Impressions of ESO By New Players, The Good, the Awesome, the Bad - your opinions. Options

[mALX]

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This thread is for everyone to post their impressions after playing ESO; what they liked, anything that might be improved, etc.

These first posts are being transferred from the "What I am Playing" thread; so bear with the first posts please, lol.



My son started in on ESO tonight. So far it is looking Awesome! A bit confusing, because I was having trouble figuring out who was a Player and who was an NPC - well, some were working so I knew they were NPC's; and some were running around madly, so I knew they were Players; but the ones walking or milling around - those I couldn't tell.

And some character came up and attacked my son's pet imp and then attacked my son for no reason - in the middle of a town. Neither my son or I could figure out if it was an NPC or some crazed player. My son finally killed him because the guy wouldn't leave him alone; and there was nothing on his body to indicate if it was Player or NPC! (So still don't know, lol).

Right now he is still just trying to figure out what the/his objectives are.

All the conversations are run in a small box on the left of the screen, and the print on the conversations is so tiny I can't read it - my son can't read it either, it is that small.

But the game itself - the graphics and sheer size of it is AWESOME! The characters are lifesized, the ships really look like ships and not small replicas. It is an amazing game so far!

My son has played online a LOT before, so he will orient himself a lot quicker than I will be able to - but for right now he is playing solo.

I am seriously considering sneaking on while he is at work and starting a character in the Ebonheart just to try it out, .



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You can't get to Cyrodiil till you reach a very high level, it is blocked completely before then. And yes, Cyrodiil is the only Player VS Player (from what I heard it is a massive battleground there, Alliance VS Alliance - which means I'll never want to go there, lol).


Never having played online before - I wanted to go solo. My allies don't fare well in melee with my characters, I hit the wrong people with both weapons and healing magic.

My son said that online game is all about creating a small group of friends who each have a needed skill set to ensure the group survives and prospers. "Tanks" take the damage for the group (Orcs/heavy armor); the healer keeps everyone fighting; etc. As a group you strategically plan the battles and how best to defeat the enemies.

The enemies are leveled to be powerful enough to be a challenge for a group of players; and I don't know if their level drops based on the numbers in the attack. If it does, then playing solo would work very well; but I don't know if it does or not.

My son said that even the best multiplayer game in the world is only half as good if you try to play it solo, for him the group adds tremendously to the experience.

But for me, I want to play it solo till I feel very comfortable with the game - then maybe just one or two close friends, no group of strangers.




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Well, I played the whole first section of - the tutorial dungeon. There were several really tough fights that I have yet to figure out what I did right to win.

The tough enemies dropped excellent loot such as enchanted weapons and armor - I just need to figure out how to equip it now, and find my inventory!

I made the stupid mistake of creating my character with no gear! I was looking at her body in the bikini and forgot to redress her! So I'm doubly relieved that I made it out of Coldharbour alive - and beat Molag Bal's minion in a boss battle to do it!

Unfortunately, I walked into the firepit in Indoril Manor and can't figure out how to jump out; so I exited the game to find out.

My impression of the game so far = it reminds me VERY strongly of the game "Fate" except with tremendous graphics and other people running around.

(I think the game "Fate" is a quasi version of the game "Fable;" but I haven't ever played Fable so don't know for sure if that is accurate). Fate is usually found prepackaged in the games folder of new computers with Windows OS's.


The feel of it is much closer to Morrowind than any other TES game I've played. When you escape the dungeon and reach the town you can go around and talk to NPC's who have a white arrow over their heads - they have quests to give the player.

Oh, and if someone loots before you and an item is empty - wait a few seconds and try again, this place restocks VERY quickly.

If you are going to loot bodies, do it fast because they will disappear quickly as well. This place cleans itself up and resets very fast compared to World of Warcraft!

I accepted two quests, one is part of the main questline for my area (Ebonheart Pact, so whatever town that is - can't think of it right now).

Also, almost every key on your keyboard has a function, so I need to make myself a key to remember them all - but I think "M" is for Map.

If you walk up to another Player and hit "E" (which is the "Activate" key) - it opens up the option to Chat with them, trade with them, join their group, invite them to join your group.

(I found that out by accident while trying to get out of the fire pit).

It was really exciting, and if it turns out to be like Fate - I got so addicted to that game that the company called me on the phone and told me to get off the game because my free trial had ended and they were reluctant to shut me down in the middle of gameplay, lol.

So far all my impressions are good. Everyone I know that plays it has become very addicted to it, and has said it is everything Skyrim should have been - so far I'm really impressed.

The dungeon Coldharbor was huge and amazingly done. I am quite sure I left a bunch of loot behind in it.



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They have a tremendous range of ways to personalize your character: Age, hair style and color, height and weight, all the usual facegen we are used to in TES, face and body painting/tattoos, there are over 20 eye colors and shapes - very nice eyes. Even the neck/leg/arm/and hand sizes can be tweaked. And they have very decent hair that is clean and combed, unlike vanilla Skyrim.


A few things I found clunky:


Keys for certain functions are not where i am used to them being; like activate is E and spacebar is jump. That is exactly opposite of what I am used to.

And I am afraid to rekey the keyboard for this game like I did for other games because so many keys are used for something particular (I for inventory, M for Maps, O opens up your profile page showing your friends, for quick access to message them - etc)

Also messaging/using the chat box - since players can have up to 8 different characters, if you want to message a friend they ask you to name which character of theirs you want to get the message.

Well, the character's name has to be spelled exactly correct, and these are TES Lore names (get my drift? Lol). I was trying to message someone last night with a very long two part name, with my left hand not working and in game - couldn't do it.



OH! Another plus I discovered last night: no need for pose and animation mods, they are built in! Your character can do over 300 animations and poses right from the start just by keying them into the chat box = instant pose or animation!

There are numerous dances, numerous sits, sleeping, eating, drinking, drunk, playing musical instruments with varied songs, digging with a shovel, raking, waving, motioning to come here, etc, etc, etc - hundreds of them! AWESOME !!!!


And they also have all the craftings from Skyrim including smithing/alchemy/enchanting/cooking/etc.




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[Grits]

The drunken dancing stuff gives me an idea who my first character will be. Sounds like a lot of fun.