Like many people, I started playing The Elder Scrolls Online when the beta released in 2013. Also like many, I promptly quit shortly after the game launched in 2014. Riddled with bugs and less than ideal elements to the crafting and other in-game systems, ESO was a great game with great problems. Fast forward to 2018, ESO is one of the best MMOs to date. It no longer has a required monthly subscription, has millions of players, and continues to release new content multiple times a year. Whether you’re considering purchasing the game or are a long time player looking to understand better how to get going, this guide will help you with the sometimes-stiff learning curve of The Elder Scrolls Online.  

Elder Scrolls Character Creation

  ESO, as with many games, begins with character creation. You have many options with which to customize your character. First off: Race. As with other Elder Scrolls games, there are 10 races to choose from in The Elder Scrolls Online. While each of these races has their own strengths and abilities, there are no right and wrong answers in ESO. For purposes of Min-Maxing, there are definitely races that perform better than others do in particular builds and settings, but all are viable. Each race also determines your Alliance. If you’ve purchased the Adventurer Pack, you have access to the “Any Race, Any Alliance” perk. This pack may be purchased in the Crown Store and allows you to choose your alliance regardless of race. As of the release of the One Tamriel overhaul, all alliances have access to every area of the game, which makes the decision of which alliance to join only affect your PvP experience. Next, you choose your character’s class. Currently there are five options: Dragonknight, Nightblade, Sorcerer, Templar, and Warden (which requires the Morrowind expansion or the Warden unlock from the Crown Store). Unlike most MMOs, this doesn’t lock you into one style of play. What’s import in ESO is the role you chose, rather than your class, be it tank, damage dealer, or healer. Your choices in game determine these roles. For example, a dragonknight can wield a restoration staff and act as a powerful healer, a sword and shield and heavy armor to become a mighty tank, or even a destruction staff as a deadly fire mage. These are only some of the options from which to choose. The rest of the character creation screen simply allows you to customize the look and sound of your character. You can adjust many minute details of your character’s body and face, as well as the normal height, weight, and hair color options many games provide for.  

Attributes and Statistics

  In The Elder Scrolls Online, as in the other TES games, there are three main attributes: health, magicka, and stamina. These three attributes not only determine the size of the pools but also affect some of your character’s statistics. Your health is quite simply your life pool. The more health, the longer you are able to stay alive. Tanks benefit from this the most, but a little survivability never hurt anyone. Magicka is a little less straightforward. Your magicka pool does not only determine the number of spells and magicka abilities you can cast. Your max magicka also aids in determining the overall power of said abilities. Without going into the math, a character with a high max magicka will often do more damage or healing with magicka-based abilities than one with a smaller magicka pool. Staves work well with magicka-based characters, because of their ability to aid in magicka regeneration. Stamina works in a similar way. Your stamina, however, affects your physical, poison, bleed, and disease damage. Some healing abilities also use stamina. Like magicka, your max stamina also helps determine the power of its skills. The Sword and Shield, Dual Wield, Bow, and Two-Handed skill lines are all based on stamina.  

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