You can try out two of The Elder Scrolls Online's biggest and most significant updates ever right now

March and April are going to be two of the most significant months in The Elder Scrolls Online history. Season Zero kicks off a new era for the MMO, totally refreshing how content and rewards are served up to players. But Update 49 will first arrive to set the stage, merging a trio of old expansions into the base game, overhauling the Dragonknight class, and delivering more quality of life improvements than you can shake a staff at. However, you don’t have to wait to try out what’s coming to ESO, as plenty of its biggest changes are available to try on its test server right now.

The seasonal rework taking place in The Elder Scrolls Online is huge. Chapters and the Content Pass have been tossed in the trash for a more traditional, three-month season model. More content is being made free to access for players, including some past DLC chapters and future zones, quests, and dungeons. Tamriel Tomes comes in as a new battle pass-style system. The Gold Coast Bazaar is a new way to earn returning pieces of gear. It’s all really transformative stuff, and elements such as the Bazaar are now available to check out in the Public Test Server (PTS), although it’s worth noting the actual items you’ll see are subject to change – it’s merely there to put the new UI through its paces.

However, the PTS is now also home to loads more granular changes and improvements coming to ESO in Update 49 in March and Season Zero a month later. Dragonknight players can go and test out the rework right now, which reimagines its skills lineup in order to make it feel more distinct versus other classes. New visual and sound effects have also been added to every single Dragonknight ability, with some also getting updated animations. It’s an extremely deep and comprehensive rework (check out this 5,000-word breakdown, if you don’t believe me) and similarly sized overhauls are planned for the Werewolf, Warden, and Sorcerer throughout the year.

But back to what’s on the PTS right now. Two new homes are available to peruse – the coastal retreat of Buccaneer Bay, and the “former bankvault” tied to the new Night Market zone called Night’s Den. Dozens of new furnishing items have been added as well, plus all houses (apart from existing Notable-tier homes) will now get access to more furnishing slots as standard for increased customization.

Fashionistas should also pay close attention to what’s on the PTS, as not only are outfit slots now account-wide, but a new feature has been added that lets you tweak your look even further. It’s been heavily requested for ages, but now you can finally hide more individual elements of your outfits, including gloves, boots, belt, pants, and chest pieces.

Among the dozens of other tweaks in the incredibly lengthy patch notes are the ability to upgrade your bag directly from the inventory menu, changes to Werewolf and Vampire questlines, free respeccing of skills and attributes, and a tripling of the cap for Transmute Crystals which are used to modify traits on armor pieces. There is so much in here that’ll help improve the ESO experience from a day-to-day perspective.

Some elements will be added to the test server at later dates – the Night Market, for example, debuts from next week onwards, and the new battle pass system arrives the week after that. But the majority of changes and features in Update 49 and Season Zero of The Elder Scrolls Online are on the PTS right now.

As a reminder of when everything hits the full game, Update 49 is slated to arrive on Monday, March 9, while Season Zero will kick off the new era of ESO on Monday, April 2. I’ll also be chatting to Zenimax devs later this week, so keep an eye out for what they have to say about some of the major changes being made and the community’s response to the new seasonal model.