Cyrodiil’s Imperial City, the heart of the Empire, with its iconic White-Gold Tower, has been inaccessible in The Elder Scrolls online. It might have been the seat of the Empire back in Oblivion, but in ZeniMax Online’s now F2P MMO, it’s been walled off and filled with monsters.
The city is about to open up again, however. Groups of adventurers and brave (or stupid) individuals will be able to explore it, finally, and embark on a spot of PvE and PvP, but only if you’re a ESO Plus subscriber or you shell out 2,500 Crowns.
It always seems like such a shame when F2P games split the community by walling off entire areas unless you spend some cash. It’s not really F2P if you have to pay to get into certain regions. I much prefer the Star Trek Online model, where new content and expansions are free, but peppered with special ships, cosmetic items and new toys that can be bought.
As far as I can tell, you can only buy Crowns in arbitrary amounts, and you can’t buy 2,500. The closest is 3,000, which will set you back £14.99/$19.99.
Oh well! The Elder Scrolls Online is hardly alone in doing this. But what does your 15 quid get you? Well, there are six districts, the infamous sewers that you might recall crawling through at the start of Oblivion, and the White-Gold Tower. Within these areas, you’ll not just be fighting the demonic forces of Molag Bal, you’ll also have other players from the different factions to deal with.
Expect two new group dungeons and a new currency, Tel Var Stones, which you can use to buy Veteran Rank 16 armour sets. More Veteran Rank 16 gear can also be found in treasure vaults. A new costume, Imperial City-specific pets and some new polymorphs will also be available.
When the update launches, it will also patch the main game for everyone. Here’s a few of the things the patch changes:
- 15% decrease in the amount of XP it takes to gain a Veteran Rank
- 100% more XP for all public dungeons
- 50% more XP for all Veteran Rank quests
- 20% more XP in Craglorn
- Veteran Rank increased to 16
- Racial Passive improvements
- Mundus Stone buff improvements
- Glass racial motif style
- Improvements to existing item sets
- The ability to hide mount visual upgrades
- New crafting skill line passives
- New Undaunted pledges
- Tons of combat and gameplay balance changes
- Improved end-of-campaign Alliance War rewards
The Imperial City will be available for testing soon, and will officially launch on August 31st.