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I had fun playing solo in Imperial City over the weekend.

Feljax
Feljax
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My first experience with MMOs was playing on a PvP server in WoW. I spent 12 years there, actually. There was something about that constant PvPvE setting that always made things a bit more interesting as you never knew what was going to happen. So, I finally decided to give the main questline in Imperial City an honest try this weekend to see how the experience compared. I enjoyed the story and, as a filthy casual, I'm still not done yet as I don't have the time to spend on the game like I used to. I'm a terrible brawler and I'm also not a meta guy, so I went in with one of my favourite PvP toons which is a Dominion healer/tank Templar (slightly tweaked so that I could actually kill some mobs). My intent was to try and get through the quests and not get totally destroyed. Here are some observations:

Back in the day on a PvP server in WoW, there was this general unwritten rule that it was rude to jump someone when they were in the middle of fighting mobs. Not to say that it didn't happen but it was not something that happened all the time. You always kept on eye on the other player who was nearby but often there was a live and let live kind of relationship and sometimes even active cooperation. Those were some of my favourite encounters.

On my first encounter in Imperial City, however, it became obvious that things were quite different. Shortly after starting, as I was fighting a Xyvkin, I got jumped by a Covenant werewolf. I went into perma-block mode and easily fended him off but he didn't seem interested in my passive resistance. I kept backing away, showing him I wasn't interested in trying to take him down but if he insisted on trying to get me, I wasn't going to go down without making things difficult for him. He kept at me for a good fifteen minutes or so. Finally, after I snuck in a couple of salutes to show my good faith, he finally relented and went on his way.

A little later, while killing some more mobs for a quest, I was jumped by a Pact Nightblade. I went into survival mode and he gave up after about a minute. I continued on my way only to be jumped by him a second time and after about a minute, he gave up again. I went on to fight some more mobs and he showed up a third time. I held him off for a couple of minutes and then another Pact player showed up to help him. I kept them both at bay, making things as annoying for them as possible when a five-star ally showed up out of nowhere and rescued me taking down at least one of them and chasing off the other. I threw some heals his way during the fight but probably didn't make much of a difference to him. What an unexpected but welcome relief!

I got jumped a few more times. The most annoying was when I was at the last wave of mobs while defending one of the three entrances to that barricaded area (I forget what it's called). I was jumped by 3 Covenant players and they took me down before I could get fully established in my defence and I watched the last mob die and the chest appear that I would never be able to collect from. Lol! At least the quest was completed. A funny encounter was being steam rolled by 30 or so Covenant and then having one of the late comers at the back of the pack teabag me. I thought that was hilarious. =)

Probably the most interesting encounter happened while I was doing the quest to fight the Daedra in the arena. I was on the last boss who had summoned a bunch of fire atronachs when 2 Pact players showed up. I held up my defences and tried to keep killing mobs in an attempt to show them I was doing a quest. I'm not sure what they're initial intentions where but they hung around for a bit and they may have hit me (it was chaotic so hard to tell) but shortly afterward they left and the boss reset. This time, when the ogrim dropped and the last boss spawns, he didn't have any atronachs with him making the fight a little easier. I even saw those 2 Pact players near the entrance once during the fight but they never came back in to give me any problems. I can only assume that they empathized with my plight. It's always nice to see empathy make its way past the screen. Thanks for the help, guys!

TLDR: I had a blast, enjoyed some great storytelling, and had some interesting PvP experiences both bad and good. There's definitely more of a zero tolerance attitude toward the other factions but there are still some people out there willing to look past it to let a guy get his quest done.
Edited by ZOS_Hadeostry on January 24, 2023 4:30AM
  • OBJnoob
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    Glad you had fun. I'm a long-time ESO player, but the types of people running around Imperial City are pretty good players, and almost always nightblades. You did very well to fend them off most of the time.

    I also played WoW and also played on a PvP server. I'm not gonna lie I wasn't one of the honorable ones. If you were low level I wouldn't kill you, but if you were anybody else I'd kill you and it didn't matter if you were busy or not.

    I think, unfortunately, you can expect more people in ESO Imperial City to be like me than like you. IC is the only place in the game where you can earn tel var, which is a currency used to buy some unique valuable items you can't get anywhere else and also a way to purchase you know, other stuff as well. Some people like you and there to quest or earn tel var the "right way" but most people are there to earn tel var the "fast" way. And that is to let you spend an hour farming and then come gank you, stealing half of it in 1 minute.

    If you're just questing-- then keep doing what you're doing. Sounds like you're doing good. If you're trying to farm tel var my advice is bank somewhat frequently.
  • ZOS_Hadeostry
    Greetings,

    After further review we have decided to move this thread to a category we think is more appropriate for this topic.

    Thank you for your understanding
    Staff Post
  • Surragard
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    I have tried a few times to go solo in Imperial City to run quests and often get ganked but I have had a few times where I was able to finish the quest first. It is a PvP zone though so it is what it is. If you are able to login at an off time you have an easier shot of getting the quests done.
    I don't always drink Skooma, but when I do I go to the Southwall Corner Club. May you walk on warm sands my friends.
  • Necrotech_Master
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    just an FYI, you cant heal/buff enemy players (i noticed you said you tried to heal someone who tried ganking you)

    i also enjoy imperial city quite a lot, though i prefer the sewers farming to the surface, the surface can get quite interesting when there is an event going on and theres a lot of big zergs everywhere lol
    plays PC/NA
    handle @Necrotech_Master
    active player since april 2014
  • Feljax
    Feljax
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    just an FYI, you cant heal/buff enemy players (i noticed you said you tried to heal someone who tried ganking you)

    Heya. Thanks for the response. I didn't try healing an enemy. I was healing the five-star Dominion guy who came and saved me (I'm Dominion too). I just don't think he even would have noticed a couple heals fly his way.
  • Necrotech_Master
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    Feljax wrote: »
    just an FYI, you cant heal/buff enemy players (i noticed you said you tried to heal someone who tried ganking you)

    Heya. Thanks for the response. I didn't try healing an enemy. I was healing the five-star Dominion guy who came and saved me (I'm Dominion too). I just don't think he even would have noticed a couple heals fly his way.

    thats a little different then lol

    i know when im running around im always grateful when i see friendly (allied) players, any support is always good to have, i dont think anyone would complain about extra heals or buffs lol
    plays PC/NA
    handle @Necrotech_Master
    active player since april 2014
  • OBJnoob
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    @Feljax How's it going, friend?

    I can't lie I'm very interested in how you're doing-- if you've finished your quests and left or if you had so much fun you're hanging around IC for a while.

    Please update us if you get the chance.
  • Feljax
    Feljax
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    I ended up finishing off the main quest line without further incident. Lots of fun! Thanks for asking! I will probably go back in and do dailies from time to time now that I’m a little more familiar with the layout. I’m currently having internet issues so can’t stay connected for long.
  • Feljax
    Feljax
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    OBJnoob wrote: »
    @Feljax How's it going, friend?

    I can't lie I'm very interested in how you're doing-- if you've finished your quests and left or if you had so much fun you're hanging around IC for a while.

    Please update us if you get the chance.


    So, I went back into IC yesterday and did the 6 dailies. The first people I ran into, despite every zone belonging to the blues, were 2 low level dominion players who, for whatever reason, decided they wanted to stick by me. Safety in numbers I guess. I'm on Playstation, so communication isn't always forthcoming due to lack of keyboards. Shortly afterward, we got attacked by a blue who ended up killing one of them pretty quickly. The other seemed to be a healer so didn't go down as quickly but then about 4 more blues showed up and finished him off in a flash. I was out in the open so there was no way for me to use much of the terrain to do and LoS shenanigans and they were pumping out quite a lot of damage so I couldn't stay alive for very long.

    A few minutes later, I got killed by that same group in a different zone. I'm guessing this group was responsible for taking over the whole area and were just running around killing any loners they found. Somehow, I managed to avoid that group and get the rest of the quests done with only one incident which happened as I was about to port back to base. A lone red attacked me and I put up my defences. He seemed to get the point pretty quickly as he stopped after about 30 seconds and held up block at me and then ran off.

    I find IC to be very different from the old PvP server days of WoW. Because everything was PvPvE, people didn't always feel they needed to attack enemy players. In ESO, IC and Cyro are the only PvPvE environments available. Then adding in the Tel Var incentive, there's definitely more aggression in general. Still fun though!

    Just gonna add that, judging by some of the responses, I may have given the impression that I'm very new to ESO. Apologies if that's the case. I've been playing ESO since 2017, pretty casually but consistently. My highest ranked PvP toon is a Tribune and the templar I've been playing in IC recently reached the rank of Captain. 90% of my PvP experience in this game comes from being some form of healer in BGs. Over the years I've even spent a little time in the IC sewers. I think I may have done one daily up top one time, but mainly, I stayed away from IC because I didn't have time to dedicate to trying to figure out all the intricacies of the zone and because I wasn't a good brawler and didn't want to spend most of my time dead. My tank-healer being hard to kill is what made me think I might give IC an honest go. So, doing the main IC questline and spending more time up top in IC was a brand new experience for me.
    Edited by Feljax on January 31, 2023 5:12PM
  • OBJnoob
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    Yeah it gets pretty aggressive down in IC. The place is empty, really, but the people that you see always want to kill you.

    I've been playing a nightblade the last couple of days maybe I should go into IC a bit. Try my hand at farming some tel var... See if I can gank a person or two.

    Anyway, glad you're still going back. IC needs more players.
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