Old guy needs advice

[Buelldad]

I played way...way back in the day. Original Everquest, Ultima Online, and DAOC probably, at different times, held my most interest. My son suggested ESO to me as a casual friendly game, since I have real life responsibilities that will always take precedence.

To the meat of my question. What is an "easier" class/build for someone that is, well, a bit older and can't do (dont want to do) the frantic button hotkeying of skills?

In the past Ive played DPS or DPS ranged support classes because I am not that guy that is really....that good lol. Not tank/healer responsibility because I drink in my off-time...meaning your healing or tanking experience may not be fantastic...

Thanks in advance

[GIJoe597]

I am old, retired, reflexes not what they used to be. I am also new to the game, but, I play sorcerer. Works for me.

[Mercenaru]

Probably sorcerrer with pets would be the easiest, you keep 2 pets in slot bar and just spam one major dps spell.

But healer is not difficult in this game...not for casual/ normal dungeons, this one is too an easy one > all you have to do is watch the health bar on the left of your group and click 1 key to heal them... doesn't sound too hard, hm ? :)

But you don't need to concern too much in this game, classes are not as defining as they are in WoW. Basicly, every class has healing potential, tanking potential, and dps potential. You can easily retrain your skills (and cheap with in-game curency, not real money stuff).

But I would say, no matter what your plans are for the build, the sorcerrer class in the easiest in my oppinion ( and powerful too ). It's the class that gets every job done without too much skill or mastery required.

[Trigger]

use a controller on pc, easy on old fingers.

[Halcyform]

Buelldad,

Nice to see an EQ vet. I still play just not as often as I used to.

I understand your concerns, and desire, for something less intensive. One of the things I like about ESO is how well the single player and multiplayer aspects run parallel to each other. Group or don't. I'm new as well so I'll have to see what max level/content is like in regards to that aspect.

What I also like is that keyboard/mouse is optional. Not sure which you prefer, but controller is definitely viable. I keep a keyboard handy for chat, but don't chat very much. Haven't joined any guilds as of yet and zone chat tends to be your usual fare in regards to mmos (you know what I mean).

Currently playing templar (magicka). Healing in this game seems to be set up to be priority and/or aoe based. Haven't tried to raid or anything yet, but the groups I've been in have been insanely easy to heal. Game doesn't seem to require much in the way of twitch reflexes.

I suppose the only annoyance I have with regards to general gameplay is that buffs/effects aren't like EQ in that I'm not seeing any long term buffs outside of potions/food. Having to renew stuff every 6 to 15 seconds is tedious.

Oddly enough, I think if you wanted to get away from tedious rotation based gameplay, and be effective, healer seems to be the way to go. DPS wise, you get locked into rotations with not just skills, but also potions. Haven't tried Sorcerer yet, but with the pet build, that one might be the way to go to simplify rotation and still be effective in a group setting.

I'm on the single player route at the moment and enjoying it. Definitely a casual friendly game, at least so far.

It's nothing like EQ where you have gobs of hot buttons skills. On my ranger I've got something like 7 full hot bars full of skills, disciplines, macros, and clickies. That's like 70 hot buttons, at least 40 of which are used pretty regularly.

You've got 10 slots total in ESO. Five active at a time, with a weapon/skill swap feature obtained at level 15 that gives you access to 10 total skills that you can use at a time. You'll probably be at less that that since you'll probably have a core spell that you'll want on both bars (usually a heal). Weapon swap can get you killed if you are getting stun locked as it takes a second or two for it to activate =x.

[Buelldad]

Thank you all for your feedback. Will see you in-game! (at some point...lol)

[Danny Archer]

I understand you troubles sir . I have to tell you , without effectly using hotkeys and other buffing abilities you put your self at an disadvantage , your dps will suffer .

Not going to be a problem if you just doing quests and exploring . However in dungeons and trials , especially the veteran version of them will be a challenge for you, without knowing your age and related problems , people will kick you out of it .

If you planning on playing this game “seriously” ,that is doing all the content normal and vet , I suggest you to get a mouse with buttons on the side and hotkey abilities on them , it’s easier and fast .

[Halcyform]

I understand you troubles sir . I have to tell you , without effectly using hotkeys and other buffing abilities you put your self at an disadvantage , your dps will suffer .

Not going to be a problem if you just doing quests and exploring . However in dungeons and trials , especially the veteran version of them will be a challenge for you, without knowing your age and related problems , people will kick you out of it .

If you planning on playing this game “seriously” ,that is doing all the content normal and vet , I suggest you to get a mouse with buttons on the side and hotkey abilities on them , it’s easier and fast .

I doubt this is what he is going for. His play time probably won't support it. Don't know for sure.

However, when I play EQ I run my own group (usually 3 toons, sometimes 4: mage, enchanter, ranger, with shaman as 4th backup). Just for ♥♥♥♥♥ and giggles I've used xpadder, along with macros, and have been able to run a bot group in pretty much all of CoTF tasks/missions with a controller. Pretty easy, but not as safe as the keyboard since you're relying mostly on macros (maxxed spell fizzle aa's of course).

I seriously doubt ESO has any content that remotely comes close to what EQ has to offer and am confident that the controller will be just fine. There's only 10 active skills besides potions, unless I'm missing something. Not my idea of skill intensive. Your "micro" will probably be just as effective on controller as it is on a mouse. Only exception I can see is in pvp where you can just can quickly mouse turn/target.

Edit: can't solo that damn mission in CoTF you need a Feign Dead character for. Mission can suck my balls.

[b1ngnx33]

GIJoe597 eredeti hozzászólása:

I am old, retired, reflexes not what they used to be. I am also new to the game, but, I play sorcerer. Works for me.

me too. I play healer as well. I am "bored" of tanking.

[DrVisible]

I don't think it matters which. youonly have 5 active abilities regardless of class and race, its not like some games where a high level character could have 30+ active options to keybind (I am looking at you DDO)

[Noeat]

Buelldad eredeti hozzászólása:

I played way...way back in the day. Original Everquest, Ultima Online, and DAOC probably, at different times, held my most interest. My son suggested ESO to me as a casual friendly game, since I have real life responsibilities that will always take precedence.

To the meat of my question. What is an "easier" class/build for someone that is, well, a bit older and can't do (dont want to do) the frantic button hotkeying of skills?

In the past Ive played DPS or DPS ranged support classes because I am not that guy that is really....that good lol. Not tank/healer responsibility because I drink in my off-time...meaning your healing or tanking experience may not be fantastic...

Thanks in advance

1) ESO isnt casual in that way what u think
if u rly play UO, Everquest and other good MMO with system.. run away from ESO like u run for life (i explain later why..)
2) easier are all builds - u can use 1-2 abilities for dmg (yes.. its like dmg a bit.. and second for dmg more to target under XX percent HP
3) :-D damn old times.. i was immortal in my drunk night tank runs in WoW :-D
u know.. back from party.. and before sleep.. a bit of play :-D

in fact u will be good tank, cause u have fearfrom bad tanking.. :)
bad tanks have only egoism :) and never fear.. thats why they sux

but.. back to point 1
why run away from this sh.. game..

if u rly dont love world of TES, then u probably find here only disappointment

a) here isnt any aggro mechanic.. ye, rly.. nothing like aggro
all is random.. more or less.. some mobs are scripted to attack healer (doesnt matter if healer is on other side of instance or not - they just run for him immediatelly after pull)
tank can keep aggro only by taunt :-D
when i saw that.. i understand why WoW have too much bad tanks who come from ESO.. and why they dont use any ability, but taunt

b) u have only 5 abilities (and ultimate ability) what u can use

c) if u like instances (looks like that.. here isnt any mechanic.. all dungeons are tank n spank (only 1 or 2 not))

d) everyone need heal self and tank here.. cause that nonsense here with aggro :-D
in fact.. tank is the only one who isnt bored in instance
ofc.. only when tank do something.. many "tanks" here only taunt boss / big mob ..and go sleep.. and wait untill DPS and healer kill all other and then his target..

i find my fun with tank, when i constantly run around all mobs and use taunt.. and keep aggro on all :-D + some cc

but i have this game only for nostalgy - i rly like TES Daggerfall and TES Morrowind

i can recommend u RIFT.. u find here awesome talent tree system, nice instances with bossevents, where u can do something and not only blindly push 1 button..
and more abilities than 5 :-D

i know.. im a bit late, cause u already buy ESO :/
and last 6 days we have nice issues train, when servers are online only few hrs / day

last shutdown was 15 hrs long
funny fact is.. servers drop immediatelly after Zenimax promise compensation for their bad service.. then they call that maintenance (a 1 hr later+- :-D ) and we wait 15 hrs for playing again :-D

[Halcyform]

a) here isnt any aggro mechanic.. ye, rly.. nothing like aggro
all is random.. more or less.. some mobs are scripted to attack healer (doesnt matter if healer is on other side of instance or not - they just run for him immediatelly after pull)
tank can keep aggro only by taunt :-D
when i saw that.. i understand why WoW have too much bad tanks who come from ESO.. and why they dont use any ability, but taunt

Yeah, I noticed aggro is kind of wonky in ESO, but most mobs I've come across seem to go after whoever is doing the most damage. If you can get separation, and others are doing comparable damage, then proximity seems to play a role as well, but that's just a guess.

As far as mobs that go straight for healer, this exists in EQ. In fact, the most recent expansions in EQ, especially in CoTF, the mobs have regular aggro dumps. This can cause dps/healer to go splat if people aren't paying attention and making use of aggro reduction abilities so tank's can regain aggro via snap abilities and then rebuild. Repeat.

It's always interesting to learn about new game mechanics. EQ has so many types of aggro, that if not understood, blatantly shines the light on the noobs...lol.

Agree with RIFT. Played it when it first came out, but ended up dropping it as RL stepped in. Didn't go back. Perhaps I'll revisit at some point.

GW2 is very fun. Still play that as well.

ESO seems pretty fun so far. The lore is interesting.

As far as WoW goes, I don't think you can judge good players based on that game. That game is sort of sh*t. Played, and raided, up to Gul'dan in Legion. From vanilla up to this point was kind of like mouthbreathing. Game got so watered down, especially with deadly boss mods, that there really isn't any challenge.

People fool themselves into thinking that things like hard heroics/raids are difficult because it's a gear check. As long as you have the gear to satisfy the dps requirement, it's retardedly easy. The ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ aspect of the game is the community which tends to ruin WoW for myself and others. Entitlement and elitism abound in WoW. It's pretty awful. Standard fare for mmos, but WoW tends to set the standard for garbage monster players. Lore is awesome though. The lore and the initial following is what made WoW what it is.

ESO, so far, gives off that "fun, and mindless" soothing gameplay where you can enjoy it at your own pace while consuming what lore the world has to offer. Nice change of pace to other mmos.

[Noeat]

Halcyform eredeti hozzászólása:

a) here isnt any aggro mechanic.. ye, rly.. nothing like aggro
all is random.. more or less.. some mobs are scripted to attack healer (doesnt matter if healer is on other side of instance or not - they just run for him immediatelly after pull)
tank can keep aggro only by taunt :-D
when i saw that.. i understand why WoW have too much bad tanks who come from ESO.. and why they dont use any ability, but taunt

Yeah, I noticed aggro is kind of wonky in ESO, but most mobs I've come across seem to go after whoever is doing the most damage. If you can get separation, and others are doing comparable damage, then proximity seems to play a role as well, but that's just a guess.

As far as mobs that go straight for healer, this exists in EQ. In fact, the most recent expansions in EQ, especially in CoTF, the mobs have regular aggro dumps. This can cause dps/healer to go splat if people aren't paying attention and making use of aggro reduction abilities so tank's can regain aggro via snap abilities and then rebuild. Repeat.

It's always interesting to learn about new game mechanics. EQ has so many types of aggro, that if not understood, blatantly shines the light on the noobs...lol.

Agree with RIFT. Played it when it first came out, but ended up dropping it as RL stepped in. Didn't go back. Perhaps I'll revisit at some point.

GW2 is very fun. Still play that as well.

ESO seems pretty fun so far. The lore is interesting.

As far as WoW goes, I don't think you can judge good players based on that game. That game is sort of sh*t. Played, and raided, up to Gul'dan in Legion. From vanilla up to this point was kind of like mouthbreathing. Game got so watered down, especially with deadly boss mods, that there really isn't any challenge.

People fool themselves into thinking that things like hard heroics/raids are difficult because it's a gear check. As long as you have the gear to satisfy the dps requirement, it's retardedly easy. The ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ aspect of the game is the community which tends to ruin WoW for myself and others. Entitlement and elitism abound in WoW. It's pretty awful. Standard fare for mmos, but WoW tends to set the standard for garbage monster players. Lore is awesome though. The lore and the initial following is what made WoW what it is.

ESO, so far, gives off that "fun, and mindless" soothing gameplay where you can enjoy it at your own pace while consuming what lore the world has to offer. Nice change of pace to other mmos.

not rly :-D
not for that who do most of dmg..


Aggro in Practice
To look at an extreme example, consider the final boss in vCoA1. We have a group of 3 sorcs. The first sorc, Anti, runs in and hits the boss with a single light attack, then just stands around doing nothing but absorbing damage. Our second sorc, Moo, spams his lightning weapon attack. Moo is wearing no gear, mind you, and his staff was picked up off a trash mob three pulls ago, so he's doing less than 2% of the dps at best. Our final sorc, Fish, gets straight to work and proceeds to deal direct damage to the tune of 98% of our dps. Now, we already know the boss is going to attack Anti for ~7 seconds, but who do you think he will go for next? The one absolutely and visibly demolishing him, or the naked dude who is basically tickling him?

Moo pulls aggro. Then Moo dies, because he's a good sport and took off all his gear for his shameful role in this test, and the boss proceeds to return fire on Fish, who is still demolishing him at this point. Fish already has taken a concerning chunk of this mob's health away while Anti has done exactly as much as you'd expect from an Anti (nothing but laugh at Moo's death). If Fish stops attacking at this point out of the sheer hopelessness of this group and Anti musters the care to cast any single damage or attack, you know what happens? You're absolutely right if you guessed this poor memory-less boss then switches to the person who has contributes 2 buttons clicks so far.

source:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/391895/a-guide-to-aggro

about WoW..
i was in semi-hc guild in WotLK.. ye, im raider.. i dont care too much about story or lore.. but about game mechanics, theorycrafts, tacs, soft "exploits" like bypas stun with vanish, etc..
i rly enjoy bossevents.. and i enjoy be one of first who kill boss :)

and i can agree in one point - WoW get hard hits from nerfs..

but when we compare game mechanics with ESO and other MMOs.. ESO have dumb and simple mechanics, u can use only few abilities, u cant find here some advanced mechanics than 1 button for dmg and second for dmg when is mob under XX percent.. u dont have here any aggro decreasing, situational / support ability...any deper combat mechanic.. nothing..

btw: about elitism in WoW..
depends.. there is something like "mid society" - ppl who play this game and have some gear and achieves.. but they have low knowledge about game.. then they demand at gearscore (in fact its not their fail, cause they dont have any idea how to recognize what player is good and what no) those ppl are elitist AF :-D
many times i get from this ppl hatefull whispers, when i was in Dala.. and make some pug.. it was like "GTFO, why u flex here with your mounts/gear, etc..)

then u have here "loíw society" - ppl who r newbies, start this game, try discover this game.. or just dont care about that...
they know about their low knowledge and u can play with them without any problem (mostly) they dont try flame u, or hate u for your top gear.. u can teach them, give them advice and.. its fun (in older raids, or normal/hc dungs)
i get whispers from this players like.. wow, where u get this mount/gear/pet/achiev, etc.. just questions

and u have third society - semi hc/hc / knowledge society - ppl who have knowledge about this game, who progress endgame content..
those ppl are.. hmm.. different :)
here is friendly "hate" for dmg, heal, mitigation.. when ppl hype other ppl to do it better :) ..and u know, they well know what they say :-D
and here isnt place for hard fails.. when u sux in game and dont learn, then u have no place in that raidgroup,.. and u will be kicked or u get some "WTF r u doing" questions.. and sometime strong words ;-) ..but..i think its ok..
on other side, this ppl are helpfull, when they have time and they dont have problem teach newbies.. and they dont have patience with "mid society elitists"

...
omg.. i made here wall of text.. but.. we continue :-D

i agree - ESO have good lore (if u know games before like TES Daggerfall and TES Morrowind)

sadly, i never play GW2, but what i hear from friends.. its good game... average-good, cause small bit endgame content and good game mechanics

Rift.. damn.. Rift is like extasy :-D for ppl who like talenttrees from WoW and they wish make combinations of them..
u have 9 talenttrees for every class and u choose 3 of them and combine that
(ofc, here is only few top builds.. but.. for casual play, or some special playstyle its rly cool)

back to ESO
when i compare dungeons with Rift dungeons.. Rift win for content and mechanics here
(i dont wish compare that with WoW, where every boss have his iwn mechanics, cause then ESO looks like trash)

tl:dr:
if u like run instances.. ESO isnt best game what u can grab..
atm i cant imagine worst example than ESO with instances, but probably here is some..

aaaand sorry for wall of text, if u read that all.. u have my respect

[Halcyform]

Yeah, I read it. Thanks for link.

Once i feel like doing higher end content, I'll start consuming the wiki-ish knowledge bases and research the mechanics. At the moment, things are the way I like them so I'll just learn by doing.

Used to hardcore raid Everquest, all the way up to Rain of Fear expansion, but decided to switch to casual raiding going forward (and running a bot army on my downtime). Started in on WoW off and on while playing EQ. Raided up to an including legion. Was ok, I guess, just didn't provide the challenge that EQ had. EQ was more or less one big gear check, as well, but the scripted events, puzzles, riddles and mechanics were far more fun than what WoW could provide. EQ Community, as a whole, was light years better. WoW was still fun, just a different flavor that didn't last as long as EQ.

Doubt if our guild fit into any of those categories listed. We ran a guild of mature, but insanely focused individuals. Stuck to our own and had a fairly involved recruitment process. Participation in zone/general chat on mains was banned. Mostly military folks who brought skills of RL to the game and it showed. Never let the game interfer with RL, though. We'd catch people up when they had to take a break due to child birth, job changes, etc and still stayed #2 on the server ;p. Lots of fun and some great memories. Guild retired a few years back to move on to other things.

Tried ESO on a whim. Seems like a nice "quiet time" gaming diversion where I can do my own thing while experiencing more of the elder scrolls universe.

I'll take your word on the group/raiding experience. I'll see how it goes. But, one thing I learned from my friends in EQ, was not to take this stuff too seriously because then it stops being fun and starts feeling like a job.

Laters, bro.

[BeardedFancyman]

Buelldad eredeti hozzászólása:

I played way...way back in the day.

Seriously, you cant go wrong anyway you look at it, and Im a veteran, too. I was in the alpha and beta for Ultima Online and played for years and years into the public release (Catskills!!). I was a tester for everything from EQ to WoW to Galaxies to LOTRO (ESO, SWOTOR, Conan), so Ive seen my fair share of game designs, too.

This game is a easy or difficult as you want it to be; Ive always played hybrid, paladin/captain type characters.

I NEVER and I mean NEVER play rougue/stealth classes, and I am currently having a blast on a level capped Nightblade.

I dont tank, and I am also really enjoying a DK tank.

I dont play squishy mage or healer types (I get hit too much!!), and I've got alts for both that I dont have a single complaint about.

People may not like me for saying this, but ESO is as close as youll come to recapturing the sandbox feel that UO had. Where you can just walk around looking for things, expolring and enjoying.

I dont group often, for the same reason you dont heal. I have a high stress job in IT, with 50-60 hrs in the office (not counting research and such I do at home), so when I have down time to game, I usually crack open a couple of bottles of a nice porter or stout that Ive picked up when Im traveling around the country (I like to stop in local breweries when Im traveling and bring things home); So like you, Im not always fully alert, lol! :)

But you can have a load of fun solo, grouping or just kind of jumping in with a bunch of people farming anchors or whatever. Ive got probably 1400 hrs in game at this point, and not a single complaint about the game play, mechanics or the community (post alpha/beta, I would have answered that in a VERY different way, btw. This game was almost unplayable).

Pick a fun class to start, and just run with it. You can customize it far more than you can in a lot of games, so you have a good amount of versatility there either way!!

[Ron AF Greve]

I am a casual player. Not very good at games that needs lots of reflexes or lots of time to learn.

For me ESO works very well. I play as sorcerer, solo. If you play solo you don't have to care about perfect builds or disappointing other people and you can pop in and out of the game anytime you want. I have enough obligations in real life, when playing a game I want to have freedom not some extra schedule when I should play or what I should do which would make it seems like I would have a second job :-).

If you like to play in a group you probably need to search for one with more 'relaxed players'.

Usually i like to play with keyboard/mouse but for ESO I like to play with an XBox 360 controller (for PC!). If you never played with it it takes some time to get movement and camera in ones mind but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature.