The Elder Scrolls Online

I am in my seventies. My son wanted me to play an open game instead of the single games I was playing before. I am inspired by the graphics of each country that I travel in , each one is different. The puzzles are complex but doable. Each cave is distinctive and some are so enclosed while others you have to walk through slimy water to get to the other side of the trail. It seems so realistic at times. The story line continues when you least expect it and you meet characters where you least expect them. Great Game. Glad I found and play it.

An amazing game .. incredible variety of different activities, meet great people. Highly recommend ESO for more seniors to play .. at 70 i find it keeps my mind active, however it gets addictive.
I would like to see more consideration of Seniors regarding cost though. ESO Plus is an absolute must but the monthly cost is getting difficult to handle.

I originally pre-ordered this game back in 2014. I found it to some-what fun but other titles at the time were far more interesting to me and ended up side-tracking me from playing ESO.
I had stopped playing the game all together, and did not return.
I recently read that the game had been revamped for 2020 offering many more features, and changes.
I have now played a character from the start in 2020 and leveled that character to max level, here is my honest review:
PROS:
-Great scenery, graphics are great, character models look awesome.
-Excellent exploration, seriously, you will find yourself just running around looking at interesting things from time to time.
-Fun combat, controls flow nicely. Also cool to see an MMO that can be played on controller.
-Character building is very unique in this and allows the creator of the character to really build a very unique feeling class. This allows for quite a diversity in game-play.
-PVP Game mode is very fun. Definitely has a learning curve, but once you figure it out, the PVP is very unique and offers a lot of replay-ability.
-In game purchases are available but none of them are a pay to win option. (The in-game purchases are mostly stuff like costumes or cosmetic changes.)
-There are some nostalgic elements in this game that remind me of previous single player Elder Scrolls titles.
CONS:
-The questing is interesting, but can become repetitive and chore-like. (As is per normal of an MMO)
-Alot of the quests share some overly similar story-lines. However, I do also understand this is an MMO with tons of quests in it.
-The dungeons do get better towards the higher character levels, but at first they offer zero challenge and are fairly boring. I found myself just kind of running around, using random abilities with no serious sense of direction.
-First person game-play is neat to offer, but is never used. There is seriously no point in using it.
-There can be a few moments when playing where you can get stuck on terrain or find it hard to jump up on top of something, which can be minorly annoying.
-Group queuing for PVP is currently removed, which in my opinion takes away from the PVP experience.
Overall I would recommend this game if you're a fan of MMOs and of course a fan of the Elder Scrolls games.
This game does have an Elder Scrolls feel to it, the environment and game-play does feel like Tamriel.
If you're going to compare this game to World of Warcraft, you won't like it. It has a very different play style, however I do believe that ESO has a refreshing feel to it.
The developers appear to still care about the game as well, being that content is regularly added to keep the game interesting.
TLDR: Game is good, give it a go.

In Brief:
Pros
+ Huge expansive open world
+ Fully voice acted
+ Builds on the Elder Scrolls universe
+ Active player base
Cons
- Some dislike the combat (varies per person)
- Issues with server performance, especially with PVP
- Hefty file size
Skip to the bottom for my final thoughts
Breakdown:
Introduction
With the latest expansion Greymoor on the horizon, I thought I'd write my review for The Elder Scrolls Online a few months in advance for new players who may be interested in the game currently. It's best to get a head start before the content drops!
Gameplay
The Elder Scrolls Online, which I shall refer to as ESO, is a popular open-world MMORPG developed by ZeniMax Online Studios, and allows its players to explore a vast amount of Nirn during an unfamiliar time period in the Elder Scrolls universe.
Play as you see fit
One of the best features of ESO which I highly commend is its easy accessibility to all players. That isn't to say that the game is easy - rather, it doesn't punish new players for mistakes they may make in the early stages of the game. Trust me, I myself made countless mistakes across a few characters before really getting a foothold. The learning curve may be a bit steep, but the early stages aren't absolutely brutal on new players. Feel free to put your character points into whatever you deem fit - you can always respec your points cheaply later on when it really matters.
I'm not the best person to go to in terms of advice for beginners; there are plenty of in-depth beginner guides that can help you off your feet. But if you like going in blind as I did, know that it's never too late to follow a build. Furthermore, ESO is available to play in two main ways, PVE (player vs environment) and PVP (player vs player). I personally stick to the PVE aspects of the game, notably dungeons, delves and questing. I haven't quite gotten to the raids yet.
Choose your role (Damage Dealer, Tank or Healer), set up your skill bar and prepare for battle. I've heard mixed reviews of ESO's combat system, but I personally have no problems with it and enjoy combat. Furthermore, there are currently six playable classes (four of which are available for free with the base game), ten races (nine of which are available for free with the base game), and thousands of unique viable builds to choose from for your gaming pleasure.
Puts the Massive in Massively Multiplayer
One of my biggest gripes with ESO, that is also simultaneously one of my favourite features of the game, is its ridiculously massive world that is incredibly easy to get lost in. But with great power (huge 3D world with nice models, fully voice-acted characters, etcetera) comes great responsibility - in the form of 100-odd gigabytes on my hard drive. You read that right: over 100 glorious gigabytes of disk usage.
On the other hand, ESO is also massively multiplayer in the sense that it is still very much alive. Unfortunately, the game isn't cross-platform, but on NA PC you still see other adventurers *mostly* wherever you go. The community is also *mostly* friendly, with many guilds waiting to welcome you in with open arms. By the way, you can be a member of up to FIVE different guilds, so there's really no excuse not to make some friends.
If you're the type of player who likes playing through content by yourself, don't worry. You're not alone. You can play through the majority of ESO's content, sans high-tier PVE challenges.
Story
In my humble opinion, ESO is one of the best MMORPG story content-wise. I used to be the type of player who would skip through dialogue and cutscenes to get straight to the combat. Eventually, though, I started taking the time to listen to the fully voice-acted dialogue. Some quests are certainly better than others, but overall the quests are of good quality. I highly recommend you level your main character through questing rather than grinding. Not only do you get to experience the quest, but you can also get unique rewards and lots of XP.
Audio and Visuals
ESO is a great looking game and is again one of the best MMORPGs visual-wise in my opinion. I'll admit, there are definitely some meshes that look better than others (outlier examples), but for the most part, the game looks great. I really enjoy riding on my mount from point-to-point rather than just teleporting. The better rig you have, the better the game looks. The soundtrack is also superb, and as I've mentioned, the dialogue is fully voice acted.
Value
In terms of the base game, which frequently goes on sale, there are hundreds of hours of content available with no other purchases, microtransactions or otherwise.
The Business Model
On the other hand, there is also a plethora of paid DLCs, expansions, and microtransactions available in ESO's Crown store. The game's premium currency, Crowns, can be traded among players in the form of gifting items in exchange for gold. This is often done through middlemen and can be risky. ZeniMax offers no other form of currency exchange. There also exists a paid membership, ESO Plus, which is not required for the base game, that grants subscribers unlimited access to all DLC (excluding new expansions), a number of crowns and other benefits.
Again, the aforementioned microtransactions are not at all necessary for hundreds of hours of enjoyment, but I myself have made purchases on the Crown store and am currently an active ESO+ subscriber.
Bugs/Issues
In the actual game itself, you don't run into issues all too often. I experience the occasional crash, but this may not necessarily be due to ESO. Regarding server performance, however, much of the community have raised complaints about the poor performance of the games servers and matchmaking capabilities specifically. This problem mostly applies to those interested in PVP, however, problems do exist with the Dungeon Finder (hit-or-miss queue times).
In general PVE play, especially if you're sticking with the overworld content, you shouldn't experience many problems. If necessary, restart your game every few hours to keep the memory usage low.
Performance
My computer (see below) has no problems running ESO at high settings, however, I acknowledge that for lower-end rigs you may encounter difficulty in running the game. Make sure to check the minimum specifications, and if your PC has equivalent or better parts. The in-game settings menu allows you to customize the graphics settings to suit your needs.
CPU: i7-8750
GPU: GTX 1060
RAM: 16GB DDR4
In Closing:
Greymoor is coming.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited is one of the best MMORPGs currently available on Steam. Play how you want in the game's expansive world, against other players or enemies, and prepare yourself for the Dark Heart of Skyrim.
Rating: Good
Click here to view my complete rating chart, and what this rating means.
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What we have here is a bit of a mess. Which is a shame as underneath that mess there is a good game, not a great game but not a dud either. The problem is that its been updated and had DLC added without much (or perhaps any) care in making that mesh with what's there already. Crashes occasionally too.
So mess first. If this does not matter to you then this could be the game for you. It is fun, I like it, but…
Where you start will depend on if you have purchased any of the DLC with the game as part of a pack. For example if you get Elsweyr and Morrowind then you will start in one of those areas, rather than where the main quest kicks off. This would not be so much of an issue if the DLC did not happen after the events of the main quest and there weren’t massive spoilers relating to main quest characters in the DLC. Morrowind is more or less self contained, but Elsweyr isn’t and several main quest characters turn up there, with one in particular having a colossal spoiler.
Soo... Just avoid the DLC areas right? Except unless you do a ‘net search you have no idea where the main quest starts, or how to start it. Its a big game with a big map and you have to do one tiny specific thing to start the main quest – actually you have to do two. If you’ve played it; think of the trigger for those darn Oblivion gates in Oblivion as an example. Even when you are in the main quest you still hit Back-to-the-Future moments with NPCs who cannot possibly be wondering around - as for example they are nailed to a wall in a prison cell somewhere - coming up to you and offering you quests. Or the same NPC being in 3 different places at once in the same quest or NPCs just apparently warping around the place to talk to you and yet still being in other places and also being in the DLC while they are nailed to a wall in a prison cell so yeh its a bit of a mess.
There are free prologue quests which lead into the DLC, but one will break the main quest completely if you start it. You have to abandon the prologue quest to start the main one up again – if you are lucky. It didn’t work for me so I had to complete the 1st part of the prologue and then abandon subsequent one to get the main quest back. However unless you start wondering why a particular NPC hasn’t pestered you for ages and then ‘net searched (again) you’d never know there was a problem. Oh the quest you need to abandon is demon weapon which is the prologue to Elsweyr.
Then there are places where the devs just didn’t think things though. I had one quest where you had to rescue some folk and one of them also wanted me to find something. Having rescued them and found the thing I then discovered I could not talk to the NPC who wanted the thing as all the folk I rescued were in the way.
The map is split into PVE (most of it but you can challenge players) and PVP (Cyrodiil). Now I don’t tend to PVP but had to visit Cyrodiil to find something. It was not fun. Whether it was my internet playing up at just that time or what I don’t know but I kept getting micro loading screens as I wondered around the map – not a problem in other areas. As a result when I did bump into another player I was instantly cheesed (like being creamed, but with a more piquant aftertaste) as I micro-loading screened. OK I would probably have died anyway but it didn’t help.
Finally there is the game’s history. When launched you picked a faction and could only play in that faction's area and Cyrodiil. Then the PVE map was opened up so you can play anywhere – your main quest just starts in your faction’s area but you can quest anywhere on the map. Except… The quests were not updated, so as a result you now fight your own faction’s NPCs in some areas of the map. I’m not sure how this could have been fixed, but given so little else has been, I’m not surprised. A little note here added after I completed a rather long quest - don't read unless you want a spoiler. This is explained once you have completed the main quest, why you can wander into the other factions areas and not get smashed to a pulp by the guards when you do. Except you can now do this anyway before you complete the main quest. So yeh...
So can you ignore the above? Well mostly. Its annoying and immersion breaking so if that’s important to you look elsewhere. If it isn’t then don’t look Elsweyr until you’ve done the main quest. As a game the graphics are good, not 2020 quality but fine for an MMO. Rain stays outside buildings, even if people don’t get wet and it doesn’t splash on water. Fog is suitably murky, spells flashy - perhaps too flashy if you play 1st person - and the animals (not so much the horses) look and move fairly realistically - as do the bipeds. well as realistically as giant winged demons might. The voice acting ranges from the usual bored person saying words to very good – particularly the majority of the Khajiit (cat people) NPCs. Some of the side quests made me smile and although the main quest is very linier, the other map quests can be completed in any order – just don’t expect the timeline to make a lot of sense if you do. NPCs generally do not know they have spoken to you before and will happily tell you their life story again. Equally sometimes the devs will assume that you have spoken to someone before and the NPC will leave out some info resulting in wtf moments.
Just to round on the DLC again. The DLC chapters (Morrowind, Elsewyr etc) sort of follow on from each other. For example there’s Morrowind, the Clockwork city and then (no you have to buy the Clockwork city from the in game store you cannot get it as part of a Steam pack - no I don't know why either) Summerset.
Quests tend to be hack-and-slash with puzzles in a few (not very many at all). If you like a puzzler and less action then this may not be the game for you. Also most crooked NPCs are obviously crooked - not much need for the Spidey sense here.
For an mmo the NPC combat is not bad, its fairly fluid while not being a brawler, and you are not nailed to the ground while you do a special move. Can’t comment on PVP. Some mechanics feel a bit pay to win. Although you buy the game you don’t need a subscription. If you go for one then you get all the DLC unlocked, plus a crafting bag – which holds all the crafting materials and makes inventory management less of the PINTA it can be. If you decide to buy bits over time, say you don’t play enough to make a sub worth it then you can get DLC from the in-game store as well as other stuff. The game and DLC (from the in game store) is sometimes on sale as well.
Aside from DLC most in-game store stuff is cosmetic, hats, pets, mounts (you get a free horse just by levelling) etc. But there are potions and food which might appear pay-to-win as they buff your char for longer and easier than crafting them or finding them. I don’t mind this, the devs have to eat after all, but you might. You also get a daily gift just by logging on which is generally a random store based buff.
The DLC can be expensive - especially the DLC dungeons, which might put you off and while I don’t PVP, a lot of the PVP community doesn’t sound happy. So if PVP is important then this may not be your game. Read reviews from PVP players and then decide.
There is grind, particularly if you want to progress in the mage’s guild and in crafting where you not only have to hunt for the materials, styles, recipes etc but also have to wait increasingly long times to research new buffs for amour etc. Jewellery is completely locked out without the Summerset DLC and the crown store has instant research scrolls (some of which drop in the daily gift and as part of levelling) that reduce this research by a day. That's a day real time – not game time. Yes sometimes you have to wait a loong time.
Its not a bad game, bits are very good and I like it. However I can only recommended if consistent story telling is not that important to you.

The Elder Scrolls Online is the best MMO I've ever played, and I've tried many.
First impression
I bought this the day it came out but was unimpressed. It didn't feel like an Elder Scrolls game at all. You were confined to certain areas by your level, the delves (like dungeons you can walk into) felt empty, the quests consisted of gathering some things and delivering them, rinse and repeat. Even the cool things like burning a pirate ship were only teleporting to the ship and pressing a button. The sequences that were supposed to be tremendously large battles or cataclysmic events also had about two npcs pop up and run away in fear, as if that was supposed to sell it. It didn't. I refunded the game.
Second try
Several months later I got the game again, and oh boy, was it different. You could now travel anywhere you wanted, do anything you wanted at any time, nothing was holding you back. The storytelling vastly improved. The new quests are about telling a story, and it was tremendously fun. I didn't stay for very long after this just because I was completely overwhelmed by the game, and felt that it needed much more time than I could give it to really fully experience it. Some things like the crafting research, upgrading your mount and more look like they're incredibly time consuming, even if they're done passively. It would take months to do it all.
Third try
I headed into the game again. This time, I decided to just have fun with it. I sat on a horse and went on a journey across the realms of Tamriel. I went from Davon's Watch to Rivenspire on horseback, enjoying the sights, and then took a ship to Abah's Landing and the Alik'r Desert. It was the most wonderful experience I've had in MMOs while exploring the vast world. Every location is visually different, but they all also feel lived in. The detail is absolutely incredible. From Morrowind to Summerset, you'll be absolutely amazed by the open world. Third time was the charm as I've reached maximum level on my first character.
The combat
Going beyond traditional MMO conventions, ESO has incredibly engaging combat. Dodging, blocking and interrupting are all very important. PvP feels very competitive and PvE isn't just pressing buttons in a sequence while standing in place.
Personal touch
Unlike other MMOs in which there is a clear distinction between the classes in terms of what they can do, this game allows for customization the like of which I've never seen in the genre. You can take any class you want and make it do whatever you want. Furthermore, although races give you certain bonuses, you can make any class combined with any race and make it work. A lot of people focus on watching guide videos when making their characters but I would suggest you not to do that.
This might sound odd, but there's actually no need to follow anyone's advice. It's good to know what's out there but you can make any build work for you. That's an important thing to remember. You don't need to pick Khajit + Nightblade + Stamina + Werewolf to be a good damage dealer, and that's what's so good about this game. It allows for absolute freedom of choice. You can make a build someone else would scoff at but still be very effective with it because you made it to fit your own play style. You can use any combination of weapons, abilities, and ability rotations and not have to worry about what the meta is. Trust me, I just finished the most difficult dungeon in the game with a build that would make some youtubers lose their minds, and I had a lot of fun doing it my own way.
The things that matter the most in determining how good you are at what you do is your understanding of the game. That means that if you know the patterns of the bosses, how to deal with mobs, pvp tactics for Battlegrounds and Cyrodiil, you're going to be good. There is another decisive factor: your gear. Imagine your gear in ESO as if you were building a character in a MOBA. As you would expect, there are three types of gear: light, medium and heavy, and each gives a different amount of armor and raw stats; however, in ESO, gear has abilities that can vastly change the way you play depending on what you choose to equip.
Crafting will allow you to get some great starting gear but the best things are gained by gameplay, so if you don't want to level your crafting, that's up to you. The game certainly doesn't force you into it. You have the option to buy anything you need in guild stores with gold, and attain the best gear through gameplay. This game is actually not pay to win, unlike many other MMO games, in the sense that you can get the best statistics in the game exclusively by playing, and the store offers a ton of cosmetic options athat won't let someone else outperform you on the field. You can even get certain items like experience boosts and crates by logging in every day and when leveling up for free.
Furthermore, you can choose to make costumes for your characters, meaning you don't rely on using specific cosmetics, but can get any combination of any item you have unlocked in the outfit station, and all for a gold price without paying anything. The only thing that's locked is the ability to color your armor and weapons, which you can unlock with an ESO+ subscription.
That subscription is one of the best I've seen in any game. It gives you access to all of the expansions ESO has to offer excluding the newest one. That's a huge amount of content in addition to the things you get outright, like currency and experience boosts.
A lot of people come into this game expecting it to be like any other MMO, and those people don't get the game, in my opinion. There are certain prejudices you expect with MMOs. For example, everyone thinks that picking the damage dealing class is somehow dirty, and that it's the easiest role to fill. This is not the case in ESO. Because of the way the combat works, a lot of the time you'll see that playing the damage dealer may in fact be the hardest thing you could choose to do. Many bosses and pvp tactics can instantly kill you, and they most certainly will if you don't expect and counter that. Some bosses actually really punish you for not being a tank or having lots of shields and healing abilities.
I'm stating this because a lot of people come in thinking that picking the damage dealer is the easy choice, but they will be disappointed if they pick that role for that reason. Certainly, put on paper, it sounds as if the healer and tank have the most responsibility, whereas dealing damage is just coming with them for the ride. In real situations, in dungeons pve and in battlegrounds pvp, being the damage dealer means being the most careful out of the whole group because everyone can and will be trying to damage you.
If you do pick a damage dealer, you need to be aware that you will be at the mercy of every gameplay mechanic in the game. You will wait for long times to queue for dungeons. Certain bosses have lightning-fast abilities that are either very difficult to foresee and dodge or don't even show you any warning before damaging you, which is completely fine if you have 40,000 health as a tank, or use damage reduction abilities and shields as a healer. You will be targeted first in PvP as a damage dealer. The Imperial City will even go further than that and punish you for not having the extra health and damage shields by taking your rewards from you, while tanks and healers survive.
All three roles require a lot of skill to master, and you should pick whatever best suits your playstyle, without regard to typical MMO prejudice regarding roles and classes. Anyone can do anything, and everyone can only reach top level play with great skill.
It's a really fun game.
Play it, enjoy it, ignore the haters.
P.S. Avoid the main quest line (Coldharbour) if at all possible as it might quite literally make you fall asleep out of boredom with its "fetch this, fetch that" nonsense

Played the cat race known as Khajiit, then proceeded to become a Werewolf. I am a cat that transforms into a dog. 10/10 Catdog was a good show -IGN