The Elder Scrolls Online director discusses the Deadlands expansion, joining team Xbox

The Elderberry Scrolls Online continues to abound as one of the best Xbox games available, every bit developer ZeniMax Online Studios is launching the fourth content pack for the game's yr-long Gates of Oblivion storyline very soon. Titled The Elder Scrolls Online: Deadlands, it'due south taking players into Oblivion to deal with Mehrunes Dagon and bring this chapter of Elder Scrolls lore to a close, following the three earlier chapters in the Flames of Aggressive, the Blackwood expansion and the Waking Flame.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Deadlands comes to PC and Stadia on November. 1, while the console version for Xbox and PlayStation players arrives on Nov. 16.

Forging alee

Tackling the threat of Mehrunes Dagon wasn't piece of cake for the team, who understood the importance of Mehrunes Dagon and Oblivion in The Elder Scrolls. "It was all nigh finding the right balance of nostalgia while forging our own path," creative managing director Rich Lambert tells Windows Central. He explains that while it hasn't been an easy journey, the team'southward experience with the Greymoor expansion that saw players render to Skyrim gave the developers the required confidence.

It's been a big year for the game, one shaped by histrion feedback. Deadlands introduces ii new biomes, and while one is the classic burn down and brimstone that players expect, some other is a void of wastelands and storms. It'south a slice of new lore that the squad is eager to explore. The designs of both were shaped in response to player complaints regarding Elsweyr, the caves in which were often deemed difficult and confusing to navigate. All of this was designed as the furnishings of the pandemic continue to linger.

"We were re-learning how to be collaborative," Lambert says of the transition to working from dwelling. "Working on an MMORPG, information technology's non equally simple as walking by a desk, seeing over someone's shoulder and saying 'Hey, what's up with that?' You take to book meetings for everything, which is definitely slower. We reduced scope where needed to ensure the wellness and work-life balance of our developers."

It also came at a time of large alter for the studio, as Microsoft finalized the acquisition of its parent visitor ZeniMax Media, bringing Bethesda Softworks in as office of the Xbox first-party family, including ZeniMax Online Studios. Information technology'southward early days nevertheless, just in that location'due south a bit of cross-collaboration that'southward starting to occur.

"We're notwithstanding trying to learn from each other," Lambert explains. "They are extremely happy with the success of ESO, there's lots of meetings, they're learning from us on how we tin ship four content packs in a year."

Even with all of this going on, the team delivered a huge feature in the Blackwood expansion, the addition of Companions. This was something that the team had internally discussed working on for a long time, but it was a huge technical challenge. The planning started coming together over the last couple of years, every bit the game'south direction became more and more apparent.

"It just made sense with figuring out what nosotros wanted to be," Lambert explains. "We wanted to be an Elder Scrolls game first and foremost." Even once the team was certain it was something they wanted to do, Companions took a long time to effigy out because of the performance cost. If every player has a companion active, the server strain is essentially twice as high as information technology'd be otherwise, something the squad is nevertheless looking at.

There'due south more on the horizon for Companion features though, particularly for anyone feeling pangs of love. "Player response [to Companions] was overwhelmingly positive," Lambert states. "Players actually similar the concept of romance. It'd exist a major miss not to introduce that at some point."

"Players actually like the concept of romance. It'd be a major miss non to introduce that at some signal."

For more than immediate improvements, Update 32, a patch accompanying the launch of Deadlands, is bringing a new Armory organisation, allowing players to easily bandy between different builds. Lambert tells this came about equally a mixture of internal give-and-take and feedback from players, noting that "Pure RNG can be savage." This system is designed to take away any pain from swapping between gear for different builds, promoting experimentation.

With all of these changes, ZeniMax Online Studios is certain that now is the right fourth dimension for players to bound in if they haven't before. "It's a true Elder Scrolls experience," Lambert says. "You can play at your own pace, play solo, nosotros have a lot of players who merely play for the story. It's your journey through your personal world, it's not near collecting all the gear. That comes naturally if you play a certain way."

Lambert is a huge fan of Mehrunes Dagon and he notes that while feedback has been positive all twelvemonth, he's eager to see what players retrieve of Deadlands. The studio volition exist holding a yr-stop retrospective to talk over how 2022 went very soon. Deadlands is gear up to close one of the biggest years for The Elder Scrolls Online so far, with a storyline that players are enjoying, but of course, ZeniMax Online Studios is difficult at work on what comes after. Merely what is that, exactly?

"Something that'southward very, very different," Lambert says with a chuckle.

The Elder Scrolls Online is currently available on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series Southward, Xbox I, PC, PS5, PS4 and Stadia. The base game is also included with Microsoft'due south Xbox Game Laissez passer subscription on Xbox consoles.

Mehrunes Dagon awaits

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