The Forgotten Prince Ithelia returns in the Gold Road Chapter, and with the Prince of Paths comes strange new group challenges that you and your allies will need to overcome together. This includes both the Lucent Citadel, an all-new 12-player Trial, and Mirrormoor Incursions, new West Weald world events.
“The Lucent Citadel is an ancient Daedric vault located in the wastelands of Fargrave, and until recently the monstrous residents of the citadel have been dormant,” says Senior Content Designer Shane Slama. “Ithelia’s return has triggered their awakening and attracted a number of interested parties in search of something called the Arcane Knot.”

Alarmingly, these parties seem to have conflicting agendas for the Knot, and they are willing to do anything to get their hands on it.

“Your old ally Keshargo from Scrivener’s Hall was dispatched by Hermorah and the Scribes of Mora to secure the Knot, but after setting up a base camp, they were attacked by a Dremora called Xoryn. Keshargo needs all the help he can get in stopping Xoryn and finding a way to extract the volatile Arcane Knot from the Citadel.”
[esosslfiles-a.akamaihd.net]The Lucent Citadel awaits

Be warned, the path through the Lucent Citadel will not be easy for you and your allies, with all sorts of unusual monsters and magic at play. Every encounter, whether with any of the four total bosses or their assorted minions, will test your party’s power and ingenuity.

“As you adventure through the Citadel and chase after Xoryn, you’ll encounter a mix of awoken Mirrormoor creatures and Xoryn’s powerful allies,” explains Slama. “These include Lightbringers that can reanimate the dead and Darkcasters that attempt to suffocate their targets with a mounting darkness.”

“Not all the challenges inside the citadel are combat-focused.” adds Slama. “There are moments where your path to Xoryn requires more than running, jumping, or falling. Being light on your feet won’t be enough. You’ll have to ditch your feet entirely and try your best to avoid looking down!”
[esosslfiles-a.akamaihd.net]Be knot afraid

As with any Trial, the Lucent Citadel features new ways to challenge you and your group. This is especially so for the final encounter, which is completely different from anything the team has done before.

“The constant that runs throughout the trial is the presence of light magic and dark magic, and learning how the two clash is important,” says Slama. “Be warned, the Arcane Knot is unstable and chaotic, and once it has been disturbed, it must always have a carrier bonded to it. However, a single adventurer is not going to be able to shoulder the burden of this powerful object alone. When the time comes, remember that sharing is caring!”
In addition to the Lucent Citadel, Gold Road also features a new kind of world event that anybody adventuring within the zone can help overcome.

“With Mirrormoor Incursions, powerful forces from the mysterious realm are attempting to spread their influence across West Weald and infiltrate the land,” explains Encounter Designer Lauren Kaiser. “Three elite Valkynaz have positioned themselves at key points surrounding the crux of the incursion, and together, they work to perform a ritual that paves the way for a powerful Mirrormoor champion.”
[esosslfiles-a.akamaihd.net]Mighty foes await

Of course, there’s more to this than just a straight-up fight with the Valkynaz and their champion. To shut down the operation in full, you’ll first need to search the wilderness around the mosaic for Daedric ritualists and force them to abandon their efforts.

“One of the main design goals for Mirrormoor Incursions was to make them feel like they’re having a real impact on the world,” says Kaiser. “You’ll find all manner of hazards and creatures from the Daedric realm have appeared within the wilderness surrounding the mosaics and are attempting to spread their influence.”
[esosslfiles-a.akamaihd.net]Ithelia’s servants stage Mirrormoor Incursions

Fortunately, the increased scope of these new events comes with new ways to track progression.

“Because the event takes players on a monster hunt in the wilds, it’s important that they can track progress no matter where they are,” says Kaiser. “To do this, players can look up at the portal above the Mirrormoor mosaic—the number of orbs orbiting the portal corresponds with the number of Valkynaz that have been defeated. There are also additional audio and visual cues that will appear throughout the world event area. Major kudos to the VFX and audio teams for their phenomenal work on these critical elements!”

This wider scope makes Mirrormoor Incursions very different from ESO’s past world events, and certain key elements can change with each encounter.

“There are six different Valkynaz total, and three of them will appear at random during an incursion. The Valkynaz are much stronger together, so the knowledge that players gain while fighting them alone in the wilderness will be key during the battle with the champion. There are also three different champions total, each with their own unique kit of abilities, and one of them will appear at random for each incursion.”
[esosslfiles-a.akamaihd.net]Drive back the Daedra of Mirrormoor

Mirrormoor Incursions may appear imposing at first, but there are tools you can use to prepare yourself.

“Players may notice that a champion’s power extends into the wilds in the form of environmental hazards,” explains Kaiser. “Each champion has an associated hazard, so players will know which champion they're facing based on those that are present.”
Opposing the Daedra of Mirrormoor is not without benefits, as triumphing in these new group activities can earn you all-new item sets and collectibles, found only in the Gold Road Chapter.

Shattering the forces across each of the zone’s Mirrormoor Mosaics, for example, earns you the Glass Sky Defender achievement and a red Reverse Slash Skill Style! In fact, Mirrormoor Mosaics are the source of several new Skill Styles, including an orange one for the Warhorn skill (earned via the Mirrormoor Incursion Disruptor achievement).

You can earn some rewards just for completing Mirrormoor Incursions, and incursion completion also adds progress toward larger zone-wide rewards such as the Wildburn Lynx mount, the Saint Alessia patron for Tales of Tribute, or the piece-by-piece unlock of the Nantharion’s Regalia outfit style.

Find even more rewards in the Lucent Citadel, including four potent item sets, unique furnishings, body and face markings (earned via completing two different Trial Achievements), a red Skill Style for the Expert Hunter skill (earned via the Lucent Citadel Vanquisher achievement), and the fabulous Refulgent Mirrormoor Steed (earned via completing the Knot Worthy meta Achievement).
[esosslfiles-a.akamaihd.net]The spoils of Mirrormoor

The new item sets include the Lucent Echoes heavy armor set. The set boosts the critical damage and healing of other group members while the wearer is healthy and reduces their incoming damage after taking punishment—a great tool for tanks in group content!
Exciting new activities await you within the Gold Road Chapter, and overcoming these new PvE challenges can earn you all sorts of unique in-game rewards. Gather your allies and put out the call so you can dive right into the fight against Ithelia’s forces when they arrive this June. Are you excited to tackle this challenging group content? Let us know via X (formerly Twitter), Instagram[www.instagram.com], and Facebook[www.facebook.com]. 

The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road arrives for PC/Mac on June 3, 2024, and for Xbox and PlayStation consoles on June 18, 2024. Pre-purchase Gold Road now to receive unique bonus rewards at launch and immediate access to the Welkyndstone Ruins Wolf mount. Don’t miss out.

Hi everyone! Below are some questions we received during the in-person Community Roundtable session at the ESO 10-Year Celebration Event in April that we promised to follow up with answers. We hope you find these answers helpful!

Q: Has there been any consideration for guild mounts that show off the guild tabard in some way? (Maybe a raised banner?) What would that take?
A: We love this idea and hear it often from our many players in guilds. We’ve talked about this internally over the years as well. It’s one of those things that is quite a bit trickier on the technical side than it sounds due to how guild tabards and overhead guild nameplates are coded, players being able to be in five guilds, etc. Know that we are aware of the desire for this as a guild feature.

Q: Have there been any discussions about integrated voice chat for PC/Mac, even if just to coordinate for instanced group content? Sometimes people don’t want to install new apps to talk with each other and instead opt to communicate via in-game chat. This is especially painful for pick-up groups.
A: While many players do opt to use Discord or other external voice chat solutions, we understand the pick-up group communication pain point. We’ve discussed integrated voice chat for PC/Mac servers and while it’s not a hard “No, never”, this is another one that requires a significant technical investment and isn’t something we currently have on the roadmap.

Q: What happens to guilds if the guild leader passes away? What is the official process for passing on the role of guild leader?
A: If a guild leader becomes inactive for at least 60 days, for any reason, someone from the guild can contact Customer Support to request transfer of the guild leader role. From there, we look to transfer the role of guild leader to the person who meets the following criteria:

• Active within the last 60 days
  
• A member of the next highest rank in the guild (one of the guild’s existing “officers”)
  
• The person who has been in the guild the longest, if everyone else is the same guild rank
  
• Not already the leader of another guild

We use this specific ranking system because it is fair, neutral, and allows us to be consistent. It also helps us minimize situations where guild leadership is stolen, passed to a newer member of the guild, etc. Once guild leadership is transferred, that person is welcome to pass it to someone else in the guild if they wish.

While it is a bit more involved, there is also a process in place if someone wants or needs to claim a deceased family member’s account. This process is in accordance with similar laws related to what happens to online accounts when someone passes away.

Q: Will we ever get proper guild halls in ESO?
A: We love the idea of guild halls in ESO and recognize that our community has asked for them since the game launched. We have had many internal conversations about them over the years. The current challenge is the necessary caps. Much like the item limit caps in player housing, there is also a limit to how many characters can simultaneously be in a player home (it’s 25). As with items, these caps are in place to ensure that players on lower spec machines don’t encounter significant performance issues while in player homes.

When we’ve asked ourselves in the past if a 25-person cap would feel good for a guild hall, especially if it’s a guild of 500 active players, the answer has always been no. It’s not the kind of guild hall experience we’d want to give you. So, while the idea of guild halls isn’t completely off the table, it’s important to us that we find a solution that allows us to do it right, and support the ability to have more than 25 simultaneous players in the guild hall.

Q: Do you have any plans for improved guild tools in ESO?
A: While we don’t have any specific plans to share currently, there are many things on our backlog that we’d love to do with ESO’s guild system and the related tools. Over the years, we’ve collated pages of ideas from you, our community, as well as from internal suggestions.

We do want to improve guilds, in general, and the tools that players use to run them. As with anything we add to ESO, it all comes down to time and resources, determining what will have the greatest positive impact for our players, and prioritizing against all the other items on our game features and improvements backlog.

Please keep the suggestions and ideas coming, though. We do want to hear them!

Q: Will we ever get the ability to hide our guild tabard, like we can hide helms?
A: This is another request that has come up often over the years. We understand how important this is to some of our players, especially our roleplay and ESO fashion enthusiasts! Like the suggestion for guild heraldry on mounts, this is something we do have on our backlog and want to improve the overall experience. It’s also not as simple as turning off the visibility of armor pieces such helms and shoulders, for example, due to how our guild tabards and overhead guild nameplates are coded on the back-end.

Q: You all should send out surveys to guilds to get feedback about guild tools and what quality-of-life guild features players want. Would you consider that?
A: Great idea! Yes, we will talk with our amazing Research team about creating a guild-focused survey. Thank you for the suggestion!

One thing you all can do to help us is ask your guild members to consider opting into getting emails from us here. While we can share links to surveys on our social media channels, forums, and in Discord, being able to email it to more players who are in guilds would greatly help us hit a much broader and more diverse population.

Q: Could we get a solution for the guild MOTD text getting bumped/interrupted by automated game messages when typing it up? It’s so frustrating when that happens!
A: Thank you for sharing this with us! We agree that isn’t a great experience. We’ve passed this along to our UX and QA teams for investigation.

Q: Will we ever get Steam achievements for ESO?
A: Steam achievements require a separate (and additional) process from achievements on any other platform. Due to this, we have no current plans to add Steam achievements for ESO.

Q: We’d like to be able to get empty plots of existing player houses, or the ability to “remove” the house from the plot. Is that something you might consider?
A: Interesting suggestion! Historically, the empty plots aren’t nearly as popular as the houses; that said, we will pass this suggestion along to the Housing team for consideration. Due to how we build out the housing spaces, it is unfortunately not as simple as just “removing” the house from an existing space. Even existing player housing spaces would require additional world building where the house is/was.