Beta Weekend Impressions

With the NDA lifted, I will share my experiences with the ESO beta weekend.  I did not get to play as much as I would have liked and clocked around 12 hours of game time.

I decided to play a Templar (a max level of 12) and most of my time was spent theory crafting, trying different races, crafting, exploring, and grouping with a friend.  I listened to some quest dialogue, but I decided that I would not spoil too much for myself before the release.  I don't want to get too much into my personal opinions of the game because I thoroughly enjoyed it and am biased in that regard.  I just wish to share some information and opinions about things I did not realize when I began to play.  So if you are planning to play, hopefully I can tell you something you didn't know!

Leveling skills and weapons:

In order to level a skill it simply must be slotted.  You do not have to actively spam it to gain more experience.  The more skills you have slotted for a certain tree the faster it will level.  A prime example of use - You may want to heal later on in the game but during lower levels (1-10) healing is not necessary.  Slotting a Restoring Light ability will give you experience gains in the Restoring Light tree, unlocking other skills, but you are not required to use the ability each encounter.

Weapons work in similar fashion.  Having a weapon equipped gives you experience gain in that weapon tree, slotting a weapon skill increases that gain.  Use - You can use any weapon you want and benefit from leveling it without committing points to that tree.  This gives you the freedom to not invest early(1-4) in a weapon that you're not sure you want to use.  You may want to choose a weapon line by level 6 so that you can begin slotting those weapon skills.

When skills max out they have the ability to be morphed into one of two options.  It costs a skill point and afterwards you will continue to level the skill.  An un-morphed skill will not become as strong as a morphed skill that continues to level.  Leveling a skill or weapon will increase the output.  You want to make sure that skills you plan to use are always slotted to gain power.

Exploration and quests:

While the intro is relatively straight forward, you can benefit from exploration immediately afterwards.  There are quests, chests, skyshards, encounters (group and solo), public dungeons, lore books, skill books, gathering nodes, custom crafting tables, traveling vendors, sights to behold, and the occasional quirky NPC.  Discovery experience is an added benefit and a noticeable gain.

While quests are linear, there are few to none that are a single part.   Most are very long including multiple steps that are not in particular order or limited to; attaining items, using attained items, morality decisions, solo instance encounters, paying debts, traveling, and lengthy dialogue.  One quest contained over 5 minutes of dialogue, but listening to Kate Beckinsale was not something I struggled with.  The more steps a quest has, the more likely you are to receive a reward at the end.

Investing a skill point into the Mage's Guild "Persuasive Will" or the Fighters Guild "Intimidating Presence," is worthwhile early on as it will save you a fair bit of gold on some quests.

Dungeons and grouping:

There is group content in the world.  It is sparse but you will occasionally stumble upon a place that is marked with a skull and crossbones on your map.  This is difficult to solo but offers a good bit of challenge in a small party (2-3).  These places often have encounters that reward with achievements and occasionally a rare item.  I accomplished three of these places with a friend  and we discovered a purple bow(me) and purple destruction staff(him).  These items were bound to us.  I must also note that it was dangerous to be around people attempting to solo, when they died, we often found ourselves dying to their mishandled enemies.

You will be given access to your first dungeon at level 11.  It is extremely challenging at this level and probably better to aim for completing these dungeons around level 13 for a moderate challenge or waiting until level 15 for a safer delve.   My friend and I used the party finder to add two additional members to our first Dungeon experience. I don't think it either worked or was used by them as intended, but we ended up as a party of 3 Nightblades (13,12,12) and myself (12).  There were many bows and many arrows.  I would suggest if you use the party finder to mark yourself as your most confident role because it will automatically declare that you can do each role.  We managed to successfully kill a few bosses, but it was extremely chaotic and we could not complete the dungeon.

Combat:

Everyone has the ability to block regardless of weapon.  While blocking you may execute a bash attack that will interrupt casts. After blocking a heavy attack the enemy will become staggered and you are able to perform a knockdown using a heavy attack.  You can also use this same combination (right click hold + left click) to break yourself out of control effects (like knockdown, stun, disorient).   You will find this particularly useful because Elite mobs tend to block your heavy attacks, causing you to be staggered.  The block, bash, and control break cost stamina.  Practicing this early will help your resource management as you continue on.

In group situations some abilities provide synergies.  They are listed under the tool tip of the ability, so it is very beneficial to tell a friend or party what it does.  After using an ability with a synergy, a synergy notice will appear on a friendly players UI.  It is activated by pressing "X."  These are extremely powerful and should be used often in group play.  I'm not sure about the cost to activate a synergy from another player.  If you are actively grouping you will definitely want to have an ability that provides a synergy to your group!

Hope this is informative and helps you!  Feel free to ask questions.

See you in Tamriel