No PVE Content this year?

SaintJohnHM · July 30

We have a PVE guild dedicated to dungeons and trials. When ZOS announced no new dungeons this year, we were gutted, many players stopped playing. We live in dungeons and look forward to four per year (or two on a BAD year) , AND a trial. This was even before the layoffs. Despite not getting any dungeons this year, many of us figured we could shift to running more trials knowing that we'd get a new trial this year, trying to make a bad situation the best it could be. Now we don't even get a trial. Night Market "trial" was not even close to what we enjoy, it was at best a mediocre dungeon with hours of tedious tasks we had to do before even entering.

Are you sure you don't have any new content for us this year @ZOS_Kevin , nothing for us to look forward to? I know you've all had a rough year, but PVE players could also use a little glimmer of hope to keep us going.

Reginald_leBlem · July 30

No nee trial? That’s disappointing.
Understandable under the circumstances, but still disappointing.

SaintJohnHM · July 30

Reginald_leBlem wrote: »

No nee trial? That’s disappointing.
Understandable under the circumstances, but still disappointing.

Yeah, kind of. It's very unfortunate they wasted the time they had with the bigger team working on Night Market rather than our usual four yearly dungeons which we could still be playing right now.

p4l4mu7 · July 30

Their genius monetization designer assumed selling cosmetics, crafting bag and battle passes alone would be enough to sustain a game the size of ESO. I guess reality finally hit them, you can't keep developing new content without income.

Mattymoo92 · July 30

This is extremely sad and disheartening for the future of eso

GMdoghunter · July 30

Very disheartening indeed and a fine example of Corporate Greed at it's finest.
Giving us less and less every year and in turn paying more for it (season pass,eso+,tomes).

L_Nici · July 30

Oh no, imagine no content for a year in your preferred content....cries in PvP last new content was Morrowind as BGs got introduced

BlueRaven · July 30

I was disappointed that there is no sign of additional companions in the very least.

tomofhyrule · July 30

Yep, the Night Market counted as all of our PvE content for the whole year. And it was ok, but it did not “scratch the itch” I had for Dungeons at all. And Solo Dungeons I’ve already done are also not going to cut it.

Remember how so many people raged back in April that “omg no solo content since November!!!1!1!”? And we who like endgame PvE got only one thing (that wasn’t even the same) from like September 2025 until some time next year.
(Meanwhile PvPers are looking like “you guys get content?”)

Sad that the Refreshes are also pushed back. The 1.5 we got so far and Masteries definitely made it fun to go back into older stuff to try new things, but now that’s even delayed as well.

Nemesis7884 · July 30

was really looking forward to the Skyrim content at the end of the year...disappointed...

Warhawke_80 · July 30

I sorta thought this would happen...oh well this will give e a chance to be more of a completionist....

SirGabenOfSteamia · July 30

L_Nici wrote: »

Oh no, imagine no content for a year in your preferred content....cries in PvP last new content was Morrowind as BGs got introduced

Read the new studio head announcement... Jerall Mountains PvP zone next year.

Seraphayel · July 30

p4l4mu7 wrote: »

Their genius monetization designer assumed selling cosmetics, crafting bag and battle passes alone would be enough to sustain a game the size of ESO. I guess reality finally hit them, you can't keep developing new content without income.

I'm 100% certain that new cosmetics generate way more revenue than a new trial ever could.

Moonsorrow · July 30

Seraphayel wrote: »

p4l4mu7 wrote: »

Their genius monetization designer assumed selling cosmetics, crafting bag and battle passes alone would be enough to sustain a game the size of ESO. I guess reality finally hit them, you can't keep developing new content without income.

I'm 100% certain that new cosmetics generate way more revenue than a new trial ever could.

Except the fact that.. if there is no new content in a game like in other mmo games, then why would people spend money in cosmetics and other things like that? Cosmetics, even new ones, in Crown Store is not new content.

In other games gets actual real new content, you know dungeons, trials, new big zones/maps to play. I don't mind spending money in such games, those games also do "class reworks" all classes at once, on top of other content.

MMO ecosystem needs all kinds of content, trials, dungeons, pvp and that makes people feel the game is alive and then they spend money on it. Even if some individual player would not do all or just certain type content, it's good for the game that it does get all, and in certain scheduled intervals. It's quite simple. Or the game starts bleeding out players faster than gets new ones. They go in games where there are things to do and things to expect, in scheduled content updates that feels normal in this gaming space.

SaintJohnHM · July 30

L_Nici wrote: »

Oh no, imagine no content for a year in your preferred content....cries in PvP last new content was Morrowind as BGs got introduced

Yep, even though I don't PVP much, I've felt bad for the players who love PVP and really see the potential for how good it could be in ESO. It felt like ESO had gone into maintenance mode for PVP, but at least players like me had new PVE content to enjoy. Now it seems there's nothing new for either PVP or PVE.

MasterSpatula · July 30

They tried really hard to put a positive spin on all this, and I know Micro$oft has basically tied their hands, but nonetheless, to call this year an unacceptable dearth of content would be an insult to unacceptable dearths. They claim they're not in maintenance mode, and I suppose they're right, because I'm not sure this year even rises to the standard of "maintenance mode."

haleysarahw · July 30

MasterSpatula wrote: »

They tried really hard to put a positive spin on all this, and I know Micro$oft has basically tied their hands, but nonetheless, to call this year an unacceptable dearth of content would be an insult to unacceptable dearths. They claim they're not in maintenance mode, and I suppose they're right, because I'm not sure this year even rises to the standard of "maintenance mode."

FWIW, it's pretty apparent based on the original roadmap that there was supposed to be content prior to the mass studio layoffs. Calling roadmap push due to sudden, mass understaffing "maintenance mode" does not give the situation a fair shake.

Moonsorrow · July 30

haleysarahw wrote: »

MasterSpatula wrote: »

They tried really hard to put a positive spin on all this, and I know Micro$oft has basically tied their hands, but nonetheless, to call this year an unacceptable dearth of content would be an insult to unacceptable dearths. They claim they're not in maintenance mode, and I suppose they're right, because I'm not sure this year even rises to the standard of "maintenance mode."

FWIW, it's pretty apparent based on the original roadmap that there was supposed to be content prior to the mass studio layoffs. Calling roadmap push due to sudden, mass understaffing "maintenance mode" does not give the situation a fair shake.

Then what do you call it when 2026 does not give new dungeons, trials, big zones, no yearly chapters anymore, no class reworks or most any other things other mmo games still gets in a scheduled updates?

People are right to call something they can see with their own eyes. "Fair shake" huh, people do not care about terms but they will just migrate to other games that have actual content and also no looming threat of even more layoffs at the end of last quarter this year or the first quarter of 2027. Microsoft can do as they want and things do not look exactly safe from players perspective right now.

Are people not allow to be vocal about their fears? And use terms that people are known to use? Because they have spent time and money in here, it's their right to discuss with the honest terms as they feel what is happening here. Or will you personally reimburse their spent money soon when the next round of bad news happen? "This is fine" mentality is not "fair shake" also, not when people are spending money on a product that in fact, is not currently fine, not as it were before yearly chapters were cancelled, things have escalated since then quite fast to almost no content at all sadly.

spartaxoxo · July 30

Moonsorrow wrote: »

Then what do you call it when 2026 does not give new dungeons, trials, big zones, no yearly chapters anymore, no class reworks or most any other things other mmo games still gets in a scheduled updates?

A content draught or lull, rather than maintenance mode...

Maintenance mode is an exaggeration. Games do not get any new content at all in that mode. They have no further scheduled updates. There are limited to maintaining the game with extremely light and occasional bug fixes and that's about it. It is the stage right before the game is pulled offline for good completely.

This game is not in maintenance mode. It's not in a good spot either. Both the people acting like everything is fine and the people saying it's already closed down and no further updates will happen are exaggerating IMO. Both reactions are perfectly understandable given the circumstances but it's more of a feeling than a objective assessment. The content has been delayed because of massive layoffs. So, things aren't good and aren't fine. We lost a lot of institutional knowledge with those layoffs. But, they still have a large enough team to still get some stuff done after they reorganize. They have delivered whole chapters with a team that size before. So, they can still turn things around.

The game is in a really bad spot right now. They'll need to really right things in 2027 once they have their new workflow. I'm hopeful but skeptical that they can pull it off. If things don't improve or Microsoft hits them with even further layoffs then idk that this won't be true come 2028.

But, that's putting the cart before the horse. Maybe the Warden update and new PvP content will be a lifesaver. Maybe it will actually be really good and worth the wait. We'll just have to see. Time will tell, ultimately. This game has come back from worse before. The game almost failed completely right out of the gate.

Mounted combat in the new trial actually sounds cool too. I hope they're able to pull it off. Doesn't sound like we're getting any new dungeons next year though.

XVestigeXx · July 30

You have gotten PVE content overwhelmingly for 12 years plus the class refreshes this year. Let PvP get something for once. There were also two new quest lines added for PvE. But honestly I want zos to prioritize class refreshes and literally nothing else. I want everyone who can be working on that. I would be fine to get no PvE or PvP content for all of 2027 if it meant 4 or 5 class refreshes in that time. and that would be content for both PvE and PvP

spartaxoxo · July 31

XVestigeXx wrote: »

You have gotten PVE content overwhelmingly for 12 years plus the class refreshes this year. Let PvP get something for once.

For once? PvP has been getting focus for years now. Necrom gave us 3 sided BGs, then we got Vengeance, and now Jerall Mountains.

IviRo · July 31

spartaxoxo wrote: »

XVestigeXx wrote: »

You have gotten PVE content overwhelmingly for 12 years plus the class refreshes this year. Let PvP get something for once.

For once? PvP has been getting focus for years now. Necrom gave us 3 sided BGs, then we got Vengeance, and now Jerall Mountains.

The last interesting PvP experience was in Morrowind, when they added Battlegrounds.
Vengeance isn’t the kind of exciting experience players are looking for.
If you think about it, in the past 9 years (Battlegrounds were added in 2017), nothing else interesting or thrilling has come out—all the content has been exclusively for PvE.
All of this seems very strange, considering that the game was originally planned as a PvP title and they had a lot of ideas in the works, yet they didn’t revisit them until nine years later.

spartaxoxo · July 31

IviRo wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

XVestigeXx wrote: »

You have gotten PVE content overwhelmingly for 12 years plus the class refreshes this year. Let PvP get something for once.

For once? PvP has been getting focus for years now. Necrom gave us 3 sided BGs, then we got Vengeance, and now Jerall Mountains.

The last interesting PvP experience was in Morrowind, when they added Battlegrounds.
Vengeance isn’t the kind of exciting experience players are looking for.
If you think about it, in the past 9 years (Battlegrounds were added in 2017), nothing else interesting or thrilling has come out—all the content has been exclusively for PvE.
All of this seems very strange, considering that the game was originally planned as a PvP title and they had a lot of ideas in the works, yet they didn’t revisit them until nine years later.

It might not be your cup of tea but they did add it and they did cut the development of small zones and 2 dungeons a year to do it.

ETA
PvE has been in a content draught and it has been so they could focus on fixes to the game, including PvP. That it hasn't been successful to a lot of PvPers is truly unfortunate but saying group PvE has been the focus this whole time is simply not true. Group PvE was cut in half for PvP and then this year there were no new dungeons at all.

It doesn't sound like we'll get any next year either but who knows. They haven't told us everything yet. But we do know we'll get Jerall Mountains as PvP.

Marto · July 31

Who is going to make that content?

Mike Finnegan and his entire team were laid off. The game no longer has a team dedicated to PVE group content.

If ZOS even wants to continue developing this facet of the game they'll need to build a new team from devs with little to no experience making group content.

Or they'll have to negotiate with Microsoft to let them rehire the old team. And even if they agree, it would take months for the chaos to settle. You can't unscramble an egg.

Microsoft's decision has massively hurt the PVE group content community like never before.

JustLovely · July 31

Take it easy folks.

It could be worse. They could be forcing vengeance mode PvE on you just like they keep doing to the PvP community.

Marto wrote: »

Who is going to make that content?

Mike Finnegan and his entire team were laid off. The game no longer has a team dedicated to PVE group content.

If ZOS even wants to continue developing this facet of the game they'll need to build a new team from devs with little to no experience making group content.

Or they'll have to negotiate with Microsoft to let them rehire the old team. And even if they agree, it would take months for the chaos to settle. You can't unscramble an egg.

Microsoft's decision has massively hurt the PVE group content community like never before.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

XVestigeXx wrote: »

You have gotten PVE content overwhelmingly for 12 years plus the class refreshes this year. Let PvP get something for once.

For once? PvP has been getting focus for years now. Necrom gave us 3 sided BGs, then we got Vengeance, and now Jerall Mountains.

JustLovely · July 31

Seraphayel wrote: »

p4l4mu7 wrote: »

Their genius monetization designer assumed selling cosmetics, crafting bag and battle passes alone would be enough to sustain a game the size of ESO. I guess reality finally hit them, you can't keep developing new content without income.

I'm 100% certain that new cosmetics generate way more revenue than a new trial ever could.

No. It's content that sells games, not cosmetics.

Grega · July 31

JustLovely wrote: »

Seraphayel wrote: »

p4l4mu7 wrote: »

Their genius monetization designer assumed selling cosmetics, crafting bag and battle passes alone would be enough to sustain a game the size of ESO. I guess reality finally hit them, you can't keep developing new content without income.

I'm 100% certain that new cosmetics generate way more revenue than a new trial ever could.

No. It's content that sells games, not cosmetics.

That’s how it should be, but it’s not. At least not in live service games. You may disagree, or even believe otherwise, but earnings calls/reports from every live service game gives you that data so it’s not really up for discussion.

Soarora · July 31

Marto wrote: »

Who is going to make that content?

Mike Finnegan and his entire team were laid off. The game no longer has a team dedicated to PVE group content.

If ZOS even wants to continue developing this facet of the game they'll need to build a new team from devs with little to no experience making group content.

Or they'll have to negotiate with Microsoft to let them rehire the old team. And even if they agree, it would take months for the chaos to settle. You can't unscramble an egg.

Microsoft's decision has massively hurt the PVE group content community like never before.

This is objectively not true, there is an encounter design team still, including great minds who have given us amazing content. But it is smaller and I will eternally mourn the loss of Finn.

I think what hurts my guild more than lack of new dungeons is uncertainty. We've pivoted towards being more newbie-friendly which means fresh blood to take through the dungeons, so long as there are people graduating from dungeon finder and/or joining the game. New dungeons only bring people back for ehhh maybe 2 weeks? But what motivation is there for me to keep trying to build a dungeon community when the community at large isn't convinced the game will last?

Nothing ZOS can really do on that front except try their best.

Marto · July 31

Soarora wrote: »

Marto wrote: »

Who is going to make that content?

Mike Finnegan and his entire team were laid off. The game no longer has a team dedicated to PVE group content.

If ZOS even wants to continue developing this facet of the game they'll need to build a new team from devs with little to no experience making group content.

Or they'll have to negotiate with Microsoft to let them rehire the old team. And even if they agree, it would take months for the chaos to settle. You can't unscramble an egg.

Microsoft's decision has massively hurt the PVE group content community like never before.

This is objectively not true, there is an encounter design team still, including great minds who have given us amazing content. But it is smaller and I will eternally mourn the loss of Finn.

I think what hurts my guild more than lack of new dungeons is uncertainty. We've pivoted towards being more newbie-friendly which means fresh blood to take through the dungeons, so long as there are people graduating from dungeon finder and/or joining the game. New dungeons only bring people back for ehhh maybe 2 weeks? But what motivation is there for me to keep trying to build a dungeon community when the community at large isn't convinced the game will last?

Nothing ZOS can really do on that front except try their best.

Went ahead and double checked, since I don't want to spread misinformation either. Judging by the Season One credits, the encounter team used to be 18 people. 15 members, Director Mike Finnegan, Lead Encounter Design Anthony Oliver (who wasn't laid off), and Lead Dungeon Designer Shane Slama (who was laid off)

Now, the team is somewhere between 4 and 7 people. A reduction of 77% to 61%.

(Edit: Missed a couple devs, sorry)

spartaxoxo · July 31

Marto wrote: »

Soarora wrote: »

Marto wrote: »

Who is going to make that content?

Mike Finnegan and his entire team were laid off. The game no longer has a team dedicated to PVE group content.

If ZOS even wants to continue developing this facet of the game they'll need to build a new team from devs with little to no experience making group content.

Or they'll have to negotiate with Microsoft to let them rehire the old team. And even if they agree, it would take months for the chaos to settle. You can't unscramble an egg.

Microsoft's decision has massively hurt the PVE group content community like never before.

This is objectively not true, there is an encounter design team still, including great minds who have given us amazing content. But it is smaller and I will eternally mourn the loss of Finn.

I think what hurts my guild more than lack of new dungeons is uncertainty. We've pivoted towards being more newbie-friendly which means fresh blood to take through the dungeons, so long as there are people graduating from dungeon finder and/or joining the game. New dungeons only bring people back for ehhh maybe 2 weeks? But what motivation is there for me to keep trying to build a dungeon community when the community at large isn't convinced the game will last?

Nothing ZOS can really do on that front except try their best.

Went ahead and double checked, since I don't want to spread misinformation either. Judging by the Season One credits, the encounter team used to be 15 people + Director Mike Finnegan + Lead Anthony Oliver

Now, the team is somewhere between 3 and 7 people. A reduction of 82% to 58%.

What does green vs red mean here

spartaxoxo · July 31

Grega wrote: »

JustLovely wrote: »

Seraphayel wrote: »

p4l4mu7 wrote: »

Their genius monetization designer assumed selling cosmetics, crafting bag and battle passes alone would be enough to sustain a game the size of ESO. I guess reality finally hit them, you can't keep developing new content without income.

I'm 100% certain that new cosmetics generate way more revenue than a new trial ever could.

No. It's content that sells games, not cosmetics.

That’s how it should be, but it’s not. At least not in live service games. You may disagree, or even believe otherwise, but earnings calls/reports from every live service game gives you that data so it’s not really up for discussion.

Content seels the cosmetics. Nobody buys cosmetics for games that they aren't having fun playing. Cosmetics fund the game but it's not the selling point. It's like movie theaters. They make most of their money on concessions but they're not a restaurant. They aren't going to make any concessions money if nobody wants to go see the movies.