Decisions decisions - to buy or not to but

[ZeroDragon]

Having played the beta - apparently the characters I created are still hanging around online because I received and email offering for me to have a free weekend 16th to 19th April - next weekend. Obviously a way of tempting me back. Apparently I also registered for the console beta because I got an email about that yesterday.

Back in the beta (I know, beta isn't the finished article) I got quite frustrated but maybe I was trying to do everything too quickly. Wandering into something as lvl 5 and getting slaughtered by 2 or 3 lvl 7 creatures attacking me all at once was irritating. I also balanced out how much enjoyment I got from the beta to the monthly cost and how it would affect my other games.

So here I am, thinking about taking the leap now I don't need to pay the monthly fee. While I am a PC gamer at heart, several of the other guys and girls at Grownups Gaming are thinking about the console version so I may end up with that.

For those of you who have played - an honest opinion if you please. What's it been like playing it ? Learning curve, quests ? Anything.

Cheers.

 

[JoeReese]

My gf and I both played the beta, bought the game and played a subscription for a few months. We put quite a bit of time into it, but it seemed to be missing quite a bit to me, as compared to Skyrim. Most of the world wasn't interactive, and everything seemed overly complicated. It was entertaining, in ways a single player could not be, but it just wasn't worth the money for us.

Now, we've been playing again, for the last week or so. There seem to have been major changes, including a redo of the skills and attributes, so the first thing you'll have to do is reassign all your skills. On the other hand, free do-over. Since we've been playing again, we've noticed that there are still plenty of hard enemies, but they seem to have tightened up their area of activity so as to allow you to avoid them pretty well, if you wish to survive. Run out of their zone and they turn tail and run back to it. I've been killed several times, of course, going after things I shouldn't
but there is always someone nearby, willing to help you take down the target.

Crafting is still complicated, but pretty rewarding, and a lot of the weapons and armor that were untouchable can now be looted and deconstructed for components. My only real complaint
is still the 60 piece inventory system, which doesn't allow you to hold onto things until you're able to use them, but doesn't make them worth selling to a merchant either. There is a lot of
material and ingredient trading in the chat box.

Another thing I've never noticed before is the crafting certifications and writs. There are NPCs to tutor you in the various crafting applications, and will certify you to create items for
NPC customers. You go to the bulletin board, pull down say a writ of woodworking, create the items requested, and then stick them in a trunk down at the docks, for a few hundred gold and
some extras. We're both continually collecting wood and iron, etc., so this helps keep our inventory manageable and pays us too.

On a side note, if you go that route, don't bother making really good stuff. I made lvl 1 stuff the first time, got 336 gold. Made lvl 14 stuff the second time, got 336 gold. lol.

We're both enjoying it much more than we did when we were paying for it, if that helps you at all.

 

[ZeroDragon]

Thanks Joe

Last day of the welcome back weekend and I should know already that a few hours isn't going to be enough to really get into the game.

I must admit I noticed some very positive differences to the beta - the opening is quicker, raw materials are more abundant, though not so you don't have to go looking. There are still a few irritations but some are caused by my own impatience at wanting to get into the game. I'm lvl 3 and lvl 4 opponents are ok except the ones that can take me out with 2 attacks. Need better armour and weaponry. So anyone who hasn't played yet - patience is a virtue especially early on - don't go charging down the bigger quest - do some side quests - earn some coin and experience, buy that bit better armour and you'll live long enough to hit something enough to kill it (not saying what, don't want to spoil the surprise)

The only other irritation was the amount of pop-up scenery, and I got booted a couple of times. Maybe a server issue on the day, my PC is more than powerful enough and broadband averaging 90mb/s isn't going to be a problem.

I'll be buying it - my only decision is now (pc) or in June (ps4) with other people I know will be getting it.

 

[JoeReese]

Yeah, it's definitely different. I have noticed some trouble with killing enemies my own level, but I believe I've pinned that down to bad skill choices. I seem to have been trying too hard to be good at everything, rendering myself not good enough at anything in the process. I did a skill reset and focused much more on damage-dealing attacks, and am now able to hold my own with 3 enemies of my own level.

It seems to be that dungeons and hot spots near to your starting point stay at relatively low level. Might be helpful to run an avoidance course further up the map, get some decent gear, and then go back and farm in areas where the 'locals' aren't a big threat. There are a couple of dungeons, in Daggerfall at least, where you can always find full armor and weapons that match your level, plus stuff to deconstruct.

 

[ZeroDragon]

I also need to learn to pick a bow instead of my usual habit of going for the usual dual wielder - no matter what game I play I always start with the heroic and stylish instead of the sensible and practical.

 

[Samu Zadori]

I also need to learn to pick a bow instead of my usual habit of going for the usual dual wielder - no matter what game I play I always start with the heroic and stylish instead of the sensible and practical.

Dual-wielding characters are extremely powerful in this game, so I think you would be fine with that! However, since this game is only semi-skill-based, killing higher level enemies is almost impossible, so make sure you don't enter higher level dungeons or delves.

 

[MrHurricane89]

If you like exploration, interesting stories or massive scale PVP, ESO is a great game. But PVP is only good on the pre-veteran campaign, as there are no meteor-spammers, fully kitted out builds, and gear is equalized.