The Elder Scrolls Online begins its New Life Festival to close out 2021, and ZeniMax director Matt Firor looks at how 2021 went for ESO and changes ahead for 2022.
The game in 2020 had some rough patches, with stability issues and promises to refresh the hardware in 2021. This year was a more successful year, with quarterly content updates and an exciting storyline that took everyone back to Oblivion, yet 2021 was still a difficult year for so many. This made the team plot some changes for 2022.
Content planning for the year ahead will focus less on apocalyptic world ending danger and hone back in on conflict at the roots of The Elder Scrolls like political Intrigue and faction infighting. They’ll also highlight one of the playable races that hasn't yet had a full deep dive. That reveal won't happen until next month, but the quarterly content remains the plan, as well as continuing to perform stability fixes and work on the promised refresh of the hardware in the data centres across the EU and North America.
As far as the data refresh and the updates go, it should come as no surprise that ZeniMax has also felt the pinch of global shortages. Some of their hardware orders have been delayed by an entire year, with most of them delayed by several months. The work continues, but the finish line has been pushed back.
Firor closes with acknowledgment that the ZOS staff has been, “ operating at a very high level of efficiency and productivity these last seven years since launch” And while development will continue on the virtual world that many people have found comfort in during this pandemic, he promises that there will be increased flexibility and focused efforts.
Before we get to 2022, however, the New Life Festival begins next week on December 16th and runs through January 4th. You'll be able to get the free quest from the in-game Crown store, take on daily quests for recipes, collectibles, in gift boxes. There are several new items this year including the Powderwhite Coney pet end a new random page for the Nord carved armor style. For the complete event guide, see the announcement at The Elder Scrolls Online.
