I've been gone a while. What's up with levelling now??

Noomfy-Mop

I last played in late 2015 and recently got back into the game and it's sucked me straight back in.
Obviously a fair bit has changed most of which I've been able to understand but can't seem to wrap my head around how the levelling system has changed.
I understand that there's no more veteran ranks and that's about it.
Is there still a lvl cap at 50?
If so what happens after lvl 50? Something about champion points!!
How does one earn said champion points and how do they enhance my character?
It's probably worth noting that I never reached lvl 50 so my experience with VR and CP is limited to Google and these forums.
Thanks for any help.

drakhan2002_ESO

No veteran ranks; they are replaced with Champion Points (CP), which are earned like any other form of leveling...experience points from kills, quests, etc. The current CP cap is 561. These CP are used in various trees to further define your character. These increase stamina/magicka regen, piercing, etc...

The level cap is 50, at which time you being to accumulate CP. If you already had a toon at level 50 with Veteran Ranks (VR), they will be converted over to CP.

In the game, all of the mobs cap at CP160. Since One Tamriel, everything - players, NPCs, mobs are all now auto-leveled to CP160 and the entire game is open - no more alliance restrictions before level 50 and the need to do Cadwell's silver/gold. You can go anywhere at level 1. Players over level 50, CP160 are consider level 50, CP (whatever)...most at the cap say CP561 or CP561+ if they have more than the cap. Some people with low self esteem have the need to say their actual CP over 561, even though it doesn't affect anything...

AzraelKrieg

So with the vet rank removal, the level cap is now 50. That's the point you stop earning attribute points and where you stop getting skill points from levelling. The champion system takes over after that.

You earn champion points by gaining XP the same way you would from levelling 1-50. These points can be spent in the champion trees in another UI screen and you gain them in the order red-green-blue. Points add health-stamina-magicka based on their colour so a blue point will add to magicka. There are stars in the constellations on the UI screen that you put points into. The stars provide buffs to various things such as stam regen or magicka damage but as you add more points, the buff they provide goes down so you don't become overpowered.

There is currently a cap set at 561. This is how many champion points you can use but you can still gain points beyond that. With the removal of VR, post-50 gear now takes on a champion value with a cap for that at 160 Champ Points.

starkerealm

Okay, characters level from 1-50. That's normal. It works the way you expect from any game.

Vet ranks went 1-16. When a character hit 50, they'd become Vet 1, and they'd continue leveling to the level cap. (Originally Vet 10, but it went up in increments of 2, to 12, 14, and finally 16.

EDIT: For awhile, both systems existed in parallel, but Veteran Ranks are gone, and no longer a part of the game.

Champion Points are an account wide system. When you reach 50, you receive 10. As your level 50s earn experience, you gain champion points.

There's two separate things, but the terminology is kinda important to keep these straight. Your account has a Champion Rank. As you gain experience on level 50s, your CR will increase (fairly quickly at first).

Each character on your account can spend Champion points up to your Rank, or 561 (whichever is lower). (The 561 limit is going to 600 in February.)

So, your level 1 in the tutorial can spend all their CP, and so can your level 50s. Each character has their own CP pool. Every level 50 character on your account can contribute towards increasing it, when they gain XP.

Also, you get 400k Enlightenment a day. This acts as a 4x multiplier to XP gained for your level 50s. So, when you first log in, you'll gain substantially more XP than you normally would, towards your CR. Enlightenment can stack up to somewhere around four million XP. This refreshes at 8pm Pacific. So two hours before the dailies reset.

DMuehlhausen

You still kill things or do quests to level.

Noomfy-Mop

Awesome.
Thanks again everyone.
I've got a much clearer picture of the system now.
Still got a bit to go until it matters but now I know what to expect.