How to Have Fun and Make Friends in the In-Game Dungeon Event
With the upcoming In-Game Dungeon Event starting Nov. 30 to Dec. 6, there’s going to be a lot of people packing into ESO’s Group Dungeons. Hopefully, this is a fun experience for everyone! However, with this event, you get rewards for every character who runs a random group dungeon, so there’s going to be a ton of people feeling the pressure to get 8-14 characters through their daily random dungeon, so things are going to get hectic. While the best thing we can do is chill out and remember it’s just a game, here’s a basic guide to doing this event and not losing your mind over it.
Event Information
Link to Event Information:
https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/10millionstories?_ga=2.23477178.1214482009.1509392699-1794037482.1440079556
"Event is live from Nov. 30 at 10 a.m. EST until Dec. 6 at 10 a.m. EST. Complete a random dungeon via the Dungeon Finder – Normal or Veteran mode – to earn a Mysterious Reward Box. This curious cache could contain loads of awesome in-game rewards: consumables, pets, costumes, and even a massive collection of super rare mounts and houses. You can obtain a Mysterious Reward Box once per day per character.
On each day of the event between Nov. 30 and Dec. 6 that you complete a random dungeon via the Dungeon Finder, you will also be granted one bonus entry into the ESO 10 Million Stories Sweepstakes (“Sweepstakes"), up to a max of seven (7) bonus entries. See Official Rules below for eligibility and other restrictions."
This guide is geared towards players looking at this event going “I have to run a group dungeon? How do I group dungeon?” or players looking for ways to chill out and remember it’s just a game.
To New Players and Players New to Group Finder:
We’re not all jerks, I promise! Find a role that you like to do, ask if you need help, and try to have fun.
To Experienced Players who can run dungeons in our sleep and probably solo half of them:
Don’t be a jerk. That’s pretty simple, right? Just don’t be a jerk.
Before you get in the Groupfinder
There are three roles: Tank, Healer, and Damage Dealer. In your group menu, choose the role that fits what you can do. (I’ll go over the basics of each role later.)
Bring what you need to succeed: potions, food/drink, armor repair kits, soul gems
Bring a positive attitude, or if you can’t, at least try not to pass a bad mood on to your teammates.
Be patient. Tanks and Healers have the fastest queues because there are less of them. If you are considering queuing as multiple roles for the faster queue time, check the role descriptions below and make sure you can fill the basic job of that role. If you can, go for it. If you can't, don't, or queue with a pre-made group.
Once in the dungeon, its nice to:
Say hi
Ask if anyone needs the quest/gear
If you need the quest/gear, speak up. Most groups will wait for you
Stick together. This is a group dungeon and its polite to let the whole group do the dungeon. I know rushing ahead gets it done quicker, but its really annoying to the people left behind or stamina players who have to spend fighting resources to keep up with the pace.
At the end, if someone needed the quest, hang out long enough for them to turn it in.
Kicking and/or Leaving
So, you’ve gotten your daily random dungeon, but it’s a hard one. It’s going to take longer than you want and you’ve got 8-14 other characters to complete random dungeons on. Nope! Hitting the leave button right now! It’d be polite to give you group a nice “Hey, guys, sorry, I’m out. Good luck!”
So, you’ve gotten your daily random dungeon, it’s a hard one, and what’s this! Someone of a lower level or lower CP than I think can complete this dungeon? KICK HIM before he ruins the dungeon run!
Both of these are going to be common during the event (along with complaints about the 15-minute timer on re-queuing for group dungeons). If someone leaves your group, you can use group finder again to fill the missing role in your group or simply carry on without them. As long as you haven’t killed any of the bosses, the new member will simply complete the dungeon with you. If you have completed bosses and the replacement is mid-dungeon, I’m not 100% sure whether that counts as completing a dungeon for the purposes of the event. Anyone know? ZOS? Anyone? Bueller?
Kicking people is a stickier situation. For an event like this, when everyone in game is going to be in random dungeons, if you can’t handle having a lower level player or low CP in your dungeon, for Arkay’s sake queue for a random dungeon in a premade group. In an event like this, random is random, and you are agreeing to do your best to make that group work. If you can’t or won’t, queue as a premade group with members that meet your expectations. Don’t be a jerk to players who don’t when you agreed to run with random players.
When to kick? I don’t like kicking players, period, but it’s pretty justified under two circumstances: Jerkish behavior and incompetence on a serious level. Jerks are no fun to play with, so why let them waste your time? Similarly, incompetence that prevents your group from being able to complete the dungeon is wasting your time. Now, I’m generally in favor of teaching players when I think ignorance is the problem. I’ll also put up with certain levels of incompetence that don’t derail the dungeon run, like a tank who’s really a DPS and won’t run a taunt but the group is able to carry them. Other people won’t accept that level of incompetence.
So how to be competent at your role?
Tank
A tank’s most basic job is to hold boss aggro, use a taunt, and don’t die.
A good tank holds boss aggro, uses a taunt, doesn’t die, holds the boss more or less still, debuffs the boss, buffs the group, and provides crowd control.
Any class can be a good tank because they’ve all got skills that can cover those jobs.
Let’s talk taunts. If you are queued as a tank in the group finder, USE A TAUNT. There are four taunts in the gain, all of them single-target (though starting a fight with AOE is a good way to grab the attention of mobs). If you don't have a taunt or aren't using one, its pretty obvious when the boss is in everyone's face but yours. So use a taunt.
- Puncture -> One hand and Shield skill. A melee taunt. The Pierce Armor morph gives both Major Fracture and Major Breach, potent debuffs
- Inner Fire -> Undaunted skill. A ranged taunt with a magicka and stamina morph.
- Ice Staff Heavy Attack -> Destruction Staff passive Ancient Knowledge. With ranks in Ancient Knowledge, the ice staff heavy attack becomes a taunt.
- Tormentor set -> 5th piece gear bonus, on a charge, the enemy is taunted.
Why be a tank?
A good tank brings order to the chaos, holding the trash mobs more or less together so that the DPS can mow them down, holding the boss in place so that DPS can focus on damage, and keeping the heavy hits focused away from the squishier members of the party.
Healer
A healer’s most basic job is to keep the party alive and stay alive. Physician, heal thyself and all that.
A good healer keeps themselves and the party alive and healthy, buffs the group, helps with sustaining resources, and does a some DPS when they aren’t focused on healing.
Sources of group healing
Any class can be a healer. Templars and Wardens have a ton of healing available through class skills. Sorcerers have the burst from the Twilight Matriarch pet. I’m not as familiar with Nightblade and Dragonknight healers, but both can be healers.
Restoration Staff: The Restoration Staff has a ton of great healing abilities that mesh well with class skills in order to keep your group healed. Some skills, like Combat Prayer, will also buff the group.
Other useful skills:
Elemental Drain -> Destruction Staff, restores magicka
Necrotic Orbs -> Undaunted, restores magicka or stamina to group members with the synergy
Why be a healer?
Healers are the awesome, essential support players who keep their party in top notch fighting form. Healers make it easier for everyone to focus on their jobs. Healers can also make or break a party. Never annoy your healer. Funny comic to that effect:
https://isriana.deviantart.com/art/TESO-Respect-Your-Healers-696152788Damage Dealer/DPS
The basic job of a DPS is to do damage to the boss and other enemies in the dungeon.
A good DPS uses a rotation with both damage over time skills (DOTs) and single target abilities for max DPS, uses AOE skills to kill mobs quickly, gets out of the way of environmental damage or big boss hits, and resurrects fallen teammates.
Tips for DPS
- Know your DPS – this is a good indicator of what level of content you should be trying. You can find out your sustained DPS on a target dummy on any platform or with add-ons for PC. The lower your DPS, the more you want to stick to Normal dungeons. In my experience (and others' will vary) most veteran dungeons can be completed with 10-15k DPS, but comfortable clears will take higher DPS. Most normal dungeons can easily be done with 5-10k DPS, and nearly every build/level can pull that much DPS with a little practice.
- Practice your rotation – having high DPS is a matter of practice combining your DOTs with single target abilities. For Stamina users, you’ll often see DPS using a bow back bar for Endless Hail. For Magicka users, you’ll often see a destruction staff for Elemental Blockade.
- If you struggle with trash mobs, use area of effect (AOE) abilities to hit multiple targets.
- If you struggle with bosses, figure out your problem. Running out of resources? Look at improving sustain with recovery glyphs or more heavy attacks. Dying? Try to roll dodge out of big attacks or stay in front of your healer so they can watch your health bar. Boss mechanics doing you in? Ask your group members for advice. Can’t do enough damage? Practice your rotation or level up better skills.
- Please, use a food/drink that helps you with your stats or sustain. You will find that having a food/drink buff makes your life so much easier.
- Don’t use a TAUNT. Seriously, go review the list of taunts in the Tank section. See those? Don’t use them. It annoys the tank to no end and the tank might end up saying, ”You taunt it? You tank it.” And now you have to deal with the boss in your face.
Finally, be aware of your surroundings. DPS are usually the squishiest members of the party, and while your healer is frantically trying to make sure you stay alive and you probably have a self-heal of your own to pick up the slack, DPS are the most vulnerable to “standing in stupid.” If there’s an environmental hazard or a big boss aoe coming, don’t stand and take it. Get out! It’ll make your healer happy, and your teammates won’t think you’re an idiot who stands in stupid.
Why be a damage dealer?
Good DPS mow down enemies like a lawnmower cutting down grass. Its an awesome feeling to slaughter all enemies foolish enough to stand up to your group. And downing a difficult boss despite everything he can throw at you...well, damaging dealing is all about having the highest damage and killing things as quickly as you can. When you do it right, its incredibly satisfying.
General Dungeon Tips
- Normal Dungeons are considerably easier than Veteran Dungeons. The mechanics are much more forgiving and the DPS required for an easy run is much lower. If you are new to dungeons, have low DPS, or just want fairly quick runs since you’ve got 8-14 characters to do, Normal Dungeons are your friend.
- With Clockwork City, ZOS changed the group finder level requirements to better reflect dungeon difficulty. All II and DLC normal dungeons now unlock at level 45, with the others unlocking progressively before that. All veteran DLC dungeons, Vet Crypt of Hearts II , and Vet City of Ash II unlock at CP 160. So, seriously, there’s not really an excuse anymore for kicking lower level/lower CP players anymore. If you did random dungeons before the change, relax. Your low level characters won't get thrown into the DLC dungeons all the time.
- Respect the boss mechanics. Some of them are ignorable on Normal, some are not. Most require respect on Veteran. If you don’t know the fight, ask your group mates.
- Remember that the Daily Random Dungeon in NOT the Daily Random Quick ‘N Easy Dungeon. Sometimes you’ll get harder dungeons.
- It’s a group dungeon. While most of these can be soloed, this event is all about doing the dungeon as a group. Dungeons are a lot more fun when you stick together and complete them as a group. “But its more fun for me when I complete it quickly!” I hear the showboat DPS say. You are one person of four in the dungeon. If you want a speedrun, ask the group if that’s okay and if it is, go for it. Just be courteous – its no fun for the other people to be trailing in your wake.
- Be patient. Tanks and healers have the fastest queue times. DPS have to wait because there are more DPS. If you are considering queuing for multiple roles to get through dungeons quicker, double check the basic job of a tank, healer, and DPS. If you can meet those, go for it. If you can’t, don’t.
- Pre-made groups are the best if you A. want to run in a combination of roles that isn’t tank/healer/DPS/DPS. You can run dungeons in any combo you want to, but the best way to do that is in a pre-made group. B. if you have requirements for players beyond that they meet the basic job they queued for. If you want shards from a healer, queue in a pre-made with a templar. If you want 20k DPS from your damage dealer, queue in a premade with a friend, and so on.
- Don’t be afraid to research dungeons ahead of time or ask about boss mechanics. There are a ton of guides on the forums and Youtube for the different dungeons. I’m always happy to explain a boss’ mechanics, and I’m sure most players would rather take a moment to explain what to look for rather than spend that amount of time rezzing your dead body because you couldn’t know any better. Research isn’t necessary, but if you are really nervous about jumping into dungeons, guides might help.
Overall, chill out. Relax. Have fun. It’s a game. Be courteous to your fellow random group members. Be generous with new players. Be patient in queue and make sure you can do the basic job of whatever role you queue for. Use premade groups if you want different combinations of roles or have special requirements.
Feel free to chime in with things I missed, got wrong, or need to correct! If you have advice you want to add, or especially good guides for dungeons, feel free to add your thoughts. Please do keep comments constructive since we’ll have everyone from experienced CP 690s to brand new level 10s jumping into group dungeons during the event. The aim for this event is for players to get into group dungeons, not leave with impression that groupfinder is full of jerks or be scared of group dungeons. Stay positive and welcoming.
Thanks for reading!