Coming into its 11th year running, The Elder Scrolls Online unleashed a torrent of new information for fans in the ESO Direct 2025, including a return to the base storyline left idle for over a decade.
After 11 years of The Elder Scrolls Online, the developers at Zenimax Online Studios have decided to return ESO to where it all began. Since 2014, the threat of the Daedric Prince Molag Bal and his Worm Cult has been dissuaded from their plot of dragging Nirn into the Oblivion Plane of Coldharbour, keeping peace in Tamriel.
After the defeat of the Daedric Prince, the Worm Cult has poofed out of existence (aside from the spawning Dark Anchors that remain for travellers to defeat). After 11 years, it appears the Worm Cult has not abandoned their master after all. The ESO Direct 2025 has announced the base Elder Scrolls Online storyline from 2014 is finally continuing with returning fan-favourite characters, the new location of Solstice island, a massive Writhing Wall world event, and possibly the biggest game changer to land in Tamriel since launch, Subclassing.
Welcome to Solstice!
In 2025, the Worm Cult is back and stronger than ever, and the player will have to Western Solstice. Solstice is the major expansion region for Season of the Worm Cult. The island is divided into two halves— eastern and western — and is home to numerous Tamrielic races (mainly High Elves and Argonians). The Western side of Solstice is where players will make landfall, and it’s home to a warm and bright island climate, with the beacon city of Sunport playing the new region’s capital.
“After 11 years of The Elder Scrolls Online, the developers at Zenimax Online Studios have decided to return ESO to where it all began.”
The port city of Sunport is built using Altmer and Argonian architecture, lending both races’ history and culture to the construction of the region. Most Altmer and Argonian natives were outcasted by their clans or tribe, and the colonies present in Solstice are a result of the races working together. Although it may seem like a dream vacation spot, when the player arrives on Solstice, you’re tasked with freeing the city from the Worm Cult as it is under a hostile takeover from the Worm Cult. Fans will be tasked with liberating the once-homely port city.
The ESO Direct also confirmed the return of fan-favourite characters like the Eye of the Queen Aldmeri Dominion Khajiit, Razum-dar and the Redguard Prince Azah, who plays a more pivotal role in the events that occur within Solstice. New enemy types, such as Argonian Behemoths coated in feathers, populate Solstice, new Satyr-like Daedra, and many more adversaries will try to kill you as you attempt to pry Sunport away from the Worm Cult and their new leader, Worm Blood. Solstice is divided into two sections, and while Western Solstice appears friendly, Eastern Solstice is blocked by the Writhing Wall.
The Writhing Wall — A Server-Wide Event
The Writhing Wall is a massively constructed wall dividing Solstice into eastern and western halves. The wall is composed of raw souls cemented together, and on the eastern end, the Worm Cult is getting stronger, hoping to stage a full-scale invasion of Solstice. The ESO Direct introduces a server-wide story where all players are invited called the Writhing Wall event. While there will be multiple instances of this event so players don’t have to worry about missing out, players will need to work together to breach the wall and stop the Worm Cult.
While this is a server-wide large-scale event, the ESO Direct stopped short of explaining what happens after the wall is breached, that part of the storyline will be reserved for when the second half of Season of the Worm Cult launches, while the panel didn’t want to spoil anything, Game Director Rich Lambert said “You’ll need to forge new alliances with ancient people” to succeed in driving back the Worm Cult.
On top of the new event, a new 12-player trial will be unleashed in Coldharbour called the Ossian Cage. This is a massive vault within the confines of Coldharbour that holds a powerful Daedra relic. It’s up to the 12-player team to destroy the relic before it falls into Daedric hands. Lastly, the ESO Direct 2025 gave players a wealth of new information regarding their new system with the next expansion, which is called Subclassing.
Subclassing For Everyone!
One of the biggest announcements during the ESO Direct 2025 is the introduction to the new class building system, Subclassing. Like the Scribing system introduced before it, Subclassing allows players to equip new skills for their class without the need to create a new character. Existing characters will be able to equip skill lines from other classes. For example, an existing Nightblade class character can potentially use the Arcanist Runemend skill line if conditions are met.
Once a player hits level 50, they unlock the ability to use different class skill lines on their character. This would allow character classes like the Necromancer to utilize Warden skills in tandem to make the ultimate summoner character blend. While there were serious limitations on builds before, now there are over 3000 skill line combinations players can experiment with.
Subclassing skill line progression will also now be account-wide, so if a player unlocks progress with a skill line on one character, it will progress on all characters. The ESO Direct 2025 panel promises they’ve “only scratched the surface” of what subclassing brings to Tamriel, and more information will be released as the Season of the Worm Cult wears on.
That just about wraps up the information presented at the ESO Direct 2025 showcase. Fans looking for more information can check out the entire showcase on the official ESO YouTube channel.
