Gathering will play a large role in Elder Scrolls Online when it comes to crafting, of course, but also in the in-game economy and the gearing process. All players will be able to gather all types of resources: runes, wood, herbs, cloth fibers, fish and ore. As players level and access different zones, they will only be able to gather nodes for crafting professions that they have placed skill points in. This means that gathering will be very important for crafters, especially, as will keeping an eye on the crafting skill lines.

The gathering system in ESO is fairly straightforward. Blacksmiths will want to mainly gather ore nodes while woodcrafters will want to gather mostly wood. Alchemists will want to gather herbs, of course, and clothiers will want to gather cloth fibers. Enchanters will want to gather runes while provisioners will want fish as well as other food ingredients. Leather will also be important to clothiers, which can be obtained from creature enemies.

For players who enjoy playing a role in the economy, it may be beneficial to gather any and all items possible in order to sell them to other players. Since bank space is shared across a player’s entire account, it will be simple enough to store gathered materials for alts as well. Bank and bag space does get fairly limited while leveling, however, so keep this in mind.

Certain gathering nodes will likely see more competition than other nodes. While nodes respawn fairly quickly and are abundant, some will likely still be heavily farmed. Ore, herbs and runes might be the three items that are under the largest amount of competition. Ore, in particular, can be hard to miss since it’s found near rocky outcroppings that are generally ignored for the most part.

Crafters will need a large amount of gathered items to level their crafting professions. Gatherers should keep this in mind and not pass up nodes unless they are absolutely not needed. Crafters will also gain crafting skill by turning raw ore, etc., into the ingredients such as metal bars needed for crafting. This means that the raw gathered items will likely sell for a higher amount of gold.

Since gathering items will not be able to be gathered by everyone in zones that are high level, this will mean that these items will sell for a higher amount than the materials found in the early leveling zones. Use this to your advantage if you plan on playing the market.