Feedback from a new player (1+ month)

DarTheed · September 2018

Hi guys, just wanted to log down some of the criticisms and feedback I had for the game.

Positives
- Questing is fun and each storyline feels unique and fun to play through.
- Combat system is fun and engaging, with each ability having unique animations and spell effects.
- Log-in/Level-Up Rewards are nice.
- PVP Battlegrounds are balanced and Cyrodiil is exciting to play and learn about.
- World that scales to your level.
- Champion Points are shared across characters.

Major Negatives
- Steepish learning curve and Tutorials aren't that helpful

The average player will likely vendor most unnecessary gear and not research any traits
The average player will likely not know that placing abilities on bars will level them as you gain XP, even if it's an ability from a different weapon

- Leveling Mount Speed takes 60 days, for a total of 180 days to become maxed for all three branches on a single character

This really sucks for alts, might be nicer if it was account-wide.

- Leveling from 50, then to 160 CP, then to 560 is a long, boring and arduous task.

1-50 is probably 40+ hours for a new player, and then 10-160 CP is another 40+(? assuming enlightenment is active) then from 160 to 560 (idk the length of this)
For a new player this is a massive turnoff especially since Enlightenment isn't always active (you only get like 4 levels worth per day).
On top of this, players will have to grind Skyshards/Cadwell's Quests to get all skill points, which will take even more time.

- Questing, the most interesting way to level is by far the slowest.

Quests are ESO's strongest point, but in terms of XP/hour are eclipsed by Dolmens/Grinding/Dungeons, all three of which are mind-numbing grinds

- Having to buy any faction, any race.

Feels like this should be baseline.

- Researching traits isn't a great system.

There's no real way to track Trait Research progress, or whether you've researched a trait or not without an Add-on.
Having to research traits PER armor/weapon type. (Light, Med, Heavy, Daggers, Swords, Axes, etc.)
Researching traits takes too long. Up to 2+ days.

- No balancing in Cyrodiil

This means a new player will have to grind for 100-200+ hours in PVE just be competitive in the CP Campaign
A lot of players might recommend the Non-CP, but they are fairly dead most of the time and not as exciting as the CP Campaign

Minor Negatives
- No way to directly buy Crowns with Gold
- Always having to spam Left-Click to Auto Attack
- Feels like a single player game early on and for a long time without a Guild and Zone Chats are usually dead
- Level-Specific Crafting Materials/Food

In a world where everything scales, it doesn't feel like crafting materials for small level gaps are really appropriate, other than to eat up inventory/bank space.

- Inventory UI isn't great and some items are filtered into strange categories

e.g. Repair Kits and Siege Weapons are in different categores despite being similar

- Not being able to use doors/level transitions when other party members are in combat.
- Feels more like DDO than Skyrim/Oblivion

I realize this is a pretty long list of negatives, but despite all this I still plan to play the game for a while because I'm having fun in Cyrodiil despite not being high CP/geared. As a new player, I just have a lot of minor gripes with certain systems in this game. But for its price point it's fairly enjoyable if you are willing to take some time to learn the ropes.

DMuehlhausen · September 2018

You need to start your platform. The reason being just skimming your post you say you can't track researching. There is an add on on the PC that does specifically that.

Some of the other things I saw are there as gold sinks, like the mount system. The mount system is fixed as well. In a different post earlier. Somebody reminded a person that at launch. You trained each horse individually and it wasn't across characters either. Also mobs use to only drop like 1-3g max. Making it things like the mount training a massive gold sink you would have skip some days just to be able to repair your gear.

Androconium · September 2018

DarTheed wrote: »

Hi guys, just wanted to log down some of the criticisms and feedback I had for the game.

Positives
- Questing is fun and each storyline feels unique and fun to play through.
- Combat system is fun and engaging, with each ability having unique animations and spell effects.
- Log-in/Level-Up Rewards are nice.
- PVP Battlegrounds are balanced and Cyrodiil is exciting to play and learn about.
- World that scales to your level.
- Champion Points are shared across characters.

Major Negatives
- Steepish learning curve and Tutorials aren't that helpful
The average player will likely vendor most unnecessary gear and not research any traits

The average player will likely not know that placing abilities on bars will level them as you gain XP, even if it's an ability from a different weapon

- Leveling Mount Speed takes 60 days, for a total of 180 days to become maxed for all three branches on a single character
This really sucks for alts, might be nicer if it was account-wide.

- Leveling from 50, then to 160 CP, then to 560 is a long, boring and arduous task.
1-50 is probably 40+ hours for a new player, and then 10-160 CP is another 40+(? assuming enlightenment is active) then from 160 to 560 (idk the length of this)

For a new player this is a massive turnoff especially since Enlightenment isn't always active (you only get like 4 levels worth per day).

On top of this, players will have to grind Skyshards/Cadwell's Quests to get all skill points, which will take even more time.

- Questing, the most interesting way to level is by far the slowest.
Quests are ESO's strongest point, but in terms of XP/hour are eclipsed by Dolmens/Grinding/Dungeons, all three of which are mind-numbing grinds

- Having to buy any faction, any race.
Feels like this should be baseline.

- Researching traits isn't a great system.
There's no real way to track Trait Research progress, or whether you've researched a trait or not without an Add-on.

Having to research traits PER armor/weapon type. (Light, Med, Heavy, Daggers, Swords, Axes, etc.)

Researching traits takes too long. Up to 2+ days.

- No balancing in Cyrodiil
This means a new player will have to grind for 100-200+ hours in PVE just be competitive in the CP Campaign

A lot of players might recommend the Non-CP, but they are fairly dead most of the time and not as exciting as the CP Campaign

Minor Negatives
- No way to directly buy Crowns with Gold
- Always having to spam Left-Click to Auto Attack
- Feels like a single player game early on and for a long time without a Guild and Zone Chats are usually dead
- Level-Specific Crafting Materials/Food
In a world where everything scales, it doesn't feel like crafting materials for small level gaps are really appropriate, other than to eat up inventory/bank space.

- Inventory UI isn't great and some items are filtered into strange categories
e.g. Repair Kits and Siege Weapons are in different categores despite being similar

- Not being able to use doors/level transitions when other party members are in combat.
- Feels more like DDO than Skyrim/Oblivion

I realize this is a pretty long list of negatives, but despite all this I still plan to play the game for a while because I'm having fun in Cyrodiil despite not being high CP/geared. As a new player, I just have a lot of minor gripes with certain systems in this game. But for its price point it's fairly enjoyable if you are willing to take some time to learn the ropes.

There are many, many ropes.

Jayman1000 · September 2018

Some really good points, and I agree with many of them. It's such a shame that questing, which involves being part of interesting storylines, is the least rewarding, both in terms of xp, items and gold. Exception is major quests that award some skillpoints; but that is really an exception. The vast majority of quests are unrewarding in every way, except the story telling it self. The most boring and repetitive gameplay, like dolmens and grinding clusters of mobs in certain areas are unfortunately the most rewarding in terms of xp and gold, but really is the least interesting in terms of gameplay experience. I wonder if this was really the design the developers envisioned? In this area I think a game like FFXIV does MUCH better job with their quests that is an extremely good way to level up while at the same time the quests and the text dialogue it self are extremely entertaining, witty and clever. I guess some would argue that being able to do boring grinds to rush to max level so they can do vet trials and top lvl pvp is the strenght of ESO. But I think that could very much be achieved in many other ways without trivializing quests so much.

And yes playing the game without addons... man, I dont understand how console people can enjoy the game. Without addons I would be long gone from the mess that the vanilla game state is in, really.

Massacre_Wurm · September 2018

I am new player too. Around 5 weeks.

Questing was fun at the beggining but quickly become boring and repetitive. Another ruin...another bandits/cultists..another ward on the door...another 2-3-4 runes , welkynd stones to destroy/collect...another ritual to interrupt...

Alliance questline and main questline are good thought.

And i didnt check any DLC yet. Maybe some better stuff there )

SirAndy · September 2018

DarTheed wrote: »

- World that scales to your level

Actually, it's the other way round. *You* are scaled to CP160 which is the level of the world.

The difference is important ...

Rudal · September 2018

Like DMuehlhausen said, what platform are you playing on?
A lot of UI and crafting issues you have are simply solved with Add-on's

Any race and any alliance used to be a part of "Collector's Edition" when the game launched, that's why you have to buy it, otherwise a lot of people would be really pissed off ...

And most of gameplay related issues are tied to crown store... If you don't like the grind, buy crowns for $$ that's why you can't buy them with in game currency....

Tandor · September 2018

It's always difficult to rationalise complaints that one minute refer to things taking a long time as MMOs are intended to do, and the next minute refer to the game playing like a single player game (which is usually done and dusted in a couple of weeks subject to replayability).

Don't assume that the discussion about addons comes down to a simple comparison between PC and console players - there are plenty of PC players who don't use addons, especially the ones that are designed purely to hold your hand and speed things up like locating lorebooks and skyshards etc.

So far as account-wide achievements are concerned, some may say that they would enhance the playing of alts, while those who play multiple characters as equal individual characters would say that account-wide achievements would detract substantially from playing multiple characters.

A lot of players want to play the game fully with all their characters, not everyone wants to play the game once and then stand at a dolmen with their alts for 50 levels and complain that everything else they're due at that level should be given to them because they've already done them once.

A "new player" isn't concerned with champion points, but again if you are of the view that all progression is a grind then you miss the whole point of MMORPGs. There are other types of game that allow a new player to jump right into the endgame, especially for PvP, but MMORPGs in general and ESO in particular are not among them. Once you accept that MMORPGs are intended to be played for years, not weeks or even months, then the pace of progression becomes more understandable - not least in an established game that others who are at the endgame have been playing for more than four years. You can't catch them up in a month or two without substantially diminishing all that they have done over four years.

I've no idea what you mean about "having to buy any faction, any race".

I think your observation about the steep learning curve is a valid one, but I don't personally see that as an issue. It's a game that's easy to get into but difficult to master and that's fine by me. I don't want all my games to be easy to master with everything handed to me on a plate within a few days. I've never been part of the "I want it all, and I want it NOW!" brigade, not that I'm suggesting that you are necessarily.

The tutorial has been greatly improved since launch but could doubtless be further improved. I don't, however, expect the players of any game to master stuff like crafting research in the first few levels, and as I suggested above I think we're playing somewhat with the definition of a "new player" when we talk about endgame stuff like champion points, skill bar placings, and crafting traits. Generally speaking, a tutorial has to be kept basic, simple, and brief otherwise players will get bogged down in the minutiae before they're ready for it and be fazed by the complexity of it all. Learn as you go, ask on the forums and in zone chat, and join a friendly guild. Those are the best tips for those struggling with a game.

Lastly, it sounds like you're approaching the game primarily as a PvP player who gets frustrated by the way the PvE design holds you back from fully getting into the PvP. Do bear in mind that ESO is first and foremost a PvE title, based on a successful series of single-player RPG - i.e. PvE - games, with PvP included but not as the main thrust of the game. Players are welcome to make it so, but will always be frustrated in any PvE-centred MMORPG compared with FPS and other PvP-centric games including those MMOs that are pure PvP titles, which ESO is not and never will be.

I'm glad you're sticking with the game, it's something of a masterpiece but a lot depends on what you're looking for in a game and how you approach this one. Thanks for your feedback.

Grayfax · September 2018

I too am new. (Late July).
I have extensive experience in other MMOs and have played Elder Scrolls since Morrowind (though I actually played Daggerfall a few times at a friend's house... when you swung a sword with your mouse... be glad we don't have to do THAT anymore). Because I experienced games, like Everquest, as they were in their hayday, I know how it feels to slowly level up without any available information around. If you were lucky, you found some friends that knew more than you did.
ESO is not like that. Not only does the ESO website promote guides, but if you look up any particular type of build you can find information usually from multiple viewpoints and easily gain an understanding of the mechanics and where you are aiming for with your own character. Not to mention the expansive deep lore that surrounds this game.

Mounts are nice. You can't level your character in 180 days. Why would you expect that your mount should be finished in 18 days?

Leveling in this game is not difficult or boring. Perhaps if you have no perspective, it can be boring. Boring was hand crafting arrows one single arrow at a time by combining point, shaft, fletching and nock in a kit to make an arrow. Yep. Five clicks (with drags) and one arrow. When you fall asleep... and you will fall asleep... your production rate goes down. You certainly don't want to craft enough for anyone else... you're just doing your best to make enough for your own use. And we never made it to max level in a week. You had to sit down to heal and regain mana. You want to do that in Hel Ra?!?

Questing. Questing is one of the best things about this game. You learn about the world around you. You experience the world through the viewpoints of the characters. I admit, I didn't know much about the Redguard (even though I've played other Elder Scrolls games) and I learned to not only like them, but deeply respect some of the lore from my time in Alik'r Desert. Awesome! I guess a person's goal in the game would affect how much they enjoy this. I'm not trying to maximize my QPH or KPH, so if it takes longer for me to work my way through a story and when I get done I enjoyed it... I honestly don't care if the experience gain was lower or higher. To be fair... I extract gems from all my crown store scrolls anyway... I'm just not in a hurry to reach any perceived maximum goals as they will change from time to time anyway. I'm here for the journey, not the final score.

As I perceive Cyrodiil to be end game type content, I have no critique to offer. It is on the someday plan... but that day is not today...

I'm not going to try and go toe to toe on the minor issues, but I don't feel that crowns and gold should ever mix. Not that I have a dog in that fight either. It works out alright for EVE Online, but have separate economies is good for the game and I appreciate that.

Many things are just different than other games. I have no problem with that either. Guild Traders feel more like Silk Road (OMG... that was a long time ago) in several aspects. That doesn't mean I won't use them, it just means that I need to learn more about them before using them.

You can contrast this with my wife. She has the same amount of days in game that I do (though our playtime is vastly different). She couldn't care less that she got a gold motif drop and sold it to a merchant for 20 gold. I'm horrified by that thought and try not to watch what she does or micromanage her transactions... or even help her with fights. She enjoys it for different reasons than I do and she is never going to look up a tutorial or understand a damage parse or even what guild traders are there for (mostly she views them as overpriced merchants that she can't buy anything from... and she's pretty much correct). She will someday have a stack of 10K platinum in her craft bag and no one will ever know. She's happy and loving the game. She vents her frustration on things with her two-handed sword and her Biting Jabs (yeah... I know... don't start... she likes it! And heavy armor too!). She'll be richer than me for a long time because I craft and she doesn't... she also only plays one character and I've bought two extra slots currently.

At the end of the day, we both love the game. We play it in vastly different ways. The day to day stress of the internal mechanics of this game are going to shift from time to time. I plan to adapt. There may come a day where I fall on my sword on a small tiny hill in a corner of the map, but I seriously doubt it. Until then... enjoy the journey and come say hi if you're on Xbox NA.

NoTimeToWait · September 2018

Actually, all you major negatives seem to be major only because you are one month into the game.
If you just start leveling all this stuff in background without putting your mind into it, you will find yourself at least a full 6trait crafter, with decently leveled mounts and around 500CP in 4-6 months. Just don't let it bother you, and play the game. It has enough content to keep you engaged for at least half a year.

Also, mount stats seem daunting, but from experience I can say, that 30 stamina, 40 speed and 30 bag feels more than enough. After that further increments are not so crucial

webrgesner · September 2018

it probably take like 20 hours to get from cp1-160

El_Borracho · September 2018

You're right about the learning curve. Took a couple of months to get competent for me, then many, many more to get good.

Your gripes about the storage are well founded. If you plan on playing this game for a long period of time, I would recommend ESO Plus. The craft bag and extra storage make the game much, much more enjoyable. Hated having to go to town and decon everything between every delve, quest, etc.

weedgenius · September 2018

NoTimeToWait wrote: »

Actually, all you major negatives seem to be major only because you are one month into the game.
If you just start leveling all this stuff in background without putting your mind into it, you will find yourself at least a full 6trait crafter, with decently leveled mounts and around 500CP in 4-6 months. Just don't let it bother you, and play the game. It has enough content to keep you engaged for at least half a year.

Also, mount stats seem daunting, but from experience I can say, that 30 stamina, 40 speed and 30 bag feels more than enough. After that further increments are not so crucial

I started the game at the end of February, so I'm at about seven months. I play A LOT because I have a lot of downtime right now. I'm at CP 590, my horse is about a week away from being fully upgraded, and I'm mostly at 8 traits researched in everything blacksmithing/clothing. Woodworking is done. So, your estimates are pretty good but take a bit longer (at least in my case).

I'm really lucky because I got into this game thanks to a friend who had played since release on Xbox. He told me a lot of stuff like the importance of researching traits and mount training, how to level my skills, etc. I don't know if I would have known about that without his guidance.

LuxLunae · September 2018

DarTheed wrote: »

Hi guys, just wanted to log down some of the criticisms and feedback I had for the game.

Positives
- Questing is fun and each storyline feels unique and fun to play through.
- Combat system is fun and engaging, with each ability having unique animations and spell effects.
- Log-in/Level-Up Rewards are nice.
- PVP Battlegrounds are balanced and Cyrodiil is exciting to play and learn about.
- World that scales to your level.
- Champion Points are shared across characters.

Major Negatives
- Steepish learning curve and Tutorials aren't that helpful
The average player will likely vendor most unnecessary gear and not research any traits

The average player will likely not know that placing abilities on bars will level them as you gain XP, even if it's an ability from a different weapon

- Leveling Mount Speed takes 60 days, for a total of 180 days to become maxed for all three branches on a single character
This really sucks for alts, might be nicer if it was account-wide.

- Leveling from 50, then to 160 CP, then to 560 is a long, boring and arduous task.
1-50 is probably 40+ hours for a new player, and then 10-160 CP is another 40+(? assuming enlightenment is active) then from 160 to 560 (idk the length of this)

For a new player this is a massive turnoff especially since Enlightenment isn't always active (you only get like 4 levels worth per day).

On top of this, players will have to grind Skyshards/Cadwell's Quests to get all skill points, which will take even more time.

- Questing, the most interesting way to level is by far the slowest.
Quests are ESO's strongest point, but in terms of XP/hour are eclipsed by Dolmens/Grinding/Dungeons, all three of which are mind-numbing grinds

- Having to buy any faction, any race.
Feels like this should be baseline.

- Researching traits isn't a great system.
There's no real way to track Trait Research progress, or whether you've researched a trait or not without an Add-on.

Having to research traits PER armor/weapon type. (Light, Med, Heavy, Daggers, Swords, Axes, etc.)

Researching traits takes too long. Up to 2+ days.

- No balancing in Cyrodiil
This means a new player will have to grind for 100-200+ hours in PVE just be competitive in the CP Campaign

A lot of players might recommend the Non-CP, but they are fairly dead most of the time and not as exciting as the CP Campaign

Minor Negatives
- No way to directly buy Crowns with Gold
- Always having to spam Left-Click to Auto Attack
- Feels like a single player game early on and for a long time without a Guild and Zone Chats are usually dead
- Level-Specific Crafting Materials/Food
In a world where everything scales, it doesn't feel like crafting materials for small level gaps are really appropriate, other than to eat up inventory/bank space.

- Inventory UI isn't great and some items are filtered into strange categories
e.g. Repair Kits and Siege Weapons are in different categores despite being similar

- Not being able to use doors/level transitions when other party members are in combat.
- Feels more like DDO than Skyrim/Oblivion

I realize this is a pretty long list of negatives, but despite all this I still plan to play the game for a while because I'm having fun in Cyrodiil despite not being high CP/geared. As a new player, I just have a lot of minor gripes with certain systems in this game. But for its price point it's fairly enjoyable if you are willing to take some time to learn the ropes.

Look I agree with the horse thing 100%...I only have one character with maxed out horse.. the rest barely anything... soooooo bad... I just straight up forget about it..

Now if there was an app that would let me do such things like manage and do my crafting, horse lvling, etc. without logging into the main game...i would have no complaints.

SHADOW2KK · September 2018

You would have loved the game from launch in 2014 OP

Saieden · March 2022

DarTheed wrote: »

Hi guys, just wanted to log down some of the criticisms and feedback I had for the game.

Positives
- Questing is fun and each storyline feels unique and fun to play through.

My main issue with the questing ultimately is the delivery, even when the plots and characters themselves are good. All forms of delivery fall into one of 3 categories, which gets tiresome after a while. Those are:

- Static face-to-face conversation screen
- "Background" animations and dialogue while you (almost always) have full control of your character.
- A book you will probably miss.

Eventually this gets repetitive and becomes harder and harder to feel engaged in the story, especially when you've been casually hailed as the savior of the person/people/country/tamriel/Nirn with the same pose for 27th time.

- Combat system is fun and engaging, with each ability having unique animations and spell effects.

True. It feels really good when it works, especially in harder content, however it is very sensitive to any performance dips even at the best of times. We are not in one of those times.

- Log-in/Level-Up Rewards are nice.

Only the first time. Once you start interacting with the real economy of the game, it's pretty much all trash (except tanks I suppose that can really use the tri pots and chickens)

- PVP Battlegrounds are balanced and Cyrodiil is exciting to play and learn about.

BGs are not balanced. There is nothing stopping someone from farming skill points in ways which don't grant much XP and golding out their L20 crafted gear

- World that scales to your level.

As mentioned, it's the other way round, not that it really matters. Once you hit CP160 and have 2 appropriate 5p sets, you will roflstomp/yawntank through every normal mob and quest boss. Some world bosses will pose a threat, a few kinda need groups. This will continue into most normal dungeons, and begin to slow down base veteran dungeons. And then vet dlc dungeon bosses will roflstomp you.

- Champion Points are shared across characters.

At max, this is about 10% of your characters total power/effectiveness, and that is before taking per-fight gear and skill options into account. In the end, you are basically still grinding 200+ skill points and grinding all the combat skill lines (mostly really boring) for each character/class/role you want play to their full potential.

ZOS_Volpe · March 2022

Hi there,

We have gone ahead and closed this thread down since it is rather old. Please keep in mind that sometimes it is better to create a new topic, instead of replying in one that was posted a while ago.

Thank you for your understanding.