The Elder Scrolls Online

[Harkonan]

So I've been hearing ESO has drastically improved since it's release and is arguably the best MMORPG out right now. Anyone played recently or playing right now?

I typically can't get into these larger MMOs but I'm in desperate need for another game til Raids in Division 2. Figured it would be worth the money even if I only muster 30-50 hours in game.
Kinda dig that it emphasizes all world exploring over a simple linear quest or exploration tree. Plus vampires and werewolves?

Question becomes do I grab that base game when it goes on sale for $9.99 again, or do I jump in head first and grab the $59.99 package which includes the base expansions plus pre-release of the new expansion coming in a few months.

 

[Lorddarthvik]

So I've been hearing ESO has drastically improved since it's release and is arguably the best MMORPG out right now. Anyone played recently or playing right now?

I typically can't get into these larger MMOs but I'm in desperate need for another game til Raids in Division 2. Figured it would be worth the money even if I only muster 30-50 hours in game.
Kinda dig that it emphasizes all world exploring over a simple linear quest or exploration tree. Plus vampires and werewolves?

Question becomes do I grab that base game when it goes on sale for $9.99 again, or do I jump in head first and grab the $59.99 package which includes the base expansions plus pre-release of the new expansion coming in a few months.

When I tried it about a year or two ago, it was kinda lackluster. It did have a huge open world, with lots of items, houses, mobs and npcs thrown around in the starting area, but no clear direction or much to do apart from the usual grind x mobs quests. It was overwhelming, with no direction, and even though the zone around me was populated, it felt hollow and empty soemhow.
I do want to give it another try though, I feel it deserves it, it just couldn't grab me first time around.
I'd suggest you go for the cheapest option first. This is a rather slow paced game, you will get plenty of playtime from the most basic package.

 

[Zookajoe]

I am currently playing. It is fun if you have a good group to run around and do things.

 

[Harkonan]

I am currently playing. It is fun if you have a good group to run around and do things.

Yeah, I think that's my biggest problem in large MMOs. I don't manage to find a fun group as easily, thus end up soloing. So I end up playing out the story or maxing out my character and quitting because I'm not emotionally invested ... at all.

Prime example was Atas. For the first month of the game I was heavily invested with fellow TEST members ... over 500 hours ... yes, 500 in a month. Once pretty much everyone quit and I was in the middle of a move, I just wasn't invested any longer. Started making excuses as to why I shouldn't play any longer (500 hours in a month being one of them ... oof)

 

[Zookajoe]

Being able to be in up to five guilds at the same time. Think it is five. Makes it easier to get a group usually, there is always something going on somewhere.

 

[Harkonan]

Being able to be in up to five guilds at the same time. Think it is five. Makes it easier to get a group usually, there is always something going on somewhere.

I imagine finding a group with discord can help a lot as well. The last time I played a large MMORPG, guilds using discord wasn't really the norm. I assume it's probably much more common now.

 

[Ganji]

As part of Champion point 700+ club, represent!
It's good, only game i have been subbing non stop for like 1-2 years now i think.
Some really good features in game.
The way i see it, it's way better game then wow. Great thing about it, is there is no item levels or level cap increases, only OP thing you have in game is champion points, that you get by getting exp after getting to max level ( like paragon points in Diablo3 )

 

[Harkonan]

As part of Champion point 700+ club, represent!
It's good, only game i have been subbing non stop for like 1-2 years now i think.
Some really good features in game.
The way i see it, it's way better game then wow. Great thing about it, is there is no item levels or level cap increases, only OP thing you have in game is champion points, that you get by getting exp after getting to max level ( like paragon points in Diablo3 )

How many hours of solo grind content do you think there is in ESO? I realize end game is probably very much guild-centric, as with most games. But can you easily put in like 30-50 hours into ESO just following the story and grinding lvls/gear on your own?

 

[Zookajoe]

Heh, not really a solo grind, but you can do Dolmens for fast leveling. Grinding Dolmens may get boring, but from 1-50, still about the fastest way to go. There are two areas that pretty much have a non-stop Dolmen groups going, these are Auridon and Alkir. Frankly, questing is faster, and you get decent drops. BUT for just grinding through the levels, Dolmens can work with a minimum of traveling about.

OR

To answer your question...about 6 hours according to this guy.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7nU6WnxvtI

 

[Harkonan]

To answer your question...about 6 hours according to this guy.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7nU6WnxvtI

That character looks pretty badass.

6 hours of power leveling probably equates to nearly 30 hours of "casual grinding" and random events ... so not too bad.

 

[Ganji]

How many hours of solo grind content do you think there is in ESO? I realize end game is probably very much guild-centric, as with most games. But can you easily put in like 30-50 hours into ESO just following the story and grinding lvls/gear on your own?

There are way to many story quests, and they are all voiced. If you gonna do them all, it will take you hundreds of hours imo.
You have ~1000 quests in vanilla game, and then you have all the DLC content on top of that.

 

[Harkonan]

Ended up grabbing the Elsweyr Standard Edition Pre-order. Greenmangaming had it for $51.59 (%15 off) ... seems like the best value since it comes with the base game, all chapters, and some nice pre-order bonus items.

Almost grabbed the deluxe but I feel like I'll use the Elswery pre-order bonus items more than the past bonus items. Gamesplanet has the Deluxe edition for the best price I could find ($67.99), which isn't all that bad if you want all the old bonus items.

Downloading now

 

[Lonewollf]

i played at launch...was quite fun...had a few like minded gamers playing with me in my guild....then we all got the real life virus, and went separate ways...

for a casual (need free time) gamer...it's hard to play mmo's anymore because pug groups are idiots...populated guilds require some sort of commitment...and casual guilds are too lazy to help out when help is needed....so I stopped playing all together...now if I played the game again, I would probably have to re-roll a new character just to find out what I was doing, and re-learn the basics

 

[Lorddarthvik]

Dammit, all this talk of how good TESO is made me want to play it lol

I'll be starting a new character cos I can't remember anything about the game mechanics.

Only problem is I have about 30gigs of space left combined on all 4 of my hard drives, and I sure as hell won't delete Star Citizen lol
Also trying to raise our new little pilot to become a proper aurora crasher by the time SC goes live in like 5 years, this leaves me with even less free time than free disk space (but this one I don't mind at all)
Added to to-do list: buy more hard drives!
Also added: get more free time!
Also added: get even more beer!

 

[DorianSkyphire]

I returned to ESO a few weeks ago, after nearly 4.5 years out. It's much more enjoyable than it was, and I'm def spending more time in it, than any other game right now.

 

[August]

Is there actually a strong story and single-player experience?

 

[Harkonan]

Played a little earlier ... so far, so good. The initial spawn area (where you go to the tower) was visually stunning.
Seems like the game will set you on the most recent quest line (Summerset?). Figured it would start you at base game .....

Plan to start grinding tomorrow morning after the runt gets on the bus.

 

[Harkonan]

Is there actually a strong story and single-player experience?

Depends on how you envision that question. The story isn't as linear as say a Diablo, where you get a cutscene, then hit a dungeon, followed by another cutscene.
But it very much sends you on quest lines that tell a story. The amount of lore and story in this game is insane from what I hear.

Something very appreciative is the fact that the NPCs/Quest givers are all voice acted and well done.
Also, every time you create a new character you will see things and do quests that you never experienced with your last character.
That in itself is very cool and adds a high level of non-repetitive replay value that not all MMORPGs offer.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhb8SADOWOE

 

[Harkonan]

So here are some cons for me personally so far:

Performance - I can admit this one is a bit ticky tacky and might be different for others. FPS in this game is all over place. You can literally go from 120 to 60 in a blink of an eye for no real apparent reason. Obviously MMOs tend to be CPU heavy and depending on other variables (like more people entering a zone) can cause FPS to suffer. Overall this doesn't really affect gameplay and I honestly wouldn't notice most dips if I wasn't monitoring the FPS ... rather just the dips which hit hard at certain times. (I'm running an i7 4770k @ 4ghz, 16GB RAM, and a RTX 2060 OC'd for reference)

Graphics - The world itself is fantastic to look at but even on the highest settings at 1080p there are a lot of pixelated edges. The only way to solve this for me was to use DSR and bump the resolution to 4k artificially. Game looks nice and grisp after that and performance is still plenty good. Still, you would think 1080p on ultra settings would eliminate almost all edge pixelation, just as it does it almost all games.

Navigation - I'm sure you get use to the navigation style of the game, but having to constantly tab into my map to see where I am and where I need to go is a bit annoying to a new player. I'm not sure why they chose to go with an "icon compass" style navigator as opposed to a mini-map ... seems a bit silly.

Inventory/Storage Space - Running out of personal inventory space so quickly due to the sheer amount of crafting materials you are able to gather is a bummer. Between buying backpack upgrades, feeding your mount, and upgrading your bank I feel they have made inventory space over-complex. In truth, I can't help but think this is by design ... to sell their eso+ subscription. I was deconstructing items just to make room for new ones by lvl 3. That's a bit excessive ....


When I put the kiddo to sleep tonight I'm going to watch the 3 hour Complete Beginners Guide made by Dottz Gaming, as it has become quickly apparent that there's simply a lot of information people really should know as they begin their ESO journey that the game doesn't really lead you through well or perhaps not even mention.

EDIT: I'm aware there are add-ons that solve some of the cons (Which in itself is a huge plus, addons are great) but my thoughts are based on the core game itself.

 

[Harkonan]

This game is beautiful ....