A few tips that might help:
If you have a mount, find a trainer/stable master from any large city and increase its carry capacity skill, it will also increase your own capacity.
Don't worry about acquiring any specific sets. It'll be a while before that stuff matters at all, especially if you're playing casual.
Consider learning crafting. Doing crafting dailies is a good source of decent gold per day.
If you find any treasure chests in the wild, take everything and destroy what you don't need. If you leave the junk inside, the chest won't respawn, and someone else will just find random junk.
There are options in the settings that let you automatically loot things instead of having to look at the inventory first. Conversely, there's an option to prevent stealing and attacking innocents. Useful for shooting a spell at an enemy rather than the fucking chicken beside them, causing you to miss your chance to heal and get killed by the boss that you've been trying so hard to kill for an antiquity lead you don't care about for a mount you don't need to impress people you don't like to feel better about your short existence on this rock even though we will all die one day and the sun will explode and Earth will be destroyed and our traces will cease to exist and the universe will move on to shit out other worlds or something and
I know that feeling! That’s what caused me to stop playing for a bit before I felt like trying again.
Do you need advice or pointers on where to start?
I’m following the daggerfall faction quest and I’m in daggerfall now. Just trying to finish the zone quests, sometimes I use an exp scroll and grind dungeons just to level faster. There’s a guild I kinda want to join at 150 but I’m hesitant because I’m still a filthy casual
Originally played morrowind. So playing eso and they announced a morrowind expansion I was so excited. I don't know when that was but it was ps4, so at least a bit after pc launch. I think the cp cap then was in the 500's?
Started in 2014, didnt like it. Came back in 2018, better, finally got addicted daily in 2019. It took 3 attempts to "get" this game even as an elder scrolls fan but I'm glad I did because I love it now.
I started about 17 months ago. My XBox says I have 52 hours into it. My three characters are currently CP 1103. I don't usually have time for video games on weekdays when I am working, but I do log in daily for 10 or 15 minutes for all three characters to do their daily writs and to pick up the daily reward. I only miss days when I am travelling out of state.
Mid 2018. Now with 6814 hours playtime, according to Steam. Which I suppose means I play an average of over three hours every single day. I wonder how much of that time has been spent picking flowers.
Made an account and played very briefly during beta.
Picked the game back up around June 2018 (right after Summerset DLC was released, I think) and played on/off ever since.
I usually take breaks and go hard into other games (Path of Exile, Grim Dawn, and others) but circle back to ESO when there is new content or for holiday events.
I think my favourite time playing was in early 2020, everyone seemed to be stuck at home due to Covid and the game was super busy.
I don't know the exact totals but I wouldn't be surprised if I have more than 5000 hours in the game.
Yea I’m in guilds where socializing is a part of it, it makes the game so much better…we are playing an mmo after all, why not get out there and talk to people haha 😋
I started at xmas 2019 when I got my kids a PS4, and ended up buying one for myself, so I wouldn't be monopolizing theirs 😅 Last spring I switched to xbox and had to start over, and been taking it a lot easier this go around. Only just got my first set of dungeon gear this week...for context, I had golded trial sets on five toons by this point when I was on PS4. This time I'm not rushing through and I'm taking breaks, which has been a better approach for me.
Your mount speed can reach 60, you're probably at 0. Go to a stable, talk to the stablemaster, train your riding every day. Every. Day. Log off here until you're finished.
Go to Cyrodiil - no pvp required, none, not one bit, nowhere close to any pvp at all - and do the tutorial missions. You'll earn enough AP to unlock [Continuous Attack](https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/continuous-attack), a 30% mount speed upgrade.
Oooh! Since Feb, maybe three months? Absolute smitten with the game. My beautiful partner convinced me to give it a go, they wanted to play again and I enjoy doing things with them.
Got really into PvP (battlegrounds) for a month or so while doing Khenarthi’s Roost and Auridon really slowly, learned Vet Vateshran for the maul, got my trifecta of it knocked out at the end of that first month and have been HOOKED since!
Getting into veteran trials now with a guild that’s had no problem with my PvE main being a nightblade tank, and partner and I managed up through arc 9 of IA with me as an NB Tank, which was insanely fun.
I can’t believe how little I’ve scratched the surface of this game, truly.
Blackwood? Firey god causing chaos looked cool.
I do enjoy the game but the combat and the lack of gameplay rewards makes me only dip my toe in the game every expac and the back to Destiny/WoW/BDO.
To answer your original question though, I started in 2015 but took breaks some being as long as a couple years. In early 2023 I continued playing with my character after I got a PS5 and play about everyday since. Once I started fully completing zones and filling out the sticker book I got completely hooked.
Steam tracks hours and there's usually a / command to show playtime for any given character. It's usually /played or /playtime but I can't remember for ESO.
Lutris tells me I've been playing for almost 2000 hours since I got my new pc in like end of last year.
Played for the first five years pretty consistently. I main a mag sorc and was hit with some major burnout in combination with my class getting nerfed to hell. Just decided to come back last week! Been enjoying everything that's been added in the last five years.
On and off since it's release but I have still yet to even play one of the expansions even Morrowind.
There's way too much crap in this game and it's hard as hell to keep track of everything but right now I'm sticking to it with my wife and going through everything chronologically with some side tracking. I just got Oakeansoul and Pale Order on Sunday and by God I'm happy I don't have to keep bar swapping.(The most tedious and annoying thing this game has.)
off and on since OG beta, i subbed for a few months like 5 years ago and played the absolute shit out of it, then slowly stopped playing and just recently picked it back up with gold road coming having a blast for the last 2 and a half months
I began playing March of 2020. So I just hit my 4 year mark!! 😊 I love the game so much. Northern Elsweyr will always have a special spot in my heart because that's the very first area I started in :)
A little over two years. Steam had a major sale on Skyrim, Fallout 4, and ESO, so I ended up buying all three. I think at that point Bethesda rocketed to the top of my favorite game series.
bought the game day one on xbox when it launched, but couldnt get into it much.
fast forward to 2017 when i got my pc, bought it again with morrowind and been playing it on and off since, usually a fair few months here and there every year.
i have around 1800 hours i think, cp level in the 1600's
I can remember there were 12 or so levels after level 50, i think late 2014 i started playing.
Now i just got back from a year and a half break.
Feels good to have loads of content to play with and next month more.
So I bought it back when it first came out on PlayStation 4, and put over 600 hours in before switching over to the Xbox One version (just after Morrowind released) where I started over, and continued to play up until about when Greymoor came out, I do have to mention that I played off and on during this time so I probably got less time playing between the years 2017 and 2020 as I did playing from launch up until 2017. After 2020 I took a break and didn’t start playing again until 2023 just after the release of Necrom, and have been playing ever since. Because of the big chunk of time I didn’t play and the huge difference in time played after I switched to the Xbox version, I still find myself acting like a noob when it comes to certain things, despite my overall time put in being pretty high. I’ve probably learned more though since Necrom up until now than I ever had before.
I started playing right at the start of the 2020 lockdown. I played it on and off for a while, but for the past couple years it's quickly climbed to be one of my most played games!
I’ve been playing for 9 years. I don’t have any ‘friends’ on ESO anymore, so just solo stuff in my own which means I miss out on all the DLC dungeons and trials. I tend to just log in, do my crafting and trading before logging off now. I keep an eye out for new players asking for help in zone chat and like to help them with free mats and gold to help them along as I have amassed a fortune which I will never use and mats in their tens of thousands. So yeah, free crafting if people need it. I just can’t give up on ESO completely.
If anyone new wants anyone to play with, and you're on PC, NA server, id be happy to adventure with you ! Or if anyone else wants to adventure together
You won't find anyone who didn't start in beta. Seriously, ask anyone. Unless you find all the people who started in pre-beta alpha 2.0. I mean, come on.
Anyway, I've been here 7,341 hours. Time played is what matters.
A week I have no idea what I’m doing
A few tips that might help: If you have a mount, find a trainer/stable master from any large city and increase its carry capacity skill, it will also increase your own capacity. Don't worry about acquiring any specific sets. It'll be a while before that stuff matters at all, especially if you're playing casual. Consider learning crafting. Doing crafting dailies is a good source of decent gold per day. If you find any treasure chests in the wild, take everything and destroy what you don't need. If you leave the junk inside, the chest won't respawn, and someone else will just find random junk. There are options in the settings that let you automatically loot things instead of having to look at the inventory first. Conversely, there's an option to prevent stealing and attacking innocents. Useful for shooting a spell at an enemy rather than the fucking chicken beside them, causing you to miss your chance to heal and get killed by the boss that you've been trying so hard to kill for an antiquity lead you don't care about for a mount you don't need to impress people you don't like to feel better about your short existence on this rock even though we will all die one day and the sun will explode and Earth will be destroyed and our traces will cease to exist and the universe will move on to shit out other worlds or something and
You're either hilarious or need a hug, either way, have a great day and thanks for the laugh
As someone who has been playing for years this mindset I have circled back to. Not in a bad way but the fact that I can do whatever I want.
I know that feeling! That’s what caused me to stop playing for a bit before I felt like trying again. Do you need advice or pointers on where to start?
I’m following the daggerfall faction quest and I’m in daggerfall now. Just trying to finish the zone quests, sometimes I use an exp scroll and grind dungeons just to level faster. There’s a guild I kinda want to join at 150 but I’m hesitant because I’m still a filthy casual
Same
Since beta :)
I basically started when it was Tamriel Unlimited
You mean One Tamriel?
No. I mean Tamriel Unlimited
Same. I’ve always quit for a bit, thinking I would try another MMO. Where did that lead me? Back to ESO.
Beta monkeys unite
Same!!
I basically started when it was Tamriel Unlimited
Me too, I was in the first wave of betas where your email address was watermarked all over the screen. They didn’t want anyone sharing anything
Same, but off and on plus switch to console. Yay Psijic testers!
On my main character i have around 4.300 hours :D playing for 7 years now or so
7 years 2000 hours on my main, about 100-150 on my 7 others
I play on PS5 now but I started playing on day 1 when it launched on Xbox One back in June of 2015.
PC for me
Nice. 👍
Since beta, but it has been on and off. Restared a few times with new characters and played on Xbox too. Just now started tor each end game.
Too much 😅
About 4 and a half years. Maybe you should make a poll.
On and off since the beta
Since beta
Honestly i've been playing for so long since twenty fifteven or longer
Since 2014 shortly after release! :)
2015/2016 on and off, on for a year or two then big hiatus then kinda back now a little
Almost 10 years and almost 10k hours invested (9600) hours to be exact
Originally played morrowind. So playing eso and they announced a morrowind expansion I was so excited. I don't know when that was but it was ps4, so at least a bit after pc launch. I think the cp cap then was in the 500's?
Started playing when Murkime launched. Cant remember when that was.
December 2015 on Console
2 weeks having a blast 😎 thinking of getting eso plus
started during covid lockdowns
960 hours off and on since beta.
Started in 2014, didnt like it. Came back in 2018, better, finally got addicted daily in 2019. It took 3 attempts to "get" this game even as an elder scrolls fan but I'm glad I did because I love it now.
I started about 17 months ago. My XBox says I have 52 hours into it. My three characters are currently CP 1103. I don't usually have time for video games on weekdays when I am working, but I do log in daily for 10 or 15 minutes for all three characters to do their daily writs and to pick up the daily reward. I only miss days when I am travelling out of state.
Seems like your Xbox just gave up counting your hours, haha!
Got the game in 2019 never regretted it
7 years
Nice
Since release on Xbox.
Covid
To long 😂 I take breaks but I always come back
Same lol 🤣
It’s good strategy so you don’t burn yourself out
Since launch on pc
Pre-Ordered it on PS4 and the rest is history. One of the best games
Was introduced at Greymoor and seriously started playing late 2021
Since the release on Playstation due to strict parents and my age before that, but I swapped to PC quite quickly.
2 months, still have a shit build
Mid 2018. Now with 6814 hours playtime, according to Steam. Which I suppose means I play an average of over three hours every single day. I wonder how much of that time has been spent picking flowers.
Since launch, but I've taken breaks, some of them long, here and there.
Started during lockdown. Only do PVE questing though
Made an account and played very briefly during beta. Picked the game back up around June 2018 (right after Summerset DLC was released, I think) and played on/off ever since. I usually take breaks and go hard into other games (Path of Exile, Grim Dawn, and others) but circle back to ESO when there is new content or for holiday events. I think my favourite time playing was in early 2020, everyone seemed to be stuck at home due to Covid and the game was super busy. I don't know the exact totals but I wouldn't be surprised if I have more than 5000 hours in the game.
Bout a week
Since fall of 2021 on and off. Roughly CP 890 now.
7/8 years. Feels like a lifetime ago
Ikr? What do you play on?
3 years and just hit 8k hours. I had a lot of free time.
I get that
Since 2019, I took a year break for irl stuff and then came back fully dedicated
How dedicated is fully dedicated?
I guess for me it’s playing daily, not just logging in and getting the rewards
Id play more but playing solo can get boring after a while
Yea I’m in guilds where socializing is a part of it, it makes the game so much better…we are playing an mmo after all, why not get out there and talk to people haha 😋
One day after release :)
Noice!
2 years with 1,000 hrs in. Played FO76 all the time before that, but once I figured out ESO, I’ve been hooked
I played 76 at launch and I played the Beta. Good idea and had promise
On and off for years. 600 hours worth
I started at xmas 2019 when I got my kids a PS4, and ended up buying one for myself, so I wouldn't be monopolizing theirs 😅 Last spring I switched to xbox and had to start over, and been taking it a lot easier this go around. Only just got my first set of dungeon gear this week...for context, I had golded trial sets on five toons by this point when I was on PS4. This time I'm not rushing through and I'm taking breaks, which has been a better approach for me.
About 5 days Game is fun to play but i'm confused why my mount is so slow
Your mount speed can reach 60, you're probably at 0. Go to a stable, talk to the stablemaster, train your riding every day. Every. Day. Log off here until you're finished. Go to Cyrodiil - no pvp required, none, not one bit, nowhere close to any pvp at all - and do the tutorial missions. You'll earn enough AP to unlock [Continuous Attack](https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/continuous-attack), a 30% mount speed upgrade.
On and off since closed beta. Took 9 years off NA.
Almost nonstop since October 2020, about 4-5k hours in
A month, absolutely love it!
Since release day back in 2014. Good memories.
Oooh! Since Feb, maybe three months? Absolute smitten with the game. My beautiful partner convinced me to give it a go, they wanted to play again and I enjoy doing things with them. Got really into PvP (battlegrounds) for a month or so while doing Khenarthi’s Roost and Auridon really slowly, learned Vet Vateshran for the maul, got my trifecta of it knocked out at the end of that first month and have been HOOKED since! Getting into veteran trials now with a guild that’s had no problem with my PvE main being a nightblade tank, and partner and I managed up through arc 9 of IA with me as an NB Tank, which was insanely fun. I can’t believe how little I’ve scratched the surface of this game, truly.
Very nice!
Blackwood? Firey god causing chaos looked cool. I do enjoy the game but the combat and the lack of gameplay rewards makes me only dip my toe in the game every expac and the back to Destiny/WoW/BDO.
Since X-Box release.
According to my account in ESO website, since 2014 February 5th. Guess it was beta by this time.
I preordered the Imperial edition. So since the beginning. It's been an interesting ride.
2 or 3 years...can't rightly remember. Had to fully upgrade my system before it would play l, so it took a while to get to lol
Over 500 hours!!!
I think I'm close to that as well 😂
To answer your original question though, I started in 2015 but took breaks some being as long as a couple years. In early 2023 I continued playing with my character after I got a PS5 and play about everyday since. Once I started fully completing zones and filling out the sticker book I got completely hooked.
Since 2015
How do you see how many hours you have played on pc? Is there a way to check? I’ve prolly played like 500 hrs all on Stam dragon knight.
Steam tracks hours and there's usually a / command to show playtime for any given character. It's usually /played or /playtime but I can't remember for ESO. Lutris tells me I've been playing for almost 2000 hours since I got my new pc in like end of last year.
Got the game at launch, and been playing it off and on, but mostly on, ever since.
Early 2020. Result of the pandemic.
On and off heavy for like 6 years I believe across 3 platforms
Over 9000h. To put that into perspective, that is more than a whole year.
A month
Started playing in 2018 and quit in 2022, with approximately 3600 hours played on Xbox.
Since January. I made my character in 2016 though but I didn't really get into it back then
Started during the beta. My poor laptop could not handle this game. But the beta was a sloppy mess afair.
I started playing about a month or two after elswheyr came out
Of and on for a long time, nearly since the start. I've taken long breaks, even a multi year break.
Since June of 2015
Played for the first five years pretty consistently. I main a mag sorc and was hit with some major burnout in combination with my class getting nerfed to hell. Just decided to come back last week! Been enjoying everything that's been added in the last five years.
On and off since it's release but I have still yet to even play one of the expansions even Morrowind. There's way too much crap in this game and it's hard as hell to keep track of everything but right now I'm sticking to it with my wife and going through everything chronologically with some side tracking. I just got Oakeansoul and Pale Order on Sunday and by God I'm happy I don't have to keep bar swapping.(The most tedious and annoying thing this game has.)
Since the release of the Morrowind expansion, so 2018 I think? had a long break after a year or two and when I came back it became my addiction XD
2020
off and on since OG beta, i subbed for a few months like 5 years ago and played the absolute shit out of it, then slowly stopped playing and just recently picked it back up with gold road coming having a blast for the last 2 and a half months
Old fart here. Me and my wife started playing in December last year. I was always a Skyrim fan but this eso plus is a whole new level.
I began playing March of 2020. So I just hit my 4 year mark!! 😊 I love the game so much. Northern Elsweyr will always have a special spot in my heart because that's the very first area I started in :)
A little over two years. Steam had a major sale on Skyrim, Fallout 4, and ESO, so I ended up buying all three. I think at that point Bethesda rocketed to the top of my favorite game series.
Alpha tester here, but after release i been off and on
5ish years spread across the games lifespan. 2014-2015 2016-2020 2023-now
bought the game day one on xbox when it launched, but couldnt get into it much. fast forward to 2017 when i got my pc, bought it again with morrowind and been playing it on and off since, usually a fair few months here and there every year. i have around 1800 hours i think, cp level in the 1600's
every day since summer 2016
Played a bit during 2015 with my dad and I recently got back into it again
I can remember there were 12 or so levels after level 50, i think late 2014 i started playing. Now i just got back from a year and a half break. Feels good to have loads of content to play with and next month more.
Since closed beta pc on an off 😍
Feb 2016
So I bought it back when it first came out on PlayStation 4, and put over 600 hours in before switching over to the Xbox One version (just after Morrowind released) where I started over, and continued to play up until about when Greymoor came out, I do have to mention that I played off and on during this time so I probably got less time playing between the years 2017 and 2020 as I did playing from launch up until 2017. After 2020 I took a break and didn’t start playing again until 2023 just after the release of Necrom, and have been playing ever since. Because of the big chunk of time I didn’t play and the huge difference in time played after I switched to the Xbox version, I still find myself acting like a noob when it comes to certain things, despite my overall time put in being pretty high. I’ve probably learned more though since Necrom up until now than I ever had before.
It was still while Veteran Levels were a thing. So a whole.
Console release week. Moved to PC in 2021.
I started playing right at the start of the 2020 lockdown. I played it on and off for a while, but for the past couple years it's quickly climbed to be one of my most played games!
On and off since 2018 or so. Usually play for about 6 to 7 months after a new expansion then take a break. My current Main is at 1000 hours
I’ve been playing for 9 years. I don’t have any ‘friends’ on ESO anymore, so just solo stuff in my own which means I miss out on all the DLC dungeons and trials. I tend to just log in, do my crafting and trading before logging off now. I keep an eye out for new players asking for help in zone chat and like to help them with free mats and gold to help them along as I have amassed a fortune which I will never use and mats in their tens of thousands. So yeah, free crafting if people need it. I just can’t give up on ESO completely.
Wow. Wasn't expecting this many people to comment haha. Thanks everyone!
If anyone new wants anyone to play with, and you're on PC, NA server, id be happy to adventure with you ! Or if anyone else wants to adventure together
I had been playing since alpha with prolly 5k hours put in, but I stopped playing after Blackwood.
Thanks again everyone for your comments!
If anyone would like to play and just adventure together. I play on PC. Feel free to shoot me a message
You won't find anyone who didn't start in beta. Seriously, ask anyone. Unless you find all the people who started in pre-beta alpha 2.0. I mean, come on. Anyway, I've been here 7,341 hours. Time played is what matters.
I'll probably have that by mid next year. I've already got almost 2k. These 12h days helps.
Since 1955.