What did you enjoy most when you first started playing ESO?

idk

For me, it was enjoying exploring more of Tamriel. Going down different roads to see what was there. Yes, I did all the quests in all the zones on two different characters when I first started playing the game. Some of the side quests were very interesting such as the quest in Shadowfen where you get the skeleton polymorph as a reward. Many of the stories were so well written.

What did you enjoy most when you first starting playing ESO?

Destai

So I started shortly after launch and PC. I'd say it's three things - the music, the environments, and the writing. Starting as an Altmer Templar, I loved exploring Auridon and it all seemed so immersive. Not only was the environment stunning but the quests and characters experienced through out the game were so fleshed out. Coming from Guild Wars 2 at the time, it was a breathe of fresh air. The music in this game is simply wonderful. Each zone has its own feel as a result of it.

myskyrim26

Same as now: exploration and questing. I tries many other activities and failed them all. Dungeons, PVP, even housing are nothing but a frsustration to me. So, I gave up trying. I just enjoy the lore and scenery.

Etrella

I loved how when you pressed a button, skills would not fire. Oh and the LAG!! So much fun

Glenmorils

The environments, the writing, the new TES lore, and the character customization.

vamp_emily

I think the world is awesome but I never fell in love with PvE. For me It was playing PvP, working as a team and trying to win. Blackwaters was such a great campaign.

worrallj

I liked the omnipresence of lorebooks, the good graphics, and the way delves worked: little instances with their own storyline going on that was short, digestible, and not a "fetch quest" (often the story didn't even have an associated quest, it was something you only got from reading notes and books scattered through it).

Tandor

I just felt comfortable with the game (at PC launch, I wasn't in beta - deliberately as I wanted to discover it at launch being a player of every single TES title, and had given up regular beta testing by then, having been involved in game betas since about 1984), and felt instantly that this was going to be my main MMORPG home for years to come, as EQ and EQ2 had been before it (and to a lesser extent LoTRO which I still play today on two lifetime accounts).

That was largely, I suspect, due to exploration and questing as @myskyrim26 has said above, and like him I feel exactly the same way today as I did over six years ago. I do play other games, but I never leave this one and while I dabble with the others this is something more than that. It helps, of course, that my playstyle and other factors mean that I have never at any time experienced any significant performance issues unlike some.

I said that this was largely due to exploration and questing, but I think the other factors will certainly include the class/skill structure including the various changes to it, and the regular DLCs and Chapters, although the dungeon DLCs are of no interest to me. Unlike @myskyrim26 , however, I do enjoy the housing !

Nanfoodle

Cyrodiil =-\ Main reason I came here and what keeps me playing

AcadianPaladin

The mass and scale of the game. And that, for the first time in Elder Scrolls history, staves were good weapons!

KoSeKu

i was amazed by how versetile chracter builds i can make, like a mage is tanking

MartiniDaniels

Animation cancelling.
My biggest problem with such games was monotonous gameplay with cooldowns, auto-attacks and overall repetitive combat. ESO at first felt clunky and slow, and I was struggling with sustain... so on DK I started using chains which replenish their cost... and then it was a day when miracle happened. I was just spamming destro light attacks and chains one after another pulling pesky mobs to cast embers on them.. but then I noticed that sometimes both attacks can be launched almost simultaneously and combat becomes fluid and rhythmic that way.
After that I tried to combine S&B light attacks+abilities and block cancel, dodge cancel and probably my most favorite bar swap cancel... All of this inspired me to explore game further and I got to dungeon pugging and enjoyed it greatly, no joking.

tinythinker

idk wrote: »

For me, it was enjoying exploring more of Tamriel. Going down different roads to see what was there. Yes, I did all the quests in all the zones on two different characters when I first started playing the game. Some of the side quests were very interesting such as the quest in Shadowfen where you get the skeleton polymorph as a reward. Many of the stories were so well written.

What did you enjoy most when you first starting playing ESO?

idk...


Kidding, kidding!

I agree with what you wrote, including finding new quest givers, using the clues in the achievement tabs to find skyshards, seeing the different structures and landscapes while listening to the background music, listening to the NPCs for quest dialogue, etc. It was all very fun and I went so slow trying to appreciate it all. I had only very briefly tried a few F2P MMOs before ESO so it was an amazing experience. I also got into Cyrodiil and AvAvA, especially being able to tell that my healing was helping to keep other defenders alive and seeing how many people I could hit through a whole in the breach with a meatbag catapult.

I mean, after so many play-throughs that same novelty isn't there, but I'm glad we get another game-wide system to take us back into the original zones.

Ashryn

I loved the feeling of an endless world! I still love it although I have trekked over every inch of it! Every new chapter I get to have that new exploration vibe once more

myskyrim26

Tandor wrote: »

Unlike @myskyrim26 , however, I do enjoy the housing !

Housing is my fault. I spent a lot of time creating houses in Skyrim, tried to make them perfect. So I became a damn perfectionist. I find faults in every ESO house I obtain. I told myself many times: to Oblivion with those mismatching windows. Hide them and enjoy the rest of the house! Go decorate the courtyard! But... still I'm a damn perfectionist.

Olen_Mikko

I started on december -14 and i mostly did pvp. Lag wasn't really an issue, DK's were super strong and i spent at least 3-4 hours in Cyrodiil every day.

Rake

Ignorance

Dithieon

Exploration. I am amazed I get anything done, constantly going off the beaten path, looking under every rock, behind every tree. I love finding the little 'scenes' left for us by the worldbuilders; a skeleton lying beside a chest or a backpack or an abandoned campsite or ruins with a story to tell. Four years into the game, I still enjoy the wonder of it all.

RD065

When trying to go from Glenumbra to Waywest at level 5. Frightening and exciting at the same time. What keeps me coming back is the games beauty. It's a gorgeous game.

Smitch_59

The Elder Scrolls lore.

And no stupid dragons.

BackStabeth

For the first few min, exploring, until I realized that there were major huge giant portions of the map that you have to run around before you can get to the other side.

I was further disappointed when I realized I had to pay money, to buy crowns, to buy speed boosters for my mount, or alternatively I could buy an upgrade 1 day per day for 60 days to max my mount speed, and then after that 1 upgrade per 60 days to increase my stamina, and then yet another upgrade 1 per day to max out that mount. I was even more pissed off when I found out I had to do this for any other characters I make.

I was further dismayed when I found out that I had to slowly run around large parts of the terrain, even mounted, to unlock each wayshrine. I was really pissed off when I found out I would have to do this for each character.

I started hunting down shards, then I realized that for some shards I had to do quests I wasn't interested in doing to get access to them. It took a long time to get all the shards. Then I realized that ZoS was selling shards for certain areas when they were cleared, for other characters.

I started a new character, I was happy I could spend my attribute points I had earned from my first character, but then while trying to train, get from dolman to dolman, doing zombies just to raise up to level 50 so my character would then be the same CP as my other, I realized that I couldn't keep up because of my mounts slow speed. I couldn't spend points to increase my magicka because I hadn't earned them yet, or points on skills because I hadn't run around to collect them all over again.

Or I could pay a ransom fee to buy my way out of frustration that was coded into the game on purpose, with intent so that people would become so frustrated that they buy their way out of that frustration so they can continue to enjoy the game.

But then I realized, no matter how much you pay to alleviate the frustration, there is one type of frustration that cannot be resolved. The fact that ZoS refuses to fix issues and problems that have existed for 6 years and never have been resolved. The fact that new bugs and issues are being added when new content is added. The fact that ZoS is "optimizing" and not fixing code that is causes the problems. The fact ZoS has taken all the money so many people have given them in good faith, to provide an good entertainment product, and yet has not spent those funds, any of that money to purchase the server resources, or labor required to fix the problems and issues that make the game almost not playable, certain a huge challenge in Cyrdiil.

Those moments when you discover something new, and are excited about it in ESO? They are fleeting, they exist and then soon after, seconds in fact, they are ruined by either some frustration that was coded on purpose to drive people to spend money to alleviate that frustration. Or they are issues, problems, bugs that have never been resolved that make the game almost not playable at times.

[snip]

Problem is, and this is no exaggeration, there is so much wrong with the game, broken and just plain profiteering on frustration that it far over shadows anything decent and good in the game. I haven't even turned the game on in days, it's getting to the point I rather clean house than play the game because it's less frustrating.

[edited for conspiracy theories]

Cireous

Looting all the barrels and nightstands and wardrobes and things; finding my first motifs. This was definitely a superior experience to other MMOs, where the assets in the world were/are almost entirely uninteractable.

pod88kk

Questing and looking under every nook and cranny for mats, it all paid off when I got ESO+ and a craft bag, then a year later the game performance went plop and has been like that for 2-3years now but I'm addicted

lemonizzle

Seeing and visiting landmarks and areas of Tamriel I have only read about or heard mentioned in other Elder Scrolls titles. The landmass feels huge for a newcomer, even overwhelming if you don't know where to start.

Paradisius

I joined the game right before Summerset, and bought the pack that included Morrowind. So my enjoyment at first was experiencing Vvardenfell in whats considered more modern graphics. I am a huge fan of TES 3 and Dunmer culture in general, so experience that landmass as my first impression was amazing.

SeaGtGruff

I started in Vvardenfell, which was great-- although a lot smaller than I was expecting.

But the first time I took a boat to Glenumbra and found myself in Daggerfall, took another boat to Wayrest, innocently got on a cart that took me to Craglorn, and ended up trekking back to Wayrest on foot through Craglorn and Bangkorai, I was hooked.

Minoa86

I liked the immersive combat a lot since it reminded me of Tera. I was a bit miffed you couldn't level Acrobatics via jumping like in Oblivion though. I still jump around like a fool anyway!

Jarndyce

I started at beta. After following the games development for more than a year, I remember just being excited to finally be in game with a brand new character and being able to explore a vast new game world. The quests were fun and well written but I remember a few were really bugged. You couldn't progress because the quest giver wasn't there or something. I remember that the chat was lively as we discussed ways to try to bypass. Ha! Fun times! 🙂

Hymzir

Exploring, adventuring, seeing the sights, doing quests... You know, playing the game. There was also some nostalgia interwoven with that, as it was fun to see the re-imagined spaces from Arena and Daggerfall, but since I still play older TES games fairly regularly, it was not a biggie.

I've often mentioned how in ESO quests are constrained in format due to this being an MMO. There are only few stock templates that 99% of all ESO quest fit, and pretty much none of them have any really meaningful consequences. At first it didn't bother me too much, but as of late, I just can't feel the same enthusiasm toward the storylines in the game. Also, ESO is starting to suffer from the "World is always in peril" syndrome. That is, as soon as one end of the world threat is dealt with, another pops up somewhere else. It's like all the main TES games happened right after each other, over the span of just a few years.

My main character, having gone though all the crud he has, should probably be the most famous person in the world. Yet with the start of each new zone, I'm just another random nobody. The dis-junction between the narratives and my past experiences is starting to be too great. In fact, with the start of Elsweyr I switched to a new main, just so that the reactions people give me would be at least somewhat sensible. I'm still annoyed by the constraints of the MMO format places on storylines, but at least I don't have to deal with the inanity of every frigging bandit loser thinking they can take on the dude who handed Molag his Balls.

I guess I'd be happy with just exploration and sight seeing, if all the alternate content added since launch was not buried under mind numbing grind (or offer pointless rewards not worth the hassle - like thieving ans assassination. Plus maybe it's time to come up with a few new missions for them guilds, eh?). If housing was not such a frigging annoyance and there was actual stuff to be found in the world to encourage exploration (no, treasure chests do not cut the mustard), that'd be enough, but as it is, it just isn't worth my time (and life). I still haven't' finished Murkmire, or Elsweyr, and haven't even started on southern Elsweyr at all.

The new Antiquities system looked promising, but it is kinda turning into the nightmare I expected it to be. Mind numbing busybody chores and endless grind. Not exactly something I look forward to. If the Antiquities furnishings weren't BOP, then at least it might be bearable, but right not it just looks like and endless void that will drain countless hours of my life in tedious BS nonsense.

The thing is, I'm totally fed up spending my leisure time in prepping for some actual entertaining game play at some unclear date in the future. And it's not just housing, it's pretty much everything in the game. Motifs are hidden behind daily grinds, you need to be constantly farming either gold or mats just to have the consumables you need, and most of the really interesting item sets are BOP and behind huge grind fests. And housing... It's not just the mats, and the blueprints, it's everything. Like grinding master writ vouchers, grinding achievements so you can purchase some cool piece of furnishing which costs a ton and requires endless hours of grinding for gold. I long the days when I just logged on and did some 'venturing, without worrying about all the dailies and farming and achievements I'm supposed to be grinding for. Guess that's the reason I don't' play as much as I used to.

Reyleigh

MartiniDaniels wrote: »

Animation cancelling.
My biggest problem with such games was monotonous gameplay with cooldowns, auto-attacks and overall repetitive combat. ESO at first felt clunky and slow, and I was struggling with sustain... so on DK I started using chains which replenish their cost... and then it was a day when miracle happened. I was just spamming destro light attacks and chains one after another pulling pesky mobs to cast embers on them.. but then I noticed that sometimes both attacks can be launched almost simultaneously and combat becomes fluid and rhythmic that way.
After that I tried to combine S&B light attacks+abilities and block cancel, dodge cancel and probably my most favorite bar swap cancel... All of this inspired me to explore game further and I got to dungeon pugging and enjoyed it greatly, no joking.

This.

BisDasBlutGefriert

What did I enjoy most when I first started playing ESO?

The attention to detail in the environments, the community, the different style of combat than previous Elderscrolls titles, and the grind to level up so I could move on to the next zone and explore that one.

This was back when the zones were different levels and the gathering mats were placed in the environments based on zone levels also.