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This thread is for everyone to post their impressions after playing ESO; what they liked, anything that might be improved, etc.

These first posts are being transferred from the "What I am Playing" thread; so bear with the first posts please, lol.



My son started in on ESO tonight. So far it is looking Awesome! A bit confusing, because I was having trouble figuring out who was a Player and who was an NPC - well, some were working so I knew they were NPC's; and some were running around madly, so I knew they were Players; but the ones walking or milling around - those I couldn't tell.

And some character came up and attacked my son's pet imp and then attacked my son for no reason - in the middle of a town. Neither my son or I could figure out if it was an NPC or some crazed player. My son finally killed him because the guy wouldn't leave him alone; and there was nothing on his body to indicate if it was Player or NPC! (So still don't know, lol).

Right now he is still just trying to figure out what the/his objectives are.

All the conversations are run in a small box on the left of the screen, and the print on the conversations is so tiny I can't read it - my son can't read it either, it is that small.

But the game itself - the graphics and sheer size of it is AWESOME! The characters are lifesized, the ships really look like ships and not small replicas. It is an amazing game so far!

My son has played online a LOT before, so he will orient himself a lot quicker than I will be able to - but for right now he is playing solo.

I am seriously considering sneaking on while he is at work and starting a character in the Ebonheart just to try it out, .



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You can't get to Cyrodiil till you reach a very high level, it is blocked completely before then. And yes, Cyrodiil is the only Player VS Player (from what I heard it is a massive battleground there, Alliance VS Alliance - which means I'll never want to go there, lol).


Never having played online before - I wanted to go solo. My allies don't fare well in melee with my characters, I hit the wrong people with both weapons and healing magic.

My son said that online game is all about creating a small group of friends who each have a needed skill set to ensure the group survives and prospers. "Tanks" take the damage for the group (Orcs/heavy armor); the healer keeps everyone fighting; etc. As a group you strategically plan the battles and how best to defeat the enemies.

The enemies are leveled to be powerful enough to be a challenge for a group of players; and I don't know if their level drops based on the numbers in the attack. If it does, then playing solo would work very well; but I don't know if it does or not.

My son said that even the best multiplayer game in the world is only half as good if you try to play it solo, for him the group adds tremendously to the experience.

But for me, I want to play it solo till I feel very comfortable with the game - then maybe just one or two close friends, no group of strangers.




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Well, I played the whole first section of - the tutorial dungeon. There were several really tough fights that I have yet to figure out what I did right to win.

The tough enemies dropped excellent loot such as enchanted weapons and armor - I just need to figure out how to equip it now, and find my inventory!

I made the stupid mistake of creating my character with no gear! I was looking at her body in the bikini and forgot to redress her! So I'm doubly relieved that I made it out of Coldharbour alive - and beat Molag Bal's minion in a boss battle to do it!

Unfortunately, I walked into the firepit in Indoril Manor and can't figure out how to jump out; so I exited the game to find out.

My impression of the game so far = it reminds me VERY strongly of the game "Fate" except with tremendous graphics and other people running around.

(I think the game "Fate" is a quasi version of the game "Fable;" but I haven't ever played Fable so don't know for sure if that is accurate). Fate is usually found prepackaged in the games folder of new computers with Windows OS's.


The feel of it is much closer to Morrowind than any other TES game I've played. When you escape the dungeon and reach the town you can go around and talk to NPC's who have a white arrow over their heads - they have quests to give the player.

Oh, and if someone loots before you and an item is empty - wait a few seconds and try again, this place restocks VERY quickly.

If you are going to loot bodies, do it fast because they will disappear quickly as well. This place cleans itself up and resets very fast compared to World of Warcraft!

I accepted two quests, one is part of the main questline for my area (Ebonheart Pact, so whatever town that is - can't think of it right now).

Also, almost every key on your keyboard has a function, so I need to make myself a key to remember them all - but I think "M" is for Map.

If you walk up to another Player and hit "E" (which is the "Activate" key) - it opens up the option to Chat with them, trade with them, join their group, invite them to join your group.

(I found that out by accident while trying to get out of the fire pit).

It was really exciting, and if it turns out to be like Fate - I got so addicted to that game that the company called me on the phone and told me to get off the game because my free trial had ended and they were reluctant to shut me down in the middle of gameplay, lol.

So far all my impressions are good. Everyone I know that plays it has become very addicted to it, and has said it is everything Skyrim should have been - so far I'm really impressed.

The dungeon Coldharbor was huge and amazingly done. I am quite sure I left a bunch of loot behind in it.



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They have a tremendous range of ways to personalize your character: Age, hair style and color, height and weight, all the usual facegen we are used to in TES, face and body painting/tattoos, there are over 20 eye colors and shapes - very nice eyes. Even the neck/leg/arm/and hand sizes can be tweaked. And they have very decent hair that is clean and combed, unlike vanilla Skyrim.


A few things I found clunky:


Keys for certain functions are not where i am used to them being; like activate is E and spacebar is jump. That is exactly opposite of what I am used to.

And I am afraid to rekey the keyboard for this game like I did for other games because so many keys are used for something particular (I for inventory, M for Maps, O opens up your profile page showing your friends, for quick access to message them - etc)

Also messaging/using the chat box - since players can have up to 8 different characters, if you want to message a friend they ask you to name which character of theirs you want to get the message.

Well, the character's name has to be spelled exactly correct, and these are TES Lore names (get my drift? Lol). I was trying to message someone last night with a very long two part name, with my left hand not working and in game - couldn't do it.



OH! Another plus I discovered last night: no need for pose and animation mods, they are built in! Your character can do over 300 animations and poses right from the start just by keying them into the chat box = instant pose or animation!

There are numerous dances, numerous sits, sleeping, eating, drinking, drunk, playing musical instruments with varied songs, digging with a shovel, raking, waving, motioning to come here, etc, etc, etc - hundreds of them! AWESOME !!!!


And they also have all the craftings from Skyrim including smithing/alchemy/enchanting/cooking/etc.




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What a great summary of what you've learned so far! I look forward to learning more about ESO from your adventures and observations.

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Thanks Acadian!


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Last night was a lot of learning how to do things in the game. Example, I was carrying too much stuff to pick up anymore, so the man from TESAlliance showed me how to put inventory items (I wouldn't be using right away) into a Bank.

All the major cities have Banks. If you place something in the Bank in one city, the Banks in all the cities will be able to access your items for you, you can retrieve them anytime.

I don't know how to tell if your equipment has been damaged yet, but I noticed while I was talking to a vendor - at the bottom of the screen it said "Repair all items - 14 gold."

Well, I sold off some of the items that needed repair I guess, because it only cost me 5 gold to repair all my items.

I don't know if there is a difference in the quality/percentage of repair based on who you deal with (like in the Fallout games there were certain NPC's who repaired better than others).

Your horse that comes with the Imperial Edition (or any horse you buy) can be used for storage too. Anytime you want to you can go to any stables and pay the stable hand to "train" your horse (250 gold, I don't have enough yet) - and they can teach the horse to carry more for you (a huge help if you are going to be away from a city for a while) - or to increase their speed, or one other attribute I can't remember.


When you dismount the horse shimmers and disappears - goes to a safe place to wait for the Player. When you want them again you press H (for horse) and your character whistles. Your horse instantly appears at your side and you mount it.

And you can name your horse whatever you want. The game gives you a chance to name it when you first access it.

Also, for random quests - every town has a notice board where you can pick up random quests.

If there is nothing on the notice board, you can go around to any of the crafting businesses and tell the owner you are interested in learning more about their craft; and after that you will always find notices from that vendor on the notice board.

Those quests are always to gather materials they need for their craft, so you can fill them while you are doing other quests (find those items in your travels).

I am so loving this game! It is so like Morrowind or Fate, but so much better graphics and the actions of the NPC's is so much more realistic than Skyrim's.

OH, and if you see a Player character in town digging in a satchel - that means they are looking in their inventory; and if you see them looking at a map - that means they are accessing their map.

You can't see yourself doing it, but your character does that too! Very cool; I absolutely LOVED that!

Last night a lot of the Players were roleplaying in the city I was in - drinking; dancing; and one big older character got drunk and was beating up NPC's - brawling drunk. It was Saturday night in Davon's Watch,

But I learned something from it = he didn't know if I was an NPC or a Player, so he tried to attack me, and his fists went right through me - so you can't accidentally injure your Player allies, or any other Player - only NPC's.

So I can't remember who suggested it, but they were right - you actually can't hurt another Player even if you try unless you and they are both set up to allow Player vs Player.





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That sounds really neat! Thank you for sharing your adventures. This sounds like a fun game.

MALX, that's all good news.

I like the 'bank' idea.

The horse stuff sounds wonderful for keeping the horse safe when not actually in use. In fact, what you describe is quite similar to what Buffy does (mods) in both Oblivion and Skyrim. What can you do in the saddle? Melee? Archery? Any spell casting? Talk to NPCs? Pick things up?

The unwanted PVP provisions sound fine as well.

The bank solves my concern about losing stuff when you delete a character, if the bank is account-specific. Is that how it works? I wonder if mounts are shared between characters? It would be worth getting the Imperial edition if all of your characters could share an immortal horse.

No, the banks are Character specific. When you delete a character, all their inventory and bank accounts go with them.


EDIT:

Only the Imperial mount that comes if you buy the Imperial Edition can be used by all characters - but it is the only one (unless you buy a mount through the Crown store - everything bought through the Crown store is for all your characters too).

The other characters have to each buy their own mount - and it doesn't have to be a horse if you are buying it, I saw people riding tigers, wargs, etc. (You get those using crown points at the crown store - which means all your characters can use them).

The bank with its safety deposit box for your stuff is something that the Bethesda ES games could use. I think we all often end up buying/modding in a house somewhere just to have someplace to keep our stuff, if for no other reason.

It is great that your horse disappears when you do not need it as well. I was wondering if the landscape was filled with a horde of riderless mounts. It also protects them from being killed or stolen while you are busy in a dungeon. Again, something the Beth games could take note of.

I thought just like you did on that, what a great mod that Bank would make in Skyrim or Oblivion (or Fallout games!)

It is very cool too, you go in the bank and there are lines up to the counters and filling out accounts in one area, - really liked going into the bank!

Am I right in thinking that there is no individual player housing? I’m glad there’s a bank for storage, but I’d rather have even just a shack somewhere that made me feel like my character actually lived in the world.

The mount system sounds very encouraging. The best things about Convenient Horses built right in.

I don't know about the housing, and I wondered that too! Oh, but Jerric can both eat, drink, and sleep - and you can watch him do it, lol. I thought of him right away when I saw how easy it was to do that, lol.

You just type /eat ; /drink ; /drunk ; / sleep - and your character does whatever you say till you move him or give him a new command.

(or he can drunk dance /dancedrunk ; or entertain the crowds with a song /lute )


I plan to find out about the houses, I did see in passing a conversation about them that seemed to indicate to me that it wasn't available, but I don't want to say that till I have researched it a bit.


Oh, I forgot to add this on my post above:


I didn't really want to talk to anyone, but now I'm glad I did. I learned so much! The person helping me helped me join a Trader's Guild so I will always have someone to trade with.

The members of that Trader's guild will be marked on my map as I come into areas so I'll always be able to find a trader wherever I am, and they have access to better equipment than the vendors.

One thing about equipment - you can't use equipment higher than your level. If you get some, you can keep it till you reach that level, but it is marked in red and you are blocked from using it till you have earned that level.

I had three greatswords; a level 1, 2, and 3. Now all of them show the same amount of damage rating - so I don't know what the level on them means or how it affects anything. But I changed up to the level 3 one anyway as soon as I could; figuring there had to be a reason the levels were added to the stat.

If anyone finds out what the different levels indicate (other than just some psychological way to get you to think one is more desirable, lol) - can you post it?

I plan to hunt down that info too.

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Oh - on the banks - your bank account/safety deposit box allows you to store something like 70 items. If you want to store more, you can purchase more space at the bank (not sure if that is done through the Crown store or through the bank itself).

But Guilds you join may also have bank accounts in your name that you can use. When you first talk to the banker, they will give you options of different bank accounts available to you. Mine said Bank, Guild Bank, and another bank - can't remember what it was.

But my friend advised me to fill up my original Bank first.


Also, when you reach a certain level (like level 5 or 10) - you can split up your skills into two different groups and switch back and forth between them on the fly in combat.

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

Well, when you reach that level (5 or 10 when they add more) - they give you a row of another 5 hot keys to add items to, and you can switch between them 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.




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So far the only thing I've found anti in ESO is that I haven't found a way to save it, the game saves everything itself - so in other words, if I make a mistake, I can't reload a save and go back; I have to live with my choices.

I sold my greatsword because I picked up an enchanted axe; well the enchanted axe had much higher stats and level than my greatsword - but didn't work as well in battle.

Then I put all my points into morphing my powerful spells that go into my hot bar; and they didn't seem to be doing as much or be as effective after that.

Well, either I messed up in trading equipment and morphing my spells, or it is because I'm getting into much stronger enemies.

Well actually, I know I'm getting into much stronger enemies because my friend that gave me the more powerful equipment told me so. But WOW, I mean they are really powerful, and I am just in the early dungeon area.

So I backed off - dropped back 5 yards to punt. Maybe I need to buy my greatsword back; or next time I get points put them into my armor or weapon skills.

I think I messed up on my choices, but can't go back now. The only choice I have is to play on, gain experience with the game with this character, and when I get the game on my own PC I'll start a new character and base it on my knowledge gathered in this first (test) character.

Interesting how fastidious it sounds like you have to be. Consequences from choices, and all that. Do you find yourself really connecting with your character and her world? It seems like this would be so because you're really putting a lot of energy and also some growing pains as you figure things out.

Sounds like a cool experience, is what I mean to say

Yes, but this is most def not a game anyone would want to play "dead is dead."

But I have a friend who has been traveling with me and giving me hints; saved me several times when the fight was too tough for my character to handle; and his character is hilarious!

He plays a girl sorceress conjurer who dances or plays the drum when she is bored; and has several conjured familiars that go everywhere with her (and the conjured familiars have also saved my butt a few times when I was outnumbered by a pack of wolves).

When you die you can choose to be resurrected where you are and keep fighting, or at a shrine if the fight is too tough and you want to run to safety.

So far I've stayed to keep fighting and eventually won the fight - and that is really satisfying, if you know what I mean.

I agree, there is no way I'd play that game dead-is-dead. For one thing, you've got all the blunders and foibles which could happen which aren't your fault. For another thing, it just sounds much tougher than TES 4 or 5.

Your friend's sorceress sounds hilarious, especially playing that drum and dancing around. Sounds like a fun game.

I was in hysterics, because if i was taking too long she would start conjuring familiars, then tap her foot, then pull out a drum and start playing - by then I'd be laughing too hard to concentrate on playing. And the dancing was hilarious, like some kind of jig, lol.

I met a female Player last night with a Nord female character (only hers was blonde, mine has red hair) - she was doing the same quests I was doing and just as new a player as me - it was nice to talk to someone struggling with the same questions I was, lol.

Sounds like you´re having a blast, mALX Your words painted a vivid image of drunken people in the bar who started fights while music was playing and others were talking. It gave me such a LotR feel!

It gave me a Detroit on Saturday night feel!

Detroit merged with Middle Earth confirmed!

The drunken dancing stuff gives me an idea who my first character will be. Sounds like a lot of fun.

It really is a ton of fun, but the combat is a LOT harder than Oblivion/Skyrim. I am getting a little better at casting spells and that has helped a LOT - and I just found an enchanted Bow that I was given early in the game and didn't find till playing last night (because when you leave Coldharbour you are given your soul in an urn; and it comes with enchanted clothing and bow; and all this time I never looked in the urn to get my soul back, )

So I am hoping the bow will keep me alive a lot better since I'll be fighting ranged.

OH - and I only died twice last night, but both times it wouldn't let me resurrect there - had to go to a wayshrine to be resurrected. There was a red mark over the option to resurrect "Here" and it said "Filled." I have no idea what that means, but I saw numerous dead players there, and they all said that.

So it was something about the area of that dungeon that kept everyone from resurrecting there - I also could not summon my horse till I got away from that dungeon; so it was something about the dungeon itself.

When you die does it cost you anything to resurrect? Like does gold or experience points or looted stuff get taken from your inventory, or some other penalty? Sorry, I am a complete n00b with MMOs.

You can resurrect where you are for the cost of a soul gem, or elect to be resurrected at a shrine. I don't know if going to the shrine costs you anything or not; but if you don't have the soul gem you have no choice but to go to the shrine.

Darn it all, I just learned this! I wasted a fortune in soul gems choosing "Here!" Urk.

First couple of hours: It got fun as soon as I figured out how to turn off the random player chatter and found my inventory. I think the names over the characters’ heads must be player names, unless everyone named their character ‘Asshunter_6757’ and the like. Maybe I can turn those off, too. I’m in the Ebonheart Pact and Jerric is the only one I’ve seen with a shield on his back. I logged in early so his actual name is ‘Jerric.’

So far this has not been a roleplaying experience. I like to look around and plan to explore, but there’s no sense that this is a real world. It’s very game-y. The spells are reflexive button-pushes that you kind of watch happen, but at least the shield bashes feel OK. Hopefully swords will be better and I’ll get used to it. It helps that while Jerric does not look much like himself from the chin up, at least he looks pretty hot.

Also I haven’t figured out how to heal yet. I accidentally ate my only healing potion while hitting the wrong hotkey. Oops.

I don't know how to heal either, and invested my points in destruction magic instead of healing magic.

I planned to spend my next two points in armor and healing, but so far the only time I've needed it has been when totally out numbered or outmatched by an enemy way above me; and in those healing won't matter, you die too quickly for it to help.

I was very surprised how fast your health regenerates after battle, so far I've been doing well enough without healing.

On those fights where you are totally outmatched (like those bandits at the mine where the SkyShard is) - you should choose to resurrect at a shrine and don't go back till you have that quest (you have to disguise yourself to get by in that area).


There is a good dodge if you hit one of the arrow keys twice he will roll away from the fight (depending on which you hit, practice it when not in combat first so you know how you want to use it).

Oh, this is so exciting to hear someone talkikng about the game!

In the PC version, only the people in your group have a white box over their head so you know who your party members are. or

If a lot of people around you have the same name "Asshead 67" - That is probably the name of their group/party. And that probably does kill immersion, the PC game doesn't have all that. The white box over your party's head helps you follow them or spot them from a distance, but it isn't intrusive because you might only have one or two other people playing with you (or none) and so most people look normal, and it really helps to have a way to recognize the one or two who may be able to help you in a fix.

There are only five people in the group I joined, and they are all friends from before the game. I only know the one who invited me into the group, and since the others are so far ahead of me in game I have never seen them - I'm in the beginners area. The only reason I've seen the one who invited me is because he came back to that area to help me learn how to play; teach me what ingredients to look for in the woods, etc.

I noticed at night (in game night) there were a lot fewer Players, and I was able to get into the game a bit better because it felt more like a single player game then.

(Plus playing in the dark night made it much easier to see the enchanting essences because they glow, so I was able to enchant my outfit and beginner weapons right away).

Another thing I found really immersive was when I played that Saturday night and was in a big city (Davon's Watch) - and the Players in town were hanging out in the city square; getting drunk, dancing, playing music, and brawling. That was awesome; and really was immersive.

The PC players have learned how to make the game immersive over time, I'm sure the first day they were running around like banshees too - and that is what kills the immersion and keeps Jerric from getting any armor, it is all taken before he gets to it.

On the PC game, whoever strikes the death blow gets to loot the body, everyone else won't even get the option. And I'm not sure how it works on the console if you don't have a chat box; but on the PC game your chat box is also your developer's console and you can put commands in for your character to do (like /read - your character pulls out a book and reads it; or /lute - your character pulls out a lute and plays it, etc. ).


I wonder if/how the console players can get their characters to do animations? I'm sure they can still do them, but how?

There is a huge menu of animations on the PS4, and apparently you can hotkey a certain number of them. Jerric used one to take a nap. I’m sure a lot of people are running around like crazy because it’s the first day. There were a lot of people riding their horses over the same high wall to take a shortcut around the stairs. I loved walking along the beach without anyone but the dreugh and friendly mudcrabs around after that quest were you burn all of the siege gear, and one of the tombs I went through was sparsely populated so I could take my time. It just feels very empty compared to Oblivion and Skyrim because so many things are just statics, yet still very crowded with players. Even if we hooked up with other characters, it would really be the players on the headset. That goes both ways, of course. I imagine folks would get a surprise to see a burly Nord male in front of them and hear a soft-talking female in their ear.

One thing that has been a lovely surprise is the excellent NPCs. The voice acting is superb and very natural, and it’s a relief to zoom in and talk to someone so you get a break from the other players and can just focus on the NPC. The NPCs make me want to do the quests. Jerric is anxious to go back to where they found him so he can thank the people there.

He’s also given away a bunch of gold to beggars. This is very Jerric and may be a problem. He’s used to making a lot and spending a lot, not having a budget!

So I checked around and it seems that PSN ids and Xbox gamertags are displayed instead of character names by design. This is a really, really horrible decision in my opinion. I can see where that makes it easier for players to find players, but I’m interested in characters. So hello there, xSwagMastr_666x. Shall we adventure together? Ugh.

Yeah, it is all the excitement of a new game and everyone will be running around like crazy till they settle down and start finding ways to make it immersive for them, which is how the PC players are now because they have had over a year of playing to get used to it.

I just learned that you can hot key healing potions on the PC by using the Q, but I haven't learned how to do it yet, planned to read up on it before I played next.

The island where Jerric was first found is where the beginners area is, ("Baby's first dungeons," as they used to say in Oblivion, lol).

That is where I am right now. The quests are a lot simpler there and at Davon's Watch, just to get you used to the game mechanics and learn how to do everything.

I didn't do the siege engines in Davon's Watch yet, I just got that skull and returned it to House Indoril; then my friend advised me to go to that island first and do all the early dungeons because the quests there are leveled for beginners - if you do a level 1 dungeon at level 1-4 you get a LOT of much needed loot because the game is trying to help you grow up in strength. (but if you do the same quest at level 7-10 you won't get near as much because the game doesn't think you need the help as much).

I was already at level 4 when he told me that, and now I'm at level 6-7 and still doing quests on that island, so I caught it just in time to level properly loot-wise.

Oh, if Jerric has a horse, he may want to save some of that gold to buy his horse some feed. Your horse only levels up when you feed it; (which costs 250 gold each time you buy food for it). The food can make it faster, give it better endurance so it can sprint further, or make it carry more.

Well, the horse has no inventory, so what happens is that YOUR inventory allowance grows every time you feed the horse the right food to up his carry weight. They can level up to 50, that is an extra 50 items the Player can carry. (without doing this the Player can only carry 60 items).

You can buy as many horses as you want; if you have the Imperial Edition they only cost 1 gold (without it they are about 17,000 gold).

So what the PC Players have been doing is buying two or more horses, one to ride (which they feed up for speed and stamina); and the others all to sit in the stables and they feed them up for carrying; making their own inventory allowances huge. Then they can also buy up extra storage at the banks to store stuff for crafting armor, etc.

I have only made 250 once and had to spend it down right away to repair my armor, lol.

mALX, thank you for these tips! It’s much more fun for me to have someone to talk to about playing than it would be to just do this alone. That’s why I started the first Jerric as a Templar in the Ebonheart Pact. (Jerric has already picked out his hair for Aldmeri Dominion-Dragonknight-Jerric and Daggerfall Covenant-Sorcerer-Jerric. I probably won’t branch out until someone else starts in those areas.)

Oh, what you said about the voices made me laugh, lol. Jerric sounding like a girl -

My friend is a male whose character is a female; he just talks as himself about his character just like we are doing on here; like telling her story not in first person, like a friend of hers telling me about her.

(So it all works out).

Yeah, the accent is about right but not the voice!!

I’m struggling to think in third person with this game. It’s still ‘my’ potions and ‘I’ went here and there. I’m sure I’ll adjust.

Yes, it is so exciting for me to hear someone else talking about playing it, who is in the same places I am, etc








I do that too when I'm talking to him about Misa, I ask how to look in my inventory, etc. It is fine, they know what you mean.

I wonder if there is a way to block them from showing all the time? I think "settings" might have a way to adjust that, but really don't know. Yeah, if the Player name is weird like my son's is then it would really be awkward to remember who is who.
But like if I saw "SubRosa," or "Grits," or "Acadian," I would be like, "WOO HOO!" So, I guess it works both ways depending on if it is a name you would recognize, I think on my son's they used his Steam ID name or something, it is really weird.

I’m going to check very thoroughly the next time I’m on. I have to go into that menu area anyway to turn off the audio from other players every time I log on. There were a lot of options.

That brings up a question. Is ESO a Steam-Only game? At least for PC users? Do you log on to Steam and play on their servers? Or are ESO's servers separate from Steam?

Edit: I just did a little reading about their MegaServer system. That makes me guess that Steam/Valve is not actually hosting the game. It does seem weird to me though, since Steam is all about online DRM. How does that play with ESO's own network? I did a little reading of a forum post that really made my head spin about how you buy the game from one, get your cd-key from the other, install the game from one, uninstall from the other, etc...

I also wonder what kind of server architecture they are using for their Megaservers. The article I linked to implies multiple physical servers per Megaserver. So that makes me think VMWare, or maybe a Cisco UCS? Or perhaps they really do have one physical box. I imagine an IBM P795 would fit the bill for a single Megaserver. We have a few of those at work, and they are beasts. But I prefer VMWare and the UCS for their flexibility.

The IBM route would explain why an entire megaserver might be down for hours at a time. I saw a mention of one being down for 13 hours at some point. That sounds like a P795. While it can have hundreds of Logical Partitions (basically virtual servers inside), to do hardware maintenance, you have to shut down the entire box, and all those Lpars with it at once. What I love about VMWare is that it is modular. You can move all the VM Clients off a physical host in real time, take that host out of the farm, do your maintenance, put it back in, and move the clients back, and it is all completely seamless to the end user. There is zero outage. Anyway, I am blabbing geek talk, nevermind.

IBM don't make anything using the Intel processors (or compatibles like AMD) any more. The P series and Z series each use different CPU's - which might even be the same ones, since the z boxes are soft machines like all the S/360, S/370 and S/390's before them, loading a microcode that acts as virtual hardware. They've migrated from discrete transistors up to the current chips without changing the "hardware" op-codes (except that keep adding more).

Id expect this all to be on Intel/AMD x64 processors, and using Linux to keep license fees down. They'd still have to take a whole rack of them down at once for some changes. The reason I'd expect Intel compatible is the ability to just reuse things from the PC/Xbox code lines, as well as assets made there.

Ok so first impressions.

It's a pretty solid MMO, and they've managed to balance that with the single player ES experience that everyone wants. That said, if you haven't played many MMO's then it might be a lot to get used to.

Visually, it looks great. The characters are really nice, especially the Argonians - we they look beautiful. The only locations I've seen so far are Morrowind and a little Skyrim-type island and it's all good, looks exactly how it should.

The combat and loot systems seem good, though I only play solo so i'm not sure how that might change in a party situation if you're all trying to work together. Haa-Rei's using a bow and summoning magic - the latter has saved his life countless times already.

The crafting system is good. Haa-Rei's focusing on woodwork and clothing so he can make bows and medium armour for himself, but there's also blacksmithing, provisioning (food), alchemy and enchanting. Pretty easy and simple to get the hang of.

There's a pretty cool 'style' system for weapons and armour which means that anything you make or equip looks different depending on what race you are. When you craft things you have to use a style ingredient which changes the race style of the outfit - at first you can only create in the style of your race, but later on I'm told you can learn to craft other race styles too. (of course you can use real-world currency to speed this process up)

As with all Elder Scrolls games, the lore and story all seems really tight and helps to bring the world alive. All the NPC's wander around and do their own thing, and the voice acting is superb (had a little fanboy moment when I spoke to a character voiced by John Cleese).

Poked my head into the PvP bit but didn't take part in any battles. Got obliterated by a higher level wispmother on my way to the Imperial City. It sounds interesting though so I'll level up and go back some time to check it out.

The only complaints are that I can't turn Xbox voice chat off (so I have to manually exit the area chat every time I fast travel and someone starts jabbering away on their mic) and that player gamertags are displayed rather than character names. Only little nits, but there we go.

As I mentioned, there is an in-game store where you can exchange real-world money for in game items. However these are pretty much all aesthetic things such as outifts and mounts and there isn't much of a selection. It doesn't feel like I'm missing out by not purchasing these things.

overall - I'm really enjoying it. Really Really enjoying it. Really really real- yeah you get the idea.

Thanks, hazmick. I've so enjoyed hearing mALX's impressions but it is great to hear yet another opinion. Glad you're enjoying it!

Wow, Hazmick! You went into Cyrodiil? You must be level 10 already! Holy Cow! There are at least 15 SkyShards in Cyrodiil that I was hoping to get one day, lol.

Yep but even though you're allowed into Cyrodiil at level 10 the wildlife is level 12. It made for a very short and painful trip.

Lol, I have heard it was a place to go if you wanted to die, lol. But 15 SkyShards !!!!

Oh - I don't know how it works on the console, but on the PC every Monday is update day for ESO. The updates take time to download depending on your internet provider service; so it is best to get on your ESO account early and just start the download (unfortunately it will not start without you activating it).

Activate it, then go off and do something else for about 15-30 minutes depending on how slow or fast your internet is. Then you can play. It will not let you play till the update is downloaded, but as soon as it is finished it is ready to play - nothing more needs to be done.

Buying a PS4 next month! Ill see you guys in Tamriel!

Yay! I thought of you yesterday. Jerric teamed up with a werewolf.

WOO HOOO !!!!!! I can't wait !!!!!

I forgot to mention how much I like the PS4’s UI. The hot bar is actually a good idea, and it can be completely hidden if you like. Attribute bars can also be hidden. Talking to someone zooms in like Oblivion, but the world keeps going on in the background like Skyrim. Combat tells and the like can be disabled. I only wish the compass was positioned across the bottom instead of the top.

The thing I like the most is the two radial menus. One for hotkeyed items and one for emotes. Since console users don’t (at this time) have a chat window, using an animation means going into the menu. Instead you can assign eight to your radial menu and use them very naturally.

That sounds really convenient! On the PC, you can move stuff around on the screen in the "Settings" menu - can't remember how, but Peregrine walked me through moving my map to the upper right instead of lower left. I came back to play and my son had moved it to the upper left, urk. Since it is his game, I have to leave it there, lol.

Awesome. We can go on adventures together. Is Jerric Daggerfall Covenant?