Imperial city just sucks

MadGhost

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

Aurielle

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

Make a nightblade. Problem solved.

ImmortalCX

Its like being a mouse in a house with a bunch of cats.

Kinda fun in its own way.

MaleAmazon

I used to feel the same way. Not anymore. But you need to adapt and have a purpose for the visit. I wouldn´t solo IC unless my Alliance owned the districts, or at least most of them. When I do now, I farm Tel Var. But you could go there to gank. Some tips:

-Invisibility / escape potions are your friend.

-Nightblades have an easier time generally, because of stealth.

-If you want to farm Tel Var, make sure your alliance owns the districts and keep a 3x multiplier. I tend to bank my Tel Var around 10k down to 1k.

-Imperial physique makes you an absolute monster, but it isn´t worth it since you become a giant target. Maybe if you are a Tel Var millionaire gankblade.

Its like being a mouse in a house with a bunch of cats.

Kinda fun in its own way.

This. There are so few things as satisfying in ESO as ambushing and murdering someone who thinks they are safe in 'their' zone. Like when you manage to snipe someone in a giant zergball that isnt in combat, you imagine how much it sucks to be that guy. Then you laugh, and laugh, and laugh...

MLGProPlayer

The idea of a PvP/PvE hybrid zone sucks in practice since PvE/PvP builds are so radically different. PvE builds cannot survive more than 1-2 hits from PvP builds while they do almost no damage to impen gear. PvE players are just defenseless targets for the PvP gankers.

Mayrael

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

The idea of a PvP/PvE hybrid zone sucks in practice since PvE/PvP builds are so radically different. PvE builds cannot survive more than 1-2 hits from PvP builds while they do almost no damage to impen gear. PvE players are just defenseless targets for the PvP gankers.

That's why this zone is so interesting, because you can met there many not meta builds that are made to be effective both PvP and PvE, it's just a matter of knowledge, while farming telvars and playing against enemy groups is more of a skill. Even solo player can mess with groups by pulling bosses, taking districts (groups usually don't split because nobody wants to be that farmed guy, so you can take half of IC on your own and hold it even against 3-4 medium players, after few minutes they usually give up, especially when you were able to kill some of them). IC can be fun but is more requiring than running in zerg in Cyrodiil.

max_only

You are absolutely right. Don’t listen to these player killers in the thread with their quips “make a Nightblade” nonsense.

Try to use Imperial City when the population is low. Don’t farm telvar by yourself. I go in for the quests and before I even queue for the campaign I’ve alread resigned myself to die several times. I don’t care about my telvar amount so I can “blood port” (get killed on purpose) to travel back to the Sewer entrance. In fact, if another player starts killing me when I’m obviously doing a quest objective I just stop fighting. I just stand there. They are trolls who want to trigger people into salty whispers and rage quitting. I don’t even give them the satisfaction of me trying to scramble away pitifully or put up a 1 sided fight. Since I don’t care about telvar and dying while doing quests they get a measly 60 telvar or something from me. Waste of time.

Oh, and it’s not all Nightblades in IC, I got killed by Dks and Sorcs this past week.

As for a waste of money, the dlc does provide two very useful group dungeons. The sets that drop from there are still viable to this day. So even if you give up on the city, you have a pair of dungeons just like some other dlc is just a pair of dungeons.

Troneon

Set your home or guest to a dead / quiet server or play in off peak times.

Will be much easier to solo.

Sheezabeast

If the sewers get too hot with enemy then players, port to a district. Wash rinse repeat Always bring a sigil and detect pots and invisible pots if you’re not a NB.

olsborg

My main problem with it is that ppl can respawn way too fast in there, and if youre outnumbered by other group and you manage to kill one of them, he will have respawned and rejoined the fight before you can get another kill, you end up being drained to death by respawning players..

albesca

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do...

Why did you get there in the first place? Looking for tel var stones? The quests?

IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

That's pretty much IC, @ImmortalCX is spot on:

ImmortalCX wrote: »

Its like being a mouse in a house with a bunch of cats.

Kinda fun in its own way.

I think that IC is meant to be played in group, but I sometimes go there solo, climb to a district and then work my way back to the base, if I'm in the right mood

MJallday

ok so theres a couple of things here

"im not sure what im supposed to do when im there"

- well the question surely is "why are you there then?" for clarity , you're in the middle of PvP central, with every man and his dog that isnt your colour trying to kill you. Then when they're not, youve got 6 or so vet sized bosses trying to do the same, and then when thats not happening, every dremora sorc and his add are trying to zap you.

if you dont know why your're there - you shouldnt be there.

"if im alone then i always get killed"

- Yes that tends to happen a lot. find a group - or get very very good at soloing.

"i never find a group to be with"

- lfg in IC tends to be relatively unsuccessfully unless you can latch on to others running round - and they tend to be there for a reason. my strong suggestion to you would be to join a PvP guild

xshatox

Sometime a group refused to team up with people from chat zone especially guild player or faction loyal group to avoid spies from other faction. Not all the time but I've seen it happened. If you are regular in that campaign its easy to find a group, sometime they invite you automatically when you are online.

RexyCat

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

Imperial City is actually two very different zones:

A) above ground where you have big bosses wandering around, portals that need to be closed with waves of mobs until big bad boss show up and then close portal (pinion) to get a chest with Telvar stones. There is also some other normal chest to loot. Quests connected to Imperial City war and general PvE elements.

The Sewers is a complex nettwork of tunnels which have Banner Bosses one need to look out for which hits hard. There different rooms that also have portals that need to be closed. There is plenty of places where one can hide for PvP players as long as one take care to sneak and use LoS, invis pots or skills and keep low profile. In the center of IC there is Big boss with wave of wave of Deadra pouring out which need to be stopped and Molag Bal himeself (or is his projection).

On PC there is add on which can help with Auto invites to form a group from zone chat (or any chat channel just by using a keyword). Maybe you should use something like that to form a group when you are in IC. Make some goal which you think other group members also would like to join with you to do, like finish a boss, find Skyshard etc.

Just a couple people where someone have healing capabilites (incl purge or cleanse to get rid of DoT and Cost Poison). A group have easier to stay alive and also do more damage from Synergies and the way work in this game with group buffs/debuffs. (Don't forget that a solo player draw less attention then a group, so it is not always the best solution to group up.)

Use Map for Cyrodiil to get an impression on how much activites are going on and where to see what kind of status each part of IC might have. Many people active in Cyrodiil might also mean many players in IC, in particular when there is nearby transit lines to nearest tunnel to get access to IC.

Jeremy

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

I completely agree with you. The zone is basically what hell must be like. I still remember when I purchased Imperial City and traveled there eager to experience the new content I just paid for. Needless to say - after about an hour of some of if not the most annoying soul-crushing experiences I've ever had on a video game I was considering writing ZoS an email requesting a refund. That entire zone is basically designed to troll you. It's just awful. All I can guess is one of the developers had a nightmare and that inspired him/her to create the place. Why anyone would wish to go there and be fodder for the sadistic entertainment of gankers and "gangs of punks" (an apt description I must say) is beyond my comprehension.

Coatmagic

Someday, when I've lots of time to waste dying repeatedly, I will go do the pve quests there. With zero interest in pvp, the only reason I bought it was for the pve quests, but to this day haven't bothered xD

Reistr_the_Unbroken

Jeremy wrote: »

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

I completely agree with you. The zone is basically what hell must be like. I still remember when I purchased Imperial City and traveled there eager to experience the new content I just paid for. Needless to say - after about an hour of some of if not the most annoying soul-crushing experiences I've ever had on a video game I was considering writing ZoS an email requesting a refund. That entire zone is basically designed to troll you. It's just awful. All I can guess is one of the developers had a nightmare and that inspired him/her to create the place. Why anyone would wish to go there and be fodder for the sadistic entertainment of gankers and "gangs of punks" (an apt description I must say) is beyond my comprehension.

I also got it, but only for the PvE aspect of it. I never expected to be put all the way to the edge of the map, ride on my horse and die in the road a few times (I can’t get to anywhere without an actual road to see) to get all the way to the sewers.

Then when I can finally get there to do the quest guess what? More gankers, stealing half of my hard earned TV stones while they didn’t do squat. How the hell is that fair? When I tried the sewers it was gankercity, died even more just to get to the center; fought Molag ten times to try and get the soul-shriven skin aaaand- nothing each time.
Never going back their again, and I’m glad ZoS put the scamp and skin in Runeboxes, because now I can save up to buy the skin instead of going through that miserable experience all over again.

That and why even bother putting PvE quests in IC if it’s mostly catered to gankers? Whoever thought that it would be a great idea to try and mix PvE and PvP together, that was a sad mistake on their end and doesn’t work well at all if the quests are in the center of the map and there’s no way to get there easily other than horse simulator.

Oh and now Cyro’s getting collapsible bridges? No. Thank. You.

eliisra

Vast majority of mmorpg players actually hates when PvE progression is blocked by forced PvP and gankers. That's why mixed PvE/PvP zones like imp city aren't the most popular.

Some players enjoy the thrill ofc, but they're normally not the ones going to mixed PvP/PvE zones to clear PvE content. They go there for other reasons.

I think Imperial City would be far more popular if they made Tel Var more useful and reduced amount dropped after PvP death.

Right now you just go there for a semi-useless currency and you'll loose most of it anyway unless you're a nightblade(that doesn't suck) or play with a bigger group.

mague

Coatmagic wrote: »

Someday, when I've lots of time to waste dying repeatedly, I will go do the pve quests there. With zero interest in pvp, the only reason I bought it was for the pve quests, but to this day haven't bothered xD

You wont do anything. You leave the sewer with a quest and find yourself on a plattform above the street. You jump down and die the moment you land from a PvP nuke. You respawn, leave the sewer and find yourself on a plattform above the street...

The zone looks promising though. Maybe with patience, sneak and potions...

Aurielle

max_only wrote: »

You are absolutely right. Don’t listen to these player killers in the thread with their quips “make a Nightblade” nonsense.

LOL, it’s true though, @max_only ... If you want to PVE and avoid player encounters in IC, you play a magicka nightblade and use situational awareness.

Farming in the sewers and come across a room full of dead mobs? Stealth up, because there could be another enemy player nearby. In a narrow corridor between rooms? Stealth up, because if you don’t, you might accidentally bump into someone you didn’t see coming. See an enemy player? Stealth up, spam Race Against Time + Cloak and GTFO pronto.

Nightblades are the ultimate easy mode if you want to disengage from risky situations without dying.

TheRealPotoroo

Jeremy wrote: »

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

I completely agree with you. The zone is basically what hell must be like. I still remember when I purchased Imperial City and traveled there eager to experience the new content I just paid for. Needless to say - after about an hour of some of if not the most annoying soul-crushing experiences I've ever had on a video game I was considering writing ZoS an email requesting a refund. That entire zone is basically designed to troll you. It's just awful. All I can guess is one of the developers had a nightmare and that inspired him/her to create the place. Why anyone would wish to go there and be fodder for the sadistic entertainment of gankers and "gangs of punks" (an apt description I must say) is beyond my comprehension.

This. IC is simply a sadistic troll for PVE players. It's a ganker's paradise that is zero fun.

Hoolielulu

My first time I was disappointed, too. It was difficult to navigate, full of things I couldn't kill, and "friendly" looking players turned out to be enemies who stabbed me right in the face.

By my third time I found some people to run with and it was fun. Even when we ran into a gang of Ebonhearts and they swarmed like African bees leaving us no choice but to die...I laughed and laughed then lamented the loss of my hard-earned Tel Vars. Actually I swore about the Tel Vars. But I resurrected and went back for more. Because if I die so what?

And I like sneaking around as a Templar. Nightblade is too easy.

generalmyrick

Aurielle wrote: »

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

Make a nightblade. Problem solved.

I made one on each faction because of that! :-)

Aurielle

TheRealPotoroo wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

I completely agree with you. The zone is basically what hell must be like. I still remember when I purchased Imperial City and traveled there eager to experience the new content I just paid for. Needless to say - after about an hour of some of if not the most annoying soul-crushing experiences I've ever had on a video game I was considering writing ZoS an email requesting a refund. That entire zone is basically designed to troll you. It's just awful. All I can guess is one of the developers had a nightmare and that inspired him/her to create the place. Why anyone would wish to go there and be fodder for the sadistic entertainment of gankers and "gangs of punks" (an apt description I must say) is beyond my comprehension.

This. IC is simply a sadistic troll for PVE players. It's a ganker's paradise that is zero fun.

Been snipin’ most our lives
Stealthin’ in the ganker’s paradise
Been snipin’ most our lives
Stealthin’ in the ganker’s paradise

(Sorry, it had to be done. If you are under the age of 30, you probably won’t get this reference.)

Varana

The PvE quest line there is quite nice, I think. After that, the IC's attraction drops significantly. A bit of Tel Var for whatever you might need, or getting keys for the chests instead of running the dungeons for the umpteenth time (not really worth it since SPC has fallen out of favour)... that's it.

So the best time to visit the IC is when no one else is there. Avoid the wandering bosses (recommended for almost all players), and you can actually get some stuff done.

Girl_Number8

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

Join a guild because sewers are a fun thing to do and welcome to PvP with training wheels. It is a good place to learn and has some easy achievements that you can get rather quickly. If your good at 1 v X it is a blast, small scale bring a pocket healer to start, really new bring a large group. Ask people in your guild for build help and gear advice, most people are pretty helpful once they get to know you. Also, what Sheezabeast said....Good luck

Red_Feather

Varana wrote: »

Avoid the wandering bosses (recommended for almost all players), and you can actually get some stuff done.

Those things terrify me.

Pyr0xyrecuprotite

I'm a PvE player for the most part, but the PvP aspect of IC is what makes it really good - you are always at risk of being steamrolled by enemies tougher than any boss in the game (excluding vet Trial bosses). Joining a group from zone chat or going with some friends (of the same faction) is strongly recommended for players new to IC. Join a guild or two, and ask for help there! It's not meant to be a solo game, it's an MMO. It's also a pretty awesome feeling when you have been used to dying fast anytime an enemy player appears, but somehow survive an encounter and kill the enemy instead. Work on your build and adjust your skills to improve your damage and survivability.

That said, if you are just exploring and trying out the quests, it's best to do it at a quiet time and a quiet campaign when/where few players from enemy factions are on - you can see the relative population levels when you go into Cyrodiil.

SirAndy

I run IC solo, usually farm the sewers for TelVar stones and largely ignore other players.

Try chasing one of them special scamps ...

cheeseaddict

MadGhost wrote: »

Going to the Imperial city is a waste of time.. it sucks.. not sure what you are even supposed to do... IF you are alone you just keep getting killed.. and I never find a group to be with. Alone you are dead.. I run into OTHER players all the time on the other side.. and they attack me like a gang of punks... and I just die. I Rarely EVER see anyone of my own side. I should have never bought the freaking Imperial City because it really is a waste of time. Not everyone can get a group together...

couldn't agree with you more, big f**n waste of time.

Jsmalls

Mayrael wrote: »

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

The idea of a PvP/PvE hybrid zone sucks in practice since PvE/PvP builds are so radically different. PvE builds cannot survive more than 1-2 hits from PvP builds while they do almost no damage to impen gear. PvE players are just defenseless targets for the PvP gankers.

That's why this zone is so interesting, because you can met there many not meta builds that are made to be effective both PvP and PvE, it's just a matter of knowledge, while farming telvars and playing against enemy groups is more of a skill. Even solo player can mess with groups by pulling bosses, taking districts (groups usually don't split because nobody wants to be that farmed guy, so you can take half of IC on your own and hold it even against 3-4 medium players, after few minutes they usually give up, especially when you were able to kill some of them). IC can be fun but is more requiring than running in zerg in Cyrodiil.

@Mayrael

Lol what server do you play on. Everyone in IC has on tanky PvP builds and runs in groups of 6+. You don't need to do any real damage because nothing down there takes more than 2 minutes to kill with 6 people...

Not Zos's fault. More so people bringing a Zerg into content designed for 2-4 players MAX (and 4 players is pushing it).

Sewers used to be fun. Not anymore.