Dark Brotherhood/Thieve's Guild - What would I miss out on?

Teverus · December 2016

Hello everyone. I'm just getting back into ESO today after having experienced a bunch of bugs after launch that diverted my interest from the game. I'm happy to see that the bugs have been ironed out and that there's new DLC, including Elder Scrolls staples like The Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild, but I've searched everywhere online to answer some curiosities of mine and have come up empty.

Simply put, I like to play Elder Scrolls game to theme. My super honorable sorts probably don't join the thieves guild, my honor-among-thieves characters aren't necessarily dark brotherhood assassins. It's not really a roleplay thing so much as an immersion thing. For my elder scrolls play style, it's weird to adhere to a bunch of conflicting codes depending on who's handing you your quests, thematically speaking.

So I'm left with some questions I'm hoping some of you kind folks can answer.

Firstly, am I missing out on significant content if I choose not to join an ingame guild experience like the dark brotherhood? Is it content I will miss as a not-assassin styled character?

Secondly, if I take the starting quest to join a guild like the thieves guild or dark brotherhood, is there a way to opt-out? Is there a story experience like in Skyrim where I can choose to kill Astrid, a murdering cultist sort, instead of getting recruited into a cult of murderers, or am I stuck with just joining up to clear the quest log?

Is there content I can explore in the new expansions without joining the respective guilds they're named for? Can I quest in the new dungeons for rewards without being part of either of the guilds?

Any clarification would help. Thanks so much!

Ourorboros · December 2016

First, the easy question....yes, there is content in the DLCs you can do without joining either guild. There are delves, world bosses and skyshards.

It's harder for me answer you're main question about joining the guilds. I've always tried to do everything in all ES games, so I was always morally ambiguous. Essentially, joining TG or DB is like joining Fighters Guild or Mages Guild. When you join, you open up more content, quests, rewards, and skill points that you can't get any other way. I don't recall killing being required for any TG quests, but I could be wrong. DB requires LOTS of killing. You have more than one character slot, so make a good guy and a bad guy?

BlackSparrow · December 2016

I play the same way you do: by playing to character. My do-gooder healer has no interest in the Dark Brotherhood, while my assassin character dove into the DB head-first but has no interest in squandering her skills in the Thieves Guild. That sort of thing.

As far as I've seen, there's no way to completely shut the initial guild introductory quest down, so the best thing to do is ignore the quest. You can either never take it (which won't be too much of a problem if you play to type), or, if you find yourself with the quest in your log, you can just abandon it to get it out of your quest log. You'll have to ignore the quest NPC on that character for the rest of the game--because they'll stick around, ready to offer it again--but that's not hard to do.

You do miss some gear, experience, and daily quests, but it's not too heavy a loss, as there are plenty of other things to do. You do need the DLCs themeslves to go to their areas, but you don't necessarily need to do the guild quests while you're there. There are other questlines, delves, skyshards, etc. IMO, Dark Brotherhood is worth the price just to see Kvatch un-razed, assassin or not.

VoidBlue · December 2016

You'll miss out on all the large bounties if you don't do them.

quadraxis666 · December 2016

Dark brotherhood you're missing nothing by not getting involved, all the passives for the skill line are absolute crap. Thieves guild on the other hand has nice passives if you steal all the time, more money for selling stolen goods to fences, ability to get away with crimes instead of paying the guard etc. its worth levelling, you'll level legerdemain at the same time if you haven't already and that's absolutely worth getting for the improved hiding passive for pvp.

Metafae · December 2016

The most you will miss out on are repeatable quests with minor rewards (The best rewards being motifs that are slowly dropping in value)
You will also miss out on skill points you would earn for completing each main story quest for each guild. If I recall correctly, the TG main quest gives around 5/6 skill points, and the DB main quest is about 7/8 skill points.

There is also a nice costume you unlock from each quest line, but that is account wide once unlocked, so you need only complete it on the appropriate character to allow all characters access to it.

newtinmpls · December 2016

Not sure, myself.

I've played (and subbed) since shortly after PC launch, and I haven't really done much of the thief or assassin stuff since I don't care to play "evil".

The motifs I can buy.

I do go for skyshards and occasional dailies.... not really feeling I'm missing much else.

iam_slickone · December 2016

So i bought the DLC's back when they came out, but i never started the quests. I keep telling my self that i will do it soon since i wanna complete everything on my Main, but im always too busy doing pledges or trials with the little time i have to play the game.

Teverus · December 2016

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm rolling up a new villainy sort to experience the new content and have appreciated the replies.

iam_slickone · December 2016

What are you rolling just wondering, a nighblade of sorts? they seem so sneaky

Teverus · December 2016

Yes, I am a Daggerfall Covenant Khajiit Nightblade. Stabs for everyone!

Metafae · December 2016

You should aim to get your legerdemain up to near max before starting TG, it really does help when you're doing quests for that DLC. Some of the TG passives also help when you're doing the DB stuff.

The only thing from the DB passive I actually use is Shadow Rider, it sounds like a dumb passive (Reducing detection radius when on a mount) but it's proven to be one of those simple changes that makes a big difference in your gaming experience. It's great being able to ride right through a crowd of enemies and have them not even notice you.

ArchMikem · December 2016

The Devs were kind enough to give your character neutral or even opposing dialogue options when talking to the Dark Brotherhood, such as your character isn't a Murderer and you don't necessarily agree with their ideals, however you still find a common ground in how the Order of the Hour is a threat to all, not just the Brotherhood. So you are given the option of either being a tool reluctantly helping the Brotherhood, or you can embrace your inner killer and praise Sithis. I certainly feel no remorse when I go into Anvil Castle and start a stabbing spree with the Pirates, cause you know, they're Pirates and they took over Anvil.

Not to mention the Dark Brotherhood gives you the Blade of Woe ability. It's a GREAT addition for when you just don't have the effort to do a straight up fight with mobs, though it only works on Humanoid mobs.

The Thieve's Guild is a lot less morally questionable. In a game where you can kill pretty much anyone minus Guards and important NPCs on a whim, what's a little stealing here and there? Plus it's an interesting little storyline.