Back in February, I injured my hand, and I had to take a bit of time off from gaming. I’m better now, but I’ve fallen out of the habit a little, and I’ve also got a lot on my plate lately in terms of Real Life stuff, so that also has led to me gaming less.

However, I remain a sucker for pretty outfits, so the addition of the outfit system to Elder Scrolls Online has me poking around it again.

Styling and/or profiling:

The addition of an outfit system to ESO is very long overdue, but the good news is it’s a pretty good system. It’s based on crafting motifs, and it’s account-wide, so even your low level alts can get in on the fun.

There’s pretty much no limitations on it, either. You can use light, medium, or heavy armour appearances in your outfit regardless of what you’ve got equipped, and there aren’t any level restrictions on appearances.

Also, weapon dyes! My Barbaric greatsword looks so much better bone white.

I have heard a lot of complaints about the gold cost of creating an outfit, and it is definitely on the higher end, but once your outfit is set-up, it’s permanent. You don’t need to pay again every time you get new gear like you do in WoW. Given that, I don’t think the gold costs are a crippling flaw.

Slightly more problematic is the high cost in real money of additional outfit slots given that they are character-specific and not account-wide, but additional slots are very much a nice to have and not a need to have (even for as rabid a virtual fashionista as I), so even that’s not the end of the world.

My main has gone back to more or less the outfit she had while leveling, with only slight modifications. It’s mostly Argonian pieces, all of which are medium aside from the legs. It gives her a very wild and savage look that fits her Bosmer roots excellently. And I love how well it shows off her tattoos.

Meanwhile, my templar alt has gone full Blood Knight, if it is the wrong universe for that. It’s all red, gold, and black. Mostly she’s using Ra Gada and Imperial pieces, though the Abah’s Watch shield is also a core piece of the look.

I’m very happy with these outfits. Turns out your characters actually can look pretty good in ESO when you’re not forced to use whatever gear happens to drop.

Altoholism once more:

Of course, no point designing the perfect outfit if you don’t actually play the game. I’ve been poking around on my main a little, but the majority of my attention has actually gone to playing my templar.

So far it’s been fun. Even at this low level, she has a pretty solid and enjoyable build/rotation (being overpowered from all those champion points probably helps), and the Dark Elf zones are interesting. Unlike the rest of ESO so far, it’s a pretty unique environment and not quite like anything I’ve seen before. Morrowind definitely has its own unique character.

I also mustered my courage and finally completed a dungeon for the first time. I was tanking, too, which provided me with a quick queue, but also an extra layer of pressure for my first dungeon run in the game.

The DPS were of course channeling their inner Leeroy, but aside from that, it went pretty well. We only had one death, and I don’t think that was my fault. No one complained about my tanking.

Tanking in ESO is an interesting experience. There are single-target taunts, but no other threat modifiers, so it’s actually expected that you won’t be able to keep aggro on everything all the time. Aside from the actual bosses, dungeon mobs don’t seem much stronger than those in the open world, so they’re not going to instantly pound the healers or DPS into the dirt.

It’s a good system. It adds a little chaos to combat, but not too much.

As for the dungeon itself (Banished Cells), it matches the rest of ESO by being competent if unremarkable. The environment is a little bland. The rest of my group was in too much of a rush for me to properly appreciate the story, but there didn’t seem to be much to it anyway.

On the upside, it was very well-paced. Not too many bosses nor too much trash, and the whole thing only took about half an hour.

I’m not sure I’m going to make dungeons my new focus in ESO or anything, but it’s nice to have the option. At least I get fast queues.