So i am torn if i should skip the tutorial for the main reason of getting the skyshard? Whats your thought on this?

Takes 10 minutes to get through the area, don't know whether you still get the skyshard if you skip it. But as I like crafting I will want to loot every single container there and collect every last bit of pork and thin broth to be found. 10 minutes can net a lot of low level ingredients, I wouldn't skip it if you paid me.

You start at lvl 3 w/ 1 skyshard if you skip the tutorial.

I've never skipped it. Do you get attribute/skill points to distribute for a lvl 3 as well?(dumb question i know, but have to ask)

yes.

First, you have to complete the tutorial at least once. Second, if you skip the tutorial with later characters, they have the skyshard, as well as the end reward (chest item and bow). However, if you go through the tutorial, you will typically pick up up to 20 or so lock picks, which you won't have if you skip. There's other stuff that you MIGHT get too, but I've never failed to get a bunch of lock picks every time.

The one time I skipped, I had a hard time finding picks in fact. With every other character, I always had plenty.

though- to me- I would recommend NOT skipping it because you do a couple of laps around the two large antechambers and you walk away with about 30 lock picks and (usually) a racial motif.

Yep agreed, even if you are not into crafting and not interested in ingredients, the stack of lockpicks you can build up just by looting everything in Coldharbour makes it well worth going through!

Good stuff. Thanks for the info.

That's why i have never skipped

Even before they adjusted weapon droprates, that place is a lockpick goldmine.

I always spent time at it until my very last character, because I wanted him out and in armor for screenshots.

Personally I won't be skipping it, one reason is there are so many useful things to collect/loot down there these days. Not least of which; ~30 lockpicks.

I see no reason to skip it even with a crafter alt.. Ton's of good loot that is useful to breakdown or sell or use for crafting..

it's like PvEers skipping Cyrodiil and getting the skyshards.

Oh, I'll be death flopping for those.

Really? Skipping a 10 minute tutorial and getting a skyshard is the same as skipping Cyrodil and getting 45 (or however many) skyshards?

Slight hyperbole on your part methinks

There are also chests galore to be picked. You'll miss those too, if you skip the tutorial.

No it is not the same, those Cyrodiil's shards involve forcing PvP and the tutorial one just skipping a quest chain.

However, if you see it as "skyshards per zone", the question remains: should I get the skyshards of a zone that I haven't visited?. The number is irrelevant.

Concur with what others have written - if you really don't want to do the starter island piece, just bee-line to the sky shard(s), and then move out and draw fire.

The image in my head for this made me laugh hard.

If they didn't get the shard from it, it wouldn't be truly optional for a lot of folks.

There's a difference between skipping loot and skipping a key thing for the game(directly turning into skill points).

Same logic that applies to "why the crap would they give skill points for one quest reward but not the other?".

You've never corpse flopped? Move a few feet, die. Release. Run back. Run a few more feet, die again. Release, run back.

Old school "no death penalty mmo" way of getting to things when you don't want to be bothered killing things.

In some games(EQ2 when I'm already xp debt capped, WoW) I just strip before hand to kill off durability damage so I don't have to repair anything. I'm expecting to die.

EQ2 you can't delevel, but you can gain a "debt" of experience equal to half of your level that needs to be paid off before you can level up again. It goes away after not doing anything for a while. My raiding toons were almost always capped...

Note, they might have changed that, it's been like 2 years since I last actually played EQ2.

If you loot every dresser and desk (worth doing anyway for chance at racial motifs and other good stuff), you won't need to harvest those lockpicks in Coldharbor. You'll have plenty and can share em with your alts in your bank.

I will probably not skip it, though, because I LIKE it Not expecting to make an alt for a few weeks (or months) anyway, so would enjoy going through again to remind myself of what the whole story's about

So you are telling me that PvP in ESO wouldn't be optional for lot of people who probably don't like PvP

Yes, I don't like that one quest path gives skill points and the other doesn't. It will be frustrating for some people. I understand the choice/unknown reward concept behind this design but in the end a lot of players will be reading walkthroughs instead of playing the game.