[Megathread] Elder Scrolls Online

[mercutiouk]

I have to ask how much loot people are getting?
I spent a little time over the weekend playing for the first time, and got to lvl 4. By then I was still using my prison rags and bow from the first room of Colharbour.
No armour, weapon, or recipes dropped. No gear from quest rewards (AD faction, first isle). Mobs only seemed to drop crafting items like hides (or junk).
Didn't make it to a town to try crafting, maybe I missed a quest that pointed me that way?

Should I be looking to craft more gear for myself, or was it just my usual bad luck?

One point I feel should be made - when questing, think like skyrim. If you see something that looks interesting, screw the quest, go check it out. Also chests are tucked away EVERYWHERE. I took a run around the AD newbie island (kenariths roost - spelling but something like that ) on Sunday to get a couple of skyshards I'd missed and see if i'd missed any quests. I had loot chests literally mugging me every 5 minutes to stick a piece of green loot in my inventory
You HAVE to keep your eyes open and remember the ES games ALWAYS rewarded exploration.

- - - Updated - - -

Personally I found better loot from extraction all around by the time I was about 10.

Sure, the iron/maple/jute nodes were littered about and I found a few good places to farm rawhide (in AD and DC regions) but it seemed easier to amass materials simply through the extraction and destruction of other loot items.

I was breaking down any metal based loot I could for mats but there's LOTS of iron ore nodes around too. Just a case of getting a feel for where they like to hide. The materials are common enough that you should probably be making a new set every couple of levels till about lvl 20 where the loot drops start to feel more solid. Get to town ASAP and get 1 trait researched for each item (so 1 dagger, 1 1h sword, 1 1h mace, 1 glove, chest, head, etc) and maybe start trading gems for the traits you like. ALWAYS chest dressers/drawers/cupboards/crates/barrels for stuff.

You can add more materials to each item up to that materials limit (e.g "Iron" takes you from level 1 to level 14 then you'd need to craft in steel to make a better base item). Was never short. I ended up selling about 5 full stacks of iron ingots for cash.

And tabbycat - yeah, what I was meaning was ANY coloured (green,blue,purple,yellow) metal based item will give blacksmith based boosts right? Does the chance get better as the level improves or is it the same base chance (e.g any "green" sword has a 5% chance to give the green booster item?). If so, I think there's going to be a lot to be said for running back to newbie island to farm bosses/etc that have a drop chance.

[Deleted]

In terms of armor, I found both quest loot and gathering (ore) to highly favor Heavy Armor and melee weapons, which was only fine for starter level questing when armor types didn't matter. Light Armor from questing was rare and Staffs from questing were almost non-existent.

It got so silly that by level 12, I had a full set of [Light Guard XXX] Heavy Armor pieces, something like 400 Iron Ore, and approx. 20-30 two-hander and one-hander melee green weapons. By contrast, I had at most 3 green pieces of Light Armor from questing and seen about 8 green Staffs total, many of which were consistently lower damage for the level that I needed them (and lower damage than the melee weapons).

So, in the end, I ended up putting a Keen Eye point into plants (which are a bitch to spot, imo) for the Clothing profession and making my own armor, as well as collecting all wood I saw for Woodcrafting to make my own Staffs. Turns out I didn't really need Woodworking so much since more appropriate Staffs started to appear as quest rewards as well as drop from dungeons (public and private). But Clothing remained useful and it may even be best to craft a set of Light Armor every 4 levels right from the beginning, instead of having most of your slots empty or other armor types or lowly whites.

The above may as also be faction dependent. This character was in DC.

[DSRilk]

I have to ask how much loot people are getting?
I spent a little time over the weekend playing for the first time, and got to lvl 4. By then I was still using my prison rags and bow from the first room of Colharbour.
No armour, weapon, or recipes dropped. No gear from quest rewards (AD faction, first isle). Mobs only seemed to drop crafting items like hides (or junk).
Didn't make it to a town to try crafting, maybe I missed a quest that pointed me that way?

Should I be looking to craft more gear for myself, or was it just my usual bad luck?

Chests have guaranteed gear dropping, and they're all over the place if you explore and don't stick to the well traveled areas. Also, crafting is king, and it's very easy to make a basic set of gear to fill in the blanks. I was always flush with loot though; my bags were always overflowing and I had too much stuff to break down into mats - I just couldn't save it all for research. I suspect though, that chests are the key you're missing - especially if you don't care for crafting, though I personally found that a really fun part of the game.

[Deleted]

A question to those in the closed 'pts' beta.

Is there a way to dye your gear?

And as it didn't get answered last time : is there a way to make jewelry?

[DSRilk]

In terms of armor, I found both quest loot and gathering (ore) to highly favor Heavy Armor and melee weapons. Light Armor from questing was rare and Staffs from questing were almost non-existent.

I think that's just RNG. I had one character that had a bag full of little more than bows, and one guy who had tons of cloth he didn't need. I think it's more a matter of how much it stands out when you don't get what you're looking for. On the plus side, mats are so easy to find in the world, that crafting is a simple way to fill the gaps when you just can't find them.

Ore really stands out in the world, but the maple logs and flowers weren't too bad. What killed me was finding the stupid jute. That said, I found it interesting how many things I was missing after putting points into resource spotting. I probably still won't do that live - at least at low levels - because I was always flush with mats anyway and points were tight. However, I can see putting points into them as soon as I feel I have some I can spare from combat - or if higher level mats are less common.

- - - Updated - - -

A question to those in the closed 'pts' beta.

Is there a way to dye your gear?

And as it didn't get answered last time : is there a way to make jewelry?

No to dye. You can enchant jewelry, but I didn't see a way to make any.

[Deleted]

I think that's just RNG. I had one character that had a bag full of little more than bows, and one guy who had tons of cloth he didn't need. I think it's more a matter of how much it stands out when you don't get what you're looking for. On the plus side, mats are so easy to find in the world, that crafting is a simple way to fill the gaps when you just can't find them.

So, quest loot is RNG in ESO? What about all that named loot like from epic quest chains when you complete the entire zone and get an armor from the most important NPC (the King), specifically named after the zone etc., or a Restoration Staff reward from an obvious healer NPC?

[Deleted]

@dsrilk let's hope they add that in a content patch after launch then. I don't like transmogrification that much but I do like to dye my gear in colours I prefer. Really liked the gw2 system on that.

[Fierae]

I have nothing major to add to this thread, other than I think they've done a good job on engine optimisation - I can get ~90fps average with dual Titans at 5760*1080 max settings, whereas in WoW I get maybe 50fps on max settings plus ini tweaks.

[DSRilk]

So, quest loot is RNG in ESO? What about all that named loot like from epic quest chains when you complete the entire zone and get an armor from the most important NPC (the King), specifically named after the zone etc., or a Restoration Staff reward from an obvious healer NPC?

No, I wasn't referring to quest loot. That made up so little of the stuff in my bags I honestly didn't consider it separately from everything else.

[Deleted]

Impressive new build planner: http://esocalc.com

[wombinator04]

I will be shocked if ESO's engine continues to run like it has.

Why? Because almost every MMO ever made has horrendous optimization. Rift, GW2, WoW, Planetside 2, LOTRO, Firefall, SWTOR, FFXIV, Neverwinter. The list can go on and on.

I think ESO's engine runs better than all of the one's I listed above, and IT'S IN BETA.

[Deleted]

I will be shocked if ESO's engine continues to run like it has.

Why? Because almost every MMO ever made has horrendous optimization. Rift, GW2, WoW, Planetside 2, LOTRO, Firefall, SWTOR, FFXIV, Neverwinter. The list can go on and on.

I think ESO's engine runs better than all of the one's I listed above, and IT'S IN BETA.

This I can agree with. I have no idea how they have managed it. As a harsh critic, even if all else fails, the performance of ESO is incredible given its paramaters. It is a technical achievement which I hope all future game companies learn from.

[corebit]

I will be shocked if ESO's engine continues to run like it has.

Why? Because almost every MMO ever made has horrendous optimization. Rift, GW2, WoW, Planetside 2, LOTRO, Firefall, SWTOR, FFXIV, Neverwinter. The list can go on and on.

I think ESO's engine runs better than all of the one's I listed above, and IT'S IN BETA.

I think most people agree with this, especially after experiencing the massive PVP and barely getting any lag, that the game engine is nothing short of amazing.

[Kujako]

I will be shocked if ESO's engine continues to run like it has.

Why? Because almost every MMO ever made has horrendous optimization. Rift, GW2, WoW, Planetside 2, LOTRO, Firefall, SWTOR, FFXIV, Neverwinter. The list can go on and on.

I think ESO's engine runs better than all of the one's I listed above, and IT'S IN BETA.

Well... they seem to trust the client a lot more then others. So lag effects combat only in that things don't fall down right away when killed because the client software determines if it's alive or not. It's an interesting take on the process, but I fear it makes PvP "not good". Which I'm OK with, but others are going to have complaints.

[Deleted]

another build calc http://esocalc.com/

[Deleted]

Impressive new build planner: http://esocalc.com

another build calc http://esocalc.com/

This one was actually posted here in this thread, about a month ago (its german btw, didnt you link it? ). Its older than Esohead and way better tbh, dunno why Zam didn't use it in their site.

[Balazzar]

Played Sorcerer this time to level 9, and DragonKnight to level 6. I am aware that DragonKnight is the viable tanking class now but it just... sucked. I assume tanking is just a diff beast here. Mostly you morph an ability to get a taunt or something.

Sorcerer was fun but thus far my "life drain" spec Nightblade was the most fun.

I have heard archery is OP too, but I have never tried it. Is archery credited by my fellow travelers on MMOC?

[Aoewy]

Played Sorcerer this time to level 9, and DragonKnight to level 6. I am aware that DragonKnight is the viable tanking class now but it just... sucked. I assume tanking is just a diff beast here. Mostly you morph an ability to get a taunt or something.

Sorcerer was fun but thus far my "life drain" spec Nightblade was the most fun.

I have heard archery is OP too, but I have never tried it. Is archery credited by my fellow travelers on MMOC?

You taunt with One hand and Shield ability or the Undaunted one, not the class skills.

[Balazzar]

You taunt with One hand and Shield ability or the Undaunted one, not the class skills.

Okay I was doing "draconic power" to tank, which one is best for tanking? Or I am thinking of this too much like WoW and should be doing hybrid of all trees?

I love tanking in MMOs but I am weary to do it when I don't "get it" or how it works. I dislike wiping groups cause I fail lol.

- - - Updated - - -

I have to ask how much loot people are getting?
I spent a little time over the weekend playing for the first time, and got to lvl 4. By then I was still using my prison rags and bow from the first room of Colharbour.
No armour, weapon, or recipes dropped. No gear from quest rewards (AD faction, first isle). Mobs only seemed to drop crafting items like hides (or junk).
Didn't make it to a town to try crafting, maybe I missed a quest that pointed me that way?

Should I be looking to craft more gear for myself, or was it just my usual bad luck?

I notice that I get a lot of random white loot, greens are more uncommon even on my level 11. This probably gets better as you level up.

My understanding is this game is built around collecting tons of looting and using the crafting tables to "extract" the ingredients so you can make items that are good for you. Also "grinding" the crafting professions seems very far fetched, at least with the beta traffic. No sitting at the table making iron bolts or w/e for 15 craft levels like in other MMOs. Wish I had more patience to goof with that more in beta.

[Sharuko]

Anyone notice the guy has 631 EXTRA skill points? Given he didnt use them all but... 631 skill points at veteran 10.

I believe he got that because of a bug on the PTS. You can get 200 something skill points not 600.