My experience from level 1-12 as a nightblade wood elf

Early leveling experience, the "hook"... 0/10

It took many drinks to get through this as well as some humorous Pokemon jokes. My friends couldn't make it to level 10 due to extreme boredom, despite my efforts to keep them in the game. I would compare the experience to rolling up silverware before serving dinner at a mediocre pub. Do something, anything, hire Jim Carrey to do the voice acting for some of the early stuff and maybe ill bump this up to a 1 for comedy value. The few quests i did do that seemed somewhat exciting and lore worthy were usually ruined by a bug near the end.

General Combat in PVE... 8/10

While rolling seems to have been thrown out the window as a mechanic, blocking and countering adds an extra layer of timing. In some instances there were only half a second windows to counter, which mad knowing the monster more valuable of an asset than ever. I ended up using LOS to kill a monster called Gutripper, similar to how i had to do in any elder scroll game. Brought back good memories. Deducted two points for lack of any sort of effect i.e blood, dismemberment, slash animations ect. Dungeons were nothing new to me so i'm not rating them since they are essentially just a copy/paste from WoW

Overall Graphics 10/10

Best looking MMO as far as im concerned, the ability to stop and really take in the wonderful environment and character detail saved me from uninstalling more times than i can even remember, part of the not remembering part has to do with the drinking which was caused by the early leveling experience.

http://i.imgur.com/q1HXS7n.jpg

PVP 7/10

When it didn't lag it was a pretty neat experience, from exploring off the beaten path to quest in a deep cave tucked away in the mountains, to the jaw dropping clash of 100's of players. HOWEVER, the general feel of the combat is very floaty and at times unresponsive even without the lag. There is no blood, no impressive special effects, and in that regard it played like a dynasty warriors without any of the cool colors, yea, you get the point (i hope). It was fun being able to sneak around and kill people who didnt see ya coming. Seiges are cool looking and the sound effects are well done.

No feedback on crafting since i didn't do much of it

-------------------

I hadn't played a beta in over a month and forgot just how dreadful the starting experience is. I painstakingly slogged my way to level 10 at which point the game started to get a little better. but by then i was sick of playing and stopped.

I'm glad i wasnt the only one, it did seem to get a few good quests going at around level 10. I feel like anyone who can get to that point is worthy of a patience award/achievement. "Player was able to bear the first 10 levels of ESO"

Yeah, I created my fourth toon this beta and the early grind is, well a grind. I really enjoyed the game much more after level 10 and I actually felt like my sorcerer had a little punch.

what's this?

Jim Carrey?

I made it to a little past level 9.

I had to force myself to do it.

Any quest that actually held my interest was bugged. I couldn't complete the Mage's guild quest, which I was pretty sure would turn into the engaging quest line I was looking for.

I felt like I was herded from task giver to task giver, with a massive map that looks open, but is full of cliffs and barriers to make sure you are herded in the correct direction.

There were so many people online doing the same quests that it basically became a giant zerg. Run in, shoot at whatever mobs happen to respawn during your run, press E the approriate number of times in the appropriate places and then run to the next quest spot on your compass.

At no time did I care what happened to the world around me. The war seemed like it was just a pretense to send me through a guided set of quests.

As a MMO veteran I don't need my hand held for 10 levels. I understand that developers have to write the game for the lowest common denominator, but sheesh, at least make it somewhat of a challenge.

I did not die until level 7 or so. And I didn't care when I did die. Why would I? Repairs are cheap and if I just keep following the carrots on my compass I'll be given new gear soon enough anyway.

Eventually, after hitting road blocks in the main quest line and guild quest line, I just started exploring. This was slightly ammusing. Eventually I found the Grotto. Why are all beginner dungeons in all MMO's based on giant mushroom caves? Is it a hat tip to Mario?

I ran Grotto even through I was way under level. Usually I'd end up kiting the named mob while DPS blasted on it. Win. Open chests. Yay.

Everyone gets loot. Why? This will make the content irrelevent much sooner than if your group of friends or guild has to strategically plan who gets what gear. Sharing loot makes guilds lean towards a DKP type system that builds devoted and determined members.

I remember raiding for months in Everquest to get a new briastplate. And I showed that thing off like I was a God among gnomes. Everyone getting loot seems like one of those "every kid gets a trophy" type programs.

You need competition. You need top dogs. You need envy to keep people logging in and working hard to better their characters and hone their skills. You need to reward the best of the best.

This brings be me back to the begining. I had to force myself to play until level 9. Even when the login servers started going haywire I'd try to get back in. Because I was in love with the game and engaged in saving the members of my faction? No. Because I wanted to get to level 10 and get into PVP.... hoping that it would save the game and make it worth playing and worth paying for.

Keep in mind that I purposely chose the highest ranked starting island and class. Ebonheart and Sorccerer. I still felt like it was a long, boring slog.

I had absolutely no need to group until I came upon Grotto. MMO's should encourage grouping and building relationships from the first moment.

Still I sit here wondering if it gets better after level 10. I hope it's better in PVP. I hope group dungeons are better. I hope that 12 man raids can hold up and keep people entertained and challenged.

I've been in love with the Elder Scolls series for years and I was highly anticipating this beta..... and I still have yet to pre-order.

It just seems like it will be entirely too easy. It seems like once 12 man raid strategies are posted they will be farmed for gear so that guilds can dominate PVP, effectively making PVP the end game.

I hope I'm wrong. I really really want to be wrong.

Maybe it's my deeply held desire for an updated Everquest type game that keeps me from seeing the highlights of ESO. Maybe my vision of a graphically beautiful game with engaging and strategic battles lasting 2-3 minutes on even common mobs clouds my judgement.

People like me are not wanting to know that they can throw themselves into a group of enemies and smashface them all down solo. They want danger. They want teamwork and the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.

So many games these days have everything set up for solo players. If I want to play solo I'd load Skyrim or Morrowind and have at it.

Right now this feels like Skyrim with a chat box and other Demi-God heros running around. It doesn't feel ike a co-operative massive multiplayer game.

That looks like a placeholder for a future review of the game.

I had one of my friends who quit read this, he connected to it really well and said "Yup, that describes my experience!"

It is called a bump, check the time

I actually enjoyed the starter area, but I do not rush through the quests either, I take it slow and explore more, oh that look interesting, played in all the starter areas, not sure which one was the funniest actually. Most killing action in AD one.

But I do agree it can be very boring for new players and such.

The rest that come after is pure joy for me and a reassurance of many fun hours ahead. I actually got some of my friends to get it ^^

I played until lvl 17, I love the game overall.

They are allowing you to skip the starter islands in the PTS hopefully it will be in the next beta. Tho I have played tons of mmos that do really bad in the starting experience in comparison with ESO...I enjoyed it.

Please Never put WoW and ESO toguether, thats sinful and will be regarded like trolling. Also the dismemberment part I dont think it can be added so easily, this is a mmo and it already requires tons of memory to run properly, in a single player game it would be easily added but not here.

Also please explain what u mean by the dungeons being a copy/paste from WoW. The fact that dungeons have mobs and bosses doesnt mean that it is anythign remotelly close to WoW. I have done every dungeon more than 3 or 4 times, im also an old WoW player and its just no...

Sounds like i need to play with you then! You wont mind playing with a numbfaced drunkard for the first 10 levels would ya? I'll need you to be the guy who (like i tried with my friends) keeps me going by telling me how great the game actually is if i "soak it all in".

By the way, are you familiar with Pokemon?

I felt like I was in Pokemon while tanking. Every time I taunted, it did nothing, and there was a voice in the back of my head that said "You don't have the violet badge! Pikachu ignores your orders."

Well, at first it was not readily apparent to me that the dungeons were like WoW until the tank started yapping about how he was upset because he realized he had to tab target in order to get aggro without hitting the wrong mobs. Our healer just seemed to stand there and heal, i almost forgot he was a player. Then all i did the whole time was cycle through abilities while i drank beer, ate lunch, alt tabbed from time to time, and basically had no interest whatsoever. If it wasn't a copy/paste from WoW then i would like someone to explain to me why its not.

You dont need to tab to target a mob, simply having the crosshairs pointing at a mob is enough to target it. Im my case the healers that ran with us they were running around trying not to die from the aoes and the usual mobs that get heal aggro. I did wipe some times at the bosses learning the fights, that last boss in banished cells is probably the hardest if ur running with noobs. And also remember that those are the first dungeons they are supposed to be easy-mode bs, plus they have increased the difficulty of the overall mobs in the PTS and we might see that in the next beta. What you experienced is an old beta version that they use to stress test, is not as polished as the PTS.