Total lack of class fantasy in ESO - am I wrong?

[Tears]

I've tried on multiple occasions to get into ESO, but I just can't immerse myself in the world because the classes feel so generic. But maybe people with more experience can point out how it gets better at higher levels, if it does at all?

My latest attempt last night was cut short by the realization that necromancer, an archetype I associate with summoning undead minions, gets undead minion(s) at level.. 30? And a temporary ones at that? I also saw some exploding skeleton skill which just sounds like a delayed version of a regular AoE spell. And the starting skill was just some sorta regular blue flaming skull you tossed?

I've had the same issue with other classes in ESO before. That there seem to be no class fantasy. Far as I can tell, each class has 3 specs and each spec has exactly 5 skills. Sure you can mix and match between specs. But that still leaves very little variety with 15 skills on offer total and most of them fit for different archetypes. And then you got some weapon related skills which are all generic and available for all classes. So all casters probably use same weapon skills.

As I was thinking about this, I remembered WoW Death Knight's for example who had an awesome class fantasy right from the start. They really immersed you in what it is to be a death knight. And even once the introduction ends, your skills still feel like a death knight due to the skills you have and how they interact. I control frost, blood and decay. Here I don't get that feeling at all. I'm just a Spellcaster#51232. If I'm a necromancer or not doesn't matter at all because I don't have any skills I'd associate with necromancy.

Am I missing something or is this as shallow as the class fantasy is in ESO?

[TheS1X]

You are not missing anything. This is ESO.
Check out Pax Dei, upcoming mmo.

[Nain]

well technically you can go full class fantasy and slot only class specific abilities, you only have to compensate for missing buffs now trough other means.

or you can complement your class fantasy with certain sets.
i love my fully ice-themed warden, with only ice-themed sets to make it more icy.
but its missing so much stuff that its not really viable in harder content.

and that may be the crux of the issue. class fantasy is certainly there, but you have to compromise, sometimes heavily, as non-class skills seem to offer so much more in many cases.

on the other hand, my templar feels like the master of holy spears. i can use them to jab people, i can throw them at people, and i can throw them at the ground. but most importatnly, i can jab people. over and over.

[Hark]

To play off of your comparison to WoW-your character starts off with very little skill expression, because you start at low level. If you were playing a Mage in WoW from level one, you'd start off with fireball...and that's it. Level or two later you'd get frostbolt, which doesn't really fit with the fireball spell you already have...then arcane missile, and then blink or whatever.

Dk's start at level...60 or something, so you get a very solid set of skills from each archetype from the word go. Comparing the experience of playing a DK to a level one Mage in WoW wouldn't be very charitable either.

I will agree that it does feel like it takes a while longer for classes in Eso to get their feet underneath them. You start with one skill in each tree, and it doesn't take too long to get two more, and the ultimate...alongside the pair of morphs for each. But getting the last two can be a bit harder, and getting set gear to properly synergize with it even longer. It doesn't help that unless you have the wiki open, you're pretty likely to dump time into leveling something else, before realizing it doesn't fit with what you want, or has a crappy evolution.

Or again, just takes way too long to unlock, or is in another set of skills entirely. For example, for necromancer, the Undaunted skill line, which is a Guild you can join, has a placeable blood fountain to heal the party, a web spell that also summons spiders (minions) and a bone armor shielding spell. You could also become a Vampire, and drain blood from people. Or make a Nightblade and focus on the Shadow skill line to debuff/drain enemies and summon shadows...which is kinda leaning towards Warlock.

TLDR,
it can take a bit of time and research to set up a character to match what you envision, I'd recommend looking up a few videos or checking the wiki to see if something catches your eye, and deciding if you want to invest your time in Eso or not.

[Elendir Blue]

EDIT: Yes, you are wrong :)

[FTWO]

If you're going for having full fun with the game and not going to delve deep into competitive play then it is very easy to get into Class fantasy. I know Necromancer doesn't have very many things to summon, and nothing as a permanent summons, but what I would also do is use sets that also summon creatures to fight for you. So as you're playing, summoning your own minions, the sets are letting you summon others, and keeps it going to where you summon various sorts of creatures as you fight.

You can also personalize your character very well with dark intricate styles, dark eree dyes, maybe even some freaky Mounts you can ride on, to changing your own Skin of your character to add to the Class fantasy. Maybe even using a Frost Staff for your Necromancer because a lot of their skills do Frost Damage and that would just add to it... where you can go about flaunting that you're as cold as ice, cold as death, everything you touch freezes.

[Tears]

I didn't know that some skills or summons are gained through gear sets and not through the skill tree. And that besides that there are other methods also for gaining skills. So used to being able to see all skills from the start and then deciding if they fit together or not.

I did look up some videos on Youtube, but they mostly seemed to be about min-maxing to solo everything. Guess I need to be more specific in my search terms.

Thanks for the information! I'll see what other useful information I can find and give this game another poke! =)

[Nain]

Originally posted by Tears:

I didn't know that some skills or summons are gained through gear sets and not through the skill tree.

nah, its not like that. all sets do is usually enhance certain skills or skilltypes or proc something.
but some fit neatly into certain classbuilds. for example, as i already mentioned, my frost-warden uses 2 sets (nunataks and frostchild or something like that) that spawn ice-themed aoe fields on a short cooldown if i use ice skills. i use this stupid combo for pvp. put some ice aoe on the ground, or activate that swirly icy aura, and have the enemies a little bit slowed due to all the frost everywhere.
this is by no means viable against people that know how to play, but it is stupid enough and makes the warden feel like an ice-mage.

or a set that fits the templar spear-fantasy is trinimacs. just have something that grants you a shield in any form, and you have another "spear" fall from the heavens to heal you and damage nerby foes.

then theres some sets that grant a poison effect, those would fit neatly for the nightblade if you want something like the poison rogue from wow.

its by no means perfect, but it can help make a class feel more coherent.

[psytic]

Issue I have with this game (and I havent played since Elswyr so maybe its changed but was thinking of reinstalling ) is that all the best builds use weapon skills and so outside of one or two class abilities nearly every class has the same stamina or magicka skills on their bar. Most classes feel the same as a result. I think the game would be better if all weapon skills were made passives and your only actives were class based skills.

[girlfail maxxing]

i think you are wrong, but i do find it a bit silly how the NECROMANCER isnt able to resurrect anything until level 30

[Ghoul Hunter]

Elder Scrolls as a series has never had a strong sense of class. Your character is designed to be good at everything, in every game, since Morrowind (and maybe before that too).

This is nothing like Everquest, where classes had specific abilities, and all needed each other. ESO has a pseudo singleplayer/MMO thing going on, where you are good at everything and can build however you want on the fly.

I do like ESO, btw, in case it sounds like I'm portraying it negatively. I think MMO's should be different, and this one is a good single player friendly MMO.