Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road Hands-on with Scribing and Q&A with Rich Lambert

Earlier this year, ZeniMax revealed Elder Scrolls Online had registered over 24 million accounts since its launch. The game is also closing in on $2 billion in customer spending. It was nominated for a BAFTA award last year, and the studio says it is the largest cross-platform RPG on consoles.

As the game now celebrates its 10th anniversary with the addition to GeForce NOW and with a free play event live through April 9 on all platforms, ZeniMax Online also discussed the upcoming launch of the new Chapter, Gold Road, due on June 3 on PC and Mac and June 18 for PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

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As previously announced, it will include the usual set of features fans have come to expect:

• 30 hours of story content.
• The West Weald zone (comprised of three different-looking biomes: The Gold Road, the Valenwood Annexation, and the Colovian Highlands).
• The hub city of Skingrad, which Elder Scrolls buffs will remember from Oblivion
• The new Lucent Citadel 12-player endgame Trial. Similar in scope to the Sanity's Edge Trial added with Necrom, it is an ancient but recently rediscovered Daedric vault that houses a dangerous energy resource. Keshargo, a Khajiit member of the Scribes of Mora, will ask players to remove it. Rich Lambert said the team outdid themselves with Lucent Citadel, achieving things he didn't believe possible in the engine and introducing brand new mechanics.
• A new type of World Event
• Lots of new loot, achievements, and earnable cosmetics
• New Music

There are, however, two changes. The first is that the two new companions won't arrive with the Gold Road Chapter, having been moved to the Q4 update. The second is the big new feature of the Chapter, the Scribing system, a precursor to the fabled Spellcrafting that was promised shortly after the launch of Elder Scrolls Online.

The developers allowed press and the influencers to check out the new