The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor Review

The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor Patch Notes Detail New Content and Vampire Changes

Brandon Adams

Published: May 26, 2020 06:41 am

This article is over 4 years old and may contain outdated information

Greymoor Patch Notes

New Zone(s) – Western Skyrim/Blackreach
Prepare to embark on a new journey! In this patch, you can travel to the Nord nation of Western Skyrim and uncover the Dark Heart of Skyrim.

To begin your voyage, you can choose from among the following:
- Create a new character and play through the new Greymoor tutorial.
- Enter the zone with an existing character in one of the following ways:
  - Using the Wayshrine on the Solitude Docks
  - Use one of the carts outside of Elden Root, Mournhold or Wayrest
  - Traveling to a friend who is already in Western Skyrim or Blackreach
After you complete the tutorial, seek out Fennorian just outside Deepwood Vale to get the first quest of the Main Story, or travel to the gates of Solitude and encounter Brondold who can set you on your path.
Greymoor includes the following activities:
- Six delves, each with its own Skyshard and associated content
- Six challenging world bosses, ranging from the terrifying Sea Giant Ysmgar along the northern coast to the powerful Dwarven Colossus deep within the mines of Blackreach
- Two public dungeons: the ancient tombs of Labyrinthian and the Dwarven stronghold of Nchuthnkarst (bless you!)
- New set crafting stations
- Defending the realms of Western Skyrim and Blackreach from powerful Harrowstorms
- Over thirty hours of quest content, exploration, achievement hunting

Antiquities
The new Antiquities system allows you to scour all of Tamriel for lost relics and treasures. Through the use of two new Skill Lines and the new Antiquarian’s Eye Tool, you’ll be able to uncover new furnishings, equipment, a mount, and more!

To begin, visit the Antiquarian Circle, located in the city of Solitude, in Western Skyrim. There, speak with Verita Numida, who will introduce you to the Antiquarian’s Eye, and teach you the skills needed to begin seeking Antiquities. You can then strike out on your own, or continue to learn more about the Antiquarian’s Eye and how the Antiquities system works from Verita and Gabrielle Benele.

Leads
- In most cases before you can Scry for an Antiquity, you’ll need to obtain a Lead. Leads can be found in a wide variety of ways and places throughout the world, and do not require you to be an Antiquarian to obtain them (though you will need to be to utilize them).
- Some Leads may require you to have done other tasks before you can obtain them – exploring a Zone, completing a quest, or digging up other Antiquities.
- Leads expire 30 days after you obtain them. (Of course, you can always obtain them again).
- Leads can be found almost anywhere, from nearly any activity. Below are some hints to get you started.
  - As a general rule of thumb: the rarer the Antiquity, the more specific, hidden, or mysterious its source.
  - Lead sourcing is often related, directly or indirectly, to the Antiquity it will lead to. For instance, if you’re looking for Leads to Antiquities concerning Glenumbra’s history, try scouring Glenumbra.
  - Some Leads are already known – to someone else. Try defeating powerful foes, speaking with shopkeepers, or checking in treasure hoards big and small.
  - When in doubt, poke around and explore. You may find a new Lead when – and where! – you least expect to.
- Every zone has at least one green-quality treasure lead that you will already have, so you can dive into Antiquities right away without needing to hunt for leads.
- Finding that lead can unlock higher value treasures in each zone.
Scrying, Excavating, and The Antiquarian’s Eye
- Once you’ve obtained a Lead, you’ll learn a little about the Antiquity – enough to Scry for it.
- You can Scry for an Antiquity from the Journal or from the Map.
- You must be in the Antiquity’s correct Zone in order to Scry for an Antiquity.
- Once you’ve successfully excavated an Antiquity, you’ll learn a little lore about it. There are hundreds and hundreds of tidbits of scholarly discourse to be uncovered!
- You can press F1 / hold Back to bring up the Help screens at any time.
List of Antiquities
- Mythic Items – each Mythic Item is split into five fragments. You can read more details on these items under the “New Item Sets” section.
  - Bloodlord’s Embrace (Heavy Chest)
  - Malacath’s Band of Brutality (Ring) (Requires Orsinium)
  - Ring of the Wild Hunt (Ring) (Requires Murkmire)
  - Snow Treaders (Medium Feet)
  - Torc of Tonal Constancy (Neck)
  - Thrassian Stranglers (Light Hands) (Requires Summerset)
- Dwarven Ebon Wolf mount – the first time a canine mount has been earnable in-game!
  - This mount is split into 17 fragments, found throughout the base game and Western Skyrim. You’ll need to collect all seventeen pieces in order to form the mount.
- Antique Map furnishings of nearly all zones in the game
- Three new Motifs
  - Ancestral Altmer
  - Ancestral Nord
  - Ancestral Orc
- Cosmetic Options
  - Companion’s Coronet (Adorment)
  - Ysgramor’s Chosen Body Marking
  - Ysgramor’s Chosen Face Marking
  - Dwemer Crown (Adornment)
  - Dwemer Body Markings
  - Dwemer Face Markings
- The Aldmeri Symphonium, a new Music Box furnishing – split into three Fragments (requires Thieves Guild)
- The Magicka Lance siege weapon, available in Fire, Ice, and Shock varieties
- A new Emote, the Alinor Allemande (requires Summerset)
- Over a hundred new sellable treasures (three per Zone), worth a total value of over 300,000 gold
- Over fifty new, highly impressive Furnishings for your home.

New Trial: Kyne’s Aegis
Kyne’s Aegis is a keep on an island north of Solitude. Its original intent was to be a bulwark against northern invasions which approached the coast via the easiest channel. Thane Ogvar was given ownership over the fort and over time, it morphed into a northern fishing village in addition to a fort. The island’s gold veins led to the Thane establishing a mining operation. Until recently, the fort has remained peaceful with only the occasional northern squall cropping up to cause concern. The transformation of the island to a fishing and mining spot has led to the slow decline of the fort.

A short time ago, tremendously large longships appeared to the north. Before a proper defense could be mustered, these ships crashed into the island, disgorging Sea Giants and Half-Giants, led by a powerful Vampire lord. These creatures of myth quickly overwhelmed the northern section of the island and have begun the assault of the fort proper.

With the island threatened, the Thane has sent for assistance from anyone that can reach the island.

Kyne’s Aegis is a 12-player Trial reached from the northern coast of Western Skyrim.
The Trial includes both a normal and challenging Veteran version.
There are unique Item Sets within the Trial, including Perfected versions only found in the Veteran difficulty.
Unique Achievement awards are available for completing the Trial, including:
- A unique Skin
- A new and unique multi-player Memento awarded by completing all achievements within the Kyne’s Aegis
- Several Titles
- Unique housing items

New Item Sets
This update brings a number of new item sets you can obtain through various means, either from the overland, the new Trial, crafting, or the new Antiquities system.

Overland
- Winter’s Respite – Light Armor
  - 2 – Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
  - 3 – Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
  - 4 – Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
  - 5 – Casting abilities that leave an effect on the ground will create a circle of healing frost for 10 seconds. You and your allies restore 2358 Health every 1 second while inside the circle. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.
- Venomous Smite – Medium Armor
  - 2 – Adds 833 Weapon Critical
  - 3 – Adds 833 Weapon Critical
  - 4 – Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  - 5 – Dealing Critical Damage inflicts Hunter’s Venom on your enemy for 2241 Poison Damage to your target and nearby enemies every 1 second. This effect can occur once every 15 seconds.
- Eternal Vigor – Heavy Armor
  - 2 – Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
  - 3 – Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
  - 4 – Adds 129 Health Recovery
  - 5 – Adds 1407 Maximum Health
  - 5 – Adds 337 Stamina and Magicka Recovery while your Health is above 50%. Adds 1011 Health Recovery while your Health is 50% or less.
Crafting
- Stuhn’s Favor
  - 2 – Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  - 2 – Adds 129 Spell Damage
  - 3 – Adds 1487 Physical Penetration
  - 3 – Adds 1487 Spell Penetration
  - 4 – Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  - 4 – Adds 129 Spell Damage
  - 5 – Dealing damage to an enemy who is Off Balance grants you 5312 Physical and Spell Penetration for 10 seconds.
- Dragon’s Appetite
  - 2 – Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  - 3 – Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
  - 4 – Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
  - 5 – Increases your damage done to Bleeding enemies by 225. Dealing non-Bleed damage to Bleeding enemies generates a persistent stack of Dragon’s Appetite, up to once per second. After 10 stacks, you consume Dragon’s Appetite and heal for 6415.
- Spell Parasite
  - 2 – Adds 129 Spell Damage
  - 3 – Adds 833 Spell Critical
  - 4 – Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
  - 5 – Whenever you deal damage, you restore 63 Magicka. This effect can occur once every 0.25 seconds.
Trial
- Roaring Opportunist – Magicka DPS
  - 2 – Adds 1487 Spell Penetration
  - 3 – Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
  - 4 – Adds 129 Spell Damage
  - 5 (Perfected) – Adds 1096 Max Magicka
  - 5 – Dealing damage with a Fully-Charged Heavy Attack to an enemy grants you and up to 11 group members Major Slayer, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 15% for 1 second for every 8000 damage dealt, with a minimum of 5 seconds and maximum of 12 seconds. Roaring Opportunist can only affect a target every 22 seconds.
- Yandir’s Might – Stamina DPS
  - 2 – Adds 129 Weapon Damage
  - 3 – Gain Minor Slayer at all times, increasing your damage done to Dungeon, Trial and Arena Monsters by 5%.
  - 4 – Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
  - 5 (Perfected) – Adds 1487 Physical Penetration
  - 5 – Dealing Critical Damage grants you a stack of Giant’s Endurance, up to one a second. Each stack of Giant’s Endurance adds 69 Stamina Recovery, up to 5 stacks. Dealing damage with a Fully Charged Heavy Attack removes Giant’s Endurance and grants you Giant’s Might for 10 seconds, increasing your Weapon Damage by 111 per stack removed. You cannot have Giant’s Endurance and Might active at the same time.
- Kyne’s Wind – Healing
  - 2 – Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
  - 3 – Gain Minor Aegis at all times, reducing your damage taken from Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%
  - 4 – Adds 4% Healing Done
  - 5 (Perfected) – Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
  - 5 – Casting an ability or drinking a potion that applies a Major Buff on yourself or an ally creates a pool of Kyne’s Blessing for 4 seconds. You and allies standing in Kyne’s Blessing restore 399 Stamina and Magicka every 1 second. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.
- Vrol’s Command – Tanking
  - 2 – Adds 1096 Maximum Stamina
  - 3 – Gain Minor Aegis at all times, reducing your damage taken from Dungeon, Trial, and Arena Monsters by 5%.
  - 4 – Adds 1206 Maximum Health
  - 5 (Perfected) – Adds 4% Healing Taken
  - 5 – After dealing damage with a Fully-Charged Heavy Attack, apply Major Aegis to you and up to 11 nearby group members for 10 seconds, reducing damage taken from Dungeon, Trial, and Arena enemies by 15%. This effect can occur once every 36 seconds.
Mythic
- Bloodlord’s Embrace – Heavy Chest
  - 1 – Dealing damage with a Bash attack places a persistent, un-cleansable Blood Curse on an enemy. You can only have one Blood Cursed enemy at a time and dealing additional Bash damage moves the Blood Curse. Blocking an attack from a Blood Cursed enemy restores 1535 Magicka to you. This effect can occur every 1 second.
- Thrassian Stranglers – Light Hands
  - 1 – Killing an enemy grants you a persistent stack of Sload’s Call, up to a maximum of 20 stacks. Each stack increases your Spell Damage by 150, but also increases your damage taken and reduces effectiveness of damage shields and healing taken by 2%. Removing Thrassian Stranglers, crouching, or going invisible removes all stacks of Sload’s Call.
- Snow Treaders – Medium Feet
  - 1 – You are immune to Snares and Immobilizations that can be cleansed. While in combat, you cannot Sprint.
- Ring of the Wild Hunt – Ring
  - 1 – Increases your movement speed by 15% while in combat. Increases your movement speed by 45% while out of combat.
- Malacath’s Band of Brutality – Ring
  - 1 – Increases your damage done by 25%. You cannot deal critical damage.
- Torc of Tonal Constancy – Necklace
  - 1 – While your Stamina is less than 50%, increases your Magicka Recovery by 450. While your Magicka is less than 50%, increases your Stamina Recovery by 450.

New Collectibles
In this update, we’ve added several new collectibles for you to, well, collect!

Pets
- Solitude Silver Wolf: Acquired by completing the quest “The Vampire Scholar”.
Mementos
- Miniature Dwarven Sun: Acquired by completing the quest “The Tones of the Deep”.
- Kyne’s Tablet of Storms: Complete the quest “The Fading Fire”.
- Ritual Circle Totem: Earn the “Shield of the North” achievement.
Costumes
- Antiquarian Robes: Acquired by completing the “Master of the Eye” achievement.
- Master Field Cartographer: Acquired by collecting and combining all of the Cartographer Fragments found in the Nchuthnkarst public dungeon.
- Antiquarian Field Garb: Acquired by completing the “Master Antiquarian” achievement.
Hats
- Reach-Mage Ceremonial Skullcap: Combine 20 Arena Gladiator’s Proofs with a Reach Mage’s Ferocity, available for purchase from War Researchers in Cyrodiil.
Adornments
- Wolfcrown of Solitude: Complete the “Daughter of the Wolf” quest.
Skins
- Seaborn Silver: Complete the “Kyne’s Aegis Conqueror” achievement.
Outfit Styles
- Antiquarian’s Pickaxe: Acquired by earning the “Master of the Spade” achievement.
- Wolf of Solitude Replica Sword: Complete the quest “Greymoor Rising”
- Karthwatch Sigil Shield: Complete the quest “The Vampire Scholar”.
A new Undaunted trophy and bust for completing the Kyne’s Aegis trial on normal and Veteran difficulty respectively.

New Achievements, Dyes & Titles
With Greymoor, we’re adding over 80 new achievements with 12 unique titles, various achievement furnishing unlocking, 2 dyes, and more!

Dyes
- Blackreach Blue: Obtained by completing the Savior of Western Skyrim achievement.
- Marble White: Obtained by completing the Excavation Virtuoso achievement.
Titles
- Shieldthane of Morthal: Obtained by completing the Shieldthane of Morthal achievement.
- Harrowstorm Hero: Obtained by completing the Harrowstorm Chaser achievement.
- Savior of Western Skyrim: Obtained by completing the Savior of Western Skyrim achievement.
- Kyne’s Chosen: Obtained by completing Kyne’s Aegis on Normal difficulty.
- Kyne’s Wrath: Obtained by completing the Kyne’s Deliverance achievement.
- Thane of Solitude: Obtained by completing the Champion of Solitude achievement.
- Expert Excavator: Obtained by completing the Mater of the Spade achievement.
- Sagacious Seer: Obtained by completing the Master of the Eye achievement.
- Master Historian: Obtained by completing the Master Antiquarian achievement.
- The Dawnbringer: Obtained by completing the Stainless Siege-breaker achievement.
- Shield of the North: Obtained by completing the Kyne’s Aegis Vanquisher achievement.

New Homes
There are two new homes to obtain in this update:

Snowmelt Suite: Whether visiting the Bards College, seeking an audience at the Blue Palace, or looking to imbibe the best Nord mead around, take advantage of convenient living in the midst of Solitude with this room inside the Lonely Troll.
Proudspire Manor: Many lived within Solitude’s coveted Proudspire Manor over the years, but its last owner vanished, leaving its spacious living quarters empty—and available. Shelter yourself from the cold within this multi-room landmark in the heart of Solitude.
- Note this house is available in-game for gold by unlocking the Western Skyrim Grand Adventurer achievement, or for purchase in the Crown Store.

New Furnishings
A wide variety of new furnishings are available to find or craft with Greymoor.

A wide range of recipes for Solitude style furnishings can be obtained from monsters and containers across Western Skyrim.
Recipes for Vampiric furnishings can be found in the caverns beneath Western Skyrim, and from Harrowstorms.
A selection of new conservatory furnishings and other offerings can be purchased from Masela, the Home Goods Furnisher in Solitude.
A set of new achievement furnishings are available for purchase from Netinndel, the Achievement Furnisher in Solitude, after completing achievements in Greymoor.
New Vampiric paintings can rarely be found in treasure chests in the caverns beneath Western Skyrim, while new Western Skyrim themed paintings can be found in treasure chests in Western Skyrim.
All the new and unique furnishings found from the Antiquities system, as listed in the Antiquities section above.
A brand new music box for recovering all of the missing instruments for the Bards College in Solitude!

New Motifs
There are four new motifs being added with this update:

Blackreach Vanguard Motif chapters, as well as the associated style item Gloomspore Chitin, can be obtained from completing delve and world boss dailies in Blackreach: Greymoor Caverns and Western Skyrim.
The Ancestral High Elf, Ancestral Orc and Ancestral Nord Motif chapters, as well as their associated style items of Etched Adamantite, Etched Manganese and Etched Corundum, are sourced via the Antiquity system.

New Crafting Ingredients

Alchemy
- We have three new reagents for this update!
  - Crimson Nirnroot is a new herb that can be found in the world throughout Blackreach areas.
  - Vile Coagulant can be found by dispersing Harrowstorms.
  - Chaurus Egg can be found occasionally by defeating Chaurus monsters.
  - All three new reagents carry the new effect trait of Minor Timidity.
- Within the Alchemy system, Timidity is the opposite trait of Heroism. Reagents with the Heroism trait will cancel combinations with the Timidity trait and vice versa.
  - Minor Timidity is a debuff that consumes the target’s Ultimate points while in combat. When a poison with the Timidity trait is procced on a target, it will consume that target’s Ultimate points for a short amount of time.
  - If for some reason you were consume a potion with the Timidity trait while in combat, it would consume your own Ultimate points for a short amount of time.
Enchanting
- Added a new Essence Rune, known as Indeko, which can occasionally be obtained as bonus loot from the Antiquity system. This rune can be used to make two new types of jewelry Glyphs, Prismatic Recovery and Reduce Skill Cost.

Vampire Updates
Vampires have received significant changes this update, with a focus on improving the entire experience as a Vampire. Revisions to parts of the Vampire quest, Justice System ramifications, and even improved Feeding visuals are just a few examples of these changes. The Vampire Skill Line has also been updated, adding 3 brand new Active Abilities while also revising the previous Active, Passive, and Ultimate skills that existed before. But be wary – these newfound powers come with even greater drawbacks. It is up to you to decide if the gift of Vampirism is worth the price…

General
- All Vampire abilities and persistent effects have new icons.
- Updated the visual effects for becoming infected with Noxiphilic Sanguivoria (the initial Vampirism infection).
- Refunded all skill points spent in Vampire abilities.
- All Vampires have been set to Stage 1.
- Vampire Stages have been significantly refactored:
  - Feeding now increases your Vampire Stage instead of decreasing it.
  - Vampire Stages last 4 hours. When a Vampire Stage expires, it decreases your Vampire Stage. Vampire Stages do not lose duration while you are logged out.
  - Each Vampire Stage grants bonuses that decrease the cost of your Vampire abilities and cause certain Vampire passive abilities to activate.
  - Each Vampire Stage grants penalties that decrease your Health Recovery, increase your damage taken from Flame, and increase the cost of your non-Vampire abilities.
  - Health Recovery is now -10/-30/-60/-100%
  - Flame Damage Taken is now +5/+8/+13/+20%
  - Regular Ability Cost is now +3/+5/+8+12%
  - Vampire Ability Cost is now -6/-10/-16/-24%
- Feed now plays unique cut scene animations when you feed on an unsuspecting victim, similar to Blade of Woe.
- Some Vampire abilities have been designated CRIMINAL ACTS, and will trigger a kill-on-sight amount of bounty on you if cast near townsfolk and witnesses.
- Most merchants in the game will refuse to deal with you if you are Stage 4 Vampire, though you may be able to convince them otherwise…
- Priests of Arkay have moved to more prominent cities throughout Tamriel, and are more readily available to cure those wishing to remove the affliction of Vampirism.
- Made improvements to the quest “Scion of the Blood Matron” to better teach you how to use some of the new Vampire skills.
Drain Essence
- This ability has been removed from the game and replaced with Eviscerate.
- All experience earned in Drain Essence has been transferred to Eviscerate.
Mist Form
- This ability has been moved to the 5th Skill in the Skill Line.
- All experience earned in Mist Form has been preserved.
- This ability is now a toggle ability, draining your Magicka every second while it is toggled on. It still requires you to channel it while it is toggled on, so you cannot use other abilities while in Mist Form.
- Elusive Mist (Morph 1) – This morph remains unchanged, and grants you Major Expedition while in the form.
- Blood Mist (Morph 2) – This new morph deals damage to enemies around you and heals for the damage caused.
Bat Swarm
- This ability has been removed from the game and replaced with Blood Scion.
- All experienced earned in Bat Swarm has been transferred to Blood Scion.
Eviscerate (New Skill)
- This new skill is a direct damage melee attack that deals more damage based on your own missing Health.
- Blood for Blood (Morph 1) – Costs Health to use and increases the damage bonus based on your own missing Health.
- Arterial Burst (Morph 2) – Will always be a Critical Strike if you use it while under half Health.
Blood Frenzy (New Skill)
- This new skill is a permanent buff that can be toggled off and on outside of the global cooldown. While it is toggled on, you gain a massive bonus to Weapon and Spell Damage, but your Health is drained every second and you cannot be healed by other players. This Health drain increases in intensity the longer you keep it toggled on.
- Simmering Frenzy (Morph 1) – Increases the Weapon and Spell Damage bonus, but also increases the Health cost the longer it remains toggled on.
- Sated Fury (Morph 2) – When it is toggled off, you heal for a portion of the Health you spent while it was toggled on.
Vampiric Drain (New Skill)
- This new skill is a short channeled beam ability, which deals low damage to an enemy but heals you for a significant amount of your missing Health over time.
- Drain Vigor (Morph 1) – Restores a portion of your missing Stamina over the channel.
- Exhilarating Drain (Morph 2) – Generates Ultimate over the channel.
Mesmerize (New Skill)
- This new skill is a crowd control ability that affects all enemies in a cone in front of you, stunning them if they are facing your direction.
- Hypnosis (Morph 1) – Affects all enemies around you instead of enemies in front of you.
- Stupefy (Morph 2) – Enemies are snared after the stun ends.
Blood Scion (New Skill)
- This new Ultimate is a transformation skill that turns you into a horrific Vampire monster. Transforming instantly heals you into full Health. While transformed, you have increased Health, Stamina, and Magicka, you heal for a percentage of all damage caused, and you can see enemies through walls.
- Swarming Scion (Morph 1) – Bats swarm around you while transformed, dealing damage to enemies that come close.
- Perfect Scion (Morph 2) – You ascend to Vampire Stage 5 while transformed, which grants all the benefits of Vampire Stage 4 with none of the drawbacks.
Savage Feeding
- This ability has been removed from the game and replaced with Feed.
Supernatural Recovery
- This ability has been removed from the game and replaced with Dark Stalker.
Blood Ritual
- This ability has been moved to the 4th Passive Skill in the Skill Line.
Undeath
- This ability has been moved to the 5th Passive Skill in the Skill Line.
- Now reduces your damage taken by up to 15/30% based on each percentage of your missing Health.
Unnatural Resistance
- This ability has been removed from the game and replaced with Undeath.
Dark Stalker
- This ability has been moved to the 2nd Passive Skill in the Skill Line.
- Now decreases the time to enter Crouch by 25/50% at all times, instead of only at Night. Continues to allow you to ignore the Movement Speed penalty of Sneak.
Feed (New Skill)
- This new skill is now the 1st Passive Skill, automatically allocated for free upon obtaining the Vampire Skill Line. This allows you to Feed on enemies and describes the bonuses and penalties of Vampire Stages.
Strike from the Shadows (New Skill)
- This new skill is the 3rd Passive Skill. It grants a short bonus to your Weapon and Spell Damage after leaving Sneak, Invisibility, or Mist Form.
Unnatural Movement (New Skill)
- This new skill is the 6th Passive Skill. It reduces the cost of Sprint and causes you to become invisibility after continuously sprinting.

Performance Improvements

Server Optimization & Stability
- Non-combat pets and their behaviors have been rewritten to put less strain on the server so it now works better and more efficiently, and takes up less resources. This reduces the likelihood of server issues such as slow responses and players being kicked.
  - The rewritten behavior is intended to match how non-combat pets previously worked, but there may be some very slight differences. This could include pets being more responsive to player movement and following more closely, or small changes to animations.
- The player character loading process is now multi-threaded on the server to improve performance. These changes will allow the server to more efficiently prepare and load character data so as to not adversely affect over server operations.
Client Optimization & Stability
- The fixture creation process on the client is now multi-threaded. This allows the client to utilize multiple cores when constructing and drawing art assets on screen, improving overall performance.
- Optimized how characters are drawn on the client, spreading work out over multiple cores to improve overall performance.
- Further improved performance in situations with lots of effects (particles, projectile effects, weather, etc.) happening simultaneously.
- Made numerous small optimizations to reduce memory usage by the client, use more performant functions, and remove unnecessary function calls.
- Improved caching for animation sets to reduce memory usage in situations with many players or monsters. This results in improved stability, fewer “out of memory” crashes, and a slight improvement to FPS.

Imperial City Updates
The Imperial City repeatable daily quests (available at the tops of the ladders leading out of your alliance base) underwent significant changes for this update, with the primary goal of making them more friendly for multiplayer, easier to get involved in, and brought up to more modern ESO standards. Note this does not make getting places, fighting monsters, or returning to your base any easier; the Imperial City is just as deadly as it used to be in that regard, so watch your step, bring a buddy or twelve, and be ready to repel enemy players! Or, you know, die and resurrect back at base. You do you.

Sewer patroller minibosses are now properly tagged as such for the drops of future event rewards (when and if applicable). In Imperial City, if it looks like a boss, it should give you associated things during events.
District-based patrolling bosses and sewer-based treasure scamps now respawn more quickly during associated events (Midyear Mayhem, Imperial City Celebrations). You still need to hunt them down and kill them before enemy players do. Then kill those enemies, because this is Imperial City and anything goes.
All daily quests are now ungated from needing to complete the main story of Imperial City. You can now pick up the daily for a district and run it at the same time as the district story quest if you so desire, or ignore the story quest and just run the daily.
Historical Accuracy (Arboretum District daily):
- Both conditions (Slay Daedroth and Flame Atronachs, Find Missing Imperial Records) are now on the same step so you don’t need to complete one, then the other.
- Greatly increased the drop rates on Imperial records.
- Increased the spawn rates of both Daedroth and Flame Atronachs to assist with completion when the district is under load.
The Lifeblood of an Empire (Arena District daily):
- Fixed an issue where you could get double credit for saving Imperial Citizens.
- Increased spawn rates for Imperial Citizens to assist with completion when the district is under load.
Speaking for the Dead (Memorial District daily):
- Reduced the number of Xivkyn you need to kill to 2.
- Increased Xivkyn spawn rates to assist with completion when the district is under load.
- Reworked how Auriculur Geodes need to be placed. No longer will you need to try to race the despawn of a skeleton you just killed while also getting beat on by hostile enemies and Argonians in wedding dresses! You now get to place the geodes in special non-hostile undead laborers who are visible only while you are on the quest.
Watch Your Step (Noble District daily):
- Increased spawn rates for Legion Zero soldiers to assist with completion when the district is under load.
- Fixed an issue where some Legion Zero soldiers did not count for credit on this step.
- Certain conversations from the bestower are now gated for context; you can’t ask her about the Imperials in the garrison unless you’ve done that quest already, because you are not psychic.
Priceless Treasures (Temple District daily):
- Reduced the number of Grievous Twilight claws you need to collect to 4.
- Increased spawn rates for Greivous Twilights to assist with completion when the district is under load.
- Added more spawners for blessed wine and truncated the quest pin areas for the Consecrated Oils so they aren’t so huge and non-specific.

Housing Precision Editing Mode
Having trouble getting the placement of your furnishings juuuuust right? We’ve all been there, but with the new Precision Editing mode, it’s easier than ever to make it all line up perfectly.

To use this new mode, simply point at a previously placed furnishing in the Housing Editor, and select Precision Edit. Unlike with normal selection, you are free to move your camera and character in this mode without adjusting the position of the furnishing; it only moves when you tell it to, so you can check the placement from a few different angles without needing to pick up and place the furnishing every time.
You can toggle between movement and rotation of the selected furnishing, and can cycle between different degrees of precision (from a single centimeter up to a meter at a time for movement, and from one twentieth of a degree to fifteen degrees for rotation.) Whether you’re building a tower from scratch or just hanging a painting, the new “Straighten” keybind allows you to easily snap your furnishings to the nearest vertical right angle.
You can even see the exact numerical position and rotation of the selected furnishing, so you can be certain that everything is, in fact, perfect.

New Achievements
7 new specific achievements for Vampires and Werewolves have been added to the base game for you to obtain.

Updated Character Select Screen
The character select screen has been updated to reflect the snowy environment of Greymoor.

Crown Store Additions
Several new items have been added to the Crown Store to support this update:

Vampire and Werewolf Skill Lines
- These skill lines act like the other skill lines where they require you to have a character who has already maxed out the respective skill line’s rank in order to purchase these.
Alliance Change Token
- These tokens are used from the character select screen to change the alliance of a single character to either of the other alliances. Upon using the token, you will be logged into the game at the capital city of your new alliance.
- Some quests will have their progress reset or removed and replaced entirely with the appropriate quest for that alliance.
- You will also be removed from your current Home Campaign in Cyrodiil, and your leaderboard progress removed.
  - Note that you will have to wait 12 hours until you can select a new alliance locked home campaign.
Western Skyrim Skyshards
- Like other Skyshard offerings, you must have another character on your account that already gathered all of Western Skyrim Skyshards in order to purchase this. Once purchased, the character will unlock all of the Skyshards (and a skill point for every 3 unlocked) available in Western Skyrim immediately.

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Author

Brandon Adams

Vegas native and part-time reservist who travels more than he probably should.