New player coming from WoW and have a question or two!

Sularis110 · June 2021

Hey, I've decided to give ESO a try since WoW has gotten a bit boring to me and I wanted to give something else a go but I have a few questions about starting out.

I'd like to play a healer but I'm not exactly sure which class to start with, I've seen good things about Templar and Warden but read that Warden would be less user friendly, If I decided to start out with a Warden how difficult would it be for someone new to the game to get a grasp of? I've mained a variety of healers in WoW so healing in general isn't new to me but since ESO's healing looks entirely different I'm not sure how relevant that is but wanted to put it here just incase.

How friendly is the community? I know there's no solid answer to this question and that It'll most likely vary but as someone with quite a bit of social anxiety I'd like to get some input if at all possible.
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I'm sure questions like this get asked to death but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for at least in terms of the first question so I wanted to post here for some input, any other tips for a beginner are also very welcome, thanks for any replies!

Jim_Pipp · June 2021

Welcome.

Everyone was new once. For some reason the subreddit gets several "I'm new give me tips" threads every day - that they all get answered gives a sense of how welcoming the ESO community is - and you might find some interesting stuff like the pinned "new player tips" www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline

Everyone will have their own opinions on classes, and opinions change over time, as individuals gain experience, and developers tweak mechanics. The character you start with will function very differently after a few months! Choose what speaks to you.

Warden is super versatile, and can be built to excel in any kind of Pve or Pvp, this broad toolkit makes them very forgiving if you are new; as a healer you are a bit tanky, as a tank you have some group support, etc. If you are new a magicka Templar is easy mode, they heal while doing damage, and their class healing spells mostly have a similar duration to the restoration staff spells, so you can follow an easy rotation for great results. When you are experienced with your build there isn't a difference in difficulty.

Lots of people play ESO, so find a guild of the kind of people you like. If you ask for help in zone chat someone will probably help, but sometimes it will get toxic. I've played since 2014 and i've only had a few unpleasant encounters in game, usually people who feel insecure about their ability and blame their failure on others. Nothing funnier than getting a hate whisper from someone you just killed in Pvp!

Beginner Tips? Take your time, it's a marathon not a sprint. Visit a stable for mount training whenever you play, try and do research at crafting stations even if you don't want to be a crafter yet. Go to Cyrodil at level 10 to get the assault skill to level 3 for a passive increase to mount speed.

JKorr · June 2021

Find a good guild that doesn't mind questions. There are usually helpful crafters, too. Personal opinion, do the original main quest first. It cuts down on the confusion of meeting npcs in the wrong order, and gives a better idea of what is going on in the world. The community on the whole is pretty nice. Some trolls and pitas, of course, but there are always some.

oterWitz · June 2021

If you want, you can make both a templar and a warden character to try them out and see if one "clicks" with you over another, and otherwise the above post gives a good overview of how the two classes compare.

I would second third the recommendation to join a guild, there are plenty that advertise as being new player friendly. And the community as a whole very good, though of course there will always be some who are toxic and others who are salty over nerfs or PvP or the dungeon finder or what have you.

I'll add for the tip about crafting that you can and should take up every crafting profession unless you REALLY hate it, as it's a good source of easy gold and exp.

You've probably already seen the pinned posts at the top, but I'd recommend looking at the guide to play in order if you're interested in questing or lore at all, as well as others aimed at new players

lolo_01b16_ESO · June 2021

In terms of pure healing output all classes are viable. A lot of your healing will come from restoration staff skills which every class can use. Later in raids, the classes of the healers are usually chosen based on which buffs are needed, as every class offers some unique buff for the group. E.g. max HP from Wardens or spelldamage from Templars.

As for the difficulty when you start playing, I'd say the main difference is that for Templars good positioning is less important. The Templar burst heals are pretty straigt forward. One heals the most injured person in front of you and the other one heals everyone in a certain radius around you. Additionally your class hot has a quite large radius.
Warden burst heals are a bit more complicated. You have a cone shaped one, one that needs to be targeted and moves you next to the person you heal and your aoe class hot can be reactivated to burst heal everyone inside.

Nestor · June 2021

Unless your ultimate goal is Vet Trials in a Progression Guild, don't sweat the builds that much.

Lots of ways to be successful in overland in the game.

PvP is limited to one zone and battlegrounds that you have to opt into. So, no one is running around Flexing in most of the game. So, this means people are generally nicer.

Fennwitty · June 2021

PCNA, my experience is the overwhelming majority of players are friendly and helpful if they know you're new.

There's tons of finer points in this game that aren't obvious at all, and we all work together to constantly share knowledge.

Many guilds welcome new players, and you can be in up to 5 player guilds at the same time in this game.

I'd agree Templar is probably 'easier' in general than Warden. Templar skills are pretty straightforward, they do exactly what they say, and you're given several skills with similar effects to choose from.

Warden healers are very powerful, but some skills I find to be awkward. Some Warden skills have time-delayed starts, or apparent travel time you need to get used to. They benefit from keeping self-buffs on which can have different timers.

Templar skills are almost all immediate, and there's not much to juggle.

But try them both, and just play. Any class can be a healer, DPS or tank in this game. And it's easy to change your focus and respec at any time.

fred4 · June 2021

deviousthevile · June 2021

I welcome any new players as friends and answer questions and help with how things work. If you are PC/NA, my account name is @DeviousTheVile so feel free to send me an in game mail or friend request and I will do everything I can to give you a strong start into ESO. I have been playing since beta and never left so I like to refer to myself as a 'wealth of useless ESO knowledge', which I am willing and more than happy to use what I know to help. I hope to hear from you!

Sularis110 · June 2021

Thank you to everyone who replied! I wont rush into anything but I like getting a good idea of things before I start especially since some of what I read looked a bit overwhelming, appreciate it.

JKorr · June 2021

The whole thing can be summed up easily; are you having fun with whatever species/class/gear setup you have? If the answer Is "yes", you're doing great. Contrary to what some people seem to believe, no one is born knowing everything about the game. Trying things out and asking questions about things that aren't clear are wonderful ideas. Do not believe for one single microsecond that, whatever accidental face-palm thing you've just done, is the first time whatever it was happened. People may not want to admit they just rode their mount off a cliff and died, or jumped from a bank to a log that was actually a crocodile and died, or found out that "slaughterfish live in deep water, and you taste really really good" is a thing. There are also dangerous plants, pissed off undead, mammoths that don't like being poked with a sword, and giants that don't appreciate you killing their mammoth for a single hide scrap. In other words, play, have fun, and laugh at just about everything.

Fikkan · June 2021

I'm also new so keep that in mind with my two cents...

I don't know if it was covered in the beginner vids/guides, or what the general consensus is among veteran players but...

You might want to pick up 2 crafts. Alchemy and provisions. It's cheaper to feed yourself and there are passives that extend the time of effect for food, drink, and potions.

Fikkan · June 2021

Another suggestion from a newb...

Don't use your most resource-limited and high-powered food and drink to test to see if they stack or not.

Sirvaleen · June 2021

Others might have said it before but really : take your time and enjoy exploring and discovering to form your own judgment of the game and what you actually enjoy doing in it. ESO is big, really big, and life is short.. but rushing the journey will spoil it unless you're after endgame asap

This can help :

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/538006/short-zone-guide-for-new-players-2020

OxfordCalculator · June 2021

Just a random tip, but when you get a recipe, pattern, diagram, etc that you can't make, you can still use it and learn it. If you later put the proper points in the skill, you'll be able to use the item.

ESO has a set tracker, called a sticker book by many players. When you get an item of a set, you can bind it to yourself. That unlocks the item in the sticker book. Later on you might deconstruct the item (bad set) or use it for trait research (highly useful, but destroys the item). You can then go to a transmute station (most larger guilds have them in the guild hall) and spend transmute crystals to rebuild that item. You can also give the new item any trait you want. You still have to improve the item to whatever level you deem necessary. You get transmute crystals by running dungeons.

The upshot is to try to collect items into your sticker book. Some players have many items unlocked and most traits researched, and they may just give extras to you (especially if you're low level) after a dungeon run. Its a bit of a faux pas to ask for free stuff, but if you just hang out a bit after the dungeon, they'll have time to sort through their new items, see that your level 26 or whatever and then they offer to trade.

I suppose that answers your question about if ESO has a welcoming player base.

Freeflyer212 · July 2021

Well the community is alright. I haven't played in a year but from what I recall as long as don't try going for some of the hardest of end content gears if your skills are average you should be ok. It can be fun but for some people they take it very personally and get upset over it.

Just take your time and enjoy it. I made the mistake of only playing ESO because I wanted the best gear possible. As a result I missed out on enjoying the game myself. It stops being fun when you have players wanting you break your fingers to do a couple points more of damage to a boss.

In my final days I gave up on it and just started helping newer players with my weak skills and generally I found the game to be more fun when you meet people who aren't playing to be the best of the best and just playing for fun.

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