10 years of eso, what is your best memory?

HowlKimchi

Old best memory was when I was starting to get good in non-vet cyrodiil and the pug zerg group leader passed the crown to me and people just followed me to fight the other pug zergs and siege keeps. Man what a rush that years ago. I think I was running a 2h / resto build back then when softcaps were a thing.

moderatelyfatman

I'm an old TES player, having started playing TES2: Daggerfall.

I came to this game at the start of Lockdown and played the game as a single player but then quickly discovered the community. Doing activities with other people was such a wonderful thing during those dark days.

So many good memories to share with friends.

FelisCatus

LostScot wrote: »

Cyrodiil stress test - 2000 players in a single instance all vying for victory in a 3-way mega battle. That was an incredibly exhilarating experience, and opened my eyes to the true capabilities of Zenimax's Megaserver architecture.

Makes you wonder what happened?

FelisCatus

My memory is the PTSD I suffered from Orryn the Black from 50 runs of having to hear his voiceline whilst trying to beat hardmode and no death on release. I even had nightmares about his haircut and have memorised the vast majority of his voicelines.

TaSheen

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

My fondest memory is of leaving Vvardenfell for the first time and running around Tamriel trying to see and do everything at once. I did all of the quests out of order because I didn't know any better, and I had a grand time doing it.

Yep. Exactly that.

Avran_Sylt

First time tanking for Hel Ra Citadel, getting Torug's+Infused nerfed so it can't reset enchants on a 1s CD (sad), and an odd introduction to a Cali meet in the late teens.

RedFireDisco

My first time beating a harvester when they where the hardest thing in the game to solo.

Wiping a zerg with bats ult and mercernary contracts

Completing Caldwell's triple

Eldartar

Launch Day after Beta and every day since. Still loving it.

VoidCommander

Meeting my wife in Crypt of Heart 2.

reazea

When ZOS had dedicated PvP devs who shared the original developers vision for the game.

furiouslog

VoidCommander wrote: »

Meeting my wife in Crypt of Heart 2.

This one wins!

VisitHammerfell

It's difficult to pick one specific best memory, I'd say my first vSS clear (1st vet trial as a healer), Flawless Conqueror (literally sobbed, never thought I'd get it), Spirit Slayer (also never thought I'd get it), hitting 100k+ on my main for the first time, and when I was new and about 180 cp during Witches Festival and some 1400 cp grouped with me and helped me kill all the Rivenspire world bosses (only had killed 2 at the time) are some of them.

Jaraal

24 person groups in Cyrodiil with population caps of hundreds per faction , without being stuck in combat after death or being kicked by lag and dying to bugs.

Ahhhh, the good old days. At least the memories remain.

derkaiserliche

The moment where i realised we can buy houses in the game and preview them while questing in the beginner islands

Bucky_13

Meeting my wife in Cyrodiil, it will always be my favorite zone thanks to her.

RomanRex

update 35 :-/

tinythinker

Here are a few of my own best memories involving ESO (sans some I probably forgot because I can be absent-minded from time to time) from the first five years. I posted them for that anniversary, and they still count even after another five years

Can't list them all, so it's a representative sample:

1. Being dead-set against testing or playing the game because it was an MMO, then deciding not to break my TES streak after having major surgery and being stuck at home for a while. Ironically I didn't get into testing until I was mostly recovered and the game was nearly ready to launch, so I practiced with some F2P MMOs and hung out at the Tamriel Foundry forums, where player testers were under NDA, so we all kept speculating about what combat was like or what certain abilities would actually do. We watched videos from the dev team at that time for clues, and I planned on making a dunmer DK because in each fantasy game I look for drow, dark elf, or the closest equivalent and make a character with a name I used in an old MUD. It was a really exciting time full of anticipation.

I was catching up on some older videos such as these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxJTsq2XeKY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDHa-77cy3I

And we were all watching the then-new ones like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJZv9nRfa2Y

As well as long-running series of super-brief videos called "Developer Question of the Week":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2lQ2Vin4Vs

And if you weren't hyped enough there were amazing songs like this from Malukah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwp8UxIY_iM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lPPNJCPHDY



2. Logging into the beta testing for the first time/first several hours of gameplay. A massive number of people helped test the game prior to launch, and many are still playing. I know that since the start of online games there's been a thing about vets, noobs, and seniority, but it doesn't mean much at all except for a head start in leveling and learning to play or having more memories (good and bad). I chose this as a top memory because (see memory #1). There was a lot of hype and anticipation, and I was finally getting to see and try it all for myself.

Now, I was still planning to only play the end of beta and not purchase the game. And on making a dunmer DK. But then I noticed how cool Argonians looked in character creation. I *never* played Argonian from Arena through Skyrim. Their racials didn't match my playstyle and they looked odd. But I loved their appearance in ESO, and I had an image of being a fire-breathing reptile, like a dragon or Godzilla. So I made Glides-Under-Starlight, my first character. And I logged in to a cinematic that dropped me into the Wailing Prison in Coldharbour. It was awesome, especially with a fellow Saxhleel opening my prison door. Being new, combat was harder (plus the game difficulty and combat system were a bit different then). But it was sooo fun.

My first plop from the sky into the sea was super-cool. Then I was on Bleakrock Isle, running around with other players, trying to figure out the most basic of basic things. And solving puzzles through notes, meeting fully voiced NPCs, etc. The game was super-clean. That is, no cp, no cash shop, no outfit system, most people without mounts (which only included a few horses anyway), etc. Just the starter zones for each Alliance, the five base-game zones for each Alliance, and overland Cyrodiil. It was very easy to get into and explore because it was very simple. The way that the story went, starting with attack on Bleak Rock, had this sense of urgency as you fled to Bal Foyen, with the same sense of urgency driving you forward as you then carried the warning to Stonefalls. That three zone sequence was and is an example of awesome story weaving across zones. I didn't finish all of Stonefalls in the beta, but I liked what I saw.

So I mean, storytelling, art assets, the music and sound effects, ability design, zone design/populating, NPC design, etc. I think I take a lot of it for granted now. Yes, I still stop to listen to songs or admire views from time to time, but my first time experiencing all of it was just so amazing.



3. The (early) early access launch day and the community atmosphere during the game's first months. I made to sure to log on to the now LIVE servers as soon as possible, and using poor quality screenshots I spent about an hour recreating Glides. When I started adventuring I was careful to make the same choices. I wanted it to be like a continuation of how was in the beta, just a continuation but with some of the oldest achievement dates slightly off. Once that was done, I was stoked to continue the journey. The questing, the exploration, meeting other players.

A lot of what is said about that time tends to be memories of bugs and broken quests or falling through the map into a bizarre nowhere space. And to be fair, reviewers like Angry Joe weren't wrong about a lot of the problems (many of which have since been resolved). That said, I still loved the game as it was then. Like when I accidentally dropped my Standard ult in a room where random people were questing and someone was like "WTF WAS THAT?" because apparently I had nearly given them a heart attack. They had started blocking and were looking around to see which mega-boss has just launched a nuclear assault on them.

And on the forums at that time (see #4 and #5 for more examples), while people did complain about issues (either bugs or the game not being exactly what they had imagined in their minds), there was still a lot of excitement and positive energy. There were some old series ZOS did (now replaced) for website or forum posts that were deemed particularly useful. The series (Adventurer's Handbook, The Tamriel Chronicle and The Tamriel Town Crier) were a fun means of community engagement. After they were discontinued they seemed to vanish from the ESO website for a while, but they are back again with the rest of the older material. Humble brag (like really, I mean, as in nothing to really brag about - not the usual meaning of obliquely referencing your own achievements by way of false humility), I was even featured a couple of times (Adventurer's Handbook Issue #3 and Issue #6). Which shows just how desperate they were for content at that time! They also had a few contests for writing (Tales of the Dead) and Orienteering, and even other regular article series like Battlemaster's Corner and Guild Spotlight).

It *was* a fun time for many of us to be in the game. So if there's ever a Vanilla ESO server, I'm reserving my place at the start of the line now. (Then I'll get be disappointed because you can't go home again but it will still be cool.)



4. Cyrodiil in spring and summer of 2014. This is kind of an extension of #3 but calling out more specific things that made good memories.

It was a really fun time. You can always complain about balance and what not, and not everyone liked the 90 day campaigns, but the energy was very different. And even though I was an anonymous soldier, I miss many of the personalities from that time. I recall the technique, for example, one DC raid leader developed using the old style forward camps in which people would just rez over and over to try to break the defenders. Or some really massive and long battles, like holding Bleakers for nearly two hours. Or more personal moments like this (which I believe happened right after the infamous lighting patch):

I tried logging onto Cyrodiil amidst all of the lag and s-s-s-l-l-l-o-o-o-w-w-w... l-l-l-o-o-o-a-a-d-d-i-i-i-n-n-g-g-g graphics... which at times resembled a slide slow presentation:

I saw a slide of allies ahead of me engaging the enemy...

*click*

A slide of my allies dying...

*click*

A slide of being surrounded by hostile forces...

*click*

A slide of me trying to run away while spamming heals....

*click*

A slide of over a dozen goblins fighting for the Pact rushing in to turn the tide...

At that point graphics improved slightly and I followed the merry band of goblins to the next battle where I lost track of them.

5. Puns (2014) and armchair devs (2014-15) on the forums. This is also kind of an extension of #3 but again calling out more specific things that made good memories.

Puns were briefly a thing...

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/1152684/#Comment_1152684 (from this comment and then several more in that thread)
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/126074/wow-a-new-update-comes-out/p1
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/138026/so-a-new-update-comes-out
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/135400/guar-dian-of-tamriel-achievement

There are a few others I can't find, not all started by yours truly

And yes people still do arm-chair development on the forums but it was different then because (see #2) the game was so clean, a blank slate waiting for new content, themes, mechanics, etc. Speculation was wide open, and there was a small group that would tag each other as we used possible game ideas as a form of creative expression. And even now there are so many great old ideas other people had (and one or two maybe of my own) I would love to see in some form. For a sample of the kind of things and sheer volume of things people proposed and argued about at the time, look at this post. And he stopped posting a long time ago. I have something like that but it is not complete/updated and even if it were it's not nearly as impressive. So yeah, that kind of atmosphere to play around in was really fun.




6. Getting Shadowfen Adventurer. Huh? Yeah, some quests had been removed from earlier versions of the game before launch and we were all scouring the swamp to get enough quest completions for this. It was a thing. Achieved (for the first time) on April 11th, 2014, baby! Though it didn't show up then. Hrrska-Set getting it on May 26th was the first time I actually saw the notification pop on-screen after they dropped the required number of quests to 51.




7. Completing the quest "The Final Assault" with a bunch of other players whose characters were also naked and jumping repeatedly to their deaths. Can't find a video but I know one used to exist showing a room full of people all naked and jumping to their deaths in-game. Just these which show people starting to learn the "unequip everything first" method:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRkGivTJUWo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb8xzU9wvww

Sure many people were angry about this quest, and there were many bugs or developer choices or other issues that people were legitimately upset over, but some of them like this one or the brief hyper-tuning of veteran mobs incident make me smile.



8. The early community influencers. There are too many to name, and I won't be able to do them all justice. For reference, I am thinking of when people like Deltia, Eloa Wendy, Sypher PK, etc. were showing off the game, giving advice, etc. on YouTube and Twitch. Please feel free to add the many, many more names I'm leaving out.



9. Fun guild events. Some of the guilds I was/still am in (who are no longer really active) used to explore everything, and another had scavenger hunts and themed screenshot contests. These were a nice change of pace from questing and PvP.



10. The original Natch Potes meme threads for big releases. Which, if anyone cares to continue the tradition (I'm sometimes at work now and miss it), should always start with this meme:



This next one also became traditional, and even though the AOE caps bit is dated, it is still considered an acceptable addition to the above meme:





11. Ten days in Blackwater Blade (February 2015). That's the old name for the Under-50 Cyrodiil campaign. I had made a Breton Sorc as my second character in April of 2014, but by level 7 I was convinced it was a weak, stupid class so it became a storage alt. In December 2014/January 2015 calls went out for people to roll DC because of perpetual low campaign pops. So I dusted off Bentallious Rov, took him to 10, then took him to Cyro where I gathered all non-delve, non-gated skyshards and lorebooks in February. How many skill lines/abilities worked and how stats were balanced was different in BB than current campaigns, and I had several days off after getting the shards and books. So I figured I would practice PvP by leveling totally in Cyrodiil.

My first day of actual PvP someone saw me and invited me to an under-50 PvP guild. I was only trying to have fun, but I happened to be there right as the campaign turned over. I shot to the top of the leader board and then stretched out a huge lead. The guild did try an Emp push but there weren't enough people on to get all the ring keeps. Still, I had tons of fun. It was the only time I have ever been "good" in PvP on a regular basis. Going to a vet campaign was a bad time.

I did, though, have a moment on the same toon in 2016. A couple of people tried to ambush me. My record for 1v1 or 1vX in Cyrodiil or Imperial City is 1-793 (or some other suitably large number). See that one win? That was after the ambush. Not even sure what I did. It was autopilot mixed with supreme frustration. Within a few seconds they were both dust. So, that's my big PvP moment



12. Loremaster (Emeritus) Lawrence Schick sacrifices a mudcrab on ESO Live. Bonus, it features Jason Leavey ("the Hair") when he was still part of the ESO community team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z9QFikr0L4




13. New content release days! Some of the biggest hype/fondest memories leading up to day one of content -- second half of Craglorn, Imperial City, Orsinium, and Morrowind (Vvardenfell). This isn't about which actual content is better or worse or similar comparisons, more of the level of anticipation and enthusiasm I experienced leading up and day one of the release.

This includes getting the package for the physical collector's edition for Morrowind!

https://twitter.com/tinythinker/status/872226617724194816

14. The rise of new community influencers. Again, no way to remotely be fair or cover everyone, with a few names drawn out of hat including Ninja614, Tea the Khajiit, and Fengrush. It's good to see the community continuing to grow and evolve.




15. Bonus track.

Most of us weren't there, but we definitely won't forget this amazing magic trick...

https://twitter.com/thefinninator/status/1096590235037777925

Again, this is just a small sample of a few highlights.

Thanks to ZOS and the ESO community for these memories and those yet to be made!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F24BWfvPXNE

dk_dunkirk

That time I quit for a year and a half, before getting dragged back in my IRL friends who quit again a few months later.

jtm1018

Its been that long?
Just casually enjoying the game.
Nothing worthy of remembering it though.