ESO: How to play Tales of Tribute

Before you can play Tales of Tribute, you must unlock it first. Fortunately, the quest that unlocks the game also serves as a tutorial. Here’s how to get started.

Step 1: Go to Gonfalon Bay on High Isle.

Step 2: In the city, look for the southernmost building. This is the Gonfalon Arcade.

Step 3: Head towards the Gonfalon Gaming Hall. Just before crossing the bridge, look for a small flyer – it will be marked as a quest on your compass.

Step 4: Interact with the flyer to acquire the Tales of Tribute quest.

Step 5: Talk to Brahgas, just outside the Gonfalon Gaming Hall, to continue the search.

Step 6: From there, just follow the markers on your map to meet some key faces in the world of Tales of Tribute and learn the basics of the game.

While the tutorial does take you through the basics well, you may need a quick refresher on how the game works before starting your first official match. There are many nuances to the game (and many in-depth strategies to learn as you play), but here are the basics to get you started.

• Before the match starts, each player chooses two patrons to lead the match. These patrons offer unique abilities that can turn the tide of battle. Also note that winning the favor of all Patrons will immediately result in a win. Favor is gained by performing very specific in-game actions.
• Decks that match these Patrons are then combined to create one dealt deck. From this, cards are drawn and placed in the center of the table, also known as the Tavern. During each player’s turn, they can spend gold to acquire these tavern cards and add them to their personal draw pile.
• When it’s your turn, you have to keep an eye on three different resources: Gold, Power and Prestige. Gold allows you to buy cards in the Tavern and add them to your hand. Prestige is the most important resource as earning 40 results in a win. Power can be used to attack opponent’s cards (more on that later), and any remaining Power is converted into Prestige at the end of each turn.
• Each turn begins with cards from your draw pile being dealt into your hand. You use these cards to build up strength and gold before using them to buy cards in the tavern or attack enemy agents. Agents are cards that remain in play until defeated and perform tasks such as granting extra gold per turn or preventing the enemy from converting power into prestige. You can use your Power to attack these cards – reducing their health to zero will remove them from the field.
• All gold is lost at the end of each turn and Power is converted into Prestige.
• Your opponent then goes through his turn. This continues until someone reaches 40 Prestige or swings all the patrons in their favor.

Once you get your head around the base and complete the Tales of Tribute quest, you can play real matches against NPCs and other real players. You will have to search in different locations depending on who you want to play against, but finding a match is easy.

• If you want to take on NPCs, head to the Gonfalon Gaming Hall and search for NPCs of your current skill level. For beginners, these will probably be located upstairs. You can also find Tribute Players in taverns in Tamriel.
• If you want to compete against other real players, you can choose from multiple game modes. The first is Ranking, where you fight to increase your Season Status. The next one is unranked, which doesn’t affect your ranking and puts you against a random opponent. However, it does offer rewards and promote your daily Tales of Tribute achievements. These game modes can be found in the Activity Finder menu. You can also play a friendly match, which offers no rewards and no quests.

Although it is a minigame, Tales of Tribute has a robust scoreboard system that tracks your progress. After completing five placement matches, you will be ranked in one of four different levels. If you win or lose subsequent matches, this ranking will change. At the end of the season, you will earn exclusive rewards based on your rank.

After you complete the tutorial, you will get four Tales of Tribute decks. You can unlock four more by exploring Tamriel and completing various missions. You can also find upgraded cards for existing decks, changing the way they perform during matches. Keep in mind that earning new decks does not give you a clear advantage, and that both yours and your opponent’s cards are combined into one dealt pile.

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