Elder Scrolls Online release date 4-4-14

[HumblePie]

I enjoy a challenge; a healer, 2H dps, and myself (bow/1h Shield tank) did a vet lvl 1 anchor by ourselves last night. That was really hard, and freaking awesome once we pulled it off.

Why I stayed to die 10x on that hard vet dungeon boss. Just worried that my tanking, which worked fine on regular dungeons, needs to be all defense/health, which will make it impossible for me to solo. I see some people taking 30 seconds to a minute to kill 1 regular vet lvl 1 mob; I can kill them in 10 if I focus, but I won't be able to if I have to put all my points in survivability.

Time will tell; it is possible some of my group members weren't all that good. First time I ran Selene's Web, we got stomped by the last spider boss (2nd form). Next time I ran it, the new group downed her on the first try.

Yah, I've ran into the same thing with pugs. Some people just aren't all that good in this game. I've done dungeons with healers that barely ever healed me and I died as a tank way too often or the group disbanded from far too many group wipes. Then there were awesome healers that I almost didn't need to use a healing pot the entire dungeon for. There is clueless dps that stands around in red enemy shit, or has no idea how to handle adds and dies constantly. Which in turn can cause a group wipe. This was something I noticed big time in TSW. I was nearly maxed gear out and ran groups with some people with better gear that constantly died in dungeons where I never did with the same role they were playing. Just some people have a hard time with reactive based combat that they have to be paying attention to more than a few buttons to click on a hotbar and a the occasional RaidBoss helper mod that yells at them to move 5 feet in a direction with a script alarm for them.

 

[pathos]

Who uses a mouse to click action buttons in 2014 anyways?

Depends on what game I'm playing.

I actually prefer just clicking buttons, and thats actually fine to do, in most mmo's, while pve'ing. Mostly because I'm old, and don't like learning new tricks

I did learn not to do that in EVERY game while playing Tera. You pretty much HAVE to use hotkeys for Tera, there is no button mashing.

ESO is a little more forgiving, but I do still prefer to use hotkeys, and not button mashing for it.

I will note that I've been using sdfc for my movement keys ever since Quake 1, and I have no intention of changing, ever, so I have to be creative for my skill hotkeys. Reaching up to the number keys is always a pain for me, even in normal typing.

So, I use qwert for my main hotkeys. Easy to reach and all.

but, yeah, I have no idea why someone would complain about the ui. Yeah, minimlistic, sure. But, they specifically allow you to customize it via addons, so, yeah?

 

[Xed]

Everyone who dislikes this game is a hardcore MMO player who wants this game to be a cookie cutter version of WoW. Go play WoW. This game is different, and I love it.

Seems more like it's the keyboard turners that are unhappy. WoW hasn't been "hardcore" since BC.

 

[Markbnj]

Seems more like it's the keyboard turners that are unhappy. WoW hasn't been "hardcore" since BC.

'WoW' and 'hard core' in the same sentence is lulz-worthy, at any date in the future or past.

 

[TheNewGuy]

Sorry if I missed it, but is there an Anandtech guild?

Dave

 

[Rhezuss]

An AT guild would be awesome!

Since I restarted my Templar and knowing what does what it's been a freaking blast. I'm killing stuff like mad with the Spear thing skills. I can heal myself, solo stuff...it's an awesome class.

This game is a pure gem, well Worth every pennies and i'm glad I got it.

Now all we need is an AT guild!

 

[Xed]

'WoW' and 'hard core' in the same sentence is lulz-worthy, at any date in the future or past.

There's a reason hardcore is in quotes.

 

[KentState]

Sorry if I missed it, but is there an Anandtech guild?

Dave

Would like to see one myself, especially since you can be in multiple.

 

[Tequila]

Yah, I've ran into the same thing with pugs. Some people just aren't all that good in this game. I've done dungeons with healers that barely ever healed me and I died as a tank way too often or the group disbanded from far too many group wipes. Then there were awesome healers that I almost didn't need to use a healing pot the entire dungeon for. There is clueless dps that stands around in red enemy shit, or has no idea how to handle adds and dies constantly. Which in turn can cause a group wipe. This was something I noticed big time in TSW. I was nearly maxed gear out and ran groups with some people with better gear that constantly died in dungeons where I never did with the same role they were playing. Just some people have a hard time with reactive based combat that they have to be paying attention to more than a few buttons to click on a hotbar and a the occasional RaidBoss helper mod that yells at them to move 5 feet in a direction with a script alarm for them.

I imagine those bad healers are not taking the time to understand the right builds and skills. If you throw up the big heal like Breath of Life too often you will run out of magicka quick. I always start with Mutagen, then Healing Springs, Cleansing Ritual then heavy attack with staff to get magicka then Healing Springs again. I save Breath of Life for real emergencies. The hots are very mana efficient especially Healing Springs but that one doesn't last long so you really have to pay attention to when it runs out. And then there is Repentance for us templars. When you are cruising through trash use this at the end to top everybody up with health and stamina. It is also nice for boss fights where adds come out at various times. After they die use Repentance to top everyone up. The great thing is that it costs no magicka! Templars also have really nice healing passives.

With my guildmates we've had a pretty easy time with the dungeons so far and we are all in the 34-38 range now. We all played RIFT together and we have all switched roles in this game. Our RIFT tank is dps in ESO, our chloro mage is the tank, our other chloro mage is a dps and I used to be a rogue dps and offtank and now I'm heals. Really helps when everybody knows how to play and is on vent. No way I'd want to be a healer in a pickup group right now.

 

[Markbnj]

There's a reason hardcore is in quotes.

Good point!

 

[DigDog]

so, is it any good, or just a generic mmorpg?

 

[asteldian]

As a Templar tank I usually take it upon myself to use Breath of Life for the burst heals of my group, leaving the Sorc healer to maintain the HoTs and keep their Magicka up - against the bosses I only need my Magicka to indulge in an extra bit of DPS or throw the heals out as the Magicka is not required for my actual tanking.

Course, I am no where near Veteran levels, so no idea how things will work out.
I think a lot of people will have teething problems in the Vet dungeons simply because prior to them you can get away with bad habits/old habits picked up from MMOs, Veteran Rank dungeons is probably when people really start learning the coordination and responsibilities of their roles. I believe the dungeons will be somewhat unforgiving duringthat phase of learning.

DigDog, really cannot answer that for you, you just need to browse the many posts here. For me it is very good and refreshingly different to other MMOs whilst also being familiar enough for me to be comfortable. I cannot say for sure that it is an excellent game becuase I will be biased due to the shiny and new feeling that most games give.

Certainly I have now successfully dragged 7 friends over to the gameand they are enjoying it.

Pathos - age is no excuse, my 60 year old mother has now moved onto a gaming mouse and is learning not to be a clicker

 

[pathos]

Pathos - age is no excuse, my 60 year old mother has now moved onto a gaming mouse and is learning not to be a clicker

Heh, the only problem I have, about using hotkeys, and my set up, is I keep forgetting where I put "interact with enviorment". I normally have that one set to "e" in most games, but since I'm using "e" for one of my skill hot keys, I had to move it. Ended up putting it on "3", with "interact with player" at "4".

But, i still forget and hit e when trying to open a door or talk to an npc, which leads me to drawing my weapon and firing off a skill in the middle of town D:

Oh, and my potions are set to a, while my ultimate skill is set to g. I've hit both of those accidentally before.

I really hate burning potions for no reason in the middle of town

 

[KentState]

I really hate burning potions for no reason in the middle of town

I think I've used more potions on accident than in battle.

 

[imaheadcase]

I don't know if I will keep subscribing, i am having a good time at the moment. Leveling seems perfect to me, not to fast like most MMO now.

What keeps me playing is two things.
1. How quick the get rid of bots/gold sellers. Bots are INSANE in this game. Every dungeon BOSS has like 10+ bots automatically attacking it.
2. If they can make PvP enticing it will be great. Right now its "ok" but lots of things need to change. Like everyone should get a mount for pvp only. Completely messes with keep sieges.

 

[Tequila]

Course, I am no where near Veteran levels, so no idea how things will work out.
I think a lot of people will have teething problems in the Vet dungeons simply because prior to them you can get away with bad habits/old habits picked up from MMOs, Veteran Rank dungeons is probably when people really start learning the coordination and responsibilities of their roles. I believe the dungeons will be somewhat unforgiving duringthat phase of learning.

Good to hear they are hard. I just hope I can get to them in time before they are nerfed. RIFT t1/t2 dungeons were a nice challenge in 2011 before all the fricken nerfs turned them into a joke.

 

[Tequila]

so, is it any good, or just a generic mmorpg?

If you like dungeons and exploring, great graphics, environmental immersion and a class system where anyone can wield the armor and weapon of their choice then yes this is a good game. Almost every quest you find involves taking you into a dungeon of some sort which I really like.

As with any mmorpg you'll be overrwhelmed with inventory management until you can afford multiple bag and bank upgrades. Even your horse can be upgraded to give you 1 extra slot per day.

I can't speak for PvP since I have yet to do it. For me, nothing has ever compared to DAoC so I'm not getting my hopes up too much :0

 

[HumblePie]

I imagine those bad healers are not taking the time to understand the right builds and skills. If you throw up the big heal like Breath of Life too often you will run out of magicka quick. I always start with Mutagen, then Healing Springs, Cleansing Ritual then heavy attack with staff to get magicka then Healing Springs again. I save Breath of Life for real emergencies. The hots are very mana efficient especially Healing Springs but that one doesn't last long so you really have to pay attention to when it runs out. And then there is Repentance for us templars. When you are cruising through trash use this at the end to top everybody up with health and stamina. It is also nice for boss fights where adds come out at various times. After they die use Repentance to top everyone up. The great thing is that it costs no magicka! Templars also have really nice healing passives.

With my guildmates we've had a pretty easy time with the dungeons so far and we are all in the 34-38 range now. We all played RIFT together and we have all switched roles in this game. Our RIFT tank is dps in ESO, our chloro mage is the tank, our other chloro mage is a dps and I used to be a rogue dps and offtank and now I'm heals. Really helps when everybody knows how to play and is on vent. No way I'd want to be a healer in a pickup group right now.

Well I've been tanking with my sorc, but managed to save up and spend the points for going healing now too. Using the resto staff for a few levels, I got it about the same level as my 1h+shield.

Ran the dungeons twice in two different pugs. Both times the players in both sets of groups said I was literally the best healer they've seen in game. They were surprised I was a sorc and not a templar. They were doubly surprised I was in mostly heavy armor too. The only time anyone in a group died was to a 1 shot from the boss that no healer could save them from. Basically I kept everyone 90%+ health no problem for the majority of the dungeon set runs. I did the second random group because I was hoping the first group was a fluke on how much a breeze the fights were.

What did I have for my skills? The following actives:

Grand Healing -> Healing Springs
Regeneration -> Rapid Regeneration
Blessing of Protection -> Combat Prayer
Steadfast Ward -> Ward Ally
Bound Armor -> Bound Armaments

Summon Storm Atronach -> Summon Charged Atronach

For passives I have the following that matter a bit for my role as healer:
Gift of Magus (2/3)
Spell Resistance (2/3)
Magicka Mastery (2/3)
Essence Drain (1/2)
Restoration Expert (1/2)
Cycle of Life (1/2)
Power Stone (1/2)
Unholy Knowledge (2/2)
Capacitor (2/2)
Resolve (2/3)
Constitution (2/2)
Evocation (1/3)
Recovery (1/2)


That was what I was running the entire time. I was rotating Healing Springs and Rapid Regen with my heavy attack constantly. As needed Combat Prayer and Ward Ally were my "Oh Shit!" abilities. Only used them if someone was approaching half health or less. Normally only happened when someone got smacked with a wind up attack they didn't manage to avoid. I rarely got any agro. Anything that did bother to agro on me, I could tank with my tank armor setup. I was in 5 pieces of heavy, 1 light, and 1 medium. With my Bound Armor spell up I was certainly overcharged on armor and spell resistance values. At level 31 I have the following stats with normal always on buffs. Going off memory here so if not exact they are very close.

*Max Magicka: 1150~
Max Health: 1350~
Max Stamina: 750~
Magicka Recovery: 40
Health Recovery: 29
Stamina Recovery: 34
*Spell Resistance: 1174
*Armor: 1450

* denote overcharged stat.

Mana was rarely an issue for me and I only had to use a potion twice, or maybe three times. I am wearing some spell cost reduction jewelry which helps some. Basically it was a breeze with me healing a group versus depending on heals. I noticed a huge difference in my combat log when I tried healing last night from the amount of heals I was giving out versus the amount I received when I was tanking.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I've been playing RIFT alot.

Just got a GTX760 and the game looks gorgeous.

I don't have much time, so the only MMO I play is RIFT.

I liked the ESO Beta, but I'm not sure if I want to abandon/neglect RIFT for ESO.

Thoughts? RIFT seems refined now. Community is good. Plays great too.

 

[Tequila]

Well I've been tanking with my sorc, but managed to save up and spend the points for going healing now too. Using the resto staff for a few levels, I got it about the same level as my 1h+shield.

Very cool! Have to love the variety in this game. This is a rough approximation of my current build http://esocalc.com/#1-1d313160608a:...12-443:439:53:134:139:57:72:503:505:71:139:42

The 1st hotbar is for soloing, the 2nd one for group heals. I've also put on a few more heavy pieces than previously.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I am at VR3 rank now. And the fun and challenges simply continue. I am very impressed. Specially after I went on from Coldhabour. It was just happy face.

Got a 4 of 7 struck quests fixed with todays patch as well. And thats covering entire Daggerfall and half of the Dominion quests. I started a little (painful) project too. To get all my skills to IV.

 

[HumblePie]

I am at VR3 rank now. And the fun and challenges simply continue. I am very impressed. Specially after I went on from Coldhabour. It was just happy face.

Got a 4 of 7 struck quests fixed with todays patch as well. And thats covering entire Daggerfall and half of the Dominion quests. I started a little (painful) project too. To get all my skills to IV.

Ugh! The first 2 skills of a tree are very fast to level usually. The 3rd is okay. The last 2 are fucking annoying to level. They take way too long.

 

[HumblePie]

Very cool! Have to love the variety in this game. This is a rough approximation of my current build http://esocalc.com/#1-1d313160608a:...12-443:439:53:134:139:57:72:503:505:71:139:42

The 1st hotbar is for soloing, the 2nd one for group heals. I've also put on a few more heavy pieces than previously.

Yah, this is basically my current setup as well. I have a tank/solo build and now a healing build. I previously had my healing build as my AoE build. Which I swap out my AoE skills in my solo setup as I need them.

http://esocalc.com/#1-2c115250005d:...21-411:531:13:576:99:91:503:504:506:511:99:91

Waiting for someone to put in a mod that will swap skills sets out easier

 

[JamesV]

so, is it any good, or just a generic mmorpg?

I'd say it is both.

It is really good for the character building side of the game. Being able to use any weapon or armor in any class; you won't ever see a drop for class 'X' that you cannot use.

EVERY NPC has voice lines which is nice and immersive, and it has all the ES lore if you are into that.

It is generic because it has to work on consoles, so every single public dungeon (solo) is one of two layouts. You automatically know where the 'boss' will be; the only unknown is if a shard is there and where.

The crafting is a bit weak too. I just turned VR 2, and still have never needed to craft any armor (far easier to find gear, especially in lower levels.

----

As for VR dungeons. The first dungeon has VR 5 bosses (as far as I got, maybe some higher). To go from VR 1 to 2 is 450,000ish experience. To get to VR 2 it is 900,000+, and from what I can tell, I have only one zone to get that 900,000 exp. You can get exp in PVP, but it is hella slow.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Ugh! The first 2 skills of a tree are very fast to level usually. The 3rd is okay. The last 2 are fucking annoying to level. They take way too long.

I got all my templar skills to IV, including ultimates. Sword and shield, heavy armour, soul magic same thing.

Working on guild skills, bow and duel wield.

But it does require changes in gameplay when skills are replaced on the bar.