DLC Timelines

ESO will of course continue its 4 major content drops this year and the theme is Oblivion, which we’ve known since last year’s Game Awards reveal. But today, we now know that the chapter, which is ESO’s biggest content of the year, is called Blackwood and we’ll talk more about that later on. In quarter one of 2021, we’ll see the beginning of the Oblivion story through the first DLC titled Flames of Ambition, a dungeon DLC. In quarter 2 we will get the Blackwood Chapter prologue, before finally exploring the Chapter itself. In quarter 3 will be another dungeon DLC. And the last quarter of the year is traditionally reserved for a zone DLC with an accompanying, and that hasn’t changed.

Blackwood Chapter Overview

Let’s get to the crucial details about the Blackwood Chapter. Scheduled to launch in June 2021 on all platforms ESO is on, Blackwood will contain approximately 30 hours of new gameplay content. Expect more story quests, new public dungeons, delves, a new 12 player Trial, and there’s also a new Dark Anchor type of content related to Oblivion portals that you’ll see on the landscape while you’re out adventuring. For new players, there’s good news too. The game will be launching a new tutorial experience in conjunction with the Blackwood Chapter launch, which allows players more freedom in choosing their destiny for journeys to come. That means you’ll be able to begin a story of your choosing immediately without being locked into anything, plus it’s a whole new story beginning that’s related to Oblivion so that pretty cool.

NPC Companions

Now unfortunately for those of you wanting to hear about a new ESO class or skill line, there wasn’t anything announced, but we did get something that’s equally as exciting for many, and that’s a new gameplay system, NPC Companions. Starting in the Blackwood Chapter, players can begin recruiting companions to join you in PvE, and you can level them up, gear them, and customize their skills to offer you support with healing, tanking or damage when you’re out there questing. According to ZOS companions are allowed in most places where you can summon them at will, except for PvP of course. Expect to hear more about this system which will be a game changer for many, in the months to come. Finally for the Blackwood Chapter, pre-orders are live right now, and getting it will grant you a new mount type, the Welwa, and players who do so before March 2021 will also receive a new pet.

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RIFT

RIFT is adrift somewhere out at sea, in terms of new content. Ever since Trion was bought over by gamigo, the once much talked about competitor to World of Warcraft has been on AFK mode. The existing player base hasn’t seen any form of new content or expansions beside Battle Passes in a very long time. A new content update introducing a new class, zone, storyline or even dungeon would be almost too much excitement to handle, if it were to come this year. Heck even an update to its excellent housing system would do!  RIFT is a fun MMORPG with a decent combat system that rewards players who dabble in class builds, so it’s a pity that all we’ve got so far is to replay the content over and over.

Secret World Legends

Can’t have a discussion about the best MMORPG setting and narrative without including Funcom’s Secret World Legends, formerly The Secret World. Like RIFT above, the game has been in maintenance mode since early 2019, with absolutely no new heavy content coming out since the game’s last expansion, South Africa. The problem is, that expansion was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of laying the story ground-work of what’s next for the game, and where players we’re headed for the next adventure (Congo), but at this rate, most players have given up hope that we’d even get there. Yes, Secret World Legends has many problems across the board that drove a core player base away from the game’s 2017 relaunch, but it’s damn shame if Funcom’s new Tencent buddies won’t help to financially deliver a proper story closure for the game’s players at the very least. Will 2021 be the year the game takes us to Congo, or shut down for good?

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Now unlike the rest of the list, BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG has been doing great over the past year, following up its Onslaught expansion release with content updates like Echoes of Vengeance, tweaking its Free to Play model to be more generous, and even catering toward Mandalorian fans with new gear and stuff. It’s a good time to be a SWTOR player. In 2021 however, it would be great to drop another expansion to capitalize on the new players the game has gotten since 2018 (Onslaught, Steam launch) and the best way to do that is to release another fantastically written expansion adventure. Oh and more group content like dungeons and raids wouldn’t hurt! This is the way.

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Final Fantasy XIV

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIV is at its best right now, coming off a fantastic Shadowbringers expansion cycle in which the MMO’s storytelling, system revamps and group content all hit higher highs. What could possibly top it off? Knowing this dev team, 2021 will bring the game’s best yet. FFXIV releases an expansion every two years, so this year we’ll see the next installment, and I trust it will be worth it. Considering we have to pay a full priced subscription to play it, I dare say most players won’t settle for anything less than the Shadowbringers standard.

Elder Scrolls Online

Last year’s 12 month long Dark Heart of Skyrim Storyline was a success in terms of numbers, as Elder Scrolls Online reached new heights with player numbers and sales figures. One of the pillars of that success has been Zenimax using the memory lane card – Dragons last year, Skyrim this year – and so for 2021, another walk down memory lane is coming. Players will be going to Oblivion this year, and we’ll learn more this week as the studio will unveil the first trailer of the upcoming DLC’s and Chapter.

Guild Wars 2

You get the feeling that 2021 is a make or break year for Guild Wars 2. The tail end of 2019 leading into 2020 was a shaky period for ArenaNet’s MMORPG, as players bemoaned the lack of updates to its three core game modes, PvE, Structured PvP and World versus World. Since then, we’ve had more Icebrood Saga Episodic content released, but not much else. However, the End of Dragons expansion will be coming this year, and taking players back to a beloved location not visited since the original Guild Wars. Will it come with plenty to do and up to par? This one is worth the wait hopefully, or you sense the playerbase will loose patience again.

New World

Amazon’s New World MMORPG is facing an identity crisis, even in the middle of its Alpha. Originally supposed to launch in August last year, the game was delayed to 2021 and there’s no turning back now. With its rebrand from a PvP centric MMO into something more theme-park, New World’s trajectory post launch is going to be an entertaining watch, but more importantly we hope, a good enough game to play to challenge the status quo and give us players somewhere else to spend our time besides the usual.

Crimson Desert

Black Desert Online will continue to prosper this year, that’s a given. The franchise has grown larger since its expansion to console and mobile, and now its spinoff MMORPG Crimson Desert is about to launch this year. Taking place in a totally different world as a standalone game, Crimson Desert promises the same action combat players love, but with a heavier focus on PvE storytelling which is compelling, considering Black Desert couldn’t care less about that aspect of its game. Will it deliver and be the first South Korean MMORPG to actually have a good story in its MMO? Time will tell.

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