Elder Scrolls Online Reveals Necrom Chapter and Shadow Over Morrowind Story Arc — January 27, 2023
The Developer_Direct show from Microsoft and Bethesda officially revealed the next upcoming Chapter to Elder Scrolls Online, Necrom. Necrom will be part of the Shadow Over Morrowind story arc, the seventh main story arc for the game to date. This Chapter will take you to the southern portion of the Telvanni Peninsula, including the eponymous city of Necrom. You will also explore the Daedric Plane of Apocrypha, as you become involved in the secrets kept by Hermaeus Mora. The Telvanni Peninsula and Apocrypha will act as two separate zones.
Shadow Over Morrowind will begin with the Scribes of Fate dungeon pack. The two new dungeons included in the pack are Bal Sunnar in Stonefalls and Scrivener's Hall in the Rift. Bal Sunnar will involve time travel, House Telvanni, and the Daedric Prince Peryite. Scrivener's Hall will have you in conflict with Scribes of Mora dedicated to mapping Oblivion, and aided by a friendly Watcher named Zilipif.
The accompanying update to the game for Scribes of Fate will include numerous quality of life changes. This includes improvements to the housing tabs, listing of home's current occupants, ability to kick people out of houses, ability to reset dummies while in combat, display name of item that you're hovering over, and a list of items to purchase. The update will also include three Rewards of the Worthy sets in light, medium, and heavy variants. and new Alliance Face Emblems.
The Necrom Chapter will have you join the service of the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora as some of his most closely guarded secrets are threatened by a conspiracy that threatens to unravel reality itself. You will be joined on your journey by new allies, such as the Leramil the Wise who previously sent out letters requesting aid. There will also be returning faces, such as the fan favorite Morag Tong assassin Naryu Virian.
A previously teased major addition to the game will be the new Arcanist class, which will be the seventh in the game's run. The Arcanist class is heavily tied to Apocrypha and Hermaeus Mora, and draws its power from that Plane of Oblivion. The class will feature a new mechanic known as Crux, which will build up as Arcanist abilities are activated, and can be spent to enhance other abilities.
ESO will be expanding its companion system once more with two new additions, Azandar Al-Cybiades and Sharp-As-Night. Azandar Al-Cybiades is a Redguard Arcanist described as a cross between "Willy Wonka and Dumbledore", and Sharp-As-Night is an Argonian Warden searching for answers about his lost past.
A plethora of specific details about the plans for next year have been unveiled or mentioned in some capacity, a list of some of the more notable additions includes:
- A tome of the knowledge you accrued while dealing with Hermaeus Mora.
- Almalexia Tales of Tribute deck.
- New antiquities/collectibles/achievements/titles.
- Pre-made group finder.
- New endless dungeons.
- A new Trial.
A cinematic trailer was released along with the announcement. You can watch the Developer_Direct here, and the standalone ESO after show here. Numerous official articles have been released covering all of this, including one on pre-purchase rewards, the Telvanni Peninsula and Apocrypha zones, Shadow Over Morrowind itself, the Arcanist class, and the Scribes of Fate DLC.