Usually when you hear about “stealing” and “free games” it’s about pirating games, so it’s refreshing to see developers like Bethesda and ZeniMax rewarding players with free content for their crimes.
In celebration of the 10-year anniversary of The Elder Scrolls Online, players can log in between Monday, April 15 and April 29 and claim the full Thieves Guild DLC for free by completing one single objective. That objective is to earn the Pocket Picker achievement by pickpocketing any NPC.
Once you pickpocket someone and earn the achievement, or if you’ve already unlocked the achievement and progressed it to a higher level, you can acquire the Thieves Guild DLC from the Crown Store. Players with the Thieves Guild DLC can access the Hew’s Bane zone, the Thieves Guild and its questline, and a Thieves Guild skill line. Completing the Hew’s Bane Cave Delver achievement by defeating both cave bosses in Hew’s Bane also provides a free mount.
To pickpocket an NPC, you just need to sneak behind them, and you will be given a prompt to pickpocket them as well as a percentage noting your chances of success. Even if you successfully pickpocket the NPC without them noticing, you can still be busted by another NPC watching you. Armor and skills that increase your Sneak capabilities are very helpful, and if you complete your task, the Thieves Guild skill line has even more beneficial skills if you want to keep pickpocketing.
The 10th anniversary celebration this month will carry into the launch of the next expansion/chapter in June, Gold Road. 10 years is worth celebrating for the creators of the Elder Scrolls MMO; the developers wisely pivoted away from a WoW-like subscription model to a single purchase system within a year of releasing. Between its microtransactions and expansions, the game has made $2 billion and reached at least 24 million players across 10 years.
