Kudos to the Zenimax Online Studios for another exciting global reveal. In addition to complexity of creating content for us gamers in this social distancing environment, they managed to to keep most of the secrets until the big announcement. There was a minor misstep where the name of the new collectible was discovered in the in-game help and dataminers discovered a few details from today’s minor patch. Here is a summary of what we discovered today.
Official Announcement Notes
PREPARE FOR A NEW ADVENTURE WITH THE GATES OF OBLIVION AND BLACKWOOD CHAPTER
www.elderscrollsonline.com
Contents
What
- The 2021 long adventure is called The Gates of Oblivion
- You will unravel the ambitions and schemes of the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon 800 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
- A new zone: Blackwood
- A fiendish main storyline that ties into the Gates of Oblivion adventure
- The new Companions system
- allowing you to recruit, travel, and fight with an ally NPC complete with their own stories and character.
- A new 12-player Trial: Rockgrove
- New world events: Oblivion Portals
- New delves, public dungeons, world bosses, and stand-alone quests
- Updates and quality-of-life improvements
When
- Flames of Ambition DLC (March 8 for PC/Mac and Stadia* and March 16 for Xbox One and PlayStation®4)
- Uploaded to PTS (Public Test Server) on January 27, 2021.
- Two group dungeons: The Cauldron and Black Drake Villa
- Blackwood Chapter (June 1 for PC/Mac and Stadia* and June 8 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4)
- Unannounced Q3 DLC dungeon pack (date TBD)
- Unannounced Q4 DLC story zone (date TBD)
How
Note
The Nightmare Bear Cub pet is available as a pre-purchase reward only until March 17, 2021, so don’t miss out on this fiery friend!
- Preorder
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood right now to receive unique pre-purchase rewards at launch
- Immediate
- Access to the game and both the Nagahide Welwa Ravager mount and Nightmare Bear Cub pet**.
- Launch
- Dremora Kynreeve Outfit
- Deadlands Wamasu Pet
- 1× Iron Atronach Crate
- 3× Blackwood Treasure Maps
- 2× Experience Scrolls
- Immediate
- Editions
- The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Blackwood
- The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Blackwood CE
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood Upgrade
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood Upgrade Collector’s Edition
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood right now to receive unique pre-purchase rewards at launch
For more information on the editions can be found here
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/59473
Where
- Caught between the Argonian homeland and Imperial province of Cyrodiil, the region of Blackwood is beset by Daedric influence, and its people struggle to survive would-be tyrants and Oblivion-spawned evils alike.
- Including the Imperial City of Leyawiin (first featured in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), the Niben Forest, and open wetlands of the Blackwood Bog, you’ll have the opportunity to explore a diverse land in strife, investigate the emerging Daedric threat, and discover all-new stories, challenges, and rewards not found anywhere else in Tamriel.