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TLDR; I was told this game is open world and you can go quest anywhere at any level. I am level 10 EP and want to complete the Dark Heart of Skyrim questline but I can't seem to get there? I know I'l need ESO Plus or to buy the DLC.

Q1. Can I actually play and adventure anywhere in any order I want? I've heard I need to complete the main storyline? Or that if I don't the content will be more challenging? How so?
Q2. I am a 10 EP currently in Stonefalls. I want to play the Dark Heart of Skyrim questline and need to get to Bangkorai, how can I get there? I currently cannot get through to the Rift as Fort Virak is locked behind a quest.
Q3.Will I be able to start the quest 'Unhallowed Grave' at my level?
Q4. Will there be other unforeseen walls/blocks on my route to do so. I plan to get ESO+ when I arrive at Bangkorai.

In full.....

I bought ESO a few years ago and didn't really click with it, despite being a seasoned MMO and fantasy RPG player. It just didn't feel right, my early characters were Dunmer and Breton Nightblades.

Over the years I'd heard many people revel in ESOs completely open world, where you can complete quests in any order and the freedom this comes with. Recently I thought about trying ESO again and went to watch YouTube videos from well known ESO streamers who again, furthered this point that the game is completely open and you can go anywhere in any order at any level. I was intrigued to play again.

I did a bit of research on what I generally enjoy doing in RPGs, Roleplaying, PVP, exploration and settled on a character vision of a Nord Templar. A Nord Templar, who despite coming from the Hermit Kingdom of Skyrim and revelling in ale, was focused on confronting the great evils of the world and not proselytizing mortals and becoming involved in a political war between the three factions, he would be an open minded, wandering Templar, seeking to unalive the undead, nobble necromancers, vanquish vampires and defenestrate daedra.

I did the tutorial and settled for Bleakrock Isle to set my character in motion, after the initial few levels I decided the Dark Heart of Skyrim questline would be a great place to test my Templar, as after the initial beginning of the Ebonheart Pact storyline, he would have little interest in continuing the war.

I charted a route across the map, Bal Foyen>Stonefalls>The Rift>Cyrodil (Where I imagined great fun sneaking/corpse dragging my way across the region>Craglorn>Bangkorai, where the Unhallowed Grave quest, 1st in the chronological order of the Dark Heart of Skyrim questline. Whilst charting this route, I had grand images of exploration and a Lord of the Rings esque march across the dangerous land in mind.

Imagine my grand surprise then when as early as stonefalls, I chart the route to the Rift which involves going through Fort Virak, and the door open is simply greyed out and uninteractable? I thought this game was open world? I thought I could go anywhere at any level? I would understand if this was door was in a dungeon, but for it to be on the only way into the Rift from Stonefalls? It's locked content. I did a bit of googling and it seemed I had to complete the Stonefalls zone quests to gain access, but I was told you could do anything in any order?

I then went to googling how to go to other Alliance areas, and there were multiple forum posts from over the years of ESO so as a new players its quite hard to understand what I need to do?

Some people say I need to complete the main questline first? And I'll get a quest to go to other alliance areas? Some people suggested you can go to other alliance areas but it will be more challenging if you haven't completed the main questline? How so? There was some mention of Silver and Gold content here that I didn't understand?

I then realised despite the fact I've never been there, I could wayshrine to Daggerfall, and I could then chart a route across Glenumbra, Stormhaven into Bangkorai, but will there be other walls and quest locked entrances to zones like I found in Stonefalls?

Overall, just when I was really beginning to enjoy ESO, it feels like the game has been misadvertised. I tried to do something else qhilst I pondered my options, I did my first delve and whilst it was fun the ending was anti-climatic. I just spammed Biting jabs until everything fell over.

You can get to Bangkorai by boat or by getting another player to teleport you there. It should be fine to walk overland from Daggerfall if you prefer. You will not be able to complete Unhallowed Grave by yourself at your level as it is a 4-person dungeon. If you want to start the Dark Heart of Skyrim as a new player, you should begin here: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:The_Gathering_Storm

As you said, you'll need to either purchase the Greymoor DLC or subscribe to ESO Plus if you want access to Western Skyrim and the Dark Heart of Skyrim questline. Assuming you have access to it, you can get there by a few different ways:

(1) Each DLC should have a "free" wayshrine that you can travel to, where "free" means you already have it on your map without having to discover it first. The same is true for the base game zones, although only certain zones have a free wayshrine. In particular, each of the three alliances has two free wayshrines in them-- one in the "starter" zone and one in the "first" zone. More about that shortly. But in the case of Western Skyrim, there is a free wayshrine just outside of Solitude, near the docks, so you can just open your map, select Western Skyrim, and select an available wayshrine.

(2) Many zones are physically connected to one or more other zones, so you can often get to a given zone by traveling along roads. Sometimes there will be a wall with a gate separating one zone from another, but other times there is no visible border and you'll just change zones when you reach a certain point on the road or as you cross a bridge. In the case of Western Skyrim, there's a connection with Eastmarch by way of Blackreach, so you can enter Blackreach in Eastmarch-- which you'll do in the prologue quest-- find the door that connects to another section of Blackreach (called Greymoor Caverns), and from there you can take one of the great lifts that go up to Western Skyrim.

(3) Remote or non-adjacent zones can also be reached by taking a cart, boat, or (in certain cases) magical portals. If you open up your map and select the zone you're trying to reach, you can click to zoom in on the various cities to look for any boats or carts that connect to other zones. In the case of Western Skyrim, there is a navigator at the Solitude docks who can take you to Mournhold (in Deshaan), Wayrest (in Stormhaven), or Elden Root (in Grahtwood). If you aren't in one of those three zones, you can go to them on your map and look for carts or boats that go to other zones-- and, if necessary, look for carts or boats in those zones-- until you find a way to travel by cart or boat from your current zone to any intermediate zones as needed, and finally to the zone you're really trying to reach.

Of course, you can also use some combination of (1), (2), and (3).

Aside from that, the PvP zones-- Cyrodiil, Imperial City, and Battlegrounds-- won't be accessible until you reach Level 10. Once they're accessible, you'll need to join a queue to get into them.



Some quests won't become available until you've done other quests in that particular questline. But many quests can be done at any time, and you can even do a lot of the alliance storyline quests out of order. As for possible repercussions from doing quests out of order, as far as I know the only real drawback is that the story might not make as much sense to you, and you might meet people who act like they know you even though you haven't met them yet, but that's about it.



You can get to the Rift without going through Fort Virak, either by taking a boat or cart or by some other means as described above. By the way, if you purchase player housing then you can port to your housing at any time, so another way to get to a zone that seems to be "quest-locked" might be to purchase a room or apartment or inn there.



If that's part of the Greymoor questline, then you should be able to attempt it at any level. Keep in mind that ZOS designs each new chapter such that brand-new players can start the game with the new chapter without having to play through everything else in the game first, so basically you can be Level 1 and still be able to start any chapter's questline.



Bangkorai itself is divided into a northern half and a southern half, and for the most part you can't cross from one half into the other until you complete the quest at the Bangkorai Garrison. But you can still reach either half of Bangkorai by road. To get to northern Bangkorai by road, cross the bridge at the eastern end of Stormhaven to enter Evermore. To get to southern Bangkorai by road, go through the Bangkorai Gate at the western edge of Craglorn.



On my main character-- who was actually my second character-- I played through the base game totally out of order, and had a great time doing it. It's totally possible, although it might be pretty confusing at times. Playing through the content in order can be a lot more satisfying as far as making more sense, but it isn't necessary to do everything in order.

The base game's Main Quest is more or less designed to be played concurrently with your home alliance's storyline, as well as with the Mages Guild and Fighters Guild storylines, in the sense that they require you to progress through the zones of your home alliance in a particular order. For the Ebonheart Pact that will be Stonefalls ("first zone"), then off to the Wailing Prison in Coldharbour (original tutorial quest), then to Bleakrock Isle and Bal Foyen (EP's two "starter zones"), then back to Stonefalls, then on to Deshaan ("second zone"), Shadowfen ("third zone"), Eastmarch ("fourth zone"), and the Rift ("fifth zone").

Once you complete the storylines in those zones, you'll go back to Coldharbour to stop Molag Bal. After that, Cadwell will give you the opportunity to play through the questlines for the other two alliances, which will be "Cadwell's Silver" and "Cadwell's Gold." I think that for EP players the Silver questline will be the DC storyline, and the Gold questline will be the AD storyline, but I might have that backwards.

You don't actually need to play through the Main Quest, nor do you need to do Cadwell's Silver and Gold; you can essentially quest throughout Tamriel in any zone you wish, in any order.