Before starting this review, I have to make one thing clear.

If you see negative reviews from people with more than 1k or 2k hours, ignore them. Not because what they say isn't valid, but because most people (~90% of players) will never encounter the issues they are talking about. If you consider yourself a hardcore MMO player, then you should take them into account, if you're a casual player, you won't encounter those issues. Simple as that.

Now for the actual review.

ESO is a fantastic story focused MMORPG. The world is immense and immersive. The story is great, especially if you're a fan of TES lore, and the gameplay is engaging and interactive. Every quest is voice acted so if you're lazy like me you'll actually love doing quests and learning about the world, since you won't have to read the equivalent of a novel every other quest, and surprising enough the game's voice acting is really good for the most part. I'd even say that it's better than most other Bathesda games such as Skyrim and Fallout 4.

Now for some pros and cons.

Pros:
- The game looks fantastic. It's one of the best looking MMOs on the market
- Item sets are unique and can drastically change up the way you play
- Build freedom is one of the main pillars of the game, so you can use any item on any character as long as you have the required level
- The combat is shockingly complex. Even though you can only have a maximum of 12 abilities, the way you can weave them and combo them feels amazing. The game's combat system rewards moment to moment decision making and the lack of cooldowns means that the only bottleneck players face is resource management in many situations, an issue that can be minimized with good gameplay and a good build. You also have dodge rolls, blocking, interrupting, and LoS juking to make it the combat feel even more interactive.
- The amount of content for a new player is huge. The base game alone has over 100 hours of story content for just $5 when on sale
- Player housing is some of the best I've seen in an MMO, you have a lot of freedom in what you can do with your house
- The crafting is simple to understand, easy to get into, but it isn't necessary if you can't be bothered to get into it
- Character customization is some of the best I've seen, much better than WoW, maybe only rivaled by FFXIV
- Amazing raids and dungeons, easy to complete on normal difficulty, but very challenging and rewarding on veteran and hard mode difficulties

Cons:
- Not a lot of awesome earnable cosmetic rewards. Whilst they started addressing this in recent updates, they still have a long way to go. Specifically when it comes to mounts.
- Crafting and inventory management are a pain and a chore if you dont have the ESO+ subscription, since it gives you unlimited inventory space for crafting materials and doubles your bank space
- Whilst the gameplay is amazing, it's not for everyone. Even though the game fits a casual demographic, the combat system is quite intense and can be off-putting to some people
- The open world PvP performance is wack. Large scale fights in Cyrodil are very laggy. That being said Imperial City and Battlegrounds don't have this issue
- Since the game is so expansive and there is so much content, it can be very overwhelming for new players. This might sound like a non-issue or a "humble brag" or whatever, but the first time I played ESO I quit after 10 hours because of how overwhelmed I was by all the quests that would pop up at any time. If you're easily overwhelmed like me, set a specific goal for yourself and work on that, stuff like map completion or following the main quest and main zone quests in a given faction.
- The customer support tends to be quite slow when responding to issues and it can get frustrating

Tips for new players:

If you're struggling with overland (story) content and bosses, make sure you eat food that increases your stats. The game isn't that great when it comes to explaining the tiny mechanics related to combat so it can be quite confusing. The more maximum Stamina and Magika you have, the more damage you do. If you lack damage, eat up food that increases Health and Stamina or Magika, and you should see a huge spike in damage and survivability.

If you're in need of gold, start pickpocketing NPCs and stealing from containers, it's an easy way to make a bit of gold until you get into trading.

Join a new player focused guild early on, the community in this game is amazing and really helpful in most cases, this quality shines in casual friendly guilds. You'll meet great people that will help you with items such as potions and food, and they'll be more than happy to answer any questions you have.

All in all, gud gam would play for another 3400 hours. Very slay.

Before starting this review, I have to make one thing clear. If you see negative reviews from people with more than 1k or 2k hours, ignore them. Not because what they say isn't valid, but because most people (~90% of players) will never encounter the issues they are talking about. If you consider yourself a hardcore MMO player, then you should take them into account, if you're a casual player, you won't encounter those issues. Simple as that. Now for the actual review. ESO is a fantastic story focused MMORPG. The world is immense and immersive. The story is great, especially if you're a fan of TES lore, and the gameplay is engaging and interactive. Every quest is voice acted so if you're lazy like me you'll actually love doing quests and learning about the world, since you won't have to read the equivalent of a novel every other quest, and surprising enough the game's voice acting is really good for the most part. I'd even say that it's better than most other Bathesda games such as Skyrim and Fallout 4. Now for some pros and cons. Pros: - The game looks fantastic. It's one of the best looking MMOs on the market - Item sets are unique and can drastically change up the way you play - Build freedom is one of the main pillars of the game, so you can use any item on any character as long as you have the required level - The combat is shockingly complex. Even though you can only have a maximum of 12 abilities, the way you can weave them and combo them feels amazing. The game's combat system rewards moment to moment decision making and the lack of cooldowns means that the only bottleneck players face is resource management in many situations, an issue that can be minimized with good gameplay and a good build. You also have dodge rolls, blocking, interrupting, and LoS juking to make it the combat feel even more interactive. - The amount of content for a new player is huge. The base game alone has over 100 hours of story content for just $5 when on sale - Player housing is some of the best I've seen in an MMO, you have a lot of freedom in what you can do with your house - The crafting is simple to understand, easy to get into, but it isn't necessary if you can't be bothered to get into it - Character customization is some of the best I've seen, much better than WoW, maybe only rivaled by FFXIV - Amazing raids and dungeons, easy to complete on normal difficulty, but very challenging and rewarding on veteran and hard mode difficulties Cons: - Not a lot of awesome earnable cosmetic rewards. Whilst they started addressing this in recent updates, they still have a long way to go. Specifically when it comes to mounts. - Crafting and inventory management are a pain and a chore if you dont have the ESO+ subscription, since it gives you unlimited inventory space for crafting materials and doubles your bank space - Whilst the gameplay is amazing, it's not for everyone. Even though the game fits a casual demographic, the combat system is quite intense and can be off-putting to some people - The open world PvP performance is wack. Large scale fights in Cyrodil are very laggy. That being said Imperial City and Battlegrounds don't have this issue - Since the game is so expansive and there is so much content, it can be very overwhelming for new players. This might sound like a non-issue or a "humble brag" or whatever, but the first time I played ESO I quit after 10 hours because of how overwhelmed I was by all the quests that would pop up at any time. If you're easily overwhelmed like me, set a specific goal for yourself and work on that, stuff like map completion or following the main quest and main zone quests in a given faction. - The customer support tends to be quite slow when responding to issues and it can get frustrating Tips for new players: If you're struggling with overland (story) content and bosses, make sure you eat food that increases your stats. The game isn't that great when it comes to explaining the tiny mechanics related to combat so it can be quite confusing. The more maximum Stamina and Magika you have, the more damage you do. If you lack damage, eat up food that increases Health and Stamina or Magika, and you should see a huge spike in damage and survivability. If you're in need of gold, start pickpocketing NPCs and stealing from containers, it's an easy way to make a bit of gold until you get into trading. Join a new player focused guild early on, the community in this game is amazing and really helpful in most cases, this quality shines in casual friendly guilds. You'll meet great people that will help you with items such as potions and food, and they'll be more than happy to answer any questions you have. All in all, gud gam would play for another 3400 hours. Very slay.