As we have a few of our old friends rejoining us in Elder Scrolls, I thought it might be worth posting up a few tips and tricks for making your firsts steps in the game a little more enjoyable and give you a little more understanding of the way things work here. If anyone else has any pointers, then please add them to the list.
Add ons
This game encourages the use of add-ons, that can enhance all sorts of things such as the UI, maps, buff tracking, xp bars. A good place to get these is www.esoui.com
Al you need to do is download and unzip the files into my documents/elder scrolls online/live/addons folder (create one if you haven't got one already. The type /reloadui in-game to activate the addon. There is a thread on this forum with more details on specific addons, that you might find useful.
If you have the Twitch (former Curse client) it supports addons and downloads and install them autmatically. Just FYI https://mods.curse.com/client
Classes and Skills
As with most Elder Scrolls games, you are not limited to tight constraints on your chosen class. While your class has a distinct set of abilities, you also have access to many other skills from weapons, armor, guilds (mage/fighters etc) and others. If you wear heavy armour, you skill-up heavy armor. So if you want to, you can be a heavy armor, 2-handed sword wielding sorceror. Ok, so you may lose the bonuses on magika that you get from wearing light armor, but it's not a game breaker. It's all about having fun, so play the way you want to. All classes can heal effectively using the restoration staff, just as all classes could tank in heavy armor if they wanted to. In end game stuff, you might want your skills to be a little more appropriate to your class, but there are plenty (loads and loads) of skill points available in the game, so don't feel like you just have to learn 1 weapon or armor type.
Skill bars
You can have 5 abilities on your skill bar, plus your ultimate ability. You build up ultimate points while fighting, and when you have enough you can unleash your ultimate ability. When you get to L15 you can equip a 2nd weapon, which has it's own skill bar. You can then switch between the 2 skill bars whilst in combat. This allows you to build up a complex set of abilities that suit your play style, or may suit the particular fight. As an example, on my DPS sorceror I will have one bar dedicated to short term buffs and aoe dots. I'll fire them all off then switch to my other bar for a bit of burst damage, before reapplying my dots.
The only thing you need to be aware of when switching weapons/bars, is that things like pets and permanent buffs need to be slotted on both bars. Otherwise, if you switch to a skill bar which doesn't have the pet or buff on, it will remove the pet or buff from the world. As I say, this generally applies to permanent buffs, not short term stuff, but you'll soon learn which ones need double-slotting.
I know a lot of people initially have problems with the setup of the ability keys. Personally, I use a Razer Naga mouse so I have 12 buttons on the side that I can program for my abilities. Don't forget you can re-assign any of the keys within the game, to something that suits your playstyle better. This is a cross-platform game, so I guess it's been made to be PSP/Xbox controller friendly.
Kill stealing ??
There is none. You don't need to be in a group to benefit from a kill. Anyone who throws in a couple of shots at a mob will get the experience, and their own loot table (levelled to them). So if you're running through an open dungeon, and see someone attacking a boss or some mobs, don't feel bad about throwing in a few hits of heals for some extra XP. If you come across a world boss, just hang around for a bit as there will usually be someone else coming along to kill it.
What to do next
The main story will pretty much direct you through several zones that are part of your pact. What most people find enjoyable, is to work through each map filling in the points of interest, skyshards, quest hubs, dungeons and delves (solo dungeons). If you're an achievement hunter, then this is definitely the way to go.
If this is your first character, it's well worth following the story, and even the side quests and quest hubs have their own little storylines, it's been done very well.
However, the game has now been changed so that EVERYTHING scales to level. It doesn't matter if you are in a group with higher or lower level people. What the game effectively does, is set all of the areas to L50 Champion Level 160. Then it raises you and your abilities to that level. It does mean that you lose the sense of leveling achievement a little, but it does mean that the whole game is open to you. So you can go to any of the maps, zones or dungeons. In the group finder tool certain dungeons only open up at a certain level, but you can zone into them manually at any level. There are usually guildies online that are happy to run dungeons, so shout up if you fancy it.
Other things to do
Well, there's crafting. There is no limit to the amount of crafting skills you can learn (only limited by the amount of skill points you have). Skyshard hunting - download the skyshard app and go collection. Every 3 skyshards you collect gives you an extra skill point. Group dungeons, open public dungeons, world bosses, Dolmens (the rift type things that appear in the world).
Earning Skill Points
There are several ways to earn skill points. You earn points every time you gain a level, and by collecting 3 skyshards. The main story line quests give skill points, and usually finishing off the mini quests hub lines throughout the world usually gives you a point. ALso, the first time you do a dungeon, you will get a quest and that will give you a skill point on completion. So there are loads of skill points available to you out there. Plenty to give you a lot of alternatives, and allow you to skill up crafting alongside your adventuring skills.
Selling stuff
This is where it gets a little complicated. There is no worldwide broker type system as such. You can only sell/buy stuff from other players by being in the same guild. You can be a member of up to 5 player guilds in the game, so many people join a dedicated "trade guild". These are very large guilds, usually around 500 members, where you can sell your stuff to fellow members. Throughout the world there are NPC's you allow non-guild members access to the trade guilds goods - I think they are called "Guild Vendor" or something like that. It will have the associated player guild name underneath - Trade guilds bid on the use of these NPC's every so often, with the winning guilds being able to sell their goods to the rest of the players.
You can ONLY buy goods from other guilds using these vendors, you are not able to sell.
I hope this has been of some help, I'm sure I will think of more things to add to the list. But the golden rule always applies - if you need help with anything just shout. If you need to complete any dungeons or quests, just shout.
Macc
Other things I forgot:
Always check out bookshelves, as they can sometimes give you skill ups.
It doesn't show you when guild mates log in or out, but it will show you when friends log. So just all of the guild members to your friends list, if you want to keep track of who is logging in or out.
