A fresh start on NA

Feanor

I’ve been thinking about starting a new and my first character on NA. The experience would be totally new and different without any CP and completely from scratch. Has anyone here done this? Any tips and suggestions?

Turelus

I've heard of a few who did it and had fun, the issues are basically the change in culture (it is different) and the latency.

Ratzkifal

I did when I wanted to play with an Australian and a Canadian I know. It's fun but I didn't want to give up on my crown store stuff (mainly DLCs), also the Australian had a ping of 400 on both servers.

SilentRaven1972

I normally play on NA, but created a couple characters on EU. Knowing a few safe areas ahead of time to steal to make gold helped. I was able to get a mount in a couple days. Some of the fights are more challenging, especially since set armor takes a while to be able to make.

Yarlenzey

The zone chat is filled with discussion about teh piffle trumpet. not likee.

code65536

I play on NA/PC, but a while ago I started to play on EU/PC for a change of pace. I still mostly play on NA, but I log onto EU for a couple of hours each day.

So, the hardest thing is getting used to not having the things that I take for granted. No CP, no gold, no crafting materials, not even a friend list or guild roster that you can use if you need a quick port.

Crafting is the thing that was the most daunting to build up from scratch. Learning traits to craft your set gear. Leveling up your crafting so that you can get the passive to get improvement mats from refining and so that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to improve something. Leveling up enchanting fast enough so that it keeps up with your character level. Leveling up provisioning so that I can craft food.

For example, when I was finally able to craft myself some set gear (just 2-trait Seducer), I couldn't afford to upgrade it to green (since I barely had any green mats and it took 5 to upgrade... on NA, I'm flooded with green mats that I don't even think about it). I couldn't enchant it at my level because enchanting is so slow to level and I was one or two tiers behind. I had the Witchmother's Potent Brew recipe, but could not craft it because I didn't have the passives to craft purple consumables, and I didn't have the mats needed to level up my provisioning (it's surprising how slow it is to level provisioning when you don't have thousands of mats stockpiled from years of hirelings).

The first time I did normal Maelstrom on EU, it actually felt hard (and I'm a Flawless Conqueror on NA) because I was wearing a hodge-podge of mismatched dropped gear, was using food a few levels out of date, and had no CP. It took way too long and I died in a couple of unexpected places.

Eventually, though, I got past the crafting hump. I maxed out my crafts, I had the skill points to afford hirelings, I finally had the resources to do writs, etc. And I think more than anything, that helped. Being able to use set gear of the right level, that wasn't white quality, with proper enchants, and having the appropriate food makes a huge difference. I guess I made it harder on myself by doing everything solo--I didn't join any guilds or ask people to craft me leveling gear because I actually wanted that new-player-starting-out experience.

Anyway, I'm now at 367 CP on EU, fully maxed in all the crafts, I have 7-9 traits in research, I have decent gear, I've accumulated a million gold and a comfortable supply of all sorts of mats, and I'm at the point where the gameplay doesn't really feel that different between NA and EU. Even when I'm in vMA, I don't really notice the latency difference. I am noticeably weaker because I'm not CP-capped and don't have trials gear like I do on NA, but it's not the huge gap that it used to be, and my character is strong enough that I can get through all the vet DLC dungeons without much issue and can solo most of the normal dungeons.

TL;DR: The initial hump of starting with absolutely nothing can be pretty brutal. But once you get past it, it doesn't really feel that different than playing on my home sever.

Feanor

I take you can’t send yourself mats and stuff...hm. How is PvP on NA?

Yarlenzey

code65536 wrote: »

I play on NA/PC, but a while ago I started to play on EU/PC for a change of pace. I still mostly play on NA, but I log onto EU for a couple of hours each day.

So, the hardest thing is getting used to not having the things that I take for granted. No CP, no gold, no crafting materials, not even a friend list or guild roster that you can use if you need a quick port.

Crafting is the thing that was the most daunting to build up from scratch. Learning traits to craft your set gear. Leveling up your crafting so that you can get the passive to get improvement mats from refining and so that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to improve something. Leveling up enchanting fast enough so that it keeps up with your character level. Leveling up provisioning so that I can craft food.

For example, when I was finally able to craft myself some set gear (just 2-trait Seducer), I couldn't afford to upgrade it to green (since I barely had any green mats and it took 5 to upgrade... on NA, I'm flooded with green mats that I don't even think about it). I couldn't enchant it at my level because enchanting is so slow to level and I was one or two tiers behind. I had the Witchmother's Potent Brew recipe, but could not craft it because I didn't have the passives to craft purple consumables, and I didn't have the mats needed to level up my provisioning (it's surprising how slow it is to level provisioning when you don't have thousands of mats stockpiled from years of hirelings).

The first time I did normal Maelstrom on EU, it actually felt hard (and I'm a Flawless Conqueror on NA) because I was wearing a hodge-podge of mismatched dropped gear, was using food a few levels out of date, and had no CP. It took way too long and I died in a couple of unexpected places.

Eventually, though, I got past the crafting hump. I maxed out my crafts, I had the skill points to afford hirelings, I finally had the resources to do writs, etc. And I think more than anything, that helped. Being able to use set gear of the right level, that wasn't white quality, with proper enchants, and having the appropriate food makes a huge difference. I guess I made it harder on myself by doing everything solo--I didn't join any guilds or ask people to craft me leveling gear because I actually wanted that new-player-starting-out experience.

Anyway, I'm now at 367 CP on EU, fully maxed in all the crafts, I have 7-9 traits in research, I have decent gear, I've accumulated a million gold and a comfortable supply of all sorts of mats, and I'm at the point where the gameplay doesn't really feel that different between NA and EU. Even when I'm in vMA, I don't really notice the latency difference. I am noticeably weaker because I'm not CP-capped and don't have trials gear like I do on NA, but it's not the huge gap that it used to be, and my character is strong enough that I can get through all the vet DLC dungeons without much issue and can solo most of the normal dungeons.

TL;DR: The initial hump of starting with absolutely nothing can be pretty brutal. But once you get past it, it doesn't really feel that different than playing on my home sever.

Where are the suggestions?

code65536

Yarlenzey wrote: »

show previous quotes

code65536 wrote: »

I play on NA/PC, but a while ago I started to play on EU/PC for a change of pace. I still mostly play on NA, but I log onto EU for a couple of hours each day.

So, the hardest thing is getting used to not having the things that I take for granted. No CP, no gold, no crafting materials, not even a friend list or guild roster that you can use if you need a quick port.

Crafting is the thing that was the most daunting to build up from scratch. Learning traits to craft your set gear. Leveling up your crafting so that you can get the passive to get improvement mats from refining and so that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to improve something. Leveling up enchanting fast enough so that it keeps up with your character level. Leveling up provisioning so that I can craft food.

For example, when I was finally able to craft myself some set gear (just 2-trait Seducer), I couldn't afford to upgrade it to green (since I barely had any green mats and it took 5 to upgrade... on NA, I'm flooded with green mats that I don't even think about it). I couldn't enchant it at my level because enchanting is so slow to level and I was one or two tiers behind. I had the Witchmother's Potent Brew recipe, but could not craft it because I didn't have the passives to craft purple consumables, and I didn't have the mats needed to level up my provisioning (it's surprising how slow it is to level provisioning when you don't have thousands of mats stockpiled from years of hirelings).

The first time I did normal Maelstrom on EU, it actually felt hard (and I'm a Flawless Conqueror on NA) because I was wearing a hodge-podge of mismatched dropped gear, was using food a few levels out of date, and had no CP. It took way too long and I died in a couple of unexpected places.

Eventually, though, I got past the crafting hump. I maxed out my crafts, I had the skill points to afford hirelings, I finally had the resources to do writs, etc. And I think more than anything, that helped. Being able to use set gear of the right level, that wasn't white quality, with proper enchants, and having the appropriate food makes a huge difference. I guess I made it harder on myself by doing everything solo--I didn't join any guilds or ask people to craft me leveling gear because I actually wanted that new-player-starting-out experience.

Anyway, I'm now at 367 CP on EU, fully maxed in all the crafts, I have 7-9 traits in research, I have decent gear, I've accumulated a million gold and a comfortable supply of all sorts of mats, and I'm at the point where the gameplay doesn't really feel that different between NA and EU. Even when I'm in vMA, I don't really notice the latency difference. I am noticeably weaker because I'm not CP-capped and don't have trials gear like I do on NA, but it's not the huge gap that it used to be, and my character is strong enough that I can get through all the vet DLC dungeons without much issue and can solo most of the normal dungeons.

TL;DR: The initial hump of starting with absolutely nothing can be pretty brutal. But once you get past it, it doesn't really feel that different than playing on my home sever.

Where are the suggestions?

Suggestions? Um. If you want to avoid that initial hump, find people who can help you with crafting so that you at least have proper food and gear. Ask in zone chat, maybe? There are probably newbie-friendly guilds out there.

If you are starting on a new server because you want that new player experience (which is my case), then the only suggestion that I have is be patient. It's gonna take time to build things up from scratch without outside help.

Feanor

So how does this actually work? You select the NA server, login to it, and create a new character? I hope this doesn't delete/overwrite the EU ones. You never know with ZOS

Turelus

Feanor wrote: »

So how does this actually work? You select the NA server, login to it, and create a new character? I hope this doesn't delete/overwrite the EU ones. You never know with ZOS

It doesn't.

However Crown Store purchases are server specific. So you won't have anything purchased from the store (and anything you purchase won't be on your EU account).

Feanor

Turelus wrote: »

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Feanor wrote: »

So how does this actually work? You select the NA server, login to it, and create a new character? I hope this doesn't delete/overwrite the EU ones. You never know with ZOS

It doesn't.

However Crown Store purchases are server specific. So you won't have anything purchased from the store (and anything you purchase won't be on your EU account).

Thanks. Does ESO+ carry over at least?

Turelus

Feanor wrote: »

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Turelus wrote: »

Feanor wrote: »

So how does this actually work? You select the NA server, login to it, and create a new character? I hope this doesn't delete/overwrite the EU ones. You never know with ZOS

It doesn't.

However Crown Store purchases are server specific. So you won't have anything purchased from the store (and anything you purchase won't be on your EU account).

Thanks. Does ESO+ carry over at least?

I think so as that's account based (but not 100% sure).

From my understanding if it's based on account purchase. So if you purchased Imperial Edition as a base game you get all the items, Morrowind should work as well as I had that open when I made a character there.

It's just things which come from the Crown Store, so if you purchase DLC you need to purchase them twice, pets mounts etc.
Any unlocks you got such as the old subscriber rewards will be unlocked on there as they were again account based.

StytchFingal

Feanor wrote: »

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Turelus wrote: »

Feanor wrote: »

So how does this actually work? You select the NA server, login to it, and create a new character? I hope this doesn't delete/overwrite the EU ones. You never know with ZOS

It doesn't.

However Crown Store purchases are server specific. So you won't have anything purchased from the store (and anything you purchase won't be on your EU account).

Thanks. Does ESO+ carry over at least?

Yes, ESO+ carries over. (I have characters on both servers, and my experience with getting up to speed on the EU from scratch is much the same as code65536 described.)

menedhyn

Hmm. Might give this a try as well.

Feanor

I'll create my NA char tonight. If anyone on PC/NA wants to help out I'd gladly appreciate it. Favor can be returned if a char gets started on EU.

Imza

I main on NA and have a few alts on EU.

I agree with @code65536 it takes a bit to get up to where you're at on the other server - but you do and I enjoyed every step of the way.....

Feanor wrote: »

show previous quotes

Turelus wrote: »

Feanor wrote: »

So how does this actually work? You select the NA server, login to it, and create a new character? I hope this doesn't delete/overwrite the EU ones. You never know with ZOS

It doesn't.

However Crown Store purchases are server specific. So you won't have anything purchased from the store (and anything you purchase won't be on your EU account).

Thanks. Does ESO+ carry over at least?

ESO+ is carried over but the contents of the crafting bag is not - rebuild your inventory the slow way

stewhead2ub17_ESO

Welcome to PC NA! We'll leave the light on for ya!

MakoFore

I started on EU, but then after Homestead, the lag and perfromance, to australia, which was always progressively getting worse, got unplayable, to 650+ pings. I begged and reasoned with ZOS to allow me to switch servers but of course- impossible. Mind you- I was max cp, with 8 levelled toons, the lot- I just hadnt done as much end game stuff cos the performance was alwyas so crap i didnt want to let down a trial group. One day I went onto NA to have a look- for fun - and saw non- red bars for the first time in my life- I was overjoyed.
So after much crying and delibertation i decided to make 2 accounts- so that when Morrowind would drop, perhaps Id have two accounts and be able to pvp, pve and bg on both servers.
the NA server is in some ways- worse than EU for us aussies, its a lower ping- but there are more spikes for me anyway . but neverthelses ive been able to perform okay- get my flawless runs,etc. but back to the switch-

the hardest part about starting over- somethign you take fro granted is having no resources of a max cp player, no iron to craft a training set, no money to speed your horse, its the resources that make levelling your 7th ALT so much faster than starting from scratch. So off I started . now there are two ways to look at this-
A. A *** grind - where I had to go thru everyting all over again- cadewells gold, to thieves guild achieves, to farming BSW and every set in the game- stuff I already all had and had golded out- ALL OVER AGAIN .
B . OR- take it as a opporunty to really learn the game again and enjoy it and take pleasure in the process.

to be honest- ive swung between both - and often. It took about 8 months- but i now have most of the end game gear, 10 toons-one of each class 9/10 are fullly levelled , geared, undatuned and stormproofed, etc.

and of course- youll be playing as a noob- but under that CP10 or whatever exterior will be the experience of a max cp player- when i was a low cp player- i was kicking arse and taking names- it was like being the kid that repeats a grade high school when they transfer to a new country , and is bigger and smarter than everybody in the year. I was able to achive stormproof as soon as i hit cp160 - people would trip out when they saw it on my title as i walked around- and I even got emp a couple times- something i never did achive on the EU.

but i think the key is this- in this big task- and indeed in any MMO, stop and smell the roses- enjoy the interactions, dont see it as *** I have to do this all over again- getting shards with 10 toons when i d already done it- see it as- "ive gotten to play with people all over europe- and meet some amazing people, now i get to do the same thign with americans!" Once i took that apprach - met some people, got to know them - it was great- it was like doing an exchange with another country - which indeed is the amazing thing about the game and technology in general.
and i have to say- its due to the amazing people i met- i met a guy from brazil, a felllow aussie and a few others - who were real cool , we go collect shards together, talk on discord as we did it, llisened to each others music, do trials all that stuff- when you make the most out of the social aspects of an MMO- they can truly be them most amazing games there can be - it really can. these people lent me gold, made me gear, ferried me thru wayshrines, carried me in trials, helped me farm my gear all over again, and in turn - theyve even made EU accoutns and i ve helped a couple of people there- returning the favor as best i could.

so in short - the TLDR version- you can treat it as a tedious grind- or you can see it as a great opportunty to not only rediscover the game- but also meet a whole new world of people. ive actually considered writing a big post about the differences on each server which i think are interesting .
For example just a couple differences- on the EU- i got that the population are in general far more experienced, and committed to the game, but in a sense elitist.
, the trial scene is more active but exclusive, on the NA, there are more discssions and politics being talked in zone- due to one language, it s a little more noob friendly, thre are more "Star" players on the NA, alot of players are streamers- or want to be pro gamers , great players on both servers, cant say which is "better" cos there isnt one. But in PVP the NA server is almost always full on Vivec, on the EU it can be a wasteland in pvp on all the campaigns during the weekdays, but PVE is more popping on the EU- alot easier and faster to find a group in zone or in dungeon finder.
ALOT more ERP on the NA too... but thats for another time -
and so on- lots of little differences you ll notice and they ll be different from mine too im sure.

I wish you luck and fortune on your journey! and most of all to meet some amazing people, to shrug off the arseholes (cos they exist on both, though EU players sure are salty- must be the food) and enjoy the journey not the destination.

MakoFore

oh and some things will carry over- so u ll still get your ESO+ craft bag and so on- crowns DO carry over. so if you have 10 00 crowns - you ll have it on both servers. but costumes and purchases do not carry over. so anyting you buy- is locked to that server.

Feanor

@MakoFore

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for sharing.

Seri

code65536 wrote: »

Crafting is the thing that was the most daunting to build up from scratch. Learning traits to craft your set gear. Leveling up your crafting so that you can get the passive to get improvement mats from refining and so that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to improve something. Leveling up enchanting fast enough so that it keeps up with your character level. Leveling up provisioning so that I can craft food.

For example, when I was finally able to craft myself some set gear (just 2-trait Seducer), I couldn't afford to upgrade it to green (since I barely had any green mats and it took 5 to upgrade... on NA, I'm flooded with green mats that I don't even think about it). I couldn't enchant it at my level because enchanting is so slow to level and I was one or two tiers behind. I had the Witchmother's Potent Brew recipe, but could not craft it because I didn't have the passives to craft purple consumables, and I didn't have the mats needed to level up my provisioning (it's surprising how slow it is to level provisioning when you don't have thousands of mats stockpiled from years of hirelings).

Oh boy. I started trying to push provisioning and alchemy (for the passives) on my EU alt and oh-boy that 'my craft bag is empty' feeling hit hard. Enchanting is also lagging behind horribly for me. I suspect since I haven't quested a great deal (so less overworld trash mobs) I haven't picked up anywhere near the number of junk enchantments for use for decon.

vyndral13preub18_ESO

stewhead2ub17_ESO wrote: »

Welcome to PC NA! We'll leave the light on for ya!

Then we will yell racial slurs at you, call you homophobic names, and T-bag you. You know normal internet stuff.

SHADOW2KK

vyndral13preub18_ESO wrote: »

show previous quotes

stewhead2ub17_ESO wrote: »

Welcome to PC NA! We'll leave the light on for ya!

Then we will yell racial slurs at you, call you homophobic names, and T-bag you. You know normal internet stuff.

No difference to PC EU then? hehe

GreenhaloX

Stay away from zone chats, and you'll have a much better experience. You will also have to learn who are the criminals and cons scamming other players on the zone chats or P2P trading. Some may find this to be somewhat cynical, but, hey, truth may hurt sometimes.

code65536

To add a bit to my previous post, a lot of the hump felt like a chicken-or-the-egg problem. I need to level my crafting so that I could craft better gear. But to level crafting efficiently, I need higher-level gear to decon. Deconning level 10 gear and glyphs give terrible crafting XP. But to get higher level decons, I need to level, but to level efficiently, I need better gear. It was a bit cyclic.

Originally, I did what I used to do when I start a new character: I went into nMA. On NA, back before vet rank removal, I had used nMA to grind characters all the way up to VR16, so this was what I tried to do on EU. But nMA was hard with my mess of looted gear and bad food. It took way too long and was not an efficient way to level.

What I eventually did was to do overland content. I didn't quest--I just went and picked up all the skyshards and lorebooks in each zone.

1. Crafting requires so many skill points, so this was a good way to make sure that I could put the necessary points into crafting as I leveled my crafts.
2. The process of discovering locations, killing overland mobs that I crossed paths with, and killing the delve bosses all add up to a pretty substantial amount of XP. I didn't go out of my way to kill them--just the ones that stood between me and the next skyshard or book. It's not nearly as fast as nMA for leveling, but it's stuff that I need to do anyway as I collect shards and books, and most of my leveling came from overland stuff.
3. People complain about how easy overland content is... but when you have no CP and outleveled gear, you'd welcome the ease of the overland enemies.
4. Go to Velyn Harbor in Malabal Tor and start the town's quest. But don't complete it--just do the first part of the quest where you drive the Wood Orcs from the town. At that point, the town's outdoor market is empty--there are no Wood Orc enemies, but the friendly NPCs have not yet returned. Now go and steal all the weapons and armor lying around, launder them, and decon them.
   • This is a great way to level your crafting (and legerdemain).
   • You need to steal and launder weapons and armor. Taking weapons and armor that's not stolen gives you 0-value items that have only 10% of the decon inspiration and you get no mats. Stealing weapons and armor and deconning without first laundering also yields just 10% of the decon value and limits you to just one mat per decon. But if you steal, then launder, and then decon, you get the full decon inspiration plus a nice supply of mats that you can use for writs.
   • I would use up my daily laundering quota with stolen armor and weapons. The mats from the decon allow me to do writs (which cover the gold cost of laundering), and it's a fast, cheap way to level up the equipment crafts while also leveling legerdemain.
   • The Fighters Guild building in Veyln Harbor has lots of woodworking stealables (though you need to be careful about NPC witnesses).
5. Enchanting always lagged behind. I eventually searched guild stores for white Truly Superb and green Superb glyphs to decon to ensure that my enchanting could keep up. (Now that my EU main is CP160+, I get so many max-level glyph drops that enchanting is much easier to level on new alts. But for that first toon, some shopping was necessary.)

By the time I had finished my skyshard hunt, I was fast approaching CP160. And as a bonus, I had meteor.

Feanor

Started. Idril Arnanor is level 4 now. It will be quite a ride...

Peekachu99

I went PC > PS4 > PC and had to start from like 160 CP. It’s been a blast, to be honest. Feels like starting a new round of Minecraft or something. Especially knowing how much I know about the game now.

tinythinker

code65536 wrote: »

I play on NA/PC, but a while ago I started to play on EU/PC for a change of pace. I still mostly play on NA, but I log onto EU for a couple of hours each day.

So, the hardest thing is getting used to not having the things that I take for granted. No CP, no gold, no crafting materials, not even a friend list or guild roster that you can use if you need a quick port.

Crafting is the thing that was the most daunting to build up from scratch. Learning traits to craft your set gear. Leveling up your crafting so that you can get the passive to get improvement mats from refining and so that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to improve something. Leveling up enchanting fast enough so that it keeps up with your character level. Leveling up provisioning so that I can craft food.

For example, when I was finally able to craft myself some set gear (just 2-trait Seducer), I couldn't afford to upgrade it to green (since I barely had any green mats and it took 5 to upgrade... on NA, I'm flooded with green mats that I don't even think about it). I couldn't enchant it at my level because enchanting is so slow to level and I was one or two tiers behind. I had the Witchmother's Potent Brew recipe, but could not craft it because I didn't have the passives to craft purple consumables, and I didn't have the mats needed to level up my provisioning (it's surprising how slow it is to level provisioning when you don't have

That's as far as I got. Not enough time to do EU now. Similar experience, though.

Feanor

Got as far as level 8 yesterday. It’s nice. If feels a bit like 2014. Looting a container and finding a green or blue recipe is exciting again. Really awesome.

pandoraderomanus

I'd say obvious things probably, but just quest for xp and some gear, get your books, shards, loot EVERYTHING (every barrel, sack, node, etc.). Trainee set that you get in first areas was made exactly for newbie players - use it while levelling craft. Open every chest (might need to buy a few lockpicks tho..).
Now a few tricks (maybe you know about them, I dunno):
1) if you ever need to level legerdemain - go to Khenarti, find a field with sheeps, carefully kill them, launder their guts. I suggest killing shepherds first to avoid bounty. The safest place to launder and don't get caught by guards if you got bounty - alikr desert sentinel shrine;
2) motifs farm - if you have morrowind - near ashlander zone with daily quests there's a building with npcs inside with no guards - pickpocket them 2 times and kill on 3rd (its better you first get blade of woe). Be careful going out of that place - might get small bounty. Chests in vvardenfel provide armiger motif - quite expensive still, open chests. There's also a safe place for pickpocket in balmora on one of the sides
3) if you're going to farm mats - do it either in craglorn (upper was the best in my opinion) for nirn chance (can sell it or keep it for 160) or in starter small zones like betnikh/etc - *** ton of mats on 1 square meter.

In short - kill everything you see, loot everything you can.