With the release of One Tamriel for the Elder Scrolls Online on Xbox One and PS4, many changes have come to the core experience of the game. MMOs can be a daunting experience for both new and existing players especially during big changes. To help the players navigate this, we have put together a comprehensive list of all the changes to The Elder Scrolls Online, along with exactly what this means for new and existing players. If you have ever been curious or considered playing the game before, there is no better time than now to give it a go and we’ll explain why over the course of this guide.

One Tamriel Major Changes

The largest and most notable change is the complete redesign of the zoning mechanics in Tamriel. Previously, adventurers had to complete each zone of their specific faction in a fixed order before progressing to Coldharbour and eventually moving on to the next designated faction’s questing zones. They would then repeat this process (minus Coldharbour), again finishing each zone in a fixed order before advancing to the final faction to do it all over again. Now, the very second you complete the tutorial, you are free to go to any zone in any faction. This is accomplished by scaling the player to the level of the content, otherwise called Battle Leveling.

Another major change is that Weapon Skill lines now have Ultimate Abilities. We all hoped for this day to come, and now our hopes have been fulfilled. What this means is that the Golden Age of Stamina has finally arrived and anyone who plays a Stamina Build will be over the moon. It also means, for the first time, non-Templar players will have access to a healing Ultimate.

Furthermore, major alterations have come to Group Dungeons, which are the 4 player Dungeons with objectives and numerous Bosses. Developer Zenimax Online has now added a Veteran difficulty to EVERY existing dungeon. Previously roughly half had Veteran modes. But there’s more. Dungeons that previously had Veteran difficulty, will now have 2 Veteran difficulties: I & II, with each containing unique Bosses as well as Monster Helm Sets. This means: not only has Zenimax added another 20 or so Veteran Dungeons (or variants) to play, they have also added NEW Monster Helm Sets to match them, nearly doubling the number of Monster Helm Sets in the game.

Additionally, Undaunted Pledges now only reward one type of key that has a 100% chance to grant a shoulder piece from its chest. There are now 3 NPCs that grant Pledges each day, and they are no longer classified as Normal or Veteran, but instead can be done on any difficulty.

• Normal will grant 1 key with no possibility for a Monster Helm
• Veteran will grant 1 key with a guaranteed Monster Helm drop
• Veteran Hard Mode will grant 2 Keys along with the Monster Helm.

Each NPC has a pool of dungeons that correspond to them, so you will get one from each pool every day. What this all means is that the number of players running Group dungeons every day should drastically increase and players will complete their Monster Helm Sets much faster than ever before.

The last of the major changes concerns the Item Sets in the game, which have been completely overhauled. ALL Sets now scale to your level and can be found from levels 1-CP 160. This is the largest change ever made to item sets to date! Not only have they all been scaled, almost all of them now come with Weapons AND Jewelry to further increase the amount of possible customization. It will now be easier than ever to mix and match Sets.

Moreover, 30 new Sets have been added to the game and the locations of nearly all of the Sets have changed. Now each zone and Group Dungeon will contain 1 Light, 1 Medium and 1 Heavy Armor Set. On the landscape Delve Bosses, World Bosses, Public Dungeon Bosses, Dolmens, Treasure Chests, enemies, quests all have a chance of rewarding Set Pieces. In Group Dungeons, Bosses and Mini Bosses will all drop pieces with the quality determined by the difficulty level of the Dungeon (be it Normal or Veteran).

Changes You May Not Be Aware Of

There is a lot going on under the hood of the update, and in addition to the major changes, there are several tweaks to singular elements of the game that players will now encounter:

• World Bosses, Dungeon Bosses and Anchors will become more difficult on average, as they are rebalanced for group play.
• Higher skill ranks in Legerdemain now provides a better chance to find higher quality items when stealing.
• Survey Reports from Crafting Writs now may send you to any zone in the game.
• Molag Bal’s Generals can now appear in ANY Dark Anchor across Tamriel.
• Players of all levels will receive and fill Grand Soul Gems, which can be used to revive players of any level, as well as to refill enchantments.
• Dueling has now been added to the game and can occur anywhere outside of Cyrodiil.
• The number of Champion Points has been raised from 531 to 561
• The Fighters Guild, Mages Guild and Undaunted will now have daily quests that award Motif chapters.
• The treasure vault doors of Imperial City will now accept 60 of any combination of the unique drops there.
• Craglorn has been redesigned to better accommodate solo play and will no longer require other players to complete come of the group quests there.
• Towers in Cyrodiil no longer have doors to prevent Tower Farming.
• Outposts in Cyrodiil can no be ported out of and be respawned into.
• Ballista now have a smaller placement radius, resulting in the allowance of deployment between Keep wall crenelations. They also can fire at a steeper downward angle.
• Battering Rams now deal double damage.
• Dawnbreaker’s cost, along with its morphs, was increased from 100 to 125 Ultimate.
• The drop rate has doubled for Nirncrux from standard harvest nodes in Craglorn

What does this all Mean for New & Existing Players?

From a loot perspective, some of the best Sets now drop on the landcape, and now just a few hours of farming will mostly gear players for any Trial or PvP. However, Trial Sets will no longer be Bind-on-Equip, meaning that it will be more difficult than ever to get the extremely coveted Legendary Set Jewelry as they won’t be available at Guild Traders. The few remaining ones that are will shoot up in price and will sell out quickly, leaving your only option to acquire these Adhazabi Aba-daro the Golden in Cyrodiil. Since he shows up once a week, with a random selection and ungodly prices, it might be long months before you get what you need.

End game materials will now be easier than ever before, as Rubedite, Rubedo Leather, Rudio Wood and Ancestor Silk can drop from any zone. It also means that early and mid game materials will become more rare as they will drop 50% less often, increasing the value of these resources. The cost of Tempers, Tannons and Resins will also rise, as players scramble to upgrade their shiny new Sets, driving up the demand for these goods.

Questing will prove more rewarding that ever before, since your experience gain should be increased on average per zone. Quests can now reward Set pieces, and combined with what you will acquire from drops on the landscape, your character should be geared much better than the average player was before the One Tamriel release. You will also be able to sell the Set pieces you don’t need with ease, as players will be more likely to purchase Sets they can fill out easily, which was not the case before the update. I would, however, expect MANY more players on the landscape farming Bosses which may break your immersion more so than in days past.

In Cyrodiil, the fighting should be much more competitive, as the gap between players should lessen due to the increased availability of quality Sets. Dominant players on the battlefield might find themselves having a harder time killing people, while others may find they are getting more kills than ever before. I would expect Cyrodiil to be rather quiet for a day or two while everyone farms their gear and then all hell to break loose as players clash in epic, more balanced battle.

Because of the increase to daily Undaunted Pledges, and their rewards, it should be easier than ever to get a group together to run a Group Dungeon. Monster Helm Sets will get filled out fast and players will be farming like crazy. Trials, on the other hand, will probably be harder than ever to run. Geared players have largely lost the incentive to farm them, as the gear will all be Bind-on-Pickup, preventing them from selling anything they acquire.

Economically, the game should see a substantial boom. Guild Vendors will fill up with tons of Set pieces that will be farmed daily and prices for good gear should come down a lot for prospective buyers. Players will have more to choose from, and while the demand will be at an all time high, the supply will keep up. If you had great Item Set pieces to sell before, be prepared for them to be worth about half what they were before the changes.

Overall, what this means is more activity as a whole across the entire server. It is now easier than ever to do just about anything you want with the exception of trials. That means good things for the future of the game, and since Zenimax doesn’t seem to be slowing down in the content department, we can only expect the game to get better. As you can see, the name of the game is change and there has been a lot of it in the new update. But rather than make things confusing, the changes have been implemented to make the game more open and free for players. Choice is an important factor in MMO happiness as well as sensible and reasonable methods for achieving player goals. One Tamriel clearly has these concepts in mind and has laid a strong foundation for The Elder Scrolls Online for months and years to come.

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