First impressions

Harold_Hedd

This is a silly game.

I have just exited a cave of daedra worshippers who are clearly vegan from all the vegetables found in their crates, they are also poor as they only own 4 gold, they have high hygiene standards with all the laundry hanging to dry and they are art collectors. Thay also crawl in an exorsist manner. They do not own a single treasure chest.

Also the Coldharbor prologue with only fish bait in the cages and maidens.

This is getting boring really fast. There seems to be no correlation between the storyline/quest and the npcs and the excitement level.

I like to sneak around and explore the caves and sorroundings, but it is sooooo horrible how the npcs react to you. Its like you HAVE to kill them alll. It is hard to go unnoticed, but when you find an ore there is no risk in mining it.......

I have played all the other TES games starting in 2002, and this is a strange fish to deal with. There is no soul in this game and it is not true anymore. It appears to be some sort of hack&slash game where you rush through the landscape to avoid the collossal amount of npcs lurking 10 feet away from the city guards. It's like small pocket zones you can not avoid.

But you also have to invest your gaming time in managing your economy and actually make money, you have to manage your research, you have to keep track of your log-ins, so you don't miss youre hireling findings and you have to be fully aware of your quests locations, since there is not much help in finding them from the map. - I feel more like running a small office, than enjoying a thrilling and beautiful game that challenges me and sometime have me on the edge of my seat.

And I hate the fact that you can not save your game. It is so nice to be able to reload a game when the game stucks you in a mountain and you cannot move and get free. And if you quit the game and logs in again, you are in the exact same spot. Only option is to pay gold the travel to a wayshrine.

The map is terrible and the markers disappear from time to time. You cannot see what is mountains and zooming in is almost non-existing.
I have tried to swim around the coast and then - zim zala bim - loading screen and I am in a city.........what the fork is that about.
Twice I have entered a city and was immediately killed by the guards, and then relived in another placed.
I have jumped from a bridge into the water and was killed instantly, that was clearly not allowed.
In the Firesong prologue, the boss respawned while I was looting him because other players entered the scene - and that gave me another 3 minutes of hard fighting because he attacked me again.

Comparing to the previous games, this game seems to be an automated one way path hack&slash RPG/SIMS hybrid, where you really cannot wander off and explore on your own terms. This feels rushed and automated and a litlle bit fony.

Dr_Con

Coldharbour is supposed to be a destitute place in the beginning, you should only really be able to find a lockpick and maybe some no trait starter weapons. All older players were forced to start there and become vestiges. Don't ask me why they changed it.

My concern is that you seem to be jumping all over the place with content as a new player, and the game does a poor job of setting you off on a sequential path. They decided to give everyone access to anything and everything all of the time, which is a bit silly and unconventional to me. The game has some really good writing in comparison to TES games but they spite themselves by screaming HIGH ISLE HIGH ISLE, before you even experience the ebonheart pact, aldmeri dominion, daggerfall covenent, or all of the above.

A lot of your criticism is valid. World loot is garbage. Someone made a money making video about how you can steal from blacksmith shops and deconstruct to level your character crafting level and they nerfed it within the first year, so basically all loot is worthless that you find off the ground and you'll never find a set item unless it's on a corpse or in a locked treasure chest (or as a quest/task reward). Because the devs have been like this, you will find that most of the best ways for making money are spread player to player, as anything found in a guide on a popular website is sure to be nerfed.

To offset the garbage you get from all the containers you loot, they added a super rare chance of getting rare crafting components. I'm talking like 1 in 100k chance.

World is hardly explorable. In fact, it's as if they don't want you to explore some locations at all, there used to be ways to get on top of the volcano in Vvardenfell but it got patched out. There's practical reasons why this was the case but it was unnecessary when meanwhile we have people submitting bug reports on areas out of the map we are getting pushed into by mobs and it's not getting fixed or acknowledged. At the same time there's game crashing bugs from years ago that are still in the game that are ignored in favor of newer content, bugs that persist despite the devs thinking they're fixed, and there exists a weird developer vs content creator tug-of-war relationship where the devs nerf many things that content creators make look easy or exploitable, and release broken things from PTS despite much feedback from people who care that the changes in PTS will be harmful for the game (Mara's Balm).

The hack and slash component that you describe is very much there, meanwhile we have real people crying about the blade of woe being used because they don't like the gurgling sounds the victims make when blood fills their lungs in this game rated MA and t-bagging in pvp being sexual assault. Sometimes I feel I would get more enjoyment if I could hide everyone in the game, especially when doing single player story quests, but I often get sucked into the incentives of doing co-op dungeons that have repopulated for the billionth time or pvp. I would like to see stuff change and not play like a broken record, introduce more chance-based elements such as a rare mob spawning, rather than a rare (well, I guess curated now) drop that drops.

SeaGtGruff

My initial reaction to the game was that it's awesome. But I started in Vvardenfell and wasn't killed and sent to Coldharbour until after I'd taken a boat from Vivec City to the Daggerfall Covenant and ran around just about every Daggerfall Covenant zone in an effort to turn in one of my crafting writs, marveling at the diversity of the zones and getting distracted by all sorts of quests on the way to the crafting writ turn-in crates in Wayrest. It was only much later that I looked up how to start the Main Quest and got myself sent to the Wailing Prison.

BahometZ

Oh man, new player experiences make for a fantastic read. Absolute innocence meets 8 years of spaghetti layer cake development.
I quit after a month the first time. Can't even remember what pulled me back, but I can't get free now.

All I can say is if you join some guilds of like-minded players you'll have a far better time of it. If you are determined to go it alone, Good luck!!

Lugaldu

You call it a "first impression" - I think you should study the game more closely. When I started ESO several years ago and as a long term player of the TES series, I found it extremely confusing at first too - and now, in 2022, there's a even more content, so I can imagine that it is quickly overwhelming. Just take your time!

Syldras

FLR_manden wrote: »

This is a silly game.

I'm curious: How many hours have you played ESO so far?

SammyKhajit

“I feel more like running a small office, than enjoying a thrilling and beautiful game that challenges me and sometime have me on the edge of my seat.”

Today, Sammy had to deposit stuff at the bank, deconstruct loot with Gili the Wood Elf, eat several pages/motifs and fence off goods at the Thieves Guild. So yes, what should be a game feels like a busy Saturday morning of buying groceries, mow the lawn, hang out the washing and all the suburban house chores

And OP, you got an awesome for the great write up!

Lugaldu

SammyKhajit wrote: »

“I feel more like running a small office, than enjoying a thrilling and beautiful game that challenges me and sometime have me on the edge of my seat.”

Today, Sammy had to visit the deposit stuff at the bank, deconstruct loot with Gili the Wood Elf, eat several pages/motifs and fence off goods at the Thieves Guild. So yes, what should be a game feels like a busy Saturday morning of buying groceries, mow the lawn, hang out the washing and all the suburban house chores

But the good thing is that nobody forces you to do it! In Tamriel, I don't need clean underwear if I don't feel like washing them.

SammyKhajit

Sammy requires daily bathing, otherwise his fragrantness might affect the dainty sensibilities of Dame Isobel

In all honesty though, there is something mildly addicting and soothing to decon materials and “eat” motifs and pages! Now with Gili the Wood Elf filling this one around, it’s even easier.

But back to OP’s concern: yes the start can be very confusing and different from Skyrim. Sammy made numerous mistakes (case point: Breton Stamina Nightblade) at the beginning but got the hang of it, and the community is quite helpful in-game, unless you venture into the PVP area (ie don’t go to Cyrodil). Websites like UESP and ESO Hub are very helpful too with guides and tips for new beginners.

Jaimeh

FLR_manden wrote: »

I have just exited a cave of daedra worshippers who are clearly vegan from all the vegetables found in their crates, they are also poor as they only own 4 gold, they have high hygiene standards with all the laundry hanging to dry and they are art collectors. Thay also crawl in an exorsist manner. They do not own a single treasure chest.

This description was really funny

FLR_manden wrote: »

I like to sneak around and explore the caves and surroundings, but it is sooooo horrible how the npcs react to you. Its like you HAVE to kill them alll. It is hard to go unnoticed, but when you find an ore there is no risk in mining it....... But you also have to invest your gaming time in managing your economy and actually make money, you have to manage your research, you have to keep track of your log-ins, so you don't miss youre hireling findings and you have to be fully aware of your quests locations, since there is not much help in finding them from the map. - I feel more like running a small office, than enjoying a thrilling and beautiful game that challenges me and sometime have me on the edge of my seat.

ESO is a vast game, and for beginners a lot of things will be confusing. Since it's an MMORPG it's designed in such a way that it takes time to build up your character, and always gives you incentives to come back. I'd say it's best to follow the main stories and explore around them, and not bother early on with economy if it overwhelms you. Starting to research traits early is a good idea, but again you don't have to--if you only want to play for questing and exploring, you don't need much in terms of gear to be effective in that. There are also ways to avoid enemy NPCs, since you mentioned you didn't like engaging with them as much: invisibility potions, detection radius increase via sets/cp, a passive from the Dark Brotherhood skill line, cloaking if on NB character...

FLR_manden wrote: »

And I hate the fact that you can not save your game. It is so nice to be able to reload a game when the game stucks you in a mountain and you cannot move and get free. And if you quit the game and logs in again, you are in the exact same spot. Only option is to pay gold the travel to a wayshrine.

You can use the command /stuck, if you get stuck in a place where you can't move out from as well. It has a cooldown, but it's free.

FLR_manden wrote: »

I have tried to swim around the coast and then - zim zala bim - loading screen and I am in a city.........what the fork is that about.

At the edges of a zone, if you move on the path towards the neighbouring zone, you will get a loading scree and transfer to the next zone. I think it's visually nice that you have a continuation of the landscape, rather than an artificial wall, and it's clear from the map that you are on the edge of your current zone.

FLR_manden wrote: »

Twice I have entered a city and was immediately killed by the guards, and then relived in another placed.
I have jumped from a bridge into the water and was killed instantly, that was clearly not allowed.

You likely had a bounty, since there is a justice system in ESO and the guards chased, if your health was already low, then fall damage from jumping off the bridge killed you, or a damage ticked at that moment. However, you can definitely escape guards, and jumping into rivers, etc., and swimming away is a good idea.

FLR_manden wrote: »

Comparing to the previous games, this game seems to be an automated one way path hack&slash RPG/SIMS hybrid, where you really cannot wander off and explore on your own terms. This feels rushed and automated and a litlle bit fony.

Having said all that, it sounds to me you were hoping for an experience similar to a single-player TES game, and you didn't get it. However, ESO is not a single-player TES game (thankfully), it's a game in the ES universe that stands on its own, and it's absolutely beautiful, if you give it a chance. Fantastic stories and characters, wonderful landscapes (check out Blackreach, it's amazing!), and above all awesome combat. It's intricate, and has many systems that you can either engage with or not, depending on what you like to do, because the good news is you can play a lot of it completely how you prefer. I think your assessment was biased because of the single-player games, so you weren't really able to appreciate it at first, because it is similar but at the same time wildly different, and that tends to throw people off. I'm in the opposite boat; I first played ESO and then tried to play Skyrim, and I found the combat so slow and boring, that I couldn't click with the game--that doesn't mean that it's not an amazing game though. If you like the ES world and miss it, ESO offers so much of Tamriel to explore, but that's only the base of all the other great features if also offers on top of that. Just my two cents

redlink1979

Your "mistake" is to come to ESO thinking this is a single player game like the other Elder Scrolls games.
This is an MMO.

Harold_Hedd

Syldras wrote: »

FLR_manden wrote: »

This is a silly game.

I'm curious: How many hours have you played ESO so far?

About 30 - 40 hours.

LesserCircle

Okay, it's an MMO not Skyrim.

Anifaas

It is a silly game but it is also an MMO. Silly goes with that territory. Comparing ESO to TES single-player games really isn't fair as they are very different genres.

Agreed the Map is terrible. I am surprised ZOS allows it to exist in this state. It really is a mess.

But for the rest of your complaints, I'd suggest that maybe MMOs are not your thing or perhaps you need more time to acclimate yourself to the genre because most of your dissatisfaction with ESO pertains to virtually all MMOs.

There are lots of ways to accomplish things that are not evident to the newb but discovering the workarounds and intricacies of such provides a real sense of discovery. Acquiring the free/cheap rooms at inns is a great way to get around the map quickly because you can teleport there for free. This is an example of how you overcome the early challenges. There are many more examples to discover as well, such as making fast gold by doing the profession dailies when you can. (I like doing them in Rimmen for convenience.)

As a fan of TES and a veteran of MMOs I personally found ESO to be a breath of fresh air. I get that Elder Scrolls universe vibe and the MMO persistence in an environment that doesn't feel static like most single-player games. I also don't feel compelled to play hardcore and min-max the fun out of the game until it becomes like nasty a habit. Coming and going as I please, taking weeks off here and months of there only to find everything as I left it makes the game feel magical to me.

But I can certainly understand if this is not a game style you enjoy. That's completely fine. But do try to understand that ESO, like most MMOs, resembles an onion you have to peel layer by layer before you really get to the good stuff. There are lots of guides, addons and content creators with answers to most frustrations in this game. I'm still relatively new, but I have not yet found a problem that couldn't be solved by either 1) asking zone chat for help or 2) googling. Alcast and ESO-Hub have been very helpful for me.

Good luck

AcadianPaladin

After 4000 hours in Oblivion and another 4000 hours in Skyrim, I simply outgrew their small size/scale. I fell in love with ESO within a week and have remained for 10,000+ hours of play. I do play it as a single player ESO game and ESO is quite solo friendly. The fact that it is also an MMO is a drawback I live with due to its beauty, mass and scale. I like the combat system, though hate the excessively frequent nerf/buff/balancing futility imposed several times a year. And I like that, for the first time in ES history, staves are actually good weapons! I dislike that my elf's beautiful mare disappears when she dismounts but that is another casualty of the MMO thing.

When I first started, there was only one way to start and it pointed you toward the main questline in a comfortable way for new players. I'm pretty sure I would find starting as a new player now rather a confusing mess. I'm not sure if the initial confusion and resultant urge to rage quit could be ignored long enough to see the beauty that lies beneath once you figure things out.

Artim_X

The game ain't perfect, but it ain't as bad as this [snip] post makes it out to be.
[snip]
[edited for baiting]

Tandor

Like most MMOs, ESO is a game that needs to be taken at a gentle pace, based around exploration of both the game world and the game structure. They key is not to take it too fast and furious, and always to remember that for most players the enjoyment is in the journey rather than the destination.

Veinblood1965

Lol this has to be a joke post.

Veinblood1965

Syldras wrote: »

FLR_manden wrote: »

This is a silly game.

I'm curious: How many hours have you played ESO so far?

He has a post on October 2nd stating he just bought the game. I still think this is a jocular post though.

Tandor

Veinblood1965 wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

FLR_manden wrote: »

This is a silly game.

I'm curious: How many hours have you played ESO so far?

He has a post on October 2nd stating he just bought the game. I still think this is a jocular post though.

You may well be right, certainly his concluding comment in the final paragraph that "you really cannot wander off and explore on your own terms" if intended seriously has to be a complete nonsense in an open world the size of ESO, not least since One Tamriel.

Androrix

FLR_manden wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

FLR_manden wrote: »

This is a silly game.

I'm curious: How many hours have you played ESO so far?

About 30 - 40 hours.

Tee Hee.

Puts it all in perspective.

Tesman85

Heh, sounds familiar. I was also peeved by the relative lack of loot etc compared to the single-player TES games, and the hyper-aggressive and dumb enemies bothered me too at first. I wouldn't even have dreamt to take up an MMO if ESO wasn't an Elder Scrolls game. The transition to MMO mechanics like the grindy crafting training was not that easy for some time. As for saving the game, it is quite self-evident you can't do that in an MMO. Just think how saving and reloading would mess up group play in dungeons or PvP, and how much space the save games would take in the server side, too. One must think it adds some realism; some mistakes can't be undone just like in real life. Or that it's a bit like a rogue-like without permadeath. It's a mistake to expect the same experience as in Skyrim.

Give it a month or two, you most probably get used to the things that now annoy you. Remember also, that some things you have to grind only once (for instance, one crafting character in your roster is enough), as tedious as the grind can get. Whenever you feel bored about some repetitive aspect, do only those things that engage you for a while. Take things one step at a time to ease yourself into the MMO things. For instance, I started by questing almost exclusively, then took up dungeoneering, set planning and PvP by stages when I got the fancy.

Holycannoli

Well I don't know about you but I can't wait to eat that chicken and corn I found in an ancient sealed tomb.

Northwold

That is EXACTLY how I felt when I first played it, and I immediately dropped it.

Came back a month later, realised that the basic plot of almost every zone is "ZOMBIES", and quit again.

Came back having been shouted at by people on the internet because, obviously, anyone who doesn't comprehensively Google the correct order to play a game they've literally just bought before even starting to play it is just expecting too much and a fool, and stuck with it for a few years.

And then I realised that, yes, it was like doing a very time consuming, repetitive admin job in an office trapped in the noughties. Except unlike an office job my life's objective was to be able to afford an electronic bookshelf and, like some sort of existential nightmare, I was killing the same people in the same places every single night for the hope of acquiring an artificial waterfall.

I gave up after Greymoor and Blackwood, when the writing had nosedived to such a point that there was nothing to compensate for the game's underlying problems (I think the move to having one overarching story for a whole year was a serious, serious mistake that pushed the writing into flabby meta arcs that were impossible to take seriously, but it didn't help that in both those chapters much of the acting was plain excruciating -- "help me with my mine-o-tower", "I'm from Vladivostok, Scotland", "I'm, like, the Anchorite, it's, like, totes a drag, you know, and I'm, like, missing Annabel's summer party which is, like, basic").

It has its moments, but the MMO grind, the deliberately pushing people to spend more and more time doing mindless "trap" to keep them in the game, just wore me down.

Triplesixtyson

I started on the rpg genre with final fantasy. I loved that game so much I was sad when it was complete. My dream was to have a game in the same style that never ends. Out came Everquest and ive never looked back since. MMORPGs are just that; massive multiplayer. These games arent solo in nature but luckily with ESO you can have it all. Very unique game, so much fun to be had however you play.

Harold_Hedd

Thanks for the response and the advices. I an gonna keep on rockin' - and it is like some strange algorithm that decides wether you are have a nice easy peacefully day, mining ores and collecting flowers - or am being totally sorrounded by bandits, wasps, giant bats, spiders and wolfs and there is no way out but hackin and slashing through the masses.

It is hard for me to come to terms with this game and this type of game, it feels unfinished and random.

Syldras

FLR_manden wrote: »

it is like some strange algorithm that decides wether you are have a nice easy peacefully day, mining ores and collecting flowers - or am being totally sorrounded by bandits, wasps, giant bats, spiders and wolfs and there is no way out but hackin and slashing through the masses.

They always respawn at the same location, so there's nothing really random about that.

Sluggy

FLR_manden wrote: »

Thanks for the response and the advices. I an gonna keep on rockin' - and it is like some strange algorithm that decides wether you are have a nice easy peacefully day, mining ores and collecting flowers - or am being totally sorrounded by bandits, wasps, giant bats, spiders and wolfs and there is no way out but hackin and slashing through the masses.

It is hard for me to come to terms with this game and this type of game, it feels unfinished and random.

I had a similar experience when I started when the game was new. Came in thinking it would be an online adventurer lifestyle simulator like the mainline ES games and found it was just a bog standard MMO with, as Angry Joe rightfully put it at the time, "a veneer of Elder Scrolls paint". However I thought the combat system was just about the best of the Scrolls games (and still do!) though so I rerolled a new class and eventually learned about the 4-person dungeon crawling. I was instantly hooked after tanking my very first dungeon and never looked back for years. Eventually I got into the PvP aspect of the game and as time went by I lost all interest in PvE entirely as that was clearly where the real excitement and challenge lay.

Personally I can't stand the quests or overland stuff and the allure to dungeon crawling has become too mundane for me. I only want to enjoy the chaos, panic, excitement, and thrill (and let's be fair, total jank at times) that is ESO's PvP. Unfortunately that part of the game has been left high and dry by both the developer and much of the community so I've simply stopped playing. But I do tune in now and then.

I'd say try a few activities and find the thing that gets you excited. There is far more to do in this game than many will ever finish so it's okay to find your niche and slowly try new things if it gets dull. Many try a few different activities and see if any catch your fancy. From the sounds of it though, it seems you're not taken in much by the world, setting, or plot itself. Don't worry. I certainly am not but it didn't stop me from enjoying other parts of the game for many years.

JamuThatsWho

I'm genuinely curious OP - do you have any prior experience with MMOs? They are quite different beasts compared to single-player games.

Take your time, get used to the mechanics, do some reading/watch some videos for beginner tips. You'll be one of us in no time 😉

Darkstorne

Ahh yes, all the classic "It's an MMO, it's supposed to be kinda crappy" and "you haven't played 100+ hours yet? Lol" comments flowing in.

It's okay to expect a TES game to play like a TES game. It's okay if someone else doesn't like the game you like. It's admirable that some people want to see the MMO genre advance beyond decades old game design standards.

Lady_Galadhiel

You had me till ''And I hate the fact that you can not save your game. It is so nice to be able to reload a game when the game stucks you in a mountain and you cannot move and get free.''

Nice try.