Elder Scrolls Online

Antimatter

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Wow, the previous post was more than 1 month ago, and it doesn't feel like that at all. Time flies! This month has been very lively. The expansion was released, and I got a chance to play it right at the release. That's the first time I did something like that, usually preferring to wait until ~December to grab the latest expansion at a discount. Not this year, though. Playing Gold Road with so many players at the same time was fun! Although I haven't started the main quest of the area yet, I completed the whole questline of Scribing, a totally new mechanic added to the game.

Let me just tell you the quests there were fun, engaging, full of TES lore, and gave all sorts of emotions, from humor to having tears in my eyes. The quest introduced a new NPC who quickly became one of my favorites, the one and only Nahlia (yes, the name is very similar to Nalia from BG2:SoA).

Playing through those quests was like playing a new game in my favorite franchise, not missing the fun of seeing other players completing their own objectives.

At first, I wasn't a fan of how Scribing actually works, with a lot of grind involved, and this grind is multiplied if you have a few characters and want to use Scribing with each of them. However, one month later, I'm actually ok with that. Yes, it involves grinding, but the game should be played at your own pace, and eventually you will get there. Especially since Scribing (as of now) mostly helps with PvP builds, not PvE content.

Right now, there is the Zeal of Zenithar event going on in the game. It's not as big as the Anniversary celebration, but it is rewarding for players who generated a lot of master writs (and/or bought them from guild traders over time) and want to complete them for some extra rewards.

There was also a PvP Battlegrounds event earlier in June, and I've had a lot of fun with that as well. Now I'm planning my next outfit for my Redguard character, focused around the Dragonslayer theme--the Battlegrounds style rewards can make it possible. Once I gather all the needed style components, I'll show you the results.

And here is my room, a library, a working cabinet, and a place where my Necromancer can do his necromancy stuff! Extra credit to @shmity72 who gave a piece of advice you can disable the UI for screenshots.

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Antimatter

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Ok, the planning phase is over, my image for the Redguard Templar is complete. She reached the 20th rank in the Alliance (Grade 2 Captain), and that is 3,952,000 Alliance Points, nearly 4 MLN! It could look like a LOT to a new player trying out PvP, but in reality, I started doing PvP content just in January.

Reaching that rank unlocked special bound style pages from the Imperial City Tel Var traders, and considering it's now the Zeal of Zenithar event, all in-game prices are discounted. I've used that opportunity and spent almost 100k Tel Var stones to create a look I'm happy with (yes, that's a small dragon on her shoulder).

The idea is a flamboyant combatant, covered in light and fire from her Templar abilities.

I'd say that playing an MMO is all about your player targets--those can differ based on the stage you're at, from completing a zone with all its side-quests and antiquities, to decorating a house (or at least a few rooms), to building a new character with a specific purpose (a tank for PvE group content, a PvP healer, etc), to hunting down motifs and style pages for a specific look. Yes, it takes time, but I make sure the process is as fun as the end result.

In this case, I discovered an awesome mode for the game, Battlegrounds, that is more friendly for newer players than the Imperial City or Cyrodiil, it's also fast and provides a lot of rewards, the biggest of them would be Alliance Points, I'd say. I again have to credit @shmity72 who first mentioned Battlegrounds to me when I was just a PvE player and had 0 plans for PvP.

I also thought that the recently given-away fire camel/lizard was such a fitting mount for her.

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shmity72

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Ok, the planning phase is over, my image for the Redguard Templar is complete. She reached the 20th rank in the Alliance (Grade 2 Captain), and that is 3,952,000 Alliance Points, nearly 4 MLN! It could look like a LOT to a new player trying out PvP, but in reality, I started doing PvP content just in January.

Reaching that rank unlocked special bound style pages from the Imperial City Tel Var traders, and considering it's now the Zeal of Zenithar event, all in-game prices are discounted. I've used that opportunity and spent almost 100k Tel Var stones to create a look I'm happy with (yes, that's a small dragon on her shoulder).

The idea is a flamboyant combatant, covered in light and fire from her Templar abilities.

I'd say that playing an MMO is all about your player targets--those can differ based on the stage you're at, from completing a zone with all its side-quests and antiquities, to decorating a house (or at least a few rooms), to building a new character with a specific purpose (a tank for PvE group content, a PvP healer, etc), to hunting down motifs and style pages for a specific look. Yes, it takes time, but I make sure the process is as fun as the end result.

In this case, I discovered an awesome mode for the game, Battlegrounds, that is more friendly for newer players than the Imperial City or Cyrodiil, it's also fast and provides a lot of rewards, the biggest of them would be Alliance Points, I'd say. I again have to credit @shmity72 who first mentioned Battlegrounds to me when I was just a PvE player and had 0 plans for PvP.

I also thought that the recently given-away fire camel/lizard was such a fitting mount for her.

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that's an expensive motif on your companion npc you created? ember?
 

Urdnot_Wrex

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that's an expensive motif on your companion npc you created? ember?

Does it drop from PvP too?

But yeah even just equipping it is expensive.

My Khajiit Nightblade used to wear the poor man's version, i.e. simply picking "no outfit" when wearing the Arms of Relenquen set from Cloudrest Trial which is in Welkynar style.

I too played ESO a lot during the last months, but I avoid PvP like the plague. Instead I found a nice guild, made money with trading, outfitted the free house (that desert oasis) that ZOS gave away lately, made it a caravan trading post, started parsing on training dummies and running the occasional trial or DLC dungeon with the guild, working on my DPS output... also fun social stuff like dragon hunting in a big group, Southern Elsweyr main story quest, Tales of Tribute contests... all big fun.

I even started veteran Maelstrom too but had to take a break at the ice level which is a huge difficulty spike. I'll continue from there if I ever pick it up again. I have all the weapons from normal Maelstrom, the vet version doesn't do much more, it's only for the satisfaction of having done it.

And yes, even the inevitable grinding for gear or mythic leads can absolutely be kept interesting and mixed up with other stuff.

The only problem with that for myself is that if you want to do all of that and have a lot of fun with it, it takes up an awful lot of time, and that doesn't mix well with lots of RL responsibilities. So for people with a poor sense of time who tend to get sucked into games and forget to come up for air occasionally and force themselves to do the important stuff in life out there, it can lead to unhealthy habits.

If you have the self-control to prevent that, it's an awesome game, the one I have played exclusively for months and not regretted it. As is, I saw no other solution for myself than to quit cold turkey, uninstall it and give my laptop to my kids for a few months. A bit drastic, but the only thing that works for me. "Just a little bit" always turned into far too much.

The most interesting thing is the diversity of the game, the variety. Several people can play it enthusiastically with much dedication for a long time without even being interested in or participating in the same activities. It really has something for all tastes.
 

Cahir

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I've been playing ESO again too from second half of April (unfortunately missed the Anniversary event) with my new Redgard arcanist character and I'm having a lot of fun. Initial plan was to just having a good time with PvE story content, focusing on zones I haven't done during my first ESO adventure. After couple of weeks, when I was already feeling more and more confident, thanks, in large part, to @Antimatter's invaluable advice, my gaze turned cautiously to group content.

I was dread to try, so started with the easiest (main game) group dungeons. Having a relatively easy time beating those solo, I became cocky and started experimenting with other stuff, like Infinite Archives.

I haven't touch PvP much just yet, only a dozen of do Battleground matches, but maybe I'll try Cyrodill and Imperial City more, during July's event, as it may be a slightly lower entry level, when more people will be participating.

What I would still like to do, before putting the game back to shelf again, is decorating the bloody house and find the time and inspiration to make a PvP build, using Armory system (which is freaking awesome).

Oh, and forgot to mention. A use a shitload of addons (surprise surprise 😁). Can't even remotely imagine how anyone can play this game without a minimap. It should be banned 🤣
 

Urdnot_Wrex

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I was dread to try, so started with the easiest (main game) group dungeons. Having a relatively easy time beating those solo, I became cocky and started experimenting with other stuff, like Infinite Archives.

For the other dungeons, especially when they're a daily pledge, you can easily look in the group finder and join someone else. (Most more difficult dungeons aren't just non-soloable because of boss strength but mostly because the mechanics require one person pulling a lever here or destroying an orb there while the other(s) keep the boss busy)
Another option is to queue for daily random normal dungeon, it will group you with randoms but on normal difficulty that's fine, I had only good experience with it. First random dungeon gives a big daily reward.

Don't do that if you want to go veteran though. Vet random queues are a lawless land. In that case, or if you want to do trials, I'd suggest joining a guild. There are big social guilds without minimum trading requirements, where you don't need to pay regularly and a certain amount of donations is only necessary to get access to the guild bank, and to extend the time you can be offline without being kicked, like 14 days instead of a week.

I was in Spring Rose for example, one of the Rose Guilds, biggest group of social guilds on EU/PC server, includes Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Midnight Rose.
For months I didn't do anything except use the guild trader and occasionally ask something in guild chat, but they also have a lot of social events, like dragon hunting, skyshard hunts, fishing and world boss map completion, a very organized Discord with help and group finding for all kinds of subjects,
and of course guild halls give you access to all set crafting stations even from DLC areas you might not have access to, which is nice if you need a particular set, or simply for master writs.

Later I got huge help for improving DPS build, for continuing when hitting difficulty spikes in some content, and for finding dungeon and trial groups.

They also allowed people back in easily if there were free guild spots if you got kicked simply for inactivity (not logging into ESO for 7 days in a row, or longer considering your donor status, because guilds have limited places and it's a pity if it's only inactive members)
 

Cahir

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For the other dungeons, especially when they're a daily pledge, you can easily look in the group finder and join someone else. (Most more difficult dungeons aren't just non-soloable because of boss strength but mostly because the mechanics require one person pulling a lever here or destroying an orb there while the other(s) keep the boss busy)
Another option is to queue for daily random normal dungeon, it will group you with randoms but on normal difficulty that's fine, I had only good experience with it. First random dungeon gives a big daily reward.

Don't do that if you want to go veteran though. Vet random queues are a lawless land. In that case, or if you want to do trials, I'd suggest joining a guild. There are big social guilds without minimum trading requirements, where you don't need to pay regularly and a certain amount of donations is only necessary to get access to the guild bank, and to extend the time you can be offline without being kicked, like 14 days instead of a week.
I've been using Undaunted daily quests to explore normal group dungeons, yes. Since, you can grab those precious Undaunted keys, I figured it's a natural way to explore non-DLC dungeons.

I have been using dungeon finder for normal dungeons too. It usually throws me into a DLC dungeon, which indeed is too hard to do solo for me (tried it, so confirmed).

I don't plan to join any guild, so I guess vet dungeons and trials are out of the scope.
 

shmity72

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how to make gold

Experience points for undaunted skill line from achievements:

Completing normal dungeon for the 1st time - 10xp
Completing veteran dungeon for the 1st time - 10xp
No death - 10xp
Speed run - 10xp
Hard mode - 10xp
Completing non-dlc veteran pledge - 10xp
Completing non-dlc normal pledge - 5xp
Repeatable Bolgrul's daily quests - 5xp

how to raise undaunted skill line ^


how to do dps and yes healers main job is to be versatile and buff/debuff the fight as much as heal.

How I level?
addons? get urichs skill point finder if you make a new character to level. If you have some skills a food buff and a girdle on you may go from public dungeon to public dungeon. xp mobs/achievement/sky shard/skill point activity/some of the newer public dungeons drop things like 'shards' for example you can get a free dress if you get 50 shards. plus it's fun and may be done solo or with a little help from a companion. although the final boss may well require other players.

You can find Scaly Cloth Scraps by defeating enemies within the Silent Halls, one of Blackwood's two public dungeons. Interacting with the parts once you have collected 50 of them will unlock the Thrafey Debutante Gown costume in your collections.
 

shmity72

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I've been using Undaunted daily quests to explore normal group dungeons, yes. Since, you can grab those precious Undaunted keys, I figured it's a natural way to explore non-DLC dungeons.

I have been using dungeon finder for normal dungeons too. It usually throws me into a DLC dungeon, which indeed is too hard to do solo for me (tried it, so confirmed).

I don't plan to join any guild, so I guess vet dungeons and trials are out of the scope.
NA join my guild breaker breaker the only real rule is when typing: bullying/name calling is intolerable otherwise type how you wish as long as it's not particularly inflammatory and if you have to ask yourself whether it is? it is. I do not open recruit and...as such have kicked 2 or 3 people in 10 years as a guild master. 15 to 25 on at a time just enough for comraderies' and a trader. Otherwise ZERO obligation.
 

Antimatter

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Another month has passed! The Whitestrake's Mayhem (formerly known as Midyear Mayhem) event is a pure joy. That is a great opportunity to try a new character. I jumped right on the meta train with magicka sorcerers for PvP and now I understand why they are so powerful and fun to play. I used a few scribing skills to enhance the skill choices.

Meet this tough (yet wise) orc guy from Wrothgar:

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You might notice a peculiar staff on his back (those skulls 💀💀💀). Yes, that's the Fanged Worm Style, and I've been hunting for it for a while. The style pages can be granted to participants in Battlegrounds matches.
 

shmity72

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Another month has passed! The Whitestrake's Mayhem (formerly known as Midyear Mayhem) event is a pure joy. That is a great opportunity to try a new character. I jumped right on the meta train with magicka sorcerers for PvP and now I understand why they are so powerful and fun to play. I used a few scribing skills to enhance the skill choices.

Meet this tough (yet wise) orc guy from Wrothgar:

View attachment 10595
You might notice a peculiar staff on his back (those skulls 💀💀💀). Yes, that's the Fanged Worm Style, and I've been hunting for it for a while. The style pages can be granted to participants in Battlegrounds matches.
Indeed that is fanged worm I recognize it. Battle ground pages the 3 'big' ones like fanged worm drop exponentially less frequently. I'm glad you've got it now! My dragon scale took years and I'm still missing 3 random pieces of the possible 3 motif pages after 5 to 700 battle grounds
 

Antimatter

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One month later

I decided to redeem my Templar after what I had seen with a Magsorc in PvP, and essentially rebuilt the Templar for a very similar setup (using 3 scribing skills to fill in skills/buffs/debuffs the class missed). The results completely surpassed my expectations, and over the last week (which had a Battleground bonus) this new Templar achieved a lot.

However, ESO wouldn't have been ESO without new stuff. A new patch dropped this week, and it brought new Infinite Archive sets which seem perfect for many classes. It's time to redeem my Necromancer (the class was also buffed with the patch, finally). So I'll hunt for new items to make (what I think will be) nice PvE and also PvP builds for the Necromancer.

PvP taught me about some combat basics that actually help me build skills/rotation for the hardest PvE solo content as well.

Also, @Cahir convinced me join a trading guild and I (gasp!) installed my first-ever add-on to see all the related info for sales, etc.

And here is my new look:

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Antimatter

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what buffs for necro as that is my PVE character?
Necromancers now can receive Major Prophecy and Savagery from Shocking Siphon. They also get Major Brutality and Sorcery from the Skeletal Archer or Skeletal Mage. This is huge! Corpses can be made with Skeletal Archer/Mage.

Unnerving Boneyard now gets Minor Vulnerability, and Summoner's Armor now provides Minor Resolve. Also, Unnerving Boneyard's Minor Vulnerability and Major Breach now persist on enemies for 4.1 seconds each tick, rather than only while in the area.

So Vigor can be dropped. Intensive Mender now heals three targets. Agony Totem applies Major Cowardice (wow!). Ghostly Embrace now has more damage functionality, and Sacrificial Bones can now be cast out of combat (when you approach an enemy).

According to the devs, they've added damage sources to Ghostly Embrace to help inject some contextual options for damage production, without harming the utility. While this ability won't outweigh some purely damage-oriented skills, with proper aiming and placement, the ability to hit the same enemy with multiple patches allows for some powerful damage scaling that can contextually out-perform other ability options.

A new IA set for the class (Corpseburster) is also great.

(5 items) Consuming a corpse causes the corpse to explode, dealing 1298 Magic Damage to enemies within 5 meters, and increasing the damage by 10% for each Grave Lord ability slotted. This effect can occur once every 0.5 seconds and scales off the higher of your Weapon or Spell Damage. Enemies damaged by the explosion gain Minor Breach for 5 seconds, reducing their Physical and Spell Resistance by 2974.

Also, don't forget: scribing skills can be used, e.g. instead of Vigor, now you can slot a shield skill or something.
 

Antimatter

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I was hyped by those Endless Archive improvements and new features, and gave it a serious go with my Necromancer. These few weeks were a lot of fun:

- completed all Endless Archive mini-games and got all appropriate achievements; I couldn't stand a chance in some of them before;
- using the Endless Archive currency, bought all permanent upgrades for those achievements that will make further runs easier and smoother;
- managed to defeat every kind of Marauder, even the toughest ones: Gothmau and Bittog;
- managed to finally kill the Arc 2 final boss and reached the Arc 3 final boss now; for months and months, I couldn't defeat Arc 2 at all;
- for the first time, landed in the Top 100 Endless Archive weekly leaderboard (solo);
- gathered enough items to create 2 Endless Archive sets for my Necromancer;
- farmed and received all leads for Torc of the Last Ayleid King.

Now then, when the Torc is available, I figured I might try other classes (as it makes building a character pretty straightforward in terms of loot), and created a Warden. My idea is this fellow might be following Sanguine a bit too much in terms of entertainment and food/drink habits.

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My plan for him is to reach lvl 50 and build for a fun PvP character using the Torc.

Also, considering I could now build the proper Nobility in Decay set from the Archive, I updated the look of my Argonian Necro tank to accompany the change, check it out (in this picture, still without the purple glow the set provides):

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shmity72

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My plan for him is to reach lvl 50 and build for a fun PvP character using the Torc.

I've found the best way to level up to cp /50 is to do public dungeons. loot/xp/skill point event/skyshard/great drops for like the dress you may acquire. also..Use 'ulfric's skill point finder addon' for any and all missing skill points in the game.
 

shmity72

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One month later

I decided to redeem my Templar after what I had seen with a Magsorc in PvP, and essentially rebuilt the Templar for a very similar setup (using 3 scribing skills to fill in skills/buffs/debuffs the class missed). The results completely surpassed my expectations, and over the last week (which had a Battleground bonus) this new Templar achieved a lot.

However, ESO wouldn't have been ESO without new stuff. A new patch dropped this week, and it brought new Infinite Archive sets which seem perfect for many classes. It's time to redeem my Necromancer (the class was also buffed with the patch, finally). So I'll hunt for new items to make (what I think will be) nice PvE and also PvP builds for the Necromancer.

PvP taught me about some combat basics that actually help me build skills/rotation for the hardest PvE solo content as well.

Also, @Cahir convinced me join a trading guild and I (gasp!) installed my first-ever add-on to see all the related info for sales, etc.

And here is my new look:

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You may just recognize this location in Solitude anti.. I debated hard on the Griffins but. I HAD to pull the trigger 4k crowns each for the Queen and King of my Guild Breaker Breaker:


P.S. Only Apollo and Dionysus are depicted riding griffins in Greek mythology.
By medieval times in Europe, the griffin becomes an allegorical symbol representing the dualities and divisions between good and evil.

also anti if you want the deep purple on my outfit you see you acquire it completing a achievement in vatesharon arena in the reach. I'm pretty sure you have that. it's 'almost' black.
 

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Antimatter

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No screenshots this time, but I still play ESO (who could have guessed? ;) )

One of the biggest factors still pulling me in is the fluctuation and variety of its gameplay. I'm having fun participating in the West Weald event right now. This is a new chapter, and the region looks stunning from an aesthetic point of view. Just doing activities there feels fresh enough. Good rewards include rare Colovian furniture blueprints and the new chapter's motif pages.

And just one week ago, I had some fun with the Undaunted Celebration event which made me go through many veteran dungeons for the first time (and that's after 3 years in the game) and finally get those monster helmets and rare leads.

It was not all fancy and sweet all the time though. I think doing veteran dungeons with PUG players (aka random), especially those with extra difficult mechanics, can often lead to toxic behavior and frustrations. Whenever I did an ESO+ dungeon, I had some drama in the group.

I can agree with the following Reddit thread:



However, I'd say events, and, to a certain degree, weekly endeavors and monthly challenges (that provide players with unique rewards) keep players in the game for longer.

On top of that, Battlegrounds have kept me in the game, as always, especially since I'm trying another concept: a Nightblade, but not a ganker. More like a Shadowdancer, but in ESO.

Oh, and yeah, I managed to roll the dialogue check successfully to convince @Xzarloxara to try out ESO. Looking forward to your experience in this game.
 

Xzarloxara

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I had only played one MMO before this one, and it left a bad taste in my mouth, so I was a bit hesitant at first to try ESO. But I have played a bit now and I think ESO is a great game, far better than the other MMO I played. I love how any player, new or veteran, can go almost anywhere and do almost anything with anyone. Enemy difficulty somehow scales very well; it almost seems magical to me that a high level veteran player can partner up with a low level beginner and they can go after the same enemies and both contribute about equally. I am still learning the ropes, but I am enjoying myself a lot so far.
 
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