Id suggest to buy extra charecter slots so you can have A. more inventory space B. can make more crafting writs and start making coin.

With gold you can buy the motifs you like and make your custom look. And unlocking the dyes of course.

The crates would be the last thing I would waste my crowns into.

But my suggestion does require effort and time of course.

If you ever think you will want to drop your sub but still dip your toes in, buy the dlcs outright when they go on sale.

It all depends on what you enjoy doing, really.

If you're constantly running around with a full inventory and carting around a bunch of gear for different things, the banker's a great choice. I've found the bankers are a bit more useful than the merchants since the bankers will let you store stuff to sell later, but the merchants won't really be a good source of storing stuff and getting it back. If you're running with a lot of groups or guildies though, they may be a bit less useful since usually everyone you run with will have one so all you need to do is ask and you can use theirs.

If you want to get money and/or farm stuff, more character slots would be the way to go. A lot of people will run daily quests for motifs or writs on multiple characters, and every additional character will increase your earnings. Of course, that can start to get really grindy after a while.

If you want to make your character look good, then you can look into the motifs or costumes in the store. Note that the 'Crown Crafting Motifs' are all available in game, either by daily quests or at guild traders (with the exception of 43: Grim Harlequin, 46: Frostcaster, and 53: Tsaesci, which are only available every so often and only from the crown store). I would not buy any of those motifs for crowns unless it's one that just dropped and you really really really want it. They're easy enough to get in game. Other cosmetics like the Outfit styles are normally only available in the store, so if you want it there's no other way to get it.

I would suggest against buying upgrades like meals, XP scrolls, research, riding lessons, etc. from the crown store. Those are so easy to get in game, so it's not that useful. Maybe for the riding lessons it does take a bit of time, but it's not super critical to anything until you've been playing long enough that you could have gotten it up by then anyway. Also the skill lines. Ditto to things like the storage chests, since you can get those for writ vouchers (if you like doing crafting writs) or Tel Var stones (if you like PvP in the Imperial City... or even just doing anything for the Whitestrake's Mayhem event we have twice a year).

I know some of my favorite things are character cosmetics like hairstyles and personalities - especially personalities. It really sets your character apart just to see them stand or move a different way from others. If you want something rogue-ish, the Thief personality is pretty good. There are few personalities available in game (Heroic and Assassin from just going to a Shadows of the Hist dungeon or the Gold Coast zone respectively, Telvanni Magister from completing the Sadrith Mora objective in Vvardenfell, or Beast and Worm Wizard from completing the hardmode/speedrun/nodeath achievements for March of Sacrifices or Fang Lair dungeons), but a lot are only available from the store.

I'm not as vehemently anti-crate as a lot of people here (even though I'd much prefer things to be sold outright instead of hidden in lootboxes), but I wouldn't go for crates unless you see something you absolutely want... and then realize that you're unlikely to get it randomly and you'll have to buy it with gems. Making a Twitch account and collecting the drops is a great way to get gems that you can use to buy crate goodies, and the endeavors are easy enough to stock up on as well. Some seasons have a lot of good stuff in them and then it's easier to justify getting some boxes since you'll be happy with most of the things, and when you can melt down the trash pots and excess rewards to get gems to buy the stuff you want. If there's a season that you don't care for a lot of the stuff, I'd suggest not buying anything and just getting the few things you want with gems. Maybe if the 15-pack goes on sale for ESO+ right before it leaves, but don't ever buy crates just hoping to roll that one rare thing you want... especially if it's an expensive mount or something.

Crate seasons switch every 13 weeks, and there'll usually be a datamine of most of the goodies that goes up when each update hits the test server (so we'll likely find out about the new things in the crate season after the Celestials around the end of January, and it should drop around mid March). Sometimes there'll also be a return of an old season for a week or two.

Just remember with the store that they've (unfortunately) decided that FOMO is the way to go. There's a good chance that you'll see people in game with some stuff you might like that may no loner be available and we can't tell when it'll come back around. I usually keep the homepage of the website bookmarked so I can check the showcase every month to see if there will be anything I want coming by.

Thank you so much everyone for valuable tips! I will hold off on those crates then. I will however not delve too deep into char slots as i am no longer the young spirited adventurer i once was. I want to avoid repetetitve tasks as much as i can (dungeons will b fine n fun) and the little time spent is precious, so ill rather focus on completing maps (-trials as i understand they require more coordination and these sets arnt really for pvp), checking out for good trader deals, and eventually getting an ok set for stam nightblade open world pvp - that should soothe my base mmorpg cravings.

save your crowns for now, and don't buy any bank/bag upgrade yet or you lose out on the level up free one(level 12 bag/ level 15 bank)sell every piece of gear you're not using to the merchants until you hit level 50 cp 160, or research them if you're doing crafting

I would consider the Starter Pack Adept if you're itching to spend some crowns, it's only 550 on sale, and you get some useful items(the horse training), the black horse looks way better than the freebie one, and you get a few costumes.

anyway, enjoy your time in the game!

winterscrolls229prerb18_ESO wrote: »

The bank assistant is the only functional thing that's saved countless time for me.

Agreed. The banker is the most bang for your buck.