Developer Zenimax to Release New Free Housing DLC for Elder Scrolls Online: More Than Just a Cosmetic Change?
Murder-hobos of Tamriel rejoice, housing is on its way! Zenimax Online Studios has announced their next update for The Elder Scrolls Online will be player housing. The DLC, called Homestead, will be free and available in February. The concept of acquiring a private home is nothing new to the Elder Scrolls series. In previous games all the player had to do was find a nice fancy house, kill the current inhabitants, and bam! You’ve got your own place to sleep and store loot. Skyrim even had a whole expansion dedicated to developing and managing your own house called Hearthfire.
Player housing is a highly anticipated feature that has been buzzing about the ESO community basically since launch. Understandably, Zenimax can’t implement ALL the iconic mechanics of recent Elder Scrolls games because of the MMO format. Things like limitlessly-upgrading gear or comfortably playing in first person will never come to ESO, so it is exciting to see Zenimax bringing in a classic for Elder Scrolls, and we’re all hoping they get it right.
Anyone familiar with The Elder Scrolls V: Hearthfire should have a basic idea of what to expect with Homestead. Privately owned housing will come with an array of customization options, and (hopefully) extra storage. Zenimax has said to expect nearly 40 different purchasable homes and more than 2,000 unique crafting options for maximum crib pimpage.
For the first time, you will be able to invite friends over to show off your house and even sell crafted decorations or furniture to other players. The short video above showcases how you can decorate your space with anything from a mountain of sweet rolls to a crash test dummy skeleton. Though the spaces look beautiful, let’s hope that there is more to do than just deck the halls of your home. Extra storage space for all the new gear sets, manikins to display and quickly change gear, and farming would all be satisfying callbacks. Unfortunately details are vague at the moment, but PC players will be able to play the PTS for Homestead in January.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Homestead will launch in February, 2017 for all platforms simultaneously and will be a free update just like One Tamriel. Whether or not this update will have a huge impact on gameplay remains to be seen. Personally, we’re looking forward to being able to grow alchemy ingredients like we could in Skyrim! What new gameplay mechanics are you hoping to see in ESO: Homestead? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, or the comments below!
To pick up a physical copy of the game, click here to get ESO for PC, here for Xbox One, and here for PS4.