Should I start Over?

Draleon19 · January 2023

Hello everyone!

I have a question for those experienced players that have been in a similar situation.

I have been playing ESO for a few weeks now and I have over 72 hours playing, most of my progress has been with 1 character, but since I am new to the game, I did a lot of things wrong. For example, I completed zone quests before the main storyline and mixed the main storyline with the fighter's guild story.

The thing is that I have done so many things at the same time that I don't remember almost anything and everything seems very confusing. So, my question is, should I start over just to experience things a little bit slower?

Thanks.

Zenlun · January 2023

What about making an alt character so you can re-experience everything you have already done? That way you don't lose all your existing progress!

rootkitronin · January 2023

Zenlun wrote: »

What about making an alt character so you can re-experience everything you have already done? That way you don't lose all your existing progress!

This is exactly what I'd suggest as well - you may want to come back to the previous character at a later time.

My first eso character was a mess, only got them to level 40ish before I ended up making a new character - which was a fantastic experience for me and a lot of more structured.

But even so, I ended up coming back to my first character years later and making something out of them, they have since become one of my favorite toons.

Treeshka · January 2023

In this game quests can be overwhelming as there is tons of them now. You can not imagine how many of those quest markers you will see in the first starter cities of each Alliance.

I would basically suggest clearing your quest log and pick one quest at a time to avoid overwhelming.

Sarannah · January 2023

Yes, don't worry about going slow! Make a new character(don't delete the old one) and make sure you get the stories done in the correct order. You can always revisit your first character, and finish the storylines he was working on.

When first starting out, take it slow, read and listen to everything. It does not matter what people around you do, or how many players pass you by. At the end of the day, all that matters is if you got the story done the right way. And knew what was going on.

When I first started I was so overwhelmed as well, that I too messed up a lot of things. I did quit for a while(due to ESO going B2P), and when I returned I completely started over with a new character as well. Did things the right way, and have been having a lot of fun doing so. At the moment I am still working on older characters, to work on things I missed, or was unable to do.

So yes, starting over can be good! Your first character will still be there for you, for when you want to continue their journey.

PS: You will not miss out on anything if you start over and take it slower, you will eventually have plenty of everything. CP, skillpoints, gear, etc.
PPS: A general rule in games is: You will always mess up your first character in any game, as you will have to learn how the game works first.

lillybit · January 2023

Draleon19 wrote: »

Hello everyone!

I have a question for those experienced players that have been in a similar situation.

I have been playing ESO for a few weeks now and I have over 72 hours playing, most of my progress has been with 1 character, but since I am new to the game, I did a lot of things wrong. For example, I completed zone quests before the main storyline and mixed the main storyline with the fighter's guild story.

The thing is that I have done so many things at the same time that I don't remember almost anything and everything seems very confusing. So, my question is, should I start over just to experience things a little bit slower?

Thanks.

I wouldn't say any of your examples could be called wrong. Most of the side quests are stand alone (and some are really lovely!) so don't really have a best time to do them. And for the most part, the main quests can't be done in the wrong order; completing one unlocks the next.

That said, if you're finding yourself getting muddled, it can absolutely help starting again with an alt and a plan.

When I started played, I'd do a zone at a time, mixing zone, main and guild quests as I came across them. Tho this was way back when you didn't have as much choice - all the zones were leveled originally, so moving to the next one too soon destroyed you!

And I played 3 alts originally - one who always made the good choices, one bad and one I went with my own inclinations with (mostly good, occasionally vengeful!) because I didn't want to miss anything!

Whether you stay random or get more organised, the zone guide really helps to keep track, and sometimes the achievements will give you a clue too, tho they're not as helpful if you have more than one character now they're account wide. If you're not in any guilds I'd really recommend trying a few - when you find the right ones they're amazing and you'll meet so many lovely people who will help you out loads.

Mostly just try to have fun tho, there really is no wrong way

Tornaad · January 2023

My first character was so bad, and I had so little skill that when I got to one of the bosses you run into doing the zone quest in Coldharbour, I literally could not defeat them. I had to beg in zone chat to get some help killing the boss. I could now likely kill that same boss with a heavy attack or two.

Don't sweat it if you messed up. You can respect your character, or restart. Either way. I just deleted that character and created a new one. Knowing what I know now, I would have just reset the skills and abilities and try again.

Lumenn · January 2023

I wouldn't worry about it. I had actually been playing years before I started "cleaning" up my maps to completion. I even had characters that would skip whole quest lines due to roleplay. example, my templars wouldn't do the thieves/brotherhood quests. (Of course that doesn't matter NOW)

And having multiple characters used to be quite normal with having a Magicka/stamina version of each. I'd still say the more the merrier should you start doing crafting writs.

SeaGtGruff · January 2023

I also made a mess of my first character. As others have suggested, I just abandoned him and created a new character-- who is now my main character-- and chose to keep my first character rather than deleting him.

Since then I've created several additional alts, and I still log in on my first character and other alts every day or two so I can collect the mails they receive from crafting assistants, move items out of my bank account into my alts' inventories, etc.

TaSheen · January 2023

I don't know that there's anyone whose first character (or several!) isn't a mess. My first one was a Dunmer stamblade, intended to be a stealth archer as I always play in Skyrim.

Bad idea. Couldn't keep her alive (of course, later I discovered that was as much my mega ping as anything else - other than the fact that at that point I had zero clue about a totally unfamiliar combat setup). I thought it would be better when I got to bar swap level - nope, ping isn't kind to that either.

So at that point I paid for Morrowind, and made a Warden. Was definitely better, but certainly not like pet classes in WoW and RIFT. I did finally get that nightblade to 50, she's now dual wield instead of bow, and I might change her into 2 hand which skills seem to work better with my situation.

Now I have some (okay, many) of everything but necro, and almost 6 years on, I do have some grasp of combat, but the ping is still an issue. Can't fix that! Well, not without moving out of my lovely back of beyond a hundred miles from nowhere. Not happ'nin.

Mik195 · January 2023

I almost quit because I couldn't play my first character and thought the game was going to be too hard for me (and honestly many parts of it will always be beyond my abilites). I created a Warden and the bear helped me learn how to play. My 2nd character also did the quests in a somewhat normal order.

Thormar · January 2023

Draleon19 wrote: »

The thing is that I have done so many things at the same time that I don't remember almost anything and everything seems very confusing. So, my question is, should I start over just to experience things a little bit slower?

About things being very confusing, there's a place players head to when they need ESO related stuff cleared up, google UESP. Might help sort some stuff out for you.

Also, some kind soul over on reddit took the trouble to chart major ESO quest paths. Have a look at the image below. I'll admit, for a new player it's kinda daunting, so one step at a time might be the best approach.

Finally, there's players who've started over 1000+ hrs into the game. So with only 72 hrs you can restart at any time, and imo the best way to do it, as others have pointed out, is to spin up an alt.

eso-content-timeline-reposted-for-those-who-have-recently-v0-8asmcuqr4o8a1.png

DMuehlhausen · January 2023

There isn't really a reason to. The biggest issue you'll run into is weird story screw ups. Like if you do Summerset before Morrowind the Dark Elf Earl story breaks down. Depending on who choose for the end of the main story Skyrim and Elswyr is just poor writing.

Anything else there is no issue doing things in any order you want really.

Fenris_Arainai · January 2023

I agree with the others. Make a new character, designate it as a "story character" and take it as slowly or as fast as you feel like, playing through the stories in the chronological order.

The current character can be used for anything else you do in the game, or temporarily/permanently retired. But don't delete unless you really run out of character slots and want to make a new toon. At worst, it could be your inventory mule for the time being.

JKorr · January 2023

Elderscrolls players tend to suffer from "altaholism"....we make a lot of characters... Starting over isn't a huge issue, but I wouldn't do it simply because your first one is having a few issues. There are respec scrolls to help fix "oops" with skill and attribute choices. Finding a good guild or asking friends for help and ideas to improve won't hurt either. The multiple starting points to the stories may be a gift from the Eight for long time players, but it really does nothing for new players except cause massive confusion. There are guides for how to do the things in order so the stories will make as much sense as possible. The most important thing is though, have fun while you play. Ask for help if you need it. There are some less than helpful players out there, but there are just as many if not more helpful players who actually like helping new players enjoy the game.

Danikat · January 2023

If I was in your situation I would delete the character (putting any items I want to keep in the bank first) and start over. But that's not the only option or the right one for everyone.

Technically there's nothing wrong with what you've done, you won't miss anything or get locked out of quests or areas because of the order you played them, the only problem is your understanding of how the events all fit together. You could fix that by making a new character to play in a different order, or even looking up a summary of the base game's plot. If you want to keep playing your existing character they will be able to catch up on all the stuff they've missed so far.

But I know it'd bother me that the character's experience was "wrong". I do things like that a lot in games. I once deleted an ESO character who was about level 30-40 because at the time each time a new chapter was released the tutorial changed and I didn't like the one she'd had to do and wanted her to do the new one because it was a better fit. That wasn't recorded anywhere in the game, it didn't affect anything, but I knew it had happened and it bothered me so I started over.

Just make sure you save any items you want to keep by putting them in the bank first, and deposit their gold as well. If you delete the character anything they had equipped or in their inventory is gone and there's no way to fix that.

SaffronCitrusflower · January 2023

No need to start over. Just go back to your starter zone and focus on doing quests in that zone first. You don't have to do quests in order in ESO. I'd stick to leveling a main toon for now.

stewhead2ub17_ESO · January 2023

I'm an altoholic so I start over all the time!

SeaGtGruff · January 2023

I haven't read all of the answers in detail, so forgive me if I'm repeating something, but another option to creating an entirely new character is to simply respec your current character's stats at the different types of shrines. That does cost gold, so you still might want to create a new character but keep your existing one for later, then respec it once you've got the gold to spare and have a better idea of what types of changes you'd like to make to it.

Note that the free Armory furnishing lets you save your character's current specs for later recall, and if you save a character without any of its Attribute Points, Skill Points, and (if applicable) Champion Points distributed yet then you can use that as a blank template for wiping out its specs in the future so you can respec it again for free. You do have to pay respec fees for the initial respecs, but this would let you do any future respecs without having to spend gold.

By the way, you do get a couple of respec scrolls during your level-up rewards, one for Attributes and one for Skills, so you can also just continue to play as you've been doing, and when you eventually get those free scrolls you can use them to wipe your character's specs, then save the reinitialized character in the Armory station at that time, rather than spending gold to respec.

FlipFlopFrog · January 2023

Draleon19 wrote: »

Hello everyone!

I have a question for those experienced players that have been in a similar situation.

I have been playing ESO for a few weeks now and I have over 72 hours playing, most of my progress has been with 1 character, but since I am new to the game, I did a lot of things wrong. For example, I completed zone quests before the main storyline and mixed the main storyline with the fighter's guild story.

The thing is that I have done so many things at the same time that I don't remember almost anything and everything seems very confusing. So, my question is, should I start over just to experience things a little bit slower?

Thanks.

No I wouldn't start over if I were you! Most quests in ESO are relatively quick to complete. I would suggest you do the main quest first as you get a lot of skill points which are valuable when leveling up your character. Then I would tackle the guilds, after that I usually do the zone quests. Hope that helps and have fun.

ZOS_Icy · January 2023

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the Players Helping Players section, as it is better suited there.

Thank you for your understanding.

ReachDaBeach · January 2023

I am in almost the same condition. I did pay attention to the post about doing things in the right order, but went further with some chained quests than I should. Not too bad, just little things like being threatened bay a king who doesn't know me and thinks I might be an assassin even though I saved him from assassins earlier...

I am lv 21 and going to go further before I decide whether or not to start a new character. One issue I have is the mages quest line. I am not doing enough to push my mage level, which is required for the quest line to continue. I am locked in on main quest line and fighters guild.

Probably not doing as many zone quests as I should but most of the ones I have done are unrelated to the main quest or related but not necessary for understanding the main. Lots of references to Molag Bal that don't really provide anything I need to know for the main quest. Molag Bal likes trouble makers to make trouble; got it...

ReachDaBeach · January 2023

meant to also say that I am also trying to learn which skills work best for me and what mix I want in the hot bar. For example, I want at least one projectile driven by magica and one by stamina. I haven't tried going to a shrine and reconfiguring yet because I am still not sure.

I also like having a level high enough to have the alternate weapon and hot bar so I can experiment and have the familiar one to switch back and forth to for comparisons.

AJTC5000 · January 2023

Draleon19 wrote: »

Hello everyone!

I have a question for those experienced players that have been in a similar situation.

I have been playing ESO for a few weeks now and I have over 72 hours playing, most of my progress has been with 1 character, but since I am new to the game, I did a lot of things wrong. For example, I completed zone quests before the main storyline and mixed the main storyline with the fighter's guild story.

The thing is that I have done so many things at the same time that I don't remember almost anything and everything seems very confusing. So, my question is, should I start over just to experience things a little bit slower?

Thanks.

Make a new character if you like! You can always come back to your previous one in the future if you want.

Only thing that is a little bit confusing with the Main Quest is that at a certain point it will ask you to complete Coldharbour - you should get a prompt from Vanus Galerion though once you reach this stage. You don't actually need to complete the faction/zone quests anymore to reach this stage either.

ReachDaBeach · January 2023

AJTC5000 wrote: »

Only thing that is a little bit confusing with the Main Quest is that at a certain point it will ask you to complete Coldharbour - you should get a prompt from Vanus Galerion though once you reach this stage. You don't actually need to complete the faction/zone quests anymore to reach this stage either.

I think of him as Vainus I'm Glorious. At one point during that when you get to choose between his plan and someone else's, I did not hesitate to choose the other because he is such a pompous.... But that is a case of where it wouldn't really be that confusing to do that late in the game even though there is at least one tie in to Molag Bal.