Which order to play the game

Aeghis · October 2017

Hello,

As a brand new player, in which order should I experience the game if my interest is the story. Though my ultimate goal is to hit endgame, like any other MMORPG, I would like to enjoy the story first. I'm a little confused with all the DLCs and now the expansion.

I don't have the Morrowind expansion nor any of the DLCs. I thought about becoming a ESO Plus member to have access to the DLCs, but not sure if I should beat the main story first before jumping into the DLCs.

Thank you.

Nestor · October 2017

Flip a coin on starting in Vvardenfell (Morrowind) or an Alliance Zone. If you choose Morrowind,once you finish, then go to the Alliances. Personally, I would hold off on Morrowind until after the Alliances and Main Quest, but that is just me.

With the Alliances, start in the first zone for your alliance, then find the starter islands (go to the docks for the ship if you can't find the quest giver). Once done there, make your way back to Zone 1 and proceed from there. Stick with one Alliance for the first 5 zones for best story cohesion. You can do the other alliances if you want, but for best character progression, wait until your CP Ranked, CP160 would be better.

Do the Main Quest as you do the Alliance Zone quests. Same with Fighters and Mages, if you want.

This will keep the stories straight with regards to the original vision.

As for Thieves and Dark Brotherhood. Those can be done at any time really, but you may want to wait until you have enough skill points to spare for the sweet passives. Of course these passives are for nefarious activities, so keep that in mind.

Wrothgar can be done at anytime, but it is the best zone for Experience Points, so best after CP160.

Clock Work City can be done anytime, but probably makes the most sense after Morrowind.

I think that covers it.

Aeghis · October 2017

Thank you

Dark_Lord_Kuro · October 2017

Story wise i think this order make sence
Aliance zone (+main, mage guild and fighter guild
Cold harboor ( then main quest final)
Imperial city
Orsinium
Dark broterhood
Morrowind
Clock work city

Thieve guild can be done any time
Even if you can do them in any order there is always ( with the exeption of the thieve guild)a little something that point to the next dlc

newtinmpls · October 2017

I really think the Dark Lord there has a good initial plan ^^^

Also take time out to play around with Undaunted, make sure to go to Cyrodiil right after 10th to get training and a few skill points and skyshards.

Nestor · October 2017

Dark_Lord_Kuro wrote: »

Imperial city

That is a PvP Zone, and most bosses require a group.

davey1107 · October 2017

I will make this spoiler FREE as mush as possible. These are the major quest lines in eso

Vanilla “original” game

Main story: a mysterious prophet in the harborage has some stuff for you to do. 7-8 quests that progress by leveling your character. These now start...I think...when you get off the boat in the zone one main city.
Fighters guild: 4-6 quests that progress by leveling fighters guild skill line. (Killing undead and closing dolmens)
Mage guild: 4-6 progressing by leveling mage guild (picking up blue lore books)

These quests don’t directly inter-relate, but they do all converge at the point in the main quest where you are sent to Coldharbour. That is a good point at which to complete the guild quests if you want to know all the characters involved.

Faction quests: each of the three factions have a MASSIVE quest line that extends through all five zones...like five quests in each zone. These start in the zone one capital, vukel guard, daggerfall and davons watch.

This is where things can get confusing for new players. In the old system, you couldn’t travel to other factions and the zone leveling kept you on track. Now you can go anywhere. So be aware that at the entrance to every zone this quest line picks up WHETHER YOUVE COMPLETED UP TO THE ZONE OR NOT. So, let’s say you meet Susie in Greenshade in the Aldmeri quest line, but she dies in Greenshade (idiot woman). Maybe this is referenced later in Reapers March. You can pick that reapers quest up at any time, so you might get really confused if you don’t play these in order and experience the falloutmof Susie’s death before you even meet her.

The faction quests always immediately offer you the next quest in the line right when you turn one in, somthats one way to stay on track. I usually advise new players to pick one faction and follow the line at their leisure, waiting to do the other two after completing the first. And you can reference a guide if you get lost...lists the show these in order can be helpful. Another helpful tip is that these quests all have map icons that reveal how far you’ve completed. Hover over Vukel Guard’s icon when it is black and it will say “help Queen Ayrenn...” Once you’ve completed this stage in the faction quest, Vukel Guard’s icon will turn white and the hover will say “you’ve helped Queen Ayrenn...” This tells you it’s time to move forward in the Auridon zone.

Technically, each of the faction quest lines end right before you go to coldharbour. However, in the original release you couldn’t play all three before going to CH, so you can choose whether you want to or not.

Other later DLC quest lines

The DLCs are designed to be self-contained. You’ll run into some characters from other quests, but the events can be played in any order (although I think they’re supposed to flow chronologically in dlc release order)

craglorn: several quest lines and independent quests all found in this zone. It all starts with a Stargazer npc in your capital. This used to proc when you became vet...I don’t think this is the case anymore, I think he shows up earlier. But the Stargazer starts it.

Wrothgar: a main story and tons of independent quests, started by an orcish ambassador in your zone 1 main city.

Thieves Guild / Hews Bane: 7-8 quests in a main story, started in any thieves den with an npc named Quen.

Dark Brotherhood / Gold Coast

Imperial City: a really loose story in this pve/pvp zone.

Vvardenfell: three major story arcs and many indie quests.

Hopefully this helps. It’s a lot. Just don’t stress too much...there are no penalties for playing out of order and you won’t mess anything up. The worst that will happen is things will be confusing, but honestly they aren’t that clear when played in order either.

jnelson1182 · January 2018

do you guys think its a better value to join eso+ and get the dlc that way or if just paying for crowns and using those to buy dlc packs as I need/want them?

Taleof2Cities · January 2018

jnelson1182 wrote: »

do you guys think its a better value to join eso+ and get the dlc that way or if just paying for crowns and using those to buy dlc packs as I need/want them?

There are many players that choose both methods.

My opinion?

The perks of ESO+ are just too much to not be a subscriber ... especially since you can purchase DLCs with the crowns you get for being a subscriber.

UnseenCat · January 2018

I would add that if you happen to be playing a Nightblade, and you want the DLCs, you might consider doing the start of the Dark Brotherhood quest just to get the Blade of Woe, and maybe enough of the Thieves' Guild to get started on the TG passives -- both as a fairly early detour, then return to your main quest. You don't have to complete the DLCs, just get started for some of the benefits. It's not necessary, but the Blade of Woe is great for a Nightblade's stealthy playstyle. And if you happen to play a Khajiit Nightblade, the Thieves' Guild passives work hand-in-hand with building up the Khajiit racial stealth bonuses. And playing a stealthy Khajiit Nightblade assassin/thief is just so much fun...

ascan7 · January 2018

Dark_Lord_Kuro wrote: »

Story wise i think this order make sence
Aliance zone (+main, mage guild and fighter guild
Cold harboor ( then main quest final)
Imperial city
Orsinium
Dark broterhood
Morrowind
Clock work city

What about Craglorn? XD

Lynnessa · January 2018

Good luck, OP. Other than the main story and the guilds, trying to figure out the story of the game at this point in its life is super confusing since you can do any quest, any time (tm). For example, you can do different parts of zone questlines out of order without even realizing it.

Story pacing and story-based direction of play got removed from the game a while back, in other words. Just bear this in mind if some things seem confusing.

Loc2262 · January 2018

jnelson1182 wrote: »

do you guys think its a better value to join eso+ and get the dlc that way or if just paying for crowns and using those to buy dlc packs as I need/want them?

I agree with @Taleof2Cities. If you can afford ESO+, it's very much worth it, especially if you're planning to seriously get into crafting.

You get all DLCs for free (except "big stuff" like Morrowind), 1500 crowns per month, the crafting bag, free costume dyeing, double bank space and other things I probably forgot.

AverageJo3Gam3r · January 2018

Sub to eso plus for at least a month to sample all the dlc. You'll get 1500 crowns with the sub. If you don't want to keep the sub, cancel then use the crowns towards the dlc you like the most.

jnelson1182 · January 2018

AverageJo3Gam3r wrote: »

Sub to eso plus for at least a month to sample all the dlc. You'll get 1500 crowns with the sub. If you don't want to keep the sub, cancel then use the crowns towards the dlc you like the most.

That's actually a great idea for 2-3 reasons I can think of ATM, not only to sample DLC but I believe the price of a month is a lil cheaper than the price of the 1200 crowns would be, but also in having the membership you will have a whole month + to stuff the craft bag with as much as you can since if/when you cancel the + membership it does not throw everything away but just stops you from adding anymore too it.

WildRaptorX · January 2018

I’m in ebonheart pact and I want to wait until the map is more filled up to then do the main storyline. I have Morrowind and this is what I’m doing/done.
After I complete a zone I do either a main story, fighters guild or mages guild quest.

Varrdenfell- mainstory
Bleakrock&dhalmora- (empty)
Stonefalls- mages guild and fighters guild
Deeshan- main story
Shadowfen - fighters guild
EastMarch - mages guild
Thieves guild - main story (DLC) (during eastmarch)
Darkbrotherhood - fighters guild (DLC) after completing TG)
Riften- mages guild
...
And so on until I’ve had enough then I’ll eventually do Imperial city and then the finishing of the mainstory (You’ll understand)

I’m doing this to pace myself with this game because I don’t want to keep rushing the game and it is much easier to appreciate the game when you take your time.

Amnra · August 2018

I'm a new player to this game, I started in Summerset, finished everything, now I'm out in the big world and it's so confusing.
I play a Dark Elf, so I ported to Davon's Watch. I picked up the main quest and did the first part.
I was thinking about doing the main quest and maybe doing most of the quests in this zone to know more about this Alliance. I want to check Orsinium, maybe that's what I am going to do next, and I'm really interested in Clockwork City, but as I read, maybe it's better to do Morrowind before it for the story.

Made a Khajit Stamblade as well to try out a thief-style play for fun, quest in other zones, experience the game differently.

About subscriptions.. I really like crafting in games, I started gathering and crafting instantly in the game, but inventory management is tough. I checked out what ESO+ gives me, I thought the monthly crowns are nice, since I can buy the DLC's slowly. The best part other than being able to play all the DLC's is the materials bag, it made crafting life so much easier instantly.
If the subscription fee is not a big problem and you play the game frequently, I can only recommend ESO+, it's really worth it.