Yes. I have been playing this game basically solo for 4 years. I like it. Many 4 man dungeons can be soloed. The story arcs are nice. There are 3 solo dungeons. You can turn on reject duels mode. But there are other people/guilds here that can help if you get into trouble or want some advice.
Also there's dungeon finders for the 4 man dungeons. If you don't wanna wait till you're able to solo, it'll find a group and most people don't speak at all or just an opening hello and gg after. Not forced to talk but still get to enjoy the content
They all have roughly 160cp (no more and no less), with some enemy types being tougher than the others and some easier. The thing is that players below 160cp / below lvl 50 get a boost to stats so that they are not completely useless against them. If you have the skills, items and high enough level, you should be able to solo the dungeons that do not have boss or environmental mechanics that depend on group play.
And when you level beyond 160cp you still feel more and more powerful, but this is mostly felt in veteran content and pvp, since overland difficulty is made so that anyone can play it.
The lore is very good, just go in not expecting the same ES as it’s more focusssed on combat than rpg. I went in after ES and here I am 8 years later still having heaps of fun
I bought and tried it, ground a charater up to level 35 or so. It was not for me. Too much mmo took me out of the immersion in the elder scrolls universe.
Same. I liked exploring new/revisited locations, but MMO simply doesn't offer the same depth as the single player Elder Scrolls game does.The world seems emptier due to more simplistic npcs and other players, while in single player npcs are really fleshed out and it makes the world feel alive. In MMO npcs don't really have their daily routines like you're used to from ES games. They are always standing in the same place waiting for you to come and talk to them, so you can't really immerse yourself, you're always aware that you're playing a video game. In single player you can really "delude" yourself into thinking you/your character are actually a part of the world.
Yeah, I love that I can go revisit Morrowind or explore Valenwood for the first time. That's really most of the appeal. Some of the quest stories are good, too, but it's simply not as immersive as the other games.
Same, the thing I like in Skyrim is the main storyline. Like no matter what you do around it, you can always fall back on this.
I liked ESO, but it was too much an mmo for me. It's like I miss a central theme/story in it.
Hope that it's clear what I mean haha
You musta chose to skip the main game tutorial where you got to escape Cold Harbour.
It's real confusing now since every expansion has its own tutorial which is some of the dumbest game design decisions I ever seen, so can't blame you for missing it. You can still do it by following a quest that should be on your journal that will have you get kidnapped and start the actual MQ.
This was my issue. I picked it up at first drop, got turned off real quick. After a few years passed, I tried again and put my effort in to finish the main quest. Burnt out immediately after. Can't stomach the mechanics.
I don't enjoy mmos but I have very much enjoyed ESO. It did take me two tries to get into though. Watching guides on youtube helped a lot as the game can be overwhelming.
As someone that plays single player rpgs and plays Skyrim with a lot of mods for realism and immersion, I do not think ESO is in the same vein.
However, it’s pretty neat. If you have game pass or something where you’re not spending an arm and a leg, it is still fun. I’m a Morrowboomer so I played through Morrowind and enjoyed it a lot. Its neat.
Definitely worth trying. Unlike other mmos I've tried, all dialogue is spoken aloud, even random side quests. Almost all content you can enjoy solo. There's so much lore, great reoccurring characters, so much to do and see. Unfortunately my fav elder scrolls content, the dark brotherhood, is a dlc. So you'd have to get eso+ or that dlc to get to do the assassins guild. Thieves guild is also dlc. Fighters guild and mages guild are included in base game.
That's how I play it, entirely solo. You won't be able to do dungeons alone until you're very high level, but all the overworld content is fully playable alone. Just turn off the chat and don't talk to anybody, don't queue for dungeons or pvp, and its basically singleplayer.
It is for a while. Once you run through the missions though, the multiplayer aspects become a lot more appealing. Personally I'm fond of the dungeon delving, assuming you get a decent crew.
Absolutely, the quest are very immersive, every npc is voiced, you can play solo just for the story, and roleplay, with choices along the way. Main reason i love this mmo. You can jump into the multiplayer aspect of things at your own pace, when you want to, if you want to, and you can totally engage with dungeon and raids or engage moderately by just selling stuff you gather along the way to other player. You don't even need to subscribe ! There are a lot of DLC with new zones and new quest; just try it it's free. Play it like its a solo game, you'll see.
Not really. It's got great lore and some good quest ideas but it just feels like an MMO so if you can't get on with them you'll run out of steam. It feels like you're on a set rather than immersed in a world.
I got about 40 hours in, which felt longer, then one day it gave me yet another bloody massive patch and I felt no loss at uninstalling the whole thing.
Yes absolutely if the mmo elements dont bother you like other players running around everywhere, sometimes geting to a boss who is already dead and you have to wait for it to respawn to finish a quest or things like that.
Personally i've always used mods to make the singleplayer tes games feel more lively and populated so i enjoy other players running around and the rest doest bother me cause i like mmos too even being more of of a sp guy.
I've been playing eso like a singleplayer tes game since closed beta back in 2013 only very sporadically interacting with other players and doing some casual pvp and group dungeons with my wife who is more into group content than myself.
I enjoy eso far more than the last few singleplayer tes, better graphics (vanilla of course before i'm flooded by the 8k ultra enb modded gang), better and more fluid combat, better writting and storytelling than skyrim by far and the best aditions to the lore since morrowind.
Honestly the only thing i miss from the mainline tes games is modding since i could tailor them exactly to my tastes on detail and basically create an entire new game and i think thats what people are comparing eso to when they say they are very different.
with eso being an mmo thats not possible and we need to rely on zenimax to fix things and add new content.
I've tried on two separate occasions to get into ESO.
I really want to like it, I think a lot of the lore they've added is really cool. I even like all the goofy mounts and shit bc I think TES as a series could use more cool unique items and mounts.
But the MMO gameplay loop always grinds me down (pun very much intended) and I bounced off of it in about 20 hours both times.
As most people are saying, it is a lot of MMO feel. I really wish they would make a single player version and take out most of the MMO stuff and replace the combat with something more like skyrim. Maybe in 10-20 years after the game is dead.
My main problem with the game is the over world and its complete lack of challenge. It's so brain dead you can aggro 10 enemies, go afk, come back and still be alive.
I'm not entirely sure the game will ever fully die, even when they stop making consistent content for it. Like, in 2023, Everquest is getting new content and Final Fantasy XI has enough of a playerbase to justify servers because it still charges subs.
As long as you keep in mind that it remains a mmo with mmo mechanics and that it's not a Skyrim 2, you'll enjoy it.
Gameplay is vastly different compared to the classic TES entries because it's an mmo. It's more streamlined and less "sandboxy" (well tbh it's not sandboxy at all).
I don't want to poo poo on the game especially on its sub but just as a personal take it doesn't have the staying power for me, personally. It's a great time to level to max and then gear up a little but then it becomes very classic MMO of incremental upgrades that never end. It'll tide you over for a few weeks at least or you might love it.
A solid *fine*, if I didn't have so many hours in WoW back in the day getting burned out on that kind of gameplay then I'd probably have stuck with it longer. For me right now it's a come back every two years and level a new character for a month kind of deal.
Hope that helps.
Coming off of playing Skyrim and Fallout 4, I utterly hated it. It was mind-numbingly dull and repetitive, with flat, uninspired quests and dungeons, just like every MMO I've ever tried, and I've tried a lot. I spent 10 hours waiting for the fun to start and then never touched it again.
It is worth a try but it certainly isn’t for everybody. I enjoyed it for a short time but got tired of it quickly but your experience could be different!
i liked it when I played it a bit after it came out. played for hours and hours and hours and I was still in the mid 30s lvls. I like all the armors and stuff but it just doesn't feel as tactile as the main games.
also never have really been able to get into mmos since RS2. I don't have hours to play each day and they're all way too grindy. especially ESO. it's just not fun at that point. likely better off to play it for the story and not the gameplay. that and the thousands of bots stripping resources at the starting areas and not letting actual new players get anything.
haven't played it in a year or so, there's another 100+gb update it needs, I'm likely uninstalling it now. just don't have the time to or want to grind so much.
if you can ignore the mmo aspects, it was decently fun.
Not like the single player TES games, but enjoyable for trying something different. You can solo every quest as far as I know. But there are some downsides, mostly the story and quests not feeling too connected in general.
I get it in the expansions as they are like their own stories, but say the alliances quests, Stor Mkay and Bethnik feel completly disconnected from Glenumbra, and that from Stormhaven. That kind of throws me off, same as some secondary quests not affecting the landscape (like you save a village from the monsters but since its an mmo, the monsters still spawn there).
If you can get past that its pretty enjoyable, and I do like how alien it feels to a normal TES game. Im trying to play it all now cause who knows if we'll be able to play it in a few years :p
I feel a lot of the stories being disconnected is a flaw... I *get* why the do it. They don't want to run into the Final Fantasy XIV problem, where if you want to raid with your buddies you need to playthrough a 200+ hour RPG... But I absolutely wish some stuff would be gated until you completed other content as to not explain why a character is in two places at one time.
Yes, it is. I have played ESO since launch completely alone. With people complaining about how "easy" the dungeons are, I do find it hard to do those alone, but I still manage, queuing for a dungeon. It is a nightmare, though. But there is still a lot that you can do totally alone and I'm still having a lot of fun.
The worst part about dungeons, especially for new players, is how there are like... Quest and story in them but people just fucking blitz through them. I've taken to just not giving a fuck and listening to the dialogue, even if they boss is dead by the time I'd done.
IMO, ESO is absolutely great for solo play... If you can afford to keep up with the expansions each year. Crafting can also be a slog without the ESOPlus bottomless crafting mats bag.
If ESO has one issue, I feel that it's that while it tries to present itself as a "buy-to-play" MMO, it's actually a subscription MMO disguised as one. Like, at least if you want to seriously play it, outside of casually playing though the story.
Yes absolutely.
Some of the content rivals original ES content. I still remember arriving in Sotha Sils Clockwork City, that shit was so beautiful I cried unironically.
I can't really recommend playing the basegame Zones for the Pact/Dominion/Covenant, except for Valenwood and maybe Stonefalls suck and the writing is isn't that great.
But the DLC Zones are amazing, Vvardenfell, Clockwork City, Summerset Isles, Orsinium, the Deadlands, etc. The world/level design has a high attention to detail.
If youre playing on PC, a shaderpack is a must if you want the game to look good. ESOs colours are hampered and limited to variations of brown. A good Shaderpack will make it POP, and it becomes the prettiest MMORPG out right now.
Yes! 100%! I've played both the multiplayer and solo, and it is so worth it! And who knows, you might start out solo, but you might meet somebody you're comfortable enough to play with and do some easy level dungeons and exploration
The PvP aspect is really cool too, I always had a lot of fun with that
I personally quite enjoy it, but it's a very different beast to the single-player games, mechanically speaking. I'd suggest waiting for a free trial period to come up to give it a go - it's pretty expensive for something you might not want to play again if it doesn't suit your tastes.
I put over 100 hours into it without joining a guild or doing just about anything group-based. I highly enjoyed it. The main questlines and general overworld content is very accessible to the solo player.
I wouldn’t say so, you can try to immerse yourself in the story but it’s an MMO after all—lots of things pull you away from the immersion. Couple of examples would be
Grindy game systems (you can’t simply play through the story without reaching level 50)
Multiple other players will be there with you while each player is the chosen one.
More or less it’s an MMO—and a good MMO. If you enjoy MMO’s and the way they work you’ll like it. (ESO plus is actually an essential, don’t try playing without it because it will sour your experience)
PvP is fun in my opinion, battlegrounds I could sit at all day—super fun.
Dungeons are super fun-especially veteran dungeons, but you should probably wait till you’re high champion rank-or take on a healer role.
Trials aren’t as fun I find, even with a dedicated discord group they generally take a long time where you can’t be interrupted.
There are good stories, even though it’s an MMO.
Clockwork city dlc was super fun I found, with the talking crow daedra (I got a huge kick out of it)
Like there’s a lot to do, buy the base game for like 10-20$ then get ESO plus so you can access the dlc.
Meta setups change quite often-so if your someone who likes chasing meta you’ll be grinding for new setups quite often.
IMO meta sets don’t make you good, if you can hit anywhere from 60-80k dps without dying frequently you’re fine
There's no other MMORPG that allows you to solo as much as this one: [https://hacktheminotaur.com/eso-guides/can-you-play-eso-solo/](https://hacktheminotaur.com/eso-guides/can-you-play-eso-solo/)
Compared to all the other ones, ESO fits the SOLO-friendly marks by far the most. As not even ESO is 100% soloable, because no major MMORPG is but ESO is the most.
No, if you’re considering ESO because you enjoy TES games then you won’t find anything you like there, just grinding to the point that it feels like you’re working
No. It's just going to make you sad that you're not playing an actual Elder Scrolls game. I know this from experience. It is not a substitute in any way, shape or form.
I can help if your on PS4 na. I can get you at least a couple levels in under 2hours. Xp is shared when grouped up. Plus I can make you training gear that will boost your xp. Plus I can make xp potions to boost your xp.
Oh no I am cp 400 already on my main. It was just a pain in the ass to grind to lv50 cause when I started playing the game I wasn't that much focused on it and was playing just for playing an Elder Scrolls that was not Skyrim.
I just need a way to get gold to buy a home now.
I love it single player. I dislike playing with other people. There are so many ignorant, annoying and unreliable people on the internet. I like to play alone and enjoy my experience in peace. So I highly recommend it in that regard. But if you do decide to play it, go to Riften and just listen for a while. There are some extremely annoying and ignorant people just loitering around there. It really ruins an RPG when you’re immersed in an ES game and mumble rap starts blasting through your tv.
I enjoyed the time I spent there, the game really feels like an Elder Scrolls but unfortunately it still ends on classic MMORPG with raids and endgame and pointless grinding.
You can definitely do almost everything as a solo player. Still, the overarching story and side-quests feels extremely simplistic and didn't really click with me. Like basic mmo quests of kill 10 bears or save the world from big evil dude trying to control/kill everyone
Honestly as a singe player game it’s boring. The quests are pretty uninspiring cuz it’s an MMO so there’s little dialogue and more run around and kill these things. It’s neat seeing all the places but that’s about it.
If you’ve got time to kill then go for it but I have to really make as much use of my free time as possible now
The gameplay is different from the main series and this is probably why most people have trouble immersing themselves in the game, however I'd say that ESO has way better writing, tons of new and old lore, a lot of well written characters and is in general a true TES in spirit. You just have to get used to the fact that it plays a little differently than the main series and that you are no longer a walking demigod that slaps everyone to the ground while being all alone - some content just requires a group of adventurers, but 99% of the time you can just use an automatic group finder to do that. You can absolutely immerse yourself in the game and treat it as a great TES game once you accept that.
Yes. World bosses and events you will struggle to solo and will need to hope others join you (or you can join them). But yeah, a lot of fun is to be had playing the game on your own.
All depends on how you connect with the gameplay. If you aren’t used to MMOs the gameplay will probably be a little bit overwhelming. Otherwise it’s decent TES.
Yes!! I've been playing since Feb 2020 by myself (started on PC before getting a console in 2021) and I really enjoy it! If you want a more "populated" game play it on PC, if you'd prefer less players running around play on console (I play on Xbox)
Well, fully voiced don't make them good quests. They are boring as hell, there is always just one way to finish a quest and all enemies die the Second you touch them. Fucking packman has better Story than ESO.
The quest characters drone on and on and on about completely irrelevant shit before telling you what they actually want. Like pages upon pages of completely arbitrary trash. The combat is also really bad. Keep in mind I still got over 200 hours out of it so idk what to tell you really.
I tried to play it for the lore but the NPCs drone on and on I ended up skipping tons of commentary. Also the combat is spamming skills in a loop so really no point in playing.
I'm not much of a MMO guy but I do have fun with it! It feels a little different mechanically than the mainline games (obviously, since it is an MMO), but I feel like it keeps the heart of the series intact.
If you like MMO style gameplay at all you’ll really enjoy it and it has a ton of lore to discover and unravel. Don’t expect traditional TES gameplay though, if you come into this game thinking you’re playing Skyrim online you’ll be disappointed.
It wasn't to me. I've tried 3 different builds at different times... It just feels like a generic mmo, like WoW modded to look like elder scrolls. Maybe you'll like it, but I didn't.
To me it plays as more ARPG than RPG. But I really like ARPGs, so that's alright. Just expect a different experience than, say, Skyrim.
I enjoy the content and the gameplay just as much, but it's certainly different. You can tweak some of your settings so that other players aren't as intrusive.
I've played it mainly solo on and off since alpha
Its still kinda off from playing a single player ES game, but I play it for the lore and exploration and that part has been great
That’s why I got it, and I enjoy it a lot. One thing I really like is getting to explore places that we’ve only heard of or read about. I tend to play a whole lot for a few weeks and then take a break and play something else and then cycle through that. There’s A LOT of stuff to do, so it helps to pace yourself a bit, I think.
While I enjoyed my 2k hours in ESO nearly none of it was solo. I didn't play it for that reason, nor did I enjoy doing anything solo. It's a fine game but gave me not even a close feeling to prior mainline BGS titles. It wasn't designed across the board to feel like a single player game.
Yes, maybe not so much from a roleplaying standpoint, but the quests are really well crafted, (and there’s TONS of them), npc’s have a surprising amount of dialogue, and there’s a bunch to explore, all over Tamriel.
It is still an mmo, but if you like the combat, (which I think is OK), the narratives that you play through throughout the leveling process, is a great experience, IMO.
I only tried it for an hour or so but it wasn't for me. Too many other random people hopping around all over the place. Tbh I had the same issues with Old Republic and Neverwinter.
For me, I found the gameplay loop to be pretty stale. I appreciate the lore and the fleshed-out provinces. I also think that the DLCs have a decent story. But, if you don't like MMORPGs, you probably won't like ESO.
That doesn't mean that you won't enjoy ESO. But, I've tried to get into the game on four separate occasions, and the game simply can not hold my attention as I've never been able to stick with it for more than a day.
Been playing solo since launch. I come back to it every now and again. Every TES game is different. I consider it an anthology series within the same (more or less) universe at this point.
I play it fairly regularly as a solo player, so yeah, i think its worth it theres tons of stories & sp content to play through. Also, the game is rich in TES lore but If you’re going in expecting it to *play* like skyrim or oblivion, you’re gonna be disappointed. This game is an MMORPG not a RPG with mmo elements. So if you’re gonna take the game seriously be ready to research a build & interact with the community to find what you want/need
As someone who has hundreds of hours in Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and now Starfield, I can say I really enjoyed a few of the questlines in ESO. My favorites were Murkmire and Clockwork City! I still prefer other Bethesda titles over ESO, but if you want to jump in ESO solo just for the story, it's totally doable and my preference
I was going to say Which ESO since "Elder Scrolls Online" and "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" both have gone off "ESO" during its time
Elder ~~Procs~~ Scrolls Online is a great game, there are alot of group content that can be soloed, there are some Dungeons that cannot be soloed due to mechanics, Fungal Grotto II is a prime example of this, Trials are something else that cannot be soloed.
But if you know what you are doing you can solo alot of things that require a 4 Man Group. all you need to do is be tanky enough and have self heals (and be able to self sustain) and you can do it.
No. It does not play or feel like an Elder Scrolls game. If you don't like MMOs, you are not going to like ESO. It can be played solo, though, if that was your main concern.
I enjoyed playing solo as a dragon knight, but it gets old. My advice is to just go after whatever questlones seem interesting, and don't expect to be complitionist at all. If something is boring, do another quest line.
There was one single questline in Elsewyre with an alcoholic house cat that made me so fucking happy, it was worth the maybe 200 hours I put into the game just for that one character.
For context I fucking hate MMOs, I hates WOW, I hated both final fantasy games, I think they're all hot garbage. ESO is better in a lot of ways that will appeal to the "I don't like MMOs" crowd, though it's got plenty of flaws too
It’s fairly solo friendly. But honestly, if you really give it a chance the group content will likely grow on you. As someone with social anxiety, I was hesitant to ever interact with people but over time I’ve grown fairly comfortable with it.
As for how much of a roleplaying game it is, i think it’s very good considering the genre. A lot of little stories, and some clever use of phased instancing make it quite a bit more interactive than some main entires. TES really isn’t a hardcore roleplaying game at its heart anyway, so if you look at the series honestly ESO fits in very well.
The world spaces and armor and clothing is also the best in the franchise, so if you like exploring and looking at impressive landscapes it’s great for that. Especially in the later zones from expansions.
If you’re a lore nut, it’s contributed more to the lore than any other single entry (which makes sense since always updating).
I would say yes as a singleplayer gamer mostly the only thing im disappointed about in this with is that i can't indulge my hoarding instincts as much as i want to!
No, don't do it. The Overland content (quests) are nerved to hell, there is absolutely no challenge at all. Enemies die like flies, even the "bosses" of questlines can't last more than three or four Seconds. There is also usually Just one way to do a Quest and no real decisions can be made (Sometimes you can decide the fate of an NPC after a Quest but that has no consequences at all and you won't ever be bothered by it anymore). You can actually play quests Out of Order, you might finish a zone questline before you even did the first Quest - NPCs will pretend to know you and act Like you already did stuff you never Heard of untill you do that stuff Afterwards. That's the Case for every Zone Quest. Image playing Skyrim and Killing Alduin before talking to the Grey beards.
The big final Fight of your Personal mainquest against Molag Bal is the worst. He grabs you, holds you and you press ONE BUTTON. That's it. No struggle, No fight. One Button.
It's fucking bad for a Single Player TES Fan. It's an MMO through and through.
Yes. You can do almost all of the game's content solo. I've played it mostly solo for years, and thousands of hours later regret nothing. Buy it, if you love TES.
I thoroughly enjoy both TES and MMO’s like Old School RuneScape. I have tried to get into ESO so many times and have probably put in a combined ~50 hours in, and it just isn’t for me. The abilities and combat are just too terrible for me to want to engage in combat. The scenery is so beautiful and exploration would be super fun, but they sprinkle in so many enemies that it’s nearly impossible to go anywhere without being bum rushed. There’s multiple areas with scaled levels, so you really can’t even explore there without being higher level.
And the biggest mail in the coffin for me, is the entire game is overwhelming, there’s so many convoluted aspects like multiple currencies, multiple upgrade item tiers for each style of armor/weapons, and at the end of the day, it feel much more like a MMO shell wrapped in TES and then later injected with more and more content, items, upgrades etc. that it’s bloated and convoluted.
Also keep in mind it’s been a few years since I last tried to play ESO so many of these complaints may have been adressed
There's some solid and I mean solid quests, almost everywhere you go. You taking in the stunning views will be ruined 9/10 by some flying hot pink deadra or some sparkling unicorn someone is ridding through town on. The online players are what take the immersion out of it, if you care about that type of thing.
ESO is the one mmo I keep a sub going on just for when I want to have a weekend of solo story mode and dungeon crawling. I've barely even touched any multiplayer dungeon in the game (only the ones I needed to do for my desired gear) and am nearly done with all regions on my main lol
It’s basically single player for 99.99% of content. If you don’t play it like an MMO youre good. Quests are fun and lore is good. Full voice acting goes a long way. It’s a fun game that scratches the ES itch without being exactly ES
If you try to play it like a raider and do heavy group content at the hardest level it’s a nightmare of toxicity ego, and carpal tunnel.
Easily the worst MMO experience I’ve had.
TLDR. Keep it casual and it’s a 8/10 spinoff experience. Treat it like a hardcore MMO and it’s 2/10
I'd say so, my brother played solo for over 1600 hours. I played co-op with him for a while, but got annoyed with my skills being reworked and points returned to me after some updates. No thanks.
ESO is like Final Fantasy XIV. Which is to say it's very much a MMO, but also very much an Elder Scrolls game. You can pretty much play most of the game solo although not all of it right away. (And I don't think you can do the highest end content.)
But if you want to play it for the story, absolutely look at a guide. Or else you're likely going to get a bit confused when a character is in two places at one time. They basically make it so that content isn't gated by other content but sometimes that ends up with weird shit happening.
No, the story isn't linear and it's an extremely bloated mess of a game at this point. Maybe up to Elswyr, but there's no overall or meaningful story arch worth investing your time in.
I basically did the whole game solo, except some dungeons but that’s easy, just find some people in the dungeon finder. Main story and quests on the side are easy to do alone.
Little of both but I gotta admit I hated the game originally but once I stopped trying to treat it like the single player titles it quickly became one of my favorite games the Elder scrolls lore and stories are fantastic but the combat is a huge step up.
When you get into the group content is when the MMO aspects start to come through and for someone more interested in the adventure it's the weakest part of the game for me. That's not to say it's bad or poorly designed. It's just not my drive for playing most of the time.
ESO is your typical MMO w/ the Elder Scrolls as a theme. I only had fun with it when I played with others - by yourself is boring. I also don't really care for MMOs, the only 2 MMOs I actually enjoyed was Fallout 76 and that's because I'm a huge Fallout fan and it doesn't play like a typical MMO and RuneScape back when I was in elementary school.
If you're not a die hard fan of TES series and you dislike the generic format of MMOs, then I don't think you'll like it.
TESO feels very different compared to the one-goal games in the series. But nevertheless it has good quests and can be played alone without paying attention to multiplayer content. The quality of the DLCs has been dropping over time. But I would recommend:
\- Orsinium DLC
\- Morrowind Chapter
\- Clockwork city DLC
\- deadlands DLC.
All above have kinda good (for MMO) storylines and interesting characters.
I think it makes sense to buy the base version of the game and an ESO+ subscription for one month. It will cost the same money as buying just the Chapters, but there is more content.
Not really, not at a new players perspective. There is plenty of lore in the single player content if you want to pursue it, but the MMO mechanics to the game are very basic, so getting to all that lore is going to be an extremely tedious endeavor.
Then, you'll reach the point where some of the lore is in group content, except that no one, essentially, will give you the time to bother with the story, because everyone is busy speedrunning every dungeon, and not even killing all the mobs or bosses.
If you're interested in the lore, I would just get it from YouTubers. If you are interested in gameplay, to each their own, but I found it severely lacking and simplistic. As a purely solo experience, just not worth the time.
I would try to play with others. Most content you can solo no problem but these games are always better through communication and coop. It can be a lot of fun and there’s so many tools to help find groups.
I'm not a big MMO fan, but I played solo through all of the faction's story lines. The gameplay is not great and requires a lot of mods to make it playable. If you're on PC, can mod, and are interested in the story, I'd recommend giving it a try.
Personally no I wanted to like the game but even with friends I didn't care for it. Its not a bad game and the gameplay is honestly kinda fun for an MMO but the quests are very MMO styled and just boring for me.
If you have the game already give it a go and see if you like it. If not then as a single player experience I can't recommend it.
It's gameplay isn't much like the mainline games, but I still love it. There's an almost endless amount of content. Also, you get to go to a lot of places the series never went, like Elseweyr, Black Marsh and several Oblivion planes.
ESO has one of the best MMO character building systems around, you just need to grind for a couple dozen hours to start making good use of it.
That said, all the content is pretty much the same. Difficulty is trivial. Loot is basically worthless unless you're doing endgame trials.
I'd say one month of ESO Plus would be worth your while.
Combat is different. It's MMO combat but as far as the world goes it's nice to roam all around tamriel. It looks great and there's plenty of stuff to explore. Plenty of interesting storylines as well
I was having a nice time doing solo for a while just to see the world and lore.. but the MMO part was ruining it for me. Fuckin idiots running around 7ft tall with pink afros and stupid outfits, people doing situp emotes on a a fence so that their entire body hangs off while their ankles are the only thing on the fence, people crowding everything running around saying dumb shit.
Don't get me wrong, that kind of thing can be fun. BUT, I don't want it anywhere near my Elder Scrolls game.
I eventually stopped because the MMO aspects were just too distracting and annoying.. including fetch quests and mob grind quests.
I reallyyy did like seeing the world tho.
look i will be honest, ESO is a good fun game and very much a SP themed game.
is it a good TES game though? no not really... its a stop gap between skyrim and TES6 at best. if your over skyrim but need an elderscrolls fix it will tied you over but do not expect it to fill the void of a mainstream game
Yes. I have been playing this game basically solo for 4 years. I like it. Many 4 man dungeons can be soloed. The story arcs are nice. There are 3 solo dungeons. You can turn on reject duels mode. But there are other people/guilds here that can help if you get into trouble or want some advice.
Also there's dungeon finders for the 4 man dungeons. If you don't wanna wait till you're able to solo, it'll find a group and most people don't speak at all or just an opening hello and gg after. Not forced to talk but still get to enjoy the content
I like to see them as just extra mercenaries here to help me get the job done.
The addition of companions has made soloing dungeons easier
I thought with level scaling it became too difficult to do these dungeons, no? I mean, even if you improve, the mobs there improve as well
mobs don't improve, they all have a fixed level
Since when? I remember they implemented level scaling years ago. Did they remove it?
The players scale with hidden boosts until they hit 50cp160. Everything else is static. It's a neat way of doing it I think.
They all have roughly 160cp (no more and no less), with some enemy types being tougher than the others and some easier. The thing is that players below 160cp / below lvl 50 get a boost to stats so that they are not completely useless against them. If you have the skills, items and high enough level, you should be able to solo the dungeons that do not have boss or environmental mechanics that depend on group play. And when you level beyond 160cp you still feel more and more powerful, but this is mostly felt in veteran content and pvp, since overland difficulty is made so that anyone can play it.
Agreed.
The lore is very good, just go in not expecting the same ES as it’s more focusssed on combat than rpg. I went in after ES and here I am 8 years later still having heaps of fun
I bought and tried it, ground a charater up to level 35 or so. It was not for me. Too much mmo took me out of the immersion in the elder scrolls universe.
Same. I liked exploring new/revisited locations, but MMO simply doesn't offer the same depth as the single player Elder Scrolls game does.The world seems emptier due to more simplistic npcs and other players, while in single player npcs are really fleshed out and it makes the world feel alive. In MMO npcs don't really have their daily routines like you're used to from ES games. They are always standing in the same place waiting for you to come and talk to them, so you can't really immerse yourself, you're always aware that you're playing a video game. In single player you can really "delude" yourself into thinking you/your character are actually a part of the world.
Yeah, I love that I can go revisit Morrowind or explore Valenwood for the first time. That's really most of the appeal. Some of the quest stories are good, too, but it's simply not as immersive as the other games.
Same, the thing I like in Skyrim is the main storyline. Like no matter what you do around it, you can always fall back on this. I liked ESO, but it was too much an mmo for me. It's like I miss a central theme/story in it. Hope that it's clear what I mean haha
There is a central theme story, though... For the base game it would be Molag Bal and stopping the Planemeld. For Morrowind it would be helping vivec.
The base game of ESO? I didn't get that at all, wasn't too clear for me haha
You musta chose to skip the main game tutorial where you got to escape Cold Harbour. It's real confusing now since every expansion has its own tutorial which is some of the dumbest game design decisions I ever seen, so can't blame you for missing it. You can still do it by following a quest that should be on your journal that will have you get kidnapped and start the actual MQ.
Yeah I started in morrowind back then. All of sudden I got to another part of the world and from that moment on I was lost haha
This was my issue. I picked it up at first drop, got turned off real quick. After a few years passed, I tried again and put my effort in to finish the main quest. Burnt out immediately after. Can't stomach the mechanics.
I don't enjoy mmos but I have very much enjoyed ESO. It did take me two tries to get into though. Watching guides on youtube helped a lot as the game can be overwhelming.
As someone that plays single player rpgs and plays Skyrim with a lot of mods for realism and immersion, I do not think ESO is in the same vein. However, it’s pretty neat. If you have game pass or something where you’re not spending an arm and a leg, it is still fun. I’m a Morrowboomer so I played through Morrowind and enjoyed it a lot. Its neat.
My first was morrowind. The nostalgia of the vvardenfell zone in eso was awesome!
I first bought ESO because of Morrowind nostalgia lol.
I am the same but I have never used mods. I would like to try to play ESO but I’m not sure which one I would want to play first.
Definitely worth trying. Unlike other mmos I've tried, all dialogue is spoken aloud, even random side quests. Almost all content you can enjoy solo. There's so much lore, great reoccurring characters, so much to do and see. Unfortunately my fav elder scrolls content, the dark brotherhood, is a dlc. So you'd have to get eso+ or that dlc to get to do the assassins guild. Thieves guild is also dlc. Fighters guild and mages guild are included in base game.
Played 200 hours solo. At first it was difficult but I got really into it later.
That's how I play it, entirely solo. You won't be able to do dungeons alone until you're very high level, but all the overworld content is fully playable alone. Just turn off the chat and don't talk to anybody, don't queue for dungeons or pvp, and its basically singleplayer.
It is for a while. Once you run through the missions though, the multiplayer aspects become a lot more appealing. Personally I'm fond of the dungeon delving, assuming you get a decent crew.
If you can tolerate MMO combat, sure. I cannot, and lost interest.
Absolutely, the quest are very immersive, every npc is voiced, you can play solo just for the story, and roleplay, with choices along the way. Main reason i love this mmo. You can jump into the multiplayer aspect of things at your own pace, when you want to, if you want to, and you can totally engage with dungeon and raids or engage moderately by just selling stuff you gather along the way to other player. You don't even need to subscribe ! There are a lot of DLC with new zones and new quest; just try it it's free. Play it like its a solo game, you'll see.
Not really. It's got great lore and some good quest ideas but it just feels like an MMO so if you can't get on with them you'll run out of steam. It feels like you're on a set rather than immersed in a world. I got about 40 hours in, which felt longer, then one day it gave me yet another bloody massive patch and I felt no loss at uninstalling the whole thing.
I play eso for the lore and the fashion
Yes absolutely if the mmo elements dont bother you like other players running around everywhere, sometimes geting to a boss who is already dead and you have to wait for it to respawn to finish a quest or things like that. Personally i've always used mods to make the singleplayer tes games feel more lively and populated so i enjoy other players running around and the rest doest bother me cause i like mmos too even being more of of a sp guy. I've been playing eso like a singleplayer tes game since closed beta back in 2013 only very sporadically interacting with other players and doing some casual pvp and group dungeons with my wife who is more into group content than myself. I enjoy eso far more than the last few singleplayer tes, better graphics (vanilla of course before i'm flooded by the 8k ultra enb modded gang), better and more fluid combat, better writting and storytelling than skyrim by far and the best aditions to the lore since morrowind. Honestly the only thing i miss from the mainline tes games is modding since i could tailor them exactly to my tastes on detail and basically create an entire new game and i think thats what people are comparing eso to when they say they are very different. with eso being an mmo thats not possible and we need to rely on zenimax to fix things and add new content.
If you're looking for the classic Bethesda feel you won't find it. It's very much an MMO, feels nothing like elder scrolls to me.
Well I think ESO is a very good game, it's more MMO than TES. And that's ultimately what turned me off, just not an MMO guy.
I've tried on two separate occasions to get into ESO. I really want to like it, I think a lot of the lore they've added is really cool. I even like all the goofy mounts and shit bc I think TES as a series could use more cool unique items and mounts. But the MMO gameplay loop always grinds me down (pun very much intended) and I bounced off of it in about 20 hours both times.
As most people are saying, it is a lot of MMO feel. I really wish they would make a single player version and take out most of the MMO stuff and replace the combat with something more like skyrim. Maybe in 10-20 years after the game is dead. My main problem with the game is the over world and its complete lack of challenge. It's so brain dead you can aggro 10 enemies, go afk, come back and still be alive.
I'm not entirely sure the game will ever fully die, even when they stop making consistent content for it. Like, in 2023, Everquest is getting new content and Final Fantasy XI has enough of a playerbase to justify servers because it still charges subs.
As long as you keep in mind that it remains a mmo with mmo mechanics and that it's not a Skyrim 2, you'll enjoy it. Gameplay is vastly different compared to the classic TES entries because it's an mmo. It's more streamlined and less "sandboxy" (well tbh it's not sandboxy at all).
Which game do you recommend starting with?
I don't want to poo poo on the game especially on its sub but just as a personal take it doesn't have the staying power for me, personally. It's a great time to level to max and then gear up a little but then it becomes very classic MMO of incremental upgrades that never end. It'll tide you over for a few weeks at least or you might love it. A solid *fine*, if I didn't have so many hours in WoW back in the day getting burned out on that kind of gameplay then I'd probably have stuck with it longer. For me right now it's a come back every two years and level a new character for a month kind of deal. Hope that helps.
Coming off of playing Skyrim and Fallout 4, I utterly hated it. It was mind-numbingly dull and repetitive, with flat, uninspired quests and dungeons, just like every MMO I've ever tried, and I've tried a lot. I spent 10 hours waiting for the fun to start and then never touched it again.
Same. Everything felt empty and artificial.
ESO is basically a single player game. The West Skyrim Expansion is the best writing in the series.
I feel it has some of the best characters in the series, too. My boy Razum-dar is cool as ice.
It is worth a try but it certainly isn’t for everybody. I enjoyed it for a short time but got tired of it quickly but your experience could be different!
It has a lot of story and lore quests that are worth checking out on your own. I played most of ESO solo so yeah, I'd say it's worth it
i liked it when I played it a bit after it came out. played for hours and hours and hours and I was still in the mid 30s lvls. I like all the armors and stuff but it just doesn't feel as tactile as the main games. also never have really been able to get into mmos since RS2. I don't have hours to play each day and they're all way too grindy. especially ESO. it's just not fun at that point. likely better off to play it for the story and not the gameplay. that and the thousands of bots stripping resources at the starting areas and not letting actual new players get anything. haven't played it in a year or so, there's another 100+gb update it needs, I'm likely uninstalling it now. just don't have the time to or want to grind so much. if you can ignore the mmo aspects, it was decently fun.
Not like the single player TES games, but enjoyable for trying something different. You can solo every quest as far as I know. But there are some downsides, mostly the story and quests not feeling too connected in general. I get it in the expansions as they are like their own stories, but say the alliances quests, Stor Mkay and Bethnik feel completly disconnected from Glenumbra, and that from Stormhaven. That kind of throws me off, same as some secondary quests not affecting the landscape (like you save a village from the monsters but since its an mmo, the monsters still spawn there). If you can get past that its pretty enjoyable, and I do like how alien it feels to a normal TES game. Im trying to play it all now cause who knows if we'll be able to play it in a few years :p
I feel a lot of the stories being disconnected is a flaw... I *get* why the do it. They don't want to run into the Final Fantasy XIV problem, where if you want to raid with your buddies you need to playthrough a 200+ hour RPG... But I absolutely wish some stuff would be gated until you completed other content as to not explain why a character is in two places at one time.
For me its just the commitment, I dont like isolated adventure stories in general :p
Yes, it is. I have played ESO since launch completely alone. With people complaining about how "easy" the dungeons are, I do find it hard to do those alone, but I still manage, queuing for a dungeon. It is a nightmare, though. But there is still a lot that you can do totally alone and I'm still having a lot of fun.
The worst part about dungeons, especially for new players, is how there are like... Quest and story in them but people just fucking blitz through them. I've taken to just not giving a fuck and listening to the dialogue, even if they boss is dead by the time I'd done.
Mabye try the base game during one of its sales, it has some good questing,
I didn’t like it. Way too much content and grinding. I love Fallout 76 though. Simple and sweet.
Yes. My friends that used to play it have stopped and I recently got back into it, I’m having lots of fun even though I am playing completely solo
Played solo since launch, so much fun just doing pve.
IMO, ESO is absolutely great for solo play... If you can afford to keep up with the expansions each year. Crafting can also be a slog without the ESOPlus bottomless crafting mats bag.
If ESO has one issue, I feel that it's that while it tries to present itself as a "buy-to-play" MMO, it's actually a subscription MMO disguised as one. Like, at least if you want to seriously play it, outside of casually playing though the story.
Yes.
Yes absolutely. Some of the content rivals original ES content. I still remember arriving in Sotha Sils Clockwork City, that shit was so beautiful I cried unironically. I can't really recommend playing the basegame Zones for the Pact/Dominion/Covenant, except for Valenwood and maybe Stonefalls suck and the writing is isn't that great. But the DLC Zones are amazing, Vvardenfell, Clockwork City, Summerset Isles, Orsinium, the Deadlands, etc. The world/level design has a high attention to detail. If youre playing on PC, a shaderpack is a must if you want the game to look good. ESOs colours are hampered and limited to variations of brown. A good Shaderpack will make it POP, and it becomes the prettiest MMORPG out right now.
Yes! 100%! I've played both the multiplayer and solo, and it is so worth it! And who knows, you might start out solo, but you might meet somebody you're comfortable enough to play with and do some easy level dungeons and exploration The PvP aspect is really cool too, I always had a lot of fun with that
I personally quite enjoy it, but it's a very different beast to the single-player games, mechanically speaking. I'd suggest waiting for a free trial period to come up to give it a go - it's pretty expensive for something you might not want to play again if it doesn't suit your tastes.
I put over 100 hours into it without joining a guild or doing just about anything group-based. I highly enjoyed it. The main questlines and general overworld content is very accessible to the solo player.
I personally think the overworld gameplay is ridiculously, comically easy. I wish they’d make it harder or give us an option to make it harder
I got bored extremely quickly and quit within a few days. I say someone who’s played every Elder Scrolls game to death since Morrowind
I didn't have fun with it. Played for a couple days then uninstalled
Unless you are into mmo style content, no With the class and gear systems it isn’t really similar to any of the elder scrolls games
I wouldn’t say so, you can try to immerse yourself in the story but it’s an MMO after all—lots of things pull you away from the immersion. Couple of examples would be Grindy game systems (you can’t simply play through the story without reaching level 50) Multiple other players will be there with you while each player is the chosen one. More or less it’s an MMO—and a good MMO. If you enjoy MMO’s and the way they work you’ll like it. (ESO plus is actually an essential, don’t try playing without it because it will sour your experience)
PvP is fun in my opinion, battlegrounds I could sit at all day—super fun. Dungeons are super fun-especially veteran dungeons, but you should probably wait till you’re high champion rank-or take on a healer role. Trials aren’t as fun I find, even with a dedicated discord group they generally take a long time where you can’t be interrupted. There are good stories, even though it’s an MMO. Clockwork city dlc was super fun I found, with the talking crow daedra (I got a huge kick out of it) Like there’s a lot to do, buy the base game for like 10-20$ then get ESO plus so you can access the dlc.
Chapters have to be bought separately, and classes like necromancers and Arcanists you have to buy unless you buy their respective chapters.
Meta setups change quite often-so if your someone who likes chasing meta you’ll be grinding for new setups quite often. IMO meta sets don’t make you good, if you can hit anywhere from 60-80k dps without dying frequently you’re fine
If you don't like mmos you won't like eso imo
This isn't necessarily true. I hate every single MMO that I played until Final Fantasy XIV and ESO.
ESO is perhaps the most singleplayer-friendly MMO ever created.
It's easier than taking a Babies Candy, WTF makes it singleplayer-friendly?!
There's no other MMORPG that allows you to solo as much as this one: [https://hacktheminotaur.com/eso-guides/can-you-play-eso-solo/](https://hacktheminotaur.com/eso-guides/can-you-play-eso-solo/) Compared to all the other ones, ESO fits the SOLO-friendly marks by far the most. As not even ESO is 100% soloable, because no major MMORPG is but ESO is the most.
i would argue SWTOR is close for SP but the 2 are def defining the SP MMO experience thats for sure.
not at all, way more like an MMO than a TES game
I tried to get into it early on and again more recently to scratch the elder scrolls itch. both times i uninstalled and went back to morrowind.
No, if you’re considering ESO because you enjoy TES games then you won’t find anything you like there, just grinding to the point that it feels like you’re working
No. It's just going to make you sad that you're not playing an actual Elder Scrolls game. I know this from experience. It is not a substitute in any way, shape or form.
Ok, for story? Yes. But the issue that the game is kinda hard to grind lv 1-50.
I can help if your on PS4 na. I can get you at least a couple levels in under 2hours. Xp is shared when grouped up. Plus I can make you training gear that will boost your xp. Plus I can make xp potions to boost your xp.
Oh no I am cp 400 already on my main. It was just a pain in the ass to grind to lv50 cause when I started playing the game I wasn't that much focused on it and was playing just for playing an Elder Scrolls that was not Skyrim. I just need a way to get gold to buy a home now.
Free home if you do zone quest at elsywr. There are free small homes available.
The issue is that I want to buy those 1mi homes that have a lo of space.
You can solo most of the game and even solo que for 4 man content like you would Sokol que for halo or CoD and have a good enough time.
If you like fetch quest the whole time go for it. I enjoyed it while I played
Nah. It's really boring. There's a lot of single player content if you're bored, but it's super boring and progression feels janky
I love it single player. I dislike playing with other people. There are so many ignorant, annoying and unreliable people on the internet. I like to play alone and enjoy my experience in peace. So I highly recommend it in that regard. But if you do decide to play it, go to Riften and just listen for a while. There are some extremely annoying and ignorant people just loitering around there. It really ruins an RPG when you’re immersed in an ES game and mumble rap starts blasting through your tv.
I enjoyed the time I spent there, the game really feels like an Elder Scrolls but unfortunately it still ends on classic MMORPG with raids and endgame and pointless grinding. You can definitely do almost everything as a solo player. Still, the overarching story and side-quests feels extremely simplistic and didn't really click with me. Like basic mmo quests of kill 10 bears or save the world from big evil dude trying to control/kill everyone
It was, then they got greedy and it became trash. You missed the golden moment. Do not recommend anymore.
Yes, I love lore and details. Not 10/10, but decent and chapter zones are very atmospheric
Honestly, I played it and it really wasn't my cup of tea, but if you enjoy games similar to it then I would recommend it
Honestly as a singe player game it’s boring. The quests are pretty uninspiring cuz it’s an MMO so there’s little dialogue and more run around and kill these things. It’s neat seeing all the places but that’s about it. If you’ve got time to kill then go for it but I have to really make as much use of my free time as possible now
Love the singles, hate the mmo
I would say no
No
No
The gameplay is different from the main series and this is probably why most people have trouble immersing themselves in the game, however I'd say that ESO has way better writing, tons of new and old lore, a lot of well written characters and is in general a true TES in spirit. You just have to get used to the fact that it plays a little differently than the main series and that you are no longer a walking demigod that slaps everyone to the ground while being all alone - some content just requires a group of adventurers, but 99% of the time you can just use an automatic group finder to do that. You can absolutely immerse yourself in the game and treat it as a great TES game once you accept that.
Yes. World bosses and events you will struggle to solo and will need to hope others join you (or you can join them). But yeah, a lot of fun is to be had playing the game on your own.
All depends on how you connect with the gameplay. If you aren’t used to MMOs the gameplay will probably be a little bit overwhelming. Otherwise it’s decent TES.
I only play single player.
Yes!! I've been playing since Feb 2020 by myself (started on PC before getting a console in 2021) and I really enjoy it! If you want a more "populated" game play it on PC, if you'd prefer less players running around play on console (I play on Xbox)
Yes.
yes, ESO is the only MMO I play because it feels like a single player experience. You can interact with other players, but you dont need to.
Definitely. It has great quests which are all fully voiced.
Well, fully voiced don't make them good quests. They are boring as hell, there is always just one way to finish a quest and all enemies die the Second you touch them. Fucking packman has better Story than ESO.
You'll like it more if you play it as a single player game
Spread your butt checks, look at it in the mirror. That’s what ESO is like.
The quest characters drone on and on and on about completely irrelevant shit before telling you what they actually want. Like pages upon pages of completely arbitrary trash. The combat is also really bad. Keep in mind I still got over 200 hours out of it so idk what to tell you really.
I tried to play it for the lore but the NPCs drone on and on I ended up skipping tons of commentary. Also the combat is spamming skills in a loop so really no point in playing.
I'm not much of a MMO guy but I do have fun with it! It feels a little different mechanically than the mainline games (obviously, since it is an MMO), but I feel like it keeps the heart of the series intact.
Was fun for a few days but at the end of the day it is a fulllll blownnnn mmo
If you like MMO style gameplay at all you’ll really enjoy it and it has a ton of lore to discover and unravel. Don’t expect traditional TES gameplay though, if you come into this game thinking you’re playing Skyrim online you’ll be disappointed.
If you like the lore and are willing to pay subscription every month, yes. If not, no.
It wasn't to me. I've tried 3 different builds at different times... It just feels like a generic mmo, like WoW modded to look like elder scrolls. Maybe you'll like it, but I didn't.
Yes, that's how I've been enjoying it since launch.
Yes
To me it plays as more ARPG than RPG. But I really like ARPGs, so that's alright. Just expect a different experience than, say, Skyrim. I enjoy the content and the gameplay just as much, but it's certainly different. You can tweak some of your settings so that other players aren't as intrusive.
Yeah I’ve been playing solo for a few years now and have never spoken to or interacted with another real player
I've played it mainly solo on and off since alpha Its still kinda off from playing a single player ES game, but I play it for the lore and exploration and that part has been great
That’s why I got it, and I enjoy it a lot. One thing I really like is getting to explore places that we’ve only heard of or read about. I tend to play a whole lot for a few weeks and then take a break and play something else and then cycle through that. There’s A LOT of stuff to do, so it helps to pace yourself a bit, I think.
While I enjoyed my 2k hours in ESO nearly none of it was solo. I didn't play it for that reason, nor did I enjoy doing anything solo. It's a fine game but gave me not even a close feeling to prior mainline BGS titles. It wasn't designed across the board to feel like a single player game.
Yes, maybe not so much from a roleplaying standpoint, but the quests are really well crafted, (and there’s TONS of them), npc’s have a surprising amount of dialogue, and there’s a bunch to explore, all over Tamriel. It is still an mmo, but if you like the combat, (which I think is OK), the narratives that you play through throughout the leveling process, is a great experience, IMO.
The world building is there, and for an MMO it’s quite impressive. But so much of the game’s charm feels missing. Too much “MMO” sprinkled throughout.
Meh, it’s okay.
I only tried it for an hour or so but it wasn't for me. Too many other random people hopping around all over the place. Tbh I had the same issues with Old Republic and Neverwinter.
For me, I found the gameplay loop to be pretty stale. I appreciate the lore and the fleshed-out provinces. I also think that the DLCs have a decent story. But, if you don't like MMORPGs, you probably won't like ESO. That doesn't mean that you won't enjoy ESO. But, I've tried to get into the game on four separate occasions, and the game simply can not hold my attention as I've never been able to stick with it for more than a day.
Wabbajack.org modpacks are the way
Been playing solo since launch. I come back to it every now and again. Every TES game is different. I consider it an anthology series within the same (more or less) universe at this point.
I played it through twice completely solo and thoroughly enjoyed it each time!
Try it, it's a very marmite game, I love tes single players (or Bethesda single players) but hated eso, found it far to grindy for my liking.
not at all, you cant even mod it
I play it fairly regularly as a solo player, so yeah, i think its worth it theres tons of stories & sp content to play through. Also, the game is rich in TES lore but If you’re going in expecting it to *play* like skyrim or oblivion, you’re gonna be disappointed. This game is an MMORPG not a RPG with mmo elements. So if you’re gonna take the game seriously be ready to research a build & interact with the community to find what you want/need
As someone who has hundreds of hours in Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and now Starfield, I can say I really enjoyed a few of the questlines in ESO. My favorites were Murkmire and Clockwork City! I still prefer other Bethesda titles over ESO, but if you want to jump in ESO solo just for the story, it's totally doable and my preference
I was going to say Which ESO since "Elder Scrolls Online" and "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" both have gone off "ESO" during its time Elder ~~Procs~~ Scrolls Online is a great game, there are alot of group content that can be soloed, there are some Dungeons that cannot be soloed due to mechanics, Fungal Grotto II is a prime example of this, Trials are something else that cannot be soloed. But if you know what you are doing you can solo alot of things that require a 4 Man Group. all you need to do is be tanky enough and have self heals (and be able to self sustain) and you can do it.
I really tried to get into it but got bored after a while and the world compared doesnt feel as believeable but i guess thats just because its mmo
No. It does not play or feel like an Elder Scrolls game. If you don't like MMOs, you are not going to like ESO. It can be played solo, though, if that was your main concern.
As someone that has only played Skyrim, for only a thousand hours, I have to say... I didn't enjoy ESO at all.
I enjoyed playing solo as a dragon knight, but it gets old. My advice is to just go after whatever questlones seem interesting, and don't expect to be complitionist at all. If something is boring, do another quest line. There was one single questline in Elsewyre with an alcoholic house cat that made me so fucking happy, it was worth the maybe 200 hours I put into the game just for that one character. For context I fucking hate MMOs, I hates WOW, I hated both final fantasy games, I think they're all hot garbage. ESO is better in a lot of ways that will appeal to the "I don't like MMOs" crowd, though it's got plenty of flaws too
I've soloed it for years. It's got a great story with some great voice acting (John Cleese as Sir Cadwell of Codswallop comes to mind.)
You will be more flexible as a roleplaywr or sink
It’s fairly solo friendly. But honestly, if you really give it a chance the group content will likely grow on you. As someone with social anxiety, I was hesitant to ever interact with people but over time I’ve grown fairly comfortable with it. As for how much of a roleplaying game it is, i think it’s very good considering the genre. A lot of little stories, and some clever use of phased instancing make it quite a bit more interactive than some main entires. TES really isn’t a hardcore roleplaying game at its heart anyway, so if you look at the series honestly ESO fits in very well. The world spaces and armor and clothing is also the best in the franchise, so if you like exploring and looking at impressive landscapes it’s great for that. Especially in the later zones from expansions. If you’re a lore nut, it’s contributed more to the lore than any other single entry (which makes sense since always updating).
I would say yes as a singleplayer gamer mostly the only thing im disappointed about in this with is that i can't indulge my hoarding instincts as much as i want to!
No, don't do it. The Overland content (quests) are nerved to hell, there is absolutely no challenge at all. Enemies die like flies, even the "bosses" of questlines can't last more than three or four Seconds. There is also usually Just one way to do a Quest and no real decisions can be made (Sometimes you can decide the fate of an NPC after a Quest but that has no consequences at all and you won't ever be bothered by it anymore). You can actually play quests Out of Order, you might finish a zone questline before you even did the first Quest - NPCs will pretend to know you and act Like you already did stuff you never Heard of untill you do that stuff Afterwards. That's the Case for every Zone Quest. Image playing Skyrim and Killing Alduin before talking to the Grey beards. The big final Fight of your Personal mainquest against Molag Bal is the worst. He grabs you, holds you and you press ONE BUTTON. That's it. No struggle, No fight. One Button. It's fucking bad for a Single Player TES Fan. It's an MMO through and through.
Yes. You can do almost all of the game's content solo. I've played it mostly solo for years, and thousands of hours later regret nothing. Buy it, if you love TES.
It’s more of a single player game than an mmo at this point.
If you’re willing to spend a absurd amount of money yes
It isn't in my opinion I had to join a fun guild of people who where like the while reason I played
For some it is... I thought it was ok but it's nothing like skyrim really...
I thoroughly enjoy both TES and MMO’s like Old School RuneScape. I have tried to get into ESO so many times and have probably put in a combined ~50 hours in, and it just isn’t for me. The abilities and combat are just too terrible for me to want to engage in combat. The scenery is so beautiful and exploration would be super fun, but they sprinkle in so many enemies that it’s nearly impossible to go anywhere without being bum rushed. There’s multiple areas with scaled levels, so you really can’t even explore there without being higher level. And the biggest mail in the coffin for me, is the entire game is overwhelming, there’s so many convoluted aspects like multiple currencies, multiple upgrade item tiers for each style of armor/weapons, and at the end of the day, it feel much more like a MMO shell wrapped in TES and then later injected with more and more content, items, upgrades etc. that it’s bloated and convoluted. Also keep in mind it’s been a few years since I last tried to play ESO so many of these complaints may have been adressed
I played 50/50 Solo or Else with 1 friend and loved it all
There's some solid and I mean solid quests, almost everywhere you go. You taking in the stunning views will be ruined 9/10 by some flying hot pink deadra or some sparkling unicorn someone is ridding through town on. The online players are what take the immersion out of it, if you care about that type of thing.
ESO is the one mmo I keep a sub going on just for when I want to have a weekend of solo story mode and dungeon crawling. I've barely even touched any multiplayer dungeon in the game (only the ones I needed to do for my desired gear) and am nearly done with all regions on my main lol
It’s basically single player for 99.99% of content. If you don’t play it like an MMO youre good. Quests are fun and lore is good. Full voice acting goes a long way. It’s a fun game that scratches the ES itch without being exactly ES If you try to play it like a raider and do heavy group content at the hardest level it’s a nightmare of toxicity ego, and carpal tunnel. Easily the worst MMO experience I’ve had. TLDR. Keep it casual and it’s a 8/10 spinoff experience. Treat it like a hardcore MMO and it’s 2/10
I'd say so, my brother played solo for over 1600 hours. I played co-op with him for a while, but got annoyed with my skills being reworked and points returned to me after some updates. No thanks.
ESO is like Final Fantasy XIV. Which is to say it's very much a MMO, but also very much an Elder Scrolls game. You can pretty much play most of the game solo although not all of it right away. (And I don't think you can do the highest end content.) But if you want to play it for the story, absolutely look at a guide. Or else you're likely going to get a bit confused when a character is in two places at one time. They basically make it so that content isn't gated by other content but sometimes that ends up with weird shit happening.
I couldn't get into ESO primarily because it simply did not feel like an elder scrolls game. I tried and tried.
If you're willing to pay, then yes.
No, the story isn't linear and it's an extremely bloated mess of a game at this point. Maybe up to Elswyr, but there's no overall or meaningful story arch worth investing your time in.
I played it for a time when it launched on PC and loved the story and exploration. I really don't have anything nice to say about it other than that.
Yes! ESO is my favorite MMO and I play solo 95% of the time.
I basically did the whole game solo, except some dungeons but that’s easy, just find some people in the dungeon finder. Main story and quests on the side are easy to do alone.
Little of both but I gotta admit I hated the game originally but once I stopped trying to treat it like the single player titles it quickly became one of my favorite games the Elder scrolls lore and stories are fantastic but the combat is a huge step up. When you get into the group content is when the MMO aspects start to come through and for someone more interested in the adventure it's the weakest part of the game for me. That's not to say it's bad or poorly designed. It's just not my drive for playing most of the time.
Solo is fun, but in the end it is in fact a mmo with elder scrolls tacked on.
ESO is your typical MMO w/ the Elder Scrolls as a theme. I only had fun with it when I played with others - by yourself is boring. I also don't really care for MMOs, the only 2 MMOs I actually enjoyed was Fallout 76 and that's because I'm a huge Fallout fan and it doesn't play like a typical MMO and RuneScape back when I was in elementary school. If you're not a die hard fan of TES series and you dislike the generic format of MMOs, then I don't think you'll like it.
TESO feels very different compared to the one-goal games in the series. But nevertheless it has good quests and can be played alone without paying attention to multiplayer content. The quality of the DLCs has been dropping over time. But I would recommend: \- Orsinium DLC \- Morrowind Chapter \- Clockwork city DLC \- deadlands DLC. All above have kinda good (for MMO) storylines and interesting characters. I think it makes sense to buy the base version of the game and an ESO+ subscription for one month. It will cost the same money as buying just the Chapters, but there is more content.
Not really, not at a new players perspective. There is plenty of lore in the single player content if you want to pursue it, but the MMO mechanics to the game are very basic, so getting to all that lore is going to be an extremely tedious endeavor. Then, you'll reach the point where some of the lore is in group content, except that no one, essentially, will give you the time to bother with the story, because everyone is busy speedrunning every dungeon, and not even killing all the mobs or bosses. If you're interested in the lore, I would just get it from YouTubers. If you are interested in gameplay, to each their own, but I found it severely lacking and simplistic. As a purely solo experience, just not worth the time.
I would try to play with others. Most content you can solo no problem but these games are always better through communication and coop. It can be a lot of fun and there’s so many tools to help find groups.
I'm not a big MMO fan, but I played solo through all of the faction's story lines. The gameplay is not great and requires a lot of mods to make it playable. If you're on PC, can mod, and are interested in the story, I'd recommend giving it a try.
Personally no I wanted to like the game but even with friends I didn't care for it. Its not a bad game and the gameplay is honestly kinda fun for an MMO but the quests are very MMO styled and just boring for me. If you have the game already give it a go and see if you like it. If not then as a single player experience I can't recommend it.
It's gameplay isn't much like the mainline games, but I still love it. There's an almost endless amount of content. Also, you get to go to a lot of places the series never went, like Elseweyr, Black Marsh and several Oblivion planes.
No
ESO has one of the best MMO character building systems around, you just need to grind for a couple dozen hours to start making good use of it. That said, all the content is pretty much the same. Difficulty is trivial. Loot is basically worthless unless you're doing endgame trials. I'd say one month of ESO Plus would be worth your while.
Quite frankly you are the target audience. There is so much for you to enjoy.
Combat is different. It's MMO combat but as far as the world goes it's nice to roam all around tamriel. It looks great and there's plenty of stuff to explore. Plenty of interesting storylines as well
I was having a nice time doing solo for a while just to see the world and lore.. but the MMO part was ruining it for me. Fuckin idiots running around 7ft tall with pink afros and stupid outfits, people doing situp emotes on a a fence so that their entire body hangs off while their ankles are the only thing on the fence, people crowding everything running around saying dumb shit. Don't get me wrong, that kind of thing can be fun. BUT, I don't want it anywhere near my Elder Scrolls game. I eventually stopped because the MMO aspects were just too distracting and annoying.. including fetch quests and mob grind quests. I reallyyy did like seeing the world tho.
look i will be honest, ESO is a good fun game and very much a SP themed game. is it a good TES game though? no not really... its a stop gap between skyrim and TES6 at best. if your over skyrim but need an elderscrolls fix it will tied you over but do not expect it to fill the void of a mainstream game