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ESO ToT has little integration with the rest of the game. While it would be very difficult to replicate this game in real life, there’s also a lot of separation. Daily rewards are low, you don’t get transmute crystals for playing, and there are very rarely ever tie-ins with the rest of the game.
That being said, that doesn’t mean there are none. But we’ll talk about that in another article. ESO’s ToT tends to be a game that players love or hate. At least, that’s if you can figure it out. Of the complex card game; it’s often asked: how the hell do you play it anyway? This guide will cover some basics on how to play.
How to start ESO ToT
The first thing to do is open the group finder app and navigate to the Tales of Tribute section. Then, ESO will ask you to accept the quest right there. ToT does require you to have access to the High Isle zone, so the interested base game players are out of luck. After you accept the quest in the group finder, you will need to travel there. Specifically, to Gonfalon Bay.
Once you arrive, walk across the bridge that is over the port and into the little tavern there. On the map, you might notice a jeweled crown symbol over the building. This symbol indicates any place where NPC players might be. Usually those places have novice, intermediate, and expert NPC players to practice against.
When you get inside the one in High Isle, head over to the arrow indicator and talk to Sorrine Gaerard or Brahgas. He’ll have you head up the stairs and play a couple games with the NPC novices there.
Basic Mechanics
In ESO ToT, you start off with four patrons. These patrons dictate which decks you will get and what types of strategies, accompaniments, and best ways to battle against. We’ll get into that more in later articles, but for now I want to talk about the basics of how the game works. You and your opponent each get to choose two.
While there are other patrons to unlock, this article only mentions the first four. You won’t be dealing with any of the others until you unlock them or unless you play against another player in the group finder. The singular best advice I can give you is to hover over everything and read the pop up window. This will tell you what it does and what it costs.
Now that you’ve selected your Patrons, you’ll start the game. In the middle of the screen, you’ll notice yellow, grey, and red icons. Yellow is your gold, grey is your prestige, and red is your power. On the side, you’ll see dials that each have a patron inside them. These dials can be for, neutral, or against you.
There are two major ways to win. The less common way is to get all the patrons to favor you at the same time. It’s important to remember this and keep your eyes on the dials. The way that most people win however is by gathering grey(prestige) points. The goal is to get to 40 prestige points before your enemy. They get one turn to beat you. If they don’t you win. If they do, the first to get to 80 takes the game.
How the hell do you get prestige points in ToT anyway?
Once you advance, you’ll get access to decks that contain cards which will give it to you when played. However, at this point you will only truly have one way to gain them. That is to gain as many red(power) points as possible. The ones you have left at the end of your turn will convert into grey(prestige) points. So, in short red = grey.
Each turn you start out with five cards in your hand that you have to play. If you keep playing, you’ll learn that with some decks, the order does matter. But don’t worry, you won’t need to deal with that just yet. For now, just play everything in your hand. Playable cards will be highlighters in blue.
The gold (yellow) that you accumulate will allow you to select an equal value card from the tavern, which is the strip of cards in the middle. Additionally, some of the patrons and their bonuses can be activated with gold. Again, hover over each playable patron or card and read everything. This will really help you understand the game better.
Select your card. Contract cards will play right away for a single turn and be discarded while others will be placed in your cooldown pile. Your non-contract played cards will also convert to this pile at the end of your turn. Once you are done, press the hourglass to end your turn. The game will go like this until someone wins. Remember to keep your eyes on the patrons and in your favor if possible and above all, have fun!
PVP and beyond
There is a PVP option which can be both a lot of fun and extremely time consuming. Just head to the group finder and select ToT. Be prepared to play against unfamiliar decks though as unlike the NPCs, you will generally not have access to the same decks. After you’ve played five matches, you will become ranked for the week.
In addition to getting ToT levels as a reward, you can also use the PVP option to gain experience points towards your CP. Generally, the rewards come in bags that can be expected to include crafting materials like runes, sometimes armor and clues. You can also possibly advance your PVP rank and further yourself in the quest. Clues are items that work a bit like treasure maps but instead of treasure, you get an upgrade of one of your cards. These are especially helpful in accessing better cards during a game.
ESO ToT quest itself generally has you playing NPCs across the different zones and advancing in the NPC ranks, so to speak. As you gain ToT levels, unlock decks, and hunt clues, you will unlock more of the main ToT quest and High Isle ToT quest. To get all the patrons, completing these quests will be necessary. There are also dailies where you play up to three PVP matches and up to three NPC matches in specific locations for increasingly better rewards. Sometimes, these even include leads and luminous ink.
General Strategies
There are a few general strategies that apply to every deck I’d like to talk about. You can focus on gold gathering to buy better, stronger cards later, or focus on power cards to convert them into prestige. (Red = grey). The gold gathering strategy’s downfall is that sometimes your opponent will gather prestige too quickly for it to matter. Some folks like to play cards such as agents that block and limit your ability to hold onto your power. This is something to remember if you choose to try this.
Still others will distract you and keep you occupied to activate agents without you noticing or rather get you to focus so much on agents, they can sneak in a play of an extremely powerful card. One last strategy to be aware of in ESO ToT PVP is the strategy where people finish playing their cards and then wait out their turn. Be careful not to lose focus when this happens.
I know this information is a lot. There’s also so much more to it the more you play. But for now, the most important things are red = grey and don’t let them control the dials. This article will be here if you need to come back to it and there’s a link to a video below for you to watch. Keep a lookout for more ESO ToT articles, where I will talk about the Patrons, the decks they come with, and most common play options.
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