HI everyone! Welcome to 2026!

This was a MASSIVE month for ESO news. Not only did we have the end of year letter from the leadership team from December, but the January reveal livestream was chock full of news and announcements. Then there’s been new stuff to test every week on The Elder Scrolls Online PTS. As most of you already realize, I am quite excited for everything we know so far about what’s coming to ESO in 2026 (and to some extent 2027). This is the first year where the development team has been able to fully embrace the new Seasons model and it looks like it’s going to allow them to deliver some great new content alongside a ton of qualify of life fixes.

ESO Seasons Kick Off April 2nd 2026

I kicked off my coverage this year with a video detailing what we know so far about Seasons and offered my perspective as a semi-casual player. From my point of view, there’s a lot to love with the new model. I realized there would probably be some backlash to the new monetization model, and it seems there’s quite a few people who have a knee-jerk reaction to any mention of ‘Battle Passes’ but I wanted to wait and see the actual implementation before weighing in – so more on that later. While the big reveal livestream was light on specifics, I thought it did a good job setting the tone and vision for the year and the larger picture in general.

Season Zero: Dawn and Dusk – goes live April 2, 2026, and will bring with it The Night Market, tons of QoL fixes, the Dragonknight & Two-Handed skill line refreshes as well as overland Challenge Difficulty and more later in the season.

Quality of Life Fixes Are the Priority in 2026 for ESO

Some of the most exciting news for me though was of course the Quality-of-Life updates coming in Season Zero. After reviewing the full list I wanted to talk about the implications these updates would have for the game and ultimately, my take on the value they’d add for players. There’s some really great stuff in this list! We’re seeing updates to many systems throughout the game, expanded furnishing slots for housing, more mounts to purchase with gold, some updates to the Crown Store to make things more player friendly like account-wide outfit slots and adjustments to Vampire & Werewolf curses. But there’s so much more good stuff here! All of the changes in this video go live with Update 49 on March 9, 2026.

ESO is Adding Event Zones: A Worthy PvE Challenge in 2026

Now, you’ve probably heard some news about the Night Market. The news about this new content has been somewhat mysterious, but the reality is that this is basically a complex public dungeon with the difficulty turned all the way up. I tested this out on the PTS, without any of my creature comforts and it wasn’t all that tough. I know some players will struggle with aspects of the Night Market, but ESO needs some challenging PvE content and the Night Market delivers in that regard.

But the question remains, is it too difficult? I don’t think so, but I also don’t represent your average player necessarily. Some players will struggle here, but so long as you’re willing to team up with a buddy, this isn’t that bad. Also, at the end of the day, the goal is to tackle the Opulent Ordeal, a 12 -player trial encounter instance that requires some collaboration. I know ESO skews heavily towards the solo player, but I think it’s good for the long-term health of the game to feature some group content occasionally. Not every piece of content needs to be accessible to everyone. But even then, you can always just chase the zerg. IMO, Night Market is perfectly balanced. Just challenging enough to encourage grouping while staying just within reach of ESO’s best players.

ESO Content is FREE Going Forward & There’s a New Battle Pass System

Finally, it’s time to talk about Tamriel Tomes, ESO’s take on a Battle Pass. Now, I personally think even bringing up the “Battle Pass” language is doing it a disservice, but on the other hand I understand that this was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. It’s not really a “Battle Pass” imo. Tamriel Tomes has much more in common with GW2’s Wizard’s Vault than Fortnight’s Battle Passes, but at the same time, ZOS can’t exactly say, “Hey guys, we’re copying GW2”. At any rate, there is a paid component here, but I believe for most players, this is simply a much-improved replacement for daily rewards and endeavors. I think this is a great move for ESO players, but there are upgrade options that are frustrating some players.

For me personally, it’s a big win. I don’t have to worry if my friends will get left out, everyone has access to all new content, and it’s pretty easy to skip these cosmetic packs if there isn’t something I want. At the end of the day, ZOS has to figure out how to pay to keep the servers online and appease the Microsoft overlords after all. Tomes feels like a good way to accomplish those goals while making sure that the free player has the best experience possible.

The real win here is the agency that is being provided to players. Being able to pick your weekly challenges and pick your rewards is such a massive win! Tomes are a great step forward to improving the long-term viability of ESO while increasing the accessibility for casual players and making sure veterans feel rewarded for continuing to play. I couldn’t be happier with this system.

The Elder Scrolls Online is Investing In The Future

Listen, I get it, I’m fully invested in the future of ESO, and I am incentivized to cheer for a better tomorrow here. But I always try to keep my opinions grounded in reality – I am an old school MMO guy. I wouldn’t be here if there was another MMORPG with more potential. Now more than ever I feel like my voice (and yours) is being heard. The player experience stuff is the biggest news for me personally, but I know there’s some really cool stuff on the horizon. But the reality is that everything I said about ESO last year is still true. This game still provides the most player agency and opportunity when it comes to expressing your creativity, to creating a custom character and roleplaying in a fantasy world. The combat remains a controversial yet satisfying solution to tab-targeting for many. The housing system still outshines the competitors despite strong deliveries from WoW and GW2, Finally, no one has made any attempt at competing with ESO when it comes to story and storytelling – even if those aren’t the most important factors to me.

At the end of the day, I feel more enthusiastic than ever about the future of ESO, and this month’s videos are a reflection of that enthusiasm. The future is more promising than it was a year ago, and I have never been more optimistic about the future than I am today. Update 49 is looking so solid, but 50, 51, and especially u52 are going to be game changers. I think there are some people out there that saw the roadmap and assumed there those updates would be light on content, but I know that’s not the case. I would encourage anyone who’s still reading this post to lookout for more info at the end of March. The next era of ESO is just getting started!