Finishing quests will net you experience points that will give you an opportunity to advance your character. There are four classes available in this game: DragonKnight, Templar, Nightblade and Sorcerer. Depending on what class you pick at the beginning, you will be given points to spend every time you level. In the Elder Scrolls Online, every class is versatile as they can equip any weapon and learn any skill outside of each class. Each has its own class skills that they can learn, while the majority will be based on what weapon, armors, and races you have. An example of this is for those who have a Templar class, they can have their character be a hybrid of a DPS/Healer class, and depending if they want to use a staff or a sword, each will have a unique skill that it can give the Templar. With so many skills available, only five skills can be put in the hotbar, though at level 15, you are given an opportunity to have two weapon sets and two hot bars that you can swap between.
In addition to questing, there are also dungeons that you can do in this game. If you are up for a challenge, you can make a group of four and tackle a far greater challenge that you cannot get in a regular quest. Doing dungeons in this game really requires team coordination as the bosses and mobs will not be a push over. Since healers cannot target which character to heal and with no way to see which character you are healing unless you point the mouse pointer to the character, they will have to rely their on AOE healing spells. It’s tough but at the end of the dungeon, it will all be worth it when you get that fat loot waiting for you. If dungeons is not your thing but you still want to do things with your friends, there are other opportunities that you can do and that’s through Dark Anchors and World Bosses, which there are a lot in every zone.
For those who are not fond of PvE but rather spend their time with PvP will have something to look forward to. As soon as players hit level 10, they can participate in an all-out war in Cyrodiil where your guild will have to fight for the Ruby throne. Each team will have to spend their time holding their keep as much as they can, while taking others along the way. The sight can be pretty when hundreds of players are there fighting but for now, doing PvP isn’t as exciting as doing PvE. One of my complaints in the PvP is that the rewards that you get. So far, being crowned the Emperor is only there for bragging rights and will not give you any sort of tangible rewards. Hopefully with future patches, Zenimax will improve the PvP portion as it has the potential to make it truly addicting. As of right now, it’s fun but I’m not expecting players to play it consistently, unless all they want to do is to make sure that they don’t lose their keep.
With so many loot that you can get as you travel through Tamriel, you might wonder where on earth would you use those? Well, the crafting system in The Elder Scrolls Online are well executed. Everyone can craft items that they want and the process of doing it is worthwhile. Those who are looking to get the most powerful equipment in this game, they might consider spending time crafting. Those who decide to craft will have to spend time gathering materials, deconstructing an item to get its materials, and researching for recipes. Since this game offers thousands of items, expect to do a lot of crafting, especially if you want your character to have a full stock of potions, buff items, and many more. The process is quite different compared to other MMOs and it’s a damn good thing.
With The Elder Scrolls Online now available worldwide, I must say that its launch is indeed smooth, despite having small bugs during early access. Before its official launch, several quests are bugged but luckily, Zenimax are quick to fix it just in time for launch. While bug quests are fixed, there are still some quests that are bugged but they are not game breaking. As for long queues, you don’t have to worry about that as it seems Zenimax and Bethesda are prepared for it.
It will be free to play in less than 3 months, due to a rapid decline in the number of sales.
Horribly boring combat, based on Skyrim and Morrowind combat which was also horribly boring. That’s where the buck stops. If the combat is horrid, there’s no point in even continuing this conversation.
I’ve been playing since Beta and it just keeps getting better.
This is an Elder Scrolls game for the customization masses. If you enjoyed other Elder Scrolls games because of the customization options (character creation, crafting, leveling) then you are going to love this game. If you prefer games that give you a specific line to follow then this is not going to be the game for you.
The game itself is geared to encourage exploration. If you just go from town to town doing those quests, you are going to miss probably 50% (if not more) of what this game offers.
If you like customization, story telling and beautiful scenery then this game is definitely for you.