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Elder Scrolls: Online

On that note, OMG!

I adore a bow-wielding sorcerer. So. Much.

Open from stealth where possible. For single targets a heavy attack, followed by Mage's Fury. They usually go down by then. But if they don't, more Mage's Fury and light bow attacks if they aren't too tough. If they are tough, then while they are momentarily stunned from the heavy attack Crystal Blast (morphed to cause a big old explosion). Mage's Fury explodes if the enemy dies from using it. So that and Crystal Blast are both nice if there are more than one clustered together.

And if there are more than one, open from stealth with Volley (not yet morphed but would have likely gone with the fire damage upgrade) - because it takes a while for it to get to them and for them to realise where you are, you have time to immediately start the cast for Crystal Shard, which then explodes - lost of nice damage. Follow it (without even blinking) with Mage's Fury and it's like firework night. (It sounds really impressive, all these lightning attacks and 'splosions.)

Should anything get close then Scatter Shot (not morphed yet) is great to knock them away a little bit. My fifth ability is Venom Arrow, which I'm not using that much anymore tbh.

For my Ultimate I have Overload. I wasn't sure of the benefit of it to begin with, but then I faced those dremora churls and scamps in the anti-chamber on your way to Cheesemonger's Hollow - last time with my DK I was kiting around and around because it was awful! This time, I used Overload and everything just kind of melted. Just... I mean, it wasn't there anymore.

I could probably replace either Scatter Shot or Venom Arrow with something else, but I'm not sure what.

Made it to level 11, had skill points appearing all over the shop. Spent the last 30 mins or so going crazy farming those diseased villagers/peasants near Phaer - it was a lot of fun and I got insane amounts of loot - lots of greens too. Wayshrined it back to the city and deconstructed them and was able to improve both my robe and my bow to green with the tempers I got. Not that it matters because I've quit now XD

Yeah, I really, really like a sorcerer with a bow.
 
That sounds like fun :D Honestly too tired to try anything new at this point mind you, just trying to keep my eyes open til the end of the beta, then going to sleep for a day or so.

I wish there was some indication on armour what style (if any) it was - I made some really really nice looking heavy armour for my Dunmer and just wish I could remember what style I made it in. It was probably Dunmer, but can't really remember. Also I wouldn't make my Redguard's light armour pants again, she's quite well endowed in terms of posterior dimensions, and shiny pants are just not a good look for her.
 
You know what makes me sad?

The thought of losing my full 70 slot bank inventory. :(

The joy of stepping out of Coldharbour and heading straight to the forge to get yourself a spanking new set of gear, a nice weapon, then heading off to explore is wonderful.

Of course, it is nothing like the normal TES experience, but still :D

That said, you'll only need a few hours of game play exploring and harvesting in order to stock up your bank with enough materials to satisfy your first set of gear and the first sets of gear for another couple of characters.

Edit: I'd been questing for hours in Khenarthi's Roost, had some really nice gear I'd crafted myself, and was joining people on quests who were still in their Prisoner's Rags. I kept thinking, "OMG get thee to a clothier!"
 
(Epona please correct me on this stuff if I'm wrong)

The AD aren't really racist dicks - the altmer I assume you're talking about primarily. At this point in history they mostly fill a paternalistic role - they believe that a high elf would be better on the throne because they would be fair to everyone and rule better for everyone's sake, rather than trying to be all "we're totes superior to your shitty races." That (arguably) comes later. The queen's kinda awesome. Very nice, very understanding, kicks ass, not afraid of mucking in in a fight. Certainly not a racist dick. In fact, the early faction quest there has to do with opposing altmer who are racist dicks.

The Thalmor you meet in the game though - yeah, they're dicks. But it's like assessing the racist nature of all Germans based on what the SS were like.

The EP is really interesting. They probably have the most reason to hate each other, but are pragmatic enough to come together in the face of a common threat. I love one line from an argonian in Ebonheart when you finish a quest. I was a dark elf, I'm not sure if this is the same line for everyone (probably is), but the argonian said something like, "Look at that, dark elves and argonians working together! You'd almost think we had a pact or something." :D

I haven't played past the opening stages of Betnikh in the DC and haven't read anything about their story, so I don't know what their reasons or faction quests will be. It's my understanding they basically just want to gain trade routes or something? Maybe trade superiority? Not sure. That sounds pretty pragmatic as well.

One thing I find absolutely fascinating is the way that the alliance versus alliance versus alliance thing works on a storytelling level.

For example, you're in the EP and those nasty evil Covenant are attacking. Clearly the DC are fucking evil - they're the baddie. They're the monsters. They are killing and invading and being generally all round bad. You learn to hate the Covenant.

You start a character in the DC, and you guys are the good guys. I don't know how much contact you have with the storyline you're seeing in the EP, whether it's referenced at all, or whether you see something different entirely. But if they did touch on it I'm sure it would be in a way that made the Covenant appear absolutely as the logical good guys, and the EP as evil. You'd learn to hate the EP.

I mean, that's just fucking fascinating from a sociological and psychological standpoint. Isn't it? I can see some enterprising teacher somewhere or another using it as a learning tool to discuss empathy and bias, the difference between subjectivity and objectivity, etc.

I'm going to go full on reddit thread about this once I've learned more about how each alliance deals with encounters with the others. Maybe even write a piece on it.

It's not new in terms of MMOs, I'm sure. I wonder how it was dealt with in other games that have factions like this? WoW with the hoard and that other one (never played WoW!) for example. Is there a general implication that one is 'good' and one is 'bad' or are they both meant to be understandable from a subjective standpoint? I know in TOR it's set up to be, on the surface, a good/bad binary of the Republic and the Empire - but the storytelling in each of the class stories pulls that apart a bit more and you can start to see the grey that makes everything more muddy. (I really, really love the stories in TOR, it's just a shame that I ran out of steam with the gameplay - that plus the dev team and EA were making me grumpy - they're all available to watch on youtube though - best ones imo are Jedi Knight and Imperial Agent, Sith Warrior is good too though, and my Sith Warrior (marauder) was my favourite character out of all of those I played.)

I should read up a bit more on the background for ESO, because I really haven't so far. But on the other hand, I kind of want to let myself discover it all in game and read around once I start to have more of a feel of it for myself.
 
Vintage Paw said:
It's not new in terms of MMOs, I'm sure. I wonder how it was dealt with in other games that have factions like this? WoW with the hoard and that other one (never played WoW!) for example. Is there a general implication that one is 'good' and one is 'bad' or are they both meant to be understandable from a subjective standpoint?
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In WoW it's handled the same - within each faction, your 'side' is presented as being the good guys. The Horde, despite being the archetypal bad guys (orcs, goblins, trolls, undead) are still given an overall story arc that is largely positive. There are some really well-handled "both sides of the same story" questlines too; if you play an undead character, there's a really long storyline about dealing with werewolves rising up - you accompany your queen, join an invasion into their region, and put down the leadership. But if you play a worgen (werewolf) character, you see the other side of the same story - how the werewolf plague rose up and consumed the area, how your leaders tried to contain it and save everyone. You fight against the undead invasion, and eventually work with the leaders to get them out of the area (where they are killed by the undead queen). It's really well done.

I should read up a bit more on the background for ESO, because I really haven't so far. But on the other hand, I kind of want to let myself discover it all in game and read around once I start to have more of a feel of it for myself.
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There are two novels set in the Elder Scrolls universe by Greg Keyes. They're nothing special as far as fantasy books go, but it does give you more of a feel for the different races and locations.
 
That sounds fantastic. I really enjoy that kind of thing - wearing someone else's shoes. Man, you'd think with this stuff having been going on for years now that gamers in general would be a more empathic lot... and yet *shields her eyes from the pain*

I'll take a look at those novels. I've read Dragon Age and Mass Effect novels before, and they were - apart from one rather unfortunate ME book that must not be spoken about - pretty decently written (Drew Karparshyn and David Gaider (ME and DA respectively) are pretty good writers). Are the TES ones set around the time of ESO to give a background to it, or are they older (in terms of when they were written) and newer (in terms of lore chronology - if that makes any sense :D)?
 
Vintage Paw said:
Are the TES ones set around the time of ESO to give a background to it, or are they older (in terms of when they were written) and newer (in terms of lore chronology - if that makes any sense :D)?
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They're set about forty years after Oblivion, before Skyrim, so way after the time period in which ESO is set.
 
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I'm restless as anything today. Thinking about different build variations of the classes I enjoyed most and what abilities would be best to have slotted for solo and group play. Just want to test out some stuff now, this wait is going to do my head in.
 
After I've finished my work I'm going to go back and play some New Vegas - it's been a while and the quality of the ENB binary has moved on a lot since then. It should keep me busy.
 
I was in the middle of a Skyrim game but updated my nVidia drivers over the weekend to see if it stopped the occasional "your video driver has stopped responding" crash I was having in ESO (it did). Unfortunately Skyrim is now buggered with flickering textures and odd DoF effects that aren't as quick/responsive as they ought to be and I can't be arsed to sort it out, probably just need to find a more recent ENB than the one I am using but just not into it enough right at this moment to go looking for one. I might have calmed down a bit tomorrow :D

Meanwhile I am poring over ESO skill calculator. Having gone on a guild rampage in Cyrodil on Sunday night (low population campaign, clearing dungeons, finding Skyshards, closing Dark Anchors, tackling world bosses, and generally causing mayhem) has made me want a marginally different build (in terms of morphs and slotted abilities) for large group stuff.
 
Vintage Paw said:
So what is your build, Epona?
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Still haven't made an absolute final decision. But for playing in a group, I would have morphed Strife differently, to the morph that heals yourself and 2 closest allies - that can buy a healer who has a few balls in the air a few extra seconds of survivability for anyone in melee. Would have gone more heavily into Shadow Cloak to get out of situations where I start to pull aggro away from more tanky builds.

And make sure I have skills slotted to provide synergies for other players - synergies are bloody good, and if say I'm a DW NB going up close and personal against a world mega-boss or a high level Dark Anchor, it makes more sense in a group situation to have class skills slotted that your group can exploit (for their own benefit and to build up ultimate for players within the group quicker), rather than weapon skills that don't benefit the group as much. I can see myself slotting different things for solo and group play, just because of synergy which is of limited use when soloing (although someone else can exploit it if they happen to be running the same mob/boss), but come into their own if you are are always taking stuff on as a group. So you want the synergy exploitable skills ready for use. Of course you want some weapon skills slotted because they tend to use stamina so provide something useful to do when you are short on magicka (which the class skills tend to use) and waiting for it to regen, and also to keep your weapon skill leveling.

I think what I will do come launch for my group build is that 1st 3 skillpoints I get will go into each of the class lines, to get them started leveling as early as possible, because that's where the 'synergy starters' are.

Also for group play I may decide with my NB to have resto-staff as secondary weapon. We had a fairly large group, but it seems that with the plethora of choices people have in front of them, you may not have a good balance of healers, or the healers may be spreading themselves too thin in a large group in terms of magicka regen, so even if your primary role is dps, being able to switch to resto and help out with that to provide a bit of healing backup when needed (even if it is just switch out, use one or two heals, then switch back to primary weapons) may be extremely useful - at least in large group PvE.

Edit: I will also have builds more geared to solo questing. But having gone from 'I'm not really sure if I like multiplayer games' to 'let's do some guild activity, can't wait', it's definitely made me put more thought into builds that will be useful in a group situation.
 
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Epona said:
Also for group play I may decide with my NB to have resto-staff as secondary weapon. We had a fairly large group, but it seems that with the plethora of choices people have in front of them, you may not have a good balance of healers, or the healers may be spreading themselves too thin in a large group in terms of magicka regen, so even if your primary role is dps, being able to switch to resto and help out with that to provide a bit of healing backup when needed (even if it is just switch out, use one or two heals, then switch back to primary weapons) may be extremely useful - at least in large group PvE.
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How are you switching between weapons - do you mean a fast switch during combat, or just being able to swap stuff around in your character screen?
 
Buddy Bradley said:
How are you switching between weapons - do you mean a fast switch during combat, or just being able to swap stuff around in your character screen?
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At level 15 you get a second action bar, so you can fill it with a separate load out for a second weapon. You're able to switch it on the fly hitting a key (not sure which one because I've yet to make it to 15!). I'd expect most people will end up with at least one ranged weapon because of its use in Cyrodiil, but some might go with 2 melee, or both ranged, I suppose. You can have exactly the same weapon on your second bar and just fill it with different abilities so you get the most out of the skill line you've chosen.
 
Some interesting/useful advice and tips here: http://www.reddit.com/r/elderscroll...just_over_a_week_until_early_access_what_are/

If you pre-order the Imperial Edition, when you get to the town buy 1 horse for 1 gold, buy a stable spot for 100g, buy another horse for 1g. Feed 1 horse Oats every day (increases inventory space) and the other horse Apples (increases speed). Now you have a pack mule for leveling and a speedy horse for AvA.
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Train the first skill from each of your class lines and put them on your bar as soon as possible. Even if you do not use these abilities, it will level the trait line until you get access to the spells you like.
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I've been doing that second one. It can make levelling the one you really, really want a bit slower, but it's worth it in the long run to open up all the lines early on. Your weapon will level without any skills on your bar - albeit slowly, so it's better to put those first 3 points in your class skills. Unless you absolutely know without a shadow of a doubt that there's one skill line you'll never use, in which case don't waste the point. Your fourth point can then go into your first weapon skill so that starts levelling a bit quicker.

And passives! Don't skimp on passives. I love passives.
 
I got a bit too deep into min/maxing in WoW and obsessing over gear drops. My plan for ESO is to have fun, not think too hard about what skills to pick, and just enjoy playing the game. The whole game is going to be rebalanced dozens of times between here and level 50, so it's pointless worrying about any of that for now. I think by the time we reach max level we'll have enough money to re-spec, and at the same time the game will have settled in a bit and it will be clearer what to choose. :)
 
Also another tip is to join the NPC guilds (currently Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, and Undaunted) before going back to the starter islands, so you have access to their skill lines right off the bat.
 
Buddy Bradley said:
I got a bit too deep into min/maxing in WoW and obsessing over gear drops. My plan for ESO is to have fun, not think too hard about what skills to pick, and just enjoy playing the game. The whole game is going to be rebalanced dozens of times between here and level 50, so it's pointless worrying about any of that for now. I think by the time we reach max level we'll have enough money to re-spec, and at the same time the game will have settled in a bit and it will be clearer what to choose. :)
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I'm not even going into min/maxing - if any guild does not want me in because I don't have the exact right skillset or gear then they are not the right people for me to group with!

I like a combination somewhere in the middle where I pay some sort of attention to effectiveness (whereby if I have a character for group play I will not intentionally gimp them), but also have a backstory or some reason for my characters motives. I'm neither into heavy min/max play nor heavy "aye, my sweet maiden/sire, I can see though dost requireth ressurection" always in-character type roleplay (which makes me feel very silly when I try to do it). I think most people fall somewhere in the middle ground.
 
FFS @ Launcher. It patched to the NA client, so I thought I'd try to change over to the EU server and see what it would do. Surprise surprise, it wants to download all 22GB again. :facepalm:
 
Buddy Bradley said:
FFS @ Launcher. It patched to the NA client, so I thought I'd try to change over to the EU server and see what it would do. Surprise surprise, it wants to download all 22GB again. :facepalm:
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Have you emailed them about that? Lots of people are having the same issue. Perhaps they have a recommended way of dealing with it.

I'm not touching the launcher until the final patch drops, and even then I'm going to wait and see what happens when others download it on reddit.
 
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