I wrote up a quick guide to quest order if you want to do quests "in order" for the major story arcs and the pre-One Tamriel order of alliance quests here:https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/413807/what-order-should-i-do-esos-story-arcs-a-guide

Rosveen wrote: »

My guess is that ZOS doesn't care about continuity at all, otherwise they wouldn't force new players to start in the latest chapter and play the story backwards.

It is important to them that when someone buys a Chapter that they can go right into the Chapter content without having to play the entire game first.

shadowwraith666 wrote: »

in terms of lore, the events of the DLC and chapter areas (Vvardenfell and sumerset isle) occur in 2E 583, whereas the base game events occur in 2E 582

the proper progression sequence should be

base game > Orsinium/hews bane/gold coast > Vvardenfell > sotha sil (clockwork city) > summerset isle but ZOS decided to change it all and throw that progression sequence through the nearest oblivion gate.

in the previous TES games the DLC always followed on chronologically after the main game.

The thing is though, it's not any different from any other game. Canonically, they'd all take place in release order, but it was still playable out of order. It's a QoL thing, giving people freedom to play, and also letting new ESO players jump right into the newest active zones before going to play the old stuff.

I have to agree it makes little sense for them to start new characters in the new zones. It should be an option to choose from, honestly, just like they give us an option to skip the tutorial once we've done it. The same condition that triggers the "skip the tutorial" option should also trigger a "do you want to start in Vvardenfell/Summerset" option, but otherwise start new characters with the original tutorial in Coldharbour and then dump them into their alliance zone.

Rosveen wrote: »

My guess is that ZOS doesn't care about continuity at all, otherwise they wouldn't force new players to start in the latest chapter and play the story backwards.

Why, just why?
Now if you make an alt you might want to jump around if done silver and gold at least if done it multiple times.
Note that the old zones and quests is an way faster way to get skill point second is of TG and DB questlines.
i don't like how the prophet nag you as soon as you exit, it should be an delay as in TG or DB, less than before but still some time / levels.

There's actually quite a lot of unique voice lines and dialogue that change depending on the order you do things in. You can do Clockwork City before Morrowind and get a slightly different story. You can also do Summerset before Morrowind and keep the story coherent, according to the devs (But I haven't tested it myself)

But I do think there's not nearly enough of these voiceline and story changes. They have been slowly getting better at these details, but it's still not enough.

One of my favorite things about the prologue quests (The Azura Dreamers quest, the Killing Shadows quest, and the Wyrd Prophecy quest) is that they help tie together different locations. They make you feel that what you do in one portion of the continent affects the opposite corner of the world, that your actions matter outside the bubble of a specific zone. It makes the world feel more alive, connected.

I'd love to see more of that in the future.

I think a large issue is a vocal minority only care about hardcore dungeons and PvP so they would not play if they were forced to play the actual game in its actual order..

I see it every day high levels shooting through content with no care for other customers getting their shards and training mobs through delves etc..

You look to your left, you see one way. You look to your right, you see another. But neither is any harder than the opposite. But the Elder Scrolls... they look left and right in the stream of time. The future and past are as one: Sometimes they even look up. What do they see then? What if they dive in? Then the madness begins.

DuskMarine wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

My guess is that ZOS doesn't care about continuity at all, otherwise they wouldn't force new players to start in the latest chapter and play the story backwards.

actually if you pay attention summerset, clockwork and morrowind all happen before the main storyline in chronological order.

How? I'm really bad at chronology without an official timeline, so it's entirely possible I missed something. :P

But Orsinium definitely happens after the main story and then foreshadows the Daedric troubles.

There are notes in Vvardenfell that indicate it happens after the events in Deshaan (side quest, not the main story).

And even if that storyline happened before the MQ, you'd still be playing out of order if you started in Summerset and later moved to Morrowind.

This is something every single Elder Scrolls game has had to deal with.

Did the Dragonborn kill Alduin before the civil war ended? Was the Hero of Kvatch a member of the Dark Brotherhood? Is the Nerevarine a female argonian?

It's confusing, it doesn't quite make sense sometimes. There's ESO DLC that has clear dates (Like Orsinium happening 1 year after the Coldharbour questline) and there's DLC that's a mess (Morrowind has NPCs that talk as if Molag Bal invasion is over, and it has NPCs that talk as if it hasn't started)

At this point, I think ZOS is purposely trying to confuse us. And keep in mind this is not even the first game to do this. Other TES games also have a lot of conflicting evidence about timelines and past events. With perhaps the biggest example being TES II, that has half a dozen different endings that are all true, and all affect TES III-IV-V in different ways, at the same time.

Here is a suggestion, a pattern to use if you like. Bear in mind that several of my charecters start as street rats in a little gang in abahs landing so you may want to tweak it for your own use.... also it’s a bit slow which is great for me but some folks are in more of a rush

1 your charecter goes through charecter creation, after this the go towards the first Summerset zone quest and pause

2 the biggest flashback in gaming history begins as you spend the next few months explaining how you got there, I do this by using a wayshrine to abahs landing, a mysterious stranger gives you a message to go to vulkelguard, ignore this for now, it’s the doorway to the main quest and remember that the planemeld involves a vast conspiracy decades in the making so it’s fine to leave it aside in your quest journal for now

2 I play through theives guild and then on into dark brotherhood as their path turns towards evil, remember that they grew up starving amid the wealth of the merchant lords and have a very real hatred of the world. Make sure to talk to npc in fighters and mages guild, even though they don’t have quests they can still unlock the guild skill line if you choose the right dialogue, remember your a blade for hire as much as a thief, you need to make ends meat after all, also the charecter is more fun with the extra speech options. Also it’s important not to go beyond these wo zones or our story will start to loose focus

3 events during these two zones help to balance out that hate, no spoilers but there are as far from a black and white tale as you could imagine, but the charecter is still a bitter and angry soul, one. in need of a purpose

4 you decide to answer the requests by the fighters guild to go to speak with them, you already unlocked the guild skill line and those two little zones have enough stuff in them to trigger the guild messenger when you visit abahs landing, kvatch or anvil. Remember that your a thief, killer and mercinary, your doing this for the gold first and foremost. But first, being of a criminal nature the mysterious strangers request piques your interest and you take the wayshrine to vulkelguard

5 the wrothgar orc may appear now, be reasonable and accept the request, you are an increasingly notorious mercinary after all. Don’t do wrothgar now though, it’s one more job for the future. Meet the stranger to start the main quest via the original prologue and a realy cool cinematic, touch nothing at this point or the stupid thing will skip this bit

5 the sheer scale of the plane-meld forces a change in perspective, you are still that same ruthless charecter but now you are a righteous one as well. You can use brutal choices in quests if you think it appropriate but will normaly choose the kind option, your morality is pragmatic after all

6 Play the base game beginning with the starter islands as the quests originally intended, when you reach the guilds they will treat you as an established charecter and you’ll be getting slightly altered dialogue, even the writ certifiers will have new options as by now all your crafting will be well into the thirties, complete all three alliances but leave cold harbour till you have done the first one. Also try to space out the main quest, doing one or two per zone feels right to me

7 after that just follow the stories, I do craglorn them wrothgar after the base game as a wandering legendary warrior for hire, then wrothgar points you towards the next zone, pick up all the little introductory quests as you go, they appear in each zone Capitol. The stories will funnel you to morrowind, clockwork city and finaly back to the present in Summerset

I hope that’s of help

Feanor wrote: »

Does anyone remember the Reaper's March Wasps (level 30+) when you were level 15? Good old times

All I remember are Craglorn wasps. *shudders*

Feanor wrote: »

Does anyone remember the Reaper's March Wasps (level 30+) when you were level 15? Good old times

Pact had it bad too. After clearing the fort in Stonefalls on your lvl10 you'd go over the bridge straight into the Rift where lvl48 skeletons were waiting for you.