As a still new player (started around a month ago), I found the game almost unplayable without addons. The first day after the patch, AUI, advanced filters and a few other addons were working, but lag was so terrible I didn't do anything other than upgrade my horse. Last night was decent, though so I got some decent playtime in. I still can't go to Mournhold, because my computer can't handle that place, but everything seems decently stable.
As a still new player (started around a month ago), I found the game almost unplayable without addons. The first day after the patch, AUI, advanced filters and a few other addons were working, but lag was so terrible I didn't do anything other than upgrade my horse. Last night was decent, though so I got some decent playtime in. I still can't go to Mournhold, because my computer can't handle that place, but everything seems decently stable.
Ever since the patch, it's been really stuttery and laggy. Is it because of add-ons?
Hey all, just came back to the game since it went b2p, and would really like to play with someone instead of being solo most of the time. On PC, happy to play on NA or EU server. My playtime is 8-10:30pm AEDT/6-8:30am EDT/12-2:30pm CEST on weekdays. Would consider Pledge of Mara if you were keen. Not fussed about faction, though I haven't done Ebonheart Pact past the first zone. Looking to do either DK or Sorc dps or tank.
As a still new player (started around a month ago), I found the game almost unplayable without addons. The first day after the patch, AUI, advanced filters and a few other addons were working, but lag was so terrible I didn't do anything other than upgrade my horse. Last night was decent, though so I got some decent playtime in. I still can't go to Mournhold, because my computer can't handle that place, but everything seems decently stable.
Ever since the patch, it's been really stuttery and laggy. Is it because of add-ons?
I'm playing on a laptop with all the settings on the lowest available. I get ping spikes and input lag without addons.
So I picked this up again this weekend, started a new character (because I hate when they forcibly respec my old ones and I can never remember how I had them set up). Having a crapload of fun rolling through things with a dual-dagger sorcerer. Quite possibly the most fun build I've tried yet.
Annoyingly, I can't get Minion to work with my recently-upgraded-to-Win10 system now so I have to manually manage add-ons, but I was pleased to discover that they've all been updated to work with the latest patch.
This is going to kind of read as some stupid questions, but I want to know, because I've reached level 10, and I still have no idea what the hell is going on. I've never played an Elder Scrolls game before, so I have no points of reference here.
1) Is there an instruction manual for this game? I bought the disc copy for my XB1 and it didn't come with one.
2) I'm level 10 now. When I hit 10 a bunch of stuff popped up about some factions and pvp and other junk I didn't understand. How high do the levels go?
3) Crafting. What the hell is going on with that? I disassemble stuff at the forge and do the research projects, now I'm level 2-3. Soooo... what next?
4) Story. Um, I got no idea. I see people, I talk to them, they give me a quest. I do quest, they give me stuff. I still don't know or understand what is going on or why.
5) Guilds/Clans? So I'm in the mage's guild. And the fighter's guild. (seems like it should be illegal?) And some group of adventurers that gave me skill line but I need to get into a group to do their quest? Not really sure, it wasn't clear. What's up with all of that? Can I belong to everything? Should I belong to everything?
6) Equipment. What. The. Hell. My stuff has durability, but also charges? And soulstones? I have light armor and heavy armor and levels in all of it? What's the difference? How do I find better gear? Do I make it? Buy it? From who? What stats should I be looking for?
7) Treasure maps. What are these? I found one. What do I do with it now? It seems cool, but... it just shows me a random hand drawn picture. Not super useful.
8) Inventory space. How do I get more? I'm always full. Or is this a feature or something?
EDIT:
9) also, mounts. And players turning into werewolves. Both seem cool. How does all that work? Can i do it too? Get a horse, be a werewolf, ride a tiger, etc. etc.?
Like, this seems like a super deep game, and I want to really like it, but I've got a bunch of time in it, and I'm pretty experienced with games in general, and all that seems to happen is I wander around aimlessly and people ask me to solve mini-problems that are unrelated to each other and then I move on? Just very, very confused and would really like a manual. Or a map. Or just some kind of general lore explanation. Or just any kind of goddamn clue really. Anybody feels like answering these, or pointing me to a place that can, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
morgan_coke on
XBL: Morgan Coke Yes, there is a space, not an underscore. I'm old school like that.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
2. At level 10, you can start participating in the PvP game in Imperial Center. You can teleport there, and should, to do a couple low-level quests that introduce how basic PvP works. You can get a couple easy skill points this way, too!
3. You should pick a craft that helps out your character, and just start doing it. Like, for a character who's planning on going with heavy armor, Blacksmithing is a good choice. You can keep your gear topped off with stuff that's better than quest rewards pretty easily. You get crafting XP for making items and for breaking them down; breaking down something someone else made (or a drop from questing) gives more XP than breaking down something you made yourself. Breaking down a magic item (green name, blue name, etc.) gives you an item that you can use to make an item magical yourself, and sometimes you get them from other rewards, too!
4. Which nation did you make a character for? I can help with the Aldmeri Dominion story, but that's about it.
5. Join all the guilds! They're free and get you cool toys. For player-created guilds (clans), your account can join up to 5, and all of your characters are automatically in them.
6. As for making / getting better gear, see crafting above! Also, from quest rewards. Items have durability, which is how much wear and tear they can take before they need to be repaired (which any shopkeep can do for you). Magical weapons have charges - their special ability only works a certain number of times before you need to refill it using a soulstone.
Light armor is really good for people who use a lot of Magicka-based attacks (destruction and healing staves, any of your class-specific abilities). The Light Armor skillset has abilities that increase your magicka regeneration, give you arcane protection, etc.
Medium armor is really good for people who use a lot of Stamina-based attacks (any other weapon-specific ability). Its skill tree has things that improve stealth, Stamina regen, etc.
Heavy armor provides better protection and increased health. Its skill tree has abilities that increase your health regen, your health pool, make you take reduced damage for a brief period, etc.
7. Treasure maps are awesome! Add them to your quick slots and make them your active item (press and hold "Q", then select it). You need to walk around the zone described in the map's name (e.g., "Khenarthi Roost Treasure Map IV" is in Khenarthi Roost) until you find the area pictured, and then you can dig where the map tells you to for fabulous prizes.
8. There are vendors who can sell you extra storage space at 10 slots a pop, others who can expand your bank, and your mount can be fed 1 / day to increase its carrying capacity (which increases your inventory).
9. Mounts can be bought in most major cities. They're expensive. I kinda recommend getting one from the cash shop just to get you started faster. You can be turned into a werewolf if you get bitten by someone at the right time. Some people offer to sell their bites for a huge amount of gold.
I saved up all my gold for a mount which helps tremendously for the inventory space. I haven't really played ESO for weeks, but I have logged on nearly every day to buy the single inventory space increase for my characters. I've nearly maxed it out on one of them.
I got a bit burnt out of ESO for a while, but having all that extra inventory space will be awesome once I get back into it.
Actually, I wanted to expand on the crafting part a bit, because the crafting in this game is one of my favorite things about it. Note that there are some quests in the first major town you'll reach that will teach you the basics of all of this, if you don't feel like reading my post.
Crafting is done via a collection of skills, each of which focuses on various end products. For wearable gear, there's Blacksmithing (weapons and heavy armor), Tailoring (light and medium armor), Woodworking (staves, bows, and shields). For consumables, there's Provisioning (food and drink; long-lasting buffs) and Alchemy (potions; short-acting buffs and immediate healing). Last, but not least, is Enchanting, which makes runes that you apply to weapons, armor, or jewelry to make them better. I'm going to focus, primarily, on the wearables crafting skills.
For the wearables, you need two kinds of materials to make them: the base material (which is determined by the level of item you're making) and a style material. The style material determines what the item you're making will look like; Altmeri swords look very different from Imperial or Nordic swords, etc. You start off knowing your own racial style, and can learn others by finding style manuals throughout the game. If you know a style, you know it for every kind of item - with the exception of certain very rare styles, for which the style manual only teaches you to make, for instance, shields in the rare style.
This is cool as hell. It lets you, for instance, outfit your character in your own "pure" racial style, or with a mix of other race's styles, to taste - so an Altmeri cuirass with Imperial Shoulders and a Nordic helm? Go for it!
Certain wearables that you find will have a special trait - letting you sprint longer, or improving the effect of enchantments on them, etc. Instead of breaking these items down for their materials, you can instead research them (using the icon on the top-right in the crafting menu, IIRC) - which takes a little bit of time at first, but takes exponentially longer with each new trait you learn, until learning the last couple traits for a particular item can take days or weeks. You learn these traits on a per-slot, per-type basis. What that means is that if you research, for instance, reinforced (+armor) for heavy shoulders, you can make any style of heavy shoulder armor with the reinforced trait, but you need to research reinforced belts or pants separately, and you need to research reinforced medium shoulders separately (and reinforced light shoulders separately, too)!
Researching traits not only allows you to add special abilities to your armor (you can add 1 ability when forging a new piece of armor or a new weapon), but there are special crafting stations throughout the world that require a certain minimum number of traits to be known before you can make full use of them. These special crafting stations let you create set gear - e.g., gear that has a special effect when you're wearing 2 or more matching pieces. One example might require that you know 3 traits, and so if you've researched Charged, Reinforced, and Infused for two-handed swords, then you can craft a Greatsword of Twilight's Embrace; with 2 or more of the Twilight's Embrace set equipped, you get bonus health, and with 5 or more, you get bonus healing. Etc. This is the type of gear that, in most games, you could only earn by phenomenal luck or through high-level content, so the fact that you can actually just craft it yourself, if you want to, is one of my favorite parts of ESO.
After making any wearable item, you can then make it (more) magical by using what are called, variously, tempers, resins, tanners, etc. - but we'll call them improvement materials. Essentially, you can randomly find them or get them by breaking down already magical items. If you break down a green item, you can find the improvement material that takes an item from white (normal) to green (magical). Breaking down a blue item can result in the improvement material that takes an item from green (magical) to blue (rare). There's a percent chance that improving the item works; failure results in the loss of the item and the improvement materials. You can improve your chances by using more improvement materials - so, using 5 of the white-to-green material guarantees success, for instance. You can use improvement materials on quest rewards or other found gear, too.
Each crafting skill tree has a couple similar passive abilities in it. One of the most important is the one that lets you use more advanced materials - the iron you make low-level swords out of can only make a sword so strong (level ... 16ish?); eventually, you'll need to use High Iron, and that requires a skill point. Others put a highlight on raw materials in the world when you get close enough (I'd recommend just training yourself to notice them, instead of "wasting" the skill point), or provide a 1-per-day shipment of free raw materials*. Critical skills for higher levels are the one that makes it take fewer improvement materials to guarantee success when improving an item and one that lets you research multiple items at the same time, and research them faster besides.
TL;DR: ESO Crafting is kinda awesome. And I haven't even touched on dyeing your stuff.
* This one can be kind of annoying for reasons that aren't that important right now.
Also, treasure maps are my favorite things. I adore wandering around the landscape looking for the visual clues... "okay I need to find a spot where I can see a lighthouse in the distance and this little pointy rock right up front by the water's edge..." It's a great feeling when you finally find it. I also love when I realize that I've learned an area well enough that I can look at a treasure map I've never seen before and think "I know exactly where that is!"
I find them tedious, mainly because the rewards are never... great. I currently have a bunch off-faction ones cluttering up my main's inventory and I'm debating whether to keep them until I unlock those campaigns on him or just ditch them.
There's mods to tell you the exact locations of skyshards and lore books, too. And one that tracks resource locations. I wouldn't be surprised if there's one that shows where all the locked chests are, too.
What fun is that? Half the fun of TESO compared to every other MMO ever is that it actually rewards exploration and wandering off the beaten path.
Yeah, but when I do that I already find chests just scattered around the world. Trying to find a specific location on a map when the resulting chest is no better than the 5 chests I found looking for it is just... underwhelming. I wouldn't mind if the damned maps didn't take up inventory slots.
So I picked this up again this weekend, started a new character (because I hate when they forcibly respec my old ones and I can never remember how I had them set up). Having a crapload of fun rolling through things with a dual-dagger sorcerer. Quite possibly the most fun build I've tried yet.
Annoyingly, I can't get Minion to work with my recently-upgraded-to-Win10 system now so I have to manually manage add-ons, but I was pleased to discover that they've all been updated to work with the latest patch.
So I've played some of this game, but never got very far. I mentioned back when I had tried playing that I was doing a melee sorcerer, and most seemed to say that this was actually a good idea, despite how counter-intuitive it would seem if you've played any other fantasy RPG ever (aka the exact reason I decided to try this). However, it seemed that the popular way to go was to use a two-hander as a sorcerer, though before knowing this I had chosen to dual-wield.
I probably could not possibly understand the intricacies of this, but is there any particular difference in weapons when you choose to dual-wield? When I tried it, I think I was just using two swords, so I guess what I'm asking is what, specifically, makes using daggers awesome? It sounds like something I'd like to try if I come back to this game (and honestly I could use an excuse), but I wouldn't really know how to build one. For example, the sorcerer I was building went heavily into summons, which seemed novel at the time but I don't think this was the right way to go when choosing to be melee.
I don't believe that mechanically there's a whit of difference between daggers and other one-handed weapons. I chose them purely for aesthetics.
Going with a two-handed weapon on a sorc is a solid choice and I do have a 2h-sword melee sorc that's a lot of fun. I went with dual wield this time to try it out, but with no idea if it will work long term. The plan in my head is to build mostly on stamina and use the dual wield skills (whirlwind, especially) primarily. I'll supplement that with lightning form and surge, and equip medium armor and aim to get my critical strike chance as high as possible - which should synergize well with surge (I believe that's the name - the lightning skill that heals you when you crit an enemy). The dark magic tree offers some crowd control as needed. Basically, the plan is to throw on lightning form and wade in and go crazy whirlwindy on as many enemies as possible, hoping that surge keeps me healed.
Started playing again. Died for the first time ever this run by trying to solo a boss (whoops) which was silly because I'd successfully soloed a boss in the Public Dungeon (wargl).
I'm still very hit or miss on whether I can escape from guards when they inevitably capture me. It's not easy, but I'm starting to get used to running away sideways, using lots of rolling, and my bow skills to knock them back and root them. Dark Cloak doesn't seem to do shit to remove aggro.
It gets easier once you level up the skill tree and don't have to do any sub-100% chance picks any more. I don't bother doing any below any more, simply because there are so many pickpocket targets that I fill up my inventory just with Easy and the occasional Medium target. Oh, and the occasional chest.
Going invisible doesn't remove aggro, however it should keep you from getting attacked while you are. Just chain them as you run away, you should have more than enough magic/stamina to get out of sight.
I don't really pick that often, though maybe I should. I just pickpocket, but a good 50% of the targets seem to be medium difficulty, and few are easy since my legerdemain isn't great.
Easy/Medium/Hard isn't determined by your skill, just the starting difficulty of each mob (as % difficulty goes up with each item stolen). Your skill determines your % chance of success against them, so a maxed out skill will allow you to steal all three items from Easy targets without risking getting caught and one item from Medium targets.
My usual route is in the first big hub, pickpocketing NPCs by the coastline where I can jump into the ocean should I actually attract a guard. Most of the NPCs there are Easy, with a couple of Mediums and a couple of Hards. I generally don't even bother with the Hard ones unless I've already accidentally got a bounty on me and I plan on logging off once I've sold off my gains, when bounty doesn't matter.
Are items going to be more valuable on the medium and hard targets? It does seem like I find more total pickpocketing targets in Vulkhel Guard than later cities, but it feels strange to have to go back there.
Also, I want to mention again that I'm on the PS4 in Aldmeri Dominion. I'd be happy to play with anyone else here, and in particular I could sure use a guild. I'm finding them hard to identify even when trolling the reddit threads.
Limited sample size and all that, but to me it feels like harder pickpocket targets are like more difficult chests- they have a bigger loot table with better rewards in it, but you still need to get lucky to get a good one. It's why I generally don't bother pickpocketing Hard targets, I can make money faster speed-robbing a bunch of easy targets than I do risking my neck on hard ones.
For guilds, I tend to just keep an ear out on global chat whenever I'm doing my "trade" in Vulkhel, people will occasionally advertise trade guilds (as it's in their own best interest to have as many members as possible).
I don't normally roleplay in MMOs, but last night I ran across a group of RPers on a caravan to Skywatch and joined in. I could only play for about 10 minutes but they were very polite and actually not bad writers. I think that ESO seems to encourage this kind of in-character play in a different way than most other MMOs -- I've yet to run across anyone engaging in erotic or RP out-loud or in a place where they're easily found. Most RPers I've seen have been just out in Tamriel, doing Tamriel things, like escorting caravans. Neat!
*e* The incident also made me think about what on earth would make a 60 year old extremely ugly fat Khajiit nightblade what she is.
I decided that Grucching's birth name was Krin-daro, which means "grinning thief," but that she picked up her current name in Skyrim after bullshit. She was sold as a slave to a Telvanni noble at a very young age, like, 11, as punishment for thieving. The Telvanni decided that since she had clever hands, she'd be put to work -- as basically a coroner, dissecting and examining the results of Telvanni experiments. It was here that she also learned the shadow magic necessary for Nightblades, basically stealing her master's books and practicing invisibility and silence spells until she escaped. Her master had a bad habit of forgetting to put magic dampening manacles on her, especially since he'd taught her a few spells for use in the examination of corpses.
She eventually escaped to Solstheim after a long and dangerous trip north along the coast, where the Skaal named her "Grucching Catte," which means, well, Grumpy Cat in old Skaal, due to her now extremely dour demeanor. She lived among the Skaal for some time, mostly as a way to avoid Dunmer slave traders, until finding a Nord trading ship from Windhelm. She spent the next few years working in the Hall of the Dead, and also learning from the various thieves around Windhelm. Eventually, she decided to return to Elswyr, and so took a trading caravan that was supposed to go through Cyrodiil, only OH NOES WORM CULTISTS
And now since she's almost 60 it's like IM GETTING TOO OLD FOR THIS SHIT
I don't normally roleplay in MMOs, but last night I ran across a group of RPers on a caravan to Skywatch and joined in. I could only play for about 10 minutes but they were very polite and actually not bad writers. I think that ESO seems to encourage this kind of in-character play in a different way than most other MMOs -- I've yet to run across anyone engaging in erotic or RP out-loud or in a place where they're easily found. Most RPers I've seen have been just out in Tamriel, doing Tamriel things, like escorting caravans. Neat!
Most of the ones I've seen have been hanging around in small groups in taverns or guild halls just talking and trying to one-up each other on just how angsty and dramatic their character backgrounds are and competing over who can do the best brooding emotes. I usually just eyeroll and keep walking but sometimes I listen for a while if they're particularly awful. Good RPers are so rare. And suddenly I miss Neverwinter Nights...
I don't normally roleplay in MMOs, but last night I ran across a group of RPers on a caravan to Skywatch and joined in. I could only play for about 10 minutes but they were very polite and actually not bad writers. I think that ESO seems to encourage this kind of in-character play in a different way than most other MMOs -- I've yet to run across anyone engaging in erotic or RP out-loud or in a place where they're easily found. Most RPers I've seen have been just out in Tamriel, doing Tamriel things, like escorting caravans. Neat!
Most of the ones I've seen have been hanging around in small groups in taverns or guild halls just talking and trying to one-up each other on just how angsty and dramatic their character backgrounds are and competing over who can do the best brooding emotes. I usually just eyeroll and keep walking but sometimes I listen for a while if they're particularly awful. Good RPers are so rare. And suddenly I miss Neverwinter Nights...
These guys were just randomly outside, and their thing was that a caravan had been attacked by "bandits" (who they'd made up -- invisible NPCs basically). A buddy of theirs (also invisible NPC) had been killed, and they were 1. interrogating the bandits and 2. trying to help out / console a young Bosmer who was injured and shaken up by the attack. Related to the above, I just watched for a while, then offered my services in helping to bury the guy, since I decided on the spot that my character used to be a coroner and also an undertaker (which fits her character), so I followed them to Skywatch. Most of the chatter was literally "That bandit attack sure was terrible huh" and "I hope we get to Skywatch without more problems." They were a little like "so uh why are you randomly helping us?" and I was kinda coy about it but mostly "SONNY I'm old I just help people, because reasons" which they shrugged at. And again, fits a grumpy 60 y o undertaker who is basically Dr. McCoy as a female cat assassin.
So Elder Scrolls Online is practically half off on PSN this week. A practically frictionless price for me. Just wondering, should I grab the Imperial Edition? I remember it was like a race that was locked behind that, no?
So Elder Scrolls Online is practically half off on PSN this week. A practically frictionless price for me. Just wondering, should I grab the Imperial Edition? I remember it was like a race that was locked behind that, no?
Yes, you should.
Imp Edition allows you to play any race in any alliance, gets you access to the Imperial race, the ability to convert any piece of equipment to Imperial style, a horse for all of your characters, and some other free schwag.
The horse, in particular, is a huge savings in in-game costs.
So Elder Scrolls Online is practically half off on PSN this week. A practically frictionless price for me. Just wondering, should I grab the Imperial Edition? I remember it was like a race that was locked behind that, no?
Yes, you should.
Imp Edition allows you to play any race in any alliance, gets you access to the Imperial race, the ability to convert any piece of equipment to Imperial style, a horse for all of your characters, and some other free schwag.
The horse, in particular, is a huge savings in in-game costs.
Thanks for the swift response, but it's too late. Already went with the standard version. Mostly because I will likely only play one character anyways, which will neither be a tank or an imperial, and the whole free mount thing seems like somewhat of a shortcut and cheat, as does the whole chose your own faction freely thing.
Also - I have extremely modest ambitions for TESO. Experience the whole MMO-shtick on consoles for the first time, and try and play it as much as a proper Elder Scrolls game as I can. It's not likely that I'll stick with it beyond this next month (I played the Beta on PC, and was only very mildly enthused). I look at it more as an entrée to Fallout 4. It should serve that purpose just fine.
If I actually fall in love with the game, I have been informed I can always upgrade to the Imperial Edition in-game.
Actually, I think the 'play any race in any faction' has become something of a standard feature now... at least, both my friend and I bought standard versions (from different places) and both got a voucher inside which unlocks the ability to do this.
You can upgrade to the imperial edition in the in-game store.
Wish I hadn't bothered, to be honest, it functionally only resulted in getting access to the horse (worthless now that mounts are account-wide, buy one on any character and they all have it. And you can afford a basic horse with only a few days' worth of theft) and being able to change item appearance. What they don't mention with the latter is that it also binds that item to you, so if you got it because you're a crafter it'll only be good for your own stuff.
Dinged lvl 15 today, and did my first dungeon delve.
I feel like ESO is getting short changed, public perception wise. I find it succeeds both as an Elder Scrolls game, as well as a MMO - and that's a tremendously entertaining concotion to me (and I bet lots of other Elder Scrolls and MMO players too, who never really gave it a proper chance).
The world itself, its NPC, the overall writing of quests and dialogs, as well as the gist of its character progression and crafting mechanics - it's much closer to the real thing than I'd ever have given them credit for. I have a great time exploring and questing, taking in the sights and talking to the NPCs, leveling up and building my very own character, by playing how I want to play - very much like a proper Elder Scrolls game.
My first delve also proved to me that it works as an MMO as well. It's more chaotic and action-driven than regular genre fare, but I can see the basics of tanking and healing and damage dealing are intact, and the holy trinity will likely purr like the well-oiled well known quantity that it is.
So yeah, I hope more people will give it a chance, now that the ESO Unlimited Editions are going on sale. It's a pretty dope MMO, and Elder Scrolls game too. People are missing out!
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Steam Me
I fucked up real bad and locked myself out of my Guild Wars 2 account, possibly permanently. I guess I'll be playing this a hell of a lot more now...
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Hey all, just came back to the game since it went b2p, and would really like to play with someone instead of being solo most of the time. On PC, happy to play on NA or EU server. My playtime is 8-10:30pm AEDT/6-8:30am EDT/12-2:30pm CEST on weekdays. Would consider Pledge of Mara if you were keen. Not fussed about faction, though I haven't done Ebonheart Pact past the first zone. Looking to do either DK or Sorc dps or tank.
Let me know if you are interested!
I'm playing on a laptop with all the settings on the lowest available. I get ping spikes and input lag without addons.
Steam Me
Annoyingly, I can't get Minion to work with my recently-upgraded-to-Win10 system now so I have to manually manage add-ons, but I was pleased to discover that they've all been updated to work with the latest patch.
This is going to kind of read as some stupid questions, but I want to know, because I've reached level 10, and I still have no idea what the hell is going on. I've never played an Elder Scrolls game before, so I have no points of reference here.
1) Is there an instruction manual for this game? I bought the disc copy for my XB1 and it didn't come with one.
2) I'm level 10 now. When I hit 10 a bunch of stuff popped up about some factions and pvp and other junk I didn't understand. How high do the levels go?
3) Crafting. What the hell is going on with that? I disassemble stuff at the forge and do the research projects, now I'm level 2-3. Soooo... what next?
4) Story. Um, I got no idea. I see people, I talk to them, they give me a quest. I do quest, they give me stuff. I still don't know or understand what is going on or why.
5) Guilds/Clans? So I'm in the mage's guild. And the fighter's guild. (seems like it should be illegal?) And some group of adventurers that gave me skill line but I need to get into a group to do their quest? Not really sure, it wasn't clear. What's up with all of that? Can I belong to everything? Should I belong to everything?
6) Equipment. What. The. Hell. My stuff has durability, but also charges? And soulstones? I have light armor and heavy armor and levels in all of it? What's the difference? How do I find better gear? Do I make it? Buy it? From who? What stats should I be looking for?
7) Treasure maps. What are these? I found one. What do I do with it now? It seems cool, but... it just shows me a random hand drawn picture. Not super useful.
8) Inventory space. How do I get more? I'm always full. Or is this a feature or something?
EDIT:
9) also, mounts. And players turning into werewolves. Both seem cool. How does all that work? Can i do it too? Get a horse, be a werewolf, ride a tiger, etc. etc.?
Like, this seems like a super deep game, and I want to really like it, but I've got a bunch of time in it, and I'm pretty experienced with games in general, and all that seems to happen is I wander around aimlessly and people ask me to solve mini-problems that are unrelated to each other and then I move on? Just very, very confused and would really like a manual. Or a map. Or just some kind of general lore explanation. Or just any kind of goddamn clue really. Anybody feels like answering these, or pointing me to a place that can, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
Titan's Creed: Jump first, don't ask questions, punch everything
To answer your questions ...
1. Not really!
2. At level 10, you can start participating in the PvP game in Imperial Center. You can teleport there, and should, to do a couple low-level quests that introduce how basic PvP works. You can get a couple easy skill points this way, too!
3. You should pick a craft that helps out your character, and just start doing it. Like, for a character who's planning on going with heavy armor, Blacksmithing is a good choice. You can keep your gear topped off with stuff that's better than quest rewards pretty easily. You get crafting XP for making items and for breaking them down; breaking down something someone else made (or a drop from questing) gives more XP than breaking down something you made yourself. Breaking down a magic item (green name, blue name, etc.) gives you an item that you can use to make an item magical yourself, and sometimes you get them from other rewards, too!
4. Which nation did you make a character for? I can help with the Aldmeri Dominion story, but that's about it.
5. Join all the guilds! They're free and get you cool toys. For player-created guilds (clans), your account can join up to 5, and all of your characters are automatically in them.
6. As for making / getting better gear, see crafting above! Also, from quest rewards. Items have durability, which is how much wear and tear they can take before they need to be repaired (which any shopkeep can do for you). Magical weapons have charges - their special ability only works a certain number of times before you need to refill it using a soulstone.
Light armor is really good for people who use a lot of Magicka-based attacks (destruction and healing staves, any of your class-specific abilities). The Light Armor skillset has abilities that increase your magicka regeneration, give you arcane protection, etc.
Medium armor is really good for people who use a lot of Stamina-based attacks (any other weapon-specific ability). Its skill tree has things that improve stealth, Stamina regen, etc.
Heavy armor provides better protection and increased health. Its skill tree has abilities that increase your health regen, your health pool, make you take reduced damage for a brief period, etc.
7. Treasure maps are awesome! Add them to your quick slots and make them your active item (press and hold "Q", then select it). You need to walk around the zone described in the map's name (e.g., "Khenarthi Roost Treasure Map IV" is in Khenarthi Roost) until you find the area pictured, and then you can dig where the map tells you to for fabulous prizes.
8. There are vendors who can sell you extra storage space at 10 slots a pop, others who can expand your bank, and your mount can be fed 1 / day to increase its carrying capacity (which increases your inventory).
9. Mounts can be bought in most major cities. They're expensive. I kinda recommend getting one from the cash shop just to get you started faster. You can be turned into a werewolf if you get bitten by someone at the right time. Some people offer to sell their bites for a huge amount of gold.
Let me know what you want to chat more about.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
That was.. super informative and helpful. Thanks man.
Battle.net: morgancoke#1589
Titan's Creed: Jump first, don't ask questions, punch everything
I got a bit burnt out of ESO for a while, but having all that extra inventory space will be awesome once I get back into it.
Actually, I wanted to expand on the crafting part a bit, because the crafting in this game is one of my favorite things about it. Note that there are some quests in the first major town you'll reach that will teach you the basics of all of this, if you don't feel like reading my post.
Crafting is done via a collection of skills, each of which focuses on various end products. For wearable gear, there's Blacksmithing (weapons and heavy armor), Tailoring (light and medium armor), Woodworking (staves, bows, and shields). For consumables, there's Provisioning (food and drink; long-lasting buffs) and Alchemy (potions; short-acting buffs and immediate healing). Last, but not least, is Enchanting, which makes runes that you apply to weapons, armor, or jewelry to make them better. I'm going to focus, primarily, on the wearables crafting skills.
For the wearables, you need two kinds of materials to make them: the base material (which is determined by the level of item you're making) and a style material. The style material determines what the item you're making will look like; Altmeri swords look very different from Imperial or Nordic swords, etc. You start off knowing your own racial style, and can learn others by finding style manuals throughout the game. If you know a style, you know it for every kind of item - with the exception of certain very rare styles, for which the style manual only teaches you to make, for instance, shields in the rare style.
This is cool as hell. It lets you, for instance, outfit your character in your own "pure" racial style, or with a mix of other race's styles, to taste - so an Altmeri cuirass with Imperial Shoulders and a Nordic helm? Go for it!
Certain wearables that you find will have a special trait - letting you sprint longer, or improving the effect of enchantments on them, etc. Instead of breaking these items down for their materials, you can instead research them (using the icon on the top-right in the crafting menu, IIRC) - which takes a little bit of time at first, but takes exponentially longer with each new trait you learn, until learning the last couple traits for a particular item can take days or weeks. You learn these traits on a per-slot, per-type basis. What that means is that if you research, for instance, reinforced (+armor) for heavy shoulders, you can make any style of heavy shoulder armor with the reinforced trait, but you need to research reinforced belts or pants separately, and you need to research reinforced medium shoulders separately (and reinforced light shoulders separately, too)!
Researching traits not only allows you to add special abilities to your armor (you can add 1 ability when forging a new piece of armor or a new weapon), but there are special crafting stations throughout the world that require a certain minimum number of traits to be known before you can make full use of them. These special crafting stations let you create set gear - e.g., gear that has a special effect when you're wearing 2 or more matching pieces. One example might require that you know 3 traits, and so if you've researched Charged, Reinforced, and Infused for two-handed swords, then you can craft a Greatsword of Twilight's Embrace; with 2 or more of the Twilight's Embrace set equipped, you get bonus health, and with 5 or more, you get bonus healing. Etc. This is the type of gear that, in most games, you could only earn by phenomenal luck or through high-level content, so the fact that you can actually just craft it yourself, if you want to, is one of my favorite parts of ESO.
After making any wearable item, you can then make it (more) magical by using what are called, variously, tempers, resins, tanners, etc. - but we'll call them improvement materials. Essentially, you can randomly find them or get them by breaking down already magical items. If you break down a green item, you can find the improvement material that takes an item from white (normal) to green (magical). Breaking down a blue item can result in the improvement material that takes an item from green (magical) to blue (rare). There's a percent chance that improving the item works; failure results in the loss of the item and the improvement materials. You can improve your chances by using more improvement materials - so, using 5 of the white-to-green material guarantees success, for instance. You can use improvement materials on quest rewards or other found gear, too.
Each crafting skill tree has a couple similar passive abilities in it. One of the most important is the one that lets you use more advanced materials - the iron you make low-level swords out of can only make a sword so strong (level ... 16ish?); eventually, you'll need to use High Iron, and that requires a skill point. Others put a highlight on raw materials in the world when you get close enough (I'd recommend just training yourself to notice them, instead of "wasting" the skill point), or provide a 1-per-day shipment of free raw materials*. Critical skills for higher levels are the one that makes it take fewer improvement materials to guarantee success when improving an item and one that lets you research multiple items at the same time, and research them faster besides.
TL;DR: ESO Crafting is kinda awesome. And I haven't even touched on dyeing your stuff.
* This one can be kind of annoying for reasons that aren't that important right now.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Also, treasure maps are my favorite things. I adore wandering around the landscape looking for the visual clues... "okay I need to find a spot where I can see a lighthouse in the distance and this little pointy rock right up front by the water's edge..." It's a great feeling when you finally find it. I also love when I realize that I've learned an area well enough that I can look at a treasure map I've never seen before and think "I know exactly where that is!"
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
What fun is that? Half the fun of TESO compared to every other MMO ever is that it actually rewards exploration and wandering off the beaten path.
So I've played some of this game, but never got very far. I mentioned back when I had tried playing that I was doing a melee sorcerer, and most seemed to say that this was actually a good idea, despite how counter-intuitive it would seem if you've played any other fantasy RPG ever (aka the exact reason I decided to try this). However, it seemed that the popular way to go was to use a two-hander as a sorcerer, though before knowing this I had chosen to dual-wield.
I probably could not possibly understand the intricacies of this, but is there any particular difference in weapons when you choose to dual-wield? When I tried it, I think I was just using two swords, so I guess what I'm asking is what, specifically, makes using daggers awesome? It sounds like something I'd like to try if I come back to this game (and honestly I could use an excuse), but I wouldn't really know how to build one. For example, the sorcerer I was building went heavily into summons, which seemed novel at the time but I don't think this was the right way to go when choosing to be melee.
Going with a two-handed weapon on a sorc is a solid choice and I do have a 2h-sword melee sorc that's a lot of fun. I went with dual wield this time to try it out, but with no idea if it will work long term. The plan in my head is to build mostly on stamina and use the dual wield skills (whirlwind, especially) primarily. I'll supplement that with lightning form and surge, and equip medium armor and aim to get my critical strike chance as high as possible - which should synergize well with surge (I believe that's the name - the lightning skill that heals you when you crit an enemy). The dark magic tree offers some crowd control as needed. Basically, the plan is to throw on lightning form and wade in and go crazy whirlwindy on as many enemies as possible, hoping that surge keeps me healed.
It may be a total disaster. Time will tell!
I'm only 2000 gold away from a horse ;-;
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Going invisible doesn't remove aggro, however it should keep you from getting attacked while you are. Just chain them as you run away, you should have more than enough magic/stamina to get out of sight.
My usual route is in the first big hub, pickpocketing NPCs by the coastline where I can jump into the ocean should I actually attract a guard. Most of the NPCs there are Easy, with a couple of Mediums and a couple of Hards. I generally don't even bother with the Hard ones unless I've already accidentally got a bounty on me and I plan on logging off once I've sold off my gains, when bounty doesn't matter.
Also, I want to mention again that I'm on the PS4 in Aldmeri Dominion. I'd be happy to play with anyone else here, and in particular I could sure use a guild. I'm finding them hard to identify even when trolling the reddit threads.
For guilds, I tend to just keep an ear out on global chat whenever I'm doing my "trade" in Vulkhel, people will occasionally advertise trade guilds (as it's in their own best interest to have as many members as possible).
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
*e* The incident also made me think about what on earth would make a 60 year old extremely ugly fat Khajiit nightblade what she is.
She eventually escaped to Solstheim after a long and dangerous trip north along the coast, where the Skaal named her "Grucching Catte," which means, well, Grumpy Cat in old Skaal, due to her now extremely dour demeanor. She lived among the Skaal for some time, mostly as a way to avoid Dunmer slave traders, until finding a Nord trading ship from Windhelm. She spent the next few years working in the Hall of the Dead, and also learning from the various thieves around Windhelm. Eventually, she decided to return to Elswyr, and so took a trading caravan that was supposed to go through Cyrodiil, only OH NOES WORM CULTISTS
And now since she's almost 60 it's like IM GETTING TOO OLD FOR THIS SHIT
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Most of the ones I've seen have been hanging around in small groups in taverns or guild halls just talking and trying to one-up each other on just how angsty and dramatic their character backgrounds are and competing over who can do the best brooding emotes. I usually just eyeroll and keep walking but sometimes I listen for a while if they're particularly awful. Good RPers are so rare. And suddenly I miss Neverwinter Nights...
These guys were just randomly outside, and their thing was that a caravan had been attacked by "bandits" (who they'd made up -- invisible NPCs basically). A buddy of theirs (also invisible NPC) had been killed, and they were 1. interrogating the bandits and 2. trying to help out / console a young Bosmer who was injured and shaken up by the attack. Related to the above, I just watched for a while, then offered my services in helping to bury the guy, since I decided on the spot that my character used to be a coroner and also an undertaker (which fits her character), so I followed them to Skywatch. Most of the chatter was literally "That bandit attack sure was terrible huh" and "I hope we get to Skywatch without more problems." They were a little like "so uh why are you randomly helping us?" and I was kinda coy about it but mostly "SONNY I'm old I just help people, because reasons" which they shrugged at. And again, fits a grumpy 60 y o undertaker who is basically Dr. McCoy as a female cat assassin.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Yes, you should.
Imp Edition allows you to play any race in any alliance, gets you access to the Imperial race, the ability to convert any piece of equipment to Imperial style, a horse for all of your characters, and some other free schwag.
The horse, in particular, is a huge savings in in-game costs.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Thanks for the swift response, but it's too late. Already went with the standard version. Mostly because I will likely only play one character anyways, which will neither be a tank or an imperial, and the whole free mount thing seems like somewhat of a shortcut and cheat, as does the whole chose your own faction freely thing.
Also - I have extremely modest ambitions for TESO. Experience the whole MMO-shtick on consoles for the first time, and try and play it as much as a proper Elder Scrolls game as I can. It's not likely that I'll stick with it beyond this next month (I played the Beta on PC, and was only very mildly enthused). I look at it more as an entrée to Fallout 4. It should serve that purpose just fine.
If I actually fall in love with the game, I have been informed I can always upgrade to the Imperial Edition in-game.
Still enjoying the game.
Steam Me
Wish I hadn't bothered, to be honest, it functionally only resulted in getting access to the horse (worthless now that mounts are account-wide, buy one on any character and they all have it. And you can afford a basic horse with only a few days' worth of theft) and being able to change item appearance. What they don't mention with the latter is that it also binds that item to you, so if you got it because you're a crafter it'll only be good for your own stuff.
I feel like ESO is getting short changed, public perception wise. I find it succeeds both as an Elder Scrolls game, as well as a MMO - and that's a tremendously entertaining concotion to me (and I bet lots of other Elder Scrolls and MMO players too, who never really gave it a proper chance).
The world itself, its NPC, the overall writing of quests and dialogs, as well as the gist of its character progression and crafting mechanics - it's much closer to the real thing than I'd ever have given them credit for. I have a great time exploring and questing, taking in the sights and talking to the NPCs, leveling up and building my very own character, by playing how I want to play - very much like a proper Elder Scrolls game.
My first delve also proved to me that it works as an MMO as well. It's more chaotic and action-driven than regular genre fare, but I can see the basics of tanking and healing and damage dealing are intact, and the holy trinity will likely purr like the well-oiled well known quantity that it is.
So yeah, I hope more people will give it a chance, now that the ESO Unlimited Editions are going on sale. It's a pretty dope MMO, and Elder Scrolls game too. People are missing out!