For the first nine months of playing Elder Scrolls Online, I had to force myself to play the game. But as I hit level 48 and approached the veteran levels, my attitude changed. I started exploring the game more, looking to see what I should accomplish in the final three months I planned to play the game. With approximately one month to go, I figure I will extend my stay in Tamriel another three months. Even then, I'm not sure I'll complete everything I want to do. I figured I'd put my remaining goals here to remind me of what I need to do.
PvE quest lines. I know, I'm still questing in the original game after 11 months. But I decided to do Caldwell's challenge and run through all three faction quest lines. I've completed the Daggerfall Covenant (I play a Breton) and the Aldmeri Dominion stories. Right now, I'm in Stonefells running through the faction story of the Ebonheart Pact. I should have that complete by the end of the current block of subscription time.
That leaves three expansions worth of PvE content to do. From what I gather, each expansion added a zone to the game. Morrowind added Morrowind, Summerset added Summerset Isle, and in June, Elsweyr will add Elsweyr. No, I don't plan on rolling up a warden or necromancer. I'll stick with my trusty healbot templar, thank you very much. But if I'm going to come this far, I might as well go all the way. After all, I did play Everquest 2 up until The Shadow Odyssey, which was the latest expansion up until that point. I think I will wind up doing the same with ESO.
As for the DLC, I've purchased the first four DLC pack from the Crown Store with the crowns I receive for subscribing to ESO Plus. Some of them don't appeal to me, but I think I'll wind up visiting The Imperial City and Orsinium. I'm not so sure about and Dark Brotherhood. But I think if I finish the main quest lines, I can say I've played most of the game.
PvP. Somehow I reached level 3 without ever entering a battleground or arena. I do have two reasons for trying the feature out. The first is the need to get the Aggressive Horn skill for my PvE build. The second, or course, is completeness. If I spend this much time in a game, then I need to at least explore PvP. Besides, alliance war and campaigns sounds interesting.
Gearing Up. Okay, okay, if I go around talking about how I played ESO, I want to at least claim to have worn decent gear. I'm aiming for the beginning gear setup for the Holy Light Templar build on Dottz Gaming. The gear requires a bunch of crafting and some dungeon running to get all the pieces I need. I've already bought the jewelry off a guild broker. I've almost gathered enough wood to make the two Torug's Pact staffs. I should have them made by the end of the weekend.
I also might try to get some good gear to PvP with. I'll have to look at the builds out on the internet to see if anything is compatible with my PvE build. Also, the odds go up if I find PvP worthwhile to play.
Skilling Up. With the One Tramriel patch, levels don't matter too much. The name of the game is skill points and, once level 50 is reached, veteran points. Skill points grant access to combat and crafting abilities. I still need to run some content to qualify for three active combat abilities in my wish list, which means I need six more, including morphs. I also need some more points for crafting. The rest will go into passive skills.
Part of skilling up will involve visiting as many delves as I can. Each delve contains a sky shard. Collect 3 sky shards and a character receives a skill point. Apart from select quests in each main storyline providing skill points, searching the single-player dungeons is the only way to get skill points for a character that has reached level 50.
Obtaining veterans points is pretty much the same thing as leveling. The passive boosts are nice and help a character finally feel powerful sometime around 160. The current veteran point cap is 810, although I'm sure the June expansion will raise that a bit. Will I go for the level cap? Depends on how bad the grind is and if I have accomplished the rest of my goals.
Crafting. Apart from EVE, I normally get into high level crafting in any MMORPG I play seriously. When I left EQ2, I had a max level character for every crafting profession. I may only have one character in ESO, but I'd like to reach level 50 in all crafting professions. I'm at level 50 in provisioning, alchemy, clothier, and woodworking. I am in the 40s in blacksmithing and enchanting, with my jewelry skills down below level 20.
Just like adventuring, crafting in ESO is about more than just a character's level. In order to create high quality weapons and armor sets, chara weacters also need to research and learn traits. For example, the Torug's Pact weapons I want to craft require knowledge of 3 or the 9 possible traits a weapon may possess. The Kagrenac's Hope set, on the other hand, not only requires knowing 8 traits for each piece of equipment, but completing the Fighters' Guild quest line as well. The Armor of the Seducer set I understand is good for PvP, so I may attempt to craft a set of that as well.
One aspect of ESO's crafting system I like is crafting writs. I have collected so much cooking and enchanting material that I can make a quick 1300 gold every time I log in with 5 minutes of work. I understand that once I reach level 50 and have the ability to craft really high quality items that there is a chance to receive master writs. The master writs provide a special currency with which to buy cool stuff, like my own private crafting stations.
Player Housing. Last, but not least, is player housing. Player housing, besides providing a cool place to call home, has two other advantages. The first is additional storage for stuff. So far, I've found the 180 slots in the bank, along with 170 slots in my personal inventory, plus the crafting component bag, sufficient. But one day I may want to just roam around every so often without paying for ESO Plus. I can add some magic boxes (my term) that allows the transfer of items between houses. And additional 360 inventory slots if I get all eight, even with the limitations, should hold me over, especially if I can craft from home.
Homes are also good because quick travel to them from anywhere is free. So if I decided to buy the Breton medium house in Rivenspire, I can travel there for free, then either use the nearby wayshrine or travel to another home. Setting up the logistics like this is something I kind of wish I had done earlier. I would have saved thousands in gold.
Of course, the ultimate reason for buying a home is to have a place to put all my stuff. The crafting stations for me are the ultimate reason for having a home, and the extra storage slots help as well. But what else could I find to display? I never was one to just leave my character standing around a major city. But putting special items on display in my home is something I can see myself doing.
Looking at the above list, I'd say I have a lot to do ahead of myself in ESO. I originally planned to stop playing in May and then switch over to Final Fantasy XIV for the Shadowbringers expansion in July. Instead, I think I'll wind up at least playing through the Morrowind, Summerset, and Elsweyr expansions before leaving Zenimax and moving over to Square Enix. After a rocky start, ESO has grown on me and I'm not quite ready to leave Tamriel yet.
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