The ESO Direct 2025 stream has come and gone, with ZeniMax Online executive producer Susan Kath and game director Rich Lambert outlining what to expect from Elder Scrolls Online over the coming months. The short version is – a lot. ZeniMax Online is revamping the chapter structure into a seasonal one, where new story segments, dungeons, and other activities are spread across several months, and it's all combined in one place now, the content pass.
Content pass
Kath and Lambert ended the direct with one of the more important announcements – ESO's 2025 content pass. It's a one-time purchase that bundles everything the studio will release during Seasons of the Worm, including:
- Seasons of the Worm Part 1 – new zone and story (June 2025)
- Writhing Wall event (TBD)
- Feast of Shadows dungeon pack (Q3 2025)
- Seasons of the Worm Part 2 – story finale and the rest of Solstice (Q4 2025)
- Prequel mission (available now)
- Bonus mount, pet, and memento (TBD)
There's also a new campaign to make getting back into the game easier, including refresher tutorials and a visual revamp for the starter islands, and planned improvements to the PvP mode Cyrodiil Champions, though these are planned for the base game and don't require the content pass.
The worm turns
ESO's new story continues the 11-year-old tale of the Worm Cult in Seasons of the Worm. Rather than unfolding in the game's usual chapter format, ZeniMax Online will split Seasons of the Worm into chunks that go live across several months, hence the plural "Seasons" in the name. The first part goes live sometime in June 2025 and takes players to the western half of Solstice, a large island off Tamriel's southern coasts.
Lambert and zone lead Michelle Graves said they were excited to experiment with different ways to show how cultures mingle with each other in Solstice. There's a blend of high elf and Argonian architecture and norms, but, outside the main centers of civilization on the island, you'll find tropical paradise vibes as well, with pristine oceans, long beaches, and exotic wildlife. The latter includes several new monsters. Outside of conflicts with the Worm Cult, the Solstice story digs into Argonian culture and the history of the outcasts from Argonia and elvish tribes who settled the island.
The ZeniMax Online team said they're using the Worm Cult story as a means of bringing older characters from earlier in ESO's history back to the forefront, including Prince Azah and Gabrielle, among several others.
There's also a magical carnival, because of course there is, and some ruins whose significance will become more apparent as the season progresses. The rest of Seasons of the Worm will include new dungeons and trials and, later in the year, a new mission type leading to the story's second half. One of those trials is Ossein Cage, a 12-person raid that takes place in Cold Harbor and involves a fight to stop a Daedric Lord from accessing an artifact that absorbs suffering and turns it into power for the wielder.
Through the wall
The Writhing Wall is Seasons of the Worm's flagship event and a first-ever undertaking for ZeniMax Online. It's a sever-wide event where everyone must cooperate to break through the wall – a barrier made of souls – that separates Solstice's eastern and western halves. Each server will progress independently, and how quickly and effectively players work together determines when they'll bust through the wall. Lambert suggested there's no fail state in the Writhing Wall, but you'll only see what's on the other side after completing all the required tasks – however long that takes your server.
Solstice itself and the rest of the season is locked behind the paid package, but Lambert and Kath said players in the base game can contribute to the wall mission in certain ways as well. They didn't say how, though the quest will include multiple objectives, such as gathering specific materials or defending key locations.
Class warfare
One of the biggest changes happening during Seasons of the Worm is subclassing, which lets players pick up to two skill branches from another class and tack them onto their current class. ESO's subclassing is an account-wide system, which means if you have one character who's a necromancer and another that's a warden, each will have access to the other's available skills. Kath and Lambert said they're including a method by which players can unlock skills from classes they haven't played before as well, though didn't say how that will work.
Subclassing applies to every chapter and the base game, so you don't have to purchase Seasons of the Worm to use it. That said, ESO subclassing will only include classes that you have access to. If, for example, you just own the base game, you won't be able to subclass using skills from the Arcanist unless you purchase the Necrom expansion.
Subclassing goes live in a free update in June 2025, alongside the Seasons of the Worm, and Seasons of the Worm's prequel mission is available now.
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Shacknews
replyJosh Broadwell posted a new article, ESO Direct 2025 highlights Seasons of the Worm, subclassing, and much more
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That stuff with subclassing being account wide but not available to classes you don't have access to from expansions made me think about how much effort these games as a service devs put into airlocking content/upgrades from poors who don't deserve it. It's what got me out of Destiny 2.
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