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

[Acadian]

But. . . but 'rocu. . . you don't need Steam to play it!

Actually what I like the most is that the sandbox is ever so much bigger than any single TES game and always changing. Oh, and having a whole staff of game techs to keep it running instead of trying to build and maintain a precarious mod/tweak/load order.

[mirocu]

Don´t really have any kind of problems with the mods or anything, but I see your point


The thing is, I only want one game to be my main game, preferrably anyway. In the olden days it was Star Wars: Rebellion, then it became Deus Ex for a few years. And after a brief playthrough of Doom 3 I found Oblivion which was like finding the Holy Grail and not only is that feeling still in me, it´s a neverending game and thus I can´t really ever see myself putting it down voluntarily. I don´t want to abandon Lothran´s game and I can´t re-create him in another game because that simply wouldn´t be him. That is why I have Karl in Morrowind and not Lothran.

Besides Oblivion I also keep Fallout 3 on an endless journey with Morrowind and Arena thrown in here and there. And there is also the matter of being off the grid. I love it when I´m here with all you guys but my need to be alone is still there and that means I want to game alone with me as the only real one in the game. It´s hard to explain.


Oh, come on. You all knew I was a weirdo when I signed up

[mALX]

Great to see more people playing the game - and playing together at that!

Bag and bank space can be a hassle at first, and it's worth getting a few upgrades for it. The only thing you need to store in your bank is crafting items. The way the game gives out loot as quest rewards and random drops) means that you also don't need to carry too much extra gear with you, unless it's something you really want to wear.

I have looked for Haa-Rei, but he shot past Misa in levels so fast that he ended up in areas very quickly that she couldn't get to.


Are you on the PC?







This post has been edited by mALX: Sep 6 2016, 05:00 PM

[Grits]

Acadian, the staggering size of this game is what drew me in. When I zoomed out on Jerric’s map and saw this, I knew he’d never let me leave until he’d walked over all of it. (That’s Coldharbour at 10 o’clock.)

I love that we have a group here who can meet in game. It’s a shame that my laptop is so creaky and fragile, I’d get ESO on PC just to hang out with you guys once in a while!

[mALX]

Great to see more people playing the game - and playing together at that!

Although I´m a single player kind of raven, admittedly it´s kinda cool to imagine playing directly together with people from these boards



But no, won´t happen anytime soon from my end

Acadian, the staggering size of this game is what drew me in. When I zoomed out on Jerric’s map and saw this, I knew he’d never let me leave until he’d walked over all of it. (That’s Coldharbour at 10 o’clock.)

I love that we have a group here who can meet in game. It’s a shame that my laptop is so creaky and fragile, I’d get ESO on PC just to hang out with you guys once in a while!

Now that you have played for a while - take another screenshot of that Tamriel map to see how much of that Jerric has seen so far! Misa's has the left and right filled up with Wayshrines; but the center is still open (possibly due to Cyrodiil only having two wayshrines she can access)

I so wish I could see Jerric fishing in game - I did look for him this past year, every time I saw a Nord guy fishing I went up and scanned for his name. It wasn't till just recently that I learned we couldn't play together from PC to console (or if I learned it before this, it didn't stick).

[haute ecole rider]

Acadian, the staggering size of this game is what drew me in. When I zoomed out on Jerric’s map and saw this, I knew he’d never let me leave until he’d walked over all of it. (That’s Coldharbour at 10 o’clock.)

I love that we have a group here who can meet in game. It’s a shame that my laptop is so creaky and fragile, I’d get ESO on PC just to hang out with you guys once in a while!

Come talk to me about Macs. ESO runs on Mac too, and though I haven't taken it out for a spin on the OS X side (my 2008 desktop Pro is currently in Win7 mode), I know that a good Mac lasts a long time.

Course, if you want a cheap mac, you won't be able to game on it. Gaming caliber laptops (the 15" MacBook Pro) starts at $2500, and the iMac version (27" Retina 5K) starts at $1800. My Mac Pro was 4K for the system back in 2008, and it's still the same today for the modern version.

So, yes, they're expensive. That's the only problem with them. Sometimes it's just cheaper to build your own gaming rig, but then it's a Win box.

[Grits]

I’m afraid I have a very small budget for my own computer due to kid expenses. We’re staring down the barrel of the college years. It will be as long as possible before I replace my laptop, and by then I will hopefully be able to run SSE on whatever machine I get. Until then I just enjoy the screenshots with awesome mods and ultra settings from you guys!

[Acadian]

Well, Buffy's Skyrim puter broke a few weeks ago and the attempt to clone over Skyrim's precarious and tempermental mod-tweaked installation to a new gaming rig did not work. So. . . faced with the tedium of trying rebuild our mod load, replete with utilities and painstaking tweaks, ini settings etc I just couldn't muster the interest in doing that. Having been watching ESO for some time, I decided it was a great opportunity to give that a try and fell hard and fast in love. The bad news is no mods (except interface ones). The good news is the devs put so darn much thought into things that mods are arguably not required. Also even better news is that I now have a whole team at Zenimax dedicated to keeping my game running.

This post has been edited by Acadian: Sep 6 2016, 06:37 PM

[haute ecole rider]

Ouch! I've been talking to parents a lot lately about college expenses - back in the day I thought 10 grand/year was outrageous. And that was for a private college!

I hear you about being on a tight budget. I bought my Mac Pro back when I had the $$ - if it fails today, I doubt I could even afford to replace it.

We'll just have to post a lot of screenies for you, then, Grits!

[Grits]

Yikes, Acadian! That is real incentive to dive in and not look back. I’m so glad you and Buffy love this new version of Tamriel.

haute, thanks! I would love to see screenies when you guys get together.

[haute ecole rider]

Mazul is moseying around Daggerfall, working on her crafting, and completing her certs and writs in blacksmithing, woodworking and clothiering. She's already found a couple of Skyshards around Daggerfall, and is working on gathering maple and iron ore.

Recently she gained the ore/wood seeker perk, which causes the maple and the iron ores to glow when she comes close to them. It's especially helpful with the maple, which is hard to see in Glenumbra.

She and Julian have met up in the bank and started using the vault to transfer items. Julian has decided to work on provisioning, and Mazul will focus on blacksmithing and woodworking for now. Julian may also want to take on Alchemy, but at this point neither of them have started using potions much (come to think of it, I've never used potions all that much in all my games).

Julian found herself one of the Undaunted, but is wondering if that is a better fit for Mazul. At this point neither of them are ready for group dungeons, so the FG mission in Spindleclutch is on hold at the moment. She is part of the FG and the MG, and it looks like she is leaning more toward the MG quest line at this point.

Mazul has already had a couple of surprising interactions with other players. Acadian knows of the one on Stros M'Kai, where Mazul is strolling along Bzthark looking for the second focus crystal. Another player runs up, comes to a stop, then does kind of a herky-jerky dance around her. Then we get a blue message in the chat window. Took Mazul and me a few seconds to realize that this PC that is moving around so oddly in front of her is the one trying to talk to us. And the message was "How do you walk like that?"

Mazul bit back a sarcastic remark "You put one foot in front of the other, that's how." when I realized the other player was trying to figure out how to make his PC walk like Mazul. Mazul told him how I mapped a key to the Walk/Run toggle, and that I use the CAPS LOCK key for that. He (the PC) was like "Gee, thanks!" then just kind of stood there. I suspect the player was trying to figure out how to get to the controls. I noticed he was Level 17, while Mazul was still Level 3. Anyway, Mazul walked away, and I sent a final whisper "Have a nice day, sir."

And today Mazul was exploring the countryside around Daggerfall when an Elf whispered to us on the chat "Another RP'r?" Mazul nearly shook her head and muttered "Elves." But I said "no, not really. First time playing an Orc char, that's all." The Elf said "Cool, the name is pretty lore-friendly." Both Mazul and I were pleased by the compliment, Mazul because she has a real Orc name, ("Gods' Goolies!") and me that I could almost pass for a member of a certain group of players. Both of us said "thanks!"

So already I'm getting the feel for the chat and whispering and experiencing a couple of unexpected encounters with other folks. Pretty cool, huh?

[Grits]

That’s neat, haute! I have had so few negative interactions with players that I can’t even think of one right now. Sounds like Julian’s team is coming along nicely. I’m glad you’re having fun in Stros M’Kai! Jerric travels there on fishing trips pretty regularly.

There’s a way to use a keyboard with the PS4, but I don’t have one. I’ve seen characters with talk bubbles above their heads roleplaying in Davon’s Watch. That would work better for me than having my lady voice coming out of Jerric’s mouth over the mic, lol.

[Lopov]

I enjoyed reading through this thread, delving through your thoughts, impressions and occasional problems.

I've started playing ESO before 10 days and for now I clocked in 25 hours. I have a feeling that after every game session is over, I'm liking this game more and more.

As I told Renee the other day, I like it that you need to accept the game, for what it is. No mods whatsoever. This bothered me on the first and second day, because being used to mods, I wanted to change some things, but later on I was actually glad that I need to play the game as such and not preoccupy myself with mods.

Leveling up seemed overwhelming at first, but now I already like all the "numbers", because it's an approach more similar to my first DnD games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale.

Of course, the graphics are great, and the quests are interesting as well. Most quests for now seem very linear and ready for good-aligned characters only, which is okay for now, but it might make things difficult, if I wanted to roleplay someone evil - but I don't intend to do it anytime soon.

My biggest fear was that other players would bother me, but in fact they don't bother me at all. There are some places where I feel like I'm soloing and others, when there are so many of them around that the area feels crowded because of them, and it's a nice feel. Sometimes it slightly bothers me if there are too many of them in the same dungeon, but sometimes I wish more of them were around, especially if fighting some powerful foe. I only interacted with two gamers - one of them on the Bleakrock Isle asked me about sky shards and I revealed him their locations. Later on he asked me some more questions, but by now he already seems seasoned enough and doesn't ask me anything anymore. The second interaction was when I got a message that I automatically declined a duel with some guy on the Bleakrock Isle. Oh, there was another, a silent interaction. Some guy and me teamed up together in a mine. We didn't talk or anything but it was obvious that we were doing it 'together' - he'd wait for me and I'd wait for him if any of us stayed behind. After we beat the boss and took some quest-related item, necessary to progress the quests, I played the "clap" animation on him, but he was already sprinting away, so I don't think he saw it.

My only 'down' moment was when my character got beaten over and over by the giant mudcrab at Stonefalls but then I didn't know that it's a boss-like creature and so I thought that I suck at fighting. An unpleasant thought, especially after being used to almost not dying in TES or Fallout. Apart from that mudcrab, my character died only three times. The first time on Bleakrock Isle, after I sent him against a group of bandits, feeling way too confident. The second time it was my wife's fault - she came in the living room and started talking just when I was in a middle of combat against some Convenant soldiers. I alt-tabbed out of the game, convinced that I stopped the game, and when I later alt-tabbed back in the game, I saw that we were beaten for good. The third time it was my fault, because I didn't yet understand how hotkeys work so my character got killed by some powerful ghost. Once revived, I knew how to use hotkeys, the ghost stood no chance. I had some close-to-death moments and there will be plenty more for sure.

Today it happened for the first time that I noticed that my character was in the same area as another player's character - Acadian's Buffy. It felt special, not knowing if we're very close or very apart. All in all, Grahtwood wasn't full of players, but I checked all which passed us, in case one of them would be Buffy.

The last thing - I have yet to meet another player beside me that's walking. I'm not walking always and everywhere, but I always walk inside towns and sometimes inside dungeons too. When on a horse, I sometimes let it walk or run, it depends. But I haven't yet met anyone else that'd walk.

I can see myself staying in the world of ESO for a long time.

This post has been edited by Lopov: Oct 17 2019, 10:48 PM

[Acadian]

Lopov, so glad you are enjoying ESO. You've been playing long enough now I think to get a feel for whether you like it or not and it's great that you do. I agree that there is a great deal to many aspects of it, including all the factors that go into cranking out solid damage while sustaining your resources and healthbar.

Buffy runs when on foot way more than walking but she quite often rides Superian at a walk.

Some of the quests have decision points that you have to choose. The choice you make usually does not have significant impact beyond roleplaying. Often it is when you capture the bad guy and your quest giver wants to kill them. You will often get a chance to basically say, 'Go for it!' or 'Nah, let's take him to the magistrate for justice instead of vengeance'.

Regarding world bosses (WB) (like that big mudcrab in Stonefalls), most of them have 1.8 million hitpoints. You should have your options set to show enemy healhbars to include how many hp they have - that is very helpful in knowing what you are facing. DLC WB tend to be notably harder than alliance zone WB. With time, practice and study, a fair number of high level experienced characters (like Buffy) can solo most of the alliance zone WBs but that took her a couple years, a couple thousand hours and many hundreds of champion points (CP), gold gear, etc to get there.

[mALX]

I enjoyed reading through this thread, delving through your thoughts, impressions and occasional problems.

I've started playing ESO before 10 days and for now I clocked in 25 hours. I have a feeling that after every game session is over, I'm liking this game more and more.

As I told Renee the other day, I like it that you need to accept the game, for what it is. No mods whatsoever. This bothered me on the first and second day, because being used to mods, I wanted to change some things, but later on I was actually glad that I need to play the game as such and not preoccupy myself with mods.

Leveling up seemed overwhelming at first, but now I already like all the "numbers", because it's an approach more similar to my first DnD games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale.

Of course, the graphics are great, and the quests are interesting as well. Most quests for now seem very linear and ready for good-aligned characters only, which is okay for now, but it might make things difficult, if I wanted to roleplay someone evil - but I don't intend to do it anytime soon.

My biggest fear was that other players would bother me, but in fact they don't bother me at all. There are some places where I feel like I'm soloing and others, when there are so many of them around that the area feels crowded because of them, and it's a nice feel. Sometimes it slightly bothers me if there are too many of them in the same dungeon, but sometimes I wish more of them were around, especially if fighting some powerful foe. I only interacted with two gamers - one of them on the Bleakrock Isle asked me about sky shards and I revealed him their locations. Later on he asked me some more questions, but by now he already seems seasoned enough and doesn't ask me anything anymore. The second interaction was when I got a message that I automatically declined a duel with some guy on the Bleakrock Isle. Oh, there was another, a silent interaction. Some guy and me teamed up together in a mine. We didn't talk or anything but it was obvious that we were doing it 'together' - he'd wait for me and I'd wait for him if any of us stayed behind. After we beat the boss and took some quest-related item, necessary to progress the quests, I played the "clap" animation on him, but he was already sprinting away, so I don't think he saw it.

My only 'down' moment was when my character got beaten over and over by the giant mudcrab at Stonefalls but then I didn't know that it's a boss-like creature and so I thought that I suck at fighting. An unpleasant thought, especially after being used to almost not dying in TES or Fallout. Apart from that mudcrab, my character died only three times. The first time on Bleakrock Isle, after I sent him against a group of bandits, feeling way too confident. The second time it was my wife's fault - she came in the living room and started talking just when I was in a middle of combat against some Convenant soldiers. I alt-tabbed out of the game, convinced that I stopped the game, and when I later alt-tabbed back in the game, I saw that we were beaten for good. The third time it was my fault, because I didn't yet understand how hotkeys work so my character got killed by some powerful ghost. Once revived, I knew how to use hotkeys, the ghost stood no chance. I had some close-to-death moments and there will be plenty more for sure.

Today it happened for the first time that I noticed that my character was in the same area as another player's character - Acadian's Buffy. It felt special, not knowing if we're very close or very apart. All in all, Grahtwood wasn't full of players, but I checked all which passed us, in case one of them would be Buffy.

The last thing - I have yet to meet another player beside me that's walking. I'm not walking always and everywhere, but I always walk inside towns and sometimes inside dungeons too. When on a horse, I sometimes let it walk or run, it depends. But I haven't yet met anyone else that'd walk.

I can see myself staying in the world of ESO for a long time.

The walking in this game is usually done when someone is roleplaying the game. I have my "walk" toggled to the number 7 key so I can run when busy or in a group (to keep up with them) - or walk when relaxing and just immersing myself into the game; the quest I'm on, (etc).

Oh, there was another, a silent interaction. Some guy and me teamed up together in a mine. We didn't talk or anything but it was obvious that we were doing it 'together' - he'd wait for me and I'd wait for him if any of us stayed behind.

This happens A LOT in this game; two people just helping each other through a dungeon. Usually an older and more experienced Player who sees a younger Player will stick with them to keep them healed; shield them; or help them beat the bosses; etc. That right there is what made me love this game when I first started playing it.

I usually do the /cheer emote after beating a boss; but I'm usually not fast enough typing it for the others to hear it, lol.

Another thing I loved that you mentioned was knowing a friend was in the same Province as you; and wondering if you might see them. It was so surprising to me that I actually recognized Grits's Jerric on sight one day when we were both crafting in Davon's Watch; and once I was in the Bank in Daggerfall and saw Haute's Julian walk in = and recognized her right away! I guess we have known each other's characters so long that they really are familiar to us!

If you ever want to play an evil character; what a lot of people do is to raise them up without the questing; just adventuring to get all the locations on their map and build up their skills. They can put skill points into "Ledgerdomain" to increase their thieving and pick-pocketing skills. They can hang out in the "Outlaw's Refuges" in every major town = places that abound with thieving/murdering types.

You can become a Vampire or a Werewolf if you want; or if you just want to be a drunken bum you can use an add-on (mod) to make your character act drunk; walk drunk; dance drunk; belch and puke a lot; etc.

Also; later on if you get the Plus membership or buy these DLC = you can join the Dark Brotherhood and get the "Blade of Woe," or join the Thieves Guild, or become a Necromancer with Elsweyr.

It is good to go through the game first and see what parts of it you will want to embrace for the type of character you want to make.

Also; don't ever discount the idea that a "good character" can get discouraged (or some other reason) and "turn bad." = that way they are already built up; and you know more about what you want out of them or what they are capable of.







This post has been edited by mALX: Oct 18 2019, 12:25 AM

[Lopov]

Some of the quests have decision points that you have to choose. The choice you make usually does not have significant impact beyond roleplaying. Often it is when you capture the bad guy and your quest giver wants to kill them. You will often get a chance to basically say, 'Go for it!' or 'Nah, let's take him to the magistrate for justice instead of vengeance'.

Just after I made this post, I logged in to finish some quest and I was given a choice, whether to destroy some item or keep it.

Another thing I loved that you mentioned was knowing a friend was in the same Province as you; and wondering if you might see them. It was so surprising to me that I actually recognized Grits's Jerric on sight one day when we were both crafting in Davon's Watch; and once I was in the Bank in Daggerfall and saw Haute's Julian walk in = and recognized her right away! I guess we have known each other's characters so long that they really are familiar to us!

It'll happen to me in the future, I'm sure of it. I wouldn't recognize all of them by looks, but by name definitely.

[Renee]

I am reading this thread, since I am proudly a noob now.

For me, first impressions were months of frustration, followed by a couple of hours of INSTANT addiction. I had to force myself to go to bed last night; otherwise I could have easily played until 3 in the morning.

But my first impression ever since May was frustration / ragequitting. Because I use Xbox controllers and they have to be set up a certain way, otherwise I'll never get used to playing any game. I've used the same buttons (attack / jump / sheathe / crouch, etc.) ever since the first Tomb Raider, which I played long ago in 2000. ESO gives the option for three standard templates which configure controllers to have some mouse/key functions, but me personally, I need everything customized.

So basically, if anybody else out there has trouble with controllers PM me. I've seen it all.

Last night my first impressions were exhilleration (however it's spelled) but also confusion. There's a LOT going on with all the menus and functions. That'll take awhile to get used to.

My game runs on High settings at best. My memory card (GTX 760, which was state-of-the-art back in 2013 but now it's ancient) was cooking along at 75 degrees C with this setting, so that's as high as I want to go! By default the game put me on Low settings though.

Lopov has told me he doesn't really roleplay (or at least in the same way as in SP games) but for me, I can't help but instantly start falling into old habits. My character runs a lot because of the opening quests, but also walks along here and there too. She sits down. She ponders her new world.

For now, Halloween is tonight and so it's going to take some Willpower to NOT play this game tonight!

[RaderOfTheLostArk]

Renee, you're in the game now??? Although it sounds like you actually have tried it before, but I was under the impression you had never played it before. Did I just forget?

In any case, welcome! You should join our guild meeting tomorrow if you can make it.

This post has been edited by RaderOfTheLostArk: Oct 31 2019, 03:18 PM

[Renee]

Renee, you're in the game now???

Yes! I bought the game back in April or May. But only got stuff configured (finally) yesterday, though believe me I've been trying to get my controller set up all summer, here and there.

Tomorrow is Halloween and so that means I'll be busy with that. My child is 16 now. She no longer gets dressed up, but I still have to participate with the neighborhood watch and so on. But believe me, I'm wanting to play tomorrow, hardcore! Maybe if y'all are still in your meeting after 10 pm or so...

This post has been edited by Renee: Oct 31 2019, 04:59 PM

[Acadian]

By my clock, today is Halloween - Thursday, October 31. Perhaps you and your daughter are celebrating tomorrow (Fri) so it is not a school night?) Guild meeting is tomorrow at 5PM CST (Maryland time, lol). More info about the guild and such in the Guild Discussion thread in this same subforum.