You can try The Elder Scrolls Online and save on the game and Crown Packs during our Free Play Event and April Sale!
Play For Free
The Elder Scrolls Online Free Play Event on Steam begins Wednesday, April 1 at 1PM EDT/6PM BST, and will run through Monday, April 6.
During this period, anybody on PC/Mac, Xbox One (Xbox Live Gold required), and PlayStation®4 can download and play The Elder Scrolls Online base game free and experience a whole world of adventure.
To participate in the Free Play Event, visit our Free Play page and select your platform. This event gives you access to the ESO base game, which includes four of the game’s original classes, 23 massive unique zones, and an epic main storyline. Note that depending on your platform, the Free Play Event and April Sale may have different start and end dates.
Because the Free Play Event includes access to the base game, you can descend into your Dark Heart of Skyrim adventure with the Greymoor Prologue. In addition to this, you can also take part in the Anniversary Jubilee in-game event, allowing you to earn double XP, gain bonus rewards, and eat cake to celebrate ESO’s sixth birthday!
If you’ve already played ESO during a previous event, you can continue your adventures as normal. In addition to this, all new ESO accounts created will also receive 500 crowns to spend in the in-game Crown Store.
Explore Tamriel alone or with friends
That’s a ton of great reasons to try out ESO during this new Free Play period, so head on over to our Free Play page now!
ESO & Elsweyr on Sale
If you want to continue your adventures in Tamriel beyond the Free Play event, you can pick up the game at a steep discount during our April Sale. Throughout the sale, you can save up to 60% on The Elder Scrolls Online Standard Edition and up to 70% on The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr.
Discover the home of the Khajiit
The April Sale will run between different time periods, based on your platform:
This is the biggest discount for the Elsweyr Chapter we’ve ever had, so be sure to visit our Buy Now page to make the most out of these deals.
Crown Packs on Sale, Too!
Finally, during the April Sale period, we’re also putting Crown Packs on sale with the following discounts:
You can use crowns to grab many different types of items from the Crown Store, such as mounts, pets, costumes, consumables, Crown Crates, and more. These include starter bundles such as the Starter Pack, Adept, which includes three costumes, a mount, and a ton of goodies (pictured below). Even better, this bundle is on sale starting tomorrow, March 31!
There’s a host of useful and fun items in the Crown Store
Check out what is currently available in the Crown Store on our website. These major savings are available only on the following dates:
April Bargains
During the Free Play Event and April Sale, you can explore Tamriel for the first time or pick up the game and Crown Packs at steep discounts. Whether you’re a new, returning, or veteran player, there’s something for you this April—don’t miss out!
ESO Anniversary Jubilee
The Elder Scrolls Online is six years young, and that means you can enjoy bonus XP, special rewards, and cake during our Anniversary Jubilee event!
Happy Birthday to ESO!
ESO’s six-year Anniversary Jubilee in-game event begins Thursday, April 2 at 10:00AM EDT, and runs until Tuesday, April 14 at 10:00AM EDT. To join the celebration, select the free Jubilee Cake Voucher quest starter from the Crown Store (listed under Quest Starters) to find the world-famous Chef Donolon.
Complete Chef Donolon’s quest to receive the new Jubilee Cake 2020 memento, which you can use to summon the new dessert. Each time you eat a slice during the celebration, you’ll enjoy a two-hour, 100% XP boost!
Eat cake and enjoy bonus XP!
Presents for All
During the event, complete any of the game’s daily quests and you’ll earn special Anniversary Jubilee Gift Boxes! These daily quests include but are not limited to:
Within the Jubilee Gift Boxes, you have a chance to acquire a ton of unique items, including:
Become a protector of the wilds with the Jephrine style
Event Tickets & New Indrik
The first time you eat a slice of the Jubilee Cake 2020 each day of the event, in addition to the XP buff, you also receive three Event Tickets. Because there will be fewer events this quarter, you can also receive bonus tickets by defeating any boss in the game (Delve, World, Dungeon, etc.). You can earn two additional tickets per day from this method. This means you can earn a max of five tickets per day, for up to 65 tickets total if you play every day of the event. Don’t forget, you have to loot your tickets and be credited for defeating the boss!
You can find the Impresario in Daggerfall in Glenumbra, Davon's Watch in Stonefalls, and Vulkhel Guard in Auridon, and she will have the following items in stock:
The Anniversary Jubilee features this quarter’s first two berries for the all-new, very cool Icebreath Indrik.
The tranquil Icebreath Indrik
For more on how Event Tickets and Indriks work, don’t hesitate to check out our guide.
Eat Cake & Do Dailies
Celebrate ESO’s sixth birthday with us with an amazing new cake and rewards. With dailies for almost every unique activity, how you earn your Jubilee Gift Boxes is completely up to you. Don’t forget to grab a slice and enjoy that XP boost, too! Let us know how you’ll be celebrating this new milestone via @TESOnline, Instagram, and Facebook.
ESO’s six-year Anniversary Jubilee in-game event begins Thursday, April 2 at 10:00AM EDT, and runs until Tuesday, April 14 at 10:00AM EDT.
Jester's Festival
Celebrate the absurd during the Jester’s Festival in-game event and you’ll earn wacky new rewards and bonus XP!
The Silly Season Returns
The Jester’s Festival begins Thursday, March 26 at 10:00AM EDT, and revels in the ridiculous until April 2 at 10:00AM EDT. During this frivolous fête, you can earn special event-specific rewards by completing Jester’s Festival quests.
To get started, find the Jester’s Festival pavilions located outside the cities of Ebonheart, Vulkhel Guard, and Daggerfall. If you’re having trouble, pick up the Jester’s Festival starter quest free from the in-game Crown Store for directions.
Visit a Jester’s Festival pavilion to join in the fun!
Strike up a conversation with the jester versions of the Skald-King, Queen Ayrenn, or High King Emeric (we’re reliably informed that the real Alliance leaders don’t mind the ruse) and complete the intro quest to receive the powerful AND delicious Pie of Misrule memento. When you activate this preposterous pastry, you’ll receive a two-hour, 100% XP buff! Note that you don’t need to complete this quest again if you’ve previously done so—just grab the memento from your collections.
During the event, each jester can provide your characters with a unique daily quest, meaning each character can complete three of these quests every 24 hours.
Labor for Ludicrously Loony Loot
Each time you complete a Jester’s Festival quest, you receive a Jester’s Festival Reward Box that can contain goodies such as valuables (to sell to vendors for gold), consumables, recipes, furnishings, and Revelry Pies. Even better, the first time you complete each quest each day, you are rewarded a Stupendous Gift Box instead of the regular reward. This prestigious package has a chance to include:
Some animals are more equal than others
If you’ve earned all three Stupendous Gift Boxes, don’t worry, you can keep earning regular reward boxes with your other characters, so keep the party going!
Take note, the Revelry Pies make for especially mirthful missiles, and should you add them to your Quickbar, you can gleefully cover all of Tamriel with sticky dessert! Fellow players, NPCs, guards (trust us, they won’t mind), or even the rulers of Tamriel themselves—all fear your delicious right arm during the Jester’s Festival.
As you cover all of Tamriel in pie, you’ll earn special event-specific Achievements:
By completing these absurd Achievements, you can earn special rewards, including the “Tin Soldier” and “Empieror” titles and the Obnoxious Mute Face Paint head marking! However, that’s not all, since you can also earn the Crown of Misrule hat and Lord / Lady of Misrule title by completing each of the three daily quests or the Royal Jester title and some furnishings by completing every Jester’s Festival achievement. Check your journal for everything!
Event Tickets
The first time you complete a Jester’s Festival quest each day, you’ll earn three Event Tickets per account, allowing you to earn up to 24 tickets total throughout the event period. During the event, the Impresario will stock the following goods:
This is your chance to acquire the final berries needed to evolve your Nascent Indrik into the ghostly Spectral Indrik mount!
Spooky yet majestic!
A Festival of Fun!
Beset by war, monsters, Dragons, and Necromancers, the world of The Elder Scrolls Online is serious business, but each year, the people of Tamriel get together for an all-too-short period of frivolity and fun. With bonus XP, unique collectibles, and a whole lot of pie, there’s a ridiculous amount of reasons to celebrate the Jester’s Festival. Are you excited to take part in this year’s most foolish fête? Let us know on @TESOnline, Instagram, and Facebook!
The Jester’s Festival begins on Thursday, March 26 at 10:00AM EDT and will run until April 2 at 10:00AM EDT.
Tune in to ESO Live this Friday, March 13, as the community team recruits Dungeon Lead Mike Finnigan and Stream Team member GNARLY_NATE for a Harrowstorm dungeon run!
Kicking off this Friday at 6PM EDT, join Jessica Folsom and Gina Bruno from the ESO community team as they host ZOS’ Dungeon Lead Mike Finnigan and special guest GNARLY_NATE for a Harrowstorm dungeon run of your choosing. You can tell us which dungeon you’d like to see the team tackle via this tweet.
Will our brave adventurers explore the frigid home of the Icereach Coven? Or will they help the Pyre Watch expel invaders from the Unhallowed Grave? Vote now!
Throughout the show, there’s sure to be tons of laughs, mostly unavoidable deaths, and kazoos (!?) in addition to giveaways and Twitch Drops (don’t forget to link your accounts).
The Elder Scrolls Online: Harrowstorm features two exciting new dungeons for four-player groups: Icereach and Unhallowed Grave. These new PvE challenges also kick off your Dark Heart of Skyrim year-long adventure, beginning a story that will take you to the upcoming Greymoor Chapter and more throughout the entirety of 2020.
Icereach
A supernatural storm lashes Skyrim’s northern coast, threatening the longboats and livelihoods of the local Nords. You and your party must investigate the mysterious origin of this storm: the barren island of Icereach. There, you must find the first lost expedition, confront the witches of the Icereach Coven, and put a stop to their terrible ritual before all of Skyrim is lost.
Confront the witches of Icereach
Unhallowed Grave
Deep beneath the sands of Bangkorai, the ancient remnants of a long-forgotten evil lies buried—forgotten to all but the crypt’s last guardians. Now, a gruesome band of Necromancers and monsters has looted the tomb for an unknown purpose. You and your allies must storm the Unhallowed Grave, repulse the mercenaries, and discover the dark secret at the heart of their invasion.
Explore the Unhallowed Grave
Both dungeons challenge you and your teammates with cunning enemies and monstrous boss battles, and you can attempt both Icereach and Unhallowed Grave in Normal and Veteran difficulties, with a Veteran Hard Mode option available if you wish to truly challenge yourselves. Finally, you can discover new rewards in both dungeons, including new item sets, Achievements, collectibles, and more.
For more information on these two dungeons, check out our previews of both Icereach and Unhallowed Grave.
How to Get Harrowstorm
The Harrowstorm DLC game pack is free for all ESO Plus members and available for purchase for 1,500 crowns from the in-game Crown Store (listed under DLC).
Note that if your ESO Plus membership lapses, you lose access to the DLC dungeons until you renew or purchase the DLC with crowns. You won’t lose any items or rewards you earned while you had access.
Harrowstorm Collector’s Bundle
The Harrowstorm Collector’s Bundle is also available for 4,000 crowns. This includes access to the DLC game pack, the Hallin's Jackal Pet, the Pyre Watch Jackal Mount, and five Crown Experience Scrolls. You can find and purchase the Harrowstorm Collector’s Bundle from the Featured section of the in-game Crown Store.
The Harrowstorm Collector’s Bundle
Discover Harrowstorm & Earn a Unique Emote
Once you have access to the Harrowstorm dungeons, you can begin your Dark Heart of Skyrim adventure by the following methods:
Finally, simply by entering one of these two dungeons, you’ll earn the Wickerman Mishap emote!
Watch your fingers!
Update 25’s New Rewards & Performance Improvements
Releasing in tandem with the new DLC, Update 25 provides a host of new features and improvements for all ESO players, completely free. In particular, this update continues the performance work that began last year with a major Patching Overhaul and introduces new, unique rewards for PvP.
Patching Overhaul & Performance Improvements
The biggest change arriving with Update 25 is the Patching Overhaul. This update completely changes how the ESO game client is downloaded, patched, and stored on local hard drives. Because of this change, ALL ESO players are required to re-download the game client. Once complete, you will see improvements to the game’s load time and reductions in hard drive space requirements for future updates. You can learn more about this major overhaul in this article. There’s a free pet to be snatched up, too!
Additional performance updates associated with this patch include improvements to frame rates, the loading of fixtures and characters, and more, so don’t hesitate to check out our performance improvements timeline or Update 25’s patch notes on the official forums for everything you need to know.
New PvP Rewards
If you enjoy battling your fellow players in Cyrodiil, Update 25 introduces new rewards for PvP players: The Knight of the Circle Armor and Weapon Outfit Styles. You can obtain these new styles by purchasing a Knight’s Resolve or Knight’s Rebuke from a War Researcher in Cyrodiil.
Show your valor with the Knight of the Circle styles!
Don’t forget, you need to complete Conquest daily quests in Cyrodiil to receive Arena Gladiator Proofs—no easy task! Finally, because the new style pages are not bound, you can trade them with other players.
The Dark Heart of Skyrim
With Harrowstorm, your next big year-long adventure begins, leading you into Skyrim’s dark heart with The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor and continuing throughout all of 2020. Are you ready to begin this exciting new storyline and delve into the frigid island of Icereach and the bone-laden halls of Unhallowed Grave? Let us know on @TESOnline, Instagram, and Facebook!
Part of the Dark Heart of Skyrim year-long adventure, the Harrowstorm DLC game pack is now live for PC/Mac and coming March 10 for Xbox One and PlayStation®4. This new DLC game pack arrives in tandem with Update 25, a free base-game update for all ESO players. HarrowstormDark Heart of SkyrimAnnouncementsUpdate 25
Performance Improvements & Free Pet Coming with the Patching Overhaul
Learn about what makes Update 25 and the Patching Overhaul so important and the special pet we’re giving away in thanks!
EDIT: Questions about how this patch works on Steam? View our FAQ!
What is the Patching Overhaul?
The Patching Overhaul is a massive part of the Update 25 base-game patch (arriving February 24 for PC/Mac and March 10 for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One) that completely overhauls how the ESO game client is downloaded, patched, and stored on local hard drives.
What are the benefits of this update?
Once this update is complete, you will see major improvements to the game’s load time and the speed at which assets are loaded into the world.
Most notably, this change dramatically reduces the patch sizes for all future updates, and it results in a major reduction of space taken up by the client on your machine’s hard drive. Our console players will feel this improvement most strongly, and PC/Mac players also benefit from this change.
What do I need to do?
ALL ESO players are required to completely re-download the game client upon the launch of Update 25. For the most part, this should not require any additional effort on your part; the ESO Launcher for PC/Mac or your console will begin the download automatically once the update goes live, so just let it run on its own. You shouldn’t notice any other changes to the launcher or download process, and your user settings and add-ons should remain untouched (although it never hurts to back them up!).
Unfortunately, it is not possible to begin the download for Update 25 early (nor simply use the files from the PTS)—it will begin the morning of the update’s launch. Once the download has begun, it’s simply a matter of waiting for it to complete and launching the game as normal. Easy!
Did I hear something about a free pet?
Yes! As a “thank you” to the ESO community for completing the re-download, we’re adding the Crimson Torchbug Pet to the Crown Store, completely free. This glowing gift can be found under the Pets category of the Crown Store and is available only for two weeks after Update 25’s launch. This means PC/Mac players can grab their pets from February 24 until March 9, and console players can get theirs from March 10 until March 24. Plenty of time to complete the re-download!
Look at that little red butt!
Update 25 Brings Improvements for All!
Releasing in tandem with the Harrowstorm DLC game pack, the Update 25 base-game patch brings a host of performance fixes that all of ESO’s players can enjoy. In addition to this patching overhaul, you’ll experience better load times, frame rates, and more To stay up to date on all the performance improvements we are making to ESO this year and beyond, keep an eye on this article for its monthly updates!
Are you ready for the patching overhaul and re-download that is coming with Update 25? More importantly, are you ready for the adorably bright Crimson Torchbug pet? Let us know via @TESOnline, Instagram, and Facebook! DevelopmentUpdate 25Harrowstorm
ESO Live: February 14 @ 5PM EST/10PM GMT–Housing Tour and Dev Interview
Check out two new homes with Systems Designer Cullen Lee and enjoy a new “Life at ZOS” interview with Writer Taylor Cyr!
Tune in to ESO Live this Friday at 5PM EST/10PM GMT (slightly earlier than normal!) to see Systems Designer Cullen Lee showcase two new homes (Forgemaster Falls and Thieves’ Oasis) and discuss the creation process.
In addition to this, the community team will also interview Writer Taylor Cyr as part of the returning “Life at ZOS” series. They’ll talk about Taylor’s journey to ZOS and what it’s like to be part of the content team, and her most recent work.
There will be giveaways, Twitch Drops (don’t forget to ensure your accounts are linked!), and a Valentine’s Day surprise! It’s going to be an amazing show, so join us at 5:00PM EST/10:00PM GMT this Friday, February 14, on Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, and Steam.
Be sure to stick around after the show as our Australian office will be running a special charity stream to raise funds for the Australian Red Cross, supporting those affected by the bush fires.
ESO Live: February 5 @ 6PM EST/11PM GMT—Harrowstorm Dungeon Tour
Update: We have rescheduled this ESO Live for Wednesday, February 5, at 6PM EST due to previous technical difficulties.
Join us for the first ESO Live of the year as Dungeon Lead Mike Finnigan takes us on a tour of the two new Harrowstorm dungeons!
The show will kick off on Wednesday, February 5, at 6PM EST/11PM GMT and feature a walkthrough of both the Icereach and Unhallowed Grave dungeons, coming soon with the Harrowstorm DLC game pack. During the tour, Mike will talk about the dungeons’ unique setting, story, and challenges.
Before the tour, we’ll share stories from the recent Global Reveal Event in Las Vegas where we announced the Dark Heart of Skyrim and also present a short video from the combat team explaining the changes to Block currently on the PTS.
We’ll enable Twitch Drops throughout the show, so don’t forget to link your accounts! To catch all this, tune in at 6:00PM EST/11PM GMT this Wednesday, February 5, on Twitch, YouTube, Mixer, and Steam.
Fight for Glory during the Midyear Mayhem PvP Event
Clash with your fellow players in Cyrodiil, the Battlegrounds, and Imperial City during the Midyear Mayhem event and you’ll earn bonus Alliance Points and exclusive new rewards!
Mayhem Returns
Midyear Mayhem is back, and the horns of war bellow once more from Thursday, January 23 at 10:00AM EST, until Tuesday, February 4 at 10:00AM EST. During this PvP event, you can earn bonus rewards, XP, and Alliance Points by battling your fellow players in the Alliance War, Battlegrounds, and Imperial City.
Dark Heart of Skyrim & Greymoor Announcement Recap
Yesterday evening, we announced The Elder Scrolls Online’s next big year-long adventure and Chapter live from the HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas. In case you missed it, here’s everything we showcased and announced during the big event!
A New Year-Long Tale
The event’s biggest reveals, of course, were the announcement of both the Dark Heart of Skyrim year-long adventure and Greymoor Chapter, and the show kicked off on a high note with this new cinematic trailer:
[previewyoutube="VF5gTwvLFWk;full"] ZOS’s Creative Director Rich Lambert and Bethesda Softwork's SVP of Global Marketing and Communications Pete Hines took the stage to discuss the new Chapter, showcasing the content’s new zone, storyline, and systems. You can watch the entirety of the announcement HERE on Twitch.
Post-Show Fun
With the announcement stream complete, we went into a post-show with Community Team members Jessica Folsom and Gina Bruno, who hosted community guests and ESO Dev Team members such as Dungeon Lead Mike Finnigan and Loremaster Leamon Tuttle! Watch it HERE on Twitch.
Viewing Rewards
For hitting 80,000 concurrent viewers during our Dark Heart of Skyrim global announcement stream, we're giving all ESO players the Long-Winged Bat pet. To qualify, simply log into the game and kill any enemy monster any time between now and January 22, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST.
As long as you qualify, you’ll receive your Long-Winged Bat pet by the first week of February. It’ll be added to your Collections automatically.
We weren't able to hit our 150,000 concurrent viewer target required to unlock the ESO team member's IRL “Snow Bear Plunge,” but we're going to do it anyway! Keep an eye out on our social channels for information in the near future on when we dive in, and thank you for watching the show!
Skyrim Needs Heroes
With the announcement of the Dark Heart of Skyrim and Greymoor Chapter, we’re set for another exciting year of adventure. Are you ready to return to the land of the Nords? Let us know on Twitter at @TESOnline, Instagram, or Facebook.
