A weekend in ESO
stargrace 
I’m not really sure how it started. A few members of combat wombat were talking about Teso (or ESO as I prefer to call it) and then the next thing I knew there were about 10 of us all playing, including myself. I’ve had my account since the game released, having done some freelance work for MetaVerse back in the day, but I had never played beyond the tutorial and my character was only level 3. I can’t even say WHY that was the case. I was probably distracted by some other shiny.
I have been having a lot of fun in World of Warcraft, but I’ve also been playing it steadily as my main game of choice for almost a year and I wanted a little break before BfA releases, and now seems like a good time. My account is still active since I’ve paid for it using gold (how I wish more games would go the rout of FFXIV where you can PAUSE your subscription and pick it up again not wasting any game time) but I’m going to enjoy a bit of a break and go back refreshed.
In ESO my character is level 11 and wandering around Stonefalls. I picked up all the crafting certification quests and now I have dailies for those, and I also started some research which is apparently very time consuming and involved. I participated in my first public quest, also called anchor quest, also called dolmen, and it was a lot of fun! Got a good chunk of xp and a nice chest of goods at the end. It’s nice and just a bit odd to be playing a game that a good chunk of my friends are actually playing, too. We haven’t done anything together (yet) but it’s nice to have the opportunity if it arose.
The game is absolutely beautiful. I went through and snagged some QoL addons yesterday and they have already made a HUGE difference in my game play. Especially the crafting / harvesting addons. I play in 10-15 minute chunks (minus when kiddo goes down for a nap or is asleep for the evening) so being able to focus is something I really need help with, especially in a game like ESO where wandering is heavily encouraged. If I have time to wander I love it, but I would never get anything done if I couldn’t also focus a bit.
I’ve pre-ordered Summerset which gave me Morrowind, and I decided to go ahead and pay for ESO Plus for the crafting space along with the other perks (crowns, so I can buy a fancy house, xp bonus, and other goodies like that) plus the ESO celebration week starts today which will grant me even more goodies while I have ESO Plus and log in daily.
It’s exciting to play a “new to me” MMO that I haven’t really delved into before. The quests and stories are interesting, the landscape new, and I’m discovering points of interest that are both disturbing and fascinating. I may only be level 11, but I’m eager to see how this goes.
As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself! You can find me in ESO as @stargrace if you want to add me to your friends list.
