In Which Merithel Escapes from Coldharbour

ESO did a new thing: creating a system called Subclassing, where you can now swap out skill lines from your character’s class and replace them with skill lines from other classes. I’ve taken this as an excuse to make a fifth character: a Bosmer Warden. I’d been playing with the idea of making a Warden for a while, and this seemed like as good a reason as any to do it.

So this is her inaugural post.

Highlights

• Play date: 6/27/2025
• Took Merithel through Coldharbour’s opening sequence, since ESO returned to using that as the very first thing that happens to your character
• Mostly the same as before, except for the Prophet being the first character to greet me, instead of Lyris
• Teamed up with Lyris to escape, and helped her swap herself in for the Prophet so we could free him
• Returned to Tamriel and dropped into Khenarthi’s Roost, as you do if you’re an Aldmeri Dominion character
• HI RAZUM-DAR!
• Got initial quests from Commander Karinith
• Talked to Ealcil for more info about the nearby temple
• Got pinged by the Prophet about the Harborage
• Started collecting skyshards as you do
• All this got me up to level 4
• Was invited to run Depths of Malatar with Swamp Haven guildmates, so did so
• Unsurprisingly, I fell down a lot and died
• Then boinged off to Alinor to get certified to run writs
• Also joined the Fighters Guild and the Mages Guild while I was there

Commentary

Since this is the third character I’ve created in the Aldmeri Dominion, I’m not going to recap all the various Aldmeri Dominion plot points; I’ve done that a bunch already with Gyllerah. Nor will I be recapping the ESO Main Quest, since this is now my fifth time through doing that.

What I will be writing about with this alt are the points of interest with running a Warden and a Bosmer, since I’m new to both of those in this game. And anything that I haven’t already experienced with my previous alts.

First and foremost: this is the first character I’ve played on ESO following its reversion back to using Coldharbour as the opening chargen sequence. All previous characters, I’d gone through Balfiera! I think this is a much, much stronger way to start the game, though. Not only does it smack you upside the head with HI GUESS WHAT YOUR CHARACTER IS DEAD AND TRAPPED IN COLDHARBOUR, HAVE FUN WITH THAT, it also makes what to do after you escape from Coldharbour a lot simpler. You get dumped into your chosen alliance’s starting zone, rather than having to choose from a whole slew of portals to various places all over the map.

Given the scope of territory ESO covers, this simplifies things immensely, and lets a new character start without having to worry yet about what the hell to do first.

The first Coldharbour sequence is rearranged a bit from what I played before, too. My first four times through that sequence, it was Lyris Titanborn who greeted me first. Now, it’s the Prophet. I’m not entirely sure I approve of this change, just because I’m really fond of Lyris. But narratively speaking, it makes sense. It gives greater weight to the idea that the Prophet is aware of your situation, and taking steps to help you as soon as your story starts.

I made it to Khenarthi’s Roost and got in a bit of initial play there, talking to Razum-dar and other NPCs to get the first couple of quests on the island.

While doing all this, I mentioned to the Swamp Haven guild that I’d created a new Warden character–and, LOL, guildmates invited me to come run her in a dungeon with them. They were going to run Depths of Malatar to pick up a couple of new Antiquity leads for Solstice, the latest new zone added to the game. I warned them that this character was brand spanking new, only level 4, and so new she didn’t even have a back bar yet! But they told me to bring her anyway, so I did. And LOL, this meant I ran Merithel’s very first dungeon at level 4.

Not terribly surprisingly, I died a lot, since this was a DLC dungeon and I did not have much yet in the way of available skills. But, LOL, I didn’t die quite as often as I expected to, with a baby character!

And as it happened, I got the leads along with my guildmates, so win all around.

Finished off the session by boinging over to Alinor and getting certified in all the writs, and also joining the Fighters and Mages Guilds. I’ll take the liberty of assuming for narrative’s sake that Merithel actually did these things upon setting foot in Vulkhel Guard, since it’d make zero sense for her to go all the way to Summerset yet. I only did all that in Alinor because it was convenient!

Next time

Merithel’s next post will feature charging through the rest of the plots on Khenarthi’s Roost, proceeding to Vulkhel Guard and saving Queen Ayrenn from assassination, and meeting Tanlorin, Merithel’s first acquired Companion!

Screenshots