The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is still my favourite Bethesda RPG, simply because it allows you to get lost within its world. Exploration is key to Morrowind, and Elder Scrolls Online’s new Rumours system is designed to mimic the exploration of the fan-favourite RPG.
Announced alongside the game’s Season Zero update as well as a return to Skyrim in 2027, Rumours are described as “optional narrative scavenger hunts hidden out in the world”. Once found, you’ll have to follow clues without the help of your compass and map to find treasure or uncover new stories.
“It honestly feels a bit like classic Morrowind question from TES3,” associate design director Jason Barnes said in a recent livestream. “You’re using your brain to figure things out”, Barnes highlighted that some Rumours will even have multiple endings to feel even more like a quest right out of Morrowind.
Speaking to FRVR in a recent roundtable interview, Barnes explained that there’s always going to be a difference when creating content for an MMO rather than a single-player RPG, but Rumours are designed to bring at least some Morrowind nostalgia into the game.
When discussing the balance of being Elder Scrolls vs being an MMO, Barnes said that “the big thing is that you have to make it group friendly”. While Rumours can be done solo, they’re also playable in a group with each player working together to follow journal clues and find the next area or next NPC to talk to.
“The other nice thing is that you have a built-in community there,” Barnes explained. “So, since Rumours aren’t something that hold your hand and it’s not like a quest [which will] always tell you where to go. With a Rumour, you have a hint, you have a clue, and now I can chat with my guild, I can ask Zone chat or other people around doing it and get more information”.
Barnes explained that, unlike a single-player RPG, other players in the MMO are a resource to be used. In Morrowind, NPCs largely give you direct instructions, but some harder Rumours will have vague clues that encourage players to work together and not just give up and Google the answer. Just like Morrowind, it’s designed to encourage players to explore the world around them, even if that’s done with a group.
“You almost have this resource that allows for more of that stuff to just drive the helpfulness of it all, especially with some of the harder ones,” Barnes told us. “We kind of have three tiers of Rumours: we have your basic should be easy to figure out, we have the middle tier which is a little bit more complicated, and we have like a gold one which is a lot more complicated. It’s not like crazy, like, you have to go out in the internet and know multiple language[s] sort of thing. It’s more involved.”
Barnes said that “with Rumours specifically”, the system is designed to meet the community halfway. Let’s face it, we’re likely never getting a Morrowind remake, and The Elder Scrolls 6 likely isn’t going to have Morrowind-like exploration, but these small bits of content allow for The Elder Scrolls Online to service players who enjoy every game in the series.
The design director hopes that Rumours “will drive people to work together as opposed to just going out to a Wiki”, hoping that it “drives a lot of engagement” that makes players talk to one another. With that said, Barnes also says that simply looking up the answers is “perfectly okay”, if you’re that type of player, although it does seem against the whole point of the new mechanic.
