My ESO Decision

I haven't bought ESO yet. I've been watching news of the game for over a year now. Tracked the beta game, and tried to get a beta key myself (no luck). I was never able to get into Morrowind, but I loved Oblivion and Skyrim. I'm also a long time MMO player, and the idea of combining TES with the MMO format has been both exciting and terrifying since I first heard rumors of ESO. I was tempted to by the pre-release game, but held off, unconvinced that the game would be as good as we were promised. Two months later, I've bought an ESO guide or two, watched a bunch of YouTube videos and Twitch streams, and I'm still not sure what I want to do.

See, money is tight right now. I know that's true for a lot of people, but it's a big factor in my game buying. I can only afford to buy a couple of games a year. The subscription isn't a factor so much--I'll give up eating fast food once a month to be able to play a good MMO. But paying $60 for a bad one? That's not happening. I'm not dropping that much money unless I know for certain I'll get my money's worth.

And right now I'm not certain. I'm damn uncertain, in fact. The thing is, everything I'm seeing has ESO as a mix of really awesome and really awful. It's not a mediocre game you can just write off, it's not outright terrible, and it's not the amazing game a lot of us were hoping for. What it is, is a hodgepodge. Amazing gameplay shoved up right against horrid glitches, stupid dev behavior undermining a great in-game economy, wonderful storylines and really stupid quests.

It's not a game I can just dismiss and move on (I'm hearing interesting things about this new Wildstar MMO). Nor is it a game I can wholeheartedly spend my money on. All of the reviews sound pretty much the same, "This game could be awesome, but..." or "This game is horrible, but..." Even the ESO guides, reading between the lines, give clues to the great and the awful that fill the game.

Apparently ZeniMax is working on fixing the problems, but with the way they've been treating players the past month, I don't know if I trust them.

I guess I'm going to keep watching a bit longer. It's not like there is a deadline to buy the game or anything, and I really don't want to feel like I wasted $60 on a bad game. I also don't want to miss out on the fun character building, and storylines, and everything else for no reason. Hopefully something will happen in the next few months to let me make a definite decision. If not...well, I guess we'll see what happens.

So, yeah. Comments, thoughts and suggests welcome. What should I do? Buy ESO? Go back to WoW? Check out Wildstar?

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3 Elder Scrolls Online Sorcerer Builds

Like all ESO classes, Sorcerers are extremely flexible. There is a wide range of options for players wanting to create a Sorcerer, from summoner to combat mage and more. Players who are used to traditional MMO mage classes have the option of ignoring stamina and weapons skills and playing a Sorcerer as a pure storm mages. Players who want to create something different have a broad field of options to experiment with. Here are three possible builds to help you decide what kind of Sorcerer you want to play.

Summoners/Combat Control
Combat control isn't a play style that gets talked about much anymore. In many MMO groups a good tank and healer can work together to make combat control unnecessary. At the same time, a good combat controller can make a huge difference in the battle and allow the healer and tank to focus on their primary responsibilities. The Sorcerer's mix of summoning skills combined with debuffs make it a powerful combat controller.

Summoners/Combat controllers will need enough weapon skill to take down the weakened enemy or two that gets in their way, but mostly they need Magicka and their storm spirits.

Combat Mages

There are fighters, there are mages, and then there are Sorcerers. With magic reinforcing their attacks, combat mages wade through their enemies, hurling lighting and lopping off heads. With Storm Autarchs as back up and a delight in battle, Combat Mages are definitely not your typical MMO mage-type.

Elder Scrolls online Sorcerer builds for combat mages usually do heavy DPS. Tanking variations are totally possible. The need to balance Magicka and Stamina can be a challenge--especially while keeping Health from being a complete dump stat. Still, a combat mage will typically do well in both solo and group play.

Lightning Rod

Sorcerer's skills are divided into DPS, combat control, and defense. By combining combat control and defense skills, you can create a tanking Sorcerer who draws all the enemies to him so his friends can wipe them out. A Lightning Rod Sorcerer forges to the middle of the battle and uses traps, AoE, and defensive skills to keep the enemies coming.

Unlike the combat mage, a Lightning Rod has heavy Magicka and enough Health to stay alive. Stamina is helpful but not really necessary. In a group they shape the battle around themselves. Solo play can be more challenging, but a well built Lightning Rod can manage most quests without too much trouble.

Obviously these are only general descriptions of some Elder Scrolls online Sorcerer builds. the huge ranges of options available means there are easily dozens of variation on each of these builds, and several other build types as well. When building a Sorcerer be careful not to overspecialize--it is very easy for them to turn into a classic mage-type "squishy" character. Whatever you do, enjoy the power of having a storm at your finger tips. Sorcerers are an amazing class to play.

A look at build options for ESO Sorcerers.Sorcerers are extremely flexible.There is a wide range of options for players wanting to create a Sorcerer, from summoner to combat mage and more.

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What I Look for in an ESO Leveling Guide

You can find a lot of stuff online about what makes the best game guide, what you need in a good leveling guide, yada, yada, yada.
Look, every player is different, we all approach gaming differently. There is no such thing as a perfect game guide and what makes a great leveling guide for me may make you cringe. So I'm not going to try to tell you that what I look for in a leveling guide is what you should look for to. I will tell you why I look for what I do, and if makes sense to you, then you can look for it to.

Specific focus
The idea of having a leveling guide that can cover every character of every class in every faction is a nice one. One of those works-in-theory type things. In reality, it's way to easy for those guides to spread themselves too thin. So when I'm checking out leveling guides I'm looking for ones that are specific. Leveling guide for Ebonheart Pact, leveling guide for DragonKnight, that kind of thing. Yeah, it means if I decide to make a Daggerfall Covenant character next I need to get a new guide. It's worth it to know that the guide I'm getting now is focused on telling me what I need to know for this character.

Not too focused on leveling
ESO is different from most MMOs. If you are looking into getting a leveling guide you've probably heard that way to often by now. But it matters. See, in most MMOs a leveling guide can be all about, you know, leveling. If an ESO leveling guide focuses exclusively on leveling, and the best way to get XP and all, it's not going to tell me half of what I need to know to reach level 50 with a really bad-ass character. Half of powering up in ESO is done outside of the leveling mechanic, through gathering skill points, leveling up skills (which is completely separate from leveling up your character), and picking morph abilities. If a leveling guide doesn't cover this stuff, but spends pages on which quest lines will give me the most XP to level fastest...it's kind of wasting my time.

Spends time on more than solo play
Everyone who is familiar with MMOs knows that soloing quests is, hands down, the fastest way to level up. But PvP and dungeons and group play are all part of the fun of an MMO. So I want my ESO leveling guide to at take a few pages to tell me what I can do while I'm not soloing to speed my leveling. Sure, soloing is more effective, but there are still things I can do to level faster while hitting the dungeons, so don't just ignore half the game.

That's it, the three things (aside from generally knowing what it's talking about) that I look for in an ESO leveling guide. Why don't you leave a comment with the kind of stuff you look for?

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