Elder Scrolls Online's First DLC Release Date, New Details Announced

Bethesda on Wednesday announced that The Elder Scrolls Online's first DLC expansion, Imperial City, will launch on August 31 for PC/Mac and on September 15 for Xbox One and a day later on PlayStation 4.

Imperial City introduces "hours" of new gameplay to the fantasy MMO, spanning new areas, quests, enemies, and items. In terms of story, the Imperial City has been overrun by Daedric Prince Molag Bal, and players must fight the new Daedric forces and also each other.

The expansion is included with an ESO Plus Membership or can be purchased separately for $20. For a closer look at some of the new content coming to The Elder Scrolls Online, check out the video below.

Below is a rundown of Imperial City's "key features," as written by Bethesda.

• All content is available to players that are level 10 and up
• A brand new PvP/PvE space, including the six Imperial City Districts
• New quests and key characters within the Imperial City
• One new Imperial City PvP Public Dungeon: The Imperial Sewers
• Two new PvE Imperial City group dungeons with Normal and Veteran versions: White-Gold Tower and Imperial City Prison
• The Tel Var Stone system
• 23 completely new Veteran Rank 16 item sets, only available in Imperial City
• Treasure Vaults that contain new Veteran Rank 16 set jewelry and a chance for even rarer finds
• Xivkyn racial motif style
• New collectibles only available in Imperial City (pets, polymorphs, and a costume)

Accompanying Imperial City's release next month will be a base-game patch for everyone. In all, there will be "hundreds of fixes and improvements" for areas such as combat, classes, quests, dungeons, and more. Some of the key takeaways are below.

• 15% decrease in the amount of XP it takes to gain a Veteran Rank
• 100% more XP for all public dungeons
• 50% more XP for all Veteran Rank quests
• 20% more XP in Craglorn
• Veteran Rank increased to 16
• Racial Passive improvements
• Mundus Stone buff improvements
• Glass racial motif style
• Improvements to existing item sets
• The ability to hide mount visual upgrades
• New crafting skill line passives
• New Undaunted pledges
• Tons of combat and gameplay balance changes
• Improved end-of-campaign Alliance War rewards

The Elder Scrolls Online was originally released for PC in April 2014 as a subscription-based MMORPG. In January 2015, the game transitioned to a pay-once model and was renamed Tamriel Unlimited. The console versions launched in June 2015.

Just a couple weeks after The Elder Scrolls Online's console release, the game's creative director, Paul Sage, quit to join Borderlands developer Gearbox Software.