ESO Update 23 Outlines Changes to Guilds, Crafting, and the Undaunted

Zenimax Online Studios announced some key details for Update 23 for ESO today, specifically for Undaunted keys, guild traders, and crafting.

Undaunted Keys

Following up their QuakeCon announcement of performance improvements, ZOS revealed some updates for additional mechanics. Undaunted Keys, earned from completing daily dungeons, were previously stored in your inventory or bank. However, this created problems for explorers. Per ESO Lead Systems Designer Philp Draven,

“We knew that as we continued adding more and more dungeons (and thus more monster shoulders), it was becoming increasingly difficult for players to obtain the set they were interested in. So we needed a solution that would be sustainable and fair to players over many updates to come.”

In Update 23, Undaunted Keys will now be a currency and won’t take up inventory or bank space. Additionally, the Undaunted quest-givers Maj al-Ragath, Glirion the Redbeard, and Urgarlag Chief-bane will also now be merchants. Trade one key for a mystery coffer for a reward similar to one you may have found in an Undaunted chest.

Guild Traders

The new update will also now allow multi-bidding on guild traders. According to UI Lead Bobby Weir,

“Having access to a Guild Trader can be essential for trade guilds to operate, and with a single bid in a blind bidding situation, there was a significant risk of not having one at all after a bidding cycle.”

You’ll be able to set preferences and priorities on your bid, so if you miss your first priority, the system will move to your next priority, and so on. Philip Draven explains,

“While having 10 available bids may seem like a large number, only the highest winning bid will be applied. And once a guild has been assigned a guild trader from their highest winning bid, all of their other bids are completely refunded and are no longer factored into the final auction for any other trader.”

Bulk Crafting Finally Arrives

Finally, we’ll be able to craft multiple items at once via bulk crafting. There’s actually a pretty handy GIF on their site (linked above) so check it out for a visual on how it works. Bobby Weir expanded on this,

“With multi-crafting, we really wanted to streamline a lot of the repetitive things done at crafting stations so that you can get back to playing the game. This benefits many different players, from the crafters and farmers that have a ton of materials to refine, to the dungeon explorers who return with a large amount of items to deconstruct, all the way to the hardcore PVEers and PVPers that burn through hundreds of potions and/or poisons in a play session.

Refining a whole stack of materials at once is pretty straightforward, but you can also refine several stacks of different materials at once too by first selecting each stack. You can do the same in deconstruction by selecting each item you want to deconstruct, rather than having to hit Deconstruct for each item.”