Finally got the answer to this - YES! You finish up the quests in your race/Alliance's territory; that is where you join any guilds you are going to join like Mages and Fighters Guilds, etc - do all those quests and any side/misc/random quests you want to do.

THEN you can go to the other Alliance territories and do all their misc/side/random quests! (You can't do any of their main quests or Guild Quests outside of your own territory; but you can do any misc/random/side quests all across Tamriel !!!!!!

So YEAH !!!!!!

MALX, that's wonderful news that you can explore all the provinces. I'm guessing staying out of Cyrodiil will keep you out of PVP stuff. Thanks again for being a guinea pig / squirrel and adventuring all this stuff out for us!

That’s great news and great information. Thanks, mALX!

I wonder how typing all of that chat stuff will work on the consoles if you’re just using a controller. Maybe it will be cumbersome enough to keep disruptions to a minimum.

I watched a short ranger build video that stayed on the character’s skills page, whatever that’s called. I liked the interface. Just looking at it made the whole process seem less complicated.


Thank you for this link. I got some time last night to scroll down and read all of the information there, and it was very helpful.

From what I have seen and heard, ESO for the consoles will be just like their other online multiplayer games have always been - using your headset and microphone (that comes with the console) to talk to the other Players.

On the PC that talking option is available (at no cost), but not included in the game, only the chatbox is included in the game. Last night I used my son's headset and mike and actually talked to the other Player that was helping me learn, and I learned a heck of a lot more that way.

The way it worked when my son played Halo/Call of Duty/etc - each party (and it can be only one or two players who are friends if you are wanting to solo it overall like I'm doing) - each party has their own chat "room" where when you speak over your headset - only those in your party can hear it to respond, (and you can only hear the members of your own party talking too, you can't hear any other player talking unless they are in your party).


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This post has been edited by mALX: May 31 2015, 06:50 PM

I think a lot of people use third party voice chats with ESO, like Skype or Teamspeak.

I added TeamSpeak last night, it was easy to set up and works very well. It was surprisingly comfortable to play with the headset (while talking and listening); and much easier than using the chat box; although either is good to talk to friends.


I learned in order to speak on the chat box you have to type /say (space) and then type your message.

This article talks about the Player housing issue and that is will be a future addition:


http://skyrimfansite.com/player-housing-in...why-we-want-it/

Here is a very short and basic explanation of how skills lines and progression work: Link. You have to page down past the huge ad.

So do I understand correctly that you can only use a skill that you put in your hotbar? Even the passive skills? So if you have more skills that hotbar slots, you basically just wasted all the extra ones (anything more than 5 active and 4 passive skills?)

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 1 2015, 04:52 PM

Not really wasted, as you can change which abilities you have in your hotbar. So if I have certain skills loaded for exploring a dungeon myself, I can later change to a more specialized skill set that puts me in a specific role for a group adventure as long as I have those skills. I’d don’t like it, but I’d guess it’s another limitation of MMOs.

I think I’m going to try this some time after June 9. I’d buy the Explorer pack or whatever lets you join any faction as any race if I was going to play on my laptop, but I’ll just use the factions that the regular game allows on the PS4. One character for each faction to see as much as I can see, for as long as I can put up with the unwashed horde of other players my fellow adventurers.

If I read correctly though, you cannot change your hotbar while in combat. So before every fight you have to know what skills you are going to be need in that fight. Say you select your fire attack, and end up fighting a creature with a resistance to fire. You have a frost attack too, but you didn't slot it because your crystal ball is in the shop being polished. So now you cannot use a skill you have, when you need it most?

Or am I understanding it wrong?

TBH, the more I read about the classes and skills, the less and less this looks and feels like an Elder Scrolls game. The more and more I feel like I would not like actually playing it at all, even if it was a single player game.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 1 2015, 06:00 PM

Yes, that’s how I read it, too. So if for example Jerric had a hotbar with frost magic as his ranged attack and found himself in combat with something that was frost resistant, he could switch to his backup hotbar by switching weapons mid-combat but not stop to load something different to replace the frost staff in his first hotbar until the fight was over.

To be honest there’s not a thing I find appealing about the combat system. I wouldn’t touch this game if it wasn’t Tamriel. It’s just a matter of what I’m willing to put up with so I can see some new areas and possibly some day actually meet up with friends.

I also had a thought about the animations. I’ve noticed that everyone seems to keep up with the group, and there’s sort of an odd hopping look to the running characters. So if Lil is as short petite as she should be, will she make tremendous leaps while running to keep pace with her long-legged companions?

In the beginning of the game you have 5 "hot keys" (and one ultimate) that you can add any spells that need activating (like destruction, conjuration, healing, shield, stealth enhancing spells, etc.

The skill points you use in your hot bar are more like perks and/or spells. You have the skills and abilities, these are just special bonus powers earned that you have chosen to place your skill point on.

They are accrued just like the article Grits's link described; your skill grows but in addition you gain about one skill point per level up in normal gameplay (just like getting one perk on leveling up in Fallout games).

Well, when you reach level (5 or 10, I don't know which) they add another hot bar with 5 more hot keys and another Ultimate power.

You can switch between hot bars on the fly - so you can add all your destruction on one and healing on the other; or all your mage skills on one and all your archery or melee skills on the other; etc.

It gives you a way to keep your special powers organized, and is extremely quick to switch between them, my friend was showing me his character switching back and forth repeatedly in split seconds from one hot bar to the other.

This is where you put your most powerful spell weapons, but some of your passive skills can affect everything about your combat; so these may be passive but you want to place them on your bar so they can be cast with the other spells as you cast them.

Example: There is one heavy armor passive that changes the shield value of every piece of equipment you are wearing and creates a force field around you in combat. Well, you have to be level 22 to use a skill point to gain this perk, and I'm at level 3 in Heavy Armor; so I have to wear at least one piece of heavy armor in my adventures till my heavy armor skill reaches level 22 and then I am getting that perk. After that, I don't have to wear heavy armor anymore, but I will always have that perk.

Each skill you have has its own leveling bar with a number in front of it - that number and bar tells you where you are in that particular skill and how close you are to leveling up in that particular skill (just like in Oblivion skill pages, only in ESO each skill has its own little window to view its stats).

You can raise these skills by doing the skill; and that has nothing to do with the hot bar - that hot bar is just for using special bonus perks you have gained (and selected yourself) to add to you combat bag of tricks.







Changing weapons is very quick and easy, I watched my friend change repeatedly back and forth from a frost staff to an axe in split seconds.

On the running and jumping - I think they are showing off, my son did that a lot in Oblivion too. You have to hit the space bar to jump, so they are doing that deliberately.

One thing I have noticed and I don't know what I'm doing to cause it is - sometimes Misa goes into a running tumble/summersault type of thing - like they had in Oblivion, but this one is forward instead of side to side.

I know I am the one causing it, but don't know what I am pressing that is doing it.

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Oh, I see the line you are talking about in that article:




What he is talking about here is in setting up the different perks and spells on your hot bar - you won't be able to stop in the middle of battle and change that.

When you level up you get the opportunity to spend your leveling up point on whatever attribute you want first (Magicka, Health, or Stamina); then you have a skill point given to select a perk you want in one of your skill sets.

By leveling up you will have unlocked some new perks in each skill that you have used and gained skill in (that skill bar I was talking about above this post).

So you go over all your skills and see which perks have been opened up for selection by you - and you choose which one you want best (just like in Fallout/Skyrim games, except the UI Screen looks different).

Now your hot key bar holds 5, you have to have reached level 5 to fill all those slots since you only get one per level up. But you can have any combination of these powerful spells in those slots.

These are special tricks you have that give you an advantage in combat. The ones you choose to hot key are the ones that you feel like suit your combat style at any time, like if you are a mage/archer you will probably want some better destruction perks attached to your mage staff weapon and weapon based perks attached to your bow.

Mage stuff: I got 4 mage staffs before leaving Cold Harbour just by killing beasts in that river: One is lightning, one is frost, one is fire, and one is healing. I also found three greatswords, an axe, and a maul.

Well, I'm level 4 now, so I got four skill points to distribute when I leveled up. I put two into destruction magic (one from Aedric Spear and one from Dawn's Wrath), one into a 2-handed weapon perk; and one into an armor perk. I have another slot left for when I level up next, and an opening for an ultimate whenever I get skilled enough to get one.

You are always playing with your skills, these are just bonus perks that enhance your abilities when facing stronger opponents. I haven't actually even hit a hot key yet, but intend to try these spells out - not just to see them in action; but like in the Fallout games = the more you use a skill the more perk options will be unlocked for you to choose from.


And as you grow and learn more, you may decide different perks may work better for you; so when you aren't in combat you may want to change over one you have selected for your hot bar to a different choice.

But soon you get your second hot bar, and then you can have all of your perks up to 10 plus 2 Ultimates - then you may want to sift through them and if you see one you didn't use as much or didn't work for your particular style - when you are sorting out and organizing your bar you may decide to switch it out if you have more than 10 to choose from.

The hot bar is no different than using hot keys in Oblivion - you only had like 8 hot keys there.

Here you have 5 to begin with, (plus an ultimate power hot key); and then soon you will have 10 hot keys (and two Ultimate power hot keys) to work with.

I think in that article that they didn't explain it clearly (1) and (2) = that article was written on info before the game was released, he mentions or alludes to that several times in the article.



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This post has been edited by mALX: Jun 1 2015, 08:07 PM

sounds like pretty standard MMORPG set up, what with the hotkeys and stuff. Near identical to the way Guild Wars 2 does things from the way you're describing it.

It'll be interesting to see how that carries over to consoles. It'll be difficult to have fast-paced combat if I keep having to bring up a skill menu like in Skyrim.

As for chat, it's not something I ever use. Consoles will almost certainly have the voice chat, but some console MMO's like Warframe have a chat log too. Given the time it takes to type anything on a console I think it's a bit pointless, but hey ho.

Hopefully player housing will be implemented soon. It's something that other MMORPG's have been doing for ages. I'll be very disappointed if Haa-Rei can't get a cosy cottage in Black Marsh at some point in the future

I heard Player houses are on the horizon, I hope so too!

But in Oblivion I can use any spell I want to at any time, whether or not I have a hot key assigned to it. My impression of ESO is that unless it is in that hotbar I cannot use it.

And I need to have a Restoration Staff just to heal myself, and a different Destruction staff for every element? Oh hell no! This is what I mean about it not feeling like an Elder Scrolls game. It is some other game that stole the Elder Scrolls setting.

If this was a single player game, I could mod all this out. But that is not an option. That is what really kills this game for me.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Jun 1 2015, 09:35 PM

Let me research that and find out, because I think spells are different than hot keys - the hot keys might just be used to change spells on the fly just like they were in Oblivion, or they may be totally separate and you have to access them like in Skyrim - I don't know.

All I know is that the way to switch between the hot key pads is to change your weapon to the one bound to the other hot key pad.


Oh, I found this on Nexus and have needed something like this = the key to keyboard and mouse controls:



http://www.nexusmods.com/elderscrollsonline/images/279/?



Thanks, BadGremlin for posting that on Nexus!

Oh, while researching it I came across this helpful tidbit on using QuickSlots for healing Potions/etc::




http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/di...pictorial-guide








This post has been edited by mALX: Jun 1 2015, 10:34 PM

Okay, here is an Enchanting Guide:



http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/di...e-need-to-knows