Mules was the old answer to the crafting problem, before the crafting bags. I used to have crafting materias spread across several mules, one holding runes, one holding alch mats, etc. And only kept stuff I actively used in my bank.

You can make it work with some effort, and preparation... but you need to know what to keep and what to let go... as you can't pick everything.

Tempers, hold. Alchemy mats for potions, and writs, keep. Ores, leather and wood keep just what you can use atm. Provisioning, keep the stuff you need t craft the foods/drinks you are using atm and get/search/find/buy high level recipes that are useful to you and only keep the mats for those ones.

That was before the era of furniture crafting and such, though. And since I dont care at all about housing myself, it could still probably work for me unchanged, but if you like housing and intend to be able to craft for them... ahem, I don't see how'd you do it without a crafting bag, sadly


EDIT: As for your actual question

I do think its possible, I knew multiple people that played this game over the years and didn't craft at all... they relied on us, guild mates, or friends, to make stuff for them, though. And they often had to wait until a crafter was available before they could try that new shiny set they wanted

So I'd say it'd all depend on if you have ties with other people and/or are member of some guilds and you're not afraid to ask: "hey, can some of you make X items with Y traits in Z style?" As long as you are not too pushy and know what you're asking for, you're not gonna have problems finding people wanting to help you.

When I started crafting, I only focused on levelling the skills in the gear I needed. So clothing, enchanting and woodworking, primarily. It was tedious, yes, but much easier than if one had to also deal with the dozens of ingredients in alchemy and provisioning.

But yes, asking people to craft for you is commonplace, so it's definitely viable.

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

...snip. Remember on new characters that there is one free bag and one free bank space upgrade (for each new character) in the leveling rewards. ....snip

Minor clarification, you only get the free bank space upgrade once as that is per account.

Otherwise I agree with most of what you had to say.

I've been thinking about this a little more. Paying for your durables (armor, glyphs, jewelry, weapons) is pretty manageable since you don't use these up and have to replace them once leveled except for occasional changes to different sets perhaps. I'd think the real cost is top quality potions and food since you constantly have to replenish these. Without the craftibag, I'd actually pursue provisioning and alchemy. Decide on your primary food and potion, then stockpile only those specific half dozen or so ingredients and turn them into your food / potions before your ingredient stacks get too big. I'd think that would be very gentle on your bank, yet save a lot of gold.

As far as weapons and armor go, some of the most useful sets are overland or dungeon sets and can't be crafted at all. And the more popular and commonly used food, drinks, glyphs and potions can be bought at the bigger guild trader hubs (Belkarth, Rawl'Kha, Mournhold, Elden Root, Wayrest, Daggerfall, Vivec City) or can be crafted fairly quickly for you by guildmates, as they don't require a specific location to craft in (gear sets do). I know a good amount of people who play this way and it's not that hard.

Now, if you decide to dive into housing (and furnishing), not being able to craft your own furnishings and having to buy everything - on top of the already expensive non-craftables you'd probably want to get - is going to cost you a pretty penny.

To make sure that you're at least somewhat prepared if and when you do decide to get into crafting somewhere down the line, I'd advise you to at least research some traits for Clothing, Blacksmithing and Woodworking whenever you can. It's a real time-sink to research everything and a lot of the overland drops you're currently selling or deconstructing (which can be profitable if you sell the materials you get from it!) are researchable.

Thank you everyone for the insight on how the game works later on. I actually tried to google the situation earlier, but you guys gave me a much clearer picture.

I just want to make it clear, that I actually really enjoy crafting, I do it a lot in all other MMOs I play or played (I invested a lot time in most of currently available titles, searching for something worth playing). And I don't mean that it's the crafting system in ESO that bums me out. I just feel that the logistic of material storage, especially for a new, non-subscribing player is... traumatizing! (and I mean it literally) Before I got the feel what's valuable and what's trash, before I got the hang on how guild trading works (that I still don't know, actually), all my fully upgraded storage space (bought by all the money I got from questing) started overflowing and I found myself pressed against the wall, not knowing what to do next.

But thanks to you guys I've got some idea on how to act next Doing mules and micromanaging everything is out of the question for me, I could never take such an insult, agreeing for a game to rob me from my time in such a tedious way (not wanting to offend anybody who is doing that, this statement loosely translates to: I'm just too lazy and spoiled by the latest games to bear with it). Unfortunately I'm also a very stubborn guy and I just hate asking people for help, especially since crafting gear sets is something very time-consuming, as many of you pointed out above. I would never ask anybody for something like this - tips or not. Joining a casual trading guild eventually seems like a good way to go, I just need to do research on how the guild trading system actually works (all hail youtube tutorials) xD

I think the best idea for me would be taking AcadianPaladin's advice and concentrate on alchemy and provisioning, since it would be much easier to focus on just two selected professions. I'll try this out and see how things work out for me in the longer run. I must agree with what Sevn said - this game seems too good to quit it so soon. The world is beautiful and complex, combat feels nice and impactful but the most important and hard to find quality of an MMO is a helpful community So yeah, thanks again everyone, I'll take another shot at it.

P.S.
I would never get any doubts about playing ESO if there was some small crafting bag available for non-subscribers (or some set space that can be bought permanently at the cash-store) and the unlimited one for ESO plus membership wouldn't be the only option to craft comfortably. I understand that it's a great way to keep a constant cash inflow for game development, but from a point of view of a starting player it seems a bit unfair as it has a huge impact on gameplay very early in the game. I don't mean to whine about it, I just wanted to point out that it's something that really sticks out from what otherwise seems like a very unique and polished game.

Partomax, thank you for the advice, it looks really useful ^^

I'm starting to work on my crafter char and see how it goes.

Yes you can enjoy ESO without crafting. Thing is what do YOU want to do? For me I PvE. So it can be different for PvP. But it seems as was said you know people that can craft the stuff for you, then you don't need crafting. If you don't know anyone or got scammed and don't want to do it, then I can't really say since I only PvE.

After 4 years I am finally enjoying crafting. Why? I stopped listening to people how to play ESO. I wanted to be a crafter but it sucked being a crafter since the stuff you find is better than what you make.

So the advice I was given is crafting doesn't really start until after max level. That is when we start making the best equipment. So I basically stopped crafting and can play ESO perfectly fine. Thing is I wanted to be a crafter like how I wanted when I first started, I rely on my own self. So I made a new character and only use the stuff I make. Makes the game a bit tuffer, but I am enjoying it so much more now because I can be the crafter I always wanted and not worry "how the game should be played". So this can be different if you want to power game or make it as easy as possible. Thing is that is not my play style and I wasn't having fun.


I guess only way I can be a crafter is having the ESO+. I can't play ESO without my craft bag. So for 50 cents a day, I find this a great bargain. Plus I get all the DLC I don't have to buy now.

So if you want to be a crafter, I really suggest ESO+. If you can't afford it, or just don't want it, then you can have to 7 mules in your account that you can transfer to the bank and then your mules can take it out of the bank and hold it.

If you don't want to be a crafter it's perfectly viable as well. You will not be able to make the gear you want and will need to rely on others and or just buy it in the guild stores.

Hope this helps from a different point of view.