDark
    ✭✭✭✭
    virtus753 wrote: »
    Pcgamer wrote: »

    Eso plus members get 3 trade bar caches per month. This is a new addition.

    Do we? That's great, I had no idea.

    Could someone point me in the direction of how to claim these please. I don't want to miss out thanks.

    You get one per month, not three. Some people have three right now because they gave retroactive credit for subs from January, February, and March.

    You can see how many you have in your currency list, but you open them from within the Tome. The option is at the bottom, like opening crown crates.

    But please be careful. You may end up with more points than you need at the end of the season, and only 2,000 carry over to next season.

    I didn't get any trade bar caches though.
    I have some Premium tome things and some Tome caches, but the OP mentioned getting Trade bar caches and I don't know how to get those.

    They mistakenly called tome caches "trade bar caches" Thats all. Dont worry, you didnt miss anything :)
    PC/NA CP 1000 - PvE
    Arondael - Level 50 Magicka Necromancer Valyndrae (MAIN) - Level 50 Magicka Sorcerer Mithaedrun - Level 50 Stamina Arcanist
  • JHartEllis
    JHartEllis
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    The reward system overhauls tackled a lot of simultaneous problems. Flexibility in choosing rewards instead of just having them shoved at everyone is way better.

    The best thing about the trade-offs here is that everyone gets free content going forward, which means everyone can play together when new stuff comes out. It's a big bet that enough people will choose to pay for the tomes, so I'm hoping it works well.
    Guild leader of Spicy Economics and Spicy Life on PC/NA
    ESO Stream Team Partner on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/jhartellis
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/JHartEllis
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/JHartEllis
    Website: https://spicyeconomics.com/
  • virtus753
    virtus753
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    JHartEllis wrote: »
    The reward system overhauls tackled a lot of simultaneous problems. Flexibility in choosing rewards instead of just having them shoved at everyone is way better.

    Any Tome Points earned above the 2k carryover will be autoredeemed at the end of the season for available rewards, so the flexibility of choice exists insofar as: 1) you can choose what order you get rewards in; and 2) you can choose not to get rewards you don't want by keeping yourself at or the below the 2k carryover limit. If you keep earning points beyond that, you end up with rewards shoved at you that you didn't choose.
  • Tannus15
    Tannus15
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    the whole tomes this is so much better than daily logins or endeavours

    the only thing i don't like is the janky UI, particularly going from the tomes page to the claim page and back feels really bad and looks really bad.
Sign In or Register to comment.