How to force a Normal dungeon

PrahsDrows

Last night (2016-03-19) my three friends and I formed our normal group of four, but we decided to try the new Random Dungeon Finder. We have each set aside one character to only use on Group Night. Thus the four characters are all level 12, we all have the same quests, and the characters only go out as a group. We have all done the three Undaunted quests (Banished Cells, Spindleclutch, Fungal Grotto - all before the new grouping tool was released). The dungeons were only slightly difficult and clearly done at a "Normal" (non-Vet) level. Last night we formed our group, and then the leader entered the Random Dungeon queue and 10-15 minutes later (a different problem I'll tag onto other threads for) we were sent to Fungal Grotto. The first thing which happens is the dungeon is leveled up to V16! Four level 12 characters! Yes, our stats were buffed, but none of us had the now necessary Grand Soul Gems to revive each other (can't they scale up our soul gems too?). We were slaughtered. We never had a chance in the same dungeon we'd readily handled earlier (at level 11).

We want to play as a group. The system has promised us we can do so and still get the XP boost of a Random Dungeon, but how do we force the system to give us something possible? This feels a little like bait-and-switch.

Enodoc

The Dungeon Finder always scales the Dungeon (and the players) to VR16, so that (ostensibly) everyone is able to do the dungeon regardless of their level. However, I agree completely on the Soul Gem issue. All other consumables scale up with the player (potions, food, drink), it's definitely strange that soul gems don't.

I put in a question about this for ESO Live, but it hasn't been addressed yet.

PrahsDrows

So, you can't ever do the Random Dungeons at a non-vet level? Is there a reason for this?

Thank you for the reply and forward.

I hope you won't mind if I ask a related question: if you had a group of three friends, how would you use the grouping tool to pick up a random fourth? Simply enter the queue with the group of three?

Liukke

But is really that hard reaching at least lv15 (so you get 2 weapons)?
What's your rush in doing necessarily the group finder dungeons at lv12?
Just play the damn game and enjoy it, it takes you like 30 minutes getting to level 15 just by doing quests, come on!

You are talking about 100k exp bonus, it's like tons of levels for your character, do you expect the game giving them to you for free?
"Ehy, look, you are level 12 but you can jump to level 20 just by doing one dungeon...why?
Because we promised to give free exp and we need to give it to the lowest level players possible!"

Liukke

P.s.
You waited 10-15 mins for the dungeon, you could have reached at least lv15 during that time :'D

Enodoc

PrahsDrows wrote: »

So, you can't ever do the Random Dungeons at a non-vet level? Is there a reason for this?

You can only do the Random Dungeon from the Group Finder. The Group Finder will always scale the dungeon and the players to VR16 so everyone can complete the content at-level, and so there is the maximum possible pool of players to pick from (before this scaling, the old Group Finder had a +/- 5-level search band, seriously restricting the available group members).

I hope you won't mind if I ask a related question: if you had a group of three friends, how would you use the grouping tool to pick up a random fourth? Simply enter the queue with the group of three?

Yeah, the tool will fill out the rest of the group, regardless of the size of the group when you join. You need to make sure your roles are set appropriately though, as the tool will only create a group that is exactly 1 Tank, 1 Healer, 2 DPS.

Liukke wrote: »

You are talking about 100k exp bonus, it's like tons of levels for your character, do you expect the game giving them to you for free?

Is the XP reward not levelled? I assumed lower-level players got less XP from the Random Dungeon bonus.

PrahsDrows

Last night, (not group night) I went into the grouping tool alone, chose the Random dungeon option, and I was put into a level 42 dungeon (the level of the leader). I was paying very close attention given your comment Enodoc. We hardly needed a healer at all since we also had a V14 level player and all the mobs were level 42. I gained the full ~38K experience which my level 35 healer was promised by the Random Dungeon part of the group finder. So, it is not correct that all random dungeons are leveled up. (it's only dungeons which *I* initiate...

BTW, my level 12 character was promised something like ~10K experience so it definitely is scaled to your level, and it seems to be very roughly about 45% of your current level (per day, if you go into the Random Dungeon again on the same day it's more like 10% of your current level).

Now I'm back to my original question: How do I get a non-vet dungeon? And is it any different for a pre-formed group?

pd

Enodoc

PrahsDrows wrote: »

Last night, (not group night) I went into the grouping tool alone, chose the Random dungeon option, and I was put into a level 42 dungeon (the level of the leader).

That's a bug that started occurring when Thieves Guild released. Nobody seems to be completely sure what causes it. Group Finder dungeons should always scale everything to VR16, while directly-entered dungeons (non Group Finder) should always scale only the dungeon to the group leader.

Xjcon

At lvl 12 you lack a lot of abilities. Doing a V16 FG without several abilities would certainly be hard regardless of it scaling your stats.

MercyKilling

PrahsDrows wrote: »

Now I'm back to my original question: How do I get a non-vet dungeon? And is it any different for a pre-formed group?

pd

I'm reasonably certain that in order to do a non-vet level dungeon, one must actually form the group by manual invitation and then enter the dungeon from the normal world map entrance and not use the grouping tool altogether.

Ostensibly, one could always form the group and then use the "teleport to teammates/group" function, meaning only one person on the team actually has to be at the entrance.

Kattemynte

To answer the question of does the xp scale with your level for the random finder, yes, the higher your level the higher the xp gained. I have checked the xp reward as I leveled and at no time does it give you more than 80% of your level (It was like 8k xp needed to go from lvl 8 to lvl 9 and the xp reward was 6.5k or something like that).

Callous2208

The bug is an interesting one indeed. Although I wasn't complaining the other night running those guys through a fg scaled to level 18 with my v16 all gold stamplar...for the same rewards as a v16 run!

PrahsDrows

MercyKilling wrote: »

I'm reasonably certain that in order to do a non-vet level dungeon, one must actually form the group by manual invitation and then enter the dungeon from the normal world map entrance and not use the grouping tool altogether.

Yes, that has worked for me (though not always), but not while also getting the bonus XP boost and goodies mail which comes with the Random Dungeon part of the grouping tool. I thought one of the Zenimax vids I'd seen said you could group with your friends and do that random dungeon.

I have formed a group of four low level characters, and gone into a group dungeon only to find it ranked up to V16. But I've also had it not rank up. One of my hopes with this thread was to see if there was something *I* was doing which influenced this. Based on Enodoc's comments and other things I've read I'm inclined to think the grouping tool is simply buggy. Not to mention last night's game (I think it was "Direfrost Keep"), for a moment had a five person team. Additionally there were probably six or seven times when I was walking forward and *poof* the entire random group was back at the beginning of the dungeon. Even a split second after we defeated the last boss we were teleported back to the entrance and I had to traverse the entire dungeon (thankfully no mobs left) in order to get my skill point!

PrahsDrows

Duh, I forgot half the reason I created this post in the first place! The Grouping Tool LETS YOU CHOOSE A "NORMAL" DUNGEON (vs a Veteran) dungeon. Note that the pull down is available on the Random Dungeon part of the Grouping tool. So what gives? This must be a bug. I mean, it sounds like a joke: "Four level 12 dupes walk into a dungeon....".

Enodoc

PrahsDrows wrote: »

Duh, I forgot half the reason I created this post in the first place! The Grouping Tool LETS YOU CHOOSE A "NORMAL" DUNGEON (vs a Veteran) dungeon. Note that the pull down is available on the Random Dungeon part of the Grouping tool. So what gives? This must be a bug. I mean, it sounds like a joke: "Four level 12 dupes walk into a dungeon....".

Normal vs Veteran refers to the storyline of the dungeon and the general difficulty, not the level of the mobs in the dungeon. A VR16 Veteran dungeon is harder than a VR16 Normal dungeon.