r/Arena

I’m sure you get this all the time here but it’s my First time playing Arena after I finally got a pc I’ve played tons of Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim and ESO. I’m wanting to make a Breton Mage and want advice for general gameplay and tips to make my experience easier. Thank you.

Hey everyone! So I started my first playthrough of TESArena today and I'm already loving it. I always play a mage in fantasy games and TESArena is no exception. I love magic! Went with a Breton. I made it through the first dungeon without any real issues. Didn't die once. I don't know if I'm doing well. I'm currently level 4 and about to leave the first dungeon. Already have 80 intelligence and like 70 wisdom. I think that's good? I read in the manual that the first dungeon is intended to be explored thoroughly, so I basically left no stone unturned and slaughtered every rat and goblin that I can across. Got a good bit of gold and equipment to sell.

Here are my questions:

1. I don't know how to tell what damage my weapon is doing. I look on the stat screen but under damage it still says 0, no matter what I have equipped. I probably missed something in the manual, but I'm a little confused on that area.
2. When I was running around the dungeon, I would randomly get experience and level up....or at least that's what I thought was happening. Like I would enter a new area and boom level up. Is that intended? Now that I'm typing this, I'm wondering if it's more that enemies weren't nearby, but not really sure.
3. After pressing the button for pilfering (on accident). I wasn't able to seemingly turn it off. I tried pressing it again and the "choose a target to pilfer" message wouldn't go away.

That's all I have so far! It's a great game and I'm really loving going back to the original. It's really cool seeing all of Tamriel as it was originally designed. I've played Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, but never Arena (Daggerfall, Redguard and Battlespire are next on the list).

I tried yesterday and got my a** kicked over and over again in the starting dungeon.

Looking for some advice and starting class tips. Can I change the controls // would that make combat easier?

for all elder scrolls lovers! feel free to check out this music collection i've put together! Hope you enjoy!