I'd love a togglable 'Story Mode' that forces you to do the story in a chronological, linear order

samanthasays

I posted this over on Reddit too, if you're getting a sense of déjà vu. I love playing through the story, but it's frustrating having to keep a list of quests up to make sure that I'm doing everything in the "right" order. Some things look like side quests but lead into a full story, and some things look like the start of something big, only to just be a one off quest. On my next character I'm also going to do the alliance and main quests the same way they were before One Tamriel, which I wasn't around to experience. Constantly going out of the game to check what to do next isn't all that great and feels more like I'm completing a checklist. A cohesive checklist with an understandable narrative, but a checklist nonetheless.

I'd love an option, either when creating a character or in the settings (or both!), to remove most floating quest giver icons, or temporarily disable the quests entirely, and play through the stories how they were intended to be presented. Side quests can stay, anything that's considered standalone with no references to other story content needn't be affected (or give them their own 'Show/Hide/Only Side Quests' toggle alongside the chronological story one, while you're at it). Just give quests prerequisites before they pop up. I'm slowly growing the urge to look into how to create addons for the game to make something similar, even if all I can do is move my current checklist into the game.

The only real issue I can think of with a Story Mode option like this would be if you have something like Summerset, but no other DLCs, in which case a simple warning of "You're skipping ahead of story content you don't own," would suffice.

jainiadral

Thumbs up! This would have been amazing my first time through the game. My sorc went through a complete hodgepodge of questing-- including missing about half of her home alliance quests simply because she didn't run into the link-up quests that would have led her to Rivenspire or the Alik'r Desert. I didn't even know they existed until I was halfway through finishing the parts of Orsinium I'd missed when I tried to clear Stuga's quest out of my journal-- say halfway through Glenumbra.

That playthrough was a total story mess

whitecrow

That is a great idea. I think One Tamriel is the worst thing they did to the game, and I'm glad I played through the base story before it happened.

I often wonder how Summerset works if you haven't played through Morrowind and Clockwork, but I guess that's a discussion for another thread.

Sylvermynx

I'm seriously considering after the first of the year setting up a second account with only the base game so I can do the whole thing from the beginning.

xclassgaming

whitecrow wrote: »

That is a great idea. I think One Tamriel is the worst thing they did to the game, and I'm glad I played through the base story before it happened.

I often wonder how Summerset works if you haven't played through Morrowind and Clockwork, but I guess that's a discussion for another thread.

From what i heard a certain earl we meet earlier on in the game still has their earl name and no dialogue about their events.

Some things are edited so the events of Morrowind and Clockwork are never mentioned, even tho it doesn't make sense for some bits.

It's sorta a mess tbh

idk

TES has pretty much been free flowing exploration to find what to do.

For the main story line through each zone there are websites that help you stay on track. Most of the time once you get started on the quest line you get a quest to the next place to stay on track. Sometimes that does not flow right but most of the time it works.

samanthasays

idk wrote: »

TES has pretty much been free flowing exploration to find what to do.

Though never before in TES could I complete a quest with an NPC, and then start another quest that introduces me to the same NPC "for the first time." Ideally, I could do the quests in the intended order without using an out of game source, hence this suggestion.

whitecrow

With my second character, created after One Tamriel, at one point I had two separate quests to meet up with Razum Dar at two different locations.

heaven13

While I like 1T for the option to go wherever whenever, the transition to 1T wasn't as smooth as it could have been had it been intended all along. The mess it makes of storylines leaves a lot to be desired.

I'm a very slow player and despite closing in on 750cp, I've only done main alliance (DC) with Orsinium in between Rivenspire and Alik'r, main quest, CWC, and Morrowind on my main character, in that order (which irks me to no end that I did those last two backwards since the trouble in CWC is referenced as if I haven't been there). And don't get me started on the giant main quest spoiler in Orsinium about a certain character. I was very -_- when Skordo referenced the fate of one of my acquaintances despite it not having happened yet.

My secondary character has done a hodge podge of stuff and hasn't made it out of Deshaan but I was much less organized with her. The rest haven't really done much questing at all because trying to keep the storyline straight, especially since some of the new characters were started from new tutorials rather than Coldharbour, is headache inducing.

dovakiin5574

whitecrow wrote: »

With my second character, created after One Tamriel, at one point I had two separate quests to meet up with Razum Dar at two different locations.

Well Raz does get around

theyancey

I like this idea!

Ostacia

Fabulous idea!

Sylvermynx

dovakiin5574 wrote: »

whitecrow wrote: »

With my second character, created after One Tamriel, at one point I had two separate quests to meet up with Razum Dar at two different locations.

Well Raz does get around

Of course he does.... he's a cat....

If you've never been owned by a cat - well, you have NO idea.

Royaji

If you really want to experience the whole story an easy way is to go zone by zone. Your alliance -> Coldharbor -> other alliances -> and so on in the order of release.

Sercisil

actually, it's really annoying. no, "go zone to zone" doesn't solve the problem.

i remember the orders from the projection of the dead breton general in ebonheart... just because i've followed the quest marker of the main zone story and only then went to ebonheart.

and those two copies of thief constellation in one room during craglorn questline. it looked almost like another serpent scheme)

ArchMikem

I also prefer linear storytelling. It ruins the world building when you play newer content first even though it has plot which builds from earlier content.

I dont know what its like but im sure after killing Veya in Summerset, if you find her alive again in Morrowind its a huge slap in the face of continuity.

Lake

As you're on PC you can try the taken-over Zygor addon for free: https://esoui.com/downloads/info2062-ZygorGuidesESOLevelingGuideCommunity.html

This questing addon used to be a paid part of Zygor's subscription (they famously make interactive in-game WoW guides in addon-form), but they gave it away for free since nobody was buying it.

Most of its base-game quest guides were coded pre-One-Tamriel, so everything is in "original order" - including the main story quest, mage line etc.

They also have some of the new DLC zone quests.

Unfortunately, as it is an automatic interactive in-game quest guide, it will tell you everything you need to do and where to go - not everyone likes that.

WldKarde

This would be a great idea for all of the new players!
There is a great story being told in ESO...the continuity has just been mucked up after one tamriel

I'm lucky enough to have been here since the start, but even for me sometimes it's rough to figure out where to send a new alt next to advance the story.

Imagine what it's like for someone who just started the game today!

This is a QOL update that needs to happen well before SOON (tm) ZOS

idk

samanthasays wrote: »

idk wrote: »

TES has pretty much been free flowing exploration to find what to do.

Though never before in TES could I complete a quest with an NPC, and then start another quest that introduces me to the same NPC "for the first time." Ideally, I could do the quests in the intended order without using an out of game source, hence this suggestion.

But with MMORPGs it is common to have multiple quests. The issue you have is rather personal. You can do it as you want, Just avoid picking up additional quests.

So in other words, you have the choice to easily do the main storyline through zones on chronological order (there are three different chronological orders based on alliance). You can use a site showing the main quests through each zone and avoid picking up the additional quests.

The links below is a site you can use to go through the skill point quests if you get off course. The first one is probably better for your purposes. I use the second one when I level up a character since I am just going for the skill points.

http://teso-guides.com/the-elder-scrolls-online-cadwells-almanac
http://teso-guides.com/the-elder-scrolls-online-skill-point-quests

MattT1988

Yep I’m on board with this. The only real problem
I had with One Tamriel is that you could unwittingly do the main quests out of order, all it did was turn the main story into a hilarious farce if you didn’t know beforehand of what’s in what order.

Integral1900

Interesting idea, personally I prefer it as it is, I like exploring diffrent paths with new charecters. Also it depends how you handle the time line. It didn’t make sense to me that this mighty charecter, saviour of the world etc would suddenly turn into a thief. So I worked round the problem. For example my three charecters started as a gang of urchins in abahs landing so chronologically for them it’s thieves guild, then dark brotherhood, base game, wrothgar, morrowind etc. It’s a good project for an addon though. I would like an option to choose to skip the current introduction and just be placed in a zone of your choice, that would be handy

Leocaran

whitecrow wrote: »

With my second character, created after One Tamriel, at one point I had two separate quests to meet up with Razum Dar at two different locations.

That's not very remarkable. I had much better yesterday: two Vanuses Galerion in the same room with their quests.
It's even easy to get: just be in Daggerfall Alliance, don't do Alliance/Wayrest mageguild questline (I don't know which quest Vanus gives in Wayrest) but do the main quest. Then before travel to Alliances' Leaders' meeting you'd get that in Wayrest's Mage guild.

rexagamemnon

I posted a thread about this last week i think.
Its just insane havinb all the content just thrown at you all at once. So some of the storylines are all out if order unless you know what you are very careful

RebornV3x

They should add it to Cadwells Almanac it shows sort of what to do in your silver and gold zones but not your main alliance zone nor does it give you any sense of where to go to play the stories in a chronological order.

TheShadowScout

samanthasays wrote: »

I'd love a togglable 'Story Mode' that forces you to do the story in a chronological, linear order

YES!!!

It woudl be as easy as adding it to the journal, listing all the DLCS in the "chronological" order... and maaybe adding a toggle "Do not show quest markers for stories out of order" to the game settings (so then you would not get the "Craglorn" messenger until you finished, say, Cadwells silver and gold, and Sturga would not bother you until you done Craglorn, there would be no brothers from Azuras shrine to ask you look into missing prophcies until after finishing Orsinium, and you would not get the "Order of the Eye dispatch" until you got to that point after saving Vvardenfell, you would not be contacted by Varnus to look for a dissapeared oracle until after CWC, and you would not get the "Cyrodillic collections" encounter until you completed the "Summerset" storyline...) Obviously you should still be able to start each questline -manually- from the DLC collections if you so desire...

GWINDHA1R

Shame that if isn’t here yet! Thumbs def up!

starkerealm

MattT1988 wrote: »

Yep I’m on board with this. The only real problem
I had with One Tamriel is that you could unwittingly do the main quests out of order, all it did was turn the main story into a hilarious farce if you didn’t know beforehand of what’s in what order.

You could do that before One Tamriel if you leveled past a quest and then came back to it later. That's not a new issue. The difference is, it's easier to wander off, and start running quests out of order if you decide to stick a pin in the main quest, only to come back later and find out, "whoops, that was the main quest."

starkerealm

Leocaran wrote: »

whitecrow wrote: »

With my second character, created after One Tamriel, at one point I had two separate quests to meet up with Razum Dar at two different locations.

That's not very remarkable. I had much better yesterday: two Vanuses Galerion in the same room with their quests.
It's even easy to get: just be in Daggerfall Alliance, don't do Alliance/Wayrest mageguild questline (I don't know which quest Vanus gives in Wayrest) but do the main quest. Then before travel to Alliances' Leaders' meeting you'd get that in Wayrest's Mage guild.

It's the Summerset Prologue quest, and you'll get two Vanuses(?) in the Daggerfall Mage's Guild if you have Messages Across Tamriel Active.

Minyassa

I would have loved something like this. The number one thing that breaks my immersion is not something any other players do or anything having to do with game mechanics...it's having to tab out of the game to look at my browser for instructions.

SaintSubwayy

"toggle"...so aint gona happen

ZOS dont now what that is xD

starkerealm

What would be possible is an altered icon pointing you towards the next main path quest for your character. So, (for example) your character will be chasing an orange quest arrow, instead of white.

That said, there is a bit of reactivity later on in the game for running stuff out of order. So, I suspect this'll be less of an issue moving forward.