I’ve been playing Elder Scrolls Online for about a week now and so far I am incredibly impressed with the game. It not only is visually beautiful to play but the gameplay itself is really fluid, intuitive and the questing experience flows so well.
So far I’m really enjoying the game but with only a week of playing under my belt there is still a lot to learn.There are 3 factions with 3 races each. Each race can be any of the 4 classes (Dragon Knight, Sorcerer, Nightblade or Templar), however each race has bonus attributes that can make them more suited to different class such as High Elves receive a bonus to destruction staffs which are typically used by sorcerers, however there is so much choice in how you can play each class that you can really take whatever race/class combo you want.
All the classes can equip the different types of armor in the game as well as equip any weapon they come across so there is a ton of customisation in the game. I think once you hit a certain level you can have 2 types of weapons saved with different spells sort of like a duel spec. Perhaps there is a specific build required for end game but as I’m more interested in just levelling, it feels like there are unlimited choices available. There is a lot of complexity in some ways as each class has 3 talent trees you can pick from, as well as weapon skills, armor skills, crafting skills all of which require skill points to level up; you get skill points from questing, exploring and levelling. I’m currently just picking and chosing what sounds good.
The quests are done really well. Most of the quests are mini stories that you follow along, I haven’t come across a single “go kill x number of mobs” style quests so far which makes a really nice change. All the quests are voice acted as well as having text if you want to read faster than the quest giver can talk. I thought I recognised the voice from one of the main story quest npcs and sure enough, The Prophet is voiced by Michael Gambon, the actor who plays Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies.
There are so really cute features in the game, such as when you look in your bag.. your toon actually looks in their bag or when you are cooking, your toon pulls out a cooking bowl.
The combat is very different to wow. I use left mouse click as my weapon attack, 6 hot keys for spell attacks (there are a ton more spells than just 6 so it means I have to choose what I want to use) and each spell can also be upgraded (morphed) into stronger versions of it once you use it enough to level it up and rather than selecting a target, you simply mouse over the npc you want to attack.
There are so many options you can choose from when making a toon; not only the standard body type/hairstyle,/face etc but right down to size of their legs/hands, voice or tattoos/markings. I’ve been trying out a few combinations of races/classes just to see what I like the most. I chose 1 race from each of the three factions as they start in completely different areas and have different quests. They are still quite tiny at level 8 each (no idea what end level is, I’ll let it be a surprise) so like most levelling toons they are in a hodge podge of mismatched gear that I’ve either picked up or crafted for them.
High Elf Sorcerer currently using a Destruction staff and lots of lightning style spells.
A Breton Templar with a sword and shield though I’m thinking of swapping her out to a Restoration Staff for healing and ranged attacks.
And my absolute favourite of the 3 is a Dark Elf Dragon Night with a destruction staff and lots of fire spells. So far she has been really easy to solo level with.
This is such a brief overview of the game, I hardly feel like I’ve done it any justice. I can really see this game holding my attention for quite a while as I’m fascinated to quest through the beautiful zones and follow the stories of all the different quests. If you were thinking about trying it out, I would 100% recommend you give it a try.
Z is for Zeirah 
Awesome! Glad you are loving it. People seem to either love it or hate it, I’ve found. I am much more likely to play it now that it is B2P rather than a sub game.
I have to admit I hadn’t even looked into this game so wasn’t up on the reviews of what people thought of the game. I tried a friends beta key a year ago and it just didn’t grab me then at all. But we were looking for a game to play and this came up on steam, and the majority of comments for this game where along the lines of.. “it’s 100% better than a year ago” or “the bugs that made this game unenjoyable have been fixed” or words to that effect so I thought since it was on sale at a local games store to give it a try. So glad I did.
I love the idea of B2P and not sub games. I can see that they have a store but it really isn’t that necessary to the game.. though I will admit to buying a horse for $8 (once you convert AUD into US dollars and then buying the in-game currency with US dollars). Best thing I ever did.. I could rave on (and will in a blog post eventually) about how amazing the mounting animations and sound effects that go along with the horse are.. most realistic sounds and actions I’ve seen in a game to date.
About class bonuses, bonus in leveling “whatever weapon or armor” are useless in the long run, as once you reach 50 in that line it’s useless. But the stamina, magic, health and other bonuses still have an impact 🙂
Have fun with the ESO.