Alright, I've gotten over 1000 hours now, so I think it's time for a real review.

ESO is the ONLY of probably one of 2 or 3 MMOs I could actively play for hours at a time and actually stick with it. It seems every other MMO keeps my attention for a day or two, maybe even a week, but ESO is just built different I guess.

I think the combat is lovely. The free-flowing action combined with weaving and animation-cancelling is something I can say I really enjoy. I'm not a massive fan of tab-targetting like WoW or FF14, and while I think FF14 is a wonderful game, I simply cannot get into it like ESO because of that.

I think the content is quite varied early on and while it does sorta wear off eventually, the amount of things to do is still massive. Every area can take hours or even days to fully complete. Like I said, you start to see that Harrowstorms are kinda like Geysers which are kinda like the base game Dark Anchors and that can kinda feel like it cheapens the experience, but I think some of the mechanics are new enough and honestly, Dragon fights really carry the "World Event" stuff anyway so they don't really matter a whole lot to me personally.

Dungeons early on are mostly just simple kill this, do that, boss time. I think the DLC dungeons, especially the more recent ones, have such interesting mechanics though. Stone Garden is one of my favorites for the awesome werewolf transformation and hidden potion-making side-quest thingy. I can only see them getting better from here on out too.

Trials are something I'm not too invested in still, but you can certainly start doing them way earlier than I did too. They have great gear of course but, more than that, the boss fights are fun and interesting. They feel like extended dungeons with more mechanics and better bosses (usually). The mini-trials however are like a boss-rush and I do enjoy them too, but they end a lot sooner. Helps when one of the better sets is in one or two of them though...

I think the sheer amount of gear in the game is awesome. My brain is constantly trying to think of something fun and exciting while pulling good damage or being meta-aligned without straight up copying others. There's obviously plenty, PLENTY of stinker sets but I think the devs do a wonderful job of changing sets and buffing/nerfing sets/classes.

And let's talk about those classes. I hate that FF14 has 1 character for every class and this game doesn't, because FF14 will forever be better in that regard honestly, but I love how free-form this game is yet again. The classes obviously have 1 or 2 roles they excel at but you can do anything with any class and any race mixture. Wanna heal as a Dragonknight High Elf? Sure thing, bud. DD as a Warden Argonian? You bet. Tank as a Nightblade Khajiit? Mhm. Now there's obviously things like score-pushing on trials that require very precise teams and setups to make the leaderboards, but if you have no interest in that, you can do everything in the game as whatever you want (as long as someone will have you, I suppose lol).

I can see a major complaint that "everything sorta feels the same" and you're not wrong, I can totally see where someone would think that. However, I think the classes are super different from each other and the weapon choices are pretty varied (although please GOD ZoS, we need a spellsword/1H+Rune weapon) so the combinations you can make without sacrificing a lot of damage or "meta viability" is nice. Even hybrid builds, or a stamina build mixed with a magicka build, is getting better and better each patch.

I can't say that the game runs the best all the time. Luckily this year, ZoS is working on server performance so we'll see how that goes. PvP suffers a lot from all the lag that happens and while I do enjoy it, it could be a lot better without it. PvE still has the occasional hiccup but certainly a lot better.

As I've stated in my ESO+ review, it's almost mandatory to have if you play for extended periods. There are guides out there to maximize inventory space or, when ESO+ is free some weekends, maximize your gain from having it but I think it's still needed. However, even 1 month can allow you to do tons of content and you get paid the crowns back anyway. Not exactly a 1:1 for 16 bucks but I'll take the currency for a game I play, sure.

There are some other minor issues too. These are obvious for any online game but sometimes you run into lame people and there's not a lot you can do other than kick them or leave. I've had mostly positive experiences with the game though and while it sucks sometimes, the ratio isn't as high as you'd think. Join a good guild and make some friends there; there are plenty of them wanting to help new players prosper. This also helps with the game's lack of teaching you much of anything really. I mean, it's to be expected I suppose for MMOs to do this but learning the mechanics and some basic understanding of the game for me came from long guides on YouTube by people who know a lot more than me. I love watching "3-hour Beginner Guide"-like videos though so it's not for everyone. Game isn't that complex so I wouldn't worry too much about it if you don't like that kinda thing.

All-in-all, the game is very fun and this year (while I do have complaints about some things) is shaping up to be a good one for fixes and changes. There's always tons going on and events every month so it's never really a bad time to hop in. Just make sure you're keeping up to date on the news whether it be from YouTubers or the forum posts the devs make. Experiment and try new things. Your first toon might not be the one for you, it happens. Just remember that the potential is almost limitless for every class and you can do what you want if you try hard enough.

Alright, I've gotten over 1000 hours now, so I think it's time for a real review. ESO is the ONLY of probably one of 2 or 3 MMOs I could actively play for hours at a time and actually stick with it. It seems every other MMO keeps my attention for a day or two, maybe even a week, but ESO is just built different I guess. I think the combat is lovely. The free-flowing action combined with weaving and animation-cancelling is something I can say I really enjoy. I'm not a massive fan of tab-targetting like WoW or FF14, and while I think FF14 is a wonderful game, I simply cannot get into it like ESO because of that. I think the content is quite varied early on and while it does sorta wear off eventually, the amount of things to do is still massive. Every area can take hours or even days to fully complete. Like I said, you start to see that Harrowstorms are kinda like Geysers which are kinda like the base game Dark Anchors and that can kinda feel like it cheapens the experience, but I think some of the mechanics are new enough and honestly, Dragon fights really carry the "World Event" stuff anyway so they don't really matter a whole lot to me personally. Dungeons early on are mostly just simple kill this, do that, boss time. I think the DLC dungeons, especially the more recent ones, have such interesting mechanics though. Stone Garden is one of my favorites for the awesome werewolf transformation and hidden potion-making side-quest thingy. I can only see them getting better from here on out too. Trials are something I'm not too invested in still, but you can certainly start doing them way earlier than I did too. They have great gear of course but, more than that, the boss fights are fun and interesting. They feel like extended dungeons with more mechanics and better bosses (usually). The mini-trials however are like a boss-rush and I do enjoy them too, but they end a lot sooner. Helps when one of the better sets is in one or two of them though... I think the sheer amount of gear in the game is awesome. My brain is constantly trying to think of something fun and exciting while pulling good damage or being meta-aligned without straight up copying others. There's obviously plenty, PLENTY of stinker sets but I think the devs do a wonderful job of changing sets and buffing/nerfing sets/classes. And let's talk about those classes. I hate that FF14 has 1 character for every class and this game doesn't, because FF14 will forever be better in that regard honestly, but I love how free-form this game is yet again. The classes obviously have 1 or 2 roles they excel at but you can do anything with any class and any race mixture. Wanna heal as a Dragonknight High Elf? Sure thing, bud. DD as a Warden Argonian? You bet. Tank as a Nightblade Khajiit? Mhm. Now there's obviously things like score-pushing on trials that require very precise teams and setups to make the leaderboards, but if you have no interest in that, you can do everything in the game as whatever you want (as long as someone will have you, I suppose lol). I can see a major complaint that "everything sorta feels the same" and you're not wrong, I can totally see where someone would think that. However, I think the classes are super different from each other and the weapon choices are pretty varied (although please GOD ZoS, we need a spellsword/1H+Rune weapon) so the combinations you can make without sacrificing a lot of damage or "meta viability" is nice. Even hybrid builds, or a stamina build mixed with a magicka build, is getting better and better each patch. I can't say that the game runs the best all the time. Luckily this year, ZoS is working on server performance so we'll see how that goes. PvP suffers a lot from all the lag that happens and while I do enjoy it, it could be a lot better without it. PvE still has the occasional hiccup but certainly a lot better. As I've stated in my ESO+ review, it's almost mandatory to have if you play for extended periods. There are guides out there to maximize inventory space or, when ESO+ is free some weekends, maximize your gain from having it but I think it's still needed. However, even 1 month can allow you to do tons of content and you get paid the crowns back anyway. Not exactly a 1:1 for 16 bucks but I'll take the currency for a game I play, sure. There are some other minor issues too. These are obvious for any online game but sometimes you run into lame people and there's not a lot you can do other than kick them or leave. I've had mostly positive experiences with the game though and while it sucks sometimes, the ratio isn't as high as you'd think. Join a good guild and make some friends there; there are plenty of them wanting to help new players prosper. This also helps with the game's lack of teaching you much of anything really. I mean, it's to be expected I suppose for MMOs to do this but learning the mechanics and some basic understanding of the game for me came from long guides on YouTube by people who know a lot more than me. I love watching "3-hour Beginner Guide"-like videos though so it's not for everyone. Game isn't that complex so I wouldn't worry too much about it if you don't like that kinda thing. All-in-all, the game is very fun and this year (while I do have complaints about some things) is shaping up to be a good one for fixes and changes. There's always tons going on and events every month so it's never really a bad time to hop in. Just make sure you're keeping up to date on the news whether it be from YouTubers or the forum posts the devs make. Experiment and try new things. Your first toon might not be the one for you, it happens. Just remember that the potential is almost limitless for every class and you can do what you want if you try hard enough.