Prior Achievement Not Recognized After Selecting Character To Play For Subsequent Session

Shadowshire

@ZOS_BillE @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno ..... Here we go again, but with Ace Firelight instead of Ace Adeya!

Since Update 29 CP 2.0 was released, the Rapid Maneuver ability no longer buffs mounted movement as it did before. However, the Major Gallop buff has been added to the Alliance War > Assault > Continuous Attack passive instead. The passive is unlocked when a character is promoted to Assault Rank 3.

Three of my characters, Ace Firelight (Daggerfall Covenant), Ace Greysmoke (Ebonheart Pact), and Ace Giatros (Aldmeri Dominion) went to Cyrodill many years ago. Each one began the "initial quest" chain, and their first task was to learn how to use siege engines. Each was promoted to Assault Rank 2 when they finished doing that. The Rapid Maneuver ability also became unlocked, so I added a Skill Point for each of them to activate and subsequently use the ability. But, they did not continue the initial quest chain, because I had no interest in participating in the Three Banners War, or in any other PvP activities.

Continuing that initial quest chain now was a challenge. The first problem was to realize that continuing it is what each character had to do. The second problem was finding the location of the Siege Engine Test Range (SETR), which is not marked on the Map, for each alliance. The character must go to their alliance's SETR because the NPC in charge there offers the next quest, "Reporting for Duty," i.e., after characters learn how to use the siege engines. (If you would like more details, then please review the long discussion Dead End Upon Arrival In Cyrodill.)

So, I sent Ace Greysmoke to Cryodill first:

• He used the Transitus Shrine at the Base where he arrived to move to the other Base on the border of Cyrodill -- because that is where the 4 initially inactive Mission Boards are located. Also recognize that the alliance's Siege Engine Test Range is located outside the walls of that Base.
• He eventually found the SETR, where he obtained the next quest and continued the initial quest chain.
• When he completed the last quest in the chain, both pairs of the Mission Boards had been activated, and three things happened:

1. "Achievement: Alliance War Recruit" was displayed on the HUD,
2. he was promoted to Assault Rank 3, and
3. the Continuous Attack passive was unlocked.

• Thereupon, I moved him to a location near the Wayshrine at the Base, and logged-out to the Select Character dialog display.

Then I repeated the above sequence of actions for Ace Firelight at the Daggerfall Covenant bases, and again for Ace Giatros at the Aldmeri Dominion bases, respectively. Completing the initial quest chain for each of them had exactly the same outcome as it did for Ace Greysmoke.

For what it is worth: I did not spend a Skill Point to activate the Continuous Attack passive for any of the three characters before I logged-out to select (the next) character. Although, for each of the three, I verified that the passive was unlocked. I also verified each character's promotion to Assault Rank 3, and verified that the Alliance War Recruit achievement had been recorded.

THE BUG

After I subsequently selected Ace Greysmoke to play, he was still located near the Wayshrine in the Ebonheart Pact base where the Mission Boards were activated. I spent a Skill Point to activate the Continuous Attack passive, and he used the Wayshrine to depart Cyrodill.

After I subsequently selected Ace Giatros to play, he was still located near the Wayshrine in the Aldmeri Dominion base where the Mission Boards were activated. I spent a Skill Point to activate the Continuous Attack passive, and he used the Wayshrine to depart Cyrodill.

After I subsequently selected Ace Firelight to play, he was still located near the Wayshrine in the Daggerfall Covenant base where the Mission Boards were activated. However, much to my surprise and chagrin, the Continuous Attack passive was and remains locked. He remains at Assault Rank 2, and the Alliance War Recruit achievement remains dark!! Nonetheless, the 4 Mission Boards at that base remain activated as proof that Ace Firelight completed the initial quest chain.

PLEASE correct this situation ASAP.


Currently I am considering sending characters to do Scouting Missions in Cyrodill, because the Rewards for the Worthy can include a Geode which contains 4 to 25 Transmute Crystals. I doubt that the Geode is always included, but it might be included often enough to make the time and effort worthwhile.

virtus753

It sounds like either there was a server rollback that erased the last AP gained by your third toon or it didn’t actually reach the requisite rank. (Do you have screenshots of this? You should send them to ZOS if so. I’m not sure they’ll actually do anything here, though, since their m.o. is not to step in when it’s just a matter of regrinding.) The only thing I can think of to account for a potential discrepancy in AP earned by your toons on different alliances during the tutorial in this case is which edge keeps were held by which alliances during that time. That +8% AP per edge keep bonus might have made a significant difference here.

Regarding Rewards for the Worthy: you are guaranteed a 4-25 crystal geode in the first RftW coffer you open on that account per 20 hours. If you open other RftW coffers on that account within the 20-hour cooldown, you have only a chance at getting another geode in each coffer. It does happen, but in my experience it is south of a 25% drop rate. To be sure of another geode, wait the 20 hours.

You can also unlock the achievement and Continuous Attack on your third character without setting foot in Cyrodiil again, if you prefer: just take any AP daily login bonuses on that toon. It will not contribute to your tier in your home campaign, if you have one, but it will raise that character’s Alliance rank and also contribute towards earning your next Rewards for the Worthy.

Shadowshire

virtus753 wrote: »

It sounds like either there was a server rollback that erased the last AP gained by your third toon or it didn’t actually reach the requisite rank. (Do you have screenshots of this? You should send them to ZOS if so. I’m not sure they’ll actually do anything here, though, since their m.o. is not to step in when it’s just a matter of regrinding.) ....

As I stated in the paragraph above the section titled The Bug:

For what it is worth: I did not spend a Skill Point to activate the Continuous Attack passive for any of the three characters before I logged-out to select (the next) character. Although, for each of the three, I verified that the passive was unlocked. I also verified each character's promotion to Assault Rank 3, and verified that the Alliance War Recruit achievement had been recorded. (emphasis added by OP author)

The current situation which I described for Ace Firelight was revealed when I selected that character to play subsequently. That is, the game state shown immediately after logging-in to play Ace Firelight was not identical to the game state as it appeared to be at the time that I most recently logged-out from playing Ace Firelight. That reveals a serious flaw in the software and/or in the operation of the hardware. As I reported, it has not affected the game states (yet) for Ace Greysmoke and for Ace Giatros, respectively.

virtus753 wrote: »

.... The only thing I can think of to account for a potential discrepancy in AP earned by your toons on different alliances during the tutorial in this case is which edge keeps were held by which alliances during that time. That +8% AP per edge keep bonus might have made a significant difference here.

That is an interesting observation. While overcoming the challenges that I encountered while completing the quest for each character, I did not take note of the number of "edge Keeps" possessed by each Alliance. Suffice it to say that the DC clearly possessed only a few of the Keeps and their resources outside of the DC bases. The others appeared to be more-or-less evenly divided between the EP and the AD.

If your speculation is correct, then the "edge Keep" bonus (which is news to me) could explain the underlying difference in outcomes for Ace Firelight, compared to those for Ace Greysmoke and for Ace Giatros. The announcement on the HUD that he completed the quest "Reporting for Duty" was correct. But, perhaps, the announcement that he was promoted to Assault Rank 3 and awarded the Alliance War Recruit achievement was the misleading result of a bug.

However, that possibility does not explain why Ace Firelight's promotion and the achievement, respectively, were displayed on the HUD when I looked at each UI to confirm that they were recorded (!). His Alliance War Skills also showed that the Continuous Assault passive was unlocked (!).

Regardless, the output displayed on the HUD while I played Ace Firelight before I logged-out was either valid or invalid (in some respect). Either one or more of the following events occurred:

1. The HUD did not faithfully disclose the game-state at the time, or
2. the game-state was altered afterward, or
3. the game-state was improperly recorded when I logged-out, or
4. the game-state became corrupted while I was not playing Ace Firelight, or
5. the game state was incorrectly read when it was subsequently loaded, or
6. the HUD does not faithfully disclose the game-state at this time.

Screenshots and other records

(1) For better or for worse, I have relied upon the add-on Photographer to automatically make screenshots that record the completion of quests, the award of achievements, and other significant events which occur with my characters. Unfortunately, the developer has not kept it updated since API version 100030.

For this issue: Photographer made screenshots only for Ace Greysmoke and for Ace Giatros, respectively, when each one completed the quest "Reporting For Duty". It did not make screenshots of the respective announcements of their promotions to Assault Rank 3, and the award of the corresponding Achievement. It did not make any screenshots at all for Ace Firelight.

These omissions are not evidence, however, that Ace Firelight did not complete that quest and/or was not awarded the corresponding Achievement and promotion to Assault Rank 3. Instead, it implies that the outdated add-on is most likely unreliable, just as the recorded and displayed current (?) game state for Ace Firelight implies that the TESO game software and/or the mega-server on which it is executed are evidently unreliable.

(2) The add-on Quest Journal Log recorded that Ace Firelight completed each of the two initial quests for Cyrodill, "Siege Warfare" and "Reporting for Duty". I can make a screenshot of its HUD output -- if the ZOS developers want to see it. Again, as far as I know, the Daggerfall Covenant Mission Boards which were unlocked during the quest "Reporting for Duty" have remained unlocked.

(3) Thank-you for sharing how often Rewards for the Worthy coffers are awarded to characters who earn them.

Thank-you also for your advice to claim Alliance Point daily log-in bonuses with Ace Firelight. I cannot recall how many AP are awarded by the bonus, but I believe it has been awarded only once per month. Looking at the display of his Assault Rank, it appears likely to require more than a month to acquire enough AP to advance it with only that source. I have not decided yet how long I am willing to wait to unlock the Continuous Assault passive and receive the Major Gallop buff.

Regardless, I am not confident that Ace Firelight's current situation can be remedied by "re-grinding". If nothing else, there is always the quite evident risk that the TESO game software and/or operation of the mega-server will, sooner or later, produce the current situation yet again -- or one that could be worse.

virtus753

If it was the result of a server roll-back, then from what I understand those happen on occasion and aren’t necessarily something the devs care to fix (at least not with their given resources). Someone else lost another achievement recently to that and had to earn it again. I’ll try to find the link. I think it was for Master Angler, and the last fish might have been from Cyro. Over the years I seem to recall having heard of a number of cases of these rollbacks in Cyro, so I do think they just happen at times and the devs can’t or won’t stop that for whatever reason.

The underlying issue (whether server rollback or otherwise) is one thing, and there will always be the risk of that happening again, unfortunately, but the symptoms suffered by your character (namely the loss of the achievement and the rank) are solved by regrinding. In similar cases ZOS has not stepped in to restore things like that, such as when the werewolf and soul trap skill progress reset at the end of last year or when random skill progress reset with the most recent update. They just left us to regrind those. Same with bugged achievements that are later fixed. If they’re things like dungeon/trial achievements, we have to re-earn them after the fix to get them to count.

Continuous Attack is unlocked with Assault 3 at 8k AP. Unless whatever this was removed all credit towards your AP rank on your third toon, you should be close to 8k already from the tutorial quests. This month we have two AP daily login rewards — 2.5k and 3k. That’s over two-thirds of the way to the required level for the Major Gallop passive.

Best of luck with this.

Shadowshire

virtus753 wrote: »

If it was the result of a server roll-back, then from what I understand those happen on occasion and aren’t necessarily something the devs care to fix (at least not with their given resources). Someone else lost another achievement recently to that and had to earn it again. I’ll try to find the link. ....

The underlying issue (whether server rollback or otherwise) is one thing, and there will always be the risk of that happening again, unfortunately, but the symptoms suffered by your character (namely the loss of the achievement and the rank) are solved by regrinding. .... Same with bugged achievements that are later fixed. If they’re things like dungeon/trial achievements, we have to re-earn them after the fix to get them to count.

You might have noticed the remark after the series of @ZOS personnel on the first line of the OP: "Here we go again, but with Ace Firelight instead of Ace Adeya!"

If you have lots of free time, then these posts reveal a tale of woe: 1 of 4 : Incorrect Achievement Records for Ace Adeya (Shadowshire character) -- yes, because of the screenshots which I included, I had to make four posts on the subject to describe the situation.

Whether it was worth it, at least re-playing all of the zones in Ace Adeya's Alliance -- followed by Cadwell's Silver and Cadwell's Gold -- proved to be possible. All quests which he had previously completed in his Alliance zones could not be repeated. Fortunately, enough quests remained that I could complete them to regain the Achievements and the Titles associated with them. The specific Cadwell's quests which had been zapped could be repeated insofar as no record existed to prevent me from doing so. Restoring all of his Achievements required about 3 months of daily sessions (at least 4 hrs. each) devoted to the task.

Compared to that catastrophe, "re-grinding" Ace Firelight to increase his Assault Rank in Cyrodill should be a piece of cake (Jubilee 2021 Cake, that is!)

virtus753 wrote: »

Continuous Attack is unlocked with Assault 3 at 8k AP. Unless whatever this was removed all credit towards your AP rank on your third toon, you should be close to 8k already from the tutorial quests. This month we have two AP daily login rewards — 2.5k and 3k. That’s over two-thirds of the way to the required level for the Major Gallop passive.

According to sources, Alliance Points are a currency which is awarded for what the player-character accomplishes in Cyrodill. Like Gold Pieces, Alliance Points are bankable, and can be withdrawn by the same player's other characters. However, they are used only to purchase gear and other items for PvP, from Cyrodill vendors.

That said, if I am logged-in to Ace Firelight when I claim the two AP daily-login rewards, then will claiming them (adding them to those he previously earned) also correspondingly increase his progress toward promotion to the next Assault Rank??

virtus753

Shadowshire wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

If it was the result of a server roll-back, then from what I understand those happen on occasion and aren’t necessarily something the devs care to fix (at least not with their given resources). Someone else lost another achievement recently to that and had to earn it again. I’ll try to find the link. ....

The underlying issue (whether server rollback or otherwise) is one thing, and there will always be the risk of that happening again, unfortunately, but the symptoms suffered by your character (namely the loss of the achievement and the rank) are solved by regrinding. .... Same with bugged achievements that are later fixed. If they’re things like dungeon/trial achievements, we have to re-earn them after the fix to get them to count.

You might have noticed the remark after the series of @ZOS personnel on the first line of the OP: "Here we go again, but with Ace Firelight instead of Ace Adeya!"

If you have lots of free time, then these posts reveal a tale of woe: 1 of 4 : Incorrect Achievement Records for Ace Adeya (Shadowshire character) -- yes, because of the screenshots which I included, I had to make four posts on the subject to describe the situation.

Whether it was worth it, at least re-playing all of the zones in Ace Adeya's Alliance -- followed by Cadwell's Silver and Cadwell's Gold -- proved to be possible. All quests which he had previously completed in his Alliance zones could not be repeated. Fortunately, enough quests remained that I could complete them to regain the Achievements and the Titles associated with them. The specific Cadwell's quests which had been zapped could be repeated insofar as no record existed to prevent me from doing so. Restoring all of his Achievements required about 3 months of daily sessions (at least 4 hrs. each) devoted to the task.

Compared to that catastrophe, "re-grinding" Ace Firelight to increase his Assault Rank in Cyrodill should be a piece of cake (Jubilee 2021 Cake, that is!)

virtus753 wrote: »

Continuous Attack is unlocked with Assault 3 at 8k AP. Unless whatever this was removed all credit towards your AP rank on your third toon, you should be close to 8k already from the tutorial quests. This month we have two AP daily login rewards — 2.5k and 3k. That’s over two-thirds of the way to the required level for the Major Gallop passive.

According to sources, Alliance Points are a currency which is awarded for what the player-character accomplishes in Cyrodill. Like Gold Pieces, Alliance Points are bankable, and can be withdrawn by the same player's other characters. However, they are used only to purchase gear and other items for PvP, from Cyrodill vendors.

That said, if I am logged-in to Ace Firelight when I claim the two AP daily-login rewards, then will claiming them (adding them to those he previously earned) also correspondingly increase his progress toward promotion to the next Assault Rank??

Yes, the AP daily login rewards count towards the Alliance rank and Assault/Support progress of the toon you claim them on. (They just don’t count towards the campaign rewards tier of any campaign.) I verified this on my main with the most recent 2k AP login reward just the other week.

If you have a Colovian War Torte, that will boost the credit towards your rank by 50% when you claim the reward. It won’t provide 50% more of the currency, though, just the progress towards the rank and unlocking the skills.

Shadowshire

EDIT: TOPIC DRIFT (mea culpa)

virtus753 wrote: »

Yes, the AP daily login rewards count towards the Alliance rank and Assault/Support progress of the toon you claim them on. (They just don’t count towards the campaign rewards tier of any campaign.) I verified this on my main with the most recent 2k AP login reward just the other week.

If you have a Colovian War Torte, that will boost the credit towards your rank by 50% when you claim the reward. It won’t provide 50% more of the currency, though, just the progress towards the rank and unlocking the skills.

Thank-you for the information. Apparently, the Colovian War Torte is a Cyrodill alternative to Psijic Ambrosia, although I have not compared their respective recipes.

Can Psijic Ambrosia potions and/or Crown Experience Scrolls be used in Cyrodill to "gain a 50% Experience Point bonus from all sources for 2 hours"? If they are usable, then I assume that neither one will increase the amount of Alliance Point currency paid when they are promoted in rank -- only the number of AP which the character gains in the course of the activities in which they engage.

FWIW, I have often considered the feasibility of pursuing "PvE" quests in Cyrodill's towns, delves, dungeons, etc.. If memory serves, then my character Ace Adeya (Assault Rank 5) has collected all, or almost all, of the Skyshards there. So now I can buy most of them for other characters from the Crown Store, if I want to pay instead of play. .....

virtus753

Shadowshire wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

Yes, the AP daily login rewards count towards the Alliance rank and Assault/Support progress of the toon you claim them on. (They just don’t count towards the campaign rewards tier of any campaign.) I verified this on my main with the most recent 2k AP login reward just the other week.

If you have a Colovian War Torte, that will boost the credit towards your rank by 50% when you claim the reward. It won’t provide 50% more of the currency, though, just the progress towards the rank and unlocking the skills.

Thank-you for the information. Apparently, the Colovian War Torte is a Cyrodill alternative to Psijic Ambrosia, although I have not compared their respective recipes.

Can Psijic Ambrosia potions and/or Crown Experience Scrolls be used in Cyrodill to "gain a 50% Experience Point bonus from all sources for 2 hours"? If they are usable, then I assume that neither one will increase the amount of Alliance Point currency paid when they are promoted in rank -- only the number of AP which the character gains in the course of the activities in which they engage.

FWIW, I have often considered the feasibility of pursuing "PvE" quests in Cyrodill's towns, delves, dungeons, etc.. If memory serves, then my character Ace Adeya (Assault Rank 5) has collected all, or almost all, of the Skyshards there. So now I can buy most of them for other characters from the Crown Store, if I want to pay instead of play. .....

Ambrosia and XP scrolls will definitely increase your *Experience* Points gained in Cyro! But Alliance Points are not Experience Points, so those things will not boost AP gained or credit towards your alliance rank or Assault/Support skill line progress. You also don’t get paid AP when you reach another rank — you get a skill point and (if it’s a new rank and not just a new grade) a new title along with access to a new achievement furnishing.

For AP buffs:

War Tortes: increase credit towards your rank and skill line progress but don’t increase the actual AP currency gained.

Blessing of War: a 20% AP buff that you get from killing any boss in a Cyro delve. That buff increases AP gained as currency and progress towards rank/skill lines.

Edge keeps: +8% AP earned (currency and progress) per edge keep owned. Maximum of +24% when all three are owned.

Midyear Mayhem buff (event-specific): Pelinal’s Ferocity scroll increases AP earned (as currency and progress) by 100%.

Shadowshire

virtus753 wrote: »

....
Yes, the AP daily login rewards count towards the Alliance rank and Assault/Support progress of the toon you claim them on. (They just don’t count towards the campaign rewards tier of any campaign.) I verified this on my main with the most recent 2k AP login reward just the other week.

If you have a Colovian War Torte, that will boost the credit towards your rank by 50% when you claim the reward. It won’t provide 50% more of the currency, though, just the progress towards the rank and unlocking the skills.

virtus753 wrote: »

.... Ambrosia and XP scrolls will definitely increase your *Experience* Points gained in Cyro! But Alliance Points are not Experience Points, so those things will not boost AP gained or credit towards your alliance rank or Assault/Support skill line progress. You also don’t get paid AP when you reach another rank — you get a skill point and (if it’s a new rank and not just a new grade) a new title along with access to a new achievement furnishing.

For AP buffs:

War Tortes: increase credit towards your rank and skill line progress but don’t increase the actual AP currency gained.

Blessing of War: a 20% AP buff that you get from killing any boss in a Cyro delve. That buff increases AP gained as currency and progress towards rank/skill lines.

Edge keeps: +8% AP earned (currency and progress) per edge keep owned. Maximum of +24% when all three are owned.

Midyear Mayhem buff (event-specific): Pelinal’s Ferocity scroll increases AP earned (as currency and progress) by 100%.

Thank-you for setting me straight about the effect of using Experience Scrolls and Ambrosia potions in Cyrodill.

The Midyear Mayhem Pelinal's Ferocity buff is the only one that I can recall using in Cyrodill. I have played only in the Standard Campaign during the past few years. I don't recall playing in any "locked" Alliance campaign, or one in which Champion Points are ignored. Regardless, the XP buff from using a Crown Store Experience Scroll, or consuming a Psijic Ambrosia or Mythic Psijic Ambrosia potion, is significant because a character periodically receives a Champion Point as their XP accumulate.


That said, I have consulted a wiki about Alliance + Points which has three sections:

• How to Earn Alliance Points
• How to Spend Alliance Points
• What are Alliance Ranks and how to get them (including a table "List of Alliance Ranks in ESO")

On the face of it, apparently the game host records two separate sets of tallies, respectively:

1. The universal Experience Point (XP) tally determines each player-character's current XP Level. As their XP Level increases after a character appears in Tamriel, they periodically receive one or more Skill Points(SP). After Level 50, the character periodically receives Champion Points(CP) instead of SP (i.e., as XP continue to accumulate).
   
   Additional XP, SP, and CP can be and are gained in every Tamriel zone according to what the player-character does, such as fighting in delves and dungeons, or completing a quest(s). Champion Points are used only via the CP UI to enable passive support, or to apply active buffs to abilities, for the character who earned them (i.e., they are not Skill Points). EDIT: Note that XP can be earned, thus continue to accumulate, while a character is in Cyrodill (or a Battleground). Of course, all XP are awarded for completing a specific action and/or completing a series of actions. No character receives XP simply for being alive.
   
   
2. A player-character's experience gained in Cyrodill warfare, and in Battlegrounds in other zones, is tallied as Alliance Points (AP). The framework for expressing a character's current AP consists of 25 Ranks, each of which has two Grades. As the character's AP increase, they are periodically promoted to the next Rank or the next Grade. When a character is promoted in Rank, they receive a payoff in AP currency (which is spent only to buy PvP gear, siege engines, and supplies). The character can also receive Alliance War Skill Points when either their Rank or Grade increases, although AWSP are not received for every promotion. (Also, the total number of AWSP is capped at the 7th Rank, Sergeant, according to the wiki table which I mentioned above.) EDIT: Apparently the table on the wiki is outdated. Currently, a character receives one Skill Point each time that they are promoted, whether to a higher Rank or to the higher Grade in their current Rank.

Note: if memory serves, I have applied Skill Points that were earned from quests and other PvE activities to Alliance War abilities and passives. So, I suppose that Skill Points which a character gains from any PvP activity can be applied to any ability or passive in any skill tree that the player might choose. At this writing, I suppose that further experience in Cyrodill warfare will reveal whether that supposition is valid. EDIT: the unconstrained use of Skill Points gained in Cyrodill has been confirmed by @virtus753.

Again, thank-you for your patience and sharing your knowledge during this discussion. Maybe our paths will cross in Cyrodill some day -- hopefully while our respective characters are members of the same Alliance. If not, then my characters would rather flee than fight, but when they must fight, they will do their best to kill yours.

virtus753

#1 sounds right to me — although I’d add that any toon can invest your total CP, even newly created ones. If I have 1481 CP, I can apply those immediately to a new toon, regardless of level. It makes leveling new toons much easier. Or did, before this most recent update. I finished leveling mine before then. I imagine the base stat increase helped out new toons across the board, but being able to invest CP right out of the gate still helps too, even if a little less now than before.

For #2: Alliance warfare activities grant both XP and AP, although they are generally not a great source of XP compared to PvE questing and such. Pelinal’s Ferocity actually does increase both AP and XP gained — but the XP bonus for that event only applies to XP gained from player kills, which is pretty restrictive and a low number to start. Pelinal’s is much more effective as an AP buff.

You do gain a single skill point for each and every alliance rank or grade you earn: there are 50 total skill points that can be earned from ranking up like that. (I have earned 42 of them on my main, with 8 to go.) You can definitely apply those skill points freely to any skill in any skill line, just like (as you noted) you can use a skill point earned outside of PvP on any Assault/Support skill. The game just sees these all as “skill points” regardless of how they’re earned. You do not, unfortunately, receive AP for reaching the next rank/grade, just like you don’t receive XP for reaching the next character level. I have a few screenshots of ranking up now that my main is getting into the home stretch, and if I ever figure out how to upload them and link them here you’ll be able to see I don’t get any AP while ranking up, but I do get a skill point for each rank/grade. It’s a great way to earn a few skill points on new toons, since the lower ranks/grades require so little AP (relatively speaking).

Best of luck! And for the Queen!