ESO is adding optional Challenge Difficulty sliders for overland content in Season Zero

The Elder Scrolls Online is getting an optional “Challenge Difficulty” setting for overland PvE, letting you make open-world combat tougher without changing how anyone else experiences the game. ZeniMax says the system is slated to arrive in the second half of Season Zero.

You will still be able to group with friends normally, since the difficulty choice is personal. In other words, two players can fight the same enemies together while each uses their own Challenge Difficulty setting. Not everything will support it, though. Activities with their own tuned difficulty, including Trials, Infinite Archive, and the upcoming Night Market, will not use the new custom difficulty options.

When it goes live, the current default overland experience will remain as “Adventurer,” alongside three harder settings:

• Seasoned: you take double damage from monsters and deal 20% less damage, in exchange for 50% more gold and 20% more experience from monsters.
• Master: you take 300% more damage and deal 50% less damage, for 100% more gold and 75% more experience from monsters.
• Vestige: you take 600% more damage and deal 80% less damage, for 200% more gold and 100% more experience from monsters.

At launch, the extra rewards are limited to gold and XP. The team says it will watch how the feature lands, especially once it hits the PTS, and may expand rewards later or tie them into other systems like Golden Pursuits.

ZeniMax has more details in its dev blog here.