So you did it. For whatever reason you were compelled to purchase the Elder Scrolls Online at the upfront cost, with the idea that you may stick around after the first thirty days and start paying the monthly subscription fee. Whether or not you choose to play beyond this initial gaming period, let’s talk about ways in which you can enjoy yourself with whatever time you choose to allocate to this game.

First Things First

An immersive experience? Competition? Exploration? Variety? Story? Combat? Because its Elder Scrolls? There are many reasons to play the game. The first and possibly most important thing to remember is, it’s just that: a game. Sometimes we get so caught up in what a game isn’t doing that we fail to see what it is doing.

So if some of the gameplay’s features feel like they impede upon one another – remember, it’s so that a massive number of players can enjoy the game in the way they choose. When you find yourself upset because other players are running around ruining your solo experience, remember you are playing a multiplayer game. Instead of sticking to the gut reaction of feeling disrupted by a ‘lack of instancing’, use teamwork to progress through the story. Did the horde of other players already kill that NPC you want to go after? No doubt, this can be upsetting especially if it prevents you from completing your quest. Try leaving that area and coming back later – explore, go fishing, craft a weapon, then go back and try again. Or wait, the NPC will respawn. Remember, it’s a game. Not a novel or a film. If you only wanted a story, enjoy a book or a movie. If you only wanted to play alone, Skyrim is still out there.

Were you upset by a crash? Down time due to server maintenance? Perceptions of poorly received customer service? It’s understandable. You spent $60 freaking dollars on this game. And you might start coughing up $15/mo. Why should you put up with this? You don’t have to, if it is really that bad for you. But if you decide to stick around, remember these things help the game grow – there’s that word again. Game. An MMO is wonderfully alive. That’s why it has such draw in the gaming industry. It’s not a robotic, stagnant game. It’s organic. It’s the future. Stick with it and realize there are a group of dedicated developers and technical support specialists who will listen to the community, and evolve the game, constantly.

Trying to play with friends but having issues with instancing or syncing up schedules? Are some areas just too hard to play solo? There are a few ways to tackle these problems, in mindset and in game mechanics. As far as syncing up with live friends, this can be challenging, especially in PvE. You could create a character (you’re given ~8 character slots) that is solely dedicated to you and your friends time questing. You could slam your fist into your keyboard until either the buttons or your hand breaks (though, this is NOT the recommended approach). You could slow down, focus on other aspects of the game than leveling up until your friend returns. You could just play solo until you reach level 10, then jump into the scary massive PvP world (there are quest opportunities there too, and crafting, and exploring, and…) and test your metal against others. Once you take the plunge, playing in a zone where players fight other players is really not as intimidating as it may first seem. You are boosted when appropriate, you will probably die a lot – the game is not spoon fed to you. Which takes us to the next question, can it be too hard to play solo sometimes? Absolutely. And rightly so, it’s an MMO! Playing with others is encouraged. Instead of waiting for a friend, why not try using the group finder, or interacting with someone else clearing the same area/quest as you? There are others who are willing to help. And the beauty of PvE is – people aren’t out to take you out like in PvP, they gain nothing from NOT helping you… so are more likely to HELP. Swallow that pride, ask for help when you need it. The forces of Molag Bal are dangerous adversaries.

If none of this suits you, I get it – I really do. Sometimes you just can’t be satisfied. It’s hard to try something new, different. Or maybe it just didn’t meet your expectations. I’m sorry. At the end of the day, remember – it’s just a game. There are others out there for you.

If none of this makes sense to you yet, read on. If you stumble into one of these issues come back and re-read this section, remind yourself why you paid for this game.

Characters, Coldharbour, and Choices

After being thoroughly pumped up by the brief cinematic introduction, it’s time to create a character. There are, as there should be, a number of choices to make before diving into the realm of Coldharbour. It all starts with three pivotal decisions that will affect your entire gaming experience (talk about choices with weight): Which Alliance? Which Race? Which Class?

On the choices of Alliance, keep this in mind: everything is driven by the war of the three alliances. To truly enjoy the weight of this decision I highly recommend picking only one Alliance for your first play-through. At the time of this writing I haven’t even come close to ‘maxing out’ my character but I can tell you that the experience of developing a bond with one Alliance and having a mutual rivalry with the other Alliances helps to nurture ESO’s staying power. There is something to be said for the forum wars of, “This Alliance has the best quests, this one has the best regions to explore, this one has the best bosses, this one is the strongest, no this one is…” And each Alliance has right to lay claim to these boasts. During beta I tested each Alliance (yes, I realize this goes against my mantra of sticking with one alliance) and I can comfortably say each one had unique quests, landscapes, architecture, lore, and so forth. Each one has its own draw. And maybe you’ll want to try each one before finally making a decision, go for it – it’s even encouraged. But once you find you like one Alliance more than another, stick with it!

So which Alliance should you choose? Go with your gut. Read about how each Alliance was formed (there are some interesting tidbits all over the internet). Join the one your friend did. Or better yet, pick the one he/she loathes. I’m in the Aldmeri Dominion. Choose that one. Whatever you do, play through with ONE.

What about those classes? Did you buy the Imperial Edition? Did you pre-order a standard edition? Did you wait for release? Is this being read two thousand years after initial release and the entire human population resides on a giant spacecraft waiting for WALL-E’s to clean up the filth? These factors determine your choices. If you bought the Imperial Edition, you have an extra race, good for you. If you pre-ordered, you can mix and match races with Alliances. If you waited for release, your Alliance choice becomes even more important as you are tied to one of the three races that make up this Alliance. If you’re reading this two thousand years from inception, then ESO did something right – and these decisions may be completely different. Regardless of how you got here, it’s time to choose a race.

I recommend reading up on the natural abilities of each race and making a choice based on what fits your personal playing style. Or, pick the one that looks the coolest. Each race has its own perks and more importantly, limitations. For myself, I went with character aesthetic. I liked the look of a Wood Elf, so I stuck with a Wood Elf. Now comes the limitless combination game: sculpting that character. Change the sex. Change the height. Change the weight. Make the character muscular. Make the character thin. Give the character a weird hairdo. Or no hair. Add some unique markings on the face. Add a tattoo on the body. Size up those pecks. Size down that waist. Or don’t. Give the character big eyes. Give the character a small nose. Make him look evil. Make her look approachable. Or keep it simple. Or don’t. Customize your experience. It’s your experience after all. You paid handsomely for this opportunity. You can be whatever you want to be (in the army…er alliance). So be something. Take the time to actually modify the character you may be spending countless hours, days, weeks, months, YEARS with. You’ll thank yourself later.

Once you’ve gotten this out of the way, its time to pick a class. Do you want to charge headfirst into the fight or have nostalgia for Scorpion from Mortal Kombat? Pick the Dragon Knight. Do you want to play spell-caster? Pick the Sorcerer. Do you want to be a stealthy assassin? Pick the Nightblade. Do you want to heal players and be able to fight? Pick the Templar. Actually, you aren’t reduced to this at all. The game is open to the extent that while, yes different classes focus on different skill sets (and their breakdown can be found in numerous other guides), there is no set way. Started out as a Dragon Knight but you want to learn a different kind of magic? There’s a Mage’s Guild in the game that gives you this opportunity. Or you could pour skill points into the DK’s own magic system. Want to boost that Sorcerer into a battle mage? Focus on weapon skills, join the Fighter’s Guild, up the armor stats. None of this sounds appealing? Just want to craft things and be relatively low key in terms of combating? That’s fine too – pick a class and then focus your attention toward crafting. Play how you want to play. Don’t just go off guides to becoming the best DPS player, or ‘How to Play the Nightblade’ – that’s a perspective from one person that works for them. What works for you may be very different. So experiment. Play the game.

If it interests you, I chose the Nightblade class. Stealth is a viable option in the game. And there is a real thrill in trying to sneak past enemies, or quickly assassinating them with a heavy dose of damage while you have limited health. But maybe that doesn’t work for you. Maybe if you DO play the Nightblade you would rather charge into battle and siphon health and stamina. That works too. If you like DPS, and you want to keep a distance – Wood Elf with its mastery of Archery and Nightblade with its DPS focused magic, can be a great combination.

Once your character is created, it’s time to hop into Coldharbour. This is an introductory area where you’ll be introduced to the story, visuals, combat mechanics, and generally just getting a feel for the world. As a note on that, if your rig can handle it I recommend upping the view distance in your settings so the world becomes more immersive. It is generally not set very high and this results in more ‘fog of war’ which detracts from something the Elder Scrolls does so well – creating a vast landscape to gawk over. And what landscapes they have.

After the Coldharbour experience, you are thrust into the wider world. Each character starts in their respective Alliance’s first zone, which is located, West (Covenant), South (Dominion), or East (Pact) in the world of Tamriel. At it’s center is the Imperial city (and the PvP zone).

When you are thrust into this expansive world, you may be overwhelmed by the amount of things you can do. All I can say is, do what feels right. If you want to be able to explore more of the first zone, I recommend going back to what is now known as ‘the starter island’ – the first NPC you encounter with those overhead arrows should have a quest that will allow you to travel to these starter zones where you can get some nice XP boosts and really figure out what style you want to play. Once you’ve leveled up enough, the more this first zone really feels open – so do yourself a favor and play that starter island. Also, a note for anyone who didn’t partake in the beta: these are referred to as starter islands because the game used to start you here as a ‘dip your toes into the wide world’ experience. But based on beta user feedback stating it made the world feel too closed off, the next patch allowed you to skip the island completely with the option of going back whenever you want. See? The ESO team does listen to its community.

If you choose not to experience the starter island, don’t worry – there is still PLENTY to do. There are hidden treasures (literally) for those who want to explore the world. You can pick a direction and start going, but beware of those higher level NPCs. This game is challenging. It wants you to participate with others. So if you decide to ignore the storyline and see what quests lay out there in the world (there are many) then I recommend using the group finder and pairing up with some people – or if you don’t want to use the group finder, just follow another explorer around, maybe a vet – and there is a likelihood they will assist you with those baddie NPCs. Or they will become annoyed you are stalking them and let the NPCs kill you. Should be entertaining either way.

While out exploring the world, there will be times when the forces of Molag Bal try to bind the world of Oblivion to Nirn. They do this through a ritual around a Dark Anchor. Be warned: do NOT try to complete the dark anchor experiences by yourself unless you are a much higher level. Better yet, even then don’t do it alone. Why? Allow me to recollect my first experience with a Dark Anchor:

I’m level 9, being pulled in all directions as I’d accepted about 6-7 quests and had my choice of which one to accomplish. While fending off possessed bears and wolves (that’s right) for a quest, I heard shouts from this demonic ritual taking place. I had never experienced a Dark Anchor fight, but I knew this is what was about to occur. As a sworn enemy of Molag Bal, I stopped my quest – dead in the middle of it – and ran to find the Dark Anchor. When I arrive, the Worm Cult are already sacrificing themselves to the Anchor – floating up into Oblivion. I approach to snipe one with an arrow when – suddenly – a level 8 sorcerer appears out of nowhere and launches a fireball at the enemy. Then the first beast comes out. The two of us are fighting to take it down. Three more creatures appear out of the portal. We are starting to get overwhelmed. Then, a group of three more adventurers arrive – all various classes and races. Now we coordinate our attacks. I am nearly killed by a massive baddie when a healer comes out of the hills and literally saves me (death is quite punishing if there is no Wayshrine nearby). We gather our tactics, most of the players focusing on killing the enemies – with two of us, myself and the sorcerer, focusing on shutting down the nodes to close the portal. Before we can finish, we get what is basically a Dark Anchor boss. Now everyone scrambles to fend off the boss – and after some serious adrenaline rushes, it’s done – the skies clear up, the loot is collected, and everyone runs back off to whatever it was they were doing before. Congrats goes around through the chat – a virtual high five. This is why you need to experience a Dark Anchor. With a group.

To PvP or Not to PvP

Quests come in multitudes – and they often lead into branches of tasks to accomplish, each with its own reasonable storyline to follow. Dark Anchors appear out of nowhere. Public Dungeons wait to be explored. Exploration rewards the bold. Crafting lets flow the creative juices. So when you hit level 10 – the question becomes, should I join the ranks of the Alliance armies for PvP? The answer is, abso-freakin-lutely.

The game is about choices, and when you open yourself up to the PvP – there are choices galore. All of these things can be found in the PvP world, and there is a heightened sense of danger lurking around every corner. Wherever you run, someone could be waiting to take you out. It gives weight the PvE world just can’t do. You find groups of people to siege resources and keeps, playing king of the hill. You repair walls, you buy siege equipment, you rush into a chaotic battle of magic and swinging swords and firey siege bombardments. But even if this warmongering doesn’t thrill you – there are alternatives. Quiet ones even. Unique items appear only in the PvP world, so if you’re a crafter – you’ll want to go here, explore, and craft the most unique items in all of Tamriel. If you want to sneak around – there are missions that allow you to scope out an enemy keep and take notes on it, which is very thrilling when you realize you are going deep behind the enemy lines to accomplish this seemingly simple task. And when you’ve had your fill of all of this – you can go back to PvE – and return whenever you’d like. It opens up the game so much that you are downright CHEATING YOURSELF of half the game if you ignore this zone.

There isn’t much more to say about PvP. Try it. If you don’t like it you don’t have to participate, but you should experience it if you want to truly open yourself up to the potential of this game.

Summary

This is an introduction. A call to arms. A calming influence (hopefully) to those with reservations. I did not intend to divulge storyline details. I did not mean this to be a session on tactics for completing quests, crafting, PvP, or even how to play the game. This is a mantra of the spirit of the game – a guide to get you involved, and an urging plea to have fun with it – make an experience of ESO. There is so much here, those with only a critical eye can often fail to see what makes this game worth the price of admission. Open yourself up to the game. Try to see it without those ‘critic goggles’ and you just might have some fun.