New player - initial thoughts

mjonis · March 2018

OK, so I'm totally new to ESO (even the standalone RPG from good olden days, I never did).

My MMO experience is a tad limited, although I had played Asheron's call WAY back when, then I think went onto LOTRO, then Neverwinter (still sorta play that, but I'll digest), GW2 and Tera.

All have pros/cons.
I like the GW2 underwater areas and puzzles and you can pretty much explore all over, but just didn't quite get into the classes as much, for some reason.
I like LOTRO storyline, and different starting areas, etc. Never did make it to Moria.
Neverwinter - love/hate relationship. Like the action-based stuff, but OMG, the grind. Every 3 months a new module comes out, you need to grind to get the new gear and it's not a grind like "do a lot of different quests" it's here's 9 diff. quests and you do 3/day (and it's gated per day), so it'll take you a month to get whatever leveled up and then do this on your alts? Ugh.
Tera - loved the combat/action, but the PVE world I was on was sparsely populated. Almost could never get a dungeon group together.

Anyway, only been playing since Sunday (when I caught the tail end of the free period), but liked it so I bought the $40 package for Sommerset to get Morrowind. My favorite class has always been a wizard (when doing D&D a LONG time ago).

So far Pros:
Graphics are decent

Gameplay is smooth (so far)

Lots of RPG elements if you take time (reading bits of lore, etc.)

Dialogue is spoken and the characters mouths actually move and coincide with the spoken dialogue (NW, not so much).

Lots of free reign to customize your character (I'm sure I'm leveling up in a non-optimal way, but I like having the freedom, unlike NW where you are basically forced into one or two builds to even do most dungeons).

Crafting - it's useful. (Unlike NW). Kinda reminds me of LOTRO in a way (GW2 wasn't bad either).

LOVE the fact that there's day/night and weather changes. I know it sounds stupid, but it adds variety.

So far cons:
Tutorial is horrible, IMO. I'm constantly having to look online on how to do things, etc. Maybe it's because I'm so used to how other games operate, even customizing the UI (finally figured out where the options were to even make the bars stay up).

Auction Hall (didn't realize this was "guild store" or whatever) - doesn't seem to have the ability to type in keywords to search on? (or maybe I'm too old now to figure it out). Like, I want to find
Alchemy reagents and I want to type in "cornflower". Instead, it seems I can at least filter for alchemy reagents, but then have to scroll through the list.

Inventory (backpack) seems a tad lacking with all the different things I'm collecting, but that's probably why they want me to pay for the subscription? Although nowhere near as bad as NW (although the useless crafting system there, at least the items go into a diff. bag area).

But I'm sure I'll learn more as I explore. I'm more of a completionist vs. let me get to max level ASAP (one of the things I disliked about NW as well was how rapid level advancement was). But again, I'm old school. I like a slower approach as it makes me appreciate the character I'm developing more.

If I have time this weekend, I may investigate a guild to join, but only level 13 so far (I only average about 1.5 hours/night otherwise my ulnar nerve acts up as my regular job consists of mousing/keyboarding all day as well).

s7732425ub17_ESO · March 2018

The tutorial keeps changing. It seems every year or so they go and update it. And whenever I go through it again on a new character, it still feels weird.

A lot of your "cons" have been solved by addons for PC. If you are not playing on PC, you are out of luck.

strangeradnd · March 2018

Welcome aboard, I think you'll find most things are pretty good in ESO. Sadly, I feel you will be adding LAG to the con side at some point. It is the biggest con I have noticed.

NewBlacksmurf · March 2018

Advice

Do NOT expect to play an MMO.
This was designed to be TES with friends, view it in that lense. A LOT was changed to mimic other MMOs but I’ll tell you, if that’s the experience you’re desiring, get another game.

I like this game cause it’s NOT really another MMO.
Hope that helps

Oreyn_Bearclaw · March 2018

Welcome to the game. At level 13 you have barely scratched the surface. Your complaints are valid, but as said, addons help a LOT (awesome Guild store, advanced filters, inventory insight, to name a few to help your specific problems).

IMO, you have the right attitude. Dont worry about your level, it will come. Best advice I can give is to try a bit of everything to see what you like and dont like. Meta builds dont make a lot of sense at your level. Nothing wrong with seeing the destination, but have fun on the way.

I would suggest making sure to feed your horse once a day, and its never too early to start researching traits for crafting. I would also advise being very stingy with your gold. Spending a bunch of money on gear makes no sense at your level. Other than horses and bag/bank space, there isnt much you should spend money on until you hit the gear cap (CP160). On that same note, I would hoard any purple and gold crafting tempers you find.

Otherwise, explore, have fun, and dont hesitate to ask questions along the way.

dannymcgr81b14_ESO · March 2018

Don't forget the "Help" section of the game. On pc it's F1. Lots of game info is included there.

srfrogg23 · March 2018

Characters are pretty self-sustaining in this game, so the guild traders are more optional than anything.

If you play without a subscription, you are playing the game the way it was originally designed. The subscription bonuses came after the mandatory sub-fee was removed.

Bag vendors and banks will let you upgrade your inventory space for gold.

Abilities that use stamina will do more damage based on your stamina stat and weapon damage.

Abilities that use magicka will do more damage based on your magicka stat and spell damage.

Staves restore magicka with heavy attacks.

All other weapons restore stamina.

Use attack and block at the same time to interrupt an enemy with red sparks coming out of them.

Use attack and block at the same to “break free” of crowd control.

Block the attacks with yellow sparks.

Mounts and pets are account bound, you get a free mount at level 10.

MakeMeUhSamich · March 2018

Welcome, OP!

A few suggestions:

*Turn on Prevent Attacking Innocents
*Switch to 3rd Person View and zoom out fully
*Turn on Automatically Decline Duel Invitations
*Train your mount skills daily
*Join a guild

Hope that helps!

Skander · March 2018

Just don't go pvp

this game is not implemented for fair pvp. Only for "who has more people wins"

Katahdin · March 2018

Welcome

Enjoy the journey. Don't be in a rush.
It's a great game that is meant to be savored.

Rickter · March 2018

First and foremost: welcome to ESO. If you havent already noticed, i hope you come to see over time that its hands down the best mmo offering in the current market. Plenty to do and you can truly play it any way you want (high end competitive play aside in both pve and pvp).

Pvp is fun and in fact after three years of being a pve junkie, pvp is all i do now and keeps me logging in. Your faction matters in this sense and i hope you find a good guild to show you the ropes.

Your concerns are exactly whats been brought up to zos before: ESO is not very accessible to new players. Information is simply not readily available. Example: you have to download an addon to see your spell/physical penetration.

Stick with it, be diligent and you will be rewarded with an extremely entertaining and versatile gaming experience.

terrordactyl1971 · March 2018

Join 5 guilds so that you can always keep 150 items for sale at once.

On console, escape crowd control is block and jump to roll out of it

geonsocal · March 2018

howdy OP...welcome aboard

I play a bunch of different games and to me eso is definitely senior friendly...

unless you doing pledge dungeons, trials, or soloing world bosses - not so much button mashing...

most of the content is done at a pretty leisurely pace - including the pvp action in cyrodiil...

about the most painful aspect of the game (as far as consoles) is the beatng your eyes take while searching through guild traders...

looks like you're on a pc, so hopefully there are some add-ons to help with that...

AlnilamE · March 2018

Welcome!

Yes, figuring out what to keep and what to decon/sell can take some time, but at your level, you can just ditch everything you are not going to wear since you will outlevel it before you know it.

And you can get up to 200 inventory slots on your character via bag expnasions and mount carrying capacity, as well as 240 Bank slots (if you don't have ESO+)

Others have recommended the AwesomeGuildStore addon if you are on PC and it really is an amazing improvement to the guild store interface.

I laughed out loud when you mentioned the voice acting because it really is good. I also play BDO and the characters there have mismatching written and spoken lines and it drives me up the wall.

I hope you take your time and enjoy the game at your pace. If you decide to play your character differently, you can always respec your skills and attributes.

GeorgeBlack · March 2018

Every mmorpg should base its combat system on Tera Online

mjonis · March 2018

Thanks everyone.

I've found the add-on website and that seems pretty neat.
I'm on PC so hopefully should be able to figure out how to install the add-ons (ah, brings me back to the good old LOTRO days with the add-ons). LOL!

Thanks for the extra tips as well.

So far am really enjoying the game. Nothing's perfect, but I really like things so far.

Ostacia · March 2018

Hi and welcome! I've been playing ESO a little over a year and am just super taken with it. Since you mentioned you were on PC and looking into add-ons, may I suggest you consider Minion? It's an application that you can browse for add-ons in and it also updates them. I run it just to check on updates about every week or so.