Elder Scrolls: Online

[Epona]

Re. the guild thing, I am sure I saw somewhere recently that Zeni are planning to introduce better (haha, "any" would be an improvement over current) guild recruitment tools at some point this year - which would be a real blessing tbh to GMs and people seeking a guild alike. It's a bit daft that currently the best way to find a guild that suits is to go out of game. I do hope that if they do it they do it right, it doesn't even need to be that complicated, just allow a GM to check a "recruiting" box in the guild tools and a couple of keywords that best reflect the nature of their guild, then let people who are looking for a guild search, get a list of guilds with recent activity that meet their search terms (and preferably be able to see the "about us" message as a hover-over note) and apply in game.

I get the 5 guilds thing, I never think it was intended for people to join 5 large play guilds, but with no auction house the only way to sell stuff to other players (other than the tedious and time consuming route of spamming zone chat with your wares) is to join trading guilds. So have 1 guild slot for your guild that you play with - those guildmates are the ones you should feel a connection to and loyalty to and socialise with; and 4 other slots for what basically amounts to storefronts so you can sell your shit.

 

[Vintage Paw]

It gets a bit messy if you like to play in all 3 factions, finding a good guild that isn't wholly restricted to just the one. I know they exist (for example, your experiences, epona) but finding them and ensuring you're the right fit is tricky. Especially on the EU server, where they seem to be thinner on the ground.

I think I might want to join a decent guild at some point, but I've not especially felt the need yet. I'd like the opportunity to sell my stuff when I get to VR levels, but I expect that'll be easier to deal with because there are a lot of trade guilds.

 

[Epona]

It gets a bit messy if you like to play in all 3 factions, finding a good guild that isn't wholly restricted to just the one. I know they exist (for example, your experiences, epona) but finding them and ensuring you're the right fit is tricky. Especially on the EU server, where they seem to be thinner on the ground.

I think I might want to join a decent guild at some point, but I've not especially felt the need yet. I'd like the opportunity to sell my stuff when I get to VR levels, but I expect that'll be easier to deal with because there are a lot of trade guilds.

Yeah you can't move without tripping over a trade guild tbh and they are not too difficult to find - I know from running my own on the NA server and belonging to others that unless it's a really high end one where there are membership requirements (in terms of dues or minimum sales per week or whathaveyou - mine does not have such requirements, in fact there is a kind of story about my guild's origins and ethos), member turnover is pretty high and if you miss getting a trader spot one week membership will drop because people will leave to join a guild that got a kiosk that week - I reckon I have a small core of people who are somewhat loyal to the guild and donate towards a trader every week and will stick around and wait out the occasional kiosk fuckup, but membership turnover is pretty high - and that's not just my experience, it's just the way trading guilds are. They are not a place to make friends or (generally speaking) find people to play with or a cohesive community.

You will likely need a trade guild at some point though, you can make a fair bit of cash selling spare mats, motifs, and recipes once you have an excess, and it only takes a couple of minutes to list stuff in a store where any player visiting the kiosk can buy it.

Finding a good play/social guild that is the right fit is not quite so easy.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Does stuff usually always sell? Some of the guild traders are quite out of the way, and I don't often see people browsing even the ones in the major cities (although now I'm at Wayrest there's more activity around... haven't spent time near the guild traders there yet).

 

[Epona]

Depends on how you price stuff, but I tend to sell provisioning ingredients within 24 hours of listing them (sometimes within minutes). Not sure about the EU server, although at a quick glance average prices do seem to be a LOT higher on EU for some reason.

 

[Epona]

Thieves Guild DLC is now up on the PTS for testing if anyone's interested in having a look (or doing some bug testing!)

I tried out the intro quest, it's really very good and a lot of fun New area looks good, new TG skill-line useful.

Assistants - oh god, bank access from anywhere as a crown purchase - take my money now!

I don't think I'll go any further through the questline though, don't want to spoil it for myself before it goes live iykwim. Going to try out a few repeatable activities though, I have to pickpocket 'leisure items' from people in Grahtwood which should be fun, I suck at pickpocketing

 

[Vintage Paw]

So the assistants, are they like a summonable pet type thing? And you can effectively summon one and say, "take this tat to the bank, old chap, and while you're there grab some of those empty soul gems I have stored there" and they'll toddle off and do the business? Because, gosh.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Also, I HATE Wayrest. Far too big, everything is spread out. I used to wonder why I saw high level characters in some of the lower level cities, but this is exactly why. When you want to dump your mats, do a bit of quick crafting, make some food, and head on out, you'll go to the place that requires the least amount of fannying around. So far for me that's Daggerfall (on DC obv.). For the Aldmeri, Elden Root was pretty great but I'm used to Marburk now and it's not too onerous to get from one crafting station to the next and on to the bank.

 

[Epona]

Yep, the bank assistant works just like a vanity pet (and you can put him in a quick-slot, works with Greymind's), while he is summoned he temporarily replaces your pet, and basically gives you the bank interface anywhere (except cyro/IC). ANYWHERE!!! Middle of a dungeon - bank access. Out questing and getting full up - bank access. Forgot to pick up soul gems or food from the bank - bank access.

Here's what gets me excited, because I am dreadful at remembering to stock up on stuff before I head out - middle of a quest or delve, oops no food, or leveled up and need new gear. I can log onto my crafter and run her to a cooking fire or set crafting area, do crafting, call up the bank assistant, put stuff in - log back in on the character who needs the stuff - middle of a delve or whatever, call up the bank assistant and pick the stuff up - cutting out all the running back to the bank tedium. I'm ridiculously excited about that going on the live server, I can honestly see myself just parking my weapons/armour crafter in my favourite set crafting area and leaving her there.

The bank assistant does NOT give access to guild banks or guild stores, and the vendor assistant does NOT do repairs or sell anything - so the need for banks and merchants is not circumvented and there will still be plenty of people visiting towns, so it shouldn't hurt city immersion too much.

In terms of DC towns, Shornhelm in Rivenspire is much better layout, best layout in all of DC - wayshrine, bank (with cooking fire), ww/bs/cloth stations all within a few paces of one another, and enchanting/alchemy/dye station just around the corner. Worth getting to Shornhelm to use as a base.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Is that the one right by the entrance of Rivenspire? Where the writs get dropped off? If so, I've already discovered it so I could drop off my higher level writs. I didn't explore it though. I headed out and discovered maybe 5 or 6 nearby wayshrines, then went back to the previous area (which I'd barely started questing in ).

What does the vendor assistant do then, if not let you sell or repair? Do they just sell lockpicks and health potions, that kind of thing?

 

[Vintage Paw]

I made my dark elf dragonknight the other night. I like making new characters in the middle of the night when there's no one in the starting areas

 

[Epona]

What does the vendor assistant do then, if not let you sell or repair? Do they just sell lockpicks and health potions, that kind of thing?

You can sell stuff to them, that's it. They don't have anything to sell to you. That may not seem like a big deal at lower levels, but the number of times I've been halfway through a group dungeon and one of the group has to be elected (you can't all leave, or it resets) to head back to town to go buy repair kits or soul gems for the group... not that this is something that really good players have to deal with mind you, unfortunately I do not count myself amongst that number

 

[Epona]

Oh forgot to say, one of the best things about the next update (apart from the bank assistant) is that you know all the trophies you get for completing public dungeons? They are finally going into the collections menu rather than being inventory items. FINALLY!

Hopefully at some point they will work out similar for quest related disguises too, that's not in this next update though.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Oh thank goodness for that. I want to keep things like that! I don't even like selling the stuff you get for killing certain things (you know, like a mudcrab will drop something that will go towards your achievement for killing things, or whatever), but at least you can get cold hard cash for those. Trophies are worthless, and yet can't part with them.

 

[Epona]

(This is Lyra, my trusty Imperial Stamplar main on NA server (or at least a copy of her on the PTS!), wearing one of the Orsinium quest costumes )

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I cleared out the inventory and deleted my previous characters, then rolled a new toon that I'd had in mind all week. Logged in, ran through the tutorial dungeon for old times sake, came back to life ... only to discover that I'd somehow unselected the alliance I wanted, and was in Auridon instead of Glenumbra.

Had to delete and recreate him.

 

[moon]

I may get this since its actually an RPG with a story?(I'm still holding out hopes for The Division!.. ), I've just been watching the opening scenes, they have some amazing voice actors? Jennifer Hale, Michael Gambon...

 

[Epona]

I may get this since its actually an RPG with a story?(I'm still holding out hopes for The Division!.. ), I've just been watching the opening scenes, they have some amazing voice actors? Jennifer Hale, Michael Gambon...

*Chants* "One of us, one of us"

- yeah it's a good game, you can solo everything in all the quest storylines if that's your preference, you can also group up for a lot of quest stuff if you prefer that, the main quest story is good if a bit predictable, but that's only a small part of the game - the alliance/zone quest stories are in some cases really very good. It looks fucking gorgeous and is very immersive. Even if all you want to do is solo questing and exploring there's hours and hours and hours (weeks/months) of it.

 

[moon]

Ok thanks... any advice on the best class? I liked Skyrim for the ability to have a sword/bow wielding mage.. I still miss my dawnbreaker sword! but also liked the choice of flame/sparks throwing etc. Is the online version the same?

 

[Buddy Bradley]

they have some amazing voice actors? Jennifer Hale, Michael Gambon...

Just don't let John Cleese put you off...

 

[Epona]

Ok thanks... any advice on the best class? I liked Skyrim for the ability to have a sword/bow wielding mage.. I still miss my dawnbreaker sword! but also liked the choice of flame/sparks throwing etc. Is the online version the same?

Online is different from Skyrim in terms of how you do combat, but the basic movement controls are the same, at least on kb+m, and if you've played a range of RPGs it's not going to be anything that you can't pick up and get to grips with fairly quickly - it's not very complicated, and the game eases you in fairly gently (take the quest to go to the starter island for whichever faction you go to, it gives you a chance to get the feel of the controls and explore and harvest some crafting materials and get to grips with basic combat and quests etc.)

IMO the best class for solo questing is Templar, it has a good self-heal which is very useful.

 

[moon]

This is arriving tomorrow am hoping my internet connection can cope as I've never played an online game before.
Excited!
I'm pretty sure I'll be a high elf mage, but will look into all the various races and classes including Templar as it seems the most versatile.
I don't think I want to be a healer, I'm not sure what the difference is between a damage dealer and tank.
I think my style of combat is stand firm and look death in the face lol until I start running
I prefer ranged but can get along with melee if it is precise and quick, like using Dawnbreaker, umm that's all I can think about right now, until I see what kind of a beast the game actually is..

 

[Vintage Paw]

Just don't let John Cleese put you off...

*sings*

"One fine day in the middle of the night..."

 

[Vintage Paw]

Mage can be good for solo play because you can summon creatures to take aggro for you. I just wish they weren't so darned purple. (I have a thing against purple in certain contexts... I know, I'm weird.)

 

[moon]

I'm not sure if I'll be solo or group playing, probably a bit of both I guess. The whole PvP thing is new to me so I'll have to see how well I cope, and whether its annoying
Summoning things was ok in Skyrim but I didn't use it much. I much prefer a follower.
I'd love to have Uthgerd and Erandur back

 

[Buddy Bradley]

*sings*

"One fine day in the middle of the night..."

Does Cadwell show up again later? Out of curiosity I googled his voice work, and there's a clip of Cleese talking about his backstory and motivations, which seems a little like overkill if the 5 seconds you spend talking to him is all there is.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Yes, I believe so. I haven't finished the main story, but I know you go back to Coldharbour, and I know there's a quest called Cadwell's Silver, but I have no idea what any of it is about.

 

[moon]

This has arrived, it was really cheap on Amazon, £11 and I got next day delivery, will dip into it later today once all the updates are installed.

 

[Epona]

moon - you're on PS4 aren't you iirc?

 

[moon]

moon - you're on PS4 aren't you iirc?

Yes..