Change is coming to Tamriel’s Second Era in the form of Seasons, a new way to adventure and earn rewards in The Elder Scrolls Online.
Seasons of Change
It has been over a decade since The Elder Scrolls Online's initial launch. With new systems, classes, zones, and stories, the game has evolved a great deal in those ten years. Now, we are thrilled to announce the next big step for our online RPG, the introduction of Seasons.
Think of a Season in ESO as an exciting box of experiences and updates. Each Season could contain new adventures to experience, realms to explore, and ways to play, all the things you expect from ESO content, but contained within a three-month period. No two Seasons will ever be the same, with each having a distinct theme and gameplay additions, some of which could be very different from what you’ve experienced in the past! Because the team is no longer working on a singular major yearly update, content will arrive continuously throughout the year (and throughout each Season), allowing for greater choice and variety.
Crucially, all new gameplay content included in a Season, be it a new zone, dungeon, storyline, system, class, or skill line, will be free for all base-game players. We want to remove the barriers to new content we’ve had in the past, and now all ESO players can enjoy all of Tamriel’s new features at no cost and at the same time, together.
In addition, Seasons introduces a new standard for the way we identify, collect, and utilize player feedback, bridging the gap between our development team and the community. We want to hear from you!
What’s in a Season?
While the specifics and scope will change with each new and distinct Season, you can expect each one to bring new rewards, adventures, and ways to play. Generally, a Season can contain the following kinds of features:
- New gameplay content[/*][list]
- This could include a new zone, storyline or questline, class, skill line, or system.[/*]
- Such as quality-of-life additions, balance changes, or performance updates.[/*]
- A new, battlepass-like experience with free rewards and optional bonus tracks for those who wish to unlock even more.[/*]
- A new reward store in which anybody can spend a new, freely earned currency called Trade Bars.[/*]
What’s in a Season?
Furthermore, all the above seasonal features are free for all base-game players, the only exception being the premium options available for a Season’s Tamriel Tome (more on that below).
Season Zero: Dawn and Dusk
Season Zero: Dawn and Dusk will be the first of its kind and officially launch on April 2, 2026, and runs until July 8, 2026. Note that some of the base-game changes that are part of this Season go live a little earlier than this official date with Update 49 on March 9, just ahead of Season Zero’s debut.
Season Zero introduces a new kind of zone experience while also laying the groundwork for future seasonal additions. Here’s what Season Zero contains:
- The Night Market Event Zone[/*]
- The first wave of player experience improvements[/*]
- The first wave of class and combat refresh improvements[/*]
- The introduction of Tamriel Tomes with the Tome of Dawn and Dusk[/*]
- The introduction of the Gold Coast Bazaar[/*]
The Night Market
The Night Market is a brand-new type of zone we’re dubbing an “Event Zone” that is debuting with Season Zero. The Night Market is a new area in the Oblivion realm of Fargrave that opens April 29, 2026, and it is available for a seven-week period until June 17, 2026. There you can choose one of three unique factions, pledging your service in a gauntlet of challenging PvE encounters.
Team up in the first ever Event Zone
With new stories to experience, characters to meet, and quests to complete, the Night Market is the first of our experimental zones. Don’t forget, as part of Season Zero, access to this new zone and adventure is free for all ESO players, including a new in-game home earned only via gameplay.
While access to the Night Market closes in June, don’t fret; Event Zones are intended to return in later Seasons. Future appearances of the Market will allow you to choose a different faction and explore this weird and wonderful realm in an all-new way.
Look for more information on the Night Market, how it works, and its rewards closer to when it opens on April 29.
Player Experience Improvements
Update 49 and Season Zero also include the first wave of quality-of-life changes, developed by a dedicated internal team. Focusing on finding, evaluating, and solving player pain points, this team was built to address some of our players’ longstanding requests. This first wave of changes includes:
- The ability to respec Skills and Attributes directly from the UI at no cost[/*]
- An increase to the speed at which you train your Riding skills[/*]
- An increase to furnishing limits on half of the game’s player houses[/*]
- A return to the 30-day listing window for Guild traders[/*]
- 16 mounts of all shapes and sizes moved from the Crown Store to gold vendors[/*][list]
- One of these is a brand-new gold purchasable mount: the Ebon Dwarven Horse. [/*]
These are just some of the improvements coming to the game with Update 49 in March. You can see the full list of changes coming to the Public Test Server when Update 49 arrives next week, and there’s even more changes and additions planned for later in the Season.
Gold vendor stables enjoy new mounts
The team will continue to look at and listen to suggestions for similar improvements to the player experience from the community for future Seasons, too. Keep an eye out for more details on this team and their work in the not-too-distant future.
Combat and Class Refresh
Update 49 and Season Zero also continues the work to review and improve ESO’s core combat experience, and this Season introduces changes and improvements to the Dragonknight class. This includes a visual refresh for many of its abilities and a rework of its core skill lines.
Wield reworked Dragonknight abilities
This Season also includes a visual refresh for the Two-Handed Weapon skill line, and a major
Tamriel Tomes
Introduced with Season Zero, Tamriel Tomes are a new way for you to earn in-game collectibles, currencies, and rewards simply by playing the game.
Each Season introduces a new Tamriel Tome, which is ESO’s version of battlepass-like systems you may be familiar with from other games. Tomes offer you the chance to complete weekly and seasonal challenges to earn a new currency called Tome Points.
Each page in the tome offers a variety of rewards for you to choose from, and as you earn more Tome Points, new pages open to offer you additional rewards. After you have unlocked a page, it’s your choice as to whether you wish to spend your Tome Points on that page’s items or save them up for specific rewards later in the experience.
Unlock and acquire collectibles
A Season’s Tome can be enjoyed by all ESO players at no cost. However, in addition to the free rewards, you can choose to pay for the ability to acquire additional premium rewards. Even better, with the paid version, you can continue to unlock rewards after the Season is over.
As stated above, Tamriel Tomes are a completely optional experience. For a deeper dive into how Tamriel Tomes works, read this announcement blog.
Gold Coast Bazaar
Also releasing as part of Season Zero is the Gold Coast Bazaar, a new in-game rewards store that gives you more opportunities to earn and unlock previously available collectibles (and a few new options, too).
In the past, the game has added many limited-time rewards via Golden Pursuits, Daily Login Rewards, Events, Anniversary Spotlights, Twitch Drops, and more. If you missed them, they were often difficult to get again or re-introduced unpredictably and inconsistently. Now, these rewards will rotate in and out of the store with each Season.
With the Gold Coast Bazaar, you can claim these items by spending Trade Bars, a new currency earned primarily from the free Tamriel Tome rewards, but also available from other sources.
Discover past rewards with the Bazaar
Trade Bars replace Event Tickets (this happens automatically) and have no cap placed on them. Critically, Trade Bars are not available for purchase with Crowns. They must be earned via Tamriel Tome rewards (with the vast majority included in the free Tome options) or other in-game activities.
At Season Zero’s launch, the Gold Coast Bazaar will have around 100 items available, giving you even more options and choice over the rewards you earn as you play. The Gold Coast Bazaar arrives March 25, 2026, with some initial offerings, and expands once Season Zero formally kicks off on April 2, 2026. For more on the Gold Coast Bazaar, check out this blog.
PvP and PvE Additions
In addition to all the above, late in Season Zero, we’ll also introduce two major gameplay additions that we know our veteran players will enjoy:
- Introducing Challenge Difficulty[/*][list]
- The first step in a new system that increases overland gameplay, Challenge Difficulty allows you to opt in to a more difficult, more rewarding version of the overland content you know and love.[/*]
- Rank up and progress to earn new rewards and even unique passive abilities for the Vengeance PvP campaigns.[/*]
We’re excited to reveal more about these additions closer to Season Zero’s official launch, so keep an eye out for more information soon.
Future Seasons
Season Zero serves as the foundation for many future Seasons and the exciting new adventures, rewards, and changes they hold. As a quick preview, these new experiences include:
- New Thieves Guild questline[/*]
- The return of Sheogorath![/*]
- A new end-game Trial [/*]
- Solo dungeons![/*]
- A new event on the high seas![/*]
- Additional class and combat refresh work[/*]
- Additional player experience improvements[/*]
- And more![/*]
To get an early look at the future of Seasons in ESO, check out the roadmap below. Note that some details and features may change as development continues.
Seasons Roadmap
Of course, this is just a taste of what future Seasons contain, so keep an eye out for more information in the coming months, including a special preview livestream in March that goes much deeper into 2026.
Working with the Community
Player trust and community feedback are a core part of our development philosophy at ZeniMax Online Studios, and there’s always room for improvement. We want the ESO community to have an even more active role in how we develop the game.
What does this mean? We intend to share our plans with you earlier and more often than we have in the past and evolve the way we communicate. This includes getting your thoughts on everything we’ve recently announced, but it also features experimental or even conceptual new content or adventures—we want you to help us grow Tamriel, together.
We need YOU to help us shape ESO’s future
Look out for more opportunities to share your views on anything past, present, and future for ESO in the coming weeks, including livestreams, surveys, and more.
More to Come!
The move to Seasons represents a new and dramatic shift in the way The Elder Scrolls Online releases new content and updates, and we can’t wait to share more about everything that’s coming throughout the next few months.
We’ve only just begun to touch on some of the key changes, additions, and improvements coming as part of this shift, so keep an eye out for more information soon. This will include details on adjustments to the ESO base game (that happens to grant all ESO owners free access to the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood DLCs) and additions to your ESO Plus membership benefits. Finally, we’re also happy to reveal that starting with Update 49’s launch in March, all base-game patches and updates will arrive and go live at the same time, regardless of platform.
What do you think about the coming changes to ESO? Are you excited that all new gameplay content will be free for ESO players moving forward? Perhaps you’re eager to learn more about what kind of rewards you can find in the first Tamriel Tome or within the Gold Coast Bazaar come April? Share your thoughts with us via Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook.
