It's awesome that so many new people are checking out this video! That being said: many of you are unfamiliar with me and my content. I don't expect you to watch all my videos before commenting and even though I mention my content in this video, I may not have taken enough time to explain. My primary objective with ESO was to see if the 10-year-old content holds up in 2024. I specifically play base-game exclusively and LOCK MYSELF inside until the zone-guide has been 100% complete! In 100 hours I have just finally completed the Aldmeri Dominion storyline and had a FANTASTIC time. At the start of EVERY video I state: "I'm trying to play ESO the way the developers intended" (back when the game launched). That means going slow and steady through story content and absorbing the world of tamriel for each zone (which is 95-97% overland content). Outside of the zone guides: I've done all the (base-game) dungeons and some of the (base-game) veteran dungeons! You can see @ 16:30 some of the veteran gear I obtained. I did most of the veteran dungeons without understanding what I was doing (I thought I was just queuing for a regular dungeon) and despite being in PUGs I didn't feel like it was any more challenging than a regular dungeon; just a bit longer. Dungeons are a fun thing to do but generally only take about 20-30 minutes to complete. Depending on the zone: overworld content accounts for roughly 14-20 hours of gameplay (excel sheets are posted in every video), so group content only accounts for 2-5% of my time in this game. I am a new player, this is the perspective of a hyper-casual new player trying the $5 base-game ESO package you can get on steam. So like it or not saying: "you haven't tried endgame", "wait until you have 500 hours", "do all the DLC dungeons on veteran" aren't really applicable for a new player in my position. I'm just giving my opinions of this 10-year-old game after 100 hours based on what I have experienced firsthand! I would LIKE to do another one of these videos after I've actually done trials, PvP, and harder DLC dungeons, but at that point I won't really be a new player (more like semi-experienced). The plan was to have 2-3 of these videos as time moves on so I could reflect back and watch my opinions change as I move further into the game
overland is actually NOT a majority of what the playerbase does nor is it a big focus most players focus on high end pve content or high end pvp content. also you have only played base game overland content, its intentionally easier than dlc overland content, those areas are considered " end game overland areas" so yes things are scaled but they are still scaled higher, some world bosses are VERY difficult to solo in dlc content overland, some overland activities CANT be solo just due to sheer numbers. try soloing a harrowstorm in reach. have fun with that. and please show us in video format.
id also like to point out that you are playing as an arcanist which is currently the most overpowered class in both pvp and pve content so of course everythings easy, also gotta nitpick your statement of " playing the game the way the devs intended it to be played" .....not really thier original intentions were to lock you into one alliance and force you to create a character of a seperate alliance to even enter other alliance zones, they changed that, also the devs state almost every single live stream that they dont have an intended way for anyone to play, they made it free form so that we could all play it our own ways, therefore according too the devs there ISNT a way they intend you to play. that being said, i feel ive come off more harsh than intended, i do love your videos and i fully support your content, just feel the need to clear up some of your misconceptions in case someone who hasnt played eso sees this and gets the wrong idea.
also eso is intentionally rotation based combat, you arent supposed to be using mostly heavy and light attacks, you are supposed to weave light attacks in between your abilities while using your abilities as your main source of damage, buffs, and healing, whilst only ever using a heavy attack to proc the off balance status effect or regain your main resource which is typically determined by what resource your main " spammable" attack is , for example a magicka based arcanist tends to use the runeblades ability as thier main spammable attack and then swap to the beam as the execute because it gets bonus damage against low health targets, so its a rotation based action rpg, rather than anything else.
@@alargeshrubb7964 MOST players absolutely DO NOT focus on high end content. The vast majority of players don't play veteran content and only do the daily random normal dungeon, if that. You sound like an elitist player that laughs at people that don't play sweaty content.
@@thegrogling6505 I get your point, but there's a huge difference in wanting the overall game to have any resemblance of difficulty, versus going to a few dungeons and doing some hard challenges. You're basically saying if you want the game to be challenging and engaging, you're going to have to do this one challenge for the rest of the game, which doesn't seem like a very fun time for anyone now.
I mean, all it would be is mobs with more health. Is that really what anyone wants? I don't think it is. I think they should increase mob density. No more 1 or 2 things to kill every 10 seconds. Put big groups of them. It'll be fun to mow them down. Then make delve bosses have a little bit of mechanics to them. Maybe just like one mechanic that you have to do. Then public dungeons a little bit more, and world bosses are fine as they are in the newer chapters
Amazing content like always! Just one thing I have noticed. I would change thumbnail photo to your iconic Argonian :) I missed this video twice due to the picture as I though it points out to another 10 years of ESO celebration video. But I am so happy you enjoy the game. Looking forward to some DLC playthrough
Thank you for the feedback, you're not the first person to mention this! Maybe I'll make the adjustment after work today. Thank you very much for the super-thanks!
I've been playing ESO for 4 years now and I really agree with the points you made in this video! You really highlighted and put into words why I generally avoid overland/story content in this game. I'm a PvP player and spend nearly 100% of my time in this game in Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds, and anytime I've tried to give the story content an honest shot I always find myself speedrunning through it with a "get it over with" attitude. I know ZOS has been considering finding a way to increase the challenge of overland content and that they haven't found something they like the feel of quite yet, but I really hope they do. Anyways, I'm glad you're enjoying the game! Even though you're new to the ESO community (and ESO content creation), I really think your videos are some of the best out there right now. You're genuinely making me want to try giving story content another shot and appreciate it for what is there.
That's great to hear. I was really hoping I didn't come off as uneducated or point out issues that weren't "a real problem". I look forward to trying PvP although I've heard more warnings about that gamemode than almost anything else in this game. I've been having a great time so far doing the casual stuff; so no complaints from me there!
PvP is where the combat system and build variety truly shine. Just don't take it too seriously, as among the regulars there are some characters who never learned games are most enjoyable when everyone's having fun.
Look at our boy! Look at him go! Still cannot emphasize how excited i am for you to experience the entire world and planes beyond. Being an absolute lore nut myself, one thing i love so much about new DLCs is the new lore i can discover. No spoilers obviously but the amount of new things that connect to previous TES games that explain things or create new mysteries or make you interpret the TES universe in a new light is brilliant and i think you'll love it. A lot of people seem to hate the fact that ZOS has the green light by bethesda to create cannon lore and they like to forget that, but i cant get enough of it. Its like getting an exclusive look under the cover of the secrets the elder scrolls hides and im addicted to it by every chapter that comes out XD. So happy for you that you've gained so much attention in so short a time. Will continue to support and cheer you on all the way through in every video. (if i don't comment on future videos, assume i've been torn apart by all the daedric princes i've sworn allegiance to that claim i'm their mortal champion/vessel)
ESO player since beta here. Your closing statement broke my heart. This game had so much potential and was honestly great for a short while. It's a shell of what it once was, though... The dev team unfortunately never seemed to get it to where it could have gone. Oh well...
About the whole “I have never seen such visceral hate for a game” and comments you get about people who hate the game and want you to stop playing. I’ve noticed two things about that crowd. 1: they view ESO as an affront to TES canon and think it butchers the lore. 2: they view ESO as this massive wall blocking TES 6 from release and that ESO’s continued development is leeching resources that could go to TES 6.
Interesting, I would never have guessed those two things. I've recently been watching Fudgemuppet's podcast on TES lore and they quite often talk about ESO and how much it adds to the story. As a singleplayer fan myself, I haven't come across anything yet that would justify that opinion. Weird people think ESO is blocking TES6, I kinda assumed it was two different development teams.
@@FrostbreakYT that's the thing. there are two differents studios, not just teams. Zenimax Studios, which is ESO, is not bethesda softwares. so there is not overlapping. Sure, maybe they used some of the loremasters in ESO, but i don't think that they are the bottle neck of production of TES6 Also, i don't think that they are breaking the lore. there is a lot of space and time between ESO (Second Era) and the main TES entries (end of the third era and fourth era) that they can explored. Consider that Tiber Septim or Talos is centuries yet from being born in ESO timeline. i'm not even going to get into Dragon Breaks, that let them, in theory if they want, fuck all the timeline or create new scenarios, and it all can make sense and fit in the in-game universe. And yet, I, who have played nearly every TES game, and also have played every one of the Expansion, and currently doing the Gold road, haven't found any major attempt to break anything. More so, they are filling the space in the lore making it more rich. cheers
@@FrostbreakYTit’s mostly complaints from long time fans. Skyrim, oblivion, and ESO all retconned a bunch of older TES lore which didn’t set well with some old fans. I kinda get the outrage for when oblivion came out, but this is old news now. Bethesda clearly wants to take the universe in a different direction than they had originally envisioned. I don’t get why people would think this game is preventing TES6 tho, Bethesda clearly just had different priorities. Fallout 76 and starfield didn’t just develop themselves lol.
Combat is the number one system you NEED to make right for most people. Everywhere I look and everyone I talk to who do not want to play the game, says it's because of the combat. I've played this game for about 70 hours and i LOVE the amount of content. the lore and the world itself. Because Elder Scrolls games has amazing lore in general. But I also can't see myself playing this game long term and making it my main game, because of the combat. There is just something off with it. Like you said, it feels floaty and attacks have very little weight to them. I honestly think they should focus on a complete rework/overhaul of the combat system for the next big update.
I love the combat system compared to tab systems but I find it less engaging than actual action systems. That's it. As a compromise, it works very very well, but as the guy said, feels very floaty...
I've been jumping back into the game following your lead with taking it slow and immersing each of the zones has been fantastic. Excellent video review!
I want to love this game so much and still do. What spoils for me is when you are in a dungeon, random people come and kill the enemies. Also the enemies quickly resurrect. This is so immersion breaking. I really think they should work on a single player version which fixes these issues a bit.
That would be awesome! I love that idea of like a "solo-instance server option" where you can opt-in to being alone in the world. Kinda destroys the point of ESO being an MMO but having it as a visual option so only you would know would be interesting.
As someone who has over 1700 hours on ESO, I'm really glad to see you enjoying it. Really great video by the way! I have some sort of love/hate relationship with the game (although most love, otherwise I wouldn't have played it for that long). While I love the game and the community, I tend to hate the extreme monetization that ZOS enforces on the players. Granted, it has actually became better in these past few years, with the addition of weekly and dailies where you can earn currency to buy crown-crate items, and achievements that unlock mounts, skins, etc. I'd say that ESO has an insane amount of content, and the fact that older content is as relevant to endgame as newer content is very refreshing for an MMO.
That's awesome to hear, I'm glad it's kept you captivated for that long. I'm not too familiar with the monetization system (as I mentioned), but yeah I heard some mixed stuff about it. Loot boxes and whatnot. An insane amount of content is the right phrase. $5 gets you like 600-700 hours of stuff to do. Pretty hard to beat that value-wise!
Thank you for your insight into this game. I bought it a few months ago and have been finishing up some other games, waiting to dive into this. The upcoming Update 44 (releasing Oct. 28 for PC/Mac and Nov. 13 for Xbox/PlayStation) sounds like the perfect time to do so with QOL changes and a change to the starting tutorial which has been moved back to it's original location. I've never played but from what I have read, most players agree that's a good change. I plan to play this mostly solo, so your insights are very relevant to my future experience. I also have enjoyed the lore and storytelling of Oblivion and Skyrim so this sounds like my cup of Falkreath Rosy Mead Tea. Great job with the video in terms of quality content and production.
There are regular bundle sales for all but the most recent DLC + the base game for like $40. That's a decade of content that will take 100's of hours to burn through.
Your videos are great, a lot of fun and unique. What really makes them standout is your personality and the effort you put into them. I do want to give a couple pieces of advice if you want to take them. Don't self deprecate, it's good being humble but don't be too humble. Your opinions don't need caveats. And you just grew hugely, so it's statistically certain that you will get dedicated haters and people that are here to disagree with the title and premise of your videos without even watching them. Don't acknowledge them, they are not your audience, the silent majority is. Can't wait for the next one!
Thank for for that comment that means a lot. I'm truly grateful for all the support I've gotten over the last few months; it's unbelievable. I don't mind reinforcing my opinions with caveats or support if it helps other people understand where I'm coming from, but I get your point. Thanks again for the kind words
The action combat shines in PVP, its a shame that most people will never get to the point where they are going to see how great it is. In PVP, the combat is weighty, dynamic and enemies adapt to how you are playing. This is also where you will see the greatest amount of teamwork/challenging content/progression as you get better etc etc.
That's the best advertisement for PvP I've heard so far. I'm always warry to try out that stuff because I'm so new I'm worried I'll be obliterated and never want to try it again. Once my skill increases a bit, and I can stand on my own two feet, I think that's when I'd give PvP a try.
Man I'd kill for a system like LotRO. Every single player of ESO has been BEGGING for more difficult overland/quest for years, both noobies and veterans alike...
Great review! I did pretty much the same thing as you joining about a year or so ago and just slowly experiencing each zone in the base game to 100% then moving to the next.
eso by far has been one of my favorite games and i love hoping on everyday for a couple hrs I always feel like I have something to do and I really enjoy the player base in the game they are really kind
It's become part of my daily schedule now! Jumping in for a couple hours to do a few quests a day, writing my notes, looking up new lore/info online; it's awesome. It really has that story/world building most MMOs don't; but I may be a little bias :)
Great video and set of videos prior to this! I’ve been on the fence about starting this game on Xbox. I have not played any MMO or Elder Scrolls game before so I’d be a total beginner. I am looking for a long, enjoyable grind, but am worried about the time commitment of this one and don’t wanna neckbeard it too hard that I let other life priorities go. But you’ve made me want to play the game! Also nervous (and excited) about how much there is to this game. Keep up the content and maybe I’ll jump in at some point!
If you're into a story-driven game with hundreds of hours of content to explore for like $5; I struggle to think of another MMO that has this beat (on console). I can't speak too much on the endgame/grind, but IF you want to do those activities, there's loads in this game.
@@FrostbreakYT awesome! Thanks for the reply! My main goal would be to get all of the achievements but if it’s going to take 1000+ hours, sounds like people love it and are willing to help if I need it, which is great!
@@lilblizake some fair warning, getting all the achievements will be quite difficult. Even though in the review he said overland content is easy (which it is) some dungeon and raid achievements will require you to be on top of your game. The trifecta achievements (no death, speedrun, hardmode) for group content are notoriously difficult. Good news is that there are guilds specifically made for achievement hunting so you should be able to get help with that
@@ac2.024 yeah I’ve heard that too so that is why I am hesitant to start. I’m waiting on Gold Road to drop and see what all they add to the game. Also trying to get through a few other games first so I can focus on ESO.
@@lilblizake I'm an achievement hunter too, been playing this from the start, achievements are slow going so my advice is enjoy the game and most of the achievements will happen naturally, there are of course some really long grindy ones and a couple I doubt I will ever get or even try at. Saying that there are a lot more in game achievements than just Xbox ones so I tend to focus on those now.
Banger of a video, I played the game at launch forever ago and have such fond memories of playing it. Every year since I have been tempted to hop back on that old account.
Great video! the editing keeps getting better, you reall wouldn't expect this level of quality from a 10k channel🙏I can't wait to see you experience all the different expansions
Is it only me, or level scaling enemies completely break the game and entire RPG concept? I have a feeling someone that comes up with scaling enemies idea is just a hired worker in a company that tries to "solve problems" instead of being gamer himself. You have to have 0 gamer sense and intuition at all to come up with this and implement it.
Its not that this is an idea of someone that plays no games. Level scaling has been used in RPGs for ages now, even Morrowind has level scaling. You only feel level scaling being an issue when it's poorly implemented, like in Oblivion or with TW3 (has optional level scaler).
Just wanna let you know, your hard work is much appreciated. This was such a well made and fair take on ESO. Props to you bro! I personally am not a huge fan of all classes can do everything in fact, it’s one of my biggest criticisms along with the level scaling. It makes classes feel like a theme then an actual class/role. Still a great game story wise and good experience for the lore!
Hhh, firstly, DC is supreme. Secondly, nice review, brother. I have such conflicting emotions regarding ESO lol. I think I played from, like, 2017 to 2022? One the one hand, I was so f*ing enthused to explore ALLLL these areas that we've heard about in the lore, but never got the chance to visit. The zones are SO gorgeous, and the questing really delves into the lore and culture of the regions. But I did get burnt out on solo-style questing. The quests are just.. boring, idk. It plays like reading through a children's book (particularly with the lack of overworld challenge) I didn't really enjoy the raids. Pvp kept me invested. I had friends, joined guilds, got involved in the economy farming and flipping items and mats to fund my gear progression. But the INCESSANTLY shifting meta, to the point that I would have to spend countless hours grinding for new gear bc my old stuff would literally get me killed? Shit got old, I've only got so many hours in a week lol. Hhh. Love/hate. Hope current players are doing okay. I had to quit for my health, and my wife hahah [Addendum] If anybody is seriously considering playing, I echo Frostbreak's comment on the game community - ask around, join a beginner-friendly guild. The ESO community has its toxic aspects, but there are so many people who LOVE to help new players find their footing
The reason I love Elder Scrolls games (whether it's Online or the single player ones like Skyrim, Oblivion etc.) is the immersion and storytelling. That's it. I don't care if the game is hard or easy, if it has interesting or challenging mechanics etc. But that's just me.
Awesome video man, I’ve played the game before and reached lvl 50. Never really dove into the champion point system as much but I did have a lot of fun. This game me a whole new way of how to pick it up again.
I played the beta for this game and a few weeks at release. I wanted to enjoy it more but I got bored along the way. Your video encouraged me to try it again. Thank you!
I preordered ESO and played it at launch on my Xbox… I probably only put in around 20 hours back then and havnt played it since but this video made me wanna give it another shot
We have been asking for a difficulty slider for years. This is definitely the biggest pain point in the game and from what ive read in the forums and reddit over the years, the biggest issue with player retention.
And it’s honestly pretty crazy when talking with the few people who are so vehemently against it and defend the current status quo which is incredibly boring
When I first started playing ESO I was already a fan since Morrowind. My journey in ESO began pretty much the day it came out I was casually interested in it and the reason was quite simply that I wasn't really interested in and Elder Scrolls game set in an online space, I probably played it for a day since my PC was not up to par at the time so I couldn't really play it at all (but I didn't really care seeing I was a single player only person). Fast forward to 2018 the Summerset Isles expansion had released (PS4) and out of curiosity I wanted to get the expansion since I was extremely curious and interested in the Altmers homeland... Then I played I faffed around for like a day or two exploring doing absolutely nothing BUT at least I owned it in case I wanted to come back to the game. Another fast forward to around early 2023. I was recovering from an illness and nothing but time at the moment and what better thing to do but marathon Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim) eventually I made my way to Skyrim just about done wrapping things in that run and wondering what to do next which led me to finding mods to extend the game in some way and I as usual the insatiable craving to visit Summerset Isles kicked in which is weird because I've always been a die-hard Dunmer fanboy but I digress. I found a mod for Skyrim that added the Isles and went to immediately download the mod aaaaaandd... That was the most annoying process to download a mod I have ever seen and was like noope I'm good. But then I remembered ESO existed... While I was still trepidatious about ESO because I ultimately wasn't convinced by the game as an "Elder Scrolls" game my want to see the isles again was monumental and I downloaded the game and when I got the Isles I was satisfied enough but this time I wanted to give it's main quest a go but this time actually give a damn. I did a handful of side quests and actually had a pretty good time and then started the main quest like I said and about halfway through I came the realisation that "Hey this is actually really engaging" and I pushed through continuing to enjoy the main story upon completion I just couldn't help but smile all the way through I had such a fucking good time with it, and my next thought was "I was wrong about this game, is the rest of the game just as good as that experience"? In short absolutely. Even made me a huge Altmer fan as well... So... I went back and played all of the base games main quest content YES ALL even the other alliance main quests and was in awe of just how great the storylines were specifically especially The Aldmeri Dominions quest line *Chefs kiss*. By that point I was having a great time but wanted to move on to the expansions since they were essentially continuations of the overall story of ESO and my god... The storylines in the expansions were nothing short of amazing and took place in such beautiful interpretations of the lands of Tamriel. I have to keep this short since I could go on actually forever.. Side notes: I do absolutely want to touch on the character writing in this game so I have never been more attached to Elder Scrolls characters as much as the gigantic cast in this game so well written and full of personality that I have to admit outshines the main line TES games with exception of Morrowinds writing, Morrowind is still plenty strong in that department.
@Frostbreak thank you for taking the time to make this video. As an avid Elderscrolls fan it warms my heart to see others give ESO the love and attention it deserves. I picked up ESO in 2017 after my 3rd copy of Skyrim became unplayable lol. I played and beat Oblivion and all its DLCs and even played Morrowind for a hot minute. ESO is the closing thing to Skyrim thats not Skyrim and is my go to sorce of entertainment on a daily basis. I have about 5 solid years of 2-4 hour nights logged into this game and I love it so much. Some nights im killing dragons and running through beautiful dungeons and other nights I might be immersing myself in the Story Zone quests and playing with gold in a live real time on game economy. Theres so much you CAN do that i understand people being overwhelmed by the amount of choice you have but thats one of the main reasons why this game is my go to thing on my spare time. Some nights I just crack a beer and hang out and socialize in games with friends. I have a buddy that bought an island Home and I helped him decorate it. We set up a secret spot on the island where we go to smoke before our dungeons and adventures lol
For diffcult solo content solutions: You have Infinite Archive (for free)- an endless roguelike dungeon boss rush. Scaling increases as you progress deeper and deeper into the Archive. And then you have for paid options: Maelstrom Arena (Worthguar) - a solo dungeon (arena). Vet and normal scaling. Vatashran Hallows (Markarth)- a solo dungeon (arena). Vet and normal scaling
@@FrostbreakYT That zone also features Maelstrom arena, which was the first solo arena released. Its veteran version and 'trifecta' achievements can prove to be pretty difficult to obtain. That last sentence of the video hit hard! Pre-necrom, before Arcanist and the hybridisation, there was very real class identity. As a damage dealer you were either magica with light armour, or all stamina with medium armour. Every class brought its own unique buffs and debuffs and end-game raids required a full mix of classes to optimise and obtain all the necessary buffs and debuffs for the group. But with the introduction of Hybridisation and the power creep, the game has lost all of that, even moreso with the recent introduction of scribing. I know you are focusing on the solo experience, but as soon as you start branching out to trials (12-person raids) and PvE end-game, you will find that there is a very strong focus on teamwork, communication, challenging content and a friendly and helpful community. Groups spend months progging trial hard modes and trifectas together, and it takes every single person doing exactly what they need to in order to clear the content. You also forgot to mention housing, which is the true ESO end-game ;P
This is one of the better vids I've seen about ESO. I WANT to love the game and I keep coming back to give it chance after chance but the difficulty is so mind-numbingly easy. It doesn't need to be Elden Ring but just give me SOME sense of challenge. Otherwise, there just isn't any point. All of that being said, I still really like the world, environment, and lore, and keep coming back to make periodic brief visits. There just isn't anything compelling enough to keep me there for the long-term. Meanwhile, I can still go back to Skyrim after all these years and still get sucked in for days all over again. Thanks for your thoughts.
Thank you so much Yeah I pretty much feel the same as you. I wish story bosses had "killer abilities", maybe they'd light up blue or something. And if you fail to dodge the skillshot, you have to start over. That'd give people an interesting way to feel some challenge and not be able to tank every hit possible. Tamriel is one of if not my favourite universe in gaming history; I derive most of my pleasure from exploring the world in this game.
The problem, I've realized, isn't the difficulty. It is the appearance of consequence. Combat doesn't feel impactful in ESO, and that's the problem. The hits don't feel like you're hitting anything. And defeating an enormous troll feels exactly the same as killing a mud crab on the beach. It doesn't matter how big and scary a monster *looks* if every single one of them feels like a re-skinned mud crab. That said however, the lore, world building, and depth of all that is Elder Scrolls makes it hard for me to really be too critical. There's so much to like about the game - but the overland combat makes it very hard to actually enjoy the experience.
Besides some early questing when I first started playing, and a brief try of it when I got back to the game and were doing some quests with someone I know I have mostly been doing group PvE and Solo Arena content (do try veteran Maelstrom Arena and veteran Vatesharn Hollows). But I have sat one character aside whom I intend to play through the story of ESO with, going through at least the main story of every zone, in order, starting with the beginner area of each zone (khenarthi's roost for the Altmeri Dominion). I also plan to do the DLC areas in order, eventually. I personally don't mind the lack of difficulty in overland content, makes the entire map story mode. If I wanted difficulty I would be Soloing veteran 4-man content, or trying to dive deep into the Infinite Archive. That is putting aside harder group content like DLC dungeon and DLC trial Trifectas and the like.
Hello I really enjoyed the video thank you. I just wanna say that Im a big skyrim fan and I start playing ESO 3 years ago on and off. I have tried many mmo, but this game is so much fun and have a friendly community.
My friend an I are 10 years late to the party as well. I am REALLY lucky to have a friend to play through this game with me as I do not find MMO's fun without people to play with, we had more playing with us through 2023, but most of them did not enjoy the game enough to continue on to our ultimate goal, to play through the entire content chronologically with a single character. It is probably a pipe dream, but we are going to give it a try. ESO is defiantly geared to the solo casual gamer, but if you can find at least one or two friends to play through the amazing stories this game has, it will be time well spent.
I randomly clicked on accident but watched the whole vid due to its excellent narration. Never even played this game before but now I'm curious. Mission accomplished sir.
About the class balance, there's a few classes that simply don't do certain roles in endgame PvE. The most firm rule I have seen is that Dragon Knights don't heal, which is reflected by statistics. Although again, this only applies to endgame PvE. Every class has access to the Restoration Staff (healing staff), and could heal without any class abilities although passives still affect things. A class is better suited to healing depending on the tools it has, changing it's efficacy. Another important aspect is what unique group buff, debuff or synergies a class provides, and weather or not providing any of those buffs reduce their ability to do DPS (as in trials there's usually 7-8+ DDs, and only 3-5 supports split between 1-3 tanks and usually 2 healers). The other subpar healer for endgame content is Templar. While they have the highest healing output of any class, they lack a lot of unique utility, and that utility could also be covered by a Templar DPS without losing a lot of damage. Now dragon knights besides having a kit that is badly adapted to healing (as far as I know) are also extremely popular tanks, and popular as pot damage optimized and support damage dealers, meaning that most optimized groups cover anything a dragonknight might provide from roles besides healer. When it comes to tanks you hardly see any Templar or Warden tanks, for Templar it's that again they don't provide much utility and further has a kit that is badly optimized for tanking. For Warden it's not that they're bad tanks, it's that they are superb healers, and a warden healer can provide all the same utility as a Warden Tank, and in most cases do so better. For DPS the restrictions are lesser, and with upwards of 7-9 slots you can fit in a necromancer support damage dealer, a sorcerer support damage dealer, and a dragon knight support damage dealer who do respectable damage, but also improves the damage of every other damage dealer. When it comes to just dealing straight up damage there are pros and cones to most classes, and some are situationally well suited to certain fights over others, or might excel in different portions of a boss fight. For example both Templasr and Nightblades have strong executes (abilities that get stronger the lower the health of the target). Meanwhile you have some classes which excel more at dealing damage to multiple targets whereas other classes have higher single target damage, ranging from Arcanist's excellent multi-target damage, but relatively poor single target damage, to the sorcerer who is the inverse, excellent single target damage, but comparable worse multi-target damage. Some classes also have different skill floors and ceilings, with Nightblades requiring near-perfect execution for optimal results while on the other end of that spectrum you have Arcanists who have more stable output with a simpler rotation, featuring less skill expression in certain aspects. Arcansts also have survivability and a lot of free stats baked into their class kit, including a self heal (that used to be reliable), and a damage shield targeting themselves whereas for most other classes survivability comes at the cost of damage output. There's also the matter of balancing done for diffrent parts of the game effecting PvE. For example Nightblade has been quite dominant in PvP for a long time, and has received many nerfs because of that affecting their ability to perform as DPS in PvE content. Due to a lower DPS output you see them more as Healers. They also not usually the best tank. For four man content all of the classes automatically become more competitive in support roles as you have fewer people overall, and sometimes you have only one support (usually a single tank). DPS are still just as competitive as before, and class utility might be more useful.
Excellent video! What I will say is the supportive, friendly community does exist. This may have been mentioned already, but I highly recommend joining a guild. I mainly play solo content but I've been fortunate enough to find a couple of amazing guilds where the people are so helpful and welcoming, regardless of whether you want to do group stuff or not. Although I recently had a couple of people offer to run through the imperial sewers with me (a pvp-ish area nobody plays or cares about any more) just because I asked how to unlock a specific dye for my gear lol. I took them up on their offer, we had an absolute blast and my armor looks so sick as a result 👌🏻😂 Also, these guilds usually have discords where you can ask any silly question and get all the help you need outside of the game without having to go near the awful reddit subs lol
I think joining or making a guild is high on my list of things to do. I've always had a good interaction with people in the overland, but sometimes it can feel a little dead. People don't respond or aren't around to help; having a guild may solve that. Thank you for the comment!
@@FrostbreakYT Thanks for the reply! Starting your own guild is a great idea, especially with you being a creator already. That way your existing community can hopefully help get you started. Good luck, and keep making great videos like this one!
Loved your video. For me, i would say that there are really tons to do in eso, there are group activities,solo and some dailies, you don't have to do it as if this is a responsibility bec. It will really really burn you out. Go on solo today, then maybe try joining a group the next time you play,. There are tons of videos for builds you can try and honestly you can even tweak some of it and try to enjoy as you are not tied to doing this, also take it slow and enjoy the time as you don't have to rush levelling up just bec you saw someone w/ high cp. . Do some quest or just run around at your own pace. Been playing on and off in eso for years now as i do take a break once in a while. Thanks again for the video.
Speaking of Voice Acting if you didn’t realize it Lyris Titanborn is played by Jennifer Hale the same chick that played Bastila and Satele Shan in KOTOR AND SWTOR. Sai Sahan is played by Kevin Michael Richardson who also played JOLEE in KOTOR. And Cadwell is played by the great John Cleese. Truly incredible voice actors and maybe apart of the reason I love this game so much because of Jennifer and Kevin KOTOR was my game when I was a kid so seeing them together in the story again was amazing.
Oh I had no idea she played Satele Shan. I just barely dipped my toes into the DLC and I basically only played darkside so I wasn't able to recognize her voice that much! Thank you for that info though!
This is a really good and informative video and I can see the effort you put into it. Idk why this hasn't popped off more, it seems like exactly the type of video you would expect to. Keep it up though.
I've been wanting to give ESO a chance for a long time, having been a huge fan of the previous games. Thanks to your video im gonna give it a shot. You did such a great breakdown of all the important aspects without going too deep as to be overwhelming! Thank you for this video!
As someone with almost 14,000 hours... I have to say Ive never really thought about the combat in the way you said. I have been part of the end game raiding community for the vast majority of my time, and most of my joy comes from the trial encounters. I have recently gotten a couple of friends into ESO and have gotten to do the questing and take a step back. its nice to slow down sometimes
Oh hey! Thanks for stopping by. I just finished playing LOTRO with my boys around this time last year. We had a great time running the Barrow-downs together but it sort of fizzled out. I don't think landscape difficulty was out at that point, but LOTRO has a much better difficulty system than ESO imo.
@@FrostbreakYT Yes the difficulty settings are definitely a big strength in LOTRO. Unfortunately there are other issues in that game that leads to it fizzling out. Have a good one!
Its okay, im 10 years late to this game as well. Wasnt a fan of the game when it released but over time i started to get interested in it from my love of the other games. My only complaint is that the crown store is expensive af but also not necessary to buy from. Its been a blast to finally see all the places that were mentioned in previous entires.
On the topic of getting help in-game: I've always had good luck joining trading guilds that require no dues. Group chat is a friendly place to ask noob questions, or for help with, say, a world boss. Or to just get some water-cooler chatter on what's going in-game. And selling looted gear through the guild gets far more gold than selling it to NPC merchants.
This is a pretty great video, appreciate the perspective of not only a new player but one more focused on the story & solo content. I've been playing ESO off and on for 10 years, so it's cool to see what someone who just started recently thinks.
One Tamriel Update didn't have anything to do with Morrowind Update. The main combat changed were being implimented nearly a year before the Morrowind Update even dropped, before One Tamriel realeased to bring players to the game. For someone in one faction to play with a friend in another faction they would either have had to make a new character on that persons faction or beat the whole story to unlock Cadwell's silver and restart in a new faction area. also during that time they added the zone Craglorn to the game which was the new high difficulty zone at that time for players level 50+ before Veteran Ranks were changed to Champion Points. That was the main level rebalancing and opening up Tamriel to everyone regardless of progression hence the name One Tamriel. The first major combat update was that change to champion points when they added the Dark Brotherhood update shortly before Morrowind was even added.
I got into ESO a few years ago, absolutely loved it and sunk a few hundred hours in before eventually dropping it. Only took 5 minutes into this video for me to start redownloading
I played this game on and off between Elsweyr and Greymoor and loved how it basically felt like an MMO version of Skyrim with meaningful narrative progression and quest decisions. What made me stop playing (and I haven't got the last 2 expacs) is 1) the complete lack of challenge in overland story content, 2) how the animation-ruining LA weaving is basically mandatory if you also want to be useful in group content, and 3) how the skills system mean that all magicka/stam builds play more or less the same regardless of your class. 1 & 2 completely rob me of the joy of combat and 3 takes away the desire to try out different classes. It's a shame because I adore the universe and the lore but those 3 issues prevent me from getting back into the game.
Been playing this game off and on for 9 years since 2015 and its always nice to see new people joining the game and loving it. Only clocked about 7000 since 2015 and there is still tons of stuff i haven't done 🍻
I know this is a month old video so some info may have changed (I.E. not doing pvp or raids) but i can actually provide my own experiences and hopefully it is insightful! I played ESO on and off since release until about 4 years ago, so ive missed out on a lot of the current content. What i can say is back one of my favorite memories of this game was in PvP. I was a mid level player, champion rank 80-100 or if i recall, and i had hopped into some PvP to give it a shot. Someone posted in the world chat about looking for people to group up and go hit some enemy bases and forts, so i joined up. To my surprise there were at least 20 people in that chat, all with voice coms on, and they were in a discord call with another team or two, so in total we had around 50 people that ran around the map and wrecked some forts, got our team wiped a few times, made some great plays and i was actually able to steal the enemies Elder Scroll and make it back to our home fort successfully! (One of the points of PvP). So all in all for PvP, i don't know if its changed, but i highly recommend it to anyone. Will you die? Yes. Will you have fun? I sure hope so. Now for Raid dungeons. These are sweaty and how you expect them to be. Min maxed players who are wanting to get some top of the line gear, and holy cow is that gear good. They may be sweaty, but some of the coolest forms of sweaty players. They are chill but competitive, and just want to clear the dungeons. I will give it up to Zenimax and the devs because these boss dungeons are some of the most fun i had in the game when i was doing them, but im also very competitive. In summation: there are times you will love this game and times you will hate it, but it has come a long way since its release and it was a blast in playing for the time i did. Going down memory lane like this makes me want to pick it back up for another go
Another great video, full of interesting points and suggestions. After playing a nightblade for 10 years, this encourages me to start a new character... 😀
Great video man! I really appreciate how much effort and hard work you are putting into these videos. I’m currently working a ESO video and it’s taking me some time to get it done so I really do commend you for getting these videos out. Keep it up man.
Great video. Thanks for the upload. I'm a huge TES 4 & 5 fan. I tried ESO years ago, but it wasn't for me. By the way, modded Skyrim VR is absolutely incredible.
Thanks for your video. I really agree wuth All you said as a new player too (actually played 500 hrs) but still I feel at the very beginning discovery new places and new content and functionalities. I am doing the story quest in chronological order and I'm only at 2016 content 😅. I've been playing each and every MMO but ESO, even if not perfect, it's the most credible and the one I enjoy the most. I had a great experience with people too. In game and in guilds and in ESO University discord... yes there's a university... I was asked all my questions in few minutes by kind, prepared and wonderful people that became friends. Go on with your videos on Eso and do not listen to people that didn't know the game. Thanks
My biggest critique of ESO is that it's caught between TES's singleplayer and traditional MMO sand boxes and playerbases. It's trying to be two things at once and doesn't commit to either, so while it has a lot of good, it doesn't exceed as much it should and could.
To me ESO's combat system is simultaneously simple, yet with some depth. Feedback from enemies is sorely lacking, but that is only a slight detractor in my opinion. There is quite a bit of skill expression through light attack weaving. Light attack weaving also makes the combat feel quite dynamic as you're always doing light attacks and abilities in a rhythm. Also while you can que the next ability your going to use that is the extend of it. You also get the most damage from dynamically layering your abilities, casting dots, then layering in some shorter duration abilities, with instant effect abilities (spamables) being cast where gaps appear. For tanks and healers ESO combat is all about anticipating incoming damage and mechanics and laying down damage shields, heal over time effects while ensuring you have good uptimes on buffs and debuffs. Resource sustain is also a problem every role has to solve in some manner, and sometimes you're also responsible for the sustain of other people. For the top end of PvE content there is also a lot math you have to consider if you want to squeeze everything out of your group in terms of damage. PvP is not my field of expertise, but you encounter a lot different stuff when doing PvP, some people seeming invincible, plus you have group vs group combat, including with considerable number differences, and group vs individual, which doesn't always have to go the way you expect, although it would depend a lot on the groups and individuals involved.
Awesome video! Thanks! I am a long time player of ESO. I come and go. What I usually do when a new chapter is released, is to wait 1 year so Zenimax irons out imperfections and squash bugs. I never go multiplayer but I do enjoy the world and the stories. After watching your video, I'm ready to give it another go 😄
I really appreciate that you started the video talking about difficulty! I haven't played MMOs but I have played some games where difficulty is way too easy and yeah it definitely runs the risk of making me bored. --- Still I do love Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim and I'm excited to watch the rest of your video :)
I completely agree, the only problem I have with it is it's aggressive monetization where as a newer player it's almost required to get the monthly sub and if you want to start being a crafter you need the monthly sub. And I completely agree on the combat, it doesn't have any weight to it, I still think it's better than a majority of mmos out there today tho
Hey man, First of all thank you for your great video it was so good and thoughtfully, you helped me decide to download this game and start playing it as a completely new player, I played WoW so much and Skyrim when I was teenger and I really enjoyed that game, Now Im ready to play this game without any doubts and I know ill enjoy it so much because as you said Most of the content of this game is about Story and that's why I'm here thank you again
Hi there! Just got introduced to your channel by the YT algorithm. I like the way you made this video because it seems truly genuine and you seem to care about not bringing any bias into it. I play ESO since launch (2014), mostly non-stop; got over 3k hours on my main alone, which has done 100% of all zones in the game. I don't want to brag, just stating that I'm a veteran. With that being said, I am sorry to hear you had a below average experience with ESO. I strongly believe ESO could be so much more for people like you (beginners). The overland difficulty and leveling process is really underwhelming, if compared to other MMOs. This has been a complaint for years and I see it as a top 1 priority to be solved because it keeps new players away. At the same time, I want to point out that newer zones have a more intelligent design than the base game - by far. While the difficulty is not fixed, you will face encounters with smarter, improved attack patterns and mechanics. (Here goes my wish for you to try the new zones; everything there is better, specially the questing and storytelling). Regarding the community, I am also sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Reddit and the Forums. My personal experience is: Forums goers are doomsayers and pessimistic about everything; Reddit goers are usually ok and they probably love the game too much (maybe you had a bad experience getting there as a newcomer?); Facebook groups do show a lot of support and help a lot of new players. In-game: it's the best community I've ever interacted with, very helpful, very polite, very communicative. I wish you were Brazilian like me because our Facebook and Discord communities are so helpful and noob-friendly, they would treat you like a relative. I like to compare ESO's community to WoW's. I see so much toxicity in WoW in-game; people don't even talk to each other; you bump a fellow player and they act as if you were a bot. And WoW's Reddit users hate WoW and are so pessimistic about the game they play. I see you mention gear sets. They truly are the icing in the cake of ESO. But you haven't explored a fraction of what they can give! There are item sets that truly change the way you play the game. For example: I see you light attacking a lot with your bow. This is probably a thing in Skyrim, but we don't do that in ESO. Light attack does good damage, but not even close to the skills. There is an item (Belhrarza's Band) that insanely buffs your light attacks so you can probably roleplay as a Skyrim archer (even though I would suggest getting the skill "snipe" from the bow tree for, well, a sniping option). I urge you to invest more time in ESO. You haven't touched the tip of the iceberg. And I don't even mean endgame trials or pvp. I don't do that either. I mean housing, motif collecting, achivement hunting, equipment stickerbook fulfilling, progressing the zone stories, build theorizing... And please give a shot at newer chapters/DLCs; they are so much better than the base game.
I've been having a great time with ESO, I'm still making videos for it and I wouldn't be doing that if I wasn't enjoying my time! I just wanted to point out some of the stuff I thought this game does well and some stuff I think could be improved! I went on a podcast with some ESO veterans and we chatted about some of that stuff which was very enlightening too! Regardless, thank you for your comment, my next video will be on Wrothgar (hopefully in a week or so from now)!
Noticed you sneakily mentioned SWTOR, any thoughts on maybe making a video on it some day? One of the greatest mmos ive played in my life. 8 class stories that are different from each other plus bunch of DLCs gave me so much joy expiriencing for the first time and by now I think i played all of stories 2-3 times at the very least since there are bunch of impactful choices to make. If not, would just like to know whats your opinion on it
I have a video on it! The video I mention (in this video) is the one on my channel! I played for about 200 hours and made that review video (about 2x the time I've spent in ESO). It's a fantastic MMO for a story-solo-enjoyer like myself. (Probably better than ESO in the narrative department to be honest). But hey, it's bioware, not many other companies can hold a candle to their story team.
I can agree almost to everything you've said in the video except gear. I love that ESO gives you so many gear sets to choose from, but I feel like they all don't matter that much for 2 major reasons: 1) Devs just can't stop changing balance of gear so grinding/acquiring them feels like a "doubtful time investment". Especially if you are chasing that power fantasy as many of us do. 2) We have so many options to choose from in terms of different sets but ZOS want us to spend even more time on perfecting those sets to more advanced colors/rarity and also chase for perfect traits. I know you can play overland content without really caring about those perfect scenarios with optimized gear, but I still feel like I don't really get the grasp of set unless it has all the right properties of rarity level (aka color), trait, enchantment etc. Which makes looking for new gear (horizontal progression) really unrewarding personally for me. Basically ZOS has gave us so many items to experiment with, but that experimentation feels pretty unrewarding because upgrading gear is way too expensive. ESPECIALLY if you play this game casually and don't invest 100hrs per week.
I'm glad you are having fun. I'd argue that picking a class that only came out recently and doing 10-year old content is already changing your perception as well. Arcanist came out with the last chapter, so it's still a bit OP compared to classic classes. All classes/races have been changed over the years and the base game maps are intentionally the easiest to help you learn all the aspects of the game. But I get you intention was to stick to base game first. "Content too easy to require teamwork" overland, I'd say is definitely only true for base game zones, DLC zone world bosses and events have lot tougher mechanics and you will die if you are not a proper high-end solo player or in a big group. And when I was a new player (3000 hours ago, lol) I often died to even dolmens if I was alone, but maybe I just sucked then, haha. Also, most DLC zones now come with the base game for free, so hopefully you will get to try them out, see for yourself and see how you feel about overland enemies then. Sure, random mobs will always be easy, but that part of the game is for story really. Also, you do knock back or knock down enemies or incinerate them if yo crit with fire etc, you might just need to try out more stuff.
Awesome video!! Very well thought out and articulated, am loving this series. Just a correction on the npc heavy attack knocking you down, but your heavy attack not knocking them down. Its confusing cause its the same indicator, but they only knock you down if youre off balance or with some of those abilities you mentioned. Eg they look like theyre charging up a heavy attack but its an upercut which is one of the abilities you can knock down with. Other times youll see the same charge up and itll just be a horizontal slice which will not knock you down. Enemies tend to have very similar skills (class and weapon) to us.
Thank you Skylar! I appreciate that information, it's hard to tell without any indicators on what kind of attacks their doing. I must be off-balance a lot because most of the time when I see them charging a heavy attack and I miss the block, I get thrown across the room (which I like, adds more interactivity to encounters, I just wish I could do that too!).
@FrostbreakYT no problem! If you're getting thrown across the room it's likely a two handed Uppercut rather than a heavy attack, alot of enemies have that set up/skill. I still expect to be knocked down when it was a heavy attack and vice versa, it's confusing.
Videos like this remind me of how adhd I truly am. I have over 10k hours in eso until I had a kid and stopped playing in 2019, and I couldn't tell you what the main story is about. But man I could 1vX around a resource tower until the zerg arrives. People will always say that the combat in ESO is the worst of any mmo, but I absolutely loved it. (PS I'd totally come back if there's a coordinated but chill PvP guild looking to recruit a rusty ole former emperor)
Hey Frost Break, I have almost 40k hours between PlayStation and PC on ESO. Difficulty: I agree with you since one Tamriel it made the game not very hard and progression wasn't much of a thing I didn't feel accomplishments within the zones or doing the 3 alliance story lines. The Lord of the rings idea is very neat I agree with that aspect. Progression: I agree there is lots of potential progression. But all the enemies feel the same excluding some of the chapters. Absolutely a Online RPG. The Story: I agree that the story is pretty good. Although the copy and paste delves and reused assets is a bit annoying. Voice acting: is super nice as well I believe I love the idea of n npcs so it skips the dialog unfortunately but I love the option or reading but I also have gotten into a habit where I just spam select when talking to Gear: Gear is very important for the MMO its a nice change and anything can work. I've done many builds from a WW heavy attack build. Or a Bow/Bow build. Many options. Combat: I agree the combat could use a overhaul and more immersive. Races/Classes: Hit the nail on the head. Coming into the game pick what ever you want! Community: Haters are haters. There are bad things about the game like the cool cosmetics are locked behind crown store there are some earnable cosmetics but usually able to be bought not earned. Exclusions: I'd recommend getting ESO+ lets you gain access to a bottomless bag for materials account wide. And subscribed cant wait to see more of you!
I remember when i started playing ESO was by the DLC Morrowind, and only after I finished it decided to look for the "main story", and I must say that DLC's have a slight bit more difficulty than the vanilla game. Still, that hapenned mostly during the pandemics, so I had a good amount of time to learn the mechanics and such. ESO is a great game to start, enjoy and then stop for a while to do other stuff. And then come back a little later to realize you still remember how to play it. ^^
That’s never been a definition I’ve heard for a stat stick. A stat stick is a piece of gear in a slot that’s unused but gives passive benefits in most games. Say you are a melee build but the game gives you a ranged weapon slot so you find a bow that specifically gives passives that benefit your melee weapons(maybe it’s under leveled but has a good bonus to strength or something) rather than it being a good bow for you to actually use as a bow.
It's awesome that so many new people are checking out this video! That being said: many of you are unfamiliar with me and my content. I don't expect you to watch all my videos before commenting and even though I mention my content in this video, I may not have taken enough time to explain.
My primary objective with ESO was to see if the 10-year-old content holds up in 2024. I specifically play base-game exclusively and LOCK MYSELF inside until the zone-guide has been 100% complete! In 100 hours I have just finally completed the Aldmeri Dominion storyline and had a FANTASTIC time. At the start of EVERY video I state: "I'm trying to play ESO the way the developers intended" (back when the game launched). That means going slow and steady through story content and absorbing the world of tamriel for each zone (which is 95-97% overland content).
Outside of the zone guides: I've done all the (base-game) dungeons and some of the (base-game) veteran dungeons! You can see @ 16:30 some of the veteran gear I obtained. I did most of the veteran dungeons without understanding what I was doing (I thought I was just queuing for a regular dungeon) and despite being in PUGs I didn't feel like it was any more challenging than a regular dungeon; just a bit longer. Dungeons are a fun thing to do but generally only take about 20-30 minutes to complete. Depending on the zone: overworld content accounts for roughly 14-20 hours of gameplay (excel sheets are posted in every video), so group content only accounts for 2-5% of my time in this game.
I am a new player, this is the perspective of a hyper-casual new player trying the $5 base-game ESO package you can get on steam. So like it or not saying: "you haven't tried endgame", "wait until you have 500 hours", "do all the DLC dungeons on veteran" aren't really applicable for a new player in my position. I'm just giving my opinions of this 10-year-old game after 100 hours based on what I have experienced firsthand!
I would LIKE to do another one of these videos after I've actually done trials, PvP, and harder DLC dungeons, but at that point I won't really be a new player (more like semi-experienced). The plan was to have 2-3 of these videos as time moves on so I could reflect back and watch my opinions change as I move further into the game
overland is actually NOT a majority of what the playerbase does nor is it a big focus most players focus on high end pve content or high end pvp content. also you have only played base game overland content, its intentionally easier than dlc overland content, those areas are considered " end game overland areas" so yes things are scaled but they are still scaled higher, some world bosses are VERY difficult to solo in dlc content overland, some overland activities CANT be solo just due to sheer numbers. try soloing a harrowstorm in reach. have fun with that. and please show us in video format.
id also like to point out that you are playing as an arcanist which is currently the most overpowered class in both pvp and pve content so of course everythings easy, also gotta nitpick your statement of " playing the game the way the devs intended it to be played" .....not really thier original intentions were to lock you into one alliance and force you to create a character of a seperate alliance to even enter other alliance zones, they changed that, also the devs state almost every single live stream that they dont have an intended way for anyone to play, they made it free form so that we could all play it our own ways, therefore according too the devs there ISNT a way they intend you to play. that being said, i feel ive come off more harsh than intended, i do love your videos and i fully support your content, just feel the need to clear up some of your misconceptions in case someone who hasnt played eso sees this and gets the wrong idea.
also eso is intentionally rotation based combat, you arent supposed to be using mostly heavy and light attacks, you are supposed to weave light attacks in between your abilities while using your abilities as your main source of damage, buffs, and healing, whilst only ever using a heavy attack to proc the off balance status effect or regain your main resource which is typically determined by what resource your main " spammable" attack is , for example a magicka based arcanist tends to use the runeblades ability as thier main spammable attack and then swap to the beam as the execute because it gets bonus damage against low health targets, so its a rotation based action rpg, rather than anything else.
"Skyrim player" as if that was something special
@@alargeshrubb7964 MOST players absolutely DO NOT focus on high end content. The vast majority of players don't play veteran content and only do the daily random normal dungeon, if that. You sound like an elitist player that laughs at people that don't play sweaty content.
Your series got me back into the game after 10 years away. I'm having a blast, do thanks for the spark 🙏🏻
Thank you so much!! I'm honored to be your inspiration xD
thinking of replaying it aswell😬
ESO needs a Hard Mode for overworld and quest content.
100%
go and get the achievements in Vet Scalecaller
@@thegrogling6505 I get your point, but there's a huge difference in wanting the overall game to have any resemblance of difficulty, versus going to a few dungeons and doing some hard challenges. You're basically saying if you want the game to be challenging and engaging, you're going to have to do this one challenge for the rest of the game, which doesn't seem like a very fun time for anyone now.
@@thegrogling6505 did Vet Fang Lair achievements to get the necromancer personality, does that count?
I mean, all it would be is mobs with more health. Is that really what anyone wants? I don't think it is. I think they should increase mob density. No more 1 or 2 things to kill every 10 seconds. Put big groups of them. It'll be fun to mow them down. Then make delve bosses have a little bit of mechanics to them. Maybe just like one mechanic that you have to do. Then public dungeons a little bit more, and world bosses are fine as they are in the newer chapters
Amazing content like always! Just one thing I have noticed. I would change thumbnail photo to your iconic Argonian :) I missed this video twice due to the picture as I though it points out to another 10 years of ESO celebration video. But I am so happy you enjoy the game. Looking forward to some DLC playthrough
Thank you for the feedback, you're not the first person to mention this! Maybe I'll make the adjustment after work today. Thank you very much for the super-thanks!
I've been playing ESO for 4 years now and I really agree with the points you made in this video! You really highlighted and put into words why I generally avoid overland/story content in this game. I'm a PvP player and spend nearly 100% of my time in this game in Cyrodiil and Battlegrounds, and anytime I've tried to give the story content an honest shot I always find myself speedrunning through it with a "get it over with" attitude. I know ZOS has been considering finding a way to increase the challenge of overland content and that they haven't found something they like the feel of quite yet, but I really hope they do.
Anyways, I'm glad you're enjoying the game! Even though you're new to the ESO community (and ESO content creation), I really think your videos are some of the best out there right now. You're genuinely making me want to try giving story content another shot and appreciate it for what is there.
That's great to hear. I was really hoping I didn't come off as uneducated or point out issues that weren't "a real problem". I look forward to trying PvP although I've heard more warnings about that gamemode than almost anything else in this game. I've been having a great time so far doing the casual stuff; so no complaints from me there!
PvP is where the combat system and build variety truly shine. Just don't take it too seriously, as among the regulars there are some characters who never learned games are most enjoyable when everyone's having fun.
LOVEE THIS. KEEP IT UP! this style of content is HEAVILY missed on youtube.
thank you!!
Look at our boy! Look at him go!
Still cannot emphasize how excited i am for you to experience the entire world and planes beyond. Being an absolute lore nut myself, one thing i love so much about new DLCs is the new lore i can discover. No spoilers obviously but the amount of new things that connect to previous TES games that explain things or create new mysteries or make you interpret the TES universe in a new light is brilliant and i think you'll love it. A lot of people seem to hate the fact that ZOS has the green light by bethesda to create cannon lore and they like to forget that, but i cant get enough of it. Its like getting an exclusive look under the cover of the secrets the elder scrolls hides and im addicted to it by every chapter that comes out XD.
So happy for you that you've gained so much attention in so short a time. Will continue to support and cheer you on all the way through in every video.
(if i don't comment on future videos, assume i've been torn apart by all the daedric princes i've sworn allegiance to that claim i'm their mortal champion/vessel)
ESO player since beta here. Your closing statement broke my heart. This game had so much potential and was honestly great for a short while. It's a shell of what it once was, though... The dev team unfortunately never seemed to get it to where it could have gone. Oh well...
So glad that youtube decided to drop your Auridon video into my reccomended two months ago, loving this series!
Thank you
About the whole “I have never seen such visceral hate for a game” and comments you get about people who hate the game and want you to stop playing. I’ve noticed two things about that crowd.
1: they view ESO as an affront to TES canon and think it butchers the lore.
2: they view ESO as this massive wall blocking TES 6 from release and that ESO’s continued development is leeching resources that could go to TES 6.
Interesting, I would never have guessed those two things.
I've recently been watching Fudgemuppet's podcast on TES lore and they quite often talk about ESO and how much it adds to the story. As a singleplayer fan myself, I haven't come across anything yet that would justify that opinion. Weird people think ESO is blocking TES6, I kinda assumed it was two different development teams.
Well, no one said these people were smart.
@@FrostbreakYT that's the thing. there are two differents studios, not just teams. Zenimax Studios, which is ESO, is not bethesda softwares. so there is not overlapping. Sure, maybe they used some of the loremasters in ESO, but i don't think that they are the bottle neck of production of TES6
Also, i don't think that they are breaking the lore. there is a lot of space and time between ESO (Second Era) and the main TES entries (end of the third era and fourth era) that they can explored. Consider that Tiber Septim or Talos is centuries yet from being born in ESO timeline. i'm not even going to get into Dragon Breaks, that let them, in theory if they want, fuck all the timeline or create new scenarios, and it all can make sense and fit in the in-game universe. And yet, I, who have played nearly every TES game, and also have played every one of the Expansion, and currently doing the Gold road, haven't found any major attempt to break anything. More so, they are filling the space in the lore making it more rich. cheers
It's usually the combat, honestly. People hate the weaving system, and the combat is the #1 complaint about the game.
@@FrostbreakYTit’s mostly complaints from long time fans.
Skyrim, oblivion, and ESO all retconned a bunch of older TES lore which didn’t set well with some old fans.
I kinda get the outrage for when oblivion came out, but this is old news now. Bethesda clearly wants to take the universe in a different direction than they had originally envisioned.
I don’t get why people would think this game is preventing TES6 tho, Bethesda clearly just had different priorities. Fallout 76 and starfield didn’t just develop themselves lol.
Combat is the number one system you NEED to make right for most people. Everywhere I look and everyone I talk to who do not want to play the game, says it's because of the combat. I've played this game for about 70 hours and i LOVE the amount of content. the lore and the world itself. Because Elder Scrolls games has amazing lore in general.
But I also can't see myself playing this game long term and making it my main game, because of the combat. There is just something off with it. Like you said, it feels floaty and attacks have very little weight to them.
I honestly think they should focus on a complete rework/overhaul of the combat system for the next big update.
I love the combat system compared to tab systems but I find it less engaging than actual action systems. That's it. As a compromise, it works very very well, but as the guy said, feels very floaty...
I've been jumping back into the game following your lead with taking it slow and immersing each of the zones has been fantastic. Excellent video review!
Glad you enjoy that playstyle! Thank you :)
I want to love this game so much and still do. What spoils for me is when you are in a dungeon, random people come and kill the enemies. Also the enemies quickly resurrect. This is so immersion breaking. I really think they should work on a single player version which fixes these issues a bit.
That would be awesome! I love that idea of like a "solo-instance server option" where you can opt-in to being alone in the world. Kinda destroys the point of ESO being an MMO but having it as a visual option so only you would know would be interesting.
Complaint about a MMO having MMO features is wild.
Do you know what an MMO is?
How tf are you complaining about immersion when you're playing an MMO? Please don't be this dumb.
You can enter a try to clear instanced dungeons solo if that's what you mean
As someone who has over 1700 hours on ESO, I'm really glad to see you enjoying it. Really great video by the way!
I have some sort of love/hate relationship with the game (although most love, otherwise I wouldn't have played it for that long).
While I love the game and the community, I tend to hate the extreme monetization that ZOS enforces on the players.
Granted, it has actually became better in these past few years, with the addition of weekly and dailies where you can earn currency to buy crown-crate items, and achievements that unlock mounts, skins, etc.
I'd say that ESO has an insane amount of content, and the fact that older content is as relevant to endgame as newer content is very refreshing for an MMO.
That's awesome to hear, I'm glad it's kept you captivated for that long. I'm not too familiar with the monetization system (as I mentioned), but yeah I heard some mixed stuff about it. Loot boxes and whatnot.
An insane amount of content is the right phrase. $5 gets you like 600-700 hours of stuff to do. Pretty hard to beat that value-wise!
so weird playing a game you hate, theres so many better games out there
Thank you for your insight into this game. I bought it a few months ago and have been finishing up some other games, waiting to dive into this. The upcoming Update 44 (releasing Oct. 28 for PC/Mac and Nov. 13 for Xbox/PlayStation) sounds like the perfect time to do so with QOL changes and a change to the starting tutorial which has been moved back to it's original location. I've never played but from what I have read, most players agree that's a good change. I plan to play this mostly solo, so your insights are very relevant to my future experience. I also have enjoyed the lore and storytelling of Oblivion and Skyrim so this sounds like my cup of Falkreath Rosy Mead Tea. Great job with the video in terms of quality content and production.
There are regular bundle sales for all but the most recent DLC + the base game for like $40. That's a decade of content that will take 100's of hours to burn through.
Yeah I think that's what I got. $15 for the necrom collection or something and it had a bunch of the big ticket stuff.
Your videos are great, a lot of fun and unique. What really makes them standout is your personality and the effort you put into them. I do want to give a couple pieces of advice if you want to take them. Don't self deprecate, it's good being humble but don't be too humble. Your opinions don't need caveats. And you just grew hugely, so it's statistically certain that you will get dedicated haters and people that are here to disagree with the title and premise of your videos without even watching them. Don't acknowledge them, they are not your audience, the silent majority is. Can't wait for the next one!
Thank for for that comment that means a lot. I'm truly grateful for all the support I've gotten over the last few months; it's unbelievable.
I don't mind reinforcing my opinions with caveats or support if it helps other people understand where I'm coming from, but I get your point. Thanks again for the kind words
LOTROs system is amazing, im glad someone brings attention to it.
ESO could seriously benefit from such a personalized scaling system.
The action combat shines in PVP, its a shame that most people will never get to the point where they are going to see how great it is. In PVP, the combat is weighty, dynamic and enemies adapt to how you are playing. This is also where you will see the greatest amount of teamwork/challenging content/progression as you get better etc etc.
That's the best advertisement for PvP I've heard so far. I'm always warry to try out that stuff because I'm so new I'm worried I'll be obliterated and never want to try it again. Once my skill increases a bit, and I can stand on my own two feet, I think that's when I'd give PvP a try.
Just goes to show that ZOS needs to seriously update general PvE gameplay
PvP is the best of ESO and the aspect that receives the least love.
Man I'd kill for a system like LotRO. Every single player of ESO has been BEGGING for more difficult overland/quest for years, both noobies and veterans alike...
I second this. It's the only thing keeping me from playing. It's just so boring...
Letsss go, this is what I have been waiting for!
Great review! I did pretty much the same thing as you joining about a year or so ago and just slowly experiencing each zone in the base game to 100% then moving to the next.
eso by far has been one of my favorite games and i love hoping on everyday for a couple hrs I always feel like I have something to do and I really enjoy the player base in the game they are really kind
It's become part of my daily schedule now! Jumping in for a couple hours to do a few quests a day, writing my notes, looking up new lore/info online; it's awesome. It really has that story/world building most MMOs don't; but I may be a little bias :)
Great video and set of videos prior to this! I’ve been on the fence about starting this game on Xbox. I have not played any MMO or Elder Scrolls game before so I’d be a total beginner. I am looking for a long, enjoyable grind, but am worried about the time commitment of this one and don’t wanna neckbeard it too hard that I let other life priorities go. But you’ve made me want to play the game! Also nervous (and excited) about how much there is to this game.
Keep up the content and maybe I’ll jump in at some point!
If you're into a story-driven game with hundreds of hours of content to explore for like $5; I struggle to think of another MMO that has this beat (on console). I can't speak too much on the endgame/grind, but IF you want to do those activities, there's loads in this game.
@@FrostbreakYT awesome! Thanks for the reply! My main goal would be to get all of the achievements but if it’s going to take 1000+ hours, sounds like people love it and are willing to help if I need it, which is great!
@@lilblizake some fair warning, getting all the achievements will be quite difficult. Even though in the review he said overland content is easy (which it is) some dungeon and raid achievements will require you to be on top of your game. The trifecta achievements (no death, speedrun, hardmode) for group content are notoriously difficult. Good news is that there are guilds specifically made for achievement hunting so you should be able to get help with that
@@ac2.024 yeah I’ve heard that too so that is why I am hesitant to start. I’m waiting on Gold Road to drop and see what all they add to the game. Also trying to get through a few other games first so I can focus on ESO.
@@lilblizake I'm an achievement hunter too, been playing this from the start, achievements are slow going so my advice is enjoy the game and most of the achievements will happen naturally, there are of course some really long grindy ones and a couple I doubt I will ever get or even try at. Saying that there are a lot more in game achievements than just Xbox ones so I tend to focus on those now.
Banger of a video, I played the game at launch forever ago and have such fond memories of playing it. Every year since I have been tempted to hop back on that old account.
Great video! the editing keeps getting better, you reall wouldn't expect this level of quality from a 10k channel🙏I can't wait to see you experience all the different expansions
10k is unreal to say to be honest. 2 months ago I had 600 subs... Regardless, thank you for watching and you're support, it means a lot!!
Steve Blum the voice actor of Dempsey you mentioned is the VA for hundreds of iconic characters from our childhood, highly recommend looking into him
Is it only me, or level scaling enemies completely break the game and entire RPG concept? I have a feeling someone that comes up with scaling enemies idea is just a hired worker in a company that tries to "solve problems" instead of being gamer himself. You have to have 0 gamer sense and intuition at all to come up with this and implement it.
Its not that this is an idea of someone that plays no games.
Level scaling has been used in RPGs for ages now, even Morrowind has level scaling.
You only feel level scaling being an issue when it's poorly implemented, like in Oblivion or with TW3 (has optional level scaler).
I like being helpful, yall can ask me anything and ill try to answer.
legend
Just wanna let you know, your hard work is much appreciated. This was such a well made and fair take on ESO. Props to you bro!
I personally am not a huge fan of all classes can do everything in fact, it’s one of my biggest criticisms along with the level scaling. It makes classes feel like a theme then an actual class/role. Still a great game story wise and good experience for the lore!
Thank you so much! I appreciate the comment :)
Hhh, firstly,
DC is supreme.
Secondly, nice review, brother.
I have such conflicting emotions regarding ESO lol.
I think I played from, like, 2017 to 2022?
One the one hand, I was so f*ing enthused to explore ALLLL these areas that we've heard about in the lore, but never got the chance to visit.
The zones are SO gorgeous, and the questing really delves into the lore and culture of the regions.
But I did get burnt out on solo-style questing. The quests are just.. boring, idk. It plays like reading through a children's book (particularly with the lack of overworld challenge)
I didn't really enjoy the raids.
Pvp kept me invested.
I had friends, joined guilds, got involved in the economy farming and flipping items and mats to fund my gear progression.
But the INCESSANTLY shifting meta, to the point that I would have to spend countless hours grinding for new gear bc my old stuff would literally get me killed? Shit got old, I've only got so many hours in a week lol.
Hhh. Love/hate. Hope current players are doing okay. I had to quit for my health, and my wife hahah
[Addendum]
If anybody is seriously considering playing, I echo Frostbreak's comment on the game community - ask around, join a beginner-friendly guild. The ESO community has its toxic aspects, but there are so many people who LOVE to help new players find their footing
Really enjoying your content! keep it up, Haven't quite finished this video yet. but it'll be good
Thank you!
The reason I love Elder Scrolls games (whether it's Online or the single player ones like Skyrim, Oblivion etc.) is the immersion and storytelling. That's it. I don't care if the game is hard or easy, if it has interesting or challenging mechanics etc. But that's just me.
Hearing that this is more geared towards a single player experience has sold me on it. Buying it. Thankful for the video.
Awesome video man, I’ve played the game before and reached lvl 50. Never really dove into the champion point system as much but I did have a lot of fun. This game me a whole new way of how to pick it up again.
I played the beta for this game and a few weeks at release. I wanted to enjoy it more but I got bored along the way. Your video encouraged me to try it again. Thank you!
I preordered ESO and played it at launch on my Xbox… I probably only put in around 20 hours back then and havnt played it since but this video made me wanna give it another shot
We have been asking for a difficulty slider for years. This is definitely the biggest pain point in the game and from what ive read in the forums and reddit over the years, the biggest issue with player retention.
And it’s honestly pretty crazy when talking with the few people who are so vehemently against it and defend the current status quo which is incredibly boring
Yep I hate the difficulty off MMOs. If there was a slider so I could actually enjoy the game I'd be all over it
I want challenge Where's my survival mode eso
When I first started playing ESO I was already a fan since Morrowind. My journey in ESO began pretty much the day it came out I was casually interested in it and the reason was quite simply that I wasn't really interested in and Elder Scrolls game set in an online space, I probably played it for a day since my PC was not up to par at the time so I couldn't really play it at all (but I didn't really care seeing I was a single player only person).
Fast forward to 2018 the Summerset Isles expansion had released (PS4) and out of curiosity I wanted to get the expansion since I was extremely curious and interested in the Altmers homeland... Then I played I faffed around for like a day or two exploring doing absolutely nothing BUT at least I owned it in case I wanted to come back to the game.
Another fast forward to around early 2023. I was recovering from an illness and nothing but time at the moment and what better thing to do but marathon Elder Scrolls games (Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim) eventually I made my way to Skyrim just about done wrapping things in that run and wondering what to do next which led me to finding mods to extend the game in some way and I as usual the insatiable craving to visit Summerset Isles kicked in which is weird because I've always been a die-hard Dunmer fanboy but I digress. I found a mod for Skyrim that added the Isles and went to immediately download the mod aaaaaandd... That was the most annoying process to download a mod I have ever seen and was like noope I'm good.
But then I remembered ESO existed... While I was still trepidatious about ESO because I ultimately wasn't convinced by the game as an "Elder Scrolls" game my want to see the isles again was monumental and I downloaded the game and when I got the Isles I was satisfied enough but this time I wanted to give it's main quest a go but this time actually give a damn. I did a handful of side quests and actually had a pretty good time and then started the main quest like I said and about halfway through I came the realisation that "Hey this is actually really engaging" and I pushed through continuing to enjoy the main story upon completion I just couldn't help but smile all the way through I had such a fucking good time with it, and my next thought was "I was wrong about this game, is the rest of the game just as good as that experience"? In short absolutely. Even made me a huge Altmer fan as well...
So... I went back and played all of the base games main quest content YES ALL even the other alliance main quests and was in awe of just how great the storylines were specifically especially The Aldmeri Dominions quest line *Chefs kiss*. By that point I was having a great time but wanted to move on to the expansions since they were essentially continuations of the overall story of ESO and my god... The storylines in the expansions were nothing short of amazing and took place in such beautiful interpretations of the lands of Tamriel. I have to keep this short since I could go on actually forever..
Side notes: I do absolutely want to touch on the character writing in this game so I have never been more attached to Elder Scrolls characters as much as the gigantic cast in this game so well written and full of personality that I have to admit outshines the main line TES games with exception of Morrowinds writing, Morrowind is still plenty strong in that department.
Great video. I haven't played either, so it was really interesting. Glad you're having fun with it so far.
@Frostbreak thank you for taking the time to make this video. As an avid Elderscrolls fan it warms my heart to see others give ESO the love and attention it deserves. I picked up ESO in 2017 after my 3rd copy of Skyrim became unplayable lol. I played and beat Oblivion and all its DLCs and even played Morrowind for a hot minute. ESO is the closing thing to Skyrim thats not Skyrim and is my go to sorce of entertainment on a daily basis. I have about 5 solid years of 2-4 hour nights logged into this game and I love it so much. Some nights im killing dragons and running through beautiful dungeons and other nights I might be immersing myself in the Story Zone quests and playing with gold in a live real time on game economy. Theres so much you CAN do that i understand people being overwhelmed by the amount of choice you have but thats one of the main reasons why this game is my go to thing on my spare time. Some nights I just crack a beer and hang out and socialize in games with friends. I have a buddy that bought an island Home and I helped him decorate it. We set up a secret spot on the island where we go to smoke before our dungeons and adventures lol
For diffcult solo content solutions:
You have Infinite Archive (for free)- an endless roguelike dungeon boss rush. Scaling increases as you progress deeper and deeper into the Archive.
And then you have for paid options:
Maelstrom Arena (Worthguar) - a solo dungeon (arena). Vet and normal scaling.
Vatashran Hallows (Markarth)- a solo dungeon (arena). Vet and normal scaling
That sounds cool! I'm just about to enter Wrothgar for my first DLC zone, I'll have to check that out!
@@FrostbreakYT That zone also features Maelstrom arena, which was the first solo arena released. Its veteran version and 'trifecta' achievements can prove to be pretty difficult to obtain.
That last sentence of the video hit hard! Pre-necrom, before Arcanist and the hybridisation, there was very real class identity. As a damage dealer you were either magica with light armour, or all stamina with medium armour. Every class brought its own unique buffs and debuffs and end-game raids required a full mix of classes to optimise and obtain all the necessary buffs and debuffs for the group. But with the introduction of Hybridisation and the power creep, the game has lost all of that, even moreso with the recent introduction of scribing.
I know you are focusing on the solo experience, but as soon as you start branching out to trials (12-person raids) and PvE end-game, you will find that there is a very strong focus on teamwork, communication, challenging content and a friendly and helpful community. Groups spend months progging trial hard modes and trifectas together, and it takes every single person doing exactly what they need to in order to clear the content.
You also forgot to mention housing, which is the true ESO end-game ;P
Doesn’t address the story which is what the complaints are about
This is one of the better vids I've seen about ESO. I WANT to love the game and I keep coming back to give it chance after chance but the difficulty is so mind-numbingly easy. It doesn't need to be Elden Ring but just give me SOME sense of challenge. Otherwise, there just isn't any point. All of that being said, I still really like the world, environment, and lore, and keep coming back to make periodic brief visits. There just isn't anything compelling enough to keep me there for the long-term. Meanwhile, I can still go back to Skyrim after all these years and still get sucked in for days all over again. Thanks for your thoughts.
Thank you so much
Yeah I pretty much feel the same as you. I wish story bosses had "killer abilities", maybe they'd light up blue or something. And if you fail to dodge the skillshot, you have to start over. That'd give people an interesting way to feel some challenge and not be able to tank every hit possible. Tamriel is one of if not my favourite universe in gaming history; I derive most of my pleasure from exploring the world in this game.
The problem, I've realized, isn't the difficulty. It is the appearance of consequence. Combat doesn't feel impactful in ESO, and that's the problem. The hits don't feel like you're hitting anything. And defeating an enormous troll feels exactly the same as killing a mud crab on the beach. It doesn't matter how big and scary a monster *looks* if every single one of them feels like a re-skinned mud crab.
That said however, the lore, world building, and depth of all that is Elder Scrolls makes it hard for me to really be too critical. There's so much to like about the game - but the overland combat makes it very hard to actually enjoy the experience.
Besides some early questing when I first started playing, and a brief try of it when I got back to the game and were doing some quests with someone I know I have mostly been doing group PvE and Solo Arena content (do try veteran Maelstrom Arena and veteran Vatesharn Hollows). But I have sat one character aside whom I intend to play through the story of ESO with, going through at least the main story of every zone, in order, starting with the beginner area of each zone (khenarthi's roost for the Altmeri Dominion). I also plan to do the DLC areas in order, eventually.
I personally don't mind the lack of difficulty in overland content, makes the entire map story mode. If I wanted difficulty I would be Soloing veteran 4-man content, or trying to dive deep into the Infinite Archive. That is putting aside harder group content like DLC dungeon and DLC trial Trifectas and the like.
Hello I really enjoyed the video thank you. I just wanna say that Im a big skyrim fan and I start playing ESO 3 years ago on and off. I have tried many mmo, but this game is so much fun and have a friendly community.
I'm trying desperately to give it another try but every time I try it, it's just not that interesting.
My friend an I are 10 years late to the party as well. I am REALLY lucky to have a friend to play through this game with me as I do not find MMO's fun without people to play with, we had more playing with us through 2023, but most of them did not enjoy the game enough to continue on to our ultimate goal, to play through the entire content chronologically with a single character. It is probably a pipe dream, but we are going to give it a try. ESO is defiantly geared to the solo casual gamer, but if you can find at least one or two friends to play through the amazing stories this game has, it will be time well spent.
I randomly clicked on accident but watched the whole vid due to its excellent narration. Never even played this game before but now I'm curious. Mission accomplished sir.
About the class balance, there's a few classes that simply don't do certain roles in endgame PvE. The most firm rule I have seen is that Dragon Knights don't heal, which is reflected by statistics. Although again, this only applies to endgame PvE. Every class has access to the Restoration Staff (healing staff), and could heal without any class abilities although passives still affect things. A class is better suited to healing depending on the tools it has, changing it's efficacy. Another important aspect is what unique group buff, debuff or synergies a class provides, and weather or not providing any of those buffs reduce their ability to do DPS (as in trials there's usually 7-8+ DDs, and only 3-5 supports split between 1-3 tanks and usually 2 healers). The other subpar healer for endgame content is Templar. While they have the highest healing output of any class, they lack a lot of unique utility, and that utility could also be covered by a Templar DPS without losing a lot of damage. Now dragon knights besides having a kit that is badly adapted to healing (as far as I know) are also extremely popular tanks, and popular as pot damage optimized and support damage dealers, meaning that most optimized groups cover anything a dragonknight might provide from roles besides healer.
When it comes to tanks you hardly see any Templar or Warden tanks, for Templar it's that again they don't provide much utility and further has a kit that is badly optimized for tanking. For Warden it's not that they're bad tanks, it's that they are superb healers, and a warden healer can provide all the same utility as a Warden Tank, and in most cases do so better.
For DPS the restrictions are lesser, and with upwards of 7-9 slots you can fit in a necromancer support damage dealer, a sorcerer support damage dealer, and a dragon knight support damage dealer who do respectable damage, but also improves the damage of every other damage dealer. When it comes to just dealing straight up damage there are pros and cones to most classes, and some are situationally well suited to certain fights over others, or might excel in different portions of a boss fight. For example both Templasr and Nightblades have strong executes (abilities that get stronger the lower the health of the target). Meanwhile you have some classes which excel more at dealing damage to multiple targets whereas other classes have higher single target damage, ranging from Arcanist's excellent multi-target damage, but relatively poor single target damage, to the sorcerer who is the inverse, excellent single target damage, but comparable worse multi-target damage. Some classes also have different skill floors and ceilings, with Nightblades requiring near-perfect execution for optimal results while on the other end of that spectrum you have Arcanists who have more stable output with a simpler rotation, featuring less skill expression in certain aspects. Arcansts also have survivability and a lot of free stats baked into their class kit, including a self heal (that used to be reliable), and a damage shield targeting themselves whereas for most other classes survivability comes at the cost of damage output.
There's also the matter of balancing done for diffrent parts of the game effecting PvE. For example Nightblade has been quite dominant in PvP for a long time, and has received many nerfs because of that affecting their ability to perform as DPS in PvE content. Due to a lower DPS output you see them more as Healers. They also not usually the best tank.
For four man content all of the classes automatically become more competitive in support roles as you have fewer people overall, and sometimes you have only one support (usually a single tank). DPS are still just as competitive as before, and class utility might be more useful.
It isn't much of a hike if climbing up a mountain feels about as challenging as getting a beer from the fridge.
Excellent video!
What I will say is the supportive, friendly community does exist. This may have been mentioned already, but I highly recommend joining a guild. I mainly play solo content but I've been fortunate enough to find a couple of amazing guilds where the people are so helpful and welcoming, regardless of whether you want to do group stuff or not.
Although I recently had a couple of people offer to run through the imperial sewers with me (a pvp-ish area nobody plays or cares about any more) just because I asked how to unlock a specific dye for my gear lol. I took them up on their offer, we had an absolute blast and my armor looks so sick as a result 👌🏻😂
Also, these guilds usually have discords where you can ask any silly question and get all the help you need outside of the game without having to go near the awful reddit subs lol
I think joining or making a guild is high on my list of things to do. I've always had a good interaction with people in the overland, but sometimes it can feel a little dead. People don't respond or aren't around to help; having a guild may solve that. Thank you for the comment!
@@FrostbreakYT Thanks for the reply! Starting your own guild is a great idea, especially with you being a creator already. That way your existing community can hopefully help get you started. Good luck, and keep making great videos like this one!
Loved your video.
For me, i would say that there are really tons to do in eso, there are group activities,solo and some dailies, you don't have to do it as if this is a responsibility bec. It will really really burn you out. Go on solo today, then maybe try joining a group the next time you play,. There are tons of videos for builds you can try and honestly you can even tweak some of it and try to enjoy as you are not tied to doing this, also take it slow and enjoy the time as you don't have to rush levelling up just bec you saw someone w/ high cp. . Do some quest or just run around at your own pace. Been playing on and off in eso for years now as i do take a break once in a while. Thanks again for the video.
Speaking of Voice Acting if you didn’t realize it Lyris Titanborn is played by Jennifer Hale the same chick that played Bastila and Satele Shan in KOTOR AND SWTOR. Sai Sahan is played by Kevin Michael Richardson who also played JOLEE in KOTOR. And Cadwell is played by the great John Cleese. Truly incredible voice actors and maybe apart of the reason I love this game so much because of Jennifer and Kevin KOTOR was my game when I was a kid so seeing them together in the story again was amazing.
Oh I had no idea she played Satele Shan. I just barely dipped my toes into the DLC and I basically only played darkside so I wasn't able to recognize her voice that much! Thank you for that info though!
This is a really good and informative video and I can see the effort you put into it. Idk why this hasn't popped off more, it seems like exactly the type of video you would expect to. Keep it up though.
I've been wanting to give ESO a chance for a long time, having been a huge fan of the previous games. Thanks to your video im gonna give it a shot. You did such a great breakdown of all the important aspects without going too deep as to be overwhelming! Thank you for this video!
As someone with almost 14,000 hours... I have to say Ive never really thought about the combat in the way you said. I have been part of the end game raiding community for the vast majority of my time, and most of my joy comes from the trial encounters.
I have recently gotten a couple of friends into ESO and have gotten to do the questing and take a step back. its nice to slow down sometimes
Very good video! The production quality is very impressive and you make some great points. Thanks for the mention. 😊
Oh hey! Thanks for stopping by. I just finished playing LOTRO with my boys around this time last year. We had a great time running the Barrow-downs together but it sort of fizzled out. I don't think landscape difficulty was out at that point, but LOTRO has a much better difficulty system than ESO imo.
@@FrostbreakYT Yes the difficulty settings are definitely a big strength in LOTRO. Unfortunately there are other issues in that game that leads to it fizzling out. Have a good one!
BIG part of ESO is group PvP. Huge. I never liked PvP but in ESO I loved it. Amazing.
Its okay, im 10 years late to this game as well. Wasnt a fan of the game when it released but over time i started to get interested in it from my love of the other games. My only complaint is that the crown store is expensive af but also not necessary to buy from. Its been a blast to finally see all the places that were mentioned in previous entires.
On the topic of getting help in-game: I've always had good luck joining trading guilds that require no dues. Group chat is a friendly place to ask noob questions, or for help with, say, a world boss. Or to just get some water-cooler chatter on what's going in-game. And selling looted gear through the guild gets far more gold than selling it to NPC merchants.
Yeah the NPC:s are scamers, oh you have a legendary item here's 20 gold 😂
I’m so happy for you and your channel keep going! You’re making great things!❤
This is a pretty great video, appreciate the perspective of not only a new player but one more focused on the story & solo content. I've been playing ESO off and on for 10 years, so it's cool to see what someone who just started recently thinks.
Thanks! Glad you think so :)
One Tamriel Update didn't have anything to do with Morrowind Update. The main combat changed were being implimented nearly a year before the Morrowind Update even dropped, before One Tamriel realeased to bring players to the game. For someone in one faction to play with a friend in another faction they would either have had to make a new character on that persons faction or beat the whole story to unlock Cadwell's silver and restart in a new faction area. also during that time they added the zone Craglorn to the game which was the new high difficulty zone at that time for players level 50+ before Veteran Ranks were changed to Champion Points. That was the main level rebalancing and opening up Tamriel to everyone regardless of progression hence the name One Tamriel. The first major combat update was that change to champion points when they added the Dark Brotherhood update shortly before Morrowind was even added.
I got into ESO a few years ago, absolutely loved it and sunk a few hundred hours in before eventually dropping it. Only took 5 minutes into this video for me to start redownloading
You’re content is so underrated - keep up the good work
Thank you!
I played this game on and off between Elsweyr and Greymoor and loved how it basically felt like an MMO version of Skyrim with meaningful narrative progression and quest decisions. What made me stop playing (and I haven't got the last 2 expacs) is 1) the complete lack of challenge in overland story content, 2) how the animation-ruining LA weaving is basically mandatory if you also want to be useful in group content, and 3) how the skills system mean that all magicka/stam builds play more or less the same regardless of your class. 1 & 2 completely rob me of the joy of combat and 3 takes away the desire to try out different classes. It's a shame because I adore the universe and the lore but those 3 issues prevent me from getting back into the game.
Been playing this game off and on for 9 years since 2015 and its always nice to see new people joining the game and loving it. Only clocked about 7000 since 2015 and there is still tons of stuff i haven't done 🍻
I know this is a month old video so some info may have changed (I.E. not doing pvp or raids) but i can actually provide my own experiences and hopefully it is insightful!
I played ESO on and off since release until about 4 years ago, so ive missed out on a lot of the current content. What i can say is back one of my favorite memories of this game was in PvP.
I was a mid level player, champion rank 80-100 or if i recall, and i had hopped into some PvP to give it a shot. Someone posted in the world chat about looking for people to group up and go hit some enemy bases and forts, so i joined up. To my surprise there were at least 20 people in that chat, all with voice coms on, and they were in a discord call with another team or two, so in total we had around 50 people that ran around the map and wrecked some forts, got our team wiped a few times, made some great plays and i was actually able to steal the enemies Elder Scroll and make it back to our home fort successfully! (One of the points of PvP).
So all in all for PvP, i don't know if its changed, but i highly recommend it to anyone. Will you die? Yes. Will you have fun? I sure hope so.
Now for Raid dungeons. These are sweaty and how you expect them to be. Min maxed players who are wanting to get some top of the line gear, and holy cow is that gear good. They may be sweaty, but some of the coolest forms of sweaty players. They are chill but competitive, and just want to clear the dungeons. I will give it up to Zenimax and the devs because these boss dungeons are some of the most fun i had in the game when i was doing them, but im also very competitive.
In summation: there are times you will love this game and times you will hate it, but it has come a long way since its release and it was a blast in playing for the time i did.
Going down memory lane like this makes me want to pick it back up for another go
Another great video, full of interesting points and suggestions. After playing a nightblade for 10 years, this encourages me to start a new character... 😀
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video man! I really appreciate how much effort and hard work you are putting into these videos.
I’m currently working a ESO video and it’s taking me some time to get it done so I really do commend you for getting these videos out. Keep it up man.
Thank you so much! Thank means a lot
Great video. Thanks for the upload. I'm a huge TES 4 & 5 fan. I tried ESO years ago, but it wasn't for me. By the way, modded Skyrim VR is absolutely incredible.
Thanks for your video. I really agree wuth All you said as a new player too (actually played 500 hrs) but still I feel at the very beginning discovery new places and new content and functionalities. I am doing the story quest in chronological order and I'm only at 2016 content 😅. I've been playing each and every MMO but ESO, even if not perfect, it's the most credible and the one I enjoy the most. I had a great experience with people too. In game and in guilds and in ESO University discord... yes there's a university... I was asked all my questions in few minutes by kind, prepared and wonderful people that became friends. Go on with your videos on Eso and do not listen to people that didn't know the game. Thanks
My biggest critique of ESO is that it's caught between TES's singleplayer and traditional MMO sand boxes and playerbases. It's trying to be two things at once and doesn't commit to either, so while it has a lot of good, it doesn't exceed as much it should and could.
To me ESO's combat system is simultaneously simple, yet with some depth. Feedback from enemies is sorely lacking, but that is only a slight detractor in my opinion. There is quite a bit of skill expression through light attack weaving. Light attack weaving also makes the combat feel quite dynamic as you're always doing light attacks and abilities in a rhythm. Also while you can que the next ability your going to use that is the extend of it. You also get the most damage from dynamically layering your abilities, casting dots, then layering in some shorter duration abilities, with instant effect abilities (spamables) being cast where gaps appear.
For tanks and healers ESO combat is all about anticipating incoming damage and mechanics and laying down damage shields, heal over time effects while ensuring you have good uptimes on buffs and debuffs. Resource sustain is also a problem every role has to solve in some manner, and sometimes you're also responsible for the sustain of other people. For the top end of PvE content there is also a lot math you have to consider if you want to squeeze everything out of your group in terms of damage.
PvP is not my field of expertise, but you encounter a lot different stuff when doing PvP, some people seeming invincible, plus you have group vs group combat, including with considerable number differences, and group vs individual, which doesn't always have to go the way you expect, although it would depend a lot on the groups and individuals involved.
Awesome video! Thanks! I am a long time player of ESO. I come and go. What I usually do when a new chapter is released, is to wait 1 year so Zenimax irons out imperfections and squash bugs. I never go multiplayer but I do enjoy the world and the stories. After watching your video, I'm ready to give it another go 😄
I really appreciate that you started the video talking about difficulty! I haven't played MMOs but I have played some games where difficulty is way too easy and yeah it definitely runs the risk of making me bored. --- Still I do love Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim and I'm excited to watch the rest of your video :)
wish there was more mmorpgs , either way great work homie keep it up
Thank you for spending time with this game to give us you thoughts!
I really look forward to when you get to the Necrom DLC and get to enjoy more daddy Mora content!
You just earned a sub my friend. Fantastic video.
your content seems very promising and also a tes fan... i subscribed
Thanks for the video, very interesting to have insight on what you rhink about the game, i agree on some points too
Thanks Odys
I completely agree, the only problem I have with it is it's aggressive monetization where as a newer player it's almost required to get the monthly sub and if you want to start being a crafter you need the monthly sub. And I completely agree on the combat, it doesn't have any weight to it, I still think it's better than a majority of mmos out there today tho
Hey man, First of all thank you for your great video it was so good and thoughtfully, you helped me decide to download this game and start playing it as a completely new player, I played WoW so much and Skyrim when I was teenger and I really enjoyed that game, Now Im ready to play this game without any doubts and I know ill enjoy it so much because as you said Most of the content of this game is about Story and that's why I'm here thank you again
I love landscape difficulty in Lotro
Gonna start a new character and stream the whole experience. Thanks for inspiration, buddy🎉
Hi there! Just got introduced to your channel by the YT algorithm. I like the way you made this video because it seems truly genuine and you seem to care about not bringing any bias into it. I play ESO since launch (2014), mostly non-stop; got over 3k hours on my main alone, which has done 100% of all zones in the game. I don't want to brag, just stating that I'm a veteran. With that being said, I am sorry to hear you had a below average experience with ESO. I strongly believe ESO could be so much more for people like you (beginners). The overland difficulty and leveling process is really underwhelming, if compared to other MMOs. This has been a complaint for years and I see it as a top 1 priority to be solved because it keeps new players away. At the same time, I want to point out that newer zones have a more intelligent design than the base game - by far. While the difficulty is not fixed, you will face encounters with smarter, improved attack patterns and mechanics. (Here goes my wish for you to try the new zones; everything there is better, specially the questing and storytelling). Regarding the community, I am also sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Reddit and the Forums. My personal experience is: Forums goers are doomsayers and pessimistic about everything; Reddit goers are usually ok and they probably love the game too much (maybe you had a bad experience getting there as a newcomer?); Facebook groups do show a lot of support and help a lot of new players. In-game: it's the best community I've ever interacted with, very helpful, very polite, very communicative. I wish you were Brazilian like me because our Facebook and Discord communities are so helpful and noob-friendly, they would treat you like a relative. I like to compare ESO's community to WoW's. I see so much toxicity in WoW in-game; people don't even talk to each other; you bump a fellow player and they act as if you were a bot. And WoW's Reddit users hate WoW and are so pessimistic about the game they play. I see you mention gear sets. They truly are the icing in the cake of ESO. But you haven't explored a fraction of what they can give! There are item sets that truly change the way you play the game. For example: I see you light attacking a lot with your bow. This is probably a thing in Skyrim, but we don't do that in ESO. Light attack does good damage, but not even close to the skills. There is an item (Belhrarza's Band) that insanely buffs your light attacks so you can probably roleplay as a Skyrim archer (even though I would suggest getting the skill "snipe" from the bow tree for, well, a sniping option). I urge you to invest more time in ESO. You haven't touched the tip of the iceberg. And I don't even mean endgame trials or pvp. I don't do that either. I mean housing, motif collecting, achivement hunting, equipment stickerbook fulfilling, progressing the zone stories, build theorizing... And please give a shot at newer chapters/DLCs; they are so much better than the base game.
I've been having a great time with ESO, I'm still making videos for it and I wouldn't be doing that if I wasn't enjoying my time! I just wanted to point out some of the stuff I thought this game does well and some stuff I think could be improved!
I went on a podcast with some ESO veterans and we chatted about some of that stuff which was very enlightening too! Regardless, thank you for your comment, my next video will be on Wrothgar (hopefully in a week or so from now)!
This review is outstanding, you absolutely nailed it. Exactly how I feel about ESO
Just bought it. It's way to easy. Going to try Enderal now.
Noticed you sneakily mentioned SWTOR, any thoughts on maybe making a video on it some day? One of the greatest mmos ive played in my life. 8 class stories that are different from each other plus bunch of DLCs gave me so much joy expiriencing for the first time and by now I think i played all of stories 2-3 times at the very least since there are bunch of impactful choices to make. If not, would just like to know whats your opinion on it
I have a video on it! The video I mention (in this video) is the one on my channel! I played for about 200 hours and made that review video (about 2x the time I've spent in ESO). It's a fantastic MMO for a story-solo-enjoyer like myself. (Probably better than ESO in the narrative department to be honest). But hey, it's bioware, not many other companies can hold a candle to their story team.
Can you do a Skyrim Anniversary Playthru of the new content? I’d watch a playlist of that ‼️
Fantastic video man, really. Clear, concise, well presented.
I can agree almost to everything you've said in the video except gear. I love that ESO gives you so many gear sets to choose from, but I feel like they all don't matter that much for 2 major reasons:
1) Devs just can't stop changing balance of gear so grinding/acquiring them feels like a "doubtful time investment". Especially if you are chasing that power fantasy as many of us do.
2) We have so many options to choose from in terms of different sets but ZOS want us to spend even more time on perfecting those sets to more advanced colors/rarity and also chase for perfect traits. I know you can play overland content without really caring about those perfect scenarios with optimized gear, but I still feel like I don't really get the grasp of set unless it has all the right properties of rarity level (aka color), trait, enchantment etc. Which makes looking for new gear (horizontal progression) really unrewarding personally for me. Basically ZOS has gave us so many items to experiment with, but that experimentation feels pretty unrewarding because upgrading gear is way too expensive. ESPECIALLY if you play this game casually and don't invest 100hrs per week.
I'm glad you are having fun. I'd argue that picking a class that only came out recently and doing 10-year old content is already changing your perception as well. Arcanist came out with the last chapter, so it's still a bit OP compared to classic classes. All classes/races have been changed over the years and the base game maps are intentionally the easiest to help you learn all the aspects of the game. But I get you intention was to stick to base game first.
"Content too easy to require teamwork" overland, I'd say is definitely only true for base game zones, DLC zone world bosses and events have lot tougher mechanics and you will die if you are not a proper high-end solo player or in a big group.
And when I was a new player (3000 hours ago, lol) I often died to even dolmens if I was alone, but maybe I just sucked then, haha.
Also, most DLC zones now come with the base game for free, so hopefully you will get to try them out, see for yourself and see how you feel about overland enemies then. Sure, random mobs will always be easy, but that part of the game is for story really.
Also, you do knock back or knock down enemies or incinerate them if yo crit with fire etc, you might just need to try out more stuff.
Awesome video!! Very well thought out and articulated, am loving this series.
Just a correction on the npc heavy attack knocking you down, but your heavy attack not knocking them down. Its confusing cause its the same indicator, but they only knock you down if youre off balance or with some of those abilities you mentioned. Eg they look like theyre charging up a heavy attack but its an upercut which is one of the abilities you can knock down with. Other times youll see the same charge up and itll just be a horizontal slice which will not knock you down. Enemies tend to have very similar skills (class and weapon) to us.
I 100% get the assessment of it being floaty. I don't mind that myself but it is a weakness of the game for sure
Thank you Skylar! I appreciate that information, it's hard to tell without any indicators on what kind of attacks their doing. I must be off-balance a lot because most of the time when I see them charging a heavy attack and I miss the block, I get thrown across the room (which I like, adds more interactivity to encounters, I just wish I could do that too!).
@FrostbreakYT no problem! If you're getting thrown across the room it's likely a two handed Uppercut rather than a heavy attack, alot of enemies have that set up/skill. I still expect to be knocked down when it was a heavy attack and vice versa, it's confusing.
Loved this video! Thank you for the hard work you put into it
Videos like this remind me of how adhd I truly am. I have over 10k hours in eso until I had a kid and stopped playing in 2019, and I couldn't tell you what the main story is about. But man I could 1vX around a resource tower until the zerg arrives. People will always say that the combat in ESO is the worst of any mmo, but I absolutely loved it.
(PS I'd totally come back if there's a coordinated but chill PvP guild looking to recruit a rusty ole former emperor)
Hey Frost Break, I have almost 40k hours between PlayStation and PC on ESO.
Difficulty: I agree with you since one Tamriel it made the game not very hard and progression wasn't much of a thing I didn't feel accomplishments within the zones or doing the 3 alliance story lines. The Lord of the rings idea is very neat I agree with that aspect.
Progression: I agree there is lots of potential progression. But all the enemies feel the same excluding some of the chapters. Absolutely a Online RPG.
The Story: I agree that the story is pretty good. Although the copy and paste delves and reused assets is a bit annoying.
Voice acting: is super nice as well I believe I love the idea of n npcs so it skips the dialog unfortunately but I love the option or reading but I also have gotten into a habit where I just spam select when talking to
Gear: Gear is very important for the MMO its a nice change and anything can work. I've done many builds from a WW heavy attack build. Or a Bow/Bow build. Many options.
Combat: I agree the combat could use a overhaul and more immersive.
Races/Classes: Hit the nail on the head. Coming into the game pick what ever you want!
Community: Haters are haters. There are bad things about the game like the cool cosmetics are locked behind crown store there are some earnable cosmetics but usually able to be bought not earned.
Exclusions: I'd recommend getting ESO+ lets you gain access to a bottomless bag for materials account wide.
And subscribed cant wait to see more of you!
I remember when i started playing ESO was by the DLC Morrowind, and only after I finished it decided to look for the "main story", and I must say that DLC's have a slight bit more difficulty than the vanilla game.
Still, that hapenned mostly during the pandemics, so I had a good amount of time to learn the mechanics and such.
ESO is a great game to start, enjoy and then stop for a while to do other stuff. And then come back a little later to realize you still remember how to play it. ^^
That’s never been a definition I’ve heard for a stat stick.
A stat stick is a piece of gear in a slot that’s unused but gives passive benefits in most games. Say you are a melee build but the game gives you a ranged weapon slot so you find a bow that specifically gives passives that benefit your melee weapons(maybe it’s under leveled but has a good bonus to strength or something) rather than it being a good bow for you to actually use as a bow.