The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax is preparing for a major title update of the game, which is due for release in August 2014.
The upcoming patch will introduce armor dyes, guild tabards, public guild stores, and a new difficulty for Trials, all of which have been detailed in this detailed blog post. In addition to the new features, the blog post goes into no small amount of detail about the game’s veteran rank system, which many players find to be “grindy.”
Here’s what’s in store for the new Veteran system:
- Phase 1: Make sure the difficulty in Veteran zones ramps up slowly and rarely exceeds what a good player can do on their own. This change came to the live servers on July 7th. By the time you read this, you should be able to play Veteran content the same way you played from 1-50.
- Phase 2: Remove the Veteran Points system and have normal experience gains direct the growth of the Veteran System. Also, we’ll increase the amount of XP granted in PvP. This will happen at some point over the summer as we transition to the new system.
- Phase 3: Introduce a completely new Veteran System based on new character customization and growth mechanics. We’ll talk more about this in the near future—especially during Quakecon—but for now, be aware that we’re going to make some much-needed changes to post-50 PvE gameplay.
Earlier this week, ZeniMax released an update for The Elder Scrolls Online which brought the game up to version 1.2.5, addressing multiple issues with quests, UI, and gameplay, as well as introducing changes to the game’s Veteran rank system to make it friendlier to solo players.
The update was also released with tweaks that may result in improved performance for some players. Details of the patch can be found here.
