I'm an ESO beta tester; ask me anything

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ShenziSixaxis

Article Writer
Thought this might be fun to do now that the NDA has been lifted. c:

Feel free to ask me anything about the game. The only thing that is off limits right now is the main theme that was changed with the last beta and the screenshots I have as I am still not 100% sure that I can share them.
 

M'aiqaelF

Male, 32 years old, Denver area, CO
Do you have the same great variety of weapons and armors as in Skyrim?
 

Seanu Reaves

The Shogun of Gaming
I wonder if all the BETA testers should be put on this thread so there is almost always someone here to answer.

Do you have the same great variety of weapons and armors as in Skyrim?
And in my experience it was less than Morrison's but more than Skyrim and Oblivion. I didn't see many but there seems to be quite a bit in terms of gear.
 

AS88

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Yeah I've seen from videos that there's quite a lot of variety, moreso than Skyrim. There's also regional styles of the same item, so there's a lot of scope for aesthetics
 

ShenziSixaxis

Article Writer
Do you have the same great variety of weapons and armors as in Skyrim?

It appears so, but I haven't been able to explore a whole lot in the way of armor and weapons. But, you have a little more "parts" of armor with ESO. Armors and weapons are also leveled in a way; as a rough example (that may not be 100% accurate), a rough iron sword of level 3 will do 10 damage, but it will look and operate basically the same way as a level 5 iron sword does, but the level 5 sword will do a few more points of damage. Same goes with armor.

Explain how one can make some serious coin using crafting , preferably with early game options.

I`d like to buy a horse without getting killed a hundred times.

Thanks.
In the last two beta sessions I've only been able to make roughly 3,000 gold; it's a bit tedious. I've noticed that you can gather quite a lot of ingredients for making food (Provisioning), though you have to find a recipe and consume the "item" to learn the recipe, but foods you can make are worth a little bit and they also have good traits.
IIRC, usable raw crafting ingredients were worth more than unusable ingredients (e.g. iron ore vs iron ingots), so even if you cannot make something, you can sell your materials. Raw materials are actually rather common, be it wood, iron ore, or rawhide, so when you get ESO, just look around for things that seem to stick out a little; it's pretty easy to start recognizing thing that you can interact with / gather. There are even some items that exist solely to be sold to merchants.
Questing is also going to be a source of gold, as you level a bit when you complete a quest, get gold reward, and sometimes also an item that you could sell, and if there is an item reward, the game will not let you complete the quest unless you have an available item slot for it.
ESO's crafting is also far, far more complex than Skyrim's. And by that, I mean it took me all last beta session almost just to figure out how to make iron ingots. It's brutal.
Also, the Common Horse costs 17,200 gold. Yeah. Seriously. And the other three types? 42,700 gold. You might just want to walk instead.
I wonder if all the BETA testers should be put on this thread so there is almost always someone here to answer.


Probably.
 

Adam Warlock

Well-Known Member
"Also, the Common Horse costs 17,200 gold. Yeah. Seriously. And the other three types? 42,700 gold. You might just want to walk instead."


Hmmm ... The Imperial Edition of the game is suddenly looking much more attractive.
 

ZeroDragon

Bring me my broadsword, and clear understanding.
Thought this might be fun to do now that the NDA has been lifted. c:

Feel free to ask me anything about the game. The only thing that is off limits right now is the main theme that was changed with the last beta and the screenshots I have as I am still not 100% sure that I can share them.

I'm sure I read that the whole of the NDA has been lifted.
 

Adam Warlock

Well-Known Member
Hypothesis:

Imperial Dragonknight who worships Meridia , Lady of Infinite Energies.
Believes she will grant immortality to the one who thwarts Molag Bal`s plans.

Heavy Armor/Sword and Board with abilities like Fiery Breath , Inhale , perhaps a couple from the Earthen Heart list.(recommendations?)
(side question)Does the chain of Fiery Reach prevent use of a shield?

Fighters Guild definitely.
Just what does that Dawnbreaker ultimate ability do ?


If I`m not really concerned about the politics of the PvP, where would be the best AREA for such a character to start out ?
 

ZeroDragon

Bring me my broadsword, and clear understanding.
ESOScreenshot3.jpg


I just took a few screencaps - wish I'd done more.
 

ShenziSixaxis

Article Writer
Ooh, nice. I have about 70 screens from ESO, though I'm still not sure if I can share them.

Also, ESO mudcrab's are evil. :p

Hypothesis:

Imperial Dragonknight who worships Meridia , Lady of Infinite Energies.
Believes she will grant immortality to the one who thwarts Molag Bal`s plans.

Heavy Armor/Sword and Board with abilities like Fiery Breath , Inhale , perhaps a couple from the Earthen Heart list.(recommendations?)
(side question)Does the chain of Fiery Reach prevent use of a shield?

Fighters Guild definitely.
Just what does that Dawnbreaker ultimate ability do ?


If I`m not really concerned about the politics of the PvP, where would be the best AREA for such a character to start out ?

I have no idea, unfortunately. I didn't find much effectiveness in combat beyond button mashing so I didn't do much other than keep my summon-able summoned and spam power attacks. If anything, using magic/powers in an attempt to better my combat just made things worse due to moving my hands around. I also didn't see anyone using certain spells like the Fiery Reach and getting anything done with it other than looking cool. I would, however, expect it to be useful in group dungeons.

On the shield thing-- Fiery Reach is a power/spell, so I don't believe it'll effect use of a shield. If it did, then I would expect it to interfere with use of a staff or weapon in that hand as well, which would be problematic, eh?

As for the starting area... I'm not sure it really matters beyond where you want to explore and what alliance you want to be part of for whatever reason(s) and perhaps getting together with some friends. The two starting areas I've messed around in were Khenarthi's Roost(Aldmeri Dominion) and Bleakrock Isle (Ebonheart Pact), and personally I found Bleakrock Isle far more interesting, though the "I'm trying to be Skyrim and failing at it" feeling I got from it was a bit disappointing, as well as the assets and art that looked like they were ripped out of Skyrim. There was also an extremely disappointing quest there with a dragon priest. Khenarthi's Roost was all original, but the land was a bit flat and lifeless unless you were at a location. Both locations had annoying political things going on within them (you even get off Bleakrock Isle due to fleeing from some group attacking the island), so it's gonna depend on what I mentioned earlier. So it's gonna depend on what you want done.

As for the Fighter's Guild, I did join it with the Ebonheart Pact character, and the NPCs mentioned that the guild would go out and deal with oblivion anchors; that may be interesting. As for the Dawnbreaker ultimate ability, I have no idea. It's probably gained quite a ways down the line of the Fighter's Guild and I hadn't even heard of it before this.




EDIT:

You guys might like to read this:
http://tamrielfoundry.com/2014/02/eso-isariis-comprehensive-review/

However, word of warning: I haven't read the whole thing, and that's because the author talks about ESO in a way that makes me wonder if he was paid to do so. That's how his wording and praise of ESO strikes me as; it likely isn't the case, but that's how exaggerated he seems to be talking.
 

ZeroDragon

Bring me my broadsword, and clear understanding.
Ooh, nice. I have about 70 screens from ESO, though I'm still not sure if I can share them.

Also, ESO mudcrab's are evil. :p
Ooh, nice. I have about 70 screens from ESO, though I'm still not sure if I can share them.

Also, ESO mudcrab's are evil. :p


From the ESO website on 15th February

From this point on, you're invited to share your experiences in the ESO beta with others!
Testers have been chomping at the bit to post their impressions of The Elder Scrolls Online publicly, and we're ready to set you loose on the world. Starting today, the Non-Disclosure Agreement has been lifted, so you'll be able to share your thoughts!
There isn't a beta event taking place now, but we'll hold another soon--watch for invites. You'll be free to capture and share footage and screenshots, stream your gameplay, and talk about the game wherever you'd like during that test (and in future tests).

There are many little evils in ESO, there are also a fair few big evils too :p
 

ZeroDragon

Bring me my broadsword, and clear understanding.
Guess who missed a /quote in that last post
 

Adam Warlock

Well-Known Member
As it turns out , the Dawnbreaker ability is a coneshaped 10meter spell that does 80 magic damage +60% more vs undead and daedra.
Perfect for a champion of Meridia
 

ShenziSixaxis

Article Writer
Guess who missed a /quote in that last post

Problem is, that doesn't say if we can share material we gathered from previous betas, because technically you weren't allowed to take screenshots or video in the first place and it is incredibly likely that they are welcoming the sharing of that material (as well as streaming) for the next beta(s).
 

ZeroDragon

Bring me my broadsword, and clear understanding.
Guess who missed a /quote in that last post

Problem is, that doesn't say if we can share material we gathered from previous betas, because technically you weren't allowed to take screenshots or video in the first place and it is incredibly likely that they are welcoming the sharing of that material (as well as streaming) for the next beta(s).

I see what you mean. I dare say there were some screenshots they wouldn't want sharing. If they instruct me to take the one down I will - or if anyone else thinks it should be removed.
 

Caideus

Member
"Also, the Common Horse costs 17,200 gold. Yeah. Seriously. And the other three types? 42,700 gold. You might just want to walk instead."


Hmmm ... The Imperial Edition of the game is suddenly looking much more attractive.

I hate how this game has already started off as a credit dump… Starwars: The Old Republic started out this way as well and it was later on fixed, it also could be the fact that this was Beta and because of that, they wanted to restrict the mounts? That's just loud thinking of course so no actual fact to support, but I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be case. But I really hope it is.
 

ShenziSixaxis

Article Writer
Beta weekends go on from around mid afternoon Friday to generally Sunday 11:59pm (Eastern USA time). One weekend it opened on Friday at 6pm, one weekend it opened on Friday earlier than the scheduled 9am.

As for how long it took be to get 3k gold... I'm not entirely sure; around 6-8 hours, I think it was?

it also could be the fact that this was Beta and because of that, they wanted to restrict the mounts?

Literally ass-backwards. The whole point of a beta is to test everything. Restricting things like that that are already in the game is 100% ass-backwards.
 

SaveVsBedWet

Well-Known Member
I got an invite, so I'll be joining in in the next beta process starting on Friday, but it would be great to get a little early understanding of what I'll be seeing when I get into the game.

I've been a staple in Tamriel since the original Arena, having put a minimum of two years into each game in the series except Redguard and of course Skyrim though I have played since launch day with a single character per game. Although I am pretty lethal and very competent at thriving in the single player environments and PvE settings, I am with the exception of Unreal Tournament not to this day very accomplished in PvP.

I know the non-combat portions of the game will come naturally for me, but if applicable, how would you categorize the translation of your single player combat experience to fighting in ESO? Did it require a complete purging of your single player habits and techniques, or was being accomplished in PvE single player an advantage when taking on ESO's mechanics? How much of the single player combat method exists in ESO, or is ESO combat success based more on skills obtained in another MMO such as Battlefield or Call of Duty?

Sorry about the length - just want to see where my entry point might be. Nothing worse than walking in from 18 years of never truly knowing what the underdog in a fight is like and becoming chum a foot from the welcome mat.
 

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