I have hard time choosing a main

KTLeander · April 27

I have a problem with choosing a main. I managed to get Templar to cp160, but there are so many options that I start a new char and the start feeling "connnected" to that char.

Problem is that I feel Im wasting my time and I know it shouldnt matter if Im having fun, but that feeling is taking away from my fun.

Anyone has some words of wishdom to help me in my predicament? 😅

TaSheen · April 27

Um. Can't help you. Warden was my main the instant I made one. It's now my main on 3 accounts, both pc megaservers. I do play (desultorily) other classes - sorc, arc, DK.... not so much NB any more.... Just not fun, that class.

Soarora · April 27

I totally understand the character stress. If it helps, you don't really need to choose a main from the start, just who your crafter is going to be as that's the one who will be learning motifs, recipes, and furnishing plans. Any character can be a crafter and still have enough skill points for doing other things in the game.

Destai · April 27

If you’re enjoying creating new characters, stick with that. You’ll eventually land on a main, and if you don’t, that’s ok too.

I am a warden main, so I suggest that.

VisitHammerfell · April 27

I'll be honest, I don't understand this. It's whatever character is learning the motifs/plans/recipes and often doing the most questing. Just because you settle on a main doesn't mean you only need to play them. My main is a templar bc that's the first class I made.

Desiato · April 27

It's pretty easy to level characters these days, so why not try them all to see what you enjoy the most? Once they're level 50, you can progress in CP with any one of them.

It can be useful to have multiple level 50 characters and part of the fun of the game is exploring each class IMO.

I consider Nightblade to be my main class, but I secretly like DK the best because I play pvp and enjoy brawler builds. I have three fully developed Nightblades and three fully developed DKs. (and 3 wardens, 2 templars, 2 sorcs, a necro, but no arcanist)

freespirit · April 27

My first ever character(a sorc) is now my crafter and home decorator.

My second character(a templar) is now the one I do questing content on and I sort of think of her as my Main.

My third, fourth and fifth characters are mules and daily crafters.

Number six, is now a HA pet Sorc and my go to for soloing harder content.

My Warden is number seven and my PVP main.

I have more but one, two, six and seven are actively played and my point is I consider them equal as far as use is conceerned, this game is very forgiving and multiple "main's" are not unheard of. 🙂

Djennku · April 27

You don't need to stick to only one character, however, I would recommemd having one "main" character to learn crafting motifs, furnishing plans, traits for research, etc. and any other collectables that are per character.

That doesn't mean you need to only play that toon, but most of those things that are collected/learned can be expensive when you can have up to 20 toons, so many people pick one character to be their one to do All the Things (tm) on, instead of dividing it out between all their characters.

Nestor · April 27

Your Main is the Alt you are playing right now.

I have 11 Mains, 4 Mules and 3 that mostly hangout in a Pub in Alinor.

Sometimes I play a character for a few weeks, sometimes I play them for a few hours.

SilverBride · April 27

I have 7 characters and I consider 5 of them to be mains.

One is my main crafter and house decorator. (No pet Sorcerer)
One is my main thief and Dark Brotherhood character. (Nightblade)
One is my main group content and battleground character. (Sorcerer)
Two are questing and occasional group content characters. (Arcanist and Templar)
The other two mostly just do writs now because I don't get into their classes as much as the others. (Necromancer and Dragonknight)

KTLeander · April 27

Thanks for the answers. Apparently this is normal 😁 I just level all classes to 50 and then worry about race/alliance/"backstory" combinations later.

Sakiri · April 27

I am in the process of switching mains, as in, the one I do the majority of content with. My sorc is my crafter now and my decorator, because she does all the furniture making.

Uvi_AUT · April 27

I totally understand. And since it takes almost a year to level a character (for us completionists) its always an extreme commitment. I struggle with it too.
Currently I try to stick to Arcanist. But I know as soon as he has finished all the zones and all the crafting-research its back to choosing.....

dmnqwk · April 27

My first char was a Dragonknight, but they slipped by the wayside when Wardens came out with cute fuzzy bears.

I've got 500 skill points on my Warden, who is also my crafter/fisher etc but that doesn't mean I solely play them - right now we ended up with too many wardens in our trial group so I'm playing my MagDK instead.

The important thing is having your character has a good outfit and matching mount that suits them!

Tandor · April 27

It all depends on your approach and playstyle. For many it's completely unnecessary to have a "main", or "a" crafter, for example. There's absolutely nothing wrong with playing multiple characters as equal individuals. It's just a game, play it the way you enjoy it. If you want to play competitively at elite level then the fact that you'll need to develop one character to "meta" standards doesn't mean you can't play other characters as well, and do so differently.

Zodiarkslayer · April 27

SilverBride wrote: »

I have 7 characters and I consider 5 of them to be mains.

One is my main crafter and house decorator. (No pet Sorcerer)
One is my main thief and Dark Brotherhood character. (Nightblade)
One is my main group content and battleground character. (Sorcerer)
Two are questing and occasional group content characters. (Arcanist and Templar)
The other two mostly just do writs now because I don't get into their classes as much as the others. (Necromancer and Dragonknight)

You do not have a Warden? 😳 😉

KTLeander wrote: »

Thanks for the answers. Apparently this is normal 😁 I just level all classes to 50 and then worry about race/alliance/"backstory" combinations later.

The game has much more long time motivation for you, if you come up with a good back story for at least one character.

The key is involvement. Similar to brands, the more emotions you experience together, the more you will attach to the character.

My Nightblade main has a faceted and heartbreaking story. And her challenges mirror my own.
And no matter to what ditch ZOS is nerfing Nightblades in the future, she will always be my girl.

SilverBride · April 27

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

You do not have a Warden? 😳 😉

No. I think of Wardens as tanks and I have zero interest in that role. Also, I don't want a huge bear following me around and in my face.

I really don't like pets, which is why one of my Sorcerers doesn't use any and the other only uses the Volatile Familiar, but I may switch that out for a different skill because I rarely summon it.

Desiato · April 27

Healing is generally considered to be the main proficiency of Wardens....

OtarTheMad · April 27

If you enjoy leveling characters, however you do that, then that’s fine. It’s also not the worst idea to get a feel of the other classes to truly find your main.

yadibroz · April 27

TaSheen wrote: »

Um. Can't help you. Warden was my main the instant I made one. It's now my main on 3 accounts, both pc megaservers. I do play (desultorily) other classes - sorc, arc, DK.... not so much NB any more.... Just not fun, that class.

Nb and Sorcerer is not so much fun for me because they are too good not balance than dk

yadibroz · April 27

Desiato wrote: »

Healing is generally considered to be the main proficiency of Wardens....

No is frost and bleed only, healing is only for templar and Arcanist's but especially templar because most of the restoration skill suck.

SilverBride · April 27

Desiato wrote: »

Healing is generally considered to be the main proficiency of Wardens....

I always thought it was tanking. Regardless, I have no interest in healing either.

GooGa592 · April 27

Make and level one toon of each class then decide.

Vulkunne · April 27

KTLeander wrote: »

I have a problem with choosing a main. I managed to get Templar to cp160, but there are so many options that I start a new char and the start feeling "connnected" to that char.

Problem is that I feel Im wasting my time and I know it shouldnt matter if Im having fun, but that feeling is taking away from my fun.

Anyone has some words of wishdom to help me in my predicament? 😅

I went thru a similar situation and sometimes the best way to go is not to choose.

LalMirchi · April 27

Something to remember is that the game itself is rather easy. One can level up a character without possessing phenomnal combat skills, however the hunt for skyshards and skill points can be tedious while being relatively easily attainable by most players.

That being said my very first character in this game was "press-ganged" into being my main only by virtue of being the first to complete quests, learn writs, recipes etc. So, by fait accompli this character won the lead post while being woefully inadequate.

VisitHammerfell · April 27

Tandor wrote: »

It all depends on your approach and playstyle. For many it's completely unnecessary to have a "main", or "a" crafter, for example. There's absolutely nothing wrong with playing multiple characters as equal individuals. It's just a game, play it the way you enjoy it. If you want to play competitively at elite level then the fact that you'll need to develop one character to "meta" standards doesn't mean you can't play other characters as well, and do so differently.

Having a main crafter and/or main quester, which most players do, has nothing to do with "meta" standards. Almost everyone I know has their first toon, or the first toon they got off starter islands, as their main. And this kinda of attitude towards endgamers are why they have negative atitudes towards casuals. You really don't know what you're talking about bc not one single endgamer I have ever met develops one character to meta standards lol. That's not how it works. Everybody has at least 2 if not many more. I have a main yet still do trials on my stamarc, or warden healer, or dk and necro tanks more

Not having a crafter that knows motifs and plans first is a huge mistake and bad advice to give

....

And anyways my final advice OP, templar is the best, so I would stick with them as your 'main' but feel free to play other classes as much as you want

Desiato · April 27

yadibroz wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

Healing is generally considered to be the main proficiency of Wardens....

No is frost and bleed only, healing is only for templar and Arcanist's but especially templar because most of the restoration skill suck.

I'm not sure where that opinion comes from, but Wardens are arguably the best pure healer in the game in terms of raw heal output for most activities. I understand there are niche roles like brittle builds, but that's now how most players play them.

I'll admit I am not familiar with the latest progression raid metas, but Wardens are indisputably better at healing than tanking or dpsing in most contexts at least.

zaria · April 27

Main == master crafter as I see it the one knowing all the motifs and furniture plans.
Getting to 50 in PvP is also an long time investment.
Quests, I did them all on main but shifted that.

ArchangelIsraphel · April 27

In all honesty, in the beginning, you really don't have to pick a "main"- just let yourself have fun. You can pick a character that you want to learn all motifs/recipes/crafting on- but they don't have to be your "main"- you can consider them to be your "crafter" if you later decide that you'd rather main a different class.

Generally speaking, it's often common practice in the ESO community that our first character ends up being a "main"- the one who learns motifs, recipes, and ends up crafting food, potions, and armor for the rest of the characters on the account. Once you have an established crafter whom you have all research on (so that you can craft armor) having multiple mains becomes easier.

I really enjoy the roleplay aspect of ESO, as well as endgame PVE and PVP, so I have multiple mains, all with backstories. I currently have 13 characters, with 3 being considered "Mains".

My first ever character, a Bosmer Nightblade, is the head Thief of my account. He's also my master crafter and home decorator.
My ninth character, a High Elf Templar, is my PVP main and PVE Tank. He is also the character I enjoy doing solo challenges on, such as vet Maelstrom, or soloing vet dungeon content. He's also my three star in AVA rank, and was the character I got Emperor on. I have a strong connection to him, not only because of all I've managed to accomplish while playing him, but because he is my favorite character to write about.
My thirteenth character is a Dark Elf Arcanist. She's my main DPS, and is built to do Infinite Archive.

I consider these three my "Mains", because they are the characters I have the strongest connection to. I write about them the most outside of gameplay, and they have the most complex backstories of the 13 on my account. My templar and my arcanist where actually characters whom I created and was writing about before I played ESO.

Choosing your main really depends on what motivates you. In my case, I am motivated by my characters backstories, which drive me to embody their tales through the pursuit of endgame activities- something more than possible in ESO.

Take your time to find that connection to a special character, whether it be because story or accomplishments motivate you- since you are a newer player, I encourage you to lay aside the worry that you are wasting time in favor of simply immersing yourself in the games story for now. Eventually as you develop an interest in more difficult content, one or two characters will start sticking out to you as the ones you'd really like to play that content with, and they will become mains to you. Its a process that kind of happens "naturally".

I have played the game for 5 years, and it was only within the last 3 years of gameplay that I started doing more "serious" content, letting myself stay in the early exploration stage of the game and building up my resources/skill/crafting abilities until I decided I was ready to pursue more difficult content. ESO is a flexible game with a huge amount of things to do- don't feel pressured to progress too quickly. You can progress as fast or as slow as you want in ESO. Any progress you make now will aide you later. Its a game that moves at the pace you set for yourself.

Rowjoh · April 27

simple

create a char of each type, play them all for a bit, say to level 20 or 30, to work out which one works best for you

then level the spares to be crafter/storage/tank/healer/harvester/Endless Archive specialist build etc if you want.

Mesite · April 27

If you don't like light attacking between each skill, you may like to try an Arcanist.

Incidentally my warden is a Breton ready for when he graduates from DPS to healing.