Oh and your welcome King of Beasts.....I hope the info I provided was useful.

Voila!!!...

So help me, we may be doing this chizz now!!...

We'll have to see how good it is before we fork out for the DLCs though...It really does look so much like Kingdoms of Amalur, it's ridiculous... ...

The in-game currency is Crowns? Not Septims..?


Nah. For me TES is still all aboot that single player experience

@DE

Thanks. It will be useful, I appreciate the help!

I'll be a newb, have never played online in my life before; not even XBox Live. And do they have a campaign mode for like two players instead of having to join a party?

OK, I think I missed a major development. So now you can explore all of the provinces with a single character of any race, despite the whole war/faction situation? Is that what all of this Tamriel Unlimited business means?

No, the Tamriel Unlimited is just a new name they decided to use when they went free to play. I think it is just meant to confuse people is all.

You can go everywhere with a character if you pay extra though. There is an Adventurer's Pack you can buy that lets you do it as any race. Or you can pay extra for the Imperial Edition, and play as an Imperial in any alliance you want. But I think you are still stuck that alliance's territory only.

Yes and no. I think you start out in the territory your race is Allianced with (and they are huge areas); but once you pass all the quests in that area I am pretty sure you can go on to other places; but you have to be a certain level or something to move on to the DLC, etc.

But the areas each Alliance covers are enormous! Example: I'm playing Ebonheart Pact, the area I begin in and hone my skills in covers all of Morrowind, Skyrim, and Black Marsh. These are huge areas, with tons of quests and dungeons to explore before I even think about moving on to other areas.

A friend visited me in Ebonheart the other day, and if I'm not mistaken he is a Veteren level 20 from the Aldmeri, so I think you can leave your area.

You can "Place me at" one of your friends on your friends list; and the game will deposit you at the closest shrine to them - getting to them after that is your job.

But really, you want to stay in your race's area till your character is leveled and strong enough/skilled enough to handle the next places anyway. The enemies get unbelievably tough as you progress in the game.

The first towns you reach are kind of like a "beginning zone" where the enemies are a bit scaled down for you to practice and hone your skills with the questing in that area before going on to the much tougher enemies you will meet as you travel further from the beginning towns (Just like Seyda Neen and Balmora were in Morrowind).


One of my friends from another site (level 19 playing solo) was exploring a non-quest cave that it took him hours and hours and many times dying to finally beat the enemy - but when he did, he was hugely satisfied with the night's gaming.

(I know that feeling, it was how I felt the first time I went through Anchorage, lol).

The only area that is not openly available is Cyrodiil, and that is because in Cyrodiil all the Alliances are in a massive Player vs Player battle.


Oh, and SubRosa - I did find conjuration (Daedra) under "Sorceress/Sorcerer" class. I can't remember what we were saying about it, but I wrote down that you were asking about conjuration.

There are huge bonuses if you are in a class that uses magic and don't wear heavy armor. Misa is a Templar class and she wore nothing but a basic prison garb all the way through and out of Coldharbour - the game accounts for your lack of armor, and I believe it also accounts for your being solo rather than in a group.

Well I'm sold on it. If I find out there's tea in the game I'll run to the nearest game store to pick it up on console release day

One question though - are spells locked into a specific class? Could I be a rogue that can use conjuration, or would I have to play as a sorcerer?

I know the magic classes can use weapons, but not sure how all that works yet. I have just gotten to level 2, and when you level up you are given skill points to distribute into spells or something similar to perks.

Example: My character is a Templar, which is magic based off the sun or light - very powerful magic in both destruction and healing.

Well, my character has been fighting with a greatsword right from the start (I found it in the tutorial prison cell), but I just leveled up for the first time the other day.

Before you level up, certain things might happen in game where you are given a point to distribute to either Magic, Health, or Endurance. When I leveled up the first time I had three points, so I put one in each slot. That brings you to a screen to distribute skill points.

On this screen there is a lot of stuff you can see but not access yet; those will have a padlock over them. But each skill set might have one or more that you can access at this time (just like the perks in Fallout games or the Perk trees in Skyrim) - they are probably opened up by what you used and what choice you made with those additional points you earned.

When I leveled up I was given 4 points to distribute to skills:

I put one into destruction (and got a whopping destruction spell)
One into healing (and got an awesome healing spell)
One into weapons; and it was kind of like a perk that increased my critical and damage ratings overall
One into armor; and it was kind of like a perk that increased my shield and health overall.


I will look for tea, haven't seen it yet - but there is crafting of beverages here, so it is possible there will def be tea, lol.

Oh, also - you can have up to 8 characters and are allowed 3 character deletions. Everyone I know that plays has a character in each Alliance so they can experience all the differences.

I will probably do that too once I've played through in Ebonheart; make an Imperial character and try out the other Alliances (yes, I payed the extra 20 bucks for the Imperial edition and a horse, lol).

So am I guessing right that the only way to play an Imperial is by buying the Imperial Edition?

Yes.

This is my biggest question right now too, hazmick. I’ve read that anyone can pick up a weapon and use it, and that using a weapon increases that skill. However with magic I can’t figure out how a character could start using a skill that’s not one of their class’s skill trees. I’m thinking mostly about summoning. If I want a warrior who summons it looks like my only option is to create a Sorcerer class to get the summoning and then start using armor and weapons that I find or make. It would help me a lot if I could just get that lightbulb moment on how the different skills work.

I flipped my wig a little over the three character deletion limit, but that’s just within a specific period of time, I think 24 hours. You know how I love to populate the world with my own creations. So from what I’ve read as long as you only delete three per day there is no limit to how many you can create and play over time, just a limit of eight at once.

Oh, it is per day? I didn't know that! Thank you for clearing that up! (and sorry for the mistake everyone)

I am curious about names. mALX, you mentioned that you can talk to anyone by putting their name into the chat box (and spelling it correctly). Does that mean if someone else has a character named Persephone, I cannot use the same name for one of my characters? Or is it the player's account name you use to talk to someone, and it goes out to whichever character they happen to be playing?

I'm curious about the names too. There's nothing wrong with having 112 Sigrid's running around Skyrim. I would hate to want to name a character Sigrid and have to use Sigrid113.

I mean if you use a common name like Sigrid, you should be one of many. If you use an unusual (for TES) name like Buffy, you should probably be one of several across Tamriel. If you use a rare name like Persephone, you should be one of very few. Who cares if there's more than one character with the same name? There are plenty of real folks with the same name running around. I think it is a lot better to let you name your character as you choose and risk having a few by the same name around rather than giving you a 'that name's taken' stoppage.

It is hard to find a straight answer, but from this it looks like character names have to be unique. So if someone else is already using the name Buffy, no one else can use it.

Edit: I did also note that you can use special characters, and up to four blank spaces in your name. So if Buffy is taken (which I am sure it is), Buffy The Bowgirl probably is not, or Buffy of Bravil, or Buffy The Bravilian Bowgirl. I think there is a 20 character limit though. Persephone is probably taken as well. But Persephone Deadwalker might not be.

So XXX Jerric 6969 it is!

(He's kidding.) (I hope.)

On the names: I don't really know, but I tried to use Misa and it was taken, so I put in Misa Li and it was accepted. So I think you are correct, using any variation would work.


On the Chat Box - I did learn yesterday that you can adjust the size and transparency of the text to your liking:


Communicating with Other Players:

/say sends the message to players in close proximity
/party sends the message to players in your party
/zone sends the message to all players in the zone
/tell sends a private chat message to the indicated player
/guild 1 or /g1 sends the message to the first guild you’ve joined. If you join multiple guilds, you can use the numbers 2-5 to speak to your other guilds (ex. /guild 2 or /g2).


This is how it shows on screen:


http://cdn.eso.mmoui.com/preview/pvw2154.jpg


That link you posted is a fantastic two page article on the character creation once you get down to it; really informative! I saved the link for my own use, thank you for posting that!

Finally got the answer to this - YES! You finish up the quests in your race/Alliance's territory; that is where you join any guilds you are going to join like Mages and Fighters Guilds, etc - do all those quests and any side/misc/random quests you want to do.

THEN you can go to the other Alliance territories and do all their misc/side/random quests! (You can't do any of their main quests or Guild Quests outside of your own territory; but you can do any misc/random/side quests all across Tamriel !!!!!!

So YEAH !!!!!!

MALX, that's wonderful news that you can explore all the provinces. I'm guessing staying out of Cyrodiil will keep you out of PVP stuff. Thanks again for being a guinea pig / squirrel and adventuring all this stuff out for us!

That’s great news and great information. Thanks, mALX!

I wonder how typing all of that chat stuff will work on the consoles if you’re just using a controller. Maybe it will be cumbersome enough to keep disruptions to a minimum.

I watched a short ranger build video that stayed on the character’s skills page, whatever that’s called. I liked the interface. Just looking at it made the whole process seem less complicated.


Thank you for this link. I got some time last night to scroll down and read all of the information there, and it was very helpful.

From what I have seen and heard, ESO for the consoles will be just like their other online multiplayer games have always been - using your headset and microphone (that comes with the console) to talk to the other Players.

On the PC that talking option is available (at no cost), but not included in the game, only the chatbox is included in the game. Last night I used my son's headset and mike and actually talked to the other Player that was helping me learn, and I learned a heck of a lot more that way.

The way it worked when my son played Halo/Call of Duty/etc - each party (and it can be only one or two players who are friends if you are wanting to solo it overall like I'm doing) - each party has their own chat "room" where when you speak over your headset - only those in your party can hear it to respond, (and you can only hear the members of your own party talking too, you can't hear any other player talking unless they are in your party).


*

I think a lot of people use third party voice chats with ESO, like Skype or Teamspeak.

I added TeamSpeak last night, it was easy to set up and works very well. It was surprisingly comfortable to play with the headset (while talking and listening); and much easier than using the chat box; although either is good to talk to friends.


I learned in order to speak on the chat box you have to type /say (space) and then type your message.

This article talks about the Player housing issue and that is will be a future addition:


http://skyrimfansite.com/player-housing-in...why-we-want-it/

Here is a very short and basic explanation of how skills lines and progression work: Link. You have to page down past the huge ad.

So do I understand correctly that you can only use a skill that you put in your hotbar? Even the passive skills? So if you have more skills that hotbar slots, you basically just wasted all the extra ones (anything more than 5 active and 4 passive skills?)

Not really wasted, as you can change which abilities you have in your hotbar. So if I have certain skills loaded for exploring a dungeon myself, I can later change to a more specialized skill set that puts me in a specific role for a group adventure as long as I have those skills. I’d don’t like it, but I’d guess it’s another limitation of MMOs.

I think I’m going to try this some time after June 9. I’d buy the Explorer pack or whatever lets you join any faction as any race if I was going to play on my laptop, but I’ll just use the factions that the regular game allows on the PS4. One character for each faction to see as much as I can see, for as long as I can put up with the unwashed horde of other players my fellow adventurers.

If I read correctly though, you cannot change your hotbar while in combat. So before every fight you have to know what skills you are going to be need in that fight. Say you select your fire attack, and end up fighting a creature with a resistance to fire. You have a frost attack too, but you didn't slot it because your crystal ball is in the shop being polished. So now you cannot use a skill you have, when you need it most?

Or am I understanding it wrong?

TBH, the more I read about the classes and skills, the less and less this looks and feels like an Elder Scrolls game. The more and more I feel like I would not like actually playing it at all, even if it was a single player game.

Yes, that’s how I read it, too. So if for example Jerric had a hotbar with frost magic as his ranged attack and found himself in combat with something that was frost resistant, he could switch to his backup hotbar by switching weapons mid-combat but not stop to load something different to replace the frost staff in his first hotbar until the fight was over.

To be honest there’s not a thing I find appealing about the combat system. I wouldn’t touch this game if it wasn’t Tamriel. It’s just a matter of what I’m willing to put up with so I can see some new areas and possibly some day actually meet up with friends.

I also had a thought about the animations. I’ve noticed that everyone seems to keep up with the group, and there’s sort of an odd hopping look to the running characters. So if Lil is as short petite as she should be, will she make tremendous leaps while running to keep pace with her long-legged companions?

In the beginning of the game you have 5 "hot keys" (and one ultimate) that you can add any spells that need activating (like destruction, conjuration, healing, shield, stealth enhancing spells, etc.

The skill points you use in your hot bar are more like perks and/or spells. You have the skills and abilities, these are just special bonus powers earned that you have chosen to place your skill point on.

They are accrued just like the article Grits's link described; your skill grows but in addition you gain about one skill point per level up in normal gameplay (just like getting one perk on leveling up in Fallout games).

Well, when you reach level (5 or 10, I don't know which) they add another hot bar with 5 more hot keys and another Ultimate power.

You can switch between hot bars on the fly - so you can add all your destruction on one and healing on the other; or all your mage skills on one and all your archery or melee skills on the other; etc.

It gives you a way to keep your special powers organized, and is extremely quick to switch between them, my friend was showing me his character switching back and forth repeatedly in split seconds from one hot bar to the other.

This is where you put your most powerful spell weapons, but some of your passive skills can affect everything about your combat; so these may be passive but you want to place them on your bar so they can be cast with the other spells as you cast them.

Example: There is one heavy armor passive that changes the shield value of every piece of equipment you are wearing and creates a force field around you in combat. Well, you have to be level 22 to use a skill point to gain this perk, and I'm at level 3 in Heavy Armor; so I have to wear at least one piece of heavy armor in my adventures till my heavy armor skill reaches level 22 and then I am getting that perk. After that, I don't have to wear heavy armor anymore, but I will always have that perk.

Each skill you have has its own leveling bar with a number in front of it - that number and bar tells you where you are in that particular skill and how close you are to leveling up in that particular skill (just like in Oblivion skill pages, only in ESO each skill has its own little window to view its stats).

You can raise these skills by doing the skill; and that has nothing to do with the hot bar - that hot bar is just for using special bonus perks you have gained (and selected yourself) to add to you combat bag of tricks.







Changing weapons is very quick and easy, I watched my friend change repeatedly back and forth from a frost staff to an axe in split seconds.

On the running and jumping - I think they are showing off, my son did that a lot in Oblivion too. You have to hit the space bar to jump, so they are doing that deliberately.

One thing I have noticed and I don't know what I'm doing to cause it is - sometimes Misa goes into a running tumble/summersault type of thing - like they had in Oblivion, but this one is forward instead of side to side.

I know I am the one causing it, but don't know what I am pressing that is doing it.

*

Oh, I see the line you are talking about in that article:




What he is talking about here is in setting up the different perks and spells on your hot bar - you won't be able to stop in the middle of battle and change that.

When you level up you get the opportunity to spend your leveling up point on whatever attribute you want first (Magicka, Health, or Stamina); then you have a skill point given to select a perk you want in one of your skill sets.

By leveling up you will have unlocked some new perks in each skill that you have used and gained skill in (that skill bar I was talking about above this post).

So you go over all your skills and see which perks have been opened up for selection by you - and you choose which one you want best (just like in Fallout/Skyrim games, except the UI Screen looks different).

Now your hot key bar holds 5, you have to have reached level 5 to fill all those slots since you only get one per level up. But you can have any combination of these powerful spells in those slots.

These are special tricks you have that give you an advantage in combat. The ones you choose to hot key are the ones that you feel like suit your combat style at any time, like if you are a mage/archer you will probably want some better destruction perks attached to your mage staff weapon and weapon based perks attached to your bow.

Mage stuff: I got 4 mage staffs before leaving Cold Harbour just by killing beasts in that river: One is lightning, one is frost, one is fire, and one is healing. I also found three greatswords, an axe, and a maul.

Well, I'm level 4 now, so I got four skill points to distribute when I leveled up. I put two into destruction magic (one from Aedric Spear and one from Dawn's Wrath), one into a 2-handed weapon perk; and one into an armor perk. I have another slot left for when I level up next, and an opening for an ultimate whenever I get skilled enough to get one.

You are always playing with your skills, these are just bonus perks that enhance your abilities when facing stronger opponents. I haven't actually even hit a hot key yet, but intend to try these spells out - not just to see them in action; but like in the Fallout games = the more you use a skill the more perk options will be unlocked for you to choose from.


And as you grow and learn more, you may decide different perks may work better for you; so when you aren't in combat you may want to change over one you have selected for your hot bar to a different choice.

But soon you get your second hot bar, and then you can have all of your perks up to 10 plus 2 Ultimates - then you may want to sift through them and if you see one you didn't use as much or didn't work for your particular style - when you are sorting out and organizing your bar you may decide to switch it out if you have more than 10 to choose from.

The hot bar is no different than using hot keys in Oblivion - you only had like 8 hot keys there.

Here you have 5 to begin with, (plus an ultimate power hot key); and then soon you will have 10 hot keys (and two Ultimate power hot keys) to work with.

I think in that article that they didn't explain it clearly (1) and (2) = that article was written on info before the game was released, he mentions or alludes to that several times in the article.



*

sounds like pretty standard MMORPG set up, what with the hotkeys and stuff. Near identical to the way Guild Wars 2 does things from the way you're describing it.

It'll be interesting to see how that carries over to consoles. It'll be difficult to have fast-paced combat if I keep having to bring up a skill menu like in Skyrim.

As for chat, it's not something I ever use. Consoles will almost certainly have the voice chat, but some console MMO's like Warframe have a chat log too. Given the time it takes to type anything on a console I think it's a bit pointless, but hey ho.

Hopefully player housing will be implemented soon. It's something that other MMORPG's have been doing for ages. I'll be very disappointed if Haa-Rei can't get a cosy cottage in Black Marsh at some point in the future

I heard Player houses are on the horizon, I hope so too!

But in Oblivion I can use any spell I want to at any time, whether or not I have a hot key assigned to it. My impression of ESO is that unless it is in that hotbar I cannot use it.

And I need to have a Restoration Staff just to heal myself, and a different Destruction staff for every element? Oh hell no! This is what I mean about it not feeling like an Elder Scrolls game. It is some other game that stole the Elder Scrolls setting.

If this was a single player game, I could mod all this out. But that is not an option. That is what really kills this game for me.

Let me research that and find out, because I think spells are different than hot keys - the hot keys might just be used to change spells on the fly just like they were in Oblivion, or they may be totally separate and you have to access them like in Skyrim - I don't know.

All I know is that the way to switch between the hot key pads is to change your weapon to the one bound to the other hot key pad.


Oh, I found this on Nexus and have needed something like this = the key to keyboard and mouse controls:



http://www.nexusmods.com/elderscrollsonline/images/279/?



Thanks, BadGremlin for posting that on Nexus!

Oh, while researching it I came across this helpful tidbit on using QuickSlots for healing Potions/etc::




http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/di...pictorial-guide

Okay, here is an Enchanting Guide:



http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/di...e-need-to-knows

Okay, I'm trying to find out what I can about spells and staffs. So far this is what I have found:




Copied from an article:



In Skyrim, you "held" magic in one or both hands. You could not have a weapon equipped in a hand you intend to use magic with.

Magic in ESO will behave much more like Oblivion wherein you can still cast a fireball from a hand with a sword or bow in it.


Staffs will work similar to the way they did in Skyrim, except now in ESO, there is a concept of holding down the attack button with a staff to make the staff cast a more powerful attack.


The only comment I've seen on the magic system in ESO so far is this:






In this game you have a hot bar linked to your currently equipped weapon. You have 5 slots on your hot bar to put active abilities in these will cost either stamina or magicka to use depending on the ability. There are no long cool downs for abilities but there is usually a short casting animation so you can't spam them as fast as you can hit the hot keys.


At level 15 you unlock the ability to swap between 2 weapons while in combat so you can have up to 10 active abilities available to you.

Out of combat you can freely swap your abilities around.


You get the abilities you slot into your hot bar by unlocking them using skill points from the games skill lines. You get one skill point per level and can find things called mundus stones in the game which allow you to get more skill points.



Customization of abilities is achieved by choosing passive abilities which complement them, and secondly while progressing up skill lines you get at certain points to "morph" abilities.

An example given was turning a direct damage ability into a damage over time ability or making a single target ability have an AoE effect.


Joining the mages guild opens a skill line. Some of the class skill lines offer a selection of abilities that are close. Templars, for example, have a healing skill line, sorcerers get a elemental damage skill line and a summoning skill line.

(Not mentioned was ultimate abilities which are linked to a mechanic called finesse).





And this is an article strictly about a Sorceress/Sorcerer character:



http://www.esosorcerer.com/category/spells/




** Still trying to find a definitive answer about the spells; so far it looks like you can carry a weapon and use a choice of five spells/perks with that weapon; switch weapons and have a choice of five more spells/perks with that weapon.






I know Acadian will like one thing about ESO = Buffy can hold her bow and cast a spell without shouldering the bow; and immediately jump right back into shooting arrows.





*

Yes, the inability to weld that bow to her left hand so it is always ready for shooting or blocking if needed, and use her right to cycle between nocking arrows and spellcasting has always been my biggest complaint regarding Skyrim.

*

I know this game is a big financial and hard drive commitment; and because of that it is important to really weigh whether it is worth it to you to commit that much into one game.

I've kind of been going through that too, I mean I bought the game for my son and have been playing a character I added to HIS game without making that commitment for myself. I really wanted to be sure it was something I wanted before investing that kind of money into it.

For me, my son wanted it, and I always give him what he wants. And while he was at work, I asked him if I could test the waters; he left his character gen screen up for me. So I kind of got to test out the game with no commitment whatsoever; only a gift for my son he would have gotten regardless.

(Kind of like how SubRosa got to test out Witcher without a specific investment, so she could walk away if it didn't suit her without suffering a loss).

But for me, it is just really hard to imagine playing any game without SubRosa, because for the past 6 years she has brought so much fun into every game I have played that it felt as if we had actually played it together; and Acadian, Grits, etc - the fun of the playing the games was tripled just by being able to get on here and bounce our experiences and fun off one another.

And to meet Teresa/Persephone/Molly; Buffy; Jerric/Darnand; Haa Rei; etc - to actually see the familiar friends I've known these 6 years - to me it would be totally the most awesome experience ever to meet up here or there in the new world, or possibly clear a dungeon together, etc. - or even just like we've been doing and just share screenshots and stories on here - everything is better when shared with friends.


But I do understand the hesitation to put that much of a commitment into a game until you are sure it will suit you. So I'm trying to dig up every bit of info I can to make sure you are having an informed decision on whether it is worth it to you or not.

(But really hope it ends up being a game you like, because wherever you go you bring fun with you; and to be alone entering a new world just could never meet the same feeling as it has been even on single player games knowing the other friends of ours were there too).

I just learned you can resurrect your friends with a soul gem too! and I'm completely out of them now, lol.



Here is a chart for their use:



http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Soul_Gem_%28Online%29

You're making me feel all warm and fuzzy. Not sure about anyone else but I'm definitely getting it. Console release day is only 4 days away.



Interesting bit about the soul gems. Didn't use them much in Skyrim so I wouldn't have bothered with them here if you hadn't warned us

I'm assuming Soul Trap is available to every class? I remember reading somewhere that souls are a big deal in ESO so it wouldn't be fair to have mages cornering the market

Oh good! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT !!!!

Oh, good question. Well, I think everyone can use it because you need them to recharge your weapons; but - truthfully I don't know one way or the other, because my character is Templar (so kind of Mage based).

I'll have to research it.


.

Okay, they said the soul gems need to be filled from the "Soul magic" line in this article:



http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Soul_Gems



And THIS article tells about the Soul magic line:



http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Soul_Magic



The article says that it is available to everyone regardless; but not right away. It becomes available at some time during the main questline - that is good to know, I'm glad you brought that up!

Tonight's the night, my fellow console players! Anyone staying up for it?



Em... anyone else playing on a console?

OMG,was everyone playing Online and I missed it because I was unplugged for a storm? Gaaaaah!







I wonder if console gamers can play with PC players on ESO?

Unfortunately no. Since I’ll be on a PS4 I’ll only be able to connect with PS4 players. And not until midnight tonight. (I just checked and still have a timer.)