The Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) is a sprawling, living world—what some call a “theme park MMO”—offering countless types of content and activities for all playstyles. Whether you’re a seasoned MMORPG veteran or a curious newcomer drawn by the lore of Tamriel, stepping into ESO for the first time can feel overwhelming. This beginner’s guide is designed to help you navigate the early stages of the game without information overload or unnecessary time sinks. Let’s walk through the essentials, so you can ease into the world and enjoy your journey at your own pace.
Creating Your Character: Faction, Race, and Class
Your first step is character creation. You’ll choose from three factions, each tied to a group of races. Factions primarily affect your experience in Cyrodiil and the Imperial City—ESO’s large-scale PvP zones—where you can only group with players of your faction. Outside these areas, including Battlegrounds and dungeons, faction doesn’t matter. You also have the option to unlock all races for any faction via the in-game store, useful if you’re planning PvP with friends across factions.
Each race comes with passive abilities that offer minor bonuses, but don’t stress too much over stats when starting out. Pick the race and aesthetic that excites you. The class you choose—while important for its unique skill lines—won’t restrict your use of weapons or armor. Everything is accessible. Choose what looks fun; the game supports experimenting. Race and faction can be changed later through the store, but your class choice is permanent.
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Learning the Basics: The Tutorial and Skill System
Once you finalize your character, you’ll enter a tutorial zone designed to introduce ESO’s core mechanics. You’ll get a taste of combat, movement, and interface interaction. During this phase, you can try out various weapons and armors freely—there’s no permanent commitment, so experiment and find your preferred playstyle. You can switch weapon and armor types at any time during your adventures.
The skill system is where ESO really opens up. Skill lines are tied to your weapon, armor, class, race, and even guilds. But skills only level if they’re active on your skill bar while gaining experience. To unlock skills, you’ll need skill points, which are earned by leveling, completing quests, and collecting Skyshards (three make one skill point). Early on, be selective with your skill point allocation. But don’t worry—there are more than enough skill points available in the game to unlock all your skills eventually. You can also reallocate points for a small gold fee.
Each character starts with one skill bar, expanding to two at level 15. These bars are tied to your equipped weapons. For example, your front bar might have daggers, while your back bar holds a two-handed sword. Unlocking and leveling a skill line is easier if you equip and use at least one ability from it. Try unlocking one skill from each of your three class lines early to maximize flexibility.
Open World, Leveling, and Combat Content
After the tutorial, you’re released into Tamriel’s open world. ESO has no strict path—you can run in any direction, pick up quests, and start exploring. You gain experience from nearly every activity: exploration, combat, crafting, quests, and more. The game is truly open-ended from the start.
You’ll encounter delves (small solo dungeons), public dungeons (group-oriented), and world bosses. Skill points are awarded for various achievements like completing dungeons, finding Skyshards, or progressing major questlines. At level 10, dungeons become available through the Group Finder, each offering quests that award a skill point. PvP content like Battlegrounds and Cyrodiil also unlock at level 10.
The main storyline, triggered by an encounter with a mysterious hooded figure, runs parallel to each zone’s own story arc. While you can complete zones in any order, starting with your faction’s zone provides a smoother narrative flow. Main quests often lead to major areas like Coldharbour and consistently reward skill points.
Leveling Up and Champion Points System
ESO’s base level cap is 50. As you level, you’ll gain attribute and skill points, but the real endgame progression begins after 50 with the Champion Points (CP) system. CP begins at level 1 and currently caps at 3600. These points allow fine-tuning of your character—boosting damage, reducing costs, improving survivability, and more.
Champion Points are account-wide. While each character must still level from 1 to 50 individually, once they do, they gain full access to all unlocked Champion Points. So if your main character hits CP 1200, all future level 50 characters can use those 1200 points from the start. It’s a huge advantage for alts and supports long-term progression.
Gear, Crafting, and Collections
Gear levels with you as you progress, but it stops scaling at CP 160—this is the true gear cap. Until then, don’t get attached to armor and weapons. Replace them regularly to match your level. Once you hit CP 160, you can start farming gear that will last.
Many armor sets offer bonuses that define your build, and ESO’s collection system lets you reconstruct previously collected gear. This is excellent for gear sharing across characters and build experimentation.
Crafting is another deep layer of gameplay, including blacksmithing, alchemy, cooking, and even furniture crafting. Like combat, crafting has skill lines that grow with use. Early on, focus on one or two crafting types. Deconstructing gear raises your skill levels without needing skill point investment. Once you’re ready, unlock crafting writs—daily quests that provide rewards and level your professions quickly.
Guilds, DLC, and Subscription Benefits
ESO’s in-game guilds are more than communities—they’re part of gameplay progression. The Fighter’s Guild, Mage’s Guild, Thieves Guild, and Dark Brotherhood each offer unique skill lines and questlines. The first two can be accessed early by visiting guild halls in starting towns. The latter two require DLC access or an ESO Plus subscription.
ESO Plus also unlocks all DLC zones and content, provides unlimited crafting storage via the Craft Bag, and doubles your bank inventory. For most players, the Craft Bag alone justifies the subscription. Without it, your inventory will fill fast, especially if you’re gathering resources.
Mounts, Outfits, and Side Content
Mounts can be bought in-game or from the Crown Store. You can upgrade a mount’s speed, stamina, and inventory capacity once per day per character—check in daily to maximize progress. Outfits in ESO are cosmetic; you collect motifs to change your gear’s appearance. Dyes unlocked through achievements let you recolor your outfit to match your style.
Beyond the core game, ESO also offers unique side content like “Tales of Tribute,” a full-featured in-game card game introduced in the High Isle expansion. There’s also the Antiquities system, a form of in-game archaeology tied to the Greymoor expansion, which unlocks cosmetics, furnishings, and powerful mythic items.
Endgame: PvP, Veteran Dungeons, and Trials
At the higher end of ESO’s content are veteran dungeons, 12-player trials, and solo arenas like Maelstrom Arena. These offer unique rewards and powerful gear, but require strong coordination or optimized builds. PvP remains a core pillar, with massive faction-based wars in Cyrodiil and more structured team fights in Battlegrounds. PvP also offers unique skill lines and exclusive currency for gear and items.
Whether you’re battling through the chaos of Cyrodiil, mastering a challenging solo dungeon, or crafting a cozy home with your own furnishings, ESO’s endgame provides many paths—and it’s up to you to choose your journey.
Final Thoughts: Explore, Experiment, and Enjoy
Above all, don’t rush. ESO is about finding your own rhythm. Explore the world, try different builds, test skills and weapons, or get lost in a zone’s story arc. The game is built to accommodate solo players, group adventurers, casual crafters, hardcore raiders, and everyone in between. You’ll be rewarded just for playing and progressing.
Welcome to Tamriel, adventurer. Your journey has only just begun.
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