The Elder Scrolls Online News

You'll spend "a lot of time in The Deadlands" in Elder Scrolls Online's Oblivion DLC

When The Gates of Oblivion was revealed as The Elder Scrolls Online's next year-long adventure, certain questions no doubt leapt to the minds of many of the online RPG game's fans. Like, "Tiber Septim's beard! Was that Mehrunes Dagon?", "Is that fiery hellscape The Deadlands from TES IV?", and, "Will an Oblivion gate spewing forth Daedra swallow me up and send me there?" To find out, we spoke to creative director Rich Lambert ahead of the expansion's launch.

"You will go to The Deadlands in the chapter," he tells us. "You will go to pockets of it, though. And then in the fourth quarter in that story DLC we always do to wrap up the year, you're going to spend a lot of time in The Deadlands exploring [Mehrunes Dagons'] realm. This year's story is all about him."

While we won't see the same gateways into The Deadlands that were peppered across TES IV's valleys popping up in TESO's own Tamriel, we will be faced with an equally worrisome alternative: Oblivion portals. "In our timeline, Mehrunes Dagon hasn't quite figured out the science, if you will, to the Oblivion gates," Lambert tells us. "We're 800 years in the past.

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Elder Scrolls Online's Oblivion chapter adds a Skyrim-like companions system

If you're an Elder Scrolls Online fan, you'll know that the next year-long adventure will be taking players back to Oblivion - the (part) setting of 2006's The Elder Scrolls IV. The lid has been lifted on what the coming expansion will bring in a global reveal event, and - alongside plenty else - it'll also be bringing something players will remember fondly from The Elder Scrolls V: an NPC companions system.

"I think that the big new system that I'm really excited about is companions," TESO creative director Rich Lambert tells us in an interview about The Gates of Oblivion expansion. "Companions are essentially your permanent adventuring buddies. So, you unlock them in the Blackwood chapter by doing some quests, and once you have them unlocked, you can level them up, you can equip gear on them, [and] you can assign their roles and their abilities - so you can choose for them to be more of a tanky, healer, or damage dealer role."

Additionally, as Lambert explains, there's a "rapport system" tied to the companions, which means "they have specific likes and dislikes. As you level up through those, you unlock more quests".

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The Elder Scrolls Online's Oblivion DLC takes you to Leyawiin and Arena's Gideon

As its name reveals, The Gates of Oblivion - The Elder Scrolls Online's next year-long adventure - will bring back a location from days of Elder Scrolls gone by: Oblivion. Or, more specifically, TES IV's The Deadlands. One of many planes of Oblivion in the RPG games series' lore, the fiery hellscape will feature in the MMORPG's expansion in a big way - but it's not the only location from the Elder Scrolls' history that'll be making an appearance.

"Because this is 800 years in the past, it feels different," ESO creative director Rich Lambert tells us about The Deadlands in an interview. "It is very different than what you could expect with Oblivion, but we've still got that same sense of nostalgia that we've had in previous years. So, The Deadlands will feel iconic - it's that craggy hellscape, if you will.

"Then the Blackwood chapter," - one of the year-long adventure's four quarterly content installments - "in and of itself, has pockets of very familiar places. Leyawiin is one of the main cities that you'll get to go and explore. It feels very similar. Then, as you progress east through the zone towards Shadowfen, you're going to get to go to Gideon."

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Watch the Gates of Oblivion Global Reveal Event & Get a Free Pet!

Discover the future of Tamriel and The Elder Scrolls Online by tuning into the Global Reveal Event on Twitch.tv/Bethesda!

You can watch the 2021 Global Reveal Event live via Twitch.tv/Bethesda on Tuesday, January 26 at 5PM EST. Tune in to see ZeniMax Online Studio’s Director Matt Firor and Bethesda Softworks’ Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications Pete Hines introduce 2021’s next big Chapter and year-long saga!

Throughout the show, you’ll get a first look at the year’s new adventures, stories, systems, and characters. We’ll be joined by members of ZeniMax Online Studios’ development team (including Creative Director Rich Lambert, Art Director CJ Grebb, and Loremaster Leamon Tuttle) to break it all down.

Tune into the show live, and you’ll also receive Twitch Drops, including an Ouroboros Crown Crate and the all-new Viridescent Dragon Frog pet, completely free.

Watch the show to earn this free pet!

Don’t forget that we recently updated the Twitch Drops system, so be sure to link your accounts and be ready to claim your rewards!

Once the main presentation is over, stick around for the official ESO Live Special as Community Managers Jessica Folsom and Gina Bruno recap the big news and take a deep dive into some of the new features and adventures coming in the first half of 2021. They’ll also be joined by members of the ESO development team and host a number of amazing giveaways that’ll include both digital items and brand-new physical goodies and merch.

Finally, tune in during the days after to catch our post-show streams from some of our international Community Managers:

UK: UK viewers can tune in to Twitch.tv/Bethesda for a post-show stream on Wednesday, January 27 at 3PM GMT (10AM EST) hosted by UK Community Manager Ophelia. She will present an interview with Matt Firor, Studio Director of ZeniMax Online Studios about his ESO journey, and will be joined by Xynode, Dawnwhisper, kayPOWXD and GlitteringGh0st to catch up on all the new Chapter news.
France: Check out Bethesda France on Wednesday, January 27 at 4PM CET (10AM EST) at Twitch.tv/Bethesda_FR to discuss the recent Gates of Oblivion announcements with Community members Desastre, Artesio, and MrElderScrolls!
Benelux: Celebrate the new ESO chapter reveal together with the Benelux team at Bethesda over at Twitch.tv/Bethesda_NL from 5PM – 11PM CET (11AM – 5PM EST) on Wednesday, January 27. Together with familiar and new guests, Linda and Julian will be questing, cooking, making art, and giving away prizes.
Germany: Join Senior Community Manager Kai Schober and members of the ESO Stream Team at Twitch.tv/Bethesda_DE on Thursday, January 28 at 7PM CET (1PM EST) for a recap of the announce and first look at Update 29 on PTS. They will be joined by special guests Creative Director Rich Lambert and Lead Encounter Designer Mike Finnigan.

Destruction comes to Tamriel in 2021 with the Gates of Oblivion year-long adventure, and you can learn all about it on Twitch.tv/Bethesda this Tuesday, January 26 at 5PM EST—don’t miss it!

Preview the Benefits of Membership with the ESO Plus Free Trial

You can check out ESO Plus membership during our free trial, running from now until January 26! No credit card info required; no strings attached!

[h2]Free Trial Now Live[/h2]
The ESO Plus™ Free Trial is now live until Tuesday, January 26, at 10:00AM EST. During the trial period, you can preview the following ESO Plus benefits:

Full access to DLC game packs—new zones, quests, dungeons, and more
- Includes Orsinium, Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, Shadows of the Hist, Morrowind (zone and story), Horns of the Reach, Clockwork City, Dragon Bones, Summerset (zone and story), Wolfhunter, Murkmire, Wrathstone, Elsweyr (zone and story), Scalebreaker, Dragonhold, Harrowstorm, Stonethorn, and Markarth (our most-recent DLC!)
A Craft Bag offering you unlimited storage for all your crafting materials
Double Bank space for all characters on your account
10% increase to Experience and Gold acquisition, Crafting Inspiration, and Trait Research rates
Double Furnishings and Collectibles space in player housing
Exclusive ability to dye costumes
Double Transmute Crystal storage

Check out our ESO Plus guide for more on the benefits of membership.

Note: The monthly crown stipend and ESO Plus deals are available only to paid members (not free trial members). Review everything that comes with ESO Plus on our website.

Here’s how you can get started:

Log into The Elder Scrolls Online.
Navigate to the Crown Store.
Select the ESO Plus tab.
Select “Free Trial!”

No credit card info is required to preview ESO Plus during the free trial.
[h2]Try ESO Plus Today![/h2]
Enjoy boosts to XP, gold, crafting inspiration, and venture out on new adventures while making full use of the Craft Bag. Now is the time to enjoy the benefits of ESO Plus membership—completely free! If you’re planning to check out ESO Plus during this trial period, let us know via @Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

The ESO Plus Free Trial begins today and will run until Tuesday, January 26, at 10:00AM EST.