The Elder Scrolls Online has now reached an impressive abundance of content. However, since it cannot be filtered, new players often feel hopelessly overwhelmed and sometimes don’t even know how to play the story in the correct order.
ESO has been providing new content steadily for over 6 years, and those who buy the game now usually get all previous chapters included in the base game, including the current chapter add-on Greymoor.
Those who also subscribe to ESO Plus have access to all other DLCs, including big ones like Orsinium, the Thieves Guild, and the Dark Brotherhood. This is enough content to spend many hours in Tamriel, but especially for new players, it also brings problems.
What is the problem with all this content? The reddit user LemonLimine summarizes what many players may be thinking – namely that it is really difficult to follow the story in the chronologically correct order:
For example, you buy a DLC and start with it. This has been the case since Morrowind and is really annoying if you just want to play through the Vestige storyline [from the base game]. You have to struggle to start the main quest. This is obviously confusing for new players who just land at the spot where the last DLC is.
But when you actually try to complete the story in order (i.e., going to Coldharbour and meeting the Prophet, etc.) [it gets complicated]. Once you get out of the starting zones, there are a million quest symbols everywhere trying to urge you to start one of the DLCs. It’s frustrating to sift through so many quests when you actually just want to find the ones you should be doing if you want to follow the story in the correct order.
How complex the story of ESO can be and how to “play it right” can be found here:
Players wish for filters for the abundance of content
Players are frustrated by intrusive NPCs: The thread by LemonLimine has resonated with many ESO players. He is by far not the only player who feels overwhelmed by the abundance of content and the annoying NPCs promoting it:
- MadMartigan808 says: “The prologue quests are so damn invasive!”
- TempestM feels similarly: “Yes, strolling through Vulkhel Guard with a new character is hell. So many NPCs [wanting something from me] at the wayshrines, the bank, etc.”
- Gryphin even has a specific example of a particularly annoying NPC who insists that you GO to Elsweyr for dragon hunting NOW: “Do you know what you are going to do? I’m looking for you because of dragons in your homeland! – This comes up every damn time I port to the wayshrine in Vulkhel Guard.”
- Player VayneArior started ESO with Morrowind and didn’t even know that the starting area was the DLC area: “I had no help when I started playing ESO, and I started in Vvardenfell, completely unaware that it was even a DLC.”
This is what players want: Since the problem annoys many, there were also various ideas in the thread on how to solve it. One user suggests perhaps using different colors for the quest markers from the different DLCs and chapters. Then at least it would be clear that the quest with the dragons does not belong to the base game, but to the Elsweyr chapter.
Additionally, new players should have the choice of where to start in the story. Because so far, you automatically enter the prologue of Greymoor and have to awkwardly search for the starting quest of the base game if you want to begin with that. Many players in ESO would like this choice. Another option would be to at least silence the annoying NPCs who constantly barrage you with the latest DLC quests.
By the way, if you want to return to ESO, this article might be helpful:
By the way, one player has a special suggestion: ESO should take inspiration from World of Warcraft. Because WoW also has tons of addons and a convoluted story. But thanks to the feature “Chromie Time”, you can selectively choose and relive past content. Such a feature would certainly not be wrong for ESO and its confusing abundance of content.
