ESO – Something New And Shiny!

As you’re reading this, I’m undoubtedly playing ESO. (Actually I’m probably at work, but I’ll be playing it when I get home.) I’m enjoying that magic time in every MMO when you don’t yet know all the things that make you want to quit playing.

I won’t bore you with my impressions of ESO because a) I’ve already posted them, and b) you’ve already got it because it’s a new MMO and you know you can’t stand not playing a new MMO that everyone is talking about, no matter how many bad reviews you’ve seen or how much you oppose a subscription model on principal.

I predict that many people who previously panned the game will start to say, “Hey, I know I said this game sucked, because it was hip and trendy to say that, but now that I’m actually playing it, it’s kind of fun.” I’ve already seen subtle hints from podcasters and publications leaning in that general direction.

One thing I forgot to do at the end of beta was try all the classes, so I’m not sure what I’ll be playing. I won’t be playing an Argonian Nightblade, because that’s all I did in beta. (I picked it because it was the farthest from what I might actually play at launch.) Sadly I’ll have to continue with the Ebonheart faction because I know some people that picked them.

In any case I’m thinking about working on crafting skills before combat skills. In my meager testing, it seemed that you could actually craft equipment that was useful, which is a massive departure from what most MMOs provide. I think it would be cool to craft one’s own equipment. (Especially since, back in beta, I noticed that you didn’t often get drops that you could use.)

P.S. Here’s my one and only pro tip for people starting out in ESO: When you craft anything, you need a piece of material that determines the “racial style” of the item. Those can be bought from the vendors near the crafting stations. It took me forever to figure that out. I thought for the longest time they were drops from mobs, so, of course, I never found any.