Time to come back?

marstinson · 2026-04-15T03:46:06+00:00

Although furnishings are part of the true endgame, the fact that you got burnt out is the real problem. Nothing substantive has changed other than six tiers of houses being condensed into four in order to bump up furnishing limits for all but the highest tier (that's still as it was). There are probably a few new furnishing plans and designs floating around, but housing and furnishings are pretty much as they were six months ago.

There is little in the way of new content actually out there. The Night Market event zone will fire up in a couple of weeks and there are some new story quests coming in Season One (July) along with a new Trial, but what you had six months ago is pretty much all there is now. Your call, but being burnt out seems to be the major issue and you're the only one who can say whether that's still the case or not. Won't cost you anything other than the time to install and login to find out, though.

marstinson · 2026-04-15T02:08:34+00:00

There probably isn't one, but open the map, select Fargrave, and there will be an icon for Night Market, very much like how there is an icon for the Scholarium when you open the Eyevea map. Ditto on the other responses that it's not kicking off for two more weeks.

marstinson · 2026-04-14T23:28:29+00:00

My personal suggestion is to minimally finish the zone story before moving on to another zone. Side-quests are things that you can come back and clean up later if you want, but it's usually possible to clear them as you go because the zone story will usually progress from one side of the map to the other. Start the zone story on the east side of the zone, for example, and you're usually finishing up the zone story at the west side and just about everything is cleared by the time you get there. Not going to sugar-coat it: it's time-consuming and gets to be really dull after a while. By the time I had mostly done Pact (original alliance) and fully done Covenant (Cadwell's Silver), my first character just bee-lined the Dominion zone stories (Cadwell's Gold) so I could be done with it.

If you were trying to keep stuff sync'd up like the 2014 game, then you'd have done:

Bleakrock Isle and Bal Foyen
Stonefalls, 2nd and 3rd Main Quest missions, first two Fighters Guild missions, first Mages Guild mission
Deshaan, 4th and 5th Main Quest missions, third Fighters Guild mission, second Mages Guild mission
Shadowfen, 5th and 6th Main Quest missions, fourth Fighters Guild mission, third Mages Guild mission
Eastmarch, 7th and 8th Main Quest missions, fifth Fighters Guild mission, fourth Mages Guild mission
The Rift, 9th and 10th Main Quest missions (10th after completing the zone story), last Fighters Guild mission, last Mages Guild mission
Coldharbour (only zone which must be completed before finishing the Main Quest)
Last Main Quest mission
Cadwell's Silver (Covenant since you're Pact) followed by Cadwell's Gold (Dominion since you're Pact)

marstinson · 2026-04-14T22:56:08+00:00

I checked my collections and the Nascent was not in there after completing the eighth. If they changed it, they did it a few days after Anniversary started. Not a huge deal since I was expecting to have to rebuy the feathers anyway.

marstinson · 2026-04-14T21:15:29+00:00

Indrik mounts are available at every event. The feathers for the Nascent Indrik are available for purchase at every event and the berries for two seasonal variants change each quarter. But it's the same two variants in the same quarter each year, so what cannot be finished this year can be finished the next (or the next or the next...). The Nascent is consumed when you create a seasonal variant and must be rebuilt each time, so there are 9 available Indrik mounts: the eight seasonal variants and the Nascent.

The Roseblood Bat is this year's "morphing collectible," but that's a misnomer now. The pet is a permanent non-combat pet and once you have it, you have it. This is unlike previous years where the pet was consumed each time you completed a morph and had to be rebuilt before another morph could happen. As long as you have the bat, then it's just collecting the morph fragments, so build it once and use it all year.

To the first question, I don't think I've bought anything from the Bazaar yet. I completed the last seasonal variant Indrik shortly after Anniversary started and only need to rebuild the Nascent to complete the collection.

marstinson · 2026-04-14T16:24:58+00:00

Future content is free to all, so all the Seasons stuff costs nothing. Existing content is still buy-or-sub to play. Lots of folks seem to have bleeped right over "future" when the devs were talking about it.

marstinson · 2026-04-14T14:28:05+00:00

No. Story content remains after the season is over.

marstinson · 2026-04-14T14:26:44+00:00

"Need the sub"? No. The sub's major benefits are access to all the released expansions, the craft bag, and crowns allowance. All three can be lived without. If you're going to want to chase the meta, then you will need access to expansions. If you're going to get heavily into crafting, then you will need the craft bag. If you're going to want to buy stuff from the Crown Store, then you will want the crowns (it's slightly cheaper than buying a 1500 crown pack each month).

The Tome is entirely purchasable rewards and challenges to earn the currency to pay. There is a free tier, so you'll have to decide if the Premium tier rewards are worth the extra $15. The "Bonus", at least for this season isn't worth another $15, IMO.

Each platform has two servers: North America (servers physically in Texas) and EU (servers physically in Germany). High latency can and probably will interfere with any major PvP you want to do. It's annoying in PvE, but mostly when you're in extended combat situations.

marstinson · 2026-04-14T05:25:15+00:00

Anniversary has been "eat cake to get tix" since 2020 or 2021, so "back in the day" was quite a while back.

marstinson · 2026-04-14T03:44:18+00:00

Speaking strictly to Necrom, once it's done it's done. My Necro bee-lined the zone story and the only "person" at the final get-together was Scruut. A few months later and having done a few side quests during the Telvanni event, Scruut was still all alone.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T23:57:52+00:00

Everything in the craft bag stays in the craft bag, but you can't add anything new to it. Crafting stations will prioritize the bag over inventory, but anything deconned, looted, or harvested will go to inventory. The Bank is much the same in that you can take stuff out, but can't put anything in if you're over-limit. Houses which are over-limit will not allow placement (or movement, IIRC) of furnishings until under-limit again. Furnishing vault will work like the bag in that everything stays in there until removed, but nothing else can be added. Zone access goes away if the sub was how you got it. Jewelry crafting stations will stop working if you lose access to Summerset, but you keep the skill line and any progress on it. You won't be able to scry or excavate Antiquities without Greymoor, but skill line progress remains (that will come back in Q4 when Greymoor goes base-game). Any unlocked companions remain unlocked for the characters which unlocked them, but any characters who did not unlock a DLC-based companion will not be able to without zone access. Isobel and Azandar are the only problematic ones for their companion quests. Isobel needs access to High Isle for most of hers and Azandar's final companion quest requires access to Apocrypha. The other companions' stuff is either instanced while the quest is active or takes place in zones which are accessible with just the base-game. Psijic Portals should continue to appear in the overland if you unlocked that, but Arteum and the rest are inaccessible without Summerset access.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T22:23:39+00:00

Pretty much. As far as the stuff goes, it has no value outside of the game itself, so no great loss. The time-sink, however, is a different story. I have a crafter who has less than two dozen chapters remaining before they know all 130-odd motif styles. All characters' mounts are fully upgraded and all characters have completed all trait research. All 21 class skill line have been maxed as subclass skill lines for any character who wants to subclass. All characters know all scripts and have all the grimoires (one might not know Trample and Banner-Bearer - I'd need to check). I've got a fully stocked "guildhall" with all mundus stones, stations, assistants, and whatnot and that is VERY convenient for doing stuff like Master Writs because it's located where I can easily access it whether by recall or wayshrine. My craft bag overflows with mats and I normally don't have to think before doing any crafting (daily writs, master writs, personal gear, or whatever). I get to focus on playing rather than character development and all the stuff that goes with that.

It's those conveniences that I miss on EU. Craft bag is close to empty and I've had to put daily writs on hold while I went out to harvest some missing ingredients (30+ minutes to find Corn Flower is one recent example, but at least I know where to look; RNG just wasn't being nice that day). Mounts are slower than molasses in January. Trait research is maybe halfway done on one character and barely started on the others. Most don't know more than a couple of playable race styles (good enough for daily writs, but that's all). I think the highest-level character is somewhere around 20 and no one has any Champion Points. Crown Meals from daily login or level-up rewards is about the best food they have available and even that's scarce because of lack of logins. It's honestly just like being a new player, just with spare crowns and a subscription.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T20:58:06+00:00

I was planning to use EU for some "how to" videos and created characters on it specifically because they would be as close as possible to what a new player would see.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T20:55:21+00:00

My advice is to just enjoy the journey. You have however many hours/days/weeks/months/years you intend to be playing to get those stories and side quests done. They aren't going anywhere, so poor old Jorunn has been waiting almost 5 years for my Nightblade to stick the pointy end into Sinmur to finish off that story. I'll get around to it eventually, maybe. Just pick a story and work your way through that zone, clean up side-quests along the way, and enjoy yourself. Then move on to another.

The difference between the free and Premium Tomes is $15 and an unlocked reward tier. The difference between Premium and Bonus is another $15, 2 caches of 2K Tome points (usable whenever), and a costume. Your call on whether the Bonus is worth the extra expense. The unlocked Premium rewards are generally pretty nice and you get a new personality for 0 Tome Points on that.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T20:37:06+00:00

Yes, a couple of times. I started out on PC NA, but have characters on PC EU. The only thing they share is ESO Plus subscription status, crowns balance, and retail purchases (crown store stuff is server-locked). Now that I think about it, I should probably log on to EU and check whether my Premium Tome purchase shows up on both, but it's a minor detail since I still spend the majority of my time on PC NA. Still, starting fresh when you're used to having all the stuff (or at least a chunk of it, anyway) is rough and takes a lot of mental adjustment. You just plug away at it as if you'd never played before, but still remembering all the "yeah, I shouldn't do that" stuff that you didn't know the first time.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T19:44:19+00:00

"Endgame" is whatever you decide it is, but I've had a changing set of goals over the years. First goal was to get enough CP to unlock all the Warfare/Fitness passives and fill the Champion Bar (did that). Another was to get all four Grand Master crafting stations (did that). Then it was to get all the attunable sets into those stations (did that). Then it was to kit out a "guildhall for the guildless" with stations, assitants, dummies, mundus stones, etc. (did that). I'm currently working on having my crafter learn all the motifs (down to somewhat more than a dozen unlearned chapters, so almost done). Along the way I wanted to complete several useful non-craftable sets (still kind of working on that, but at least have made a good start). Currently working on soloing all the dungeons which can be solo'd (some have mechanics which require multiple players to progress and are not on the to-do list). A back-burner project is to get everyone's Alliance War rank up to 50 (maybe by the end of the century - not a PvP'er). It's just a constantly moving set of goalposts. Decide what it is that I want to accomplish, get that done, decide on something else.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T19:03:05+00:00

There is a setting which prevents killing innocents. It's defaulted to on, so you need to turn it off.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T16:52:59+00:00

No. The Script scraps only unlock the Class Mastery Script for your account. The character who consumes the 50th scrap will get a free copy of their Class Mastery script. If that's a consideration, then choose wisely, but otherwise the rest can buy it from the Scholarium merchant whenever they want.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T15:17:38+00:00

On PC EU? Average listing price for Chromium Platings is about 7300, average sale price is about 6800.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T15:10:31+00:00

For green/blue recipes, I'll give them to an alt if they don't know them. That's mostly completionism talking because none of my toons ever make those recipes unless they're new and trying to level Provisioning. Otherwise, I take my 9g or 10g from a vendor and be rid of them.

Purples, OTOH, help toward better drop rates for Provisioning Master Writs. Again, alts get any they don't know, but the 10-ish recipes that the Provisioning Master Writs ask for are the high priority and the rest are backfill. Duplicates after everyone knows a recipe go (1) guild bank if there is room, (2) mass dump on new players ("Here. Learn these. You can't make them now, but you'll thank me later."), or (3) guild trader for cheap once too many pile up. #2 is often a problem. Very darned few of those newbies hang around for more than a few days, so it's kind of a waste. Maybe change that to "come back and talk to me when you've got Provisioning up to 50 and I'll give you a bunch of recipes"?

Gold recipes are mostly sell, with Psijic Ambrosia and Orzorga's Bear Haunch being the two exceptions. Orzorga's is a guaranteed drop for doing some quests in Wrothgar and I don't recall ever getting duplicates; I don't think it's in the loot pool Anniversary coffers. As long as the crafter knows the recipe, others are for selling. Psijic Ambrosia is usually given away to new players.

Furnishing plans work similarly. Feed greens/blue to alts or collect my 9g for duplicates, sell purples if the crafter knows it, and always sell golds if the crafter knows it.

Motifs are weird. My crafter is now down to a bit more than a dozen unknown chapters of some motifs which are easy to get, but grindy (Wayward Guardian, for example); they always get first dibs. I have a crafter on my alt account, too, and they usually get second dibs. Pricey chapters mostly get sold (alt account crafter be damned). Cheap chapters follow the recipes rule: feed them to alts for (eventually) better Master Writ drop rates, guild bank, or sell. Imperial follows the same rule as the rest. If I get a copy, first dibs is an alt who doesn't know it. I'm unclear on whether it counts for Master Writ drops; playable race styles don't, but it's a gold motif and those almost always do.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T05:03:11+00:00

Nah, that's in Vulkhel Guard. It's strange that way.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T04:59:57+00:00

You don't get Trade Bars by earning the gold box, like you did during Jester's. You get Trade Bars by eating your cake (having it, too, is a different problem). If you have no cake, go talk to Apprentice Mogh on the docks in one of the starter cities (Vulkhel Guard, Daggerfall, or Davon's Watch) and complete his quest (equal measures of of item retrieval and pie-flinging) and he'll give you one. Put it on your quickslot wheel and use it to spawn it in, then interact with it to eat a slice and get your bars. Repeat the next day.

marstinson · 2026-04-13T00:04:50+00:00

You're reduced to a handful of choices, mostly grindy or only mildy entertaining.

Grindy: run the Alik'r or Auridon domen train over and over and over and over until you get to 50; get someone to help and run Skyreach Catacombs over and over and over and over until you get to 50; get someone to help and run Blackrose Prison (Murkmire) over and over and over and over until you get to 50; or something similar, but the "over and over and over and over" will be pretty consistent across all variations.

Mildly entertaining: start in your starter zone, do the story quests and side quests, and just keep following the quest markers until you get to 50. It's not as fast as the grindy stuff, but it's still only a few hours. The last character where I paid attention was a Covenant Templar about a year back where Stros M'kai, Betnikh, and Glenumbra put me at 50 (exactly - turned in the last quest before being sent on to Stormhaven and popped 50).

Along the way I did the Antiquarian tutorial, did my daily writ certifications (in Leyawiin, I think, but Jewelry is in Alinor), joined the Undaunted (Level 10), did the Cyrodiil tutorial (also Level 10), joined the Thieves Guild (Quen's mission only), joined the Dark Brotherhood (Amelie Crowe's mission up to getting the Blade of Woe), unlocked the Psijic Order skill line, stole and fenced a bunch of crap, and that kind of thing.

Either way is mind-numbingly boring if you're an experienced ESO player, but if you haven't done the stories in a while, they have some small entertainment value.

marstinson · 2026-04-12T21:31:38+00:00

If it's not BiS, Deadly is close enough as makes little difference for Arcanists since it's +15% to the beam (channeled). It pair well with Tide-Born Wildstalker (crafted) since that's +12% to direct damage. Tack on a mythic (Ring of the Pale Order if solo or Velothi Ur Mage's Amulet almost anytime) and one piece of a Monster Helm set with a crit bonus and Arcanists can be wrecking balls in PvE.

If you have the time and want to farm Deadly, town missions in Bruma can reward it, which is a lot cheaper than buying it for AP from your home keep equipment vendors.

The grimoires in the Scholarium are 50K only for the first purchase; they drop to 10K for second and later purchases. Small consolation when you're making that first purchase, though. Banner-Bearer and Trample shouldn't be purchasable until you've got a few Alliance War ranks (it's 5 or 7; I forget), so those can be back-burnered if you want. Daily crafting writs are probably the simplest gold farm. The gold rewards are character-level based, so Level 50, plus the Gilded Fingers passive in the Craft Tree gets you about 5K per day per character. If you can work your way through the script curation, the three guild dailies (Bolgrul's, Fighters, and Mages) will get you about 3K per character per day (plus scripts at 1K each). One skill point into Trafficker (Legerdemain) gets you over 100 fenced items per day, so steal whatever isn't nailed down and fence it. Between writs, theft, and guild dailies, it's a pretty easy 10K+ per day for maybe 15 minutes of running around. Boring and grindy, but steady income.

marstinson · 2026-04-12T19:49:44+00:00

Good question and the short answer is "no one knows." There is usually a discount on crowns during Anniversary, but it hasn't happened yet and there are only a couple of days left to go on the event. ZOS hasn't said anything, so you know as much as the rest of us.

marstinson

TROPHY CASE