The Elder Scrolls Online Team Prepares You for the Endless Archive

Today, ZeniMax Online Studios has released the 40th major update for its MMORPG, The Elder Scrolls Online, on PC and Mac. Console users will get the same update with the usual two-week delay on November 14th.

Excitement is in the air as The Elder Scrolls Online’s Update 40 goes live today for PC and Mac players. This massive update brings a plethora of new content, including the highly anticipated Endless Archive dungeon, a new group finder system, Grand Master crafting stations, and much more.

Update 40 for The Elder Scrolls Online is going live today for PC and Mac, bringing the brand new group finder, new Grand Master crafting stations, Hermaeus Mora Patron deck for Tales of Tribute, and the Endless Archive dungeon. 

The Elder Scrolls Online has a lot of achievements, to put it lightly. We're talking over 1,000 in the base game and hundreds per DLC, amounting to 59,465 points. I've played for nine years, with around 2,000 hours, and amassed 17,000 points, and I'm barely scratching the surface. ch3m_gaming has gone much, much further.

The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, released way back in 1996, was the second installment in what went on to become Bethesda’s beloved, genre-defining RPG series, but it sounds like it was a particularly tricky one to get off the launchpad - and that if it hadn’t come together it could have meant the end of the studio itself.

Valve has released SteamVR 2.0 after a month in beta. The virtual reality software is finally heading to headsets with some big changes to the store, keyboard, library, and more.

At this point, it’s safe to say that people are ready for The Elder Scrolls 6. While we’re likely still years away from playing it, it feels as though Bethesda will start putting more stock into the Skyrim follow-up now that Starfield is out.

In a recent interview with MinnMax, Bethesda developer Bruce Nesmith—whose work as a systems designer can be seen in Starfield—revealed that the company made the decision to announce The Elder Scrolls 6 so early because “pitchforks and torches were out”.

While Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield will still receive support, the studio is pivoting towards its next highly-anticipated title, The Elder Scrolls 6. While it’s gone from pre-production to early development, there’s still a lot we don’t know, from the setting and the mechanics to when it releases. Even Microsoft is unsure about its exclusivity period, though it believes a release some five years down the line is possible.

It's been five years since Todd Howard revealed the startling news that yes, Bethesda is going to make The Elder Scrolls 6, and it will be years yet before it actually arrives. It's a virtually unprecedented gap between a game's «announcement» (such as it was) and tangible evidence that something's being done to make it happen, and Howard himself said not too long ago that he regrets handling the reveal the way he did. The obvious question then is, why announce it at all? According to longtime Bethesda designer Bruce Nesmith, the fans basically bullied him into it.

Many “balances” go on in the video game space that are meant to protect all involved while also giving players the best games possible. Sadly, as we all know by now, not all of those balances work out. For example, video game developers often do “crunch” to try and rush a game out versus delaying it, which causes many problems. You might have heard of a game featuring King Kong that was a disaster because the team was forced to complete it in one year. Then, there’s the Elder Scrolls 6 announcement that people still make fun of today.

Bethesda's former design director thinks The Elder Scrolls 6 will keep The Elder Scroll 5: Skyrim's levelling up and progression system.