Why is mob grinding not an option anymore..?

Angelous922b16_ESO

Yeah just like the title says. Why must i level with quests..

So i played in early closed beta and made my way to veteran ranks on game launch i did so with old school xp mob grinding. I never been much for questing for xp. In my opinion i think quests should mainly be used like it is used in Final fantasy 11 online. Fame, story and items etc.
So anyway i got back in to the game recently only to notice that mobs were not spawning as fast as they use too. Which really puts me off, leaving me more or less stuck where i am. Im guessing this was changed in the first place becuase of bots and gold sellers? Surely there must be a better way to do that.
Like maybe make mobs claimable, aka first person or group to attack it gets the claim on the mob so others cant do actions on it. Dunno why this was removed from modern MMO's i can understand it for certain mobs, areas or bosses but when its an all out free for all everywhere i just think its ruins the experiance for the player.

So the main question here is. Will grinding ever be an option for leveling again?
Also this VR boss grind thing, whether its a mistake or not i think its an improvment for VR leveling...

dharbert

Grinding mobs and bosses is still a very viable way to level up if you don't like questing. You have access to Craglorn when you reach VR1. You can get from VR1 to VR14 in Craglorn in just a few days.

Angelous922b16_ESO

Yeah but before VR there is only questing as far as i have seen.

kkravaritieb17_ESO

Grinding mobs is still quite viable you just need to go to a place where there are no others and pair in a group of 2 for maximum efficiency and xp gain. There are guides on youtube for grinding locations.

ontheleftcoast

You can definitely grind mobs for levels, at least in non-veteran ranks. You can't do it in as many places but there are still plenty of areas ripe for mobs. For example the Vile Laboratory in Coldharbour and its infinite sea of zombies is a great place to grind from 40-50. Hell, even after hitting VR you can still head there to build up skill lines.

There are places in most zones to do this. For example in Auridon there's a fun area with a forest full of daedric possessed bears and wolves that spawn quite fast. Two of us were slaying them for over an hour and got so many hides and weapons we had to sell them a couple of times each.

But for gain VR levels you pretty much have to boss grind in Craglorn or quest. Those are your only options. That could change with the coming Champion System though.

dharbert

Angelous922b16_ESO wrote: »

Yeah but before VR there is only questing as far as i have seen.

That's because you can out-level the area you are grinding in. If you are more than 5 levels above the mobs you are grinding, you no longer receive XP, gold, or loot from them.

Once you hit VR ranks, this isn't a problem.

Surfinginhawaii

I just leveled a new character from level 3 to V1 grinding mobs, it still can be done and there are videos on youtube that show you these grinding locations.

jambam817_ESO

Because this is a single player game, you only grind in MMOs, silly!

Angelous922b16_ESO

Alright, guess i need to look a little harder. Was just bummed as hell coming back and seeing all my old grinding spots did not work anymore

Nestor

Angelous922b16_ESO wrote: »

Alright, guess i need to look a little harder. Was just bummed as hell coming back and seeing all my old grinding spots did not work anymore

This shows the grind spots for the various zones in each Alliance

https://rakashieso.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/complete-ebonheart-1-50-power-leveling-guide/

https://rakashieso.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/complete-daggerfall-covenant-1-50-power-leveling-guide/

http://rakashieso.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/aldmeri-dominion-1-50-leveling-guide/

They are probably the same grind spots you knew before, you just have to run a larger pattern.

Also, the public dungeons in each zone are a great place to grind out for your leveling (as long as you are 5 or less levels over the mobs)

Angelous922b16_ESO

Thank you.

Theosis

dharbert wrote: »

Grinding mobs and bosses is still a very viable way to level up if you don't like questing. You have access to Craglorn when you reach VR1. You can get from VR1 to VR14 in Craglorn in just a few days.

Id rather chew sand. Literally you do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

Surfinginhawaii

Theosis wrote: »

dharbert wrote: »

Grinding mobs and bosses is still a very viable way to level up if you don't like questing. You have access to Craglorn when you reach VR1. You can get from VR1 to VR14 in Craglorn in just a few days.

Id rather chew sand. Literally you do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

I spent 9 hours straight grinding Craglorn to get my first character from V12 - V14 and I just spent about a week grinding mobs to get another character from lvl 3 to V1. Grinding can be rather mind numbing and you have to be rather *** to do this.

Nestor

Theosis wrote: »

Id rather chew sand. Literally you do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

Agree with you on that one. However I do enjoy spending an hour or so at grind spot every few days. Good way to make money. Got to get more bag space...

Molagent

For starters no game ever desired you to go out mob grinding unless that was their full intent. It wasn't ESOs, but people exploited about and found the golden spots. It doesn't seem though anyone in Zenimax seems to care all that much, I guess even they see their prices for horses and bag/bank space is outrageous.

timborggrenlarsenb16_ESO

You can still grind mobs for all kind off xp, but the drops from normal grinding mobs are still not worth it, and it needs to be to level becuse grinding to low is not worth it from a drop point of wiev

Molagent

timborggrenlarsenb16_ESO wrote: »

You can still grind mobs for all kind off xp, but the drops from normal grinding mobs are still not worth it, and it needs to be to level becuse grinding to low is not worth it from a drop point of wiev

True, and sadly to say the counter argument still to this day is "Well ESO quest rewards suck." god do they.. In every other game once you were within a high level zone or in end game content quest rewards especially with games like WoW, Perfect World, RuneScape, Maplestory, Jade Dynasty, and so many others singleplayer and not gave you better items and rewards. It's the one thing I hated the most about ESO. A quest reward in VR2 zones is the exact same as a level 5 zone. Minor amounts of gold that just do not stack upon completing multiple strings of them and the chance to get a magical/rare/blue item is less than 1%. Hell it's been mapped to what you'll get on quests already. The only time I can actually remember getting a blue item from a quest in all of ESO and I was one of the first 50 to get Dominion Hero was in the Fighter's Guild or Undaunted...Can't remember which one had you go to some stupid forge. Either way, one quest. While if I farmed up enough from mob grinding I could easily get multiple blues eventually and get tons of gold from vendoring and deconstruction mats/sales. I've yet to see an answer for that topic ever.

Saltypretzels

NECRO thread! It may only be from October, but a lot has changed. I would let this thread die and respond to one of the many other recent grinding threads out there.

Molagent

What exactly has changed...? I made a new character and level 1-43 in about 3 days. Less if we count game time. So far I don't see anything different from launch to today. If it was "dead" then why was it at the top of the list for me?

exiledtyrant

I'll give out a hint. Some of the best grind spots are in quests phases that you never complete. Less all around traffic from players and the mobs keep coming to keep the phase looking full. There's still spots around open world too though.

Molagent

exiledtyrant wrote: »

I'll give out a hint. Some of the best grind spots are in quests phases that you never complete. Less all around traffic from players and the mobs keep coming to keep the phase looking full. There's still spots around open world too though.

Then grind spots haven't changed in the slightest.

golfer.dub17_ESO

Molagent wrote: »

For starters no game ever desired you to go out mob grinding unless that was their full intent. It wasn't ESOs, but people exploited about and found the golden spots. It doesn't seem though anyone in Zenimax seems to care all that much, I guess even they see their prices for horses and bag/bank space is outrageous.

My question is this:
If developers never intended people to grind, why do mobs give xp to begin with?

Would it not be far easier for them to remove mob experience, then say "Alright, one level is 1mil xp, and there's 10 quests in this zone, so we'll just make quests give 100k xp each". Would that not be far easier to design and balance than making leveling largely based on random amounts of mob kills, constantly having to nerf and buff mob xp?

And what about champion points? Once you reach V14 'legit' you've pretty much done every quest in the game. Champion Points couldn't possibly be based on questing because there isn't enough daily repeatable quests to make that a feasible means of obtaining them. Obviously grinding was involved in their thought process.

pecheckler

Why would anyone want to mindlessly grind instead of playing the game?

golfer.dub17_ESO

pecheckler wrote: »

Why would anyone want to mindlessly grind instead of playing the game?

Why would anyone spend all there time playing boring 'go there, fetch that' sidequests when they could be enjoying the game's combat?

I can frame the problem in a biased light as well.

Newk

Grinding is still the fastest way to level. But unlike the beta and early time after release, bosses is not an effective way to level Veteran Ranks. You just grind outside normal mobs.