ESO's Update 44 Makes Changes To Battlegrounds, Tutorial Quest, Adds New Grimoire & Companions

Developer ZeniMax Online Studios held their preview livestream, showing off some content that will be reworked or added to The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) in its next scheduled update. The livestream, which was held on the official Bethesda Twitch channel on 10th September 2024, revealed "all the major (and minor) additions and changes coming to the game, including updates to PvP, the upcoming Fallen Leaves of West Weald event, and more."

This was later detailed in their latest developer post, which recaps all the information, including new balance changes, in-game features, and much-needed Quality-of-Life (QoL) improvements arriving in Update 44. This update will launch for PC and Mac on 28th October 2024, while console players will wait until 13th November 2024 to access it.

ESO's Update 44 will see some significant changes to key features that are arriving soon on consoles and PCs, including new adjustments to the PvP mode Battlegrounds. According to the developer post, this latest change sees the PvP mode shift from a three-sided format to a two-sided format with two match types, 4v4 and 8v8, available from Update 44 moving forward.

Furthermore, the 4v4v4 match type will no longer be available to queue; however, the developer stated that it may return for a limited time, like events. To coincide with the new changes to the Battlegrounds mode, the two-sided formats will now boast seven new maps for players to battle for honor and glory across Tamriel.

This update also makes a major change to the game's main questline by reinstating the "Soul Shriven in Coldharbour" quest and assigning it as the new primary tutorial. This will see the retirement of the "Gates of Adamant" quest with a few noted adjustments like revamping the questline structure, more weapon drops, enhanced introduction to gameplay mechanics and systems, streamlining the combat system, and more quest features.

There are a few new additions coming soon to ESo, like two new Companions, the High Elf, Tanlorin, and the Khajiit warrior, Zerith-var, who'll have their respective introduction quests awaiting upon players' return to Tamriel. Tanlorin can be found in Auridon while players must track down Zerith-var somewhere within the Reaper’s March zone with details on their exact locations and quest walkthrough to be provided in separate guides.

Additionally, a new Grimoire for the Scribing system will arrive with this update, with more details to be made available soon. The Banner Bearer Grimoire "is from the Support Skill Line" which lets players lead the charge in battle by throwing a banner on their backs, giving them an Area of Effect (AoE) buff to their party members' abilities that are aligned with their selected Focus.

The developer has added enhanced support for nine different Grimoires, adding 14 more Focus Scripts, which will grant them a variety of buffs from "more damage options" to great utility. All of these changes, improvements, and additions will be further explained in great detail once the Public Test Server (PTS) patch notes are released in the coming weeks, and we'll update our Patch Notes support page to reflect the incoming content for Update 44.