Elder Scrolls Online finally released officially last Friday. I had preordered the Imperial Edition so I was able to start playing last Sunday morning. Of course, Sunday was the start of my long week at work so I was unable to log in and play until Wednesday night. I was able to jump in as soon as the servers opened and reserve characters names, so that’s a plus. Other than that, I was forced to read about others playing and watch videos.
All in all, I would say that ESO’s release was pretty smooth as far as MMO releases are concerned. It had some hiccups here and there. Still seeing a few quests bugs that are slowly getting squashed. They had a slight problem with accounts that caused players to randomly log into another players account, but that was fixed quickly. Other than that and a few other minor bugs and lag, the release went pretty darn smoothly. I would say it was up there with Rift in terms of quality of release and thats a good thing. After the disasters of AoC and a few other major MMOs, its nice to see a few companies getting it closer to perfect.
When I was finally able to play myself, I found myself stuck on what class to play. This is a normal conundrum when going into a new MMO but its made worse with ESO. All of the classes can do so much and there are so many different builds and choices to be made that it gets downright confusing at times. For once, all of the different races and classes look pretty appealing.
I normally rule out sorceror/mage types right off the bat in MMOs because I simply hate running around in a robe but in ESO sorcerors can wear a robe, or leather or even heavy armor. I normally rule out elves in any MMO because, well, elves are stupid. But in ESO wood elves are actually pretty cool. They are cannibals for god’s sake, that has to make them pretty interesting, right?
So, I am stuck. I have leveled three characters up to 10 so far and I still have no idea which I want to play. And its not that they are not fun because every one of them is fun to play, I just can’t decide. I am normally not this indecisive but this game has stumped me. I am off again after tonight so I am going to make a decision and stick with it.
Finally, Zenimax released the long awaited information on Craglorn today. It came in the form of a video and I have to say, it looks pretty darn cool. An entire zone tuned for a group of four sounds fantastic and brings back memories of working through the elite areas in WoW back in the day. I love that. Throw in a few dungeons and a raid and I am all set as far as endgame PvE is concerned. You can take a look at the video below, its pretty nive.
I am going to make a post later about what things I would like to see in the future with ESO. The game is great so far but there is certainly room for improvement and things that I would like to see.
Corpse Run 
Good luck with making your choice of character to use as a “main.” I started off intending to have my DK be my main. Got it to level 12 on the 1st or 2nd day. And it’s still level 12. And my nightblade is 11, my sorcerer is 14, and my templar is 17. . . . . .
I don’t suffer alt-itis. I enjoy it!
Hi 🙂 What did you finally go with as your main? I agree that the launch was really good and smooth. The downtime was a little annoying but I’m enjoying the game a lot so far and can’t wait to see the developments in the future.
I started off as a nightblade and got to level 50 before my “alt-itis” (as you put it) kicked in as well and I started leveling a sorcerer. I got her to level 50 last night after around 23 hours of playing time with my friend.
I’ve just posted a leveling guide for grinding if anyone is interested in taking a look. I’d really appreciate it 🙂
http://rakashieso.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/aldmeri-dominion-1-50-leveling-guide/
@ michael – Ouch two max level toons already?
Don’t you feel like you have missed out by grinding and rushing. The main draw with elder scrolls games is usually the immersive story and world. Seems a bit silly to miss out so much fun just to attain max level fast.
@bran Am still on the fence with buying teso but admit I’m getting tempted now my wow sub has been cancelled. Hmmmmm.
Its a lot of fun, Pitrelli. I have heard a lot of people say that ESO starts off slow and gets better and better, whereas Wildstar starts off good but gets worse as you level. I would tend to agree with that perception. Its different enough in the way questing works, in how combat is done and with its crafting and PvP, that I don’t get the feeling of “been there, done that” near as much as I did with Wildstar or many of the other recent MMO releases. The dungeons are great and Craglorn looks pretty amazing, though I am nowhere near in a position to worry about endgame content yet. I have been messing around with too many characters, trying to decide what to play. lol
Hmm see I have thought the opposite of Wildstar. I was bored to tears at the start but can see how much it opens out with housing, structured PvP + world PvP, then adventures , dungeons and raids, arenas, warplots etc.
The main thing which is putting me off is the PvP in ESO. Ultimately it’s pvp is WvW on steroids and I soon grew bored of that pretty fast in GW2. The lack of other options and more importantly lack of open world PvP in questing areas is a big deal to me. I like to feel uneasy or in danger when I’m out in the world. I don’t want to have to teleport to a specfic closed area just to sample that. I really do want to try it but am loathe to pony up knowing I’ll probably tire of the PvP zone.
@Pitrelli
I’ve always been one of those who like to rush and get to the end game. Leveling is a bit boring for me and I felt like it took too long to level through questing. I have done some questing though, it was only around level 20 that I decided to see if there were any other ways to get quick exp. Right now I’m working on my VR so I still need to do quests. If you’re interested in the story then questing can be really fun. I personally find it slow and hard and my blog entry is more focused on people who want to create an alt and get to level 50 asap, or those people who are like me and want to enjoy end game.
I really do recommend buying teso. I’ve found it really addictive and one of the best games I’ve ever played. There’s so much to the game. Right now there are many bugs and issues but there are those moments where it’s all worth while.