General:Update 30 Preview—New Tutorial

Originally published May 27, 2021. The original article can be found here.

Learn about the new tutorial system coming soon with Update 30.

A New Beginning

All ESO players will soon gain access to a brand-new tutorial experience for all their new characters as part of the free Update 30 base-game patch. Previously, when you created a new character, you'd need to complete the tutorial related to the most recent Chapter that you own. Now, all ESO players will have the same universal experience, regardless of what versions of the game they own.

In the new tutorial, you start on the mysterious Isle of Balfiera, a small island within the Iliac Bay last seen in The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. Home to ancient Direnni ruins, the isle is beset by dangerous monsters thanks to the appearance of strange portals, and it’s up to you to help the mage Norianwe investigate their emergence—all the while, learning how to play the game!

Doorways to Tamriel

Once you've completed the new tutorial, you enter a final portal room that grants access to various starting locations based on what parts of the game you currently own. For example, as a base game owner, you choose from the three base-game Alliance starting locations. However, if you own any of the game's Chapters, you also gain access to portals taking your characters to their respective starting locations, too. It's that easy! Once you've completed the tutorial, you can begin your new character's story in any part of Tamriel you'd like, but if you're unsure where to start your journey, Norianwe shares some additional information on what kind of adventures you can find within each.

Note that once you've entered a portal, your character can never return to Balfiera. Of course, at that point you can still travel to any of the other starting locations previously available in the portal room—you just have to do it by boat, by cart, or on foot! Finally, because this new addition replaces all previous tutorials, your characters, new or old, can no longer access these quests and areas. Don't worry, though! The original base-game tutorial is now part of the main questline, and you always learn a zone's critical story information in that zone's first main quest (don't forget to use the helpful Zone Guide, too)—you won't miss out on anything important!

Choose Your Adventure

With this new universal tutorial coming with Update 30, all new players (and characters) can get the best possible start to their adventures in Tamriel. Even better, as part of the upcoming base-game patch, this new experience is free for everybody who owns The Elder Scrolls Online. Are you eager to create a new character and check out the new tutorial? Tell us via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!

The Update 30 base-game patch arrives on PC/Mac and Stadia on June 1, and on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 on June 8.