Feedback from a new player

Urbanski101 · June 2015

Hi All,

I thought I'd share some of my first impressions from ESO after the first few weeks. Only managed to level one char up to lvl 20 but my game time is very limited atm.

Positives

It looks amazing, just stunning, almost everywhere you look there is a screenshot opportunity. Beautiful and charming.

I really like the minimal UI although I can see this being an issue later in the game and I've ended up downloading a some apps where I felt there was a real gap in the UI but I like a clean UI

I love the combat, sort of a MMO / FPS hybrid. The weapon reports feel really solid and I love the fact you are always on the move. It doesn't feel too spammy but I've yet to experience any long boss fights yet.

The quests are solid and varied and as always you feel involved. Well developed NPC characters, well voiced, excellent.

I love the way you can create whatever character you like, obviously there are optimal combinations but the freedom you have with building your character is great.

Negatives

Grouping - the tool doesn't work at all....not even doesn't work properly just plain broken. Spamming LFG in zone chat is not really a solution for a modern MMO - I've been trying to find a group to complete BC for days without success. Very poor.

Trading is non exsistant if you are not in a clan, I don't want to be in a clan, I've never enjoyed the experience in other MMOs and I doubt this is any different. I just want to sell some nice gear I found / harvested but its not even an option. I don't get that design decision at all.

Other players, not really an issue with ESO alone but with all MMOs. I've seen a number of high lvl players roaming around the beginner lvls harvesting resources.....really? I also dont think I've managed to complete a single boss fight without another player/group jumping in and finishing off. I guess i'm too used to skyrim and the single player experience but there is nothing like other players bunny hoping around you to ruin your immersion/experience.

Gear - really poor quality drops and variety of loot, I seem to get dozens of staffs but rarely any one hand drops and its' all trash. I ended up having to make my own gear which was fine but I'd like to see better loot drops.

Inventory/banking, seriously inventory management is a royal pain in the ***. When will MMO devs learn - inventory management is not fun! I'm sure the decision to have all of your chars share one bank account makes sense for server loads but it makes inventory management a much bigger issue to the point where I don't want to roll a second char because it's so restrictive and painful to manage.

That's it for now, overall I love it but the negatives are fairly major and especially the grouping, trading & inventory issues.

Cheers

MCMancub · June 2015

I'm glad to see you enjoy the game for the most part. I'll try to throw out my personal opinions and input on your negatives.

Grouping - We all feel this way. Perhaps not enough people use it? Perhaps it's legitimately broken? Who knows. But it doesn't work well.

Trading - I actually really like the trading system in this game. Look at it this way: ZOS has said they implemented it this way so that players have to have some element of social interaction. Don't look for a guild where you're expected to be active in chat and help out your guild mates. Look for a guild that's specifically set up to trade. 450+ players that never speak, just use the guild store to sell things to other players. I'm in 3 guilds like that and 2 social guilds.

Other players - Try to remember that the game is new, and a lot of those high level players may be there to help out friends. Or maybe they're there because they missed achievements the first time through or just picked up a new crafting skill. Also, keep in mind that this is an MMO and not a single player. That's the biggest difference and advantage over a single player game. You play it because you want that interaction with other players. If not, best to stick to the single player ES games.

Gear - I think all of my gear when leveling from 1-50 came from quests. Sometimes there was a large, 10 level gap before I got something new, but I was still able to cope so it wasn't that big of an issue. Crafting is another solution you can go to. You'll get exactly what you want and work on a skill at the same time.

Inventory - Your personal inventory can be increased through the bag merchant, and you can also increase your carrying capacity by leveling up a mount. I stopped having inventory issues once I got to about 110 or 120 spaces. You can also increase your bank inventory space. I highly recommend this, though it can get expensive really quickly. What ZOS is going for here is they're trying to force you to make a decision about your character. They don't want you being able to hoard every little thing you find right off the bat. You have to make decisions as you develop your character.

These are just my opinions, but it seems like overall you're having a good experience. These are some of the same things that irked me when I started playing, but as I got better and more used to it, I was OK with the way things were. Now I really like the uniqueness that ESO offers.

Thymos · June 2015

Don't really have a response to anything but the gear and trading.

I think they're trying to give more incentive to become a crafter. Sure you get a lot of staves, break them down and make something you want.

Unfortunately, this was meant to be a guild based game, hence why you can join 5 guilds per account, instead of 1 per character. So without being in a guild, you will not have the benefit of a guild trader to sell stuff. There are lots of guilds that really have no purpose outside of trading amongst the near 500 members. You don't have to like guilds just to be in one.

Tandor · June 2015

MCMancub wrote: »

Trading - I actually really like the trading system in this game. Look at it this way: ZOS has said they implemented it this way so that players have to have some element of social interaction. Don't look for a guild where you're expected to be active in chat and help out your guild mates. Look for a guild that's specifically set up to trade. 450+ players that never speak, just use the guild store to sell things to other players. I'm in 3 guilds like that and 2 social guilds.

There's a mighty contradiction there. It looks like ZOS failed to achieve their objective. The trading system is broken, and here's another example of a new player quickly realising that he is barred from participating in it because it's placed behind a barrier he has no wish to cross. I wish they'd acknowledge it and do something about it.

DenMoria · June 2015

As someone who is a complete novice at MMOs, I have no idea what I am doing. As I wander about the starting area for an Altmer, I have gotten a few "wants to group" requests, but I don't know what to do with them or whether it would even be appropriate.

Since I cannot use the headphone/mic chat feature, there doesn't seem to be any way to communicate with anyone (I'm on PS4).

Is it possible to solo this game? It really doesn't seem to matter since there are hundreds of people running like their on crack all over the place and taking on the same enemies I am, but just wondering.

I agree with all the comments above, but have no clue how to even start putting together a group of friends to play with. The closest I've come is DD:DA and those were just hires.

PSN: sonny062699 | PSN: sonnypdx

Thymos · June 2015

Tandor wrote: »

MCMancub wrote: »

Trading - I actually really like the trading system in this game. Look at it this way: ZOS has said they implemented it this way so that players have to have some element of social interaction. Don't look for a guild where you're expected to be active in chat and help out your guild mates. Look for a guild that's specifically set up to trade. 450+ players that never speak, just use the guild store to sell things to other players. I'm in 3 guilds like that and 2 social guilds.

There's a mighty contradiction there. It looks like ZOS failed to achieve their objective. The trading system is broken, and here's another example of a new player quickly realising that he is barred from participating in it because it's placed behind a barrier he has no wish to cross. I wish they'd acknowledge it and do something about it.

They have acknowledged it, and they've stated their intentions and they are going to make it remain as is.

Gidorick · June 2015

They just need to introduce the Auction Horse.

Thymos · June 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

They just need to introduce the Auction Horse.

How about lore appropriate for each region. Like in the alik'r it'll be a camel?

Horse in most places, but maybe a Senche kitty thingie in the Khajiit zones.

MCMancub · June 2015

Tandor wrote: »

MCMancub wrote: »

Trading - I actually really like the trading system in this game. Look at it this way: ZOS has said they implemented it this way so that players have to have some element of social interaction. Don't look for a guild where you're expected to be active in chat and help out your guild mates. Look for a guild that's specifically set up to trade. 450+ players that never speak, just use the guild store to sell things to other players. I'm in 3 guilds like that and 2 social guilds.

There's a mighty contradiction there. It looks like ZOS failed to achieve their objective. The trading system is broken, and here's another example of a new player quickly realising that he is barred from participating in it because it's placed behind a barrier he has no wish to cross. I wish they'd acknowledge it and do something about it.

I would agree that they may have missed their mark, but it's still more social and personal than a central AH which I believe was their aim. His inability to cross that barrier is no different than his ability to cross the barrier of using an AH to trade. It's just preference. ZOS decided to go with a more personal trading system than other MMOs have. You like it or you don't.

Urbanski101 · June 2015

Thanks for the feedback.

I agree with some of your feedback MCMancub but I'm a noob to this game, not MMOs. I understand some of the reasons for the guild trading system I just don't like it. I'm really not looking for a time sink just to offload some of the stuff I have at hopefully better prices than i'd get from npc vendors - I guess I just wanted to visit the auction house, I'll adapt I'm sure.

With the Inventory system, I can assure you that ZOS may say they want you to 'make character decisions' the real reason is server loads, however that is a legitimate reason and again I can live with it but its a pain.

Frenkthevile · June 2015

Playing so

DenMoria wrote: »

As someone who is a complete novice at MMOs, I have no idea what I am doing. As I wander about the starting area for an Altmer, I have gotten a few "wants to group" requests, but I don't know what to do with them or whether it would even be appropriate.

Since I cannot use the headphone/mic chat feature, there doesn't seem to be any way to communicate with anyone (I'm on PS4).

Is it possible to solo this game? It really doesn't seem to matter since there are hundreds of people running like their on crack all over the place and taking on the same enemies I am, but just wondering.

I agree with all the comments above, but have no clue how to even start putting together a group of friends to play with. The closest I've come is DD:DA and those were just hires.

PSN: sonny062699 | PSN: sonnypdx

By playing solo you'll miss 24 dungeons, 3 Raids, a whole storyline with vet10+ in Craglorn, Dragonstar arena and Cyrodil pvp.

ThePonzzz · June 2015

There seems to have been an extreme effort to remove a lot of incentives for player merchants. The game allows most players to be self-sufficient. Until you hit end game (VR14), there are no real reasons to go out of your way for gear. You can, if it's important to you. But you can get by with the drops you find. Lots of gear sets throughout the levels/VR. Real profit is made through raw materials, not finished products. So those gear drops you find are really made for decon/easy BoE finds for the early levels. My advice is to sell white drops with no traits, research the ones with traits (that you need) and decon everything else.

DenMoria · June 2015

Frenkthevile wrote: »

Playing so

DenMoria wrote: »

As someone who is a complete novice at MMOs, I have no idea what I am doing. As I wander about the starting area for an Altmer, I have gotten a few "wants to group" requests, but I don't know what to do with them or whether it would even be appropriate.

Since I cannot use the headphone/mic chat feature, there doesn't seem to be any way to communicate with anyone (I'm on PS4).

Is it possible to solo this game? It really doesn't seem to matter since there are hundreds of people running like their on crack all over the place and taking on the same enemies I am, but just wondering.

I agree with all the comments above, but have no clue how to even start putting together a group of friends to play with. The closest I've come is DD:DA and those were just hires.

PSN: sonny062699 | PSN: sonnypdx

By playing solo you'll miss 24 dungeons, 3 Raids, a whole storyline with vet10+ in Craglorn, Dragonstar arena and Cyrodil pvp.

That's too bad, but, as I have never done an MMO and have no clue how to go about it, I guess I'm stuck.

Tandor · June 2015

Frenkthevile wrote: »

Playing so

DenMoria wrote: »

As someone who is a complete novice at MMOs, I have no idea what I am doing. As I wander about the starting area for an Altmer, I have gotten a few "wants to group" requests, but I don't know what to do with them or whether it would even be appropriate.

Since I cannot use the headphone/mic chat feature, there doesn't seem to be any way to communicate with anyone (I'm on PS4).

Is it possible to solo this game? It really doesn't seem to matter since there are hundreds of people running like their on crack all over the place and taking on the same enemies I am, but just wondering.

I agree with all the comments above, but have no clue how to even start putting together a group of friends to play with. The closest I've come is DD:DA and those were just hires.

PSN: sonny062699 | PSN: sonnypdx

By playing solo you'll miss 24 dungeons, 3 Raids, a whole storyline with vet10+ in Craglorn, Dragonstar arena and Cyrodil pvp.

That's my choice too. Given the scope for exploration, reading of lore, phasing of quests etc, I've no interest in group-only content (outside of co-operative play for dolmens, world bosses and public dungeons), guilds or PvP, and will also miss V1-9 as I have no interest in doing crossover quests in different alliance areas, preferring to play through those areas with alts of the original alliance. Unless you play a single character multiple hours every day there is still plenty of content to keep you going for a very long time - it's my main game but not my only one, and having played a full set of characters since PC launch on this basis I've still to get a single character to 50!

AlnilamE · June 2015

Welcome!

Server loads or not, a shared bank is the easiest way to switch inventory between characters. You will eventually come up with a system that works for you. It will still consume some time, but you will figure out the most efficient way for you.

I personally like the guild traders and it's fairly easy to put your 30 items for sale and forget about them until they sell or are returned to you at the end of the 30 days.

The random green/blue/purple items are really meant for vendoring or deconstructing. You can use them if you want, but crafted gear or dropped sets would be better for you.

I have to confess that I have not used the grouping tool in forever because I'm in a guild where I have a number of friends who will group often, so it's very rare that we are missing a person for a group.

Here's hoping that you continue to enjoy the game for a long time!