20 hours of VR later, and all I got was a lousy T-shirt

JayDoc

After completing every quest I could find, all of the dungeons, visiting every locale in Stonefalls, even dabbled in PVP - and finally dinged VR2! ...and they sent me a 'Costume'. No noticeable stat changes, no bonuses, no new skills - not even a neat piece of functional gear...I get to play VR2 dress-up.

I have 22 extra skill points already, have 3 lev50 weapons (another @ 48), all of the class, guild, world and armor skills (active & passive) I will ever need, level 40+ in wood/cloth/metal crafting - so I am really confused as to what I am doing all of this molasses-paced grinding for?

Levelling 1-50 was exciting - opening new skills/morphs, adding attribute points etc. Aside from the ability to use slightly better gear and new sets (just to be able to take on the much MUCH harder mobs), it just seems like with VR progress: you hit ..just about the same/they hit harder - but it is really a lot more of the same thing, just requires you to whittle down to a few skills on your bars that are still effective. Is there something huge that I am missing, or did the devs really intend to tack on this plodding drone of a slog-fest? I suppose that I am just really disappointed that the journey was exponentially more fun and interesting than the destination.

Akuydab14_ESO

Yea... I got to 50 the other day, and found out that "Veteran Zones" and "Veteran Ranks" are really just pretty words for :

"You've only finished 1/3 of your leveling, and the easiest 1/3 at that. The last 2/3 will take increasingly greater amounts of time, and take you through the zones of the other two opposing factions, as If you were leveling an alt, which you are not, and will never, ever, EVER want to do in your life."

Basically, I find out when I hit 50 that ESO has a nifty grind reminiscent of an asian mmo in place to keep people busy while they work on their first content patch.

Also the fact that there's a ton of V10's that used leveling "exploits" to level super fast, and weren't suspended\rolled back after they fixed aforementioned "exploits" is really cool.

Like, I did veteran FG, it's really fun. I enjoy the veteran dungeons so far, PvP seems fun, I just want the V10 gear to do it, but the thought of basically grinding out the equivalent of like 20 more levels makes me ill.

I don't know (other than it was easy and they had to change very little) why they didn't just make the two factions zones used for Veteran content all the same difficulty, and give you the option to quest anywhere you wanted at 50... that way you could just like, follow your heart and simply grind the Vet ranks in the locations you wanted, but noooo just act like you're leveling again *** cuz that's what you're doing. Now spit on me ESO, and call me dirt, so I can whimper and give you more money.

tafoya77n

... maybe hang in here with me but maybe the questing experience is fun, just like it was for the 1-50 experience.

Its not about gear or skills enjoy the quests, the lore and being in the world.

cubansyrusb16_ESO

Good news ... VR 6 you get another outfit that looks like light armour.

Ideal if you plan on looking different from other VR 6 players or your one of those people that like plate armour.

Nothing says tanks like a tight outfit with shoulder pads.

ZiRM

I have to say grinding vet ranks is tedious and knowing that many of the vr10 people running around exploited it makes it a slap to the face of us that are actually grinding the zones. The loot/rewards are pitiful, ZOS was very lazy with endgame and they will have to step up to the plate big time within the next few months to keep people subscribing. It's a hard truth...

Vladdra

I got to lvl 50 (VR1) two weeks ago. Since then I am only 75% into VR1. I have read posts, checked websites, thought of raising other toons.

In the end, I cancelled my subscription and here is why.

I don't care if it takes a long tedious time to gain levels. I don't care if I don't get awesome new gear. I don't care if my stats don't go up. What I do care about is the fact that the abilities I used to complete the game in my initial faction are not good enough to kill even two mobs in the VR zones. I didn't change a thing, and I die two out of every three fights I get into now. It seems if I pull more then one mob now, there is a good possibility that I will be dead in a few seconds, just so I can waste more time running back to try to kill the mobs again and fail. I really hated having a 1770 gold repair bill half an hour after I repaired for 800 gold. I know I didn't make anywhere near that amount in the half hour killing 15 or 20 mobs in that time.

I like the game. It was a lot of fun until I couldn't stop dieing.

I have tried respecing. I have read a ton of different ideas on how to play my toon better. Nothing is working, so, I refuse to pay to be frustrated.

I hope that for those of you that stick around that they change this so it isn't so frustrating for you.

Good Hunting,
Vladdra

EzikielStorm

@Vladdra I totally understand where you are comming from...

I spent the first 2 days of my veteran rank progress totally frustrated by this. My character had progressed just fine up to VR1, then suddenly you are FORCED to respecc and use all those skills and a build that you never wanted too.

My progress to VR10 will only ever work if as a Templar if I use Aedric spear spam. I was never interested in that skill lvl 1 to 49 so why am i forced to use it now??

The game went from having lots of interesting builds and skill lines, to literally just one skill spammed over and over again, I am now VR4 and im starting to feel like a bot...

Not only this, but I have been told by many different people that Templar is beyond useless, especially for heals, and that i should have rolled a sorceror healer all along. With the current veteran rank progression there is NO WAY I could ever consider rerolling or making an alt.

So im left with 1 skill spam until i reach VR10, or basically unsub and move on...

Elirienne

I don't know what you were doing wrong, friend. I am a clumsy little noob, but still do not find V ranks any more challenging than before. I die about the same times as before. Bosses actually tend to kill me less. You may just need to find your playstyle...

Igolbug

I hit VR1 and have gotten almost to VR5 in Cyrodiil just enjoying myself.

Azarul

This thread is the absolute perfect example of how NO game will ever please everyone. First everyone complained they wanted to be able to go to other factions zone, they complied. Then people complain 1-50 is way to easy, they complied. People zoom through content and complain about not enough endgame, they complied.

Brutalis

"I should be able to play the way i want without ever changing and be able to tackle and defeat everything i come across. I hate a challenge and having to evolve and change to address said challenges makes me angry, I QUIT!"

I don't know, but that's what i hear with some of the post here. I guess the good news is, less noobs for pugs in the veteran dungeons.

But i digress as that's not what the OP is referring too. Im not sure i agree with the whole VR is just time sync until they release Craglorn. Granted, the Free-Tshirt is an excellent analogy and i do wish there were more/better/if any at all rewards for progressing to VR10. But i do see the VRs as kind of a rite of passage for the privilege to play in Craglorn and the top tier dungeons, as i will call them. The game changes and get deeper imo at this point... and sure the casual player will probably lose out. But oh well.

Regarding exploits, you really can only control yourself and ultimately are the author of your own story. VR10 is attainable by anyone, we'll all get there eventually, but how you got there is something YOU have to be able to live with.

Khivas_Carrick

Those that did the exploit should at least be rolled back, and if they can't be rolled back, suspend them for a month while the rest of us catch up the hard way. That or reward us with free stuff like respecs or something, idk.

It's just really unfair in a way that shouldn't be unfair, i.e it isn't a fact of life this time, this one wrong can be righted, so right it god damn it.

Napkins

EzikielStorm wrote: »

@Vladdra I totally understand where you are comming from...

I spent the first 2 days of my veteran rank progress totally frustrated by this. My character had progressed just fine up to VR1, then suddenly you are FORCED to respecc and use all those skills and a build that you never wanted too.

My progress to VR10 will only ever work if as a Templar if I use Aedric spear spam. I was never interested in that skill lvl 1 to 49 so why am i forced to use it now??

The game went from having lots of interesting builds and skill lines, to literally just one skill spammed over and over again, I am now VR4 and im starting to feel like a bot...

Not only this, but I have been told by many different people that Templar is beyond useless, especially for heals, and that i should have rolled a sorceror healer all along. With the current veteran rank progression there is NO WAY I could ever consider rerolling or making an alt.

So im left with 1 skill spam until i reach VR10, or basically unsub and move on...

I'm at vr2 and i'm still using the same skills as I did 1-49. No problems at all. You actually have to block and use ur resources correctly now. I was very happen to see this since 1-49 was a snorefest where you can spam 1-2 ability's and could kill a 4 mob pack.

Mmo's today don't need to be dumbed down anymore. There is already enough games out there for that.

FrauPerchta

Typical complaint from someone that has capped in the first month of an MMO's release. Have seen it in almost every MMO I've played and that's all of the major releases and most of direct to F2P "Asian" games. It's a combo of the player grinding for cap and the game's leveling being too fast. Few releases have every provided "end game" content/advancement at release.

At least with ESO you are still racking up experience instead of your XP just disappearing in to the ether as it has in a few games once you hit cap.

pokebreaker

Azarul wrote: »

This thread is the absolute perfect example of how NO game will ever please everyone. First everyone complained they wanted to be able to go to other factions zone, they complied. Then people complain 1-50 is way to easy, they complied. People zoom through content and complain about not enough endgame, they complied.

Hopefully you realize that not everyone was part of Beta. There is probably quite a few players who played ESO for the first time at launch. So their complaints about the game are based on only knowing of how it was from Launch to Now.

However, you are still absolutely correct, that everyone will never be pleased. This is not just for games, but anything in life that has a massive amount of people involved in it. This is a testament to the varying tastes that consumers of a product will have. Any provider in this situation could only hope to make most people happy, most of the time; flip flopping things every so often so the less than pleased crowd gets something they want for a period of time. Trying to make everyone happy is just a silly thing to even attempt.

reften

Igolbug wrote: »

I hit VR1 and have gotten almost to VR5 in Cyrodiil just enjoying myself.

This is my plan...get to level 50, slow down, do a ton of PvP.

But I guess I'm an old-schooler that played Everquest...where after a year of playing time my character was only level 43.

If you race through the game, then there is NO POSSIBLE end game you will enjoy. It is impossible...you've just burned yourself out.

The journey is the reward. "Beating" the game (VR10) should not be.

Armitas

I'm loving the difficulty. If you are having trouble with 2-3 mob pulls put volcanic rune on your bar. It's fantastic and should make those pulls quite easy.

Regarding the grind. There are only 10 Ranks, split between two alliances that makes 5 levels per alliance. That stands in great subjective contrast to the 50 levels you just went through in one alliance. They could make 50 VR levels but it would only give one an appearance of progressing faster. You aren't doing anything different in veteran rank than you were in non veteran. You are questing just the same as you were before veteran. While some consider the added content a grind others are on the forums complaining the game isn't long enough so what can they do? They are increasing veteran xp.

With each veteran rank you get access to higher level gear, craft and enchantment options. We are improving externally rather than internally.

Dominulf

It's so horrible drudging through enemy alliance zones after completing Cold Harbour. Suddenly I go from cool "end game" type of content to killing my own faction members and putting out fires and traps by pressing 'e' as if I made a new character.

It feels so awkward and tacked on, as if they had no other content and went for the easy option.

kraig.mitchellb14_ESO

I am actually play 3 toons, one of each faction, and I am really enjoying the different stories for each.

I will not, ever, take my main and do other faction's quests. Either they roll out enough content endgame so that doing the other faction's quests with the same toon completely optional, I will will unsub at that point.

I really love the game so far, but going to do another faction's quests really ruins alot of what makes it good.

Eam

Im near VT7 and i don't know what you people have to cry about.

Im happy to get the chance to explore every corner of every faction and do quests and exploration as much as i could. Walk by some river, Pass a giant Mountain, find hidden treasures and leveling veteran rank doesn't take as much as it seems.

all you do is Achievements in the dungeons and do world Bosses and solo-Dungeons and you level up in no time.

Its damn easy and i don't have the problems you guys have, i enjoy it.

Niminion

VR is the best idea ever. I get to explore the entire game on one character and I get to fight against challenging opponents instead of two shotting meaningless mobs over and over. You actually need a coherent build not just dump your favorite dps skills on your bar. It feels like end game because I can spend thousands on good gear and it is worth it because it will last me for awhile till I get to the next "tier". But also you are still progressing slowly when you rank up by increasing your soft caps and having access to better gear, similar to a normal gear centric endgame.

A lot of people don't like quest/xp endgame progression it seems, they want to be able to farm a boss and move to the next tier and farm another boss etc. I am not a raider, I like doing raids and dungeons once to see the scenery and doing lots of pvp. When there is no more solo progression and pvp gets old the game is over for me and I move on.

It feels like I am getting two entire expansions worth of content right at the beginning of the game. This is like WoW+BC+Wrath amounts of single player content to start with and Cata is coming out next month! Never have I played an mmo at launch with this amount of content available to a single character. Yes, it is content. If you feel you have to aoe grind for days to reach the absolute xp cap as fast as possible that's your own problem.

robertlive2014

Niminion wrote: »

VR is the best idea ever. I get to explore the entire game on one character and I get to fight against challenging opponents instead of two shotting meaningless mobs over and over. You actually need a coherent build not just dump your favorite dps skills on your bar. It feels like end game because I can spend thousands on good gear and it is worth it because it will last me for awhile till I get to the next "tier". But also you are still progressing slowly when you rank up by increasing your soft caps and having access to better gear, similar to a normal gear centric endgame.

A lot of people don't like quest/xp endgame progression it seems, they want to be able to farm a boss and move to the next tier and farm another boss etc. I am not a raider, I like doing raids and dungeons once to see the scenery and doing lots of pvp. When there is no more solo progression and pvp gets old the game is over for me and I move on.

It feels like I am getting two entire expansions worth of content right at the beginning of the game. This is like WoW+BC+Wrath amounts of single player content to start with and Cata is coming out next month! Never have I played an mmo at launch with this amount of content available to a single character. Yes, it is content. If you feel you have to aoe grind for days to reach the absolute xp cap as fast as possible that's your own problem.

In general I agree with Niminion here. To specifically address the OP, the VR2 and VR6 costumes are going to be hit or miss with any player, sorry. I had fun with the VR6 costume for a while.

Compared to you OP, I have zero unused skill points, I'm VR7 (70%) already. I have 100% VR7 crafted "blue" weapons and armor, but *only* the best class, guild, world and armor skills (active & passive) needed for my build. I respec'd at level 30, and have used a well-planned build since then. I'm level 50 in woodworking, clothing, blacksmithing, and alchemy crafting (enchanting is bugged, level 28 I'm looking at you). Since VR1, I've been putting almost every new skill point into crafting. I have added a few new class and weapon skills that I did not think I needed before playing the veteran content, but which are proving to be very important.

One thing I'm confused about is why I'm always behind the leveling curve. For the first part of the game I was usually one or two levels in front of the curve. To give you an example, I've completed all of Greenshade, but am still only 70% of the way to VR8. Greenshade is a VR8 zone, so I was already playing one level up this whole time and occasionally getting my butt handed to me. It feels like I do all the quests and map completion in each zone, etc etc. I focus, of course, on the content compiled in Cadwell's Almanac. So, I think the developers need to pay attention to this issue, that the veteran content is not giving enough experience to level properly.

OP, as for the LOUSY T-SHIRT, I agree the rewards for this content suck. I don't know if it's because of whack-a-mole nerfs put in post-launch by second string developer-admins coming along after the core development team moved on to content expansions, but when I get 4 gold pieces and a plain white dagger for a solo-kill against a 25K HP quest boss who cast negate magic fields over frost patches ticking for 450 dps, while one-shot killing me over and over again with a ridiculous two-handed uppercut, I think there should something better.

By far the most frustrating thing about the game is the skill lag (i.e. unexplained delay or activation failures on skills and especially weapon swapping). This will be the straw that breaks the camel's back down the road. If this isn't fixed, it spells the end for me. Everybody who's anybody in the community has complained about it and there's no excuse for not fixing it.

flintstone

I'm in the rift, and VR4 (the mobs are VR5). When I was VR3 the mobs were VR4.......and so on and so on? I'm thinking that I'm going to be fighting mobs of 3-4 (one level above me)..... all the way to VR10?

I don't like the Rift (every mob has one or two poison staff) which I'm having trouble dealing with.......but I just got here so maybe I'll figure them out?

VR content is VERY RUFF as a solo player and there aren't a lot of other players running around? (sometimes I feel like I am the only player playing).

But........I am having fun!......and thats what is important to me.

Guppet

Brutalis wrote: »

The game changes and get deeper imo at this point... and sure the casual player will probably lose out. But oh well

You do realise that no game that aspires to make money can survive without those casual players.

Making a game to hard in this day and age is commercial suicide.

If you enjoy the game being this hard, enjoy it right now, because it will be made easier, it had to if it's to stay in business.

Luckily for you, you probably have 2 months before the whole casual crowd hit a level or 2 of VR and the nerf cries block out the sun!

VR content is manageable, but you sure as heck have to have 100% focus while fighting even trash mobs. You may also find that play styles you enjoyed up to 50, just can't cut it in VR content, you have to optimise or go home, that's the biggest crime in what is supposed to be a hobby, a thing you do to unwind after a hard days work.

I get that some people don't do a hard days work, they may enjoy a game feeling like a job, most won't.

subecsanur

I agree, why only a costume? Not a true armor set matching your class? Also a free respec would be nice.

Also I nvr understand why so many personal instances but the rewards don't even come close to what you need? Should there be a way to fix this?

Singular

subecsanur wrote: »

I agree, why only a costume? Not a true armor set matching your class? Also a free respec would be nice.

Also I nvr understand why so many personal instances but the rewards don't even come close to what you need? Should there be a way to fix this?

Well said!

Yes, I want personalized rewards for reaching those ranks - is that too hard to program? I mean, it doesn't have to tally up every single skill point that I have and predict what's best for me, but at least it could be class specific.

schroed360

Guppet wrote: »

Brutalis wrote: »

The game changes and get deeper imo at this point... and sure the casual player will probably lose out. But oh well

You do realise that no game that aspires to make money can survive without those casual players.

Making a game to hard in this day and age is commercial suicide.

Never heard about a game called dark soul or demon soul...It was such à
failure that something called dark soul 2 came out recently . But irony apart u are sadly quite right ....

Mjoel

Well... i am VR10 and i didnt exploit i finshed almost every quest

here is how i play in VR areas:

- It makes the game much better when you are a vampire using lifeleech and bats

- Use Block (every not blocked attack can kill you even if you are a full tank)

- Try to evade groups of enemys 2+ when you are new to VR content (or be sure your ultimate is ready use soulmagic ultimate "1900+ dmg on max level 200-250 UP costs" to instakill 1 enemy or use batswarm to buy time and hp)

- If you have skills like spear or others that push or knockdown enemys its a big help fighting groups 2+

- Use lv 50+ Potions (saved me many times)

- Look at your Skills (what do they do? do you really need it? can i change it for a better skill?) i had to reskill i used 2h now im using dual swords because of the lifeleech

- When you cant beat a boss or mob try to evade it if its a quest mob ask your friends or nearby players for help (many bosses/mobs are not balanced yet)

- Don't enter VR Dungeons until you hit vr5-6 or have a group that knows exactly what to do (can be really frustrating)

- Upgrade your gear every 2-3 VR levels (Upgrade it to blue+ rarity)

- Enchant your weapons and armor with glyphs (i use health and stamin)

- When you are a vampire get a Fireresglyph (+1450 Fireres legendary glyph)

- Enemys using magic cancel them i see so much ppl they even dont know they can cancel magic use block + attack to cancel a magic attack (red glow at enemys means they are casting magic)

"Not every Skill can be canceled or blocked"

- You blocked a attack and enemy is stunned? when you fight a group 2+ leave the enemys stunnend and focus on the one with lowest hp (that buys you time not recieving dmg from the stunned mob)

I just killed 10 vr10 mobs at one time yesterday at bangakorai... im a templar i just know how to play my class and how to use my skills i am a vampire too i play with much lifeleech and heavy armor i dont use any exploit (like bat ultimate exploit or something)

And when i can do this im sure all of you can i hope i helped you a lil bit

Custos91

Don't see the ver content as a grind, it actually is pure, untainted lore, and yu have time for it, I guess thats what vet content all about, slow yourself down, the game even gets beter if you do this^^

Elember

NiRN wrote: »

I have to say grinding vet ranks is tedious and knowing that many of the vr10 people running around exploited it makes it a slap to the face of us that are actually grinding the zones. The loot/rewards are pitiful, ZOS was very lazy with endgame and they will have to step up to the plate big time within the next few months to keep people subscribing. It's a hard truth...

Welcome to the world of MMO launches where endgame is never any good and most likely never will be. Usually MMO developers now try to say that, "Our game has no endgame all that happens when you reach level cap is you continue to develop your character!" or some other drivel they expect us seasoned MMO'ers to eat up and actually believe.

Corithna

I'm just going to toss this out there for those who might not realize it. Doing 50+ and 50++ content is completely optional! When craglorn launches anyone who's VR1 can start on it. And just like in any other mmo LFG works fine for running your heroics/verteran dungeons.

In fact the only reason anyone might feel that this content is 'needed' is that fact that by doing so you gain access to more skyshards/skillpoints. Something, by they way that you will find in abundance once you start doing the dungeons in craglorn.

At it's heart this is a deck building game. That means that the game will introduce you to situations that require you to adapt and utilize various skills in order to complete the content. The wider your palette of skills to choose from the stronger you will be when the next challenge comes along. So this isn't about what you find is needed/working on this content but rather having content available to expand your skill set upon. The cash, items, unique trophies, as well as seeing the story line unfold are all nice little bonuses. This is a game, have fun with it instead of pulling out the Kleenex every two minutes when you find something else cry about.