The Elder Scrolls Online receives a major update on PC today, introducing the One Tamriel feature first revealed at E3.
As Bethesda puts it, this update "delivers the freedom gamers expect from all great Elder Scrolls games--more self-determination and playing options for veteran players and new players alike." This starts with allowing players to freely explore the entire game world, making it so that everywhere you visit scales appropriately to the level of your character. All that's required for this is completion of the tutorial; once you've done that, you can go wherever you wish.
Another change that opens things up is removing restrictions on alliances. Previously, players chose an alliance when creating their character, and this would serve as a sort of barricade. Now, players can group up with anyone regardless of alliance, which should make it easier to find people to join up with to complete quests or dungeons.
Other changes include the ability to duel other players anywhere outside Cyrodiil; adjustments to loot so that it's standardized across zones, letting you go to specific places to get certain things; and tweaks to Craglorn to make it more solo-friendly. Bethesda has also redesigned every zone "for a mix of solo and group __play with improved bosses and standardized difficulty" and introduced a system that lets players of different levels take part in dungeons together.
All of this is available now in the PC version of the game, while the PS4 and Xbox One versions will receive the free update on October 18.
Finally, Bethesda is marking the update's release with a giveaway that will send winners to real-life locations, the choices for which are inspired by in-game locations. To enter, you only need to __play the game between now and December 16 and then register at the official website.