How To Play ESO In Chronological Order: Base Game, Expansions, DLC

Starting up The Elder Scrolls Online, whether for the first time or as a returning player, is an exciting experience. From enjoying its riveting story quests, exploring the new dungeons and World Events, to trying out the new classes. Often, this means determining how the new content factors into Tamriel's overall world-building and lore, which can get quite confusing.

Nevertheless, jumping in and starting afresh with a new character does involve having to play out the tutorial quest, but once that's done, where does one go next? If you're trying to piece together how you fit in the massive scope of the ongoing ESO narrative, we've assembled a timeline of how to play in chronological order.

Where To Start In The Elder Scrolls Online?

For context, I'm on my fourth character, and even I needed to know the best sequence of how to play ESO. It was somewhat perfect timing that, with the recent Necrom Chapter, I finally fully immersed myself in the game's lore and events on my fourth try.

After navigating through the tutorial and reaching the portal room at the Keywright's Gallery, I was left with a massive choice: where to travel to first? This may have slightly been answered by returning to the character select menu where choosing your race and Alliance was first made.

If you're unsure of which races fall under the three alliances in ESO, we've detailed them for you below:

• Aldmeri Dominion: High Elf, Khajiit, and Wood Elf
• Daggerfall Covenant: Breton, Orc, and Redguard
• Ebonheart Pact: Argonian, Dark Elf, and Nord

Each of these alliances has its starting location, and once you've completed the base game quests and events, this gets expanded through the multiple Chapters and DLCs released. If you're unsure of where to travel to based on the Alliance chosen, we have that provided for you below, too:

• Aldmeri Dominion: Khenarthi's Roost
• Daggerfall Covenant: Stros M'Kai
• Ebonheart Pact: Bleakrock Isle

Regardless of which faction you've pledged allegiance to, the main questline is the same except for where there are a few deviations. This is usually due to the Zone and Guild quests coming into play for a specific alliance and can be completed in order to wrap things up before starting the remaining Chapters.

Another significant difference is the NPC interactions you will have when starting in ESO, with some reappearing in later Chapters or DLCs; however, the quests, as stated before, remain the same. All will start with the Main Story Quest, Soul Shriven in Coldharbour, which sends you to Coldharbour; once completed, you will need to return to the starting location by traveling to the following Wayshrines:

• Aldmeri Dominion: Khenarthi's Roost Wayshrine, Khenarthi's Roost
• Daggerfall Covenant: Port Hunding Wayshrine, Stros M'Kai
• Ebonheart Pact: Bleakrock Wayshrine, Bleakrock Isle

How To Play ESO In Chronological Order: The Main Story Questline

At this juncture, you must start your Alliance questline by seeking out its quest giver in these locations. In Khenarthi's Roost, you'll need to find Razum-dar at Eagle's Strand to receive the alliance quest, "Storm in the Horizon," which requires you to complete all Zone Quests at this location.

For players siding with the Daggerfall Covenant, you must locate Captain Kaleen at Port Hunding to get "The Broken Spearhead" quest. If you're with the Ebonheart Pact, head to Bleakrock Village and find Captain Rana to start the quest, "A Beginning at Bleakrock."

As we've alluded to before, you are required to complete the Zone Quests in Khenarthi's Roost (Aldmeri Dominion), Stros M'Kai and Betnikh (Daggerfall Covenant), or Bleakrock Isle and Bal Foyen (Ebonheart Pact) before progressing to the following destinations. Here, players will begin the Guild questlines for various Guilds before moving on to the Zone Quests at the new location(s).

We've provided the exact order of quests and events to play for each Alliance and inserted where you'll need to complete a Guild or Alliance quest:

Once the Main Story Questline is wrapped up, find Cadwell, where you can receive Cadwell's Silver and Gold quests. However, to complete these quests, you must complete the Zone Quests from the remaining Alliances at their respective locations.

This will differ depending on which Alliance you selected for your campaign, so if you chose the Aldmeri Dominion, you'll need to do the Zone Quests from the Ebonheart Pact and Daggerfall Covenant Alliances. If you chose the Daggerfall Covenant, you must do the Aldmeri Dominion and Ebonheart Pact Zone Quests for the Cadwell's Silver and Gold quests.

And finally, if you chose the Ebonheart Pact, you'll need to complete the Zone Quests for the Aldmeri Dominion and Daggerfall Covenant as the requirement. We've listed all the locations needed to complete the Zone Quests for Cadwell's Silver and Gold quests below:

• Aldmeri Dominion
  • Khenarthi's Roost
  • Auridon
  • Grahtwood
  • Greenshade
  • Malabal Tor
  • Reaper's March
• Daggerfall Covenant
  • Stros M'Kai
  • Betnikh
  • Glenumbra
  • Stormhaven
  • Rivenspire
  • Alik'r Desert
  • Bangkorai
• Ebonheart Pact Alliance
  • Bleakrock Isle
  • Bal Foyen
  • Stonefalls
  • Deshaan
  • Shadowfen
  • Eastmarch
  • The Rift

This completes the Main Story Questline from the base game, and you can advance to Craglorn by heading to your Alliance's capital city listed below:

• Aldmeri Dominion: Elden Root Wayshrine, Grahtwood
• Daggerfall Covenant: Wayrest Wayshrine, Stormhaven
• Ebonheart Pact: Mournhold Wayshrine, Deshaan

Find the Quest Giver NPC, Star-Gazer Herald, to receive the next Zone Quest, The Star-Gazers, which needs to be completed. Once done, you can start the Chapters and DLC content, starting with the dungeon DLCs.

How To Play ESO In Chronological Order: The Dungeons DLCs

After completing all the Main Story, Zone, Guild, and Alliance Quests from the base game of ESO, you can now turn your attention to the Chapters and DLCs released post-launch. As we've previously detailed, seven Chapters and over 20 DLCs are available for ESO; however, the order in which players should be playing can get confusing.

For context, a few dungeon DLCs don't include or include a small fraction of story content. These dungeon DLCs either serve as a prelude to the following Chapter or conclude its associated Story Arc and can be done in order according to the ESO Forum poster, NeoGriz:

For the Shadows of the Hist dungeon DLC, players must locate the Activity Finder from the in-game menu and choose the "Dungeon Finder" option. Select" Specific Dungeons" from the drop-down menu before selecting Ruins of Mazzatun to travel to the dungeon.

After arriving at the Ruins of Mazzatun dungeon, find the NPC, Heem-Jas, to accept the Sap and Stone Zone Quest. Once it's done, repeat the process to find the Cradle of Shadows dungeon to seek out Hides-the-Ashes to get the Silk and Shadow quest to complete.

How To Play ESO In Chronological Order: The Chapters & DLC Content

With the dungeon DLCs cleared, you can focus on the Chapters and remaining DLCs up until the latest Chapter release, Necrom. A few dungeon DLCs are included in this order as they feature Zone Quests connected with its related Story Arc.

We've also added the optional Companion Quests, which should be done at a specific point during the Blackwood, High Isle, and Necrom Chapters. Lastly, we've provided all the Quest Givers and their locations of where to receive each Zone Quest, granting you access to its Chapter or DLC, which should make traveling much faster when using the Wayshrines.

Once again, we would like to thank VaranisArano and NeoGriz for the valuable information provided on their individual threads from the official ESO Forums. We have updated their information to include the Scribes of Fate DLC and Necrom Chapter, for which the latter is available for PC and console as of 20 June 2023.