ESO: World exploration ESO guide, tips
Exploration: Molag Bal's anchors, Chests and Lorebooks, Skyshards, Mundus Stone and ingredients, Dungeons, Justice System - crime and punishment system
Last update: 07 July 2020
Exploration is one of the inseparable elements of The Elder Scrolls Online. Following the paths chosen by you can provide you with additional attractions and riches. From this chapter of the guide, you will learn how this works and how you can profit from it.
The Activities/ instances in the game page in the Basics chapter has detailed information on the most important types of locations found in the game.
- Molag Bal's anchors
- Chests and Lorebooks
- Skyshards
- Mundus Stone and ingredients
- Dungeons
- Justice System - crime and punishment system
Molag Bal's anchors
During the exploration you will be running into a group of cultists that are preparing a dark ritual. If this happens, it is a good idea to call the rest of the players, because you will e taking part in a dynamic quest. Your main goal here is to fight back the groups of monsters sent by Molag Bal to the world of the living. Unarguably, this is too difficult for you to handle all on your own, which is why it is necessary to form a part or wait for reinforcements. Each monster that you kill releases a soul, which fills the stone that holds the anchor chain in place.
Each player that participates in this event can destroy the crystals filled with souls. After you have destroyed all of them, the event ends in a success and you are rewarded with experience points. If you die in the course of the event, you can ask your party members to revive you, or use the soulgem. For each dynamic quest that you complete, you receive additional experience points from the fighters' guild tree.
Chests and Lorebooks
You can find treasure chests all around the world. If you have a Lockpick on you, and you find such a chest, you can try to open it. The uniqueness of the treasure and the amount of gold are directly connected with the chest's difficulty level. While opening a chest, you need to fit within time limit. Also, you can attempt to force the chest open. Next to the allotted time limit, the game also displays your percentage chances of opening the chest by force.
In the menu, there is a tab devoted to the books that you find. For completing sets of books of a given type, you will be rewarded with experience points and skillpoints. In the tab, you can look up which books are missing from your sets. Also, this is the most important way to improve on your skills in the mages' guild's tree.
Skyshards
Skyshards are the magical shards scattered all around Tamriel. The player that finds them can absorb their power by interacting with them. The player to collect three such shards is rewarded with an additional skillpoint. You can look up your progression in collecting shards, in your menu, in the skills tab. You find the shards in the open areas of your faction location, in dungeons and in Cyrodiil itself.
Mundus Stone and ingredients
Mundus Stones are magical stones, whose power is available to every player that finds them. After you interact with such a stone, you absorb a special power of the matching type. For each stone that you find, apart from the power, you are rewarded with experience points. The effect of a stone can be looked up in the statistics tab.
During your explorations, you will also be finding crafting materials. You do not need any additional tools to mine for them. Some of the unique materials are highly valued, which makes them another way of earning gold in the game.
Dungeons
In Elder Scrolls Online dungeons are an inseparable element of the quests, group hunts and exploration. To hunt in faction dungeons, you need a group of players that will complement each other. The most typical party make-up is a tank, a mage healer and two damage dealers. With this kind of make-up, you can be sure that you will do well in any situation that you find yourself in there. The functioning of dungeons, in Elder Scrolls Online, is different than in other games of this type. After you enter an area, you cannot pick monsters one-by-one. Instead, the entire horde of monsters launches at your party, which is why it is imperative that you wield AoE abilities. Dungeons can be divided into solo (which you find while completing quests) ad group (which you discover while exploring and completing quests).
Each faction has its unique dungeons, with their own lore. There will be occasions, on which you will have to drive back a group of cultists, or fight back a dark terrifying Daedra.
A list of initial faction dungeons:
Daggerfall Covenant (Glenumbra): The name of the dungeon is Spindleclutch. The recommended experience level of the party members is 12-15. After you have cleared the first levels of the dungeons, you face a cruel Daedra - The Whisperer.
Aldmeri Dominion (Auridon): The name of the dungeon is Banished Cells. The recommended experience level of the party members is 12-15. The end boss is the powerful mage High Kinlord Rilis.
Ebonheart Pact (Stonefalls): The name of the dungeon is Fungal Grotto. The recommended experience level of the party members is 12-15. The last battle you fight in this dungeon is against the powerful spider Kra'gh the Dreugh King.
Justice System - crime and punishment system
The justice system allows you to follow either the path of the thief or the murderer. Being a criminal affects your playing style and it completely changes the guards' disposition towards you. While stealing from people, you have a specific chance of success. If you fail to steal an object, you will be attacked and guards alarmed. The bounty on your head depends on the gravity of your crime. Low bounty suggests that, when you are captured, you will be stripped of all the stolen goods and fined. The amount of the fine depends on the amount of the bounty. Murder automatically raises the bounty to the red level. This means that any guard can kill you on spot. Guards are immortal, which is why the only thing that you can do, to avoid consequences, is escape. The amount of the bounty keeps dropping, on a regular basis, with time that elapses after your crime. This means that you can wait in a safety, after you commit a crime, until the bounty level drops to zero. With enough crimes committed, your bounty level reaches the maximum level. Each guard can then kill you without a single warning and he takes your gold. If you do not have enough gold to pay your fine, the guard will also take some of your equipment, which you cannot then retrieve. Gold that you deposit in bank is outside of the guards' reach.
After a successful theft, the item that you have stolen is marked in red and provided with the "stolen" note. To be able to use such items, you need to "launder" them first. Here, you can use the help of fences all around Tamriel, who launder the hot goods, for a price. If you do not want to use such items, you can sell them for a fraction of its normal price.