ESO Gold Road Chapter PTS Patch Notes v10.0.0 (2024)

Welcome to The Elder Scrolls Online v10.0.0 and our latest Chapter: Gold Road! Investigate the return of Ithelia, a Daedric Prince never seen before in the Elder Scrolls series. Uncover the schemes of her most devoted followers and protect Tamriel from the chaos of unbridled change.

Venture into the West Weald, home to the wealthy Colovian Imperials and the city of Skingrad. Encounter a bountiful region first seen inThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, now beset by Daedric incursions and the encroaching jungles of Valenwood. Or you can play with the nature of magic itself with Scribing, an all-new game system unique toGold Road. Collect and customize skills to tailor your builds, granting you the power and freedom to truly play your way.

There’s a variety of new things to collect including new item sets, Mythic items, mounts, pets, even 22 new Skill Styles which are new color variations of popular existing skills. And you won’t want to miss the new 12-player Trial, Lucent Citadel, which has some surprises along the way.

The base game adds HDR support for PC/Mac players, along with improvements for NPC and remote player character resolutions, several updates to game mail, and added a new state to health bars for healing immunity. We’ve also joined the Xbox initiative to make steps toward a more sustainable gaming future by introducing some environmental sustainability features.

All PC NA characters have been copied this week, otherwise there are two templates for you to utilize. Additionally, all PTS accounts have access to Gold Road and its features, regardless of having pre-purchased the Chapter (though we hope you have!) We look forward to reading through your feedback on the new systems and features in this update, which is approximately 5.3GB in size. Thanks and enjoy!

You can find the full patch notes here.

New Content for the Gold Road Chapter in ESO

New Zone – West Weald

Prepare for adventure as you enter West Weald, a rich, Colovian Imperial territory ruled by Count Calantius of Skingrad. Located just west of Cyrodiil and east of the Gold Coast, West Weald remains a stronghold of Imperial prosperity. Vineyards, lumber camps, and strong trade routes contribute to the wealth of the region as the Imperial Legions protect its borders. But life is suddenly less quiet under the autumn eaves shading the Gold Road, and nothing will ever be the same…

• To begin your adventures in West Weald, you can choose from among the following:
  • Create a new character and play through the Tutorial
  • Choose one of the Character Templates available and begin your adventures just outside the city of Skingrad
  • Copied characters can use the navigators in Elden Root, Mournhold or Wayrest to travel to Skingrad, or jump to a friend that’s already in the zone
• After you arrive in West Weald, an old friend, Leramil, greets you with news of the Forgotten Daedric Prince you discovered at the end of Necrom. She needs your help to investigate unusual activity in West Weald and discover its ties to Ithelia as part of the Zone Story.
• In addition to the Zone Story, the Gold Road chapter includes the following activities:
  • Nine full-length Objectives, some tied directly to the Zone Story but completable in any order
  • Six delves, each with its own Skyshard and delve boss
  • Two Public Dungeons: Silorn, an ancient Ayleid Ruin and Leftwheal, a coastal trading post under attack by Mirrormoor forces
  • New world events – Mirrormoor Incursions
  • Six world bosses throughout West Weald
  • The Lucent Citadel 12-player trial
  • Three new set crafting locations
  • Many additional quests and discoverable activities
  • A special “capper” quest, available to those who have completed both Necrom and West Weald storylines
    • This quest is also available on the PTS templates for testing purposes.

Mirrormoor Incursions

As the followers of the Forgotten Prince search desperately for her, her forces in Mirrormoor do not lie dormant. They have found a means to enter Tamriel in the hopes of reuniting with Ithelia. These Incursions from Mirrormoor dot the landscape of West Weald spreading Ithelia’s minions as they pour forth from her realm. You can seek out the generals and leaders of the Mirrormoor forces before ultimately defeating the stalwart champions bursting from the lands beyond.

• Seek out Mirrormoor Incursion sites within West Weald and first defeat the leaders powering the Incursions before fighting the powerful champions. Mirrormoor Incursions will appear with an icon on your map when they are active.
• Earn special rewards and achievements for defeating the Incursion leaders and champions both and keep West Weald safe from the emerging forces.

Scribing

We’re very excited to introduce you to Scribing, a new system focused around combat, giving you the ability to customize abilities to suit your playstyle. This powerful new system gives you access to 11 new unique customizable skills that you can make your own! Go on an exciting adventure with the Mages Guild and learn how to scribe your own customizable skills. As you explore the Scholarium beneath Eyevea and plumb the secrets of the past you’ll earn new skills, new Scripts, Skill Styles, and a wide variety of Scribing benefits thanks to some very powerful friends. To get started, seek out Adept Irnard Rirnil near the Mages Guild in Skingrad if you have access to the Champion System or if you have reached level 30 on your character.

• To Scribe a new Skill, you must visit the Scribing Altar in the Scholarium, under Eyevea, and complete the tutorial quest “The Second Era of Scribing”. Please note all values below are for example purposes only and may not be representative of final values.
  • First you will select aGrimoire.
    • Grimoires contain the base behavior of the Skill. For example, Wield Soul’s Grimoire launches a concentrated blast of Soul Magic at a single target.
  • Then, select aFocus Script.
    • These add the main function of the Skill. They also determine the Skill’s name, Resource Type, and Resource Cost
    • For example, if you select the Magical Focus Script for the Wield Soul Grimoire, it makes the concentrated blast of Soul Magic deal 6000 Magical Damage to the enemy. It will also change the name of the completed Scribed Skill to Magical Soul, and set the cost of the ability to 2500 Magicka.
  • Next, select aSignature Script.
    • These add unique effects to the skill. For example, if you select the Damage Over Time Signature Script, Magical Soul will now also deal 9000 Magic Damage over 20 seconds to the enemy.
  • Finally, select anAffix Script.
    • These add a final benefit to the skill, usually from the Major and Minor Buff and Debuff system. For example, if you select the Breach Affix Script, it will add Major Breach to Magical Soul, now afflicting the enemy for 10 seconds reducing their Physical and Spell Resistance.
    • In general, single target Grimoires have access to Major buffs and debuffs, and Area of Effect Grimoires have access to Minorbuffs and debuffs, since those have the potential of applying to more targets.
  • Scribe your new Skill by payingLuminous Ink.
    • After completing the quest “The Wing of the Indrik”, Luminous Ink will rarely drop from defeated enemies, and after completing the quest “The Wing of the Netch” Luminous Ink will rarely drop from harvesting crafting materials.
  • Place your new Scribed Skill on your Ability Bar from the Skills Menu.
    • If you have a blank spot on your Skill Bar, it will populate there when completing the Scribe.If you do not, you can find it in the Skills Menu under its parent Skill Line.
      • For example, Vault will live underneath the Bow Skill Line.
    • There is also a Scribing Tab inside the Skills Menu, which allows you to understand what Grimoires and Scripts you own, have scribed, as well as what combinations are possible when you are away from the Scribing Altar in the Scholarium.
  • Full access to the Scribing Altar comes after you have completed the Wing of the Indrik quest.
• For your ease, there is a training room in the West Wing of the Scholarium where you can test your new Scribed Skills against Training Dummies.
• There are also beautiful achievement furnishings available in the East Wing from Firandil’s Scamp and sales associate, Caal.
• After completing the Scribing questline, when using alt characters, you will only have to complete the Second Era of Scribing to take full advantageof the Scribing System as all quest rewards are account-based.
  • This includes purchases of Grimoires and Scripts being greatly discounted after you have acquired them from a vendor on another character.

Grimoires

• There are 11 New Grimoires (customizable skills) that you can unlock on a per character basis.
  • Weapon Skill Line
    • These require at least rank 25 in that skill line and the requisite weapon to use.
      • Vault (Bow)
      • Shield Throw (One Hand & Shield)
      • Smash (Two Hand)
      • Elemental Explosion (Destruction Staff)
      • Mender’s Bond (Restoration Staff)
      • Traveling Knife (Dual Wield)
  • Soul Magic Skill line
    • Wield Soul
      • Earn during the Scribing Tutorial.
    • Soul Burst
      • Earn by completing the Scribing questline.
  • Mages Guild, Fighters Guild, and Assault Skill Lines
    • These require at least rank 5 in the parent Skill Line to use.
      • Ulfsild’s Contingency (Mages Guild)
      • Torchbearer (Fighters Guild)
      • Trample (Assault)
• To acquire Grimoires, visit Chronicler Firandil in the East Wing of the Scholarium after completing the quest “Wing of the Indrik” and purchase with gold after meeting the above requirements.
• Grimoires are customized by adding one of each script type, then paying the cost in Luminous Ink.

Scripts

• Every Grimoire has three Script Slots: one each for a Focus Script, Signature Script, and Affix Script.Scripts are how you customize your Grimoires and turn them into Scribed Skills, and are unlocked on a per character basis.
  • Focus Scripts set the Main function of the Scribed Skill, and also determine its name and resource type and cost.
    • Focus Scripts also determine if the ability is Enemy-Targeted or Ally/Self-Targeted and if any following buffs will only apply to you or also apply to your allies.
  • Signature Scripts give the skill unique effects.
    • These unique effects often lean into the mechanics and passives from the parent Skill Line.For example, the Passive Master Signature Script when used on Vault will give you the Hawkeye passive from the Bow Weapon Skill Line.
  • Affix Scripts give the skill a final benefit of known buff and debuffs, largely from the Major and Minor system.
• Not every combination of scripts can be Scribed to every Grimoire.
• Scripts that share the same name may do slightlydifferent things dependingon the Grimoire they are applied to, but the same theme will apply. Mix and match and discover what works for you!
• You can acquire Scripts by having them drop in the world after completing their associated Wing Quest.
  • Gain Focus Scripts after completing the Wing of the Gryphon.
  • Gain Signature Scripts after completing the Wing of the Dragon.
  • Gain Affix Scripts after completing the Wing of the Netch.
  • After completing these quests, these will unlock account-wide benefits, such as the ability to earn Scripts via specific Daily Coffers, and purchase them from the Scribing and Infinite Archive Vendors.
  • Additionally, after completing the Wing of the Dragon, you will be able to find Scripts hidden at certain Mages Guilds across Tamriel.
• There is also a special kind of Signature Script, known as the Class Mastery Script.
  • This script gives access to special mechanics and passives unique to your class.
  • This script is applicable on all Grimoires.
  • To acquire this script, you must collect 50 Class Script Scraps via a number of in-game activities such as Trials, Master Writs, Infinite Archive, Dungeons, Arenas, and more.

Luminous Ink

• Luminous Ink is Scribing’s crafting resource. The ink cost to Scribe a Skill is based on the number of Scripts added or changed.
  • When Scribing a Skill for the first time, it will always require three Scripts, and therefore cost three Luminous Ink.
  • However, if you are changing out only a single script on a previously Scribed Skill, the Luminous Ink cost to scribe will only be 1.
• Ink Drops from enemies in the world at a low rate after you have completed the quest “Wing of the Indrik”.
• After completing the quest “Wing of the Netch”, you can also gain ink via harvest nodes.

Skill Styling

ESO has countless ways for you to customize your character’s appearance and skills, and with Gold Road, we’re excited to introduce a new type of customization collectible called Skill Styles! Skill Styles are select new color variations on popular existing skills from the Weapon, Guild, and World Skill Lines, helping you further stand out on the battlefield. There are 22 earnable Skill Styles that you can earn via Scribing quests, completing dailies, discovering Skyshards, defeating Mirrormoor Incursions and more.

New Trial – Lucent Citadel

On the outskirts of Fargrave City District there is an old vault known as the Lucent Citadel. Most well-travelled scholars have never heard of this vault or believe it exists but Keshargo, being the former leader of the Scribes of Mora, is not like other scholars. His research has lead him to the Citadel looking for a powerful object known as the Arcane Knot. But he is not the only one. With his expedition in tatters thanks to being ambushed by a Daedric force, he now needs help retrieving the Knot and ensuring it does not fall into evil hands.

• Lucent Citadel is a 12-player trial with the portal located in northern West Weald.
• The trial includes a Normal version in addition to a challenging Veteran version.
• There are unique item sets within the trial including Perfected versions only found in Veteran difficulty.
• Unique achievement awards are available for completing the trial including the following:
  • Unique body and face marking
  • Unique mount
  • Several titles
  • Unique housing items
• Hard Modes for each of the boss encounters can be activated in any order to facilitate testing. This is strictly for testing purposes on the PTS and will not be the case when Gold Road goes live; it will follow the normal paradigm of needing to complete each Hard Mode in order.

New Item Sets

We’ve added 10 new item sets in this update! Details and sourcing can be found below:

• Overland
  • Symmetry of the Weald – Light
    • 2 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 3 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 4 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 5 – Adds 200% Status Effect Chance while your Health is above 50%. Adds 10% Healing Done while your Health is 50% or less.
  • Macabre Vintage – Medium
    • 2 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 3 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 4 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 5 – Adds 150 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 5 – When you kill a monster they burst with blood magic, dealing 50% of their Max Health to enemies within 6 meters as Bleed Damage, up to 24096 Bleed Damage. This damage cannot critically strike. This effect can occur once every 0.5 seconds.
  • Ayleid Rufuge – Heavy
    • 2 – Adds 1096 Max Stamina
    • 3 – Adds 1206 Max Health
    • 4 – Adds 1206 Max Health
    • 5 – Blocking an attack reduces your Damage Taken by 11% for 3 seconds.

• Crafted
  • Highland Sentinel
    • 2 – Adds 657 Critical Chance
    • 3 – Adds 657 Critical Chance
    • 4 – Adds 657 Critical Chance
    • 5 – While in combat, each second you stand still grants you a stack of Sentinel’s Eye every 1 second, up to 10 stacks. Each stack increases your Critical Chance by 468. Each second you move removes half of your stacks of Sentinel’s Eye, rounded up. Exiting combat removes all stacks of Sentinel’s Eye. Using charge and teleport abilities do not remove stacks of Sentinel’s Eye.
  • Tharriker’s Strike
    • 2 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 3 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 4 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 5 – Dealing damage with a fully-charged Heavy Attack grants you Major Berserk for 4 seconds, increasing your damage done by 10%. This effect can occur once every 1 second.
  • Threads of War
    • 2 – Adds 1096 Max Stamina
    • 3 – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 4 – Adds 1096 Max Magicka
    • 5 – Your Light and fully-charged Heavy Attacks gain 100% Status Effect Chance. The Status Effect is based on the damage type of your weapon.

• Trial
  • Mora Scribe’s Thesis – Light
    • 2 – Adds 657 Critical Chance
    • 3 – Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
    • 4 – Adds 1096 Max Magicka
    • 5 (Perfected only) – Adds 657 Critical Chance
    • 5 – Increase your Critical Chance by 128 for every Major Buff active on you, up to 1536 Critical Chance. Increase your Critical Damage done by 1% for every Minor Buff active on you, up to 12% Critical Damage done.
  • Slivers of the Null Arca – Medium
    • 2 – Adds 657 Critical Chance
    • 3 – Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
    • 4 – Adds 657 Critical Chance
    • 5 (Perfected only) – Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
    • 5 – Dealing Critical Damage gives you a stack of Sliver for 10 seconds. You can only gain one stack of Sliver every 0.5 seconds. When you gain your third stack, the stacks are consumed and the crystals launch at the last enemy you damaged, dealing 3063 Physical Damage. This damage scales off your Weapon or Spell Damage. Once you launch the crystals, you cannot gain Sliver for 5 seconds.
  • Xoryn’s Masterpiece – Light
    • 2 – Adds 1096 Max Magicka
    • 3 – Gain Minor Aegis at all times, reducing your damage taken from Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
    • 4 – Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
    • 5 (Perfected only) – Adds 1096 Max Magicka
    • 5 – Increases your Max Magicka and Max Stamina by 1667 for you and up to 11 other group members within 28 meters of you. This bonus persists through death.
  • Lucent Echoes – Heavy
    • 2 – Adds 4% Healing Taken
    • 3 – Gain Minor Aegis at all times, reducing your damage taken from Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
    • 4 – Adds 1206 Max Health
    • 5 (Perfected only) – Adds 1206 Max Health
    • 5 – While you have more than 50% Health, increase the Critical Damage and Healing of your group members by 11%. Group members wearing Lucent Echoes cannot benefit from this effect. While you have 50% or less Health, reduce your Damage Taken from monsters by 20%.

New Mythic Items

We’ve added three new Mythic Items in this update, available to discover through Antiquities.

• Rourken Steamguards – Heavy Hands
  • Activating Block while in combat grants you Steam Guardian for 0.5 seconds, reducing your damage taken by 99%. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.
    Blocking an attack while Steam Guardian is active reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds.

• The Shadow Queen’s Cowl – Light Head
  • While Crouched, you can see Witnesses and Guards through walls.
    Successfully pickpocketing a Witness or Guard applies Distracted to them for 10 seconds, stunning your target. Decreases your detection radius in Stealth by 30 meters against Distracted targets.
• The Saint and the Seducer – Neck
  • While in combat, you gain one of five random major buffs which changes every 10 seconds. Enemies within 12 meters of you gain one of five random minor debuffs depending on which buff you have. The available buffs and debuffs include:
    • Major Berserk and Minor Maim
    • Major Resolve and Minor Breach
    • Major Force and Minor Brittle
    • Major Evasion and Minor Vulnerability
    • Major Courage and Minor Cowardice

New Antiquities

In addition to the three new Mythic items, a Mirrormoor Music Box and an Ayleid Blacksmithing Station can also be discovered through Antiquities.

New Collectibles

• Mounts
  • The Refulgent Mirrormoor Steed is obtained by earning the “Knot Worthy” achievement.
  • A Wildburn Tiger-Lynx is obtained by earning the “Savior of West Weald” achievement.
• Pets
  • A Prism Wasp is obtained by earning the “In Memory of.” achievement.
• Outfits
  • Nantharion’s Regalia pages are awarded to adventurers who complete various achievements associated with the exploration of West Weald.
  • Gold Road Dragoon pages come from the Impresario or Zenithar’s Sublime Parcel during the “Zeal of Zenithar” event.
  • Ayleid Lich pages come from the Impresario or Pelinal’s Boon Box during the “Whitestrake’s Mayhem” event.
• Emotes
  • “True-Sight Lens” is obtained by completing the quest “The Wing of the Crow.”
• Mementos
  • The “Abolisher Memento” is obtained by earning the “Echo of the Abolisher” achievement
  • The Echonir Memento” is obtained by finishing the quest “The Untraveled Road”
• Skin
  • “Fractured Glory” is a special skin earned by completing the “Adventurer Across a Decade” achievement.
• Face and Body Markings
  • “Ithelia’s Threads” is earned by completing the “Lucent Citadel Conqueror” and “Retrieval Specialist” achievements.
  • “Veteran’s Homage” is earned by completing the “Veteran of the Infinite” and “Archival Veteran” achievements.
• Dyes
  • The West Weald Autumnal Orange dye is obtained by completing the “Hero of the Gold Road” achievement.
  • The Scholarium Cerulean dye is obtained by completing the “Pen is Mightier than the Sword” achievement.
  • The Lucentshard Azure dye is obtained by completing the “Lucent Citadel Vanquisher” achievement.

New Tales of Tribute Deck: Saint Alessia

We’ve added a new Tribute patron deck to earn during your adventures through West Weald! Saint Alessia brings an army to the table and rewards smart tactical choices that lead to strategic victory. You’ll unlock fragments of the Saint Alessia patron deck by completing a wide range of activities but remember that in order to the unlock the ability to play Tales of Tribute (and your new deck) you’ll need access to the High Isle Chapter

New Homes

The zone of West Weald welcomes its new visitors with options to earn two new homes!

• Rosewine Retreat
  • Once a favorite of wine merchants seeking to acquire the area’s best vintages, this inn room can serve as a convenient refuge for any hoping to sample Skingrad’s best food and drink.
  • This inn room is earned by completing the “Room to Spare” quest, which can be found in Skingrad’s tavern, The Fertile Respite. Alternatively, it can be purchased for 3,000 gold if you’ve already completed that quest elsewhere.

• Merryvine Retreat
  • Merryvine’s wines once rivaled those of the nearby Valente Vineyard, but misfortune sent its former owner fleeing. This sun-kissed estate features fertile grapevines, a house suitable for entertaining, and facilities that would please any vintner.
  • This home is available to purchase for 1,300,000 gold upon completion of the “Gold Road Grand Adventurer” achievement.
• Zhan Khaj Crest
  • Breezes carry verdant scents from the nearby jungle to caress the sand gardens in this former Desert Wind auditorium. Though no longer a site of Khajiit practicing a dual-sword technique, this riverside location serves well as a meditative getaway.
  • This home will be available on the Crown Store at a later date but is currently available to test on the PTS.

New Furnishings

A variety of new furnishings can be found in West Weald, including:

• 101 new furnishing plans, which can be obtained from monsters, containers, and more across West Weald.
• 7 new furnishing plans exclusive to the World Event.
• 10 new achievement furnishings, which can be purchased from Gathareth in West Weald once you’ve completed the associated achievements.
• 13 new antiquity furnishings, including a music box and a blacksmithing station!
• 10 new paintings, which can rarely be found in treasure chests across West Weald.
• 20 new stealable furnishings, which include a variety of tools and foods.
• 21 new Home Goods furnishings that can be purchased from Mahei-Jekka in West Weald, including an array of fall foliage that can be found across West Weald.
• 4 new tapestries featuring the art from two new different Tales of Tribute cards, which can be earned as rare rewards from Tales of Tribute matches.
• 12 new Skill Scribing furnishings, which can be acquired by completing quests and purchasing from Caal in the Scholarium.

New Achievements and Titles

This update introduces 140 new achievements and 8 new titles, including a number of Mythic and Scribing-related achievements.

• The “Hero of Gold Road” title can be obtained by completing the “Hero of the Gold Road” achievement.
• The “Pathfinder” title can be obtained by completing the “Champion of Gold Road” achievement.
• The “Luminous” title can be obtained by completing the “Lucent Citadel Vanquisher” achievement.
• The “Crystal Sharp” title can be obtained by completing the “Lucent Citadel Conqueror” achievement.
• The “The Unshattered” title can be obtained by completing the “Retrieval Specialist” achievement.
• The “The Unstoppable” title can be obtained by completing the “Arcane Stabilizer” achievement.
• The “Arcane Stabilizer” title can be obtained by completing the “Knot Worthy” achievement.
• The “Inheritor” title can be obtained by completing the “Inheritor of the Scholarium” achievement.

Update 42 Base Game for ESO

HDR Support

In this update, we’ve added support for HDR on PC. In order to use HDR, you must have an HDR supported monitor and enabled Windows HDR in the “Windows HDR Color Settings”. After launching the game, you can go Video Settings and enable the setting, “HDR”.

• If Windows HDR is enabled (or disabled) while running the game, you will need to restart ESO in order to see the settings in game.
  • Once enabled, HDR can be used with any Window Mode (Fullscreen, Borderless, and Windowed) and moved between monitors.
  • If the game window is moved from a HDR enabled monitor to a monitor that does not support HDR, HDR will automatically be disabled.
• One of the challenges of HDR is balancing the brightness and contrast of the game and its UI to fit your display. One such example is if the game is too bright, the UI may appear dim. In order to combat this, HDR has added new settings that allow for more control over the brightness, contrast, and look of ESO. If you have played on console with HDR enabled, these settings might already be familiar!
• The following are new Video Settings on PC:
  • HDRenables or disables in-game HDR.
  • HDR Modeallows for you to change between the “default” look of ESO and a much more “vibrant” mode.
  • HDR Peak Brightnesscontrols the overall brightness of the game. The higher the slider is, the brighter ESO will appear.
  • HDR Scene Brightnesscontrols the brightness of the game, but not the brightness of the game’s UI.
  • HDR Scene Contrastcontrols the contrast of the game, but not the contrast of the game’s UI.
  • HDR UI Brightnesscontrols the brightness of the UI, but does not affect the game’s brightness.
  • HDR UI Contrastcontrols the contrast of the UI, but does not affect the game’s contrast.

Character Resolution

Building off of the Min Spec changes in Update 41, we have made additional adjustments to how the game handles the resolution of other characters (both NPC and other remote players) that appear near you.

• As has always been the case, characters that are closest to you will appear at the highest resolution we offer and as characters move further away, their resolution will decrease. That said, we have increased the distance before the resolution drops so you will now be able to see high resolution characters from farther away.
• Additionally, the max number of characters that we show at this highest resolution was previously capped at a low number. We have added a new graphics setting on PC, “Character Resolution”, which allows you to control the presets for the number of higher resolution characters.
  • By default, Character Resolution is set to “Low”, so you will not see immediate changes to nearby characters. Increasing the preset to Medium/High/Ultra increases the number of higher resolution characters you can see and the distance at which you can see them.
  • The Graphics Presets adjust the new Character Resolution setting in the following ways:
    • Minimum Graphics: Low Character Resolution
    • Low Graphics: Low Character Resolution
    • Medium Graphics: Medium Character Resolution
    • High Graphics: High Character Resolution
    • Ultra Graphics: Ultra Character Resolution
    • Maximum Graphics: Ultra Character Resolution

Mail Improvements

We have made a number of interface and system improvements to Mail. All changes outlined below apply to both Keyboard & Mouse and Gamepad interfaces.

• Mail Categories
  • Mail is now automatically sorted into three categories:
    • Player Mail – Messages received from other players in game.
    • System Mail – Messages received from various non-player sources that include item attachments, as well as any mails received from Customer Support.
    • System Alerts – Messages received from various non-player sources that are information-only and do not include attachments.
• Mail Sorting
  • Player Mail is now sorted based on expiration with the most recently received message displayed at the top.
  • System Mail and System Alerts are sorted based on expiration with the soonest-to-expire message displayed at the top.
• Attachment Preview
  • Mail headers now display the icon of their first attachment.
• Inventory Space Display
  • The Mail screen now displays how many inventory slots are available on the current character.
• “Delete After Claim” Option
  • This option on the Mail screen causes any System Mail to be automatically deleted after you claim its attachments, and is enabled by default.
  • Note this option does not affect Player Mail.
• “Take All” Function
  • This button claims all attachments from all mails currently visible in the current active category (Player or System).
  • Mail is processed based on the currently sorted order and starts with the mail soonest to expire.
    • Note that Player Mail and System Mail have different sorting rules, explained above.
    • COD Player Mails and Customer Support mails are not affected by “Take All”.
  • If an attachment is unable to be claimed for any reason, such as unavailable inventory space, the process halts and no further attachments are claimed.
  • Note the “Delete After Claim” option, if enabled, will apply to every System Mail affected by “Take All” after attachments are claimed.
• Mail Notifications
  • Upon logging in, you will now receive a notification if:
    • You received a mail that includes an attachment.
    • You have mails with attachments that are about to expire.
    • You receive a Hireling Correspondence mail.
• Deleting Mails With Attachments
  • You can now delete a mail that still has an unclaimed attachment. A confirmation dialog will appear to ensure this is the intended action.

Hireling Correspondence

Mail messages received from Hirelings associated with various crafting disciplines will now be automatically recorded in a new section of the Lore Library called Hireling Correspondence.

• Hireling Correspondence is sorted by crafting discipline and the order the mails were received.
• Hireling Correspondence is character-specific and entries into the Lore Library occur at the moment your character receives the Hireling mail (not when the mail is opened).
• Any Hireling mails a character received prior to this update have been retroactively added to that character’s Hireling Correspondence.

Mail Expiration Changes

As part of our continuing efforts to improve server performance and stability, we have reduced the expiration times of certain types of system mail.

• These changes only affect mails you receive going forward. The expiration times of mails you received prior to this update have not changed, with the following exception:
  • A small number of information-only system mails that were previously set to never expire now have expiration timers.
• Below are the updated expiration timers based on mail type:
  • Information-only System Mails: 7 days
  • Hireling Mails: 7 days
  • Activity Finder Rewards: 7 days
  • Rewards for the Worthy: 7 days
  • Guild Trader Purchases: 7 days
  • Guild Trader Returns / Sales: 14 days
  • Weekly Leaderboard Rewards: 14 days
  • Promotional rewards, such as Twitch Drops: 14 days to a maximum of 180 days
• Mails with rewards generated by direct purchases made outside the game, such as Chapters and the Newcomer Pack, will continue to never expire.
• As a reminder, the expiration timer for most mail types does not initiate until the mail is received while your character is logged in. There are, however, several exceptions where the timer begins when the mail is sent:
  • Player mail
  • Guild Trader mail – Includes item purchased, item sold, kiosk bids, etc.
  • Guild Finder Listing expired
  • Customer Service mails

New Environmental Sustainability Features

ESO is joining the Xbox initiative making steps toward a more sustainable gaming future. Our mission as part of Team Xbox is to bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone, but it’s critical we do so while taking care of our planet. We are working to reduce our environmental impact and creating opportunities for gamers to reduce their environmental impact while gaming. To do so, we have added the features below to ESO. For more information on environmental sustainability efforts at Xbox,visit this page.

• Reduced GPU use during player inactivity(PC, Xbox SeriesX|S, and PS5):There’s no reason for your device to be working so hard when you aren’t doing anything. The game already checks that after 20 minutes of being inactive, our servers will kick players out to the main menu, where power consumption is minimal. Until that happens, though, it can be wasteful. The game client will now drop the resolution in half if it has not detected any input for 5 minutes. It will also impose a 30fps cap while inactive. This results in our power consumption going from 65% down to 24% when in Performance Mode when you are AFK.
• Screen dimming while inactive(PC): All major consoles have an OS level setting to do this but there is no PC counterpart, so ESO now includes one built in for PC. At the same time your resolution drops, we will dim the screen on a PC client. We felt it worthwhile since the data we found shows that screens that are not as bright will consume less power, especially for LED/OLED screens.
• Reduced GPU use in Contextual Menus(Xbox Series X|S and PS5):When viewing most menus, (eg. managing inventory, achievements, quest journal, etc) framerate is now capped to 30fps. Some menus are exempt on a case-by-case basis (eg. conversations, various mini-games). Testing in Performance Mode while in these menusshows a 50% reduction in GPU consumption, resulting in overall power consumption going from approximately 63% of the maximum possible on a console down to 37%.

Healing Immunity on Health Bars

We’ve added a new state to health bars for healing immunity, which will display on a target that is immune to your heals. For example, with Ring of the Pale Order, other players will see you as healing immune, but since you can heal yourself your own health bar will display normally. Group Frames and Nameplate health bars will now also display absorb shields, healing absorbs (trauma), and healing immunity.

New Achievements

In addition to the new achievements found in the Gold Road Chapter, we’ve also added several new achievements listed below, including something special for our 10 year anniversary!

• There’s a new set of achievements that are awarded for an account’s rank in a given skill line.
  • Weapon Skills, which can be found under the Character achievements section, check for weapon skill lines at ranks 25 and 50:
    • One Handed
    • Two Handed
    • Shield
    • Dual Wield
    • Bow
    • Destruction Staff
    • Restoration Staff
  • Fighters and Mages Guild, found under the Guild achievements section, of at least rank 5.
  • Alliance War Assault and Support Skills, found under the Alliance War section, both of at least rank 5.
• There is also a new achievement that is awarded for completing a decade’s worth of Tamriel main storylines.
  • Becoming a Hero of the Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant, and Ebonheart Pact, as well as triumphing against Molag Bal
  • Coldharbour
  • Craglorn
  • Wrothgar
  • Hew’s Bane
  • Gold Coast
  • Vvardenfell
  • Clockwork city
  • Summerset
  • Murkmire
  • Northern Elsweyr
  • Southern Elsweyr
  • Western Skyrim
  • The Reach
  • Blackwood
  • The Deadlands
  • High Isle
  • Galen
  • Apocrypha
  • Gold Road
• These achievements (and their components) will be automatically rewarded to those who have already accomplished the appropriate feats.

Available Templates during Gold Road Public Test Server

During this PTS cycle, we’re again supplying two templates for you to utilize:

• The standard Level 50 + 3600 Champion Point template, focused around the new story content and will start you in West Weald. It will also contain new gear gets and Mythics for you to play around with.
• A Scribing-centric template (also at Level 50 + 3600 Champion Points) that starts you off in the Scholarium, as well with some Scribing items and unlocks, skill styles, and the Indrik quest completed.
• Additionally, both templates will now grant 1 million Archival Fortunes for testing purposes.
• Known Issue: The Antiquarian’s Folio of Leads does not currently grant West Weald Antiquity Leads when used in West Weald.

Combat and Gameplay

Greetings! The big chapter of the year is upon us and this one is quite exciting with the addition of Scribing! Due to this large feature, as well as following suit of previous years, this update will be on the lighter end in terms of actual combat adjustments to the existing gameplay; much of the team has been incredibly hard at work making sure Scribing hits the ground running and that we have more time to iterate on ability values and bugs during this PTS cycle. For the live combat experience, expect to see mainly bug fixes and iterative work with a small handful of targeted balance changes for some outliers.

As for some of the more impactful changes coming, we have a very small number of class changes aimed at helping with some issues we’ve seen long term feedback on. Templars may be delighted to hear they now have access to some crowd control in their kit with the addition of an immobilize to Blazing Spear – hopefully assisting with their tanking and jabbing capabilities. Dark Shades for the Nightblade will now always deal area damage, to help the class gain some more impactful cleave damage and debuff application for tanking. Wardens may find some more value to their Betty Netch outside of PvP, where it will now grant a small increase to your damage done for a short duration if it fails to remove a negative effect. Finally, Necromancers have regained some raw power back in their tethers, as they’ve fallen into decay of the last year or so.

Outside of classes we also have a small handful of changes to those who howl at the moon, giving some good head pats to the werewolves out there. Generally speaking, they’ve fallen far enough behind the pack in many aspects of the game, so we’re going through some of their abilities to add meaningful buffs while also trying to do a better job to represent the existing playstyles for them. This includes those Pack Leaders out there who prefer to protect their pack instead, with some changes to the morphs of Roar to differentiate playstyles between damage dealers and tanks or disruptors. Ferocious Roar will focus on enabling the more traditional blood thirsty playstyle – terrifying foes so much they’ll take bonus damage from Piercing Howl – while Deafening Roar will focus on helping out those who wish to control enemies, which drops all offensive bonuses for defensive ones by granting Major Protection while slotting, as well as causing all of their Heavy Attacks to taunt enemies for 15 seconds (before you ask, this does not allow for an Area of Effect taunt).

That about covers the high-level view for this update! We are very much looking forward to your feedback both for the combat adjustments and also the ever-exciting Scribing feature. Stay safe out there, happy 10 years of ESO, and we hope to see you in Tamriel!

Combat & Abilities

General

• Fixed an issue where many movement-oriented abilities, such as Mist Form, could have their animations broken by roll dodging at the frame of activation. Roll dodge will now be disabled temporarily while you are actively being moved from one of these abilities.
• Fixed an issue where channeled Heavy Attack animations would break and lock you in the animation if you hit ESC during their channel. Now you can actually escape!
• Fixed an issue where some player abilities were not properly respecting line of sight checks. This includes the following:
  • Blessing of Protection and morphs
  • Fungal Growth and morphs
  • Obsidian Shield and morphs

• Fixed an issue where some knockback effects could desync their impacted targets for remote clients if the attack that applied the knockback also killed those targets.
  • This is mainly notable in places such as Sunspire, where many attacks like Wing Thrash could kill a group member and cause them to appear in a different position than they actually were, rendering them difficult to target with a Soul Gem resurrection.

Arcanist

• Herald of the Tome
  • Abyssal Impact
    • Cephaliarch’s Flail (morph): This morph now ranks up in 1.1% healing per rank, resulting in 3.3% additional healing at rank IV, rather than reducing its cost per rank, as the morph upgrade does not interact with cost at all and was offering too many unique advantages.

Dragonknight

• Ardent Flame
  • Fiery Grip
    • Chains of Devastation (morph): Fixed an issue where this morph could sometimes cause your character to face the wrong direction after using.

Necromancer

• Grave Lord
  • Shocking Siphon: Increased the damage per tick of this ability and its morphs by ~33% so they are closer to stationary Over Time effects, rather than being treated as “sticky” Over Time effects.
• Living Death
  • Restoring Tether: Increased the healing per tick of this ability and its morphs by ~14% so they are closer to stationary Over Time effects, rather than being treated as a halfway between stationary and sticky Over Time effects.

Nightblade

• Shadow
  • Summon Shade
    • Dark Shade (morph):
      • This morph’s shade now only uses its Area of Effect attack, rather than using it once every 5 seconds and then swapping to a single target attack, to help add more options for cleave damage in the class.
      • Adjusted the visual effects to appear as Drain Power, rather than Whirlwind, to feel more appropriate for a Nightblade ability.

Sorcerer

• Dark Magic
  • Blood Magic: This passive now activates when you cast a Dark Magic ability with a cost, rather than when you hit an enemy with a directly applied Dark Magic ability. This was done to make the passive more reliable and easy to understand.

Templar

• Aedric Spear
  • Spear Shards
    • Blazing Spear: This morph now also causes the initial hit to immobilize enemies hit for 4 seconds.
      
  • Sun Shield: Fixed an issue where this ability and morphs’ visual effects could fail to appear.
• Restoring Light
  • Restoring Aura: Fixed an issue where this ability and morphs’ visual effects could fail to appear.

Warden

• Animal Companions
  • Betty Netch: This ability and its morphs now also increase your damage done by 5% for 5 seconds if no negative effect was removed from the ability.

Weapon

• Bow
  • Rapid Fire:
    • Fixed an issue with this Ultimate and the Toxic Barrage morph where the visual effects could become stuck on a target even after the ability was cancelled.
    • Fixed an issue where these two abilities also shot a phantom arrow, dealing 10 instances of damage, despite only shooting 9 arrows maximum. The total damage per cast has remained relatively untouched (some minor rounding may result in < 1% changes).
      • Toxic Barrage (morph): Increased the Damage over Time effect to match the new damage per shot by ~11%, now that it applies one less tick.

World

• Soul Magic
  • Soul Trap: Fixed an issue where this ability and its morphs would fail to fill a Soul Gem if a target died to the first tick of their application.
• Werewolf
  • Werewolf Transformation:
    • This Ultimate and its morphs’ Light and Heavy Attacks now deal Bleed Damage, rather than Physical.
    • These attacks now have a chance to apply their status effect (now Hemorrhaging), with Light Attacks at 3%, partially charged Heavy Attacks at 5%, and fully charged Heavy Attacks at 10%.
  • Roar: This ability and the Ferocious Roar morph now apply a unique debuff called “Terrified” to enemies they hit for 10 seconds. Terrified doesn’t do anything outright other than place a tracking effect on enemies, to help Werewolves mark their prey.
    • Deafening Roar (morph): This morph now grants Major Protection for slotting, rather than Major Prophecy and Savagery. While slotted, it also causes your Heavy Attacks to taunt enemies for 15 seconds.
  • Piercing Howl: This ability and its morphs no longer deal 10% bonus damage to enemies that are facing them, and instead deal 10% bonus damage to enemies that are Terrified.
    • Howl of Agony (morph):
      • This morph now adds an additional 10% bonus damage to off balance enemies, stacking up to 20% when they are also Terrified, rather than dealing 25% to enemies that are facing you or are feared.
      • This morph now also ranks up with cost reduction, rather than ranking up the bonus damage effect.
    • Howl of Despair: Extended the duration of the buffs granted by Feeding Frenzy to 20 seconds, up from 10.

Alliance War

• Assault
  • Siege Shield
    • Propelling Shield (morph): This ability now only affects abilities with a range of 28 meters or higher, to ensure it behaves closer to the Reach passive and Battle Spirit, as well as ensuring it does not affect abilities it should not.

Itemization and Item Sets

Consumables

• Gradual Ravage Health: Fixed an issue where potions made with these traits could trigger many other events, such as item sets.

Crafted Sets

• Coldharbour’s Favorite: Fixed an issue where Honor would often spawn in dead, rather than living long enough to do their job, and then die. Thankfully, Honor can never truly die.
• Morkuldin: The summoned-sword from this set no longer has a second sword appearing on the ground.

Dungeon & Arena Sets

• Hagraven’s Garden: Fixed an issue where this set could sometimes activate in situations it should not have.
• Rush of Agony:
  • This set now has an 800ms delay before attempting to pull targets, to increase the amount of reaction time enemies have before they are yanked.
  • The pull now properly interacts as a projectile with a minimum travel time of 200ms and animates the pull appropriately to reduce the feeling of rubber banding.
  • Increased the radius of the pull to 12 meters, up from 10 meters, to help offset some of the reductions to impact for the wearer. The delayed damage remains unchanged, still happening after 2 seconds from activation and dealing damage within a 7 meter radius.

Monster Masks

• Chokethorn: Fixed an issue where this item set could trigger off events other than ability casts. It will now only activate during the activation of abilities that meet its requirements, rather than on effects that those abilities may apply as well, such as the Heal over Time from Structured Entropy.

Overland Sets

• Mad Tinkerer: Fixed an issue where this set’s crowd control visuals would fail to blend smoothly and could appear erratic.

You can find the Full Patch Notes here.

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