How do you level VR ranks now?

orangeman57ub17_ESO

So I'll throw a disclaimer out first: I dont dislike questing (quite the opposite), but i really enjoy endgame PVE more. I have 5 VR toons so I try to avoid questing since its slow and Ive already experienced the story a few times.

Back on topic: How do you level efficiently in the VR zones? We were told this change from VR points to EXP was going to help us level up quicker, but from what Ive experienced, its quite slower. On a VR3 character, I went to Shadowfen (VR3 zone) and tested out exp gains. Regular mobs gave fairly poor xp, quests gave a significantly less exp reward on completion, did a world boss and a group dungeon with similar results.

Hopped over to craglorn to see what the grinds were giving. Getting into an upper craglorn grind granted me a few hundred exp on boss kills. I believe this is due to the way groups work now to combat leeching, but even rolling 500-600 dps wasnt enough to warrent any xp.

Is this how it was intended? at this rate I have to do over 2 VR zones worth of questing to get 1 level and I havnt found any place to farm/grind that was any better. 1.5 is probably my favorite update on paper but with the poor exp gain, crappy writ rewards for endgame crafters, and huge difficulty increase for vet dungeons scaling up, this update is a downer.

Maotti

In my opinion they need to remove that 5 levels rule they implemented for veteran levels. It's poison to the game!

Endek

I'm also looking for an answer to the OP.

At the moment, I just can't bring myself to what simply feels like more grinding to push through the Veteran Ranks.

I enjoy fresh questing that delivers good levelling results and I play a variety of toons, each with their own crafting spec and find I never, ever have enough inventory space for the mats which has resulted in also having 3 bank toons.

These bank toons in themselves have inevitably led to a game time issue where I tend to spend way to much time managing inventory instead of leveling.

I also have both a Vamp character and a Werewolf character that are low level VR . So when I reflect on my gaming habits, one could surmise I have a few to many eggs in a few to many nests... but this is how I tend to play a variety of MMO's and still enjoy playing those same MMO's years later.

I also enjoy a little PvP with my main toon and when I reflect on my style of play, it seems to keep me reasonably entertained, but I simply can't get my head into the VR grind.

This saddens me a little as this is the one game that I really, really wanted to get into. However, I find myself taking "mini-breaks" from the game, end up cancelling my sub only to return a month or two later as I try to push through those VR's.

So I would also like to hear from anyone that also finds the VR levelling a bit of a drag and how they manage to move through the ranks.

Have fun out there.

WraithAzraiel

You wait for 1.5.5 to come out. Best bet.

Blud

Endek wrote: »

I'm also looking for an answer to the OP.

At the moment, I just can't bring myself to what simply feels like more grinding to push through the Veteran Ranks.

I enjoy fresh questing that delivers good levelling results and I play a variety of toons, each with their own crafting spec and find I never, ever have enough inventory space for the mats which has resulted in also having 3 bank toons.

These bank toons in themselves have inevitably led to a game time issue where I tend to spend way to much time managing inventory instead of leveling.

I also have both a Vamp character and a Werewolf character that are low level VR . So when I reflect on my gaming habits, one could surmise I have a few to many eggs in a few to many nests... but this is how I tend to play a variety of MMO's and still enjoy playing those same MMO's years later.

I also enjoy a little PvP with my main toon and when I reflect on my style of play, it seems to keep me reasonably entertained, but I simply can't get my head into the VR grind.

This saddens me a little as this is the one game that I really, really wanted to get into. However, I find myself taking "mini-breaks" from the game, end up cancelling my sub only to return a month or two later as I try to push through those VR's.

So I would also like to hear from anyone that also finds the VR levelling a bit of a drag and how they manage to move through the ranks.

Have fun out there.

I think a lot of people feel this way at the moment.

In my case, I have one VR14 that I do guild events with. Other than that, I'm leveling my pre-50 alts to VR1, then I park them there. I have a VR1 NB who is parked waiting for 1.5.5 while I work on my level 11 DK.

If 1.5.5 does not deliver faster leveling as promised prior to 1.5, then I will unsub and wait for the Champion system. If that does not deliver, then I will have no choice but to move on.

I have played and enjoyed the quest line. The thing about heavy story based games with only one-track is that they are great the first time through. But after that, they are just a chore. If ZOS wants to keep funneling (forcing) people to go down that one track every time they level a toon, a lot of players who like alts (like me) will bail.

Maybe they have some kind of "metrics" that show them this won't be an issue for console players, and ZOS is putting all their eggs into that basket. Who knows?

jeevin

I uninstalled last week after the last update dropped. I find it harder and harder to support the game with the bonkers decisions and changes that are made by the devs. I'll probably give it another shot once the champion system is implemented but I struggle to see it making any difference to the big issue with the game, grinding levels.
Champion levels are still just that aren't they? Levels? Almost endless levels. That will be 1000000xp between each and the only mechanic that Zos can think of to hook players in. I expected more from an Elder Scrolls game.

Endek

Thanks for your comments, there appreciated.

I am anxious to see how I get on with 1.5.5, but until then, I will also shelve my low level VR toons and spend a little time with one of my favourite alts.

Thanks again and have fun out there.

Audigy

Endek wrote: »

Thanks for your comments, there appreciated.

I am anxious to see how I get on with 1.5.5, but until then, I will also shelve my low level VR toons and spend a little time with one of my favourite alts.

Thanks again and have fun out there.

They lowered the XP you get for kills which is understandable with the CS coming soon. ZO doesn't want that people who never quest, explore or adventure gain a big advantage over those that do.

My advice is that you do the quests, world events, dungeon story modes and writs. This will let you level up fairly good.

GreyBrow

You level VR ranks just like you level 1-50, just like the rest of us did before craglorn dropped: you do the quests.

Get over it.

wafcatb14_ESO

Yep this game has little to no re-play value. SWTOR was heavy story based as well, however each class and faction had a completly different main story. so it was fun re-rolling alts because the storyline was not the same.

GW2 is another game with a great main story each race and has a completly different main story, and based on what you do does effect the way the story progresses.

ESO has only 1 main story, and it the same regardless of race, or faction, the same for the mage and fighters guilds quests. there is also only 1 zone per every 10 lvls to go through, unlike almost all mmos since their creation that have several different zones to go to for the same lvl. Example from 5-15 ish i can go to stonefalls if I play EP. with no other zone to go to for that same lvl range.

Almost all other MMO have 3 or 4 different zones for that same 5-15 lvl to go to. thus rerolling a alt is more fun . Because unlike here you can go to a diffferent zone to lvl up and do new quests etc.

You can do there here, in ESO but that requires you to re roll on a new faction , and even then you still have the exact same main story, and mage/fighters guilds quest to grind through.

TequilaFire

Since the VR quest xp is broken I decided to work on the Nature Slayer achievement on one of my new VR1 alts yesterday by grinding lurchers and crocs in Glenumbra which is my 1st vet zone.
I was surprised as I was able to level to VR2 in a single days play session.
Lurchers were giving 621 xp an most mobs like crocs around 400+ xp.
Grinding those along with a few crafting writs did the trick.
Oh yeah and open those chests! Over 900 xp. lol

Endek

Thx for your suggestions Audigy, Wafcatb_14 and TequilaFire, practical advice and appreciated.

Greybrow, I had appreciated your thoughts up until your closing comment... "Get over it".

You see, I had hoped that I could get over the fact, that for me, it feels so much like a grind in contrast to the first 50 levels that it had detracted from my enjoyment of the game, which is why I came to the forum, asking for creative suggestions.

Well that's all folks, again, many thanks for sharing your thoughts which do mean a lot to me and I'm sure I'll keep them in mind during my adventures.

eliisra

GreyBrow wrote: »

You level VR ranks just like you level 1-50, just like the rest of us did before craglorn dropped: you do the quests.

Get over it.

I was VR10 on my sorcerer the day Craglorn was released, I am "the rest of us" but I still cant get over it lol. At least clearing every region in the game, was sort of new and exciting back than. It was also more difficult, you felt sense of accomplishment when beating certain named bosses.

Doing it again face-roll mode. No thanks.

Unlike you, I don't think anyone should be forced to grind every region, including side-quests, in the game for weeks or even months, to reach cap. I don't want people to give up, feel like the grind is killing them, maybe even stop playing.

We're all going to be level 50 soon enough. Exp gained today might not even count towards anything (I'm sure my account is already capped on champion points). The issue is (typically ZoS) today and near future, people still see VR14 as cap, people also need VR14 for daily PvE and PvP content, but with no means to reach it in reasonable time.

Why start messing with the exp before the full Champion System is ready. Why ZoS?

wafcatb14_ESO

eliisra wrote: »

Why start messing with the exp before the full Champion System is ready. Why ZoS?

Honestly I don`t think they have a Clue WTF they are doing , Game was actually better in Alpha, until they changed everything to make it have more of a Single player feel to it.

The fact they are basiclly changing so much of the core game elements now after 6 months, means they screwed up and see that their vision is not what people wanted, are trying to save the game and stop the Bleeding of subs .

Sadly it take them to long to do stuff, like it took the almost a month to finially fix the FPS bug in Cryodill after the Awesome Lightning patch, and its still not completly fixed to as good as it was before that patch.

While I haven`t played WOW since 06 I know they have a new expansion coming out soon, and every game i`ve played lost a lot of subs whenever WOW came out with a new expansion , with not many returning . Hopefully ESO subs won`t get hit too hard.

Valencer

Since 1.5.4, VR XP seems to be in a good place again. I completed one major quest area and a delve and got about 70k XP. That's almost 1/10th of a veteran rank, so I think there's more than enough content in a VR zone to gain a rank.

lordspyder

I'm waiting for the next patch to un**** the quest XP. Until then I'm leveling alts and farming dwarven pages

starkerealm

Audigy wrote: »

They lowered the XP you get for kills which is understandable with the CS coming soon. ZO doesn't want that people who never quest, explore or adventure gain a big advantage over those that do.

Then they massively lowered the amount of XP you get from questing... because ZO doesn't want people who actually play the game to have a huge advantage over people who grind their way to VR14?

And, of course they didn't nerf the XP from exploration because there's, ultimately, a finite limit on how much you can gain from that, so explorers who didn't do anything were never a threat...

eNumbra

Solo ground my DK at Spellscar yesterday. Was about a half days questing work in about an hour. I'll probably hop between that and Cadwell's depending on time and population.

global_gbb16_ESO

I'm finding the opposite, I can grind normal mobs in a zone (none craglorn) and with pure grinding I'm hitting 500k every 2.5 hours. This alt I have has went from VR6 to VR9 in the space of 4 days. VR7 - VR9 in the last two days.

I shouldn't complain but if you are doing boring grinding the levelling seems a little too fast.

Cazic

global_gbb16_ESO wrote: »

I'm finding the opposite, I can grind normal mobs in a zone (none craglorn) and with pure grinding I'm hitting 500k every 2.5 hours. This alt I have has went from VR6 to VR9 in the space of 4 days. VR7 - VR9 in the last two days.

I shouldn't complain but if you are doing boring grinding the levelling seems a little too fast.

I've noticed this too. I can kill a batch of regular mobs and get between 400-600XP for each (depending on the area/mob). That's about 1500XP just for killing an pack of 3 effortlessly.

A world boss doesn't give much more, but is way more difficult.

A quick side quest will give anywhere from 2000-5000XP.. could just kill a few groups of mobs without any effort instead.

The mob XP does work well in combination with questing, when you're just killing mobs as you go (not trying to grind). The XP provided in that respect is a good addition to XP you're getting from the quests themselves.

Not really complaining. But it's weird when you consider that just grinding mobs would be faster. Boring, but faster.

Ohioastro

You grind mobs faster - not slower - than in earlier versions. Bosses are not so big of a source. Standard questing VR1-10 (silver/gold) is the same as before.

So, basically, you can grind or quest to VR10; if you clear mobs while questing you do very well too. What else would you want to do to level up? (Remember also that you don't need to level alts above 50 once the champ system comes into play...) There are also dailies of various kinds, but I can't vouch for them as a leveling tool.

Ohioastro

lordspyder wrote: »

I'm waiting for the next patch to un**** the quest XP. Until then I'm leveling alts and farming dwarven pages

For what it's worth, I'm not seeing any difference at all in game. The leveling speed if you're questing through the cadwell silver/gold is unaffected.

Cazic

Ohioastro wrote: »

You grind mobs faster - not slower - than in earlier versions. Bosses are not so big of a source. Standard questing VR1-10 (silver/gold) is the same as before.

So, basically, you can grind or quest to VR10; if you clear mobs while questing you do very well too. What else would you want to do to level up? (Remember also that you don't need to level alts above 50 once the champ system comes into play...) There are also dailies of various kinds, but I can't vouch for them as a leveling tool.

Agreed. This is a good quick summary of what it's like right now, while also considering the champion system.

Cazic

Ohioastro wrote: »

lordspyder wrote: »

I'm waiting for the next patch to un**** the quest XP. Until then I'm leveling alts and farming dwarven pages

For what it's worth, I'm not seeing any difference at all in game. The leveling speed if you're questing through the cadwell silver/gold is unaffected.

It was slower until 1.5.4. They fixed up some XP gains (I think) and lowered the required XP to 1,000,000 which really helped. Seems the same as it was now, if not faster considering the XP gains from killing mobs.

Ysne58

The 1.5.4 patch has helped tremendously.

jeevin

wafcatb14_ESO wrote: »

eliisra wrote: »

Why start messing with the exp before the full Champion System is ready. Why ZoS?

Honestly I don`t think they have a Clue WTF they are doing , Game was actually better in Alpha, until they changed everything to make it have more of a Single player feel to it.

The fact they are basiclly changing so much of the core game elements now after 6 months, means they screwed up and see that their vision is not what people wanted, are trying to save the game and stop the Bleeding of subs .

Sadly it take them to long to do stuff, like it took the almost a month to finially fix the FPS bug in Cryodill after the Awesome Lightning patch, and its still not completly fixed to as good as it was before that patch.

While I haven`t played WOW since 06 I know they have a new expansion coming out soon, and every game i`ve played lost a lot of subs whenever WOW came out with a new expansion , with not many returning . Hopefully ESO subs won`t get hit too hard.

The thing is they targeted the game at the RvR pvp players. It is the Veteran wall after level 50 that turned a massive number of those players away. So they missed their target demographic because of pve design decision(Vet zones) and now they have to scramble to redesign and change the post 50 game, just to keep the audience they do have.

It's a massive drain on development resources to change so much of the game at this stage that results in promised content either being rushed and released buggy and unfinished, or pushed back later. In the meanwhile players are getting pissed because their progress is being adjusted to bring it into line with Zeni's new vision.

If Zeni had of stuck with their original vision before introducing Veteran Ranks I'm sure the game would be a much better place than it is currently.

Nebthet78

Cazic wrote: »

Ohioastro wrote: »

lordspyder wrote: »

I'm waiting for the next patch to un**** the quest XP. Until then I'm leveling alts and farming dwarven pages

For what it's worth, I'm not seeing any difference at all in game. The leveling speed if you're questing through the cadwell silver/gold is unaffected.

It was slower until 1.5.4. They fixed up some XP gains (I think) and lowered the required XP to 1,000,000 which really helped. Seems the same as it was now, if not faster considering the XP gains from killing mobs.

Is your UI actually showing the XP bar at 1,000,000? With the last patch both of mine are showing 4,000,000 and I don't use add-ons.

If my UI is now showing correctly, the non-movement of my experience bar when soloing Village of the Lost in Coldharbour would be explainable then as I only received about 25,000 XP for defeating all the generals, the group boss and a multitude of mobs to fill up my bag twice over. Plus I got all 3 of the achievements.

BRogueNZ

Haven't noticed that it's slowed down any, I don't camp high XP/hr mobs/bosses just clearing trash towards quest objectives.

and by trash I mean DC and EP ...trollolz

But seriously, gaining XP faster then before if anything.

Cazic

Nebthet78 wrote: »

Cazic wrote: »

Ohioastro wrote: »

lordspyder wrote: »

I'm waiting for the next patch to un**** the quest XP. Until then I'm leveling alts and farming dwarven pages

For what it's worth, I'm not seeing any difference at all in game. The leveling speed if you're questing through the cadwell silver/gold is unaffected.

It was slower until 1.5.4. They fixed up some XP gains (I think) and lowered the required XP to 1,000,000 which really helped. Seems the same as it was now, if not faster considering the XP gains from killing mobs.

Is your UI actually showing the XP bar at 1,000,000? With the last patch both of mine are showing 4,000,000 and I don't use add-ons.

If my UI is now showing correctly, the non-movement of my experience bar when soloing Village of the Lost in Coldharbour would be explainable then as I only received about 25,000 XP for defeating all the generals, the group boss and a multitude of mobs to fill up my bag twice over. Plus I got all 3 of the achievements.

The default UI is still showing 4,000,000 for me. But the addon I'm using (Slightly Improved XP bar) is showing 1,000,000.

The XP bar is visibly moving based on the 4,000,000 mark so it appears to be moving slower than it actually is. I've confirmed that I am leveling up at the 1,000,000 XP mark (or when the bar is 25% full).

Nebthet78

Cazic wrote: »

Nebthet78 wrote: »

Cazic wrote: »

Ohioastro wrote: »

lordspyder wrote: »

I'm waiting for the next patch to un**** the quest XP. Until then I'm leveling alts and farming dwarven pages

For what it's worth, I'm not seeing any difference at all in game. The leveling speed if you're questing through the cadwell silver/gold is unaffected.

It was slower until 1.5.4. They fixed up some XP gains (I think) and lowered the required XP to 1,000,000 which really helped. Seems the same as it was now, if not faster considering the XP gains from killing mobs.

Is your UI actually showing the XP bar at 1,000,000? With the last patch both of mine are showing 4,000,000 and I don't use add-ons.

If my UI is now showing correctly, the non-movement of my experience bar when soloing Village of the Lost in Coldharbour would be explainable then as I only received about 25,000 XP for defeating all the generals, the group boss and a multitude of mobs to fill up my bag twice over. Plus I got all 3 of the achievements.

The default UI is still showing 4,000,000 for me. But the addon I'm using (Slightly Improved XP bar) is showing 1,000,000.

The XP bar is visibly moving based on the 4,000,000 mark so it appears to be moving slower than it actually is. I've confirmed that I am leveling up at the 1,000,000 XP mark (or when the bar is 25% full).

Thank God.... at least if gives me something to do while we wait for them to fix the quest XP... I can at least go back and do more trash mobs in Village to get crap to sell for a few days.

Thanks so much for the Information.

Tankqull

Audigy wrote: »

Endek wrote: »

Thanks for your comments, there appreciated.

I am anxious to see how I get on with 1.5.5, but until then, I will also shelve my low level VR toons and spend a little time with one of my favourite alts.

Thanks again and have fun out there.

They lowered the XP you get for kills which is understandable with the CS coming soon. ZO doesn't want that people who never quest, explore or adventure gain a big advantage over those that do.

My advice is that you do the quests, world events, dungeon story modes and writs. This will let you level up fairly good.

i´ve done that two times i´m not willing to do that on other chars aswell...