Is ESO Worth It In 2026?

We just learned a truckload of new information on The Elder Scrolls Online’s plan for 2026, including new content, new systems, and a brand new monetization structure that basically flips the entire game on its head. So if you’re planning on returning to the game this year or even jumping in for the first time, we’ll answer the question if it’s worth it or not for you to play ESO in 2026.

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Is ESO Worth It In 2026?

So much about The Elder Scrolls Online is changing in 2026!

ESO is moving away from its previous model of releasing a new chapter expansion every year to a more seasonal approach to content. In 2026, we have three confirmed seasons already, starting with Season Zero, and each one will bring a variety of free (yes, free) content, which is important to note, along with lots of player experience improvements, balance changes, class updates, and more.

So essentially, no more big expansions that take years to develop. Instead, we have now smaller releases more often.

So there’s that, but without big chapters to sell as they’ve done in the past, monetization, or how ESO keeps the servers up, is also changing. With that we have the new Tamriel Tomes, which are basically a battle pass. Now there is a free version, which apparently will have plenty of earnable rewards, and again you don’t have to pay anything to use it, but there are also premium versions with most likely nicer things to earn and more flashy cosmetics, which will be one of the game’s main ways of monetizing the player experience moving forward.

We’ll talk a lot more about this later on, but that’s basically what’s changing in ESO versus previous years in a nutshell.

What If You’re New To ESO?

But what if you’re completely new to ESO? What is there to do as a new player, and where do you start? This can get confusing, so let’s talk about price and DLC options next.

Base Game Cost

The Elder Scrolls Online is not a free-to-play title, and probably won’t be for a little while longer. But one of its advantages in today’s market is just how low the cost is to get started. Right now, I believe the base game is about $20, depending on where you get it, but you can often find it on sale for even cheaper. Either way, this is going to be a great deal for a beginner if you’re just looking to get started in this MMO.

That’s because purchasing the base game unlocks literally hundreds of hours of content, including multiple adventure zones, four powerful classes, amazing fully voice acted quests and stories, solo content, group dungeons, 12-player trials, and even the newer Infinite Archive zone, which is procedurally generated for one to two players with basically infinite content.

So at the lowest level of just purchasing the base game, there’s plenty here to keep you playing for hundreds of hours without even looking at DLC content.

Collections and Chapters Bundles

DLC adds many more layers to the experience, with the game’s previous chapter expansions like Greymoor, High Isle, Gold Road, and Necrom. Each of which adds a large playable land mass, new stories, and often new features.

Right now, ESO still has the 2025 Premium Edition of the game, which includes all of these previous chapter expansions all in one bundle. This includes the Necrom expansion, for example, which added the Apocrypha zone and the new Arcanist class. The Greymoor chapter expanded on playable zones of Skyrim and added Mythic items. The Elsweyr chapter added the playable Necromancer class, and tons more.

Each of these expansions were originally priced at $40 at a minimum, so the fact that you can get all of these on top of the base game price is a really good deal.

But to be fair, it’s a lot of content and there’s probably no way you could finish it all in a year. But it is there for you to pick and choose from if you really want to, and it’s a great deal if you want to explore endgame, have access to all the classes, Mythic items, jewelry crafting, and other mainline features.

But I do not recommend this for someone new trying to get into ESO for the first time. Just grab the base game and that’s it.

ESO Plus Subscription

Of course, there’s also the ESO Plus subscription for $15 a month, which gives you access to all the other story zones as well as dungeon pack DLCs.

The subscription also offers more value, such as a monthly allowance of the game’s premium currency called crowns and faster experience progression. But to be honest, the biggest reason why most people end up keeping ESO Plus is for the limitless craft bag, where you can store as many crafting supplies as you want.

That is a huge time saver. Playing at endgame without it, especially if you want to craft for yourself or your friends, is going to be a challenge. That being said, you don’t need to start with ESO Plus. I would recommend waiting a few months to see if you truly are invested enough in this game before picking that up. Just be aware it exists and it’s a popular option.

Solo vs Group Content

But once you’re in and actually playing the game, what will you really be doing? Well, in my opinion, it’s easiest to break down ESO into solo content versus group content. Let’s start with solo content first.

As a massive multiplayer online RPG, ESO has a surprising amount of solo content, and that’s due to its place in the Elder Scrolls universe, dominated by single-player titles like Skyrim, Oblivion, and hopefully Elder Scrolls 6 someday if we live long enough to see it.

Now you may be surprised to learn that ESO actually has the most solo content of any Elder Scrolls game in history, with an enormous amount of playable areas.

While it is technically an MMO, you can solo almost anything in The Elder Scrolls Online, including most main stories, chapter expansions, world bosses, side quests, and even some group dungeons and trials if your build is strong enough. ESO also added NPC companions a few years ago that help players solo more content without needing a god-tier build, and in 2026 players should enjoy a variety of even more solo content with the introduction of new challenge difficulty levels added to overland content and apparently even solo modes for some dungeons including story modes, though that likely won’t hit the game until the end of the year.

Luckily, the ESO developers have learned over the years that they have a huge audience for solo content, because the game is the only Elder Scrolls game currently receiving new content and updates, at least until The Elder Scrolls 6.

And it’s great because with so many solo options, you never have to wait for friends to log in before you can actually do something. You can run through pretty much all the zones in the game, completing zone stories and side quests. They’re all voice-acted, and some quest chains are very entertaining.

Solo Rewards: MMO-Style Itemization

One important thing to keep in mind is that even though you can play ESO like a single-player Elder Scrolls game, the reward and itemization structure is still MMO-style. You’ll collect armor set pieces from bosses in a zone, with stacking bonuses for equipping multiple pieces and a unique five-piece bonus. But because overland content isn’t difficult, most overland sets aren’t especially powerful.

If you’re expecting a big, unique reward weapon from a long story quest like you might in Skyrim, that’s not really how ESO works. You’ll most likely get another set item with a different name, but nothing that feels truly special. I’d love to see ESO improve this in the future so solo/story rewards match the time investment. But generally speaking, the best weapons and armor are still found by farming drops in group dungeons and trials.

Group Content in ESO

Speaking of which, let’s talk about group content next, which is where ESO shines even brighter in my opinion.

Four-Player Dungeons

ESO dungeons are handcrafted content for groups of four players, and they’re more than combat challenges. They’re narrative experiences that often tie into larger storylines. Each dungeon is unique, with distinct themes, enemy types, stories, and bosses. Some include puzzles, secret rooms, hidden bosses, and treasures, so there’s also incentive to repeat them. Dungeons and trials in ESO also have difficulty settings, including normal, veteran, and even hard modes for some bosses. This lets groups customize the challenge and improve the rewards.

Twelve-Player Trials (Raids)

ESO also has Trials, which are the game’s version of raids, designed for 12 players, and they’re the pinnacle of group content. They offer the most challenging and complex encounters in the game, and sometimes take groups months to master.

Trials require mechanics and coordination, with every player needing to handle positioning, boss mechanics, and fight changes. ESO uses the classic MMO holy trinity: DPS, healer, and tank.

If you want an easier entry into group content, DPS is what I’d recommend, even though perfecting a rotation can be challenging. Healers and tanks are more reactive and require deeper knowledge of mechanics to play successfully.

Group Rewards: The Best Loot and Cosmetics

Because group content is the most challenging, it also has the best rewards: top-tier sets, monster sets from dungeons, trial sets with powerful bonuses, and a large percentage of achievement-based rewards like unique skins, mounts, personalities, and titles come from group content in The Elder Scrolls Online.

ESO Combat: Love It or Hate It

No matter what you do in ESO, one of the main things you’ll be doing is combat. And this is one of the most debated topics in the game by far. ESO uses an action combat system without tab targeting. You’re actively selecting targets, doing basic attacks, moving, blocking, dodging, and casting abilities.

Most skills don’t have cooldowns, so you can cast what you want when you want as long as you have the resources, specifically stamina or magicka. A big part of the combat system is sustaining those resources so you don’t run dry and have to stop using your abilities.

This is honestly what I like about ESO: combat plus theorycrafting and build options that allow for self-expression and unique playstyles. That said, ESO combat is not for everyone. A frequent complaint is that it feels floaty and less impactful compared to Skyrim or Oblivion, and that’s fair. But for me, the fluidity and the skill variety makes up for it.

In 2026, The Elder Scrolls Online has started a visual overhaul of its combat abilities starting with classes like the Dragonknight in an effort to modernize the look and feel of the game. The comment that the game’s combat skills feel floaty and without weight seems to have finally been noticed by the development team and it sounds like the work has already begun to make combat feel impactful, but we’ll likely need to wait until the end of 2026 to see if those changes truly shake things up or not.

Note that ESO also has a first-person mode that you can jump into at any time, a la Skyrim or Oblivion.

You can play in first-person mode for exploring and questing, and even combat, but I wouldn’t recommend it for most combat situations. You’ll want peripheral vision for dodging, projectiles, red circles, and other MMO-style mechanics that you don’t typically need to worry about in the single player games.

Weapon Swapping and Skills

Another potential barrier to combat entry for new players is ESO’s weapon-swapping system, which again feels very much like something coded for an MMO. ESO uses active weapon swapping, meaning you can have two different weapon bars with different skills attached to each weapon.

You get five skills and one ultimate per weapon, so ten skills and two ultimates total. But you have to swap weapons to use that other set of skills.

Because skills in ESO can be queued up in advance, there can be a lot of nuance when it comes to swapping to your alternate weapon at exactly the best time to fire off your next skill on the next weapon, then swapping back and so on, which adds depth and complexity, but it’s not for everyone.

Many ESO players actually dislike the weapon swap mechanic, and you can still play as a one-bar build without swapping. You’ll be limited to half the skills, but it can work, and ESO even has item sets that support it such as the Oakensoul Ring which is very popular. This mythic item limits you to using just one weapon but gives you a ton of passive buffs for doing so.

If you’re concerned about combat, my advice is simple: try the base game for a few days and see if you like it or not. The combat doesn’t fundamentally change from level one to max level, you just unlock more skills, passives, and gear along the way, so it’s pretty easy to know if you like it or not once you jump in.

Builds and Theorycrafting: A Huge Strength

But another major plus or minus for The Elder Scrolls Online, depending on your taste, is builds and theorycrafting.

With seven classes, hundreds of skills at this point, plus the introduction of subclassing in 2025 which lets you mix skills from different classes, plus over 500 item sets now, the build possibilities for ESO are pretty much endless.

In 2024, ESO also added the Scribing system, which is a simpler version of spellcrafting from games like Oblivion, which adds customizable skills that every class can access.

ESO even has a built-in Armory system that lets players store builds and instantly respec, which is perfect if you want one main character, and in 2026 the game will let you respec your choices for skills and attributes on the fly without having to return to town or use a respec scroll so the game does encourage you to experiment, but at the same time the amount of choices here can be extremely overwhelming for a new player.

While it’s not required, I do recommend you at least browse through some builds online once in a while to get ideas for what works well in the game. You can craft your own build of course, but having some ideas of where to start, especially for new players, I think will greatly help you enjoy the game more without getting bogged down with all the options.

Leveling: Fast, Fun, and Alt-Friendly

Speaking of which, I personally love leveling up new characters in ESO, even 10+ years later. The way your character progresses through skill trees just feels fun, and it’s pretty fast as well.

The base level cap is 50, which you can hit in a week, or even a few days if you play a lot.

After level 50, you move into Champion Points, with a maximum CP level of 3,600. You won’t hit that anytime soon, but here’s the key: Champion Points are account-based, not character-based.

So if your main is CP 500 and you make a new character, they start at level one, but can immediately use all 500 CP for extra power. It makes leveling alts much faster and more fun. Champion Points are basically additional stats bonuses, like more single target damage, better AOE healing, or better defenses. These are small bonuses that slowly add up over time so you can progress your characters in this game for literally years.

Gear Cap Reminder

In terms of gear, keep in mind that weapons, armor, and jewelry drops at your current level up to the gear cap of CP 160. This means there’s no point in farming gear really until your character hits CP 160, because you’ll want everything at the cap for best stats, and items that you pick up before CP 160 will have worse stats. So when I level up a new character I usually use random gear pieces before that, because it’ll get replaced.

Balance Changes: Meta Shifts Are Real

A downside, or at least something to be aware of, is balancing. As an MMO with frequent updates, there are balance patches. Skills get buffed and nerfed. Item sets can change. Even the set you farmed for hours might be adjusted later.

This isn’t unique to ESO, but the meta is fragile and shifts basically every patch.

If you want the absolute best DPS and top meta builds, you’ll need to adapt constantly. But I don’t recommend chasing meta for most players. For the majority of ESO players, you can play how you want and be totally fine.

Is ESO Pay to Win?

ESO has an extensive cash shop, and is one of, if not the most, monetized MMOs on the market right now, which is not a free-to-play MMO. You have the usual with costumes, outfit styles, weapon styles, but also personalities, and skill styles now which change how your skills look. Even things like fast travel and harvesting animations have monetized versions. Then, of course, you have expensive mounts and an entire housing system, which players can dump hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars into.

Luckily, nothing that can be purchased for real money in ESO offers actual gameplay power, so nothing is pay-to-win. You only pay for cosmetics or convenience which is a good thing. Most items don’t make you directly more powerful, but they provide convenience. Still, the crown store can be rough for new players, because you might buy something you didn’t realize you could get for free in-game, like respecs, food buffs, or XP scrolls. The ESO team has committed to improving this in 2026 but still.

Do your research before buying anything, especially if you’re using your crown allowance from ESO Plus.

Loot Crates

However, loot crates are also a factor to consider, because these are 100% gambling. If you want something like an apex mount, you can easily spend a lot chasing it. There are systems like crown gems but the premium chase is still there.

We still don’t know the extent of the premium battle pass coming in 2026 called Tamriel Tomes. These I assume will have a lot of great cosmetics that players can get without gambling on them which I suppose is good, but imagine gambling crates with the best looking items will still be a thing moving forward.

Community: Solo-Friendly, But Groups Need Friends

In terms of community we talked about how ESO can absolutely be played solo for hundreds of hours, and that’s totally a valid way of playing which many people enjoy. But if you want to do the hardest dungeons, trials, and PVP, you’ll want to join a guild and start making friends. ESO has a lot of great people who will teach you mechanics and help you improve.

There’s also an in-game guild finder and activity finder to help connect with groups, and you can join more than one guild at a time which is great too. One of the best parts of ESO is the people you meet and the friendships you make along the way. If that’s your thing, lean into it. If not, keep playing solo and that’s fine too.

Final Verdict: Is ESO Worth Playing in 2026?

With all that said: is ESO worth playing in 2026? Well, I actually have 2 answers for this, and of course, it depends on what type of player you are.

First, for new players I can say that ESO is 100% worth getting into.

That’s because there are literally hundreds of hours of content available now, with more becoming playable in 2026 through freed-up DLC with some absolute bangers confirmed, like Orsinium and the Dark Brotherhood. The barrier to entry is extremely low now, being just the base price of the game, especially if you get the game on sale.

New content coming in 2026 is also free via Seasons and the Tamriel Tomes battle pass also has a free track where you can earn lots of cool rewards and cosmetics again completely for free.

Yes, there is a premium battle pass, which will offer more cosmetics, and then you have ESO Plus if you really want to commit. For new players, you absolutely do not need either of these things, so your overall cost to start and actually see if you like the game is a very low bar. I personally would wait on ESO Plus until you’ve at least played for a few weeks, hit CP ranks, and are committed to really playing the game often.

For returning players, the value of ESO in 2026 is a different story, and it’s actually changed quite a bit compared to previous years’ content. Without chapters and dungeon packs now the game is receiving less new content, that’s for sure.

For 2026, the main new content we have confirmed is a PVE group or challenge zone in the new Night Market, a new Trial called Crimson Veldt, and a few other unknown elements still, like the Sages Vault and something involving ships called the High Seas of Tamriel, which sounds hit or miss, honestly. A lot of this content the devs have called experimental, so it may not be fully developed when it comes out or released in pieces. With their previous content being the Writhing Wall at the end of 2025 having issues, this is concerning if they don’t stick the landing better on these new content drops.

Of course, we will also have the new Tamriel Tomes to explore, which might be fun to progress through, and you can do the free version there, plus there are new class updates, a werewolf update, and overland difficulty challenge modes coming to explore, but none of that is technically new content.

So overall, for returning players who’ve already played through the existing chapters and DLCs this year, it definitely feels light and more casual, I’d say, compared to previous years.

Will it be enough to bring you back or get you in for the first time?

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