ESO Quests Guide: Elder Scrolls Online

Latest posts by Adam Braunstein (see all)

Elder Scrolls Online is a monumental achievement when it comes to games. Sure, it may not have the fanbase that the bigger MMO titles have, and it might not seem like the most polished experience, but Bethesda again has created a work of art that inspires wonder and adventure in the best of ways.

Although it started with a small number of places to explore and a somewhat limited story, Elder Scrolls Online has since expanded into an incredibly massive experience that is fascinating to explore.

All of the lands that you’ve heard spoken of in the games but have never been able to visit are suddenly readily available to you, and you can find yourself exploring massive deserts, to the snowy mountains of Skyrim and the forests of Vvardenfell as well.

The variety of places to explore in this game is nothing short of astounding, but while you can find yourself getting lost for hours and hours in this game just wandering around and discovering new locations, the driving forces behind these great expeditions you’ll be taking are almost always the quests.

The quests in Elder Scrolls Online are incredible in their number, and although all of them aren’t always the most fascinating journeys, some are so good that it puts the main quests of past Elder Scrolls games to shame at a point.

These are usually the juicy ones of the main questline, but there are several great ones to experience in the guild quests and just random sidequests as well.

Whenever you get close to a new area, you will see a quest marker appear over an NPC’s head. If the marker is blue, it means that this is a repeatable quest in the game and will recharge after a period of time. Other color quest markers mean that it will be a one-time-only quest, and this is where the main questline is signified.

I’ve been a massive Elder Scrolls fan for the past 20 years, and Elder Scrolls online goes a long way into expanding the areas of the world that I’ve read about in lore in the in-gamebooks for so long.

Finally, getting to see Daggerfall and the Alik’r Desert were momentous occasions for me, and the quests that accompany all these new areas are just enthralling in ways that I never thought MMO quests could be.

There are so many kinds of quests in the game that it’s tough to keep track of, but I’m here for you to clear some of those things up. We’re going to explore all the different quests we can undertake and also the best order to play the main quest in, so you don’t end up spoiling things for yourself by accident. Let’s jump in.

Questing

Questing in Elder Scrolls Online is a bit more complex than it has been in games of Elder Scrolls past.

You will be able to find quests all over the game world, and some will lead you into other quests, while certain decisions you make in a particular quest might cut you off completely from another one, so you need to be careful with the choices you make in them as they may have consequences.

Main Quest

Soul Shriven in Coldharbour

The Main questline in Elder Scrolls Online is long and exciting and gives you most of the story in Elder Scrolls Online. After completing it, you can take on the various DLC quests that expand upon it, and this questline is going to be available to you at any point while playing, so there is no urgency in rushing through the story.

Here is a breakdown of all the quests in the main storyline and the objectives for each.

  • Soul Shriven in Coldharbour- This Quest has you escaping from the depths of Coldharbour. It is the opening quest of the game and is mesmerizing visuals.
  • The Harborage- Here, you will explore the visions of the past with the Prophet. This is a heavy, dialogue-filled mission.
  • Daughter of Giants- In this quest, you will rescue Lyris Titanborn from her Coldharbour Prison. You will get a heavy dose of combat for the first time in this mission.
  • Chasing Shadows- In this mission, you will locate the Agent of Evil lurking in a nearby city.
  • Castle of the Worm- In Castle of the Worm, you grant a request for asylum to a prisoner.
  • The Tharn Speaks- In this mission, you help the chancellor uncover the new information at a Worm Cult Lair.
  • Halls of torment- In this mission, you save the missing companion from the Halls of Torment.
  • Valley of Blades- You will be retrieving the Ring of Stendarr’s Mercy from the Vall of Blades
  • Shadow of Sancre Toy- It is here where you will be retrieving the Amulet of Kings from its hiding place.
  • Council of the Five Companions- Join the companions and prepare for the confrontation with Molag Bal.

This is the main questline that was provided with the initial release of Elder Scrolls Online. Since then, the main quest has taken on multiple sequel stories throughout the DLC. They cost extra, but they continue the story in an impactful and meaningful way.

Main Quest- Part 2 The Daedric War

Main Quest- Part 2 The Daedric War

The Main quest continues in a questline called the Daedric War storyline. This storyline involves a direct continuation of the Five Companions questline.

This is not just a single questline that you follow, and the storyline is done, though, but rather an episodic questline that you follow through multiple updates. In that way, you can follow along with these quests like a TV show of sorts, and it helps the story feel all the more epic.

The continuing plot is made up of DLC, Chapters, and Free Quests, and each of them has varying lengths and rewards. It focuses on the plot between Clavicus Vile, Nocturnal, and Mephala as they each fight for power over the other Daedric Princes.

Clavicus Vile sends his servant Barbas, who you may have encountered in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, to steal the Dunmer Tribune Vivec’s power, and while that happens, Noctural launches a full-scale invasion at Sotha Sil’s Clockwork City.

The three princes then set their sights on Summerset and the Crystal Tower in order to finally gain the power to remake the world in their image. This questline is sizeable and comparable to the length of the first main questline. Highlights include the invasion of the Clockwork City, as it provides one of the biggest fights the series has seen in terms of enemy count.

Here is the breakdown of the quests you’ll undertake. Keep in mind there is no prerequisite needed to complete any of the quests, so you can take them on in any order. However, there is a proper order for them to be done in, and I will list it below.

  • The Missing Prophecy- This quest has you rescuing the Oracles of Azura from their Daedric Prisons.
  • Fleeing the Past- In this quest, you will help the Redoran Councilor find what happened to his daughter.
  • Of Faith and Family- In this quest, you will seek to discover what happened to the Redoran Councilor’s Son.
  • A Purposeful Writ- In this quest, you will help the Redoran Councilor’s daughter investigate her brother’s death.
  • Family Reunion-  In this quest, you will race against time to stop Veya Releth’s evil plot.
  • Morrowind Storyline- The storyline continues as you venture into Morrowind.
  • Divine Conundrum- In this quest, you will help a canon take on a mission from Vivec.
  • Divine Inquiries- Here, you will investigate what caused the Warrior Poet’s loss of divine power.
  • Divine Delusions- During this quest, you seek to discredit an Ashlander’s claim to the title of Nerevarine.
  • Divine Intervention- In this quest, you will help the Clockwork Mage create a Tonal Inverter to counter the power of Sunna’rah.
  • Divine Blessings- Help Lord Vivec in rewarding the ones who assisted in the restoration of his powers.
  • Of Knives and Long Shadows- In this quest, you need to protect the Scryers of the Order of the Eye from their own Shadows.
  • Clockwork Storyline- This begins the segment in the Clockwork City.
  • To The Clockwork City- In this quest, you will join Divayth on a mission to explore the Clockwork City for the first time.
  • In Search of a Sponsor- This quest tasks you with becoming a citizen of the Clockwork City.
  • The Strangeness of Seht- This quest will have you investigating what has changed Sotha Sil’s personality.
  • Deepening Shadows- This quest has you locating the Chancellor Gascone Descent of the Congress of Calibration.
  • Lost in the Gloam- In this quest, you will be assisting the Blackfeather Court in recovering a mysterious key.
  • Unto the Dark- In this mission, you will be pursuing the Shadow of Sotha Sil into the center of the clockwork city.
  • Where Shadows Lie- You must save the Clockwork God here at all costs.
  • The Light of Knowledge- Here, you will meet Sotha Sil and Divaryth Fyr in the aftermath.
  • Through a Veil Darkly- This quest has you saving a Wyress Oracle from Mephala.
  • Summerset Storyline- This concerns the Summerset Storyline of the war.
  • The Queens’s Decree- This quest has you investigating the disappearances of people throughout Summerset.
  • A Pearl of Great Price- You will encounter the Psijic Order here and will need to help them solve the puzzle of the Abyssal Pearl that you found.
  • Buried Memories- In one of the most exciting quests of the game, you will have to defend Artaeum from a total invasion.
  • The Tower Sentinels- Here, you will need to warn the College of Sapiarchs of the threat to the Crystal Tower
  • The Dreaming Cave- Find a way to communicate with Meridia in order to save her Golden Knight from Mephala.
  • Lost in Translation- This quest has you searching for ht Heart of Transparent Law.
  • A Necessary Alliance- This quest has you searching for a way to get into the Crystal Tower with the help of two Daedric Princes by your side.
  • The Crystal Tower- Stop Nocturnal’s plans once and for all.
  • A New Alliance-  In this quest following the aftermath of Nocturnal’s plot, you will attend a meeting with the Proxy Queen to make sure the Crystal Tower is protected from this point onward.

The first two main questlines are some of the lengthiest of the bunch so far, and each one will take you quite a lot of time to complete. From this point in the game, plenty of spoiler territory happens, so I will only be briefly going over what the plot of each subsequent chapter is.

Main Quest Part 3- Season of the Dragon

Main Quest Part 3- Season of the Dragon

This is the next part of the storyline following the direct conclusion of the Daedric War. This questline concerns a plot by Euraxia Tharn to release the Dragons from the Halls of Colossus by tricking her brother into using an item called the Wrathstone, freeing them in the process.

The Dragons then descend on the world led by Kaalgrontiid in order to pursue world domination. This questline is extremely long and takes you to the far corners of the world. It is here you’ll get to investigate Elsweyr for the first time. Elsweyr is the homeland of the Khajit and has yet to be explored in an Elder Scrolls game.

In total, the Season of the Dragon contains 26 quests. Each one is fairly lengthy, so you can expect to spend a good amount of time here. Getting to fight dragons in Elder Scrolls Online had long been a talked-about prospect, and it finally came to fruition with this content update.

Main Quest Part 4- The Dark Heart of Skyrim

This questline drips with nostalgia for any fans of Skyrim, and the quest takes place over the entirety of the releases from 2020. It brings you back to Skyrim in all its glory, and here, you will get to explore Skyrim once again, though it’s a smaller map than the full-fledged game was.

In this questline, you will be dealing with an ancient evil that has emerged from the depths of Skyrim, and since its arrival, it has been hell-bent on devouring the souls of its people. While this is happening, a wave of monsters have risen from the Blackreach with the goal of sending all of Tamriel into eternal darkness.

This quest was released over the course of the year 2020, and it begins in the Harrowstorm Dungeon. This questline has you taking on vampires, discovering brand new mechanics, brand new public dungeons, skill trees, and so much more.

There are 29 quests in total, and many players have pointed to this part of the storyline as being the best one released. The story is darker than most here, and the ever-present dread is felt throughout every step you take back into the familiar land of Skyrim.

Main Quest Part 5- The Gates of Oblivion

The nostalgia trip doesn’t just end with Skyrim as the follow-up to the ending of the last quest in that storyline takes us even further back in time to Oblivion and the antagonist of that game, Mehrunes Dagon causing havoc yet again.

This questline will deal with an earlier form of Mehrunes Dagon, who doesn’t quite have his hands on the pulse of the world yet. While he is still a Daedric Prince of Destruction, this is one of his earliest uses of the Oblivion Gates to try and take his army into the mortal world.

The questline you’ll be undertaking is truly massive, with just the first segment taking place in Blackwood, lasting over 30 hours. That’s enough for one game’s worth of content, and it was only part one of the questline. Here, you begin to learn about Mehrune’s Dagon’s various henchmen and start to see what led to his first unsuccessful invasion.

This expansion added tons to the game, including new World Events, Oblivion Gates, an overhaul of the Champion Points system, and even a massive new raid for 12 players called Rockgrove.

The difficulty is intense here, so you want to make sure you’ve got a solid party with you for it or a highly leveled character. This content was released over the course of 2021 and contains 27 quests in total.

Main Questline- Part 6- Legacy of the Bretons

Harrowstorm Dungeon

This storyline was just announced on January 27th, 2022, so we have yet to actually play it as it has not yet been released. The plot details released so far are that you’ll be traveling to The Systems in order to unravel and plot that is threatening the secret peace talks to end the Alliance War.

The implications of this storyline are huge, considering to this point, the Alliance War hadn’t factored into the main questline all that much. The integration of the two would be a huge development.

Faction Quests

Each of the various Factions of the Alliance War will deliver you quests specific to their causes. These vary in both their length and their rewards, and each Faction has a ton to dish out.

These quests have different requirements for accessing them as well. For example, in the Aldmeri Dominion, the quests that take place in Auridon will no longer be available once the main storyline quest in the area has been completed, and you will miss out on them if you follow the story in order.

Because of this, it’s recommended you take on any Faction quests you’re interested in before taking on the main questline. They are also quite lengthy, and you can easily find yourself getting a full game’s worth of quests out of just the Faction quests throughout the game.

Alliance War Quests

Apart from the quests specific to each Faction, you can also take part in Alliance War quests. The Alliance War is the constant war that is taking place throughout the duration of Elder Scrolls Online in the Empire of Cyrodiil, and it concerns the Aldmeri Dominion, the Daggerfall Covenant, and the Ebonheart Pact in their struggle to gain control over the Ruby Throne.

Once you are level 10, you can begin fighting in this war. While you can get right to fighting by joining a campaign and joining your side in the war effort, you can also take on tons of quests specific to the Alliance War. There are 4 quests you should complete before undertaking these.

  • Welcome to Cyrodiil- In this quest, you join the Alliance War effort for the first time
  • Siege Warfare- It’s here that you will learn about the different types of Siege weapons that are available to you in the game. It’s important to pay attention here because it can be the difference between winning or losing one of the many Siege battles you’ll be taking part in.
  • Reporting for Duty- It’s here where you will meet the major players in your chosen Faction.
  • City on the Brink- In this mission, you need to report to an Alliance General for a briefing on the struggle for power in the Imperial City

Once you complete these, you’re free to start taking down the enemy. The missions that come from the Alliance War concern three things. Scouting, Capturing, and Killing. Each one of these will concern a different individual mission, so even though the objective is the same for all of the capture missions, the locations are not.

The killing missions generally surround taking down enemy players, so whether you see them in the wild or in your territory, don’t hesitate to fight unless you’re overwhelmed.

Guild Quests

The Gates of Oblivion

In addition to the Faction Quests, we’ve got guild quests to take on as well. There are many guilds in Elder Scrolls Online, and each one has its own lengthy questline attached to it. Here are the guilds in the game and what the questlines to each will entail.

Dark Brotherhood

The Dark Brotherhood is made up of assassins from various walks of life in Tamriel. They have several holdings throughout the land.

Your quests with them revolve around pulling off a variety of assassinations but also working to help restore your fellow assassin’s faith in the guild itself. This questline requires DLC to access it as the Dark Brotherhood was not a guild that was included in the initial release.

Fighters Guild

The Fighters guild is a collection of mercenaries who are found all over Tamriel. In order to gain a good reputation with them, you need to destroy Dark Anchors or kill the Daedra and undead. The better your reputation is with them, the better the rewards are in terms of skills and abilities.

The quests in the Fighters guild largely revolve around destroying Dark Anchors around the world and taking on bounties for Daedric and undead-type creatures.

Mages Guild

The Mages Guild is purely dedicated to learning about magic in all the corners of Tamriel. In order to gain a good reputation with them, you need to bring them times of Tamrielic Lore. Each time you do this, you will gain five points to the Mages Guild skill line, and increasing those points is necessary in order to gain a better rank.

Through completing quests for the Mages Guild, you will gain new skills, perks, and abilities. The Mages Guild also factors in pretty heavily to the main story of both the Main Quest and the Alliance Storyline, though your progression through those will not affect your progression through Mage Guild quests in any way.

Psijic Order

Psijic Order

The Psijic Order is finally able to be interacted with in Elder Scrolls Online, and with that interaction comes a bunch of story-driven quests. In order to join the Psijic Order, you have to complete the first Summerset zone story quest called The Queen’s Decree.

Once you do that, you will have access to Artaeum, which is where the Psijic Order resides. The quests in this guild are heavily related to the story, so you should play them side by side with each other in order to get the full picture.

Thieves Guild

The Thieves Guild is one of the most popular guilds in all of Elder Scrolls lore, so it should come as no surprise that it’s been included in Elder Scrolls Online as well. This guild is built up of some very shady characters, and it usually consists of rogues and thieves that are found in the shadows all over the world of Tamriel.

The main hideout is based in Abah’s Landing, which is found in Hew’s Bane on the southern coast of Hammerfell. This is another guild that is accessible only through DLC.

When you first join the guild, you will unlock the skill line exclusive to the Thieves Guild. In order to progress through it, you need to complete Faction-related quests.  The quests in question will have you doing all manner of mischief. This includes pulling off heists, investigating members of the guild, infiltrating high-security areas, and various other tasks.

You can increase your reputation through the Thieves Guild by stealing items, robbing people, laundering items, haggling, and escaping your bounties.

Undaunted

If you like your quests to come with a healthy side of dungeon crawling, then you’re going to love the Undaunted guild. The Undaunted are constantly hungry for adventure, and they are there for each of the massive Group Dungeons that you’ll find throughout the world.

In order to gain a reputation with Undaunted, you have to complete the lengthy list of Dungeon Achievements that exist as well as Pledges and delve dailies. The quests all surround taking on the toughest dungeons around, so if you’ve got a good squad of friends playing with you, you should definitely check out the Undaunted.

Encounters

Old Orc

Encounters are the random events of the world that take place while you’re playing Elder Scrolls Online. They are not technically quests in that you can’t seek them out, but often, some of them are quite rewarding to take part in. Completing each one gets you a small amount of experience.

As far as what these Encounters have in store, the variety is incredible. You may find yourself being set up unknowingly by Bandits, finding traveling Mages having issues with their magic, defending a caravan from oncoming attackers, stealing a group of cutthroats loot, or even just coming across randomly spawning Dark Fissures, which unleash a group of enemies at you before disappearing.

There is no way to know which one you’re going to come upon, so keep your eyes peeled while exploring in the game. Considering how many places there are to explore, you should find yourself coming across almost 100 different kinds of events.

Repeatable Quests

While the main story quests can only be completed one time, you will see quests throughout Tamriel that appear in blue. When you see the blue quests, that means you can repeat them as many times as you want. There is a short recharge period between them, though, so you’ll likely have to go find something else to do in the game while it charges up. There is a limit of 50 repeatable quests that you can do in a day.

The rewards for these quests are usually pretty weak, but their repeatable nature of them makes up for it. The repeatable quests of the world are usually bounties, guild Daily Quests, and exploratory quests as well.

FAQs

Question: How many Guests are there in Elder Scrolls Online?

Answer: In terms of individual quests available in Elder Scrolls Online, the number is currently staggering. There are over 400 quests available right now, and that’s not counting some of the repeatable quests.

Question: How Long does it Take to Beat Elder Scrolls Online?

Answer: Seeing as the game came out 7 years ago and isn’t even complete yet as the DLC storyline keeps rolling, it would seem like the game has no intention of ending anytime soon.

Answer: The setting of Elder Scrolls Online takes place before any of the previous games, but due to the DLC expansions, you can get so much lore on all of the games in the series, and you’ll even see some cool easter eggs paying tribute to the games of the past.

Conclusion

Elder Scrolls Online is one complex journey, so my advice to you would be to just play it like any RPG. Take your time, play a few quests at a time, and try not to overwhelm yourself. Playing along, I’ve found, allows for an easier pace with this game and makes it more manageable to handle the endless amount of quests far better than a team would.

• Elder Scrolls Skyrim Forbidden Legend Guide

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