ZeniMax Game Director Matt Firor has just posted a dev blog outlining The Elder Scrolls Online’s gameplan for 2016. “With the millions of players that joined the world of ESO in 2015, our player population is very strong,” he begins. “We’re not perfect; we have things to work on, but we are very happy with where we are.”
Two DLC are on the agenda for the year: The Thieves Guild in Q1 and The Dark Brotherhood in Q2. The former should land on the test server early next month. The latter will tickle the hearts of Oblivion players as it’s set primarily in Cyrodiil’s Gold Coast locations. “We do have plans for DLC after Dark Brotherhood, but you’ll have to wait for details,” Firor teases.
ZeniMax also plans to focus more on social features and the open world with a new LFG tool, an emphasis on player level scaling, a guild search tool, and console chat. “Longer term, expect to see information about systems like a character customization shop so you can change your character’s gender, appearance, name, etc., player housing, and other systems that we’ll announce in the future.”
Of note, Firor says the team is “still committed” to removing veteran ranks. “The goal behind this change is to make the Champion system the primary vehicle for customizing your character past level 50. This work is currently scheduled for Q2 as part of the Dark Brotherhood update.”
As to common player concerns, he writes that spellcrafting is not a priority, that the PvP component of the Justice system previously discussed is now axed, and that PvP gameplay stability is being worked on.
