College of Winterhold Feature Request

SaliciaKeyz · April 9

When you guys add the College of Winterhold, it is my greatest ESO wish that you will also add the schools of magic, i.e. Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Restoration.

This feature has the potential to take this game to an awesome place, and it would be very satisfying for old school Elder Scrolls players.

I’ve taken into consideration that there’s a Destro and Resto staff, and maybe the staves could synergize with those schools of magic in some unique way.

Please, Zenimax! This is the ultimate thing I have ever wanted to happen in ESO! You guys are doing a great job and thank you so much for the awesome changes you’ve made to my favorite game!

SaliciaKeyz

tomofhyrule · April 9

Just a reminder: the standard schools of magic do not exist at this point in Elder Scrolls lore.
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Proposal:_Schools_of_Magic

Shad Astula uses a format similar to them, but it has yet to be adopted by the Mages Guild. In fact, it is more common for magic of 2E Tamriel to be defined by the adventurers themselves:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:What's_an_Arcanist?_Part_1

It was not until well after ESO where the standard schools of magic became commonplace.

As for a Doylist explanation though, it has been confirmed that the Class refresh is essentially preventing the addition of anything new to combat (e.g. new Classes, Skills, weapons, etc) until it is finished.

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

agelonestar wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

agelonestar wrote: »

Very disappointing.

2025 was a total write-off. It looks like 2026 will be too. Where's a new content? I mean real content, not just some added quests or updated systems? If you're a long term player, there's nothing new here.

What would you like to have seen content wise?

I understand the desire from a studio perspective to move away from a crushing schedule - and I'm not saying the changes being made aren't welcome. That said, let's be honest - most of what we're seeing is a change/upgrade to existing game structures, with a few quests and bit and pieces thrown in.

Where's the new zone to explore? The new architecture? The furnishing that goes with it? The stories? The new characters? What about new classes, new skill lines, new weapons, new races..... anything actually NEW?

When I think about the breadth and scope of what was delivered with - for example - Summerset, versus what came out last year and what appears to be planned for this year, there is just no comparison. There is a distinct lack of new content. Period. But your pricing structure won't reflect that.

So just a few things to follow up on. Thank you for providing your thoughts on some of the content we showed today.

…

What about new classes, new skill lines, new weapons, new races
The team is in the middle of the class refresh, so these are out of scope for time being. Once we get through a good portion of these, we can get back to working on items like this. But they are things we would like to get to in the next few years.

SaliciaKeyz · April 10

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Just a reminder: the standard schools of magic do not exist at this point in Elder Scrolls lore.

Thank you for sharing that information. I wonder if it would be possible that we might see the evolution of those schools of magic during this era. I would love for them to find a way to make it work. It would be a really cool feature.

The schools of magic exist in 2E580. Gabrielle Benele wrote the Proposal to incorporate Shad Astula’s schools of magic into the Mages Guild teachings at the time of the Three Banners War, when ESO takes place. And they are brought to the College later, but perhaps Shad Astula could be utilized to add the schools of magic into the game.

It would truly become a wonderful addition, and I hope there’s a way to make it happen.

Alp · April 11

The great thing about the way the game works now is that even if they can't add these things to winterhold right now there is no reason they can't do it later.