New Players Must Read

Mystiqq0099

First and foremost I want to thank the ESO community for having given me a very warm welcome into Tamriel. The last 3 weeks have been amazing!!!

I wanted to make a quick guide for new players because more often then not, i see alot of confusion with new players as far as “Where should i go next” or “What should i do next”. So here is what i so far have learned about ESO’s mmorpg system, and how to tackle it head on when first arriving at Tamriel.

1. Champion Point 720 is max level. Not 50. SO STOP grinding. The game was not meant to be grinded. Getting to 50 via grinding will have totally wasted your time. You will que for a Vetaran Dungeon, get kicked out, and told “go level your Champion Points”.

2. CP160 is max level for gear. Not 47, Not CP62, Not CP143. CP 160 is max level. So do not stress what you are wearing until then. It wont matter once you hit CP160 as everything in the game will drop CP160 gear for you.

3. Do not waste your Scrolls of Exp from the crown Store. Save them for when you start leveling your Champion Points. Again, getting to level 50 will do nothing for you.

4. QUEST, QUEST, and QUEST. Do not negate the quest’s all around Tamriel. DO THEM! They are easy, fun, and offer a TON of XP. I got 36.7k from a random quest that took about 12 minutes to complete. And the quest was fun as heck.

5. /zone is your friend. DO NOT try to figure it out on your own. Type /zone and simply ask the community for help or advice. So far, people have rushed to help me. I’ve never seen such a helpful community as the one in ESO.

6. Choose your Class and Race VERY VERY carefully. DO NOT rush through the character creation process. Research first what it is you’d like to do, and how best to do it. It WILL matter down the road.

7. Forget about Skill Points Management. You will 100% respec over and over again once you are in endgame. So, where to put those points now does not matter. TRY EVERYTHING! The build on websites such as alcast are designed for players CP720 and with multiple combination of gear sets. Not players level 22.

8. Sub up! Let me rephrase that, SUBSCRIPTION!!!!! Its only 15 bucks a month BUT BOY does it make a difference. Aside from the fact that you get ALL the content the game has to offer, you also get a separate crafting bag and more bank space. And this game is all about INVENTORY!

9. DO NOT SELL or THROW AWAY gear. Decon it! Leveling your crafts is more important then leveling your character. You will see why once you get to endgame. So, start now.

10. HAVE FUN!!! If you were doing Mythic +20 in WoW, Savages in FFXIV, Vet Ops in SWOTR, or any endgame in any MMORPG, Forget about it!!! You are in Tamriel now and NONE of that matters. The biggest problem with newcomers is that they want to pick up, where they left off in their previous mmorpg, right from the start. Doesnt work that way. Start with questing. Decon whatever gear you do not need along the way. Que up dungeons so that you may get a feel of what your class/spec/race is really all about. And just have fun. Once you get to CP160, the fun begins. And it will take time to get there. Do it fast, and you will miss out, burn out, and never experience what may be the best MMORPG you have ever played.

geonsocal

well done and welcome to the forums

monktoasty

Good tips mostly but I'd say subscription isn't completely needed..you can earn a pack.upgrade and buy more pack upgrades later.

I'd add that you need to start training your mount skills immediately. Start with speed then endurance then capacity.

Do delves while you quest..they have skyhards...every 3 sky's hard collected gives a skill point. They are also found over land so always keep an eye out.

Don't just Decon equioment..start researching equipment so you can make better gear..and the sooner you start the better.


Join a trade guild so you can sell stuff..this you can hold off on until you are ready to sell things.

vyndral13preub18_ESO

Good advice mostly. But some of it is purely opinion. You really can’t play it wrong if as you say, you are having fun. Quest, grind, pvp, a little bit of everything, it doesn’t matter. Just have fun.

STEVIL

"7. Forget about Skill Points Management. You will 100% respec over and over again once you are in endgame. So, where to put those points now does not matter. TRY EVERYTHING! The build on websites such as alcast are designed for players CP720 and with multiple combination of gear sets. Not players level 22."

I would add to this:

When you do start looking at builds on sites, learn their "context".

DPS builds on various sites are **usually** meant for group play where you have a tank drawing most of the big fire and a healer healing you and so on so... taking one of those builds and playing SOLO might not get you much more than quickly dead because when you are solo you will often have to take damage and heal yourself too. i can remember quite a few threads about "i keep getting killed" and the poster was surprised cuz they had one of the "better builds" - but they were solo and that is a different animal than group.

Hippie4927

Very well said and welcome to the community!

Gilvoth

i been here since beta 2013, and i agree with the advice given here.
there are other things to add but the post pretty much paved the way very well.

Elsonso

Awesome! Good read. And, Welcome to ESO!

FinneganFroth

I would also mention that the majority of the grinding is probably for vet players that have made a new character. Thus, when they hit level 50 on their new character, they automatically level to their max CP.

Morgul667

Nice guide

SkyIsTheLimit1206

monktoasty wrote: »

Good tips mostly but I'd say subscription isn't completely needed..you can earn a pack.upgrade and buy more pack upgrades later.

I'd add that you need to start training your mount skills immediately. Start with speed then endurance then capacity.

Do delves while you quest..they have skyhards...every 3 sky's hard collected gives a skill point. They are also found over land so always keep an eye out.

Don't just Decon equioment..start researching equipment so you can make better gear..and the sooner you start the better.


Join a trade guild so you can sell stuff..this you can hold off on until you are ready to sell things.

Actually, capacity will be a lot more useful than endurance/stamina because the endurance/stamina stat is only for pvp, because when you run out of stamina on your horse, it can still sprint for eternity, just that it will be easier for an enemy to knock you off your horse. So unless you want to focus pvp (which I strongly suggest against for new players) you should invest in capacity before endurance/stamina.

monktoasty

SkyIsTheLimit1206 wrote: »

monktoasty wrote: »

Good tips mostly but I'd say subscription isn't completely needed..you can earn a pack.upgrade and buy more pack upgrades later.

I'd add that you need to start training your mount skills immediately. Start with speed then endurance then capacity.

Do delves while you quest..they have skyhards...every 3 sky's hard collected gives a skill point. They are also found over land so always keep an eye out.

Don't just Decon equioment..start researching equipment so you can make better gear..and the sooner you start the better.


Join a trade guild so you can sell stuff..this you can hold off on until you are ready to sell things.

Actually, capacity will be a lot more useful than endurance/stamina because the endurance/stamina stat is only for pvp, because when you run out of stamina on your horse, it can still sprint for eternity, just that it will be easier for an enemy to knock you off your horse. So unless you want to focus pvp (which I strongly suggest against for new players) you should invest in capacity before endurance/stamina.

Isn't it also a stat that helps with monsters knocking you off your horse?

FloppyTouch

I agree

starkerealm

monktoasty wrote: »

Isn't it also a stat that helps with monsters knocking you off your horse?

Yes. Your horse takes stamina damage, when you're attacked while mounted. If this hits zero (again, from damage, not from simply sprinting it down), you'll be knocked off and stunned for a second.

starkerealm

Mystiqq0099 wrote: »

6. Choose your Class and Race VERY VERY carefully. DO NOT rush through the character creation process. Research first what it is you’d like to do, and how best to do it. It WILL matter down the road.

This is the only thing I disagree with. Racial picks only matter when you're trying to place on the leaderboards.

That said, yes, your race and class are important choices. However, there are viable builds for all 50 race/class combinations.

Imperials excel at Stamina DPS and as Tanks.
Bretons excel as Magicka DPS and Healers.
Redguards excel as Stamina DPS, and may actually be the best choice.
Orcs excel as tanks.
High Elves excel as Magicka DPS.
Wood Elves excel as Stamina DPS (particularly with stealth focused builds).
Khajiit excel as Stamina DPS (particularly with stealth focused builds).
Dark Elves excel at Magicka DPS.
Argonians excel as Tanks and Healers.
Nords excel at getting extremely drunk, (and being tanks).

zaria

monktoasty wrote: »

SkyIsTheLimit1206 wrote: »

monktoasty wrote: »

Good tips mostly but I'd say subscription isn't completely needed..you can earn a pack.upgrade and buy more pack upgrades later.

I'd add that you need to start training your mount skills immediately. Start with speed then endurance then capacity.

Do delves while you quest..they have skyhards...every 3 sky's hard collected gives a skill point. They are also found over land so always keep an eye out.

Don't just Decon equioment..start researching equipment so you can make better gear..and the sooner you start the better.


Join a trade guild so you can sell stuff..this you can hold off on until you are ready to sell things.

Actually, capacity will be a lot more useful than endurance/stamina because the endurance/stamina stat is only for pvp, because when you run out of stamina on your horse, it can still sprint for eternity, just that it will be easier for an enemy to knock you off your horse. So unless you want to focus pvp (which I strongly suggest against for new players) you should invest in capacity before endurance/stamina.

Isn't it also a stat that helps with monsters knocking you off your horse?

It is and with some stamina on horse you can bypass overland mobs easy.
still unless you mostly pvp inventory is more important if you don't have eso+.
Next I would put speed but 10-20 into stamina once you got 20-30 speed.

TheCyberDruid

starkerealm wrote: »

Nords excel at getting extremely drunk, (and being tanks).

Aye. aka 'Don't tell me how to drink my life!'

FrancisCrawford

Good points.

That said, there are older, more detailed guides around that also have value. I'm naturally biased to the one I wrote myself, namely https://tamrielfoundry.com/articles/general-tips-for-new-or-returning-players/

Olen_Mikko

I disagree on #6

Race doesn't really matter, unless you're min/maxer or want to do hardest endgame content with leaderboard score on your mind.

Normal stuff / veteran dungeons / world bosses etc. can be done with most ridiculous builds without an issue.

drkfrontiers

Wonderful advice! Praise Y'ffre!

jedtb16_ESO

welcome, really good guide. but there is one part i take issue with.....

'Once you get to CP160, the fun begins'

i don't agree with that at all. for me the fun began the first moment i stepped into the game. if it hadn't been fun i would have stopped playing.

fierackas

starkerealm wrote: »

Mystiqq0099 wrote: »

6. Choose your Class and Race VERY VERY carefully. DO NOT rush through the character creation process. Research first what it is you’d like to do, and how best to do it. It WILL matter down the road.

This is the only thing I disagree with. Racial picks only matter when you're trying to place on the leaderboards.

That said, yes, your race and class are important choices. However, there are viable builds for all 50 race/class combinations.

Imperials excel at Stamina DPS and as Tanks.
Bretons excel as Magicka DPS and Healers.
Redguards excel as Stamina DPS, and may actually be the best choice.
Orcs excel as tanks.
High Elves excel as Magicka DPS.
Wood Elves excel as Stamina DPS (particularly with stealth focused builds).
Khajiit excel as Stamina DPS (particularly with stealth focused builds).
Dark Elves excel at Magicka DPS.
Argonians excel as Tanks and Healers.
Nords excel at getting extremely drunk, (and being tanks).

I didn't do any research so my main is a Dark Elf stamina warden

Lysette

I think, this is good advice for when one wants to get to "endgame" and pvp.

But beside of this, ESO is not just a typical MMO where "endgame" is the goal. The game can perfectly be played without to ever think about endgame or to pvp at all. It can be played like it would be a single-player game, where you can eventually group up with others from time to time. It can be played like "Skyrim with friends" to the most part - there is no need, to think about pvp or do it, if you are not into it, there is plenty of content without to ever touch pvp or think about a meta-build - if you are not into pvp, not much of what is suggested here really matters. Just play as you want and have fun.

There is plenty of game content in PvE - there is absolutely no need to rush to "endgame" if you are not into pvp.

wenchmore420b14_ESO

Awesome guide! Well written!
If you are on PC/NA, give me a shout!! @wenchmore420
Welcome to Tamriel and to ESO!
And as always......

Nestor

I will add this:

Getting to L50 or CP160 or even the CP Cap does you no good unless you have at least 120 skill points at a minimum, and more like 150 to 180 if you want to swap skills, use a mix of armor weights for Undaunted Mettle, do some PvP etc.

Your goal for leveling is not getting to L50, nor CP160, nor the CP Cap. It is getting enough Skill Points to invest in what you want to make your character useful.

Start your Trait Research Now. Not tomorrow, not next week, now. Crafted gear is on par with dropped gear despite what a few Min/Maxers say and you can't craft sets if you don't know traits. Besides, you can't transmute your dropped gear if you don't know the trait you want.

If you think your going to have more than one character, roll them now, get a horse and start training the riding lessons. Horses are slooooooowwww until you get to around 30 in speed. So, that is about a month at the stables. Log to these alts each day and train your riding skills.

Speaking of characters, get your first one to CP160, with the needed skills points of course. Then, roll one for each of the 4 remaining classes. This way you can react better to all the balance changes the game goes through.

JKorr

Also if you find a good helpful guild, it will help tremendously. Crafters to help with gear, provisioners, enchanters, alchemists and extra bodies to show up when you need a hand with a boss.

Its fun to see a new player who had been struggling discover the difference a crafted set of enchanted gear and food/potions can make for them.

VDoom1

Awesome post and helpful tips.

Tandor

Much as I dislike "must read" thread titles, after reading game forums for too many years for me to want to admit to, this is probably the only thread I've read in that time that warrants such a title.

Stinkyremy

Gonna correct a few of your comments, or at least give my opinion

-CP160 is max level for gear. Not 47, Not CP62, Not CP143. CP 160 is max level. So do not stress what you are wearing until then. It wont matter once you hit CP160 as everything in the game will drop CP160 gear for you.

-DO stress what you are wearing, you want to have full training gear on, weapons too, as for your own benefit, you actually want to get to 160 quickly because all of your rewards and gear you find are lowly trash until you get to 160.
Farm, farm, farm, ask a crater in zone chat to make you training gear. I make training gear for noobs for free, blue gear too, some crafters might charge a small amount.
Don't worry about the visual look of the gear until 160 as it is all trash, that is why you want to get to 160 fast, amongst other things.

-Do not waste your Scrolls of Exp from the crown Store. Save them for when you start leveling your Champion Points. Again, getting to level 50 will do nothing for you.

-Don't save them for leveling champion points, save them for leveling alts from 0-50.

- QUEST, QUEST, and QUEST. Do not negate the quest’s all around Tamriel. DO THEM! They are easy, fun, and offer a TON of XP. I got 36.7k from a random quest that took about 12 minutes to complete. And the quest was fun as heck.

-While I levelled by questing, and i think it is the best thing to do as a noob, as grinding is stupid and you can't do much else. Actually and in retrospective, if you don't quest until you get to 160, all the rewards from handing in the quest will be 160 gear and 160 gold. At level 10, handing in a quest gives you like 33 gold and a level 10 set piece from the zone, at 160 it gives you 333 gold and a 160 set piece from the zone that you can then sell to players!

-Choose your Class and Race VERY VERY carefully. DO NOT rush through the character creation process. Research first what it is you’d like to do, and how best to do it. It WILL matter down the road.

-No, play what class looks like and sounds fun to you, choose what race you like either the look of, or have an draw towards, don't try build an end game meta character when you have just started the game, you can build an alt for that later.


-Sub up! Let me rephrase that, SUBSCRIPTION!!!!! Its only 15 bucks a month BUT BOY does it make a difference. Aside from the fact that you get ALL the content the game has to offer, you also get a separate crafting bag and more bank space. And this game is all about INVENTORY!

-Don't buy ESO+ until you are sure you want to invest a lot of time in the game, your bank is full of mats, and you want to become a master crafter because the craft bag and decreased research time is all that is really beneficial to you.
As for the DLC most of which is high end, end game content, you won't even be playing for months because there is 6 months worth of quests to do in the base game! not including PvP.
No point of playing the DLC dungeons or imperial city at level 20. You can't. Even wrothgar and CWC are a waste at low levels. Thieve guild and dark brotherhood are fun at low levels for those of you who want to roleplay a thief/assassin. If not, buy eso+ post 160 when you are sure you want to continue the time investment in the game.

-DO NOT SELL or THROW AWAY gear. Decon it! Leveling your crafts is more important then leveling your character. You will see why once you get to endgame. So, start now.

-Decon all your gear below 160, always decon all intricates forever, sell all ornates forever.
Post 160 sell good gear to players, sell trash gear to merchants, and decon all purple trash gear. Mats come pretty naturally from farming and refining plus if you have no intention on becoming a master crafter there is no point on collecting too many mats.
-there are exceptions to this, because some gear, like gear you find in vvardenfell, give you rare style mats that are worth more selling to players than selling the trash gear to the merchant

To add to this, type in zone chat you are a noob and try to find others at your level to play with. Questing and exploring with others is fun unless you enjoy solo content, and while being carried by a higher level player seems like a good idea, you are sacrificing skill and learning for being carried through content and never really learning the mechanics.
When it comes to dungeons, if you find people your level and slog through the dungeons learning the mechanics together, you will gain skill, learn the mechanics and be better at the dungeon than even max cp players who did the dungeons at max cp with other max cp players where it is a cake walk.
Queuing for activity finder will be a pain because you will be a burden to others So finding a network of similar level friends to play with is a good first step. Maybe look for a newly started guild.


Sorry to step on your toes OP, but I appreciated your effort so added some more seasoned advice from your comments.

Stinkyremy

SkyIsTheLimit1206 wrote: »

monktoasty wrote: »

Good tips mostly but I'd say subscription isn't completely needed..you can earn a pack.upgrade and buy more pack upgrades later.

I'd add that you need to start training your mount skills immediately. Start with speed then endurance then capacity.

Do delves while you quest..they have skyhards...every 3 sky's hard collected gives a skill point. They are also found over land so always keep an eye out.

Don't just Decon equioment..start researching equipment so you can make better gear..and the sooner you start the better.


Join a trade guild so you can sell stuff..this you can hold off on until you are ready to sell things.

Actually, capacity will be a lot more useful than endurance/stamina because the endurance/stamina stat is only for pvp, because when you run out of stamina on your horse, it can still sprint for eternity, just that it will be easier for an enemy to knock you off your horse. So unless you want to focus pvp (which I strongly suggest against for new players) you should invest in capacity before endurance/stamina.

I go 60 capacity, 20 speed, 20 endurance, finish speed then finish endurance.
Capacity is a far more important thing to put in from horses, as more loot can be held, which means less trips back to merchants or having to destroy loot on the spot. Plus higher level bag and bank spaces are very costly

starkerealm

fierackas wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Mystiqq0099 wrote: »

6. Choose your Class and Race VERY VERY carefully. DO NOT rush through the character creation process. Research first what it is you’d like to do, and how best to do it. It WILL matter down the road.

This is the only thing I disagree with. Racial picks only matter when you're trying to place on the leaderboards.

That said, yes, your race and class are important choices. However, there are viable builds for all 50 race/class combinations.

Imperials excel at Stamina DPS and as Tanks.
Bretons excel as Magicka DPS and Healers.
Redguards excel as Stamina DPS, and may actually be the best choice.
Orcs excel as tanks.
High Elves excel as Magicka DPS.
Wood Elves excel as Stamina DPS (particularly with stealth focused builds).
Khajiit excel as Stamina DPS (particularly with stealth focused builds).
Dark Elves excel at Magicka DPS.
Argonians excel as Tanks and Healers.
Nords excel at getting extremely drunk, (and being tanks).

I didn't do any research so my main is a Dark Elf stamina warden

Unless you're concerned about leaderboards, you're fine. Seriously, my main is a Breton Stamblade.

So, two things to understand about ESO and races.

First: a lot of elitists, particularly wannabe elitists will tell you that specific race/role combos are mandatory. It's, just, not true. Some races are better suited to certain roles, but you're really not locked to a must have meta. Yes, the races can make certain combos easier to manage. Doesn't make it necessary, but it can be easier.

Second: if you're comparing yourself to veteran players, stop. Don't do it. ESO is not a game about making your numbers bigger by leveling up so you can be more effective. Learning the mechanics is way more important than simply finding the best gear.

Once you get to 160, and start shuffling around making an actual build, then you can worry about gear, but leveling just doesn't change much.

Similarly, CP isn't as big a deal as a lot of people make it out to be. Trust me, I'm a 720. There is a difference between my lowbies when I haven't spent their CP vs when I have. But it's not a deciding factor.

Hard content is hard. It gets easier as you learn it, but stuff like Veteran dungeons will kick your teeth in if you're unprepared. But, it'll do that if you're an optimized race/class/role, or not. I say this as someone with multiple Breton stam builds... way too many, to be honest.