If you were new to the game

JustDuckyish · September 2018

What would be the one thing you wish someone had told you when starting out? I'm new to ESO, been playing Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim for years now but it's my first time in ESO. I'm familiar with the MMO-genre, as I've also played WoW for years.

Taleof2Cities · September 2018

If you intend to take up any or all of the seven (7) crafting professions ... be sure to:

(a) start trait research right away, and
(b) be diligent about acquiring the extra skill points needed to invest ... on top of the skill points needed for combat.

ForsakenSin · September 2018

DON'T MAKE YOUR MAIN A SORC!

Drdeath20 · September 2018

Your first 3 decisions before you start playing are the most important and only 1 can be changed after.

Class, Race and alliance

dan958 · September 2018

1) Start researching traits right away
2) Told me about 'sets' (took me about a year to even know sets were a thing)
3) Not to sell all motifs you get. I am not trying to get the Grand Master Crafter achievement, so I am farming/buying as many motifs as I can now.

SydneyGrey · September 2018

Improving your weapons until they're "gold" quality will give you a nice boost to the damage you'll do. Save all your gold-level materials like Kutas, Rosin and Tempering Alloys for your weapons, and don't spend them right away on armor pieces, at least until after your weapons are gold-quality. Gold-level materials are rarer than everything else.
Also, don't make anything gold quality unless it's max level, otherwise it'll be a waste (max level is CP160), and don't waste gold materials on any weapons that aren't part of an armor set.

Kelces · September 2018

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

If you intend to take up any or all of the seven (7) crafting professions ... be sure to:

(a) start trait research right away, and
(b) be diligent about acquiring the extra skill points needed to invest ... on top of the skill points needed for combat.

Absolutely this.

mague · September 2018

- Start researching. Crafting is useful in this game.
- Eat or drink

- Play the main quest, mage guild and fighters guild first
- Dont rush !!

Bubbastic · September 2018

Stack different skills that you want to level up even if you don't use them. The skill line will level faster

VaranisArano · September 2018

Food buffs make thing a LOT easier. I'd been playing for over a year before I started, even though I had Provisioning maxed out.

Royaji · September 2018

This is not a single-player Elder Scrolls game. Do not expect the same level of immersion.

This is not WoW. ESO does multiple things very differently from conventional MMOs. Do not expect things to work like in WoW.

Minyassa · September 2018

I wish someone had told me right from the beginning to ignore the meta, never listen to people talk about dps in the forums, and never watch build videos. My self-esteem would've been SO much better over these last few months that my dps was actually more than sufficient for vet content but I didn't realize it.

Protossyder · September 2018

Minyassa wrote: »

I wish someone had told me right from the beginning to ignore the meta, never listen to people talk about dps in the forums, and never watch build videos. My self-esteem would've been SO much better over these last few months that my dps was actually more than sufficient for vet content but I didn't realize it.

Depends on what you want to achieve in this game. If you are a dedicated player and want to get to endgame content fast, you can learn and get everything you need to know and have in about 3 months.

Most important things to have a good start imo:

1. Choose the right alliance/class/race combo - Inform yourself about the different playstyles and choose a combination that makes sense (e.g DK, argonian => probably best PvE Tank, argonian also performs very good in PvP)
2. Don't be afraid to use skillpoints - you can reroll them anytime you want. Make sure to equip one skill of every class tree (=3) and one of every weapon tree you will play to level them all up
3. Wear 3-2-2 or 5-1-1 => the main kind of armor you will play later (heavy/medium/light) - remaining armor kind - remaining armor kind (to level all armor types). start caring about sets later, when you reach max armor level (cp 160)
4. start researching and leveling crafting now. there are enough skill points for crafting, pve and pvp at the same time, don't worry. for armor: research divines/impenetrable/infused first. for weapons: infused/nirnhorned/precise. for jewlery: infused/bloodthirsty
5. Don't forget to feed your horse
6. get used to using Pots in combat, buff food
7. ...?
8. Profit

Sparr0w · September 2018

Minyassa wrote: »

I wish someone had told me right from the beginning to ignore the meta, never listen to people talk about dps in the forums, and never watch build videos. My self-esteem would've been SO much better over these last few months that my dps was actually more than sufficient for vet content but I didn't realize it.

I've tanked every vet DLC dungeon with an average group DPS of 15k, honestly majority of stuff is fine with around 20-25k.

Anyway OP:
1. ENJOY THE GAME, don't let stuff get you down and dont focus on grinding to end game.
2. Item sets exist (1-5 piece item bonuses)
3. Food/Drink boosts are a must have
4. Primary stats into primary resource (e.g. if youre a stamina damage dealer load everything into stamina/weapon damage & use skills that cost stamina)

DeadlyRecluse · September 2018

1. make 3 alts you think you might want to play later. Start feeding their horses every day for fast ponies when you get around to playing them.
2. Don't listen to the omnipresent naysayers. a fluffy build can complete 99 percent of the solo content and 80 percent of the group content once you have a few hundred CP, no worries.
3. Play what you enjoy, not what is best. ESPECIALLY as a new player--by the time your at endgame, best will have changed.
4. Argonians are property.

El_Borracho · September 2018

Minyassa wrote: »

I wish someone had told me right from the beginning to ignore the meta, never listen to people talk about dps in the forums, and never watch build videos. My self-esteem would've been SO much better over these last few months that my dps was actually more than sufficient for vet content but I didn't realize it.

Mostly agree. Some of the forums made it sound like you needed BiS gear, 40K DPS, and any mistake would cost your group dearly. Or that if you had anything less than Vicious Ophidian and TFS you had zero chance. Simply not true.

With that said, I wish I had looked at alcast before building my Nord stam DK. All I knew was what was in Skyrim, where Nords were melee damage-dealing machines and heavy armor was the way to go. Would have saved me the crowns I spent on changing him to a Khajiit and figuring out that medium armor and stamina are intertwined. At the least, it would have pointed me into the right direction for my build and what to expect in terms of sustainability and game play.

Darkenarlol · September 2018

don't rush and don't go into powerleveling while skipping content - enjoy your game

everything is good in good time

newtinmpls · September 2018

JustDuckyish wrote: »

What would be the one thing you wish someone had told you when starting out? I'm new to ESO, been playing Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim for years now but it's my first time in ESO. I'm familiar with the MMO-genre, as I've also played WoW for years.

The world is MUCH MUCH smaller in ESO than in any previous game.

The other players both make and break your experience.

Seek guilds, friends, use any sort of communication/audio you can (skype, teamspeak, discord) it will make a WORLD of difference.

Use "ignore" often and well.

Recognize that what is "best" WILL change, that's the nature of MMOs, so don't get too attached to any one build.

Relax and have fun; that's the whole point, and if it's not fun, stop for a while.

Ahnog · September 2018

That there are heavy attack and they restore resources. I didn't learn this till I started running dungeons and someone complained I wasn't using heavy attacks. I asked my guild about them and learned.

Maryal · September 2018

If you are new to the game don't read the forums! (people in pve zone chat are significantly less toxic)

Grayfax · October 2018

Learn to use Light Attacks and Heavy Attacks intentionally.
Also, realize that Heavy Attacks restore resources (Magicka and Stamina).
When restoring resources it is important to distinguish that Staves (Staff) restore Magicka, ALL other weapons restore Stamina (just so you aren't surprised that your 2-Handed Sword heavy attacks on your Warden is not helping you with your Magicka Skills).

Also, when looking at Skills and the Skills Advisor, you can change which build you are using of the Skill Advisor the very first time you login so that you can change your Advised skills to fit more in line with using Magicka, Stamina or Health as a primary resource (and usually one other option that is role based... say Healing instead of Damage). It is a good stepping stone to later using build guides outside the game and finding out what you want to take from other players or develop on your own.

smashcats · October 2018

To use heavy armor in pvp and not spec for damage because it doesn't work

Bladehawk · October 2018

Ignore the forums. Coming from WoW, you know how bad General Discussion is on the WoW forums. It's nearly as bad here, which is a dubious accomplishment!

I'm only here now because, as a new player myself, I'm debating which class to main, so I'm trying to absorb both current information as well as what will be changing with Murkmire.

Starlock · October 2018

I would have told myself this:

"You're supposed to start the game on this thing called the 'starter island' except some patch changed this to plop you in the first zone instead. You are going to be under-leveled for it. Go to the starter island immediately. It will be significantly less frustrating."

This, of course, is not applicable to the game as it is now. When I first picked up the game - before One Tamriel, before CP were a thing - I almost quit three days in for two reasons. One, other players doing stupid things that broke my immersion and made me question why on earth I was bothering with an MMO at all (MUDs were never so horrendous). Two, defeating enemies in the zone I started in was more difficult than I felt it should have been.

Itacira · October 2018

ForsakenSin wrote: »

DON'T MAKE YOUR MAIN A SORC!

YES

RABIDxWOLVERINE · October 2018

Give Tamriel the time it deserves. Slow down and smell the roses!

Crafting is worth it in the long run. research traits ASAP

Feed your horse... DAILY!!!!!!

Pheefs · October 2018

Starlock wrote: »

Go to the starter island immediately.

Agree! (although Ebonheart Pact characters might not want to finish it)

it ends very dramatically, cutting off access to the Bleakrock services (banker & merchant & crafting)

also...
Join a couple casuals or newbie friendly guilds.
As others have mentioned, pay attention to your "battle leveling" too low and you are squishy, too high & its a face-roll
(IMO don't waste gold improvement/runes below level CP160 equipment!)

Come to this forum when you have specific Q or get stuck.
Have fun storming the castle!

Davor · October 2018

Not to start this game. Zenimax right now is the Games Workshop of old. In other words a company that takes their customers for granted. At least for me, it seems "it's what have you done for me lately" instead of "what can we do for you".

So just like being stuck in a GW game system, you keep playing because of time/money sink and don't want it to go to waste so you keep playing so the "investment" seems worthwhile.

That said I would say "DO NOT RESTART and DELETE CHARACTERS. For 4 years I did what I did in The Elder Scrolls game, and kept restarting characters. It takes a long time to max horse stats, and research, and basically I am still a newbie. I didn't know we can with the cost of real money change character races.

Pops_ND_Irish · October 2018

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

If you intend to take up any or all of the seven (7) crafting professions ... be sure to:

(a) start trait research right away, and
(b) be diligent about acquiring the extra skill points needed to invest ... on top of the skill points needed for combat.

I would agree with this ! Saves a lot of time if you start early

GreenHere · October 2018

Some of the suggestions above are what I'd have said to day 1 of ESO me (particularly about getting started on crafting researches!), so I'll add something else I wish I knew earlier...

Get one character to Champion Point 160+ sooner rather than later. Don't rush, or grind, or stress about it (unless grinding floats your boat); but focus your efforts on getting your first toon to CP160 or above. It's not the time to make a bunch of alts at the start, imo.

The reasons are simple:

- Champion Points are account-wide "levels" that are shared by all of your characters. Once you hit level 50 -- on any character -- they are automatically converted to CP level [whatever your number is here]. So "max" level isn't level 50, it's really way up in the CP levels somewhere. CP cap keeps getting raised over time, but...

- Gear level (armor/weapons/etc) maxes out at CP160. Whether you're CP 161, or 947, or 312, or 2452 -- you're using CP160 gear. All that CP 150 (and below) gear becomes garbage the instant you're 160+, since you'll never see CP 1-159 again. You don't wanna waste time/effort/money getting gear that you'll never use again, do you? I didn't understand this until embarrassingly late in my ESO adventures. (Side note: base level 1-50 gear [NOT CP] may be useful for alts that you make in the future)

- Because of the above, you are severely limited in your trading abilities until you're at the CP160 "floor" level. You won't have use for the stuff higher level friends get in dungeons and whatnot, and vice versa. This makes getting the stuff you want/need in the first place a lot harder and more tedious. Trade, in some form or another, is a BIG part of the game for most of us. You can join the party at CP 160, but not really before.

- Making gold is harder at lower levels, too. You'll struggle more than your leveled up counterparts to pay even basic things like Stable upgrades (*shudders at remembering having to deal with that annoyance*) or Pack/Bank space upgrades. You can pretty easily be Scrooge McDucking in gold once you're CP 160 and above. But not before, most likely.

- Creating a bunch of alts to get a feel for different classes and whatnot is fine; but you honestly will learn more by really digging into a class for a longer period of time before moving to a new one every week. Stick with a toon, get comfortable with all their abilities, assess how you like/dislike it, THEN go creating others. There's enough build diversity within each class that you can't reasonably expect to get well-acquainted with all the possibilities it has to offer before a lot more time has passed than it takes to get to level 50. I know many of us ESO adventurers created like 17 toons before we finally stuck with one, and almost universally the consensus seems to be "I should have got to CP ranks before re-rolling other characters". It just delays you joining "the actual game" with everyone else too much, imo.

On the flip side, don't get too heavily invested in your first character. I know very few people whose favorite character is the first one they made. All the more reason to get to CP 160 quickly, in my mind. Just sayin, get just enough skill points to unlock skills, try them, have fun, and then you're better equipped to move on. The sooner you find out which class (and alliance) you really want to main, the better. And you can't do that very accurately until you're at CP 160, where the game really begins.

And welcome to ESO! We hope you enjoy your stay.

Ph0t0n · October 2018

Don’t neglect to level the armour and associated crafting research for the type of armour you think you’ll never wear.