Tips for a brand new player?

ChloeWilde

Hi there! I am a lifelong Elder Scrolls player, right up until the Online beta. Since then I’ve graduated and started full-time work, so I haven’t had time to game as much as I'd like; let alone maintain a subscription. But I was given the Imperial Edition for Christmas, and so I'm going to start again tonight!

I’m looking forward to playing an Imperial, but I’m undecided on class. Traditionally I’ve always tanked in other RPGs and MMOs; Charr in Guild Wars 2, Dwarf in LotRO, Orc in Skyrim. Do you have any tips for me starting out? Thank you for your help!

Lord Xanhorn

Roll a Dragon Knight unless you have aspirations of healing...If you do, Templar is the best choice for flexibility for all 3 roles.

Biggest advice, take it slow. Don't rush to end game. enjoy the journey, listen to the quests, craft, and explore. If you grind or rush to the end game, you'll get bored and get burnt out.

Nestor

See these threads, they have some good info in there to chew on

First, don't skip the starter islands and some combat tips:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/comment/1552039/

Economy and other matters

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/151080/just-a-few-questions-from-a-new-player

Crafting and when to start being serious about it

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/149386/crafting-for-a-templar

TehMagnus

Grind to max level ASAP else you'll be behind on Champion Points and will never be able to catch up.

Athas24

I'd have to echo some of what's been said here as well. Enjoy the game, listen to the stories and make some friends/join a guild of like minded players to increase your fun!

Haxnschwammer

Ignore people like TehMagnus, I hope he gets banned again soon.
Take the game slowly, try different things. Explore! Skyshards grant skill points, almost every visited location grants XP.
Lot of people skipped content and used exploits to get to max level as fast as possible. Then they complaint about that there is no content...
Don't take this game too serious. Try to find a guild early.
Think about using Add-Ons. They are easy to get and depending on what you want they can be really helpfull.

Don't be afraid to experiment with skills. If it turns out to be crap, you still can reset all points, allthough that costs money.

You have the imperial edition? Buy horses for just 1 gold! Use them. Horses can be trained for more speed, stamina or capacity. For a beginner more bag space is the best. Bank and inventory upgrades can be quite expensive...

If you want to be a tank later(in early levels this doesn't really matter) you might want to roll a dragonknight or templar. Templar seem to be the next big thing, whereas DKs now are the top of the food chain. And templer are the best healers if you want a second job.


Oh, and don't be afraid to use zone chat to ask. Many people will help you in game.

Snit

In addition to the above tips, one hint about maximizing the imperial race. You will have an excellent stamina pool, and you'll eventually be able to regen health in combat by hitting things with melee. While any race can play any class and style, you should consider the following:

- Melee
- Tanking is going to be a mix of Heavy (for protection) and Medium Armor (for stamina regeneration)
- Your key attributes will be stamina and health
- Any class will work. DK will have an edge for tanking, though
- Your best damage skills may come from the weapon line (Dual Wield, Bow, 2-Hander, Sword and Board), rather than the class skill lines

Finally, do the quests, and listen to the voice-overs. If you appreciate well written and acted content, TESO is an excellet RPG. If you're the sort who just clicks through quest text, then follows the arrows on the map... well, you can do that in TESO, but you're missing the part of the game where the spent all the budget And they did a really good job with it.

Tomg999

Go to the starter islands.
Go to the guild traders, don't buy much stuff from vendors
join a trading guild to sell stuff (at the bank) that don't you want/use
Hunt skyshards
Walk around and explore
Have fun

Haxnschwammer

Ohoh, nearly forgot... Eso is going to be F2P, or B2P. For me there is hardly any difference. But if you haven't read about it yet: No subscrption needed after mid march. Instead we get a cash shop with some good and some bad stuff. Depends on your taste. There is a white wedding dress you can wear over your armor and ride a guar.

FrostixX

Hi, I'm a brand new player like you, started the game 3 days ago as a Nighblade. I'm currently lvl 18 and I did a big mistake in my character's orientation. I only focused on one skill tree : the assassination one, and I just didn't touch to the other ones. Don't do that, take the most interesting abilities you have from each tree to put them on your 5 ability skill bar + ult.
Look for a guild ASAP, they will help you and sometimes give you mats and resources in order to craft your gear.

Good luck

NiobiuMmm

I played Guild Wars 2 too. You played as a charr i think you love orc dk because orcs have nice defense but you can also play nord race too. If you want pure tank orcs will be best with mostly heavy armor and few medium too. Its really rock hard.

Tandor

My advice?

Benefit from the valuable tips already given here, then don't visit the forum again !

Far too much negativity, and little of it justified.

Jeremy

ChloeWilde wrote: »

Hi there! I am a lifelong Elder Scrolls player, right up until the Online beta. Since then I’ve graduated and started full-time work, so I haven’t had time to game as much as I'd like; let alone maintain a subscription. But I was given the Imperial Edition for Christmas, and so I'm going to start again tonight!

I’m looking forward to playing an Imperial, but I’m undecided on class. Traditionally I’ve always tanked in other RPGs and MMOs; Charr in Guild Wars 2, Dwarf in LotRO, Orc in Skyrim. Do you have any tips for me starting out? Thank you for your help!

Become self-sufficient. That's the best advice anyone can give you because this game has a poorly constructed economy that isn't dependable.

The Guild Traders rarely sell anything relevant to the actual areas they appear. For example: all of the ones I checked today were selling veteran rank gear in a level 30ish zone. Not to mention you can't even sell to them which makes them nearly useless to a new player.

Start guild-hopping early. Every time you see a trading guild advertised in zone chat make sure you join it and try it out. You might get lucky and find one that actually buys your stuff and if you do that will help you out a lot. But don't ever count on that being the case.

Also: don't repair your gear. It's way too expensive. Just craft yourself new gear as your older gear deteriorates.

And as others have said: take the time to explore and find everything. The extra skill points and gold from quests will help you keep your character up to par. Not to mention it's a lot of fun - which is the point of a video game.

Rev Rielle

TehMagnus wrote: »

Grind to max level ASAP else you'll be behind on Champion Points and will never be able to catch up.

This is rubbish.

Don't listen to such players that seem to judge their enjoyment, character's worth and what they 'should' be doing based on everyone else in game. Take your time and enjoy playing the way you like.

You only get to experience new things for the first time in-game once, so make the most of it. As others have said; take your time, don't take it too seriously and have fun. It's a game, try not to loose sight of that.

ChloeWilde

Thank you so much to everyone for taking the time to respond. I checked the forums today after a fun Friday night of completing the tutorial and exploring Daggerfall, and I'm blown away! I can't believe how great this community is.

Lord Xanhorn wrote: »

Roll a Dragon Knight unless you have aspirations of healing...If you do, Templar is the best choice for flexibility for all 3 roles.

Haxnschwammer wrote: »

Templar seem to be the next big thing, whereas DKs now are the top of the food chain. And templer are the best healers if you want a second job.

Great advice! I chose a Templar because I'm likely to try out an Orc Dragonknight tank in a different faction (I'm in Daggerfall now, but I was lucky enough to be given the pre-order edition) and I wanted a more well-rounded character as an Imperial. I play support mains in RTS games like DotA 2, so being able to tank and heal really appeals to me. I might try out Nightblade to have a character in each faction. Are we able to visit all of the areas with any character, or are we restricted by faction?

Nestor wrote: »

See these threads, they have some good info in there to chew on

These links are all fantastic. I can't thank you enough for your advice.

Haxnschwammer wrote: »

Think about using Add-Ons. They are easy to get and depending on what you want they can be really helpfull.

I've heard about add-ons and seen the facility for them in-game, but I wouldn't know where to start. I've seen some great screencaps from people using add-on UIs to keep track of their crafting and other information. Please could somebody point me in the right direction?

Snit wrote: »

Finally, do the quests, and listen to the voice-overs. If you appreciate well written and acted content, TESO is an excellet RPG. If you're the sort who just clicks through quest text, then follows the arrows on the map... well, you can do that in TESO, but you're missing the part of the game where the spent all the budget And they did a really good job with it.

I am so glad somebody mentioned this, because I am definitely that person. My favourite genre is RPGs, and I still haven't completed Skyrim as I'm determined to listen to every story and complete every quest. Oblivion took me years! ESO definitely seems like the type of game to feed the completionist in me.

Haxnschwammer wrote: »

Ohoh, nearly forgot... Eso is going to be F2P, or B2P. For me there is hardly any difference. But if you haven't read about it yet: No subscrption needed after mid march. Instead we get a cash shop with some good and some bad stuff. Depends on your taste. There is a white wedding dress you can wear over your armor and ride a guar.

I will definitely join ESO+, thank you! I'm a sucker for vanity items.

Jeremy wrote: »

Start guild-hopping early. Every time you see a trading guild advertised in zone chat make sure you join it and try it out. You might get lucky and find one that actually buys your stuff and if you do that will help you out a lot. .

I'm usually a self-sufficient solo player in MMOs, but a lot of people are telling me to hit the guilds in ESO. Where is the best place to find a guild that's right for me? As an Imperial and a self-confessed gold hoarder, I'm more inclined to join a mercantile guild that will align to my interests and RP character. Thank you so much again for all of your help!

Alphashado

There is a popular addon manager called Minion. http://minion.mmoui.com/
Carefully read and follow the instructions and once that is installed, ESO addons are very simple to use and update. There are a ton of them that are very helpful and useful (if you are interested) to help you find skyshards, lore books, track your DPS and healing etc.

Join a good trading guild. There is no auction house in ESO. The closest thing you have to that is a guild store. ESO Guilds can have up to 500 people, so a good, active trading guild will make it much easier for you to sell your wares. If you are interested, you can send me an in-game mail @Alphashado and I can invite you to a good trading guild. There are several good ones out there.

Loot, gather, and plunder. Crafting mats sell for very well or can be used of course for leveling up your own crafting skills. Crafted gear isn't really a money maker, but you can craft yourself or friends some really nice gear that will make your lvling experience a little easier the first time though. And the fastest way to make gold as a new player is to sell crafting mats or kills stuff like crazy and sell all your loot to the vendors once you have a full bag.

Don't go crazy investing your skill points into new skills. Find a couple good combos that work for you and stick with them at first. You will have plenty of time later to experiment with new skills when you have skill points to spare. This approach is easier on your wallet then investing every skill point you have and paying gold to respec your skills all the time.

Once you have a bunch of skill points to spare, you can start choosing other options and leveling them up. You do not have to use these skills in order to level them up though, as you can simply put them on your 2condary bar and switch to that bar when you turn in quests.

TehMagnus

Haxnschwammer wrote: »

QQ and useless advice

If you take your time like many people here are suggesting like the hater above, you will never be able to compete in PVP and PVE when you reach max level because with the new system people will be too far ahead (you can read about this in the posts that speak of the strength difference between people who have X an Y Champion Points).

If you want to be competitive, best thing to do is grind to max level as quickly as possible before the game changes(there are guides you can find on the web to do this depending on the alliance you're in) you get to level 50 in about 16h of grinding depending on your alliance and then it takes like 4 days of spellscar grinding to get to max VR level.

Once you're at max level, you can go back & do the solo content (which scales to your level and the questing with an alt character). It's IMO the best thing to do, especially since the questing and solo part of the game will allways be available to you as part of the B2P package.

PM me if you need the guides I spoke of above depending on the alliance you're in

Morshire

ChloeWilde wrote: »

Hi there! I am a lifelong Elder Scrolls player, right up until the Online beta. Since then I’ve graduated and started full-time work, so I haven’t had time to game as much as I'd like; let alone maintain a subscription. But I was given the Imperial Edition for Christmas, and so I'm going to start again tonight!

I’m looking forward to playing an Imperial, but I’m undecided on class. Traditionally I’ve always tanked in other RPGs and MMOs; Charr in Guild Wars 2, Dwarf in LotRO, Orc in Skyrim. Do you have any tips for me starting out? Thank you for your help!

So, then you will be able to appreciate the comparison to LOTRO here:

DK - Guard.
Temp - Captain / Minstrel
NB - Burg / Champ / Hunter
Sorc - LM / Runekeeper

Now ESO is a bit different overall, but if you compare them like this, it will give you a good starting point for deciding what you want to try. Imperials are good for Shield affinity passive and having the ability to choose your alliance. However, other races are better suited to specific builds due to their passives. So keep an eye on that when choosing as well.

Explore, like everyone says. But more importantly, make sure you are leveling everything, all armor types, as many skill lines as possible, decom everything to level crafting, etc. You can do almost anything in ESO, no specialization like LOTRO. You may not be as good a healer if you choose NB, compared to say a Templar, but you can still be effective at it. So be sure to max everything you can, so when you get to end game, you have options. And enjoy the heck out of it. Welcome to the game by the way.

ChloeWilde

Alphashado wrote: »

There is a popular addon manager called Minion. http://minion.mmoui.com

Thank you for the link! I've installed a few add-ons and they are super useful!

Alphashado wrote: »

Join a good trading guild. There is no auction house in ESO. The closest thing you have to that is a guild store. ESO Guilds can have up to 500 people, so a good, active trading guild will make it much easier for you to sell your wares. If you are interested, you can send me an in-game mail @Alphashado and I can invite you to a good trading guild. There are several good ones out there.

Thank you again! I joined the Imperial Trading Company today.

TehMagnus wrote: »

If you take your time like many people here are suggesting like the hater above, you will never be able to compete in PVP and PVE when you reach max level because with the new system people will be too far ahead (you can read about this in the posts that speak of the strength difference between people who have X an Y Champion Points).

Thank you for your advice, but I'm not playing to become Emperor or even to play PvP (for a while yet, anyway). I'm playing to have fun! So I'm going to explore every location, enjoy the story, make friends and level slowly as I go.

Morshire wrote: »

Explore, like everyone says. But more importantly, make sure you are leveling everything, all armor types, as many skill lines as possible, decom everything to level crafting, etc. You can do almost anything in ESO, no specialization like LOTRO. You may not be as good a healer if you choose NB, compared to say a Templar, but you can still be effective at it. So be sure to max everything you can, so when you get to end game, you have options. And enjoy the heck out of it. Welcome to the game by the way.

This is the kind of advice I was looking for! As a completionist, one of the things that drew me to TESO is being able to level every skill. Thank you!