First Time ESO player

AruseneLupin

So first off I wanna say that I had my apprehensions coming into this game. It's an MMO and an Elder Scrolls game, something that doesn't really work in my mind. From Morrowind to Skyrim It's always been a exploration based solo RPG experience for the most part. MY MIND HAS CHANGED. I put thousands of hours into Morrowind, half that into Oblivion, and even less into Skyrim. Sounds strange putting it like that but this is my point.

I've been losing my interest in this series. It seems like the graphics get better but the game play becomes more simplified. Yeah sure combat has come along way from that horrible hit detection in Morriwind. Cliff Racers...I hate Cliff Racers. I know hardcore Skyrim fans will disagree with me but that game felt completely barren in comparison to Morrowind, it was dull and uninspiring. Sorry Bethesda! One color Pallet to rule them all. Mods really were the entire reason I even played it. But with ESO it seems we've gone back to what made this series great. Pure exploration: a huge variety of areas to explore each unique and dripping in atmosphere. Heavy emphasis on RPG elements that aren't as "mainstreamed" as your typical new age action RPG. A fantastic story with characters that I actually care about. RAZUM-DAR FTW!

The strangest thing about it? The MMO parts, for me at least, enhance this experience, especially with One Tamriel. Literally after that opening, which was incredible, you're given free reign. Which is kind of what the other games did, but with this it just feels more open, it's almost overwhelming. Watching other players run around in the cities and all over the map, it makes this world feel more alive. Maybe more so than the series has ever felt.

I'm excited to be playing this game, I'm subscribed, and plan to put in the time. I finally for the first time since Morriwind, feel like I'm home again. Thank you Zenimax, thank you Bethesda for letting them make this game. Honestly, you don't need to make Elders Scrolls 6, get into this with Zenimax because this is the future of the series. What do you guys think? I'm interested on how veteran players and newbies like me think of this game! Good or bad, lets discuss!

SirAndy

Holy wall of text! Paragraphs save posts ...

AruseneLupin

Yeah sorry my bad haha the excitement may have gotten to me

CapnPhoton

I think at least in the beginning a lot of the issues came from people thinking it was going to be exactly like the single player games...only with other people running around. But once you realize that it is an MMO where things are a bit different, you will find its one of the best.

LulzSec

AruseneLupin

Yeah honestly it just surprised me I wasn't expecting just how much the MMO aspect would improve on the Elder Scrolls formula. I'm absolutely hooked more so than I've been in a long time for this series.

Also, I can tell that my "Wall Of Text" isn't pleasing to some. Honestly this is my first time posting in a forum and I wasn't thinking. Just pouring out my excitement haha For those of you who didn't read I'll condense this. I love this game! I think Zenimax Online out performed Bethesda (no doubt they provided some help, but still). I believe they've brought back what I love about the series and improved on it simultaneously.

Rouven

By the power of edit!

Welcome and enjoy your stay.

Glaiceana

This was a nice read I am glad you are enjoying it so far!
Is this your first mmo by the way? I played only a little of Guild Wars 2 before this, so I feel ESO is technically my first one, at least the one I got the hang of and played so many hours in. And now its one of my favourite games, and that's saying something considering how many I've played and like

Elsonso

AruseneLupin wrote: »

So first off I wanna say that I had my apprehensions coming into this game. It's an MMO and an Elder Scrolls game, something that doesn't really work in my mind. From Morrowind to Skyrim It's always been a exploration based solo RPG experience for the most part. MY MIND HAS CHANGED.

...

I know hardcore Skyrim fans will disagree with me but that game felt completely barren in comparison to Morrowind, it was dull and uninspiring. Sorry Bethesda! One color Pallet to rule them all. Mods really were the entire reason I even played it.

...

Watching other players run around in the cities and all over the map, it makes this world feel more alive. Maybe more so than the series has ever felt. I'm excited to be playing this game, I'm subscribed, and plan to put in the time.

Welcome to ESO!

I was playing Skyrim SE over the weekend. Without any mods. Two things jumped out at me. First is that the whole place is just grey. I know this is the general mountany north location that drives this, but those Nords have no interest in color. They are as drab as their province. This is why I prefer the Rift. Second, there is no one around. I was reminded that I install companion mods just to make it feel like someone else is round. The Inns are largely empty. There is usually no one out on the roads but me and bandits. The whole game of Skyrim is tragically empty.

ESO feels alive as much as Skyrim feels dead.

Rune_Relic

Truth is this game has been pulled left and right between MMO fans and ES fans.
Its is now something unique with its own identity.....rewriting the rule book.
It is neither ....and yet ....it is both.
And long may it continue.

The game is beginning to understand itself now and stand on its own two feet.
They are beginning to understand what works and what doesnt with its split personality playerbase.
They've got the story writing down.
They've got the world building, audio and graphics down.
They've got the animations down.
They've got the weather and atmospherics down.
There beginning to get a grasp on a framework for content.
Even balancing is improving overall even if its is 5 steps forward 2 steps back a lot of the time.

Yes ..the game is half way there I think...and hopefully all downhill from here.

AruseneLupin

Wow the power of editing is fantastic and difficult to see! It's a very small button that is easily missed haha Though, thanks for the tip Rouven!

Thanks Glaiceana! This isn't technically my first MMO, I played FF14 for about 200 hours or so. A pretty good game that I got fairly good at and eventually burnt out on. It's very restrictive and more grind heavy. I usually don't mind that but FF took it to the next level haha

This game feels wildly different from that, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit more I'm happy that you're enjoying it as much as I am! I'm going to be obsessing over this game for quite a while haha Hope to see you in the game, maybe we can run some delves or something together!

I completely agree lordrichter! Skyrim sadly was a ball drop for Bethesda :0 Everything is plain, boring, empty, and it's really just depressing actually. I really hope they use this game as reference if they ever make another main line game. Which honestly they don't even need to do haha

AruseneLupin

Sounds like you've been playing for quite awhile Rune_Relic. It's good to have insight from a Vet on just how the game has changed and evolving! Thanks for the comment! Very Informative

Rouven

I personally think it's a nice blend from what I've seen so far. One misses the potential sweetroll avalanche but so be it.
Only thing that rubs me a bit is the inventory juggling mini-game. Hopefully that will get better while I max out the space available.

Other than that I totally plan to enjoy the ride myself and pace myself to listen to the nice voice-over and embrace the stories.

AruseneLupin

I was actually impressed by the voice talent in this game! If you have a chance check out the list, some heavy hitters in there

The story immeadiatly gripped me and I'm also taking my time. The pacing is spot on and you're really given room to breath and take it all in.

Are you subscribed to eso plus? Inventory at first bothered me, but that bottomless material bag you get from plus is mindblowingly handy! Makes things easier haha Not to mention having access to all dlc, steady flow of crowns, exp boost, it's totally worth it.

Rouven

Since I can't pass a dandelion without picking it up it unless there is a horde of angry mobs after me it would not work for me without the subscription *lol

AruseneLupin

Yeah inventory management without plus was a nightmare, good on you for having it haha Though you reminded me about one thing I find just a tad bothersome and that is the crafting nodes, is there a sure fire way to know where those will spawn? Iron ore, oak wood, etc.

Stoopid_Nwah

I feel the same for the most part (in the sense that I was becoming a bit disinterested as the series progressed). Morrowind was and will always be my favourite minus the screeching of cliffracers and the OPness of those rats when you first start out clueless while trying to help the pillow lady.

I love the exploration in eso, the variety of landscapes and NPCS, and the social elements, but I wouldn't hate for it to be a bit more difficult quest wise. I miss being told to follow a road to a mountain and then west to a cave and etc...rather than being handed a quest marker. It forced me to pay attention to what people said and re-read the journal entries if I was lost. The immersion was real.

Also glass armour from Morrowind. I know some won't agree, but I want that back.

Rune_Relic

Iron you would find around rocks/mountains
Wood you would find near forests, trees and on beaches funny enough.
Often you will find squirrels and such hanging around wood....butterflies around alchemy nodes.

But that was when every material type had a time and a place.
I hope ZOS realises what they have done.

Elsonso

Rune_Relic wrote: »

Truth is this game has been pulled left and right between MMO fans and ES fans.
Its is now something unique with its own identity.....rewriting the rule book.
It is neither ....and yet ....it is both.
And long may it continue.

The game is beginning to understand itself now and stand on its own two feet.
They are beginning to understand what works and what doesnt with its split personality playerbase.
They've got the story writing down.
They've got the world building, audio and graphics down.
They've got the animations down.
They've got the weather and atmospherics down.
There beginning to get a grasp on a framework for content.
Even balancing is improving overall even if its is 5 steps forward 2 steps back a lot of the time.

Yes ..the game is half way there I think...and hopefully all downhill from here.

Yeah, you can definitely say that ESO is an Elder Scrolls MMO Stretch Armstrong.

Stoopid_Nwah wrote: »

I love the exploration in eso, the variety of landscapes and NPCS, and the social elements, but I wouldn't hate for it to be a bit more difficult quest wise. I miss being told to follow a road to a mountain and then west to a cave and etc...rather than being handed a quest marker. It forced me to pay attention to what people said and re-read the journal entries if I was lost.

I will agree that the trend in ZOS and Bethesda Game Studio games to grab you by the hand and drag you to your quest objective can get somewhat patronizing. There ain't much mystery about where you need to go, that is for sure. The rare time when I do need to know, I am so used to standing there waiting for the game to tell me that it takes a while to realize that I need to actually figure something out.

AruseneLupin

Morrowind FTW! I really do hate cliff racers! And the DOOM RATS, thats what i called them haha I wanna see Balmora again, hope that's a DLC in the future! You're right about that, the days where quest markers were using your own brain to decipher clues to locations and such, that was pretty amazing! I will say this game handles it better than Skyrim even if it's just alittle less hand holding.

I think that's why I'm reminded of Morrowind while playing this I mean we still have markers but there is a ton off the beaten path that you can find through notes or even just stumbling upon it. And the variety is the killer app, so many areas, so much exploration! Not just snow, snow, ice cave, samey ruin 105 haha

And yeah Rune_Relic I kind of gathered those locations as likely areas haha it just seems a bit random, wish there was like treasure maps or mining fields. I don't want hand holding markers but just a general area. I'd take cool down spawns for materials if they actually had designated areas for them, without that it's very time consuming.

I won't complain though, at least the crafting is hella fun haha

Elsonso

AruseneLupin wrote: »

Morrowind FTW! I really do hate cliff racers! And the DOOM RATS, thats what i called them haha I wanna see Balmora again, hope that's a DLC in the future! You're right about that, the days where quest markers were using your own brain to decipher clues to locations and such, that was pretty amazing! I will say this game handles it better than Skyrim even if it's just alittle less hand holding.

I think that's why I'm reminded of Morrowind while playing this I mean we still have markers but there is a ton off the beaten path that you can find through notes or even just stumbling upon it. And the variety is the killer app, so many areas, so much exploration! Not just snow, snow, ice cave, samey ruin 105 haha

And yeah Rune_Relic I kind of gathered those locations as likely areas haha it just seems a bit random, wish there was like treasure maps or mining fields. I don't want hand holding markers but just a general area. I'd take cool down spawns for materials if they actually had designated areas for them, without that it's very time consuming.

I won't complain though, at least the crafting is hella fun haha

Data mining suggests that Vvardenfell is coming. We just do not know when. Balmora is part of the stuff data mined.

Cliff racers can be found in Stonefalls, but they are the more peaceful and passive variety that do not attack. They just fly around. As much as I hate them in Morrowind (I modded them), they had better be the nasty ones when they drop Vvardenfell into the game. It would not be the same if they were all peaceful, and stuff.

AruseneLupin

I'm almost getting the hang of this forum posting stuff just by noticing how you guys do things XD
Silly question, I hit the quote button but it doesn't show up like yours did. How does that work? Total noob haha

This is really exciting news and I hope we do get Vvardenfell, that would seriously make this my favorite game
I'll have to check out the cliff racers in stonefalls, though peaceful and passive doesn't due them justice at all :0
Give us some angry mobs Zenimax haha

Stoopid_Nwah

AruseneLupin wrote: »

I'm almost getting the hang of this forum posting stuff just by noticing how you guys do things XD
Silly question, I hit the quote button but it doesn't show up like yours did. How does that work? Total noob haha

This is really exciting news and I hope we do get Vvardenfell, that would seriously make this my favorite game
I'll have to check out the cliff racers in stonefalls, though peaceful and passive doesn't due them justice at all :0
Give us some angry mobs Zenimax haha

You hit quote on the post you wish to quote and it'll show up in your post box. Then just type your message below it if you want to cut pieces out you can, just make sure it starts with [ quote="username;xxxxxxx" ] and ends with [ /quote ]. For tagging someone you just do @ their name. A drop down menu should pop up for you to find them easier!

And there are treasure maps in the game! They just give a picture of the scenery too, so they can be a bit challenging to find. Unfortunately the loot isn't all that great from them .

AruseneLupin

Stoopid_Nwah wrote: »

You hit quote on the post you wish to quote and it'll show up in your post box. Then just type your message below it if you want to cut pieces out you can, just make sure it starts with [ quote="username;xxxxxxx" ] and ends with [ /quote ]. For tagging someone you just do @ their name. A drop down menu should pop up for you to find them easier!

And there are treasure maps in the game! They just give a picture of the scenery too, so they can be a bit challenging to find. Unfortunately the loot isn't all that great from them .

Thanks I appreciate the help! Ah I wish the loot was better, but still that's awesome that they are even in the game! I'll try to get one and test it out!

Concenaros

Gotta say it's nice to see a positive post on a forum filled with complaints.

I for one have just returned to ESO full-time and I intend to finally take 1 character to 50 and play through the DLC.

I recently found that ESO atmosphere-wise is the best MMO around. Zenimax has taken the TES IP and made sure that they've done it as much justice as they could. I've been paying attention to the subtle things in-game lately and have been noticing that they nailed the fact that this is the world of TES.

That alone has brought me back deeper in to the game and is going to keep me coming back. I just purchased to Guilds and Glory pack from the store and I cannot wait to try them out. There's hundreds of hours of content that I can play now.

Even though ESO has some tech issues, bugs and other issues to sort out. It really is one of the best MMOs currently available on the market and it will continue to be, because Zenimax works hard to listen to its community and change things as fast as they possibly can. I can't wait for the next DLC announcement and housing.

Anyhow I'm rambling on now, good on you OP. Thanks for brightening up this place.