The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road marks the eighth chapter for the fantasy MMO since its launch 10 years ago in 2014. ESO has been recognized as one of the most beloved modern MMOs since the Morrowind expansion in 2017 and has been going through a renaissance ever since. As the eighth major expansion for ESO, Gold Road aims to continue that trend with some exciting features fans have yearned for since ESO’s initial release. Let’s explore what Gold Road offers us in 2024 and what players should know about before jumping in.
Set in Western Cyrodiil, a Zone Familiar to Oblivion Fans
Gold Road features some iconic locations from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion such as the city of Skingrad tucked in the southwest regions of Cyrodiil. The latest expansion takes place in The West Weald, which is comprised of three diverse sub-regions. The southeast region makes up the autumnal Gold Road proper with the city of Skingrad as its capital. To the southwest lies the newly emergent jungle of Dawnwood, which is bordered by the Valenwood province and some wood elf settlements. The northern region is home to the Colovian Highlands, home to a scattering of Ayleid ruins and Imperial settlements. Finally, there’s the mysterious Wildburn zone, which features all-new creatures and plants affected by the magical creation of the Dawnwood jungle. Gold Road is one of the largest expansion zones for ESO yet, only perhaps rivaling Craglorn and Vvardenfell in sheer size.
When Does Gold Road Take Place?
Gold Road is a direct sequel to ESO’s last expansion, Necrom, and slots in as part two of the seventh main story arc. ESO in general takes place in the 2nd Era before the events of Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim.
Introduces a New Daedric Prince
Mirrormoore Incursions are dynamic world events brought about by mysterious Daedric entities known as Valkynaz. These Daedric entities strive to invade the The West Weald by means of Oblivion portals caused by ritualists. You’ll be encountering batches of Daedric occultists throughout the West Weald in an effort to prevent further incursions. The six Valkynaz boss fights promise a bounty of rewards and lore details in equal measures.
The Story of Gold Road
The big villain of Gold Road is the forgotten Daedric Prince Ithelia. Ithelia’s presence is felt through the Mirrormoore Incursions popping up around the region, as well as NPC conversations discussing the new threat. But Gold Road doesn’t just channel classic Oblivion vibes, there’s also the mysterious appearance of the Dawnwood jungle that popped up in the southwest. The unprecedented amount of upheaval and mystery upending The West Weald makes for a wonderful melting pot of mystery and turmoil to journey through.
The New Scribe System Finally Introduces Spellcrafting
Scribing is the biggest game-changer to come out of the Gold Road expansion. Ever wanted to create your own spells in ESO like you could in other Elder Scrolls games? Well, Scribing aims to satisfy that spellcrafting craving if you have the patience to overcome its lengthy tutorial. Scribing involves a Grimoire (skill type) and Scripts that define the parameters of the skill. There are 11 Grimoires to unlock in the game as well as a Focus Script which defines the main function, the Signature Script which adds unique effects to the skill, and the Affix Script that adds unique buffs/debuffs to the skill.
Do the Scribe Questline First To Get a Headstart on the Grind
You unlock Scribing through a multi-part quest chain involving the Mages Guild; we strongly suggest you do the Scribing quest chain first thing in the Gold Road expansion as you only unlock its components when activating the quest. What some may not like to hear is there appears to be a hefty grind involved if you want to unlock the various Scripts required to Scribe within one of the 11 skill Grimoires.
New Skill Styles Allow Visual Customization of Spells and Skills
Gold Road allows you to take skill customization even further with Skill Styles. Skill Styles will enable you to customize the aesthetic features of various Scribed and non-Scribed skills. The aesthetic options range from colors to different animations, though I’m slightly disappointed you can’t customize sound effects (yet). You unlock most Skill Styles through Class Achievements and quests. Gold Road includes 22 Skill Styles in total with more likely to come in later updates.
New Item Sets Introducing an ESO First: Attack Status Effects
Another new inclusion is the ability to infuse light and heavy attacks with status effects. This may seem trivial, but longtime players of the decade-old MMO have been asking for this for a while now and Gold Road finally includes it. The way you add direct status effects to attacks is through the new Thread of War item set found in Gold Road. Gold Road actually includes 10 new item sets for you to find and craft, but Threads of War is the most notable one that players will want to keep an eye out for.
12-Player Lucent Citadel Trial
Trials are essentially ESO’s endgame raid dungeon content for groups of 12 players. The Lucent Citadel is said to be the most difficult and complex ‘trial’ dungeon yet, set in a Daedric vault nestled in the Fargrave Oblivion Plane. The cool thing about this Trial dungeon is how story-heavy it is. The lost Daedric Prince Ithelia has initiated a frenzied search for a mysterious relic called the Arcane Knot, causing a myriad of problems for your old ally Keshargo. ESO’s developers say Lucent Citadel is their most experimental dungeon yet, featuring far more obstacles than just combat, even hinting at levitation in their promotional material.
Gold Road’s Gameplay Is Friendly Toward New Players
Among the big ongoing MMOs, ESO remains the most welcoming to new players. Ever since 2017, ESO’s entire library of expansion content has been completely available to tackle in any non-linear order you can imagine, regardless of player level. ESO’s level scaling system encourages non-linear playstyles, making retreading previous zones engaging and interesting. With the introduction of Scribing and the added West Weald region, there’s never been a better time to jump in late to the party of ESO.
ESO’s Story Is … Not Quite as Newbie-Friendly
Just make sure to catch up on Necrom’s ongoing storyline if you care about plot. Since Gold Road follows directly after the cliffhanger at the end of Necrom, new players will be left scratching their heads regarding plot sequencing without seeking a recap of events. Note that ESO itself lacks a comprehensive story summary of events. Even though there are lore books you can read in the game, we recommend you skim through Uesp.net for a comprehensive timeline of events through all of ESO’s expansions.
Well Over 30 Hours of Content
Strap in your gaming seats because Gold Road is perhaps the most meaty expansion yet. As with ESO’s previous major expansions, Gold Road’s story takes around 15 hours to complete. Of course, there’s also the Mirrormoor Incursions, Lucent Citadel, side dungeons, quests, six World/Delve bosses, and 10 item sets with numerous other collectibles to discover on top of that. And as previously mentioned, the new Scribe systems brings an all-new grind in the form of Grimoires and Scripts, which can really add up if getting you’re grabbing them for multiple created characters.
Monetization
It’s worth pointing out that ESO is a typical MMO in the way it monetizes its services. Crowns are the virtual currency used to purchase the usual store items ranging from cosmetics to combative gear, though these Crowns can be ignored if you’re not min-maxing post-game content regularly. Gold Road costs $39.99 by itself. You will need the base game in order to play the Gold Road expansion, but you can also purchase the full ESO collection in a bundle for $59.99. The Gold Road Collection includes the previous chapters: Necrom, High Isle, Blackwood, Greymoor, Elsweyr, Summerset, and Morrowind along with the base game, so this is the go-to edition for new players.
What Platforms Is Gold Road On?
Gold Road will be available on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. As with ESO and its other expansions, there is no way to play it on the Nintendo Switch. You can, however, play ESO and its expansions on Steam Deck if you want a handheld experience not lacking in the framerate or graphics department.
When Does Gold Road Come Out?
Because of its heritage as a PC-oriented MMO, Gold Road is releasing exclusively to the PC for its initial 2-week release window. Gold Road releases on June 3rd for PC/Mac only, and then on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on June 18th.