The Witches Festival hits Elder Scrolls Online today, and as the game’s first ever holiday event, we decided to reach out to Zenimax Online Studios and ask them a few questions about how it all works and what to expect.
MMORPG: Witches Festival is the first ever holiday event to come to ESO. What the heck took so long?!
RICH LAMBERT: Holiday events are something we’ve wanted to do for a long time now, but the team has just been slammed with other things. (Imperial City, Orsinium, Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Shadows of the Hist and OneTamriel to name a few) We have done a couple of really simple ones in the past – our Anniversary event and Imperial City event in particular. Expect to see more events coming in the future!
MMORPG: Can you elaborate on the lore behind the festival in Tamriel?
RL: Going to channel my inner Lawrence on this one: “As the year grows dark and the nights get longer, cultures all across Tamriel defy their superstitious fears with the Witches Festival, in which ghosts, demons, and evil spirits are mocked and placated by spooky celebrations and the sharing of scary stories—which are all the more believable in a world where hauntings are real and the dead rise to plague the living.”
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MMORPG: How do I get the Witchmother’s Brew? How does it work?
RL: When you complete the quest for the Witches Festival, you will be rewarded with a memento – the Witchmother’s Whistle. When you use the whistle, you will summon the Witchmother and her brew cauldron to your location. From there you or anyone in your group can drink from the cauldron to be transformed into a skeleton and receive the buff.
MMORPG: What kinds of things can you be morphed into while under the spell of the Witchmother? Are there any special effects aside from the cosmetic?
RL: When you drink the Witchmother’s Brew, you are turned into a robed skeleton. (Argonian and Khajiit have special racial skeletons!) While transformed, you earn 100% extra experience and killing any boss will frequently award you a Plunder Skull.
MMORPG: Is using the Whistle and killing boss monsters the only way to get the motifs, masks, and other items?
RL: The motifs, masks and other items can be traded freely amongst players. The items themselves however, only come from the Plunder Skulls, which are only obtained by killing bosses while being under the effects of the brew.
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MMORPG: Are there any other secrets to this event you'd care to share?
RL: Nope! This one is a pretty straight forward event – enjoy the hunt!
