... play the story. once you have finished the main story, you will be givin the chance to experience the other factions

the main story is not connected to the individual zones story. that being said, youll have to finish every zone in a faction in order to get leveled up, as the main story is connected to your level (i think) so while you wont have to do every quest, youll have to do most of them

If you are that impatient and can't stand anything else than the Skyrim zones, this game is clearly not going to be your cup of tea.

Even if you pick the EP faction to have access to Skyrim before you reach "Veteran rank" after level 50, Eastmarch and the Rift (the two holds of Skyrim that are in the game so far) are still the last two zones of that faction, meaning that the quests there start at around level 25-30.

Also, the quests are not going to be fundamentally different once you reach Skyrim. There is nothing magical about that area. There are still evil cultists, Daedra and undead that try to kill you, still the same structure with a main quest line, side quests and some dolmens, delves and bosses sprinkled in for good measure.

The scenery changes, the exact type of mobs change, and the fights get a little bit harder, but the gameplay stays about the same throughout.

To answer your question: no, you can't swim there. Slaughterfish will kill you. If you are in the EP faction, you can travel to a guild mate in the Skyrim area to see it, or even walk there from the first EP zone (Stonefalls), but you will be ripped apart by high level monsters in a second unless you are at least level 25. If you are in the AD faction, you will need to level to 50 and finish the main quest before you have access to the EP zones. If you are in the DC faction, you need to finish both the main quest and a large part of the AD faction quests before you can get to the EP zones.

If you just want snow, the northern parts of Cyrodiil are rather Skyrim-like in appearance.
And the starter island "Bleakrock" in the EP faction is in Skyrim. It's a small area, but it's Skyrim.

tectiformub17_ESO wrote: »

I'm in Auridon right now and I so don't want to be. I'm bored with this stupid island. How to I get to Tamriel so I can travel to Skyrim? Do I have to swim?

Did you just start? You are in the Aldmeri Dominion, which is at war with Skyrim and you will not have access to Skyrim until you finish the Main Story. Characters in the Ebonheart Pact will start in Skyrim, then travel through Morrowind and Black Marsh before returning to Skyrim. If you really want access to Skyrim right away, restart with an Ebonheart Pact character. No matter what faction you play, though, you just need to do enough quests to level up to be strong enough for next zone. You certainly don't need to do all 46 quests in Auridon, for example. Make sure you do the ones associated with Queen Ayrenn and the royal family. Those give the most XP and quickest route to get to next zone.

You can go to any zone (in your faction) at any time once you find the wayshrines or travel to another player who is already there, even if you have done 0 quests and are still Level 3, but you will likely get beat down by the monsters in higher level zones if you have not leveled yourself up. The game is more like Morrowind where you need to level yourself up to fight more powerful enemies, as opposed to Skyrim where the more powerful enemies level down to meet you.

Go to the left slightly.

Someone needs to sit the OP down and have an honest talk. Poor guy.

Jennifur_Vultee wrote: »

Nords are portrayed as a bunch of simple minded drunken fools who needed someone to solve every little problem for them.

OK, let's be fair here... The locals in pretty much any zone can be described as "a bunch of simple minded <insert stereotype here> fools who needed someone to solve every little problem for them."

Salmonleap wrote: »

Methinks you'all are being trolled by the OP....

It's hard to tell. I considered the possibility that it could be a real newbie with unreasonable expectations, so I played it safe and wrote an honest response. If the OP was trolling, it's a very inefficient kind of trolling where nobody gets upset. I'm seeing some really simple but perfectly honest questions being asked by new players in zone and guild chat, and I'm bracing myself for a lot of "stupid" (uninformed) questions here in the forums after March 17. But perhaps I shouldn't worry. Or even care. Whatever.

WraithAzraiel wrote: »

Who wants to start taking bets on how many of these types of threads we can expect after the 17th?

i vote 18 by the second tuesday the wagering win shall be a potated good sir

sorry about that just wanted to try someting on bbcode

Surely you could explain away the height map difference by saying that the terrain was changed by the pull of the Dolemans.
Have you been to cloud ruler temple? it is floating in the air in this game. And if you run across an Ayleid ruin that shares the name of one in Oblivion compare it with a screenshot of the Oblivion version, the height map may be different but the outside structure is the same even the broken pieces of the the sidewalks leading up to the doors. Also be sure to check it with the map location, they are in roughly the same place as well.

Hey its fantasy,, It don't bother me to explain away details that aren't quite right, but at least had some effort put into trying to make sure they are close.


Edit: on a side note when you get to Riften be sure to check out the smugglers refuge and tell me if it looks familiar That was one of my pleasant surprises in this new update.

UrQuan wrote: »

Jennifur_Vultee wrote: »

Nords are portrayed as a bunch of simple minded drunken fools who needed someone to solve every little problem for them.

OK, let's be fair here... The locals in pretty much any zone can be described as "a bunch of simple minded <insert stereotype here> fools who needed someone to solve every little problem for them."

How dare you insult the deep and meaningful quests ESO: TU offers @UrQuan!

(Hurry up, you still have 5 mushrooms to collect.)