As part of gamescom 2023, we conducted an interview with Matt Firor, the studio director and thus boss of The Elder Scrolls Online. We spoke to him about the past, the latest expansion, but also the future of ESO.
The Elder Scrolls Online released the Necrom expansion earlier this year. This contained the new arcanist class and a self-contained story that will not be supplemented by another patch. That made room for a special update in Q4.
We spoke to the boss about this update, but also about the general development of player numbers and the new class.
Necrom and the Epic Games Store provide the highest number of players since 2015
MeinMMO: How is ESO doing at the moment, especially compared to the last few years? For me, Elsweyr was one of the best gaming experiences and I feel like Blackwood and High Isle didn’t perform that well.
firor: ESO has grown steadily since One Tamriel in 2016. Morrowind was very strong and hitting a new high until the pandemic hit and the numbers exploded. Now we don’t have those Pandemic players like all other games, but our numbers had stabilized a bit below that line.
They went big again with Necrom and then with the release on the Epic Game Store things got crazy. To answer the question, this is the highest number of people playing ESO since 2015. I mean, this is the first time you’ve seen login queues.
MeinMMO: Do you have a rough overview of how many players actually tried the arcanist after the release of Necrom?
firor: Most. At least almost everyone tried the class temporarily. Many also continued to play to the max level and even beyond. Our data shows quite a few arcanists reaching level 50.
It’s also a really fun class.
MeinMMO: One point of criticism, however, is that you have to play through the old areas with each new class. Have you ever thought about bringing a special starting area or game content just for one class to make the gameplay a little more interesting?
fior: Yes we did, but ESO is so big that even I was still discovering things I could do with my arcanist while leveling differently than before. There are so many expansions, areas, and DLCs to play through. I played the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood DLCs and leveled through the minigames there.
If you want to, you can always find a new way to progress a character.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom gameplay trailer
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The upcoming patch is aimed at experienced players
MeinMMO: Again and again you read about players who are dissatisfied with the development of ESO. Big highlights would be missing, even though you released things like the card game or recently the new class. Are these players lost forever because of unrealistic expectations, or can you still win them back?
fior: I totally understand this point. Many of these players have been in ESO for 9 years and have seen a lot. But we can only deliver a certain amount of content. If you look back over the last 10 years, we’ve brought a lot of crazy new stuff – not just the new class or a deck of cards.
We released One Tamriel or DLCs like Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood. I could name so many more like the PvP battlegrounds or the antiquities system. But we can’t bring something like this every month.
But in the 4th quarter of this year a special patch will appear. It is aimed primarily at the players who ask this question. It will not be a story DLC, but will appeal to experienced players. We will soon be hosting a stream where we will present the content in more detail.
“Orsinium and Murkmire are my favorite content”
MeinMMO: Towards the end, the question again. What are your favorite DLCs or expansions currently playable in ESO? And what was the most important for the game itself?
firor: I have two favorites. Orsinium is my favorite chapter, even though we didn’t call it a chapter back then. Everything about it is fantastic. It has the traditional Elder Scrolls political elements with different factions.
My favorite story is the Murkmire DLC. The main story is short, but you start out like Indiana Jones and then suddenly go back in time. It’s simply fun.
For the game, the most important expansion was Morrowind. Otherwise, one should highlight the patch One Tamriel, which laid the foundation for today’s ESO.
Thanks to Matt Firor for the interview! If you want to read more about the development history of ESO, we have a suitable article here:
ESO was really bad when it was released and is now one of the best MMORPGs – what happened there?