Elder Scrolls: Online

[Epona]

Just going to try to respond to a few other things, yes back in the day bowsorc was (I can't remember the exact reason, but there was something) really powerful, although there are a dedicated few who try to run a stamsorc, but a bowsorc is not what it used to be, you're probably better off ditching the bow and going either dw maces/resto or dw maces/destro. (Maces for reasons I mentioned in an earlier post).

I do know what you mean about staves, I just can't really get to grips with them, getting up close and whacking enemies at close range just generally seems more satisfying!

In terms of people sending odd mails, unless I have missed something it was probably just user error - hit R to return a mail to sender (something people do all the time in the middle of a dungeon run when their inventory is getting full is send mails with attachments to a friend to return them, so it could be that person just accidentally selected the wrong address. There is no scam that I know of). The person who sent it is probably wondering why their friend @Ambrosia or something similar didn't return the mail right away (as when you send a mail there is a drop down menu of similar @ names that you can select from, it's probably just a mid-dungeon "argh, fuck, clear out my inventory!" error).

If it was 6 items VR15-16 white or green gear, that would also point to it being someone clearing out their inventory by trying to bounce a mail off a friend during a dungeon run and getting the address wrong.

 

[Epona]

In terms of upgrading gear, until you hit max at VR16 you can pretty much easily get away with just making new gear at every change in the type of mats for most levels - with new characters I make gear for them at levels 4, 10, 16, 26, 36, 46, VR1, VR4, VR7, VR9 (and then although the mats are the same as VR9) VR12 and VR14 then save up mats for VR16.

Edit: I improve stuff to green up to and including lvl 16, then blue for 26-46, and purple for vet rank gear. Save gold upgrades for end game gear.

 

[Epona]

Also Peggy jumped on my mouse at a critical time and I attacked a guard.

Goddammit Peggy.

I am very familiar with that routine, Sonic in particular will happily sit on my lap for a while then gradually creep onto the keyboard, usually hitting the space bar and making me jump around all over the place. Being adult cats, they normally sleep a lot of the time, but as soon as I go on teamspeak, they spring to life - not sure whether they are thinking I am talking to them, or if they think there is just something interesting going on that they should be involved in.

In case you didn't already know, you can turn off "attack innocents" in the settings menu - for best experience I would suggest leaving it turned on most of the time, but turn it off temporarily if a quest has you go beat up a few hostiles around town or has you do some combat in town in any way - because if you hit a guard or civilian whilst you are trying to beat up a mercenary or a bandit for a quest, you will get a hefty bounty.

 

[Vintage Paw]

omg I did NOT know you could turn that off! If I'm wandering around a town overrun with enemies I have more than once blithely shot off a snipe before realising they are a friendly instead I run away and then hide until I have under 100g left to pay

I saw an addon that will only let you steal items if you're in stealth. I think I'm going to get that because goddammit if I don't keep accidentally clicking and stealing someone's pleasantly displayed shield on their market stall table when I want to in fact click on them to sell them my spoils.

I don't upgrade everything to blue, I seem to be doing pretty well with most things at green, and probably just chest and legs in blue. As I reached 30 I slowly started making a new set of gear but it's not all the same level, some is 28, some 30, and some 32, and that will do me for a while. I should do the next stage of the mage's guild quests because I need new jewellery, which is pretty hard to come by. I know not to do the last fighter's guild quest until you're VR, but I hear different things about what the cap is - I've heard it caps out at VR14, VR12, VR8, and 50. Still, I'm nowhere near there yet so I'm sure I'll find out by then. I'm holding off on any of the guild/main quests that level with you until I make my next jump in material, so I can make a set of level-appropriate gear. I'm having fun in Greenshade. I wandered into an area that I think is meant to be done later, it was referencing stuff to do with Naemon that I'd only just learned and hadn't done the next bit of quest to set in motion, so I did one side quest there, grabbed a shard, and went back west.

I seem to be holding my own pretty well now. I feel quite powerful again. I was running around with someone a level or two above me yesterday - we weren't grouped but were in the same area doing the same stuff, and they were getting pwned quite a bit, and I was helping them out. I don't religiously stick to a rotation, although I have a pseudo-rotation for easy kills and openers, but when things get hairy I just spam the shit out of whatever I can remember to use. I try to be intelligent about it, but I'm often not Still, I come out of most things just fine. I've closed the gap now, I'm no longer 9 levels over-levelled and just maybe 1 or 2, which is much better. Did a level 30 dolmen last night, just me and someone else, had to run away at first because I wasn't prepared for the jump in difficulty (I've been at least 4 levels above all the ones I've done since I've been back) but then it went pretty nicely. When you play alone it's difficult to gauge your strength, but working down this big old boss and his minions with one other person I saw how much damage I was doing compared to them, and it felt great. Of course, I'm pretty squishy, but I'm doing stam/health 2/1 and I have a couple of health glyphs and 2 pieces of ashen grip which I think ups health at that level too. The rest is night's silence. There's a dearth of nightblade/crit/dps/stamina set gear in these middle stages. I don't have enough traits researched on enough pieces to make it worth my while trying to get to Hunding's Rage atm, so I'm going night's silence 5 pieces and then 2/3 pieces (3 because daggers, one of the daggers can be something else) whatever I feel I'm falling behind in, so at the moment I thought ashen grip looked okay. And honestly, I don't feel like I'm going to die so that's fine. I found and bought a few pieces of viper's sting a while back, it's a shame you can't craft that because it had great set bonuses.

I hate hate hate the layout of woodhearth, and it doesn't have a bank (that I can find), so I'm going back to Marburk frequently, which itself isn't as well laid out as Elden Root. Just put everything in one place, dammit

 

[Epona]

It USED to be the case that best to do the last fighter's guild quest at a very high level, because the enchantment on the weapon that you could choose as a leveled quest reward was unique - but that was before Imperial City: - you can now get the rune for that extra damage against undead and daedra from IC, or buy it from other players, so the weapon from the FG questline is no longer unique, you can make your own version of it when you want a VR16 weapon that does that. (Not sure of prices on the EU server, but on the NA server the rune for daedra/undead damage sells for about 40-50k, which is not peanuts, but it's not breaking the bank either in terms of end game gear). Personally, I now like to finish up the FG questline before I go to the upper part of Coldharbour (I am usually about VR1 then) because it is really useful during that portion of the zone and main questlines.

If you can craft it, Hunding's Rage is all the rage for any stamina build because of the 5 piece set bonus for weapon damage - I use 5 Hunding's Rage and 3 Ashen Grip on my stamina builds. Hunding's requires 6 traits researched before you can craft it though, if you can't do that yet or get someone to craft it for you, I would suggest a mix of Night's Silence and Ashen Grip (both of those crafting stations are in the first zone, and only 2 traits are needed, neither has a particularly mind-blowing 5 piece bonus, although the 5 piece bonus on Nights Silence that removes movement penalty in sneak is really handy if you use sneak a lot, but the 2/3/4 piece bonuses for each set are good).

Yeah Woodhearth sucks, it looks as though it ought to be really cool but there's no bank, and it's all too spread out, even the wayshrine is way out of town. Elden Root has everything more central, but I think once you get to Rawl'kha in Reaper's March you will be relieved of all worries, as it has everything and is really compact, the bank is right next to the wayshrine and you can see everything else you need from there as well.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Yeah, I spent some time looking at the set bonuses and figured that even though they're from the first zone Night's Silence and Ashen Grip really do provide the best for me that I can access right now. I have a couple of pieces with 6 researched traits, but most have about 3 right now. Some still lagging behind with 1 (I really need to get researching on medium belts and helms).

I have 220 bank space now, and it's still almost always full. I understand why they don't, but I wish glyphs stack. God, I'm glad runes stack now though, they didn't when I last played. I found a Kuta rune last night, WOO. Holding onto that baby. I seem to have found a couple of places that had a LOAD of red runes - probably just luck, I don't think they spawn back the same colour do they? But I'm getting a nice collection now of all colours. I'm going to do enchanting with another character, not this one. I'm collecting the red runes I see, but generally not the others since they're more commonplace. I think I'll get to Reaper's March and then focus on one of my other characters for a while. Not sure which one. It'd be nice to focus on a magicka build. Sorcerer is meant to be a soloing beast, so it'd suit me while I'm still learning (and while I have no friends lol), but I am fond of the idea of dragonknight because rah fire brimstone woo. I imagine DK could be magicka or stamina? I'd expect magicka might be more useful for solo play, and stamina for tanking? I'm pulling that out my arse though, tbh, I have no idea. My sorc is an altmer, and I think I'd prefer to be somewhere else tbh. My DK is a dunmer, and my templar is a breton, so I have some choices there. Got some time before I decide though.

 

[Epona]

Breton templar is a great race/class combination which is fantastic for soloing, and I really like most of the DC storyline, it has some great characters and a solid story. I would highly recommend giving that one a go - am biased though, one of my own favourite characters is a Breton templar

You'd want to run that one as magicka build to make the most of the racial passives, so you have a really great self-heal in your restoring aura class line (the instant one, not the useless 3 second to cast one!) which makes it a joy to solo. Puncturing sweep (the magicka morph of the first skill in the aedric spear line) is a reliable go-to melée range dps skill that damages in a cone, and that also heals you (the morph does) based on damage done, and Radiant Glory (morph of Radiant Oppression) does large amount of damage against a single target and is very useful against bosses or in PvP. Solar disturbance (morph of Nova) is a good ultimate, and at higher levels I have the mage's guild ultimate on the second bar.

I think it's a really fun build for soloing, it's like the duracell bunny - with the self heals you can just run from one mob to the next without stopping - it's also flexible as you can heal effectively for groups or in PvP, especially if you level up resto staff on your second bar. I go dw/resto, but because you have a built in heal that is really good you can stick anything on the weapon bars that you like, you won't need resto for self-heals at all. I think you'd find it a lot of fun.

 

[Vintage Paw]

That's really useful, thank you! I think I will do that then. I might delete her and start from scratch (after banking/selling all her stuff, obv). She's only a few levels in, so I'm not losing much progress, plus she went heavy on the bow so I'd be levelling dw from scratch anyway (which I know is no bad thing, but still). I'll have to see if I can remember to get her looking how I like (super important part of it all!).

Made it to lvl 34 now with my nightblade, manage to solo the public dungeon in Greenshade (not difficult really) apart from the group boss. There was only one other person in the dungeon and they'd fucked off by the time I got there

I'm fed up of outlevelling my gear so quickly. And I accidentally deconstructed the dagger I'd made myself for when I hit 34

 

[Epona]

I'm fed up of outlevelling my gear so quickly.

I hear ya - on my main account all my characters have been veteran rank for a while, and I'd forgotten what it was like. On my second account, I've been playing lower level characters for a few days and it all came flooding back Saturday. Saturday I went into Coldharbour with one character at lvl 43, so I was wearing Dwarven Ore and equivalent level gear. Now I've been through Coldharbour on so many characters that I suffer from what I call "Coldharbour Fatigue" and just wanted to do everything there is to do without dawdling. Saturday evening, I crafted myself some level 46 Ebony gear, and just now I crafted some VR1 gear because I am about to go into the final zone quest and am lvl 49 and three quarters. So that's 3 sets in one day of playing - I think I may rethink my crafting strategy for other non-vet characters! (I have given that Ebony set that got about 4 hours use to an alt to hold on to for future characters to use, I may be obsessive about what I craft and when, but I am not wasteful! )

If it's any consolation, you won't have to do nearly as much crafting once you hit vet rank, as gear is good for about 3 vet ranks, which is more like 3 zones than 3 hours

And I accidentally deconstructed the dagger I'd made myself for when I hit 34

Easily done, I tend to zone out a bit when I am deconstructing stuff. I haven't tried it yet, but I was looking at an addon called "Itemsaver" which I *think* allows you to flag items and removes flagged items from workbench and vendor lists.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Yeah, I've started using item saver. What made it so easy to do is that I've started using Research Assistant. I don't know if you use it. It places different coloured buttons next to stuff depending on whether you know the traits or not, so I've been blithely deconstructing grey stuff without looking at what they were, because I don't generally make myself gear before I hit the level to use it, but this time I had and it was sitting there in my inventory... and poof... I realised as soon as I hit E.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Also, damn, maxed out bank slots are still not enough! (Okay, I'm not quite maxed out, got 220 atm but I know 240 will still leave me struggling, especially once I get a couple more characters going. Just... thank the maker runes stack these days.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Oh, and I am finding LOADS of red runes (I forget what they are... aspect? Essence is yellow and Potency is blue?). I thought they used to be the hardest to come by but not since I've been back. I tend to find a bunch close together. What I'm finding hardest is just normal glyphs to deconstruct.

 

[Epona]

Are you storing weapons and armour for future research? I used to have terrible bank trouble when I was saving stuff for that, but it's not been too much of an issue since I finished most of my research. You may be doing this already, but if you have a few non-crafting alts that haven't done any research, have them research the pieces that your main crafter needs, at least the ones that are less urgent such as sturdy and well-fitted items (if you have a sub the first trait for an item is only 6 hours, the second 12), in a few days you should have cleared out a fair number of those items. Then the alt(s) can craft the item with that trait when your crafter has a research slot free, saves you keeping every single research item in your bank for possibly weeks on end while your crafter researches other stuff. The addon called AI Research grid lets you look at each of your characters' researched items when you are not logged onto them, which you may find useful if you decide to do that, or are already doing it.

I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief when stack sizes for all mats were doubled to 200, including runes (which initially would only stack to 10 which is ludicrous). Yes they did up the rate of aspect rune nodes, alas most of them drop Ta, and everyone is drowning in Ta, can't give them away - the only thing people use them for is enchanting writs. But more nodes means more chances at a more valuable/useful rune, so it's all good. Just don't hang on to stacks of Ta in case it comes in handy, because it won't - just keep 1 stack for writs and destroy the rest.

Highest drop rate for white glyphs for decon is from daedra/undead, also locked chests often provide one. People who have already maxed out their enchanting often sell white glyphs cheap at guild traders, so it's worth just having a look if you go past a guild kiosk (use the Awesome Guild Store addon for more filters when browsing through guild trader inventories).

EDIT: Oh do you still have that guild that you started, Urban Alliance? If so and you want me to hop on to the EU server and join that on my second account so you are closer to having a guild bank available, just let me know and I'll do so.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

OK this might sound like a Noob question but


what is the best way to acquire recipes?

I really like the idea of being a chef in MMOs

It kinda feels like you have to be aq theif to really make it as a chef in ESO

 

[Epona]

OK this might sound like a Noob question but


what is the best way to acquire recipes?

I really like the idea of being a chef in MMOs

It kinda feels like you have to be aq theif to really make it as a chef in ESO

Most of the recipes I get aren't stolen - they drop from some enemies, but the best sources are backpacks which are often out in the wild or in delves so not 'owned', or any time you're on a main quest, fighters guild, or mages guild quest none of those containers are marked as theft. Dwemer pots (in Dwemer ruins or quest locations) are a good source too.

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

Thanks.

that seems the real limiter on cooking.

i kinda wish it was more like old schoo, alchemy

 

[Epona]

Nah, it's fun collecting recipes - for most of them, there are multiple recipes that provide the exact same buffs, so you don't need to collect every recipe in the game (there are nearly 500) to be able to get every possible food and drink buff.

The level of the recipe you get is determined by zone, so if you are AD character looking in Auridon for a level 20 or 25 recipe it isn't going to happen, make sure you are looking in the right place.

You can also buy recipes from guild kiosks, the vast majority of green recipes are really cheap. Except recipes that use fish, because everyone has a ton of fish so those recipes are more in demand.

 

[Epona]

Vintage Paw - OK I have been wanting to ask you this since you started playing again and said you had a load of crowns built up in your account - what (if anything) did you spend them on?

I find it quite stressful spending anything (whether it is IRL or virtual currency) so I have a fair bit built up too, but I have bought 3 senche mounts at various times as I just couldn't resist! I want one of the goat pets, but can't quite bring myself to click the 'buy' button.

 

[Vintage Paw]

I've spent them almost entirely on bank upgrades so far, and a couple of bag upgrades because I'm impatient. I bought myself the black senche pet (who is adorbs). I figured since I'm not really one for vanity items first and foremost, using them for bank space was the best thing to do. I'm at 230 now, I have enough crowns to take me to 240 but I haven't quite needed to yet.

As time goes on, I'll likely spend any more I get on crafting motifs. I have all the standard ones on my main crafter now, and almost all of them built up again in my bank should I want to level anything on another character in the future. I've found one purple dwemer page (in a low level area, which was interesting), but that's all. I think all 4 rares (primal etc) are 5k together on the store. Then that weird Xsomething one is another few grand. But tbh, I'm not massively bothered about style for my own characters, it'll only be an issue if I get into trading.

In terms of provisioning, shippy, I've found higher level recipes now and again. The best thing to do is make the highest level recipes you can to level your skill up as quickly as possible. The most important thing to put your points into early on is the passive that lets you create higher level recipes (not green, blue, purple etc) because it'll let you get more experience with more recipes. Pop to a guild trader (in most large cities) and find a few cheap green higher level recipes and batch make them and you'll be at 50 in no time. Then you can start putting points into other passives.

Another tip: go to Cyrodiil. You can find ingredients and materials and recipes for things you don't usually see in your own region, and at different levels. If you stick in your own area you should be fine. It's also a good source of free skill points with all the skyshards. You're levelled to V14 in the non-veteran campaign, so everyone is the same level, inc npc enemies, the only difference is what skills you have unlocked and your gear. Plus Cyrodiil is just great fun. Watch chat in there and head to where they say they're attacking/being attacked, ask to join a group, then follow the leader and join in. It's brilliant (and this is from someone who abhors cooperative online play).

 

[Epona]

See I view that as a waste of crowns, given you can get all those things by playing the game. Mind you, I view most cosmetic items (except the senche mounts) a waste of crowns too

 

[Vintage Paw]

In answer to your other questions, epona, yes I've been storing stuff for research, but I tend to get rid of stuff that isn't too important right now especially if it's on something like my bow, which I have 7 researched. It never occurred to me to get another of my characters to decon it and make one for my main crafter... ingenious. I'm hovering around 210 in my bank at the moment, which isn't too bad. Enough room to put a full set of new gear in to swap to another character, enough room to pop in 'extra inspiration' gear I find for my main crafter, etc.

I'm keeping Ta atm so I can craft the odd glyph for myself - I am changing out of gear so fast I don't want to waste green or above on them. White has seen me fine up to 35 with my nightblade so far.

My templar is level 11 now. I'm yet to take anything other than the first skill in each class line, and I haven't taken a single weapon skill yet I'm using a resto staff, which doesn't hit hard but it's absolutely fine so far. Not sure what I'll do when I get to 15. I might start levelling destro, dw AND 2h, and see which I like the feel of the most.

See I view that as a waste of crowns, given you can get all those things by playing the game. Mind you, I view most cosmetic items (except the senche mounts) a waste of crowns too

Heh, well it seems to take me ages to build up any money. I have 30k on my nightblade, 2k on my templar after bag upgrades to 90 (I deposited some for her in the bank before I started), and I simply don't have the patience to wait

That guild is still in existence, btw. Not a solitary soul involved in it now though, so I wouldn't worry about it. I'll keep it around probably, just in case, but I'm likely going to try to hunt down some established guilds once I level up some more. Difficult to know how to find a good one though. They're thinner on the ground on the EU server.

 

[Epona]

Have a look on the official forums, there is a guild recruitment forum that might be worth having a bit of a browse through. The forum as a whole is kind of a toxic environment IMO filled with "you suck L2P" and "nerf this" and namecalling and the usual battles between people who hate the game and fanboys (and watch your language there, I got a warning for saying "hell"), but there are guild recruitment forums that might be worth a look.

The money thing is down to finding a good trading guild - although you may not think you have a lot of cash or stuff to sell right now you will get to the point where you have an excess - I made 30k last week JUST on selling excess mats (mostly spare provisioning ingredients and refined mats that I don't use - ie. stuff I had more than 1 stack of) and another more than 50k selling an imperial motif and 2 barbaric motifs that I didn't need (BTW, Imp motif can drop at any level - I've had 6 or 7 of them now, mostly on lower level characters around the lvl 20-30 mark; Barbaric and Primal in VR1-5 zones, and Daedric and Ancient Elf in VR6-10 zones, don't spend your crowns on them because they seem rare now, I have looted 3 barbaric motifs and a primal this week, and 2 daedric on a higher level character the week before last, you just have to be in an area that is at the level that drops them).

I don't make money from selling high end gear from trials or PvP, just on mats/motifs that I have collected, and it's a fairly steady income. Being 'that person' who stops to harvest every node and look in every container pays off eventually. It's why I would find it difficult to justify spending crowns on stuff that I can buy for in-game gold, because I have plenty of in-game gold (more than I know what to do with, other than sinking into my own guild/guild donations/raffles to pay for kiosks) - and you will get to that point too. Then there's a possibility that you might look back and wonder why you didn't buy that mount/pet/outfit with your crowns instead

 

[Epona]

My templar is level 11 now. I'm yet to take anything other than the first skill in each class line, and I haven't taken a single weapon skill yet I'm using a resto staff, which doesn't hit hard but it's absolutely fine so far. Not sure what I'll do when I get to 15. I might start levelling destro, dw AND 2h, and see which I like the feel of the most.

I just hope you enjoy playing the class after my recommendation - I honestly cannot get to grips with a resto staff as a main weapon at all (on any class), I did level it on my breton templars (by having it on my 2nd bar and switching to 2nd weapon to turn in quests, getting all the quest xp on that weapon skill), but I only tend to use it in group dungeons when there is a situation that requires back-up healing/buffs, or in PvP. I just can't for some reason feel the love for any ranged weapon in this game - I'm happier when I'm whacking enemies at close range/using close range spells for some reason

My preferred magicka templar build is dw as main weapon, heavy cuirass and legs for physical resistance and looks, and the other 5 pieces light (for the light armour magicka passives) and just wade in to battle at melée range. My magicka templars all look a bit like D&D clerics with their armour and blunt weapons And although I laugh about it, it is a build that works really well.

I do think there is a good reason to go through most of the DC storyline before going to Coldharbour on any character in any faction - because the vast majority of the NPCs that come with you to Coldharbour, including some really important ones, are from the DC faction storyline or side quests - and there are some moments that are really more poignant and meaningful, or in some cases funny, if you already knew those characters from the DC zones before getting to Coldharbour.

 

[Vintage Paw]

I've done all 3 factions' intro islands a couple of times now, and I have to say that I like the DC story the best, because of how you get to know the crew of the ship, how they each have something to say to you at numerous points before you get to Glenumbra, and having to make a decision that alienates half of them is really welcome. I mean, it has no Rasum-dar, which is a big, big downside since he is brilliant... and I honestly can't remember much about the EP intro because I haven't done it since I reinstalled but I don't remember being very taken by it. But the DC intro feels like it had more time lavished on it in terms of writing than the others.

I still feel more at home in EP for some reason, but I haven't got past Glenumbra/Stonefalls with the others yet so that may change.

 

[Vintage Paw]

It's been a buggy mess recently.

I get massive fps spikes. I can pootle along happily at 70-99 fps, and then it'll drop to 20. Relogging often fixes it, but not always. It tends to happen later at night, so not when there are loads of people and spells around or anything like that. It started happening maybe 3 days ago.

And I keep losing my ability to interact with anything. Grrrr. It's driving me mad.

 

[Epona]

Yeah a lot of people have been having trouble the last few days, I am getting the lag spikes and occasional disconnects. They didn't do maintenance on the PC servers this week either, which is a bit given that the hamsters clearly need oiling or whatever.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Phew, I'm glad it's not just me (although not celebrating the fact others are going through it too!).

Templar is lvl 15 now. I solo'd a group of 3 group bosses last night. I was a couple of levels above them, but considering I'm not very good at combat I was SO impressed I made it through. They were the outdoor werewolf ones in Glenumbra. THANK THE GODS FOR HEALS. I was fucking spamming that first restoring light heal thing while kiting them at one point lol. I had to use a potion too.

I can't decide how to morph that heal. I know breath of light is standard, but that's if you're healing others, which I'm not. I don't know if I'm ever going to find myself in groups or a guild where I play with others (because I'm very much not sociable, and I very much am not good at the game and have The Fear of letting people down - not something I can just think away I'm afraid) and I know I can respec to that in the future if I want... but maybe taking BoL would encourage me to take a few more risks with that, idk. I should add I've never played a healer role in my life - there's a reason dps is so popular, because as long as you can try to avoid damage (not even necessary in some games if healing is set up for it) you just spam what works.

I morphed the second resto staff skill to rapid regen because while mutagen might be an effective oh shit button I don't think that would necessarily teach me to play any better. Plus there's plenty of burst healing in the templar class skills anyway. I haven't taken the first resto staff skill.

I still only have the first skill of each templar line. I morphed the aedric spear skill to be puncturing sweep for the heal. I'm focusing on magicka regen, lower spell cost, and extra magicka for my passives from wherever, with a mixture of health and magicka on my gear (plus one stamina), and reduced spell cost on jewellery. I'm using 5 Seducer pieces atm, because I don't have many traits unlocked in light and heavy (I'm currently using 1 medium and 1 heavy to level them, I've got medium chest and heavy legs atm).

I don't know what 2nd weapon to go for now. I've got into a really nice rhythm with my resto staff (and here I was saying I don't like staves!) - I do the burninating sun skill thing from afar, then heavy resto attack until they get to me, then finish them off with puncturing sweep. I was going to get the leapy jumpy aedric skill, the third one, so I can jump right into the fray. That would be useful on a second bar if I level dw/2h, but tbh with so much magicka (I keep calling it mana) and regen I can spam my class skills forever and a day, and my weapon power is never going to be that great with stam based weapons (but dw helpful for spell power eventually - see, I do listen ).

Heck, since I'm going all out on survivability, even s&s could be an option. Damn, I want to level everything lol. Since I'm enjoying resto staff so much (inorite!) I'm so very tempted to go with destro staff.

GAH.

I'm noticing lots of differences in enemies and the flow of play here with DC as opposed to AD. For example, loads of the enemies are proper tanks, deploying a shield skill that makes most of my attacks miss. I don't remember EVER seeing that on AD - not yet anyway (and I'm half way through Greenshade). Maybe it's because I have a lot of stuns and immobilising skills on my nightblade they never get a chance to deploy them? My nb is a crowd control beast. I lock them down in a fiery cage of raining arrows and don't let them out If anything gets remotely close to me I've fucked up (or it's a boss who's immune). That said, I'm enjoying templar a lot now I've got that rhythm going. If only I could decide what to level next...

I'm getting annoyed with how few rune nodes I'm finding. I'm swimming in alchemy ingredients (which I use up immediately to try to level) because I took the first keen eye skill, which for alchemy is crucial imo (I never bothered for clothing/wood/metal... I can see them easy enough). I haven't taken keen eye for enchanting because the nodes are bigger and they already have shimmery lights, I can usually spot them a way away, but maybe there are some I'm missing? It's only one point, so I guess I will take the first rank and see if it helps.

Also, the provisioning/alchemy/enchanting writs are tough! You're totally at the mercy of rnd-style luck as to what spawns where. I don't have either of the recipes my provisioning writ wants me to make (carrot soup and golden lager) and I can't find them in any of the local guild stores. My alchemy writ wants me to find cornflower but it's just about the only fugging one that won't spawn. And my enchanting writ wants a rune I can't dig up for love nor money. Goddammit I'm using item saver so I don't accidentally sell or decon the bits and bobs I've made for the writs so far. I do that far too often

 

[Vintage Paw]

Got myself my first perfect roe, lol.

Is it at all possible to get blue fish if you fish alone? I've got blue when fishing with 3 others, and green on my own. I guess it is possible, just going to take a good long while. That's fine. I'm happy taking my time. Going to take a slow fishing tour of the place before I move on, and am fishing here and there when I have 15+ of whatever bait.

 

[Epona]

I don't group much either - only with friends where I know we're all about the same level of competence (ie. a long way from being the gaming elite LOL), and I know if we wipe a few times we'll have a laugh about it and spend a while talking through alternate strategies rather than trying to apportion blame.

Where resto staff does come in handy for me is in Cyro - join in with a siege and spam the first 2 resto abilities on those manning siege weapons, and you'll do some good and earn AP even if you're not that great at combat. You will of course be targeted by enemy players for quick removal, but even if you're not great at fighting back, you'll have done something useful while you were there and earned the AP for healing. Or join a zerg and stay in the middle of it, similar deal.

Yes a lot of enemies especially in Glenumbra seem to be "Dominion Shieldwall" or similar, if you see an enemy with a shield, best tactic IMO is to either run into melée range and use puncturing sweep which has a knockback and will stop them immediately using that annoying shield skill, OR if you prefer to open at range, take the second aedric spear skill which is a ranged attack with a knockback, OR open with focused charge (3rd skill in aedric spear) which stuns and brings you straight into melée range, both morphs of that are useful, OR spear shards, another ranged one which disorients an enemy for 6 seconds (one of the morphs turns that into a stun) - so there are a few options to choose from!

Runes are most common around ruins, it could just be bad luck and there's someone farming the things just ahead of you. When it comes to potency runes, they drop at particular levels according to zone (except in wrothgar and cyro, where they drop by character enchanting rank). Those writs are tricky at first, for provisioning you don't necessarily need the recipe, you can turn in food/drink made by another player, so check stores for the finished product too. (Potions for alchemy writs are the same, everything else you need to make on the character who has the writ as it checks for a 'crafted by' tag - provisioning and alchemy products aren't tagged by crafter).

And yes, you can get blue fish when fishing solo, but the drop rate is lower than if there are several people at a fishing hole.

I'm getting quite excited now about the upcoming thieves guild dlc and patch Elder Scrolls Online

 

[Vintage Paw]

I answered my own blue fish question - I just got one. And 2 more perfect roe.

I've been sticking with destro staff for the time being. I haven't taken any skills in it, just letting it level up. I've morphed the first class heal to breath of light, because I figure if I'm looking at healing skills then I might as well make them useful if I do decide to do stuff with others (good tips about Cyrodiil btw), and I have enough healing power anyway to keep myself alive while I'm levelling.

I decided to take my nb out last night since she's not seen much action since I started my templar (who is now lvl 19) and god... I realise how much I love having decent heals! I have the siphon ability, but it doesn't heal for much. For some utterly ridiculous reason I went after a set of 3 group bosses (who I have solo'd before) and died spectacularly. NB is really difficult for me in terms of working out which direction I should go in. I love my bow, I love the bow skills, massive crowd control to make sure nothing gets near me, and that lovely lovely snipe too. My daggers do more damage, though, if I'm going against something that won't stay away or has an awful lot of health, so I don't want to drop them for a couple of heals from the resto staff (which would never be that great since I've gone all stamina anyway). I need to look into survivability. Maybe I should wear a couple of pieces of heavy instead of all medium, idk. I mean, I don't die often, but I feel like kiting and hoping they're susceptible to cc/stuns/knockback/immobilisation is all the mitigation I've got. Gah.

Anyway, enjoying my templar. I really like the fire class line, I've only taken the first skill and I morphed it to hit multiple targets (since there are a lot of groups at this stage, and I can respec to the other one should I go serious into Cyrodiil or whatever). Enemy casters go down very fast after they've been hit by that, and since there is a lot of werewolf stuff here in Glenumbra it's been serving me well. I was told all I'd need for a magicka templar while levelling is that first aedric spear skill, but half the time they're dead before they even get into melee range

I'm excited for the Thieves' Guild stuff too. I haven't properly invested in stealing or trying to pickpocket yet, but maybe that'll give me more of a reason to do it. I steal the odd thing here and there but only if I can use it, since it's not going to be worth dealing with laundering at the small amounts I'm stealing. Also I have this unfortunate problem where if something doesn't fit with how I see my character I just won't do it. So she won't steal from ordinary folk, only nobles or dicks