Yes, it’s out. Zenimax Online and Bethesda have finally flung open the gates of Tamriel so they can let in more than one person at a time, and by Akatosh there’s a lot to take in. As a huge open world MMO you’d normally be expected to pour over manuals, wikis and forums to work out all you need to get playing. Fortunately your old pals at Strategy Informer are here to help you cut through all that nonsense. I’ve thoroughly played the game for the review which is now up on the site, but thought I’d also take some time out to introduce you all to the occasionally quirky world of The Elder Scrolls Online. Bring armoured kneecaps.
BUYING THE DAMN THING AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
Okay, first off a great big double-headed warning. The first is that there are two versions of Elder Scrolls Online - the basic edition for RRP £49.99/$59.99 and the Digital-Only Imperial Edition for £69.99/$79.99. What do you get for that extra 20? No more early access obviously, but it’s mostly the Imperial class, immediate access to a basic Mount, and a few special but inessential items. Don’t think that sounds worth it? Get the standard version, you’ll still get the 30 days access free.
Saying that however, my other big warning is that it is not enough to buy the game to play it. Perhaps because Bethesda noticed that with many subscription-based MMOs a great number of players only play the free 30 days they’ve put in the requirement that you have to setup the first subscription fee or activate a game time card before you start playing. You’ll then get your free 30 days, and the subscription will start being paid after that (which you can cancel at least). I commented on this in the review so I’ll say no more, but if you don’t fancy getting a subscription immediately I suggest you hunt for some good deals on time cards (60 days are the most common, but 30 days are also available) and get them alongside the game - try and make sure the shop you buy them from emails you the code, otherwise you’ll have to wait for it to arrive by post!
PICKING A RACE, CLASS AND FACTION
Of course the first thing you’ll need when finally in is to create a character. Look and name I’ll leave up to you, but when picking a race be aware that each one has individual bonuses (like Nords have cold resistance and two-handed prowess) and that certain races are tied to a specific side. If you buy the Imperial Edition though you can choose any race and have access to the Imperial class (who has a good all-round selection of bonuses). Your Faction also matters, because you’ll be tied to it on that character and each one offers a completely different area and set of quests that you cannot visit if you’re not on that side (at least not until Level 50). The Ebonheart Pact may be the most popular simply because it incorporates both Skyrim and Morrowind, but the Aldmeri Dominion (who featured prominently as bad guys in Skyrim) boast the beautiful Summerset Isles to the South while the Daggerfall Covenant brings a modern Elder Scrolls look to an area not seen since, er, Daggerfall. All three are worth considering, but choose wisely.
As for Classes, there are four. Sorcerers rely primarily on magic and can summon familiars to fight with them, Dragonknights use swords as well as magic and are basically DPS or tanks, Templars are responsible for healing and other party buffs, and Nightblades rely on stealth, speed and back-stabbing thievery. All can be played single-player with no regrets, although those considering Templars and Nightblades probably should consider playing supportively with at least one extra person. However you do have a degree of freedom within the Classes, as while many powers are class-unique you can use and upgrade weapons and armour as you see fit - my fat bearded Nord Sorcerer still wields a two-handed sword for example. More on this later.
STEPPING OUT INTO TAMRIEL
If it’s your first time playing you’ll have to do the tutorial in Molag Bal’s realm and meet Lyris (Jennifer Hale!) and The Prophet (a bored Michael Gambon!), however with future characters you’ll have the option of skipping this. After beating the tutorial you’ll find yourself transported to the first area appropriate to your chosen Faction. Aldmeri get Auridon, Ebonheart get Bal Foyen (in Morrowind), and Daggerfall get Betnikh. Importantly however these are not actually the proper starter islands (as seen in the betas), so if you want to go to them and do the easier quests first meet the first quest giver you come across and follow that to someone in the harbour area who’ll give you a free trip to the real starter islands – Khenarthi’s Roost, Bleakrock Isle and Stros M’kai. You can always return to them and get back to the main island later if you wish.
If you’re a Skyrim veteran but an MMO newbie, this guide’s for you. Many things will be similar, but you’ll also have to make compromises. You can raid every sack, but don’t expect to put a bucket on a vendor’s head so you can steal things or hoard hundreds of cheese wheels at your house. You also have loads of other people running about, and they ain’t NPCs. Don’t be afraid of them, those other adventurers will help you out when you need it most. Well, at least if you’re on the same side as them anyway, otherwise they’ll cave your skull in.
COMBAT
Of course the main thing you have to get used to if you’re a Skyrim vet are the combat controls. Things start off familiarly- Left Mouse Button attacks, holding it charges an attack, and RMB blocks. Simple start, but things get more complex. Double-tapping a direction dodges, which can be useful in quickly avoiding enemy special attacks (shown in red on the floor). Holding Block and then pressing LMB interrupts an attack, and if done when an enemy is charging an attack (shown by red or yellow lines) you can stun them - then a further attack will knock them over.
Your own Active Skills can be assigned to number keys 1-5, with an Ultimate Skill attached to ‘R’ (as default). Active Skills include special attacks and buffs, and either require Magic or Stamina - I suggest having a mix of both so you’ll always be able to use a power. Just remember that some buffs are only really useful in a group, so if you’re playing alone concentrate on things that’ll help you kill enemies quicker or survive. Ultimate Skills are gained when you reach a certain level/proficiency in one of the various Skill categories, and are really useful powers that you can only use once in a while. You only get to assign one, so make sure it’s the right one for your situation. Just remember if you die you get resurrected at the nearest Wayshrine, but don’t worry if you’re in a dungeon as that usually means “the dungeon entrance” - or if you’ve got a soul gem on you then you can resurrect yourself on the spot (or use it on others if in a group and you’re feeling generous).
SNEAKING
Of course if you’re playing a Nightblade or a Templar you might not want to get into scrapes. Basic fights don’t give you any XP so even Dragonknights might want to get around by avoiding combat occasionally. The answer is simple: crouch, and become hidden. It works exactly like a normal Elder Scrolls game basically, except you can’t level up sneaking. Get too close to an enemy and the little eye symbol on your crosshair will fill up, and if it becomes wide you’ve been spotted. Then it’s fight or flight.
The other major thing for sneaks is lockpicking of course. Lockpicks are either found or bought at common merchants, and the lockpicking minigame takes some getting used to. You’ll see the inside of a tumbler, a number of pins and a timer. Hold LMB to have a lockpick press a pin down and when the pin shakes let go - it doesn’t matter if the pin is all the way down, it just has to stay down. If you did it wrong either the pin will pop back up or your lockpick will break. The time limit is actually quite harsh, especially for newcomers as you’re not really told what to do. Only a few chests scattered around the world have locks however so you’re not missing out on much really, barring a bit of sweet loot. Lockpicking certainly isn’t as vital as it is in other Bethesda RPGs.
WAYSHRINES, MOUNTS AND GETTING AROUND
There are two main ways of getting around Tamriel other than walking: mounts and Wayshrines. Mounts (only horses, no dragons unfortunately) can be picked up at the stables in various towns, just look for the horse symbol. If you’re lucky/gullible enough to buy the Imperial Edition you can immediately buy a basic Imperial Mount for one coin, otherwise the next cheapest is 17,200 coins (which will take a good long while to save). You can also buy temporary bonuses for your horse in these stables to give them more health or stamina, but don’t expect to ride these things into battle as you’ll get knocked off fast. You can however still talk to people while on horseback. Just remember which button you assigned Mount/Dismount to.
Wayshrines are scattered about the map, and if you see one pop up I suggest you head for it and activate it immediately. You’ll be deposited at the nearest activated Wayshrine if you die, but you can also use them for Fast Travel. It’ll cost a bit of cash to warp to one from anywhere on the map (open the map, find the one you want and click, it’ll have the cost next to it) and the price will go up if you want to go to another in quick succession, but if you use the Wayshrine directly you can warp to any other one at no cost at all.
QUESTS
The most important thing to remember about ESO is that you only get XP from completing quests, so there’s no point just killing rats for hours if you want to level up. They’re also the main thrust of the gameplay, even more so than exploration, so make sure you have plenty on the go. The best way to do this is to keep an eye on your compass at the top of the screen for any black Waypoint Markers. These indicate quest givers and appear when you’re close to one. Cities will have quite a few, but every major location on the map should have at least one or two. Don’t venture into a regular dungeon or enemy-filled area until you get a quest for it, or you’ll just have fight your way back in later.
The three key common quest lines that appear for each Faction are the Fighters Guild, Mages Guild and Undaunted. The two Guilds have their own buildings in all the major cities (including the ones you begin at) and the Undaunted can be found in one of the pubs. Aside from being excellent quests that can take you all over the lands and often introduce you to key ESO gameplay areas each of these three opens up new unique Skill lines for your character.
LEVELLING UP
Upgrading in ESO is fairly simple but can be confusing at first. When you level up you receive a point to put in two categories - Attributes and Skills. Attributes are Health, Magic and Stamina. Skills are more wide-ranging and depends on your Class. There are three types of Skill: Active, Passive, and Ultimate. Actives have to be manually activated and can be assigned to number keys 1-5. These can take the form of either buffs or special attacks, and drain either Magicka (spells) or Stamina (weapon attacks). Be mindful what you choose to take with you, as some Skills might be more suited to Group play. Passive Skills are permanent upgrade bonuses. You can only assign one slot (default ‘R’) for an Ultimate Skill as they’re pretty powerful, and these are only available after you’ve improved a Skill line enough. You can improve a Skill line in several ways, but like Skyrim the easiest way is just using it - want an Ultimate Ardent Flame Skill? Then use other Active Ardent Flame Skills some more.
While you only get Attribute points to spend when you level up, you get Skill points more often so keep an eye out. Passive Skills are always useful but make sure you spend points on Active Skills carefully - read the descriptions beforehand and judge which will be most useful to you, or more useful than a Skill you already have. You only get five slots for Active Skills and that won’t seem enough very fast, so you’ll have to either make tough choices, specialise, or alter your assigned Skills depending on the situation. Ultimate Skills in particular be careful of, since they need recharging after use and sometimes they’re only helpful to a group.
YOUR GEAR - REPAIRING & CRAFTING
Standard MMO/RPG stuff this, but make sure to take care of your gear. A few deaths and you might find your armour and weapons plummeting in terms of usefulness, so make sure to seek out the nearest merchant and click the Repair tab (one of the icons in the top left of the store page, next to Buyback) to see if your stuff does. Repairing is actually quite cheap so you might as well just Repair All every time. If you’re nowhere near a town Merchants can actually be found wandering main roads, so keep an eye out.
Crafting is fairly simple, you just need the right ingredients which can be found in the world or bought if necessary. You can even Extract materials from items if you don’t mind destroying them (right click on an item to do this) and do research on the Enchantments on items for you to apply to other similar items. You can Craft basic items immediately, but if you want more interesting items you’ll have to level up your Crafting proficiency and add Skill points to the branch you want to know. These Crafting branches are Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Clothing, Enchanting, Provisioning and Woodworking. You have to find a crafting station or NPC appropriate to each branch to Craft, and these can all be found in any of the major towns.
GROUPS, GUILDS AND PLAYING WITH OTHERS
Elder Scrolls Online is an MMO, and while you can get away with playing solo on most quests (and they’ll pretend like you’re the only one doing them anyway) you can’t get away with not playing with others indefinitely. The buggers are everywhere. While you can just take random help as it comes along maybe you want a friend along to adventure with? To add a friend simply go to the Contacts page, press ‘E’ to Add Friend and then type in either their character name or user ID. You can then add that person to a Group and you guys can go out on adventures. Just make sure to type in /group in the chat window if you just want to talk to your group.
Guilds are like that, except bigger. You can be in five Guilds at any one time, and can either join one or make your own. To make your own go to the Guild page, otherwise you’ll have to be invited in - head to the game’s forums or watch out for chat window adverts to scout potential like-minded Guilds. While mostly for fun Guild players can travel to each other easily and trade items in Guild Banks (when they’re back online, anyway…). You can also fight for a Faction in the PVP Alliance War, but more on that in a moment.
PUBLIC AND GROUP DUNGEONS
While there are plenty of quest-focused dungeons in Tamriel there are two types designed for multiple players online: Public and Group Dungeons. In Public Dungeons any number of players can enter as these are full of powerful enemies - do not venture round one alone! Group Dungeons on the other hand are built specifically for Groups of 4 players and require co-operation and tactics to get through, so if you don’t work well with others stay the hell away. If you haven’t got a ready-made team available stand outside the dungeon entrance, go to the Group page and click the ‘Grouping Tools’ tab to search for potential group members. Select the Activity Type ‘Dungeon’ and the location of the one you’re at and hopefully there should be some players waiting. The game will automatically join you together, at which point it’s up to you to socialise and die together. Good luck.
DARK ANCHORS
My personal favourite social event in Elder Scrolls Online are the Dark Anchors sent by Molag Bal. The locations they will appear at show as a swirling storm on the map, and if you’re anywhere near when it does open you’ll know about it. Storms flash across the clouds, a giant portal opens in the sky and chains burst through it and grab hold of the landscape. Molag Bal’s followers are the first line of defence and once they’re down monsters will start pouring out of the portal, so you will need a decent amount of adventurers to face them even if you’re not all grouped together. If there aren’t enough players there just stick around - these things are visible for miles and will definitely attract others. Kill enough monsters and cube-shaped switches will pop up, and once these have all been activated a boss character will finally appear. Once he’s dead and the last switch pressed the Anchor will explode dramatically and you’ll be satisfied with a job well done.
PVP - THE ALLIANCE WAR FOR CYRODIIL</b>
Finally the biggie - the huge PVP Alliance War, set in Cyrodiil. Once you get to Level 10 with a character go to the Alliance War page, click the ‘Campaign’ tab, choose the Campaign you want to play on (some may have a full complement of players for your Faction or be finishing soon, so just choose another), and then press ‘E’ to enter that Campaign. From there for the love of Talos don’t run for the nearest battle, follow the tutorial quests and not only will you get much-needed XP and special items you should have everything you need to know about fighting the War.
I won’t reiterate what the game tells you about Siege Weapons, Camps, capturing points and the Elder Scrolls (one big Flag to Capture basically, giving big bonuses to your side) but will offer some basic advice. First of all, unless you like playing a support role don’t even think of trying PVP until you’re a very high level. There are a lot of veterans around already, and with the current much-advertised screw up with the economy they’re probably well supplied too. Also, make sure you have a Mount: Cyrodiil has been reproduced perfectly from Oblivion but that means it’s very large. You can skip around with Wayshrines but you’ll have to hoof it eventually. Finally, make sure you pick up one of each of the four quests: Scouting, Bounty, Warfront and Battle. You might not do them all, but you’ll get more XP if you do (Bounty is just killing enemy players, so definitely have that). You can get back to non-PVE areas by visiting a Wayshrine and warping to somewhere else in Tamriel. You can keep tabs on how your current Campaign is going on the Alliance War page at all times, and each Campaign lasts for 90 days (so right now it’s all to play for!). Oh, and good luck. You’ll need it.
TIPS AND TRICKS!</b>
1. Use Quickslots. How do you take a potion in combat, since the game doesn’t really tell you? At the top right of your Inventory click the ‘Add to Quickslots’ tab, and that will show a circular menu and a list of all the items that can be added to it. I suggest at least dragging potions for Health, Magicka and Stamina across to slots in there. Now in-game press and hold the Quickslot Menu key (default ‘Q’ I believe) and move your mouse over to the potion you want to use next. It won’t be used, just selected - you’ll see it on a new box on your UI now, so just tap ‘Q’ again to use that item. Just remember there’s a cooldown before you can use another item…
2. Read a lot. Even if you don’t plan on reading any of the in-game literature, use every bookshelf you see. One out of every five times you’ll find an important book that’ll level up one of your Skills, just as it did in Skyrim. Also some books or documents will open up new quest lines or give you a new location to find on your map.
3. Persuade and Intimidate Dialog Options. One of the best things in many RPGs is the ability to unlock “Persuade” and “Intimidate” options to use on NPCs during conversations. Elder Scrolls Online has these too, although they’re not immediately obvious. You’ll need to start the Mages Guild quest line for “Persuade” and the Fighters Guild one for “Intimidate”. Once you’ve got each Guild’s unique Skill Trees both dialog options can be found in them as Passive Skills and bought using your skill points.
4. Trading? As of this moment trading can only be done player-to-player thanks to an exploit that’s currently got the Guild trading Banks closed (and the economy frankly in turmoil). Which is a shame, since unlike every other MMO ever ESO doesn’t have an Auction House. Players had set up an unofficial “Auction House” Guild for players to trade and it may still be active, but you’ll have to do it without the help of a Bank.
5. Get married. If you have the Imperial Edition you have one of these already, but otherwise obtain a Pledge of Mara if you want to get married. Then you and your partner go to a Statue of Mara in the opening city, add the Pledge to your Quickslot and use it on your husband/wife-to-be. What’s the benefit? You both get a Ring of Mara, and if you wear it while both of you are online you earn 15% extra XP. That’s a pretty damn good reason to tie the knot! Sex is optional, as usual.
6. It’s a PC game - mod it! I don’t know why it surprised me but I didn’t even know you could mod MMOs, let alone ones with less than a month on the clock! Head to www.esoui.com for all the ones available. “Minion” is the add-on management program so that should come first. “Foundry Tactical Combat” adds deeper combat, “ZRMinimap” adds a useful minimap, “Inventory Grid View” allows you to toggle to a more useful inventory, and “X4D LibAntiSpam” takes a nuke to those annoying gold farmer spam bots. Hooray.
I think that’s all the basics covered. Sure, I could mention Vampires, Werewolves, Treasure Maps, M’aiq the Liar, Cheesemonger’s Hollow, and the big hidden bosses of the land, but I think it’s more fun for you to find out about those for yourself. I’m just here to get you started in Elder Scrolls Online. It’s up to you to finish it. And yes, I did have a cheesier closing line but I went with that one instead. See you on the battlefield, non-Aldmeri scum.
Written by Chris Capel
