The developers of MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online have shared a new blog post dedicated to the new Challenge Difficulty system, coming later this year.
“Arriving late as part of Season Zero, Challenge Difficulty is a new way for Tamriel’s veteran heroes to experience The Elder Scrolls Online’s overland content. If you’re the kind of adventurer who likes a challenge while questing and exploring, this new optional system is for you.”
The new name reflects the goal of the feature and allows the developers to be more flexible. It will initially be applicable in overland and overland-adjacent zones ((delves, public dungeons, story instances, etc.). Challenge Difficulty will not affect zones that already have bespoke difficulty balance (Dungeons, Trials, Arenas, Infinite Archive, and the new Night Market).
At launch, the devs plans for there being three difficulty options alongside with the current one. These options will increase the damage you take from monsters and reduce the damage you do to monsters. Your gold and experience from monsters will also increase based on the level of difficulty you have chosen. The current planned difficulty options are:
- Adventurer – This is the current Challenge Difficulty and default within the game. There is no associated effect, and all rewards are as they are now. If you like how Overland currently operates, then this is the difficulty that is right for you.
- Seasoned – You will take 100% more damage from monsters and do 20% less damage. You will receive 50% more gold and 20% more experience from monsters.
- Master – You will take 300% more damage from monsters and do 50% less damage. You will receive 100% more gold and 75% more experience from monsters.
- Vestige – This will be the most difficult option at launch. You will take 600% more damage from monsters and will deal 80% less damage. You will receive 200% more gold and 100% more experience from monsters.
“First, we are making a choice to make sure players are not separated by difficulty. We want to ensure you can engage with any player you want regardless of difficulty. To do this, the choice to opt-in or change your difficulty is up to you. If you like Overland the way it is, great! No change is needed. If you want it to be far more punishing, then opt-in to Vestige Difficulty. You can still play with friends, all while having the bump in challenge.”
