Suggestions for new players ... from a dedicated casual player

Tornaad

First, a bit about myself.
I was introduced to the Elder Scrolls world when Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind came out on the Xbox and have been lost in Tamriel ever since. I went about a decade where the only games I ever played was Elder Scrolls games. Initially when ESO came out, I did not even bat an eye because my Elder Scrolls games were single player only experiences. But after playing Skyrim for 5 years being the only game I ever played, I got to where I wanted something new to feed my Elder Scrolls fix, so I did a bit of research and decided to give ESO a try.

My initial plan was to only play until Elder Scrolls 6 came out and then drop ESO like a bad habit, but now that I have put as much time as I have into ESO, I have a special place in my heart for ESO and will likely continue playing it and Elder Scrolls 6 when it finally comes out.

My first character in Morrowind all those years ago was a sneaky bow wielding character and the same was true of my first characters in Oblivion and Skyrim. I know the playstyle I like and the playstyle that will keep me the most engaged.

But ESO is different than my single player Elder Scrolls games. It is very different. And that gets into my tips
1. Take your time. Just relax and enjoy the story. I have been playing this game since August of 2016 and have barely touched most of the group dungeons. I think I have ran maybe one or two trials, and about the only time I have ever touched PVP is when they have an event running. There is so much content in this game, you can play for hundreds of hours just in the single player content.

2. Even if you (like me) know exactly what play style you like and want to play, then go ahead and spend the time to level up all of the skills. That process alone has taught me so much about the game and even shown me things I like that I would not have thought about before doing that.

3. Don't be afraid to try something new and unique. Even if you can't get a house (there are free ones you can get) with a target practice dummy to practice on (again there are free ones you can get) then still be willing to try what you think is fun. Ignore what people say the Meta is and just have fun. This is a game. You are supposed to have fun.

4. If you are going to play with others, try to play the meta. While I love playing my own style, and have no problem if it takes me forever and a year to kill a world boss, not everyone wants to take that kind of time. And as this is an MMO, you want to be respectful of those you interact with.

5. Don't be afraid to try to solo things. There is a huge amount of content in this game that you can solo if you really want to. The learning curve is a little steep, so you also need to be prepared to fail ... a lot .. but that is a different story.

6. Don't be afraid to try PVP. Even if you are a dedicated single player like myself, you might find something you enjoy in PVP. Battle grounds matches are crazy enough that somehow I got credit for a quad kill and got a cool title because of it. And the Imperial City is the best stealth gameplay experience in the game. If I ever get caught I go pop and get sent back to base to try again. I think that the Imperial City might have the best stealth experience I have ever had in a game. And in Cyrodiil I have found that it is a lot of fun to run around and try to see how many resources of keeps I can capture before I pop when someone finds me. (I say pop because of how fast I die when a player attacks me)

7. While dungeons are fun (and literally amount to half of the content they release in a year) don't be in a hurry to get to them. No, you don't want to forget them, but the overland content (as easy as it has become for me) has a lot of opportunity to teach you more about the game.

I hope that helps. What tips can you share?

Necrotech_Master

on a few of your points, for #3, i personally like practicing on "live" targets (public dungeon bosses are basically equivalent to the precursor, but they actually hit back, WB are a good analog for normal dungeon bosses, some DLC WB could be considered DLC/vet dungeon in terms of difficulty to solo)

on point #4, you dont have to "play the meta" to be a part of a group, or even be a decent dps/heal/tank (a lot of those just take practice for normal content, as a dps dont spam light attacks as your only dmg etc) (from personal experience i accidentally queued into a dungeon on a pvp stamblade as a tank for a random normal and we got march of sacrifices as dungeon, but because ive got good experience tanking we were able to get through no problem, but that was an interesting experience to be sure lol)

Tornaad

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

on a few of your points, for #3, i personally like practicing on "live" targets (public dungeon bosses are basically equivalent to the precursor, but they actually hit back, WB are a good analog for normal dungeon bosses, some DLC WB could be considered DLC/vet dungeon in terms of difficulty to solo)

on point #4, you dont have to "play the meta" to be a part of a group, or even be a decent dps/heal/tank (a lot of those just take practice for normal content, as a dps dont spam light attacks as your only dmg etc) (from personal experience i accidentally queued into a dungeon on a pvp stamblade as a tank for a random normal and we got march of sacrifices as dungeon, but because ive got good experience tanking we were able to get through no problem, but that was an interesting experience to be sure lol)

When I started playing, I had no idea what the meta was. In some ways I still don't but by shifting my focus to think more about what the meta is, was a really helpful thing to do for me.

Necrotech_Master

Zuboko wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

on a few of your points, for #3, i personally like practicing on "live" targets (public dungeon bosses are basically equivalent to the precursor, but they actually hit back, WB are a good analog for normal dungeon bosses, some DLC WB could be considered DLC/vet dungeon in terms of difficulty to solo)

on point #4, you dont have to "play the meta" to be a part of a group, or even be a decent dps/heal/tank (a lot of those just take practice for normal content, as a dps dont spam light attacks as your only dmg etc) (from personal experience i accidentally queued into a dungeon on a pvp stamblade as a tank for a random normal and we got march of sacrifices as dungeon, but because ive got good experience tanking we were able to get through no problem, but that was an interesting experience to be sure lol)

When I started playing, I had no idea what the meta was. In some ways I still don't but by shifting my focus to think more about what the meta is, was a really helpful thing to do for me.

im more suggesting you dont need "meta" to be good, none of my toons have crit focused builds whatsoever and i can still avg 30k dps on the ones focused on "parsing" style dps (solo against WBs with no food because that is how i test a build lol)

Tornaad

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

on a few of your points, for #3, i personally like practicing on "live" targets (public dungeon bosses are basically equivalent to the precursor, but they actually hit back, WB are a good analog for normal dungeon bosses, some DLC WB could be considered DLC/vet dungeon in terms of difficulty to solo)

on point #4, you dont have to "play the meta" to be a part of a group, or even be a decent dps/heal/tank (a lot of those just take practice for normal content, as a dps dont spam light attacks as your only dmg etc) (from personal experience i accidentally queued into a dungeon on a pvp stamblade as a tank for a random normal and we got march of sacrifices as dungeon, but because ive got good experience tanking we were able to get through no problem, but that was an interesting experience to be sure lol)

When I started playing, I had no idea what the meta was. In some ways I still don't but by shifting my focus to think more about what the meta is, was a really helpful thing to do for me.

im more suggesting you dont need "meta" to be good, none of my toons have crit focused builds whatsoever and i can still avg 30k dps on the ones focused on "parsing" style dps (solo against WBs with no food because that is how i test a build lol)

Which makes that an incredible thing for people to think about.

Necrotech_Master

Zuboko wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

on a few of your points, for #3, i personally like practicing on "live" targets (public dungeon bosses are basically equivalent to the precursor, but they actually hit back, WB are a good analog for normal dungeon bosses, some DLC WB could be considered DLC/vet dungeon in terms of difficulty to solo)

on point #4, you dont have to "play the meta" to be a part of a group, or even be a decent dps/heal/tank (a lot of those just take practice for normal content, as a dps dont spam light attacks as your only dmg etc) (from personal experience i accidentally queued into a dungeon on a pvp stamblade as a tank for a random normal and we got march of sacrifices as dungeon, but because ive got good experience tanking we were able to get through no problem, but that was an interesting experience to be sure lol)

When I started playing, I had no idea what the meta was. In some ways I still don't but by shifting my focus to think more about what the meta is, was a really helpful thing to do for me.

im more suggesting you dont need "meta" to be good, none of my toons have crit focused builds whatsoever and i can still avg 30k dps on the ones focused on "parsing" style dps (solo against WBs with no food because that is how i test a build lol)

Which makes that an incredible thing for people to think about.

i spend a lot of time in game using the item browser addon, just looking at all the sets are available, theory crafting "what if i combine sets A and B together?" and ive gotten some good ideas, and some ideas that didnt perform as expected after i actually built the character

doing something like that you never know you could create a new meta (since that changes all the time anyway)

Tornaad

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

on a few of your points, for #3, i personally like practicing on "live" targets (public dungeon bosses are basically equivalent to the precursor, but they actually hit back, WB are a good analog for normal dungeon bosses, some DLC WB could be considered DLC/vet dungeon in terms of difficulty to solo)

on point #4, you dont have to "play the meta" to be a part of a group, or even be a decent dps/heal/tank (a lot of those just take practice for normal content, as a dps dont spam light attacks as your only dmg etc) (from personal experience i accidentally queued into a dungeon on a pvp stamblade as a tank for a random normal and we got march of sacrifices as dungeon, but because ive got good experience tanking we were able to get through no problem, but that was an interesting experience to be sure lol)

When I started playing, I had no idea what the meta was. In some ways I still don't but by shifting my focus to think more about what the meta is, was a really helpful thing to do for me.

im more suggesting you dont need "meta" to be good, none of my toons have crit focused builds whatsoever and i can still avg 30k dps on the ones focused on "parsing" style dps (solo against WBs with no food because that is how i test a build lol)

Which makes that an incredible thing for people to think about.

i spend a lot of time in game using the item browser addon, just looking at all the sets are available, theory crafting "what if i combine sets A and B together?" and ive gotten some good ideas, and some ideas that didnt perform as expected after i actually built the character

doing something like that you never know you could create a new meta (since that changes all the time anyway)

... there is an item browser add on?

RisenEclipse

Tip for new players. When you open a chest, take EVERYTHING out of it. Even if some things in it are garbage. When you empty it, the chest can respawn faster with new things, and you're not making someone else take your garbage in the mean time. That also goes with harvest nodes. Take everything. Not just the things you like in it. If you turn on auto loot, it will force you to grab everything at once. In case you want to do it really fast.

S0Z0H

I'd suggest that for now, if you are a casual player, keep it casual. Enjoy the questing and learning about the expanded lore you don't get from the single player offline games. ESO is great for casual play.
Look up on YouTube for tons of ways how to store items without having to buy ESO plus. It takes a little work, but as you get more into the game, you will see the limitations of your inventory. You can earn gold in game, and expand the storage. If you need more space , there's ways to get even more that the game itself doesn't really tell you about upfront.
Again there's lots of ways to play the game without paying for ESO plus. Avoid ESO plus like the plague lol

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Zuboko wrote: »

First, a bit about myself.
I was introduced to the Elder Scrolls world when Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind came out on the Xbox and have been lost in Tamriel ever since.

Right there with ya.

Zuboko wrote: »

My first character in Morrowind all those years ago was a sneaky bow wielding character and the same was true of my first characters in Oblivion and Skyrim.

Again, right there with ya. First ESO toon was also a DW/bow Nightblade, and stealth is usually my M.O. when gaming.

Zuboko wrote: »

6. Don't be afraid to try PVP. ... I think that the Imperial City might have the best stealth experience I have ever had in a game...

You know, I never really thought of it like that, but I am again, right there with ya.

During the last Mayhem, I was about as far away from my base as I could get. I got ganked, turned the table and took 12k stones from the guy. I only had a few k on me, so if I had died, who cares. But once I had his, all of a sudden, my heart was racing and it was actually very engaging. I was also convinced he was coming after me, (and he probably was). Thought about porting out, but what fun is that. Made it back to the base with over 20k. Not that 20k telvar is a massive haul, all things considered, but it really was fun.

Necrotech_Master

Zuboko wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

on a few of your points, for #3, i personally like practicing on "live" targets (public dungeon bosses are basically equivalent to the precursor, but they actually hit back, WB are a good analog for normal dungeon bosses, some DLC WB could be considered DLC/vet dungeon in terms of difficulty to solo)

on point #4, you dont have to "play the meta" to be a part of a group, or even be a decent dps/heal/tank (a lot of those just take practice for normal content, as a dps dont spam light attacks as your only dmg etc) (from personal experience i accidentally queued into a dungeon on a pvp stamblade as a tank for a random normal and we got march of sacrifices as dungeon, but because ive got good experience tanking we were able to get through no problem, but that was an interesting experience to be sure lol)

When I started playing, I had no idea what the meta was. In some ways I still don't but by shifting my focus to think more about what the meta is, was a really helpful thing to do for me.

im more suggesting you dont need "meta" to be good, none of my toons have crit focused builds whatsoever and i can still avg 30k dps on the ones focused on "parsing" style dps (solo against WBs with no food because that is how i test a build lol)

Which makes that an incredible thing for people to think about.

i spend a lot of time in game using the item browser addon, just looking at all the sets are available, theory crafting "what if i combine sets A and B together?" and ive gotten some good ideas, and some ideas that didnt perform as expected after i actually built the character

doing something like that you never know you could create a new meta (since that changes all the time anyway)

... there is an item browser add on?

item set browser (by code)

you open the window up with just /ib in the chat, and you have a full catalogue of all available sets (and it even shows how many you have collected with options related to the gear collection)

this has been extremely helpful for me for a few years now

Tornaad

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

First, a bit about myself.
I was introduced to the Elder Scrolls world when Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind came out on the Xbox and have been lost in Tamriel ever since.

Right there with ya.

Zuboko wrote: »

My first character in Morrowind all those years ago was a sneaky bow wielding character and the same was true of my first characters in Oblivion and Skyrim.

Again, right there with ya. First ESO toon was also a DW/bow Nightblade, and stealth is usually my M.O. when gaming.

Zuboko wrote: »

6. Don't be afraid to try PVP. ... I think that the Imperial City might have the best stealth experience I have ever had in a game...

You know, I never really thought of it like that, but I am again, right there with ya.

During the last Mayhem, I was about as far away from my base as I could get. I got ganked, turned the table and took 12k stones from the guy. I only had a few k on me, so if I had died, who cares. But once I had his, all of a sudden, my heart was racing and it was actually very engaging. I was also convinced he was coming after me, (and he probably was). Thought about porting out, but what fun is that. Made it back to the base with over 20k. Not that 20k telvar is a massive haul, all things considered, but it really was fun.

I equipped my Nightblade with parts of 3 different sets that all reduce my detection radius. I can stand right in front of guards and not be noticed. It's great. I have terrible damage and even worse survivability, but I don't care. I get to sneak.

Necrotech_Master

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

6. Don't be afraid to try PVP. ... I think that the Imperial City might have the best stealth experience I have ever had in a game...

You know, I never really thought of it like that, but I am again, right there with ya.

During the last Mayhem, I was about as far away from my base as I could get. I got ganked, turned the table and took 12k stones from the guy. I only had a few k on me, so if I had died, who cares. But once I had his, all of a sudden, my heart was racing and it was actually very engaging. I was also convinced he was coming after me, (and he probably was). Thought about porting out, but what fun is that. Made it back to the base with over 20k. Not that 20k telvar is a massive haul, all things considered, but it really was fun.

this is exactly my experience with IC (although with less stealth, but the "sense of danger" and the satisfaction of making it back to base without cheap porting out with a bucket of tel var)

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Zuboko wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Zuboko wrote: »

First, a bit about myself.
I was introduced to the Elder Scrolls world when Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind came out on the Xbox and have been lost in Tamriel ever since.

Right there with ya.

Zuboko wrote: »

My first character in Morrowind all those years ago was a sneaky bow wielding character and the same was true of my first characters in Oblivion and Skyrim.

Again, right there with ya. First ESO toon was also a DW/bow Nightblade, and stealth is usually my M.O. when gaming.

Zuboko wrote: »

6. Don't be afraid to try PVP. ... I think that the Imperial City might have the best stealth experience I have ever had in a game...

You know, I never really thought of it like that, but I am again, right there with ya.

During the last Mayhem, I was about as far away from my base as I could get. I got ganked, turned the table and took 12k stones from the guy. I only had a few k on me, so if I had died, who cares. But once I had his, all of a sudden, my heart was racing and it was actually very engaging. I was also convinced he was coming after me, (and he probably was). Thought about porting out, but what fun is that. Made it back to the base with over 20k. Not that 20k telvar is a massive haul, all things considered, but it really was fun.

I equipped my Nightblade with parts of 3 different sets that all reduce my detection radius. I can stand right in front of guards and not be noticed. It's great. I have terrible damage and even worse survivability, but I don't care. I get to sneak.

In early ESO, you could draw a bow and hold it, which was pretty cool. I do get why it was changed with the way DPS rotations work, but it did make stealth more interesting.

I also remember before speed caps making a stealth vamp NB that could out run a fully trained mount in sneak. They were stupid fast if you went all in on sneak speed.

SeaGtGruff

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

i spend a lot of time in game using the item browser addon, just looking at all the sets are available, theory crafting "what if i combine sets A and B together?" and ive gotten some good ideas, and some ideas that didnt perform as expected after i actually built the character

doing something like that you never know you could create a new meta (since that changes all the time anyway)

I've never looked up builds on websites, or worried about what the current META is, but I occasionally enjoy crafting gear for other players. Whenever I've done that, I've crafted whatever sets were asked for, but often someone would just say "I don't care," (or don't know), "craft me whatever you think would be good for me." So I would look at the craftable sets to see which sets had which bonuses, focusing on the desired stats (Stamina, Magicka, or Health) and types of bonuses (such as increase damage versus increase basic stats), and pick three sets I thought should give good results (two five-piece sets plus another two-piece set). Later I discovered that most of the sets I was choosing were ones commonly used in a lot of popular builds-- as far as craftable sets, anyway-- which made me feel gratified that perhaps I wasn't just a clueless n00b after all!

Zuboko wrote: »

... there is an item browser add on?

I think they were referring to the Set Collections where you can see which set items you've collected and which ones you still need. Even if you haven't collected any items of a particular set yet, you can browse through all of the sets to see what their bonuses are. You'll still need to use a website or other resource to browse through the craftable sets, but browsing through the dropped sets can give you a good idea of what's out there and where you'll need to look for items of any sets of interest.

Edit: Oh, wait, they did specifically say "item browser addon." Mea culpa!

RisenEclipse wrote: »

When you open a chest, take EVERYTHING out of it. Even if some things in it are garbage. When you empty it, the chest can respawn faster with new things, and you're not making someone else take your garbage in the mean time. That also goes with harvest nodes. Take everything. Not just the things you like in it.

There seems to be some debate over whether looting everything versus leaving a partially-looted node or chest behind will actually help the node or chest respawn sooner. There are seasoned players who've done actual field research on the respawn times, and if I understand correctly they say that nodes and chests will not respawn any sooner if they're fully-looted than if they're only partially-looted. But I always like to fully loot everything, anyway, because I know how I feel when I go to loot a node or chest and discover that it contains someone else's refuse.

S0Z0H wrote: »

Again there's lots of ways to play the game without paying for ESO plus. Avoid ESO plus like the plague lol

I used to feel that way, and when I first started to play ESO the idea of having to buy Crowns with real money so I could spend them on DLCs in the Crown Store rubbed me the wrong way, because my distaste for the idea of buying a game but having to pay to play it was the main reason why I avoided buying and playing online games in the first place. The only reason I finally bought ESO (after initially hearing about it a few years earlier) was because I read that it didn't require a subscription. And I initially resisted buying Crowns so I could buy the Clockwork City DLC in the Crown Store when it first came out, although after several weeks I finally gave in, bought a Crowns pack, and bought Clockwork City.

But after playing ESO several hours a day, every day, for maybe a year and a half, I finally got frustrated with the awkwardness and limitations of using alt characters for storing my excess stuff. I figured that, as much as I play ESO, I might as well pay for a subscription to ESO Plus. I was hesitant to do so, since I'd already purchased all available chapters and DLCs outright, so it seemed like maybe I wouldn't be getting the full value of an ESO Plus subscription. But I decided to subscribe anyway, and I'm so glad I did. I even continue to buy new chapters and DLCs outright, even though my ESO Plus subscription gives me access to any new DLCs without having to buy them. (I like the idea of buying them instead of just "renting" them, so I won't lose my access to them if I ever drop my subscription to ESO Plus.)

Obviously, the decision of whether or not to get ESO Plus is one that each player should make for themselves, and I don't want to tell anyone else what I think they should do in that regard. But I definitely wouldn't hesitate to recommend getting an ESO Plus subscription to anyone who's considering it.

Sylvermynx

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Obviously, the decision of whether or not to get ESO Plus is one that each player should make for themselves, and I don't want to tell anyone else what I think they should do in that regard. But I definitely wouldn't hesitate to recommend getting an ESO Plus subscription to anyone who's considering it.

For me, it was an easy decision: the two previous MMOs I've played, WoW and RIFT were buy the game and then a monthly sub. In WoW I had 7 accounts so payed 7 subs - a few years on, Blizzard came up with longer subs where your monthly payment was less over the period (like ESO does); RIFT never had longer sub periods at least before I quit playing.

So when it came to ESO, I didn't have a problem buying the game and then subbing. I started with the 6 month sub on both accounts; I'm now subbing annually on both.

I've always been fine with supporting a game I enjoy. When I quit enjoying a game (as I did with WoW and RIFT over time) I quit playing. Haven't ever been back to either game since. I'm still very much enjoying ESO, so ESO + has always worked for me.

Arunei

I would actually advise against worrying about meta until after you've hit CP160. By then you're fairly familiar with the game and how sets work and stuff and you can decide if meta is something you want to pursue. Until then, though, it can be overwhelming and confusing if you try to worry about something that constant shifts and changes to some degree with every update.

AcadianPaladin

My wood elf enjoyed 4k hours each in Oblivion and Skyrim before basically outgrowing them as too small. And growing tired of constantly wrestling with finicky mod load orders. Though we consider multiplayer a drawback, she has rather happily called ESO home for her last 10k play hours with no sign of outgrowing it. The key for us is ESO's sheer mass and scale which literally dwarfs both Oblivion and Skyrim combined. Additionally, the game actually provides several other very nice features that include the following:
- A wonderful char gen screen and little actual need for mods beyond a few UI addons. In contrast, the char gen screen for Oblivion was bad and the char gen screen for Skyrim was unplayable for my elf. Similar for mods. Oblivion could be played without mods but they really enhanced things greatly. Skyrim was great with mods but would never play it without plenty of mods.
- Staves are - for the first time in ES history - good weapons.
- No maintenance worries. My troubleshooting procedures for ESO are to go have a cup of coffee while ZoS fixes whatever the problem is.
- The game is actually very solo friendly (PvE soloist here).
- That said (about solo), my elf has rather gotten in touch with her nurturing nature and enjoys the role of healer (though more often to help randoms while soloing rather than as part of an organized group).

My biggest complaint in ESO stems from this neverending futile quest for 'balance' which simply translates (to me) to building your character on a foundation of shifting sand instead of reliable bedrock. That combines with a rigidity in build (mostly mag vs stam) that I dislike. The solution for my elf has been to make numerous identical versions of herself - except for class - and approach which class/spec to log in as with the same casualness with which she decides which costume or hairstyle to wear. She can comfortably change among magplar, magward, magsorc, bowsorc for example as easily as logging out and in.