The Elder Scrolls Online Moving to Seasonal Model in 2025, With Improvements, New Content in More Fr

System · December 17

The Elder Scrolls Online Moving to Seasonal Model in 2025, With Improvements, New Content in More FrequentUpdates | MMORPG.com

The Elder Scrolls Online is the latest MMORPG that will move to a seasonal content model in 2025. Expect new content in existing zones, a slate of improvements, and more frequent releases.

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justjoe198028 · December 17

I kind of think
as a long time ESO Player.
this is exactly what the game needs.
a change the way the content is paced.
making it more unpredictable.
they're going to add more story to existing zones.
and focused more on a good story then adding new landscape.
give more reasons to subscribe.
then buying a new chapter.
would be an idea.

Sovrath · December 17

Well, reading the announcement it sounds good so “we’ll see.”

ValdemarJ · December 17

"Seasonal" in live service games is a mixed bag to me. It offers more focused player engagement for a limited time. It can breathe some energy into a stagnant environment. It also completely changes the dynamic and vibe of a game from a world that you exist in, to a themepark you visit or a short luxury cruise. It leans deeply into FOMO, battlepasses, and RMT and micro-transactions.

It fits ARPGs well, if it isn't overdone, but it cheapens persistent worlds. Fallout 76 uses them and it eventually drove me away. If you like how it's being done and it clicks, then it's fun and energizes the community. When it doesn't, it can completely ruin a game. All it takes is one season and some bad decisions and suddenly "home" feels like a run down campground where you pay way too much for MegaloMart crap.

ACommonMugger · December 17

justjoe198028 said:

I kind of think

as a long time ESO Player.

this is exactly what the game needs.

a change the way the content is paced.

making it more unpredictable.

they're going to add more story to existing zones.

and focused more on a good story then adding new landscape.

give more reasons to subscribe.

then buying a new chapter.

would be an idea.

I agree with this.

For a long time, the community has been asking for something different than what they are doing now. It's not working - it's just been the same since launch.

This is that change, and it's a welcome one at that.

KnightFalz · December 17

These people are all over the place. Not that long ago they were talking multi-year story arcs was going to be the way forward. Now it's whatever busy work they can dream up every few months with "experimentation" the order of the day. This is essentially a gloried maintenance mode in my view so they can put their true focus elsewhere and low effort their way to milk this as long as they can. Disappointing. but the games sounds as though it is essentially over at this point in any meaningful way.

Elidien_ga · December 17

KnightFalz said:

These people are all over the place. Not that long ago they were talking multi-year story arcs was going to be the way forward. Now it's whatever busy work they can dream up every few months with "experimentation" the order of the day. This is essentially a gloried maintenance mode in my view so they can put their true focus elsewhere and low effort their way to milk this as long as they can. Disappointing. but the games sounds as though it is essentially over at this point in any meaningful way.

I agree. I see this in no way to be good for the future of the game. We know ZOS is working on another major MMO so I wonder if this is to move the best and quality devs to that new game and move it along. I am not reassured with his letter basically saying "we are going to take a year and experiment and see how it goes". This tells me you have no plan, no direction, and no goals.

However, on the bright side, maybe they can come up a way to seamless blend all the content they have and not feel like 9 disjointed stories. One can hope.

Sovrath · December 17

KnightFalz said:

These people are all over the place. Not that long ago they were talking multi-year story arcs was going to be the way forward. Now it's whatever busy work they can dream up every few months with "experimentation" the order of the day. This is essentially a gloried maintenance mode in my view so they can put their true focus elsewhere and low effort their way to milk this as long as they can. Disappointing. but the games sounds as though it is essentially over at this point in any meaningful way.

Maybe what they are doing isn’t cutting it financially so they need to do something more financially viable.

It doesn’t make sense to throw away time and money if they aren’t getting a suitable payoff.

And while it very well may be a vocal minority I have seen people complaining that all they do is same old same old.

Kirzan · December 18

KnightFalz said:

These people are all over the place. Not that long ago they were talking multi-year story arcs was going to be the way forward. Now it's whatever busy work they can dream up every few months with "experimentation" the order of the day. This is essentially a gloried maintenance mode in my view so they can put their true focus elsewhere and low effort their way to milk this as long as they can. Disappointing. but the games sounds as though it is essentially over at this point in any meaningful way.

They have never really known what they wanted to do with their game unfortunately. It's only still running because there are a ton of console players who just grind games for the sake of. ESO has a lot of similarities with Destiny outside of gameplay. Looks like ZOS is leveling up their copying of Destiny 2's model.

KnightFalz · December 18

Sovrath said:

KnightFalz said:

These people are all over the place. Not that long ago they were talking multi-year story arcs was going to be the way forward. Now it's whatever busy work they can dream up every few months with "experimentation" the order of the day. This is essentially a gloried maintenance mode in my view so they can put their true focus elsewhere and low effort their way to milk this as long as they can. Disappointing. but the games sounds as though it is essentially over at this point in any meaningful way.

Maybe what they are doing isn’t cutting it financially so they need to do something more financially viable.

It doesn’t make sense to throw away time and money if they aren’t getting a suitable payoff.

And while it very well may be a vocal minority I have seen people complaining that all they do is same old same old.

They are trying to better monetize what they have rather than through expansion. That frees up resources to be allocated otherwise and it's no secret they've been working on another game. It's maintenance mode with a candy coating.

olepi · December 18

I didn't see any mention of whether these seasons cost money. There's already a box price, a subscription, a cash shop, and loot boxes.

Do the seasons cost extra on top of all that?

Sovrath · December 18

olepi said:

I didn't see any mention of whether these seasons cost money. There's already a box price, a subscription, a cash shop, and loot boxes.

Do the seasons cost extra on top of all that?

I can’t imagine they don’t.

JudgeUK · December 18

For me, the core issue with the game is that the developers, from day one, have fallen between two stools:

'We want to make an mmo, but we want to make it like a single person game.'

This displays itself as soon as keyboard/mouse players log in, then have to find ways to accommodate the 'yes we want want traditonal mmo players, but not that much' control set up.

Then we get to the addon situation - an approach that has so often resulted in dead addons still being the best options due to lack of developer UI development, but with no support.

It all boils down to the development of eso as a skyrim based partial mmo. Good enough to keep going for a while, but ultimately restricted by the core focus.

Sovrath · December 18

JudgeUK said:

For me, the core issue with the game is that the developers, from day one, have fallen between two stools:

'We want to make an mmo, but we want to make it like a single person game.'

This displays itself as soon as keyboard/mouse players log in, then have to find ways to accommodate the 'yes we want want traditonal mmo players, but not that much' control set up.

Then we get to the addon situation - an approach that has so often resulted in dead addons still being the best options due to lack of developer UI development, but with no support.

It all boils down to the development of eso as a skyrim based partial mmo. Good enough to keep going for a while, but ultimately restricted by the core focus.

I can’t speak to the add on situation as I think players oftentimes want info they shouldn’t have and look to add on modules to circumvent what the developer wants them to have.

However I think you are correct in that they had difficulty bridging the gap between mmorpg and elder scrolls game.

olepi · December 18

Sovrath said:

JudgeUK said:

For me, the core issue with the game is that the developers, from day one, have fallen between two stools:

'We want to make an mmo, but we want to make it like a single person game.'

This displays itself as soon as keyboard/mouse players log in, then have to find ways to accommodate the 'yes we want want traditonal mmo players, but not that much' control set up.

Then we get to the addon situation - an approach that has so often resulted in dead addons still being the best options due to lack of developer UI development, but with no support.

It all boils down to the development of eso as a skyrim based partial mmo. Good enough to keep going for a while, but ultimately restricted by the core focus.

I can’t speak to the add on situation as I think players oftentimes want info they shouldn’t have and look to add on modules to circumvent what the developer wants them to have.

However I think you are correct in that they had difficulty bridging the gap between mmorpg and elder scrolls game.

I liked that ESO felt like an elder scrolls game, and had a lot of fun playing it solo. The PvP sieges were fun and running dungeons with others was fun. For me, the balance was just about right between MMO and solo es game.

What bothered me was the limited skills available and the fact that each side had the same classes. This limits replayability and makes most of the characters feel too similar.

Dungeons were fun at first until people started speed running them dozens of times to get the drops they wanted. That's no fun for me. All MMO's have that problem I think. The endless monetization wasn't fun either. Things like the inventory and control scheme also made it feel like a console game.

Elidien_ga · December 18

olepi said:

I didn't see any mention of whether these seasons cost money. There's already a box price, a subscription, a cash shop, and loot boxes.

Do the seasons cost extra on top of all that?

Oh they will find a way to monetize the heck out of it. No doubt.

ValdemarJ · December 18

Elidien_ga said:

olepi said:

I didn't see any mention of whether these seasons cost money. There's already a box price, a subscription, a cash shop, and loot boxes.

Do the seasons cost extra on top of all that?

Oh they will find a way to monetize the heck out of it. No doubt.

It's always a matter of when and how, not if. Even if the team is clever and doesn't directly monetize something, it is always designed to corral and funnel users into the monetization stream.

xanthouscrown · December 18

KnightFalz said:

Sovrath said:

KnightFalz said:

These people are all over the place. Not that long ago they were talking multi-year story arcs was going to be the way forward. Now it's whatever busy work they can dream up every few months with "experimentation" the order of the day. This is essentially a gloried maintenance mode in my view so they can put their true focus elsewhere and low effort their way to milk this as long as they can. Disappointing. but the games sounds as though it is essentially over at this point in any meaningful way.

Maybe what they are doing isn’t cutting it financially so they need to do something more financially viable.

It doesn’t make sense to throw away time and money if they aren’t getting a suitable payoff.

And while it very well may be a vocal minority I have seen people complaining that all they do is same old same old.

They are trying to better monetize what they have rather than through expansion. That frees up resources to be allocated otherwise and it's no secret they've been working on another game. It's maintenance mode with a candy coating.

Maintenance mode means no more content updates, but that is not the case here, so by definition its not maintenance mode. Furthermore, if the game is being sunset, why are they investing in updating the new player experience? That doesn't seem to make sense. You'd think they'd only be investing in maximizing revenue from the remaining players, not investing in acquiring new ones, if the product is actually being put out to pasture.

You can argue that this is a strategy to reduce investment (money and people) in ESO, while increasing investment (money and people) in their new project, but its certainly not a maintenance mode.

I haven't tried ESO in a long time, but I commend them for trying to mix things up with a new approach. This is the kind of shake up FFXIV desperately needs as its formula has grown stale and tiresome, and now not even its story is not even any good.

Elidien_ga · December 18

ValdemarJ said:

Elidien_ga said:

olepi said:

I didn't see any mention of whether these seasons cost money. There's already a box price, a subscription, a cash shop, and loot boxes.

Do the seasons cost extra on top of all that?

Oh they will find a way to monetize the heck out of it. No doubt.

It's always a matter of when and how, not if. Even if the team is clever and doesn't directly monetize something, it is always designed to corral and funnel users into the monetization stream.

Yeah I think it will be some combo of story packs or quest packs. For me, the interesting thing is how they will integrate it with the subscription. I am not ready to write the game off yet (Heck I still do not own the Gold Road expansion) but I think implementation will be key with this.

Kyleran · December 19

xanthouscrown said:

KnightFalz said:

Sovrath said:

KnightFalz said:

These people are all over the place. Not that long ago they were talking multi-year story arcs was going to be the way forward. Now it's whatever busy work they can dream up every few months with "experimentation" the order of the day. This is essentially a gloried maintenance mode in my view so they can put their true focus elsewhere and low effort their way to milk this as long as they can. Disappointing. but the games sounds as though it is essentially over at this point in any meaningful way.

Maybe what they are doing isn’t cutting it financially so they need to do something more financially viable.

It doesn’t make sense to throw away time and money if they aren’t getting a suitable payoff.

And while it very well may be a vocal minority I have seen people complaining that all they do is same old same old.

They are trying to better monetize what they have rather than through expansion. That frees up resources to be allocated otherwise and it's no secret they've been working on another game. It's maintenance mode with a candy coating.

Maintenance mode means no more content updates, but that is not the case here, so by definition its not maintenance mode. Furthermore, if the game is being sunset, why are they investing in updating the new player experience? That doesn't seem to make sense. You'd think they'd only be investing in maximizing revenue from the remaining players, not investing in acquiring new ones, if the product is actually being put out to pasture.

You can argue that this is a strategy to reduce investment (money and people) in ESO, while increasing investment (money and people) in their new project, but its certainly not a maintenance mode.

I haven't tried ESO in a long time, but I commend them for trying to mix things up with a new approach. This is the kind of shake up FFXIV desperately needs as its formula has grown stale and tiresome, and now not even its story is not even any good.

Take a look at how Bethesda has been running FO76 the past few years, I imagine ESO will be running down a similar path.

Abimor · December 19

I don't want to be the skeptic in the room but this just screams diablo type season pass crap. I have played for a long time and the story is good the zones are fun. I have never had an issue with content it's their insane pricing schemes / poor performance that have hurt the game more than anything.
what's covered by a sub you need a darn fortune teller to let you know. I shouldn't have to get the store pushed into my face every second. the performance in pvp and just loading a character to do crafting writs it's abhorent for a game that crows about making 2 billion.
they have done some good stuff though, I enjoyed the companions and the infinite archive or endless archive is fun solo but also with a duo it can get crazy. some of their classes are really fun too.
so I hope it's better this new way but I'm worried it's going to be a massive cash grab.

nate1980 · December 19

I loved the questing in ESO, but the combat and how easy overland is, turned me off the game after I completed the original campaign. I keep my eye on this game in hopes that they implement a difficulty setting for overland content. Then I'd have all the expansions to explore for the first time, without getting bored by the combat.

KnightFalz · December 20

xanthouscrown said:

KnightFalz said:

Sovrath said:

KnightFalz said:

These people are all over the place. Not that long ago they were talking multi-year story arcs was going to be the way forward. Now it's whatever busy work they can dream up every few months with "experimentation" the order of the day. This is essentially a gloried maintenance mode in my view so they can put their true focus elsewhere and low effort their way to milk this as long as they can. Disappointing. but the games sounds as though it is essentially over at this point in any meaningful way.

Maybe what they are doing isn’t cutting it financially so they need to do something more financially viable.

It doesn’t make sense to throw away time and money if they aren’t getting a suitable payoff.

And while it very well may be a vocal minority I have seen people complaining that all they do is same old same old.

They are trying to better monetize what they have rather than through expansion. That frees up resources to be allocated otherwise and it's no secret they've been working on another game. It's maintenance mode with a candy coating.

Maintenance mode means no more content updates, but that is not the case here, so by definition its not maintenance mode. Furthermore, if the game is being sunset, why are they investing in updating the new player experience? That doesn't seem to make sense. You'd think they'd only be investing in maximizing revenue from the remaining players, not investing in acquiring new ones, if the product is actually being put out to pasture.

You can argue that this is a strategy to reduce investment (money and people) in ESO, while increasing investment (money and people) in their new project, but its certainly not a maintenance mode.

I haven't tried ESO in a long time, but I commend them for trying to mix things up with a new approach. This is the kind of shake up FFXIV desperately needs as its formula has grown stale and tiresome, and now not even its story is not even any good.

Maintenance mode means no more significant content.

It's not being sunset. It's being milked.

There are plenty of games that go on for years and years just by primarily sustaining what they have while otherwise expending trivial effort to keep the gears grinding compared to what is done for an actively developed MMORPG, and that is exactly where ESO is heading.

Gamer9999 · December 20

Whatever happened to that super secret, "new IP" MMO Zenimax Online was supposedly working on?

Seems like I haven't heard even rumors about it in a couple of years. Cancelled after the MS take over?

Sovrath · December 21

Gamer9999 said:

Whatever happened to that super secret, "new IP" MMO Zenimax Online was supposedly working on?

Seems like I haven't heard even rumors about it in a couple of years. Cancelled after the MS take over?

You can apply for jobs relating to it so it must still be going.

Gamer9999 · December 21

Sovrath said:

You can apply for jobs relating to it so it must still be going.

Nice. Hope it turns into something good.

On a totally unrelated topic, what do I have to do to get the ability to do an "agree" or whatever reaction? Do I need to rank-up here?

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The Elder Scrolls Online Moving to Seasonal Model in 2025, With Improvements, New Content in More Fr

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

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The Elder Scrolls Online Moving to Seasonal Model in 2025, With Improvements, New Content in More Fr

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV