Older player's attempt

Pintobean · May 2014

I am not sure how good I would be at this game were I younger, but at age 58 I struggle to find a class/race/build combination that at least allows me to play the PvE content without buzzing through soul gems.

I have experimented with creating a 'Hunter', and so far (level 17) am very pleased with the results.

Race: Wood Elf
Class: Mage
Subclass: Summoning only
Weapon: Bow
Subclass: Fighters Guild
Armor: Leather

I use both pets at the same time, start the fight from a sneak position when able, when the mob gets close I curse him (summoning magic)
Don't hesitate to use the summoning ultimate.

As the two pets use a slot each, that leaves only three. Poison Arrow, Curse (forget name, is early in summoning tree) and either silver bolts from fighters guild or scatter shot from the bow.

So far, the hardest part is turning around to make sure my pets are still there before the fight. AND EAT HEALTH FOOD. Not regeneration, but extra health. I also use glyphs on the armor and weapon, fire on weapon, one magic and two health increases on the armor. Only the hood, chest, and legs are worth glyphing.

I also make my own gear, using set items. Tourg set of three for 100 armor and Whitecrest set of 5 for 5 health regeneration and a damage shield. At lower levels 5 Tourg and 3 Whitecrest, as the 5 health regen bonus for Whitecrest is not on lower levels.

Get all of the skyshards once the area is cleared.

RazzPitazz · May 2014

Is it possible for you to upload game footage? That would be the easiest way without asking for a wall of text detailing your build and playstyle.

Pintobean · May 2014

As far as game footage, you could compare my playstyle to former president Ford, I cannot walk and chew gum at the same time, though I can say the word 'judgement'. Possible, sure, well, no.

So far, all of my points are going into racial, armor, bow, summoning, fighters guild. At 21, am only swapping out scatter shot and fighters guild bolts for living things or deadra/undead.

My twilight beast explodes on death, which happens a lot, and I stay near her. The summoning ultimate comes up pretty fast, and I use it when it does.

My stat distribution seems to be magic 5, health 8, stamina 7.

I do not use any add-ons. The last time I used an add-on was for Asheron's Call, and I got a trojan virus that I never was able to get rid of, had to buy a new computer.

Only died twice between 17 and 21. I lost my food buff at a bad time once, and Manimarco's skeletons nailed me the second time.

Tuck and Roll, grandpa!

RazzPitazz · May 2014

Well from the details given can I assume that your battles twnd to be drawn out? You die before almost winning? With your damage sources being split so early on you might want to stick with one "main" damage source (either magika based or stamina based) and put points onto those. I think having more points in health this early without having the tankiness of heavy armor is probably impeading your success. Later on health will be important, but early on damage seems to be king for PvE. So pick either bow or staff atm to be your main damage source and put points into the respective attribute slots. Might also want to concider temporarily switching to heavy armor until your stats are readjusted. This early on PvE combat pretty much equates to "stay out of the red zones and keep swingin." Strafing is your friend. Not your best friend though. More like that friend that lets you bum a ciggarette off of him every now and then.

Pintobean · May 2014

Am 31 now, I stayed with medium armor and a bow, pretty much sticking with my original plan listed above. Fights are quick. Death is rare. Even with the occasional finger fob where I release one of my pets in the heat of battle by mistake I am still proceeding well. When said finger fob occurs I drop my ultimate.

Syntse · May 2014

Pintobean wrote: »

So far, the hardest part is turning around to make sure my pets are still there before the fight.

This makes me think that you play 1st person which is fine of course. However I can say combats are much clearer and maybe even easier if you play 3rd person view. So in case you play 1st person try switching to 3rd when you go into combat, all the other times you can enjoy 1st person view of the world.

Pintobean · May 2014

I play third person. In first person I get dizzy and last about ten seconds. I still get confused and lose my pets locations, especially the flying one, she always seems to be behind me, except when I really need her, then she is gone. If I pull out my vision too far, then I cannot line up my sneak shots very well, a pet will be in my line of sight. I am really pleased with how this is working out.

Kungfu · May 2014

@Pintobean‌
I, too found earlier levels much more difficult. I think something happened in the 30s that really seems to have opened up my strength or abilities or... something.

On my sorcerer, I put my bow away around level 15-ish and took up a restoration staff for pets. The bow is fun and everything but it just didn't do enough for me AFTER the first mob or two in my pull died or for those situations where I blindly stepped on some troll's foot while running by. It also never did enough to kill the heavy-duty mobs in the game - my pets would die quickly and I would go shortly thereafter.

That being said, I can solo pretty much anything less than 5+ mobs at once in PvE with two heals (mutagen and the 4-second morph of the first heal spell in Resto Staff) and two pets on my bar. I kind of rotate around the fifth skill but I usually go for Crystal Fragments because I love the knockdown I get TONS of instant ones by casting those heals.
Sometimes, I'll put that curse spell on my bar in place of Mutagen, the HoT. As long as I have that ground-target AOE heal, my main Clannfear rarely dies.

Just for future reference, my other suggestion would be to try a Nightblade someday if you like bows. I've found that a lot of their abilities can synergize really well with it.

duchessofkvetchb14_ESO · June 2014

Try installing this mod. It will put reminders on your screen if your pets are down, among other things. Very handy so you don't have to keep looking for them when running along!

I know you are suspicious of them, but odds are very strong that your trojan came from a different source than the add-on; the ones used by this game are simple text files. Trojans come from infected websites typically (they are not viruses), so you're always going to have potential danger of those. Browse safely and use Ad blocking software, and you should be ok; that being said, ESOUI.com has been good to me.

Pintobean · June 2014

Thanks for the info. I had no idea they were text files.

Pintobean · June 2014

This experiment is over. It was not working out as I had hoped.

FixedBlade123 · November 2015

Pintobean wrote: »

I am not sure how good I would be at this game were I younger, but at age 58 I struggle to find a class/race/build combination that at least allows me to play the PvE content without buzzing through soul gems.

I have experimented with creating a 'Hunter', and so far (level 17) am very pleased with the results.

Race: Wood Elf
Class: Mage
Subclass: Summoning only
Weapon: Bow
Subclass: Fighters Guild
Armor: Leather

I use both pets at the same time, start the fight from a sneak position when able, when the mob gets close I curse him (summoning magic)
Don't hesitate to use the summoning ultimate.

As the two pets use a slot each, that leaves only three. Poison Arrow, Curse (forget name, is early in summoning tree) and either silver bolts from fighters guild or scatter shot from the bow.

So far, the hardest part is turning around to make sure my pets are still there before the fight. AND EAT HEALTH FOOD. Not regeneration, but extra health. I also use glyphs on the armor and weapon, fire on weapon, one magic and two health increases on the armor. Only the hood, chest, and legs are worth glyphing.

I also make my own gear, using set items. Tourg set of three for 100 armor and Whitecrest set of 5 for 5 health regeneration and a damage shield. At lower levels 5 Tourg and 3 Whitecrest, as the 5 health regen bonus for Whitecrest is not on lower levels.

Get all of the skyshards once the area is cleared.

I'm 55 and kick some tail as a Nord DragonKnight. Most everyone says that a DragonKnight should build as a Tank but my guy does pretty well as a DPS. I just reached V15 yesterday and am half way to V16. I wear heavy army but generally fight with a staff. I'm heaviest in the health department with Magika as my second highest attribute. They say that I should beef up my Stamina and Health and use duel swords which will make me a real force to recon with. I may try that down the road but I'm enjoying who I am right at the moment.