When Bethsoft’s Elder Scrolls Blades devs took the stage at BE3 last night, I straight up did the Britney Haynes cringe face, practically holding my breath to see how it would go, especially when the audience was initially less than enthusiastic. That’s because Blades has had a bumpy early access, what with the piles of criticism from both players and press about its pay-to-win business model and irritating progress-blocking timers.
But last night, the studio announced a big update for the game that went live as the devs were talking; the patch includes a new dragon-themed questline for those of you not sick of dragons yet, new jewelry, new jobs and solo arena battles, a crapton of bug fixes, and maybe most importantly, leveling past 50, though players who work their way to 100 will not be picking up attributes and skill points to match.
Surprisingly, the update is being well-received by players, who are praising Bethsoft for listening to feedback. Then again, we’re imagining that the most vocal opponents of the game’s monetization have already left the community.
Also notable? The game is headed to the Nintendo Switch this fall, which was met by cheers in our newsroom, as several of us felt the game would play better on a small handheld console than on a phone.
