Questline order

TheImperfect · July 2019

I have been away from ESO and missed a lot. I'm in the middle of doing Cadwells Gold but I'd quite like to do Summerset because it intrigues me, I want to do the jewellery crafting and get the writs and I'd like to unlock the houses.
Will I significantly mess anything up? Can I just imagine I used a magical time rift and come back and do the other DLC afterwards as I haven't done anything else except Elsweyr?
Will the Summerset DLC build on previous storyline and will it mess stuff up?
Thanks in advance

Watchdog · July 2019

There are some links between the stories, such as reactions of certain NPC's, the very presence of certain NPC's in certain quests and such. Nothing too complicated, but I have found it nice to see the consequence s of my actions.

ArchangelIsraphel · July 2019

You can travel between different areas and do questlines at any time without compromising your ability to go back and do older content.

Gordon906 · July 2019

If you don't do the main quest and then proceed to do the Elsweyr zone, you will get different dialogues. But it won't mess anything up.

bluebird · July 2019

All DLC/Chapter stories can stand alone, the quests explain who characters are if you never met them before and they'll feed you the necessary lore if you're not familiar with mentioned events, so it won't be unplayable as a new player.

That said, you do get more out of it if you play them in order. For Summerset I'd normally say you should play the AD (and maybe DC) story, the Main Quest including Coldharbor, Vvardenfell, and Clockwork City, in order to meet most characters and know what's going on in the story line. Playing in order gives you some added rewarding moments when you can chat with characters about your past experiences, but if you're not bothered by meeting certain individuals (no spoilers

) in Summerset first, and then perhaps seeing their past only later when you play through the previous content, go for it.

You can totally imagine you used a time-machine to travel back in time (that's what Cadwell's Silver and Gold do anyway), but while Summerset will refer to your AD, Vvardenfell and DC experiences for example, none of the earlier content will refer to Summerset if you play them backwards (obviously). It only changes a few lines of dialogue and some personal investment though, so if you can't wait to play Summerset, go ahead and enjoy.

TheImperfect · July 2019

ok many thanks to you all!

Sylvermynx · July 2019

@mrsrobot - when I have a character I want to run through the quest lines sequentially, I will just go to Alinor to pick up JC. Don't talk to anyone but Felarian, do the quest to unlock JC, get back to the wayshrine and go "home".

Ratzkifal · July 2019

If you want the story to make sense, then start with Morrowind, then Clockwork City and then Summerset. Those three are more or less one story. They make sense without each other too, but they make more sense when played together in that order. Everything else is unaffected.

Jewelry crafting and unlocking the writs is unaffected by the order in which you play. You can start with that right away if you own Summerset or ESO+. Just go to Alinor and talk to the Altmer standing near the crafting hub. Same with the free inn room, which is also located in Alinor.

Robo_Hobo · July 2019

Vvardenfell, Clockwork City, and Summerset are its own storyline, so if you end up doing one of those 3 I'd do them in that order, but Murkmire and Orsinium (besides a small bit at the ending that's mostly just a hint toward the storyline that starts in Vvardenfell/Clockwork City/Summerset) are standalone, and Elsweyr only really needs the main quest to get the most out of it.