How long did it take you to "wake up"?

Protossyder

When I started playing ESO in 2014 I had not the slightest idea of what I was doing and was completely overwhelmed.

My first and only char I have left from that time (I tended to delete chars that I felt were weak after reaching lvl 10 or so) was a dual wielding darkelf nightblade that was neither magicka nor stamina.

I thought the second bar was just an extension to use more skills, so I wondered why I couldn't equip the same weapons on both bars...
I got ripped apart in pvp (why the hell would I sneak, use healing skills, dodge roll or block?)
struggled with quest bosses and mob groups (I prepared myself mentally for the 3-enemy-groups)
had no idea about dungeons/trials/arenas and how to join them
didn't have a guild for a loooong time
and didn't even know that a forum existed
Well, in my defense: I had minor and major pauses and did not play consistently, but still...

And then (ca. September 2016) I woke up...

I started watching videos on yt about pvp (from Sypher I think) and created my main: a magicka DK . Then I realized that I needed sets from pve, so I ran dungeons for the first time and adapted to them first. So I discovered that you need some kind of rotation to actually deal some dps and over time I got really interested in going further into pve content, ran my first dlc dungeons, finally joined a guild (which I am still a member of to this day) and attended my first trial (boy, I was so excited!).
I came back to my nightblade and decided to give him some upgrades (he is my main DD now) I couldn't believe what a mess he was...
And I created more chars, got better, learned different playstyles and to this day I am still learning and improving.

In conclusion I couldn't have wished for a greater game experience in my first MMO, even if it was slow and frustrating sometimes.
I could've added a lot more details about my journey, but there is way too much to tell, so I tried to keep it short.

Was your path equally long or did you get into this game faster?

therift

Mine was pretty much like yours. Nice thread idea

mague

I am still doing what i like. I use those skills i like and where i think they work for *me*. I tried a few metas but they suck for me. Armor sets i slightly adjust when i feel i can go for a bit more damage/heal or if i need a bit more survivability. But thats it.

Protossyder

mague wrote: »

I am still doing what i like. I use those skills i like and where i think they work for *me*. I tried a few metas but they suck for me. Armor sets i slightly adjust when i feel i can go for a bit more damage/heal or if i need a bit more survivability. But thats it.

Everyone as he wants to.
But for me:
in PvE there is a meta, that's how it works, one combination of class/sets/cp/skills/race will have the best dps output
in PvP you can play whatever you want, you are the one dying in the end

starkerealm

So many things.

It was never a single moment. It's not like I spent a lot of the game snoozing. I was a holdout against animation canceling for the longest time, but that had more to do with an ideological opposition to it than not understanding why it was important.

But I'm not sure when I "woke up." I will say this year's been the best I've had with the game. I spent a long time in near isolation in game, a virtual hobo, because of experiences in previous MMOs. Last year I got in with a trial guild that went septic. There were problems. That got to it's worst back in late May, about a week before E3. It got me to reconnect with all of the people I'd met on the trip, and some of the people like @MissBizz, who I'd run across before (mostly on these boards), but lost track of. So it's not that I didn't understand how to play, more that I'd ignored the best part of this game, which is the community. There's a lot of really fantastic people out there, playing ESO, and it's a richer experience when you interact with them, than when you're alone, screaming at PUGs in a random dungeon.

starkerealm

mague wrote: »

I am still doing what i like. I use those skills i like and where i think they work for *me*. I tried a few metas but they suck for me. Armor sets i slightly adjust when i feel i can go for a bit more damage/heal or if i need a bit more survivability. But thats it.

There isn't really a true meta in ESO. There's flavors players will chase like lost ducklings, but, there's no real BiS. That's not a thing here. There's good choices and bad, there may be better options for what you want to do, but anyone who tells you, "you need to do it this way," is wrong. Just, wrong.

Hell, I still remember all those people who tried stacking Acuity and Mother's Sorrow because they both showed up on the optional list for an Alcast build. Hilarity ensued, because those sets are antagonistic to one another.

Sparr0w

Started back on console release, had no idea what I was doing so quit until november/december 2017. Decided to git gud after joining a guild over Christmas and learning my build was terrible (white crafted lv30 gear, no set, at CP rank, hybrid woodelf magblade in medium armour)

Come March ish I was into vet trials with 8 max rank characters. Now I've completed most & have a mag/stam of each, plus a couple others. Still not max CP yet tho

Danikat

I think for me it was a gradual process. It was less jarring at first, but I'm still figuring things out as I go along.

ESO is a very long way from my first RPG or first MMO so there was relatively little in this game which was new to me. I remember feeling a lot like that, or maybe worse, when I first started Eye of the Beholder - I had no idea what Str, Int, Dex, Con etc. meant. I remember feeling like I'd made a real break-through when I finally understood that elves are always going to be better mages than barbarians, and I understood that if there was a bigger number and bigger blood splat effect when I hit an enemy that was better, but I think most of my choices were based on what sounded good or looked pretty. That was about 1995 and I've been playing RPGs and gradually figuring them out ever since.

So when I got to ESO it was mostly a matter of working out how it's different to games I'd played before. It threw me at first that it was so different to previous TES games, but then it's a lot like other RPGs.

I did change my main character for every beta - going between nightblade and templar (and briefly dragon knight) trying to find the best fit for the character I wanted to make (templar was definitely the right choice) but then making and deleting characters to work out just the right fit is normal to me.

I remember finding delves, public dungeons and group dungeons confusing - I was never sure which was which or what exactly the implications were. (Now I think it's a good system to give you a rough idea what to expect going in.)

There's still a lot I don't know - it was only a few months ago I really got into the idea of using item sets - I knew about them but didn't appreciate just how much of a difference they can make. And most of my characters don't have a build exactly, more a general theme.

Saphayla

Well, I first played ESO in November of 2017. I created a character that lasted until level 33 I think, which was when I decided that mistakes were made and I need to start over. My second character (same race and class) had the advantage of having some very basic knowledge (for example "Don't use mostly Medium Armor if you're a Magicka character"), but otherwise was just the same. I used my first character to experience anything that was thrown at me, which included Skyreach Catacombs (I spent close to two hours in there with three other players that had no knowledge about the deeper game mechanics), and after creating my second character I decided that I wouldn't do any group content until level 50. And so I kept doing quests, delves and such, until level 45, when I was invited into the Undaunted Enclave. The rewards were enough of an incentive to get me to do group content, but the queue time for DDs was bothersome and it led me to switching to a Healer (since I already leveled up Restoration Staff considerably during solo play). As such, I now had a purpose and a focus, which led me to search for guides and suggestions and opinions, vastly improving my knowledge of many game mechanics. I think that happened around January, two months after I started playing.

RaddlemanNumber7

Still dreaming.

mreisse

I'm a very cautious, mostly casual player. I tend to sneak/run from fights when I start a game and I stay in my comfort zone for a long time. Then one day, I realize the penalty for dying is just dying so why not take a chance?

My wake up moment was the first time I happened upon a dolmen in progress... After months of avoiding. There was one guy there and I decided to just dive in. All of a sudden all this rotation stuff I'd read about made sense! And my healing aura! It was actually useful!!! So that's what they're talking about!

(Not that I got gud, but I got slightly better, and I'm happy with that. Lots to learn and the physical ability to hit the right button at the right time continues to elude me, but I'm definitely better than I was!)

jainiadral

What do you mean by "woke up?" Because by your definition, I probably won't ever wake up If you mean something a little deeper, like how you see your place within the game, or how you shape the game to suit you, then I think it's still an evolving process for me.

I'm a solo-only story player, so a lot of what you say doesn't really apply to me now that I'm in the CP system. I can pretty much do whatever I want and never die--unless I fall off a cliff-- which feels great, honestly. I can play story stuff forever here-- for years, probably. I'm about a third of the way through clearing all the non-dungeon quests in the AD now, and I still have two DLCs I haven't touched yet.

The hard part for me is trying to ration how much story I feed each toon before I get sick of them, how to avoid getting stuck in the plethora of grindy tasks, how to avoid getting sucked into the next pursuit of shiny. I hate that I love shiny sometimes It's a continuing process of self-assessment and self-reflection, and testing my limits.

So, working on it

Protossyder

jainiadral wrote: »

What do you mean by "woke up?" Because by your definition, I probably won't ever wake up If you mean something a little deeper, like how you see your place within the game, or how you shape the game to suit you, then I think it's still an evolving process for me.

I'm a solo-only story player, so a lot of what you say doesn't really apply to me now that I'm in the CP system. I can pretty much do whatever I want and never die--unless I fall off a cliff-- which feels great, honestly. I can play story stuff forever here-- for years, probably. I'm about a third of the way through clearing all the non-dungeon quests in the AD now, and I still have two DLCs I haven't touched yet.

The hard part for me is trying to ration how much story I feed each toon before I get sick of them, how to avoid getting stuck in the plethora of grindy tasks, how to avoid getting sucked into the next pursuit of shiny. I hate that I love shiny sometimes It's a continuing process of self-assessment and self-reflection, and testing my limits.

So, working on it

Well, we are obviously different types of players. I can't enjoy solo story content anymore, it's just not enough. I like playing with or against other players, I like being competitive. I simply like being good (or the best ) . So I can definitely call it "waking up" for me.
Same applies to other games.

jainiadral

Protossyder wrote: »

jainiadral wrote: »

What do you mean by "woke up?" Because by your definition, I probably won't ever wake up If you mean something a little deeper, like how you see your place within the game, or how you shape the game to suit you, then I think it's still an evolving process for me.

I'm a solo-only story player, so a lot of what you say doesn't really apply to me now that I'm in the CP system. I can pretty much do whatever I want and never die--unless I fall off a cliff-- which feels great, honestly. I can play story stuff forever here-- for years, probably. I'm about a third of the way through clearing all the non-dungeon quests in the AD now, and I still have two DLCs I haven't touched yet.

The hard part for me is trying to ration how much story I feed each toon before I get sick of them, how to avoid getting stuck in the plethora of grindy tasks, how to avoid getting sucked into the next pursuit of shiny. I hate that I love shiny sometimes It's a continuing process of self-assessment and self-reflection, and testing my limits.

So, working on it

Well, we are obviously different types of players. I can't enjoy solo story content anymore, it's just not enough. I like playing with or against other players, I like being competitive. I simply like being good (or the best ) . So I can definitely call it "waking up" for me.
Same applies to other games.

LOL, well I'm hopeless so I'll never be the best. Sometimes I can shoot for mediocre on my best days

Well, best of luck in your personal quest!

Davor

I am like the orignal poster almost. I knew there was a forum but almost everything else is the same. Instead of "waking up", I use the word "clicked". I guess it's the same thing. I would say about 3.5 years ESO finally clicked in for me. While I still don't know how to do a lot of stuff (especially when it comes to PvP never done it) I think I finally have the basics to do PvE.

I played on and off for over 3 years, but finally "Clicked" about fall or winter of 2017. So now I would say I play ESO on a very regular basis now.

Protossyder

Davor wrote: »

I am like the orignal poster almost. I knew there was a forum but almost everything else is the same. Instead of "waking up", I use the word "clicked". I guess it's the same thing. I would say about 3.5 years ESO finally clicked in for me. While I still don't know how to do a lot of stuff (especially when it comes to PvP never done it) I think I finally have the basics to do PvE.

I played on and off for over 3 years, but finally "Clicked" about fall or winter of 2017. So now I would say I play ESO on a very regular basis now.

I mostly sticked to PvE until now. Atleast I do PvP on my MagDK sometimes as I originally intended to ^^

mague

Protossyder wrote: »

mague wrote: »

I am still doing what i like. I use those skills i like and where i think they work for *me*. I tried a few metas but they suck for me. Armor sets i slightly adjust when i feel i can go for a bit more damage/heal or if i need a bit more survivability. But thats it.

Everyone as he wants to.
But for me:
in PvE there is a meta, that's how it works, one combination of class/sets/cp/skills/race will have the best dps output
in PvP you can play whatever you want, you are the one dying in the end

Been there done that. There is nothing wrong with being good or best. Not as long as the trade off is not yourself. Could also call it the 2nd awakening to keep a healthy amount of ignorance on certain min/max issues.

Protossyder

jainiadral wrote: »

Protossyder wrote: »

jainiadral wrote: »

What do you mean by "woke up?" Because by your definition, I probably won't ever wake up If you mean something a little deeper, like how you see your place within the game, or how you shape the game to suit you, then I think it's still an evolving process for me.

I'm a solo-only story player, so a lot of what you say doesn't really apply to me now that I'm in the CP system. I can pretty much do whatever I want and never die--unless I fall off a cliff-- which feels great, honestly. I can play story stuff forever here-- for years, probably. I'm about a third of the way through clearing all the non-dungeon quests in the AD now, and I still have two DLCs I haven't touched yet.

The hard part for me is trying to ration how much story I feed each toon before I get sick of them, how to avoid getting stuck in the plethora of grindy tasks, how to avoid getting sucked into the next pursuit of shiny. I hate that I love shiny sometimes It's a continuing process of self-assessment and self-reflection, and testing my limits.

So, working on it

Well, we are obviously different types of players. I can't enjoy solo story content anymore, it's just not enough. I like playing with or against other players, I like being competitive. I simply like being good (or the best ) . So I can definitely call it "waking up" for me.
Same applies to other games.

LOL, well I'm hopeless so I'll never be the best. Sometimes I can shoot for mediocre on my best days

Well, best of luck in your personal quest!

Thank you, but I am also hopeless in my "personal quest" xD It really starts getting frustrating, when you know that you have the best gear, the optimal setup, but you are still not at 100% and you realize that it's you standing in your own way

Tatanko

I've "woken up" a number of times in the eleven months or so that I have been playing. It was small things at first, but gradually the moments became more important. Each time I advanced a little (or a lot) as a player/character.

1. Realizing that I needed to keep replacing my equipment as I leveled or suffer being underpowered (up to CP160).
2. Equipping the right kind of armor, and not just whatever I found or felt like using (i.e. Medium Armor for stamina DPS).
3. Utilizing a diverse set of skills and varying weapon types on my two bars. I was guilty of getting comfortable with what I used early on, rather than trying new things to see what worked best.
4. Figuring out how to take advantage of equipment sets. I had no idea about Monster Helm sets, didn't pay much attention to fifth item bonuses, etc.
5. Learning a rotation. I struggled to make my way through late normal/early veteran content despite using widely recommended equipment and skills. Getting everything down in an order where skills could actually play off of one another was eye-opening.
6. Following the meta more closely in terms of skill and CP distribution is my most recent awakening. For example: I was stubbornly melee-only with my Stamplar well into clearing most veteran content. Switching to a bow on the back bar has not only increased my damage output, but also made the character more well-rounded. My build isn't a copy-paste of someone else's either, it's still very much my own, I just incorporated ideas from others to reach a mix that worked for me.

There are probably more that I'm forgetting, but these are what came to mind. So many times where I have thought, "I can't believe I've been doing it wrong this whole time."

Thoragaal

Protossyder wrote: »

When I started playing ESO in 2014 I had not the slightest idea of what I was doing and was completely overwhelmed.

My first and only char I have left from that time (I tended to delete chars that I felt were weak after reaching lvl 10 or so) was a dual wielding darkelf nightblade that was neither magicka nor stamina.

I thought the second bar was just an extension to use more skills, so I wondered why I couldn't equip the same weapons on both bars...
I got ripped apart in pvp (why the hell would I sneak, use healing skills, dodge roll or block?)
struggled with quest bosses and mob groups (I prepared myself mentally for the 3-enemy-groups)
had no idea about dungeons/trials/arenas and how to join them
didn't have a guild for a loooong time
and didn't even know that a forum existed
Well, in my defense: I had minor and major pauses and did not play consistently, but still...

And then (ca. September 2016) I woke up...

I started watching videos on yt about pvp (from Sypher I think) and created my main: a magicka DK . Then I realized that I needed sets from pve, so I ran dungeons for the first time and adapted to them first. So I discovered that you need some kind of rotation to actually deal some dps and over time I got really interested in going further into pve content, ran my first dlc dungeons, finally joined a guild (which I am still a member of to this day) and attended my first trial (boy, I was so excited!).
I came back to my nightblade and decided to give him some upgrades (he is my main DD now) I couldn't believe what a mess he was...
And I created more chars, got better, learned different playstyles and to this day I am still learning and improving.

In conclusion I couldn't have wished for a greater game experience in my first MMO, even if it was slow and frustrating sometimes.
I could've added a lot more details about my journey, but there is way too much to tell, so I tried to keep it short.

Was your path equally long or did you get into this game faster?

It makes me happy to hear people enjoying themselves.
Personally though, this isn't my first mmo. So I knew what I was getting myself into, and I knew what to expect.
I was "forced" to l2p in late 2006, early 2007 (about when TBC was launched) when our main tank in World of Warcraft disappeared and the guild was looking at me as their "salvation to continue raiding".. me.. who previously didn't even know how to generate threat and only did what I was told by - the now AWOL - main tank.

I read up on theorycrafting. I practiced. With a guild that had constantly been running 40man-raids there was no end of the amount of crying players "Tank for me, tank for me, I need this dungeon done!" so I was launched into a world I was previously (maybe blissfully) unaware of. I had some time to practice before going raids, since it was the launch of a new expansion, but soon enough I was standing there as one of the most respected tanks on the server. Eventually co-funded a guild which became the best (in terms of progression) on the server. The responsability from main tanking, being an officer and raid leader eventually took it's toll and I decided to re-roll a Shadowpriest. Unfortunately there was no spot for a Shadowpriest within the guild, so I left, and joined a newly started guild (with some old friends back from Vanilla WoW); Stigma. The guild only raided 12h/week (3 days/week) and we focused on quality raids over quantity. We became one of the top 250 in the world (top 3 in regards to how often we raided) and I managed to get a stable top 10 in the world rankings among shadowpriests (in terms of dps).
The better we got, the more arrogant some players became. They wanted to enforce 4 days / week raiding schedule to get even better rankings. Unfortunately many players couldn't keep it up and the avarage quality of our raids dropped. Some people decided to leave and the snowball effect took it's turn not long before the guild was disbanded. Social changes should be made with extreme care.

That's how Thoragaal, the tank, came to be and eventually rerolled to a Shadowpriest; Teletha/Thorabeegood. The rise and fall of Stigma.

Thoragaal

Protossyder wrote: »

jainiadral wrote: »

What do you mean by "woke up?" Because by your definition, I probably won't ever wake up If you mean something a little deeper, like how you see your place within the game, or how you shape the game to suit you, then I think it's still an evolving process for me.

I'm a solo-only story player, so a lot of what you say doesn't really apply to me now that I'm in the CP system. I can pretty much do whatever I want and never die--unless I fall off a cliff-- which feels great, honestly. I can play story stuff forever here-- for years, probably. I'm about a third of the way through clearing all the non-dungeon quests in the AD now, and I still have two DLCs I haven't touched yet.

The hard part for me is trying to ration how much story I feed each toon before I get sick of them, how to avoid getting stuck in the plethora of grindy tasks, how to avoid getting sucked into the next pursuit of shiny. I hate that I love shiny sometimes It's a continuing process of self-assessment and self-reflection, and testing my limits.

So, working on it

Well, we are obviously different types of players. I can't enjoy solo story content anymore, it's just not enough. I like playing with or against other players, I like being competitive. I simply like being good (or the best ) . So I can definitely call it "waking up" for me.
Same applies to other games.

Eventually you'll have enough of that "I like being good" and you'll start looking outside of yourself in terms to improve your conditions and circumstances. But I envy your drive, I know I don't have that any more but I know how much fun that can be

VaranisArano

Sometime around vet level 4, my SO tried using a food for the stat buff and told me "Wow, this makes things a lot easier!"

Lo and behold, it did indeed make things a lot easier. I had maxed provisioning and everything, I just simply had never bothered to use a food or drink buff.

Now I chug that Dubious Camoran Throne and gobble those Longfin Pastries.

Waffennacht

I was never asleep

Protossyder

Waffennacht wrote: »

I was never asleep

You must be a PvP god then...

Broyston

About a year after release, again like you after I started to read/watch some guides. I was so bad that I feared the 3 in a group overland mobs, I would sneak around them as I would always die, only mobs in two's were killable. I did some stuff like apply the same DOT on the same target multiple times, as nowhere did it say they didn't stack, and wondered why I had run out of resources and the enemy was barely scratched. Writing off AoEs like whirlwind as I tried them and they seemed to do next to no damage and I didn't realise they should be spammed once you got your ground AoEs and other DOTs down. And levelling as a tank, so every combat lasted minutes. So much shame.

technohic

Hard to pinpoint a time. Been playing since launch but I have never focused on end game PvE. I've done it a few times and I am aware of rotations and looked them up to do so but never really dedicated to it. I mean, almost all me gear has impen on it and I know that doesnt help in PvE.

PvP its always a constant wakeup call. I mean, I could do good against a bunch of players but then run into someone and find there are things I really need to do better.

The_Lex

Ib4 #fullywoke

TheYKcid

Typically 5-10 minutes, depending on how badly I need to pee.

I'll see myself out...

Protossyder

The_Lex wrote: »

Ib4 #fullywoke

Scroll up a little... you are 1.5 h late, must be your NA lag

coop500

jainiadral wrote: »

Protossyder wrote: »

jainiadral wrote: »

What do you mean by "woke up?" Because by your definition, I probably won't ever wake up If you mean something a little deeper, like how you see your place within the game, or how you shape the game to suit you, then I think it's still an evolving process for me.

I'm a solo-only story player, so a lot of what you say doesn't really apply to me now that I'm in the CP system. I can pretty much do whatever I want and never die--unless I fall off a cliff-- which feels great, honestly. I can play story stuff forever here-- for years, probably. I'm about a third of the way through clearing all the non-dungeon quests in the AD now, and I still have two DLCs I haven't touched yet.

The hard part for me is trying to ration how much story I feed each toon before I get sick of them, how to avoid getting stuck in the plethora of grindy tasks, how to avoid getting sucked into the next pursuit of shiny. I hate that I love shiny sometimes It's a continuing process of self-assessment and self-reflection, and testing my limits.

So, working on it

Well, we are obviously different types of players. I can't enjoy solo story content anymore, it's just not enough. I like playing with or against other players, I like being competitive. I simply like being good (or the best ) . So I can definitely call it "waking up" for me.
Same applies to other games.

LOL, well I'm hopeless so I'll never be the best. Sometimes I can shoot for mediocre on my best days

Well, best of luck in your personal quest!

Pretty much this.

I woke up to the fact I will and should never play a serious DPS character and make others suffer for my suckiness, instead I only play healers and tanks for group content.

tmbrinks

I started playing the game at launch. Played it almost exclusively as a single player game for the first year plus. Made a Nord DK (coming from Skyrim) on EP, as I had a few friends on EP (when you were faction locked), who both quit within a few weeks of playing. Eventually made a Argonian Templar healer/dps (not knowing that was anywhere near "meta"). I just played the game for the story, as a single player game. Questing, collecting lorebooks, skyshards, and just trying to accomplish everything in the game that I could on my own.

I leveled up all of my crafts, researching all the possible traits, on multiple characters... which led me to doing crafting as my primary source of income in the game... writs in particular.

Eventually, when the Undaunted dailies came out, I would start doing those, just pugging groups from Deshaan as people were asking (before dungeon finder existed), and eventually grouped up with a few people who were doing PvE trials that thought I did a good enough job healing that they invited me to join their guild nearly 15 months after I started playing the game. From there, I've just learned and picked up friends, other guilds, learned to actually dps as well, but still main a healer. Now I enjoy doing end-game PvE with the guilds I'm in, running trials/DSA/BRP, etc...

Crazy to think that I'm at this stage when I started the game, just wanting it to be like Skyrim 2.0... lol (For the record, I am glad it's not Skyrim 2.0, I genuinely enjoy the game and playing it... I just wish there seemed to be a little more direction from the Devs on where it's going, right not the "plan" seems very scattered)