Returning Player. Should I Start Over?

Exhorn · July 2015

Hello Forums,

I'm looking for a bit of insight from anyone who cares to reply. I originally bought the game when it first went live, and played for 2 or 3 months. During that time I leveled a character through to VR4 or so before the bugs and other issues made me re-evaluate spending a monthly sub on the game. Since then I've played a bunch of other games, but a friend decided to come back to ESO, and I figured I would as well.

The problem I am facing is whether I should continue my original character, or start a new one. Both would be the same type of game style, and likely the same faction as well. However I am stuck between not having to level 54 times all over again, or re-experiencing the game along with any changes that have happened.

So I am after some opinions on whether there have been substantial changes to the questing/leveling story line to justify the extra time spent to level, or if I'm better off picking up where I was last time. I do recall reading something about doing dungeons before level 50 providing a different story to doing them after level 50, and I never did any of them, so would I be missing out on things like that if I went with my original?

Thanks in advance,

Ex.

Ranique · July 2015

I personally think that if you havent played that long you should start over. Just cause you also go through the process off levelling and learning. Your build is likely useless and, though you can copy/paste a build from a website, not going through the process of unlocking skills means you don't know that new build.

RavenSworn · July 2015

If you have not done the new iteration of the intro coldharbor zone, do it. Starting over is your best bet but do keep your main v4. Once veteran you will receive champion points which will really help with your lowbies.

There are several improvements to the game, notably while questing with a friend. The main storylines, the guild questlines will still be solo but it helps improve your builds as you no longer can rely on your buddy to support you.

See ya inside!

-RavenSworn

Nestor · July 2015

Exhorn wrote: »

The problem I am facing is whether I should continue my original character, or start a new one. Both would be the same type of game style, and likely the same faction as well. However I am stuck between not having to level 54 times all over again, or re-experiencing the game along with any changes that have happened.

No matter what you decide, keep your original character. For one, this one earns Champion Points in VR Ranks, and you can apply them to your leveling character (leveling characters do not earn Champ Points, just use them)

And, once you get done using that one to grind up some champ points, you have a perfect character to make into a crafter. Being at VR Ranks you get tons of Inspiration from deconning VR Ranked items so you can grind out the crafting skills quite quickly (while your collecting loot, your also collecting champ points too)

You will find that just about every Delve and Dungeon in the game has changed and expanded. Some of the quests are different too, but you may not notice the quest details being out as long as you have.

Exhorn · July 2015

Thanks for your replies. I did do the new Coldharbour intro yesterday and noticed a couple of changes with it, which is one of the reasons for making this thread. I also did have some champion points and had no idea why. I'm probably going to level a new character, I just hope it doesn't take me months to get to the top level.

Caza99 · July 2015

Exhorn wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. I did do the new Coldharbour intro yesterday and noticed a couple of changes with it, which is one of the reasons for making this thread. I also did have some champion points and had no idea why. I'm probably going to level a new character, I just hope it doesn't take me months to get to the top level.

To give you an idea of how long it takes to level to max:
I'm grinding from lvl 3 - vr14
It took me about a day of play time
It took me bout 2 days to finish Silver and get to best grind spots.
Another 3-4 days to get to v14

NotSo · July 2015

Just carry on with your original character. All that has changed for pve is bug fixes, skill balancing, softcaps were removed, same type buffs don't stack, pve content was rebalanced for babies.

You will probably have a worse experience by restarting. Unless your friends are starting at level 1, but I'd make an alt to join them.

Exhorn · July 2015

Caza99 wrote: »

Exhorn wrote: »

Thanks for your replies. I did do the new Coldharbour intro yesterday and noticed a couple of changes with it, which is one of the reasons for making this thread. I also did have some champion points and had no idea why. I'm probably going to level a new character, I just hope it doesn't take me months to get to the top level.

To give you an idea of how long it takes to level to max:
I'm grinding from lvl 3 - vr14
It took me about a day of play time
It took me bout 2 days to finish Silver and get to best grind spots.
Another 3-4 days to get to v14

Oh alright then. They must've made it easier to level as well. Thank god for that.

Exhorn · July 2015

NotSo wrote: »

Just carry on with your original character. All that has changed for pve is bug fixes, skill balancing, softcaps were removed, same type buffs don't stack, pve content was rebalanced for babies.

You will probably have a worse experience by restarting. Unless your friends are starting at level 1, but I'd make an alt to join them.

My friend is picking up his vr1 Templar, but he did start a new character initially, so it could go either way depending on how well he goes with trying to heal after not playing in ages. The biggest downside to going back to my old character is that I skipped through a lot of the story side of things (the guy I leveled with back then was in a rush), and I would still have to level something else to see that aspect of the game.

driosketch · July 2015

There have been some minor tweaks to some of the earliest quests, mostly in EP. Many of the old delves, which used to all look the same, have been expanded and made less linear. Other than that, the the quests themselves are not much changed. There are some bug fixes, difficulty adjustments, and the instanced (solo/group) quest/dungeons now scale to your level.