1700+ champion points, 4400+ hours. Your video reminded me my beginning. I've been running around Stonefalls, Deshaan, exploring, crafting, questing. So much great emotions. Community is also great. Players help newbies. I've been helped a lot. Now I am the one, who helps new players, and it makes me happy and nostalgious, when they discover something new. There are hard mode DLC dungeons with brain exploiting mechanics and effects. There is PvP in Cyrodil and Imperial City. Most of the time I spend right there. So, there is a lot of harder content, and overland content in newest chapters is sometimes hard as hell for single average player. Excuse me for my English, it's not my first language. I just wanted to share my emotions THAT much. Yes, combat sucks sometimes, I wish it had more impact and more of a feeling that you are in that armour, not stupidly running around and jumping, because it is quite hard IRL to do that, when you are in armour. Trust me on that. This element was present in Skyrim, but ESO lacks it. And as a result it feels non-material sometimes, too plastic, sort of. But when you are in 12 ppl dungeon, and there is a hell of a lot going on, or there is a PvP 40*40*30 battle near a castle, you forget all those bad sides, because you literally have no free brain space to process it. You are all in combat. Quite a long read, I suppose. Also, I will try to answer any questions you have. As long as my English skills will be enough. So please, If I say something wrong, double check if I really mean that, or it us a language issue. Thanks and see you at PC EU.

Craft bag is an absolute must have

This is a great video fair and honest. I have been playing MMORPG for most of my 35 years of life and barring early WoW years this has been the best overall lasting experience. I would say that after awhile the questing does get boring I feel a lack of cinematic scenes to help sell the emotion of the plots and character development. With all the issues I have heard others discuss this is still an incredibly great game, worth your time and worth your money.

Love your take and honest commentary, and showing a side of the game a lot of gamers forget is there.

I agree. Just have fun. No builds need. Just theory craft.

Hello, great video btw! I loved hearing your take on the game. I'm an ESO vet with close to 1000 hours invested across PlayStation and PC. To be honest, the way you're going through the game and soaking everything up is definitely the best approach. Today, I'm so wrapped up in performance and endgame numbers that I am like those people you grouped with in a dungeon and just running to the end. For me, I am motivated by the gear progression, which can be endless. There are nearly 600 sets in ESO with an infinite combination between them all. Creating and theory crafting builds is my favorite part of the game. I mostly PVP and am making builds for that, but I also solo arenas, dungeons, and most other content. I also participate in trials when my guildies are around. I think the social aspect of the game is the biggest catalyst for me as well. There's a massive community of like-minded individuals who all enjoy the game we're playing. ESO isn't perfect, but it's a great game with something for everyone! I'd maybe try joining a Role-playing or Questing guild. There's a ton of people out there who want to do exactly what you're doing and it can be fun to explore ESO's cast worlds with them. Great video, see you in Tamriel!

I’ve been playing ESO on and off since 2015. I also played Skyrim and Oblivion. (Tried Morrowind twice, but never got past a few hours in.) ESO has changed a lot over the 9 years since it was released-so many changes that it would be foolish to try and recount them here. Of course, the big difference is that ESO is a MMORPG. I can only imagine how enormous the challenge must be to keep players coming back year after year, to keep the game fresh. Some updates have been better than others. You’re quite right about the early stages of levelling. Quests are generally easy to complete and combat presents no real challenge (unlike Skyrim and Oblivion where you will get your @$$ handed to you on a regular basis, especially if you set the difficulty to medium or higher). In my first year or two of playing ESO, I didn’t notice this as much, because I honestly had no idea what I was doing, I just fumbled along with my one original character and my damage output was terrible. 😂 But I had noticed that some other players were taking down enemies a lot faster than I, and that got me into figuring out how to actually make a proper build. Fast forward to the past few years, and that’s what keeps me coming back: the desire to make good builds, to try out the different races, classes, skills and roles, as well as craftable and farmable gear sets. I call it “tinkering” and I’ve gotten pretty good at it, at least I’ve reached a point that I can call endgame. Having said that, I also realize that I can’t move beyond a certain plateau, because my RL situation excludes being able to commit the time to join 12-player trials where the best gear is farmed. At any rate, I have to cut here. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have, if I can.

Figured I'd chime in a tad as an ESO 'veteran' that's been playing since 2015. The unfortunate fact of the matter is, like many MMOs, the game feels a bit lackluster while leveling, in many ways. ESO, specifically, actually quite heavily buffs characters under level 50, so combat and resource management is essentially non-existent until you reach level 50. So, this, coincidentally, reinforces this idea that you should just focus on leveling and reaching cap so that you can get to the good parts of what the game has to offer. Although, when I first started, the game was obviously a lot different in terms of difficulty (they did not buff you back then), but I mostly quested and explored the world until I reached level 50 as well, in spite of this. So, I don't think there's anything wrong with treating the game as if it's more of a background game until that point. I'm a bit biased about questing compared to what some people's opinions are within the community, as I really enjoy relaxing with questing and exploration; you can't beat everything being voiced, honestly. And even after having played for 8 years, there's still loads of content I've yet to do/experience. The game will feel completely different once you get to gear cap (level 50 - 160 CP [champion level]). Crafting has more weight to it, and you'll be able to put more care into what sets you use/farm for, etc. Because as it stands right now, you're going to be extremely buffed up, and your gear will be everchanging, making crafting or certain quest rewards feel meaningless. One of the more polarizing aspects of the game is the combat. There are mechanics (light attack weaving and animation cancelling by bar swapping) you can incorporate that engender the combat to feel much faster-paced, smoother, and satisfying (subjectively, I suppose). I'm also a bit biased here because I love really fast-paced games such as real-time strategies or arena shooters, but once you become more accustomed to this aspect of ESO's combat, it definitely feels like it's less sluggish, which, for me, is one of my gripes with most MMOs; the combat generally feels somewhat sluggish and jarring to use. This is one of the main reasons I keep coming back to ESO. The combat is just infinitely satisfying to me, because you feel as though you're always using something, with little to no downtime, all the while having to focus on potential boss / enemy mechanics that might be coming your way. Gear is another thing. As I touched on earlier, for right now, it might not seem like much, but when you get to the level cap and can grind out certain sets, there are a lot that are just fun to use. You can obviously be someone who uses the standard meta gear sets, which are usually boring, but I enjoy using the ones that have really unique visuals / bonuses, etc. This is another thing that can make the combat that much more interesting. And while this sounds all well and good, if the questing is too easy, then why would it even matter? Technically, you can get into veteran group content eventually, such as dungeons or trials, but you can also challenge yourself to solo world bosses or 4-man dungeons (yes, you can absolutely do this eventually), and this is something that always brings me back, as well. Veteran content in general will cause the combat to feel more engaging because you'll have to learn mechanics, etc., but just in general, the idea, to me, of going into a 4-man dungeon and doing the quest and tackling all of the bosses that feel much, much harder than normal because you're all by yourself, makes completing it that much more satisfying. I could go on and on, but this is already getting pretty long. Point is, I think the game may feel as though is doesn't offer much while you're leveling up, but it does, absolutely, get better eventually. I think for now, you're playing the game properly. Go at your own pace and enjoy the leveling experience in any way you can, because if you try and rush to 50, then you may burn out quickly, which I imagine happens to a lot of players. If you progress far enough and find that this game becomes one of your favorites-that's wonderful! And if it doesn't quite do it for you-that's alright, too!

The combat was always my only complaint. I love the game. It took quite a while for the combat to grow on me. The more I understand the mechanics the better I feel about it.

It's an amazing game that will simultaneously piss you off lol. The combat and war pvp stuff is by far my favorite part of the game next to the unreal level of customization and character/armor/weapon/playstyle capability you can fine tune to your own style. The questing is questing, its got some of the best side content in any game too. The world is ridiculously large that you'll only start to realize that as you explore. Dungeons are very well done, I cant think of a single negative thing about them. Trials however can be a hit or miss experience because of other people.

I have been enjoying this game so much since I started it almost 10 years ago. The community is so welcome, new players aren't shunned for being new player, unlike in WoW, and the zones are beautiful. I've sometimes found that the best part is just the journey as you level, and once I reach lvl 50, that joy vanishes. While there is still a ton to do at max level, the best parts is that leveling up through the zones. It really feels like I'm on a journey.

I just got the game this weekend. Loving it so far never played sky rim or anything of this nature. Lots to learn trying to get me a pet haha. Great video.

Hello, My way to fix the dungeon problem was to create my own group in the dungeon finder panel. I explain for each dungeon i want to clear in the description that i am a new player and i want to follow the story. I always find a few players that will join my group and we take our time. This is the key for finally enjoying ESO !

Great video!! Love your detail in the commentary. The way I play the game is when I get bored of gaming I’ll return back to eso for the latest expansion and make new character for that expansion. Also you didn’t mention where you stream Id love to hope on and check it out! Keep up the great work

Hey, you make sick content. Like I found you through Poe , watching your journey helped me get in the game and gave me the confidence to learn and push myself. Been binging your stuff a lot because it’s so good and relatable. Realized I had to let you know this , you’re doing a great job. Looking forward to more of your stuff regardless of how long it takes. ❤

You can bypass the craft bag by making a guild and inviting friends or accounts until you reach 10 guild members, which unlocks the guild bank with 500 slots. Did this with 9 other quick accounts that I've created during one of the free-week events.

Overland (questing, normal dungeons, delves, public dungeons), is meant to be chill af, just lay back and enjoy.... On DLC Dungeons (specially veteran difficulty), arenas, and Trials (12 man pve activities) is when stuff gets difficult.... But that usually requires for you to be lvl 50 + 300 or 50 + 600, depending on the activity!

If you want to fight a challenging open world npc, this Golden Saint WB in Stonefalls .... Also, deconstructing things for mats is a great way to level your crafting skill up. Even better if its crafted by another player. But deconstructing anything with "Intricate" trait is the perfect thing for leveling up crafting. Youll bulk up on mats too. You could likely buy bulk intricate stuff from players for a reasonable price or possibly for free if they feel like helping. I stash a bunch of that stuff specifically in my Guild bank in case a new Crafter to be needs a boost.

ESO is amazing because it is a good game, not only a good MMO. The best game of the franchise, in my opinion.

great video! I'm an ESO no lifer. I think that you might enjoy questing in Craglorn because of how the combat experience during questing is so lackluster like you pointed out. Craglorn was designed for groups of 4 and was the highest level zone in the game but now its different and scaled like every other zone. but the group quests should present enough of a challenge that you might need a partner. You asked how other ESO players engage with the game. I started playing in 2016 and I just wanted to level up crafting and craft for everybody that I could, I would invest in materials and provide services barely above cost and usually for free just out of the love of crafting and being "the guy with all the styles". long before the craftbag so every time I crafted for somebody I had to move items from several mule characters and travel all over the world to crafting stations because in home crafting wasn't a thing yet. Then 7 months into the game I had 2 of every class leveled up and thats when I finally wondered...woah, what do I do now? Decided to try Cyrodiil the PvP land and joined the first group that I saw asking for people. Joining that one group lead to me joining more than 10 PvP guilds over the years but my main passion remains crafting and providing a crafting themed guildhall for my guild.

im in a similar boat as you. my highest level character is 31 and just quest and do a dungeon every once in a while. the main way i level crafting is by breaking down the loot into parts and selling the parts.

I am an ESO player. I mostly play as you do but I do enjoy the crafting aspect as well. I also belong to 4 trading guilds where I earn gold to buy houses and decorate them. This is the true end game of ESO. BTW crafting is essential if you want to decorate using items you can make yourself.

Just passed my 1,000 days played mark in ESO. It has been a bumpy ride but thats all part of the experience. I have a hard time playing many other games as not many can take its place in community and overall things to do

ESO has been my main mmorpg since I quit WoW. I have a guild that I raid with, pvp, solo dungeons and world events/bosses, player housing is unbelievable, crafting is satisfying without being overly complicated. the only downside (in my subjective opinion) is that the combat is just as bad as it was in Skyrim lol. very floaty and weightless, though less noticeable if you play a caster. plus the story and lore is incredible in ESO, they have so many famous actors who voice characters (Dumbledore!).

I've started playing eso around one tamriel release early 2017, played on and off, mostly off, but still have 8k+ hours, long periods when I wasn't working much or studying, half of it was raiding some farming for raid and a lot of standing around, solo arenas and parsing. I tried a couple MMOs before and after but nothing compares, the fast paced combat is unmatched when you start getting into it, everything else feels sluggish in MMO. I have close to no idea to what happens in the various stories tho, stopped caring after a bit, I love storytelling but every quest in eso feels like: info dump into mindless progression through fodder and uneventful conclusion, for the most part. So I go other games for that. But can't shake eso and its combat. Also the only game where I participated in the social aspect, usually I game by myself, but in eso you are forced to for a great experience and it really was amazing, but it requires a lot of ones time and attention like any other human relationship. Shocker MMO good with more people :O

Overland quests will never be hard. Group Dungeons can be a challenge once you get to level 50 and can queue for vet. Trials are also a challenge. Gear stops levelling at CP 160. So for instance I'm level 50 and cp 2500. Vet Dungeon and Trial content will put more of a challenge to you. The story line and overland stuff is there so you can experience the in-game content. Try joining a guild

As a Content Creator for this game, I always enjoy hearing new players perspectives on this game. and yes the overland and PvE content in this game is brain dead. Zenimax has stripped away so many good combat mechanics that this game once had in the name of accessibility. your PvE experience is only going to get easier. You have trials and dungeons, but they echo with the same hollowness/easiness of the overland content so that is why people breeze through dungeons in the dungeon finder. You talked about combat being like a FPS game. I like that. because it is true. That is why the PvP in this game is Second to none in terms of how fun it can be and its replay value. PvP was how the game was originally designed and marketed. That is why it plays so well and is why I am still playing this game today. PvP is where the challenge is and where a mastery of the combat system can be learned. Unfortunately, at some point in 2018, Zenimax decided that PvP was Cringe and since then, PvP has not received a SINGLE update. all the new content that comes is Strictly story based and the only "NEW" content that the combat system gets are reworks to skills and changes that take existing combat mechanics out of the game. each year, the combat system gets more watered down because apparently, the combat is still too difficult. Even for PvE. The only reason I have not left this game yet, is because I love the community. at this games core, it is an mmo. meaning it was meant to be enjoyed with other players. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to maintain, as alot and i mean ALOT of content creators have just given up on eso and left the game, including some of my best friends. its like watching a healthy relative go from being at his prime to being in a hospital bed on life support. the state of eso currently is Really sad. And Zenimax just could care less.

When it comes to doing dungeons I find that most of the time, if you just tell the people your with that your a new player trying to do the quest and experience everything they will slow down and help. Not always but alot of the time. The community is not quite as toxic as other games. Plus there are alot of guilds that are all about helping introduce new players to all aspects of the game.

It’s easy because you are in the starter zone doing starter quests ... also crafting is extremely viable for late game . Even while leveling crafting is useful ie crafting training gear to level . There is technically a starting path but you didn’t do the main story quest . The main story quest takes you in order of the locations for your faction . All the other zones are dlc zones and expansion zone. The game has a structure it’s just confusing

I honestly never saw a issue of the combat on eso I come from wow and now I swap to eso and I been having a blast and loving the combat system at least for me.

In my opinion, ESO shines in Class- and Build Fantasy. Wanna play a Bloodknight Juggernaut ? No problem, pick Nightblade, Vampire, Heavy Armor, 2 Handsword an go for it. The Access to many Skill-Lines besides your Class Skills is amazing. Not to mention CP Talent-Trees and more then 500 Sets you can choose from. So build what you like, for 95% of the content, you dont need to build efficient. Besides PvP and Hardmode Vet Raids. Next thing is housing. Eso has legit the best Housing System i ever saw in a MMO. You can own so much different Plots with different Styles. Its ridiculous. Not to mention the total Freedom of placing objects and the thousands and thousands of different objects to choose from. Inlcuding the possibility to buy empty plots and build full customs houses. This game give you alot of assets specially designed for buildung your own structures. ESO is great for Lore-Lover, Casuals, Theory-Crafter and Roleplayers. I love the PvP. For me its 10 Timers better then WoW, Aion, Black-Desert, Blade-And-Soul and FF14. I cant explain why. But it feels more interactive and i feel like i have an impact. I enjoy the simplicity and to theorycraft and test alot of different builds and sets. I guess Hardcore Gamers wont like ESO, because of the different gear progression and the missing gear devaluation (like in WoW or FF14). And most of them arent interested in Questing, Lore and Housing. So i wouldnt recommend this game to someone who constantly want the grind for progression.

Give the game 20-50 more hours and you will have a completely different opinion

I've been playing eso for over 4 years now. What I'd say is one of your main problems is you made 3 toons and didn't make it to level 50 with any of them. After you do then you'll begin earning champion levels which are used to give yourself passive buffs and are available account wide so can be applied differently to didn't builds and classes as needed.even then CP 160 is the level cap for equipment but you still fall into the new player category at this point because the CP level cap is 3,600. Yes, overland content is piss simple. Last year I did an experiment and made a new toon, didn't assign any champion points or make myself any leveling gear,just used what I came across from drops and I still got through everything with barely a scratch. I play as a tank quite often and should be in front of the group during dungeons but it annoys me when dps run past me and agro the next boss before I get there. Yes I could run to the boss before them but then I wouldn't have the stamina to block where as a mag dps mainly uses it to run or dodge. A stam dps will have more stam and recovery so can be brazen about running ahead. In short though, you should really get one of your toons to 50, then 160 before making a full new player analysis video.

Awesome video 😊 if anyone wants help on PlayStation let me know

Nice new player experience summary I expect. This is one of the few big mmos I've never tried out. I think it's just the setting and bethesda style storytelling, just doesn't do it for me anymore.

You need to learn to light attack weave. It makes the game so much better and more fun... and so much more damage

I also notice you're not "weaving" in your video. Part of the combat of ESO is throwing 1 light attack before each spell/skill so both hit in the spell global cooldown. It's a bit of an art to get the timing to get maximum damage and takes some practice . So it's light attack (causes weapon enchant to proc)/skill, light attack/skill etc.. Once you hit higher difficulty, not weaving well, makes a decent sized damage per second difference. Overland Mobs in ESO are very weak to be fair. That point is correct IMO. More challenge doesn't really hit until you are able to do DLC dungeons or dungeons on hardmode when you maximum level and have decent amount of champion points to put into buffs to the toons on your account. OR if you decide to do PVP Battlegrounds. Also, Some parts of Crafting are near MANDATORY when you hit endgame. (Research important traits on gear and weapons). You need to be able to change stats on gear and that is only done through a part of the crafting system. You MAY really like the Endless Archive that is coming later this year where it challenges you with some of the bosses from dungeons, Raids and quests to see how far you can get. It's the challenge you sound like you're missing.

one of the things that really turned me away from this game is how overmonetized it is loot boxes, "optional" subscription (that gives so much QoL as to render it non-optional for most people) on top of how all the cool looking stuff is overpriced in the store while everything you can actually get by just playing look rather plain. they split the expansion into 2 parts and then sell the 2nd part separately as well as 4 dungeons that are also connected story wise that are also sold separately, all while charging you 35USD for the expansion (at least, that is how the annual expansion model worked. IDK how they will find ways to milk money further as they move away from that) the class balancing at higher levels is an absolute joke in any activity harder than the overworld (which is pretty brain dead easy) with some classes being extremely OP while ones that are already underpowered get nerfed (my poor Dragon Knights) certain skills are utterly useless. the only viable builds on anything harder than the overworld content nearly the same cookie cutter builds no matter where you look. that is mostly because the entirety of the game is balanced around the top 0.0001% of players who can run through hard mode trails with ease I want to enjoy this game some more in the future, but as things stand right now, the devs seem fine just milking players of more and more money while making the same mistakes with every expansion cycle. And I've chosen to vote with my wallet I've given up on this game and hope it gets better in the future. I could live with the class imbalance if it wasn't for the monetization

A lot of ESO Vets have the same complaint you have. The Overland content is too easy to the point that the story loses its credibility. If you can kill the BBEG, who has been built up in the narrative without dropping below half health something is horribly wrong. BTW In my opinion the writing improves a lot in the later content so its definitely worth doing.

If other MMOs take anything from ESO I hope it's the UI, combat, and hotbars. I refuse to play MMOs like FFXIV and WoW with insane numbers of skills in a rotation. Combat is perfect.

ESO vet here lvl 1709...You felt combat was boring bc you played warden lol. Try nightblade. I make nightblade content if you want to see good high level play of combat. PVP

Perfect summary, combat sucks, dungeons are over before you finished talking to the first npc

losers