General:Dark Brotherhood: Launch Details

Originally published April 25, 2016. The original article can be found here.

Blood will flow. A guild of assassins rises to power in Tamriel, and your murderous talents make you a prime recruit. For the first time in The Elder Scrolls Online, join the Dark Brotherhood and carve your own destiny in their bloody future. Read on for full details including pricing, release dates, and DLC game pack and base-game patch features.

The Dark Brotherhood is looking for a few good killers. Explore the Gold Coast and discover if you have what it takes to join the ranks of Tamriel's master assassins in the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack. From the port city of Anvil to the Great Cathedral of Kvatch, the business of the Brotherhood consists of murder and mayhem—and business is good! Join the Brotherhood, enter the Sanctuary, and accept your first contract from the mysterious Speaker. Kill well, assassin!

Dark Brotherhood, the latest DLC game pack for The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited, will be available on the ESO PTS (Public Test Server) later today and launches on PC/Mac on May 31st, and both Xbox One and PlayStation®4 on June 14th. The Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack—complete with a new Dark Brotherhood passive skill line, an all-new PVE area of Cyrodiil called the Gold Coast, hours of new story content and more—will be accessible at no cost to those who have an active ESO Plus membership. Otherwise, it will cost 2,000 crowns in the ESO Crown Store.

The base-game patch that accompanies Dark Brotherhood, free to anyone who owns ESO, is packed with new features and enhancements including the removal of Veteran Ranks, Poison-Making (an all-new addition to Alchemy), nameplates and console character name display, and tons of combat and gameplay balance changes. We encourage all our PC and Mac players to join us on the PTS later today for Dark Brotherhood testing!

Content

• Price Details
• Dark Brotherhood DLC Game Pack Features & Content Details
• Dark Brotherhood Base-Game Patch Details
• Reaching the Gold Coast and Anvil on the PTS
• Pre-Launch Events

Details

Like our previous DLC game packs, Dark Brotherhood comes in two parts—the DLC game pack and the base-game patch. Below is an explanation of each.

Price Details

The full Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack will be included with an active ESO Plus membership. If you are not an ESO Plus member, or your membership lapses, the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack will cost 2,000 crowns in the ESO Crown Store.

A Dark Brotherhood DLC Collector's Bundle will also be available in the Crown Store for 4,000 crowns. It includes the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack, the Highland Wolf Mount, the Sylvan Nixad pet, and five Crown Experience Scrolls.

To find DLC game packs in the Crown Store, simply press the “," key or click on the Crown icon on your menu shortcut bar, and navigate to the “DLC" section. For steps on how to buy DLC game packs on Xbox One and PlayStation®4, please see this article.

Dark Brotherhood DLC Game Pack Features & Content

With the purchase of the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack, you get access to all of the following:

• Access to join the Dark Brotherhood and become an assassin for hire
• The Gold Coast, available to characters of all levels, where you can explore Anvil and Kvatch for the first time since The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• A new passive skill line, exclusive to members of the Dark Brotherhood
• Hours of exciting story content and quests that will have you revisiting your favorite areas of Tamriel
• New repeatable activities, including:
  • Bounty Quests: The Dark Brotherhood is not the only group on the Gold Coast who offers gold for martial expertise. Daily bounties await you in the cities of Anvil and Kvatch.
    • Take on these quests to conquer delves, battle in the Kvatch Arena, or vanquish a monstrous minotaur!
  • Contract Kill Quests: Elam Drals, the dry-humored Dark Elf assassin that maintains the Dark Brotherhood's books, diligently keeps a ledger of those whose deaths can be bought with mere gold.
    • Travel across the length and breadth of Tamriel to assassinate marked targets or engage in bloody sprees at the behest of the Dark Brotherhood.
  • Sacrament Quests: Speaker Terenus, an agent of the Black Hand, haunts the Gold Coast Sanctuary to offer the most sacred of missions to assassins of the Dark Brotherhood.
    • Breaking into secured subterranean locations to slaughter targets invoked by the performance of the Black Sacrament. Avoid guards, disable traps, and complete bonus objectives to achieve the highest levels of prestige and reward.
• The Litany of Blood, a Dark Brotherhood kill mission with targets all around Tamriel
• Two new delves, Hrota Cave and Garlas Agea, featuring all-new challenges and rewards
• Two all-new world boss encounters: The Kvatch Arena and Limenauruus the minotaur at Tribune's Folly
• Powerful new gear, unique crafting styles, and other rewards inspired by the deadly Dark Brotherhood
  • The new Assassin personality
  • Three new crafted item sets
  • Three new item sets available in the Gold Coast
  • Two new costumes awarded for completing quests in the Gold Coast
  • Two new Mementos and one new Polymorph for earning specific achievements in the Gold Coast
  • The new Viridian Venom Dye, for completing a specific achievement
• The Assassins League crafting style
• A brand new in-game musical score, inspired by the Dark Brotherhood and Gold Coast

Dark Brotherhood Base-Game Patch

Upon the release of the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack, everyone who owns The Elder Scrolls Online will receive the base-game patch at no cost. The Dark Brotherhood base-game patch includes many changes and improvements, including:

• The removal of Veteran Ranks
• Poison-Making, for those who want to be especially nasty to their enemies
• Toggle-able nameplates for all characters
• Character name display for Xbox One and PlayStation®4
• Item locking to help prevent accidental deconstruction of your most valuable items
• Further improvements to and new features for the Grouping Tool, including a group ready check, vote-to-kick system, and updated queue timer
• Tons of updates to the Crown Store, including additional character slots, motif previews, and—are you ready for this?—hats! (You can even wear hats with costumes, now!)
• Craft Bags, for storing nearly unlimited crafting materials, included with an ESO Plus membership
• Improvements and adjustments to Item Traits
• Ongoing Cyrodiil performance improvements
• Sanctum Ophidia Trial scaling, rebalancing, and the addition of a Normal and Veteran mode
• Balance improvements to combat and gameplay abilities, including the Fighters Guild skill line, Vampires, and stamina abilities
• Revamped store contents for vendors in Cyrodiil, including Champion 160 gear
  • The Elite Gear vendor now features the item sets introduced in the Thieves Guild DLC
• Nine revamped item sets available from Sanctum Ophidia
• Two new crafting styles
  • Abah's Watch: Available from large laundered shipments of goods that the Thieves Guild distributes
  • Thieves Guild: Available from completing Heists to the highest standards of the Thieves Guild
• …and more!

Reaching the Gold Coast & Anvil on the PTS

For those of you joining us on the ESO PTS, you can get to the Gold Coast, Anvil, and Kvatch by following a few simple steps.

Using a Dark Brotherhood Template Character

If you plan to use a pre-made template character on the PTS, please choose from the Dark Brotherhood-specific choices.

1. While on the character creation screen, click on the drop-down in the upper-left corner of your screen.
2. Select one of the six Dark Brotherhood character templates—there are two options for each alliance: one that is level 50 with 300 Champion Points, and one that is level 49.
3. Regardless of which template you choose, when you enter the game you will appear in Daggerfall, Davon's Watch, or Vulkhel Guard, depending on your alliance.
4. Purchase the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack from the Crown Store. (Both template characters and those copied over from the live megaservers will have enough crowns to buy the DLC game pack.) We also recommend buying bag space upgrades in the Crown Store.
5. After you purchase the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack, enter any Outlaws Refuge and approach an assassin by the name of Amelie Crowe. Speak to her to begin the “Voices in the Dark" quest. (You can also accept the “Voices in the Dark" quest by purchasing the DLC and navigating to the DLC tab in your Collections menu.)
6. Progress through the events of the “Voices in the Dark" questline—they will lead you to Anvil.

Using a Non-Template or Copied Character

1. First, create a character on the ESO PTS and purchase the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack from the Crown Store. (Both template characters and those copied over from the live megaservers will have enough crowns to buy the DLC game pack.)
2. After you purchase the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack, enter any Outlaws Refuge and approach a thief by the name of Amelie Crowe. Speak to her to begin the “Voices in the Dark" quest. (You can also accept the “Voices in the Dark" quest by purchasing the DLC and navigating to the DLC tab in your Collections menu.)
3. Progress through the events of the “Voices in the Dark" questline—they will lead you to Anvil.

Manually Entering the Gold Coast, Anvil, or Kvatch

After you purchase the Dark Brotherhood DLC game pack, you can also use the Wayshrine network to fast travel to Anvil on the Gold Coast. Amelie Crowe, the Dark Brotherhood main quest bestower, will be waiting for you at the Wayshrine.

Pre-Launch Events

Whether you'll be joining us on the PTS later today or eagerly waiting to join the Dark Brotherhood on console, everyone can take part in the Dark Brotherhood pre-launch fun. We'll have a full schedule of events leading up to the DLC game pack launch in May on PC/Mac, and in June for Xbox One and PlayStation®4, including articles and guides, Q&As, live Twitch broadcasts, PTS events, and official screenshot and concept art releases.

If you'll be livestreaming your Dark Brotherhood adventures on the PTS, we want to hear from you! Share your livestream with us on @TESOnline on Twitter—use the #BloodWillFlow hashtag! We'll share livestreams throughout the Dark Brotherhood testing period on our official social media channels, and may even drop in to hang out and watch.

Deck out your favorite desktop or mobile device with this commemorative new Dark Brotherhood wallpaper titled “When Time Runs Out."

The Dark Brotherhood is looking to make a name for themselves, and they've set their sights on you—do you have what it takes to become Tamriel's deadliest new assassin? You won't have to wait long to find out!

Discuss this on the official ESO forums.