The Elder Scrolls Online's director says doing the same-old yearly patch cycle wasn't 'going to cut it' if the MMO developer 'wanted to have a shot at reaching that 30-year mark'

The Elder Scrolls Online's going through a big shift—with subclassing falling somewhat short and a difficult year for Zenimax in the rearview, its developers have decided to shake things up. Going from a yearly "chapter" formula to a seasonal structure where, in a recent conversation I had with executive producer Susan Kath and game director Nick Giacomini, "nothing is off the table."

A huge part of this shift has been in addressing long-standing quality-of-life complaints: Update 49 will...