Elder Scrolls Online – Should You Play in 2024? Absolutely, YES!

I’ve been playing Elder Scrolls Online since the start, albeit with many large gaps. I used to play PVE (Person vs Environment) or for those not following, I’d play it basically as a single-player RPG, doing various quests and storylines, dropping in a few months each year. When COVID hit, I got into ESO in a big way, putting in many thousands of hours, to the point I was completely burnt out after “just” 8000 hours. I’ve taken two years away from the game and got the itch to return. And I must admit, I have to thank my friends at Bethesda for hooking me and James up with some codes for the latest content, so I could see just what the state of ESO is in 2024, and I’m happy to report, that it’s doing better than ever!

There are more ways to play now than there ever have been, and there’s also more value for money in the game than ever too, with their ESO Plus subscription offerings a lot to both new and returning players. Without ESO Plus you’re required to purchase each DLC pack, which can come included with your version of the game or be purchased using crowns in the in-game store. However, ESO Plus gives you full access to all game DLC packs, and with around a decade of content on tap, there’s plenty to play:

Gold Road	Jun 3rd 2024	Gold Road is the ESO Chapter of 2024, it takes players to the West Weald to uncover the secrets of a forgotten Daedric prince.
Scions of Ithelia	Mar 26th 2024	Scions of Ithelia DLC for ESO.
Necrom	Jun 5th 2023	Explore the Telvanni Peninusla, home to towering mushrooms, rocky spires, and Necrom city with its expansive catacombs. Behold the Forbidden Books of the Endless Library & the mind-bending wonder of Chroma Incognito, in the realm of Apocrypha.
Scribes of Fate	Mar 13th 2023	Scribes of Fate DLC for ESO (Elder Scrolls Online).
Firesong	Nov 1st 2022	Firesong will the Q4 DLC for The Elder Scrolls Online in 2022
Lost Depths	Aug 22nd 2022	Continue your Legacy of the Bretons adventure with the upcoming dungeon DLC game pack, The Elder Scrolls Online: Lost Depths.
High Isle	Jun 6th 2022	The High Isle Chapter is the next installment of the popular MMO ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) and will launch at the start of June.
Ascending Tide	Mar 14th 2022	Begin your Legacy of the Bretons year-long adventure with the Ascending Tide DLC game pack for ESO (Elder Scrolls Online).
Deadlands	Nov 1st 2021	Deadlands is the fourth and final part of the Gates of Oblivion storyline in the ESO (Elder Scrolls Online). Deadlands DLC release: November 1st for PC, November 15th for Console.
Waking Flame	Aug 23rd 2021	Waking Flame is the third part of the Gates of Oblivion storyline in ESO (Elder Scrolls Online). Two new Dungeons and several new Sets will be released with the Waking Flame DLC.
Blackwood	Jun 1st 2021	Blackwood is the chapter of 2021’s year long story Gates of Oblivion.
Flames of Ambition	Mar 8th 2021	Flames of Ambition is the start of 2021’s year long story Gates of Oblivion.
Markarth	Nov 2nd 2020	The Dark Heart of Skyrim epic concludes in Markarth. As the Gray Host marches on the Reach, find unlikely allies among the clans that call this wild region home and unveil the true motivation of the mysterious Vampire Lord, Rada al-Saran.
Stonethorn	Aug 24th 2020	Delve into the Dark Heart of Skyrim and continue your year-long adventure in Stonethorn. Confront a rising threat and uncover a monstrous secret with two challenging dungeons: Castle Thorn and Stone Garden.
Greymoor	May 26th 2020	The Dark Heart of Skyrim beats from the depths in The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor, the latest adventure yet in the Elder Scrolls saga. A chilling evil from the First Era awakens, unleashing supernatural storms and dark forces upon Western Skyrim. Led by a menacing Lord, an army of witches, vampires, and werewolves emerges from below and turns their sights on the holds around Solitude. As darkness consumes the land, Skyrim needs heroes to restore the light.
Harrowstorm	Feb 24th 2020	Begin your Dark Heart of Skyrim adventure with two exciting new Dungeons: Icereach and Unhallowed Grave. Venture to a storm-cursed island and unholy burial ground, battle cunning witches and vile necromancers, and experience an all-new story.
Dragonhold	Oct 21st 2019	The Season of the Dragon saga concludes with Dragonhold. Defend the people of Southern Elsweyr, restore the ancient Dragonguard order, and fight back against the Dragon menace. Your year-long adventure comes to its exciting finale here!
Scalebreaker	Aug 12th 2019	The Season of the Dragon continues with two Dragon-themed dungeons: Moongrave Fane and Lair of Maarselok. Delve into these deadly new four-player dungeons and encounter challenging boss fights and amazing stories that expand upon the year-long adventure.
Elsweyr	May 20th 2019	Venture to the land of the Khajiit in Elsweyr. Face dread creatures from the past – Dragons! – as you join with new friends and old enemies to save Elsweyr from war and devastation.
Wrathstone	Feb 25th 2019	Uncover Tamriel’s buried secrets and begin the Season of the Dragon in Wrathstone. Explore mysterious ruins, face challenging bosses, and claim their riches and knowledge for yourself in two innovative new dungeons: Frostvault and Depths of Malatar.
Murkmire	Oct 22nd 2018	Travel to Murkmire, the southernmost region of mysterious Black Marsh, and venture into the deep swamps to learn some of the most hidden secrets of the Argonians.
Wolfhunter	Aug 13th 2018	Dive into all-new stories themed around Tamriel’s werewolves and the Daedric Prince Hircine. Two dungeons, two very different environments filled with hordes of monsters, tricky boss encounters, and unique rewards for heroes who accept the challenge.
Summerset	Jun 5th 2018	By royal decree, the once-forbidden island of the High Elves has been opened, its Crystal Tower drawing travelers to its light. But dark forces from beyond and below are also interested in mystic location in this new adventure set in Summerset Isle.
Dragon Bones	Feb 12th 2018	Cultists conspire to unleash a plague, while Necromancers attempt to reawaken a Bone Dragon. Put an end to these threats in the all-new Fang Lair and Scalecaller Dungeons.
Clockwork City	Oct 23rd 2017	Reports of mysterious shadow assassins draw you into Sotha Sil’s Clockwork City to investigate a new Daedric threat. Uncover the secrets of this strange new, take on a new 12-player trial, earn powerful new armor sets and items, and more!
Horns of the Reach	Aug 14th 2017	The Dreadhorn clan of Reachmen are up to no good in southwest Skyrim, and it’s up to you to foil their plots in the dungeons of Bloodroot Forge and Falkreath Hold.
Morrowind	Jun 5th 2017	Morrowind is on the verge of destruction and only you can save it from a deadly Daedric threat. Discover the secrets of the island of Vvardenfell, and help the Dark Elves stop a meteor from crashing into Vivec City.
Shadows of the Hist	Aug 1st 2016	Inlcudes two new Argonian themed dungeons: Cradle of Shadows and The Ruins of Mazzatun.
Dark Brotherhood	May 31st 2016	Your talent for homicide has been noticed, and the invitation has arrived, to join the Dark Brotherhood! Come now to the Gold Coast, westernmost region of the old Empire, where you’ll find opportunity, intrigue and murder! It’s one killer DLC!
Thieves Guild	Mar 7th 2016	Join the Thieves Guild in Hew’s Bane, a never-before-seen area of Hammerfell! Explore Abah’s Landing, a decadent port town ruled by corrupt merchant lords, who struggle with the Thieves Guild for power. new stories, delves, group bosses, and much more!
Orsinium	Nov 2nd 2015	Come to the homeland of the Orcs in ESO’s first new PvE quest content DLC! Help King Kurog rebuild the city of Orsinium, and watch its walls and towers rise due to your deeds. Include new armor, weapons, a solo challenge arena, and more!
Imperial City	Aug 31st 2015	Daedric forces have taken the Imperial City, and all three alliances vie to take it back. Experience all-new PvP and PvE gameplay, plus two new dungeons, never-before-seen monsters, craftable item sets, and more! Now included in the BASE GAME!

New Story Content

The last full zone and story arc I completed was Blackwood, Waking Flame, and Deadlands, and that was all part of the Gates of Oblivion storyline, and it was fantastic, but since then, High Isle has delved into the story of the Bretons, and Necrom saw the introduction of new play styles and content too, a trend that’s set to continue in a big way with the upcoming Gold Road release.

Gold Road

Gold Road is the next major expansion for ESO, not to be confused with DLC. DLC can be purchased as add-ons to the base game, or are included in ESO Plus. However, expansions are the big yearly expansions that require a separate purchase. However, as a new expansion is released, the previous years are then unlocked for the base game with ESO Plus. So while many players will rush to the new content, those wanting to save a few quid can play last year’s content instead, and you’ll find a rush of new players exploring that land too for the same reason, which will be the rather fantastic Necrom expansion, where you can enjoy the story in the Telvanni Peninsula, as well as the fantastic new Arcanist class, which is a versatile player type idea for damage dealers, healers and tanks!

About Gold Road

Follow the threads of fate that appeared in Necrom, or launch a new standalone adventure in The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road. Explore the West Weald and the city of Skingrad, first encountered in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, play with the nature of magic itself and create custom skills with the new Scribing system, and investigate the return of Ithelia, a brand-new Daedric Prince never seen before in the Elder Scrolls series. The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road arrives June 3 for PC/Mac and June 18 for Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Pre-purchase The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road now to also get immediate access to the ESO base game and all seven previous Chapters. More details are available here.

New Ways to Play

There’s a bit of something for everyone in ESO these days, with the base game, of course, offering many epic storylines that can be enjoyed solo or with friends. There are multiple PVP formats, with the large-scale wars in Cyrodil for hundreds of players with three warring factions, there’s more squad-based combat in The Imperial City, and Battlegrounds offers game types like king-of-the-hill, deathmatch, ball, and capture the flag.

There’s also a plethora of dungeons to run, offering normal, veteran and the punishing hard mode difficulties to complete with up to four players, or two players and your in-game companion assistants (only really good for normal difficulty, but great if you can’t get a party of four together). DLC dungeons provide some of the most unique and thrilling challenges of all (they’re bloody hard too).

There are loads of 12-play trials, a more demanding dungeon type that requires team cooperation and provides both a significant challenge and some of the game’s best equipment unlocks as a reward. However, the veteran difficulty trials are pretty much the end-game content, and not for the faint of heart.

There are now multiple mini-games and activities within the game too, such as dealing with other players, which is a beast of its own at times. Such as the scying and excavating systems, antiquities, the extensive housing and furnishing systems, fashion, fishing, and the more recent Tales of Tribute card game which can be played in the game against NPCs and other players, with its own set of rewards. I actually spend much of my time hunting rare items from harder bosses and have been one of the game’s top traders and crafters for many years now, which I find quite relaxing, but to each their own.

How to Play Tales of Tribute

Scribing

This is easily one of the biggest changes in ESO history, as it will allow you to both collect and customise new skills, creating unique combinations of skills lines, guild and PVP abilities to create a more unique and personalised play style. This will come out with the release of Elder Scrolls Online Gold Road, and while new classes and mythic items have been a cornerstone of choosing how you play the game, this will certainly shake up how you create and grow your character throughout your play through, as you’ll be able to use special skills called Grimoires which looks set to be expanded on in the future, and will apply to the following skill lines:

• Destruction Staff
• Restoration Staff
• Dual Wield
• Two Hander
• Bow
• One Hand and Shield
• Fighter’s Guild
• Mage’s Guild
• Assault
• Support

Hack the Minotaur has a great guide on what to expect with this, which you can read here.

ESO Plus

Become An ESO Plus Member To Unlock VIP Perks, Including Full Access To DLC Game Packs Available In The Crown Store (2023 Necrom Chapter Not Included), 1650 Monthly Crowns To Spend On In-Game Items, Unlimited Storage For Crafting Materials, Exclusive Deals, And Loads Of Additional Bonuses.

Community

Easily the most rewarding thing about ESO is the player base, it’s got a reputation for the best community spirit, and while end-game content junkies can be pretty toxic, new players and even those who play regularly will find they keep to their own discords and commuinties and typically focus on the hardest content such as Veteran Trials which is pretty extreme stuff to play. However, for social gaming, PVP guilds, trading, dungeon runners and more, there’s a lot, and the games built-in Guild Finder will help you find a community to suit your play style (casual, hardcore, etc), to play the kind of content you want to play, or you can even form your own. The zone chat is often very friendly and willing to help you with any quests, bosses or questions too.

There’s a vast player base too, especially on the European servers, which have always been more populous than the North American servers. With the game supporting localisation in multiple language and servers around the world, which makes it very inclusive. However, console and PC servers are not shared, so keep that in mind if you wanted to crossplay, as that’s not currently an option.

Events

There are regular events throughout the year, with the games 10th Anniversary Celebration currently underway, offering many unique rewards, experience boosts, and also providing a huge boost in player numbers right now. This is leading into a staggering 15 months on updates and experiences to celebrate the last decade of ESO, and gives a lot for both new and exisiting players right through until 2025! There’s also a big discount on ESO in-game premium currency known as Crowns (Save up to 40% on select Crown Packs from April 3-10 during the April 2024 Sale) which can be used to purchase additional cosmetics and items.

ESO may have had a rocky start, but a lot has changed in 10 years, the game plays better, looks better, performs better, and is more assseible and dynamic, with a heck of a lot more content than it has ever had. If you havent played it yet, or haven’t tried it since its infancy, I strongly suggest you pop back and check it out in 2024! For more information on ESO, you can head to the official homepage at www.elderscrollsonline.com.