The 2026 Elder Scrolls Online Direct is done for another year and has delivered a lot of details about the content coming and the changes in how that content is going to be delivered.

Before we dive into the details, there is one major change that we need to make sure you are aware of. At the end of 2024, Matt Firor the studio head for Zenimax Online Studios revealed in his yearly letter, that there would no longer be chapters like the game has enjoyed for the past decade. Instead of these major yearly content drops and smaller, but still predictable drops, the game would be moving towards a season approach.

Like many other games that offer seasons, the Elder Scrolls Online will include a variety of content in each season and while the cadence will be different for each, some might be 3 months long, others 6 months or even longer, they will still deliver great content to players. It is the hope of the team that this new approach means that they can deliver new content sooner, address feedback from players with greater speed and even fix things that have long annoyed players. The content of future seasons is not known, at least to us, but we do know that in the future a season might take players back to some familiar locales, but with a remix applied to them or the story, the only hint given is “We Know”

Right, with that out of the way, it is time to move onto what was revealed.

Cyrodiil Champions

Fans of The Elder Scrolls know Cyrodiil quite well, it was the central location for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but in The Elder Scrolls Online it is a massive map where players will battle against other players in PvP matches, in the hopes of being crowned the emperor.

These battles have been taking place over the years, basically since the game launched and while there are still people waging war on the other factions, the players have mostly moved on. Cyrodiil Champions is a way for the team to bring people back, but also update things. The team have already hosted a large scale test, with the goal being to see where things are not performing well and this is not about moving a tree to give players better line of sight, but rather why there are lag spikes, or things not loading in.

These tests will happen randomly, there will be notice, but there is no set schedule for these events. If you want to help shape the future of Elder Scrolls Online, then taking part in these battles when they happen, is a great way of doing that.

Seasons of the Worm Cult

If the name the Worm Cult sounds familiar, that is because it has been 10 years since they were last in the game. If you want to get formal they are “The Order of the Black Worm” but everyone calls them the Worm Cult and they were the main antagonists and its from The Prophet, voiced by the late Michael Gambon that we begin to learn their plans. As you might expect, it involves a Daedric Prince named Molag Bal. While players have been travelling around the world, the Worm Cult has busy behind the scenes and they are ready to strike back.

Now the Worm Cult is not just going to suck your soul up again, that was so 2014, but instead they have taken over part of an island known as Solstice. Why the Worm Cult has returned now and what their goal is, well that is for players to discover, but it won’t be a simple discovery. If you are wondering where Solstice is, worry not as it is located at the bottom end of the map and please don’t mistake it for Solstheim. Solstice is actually the southern most landmass on the map, it is actually lower than Summerset, its position has it below Murkmire.

The adventure for this kicks off in June and when players arrive on the island, they will find a place where many races have come together, with High Elf and Argonian leading the charge. The western part of the island is inspired by the Caribbean, so expect a lot of tropical foliage, shells and more, but is not just the setting that is different, because as the location is tropical, that means the Argonians that call the island home are considered tropical as well. Sunport is the main city that players will get most of their supplies and quests via, it is run by Corelanya Elves the tropical Tideborn Argonians. There are more races that call the island home, like some Nords, but the rest will need to be discovered.

The island has a lot going on, a magical carnival, some Daedric Ruins and of course, a major base where the Worm Cult call home, but getting there will not be easy. Members of the cult will be found roaming the island, picking off the souls of those who call Solstice home and their leader, Wormblood, has something more going on than just revenge. While there will be other players running about, there always is, you won’t be alone in your adventure to the island as some notable allies are coming with you. Razum-Dar, Skordo, Gabrielle and Vanus Galerion are just some of the allies that will join you on your quest, but they won’t be the only ones.

All of the above is taking place at the start of June, for PC mid-June for consoles but in late Winter, things are going to really ramp up for the Worm Cult. The island has been divided into two from day one, the Writhing Wall is what splits the island into two and from a distance it might look like its made from water, but it is actually raw souls. Now the Worm Cult can pass through the barrier, but you will not be able to, so it is up to you and every one else on the server to come together and bring down the wall.

Yes, you read that correctly, the Withering Wall is a server based event, where players will come together and help The Fellowship of Stirk, in defending key points, building weapons and ultimately bringing down the wall. Now this will not mean you need to log on at the same time as everyone else on your server, but the actions that everyone takes on the server, will contribute to your victory, if you get there. Because the events are based on players actions, if everyone on your server pulls together, you might progress through the story beats faster than another server, but the flipside is also true. If your server does not come together and battle through the story beats, the Withering Wall will remain up. Breaking through the wall is just one part, the story will continue later in the year when Seasons of the Worm Cult Part 2 arrives.

Update 46

A new 12 person trial called Ossein Cage is being released to the game, which will send players back to Coldharbour, a plane of Oblivion and the first location from The Elder Scrolls Online. The location is actually a vault and as you might expect, a vault contains things and in this case, it is a powerful Daedric relic that absorbs the pain and suffering. Now if that was all it did, it might not be such a bad relic, but sadly the things it absorbs are then turned into power and of course, the Daedra want it. So your goal, along with 11 other players is to enter the vault, find the Dolorous Cista and destroy it. If you succeed, there will be some shiny rewards that await you.

Welcome Back Features

A lot of these MMO games, or even large scale open world games, can feel very daunting upon your return to them, if you step away for a few weeks or longer. The team are hoping that these new features, which we are calling Welcome Back, fixes that. I personally had this same issue, both here in ESO and Oblivion, so these new updates should be great.

What this new system is, is a reintroduction to the various game systems that can be found in The Elder Scrolls Online. That means things like weapon glyphs, housing purchases and decorations, spell crafting and more, will slowly be brought to your attention again, giving you a chance to refamiliarise yourself with everything the game has to offer. For those players who do take advantage of this new system, there are rewards for going through them again, but those were not detailed.

Subclassing

Subclassing is not as its name might imply, a school related event, but rather a way for players to create the character they really wanted to do on day one. What this new mechanic does is let you take skill lines from other classes and bring them in to your existing character, no need to start over again. The big restriction on unlocking Subclassing, you must have one character on your account hit level 50, that then unlocks Subclassing on all your characters.

Subclassing just means that if you play as a Warrior, you can now bring in skills of a Necromancer or an Arcanist. You won’t be able to wear their gear, so your Warrior will still dress as a Warrior, but they can use skills beyond their line up. Perhaps the best part, it applies to your existing characters, so you won’t need to start over. Once you unlock it, the skills from your Sorcerer class can be applied to your Warrior, and if you are someone who is still rocking the one character from day one, the game will have other ways for you to obtain the skill lines from other classes. With the game having 7 character classes, with all their different skill lines, there are now over 3000 combinations available, so the odds of another player running around with the same look and skills, is quite small, making you be one of a kind.

Before you rush out and add every Skill Line to your character, there are limits on how many Skill Lines you can have and the costs of the extra Skill Lines are more expensive. So if a skill for your class cost 1 point at the start, a starting skill for the Dragon King class might cost 2 or more points, but someone who starts a new DK character, will still have that original cost.

Content Pass

Phew, there is a lot above, but we are not done yet, as we finally got confirmation that The Elder Scrolls Online is getting a content pass. Previously, the major expansions that arrived in June would offer players one part of the yearly release, but others needed to be bought in addition to that, the content pass changes that. Once you buy the content pass, for whatever it offers, you will own everything that it offers and when the content actually arrives, you won’t need to do anything more. This means that you won’t miss out on anything and the best news, it is available to buy now. It even delivers the first piece of content as the Seasons of the Worm Cult Prologue Quest today. The first content pass includes the following:

Now this is important, Dungeons are still available to ESO Plus Members, you will not need to buy the Content Pass to access the Dungeons if you are an ESO Plus member. That being said, ESO Plus Members will not get access to the Seasons of the Worm Cult content without buying the Content Pass, so just be aware of that. Finally, if you are an ESO Plus member, there are plans to add more value to that, but the details have not been announced at this time.

That was perhaps the most jammed packed ESO Direct and a lot of that comes down to the massive amount of changes coming to the game. Yes, if you have been playing the game this entire time, the welcome back features might not be for you, but the rest is going to really shake things up.