The Elder Scrolls Online

A Fresh Start in 2026 ESO Is Best When You Slow Down

I’ve played The Elder Scrolls Online on and off since launch. In 2026 I decided to start over with a fresh account and a fresh mindset, and honestly it reminded me why this game has lasted so long.

This time I’m focusing on one main character instead of bouncing between alts ( I have them for writs and mount training just not playing them for now), and I’m taking my time with the story and quests instead of rushing to endgame. ESO is fantastic when you play it this way. The world is huge, the writing is surprisingly good, and there’s an incredible amount of lore to explore if you’re willing to slow down.

One challenge is that after years of updates and DLC, quest order can be a little confusing. New quests have been added into older zones, so playing the story in chronological order isn’t always obvious.

My only real annoyance has been dungeon queues. Most groups are doing speed runs where they sprint through the dungeon, skipping enemies and only killing the bosses. It’s great if you just want quick loot, but it makes it difficult to actually follow the dungeon quests or enjoy the story if you’re new or trying to experience it properly.

Graphically, ESO is starting to show its age in some areas. That said, the sheer amount of customization, builds, armor styles, housing, companions, crafting, etc. more than makes up for it.

If you treat ESO like a theme park MMO where you rush to the end, you might miss what makes it special. But if you slow down, explore, and enjoy the world, there’s an incredible amount of game here.

Recommendation:
Play one character, take your time, and enjoy the journey.

Many years ago, I gave my dad this Steam account and made a new one for myself. He loved fantasy games, and this one clearly meant a lot to him.
He passed away a few years ago, and I hadn’t logged into this account since. When I finally did, I saw he had 6,317.1 hours in this game. I just sat there staring at it.
What’s even crazier is that he still gave all six of his kids a ton of attention. You never would have guessed he was putting in that kind of time.
That’s a whole lot of time spent in a world he loved.
I didn’t play this game with him, but in a way I got to understand a small part of what made him happy. For that alone, this game means more to me than I ever expected.
Thank you for giving him a world he clearly enjoyed so much.

The Elder Scrolls Online is basically like being in a toxic relationship you can't quit. The servers crash more than my ex after a bottle of vodka, the combat feels like hitting a piñata with a pool noodle, and yet… I keep logging in every damn day. Why? Because nothing says ‘quality MMO’ like grinding the same dungeon 500 times just to get a helmet uglier than my resting ♥♥♥♥♥ face. Honestly, 10/10, would waste my youth here again. Thanks, ESO, you're the best worst decision I've ever made.

I heard a good bit about needing ESO + to really enjoy this game, but I've played the whole time so far without spending anything in-game and I am still having a lot of fun. Especially if you like Elder Scrolls it is worth it being able to travel to various parts of Tamriel within one game.

I won't lie it is undeniably scummy some of the stuff they require eso + for, like having crafting material take up space in your inventory just so you get fed up enough to just buy eso + for the craft bag. Some areas are also locked behind eso + which kinda sucks but it is more understandable I think and you still have tons of stuff to do in the areas you get for free.

With that being said, I have been able to do crafting stuff and manage my inventory spaces with the bank upgrades and bag upgrades just fine. So if you're stubborn and willing to put in a little more effort with the slot upgrades and organization, there should be no problem enjoying the game for hours without spending a dime.

As someone who came into this as an Elder Scrolls fan and having no experience with MMOs, I think this game is very fun.

This is my favorite MMORPG. I played this when it first came out on PS4; later moved to a PC when I got a gaming PC built for myself. I have sunk many hours into this game and beaten all of the main alliances, every chapter, every DLC content that has a story to it.
Elder Scrolls Online has filled so many gaps in my lore knowledge that Oblivion and Skyrim didn't tell me growing up. Playing this game; I've learned the community atleast from the PvE perspective is super friendly and really fun to run dungeons, veteran dungeons, and trials with.
Getting into the game can be a little daunting and overwhelming to the uninitiated; but if you just give it time you can find a home for yourself; my advice for overwhelm; is to not accept every single quest you see; stick to the zone guide and do area by area for your alliance quests; then do Coldharbor and finally then branch off to other content from there.
Now that's my specific way of playing as a dedicated PvEr who had the same love of downloading hundreds of mods on Vortex to make different builds and characters with backstories. I do the same here in ESO now today; and it has so many cosmetics and character options that you can unlock later just for beating specific trials and veteran dungeons.
At the end of the day; this game satisfies the lore, the gameplay, and the community. The holy trinity of a good MMORPG.

Good game, has some elements that are less than ideal but has some other elements that are fun a done well.
In short, you can get many hours out of it just from the base game. The stories can be done as a solo player, or you can find a friend/group. Most interactions are positive. Recommend if you want to dive in or get into crafting/player homes then to get ESO Plus (the subscription, i.e. pay more money for the game you payed money for).
Longer:
The difficulty of zones has slowly gotten harder with time (world bosses for example) forcing the player to either learn the mechanics and get great gear or to find help from other players (depending on zone and time of day this can be harder). Some zones are dead, while others remain active.

Veteran and end game content has gotten more accessible to players since they added the activity finder, but will still typically need to join a guild (which may require you to Join tHeRe DiScOrD).
Crafting mechanic is simple but can be complex, the biggest grip is that crafting has a time gated aspect. To unlock traits you'll need to find the gear in that trait then research it which can max out to 30 days. So for example, for me to finish researching the last trait on a bow i'll have to wait 30 days, then boom I can make bows in any trait. BUT WAIT, theirs more! Then there are style pages/motifs, want to look like a bada** warrior with wings n S**t, gonna need the pages for that buddy and the materials to craft it. Oh whats that, where do you get it? Either by pure luck or running the Trial (12 man group content) on Veteran, but that requires you to have friends (me, crying because no one wants a terrible DD, because everyone is a DD in this game). Ahem. Anyway.
Housing: ESO in my opinion has some of the best housing in the MMO space. Yes, typically it is easier to drop a bunch of IRL money on crowns to buy a home. BUT, you can unlock homes via completing zone stories, in-game events, or with in game currency (gold, that you can get from killing mobs, quest etc.). Not only do some homes have cool features, but you can craft furniture (requires materials found in game and crafting recipes also found in game), you can buy zone exclusive furniture after completing zone stories and achievements. You can randomly get furniture through in game log in rewards, looting, fishing, collecting resources, etc. Then once you've got some furniture you can place it your home a decorate however you want. Like legit. A dude remade the town square from Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask MOON INCLUDED in his player owned home like WHAT?!?
Voice Acting: All the characters related to quest have voice actors, so you can play this whole MMO without reading.
Lore: Want lore. Books, Books everywhere. Quest, so many quest. Oh and the characters have voices, so they can just talk to you about (some) lore.
Achievements: MMO not sweaty enough for you, oh boy don't worry theirs in game account and character achievements. Want to show off that you are a Grand Master Crafter, unlock the achievement buddy. Want to show off that you are a god in PVP, unlock that achievement buddy. Want to show off that you eat trial bosses for breakfast, unlock that achievement buddy. Want to go crazy trying to 100% a zone, guess what, better unlock those achievements - what can't find some random book sitting on some random rock that you have jump halfway down a mountain to find, well that's why you don't have that achievement buddy.
Daily quest: Too many (if you have all the DLC). Each new DLC zone has 2-5 daily quest (kill world boss, clear delv, trial, find random item, please the crows, please the crows, PLEASE THE CROWS FEATHERLESS ONE. - Can be a bit overwhelming so i'd recommend just doing the crafting dailies and whatever zone/area your working in/on. Or you could just grind your daily quest.
Guilds: You can be apart of 5 guilds (unless they updated it and I just don't know, mostly solo player here). Best to join a merchant guild so you can sell random loot you get. But they have merch guilds, PVP guilds, PVE guilds, Roleplaying and ERPG guilds, questing guilds, find all the kitty cats guilds, you get the idea. So there is a community out here if you want to be apart of one!
K. Thanks for reading.

As some one who has over 1000 hours on this MMO on pc and thousand's more on PS4 I'll say that if you're going to pick the game up today, be warned that it is a massive slog. There's well over 10 years worth of DLC and expansions that have came out since it's Pre-beta days. Advice that I could give to new players who are just starting fresh, don't be afraid to ask someone in chat if you're stuck on a boss, struggling with a dungeon, need help with a quest or just general know how information, the community is very friendly. Start small when it come's to playing through the DLC's because some of them are short and some of them span over two regions (like the elswyr dlc) each with respectable achievements that unlock attire and cosmetics for you to put on so you'll want to do them.
You'll see a lot of people complaining in the review section on this game about "needing a membership to get a craft bag" whilst I do agree in some terms that it's a shady tactic, don't let other peoples opinions sway you from playing the game still, you can cap your character inventory at 140 and further more slot's off your mount, you can max your bank out at 480 slot's. So unless you're looting every item you see it'll take a while to fill. If you enjoy the game and want the craft bag then buy the membership, it's 8.99 but I would recommend purchasing 3 month at a time. You don't just get a craft bag with the membership, you gain bonus increase in gold gains, exp gains, free DLC's, free crowns on every reset of your subscription, bonus exp gains to skills lines and a little bit more, for the price of the membership and the costs of the DLC's alone would run you up more than £8.99.
The crafting system is great, you gain levels in each respected crafting skill line based on deconstructing items and you gain exp based on the quality of the item, some items you'll find that are grey will sometimes give you a bonus 200% towards whatever crafting skill line they're in. Some take a little bit longer than other's to do I.E enchanting, jewellery crafting. However each have their own mean's to levelling quicker.
The combat will take sometime to get used to, especially in terms of DPS as it focus's heavily on LA or light attack weaving during your abilities for bonus damage and proccing your enchants on whatever weapons you're using. Healing is straight forward and a lot of the overall buff's come one or two spells and mainly your sets, lastly tanking, tanking is by far the most enjoyable role you can play, takes sometime getting used to or at least until you get certain sets that make it A LOT more easier to do, but tanking in the endgame trials and harder dungeons is really fun, you're not just a stand there and take damage, certain bosses require positioning, tank swapping, using certain abilities before cleaves or one shot mechanics.
PVP is very hit or miss, but unfortunately you'll need to do it to level your skill lines up, some of the skills you gain from PVP can be used inside PVE content, for example barrier, guard, vigor and war horn. Try to level them during events where you gain bonus exp gains to PVP skill lines, it'll make the grind a lot easier, trust me. I normally just run my daily battlegrounds each day, that should bag you enough exp and make it feel like less of a chore.
The housing system is great, you can find recipes that'll allow you to learn to craft certain housing item's, the UI for item placing is very easy to use and quite easy to pick up.
lastly, this is one for people looking to do endgame content, every trial has a normal and veteran version of them. Very similar the dungeons that you unlock, 10-50 unlocks normal dungeons and 10CP to 160CP unlocks you DLC content. When doing normal and every trials certain mechanics are present in normal and certain ones are only present in veteran, ALWAYS do the normal first so you can learn the basic mechanics for each trial. The first trials being VAA,VSO and VHC are very easy to zerg through due to them being outdated, however some of the more modern trials are quite difficult, but with the right group they're not impossible.
Enjoy the game at your own pace, don't let anyone rush you a long, there's plenty of content for you to go at from the start, try not to get overwhelmed, there isn't a time scale to do it all.