[Megathread] The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited

[Katchii]

When I stopped playing a few years back, ESO+ was a double-edged sword if you liked doing dungeons but you were an average player (like myself, just to be clear). The latter expansions' dungeons on normal where harder than the vanilla heroics and because you were paying ESO+ they were all in the group finder. At some stage for me, and I imagine for others too, it was simply a case of I either stopped doing random dungeons or just drop ESO+ and that was quite an idiotic position for any company to put their customers in. I appreciate that's a discussion with many tangents, but I just wanted to highlight this aspect in relation to ESO+.

If this is not the case anymore, then just ignore all the above

No, it's there, but it's only an issue because ESO+ gives you access to all DLC dungeon content so when you're subbed those DLC dungeons are "unlocked" for you in the dungeon finder. I've never found them to be particularly difficult. Yes, more difficult than the vanilla dungeons, but not hard. There's just more mechanics which a more deadly, which means you actually have to learn and do them. I don't see that as a problem, as none of them are complex, it just means you can't tunnel vision the boss and expect to survive.

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I hope we get a proper auction house that regular players can access. I strongly dislike the current reliance on guild based sales.

This is my one huge complaint about ESO. There is no common Auction House that everyone has access to for both buying and selling. Having to check multiple Traders to see if they have the item you're looking for and also to find the best price, but then being unable to sell an item unless you are part of a guild that HAS a trader....and then having the sales of your items be so incredibly dependent on where that trader happens to be....On top of most reputable, well known, well to-do trading giulds requiring fees and whatnot to stay a part of.

It's just so needlessly complicated and unhelpful. As a SUPER casual player who's not in a trading guild, my funds are incredibly mediocre (CP ~330 at maybe 200k right now?) considering I can't sell items except to a vendor. I've vendored so many green, blue and even purple set items simply because I won't use them and need the inventory space. It's super frustrating.

[Graeham]

I wondered if companions were good. Being able to do world bosses solo would be nice.

The rest of the game is just so mind-numbingly trivial that I honestly have trouble paying attention to the story or anything. I like a lot of the changes they made to abilities and stuff, but the animation cancelling and weapon system remains terrible.

I only really struggle with world bosses that come in groups. For world bosses that are solo and even some of the duo battles, so long as I don't drop AoE's on my companion he usually doesn't die.

You're right that the overworld is generally trivial, though. I always laugh when I'm told a character is really dangerous and they die in seconds to my attacks. The scaling is pretty laughable but I guess it's mostly a game intended to cater to solo players first and foremost. I just wish there was more of compromise with difficulty - I haven't been able to do any challenging content because people demand experience, though there isn't much I can do about that since nothing really prepares you to take the step from regular content to tougher content.

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This is my one huge complaint about ESO. There is no common Auction House that everyone has access to for both buying and selling. Having to check multiple Traders to see if they have the item you're looking for and also to find the best price, but then being unable to sell an item unless you are part of a guild that HAS a trader....and then having the sales of your items be so incredibly dependent on where that trader happens to be....On top of most reputable, well known, well to-do trading giulds requiring fees and whatnot to stay a part of.

It's just so needlessly complicated and unhelpful. As a SUPER casual player who's not in a trading guild, my funds are incredibly mediocre (CP ~330 at maybe 200k right now?) considering I can't sell items except to a vendor. I've vendored so many green, blue and even purple set items simply because I won't use them and need the inventory space. It's super frustrating.

Yeah, more than once I ended up paying more than I needed to for an item I wanted because I figured the price was set accordingly. I'm at around the same amount of gold, too - mostly because everything I earn comes from quests/looting stuff as I don't have the patience to micromanage listings when other games compete for my time.

The cynic in me suspects it's deliberately annoying to encourage people to buy crowns, though.

[Tyris Flare]

I only really struggle with world bosses that come in groups. For world bosses that are solo and even some of the duo battles, so long as I don't drop AoE's on my companion he usually doesn't die.

You're right that the overworld is generally trivial, though. I always laugh when I'm told a character is really dangerous and they die in seconds to my attacks. The scaling is pretty laughable but I guess it's mostly a game intended to cater to solo players first and foremost. I just wish there was more of compromise with difficulty - I haven't been able to do any challenging content because people demand experience, though there isn't much I can do about that since nothing really prepares you to take the step from regular content to tougher content..

Last time I played I was going through Morrowind on my Dragon Knight, and there was some named NPC who died in a single flame breath + burning talons + other dot thing. Realized after an hour or two that I wasn't really even paying attention to anything anymore. Not sure what would fix it for me but I guess I need some carrot to chase. I've been using essentially the same crafted gear on my characters since like 2016 and it still lets me annihilated everything I come across


SWTOR had this problem for a little while where story mobs would die in 4 seconds (to be clear, the problem still exists but it is a little better after Onslaught scaling changes)

[Katchii]

The cynic in me suspects it's deliberately annoying to encourage people to buy crowns, though.

Nope, it was like this before crowns were a thing. Back when the game launched in 2014 it was subscription only, with no crown store and the traders were like that then too.

[Fkiolaris]

No, it's there, but it's only an issue because ESO+ gives you access to all DLC dungeon content so when you're subbed those DLC dungeons are "unlocked" for you in the dungeon finder. I've never found them to be particularly difficult. Yes, more difficult than the vanilla dungeons, but not hard. There's just more mechanics which a more deadly, which means you actually have to learn and do them. I don't see that as a problem, as none of them are complex, it just means you can't tunnel vision the boss and expect to survive.

The bold part is what I said, thanks for verifying it. As for the rest of the post, you think it's not much of an issue and plenty of people will agree with you, where I think it is very much of an issue and plenty of others will agree with me. This has been argued about a million times on the official forums even back in the day, so there's no point to do the same here again. I am not entirely sure what the "right" solution would be or that ZM is even looking to change anything, so it is what it is.

[Katchii]

The bold part is what I said, thanks for verifying it. As for the rest of the post, you think it's not much of an issue and plenty of people will agree with you, where I think it is very much of an issue and plenty of others will agree with me. This has been argued about a million times on the official forums even back in the day, so there's no point to do the same here again. I am not entirely sure what the "right" solution would be or that ZM is even looking to change anything, so it is what it is.

You can select which dungeons you want to queue for rather than use the random dungeon finder. I know you don't get the big xp bonus, which does suck, but you are then able to still queue only for the dungeons you want to do, or are OK with doing. If the pool is large enough it's still "random" but because you didn't just queue for the random daily, you won't get the daily bonus reward.

Not wanting to debate anything with these questions, because as you said there's multiple angles, just asking for a little more information to maybe offer a solution based on what your reasoning is and what your goal is.

1) What is your main purpose in doing the dungeon finder? Is it the daily reward? Or do you just want to do dungeons?
2) What's your reasoning for not wanting to do the more recent, more difficult dungeons? Or, conversely, why do you only want to do the "easier" dungeons when you queue? (just using your terminology to differentiate, not judging anything).
2b) This is kind of leading to whether you are either unwilling or unable to improve to a point where you are OK with doing the more challenging newer dungeons. Again not judging one way or another, just wondering if you're willing to improve and just haven't found a way to do so of or you don't want to (again either is fine, but if you're willing to improve and want some help there are several guides that can help....if you're interested, no worries if you aren't).

[Witchblade77]

I wondered if companions were good. Being able to do world bosses solo would be nice.

The rest of the game is just so mind-numbingly trivial that I honestly have trouble paying attention to the story or anything. I like a lot of the changes they made to abilities and stuff, but the animation cancelling and weapon system remains terrible.

I'm sorry they are not.

they take a long time to level and purple gear for them is still expensive.

they will help you a bit if you were.. almost able to solo something. and stuff you could already solo - will go slightly easier. but I've only really found them semi useful as healers and you have to do a crapton of damage and/or slot taunt for them not to pull mobs just by existing there (their damage is pitiful) and then start rolling backwards getting those mobs out of your AoE and/or resetting bosses.

they also have random dislikes that lower their rapport and the only reliable way to level it is by doing mage guild dailies for Bastian/fighter guild dailies for Mirri. everything else is either hit or miss (people claim couple of Ashlander dailies level Mirri's rapport but it has never worked for me) or just takes far too long. you cannot properly direct them as controls they use are the same as pet controls and so are minimal. they only level from kills not quest turn ins so after about lvl 8, leveling them slows down to a virtual crawl unless all you do is grind mobs.

I don't hate them as much as I used to back in open BETA, they suck slightly less.... but they still suck IMO.

[Tyrick]

I'm sorry they are not.

they take a long time to level and purple gear for them is still expensive.

they will help you a bit if you were.. almost able to solo something. and stuff you could already solo - will go slightly easier. but I've only really found them semi useful as healers and you have to do a crapton of damage and/or slot taunt for them not to pull mobs just by existing there

I think that's not a problem.
If they'd be so powerful that it would be the same as an other player with good gear, it would be too OP.
It's still an MMO, and I think the Companion system is more like a cosmetic addition.

[Tyris Flare]

I was assuming they would be more like SWTOR companions (like the launch version, not the current version where they are almost as good as you are).

Sounds like they are even weaker than that, though.

[Witchblade77]

I think that's not a problem.
If they'd be so powerful that it would be the same as an other player with good gear, it would be too OP.
It's still an MMO, and I think the Companion system is more like a cosmetic addition.

it is a problem when they become hindrance instead of help. why are they pulling so much threat for the miserly amount of damage they do? why do they insist either randomly rolling out then back in, or just rolling away until they reset the boss you are trying to fight? rolling out of your AoE, etc... and even as a cosmetic addition, you cannot change their outfits inside your house. if you have them wear costumes - you cannot have different set of dyes for yourself and them for that same costume. their dialogue is minimal. their dislike for far too many things you might be doing in game casually - is annoying. especially with how slow building their rapport can get.

and the worst part. they were specifically advertised as help for solo players to do that world boss or a dungeon they couldn't get players to help with. and they suck at that. I hate it that I have to replace a damage skill on my bar with taunt just to stop my god damn companion from moving the boss around because somehow their aggro generation is ridiculous. i hate it that I want their passive but in order to get that i HAVE to have them out when I'm fighting those bosses, because they are not leveling through anything that isn't fraction of kill xp you get.

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I was assuming they would be more like SWTOR companions (like the launch version, not the current version where they are almost as good as you are).

Sounds like they are even weaker than that, though.

they are far FAR worse. launch version of companions was still very useful, they just weren't jacks of all trades and you could still direct their attacks, abilities, etc. moreover, while you used to have to gear swtor companions, they could wear the same gear that player was wearing. ESO companions have their own kind of gear that is NOT upgradable or adjustable, NOT craftable, completely rng based AND only drops when you have a companion out.

they messed up that system in every possible way they could.

even when it comes to outfits... in addition to them not having their own dye channels for costumes - they always always have their helmet off. you cannot give them head pieces. and unlike swtor where you had multiple companion customizations from the start and there are even more of them now, so not every companion had the identical face - in ESO they all look the same. no face editing. less dialogue. much worse performance. blah.

[Tyrick]

it is a problem when they become hindrance instead of help. why are they pulling so much threat for the miserly amount of damage they do? why do they insist either randomly rolling out then back in, or just rolling away until they reset the boss you are trying to fight? rolling out of your AoE, etc... and even as a cosmetic addition, you cannot change their outfits inside your house. if you have them wear costumes - you cannot have different set of dyes for yourself and them for that same costume. their dialogue is minimal. their dislike for far too many things you might be doing in game casually - is annoying. especially with how slow building their rapport can get.

and the worst part. they were specifically advertised as help for solo players to do that world boss or a dungeon they couldn't get players to help with. and they suck at that. I hate it that I have to replace a damage skill on my bar with taunt just to stop my god damn companion from moving the boss around because somehow their aggro generation is ridiculous. i hate it that I want their passive but in order to get that i HAVE to have them out when I'm fighting those bosses, because they are not leveling through anything that isn't fraction of kill xp you get.

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they are far FAR worse. launch version of companions was still very useful, they just weren't jacks of all trades and you could still direct their attacks, abilities, etc. moreover, while you used to have to gear swtor companions, they could wear the same gear that player was wearing. ESO companions have their own kind of gear that is NOT upgradable or adjustable, NOT craftable, completely rng based AND only drops when you have a companion out.

they messed up that system in every possible way they could.

even when it comes to outfits... in addition to them not having their own dye channels for costumes - they always always have their helmet off. you cannot give them head pieces. and unlike swtor where you had multiple companion customizations from the start and there are even more of them now, so not every companion had the identical face - in ESO they all look the same. no face editing. less dialogue. much worse performance. blah.

It's interesting how I'm playing the same game as you but I had literally zero issues with my companion.
Maybe you tried it the day when they got released and they fixed something since then?

[Fkiolaris]

You can select which dungeons you want to queue for rather than use the random dungeon finder. I know you don't get the big xp bonus, which does suck, but you are then able to still queue only for the dungeons you want to do, or are OK with doing. If the pool is large enough it's still "random" but because you didn't just queue for the random daily, you won't get the daily bonus reward.

Not wanting to debate anything with these questions, because as you said there's multiple angles, just asking for a little more information to maybe offer a solution based on what your reasoning is and what your goal is.

1) What is your main purpose in doing the dungeon finder? Is it the daily reward? Or do you just want to do dungeons?
2) What's your reasoning for not wanting to do the more recent, more difficult dungeons? Or, conversely, why do you only want to do the "easier" dungeons when you queue? (just using your terminology to differentiate, not judging anything).
2b) This is kind of leading to whether you are either unwilling or unable to improve to a point where you are OK with doing the more challenging newer dungeons. Again not judging one way or another, just wondering if you're willing to improve and just haven't found a way to do so of or you don't want to (again either is fine, but if you're willing to improve and want some help there are several guides that can help....if you're interested, no worries if you aren't).

To answer this very quickly out of curtesy more than anything, because I really can't be asked with having the same circular discussions from back in the day:

1) The dungeon finder for me is for doing a daily, combat-based, small group PvE activity that offers variety in the set-up (ie what dungeon you get) and an extra reward for doing so. Other than the dungeon finder, I can't think of anything that would fulfil that criteria.
2 and 2b) I am happy to sit down and learn everything there is, to a certain point. How to spec, gear, play my character and the specifics of the dungeons. I have been doing so since the original TBC for every MMO I have played, I did so here in these forums back in the day and I got a lot of great advice that I utilised. The problem with ESO (imo) is that for the supposedly casual version of the dungeons, they have more and more tight, 1-shot mechanics while also requiring the output of an LA-spamming, animation-cancelling toon. I can try to stomach the former, there is zero chance for the latter and I say that after trying to learn how to play like that. All of these, with that abomination of a playstyle (for my taste) as the cherry on top, made me give up on the Dungeon Finder, which was one of the main reasons I eventually gave up on the game in the end.

[Witchblade77]

It's interesting how I'm playing the same game as you but I had literally zero issues with my companion.
Maybe you tried it the day when they got released and they fixed something since then?

I'm still using them. the issues i have described are issues I'm experiencing in game right now. granted, I'm not a dps god, but I still do more damage then companions, they should NOT be pulling threat of me the way that they do without me using a taunt. they are not as squishy as they used to be, but they are still squishy. they still waste time rolling out then rolling back in EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE THEM USING A HEALING STAFF AND HEALING ABILITIES. in all this time of active playing and active leveling, I haven't gotten a single one of them to 20 yet. I do split my time between US and EU, but even so, its taking forever, because i'm not a mob grinder. I tend to quest a fair bit and just generally engage in variety of things. they do not level through pvp. they are only part of dungeons if you solo them or play with a spot left for companion, otherwise, they are desummoned and they don't level. if I need to pull out vendor or banker, they are desummoned and they take time to summon back. in all of this time playing I have seen purple gear 2 times and one of those times was an ice staff.... /sigh. I have to remember to desummon Bastian every time I run across thief's trove in a wild or he gets upset. i have to remember to desummon Mirri every time I'd like to loot torchbugs to the point that I stopped trying to play with her and only play with Bastian now. I'm not max rapport with them yet, but their quests are all done now. there are two. I did a LOT of mage guild and fighter's guild dailies and all I got were two very short quests and no further dialogue. I cannot use heavy attacks unless I want them to target what I target. directing them in general is a gosh darn pain. I have Bastian healing exclusively, because at least that way he doesn't get in a way as much. I tried dps, and its like playing with absolute worst pugs I have ever had misfortune of playing with. I am not willing to spend way to much gold finding tanking gear for either one of them to see if that changes anything, especially since i've seen other people's companions specced into tanking (I'm assuming, they were using sword and board) die like tissue paper without extensive spam healing.

I wonder if you are having zero issues because you haven't had a chance to play any games with companions that actualy work and function properly? hell even in Neverwinter, where half the companions are just passive buff floaties, when playing with active companions i've had far fewer issues.

[Katchii]

To answer this very quickly out of curtesy more than anything, because I really can't be asked with having the same circular discussions from back in the day:

[SNIP]

Thanks for answering, I'm also not interested in having a circular discussion either, was just going to give my 2 cents and see if it provided something you haven't already heard of or tried. It seems you've already explored the options available and have made your decision based on your preferences. Sorry it didn't end up working out for you.

[Tyrick]

I wonder if you are having zero issues because you haven't had a chance to play any games with companions that actualy work and function properly? hell even in Neverwinter, where half the companions are just passive buff floaties, when playing with active companions i've had far fewer issues.

No, I have zero issues because I don't expect them to do any good damage or healing/tanking. I just use Mirri because it's a fun system. If I want to kill a world boss, I just dismiss her and I solo it or wait like 20 seconds for another players.

[Fkiolaris]

Thanks for answering, I'm also not interested in having a circular discussion either, was just going to give my 2 cents and see if it provided something you haven't already heard of or tried. It seems you've already explored the options available and have made your decision based on your preferences. Sorry it didn't end up working out for you.

No worries, I appreciate the sentiment and I am glad you are not finding that situation detrimental to your enjoyment of the game. And just to repeat myself, all I wanted to do was to highlight this aspect of ESO+ and nothing else, whether one likes it or not it's for them to decide.

[Witchblade77]

No, I have zero issues because I don't expect them to do any good damage or healing/tanking. I just use Mirri because it's a fun system. If I want to kill a world boss, I just dismiss her and I solo it or wait like 20 seconds for another players.

so basically, you acknowledge that they are basically useless? ok then. I'm not sure what exactly makes them fun, but to each their own.

as i said, aside from the details, my major issue with them is that they were specifically advertised as "help for solo players when they cannot find a group for something" and companions very much fail at that.

and as i said, when it comes to details, even as a purely cosmetic system, they are a mess. you cannot customize their appearance fully, you cannot customize them at ALL when placing them in a house, their dialogue is minimal and their dislikes are actively disruptive. as is the fact that their gear takes up way too much inventory, especially if you are trying to have different builds for different alts (since builts including gear they are wearing are accountwide - which may seem like a good thing, until you realize that you have to keep multiple sets in multiple inventories IF you want to utilize different builts.)

but yeah, if you look at them as just something that is there that you can choose to mostly ignore...

[Tyrick]

so basically, you acknowledge that they are basically useless? ok then. I'm not sure what exactly makes them fun, but to each their own.

as i said, aside from the details, my major issue with them is that they were specifically advertised as "help for solo players when they cannot find a group for something" and companions very much fail at that.

and as i said, when it comes to details, even as a purely cosmetic system, they are a mess. you cannot customize their appearance fully, you cannot customize them at ALL when placing them in a house, their dialogue is minimal and their dislikes are actively disruptive. as is the fact that their gear takes up way too much inventory, especially if you are trying to have different builds for different alts (since builts including gear they are wearing are accountwide - which may seem like a good thing, until you realize that you have to keep multiple sets in multiple inventories IF you want to utilize different builts.)

but yeah, if you look at them as just something that is there that you can choose to mostly ignore...

I had no problems like you described, they are not aggroing random mobs, not dodging into another pack of mobs and most likely not going to make me die if I want to solo a world boss. Maybe your client is bugged, you should open a ticket or something. I played 6 hours today and killed 3 world bosses, all alone with Mirri, I haven't noticed any problems.

And yes it's definitely "help for solo players when they cannot find a group for something", and not "let your companions solo world bosses for you while you are making coffee"...

[Witchblade77]

I had no problems like you described, they are not aggroing random mobs, not dodging into another pack of mobs and most likely not going to make me die if I want to solo a world boss. Maybe your client is bugged, you should open a ticket or something. I played 6 hours today and killed 3 world bosses, all alone with Mirri, I haven't noticed any problems.

And yes it's definitely "help for solo players when they cannot find a group for something", and not "let your companions solo world bosses for you while you are making coffee"...

first things first, for that last sentense. how do you slippery slope your way from one to the other i will never know.

help as in... if you cannot solo it and need help of another player, NOT solo it for you. you know... be an equivalent of having some help? not complete uselessness.

second. I siad NOTHING of random mobs. I said IN A MOB GROUP THAT YOU PULLED, they aggro mobs and proceed to pull them away. if you are not focusing everything all at once, those mobs WILL go for companions and WILL be pulled out of your AoE. typically, when you are playing with other players, the only way for them to do that is deal significantly more damage then you do. companions do this by just... existing. they also have been know to pull aggro off bosses if you even for a second or too switch to healing them because they are about to die from standing in enemy AoE. and i didn't say they are dodging into another pack of mobs, i said they are rolling AWAY. whether its needed or not. they are rolling and pulling mobs with them OUT OF MY GROUND AOE. this is a thing that happens by design apparently. its not as bad as it used to be. they used to do a lot more rolly pollying until zos limited how often and how far they can roll in one of the patches.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.co...osses-to-reset this was STILL happening end of june and that was just a thread I found after a few seconds of googling, I can find plenty more.

I get it. you don't care enough about the system for it to bother you. it does NOT however make it a GOOD system. cause its not. and they suck.

[Aliven]

So, watned to buy End of Dragons but could not. Website and ingame store has apparently problems with my credit card, ie dont get prompt from bank to accept transaction. So looking generally for new mmo after wow. Since there is ESO and i loved ESO lore how the game holds up now? Last time checked at summerset, i know there are 2 expansions, one in skyrim with vamps and now with daedra.

Basically, sell the game.