Veteran Content Anxiety

Zachary_Shadow

I reached CP 540 recently and I decided to start doing some Veteran content. The problem is I have major anxiety with it. I've done a few veteran dungeons (like 3), but every single time there's so much toxicity. I don't know why, I get very nervous and anxious at the thought of doing veteran content. I do pretty good damage, 25k+, and I could be doing so much more damage if I got the proper gear. The only problem is all the gear my build needs is in Veteran content; thus, starting the cycle of feeling like I need to start doing more Veteran content, but being too afraid to do so.

Does anyone else have this problem? I'm curious about how others with anxiety feel about doing Veteran content. If you used to be like this, how did you get over it? I really want to start doing more Veteran content, but I get really shaky and nervous about it. I hope people will share their experiences to help others who are facing similar situations.

Shanjijri

You have to farm your gear in veteran content? Can't you do normal mode and improve with crafting station? Or you're talking about vDSA or vMA?

I think the best way to feel comfortable is finding nice people to run with. Like friends, guilds, etc. In four years, I ran everything with PUG and met awesome people. Then, I started to "collect" friends, and now, I like to run with them. I know if someone feels uncomfortable with a dungeon, we'll take our time to explain and try. Best part of running with friends is jokes and fun time.

EvilKiwi

I know exactly how you feel. I have been playing since launch and have only ever done 1 dungeon. I had friends I use to run with, but they have left eso leaving me forever alone lol. I don't want to deal with the toxicity of running with (some) pug groups. I was thinking a finding a friendly and patient pve guild to ease my way into veteran content.

Sparr0w

Did a few group finder Vet dungeons yesterday, generally if everyone pulls their weight it's actually enjoyable (Xbox EU could be toxic on other servers).

Could get in a guild & ask guild mates to run a few with you?

Wolfkeks

Same here, I only run with guildies or friends.
Had quiet a lot of toxic players in random normals/ random vets.

MarleyRain

I completely understand how you feel. If you are doing 25k dps though you should be completely fine in all content and deserve to be there just like everyone else. But I definitely understand the anxiety, I will most likely run normal which is way too easy for me just not to deal with the problems and toxicity I've also came across in some vet content. So just like others have said the ultimate best way to do it is find a group of friendly people or friends and explain your intentions, that way everyone is on the same page.

Mureel

Zachary_Shadow wrote: »

I reached CP 540 recently and I decided to start doing some Veteran content. The problem is I have major anxiety with it. I've done a few veteran dungeons (like 3), but every single time there's so much toxicity. I don't know why, I get very nervous and anxious at the thought of doing veteran content. I do pretty good damage, 25k+, and I could be doing so much more damage if I got the proper gear. The only problem is all the gear my build needs is in Veteran content; thus, starting the cycle of feeling like I need to start doing more Veteran content, but being too afraid to do so.

Does anyone else have this problem? I'm curious about how others with anxiety feel about doing Veteran content. If you used to be like this, how did you get over it? I really want to start doing more Veteran content, but I get really shaky and nervous about it. I hope people will share their experiences to help others who are facing similar situations.

Come with me! I'm a templar healer and a Nord dk tank mainly and also a strong dps (Magblade and no pet mag sorc)! I'm always down to run things and I can always get someone to come!
@Oblivionia in PC NA

I actually like pugging just because and there's not a dungeon in this game I don't know back to front o/

Mureel

Zachary_Shadow wrote: »

I reached CP 540 recently and I decided to start doing some Veteran content. The problem is I have major anxiety with it. I've done a few veteran dungeons (like 3), but every single time there's so much toxicity. I don't know why, I get very nervous and anxious at the thought of doing veteran content. I do pretty good damage, 25k+, and I could be doing so much more damage if I got the proper gear. The only problem is all the gear my build needs is in Veteran content; thus, starting the cycle of feeling like I need to start doing more Veteran content, but being too afraid to do so.

Does anyone else have this problem? I'm curious about how others with anxiety feel about doing Veteran content. If you used to be like this, how did you get over it? I really want to start doing more Veteran content, but I get really shaky and nervous about it. I hope people will share their experiences to help others who are facing similar situations.

Also, don't be fooled by high parses - having done all hm but scale on my healer and tank, I can see the group dps on CM and, I can 100% tell you 25k is more than enough for even speedruns.

More is always better, of course, but 25k is plenty.

Ley

My anxiety with vet content stems more around being teamed with sub-par team mates and taking hours to complete content that could otherwise be done in 20-40 minutes. I make an effort to learn about any vet content that I'm trying to complete, before making my first attempt. Watching a video guide before entering a dungeon so that you know what to expect may alleviate some of your anxiety.

Merlin13KAGL

The problem is, many of the experienced vets aren't doing certain content as much now. I know I don't pledge or even random nearly as often as I used to, unless someone specifically requests my help.

If it's for a quick XP bonus from RDF, norms are considerably faster.

Most have the majority of gear they need, so no drops required.

Undaunted rep long since maxed out. Plenty of keys in the bank, etc.

Unfinished cheevos unlikely to pop up in randoms, or there simply aren't any left.

The good news is, with the way certain jewelry traits/stones will drop next patch, there will again be reason to run the content to get the associated drops/stones/mats.

That should help some with group dynamic.

Unless someone or the group is going for a specific goal, any experienced group should be more than willing to give detail about content and pointers otherwise.

Part of it simply comes down to what gear you're after, and the content required to obtain that gear.

Ghanima_Atreides

I know how you feel, OP. I have more CP than you and decent gear and I cannot pull more than 12K DPS; therefore, I know I'd get laughed out of any vet dungeon group. Even joining normal ones is very intimidating. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll never see any of them except the ones I was able to duo with my boyfriend (Fungal Grotto and Banished Cells.) Although we completed most of them on Normal.

troomar

It should be the other way round. PuGing vet dungeons is a perfect way to try out new builds, new stuff, your new DK healer or mag warden DPS Because the worst what could happen is that you will be kicked.

It doesn't mean you have to be *bad* on purpose, but I would rather underperform in PuG than with my guild mates (unless you're trying something new and they know it).

zaria

Ley wrote: »

My anxiety with vet content stems more around being teamed with sub-par team mates and taking hours to complete content that could otherwise be done in 20-40 minutes. I make an effort to learn about any vet content that I'm trying to complete, before making my first attempt. Watching a video guide before entering a dungeon so that you know what to expect may alleviate some of your anxiety.

This is an very good idea, don't go random vet dungeon unless you can do all. watch an video to get some idea that you run into, try dungeon.
Your dps is more than good enough for anything. And tell its your first time on vet, might wait until close to first boss, you has obviously done your share on trash so you are safe.
And you get pugs who is pretty hopeless sometimes, you are free to leave, also vote to kick the other DD if he don't belong in dungeon, or fake healers and tanks.

And yes I have some of it myself for hard content: healing and cp180 inexperienced tank in vCoS on my sorcerer was interesting. Joined because I thought he asked for vault of madness for some reason.

BejaProphet

My advice is just jump in. Be willing to be a noob so that you can not be a noob later.

Now at your DPS level you ought to do fine. I'm not suggesting you are incompetent. My point is that in almost everything in life, you have to be willing to suck at something in the beginning so that you can be great later. In most things in life, the ONLY people who remain terrible at something are the ones that are so afraid of failing that they never begin to learn. This is no different. Spoiler alert, you are going to make mistakes the first time you do anything. But that's the only doorway leading to skill.

l.ys

I mean, there is content that cannot be done with 25K dps, like hm maw, asylum, vhof...but dps will go up substantially with practice and proper gear.

Llaren_Uvayn

It helps if you look up a video for the boss mechanics beforehand. But yeah, the ESO community can be really toxic. Something goes wrong, people immediately reach for the "vote to kick" button or just leave the dungeon before even attempting the first boss.

Zachary_Shadow

Thank you guys so much for the advice so far! I just wanted to update a little because I forgot to add this in my original post: I already watch videos of dungeon tutorials. I do this for even normal. I think that's really good advice for those who want to start doing veteran content though is to watch those videos. They definitely help.

Thank you again to everyone who replied, I'll definitely be reading your comments for advice and inspiration when I start doing veteran content. Continue the discussion though, more advice doesn't hurt and I hope someone who is struggling like me with veteran content due to anxiety will read all of your guys' advice.

GoonyGoat

I know how you feel! Recently dusted off an old toon and kitted him out to be my first tank. Still running normals until I can get a proper handle on it ... But def have anxiety being a high-ish cp noob

firedrgn

The problem is a few bad experiences can really but a damper on moral. I just kept pugging ..the trick for me was to que as quickly as possible after getting kicked.

I have had some of my best experiences in eso pugging vet dungeons. I have met some really great people. Had some really unexpected finishes.

My advise is just keep queing. Soon you will be confident and know more than most.

profundidob16_ESO

Zachary_Shadow wrote: »

Thank you guys so much for the advice so far! I just wanted to update a little because I forgot to add this in my original post: I already watch videos of dungeon tutorials. I do this for even normal. I think that's really good advice for those who want to start doing veteran content though is to watch those videos. They definitely help.

Thank you again to everyone who replied, I'll definitely be reading your comments for advice and inspiration when I start doing veteran content. Continue the discussion though, more advice doesn't hurt and I hope someone who is struggling like me with veteran content due to anxiety will read all of your guys' advice.

hey,

I have completed all HM content (except scalescaller HM) as Tank and healer, and I guide pug groups on a daily basis as a means to keep myself sharp and bring some challenge to the game (believe it or not with a pro group even vet content becomes plain boring and too easy after a while) and I can tell you 100% for sure you are more than ready for this content. Just do the VET dungeons by selecting them manually 1 by 1 and reading up on tactics or watch a video so you don't need people to type a book to explain all mechanics to you. After you've done em all go random.

to further boost your confidence: I've seen the worst possible players in those pug groups and some of them weren't even able to communicate in english. In some cases we still made it so you have nothing to worry about. Go in and give it your best

profundidob16_ESO

Llaren_Uvayn wrote: »

It helps if you look up a video for the boss mechanics beforehand. But yeah, the ESO community can be really toxic. Something goes wrong, people immediately reach for the "vote to kick" button or just leave the dungeon before even attempting the first boss.

Unfortunately ZOS had brought them 100% upon themselves. Out of all the content they've made so far (quite alot !!) in the past 4 yours they could have very easily made 3 mini-vma dungeons, 1 per role that serve as a tutorial in order to educate, qualify and verify (earn a title required to enter vet) how good people are at a specific role in order to filter the bad ones out from ruining vet content for other players but they didn't.

Result: after 4 years of terrible players being allowed to ruin pug runs most good/experienced players have adapted and stay clear from pugs and the new players receive zero guidance or education towards obtaining the required skills for vet content.

Gnortranermara

Zachary_Shadow wrote: »

I do pretty good damage, 25k+, and I could be doing so much more damage if I got the proper gear. The only problem is all the gear my build needs is in Veteran content; thus, starting the cycle of feeling like I need to start doing more Veteran content, but being too afraid to do so.

25k is plenty for most vet content, especially non-DLC dungeons. I run a trials guild on XBox and 25k is our minimum for AA and Hel Ra. Another 5-10k would be nice, but it's far more important that you can stay alive and that you follow mechanics.

What gear do you think you need to do vet for? Monster helms and higher-quality jewels are the only thing I can think of. You can farm most of your gear on normal and upgrade it at a crafting table.

Ghanima_Atreides wrote: »

I know how you feel, OP. I have more CP than you and decent gear and I cannot pull more than 12K DPS; therefore, I know I'd get laughed out of any vet dungeon group.

What do you mean you "cannot"? You can easily pull much more than that. Run the right sets, quality, traits, enchants, mundus, and develop a logical, circular skill rotation. If you don't know how to design your own build to get over 25k+, then copy one from the internet. Alcast is a great source for easy beginner builds.

Zachary_Shadow

A quick update: I have been doing a couple of veteran dungeons recently, the most notable being Vet Cradle of Shadows. I once tried doing this dungeon at 300+ CP on my healer, but I bet you can imagine how quickly that can go sour. I did it for the pledge and the fact that Velidreth's monster set is one of the best monster sets my DPS character could use.

In the end, it went really well! We had 1 full CP tank and a 200 CP healer who did amazing. The other DPS was around my CP level. Everyone was kind to each other, we all made a couple of mistakes, we never wiped, and we all friended each other in the end. I think a major difference from my first experience is that no one made anyone else feel less. Everyone was treated kindly, no one was toxic, etc.

On the other hand, another vet dungeon I did recently was... a bit different, not terrible though. I came into it super late, they were on the final boss of Elden Hollow 2, I think. The tank was having difficulty understanding where to place himself, he was constantly moving and was having the boss sometimes breathe on us, by mistake. My other DPS, who was 200 CP (apparently he had a 720 CP alt account), was constantly belittling this tank and the healer though. He was constantly yelling at them what do to, telling them they sucked, etc. He started whispering to me saying we should kick them, but I had other plans. I started telling the tank what to do so the boss doesn't accidentally breathe on us again. I wanted the tank not to feel terrible because maybe he was trying vet for the first time, like I did earlier. After explaining to him what to do, we had a much better run.

I think one of the major issues that will stick with me and vet, from what I experienced, is definitely the toxicity. I understand getting frustrated at someone for not understanding the mechanics or not doing their job correctly, but that doesn't mean you should belittle them or call them horrendous things. It saddens me that people still act like this over a game. The bad experience I had, as explained above, wasn't even close to the worse from what I've seen (or experienced myself) in Veteran content. In fact, the DPS who was belittling the tank and healer wasn't terrible, he tried explaining things to them, just in a bad way. I definitely think the best way to explain something to someone is to be kind to them and I hope many who read this topic understand how it feels to treat others with toxicity. It doesn't make things better, instead I think it looks worse on you.

profundidob16_ESO

Zachary_Shadow wrote: »

I wanted the tank not to feel terrible because maybe he was trying vet for the first time, like I did earlier. After explaining to him what to do, we had a much better run.

Those are the magic words. GJ and I'm glad for you. If only every player had that mentality

Ghanima_Atreides

SidewalkChalk5 wrote: »

[quote=

Ghanima_Atreides wrote: »

I know how you feel, OP. I have more CP than you and decent gear and I cannot pull more than 12K DPS; therefore, I know I'd get laughed out of any vet dungeon group.

What do you mean you "cannot"? You can easily pull much more than that. Run the right sets, quality, traits, enchants, mundus, and develop a logical, circular skill rotation. If you don't know how to design your own build to get over 25k+, then copy one from the internet. Alcast is a great source for easy beginner builds.

I'm not a beginner; I know, in theory, what a good build and rotation are. I have decent (not BiS) gear, and even tried asking some time ago for extra advice on the forum and got some good tips which sadly didn't actually work out for me in practice. I sometimes feel that people who claim to pull 25k+ DPS are playing a different game than me. I can only surmise that my rotation, which I think isn't that disastrous,is the issue but I can't seem to improve it.

Gnortranermara

Hmm... There must be something you're missing, some detail that you've overlooked in your build... I can't guess what that is though without directly looking at everything. I usually have people show me all their gear and everything when I'm training new guildies but unless you're on XBox I won't be able to do that. I'll copy/paste some generic advice I gave on another thread:

"Items: Run FULL damage sets (not bits and pieces of this and that) of the appropriate weight (light for magicka DPS, medium for stam DPS) and traits (all divines) and enchants (all max damage stat). Put ALL attribute points into your damage stat - don't try to be a DPS hybrid. Run the correct weapon trait and damage enchantment for your build. Enchant your jewels to damage instead of recovery. Improve everything to gold, especially your weapons.

Skills: Run a proper rotation: you should regularly push the same buttons in the same order. Buffs, DoTs, then a spammable until it's time to refresh things (depending on the timers). All DPS abilities should be properly morphed to use the correct damage stat. Spend the time to level up your skills all the way."

And copy the CP distribution from a build on Alcast HQ.

Ghanima_Atreides

Yep, I do all that with the exception of having copied Alcast's CP list; I've been playing the game since Beta so I am pretty familiar with the class (Mag Sorc in this case). Gear on my test character was also gold, though the current version is only purple because since I don't do anything beyond overland content at this point I didn't feel like a wasting the improvers.

I don't know what the issue is either; someone in my old thread said I should get 15k DPS, with my build, just by spamming Force Pulse which in my world isn't even close to being true.

I am on PC EU.

Beardimus

Zachary_Shadow wrote: »

I reached CP 540 recently and I decided to start doing some Veteran content. The problem is I have major anxiety with it. I've done a few veteran dungeons (like 3), but every single time there's so much toxicity. I don't know why, I get very nervous and anxious at the thought of doing veteran content. I do pretty good damage, 25k+, and I could be doing so much more damage if I got the proper gear. The only problem is all the gear my build needs is in Veteran content; thus, starting the cycle of feeling like I need to start doing more Veteran content, but being too afraid to do so.

Does anyone else have this problem? I'm curious about how others with anxiety feel about doing Veteran content. If you used to be like this, how did you get over it? I really want to start doing more Veteran content, but I get really shaky and nervous about it. I hope people will share their experiences to help others who are facing similar situations.

Roll hard content with a known group. Get in with a guild, build trust, enjoy it all much more

NordSwordnBoard

Ghanima_Atreides wrote: »

SidewalkChalk5 wrote: »

[quote=

Ghanima_Atreides wrote: »

I know how you feel, OP. I have more CP than you and decent gear and I cannot pull more than 12K DPS; therefore, I know I'd get laughed out of any vet dungeon group.

What do you mean you "cannot"? You can easily pull much more than that. Run the right sets, quality, traits, enchants, mundus, and develop a logical, circular skill rotation. If you don't know how to design your own build to get over 25k+, then copy one from the internet. Alcast is a great source for easy beginner builds.

I'm not a beginner; I know, in theory, what a good build and rotation are. I have decent (not BiS) gear, and even tried asking some time ago for extra advice on the forum and got some good tips which sadly didn't actually work out for me in practice. I sometimes feel that people who claim to pull 25k+ DPS are playing a different game than me. I can only surmise that my rotation, which I think isn't that disastrous,is the issue but I can't seem to improve it.

You should get someone who knows your class to literally coach you while you hit the dummy.

Solo, you can record and watch your own parses to try and see where the "hiccups" are and smoothe them out next time.

Reverb

Your profile shows that you're on PC, what server are you on? You might be able to connect with people here on the forums to help you out.

When grouping with random, there are some steps you can take that might help.

Always state up front that it's your first time on vet, and ask for explanation of mechanical pics where warranted. Most players are more than happy to help if they know it's needed. They are less than happy about after a few frustrating wipes because they started out thinking everyone was experienced.

Know your role and position. Behind boss, in front of healer, out of aoe damage. Don't run around mad make the healer Chase you down, don't stand in the red.

Own your mistakes and apologize, without going overboard about it.

There will always be jerks in the community, but I've found them the exception rather than the rule. I hope this becomes true for you as well.