I just dont feel powerful at all...

Kiralyn2000

Stanx wrote: »

Is this... an overland is... too hard thread?

Nah, it's an "I don't feel progression because scaling" thread.

Gundug

For the people arguing against level scaling, I played this game before One Tamriel, where zones were set for specific level ranges. It was terrible. No XP or rewards for being out of your zone. Grouping with buddies out of your level range was unrewarding. You could go anywhere, but there was no point in being outside of your level range, since mobs either were like nothing and dropped no rewards, or like veteran bosses and dropped no rewards. Many zones were completely dead. Literally no players around anywhere. The game came to life after One Tamriel.

Khami

baconoverlord wrote: »

[snip]

Were you here at launch? When everything had to be done in a specific order and the veteran zones were designed for you to group, same with Craglorn.

It did not take the player base long to loathe what the veteran ranks involved and the devs started to slowly fix it, which One Tamriel was the final progression to the changes. The first major nerf on difficulty happened in July 2014, little more than four months after launch. I was able to finish Cadwell's Gold by then and all the achievements for doing x number of quests per zone.

It was not a fun time at all. I like to quest alone, not be forced to group with others to do quests. Which is what the early game did, forced people to group up to do quests. To this day, I still haven't done everything in Craglorn with my main because I loathe that zone with a passion.

[edited to remove quote]

BejaProphet

One Tamriel making every zone relevant is THE great accomplishment of this game.

powerfantasticb14_ESO

I don't see how a "life and death struggle" is "no challenge whatsoever". But that being said, I've always taken this game slow and steady. I don't grind, ever. You can modify your play style so it can be challenging. You play your way and you can make up your own challenges. I play a 100% weapon only DK, no class/guild abilities at all. It's fun, and yes it can take time to kill things, but that's roleplay. It's what an RPG is, you make your own way.

The things I enjoy about this game the most, is the lore, the environments and the music. I turn off auto-run and just stroll when in town, experience the world, and run/mount only when absolutely necessary. Let the plebs run around like chickens with their heads cut off. I think I get a lot more out of the game than they do. Grinding and rushing the game is NOT fun to me. I come to the game to chill out and have fun, not to rush around like IRL.

Vevvev

Some advice has been given in this thread but I'll go over some basics of ESO damage scaling.

If an ability costs Stamina it's healing and/or damage unless specified otherwise will scale with the amount of Max Stamina and Weapon Damage you have.

If an ability costs Magicka it's healing and/or damage unless specified otherwise scales with the amount of Max Magicka and Spell Damage you have.

If an ability is free or costs health it's healing and/or damage unless specified otherwise scales with what it does. Healing scales off your magic offensive stats. Magic, fire, ice, and lightning damage scale off your Max Magicka and Spell Damage. Physical, poison, bleed, and disease damage scale off your Max Stamina and Weapon damage.

Ultimates regardless of what they do unless specified otherwise will scale with your highest offensive stats. If your Max Magicka and Spell Damage is more than your Max Stamina and Weapon damage it'll scale off the Magicka stats even if it does physical damage for instance.

Anything that scales off your Magicka offensive stats or does magic, fire, ice, or lightning damage is effected by spell critical and penetration. And vice versa with Physical offensive stats.

And around every 10 (or 10.5) Magicka/Stamina is equivalent to 1 Spell/Weapon damage.

aipex8_ESO

Khami wrote: »

baconoverlord wrote: »

[snip]

Were you here at launch? When everything had to be done in a specific order and the veteran zones were designed for you to group, same with Craglorn.

It did not take the player base long to loathe what the veteran ranks involved and the devs started to slowly fix it, which One Tamriel was the final progression to the changes. The first major nerf on difficulty happened in July 2014, little more than four months after launch. I was able to finish Cadwell's Gold by then and all the achievements for doing x number of quests per zone.

It was not a fun time at all. I like to quest alone, not be forced to group with others to do quests. Which is what the early game did, forced people to group up to do quests. To this day, I still haven't done everything in Craglorn with my main because I loathe that zone with a passion.

I finished Cadwell's gold right before that first big nerf too. Overland was freaking HARD before that. Nightmares about Harvesters.

[edited to remove quote]

Remathilis

nazgull2k1ub17_ESO wrote: »

I just dont get how you people do this day after day after day...

Oh EVERYTHING is *YOUR* level!

"Come back to newbie island at level 50.. still take 60% of your mana to kill a mudcrab! Arent you excited???"

No.. no im honest to god REALLY not. Im bored to absolute tears. Playing a necromancer "summoner" (which is a laughable description btw.. I see people running around with Daedra pets, Demon pets, bear pets.. I however, the "master" of the undead.. cant keep a friggen skeleton pet.. oh no.. ) and here I am, almost level 40.. and literally EVERYTHING I kill is the same thing.. push 1, push 2, push 3, push 4, push 5, push 1, push 1 till dead. Doesnt matter what it is, everything takes forever to die, and no matter where I go, I feel like a complete scrub unable to really get into the combat system. Gear is completely irrelevant, powers dont do any actual damage, just %'s. So where is the actual progression here? When do I get to kill something without it being some life or death struggle? Cause honest to god Im just not seeing the relevance here of EVERYTHING I do, EVERYTHING I gather, EVERYTHING I fight, being my "equal". There's no challenge whatsoever. 1,2,3,4,5,1,1.. next mob. Im practically falling asleep.

If it wasnt for this game's amazing writing and storytelling, I'd have re-quit this game 2 hours after I came back.

Oh... I should probably mention.. I played this game during launch. Got the Imperial Edition and everything. Put up a MASSIVE post on these very forums listing the games (at the time) many many faults.. mainly their inaction against the chinese gold bot farmer armada. (turns out I was right there.. they basically killed the entire game..)
Come back to find out they took what was once a pretty damn good game and turned it into Skyrim 2.0.. I beat Skyrim at level 1. I feel the same way here. Everywhere I go, I feel like a level 1. I havent even left the first area out of Davons Watch.. and Im already at 40. Do they really think Im going to grind through all of this content across 5 or 6 expansions.. when EVERYTHING is my level, EVERY combat is a cookie cutter experience.. just for a story Im only about 50% invested in even continuing? All while the abysmally small "max" level keeps me capped with no way to progress forward?

Because honest to god Im looking for ANY justification to even log back in right now and rationalize the money Ive spent in the last few days. Am I missing anything here? Is there some light at this end of this tedium tunnel?

By the number of people who want vet overland, I'd say that what's missing is mudcrabs with mechanics and DPS checks on delve bosses.

MEBengalsFan2001

@nazgull2k1ub17_ESO

Level 1 through CP 160 your stats and damage are stabilized to make you as if you are CP 160. Once you hit CP 160 increasing the CP and getting good armor that you gold out improves the game play.

Your issue with a lack of resource (magika or stamins) could be two folds. One, are you using food to boost your stat? If not, that is part of the issue. If you are using food are you also simply using abilities only or weaving into your rotation heavy attacks to help replenish you resource used. Another thing to consider is adding Magika or Stamina recovery to your character to improve your resources as well.

As for killing things quickly, it is all about debuffing the enemy and using harder hitting abilities and being able to animation cancel to maximize your damage.

As for being a Necro with undead pets; they didn't make them up all the time because in town you would be considered an outlaw if you forgot to unsummon your pet. IMO, all pets should make a player an outlaw.


@drsalvation

Not all players can complete all overland content alone. Also, as the original poster pointed out, killing a mudcrab for him takes 60% of his resources; well if another mudcrab comes along he won't have another resources to kill it.

jaws343

MEBengalsFan2001 wrote: »

@nazgull2k1ub17_ESO

Level 1 through CP 160 your stats and damage are stabilized to make you as if you are CP 160. Once you hit CP 160 increasing the CP and getting good armor that you gold out improves the game play.

Your issue with a lack of resource (magika or stamins) could be two folds. One, are you using food to boost your stat? If not, that is part of the issue. If you are using food are you also simply using abilities only or weaving into your rotation heavy attacks to help replenish you resource used. Another thing to consider is adding Magika or Stamina recovery to your character to improve your resources as well.

As for killing things quickly, it is all about debuffing the enemy and using harder hitting abilities and being able to animation cancel to maximize your damage.

As for being a Necro with undead pets; they didn't make them up all the time because in town you would be considered an outlaw if you forgot to unsummon your pet. IMO, all pets should make a player an outlaw.


@drsalvation

Not all players can complete all overland content alone. Also, as the original poster pointed out, killing a mudcrab for him takes 60% of his resources; well if another mudcrab comes along he won't have another resources to kill it.

I actually agree with you that not all players breeze through overland content. Especially new players. But, I think that losing most resources on a mudcrab is a misunderstanding on the OPs part on how the game works.

Like, where are their attribute points? What skills and passives? Does the OP even have gear that matches their level?

All of those things are incredibly important. As someone who has leveled many, many characters, a lot without allocating CP and using random gear drops.

I can tell you that not once, ever in this game, have I used more than 2 skills to kill a mudcrab, and I used to play in first person, and had my back bar and front bar reversed and didn't even realize it for months. It's entirely a player driven issue that can be solved by fairly easy advice. Wear sets that match your level, use skills and resource points that compliment your build. That's it. Anyone can implement that small bit of advice.

_adhyffbjjjf12

just to put things in perspective, my character is far far from being optimal, but i always have a food buff etc, and with a full set of training traits i still burst almost every single mob in overland down with 30k dps in 2-3 hits without really trying.

So to help OP, couple things to stick on a checklist:

- Have a food buff on all the time, they are cheap as chips.
- Have 2 full 5 piece PVE sets on, doesn't really matter which as long as it aligns with your skills. Purple is more than good enough. There are better setups, but this is easy and good enough.
- Make sure you weapons and armor are traited
- Use an offensive Mundas.

Find a mob, pop your buffs, wind up a heavy attack to start, then your next 2 biggest hits with light attacks inbetween and it will melt.

Later you will have monster gear and a companion to further boost you along with CP points, so the melt just gets bigger as you go (plus you will get better)

ArcaneScientius

Sorry to interject, but level 35-odd to 50 is the only levelling hump left in the game.
Your stats have degraded almost to the same level as 50, but your gear is probably many levels behind and you have maybe one overland set and mostly green tier gear. You are less powerful than just about any other time.

Just push through and you will gain strength rapidly as you get sets.
Also, if playing necro try to get a set with major brutality and sorcery. You don't get that buff natively.

BejaProphet wrote: »

One Tamriel making every zone relevant is THE great accomplishment of this game.

^ This.

Caligamy_ESO

Honestly... you lost me at "this games amazing writing and storytelling."

FlopsyPrince

Fennwitty wrote: »

I'm CP1200, and my characters are decently well equipped -- if one of my dps characters breathe in a mudcrab's general direction it dies at this point. Same goes for nearly anything in a base game zone, and all the 'big bads' of storylines.

You're in the levels where scaling and stuff work to present somewhat of a challenge.

You are definitely doing something wrong.

I am a very intense casual player and I have not experienced this since I started on the console 4 years ago and didn't know how to gear or set CP and other things.

My pet sorc is my easiest character, but the other alts can hold their own.

I don't think I have a Necromancer on the PC (I restarted here about 8 months ago), but I have most others and they can all work through content.

Not an insult, just feedback that you may want to get some input from others.

FlopsyPrince

Stanx wrote: »

Is this... an overland is... too hard thread?

I'm CP1400 and overland melts. Just an FYI if you think "gear is irrelevant" and "powers don't do any damage" then I think I've found the problem. This is literally how you build a strong toon. Make sure you're using a mundus, food/drink and pots to boot.

There's a high chance that this game just isn't for you, though.

That reminds me when I thought I could eat a lot of green food to boost all stats, only later realizing only the last food eaten helped!

Finedaible

Unfortunately, the bulk of a character's power is dependent on which SETS they have equipped. Class, race, and passives are all marginally moot. There is only the illusion of choice. Champion points help a little, AFTER you've reached level 50. You actually grow weaker as you level if I understood the asinine scaling correctly since your character will be "battle leveled" or something up to that point (see UESP). The only times you will feel powerful are in zones and areas where the enemy difficulty is purposefully low for newer players like prologue quests or starter zones.

nazgull2k1ub17_ESO

Just to show my work, so to speak. This is what Ive currently got equipped, powers, abilities, gear levels etc. Im only 40.. and I just dont have the know-how regarding everything they've butterballed this game into progression-wise.

Hell I just finished the main story quest, and when I took the next one from Cadwell, it just jacked me out of my Ebonheart Pact faction and away from my wife, and stuck me in Daggerfall.. and the only way I can see to get BACK to Ebonheart Pact is to pay ESO 2500 Crowns for a faction change BACK... (Dont even get me started on how angry this makes me, or how absolutely silly this is overall.)

Now as far as traits and hundrigs and all that other stuff, I cant find any of it for sale, and even if I could, I dont want to waste the money on it just to replace it in a day or 2 when I hit 50. I cant afford that.

Im following the "Build advisor" for "Baleful Summoner" which is supposed to be a Magicka DPS class... and yet every other power it tries ramming down my throat is a friggen healing skill.. Im NOT a healer. Do not want to BE a healer, in ANY way shape or form. Have no idea why its ramming healing skills down my throat for a magicka DPS class.. but I aint doing it. IDGAF what the stupid thing says.

https://ibb.co/CQY1KNQ
https://ibb.co/ydy4kjP
https://ibb.co/XsRzCMB

Blood_again

nazgull2k1ub17_ESO wrote: »

Hell I just finished the main story quest, and when I took the next one from Cadwell, it just jacked me out of my Ebonheart Pact faction and away from my wife, and stuck me in Daggerfall.. and the only way I can see to get BACK to Ebonheart Pact is to pay ESO 2500 Crowns for a faction change BACK...

https://ibb.co/CQY1KNQ

There is a dragon emblem on your first screen near the name of the character. That means your character belongs to Pact right as before.
You need not change a faction and pay crowns. You can teleport to the Pact zones at any time you want.
Cadwell just ported you to Daggerfall lands. Nothing else has been changed

amapola76

nazgull2k1ub17_ESO wrote: »

I beat Skyrim at level 1.

What does that even mean? Yay, you beat the tutorial?

Charon_on_Vacation

no need to worry.
just keep leveling.
you'll get to a point when you have decent gear, cp and knowledge, and at that point, you'll instantly kill overland mobs.

kojou

nazgull2k1ub17_ESO wrote: »

Just to show my work, so to speak. This is what Ive currently got equipped, powers, abilities, gear levels etc. Im only 40.. and I just dont have the know-how regarding everything they've butterballed this game into progression-wise.

Hell I just finished the main story quest, and when I took the next one from Cadwell, it just jacked me out of my Ebonheart Pact faction and away from my wife, and stuck me in Daggerfall.. and the only way I can see to get BACK to Ebonheart Pact is to pay ESO 2500 Crowns for a faction change BACK... (Dont even get me started on how angry this makes me, or how absolutely silly this is overall.)

Now as far as traits and hundrigs and all that other stuff, I cant find any of it for sale, and even if I could, I dont want to waste the money on it just to replace it in a day or 2 when I hit 50. I cant afford that.

Im following the "Build advisor" for "Baleful Summoner" which is supposed to be a Magicka DPS class... and yet every other power it tries ramming down my throat is a friggen healing skill.. Im NOT a healer. Do not want to BE a healer, in ANY way shape or form. Have no idea why its ramming healing skills down my throat for a magicka DPS class.. but I aint doing it. IDGAF what the stupid thing says.

https://ibb.co/CQY1KNQ
https://ibb.co/ydy4kjP
https://ibb.co/XsRzCMB

I'm not sure about the individual builds that the game recommends... I generally ignore them.

Here is what I usually recommend to people that are new or starting a new character in no particular order:

- Pick one or 2 damage skills that do AoE (e.g. Blastbones and Hungry Scythe) and then just level the other skills. I used to keep a whole "backbar" of skills I was just leveling and swap to it when turning in a quest. When you get to CP 160 and start doing harder content then you will optimize for damage, healing, tanking or whatever you want to do. Your "rotation" will be Blastbones + Hungry Scythe x 2, but all the other skills you will use to level your skill lines to 50 (you want at least 1 from each skill line).

- For gear, ask (nicely) for someone to craft you "Mechanical Acuity" and "Twice Born Star" (5 pieces each) for your Armor and Jewelry in the Training trait (green or blue is fine). I find that there will always be at least one player that will help you for a tip, or possibly even free. For your weapon, just get a purple weapon of something/anything that is your level and that gives you a bonus. Keep this until you get to CP 160 and only change out the weapon when it starts taking too long to kill things. The nice thing about these 2 sets is they are craft-able, and the 5 piece bonus doesn't diminish as you level.

- When you get to CP 160 then I would start asking around for what gear to get that will make you into the Necromancer Damage Dealing Juggernaut that you set out to be. There are lots of options and you can consult Youtube, Alcast's site, and other sources to find a setup that matches the investment in time and gold you want to make.

There is a lot more, but this should get you off to a good start IMO.

Tigertron

I hope you mean 1-LA-2-LA-3-LA-4-LA-5-LA

otherwise you will never get to ULTIMATE

Finedaible

Build Advisor is

nazgull2k1ub17_ESO wrote: »

Just to show my work, so to speak. This is what Ive currently got equipped, powers, abilities, gear levels etc. Im only 40.. and I just dont have the know-how regarding everything they've butterballed this game into progression-wise.

Hell I just finished the main story quest, and when I took the next one from Cadwell, it just jacked me out of my Ebonheart Pact faction and away from my wife, and stuck me in Daggerfall.. and the only way I can see to get BACK to Ebonheart Pact is to pay ESO 2500 Crowns for a faction change BACK... (Dont even get me started on how angry this makes me, or how absolutely silly this is overall.)

Now as far as traits and hundrigs and all that other stuff, I cant find any of it for sale, and even if I could, I dont want to waste the money on it just to replace it in a day or 2 when I hit 50. I cant afford that.

Im following the "Build advisor" for "Baleful Summoner" which is supposed to be a Magicka DPS class... and yet every other power it tries ramming down my throat is a friggen healing skill.. Im NOT a healer. Do not want to BE a healer, in ANY way shape or form. Have no idea why its ramming healing skills down my throat for a magicka DPS class.. but I aint doing it. IDGAF what the stupid thing says.

https://ibb.co/CQY1KNQ
https://ibb.co/ydy4kjP
https://ibb.co/XsRzCMB

Build Advisor is another joke, an illusion meant to draw new players into thinking they are achieving something. It does absolutely nothing to prepare players for serious endgame content. You are better off seeking help from other players. Even if the Advisor was min/maxed when it released, the dev team changes class skills so often it is unlikely those pre-defined builds are going to be anywhere near the same month-to-month.

Uvi_AUT

nazgull2k1ub17_ESO wrote: »

I just dont get how you people do this day after day after day...

Oh EVERYTHING is *YOUR* level!

"Come back to newbie island at level 50.. still take 60% of your mana to kill a mudcrab! Arent you excited???"

No.. no im honest to god REALLY not. Im bored to absolute tears. Playing a necromancer "summoner" (which is a laughable description btw.. I see people running around with Daedra pets, Demon pets, bear pets.. I however, the "master" of the undead.. cant keep a friggen skeleton pet.. oh no.. ) and here I am, almost level 40.. and literally EVERYTHING I kill is the same thing.. push 1, push 2, push 3, push 4, push 5, push 1, push 1 till dead. Doesnt matter what it is, everything takes forever to die, and no matter where I go, I feel like a complete scrub unable to really get into the combat system. Gear is completely irrelevant, powers dont do any actual damage, just %'s. So where is the actual progression here? When do I get to kill something without it being some life or death struggle? Cause honest to god Im just not seeing the relevance here of EVERYTHING I do, EVERYTHING I gather, EVERYTHING I fight, being my "equal". There's no challenge whatsoever. 1,2,3,4,5,1,1.. next mob. Im practically falling asleep.

If it wasnt for this game's amazing writing and storytelling, I'd have re-quit this game 2 hours after I came back.

Oh... I should probably mention.. I played this game during launch. Got the Imperial Edition and everything. Put up a MASSIVE post on these very forums listing the games (at the time) many many faults.. mainly their inaction against the chinese gold bot farmer armada. (turns out I was right there.. they basically killed the entire game..)
Come back to find out they took what was once a pretty damn good game and turned it into Skyrim 2.0.. I beat Skyrim at level 1. I feel the same way here. Everywhere I go, I feel like a level 1. I havent even left the first area out of Davons Watch.. and Im already at 40. Do they really think Im going to grind through all of this content across 5 or 6 expansions.. when EVERYTHING is my level, EVERY combat is a cookie cutter experience.. just for a story Im only about 50% invested in even continuing? All while the abysmally small "max" level keeps me capped with no way to progress forward?

Because honest to god Im looking for ANY justification to even log back in right now and rationalize the money Ive spent in the last few days. Am I missing anything here? Is there some light at this end of this tedium tunnel?

Just wait until you are CP160 and have just a little bit of gear. You will wish for something to actually damage you in Solocontent. Enemies will feel like youre hitting a Snowman with a flamethrower.

Fennwitty

nazgull2k1ub17_ESO wrote: »

Just to show my work, so to speak. This is what Ive currently got equipped, powers, abilities, gear levels etc. Im only 40.. and I just dont have the know-how regarding everything they've butterballed this game into progression-wise.

Hell I just finished the main story quest, and when I took the next one from Cadwell, it just jacked me out of my Ebonheart Pact faction and away from my wife, and stuck me in Daggerfall.. and the only way I can see to get BACK to Ebonheart Pact is to pay ESO 2500 Crowns for a faction change BACK... (Dont even get me started on how angry this makes me, or how absolutely silly this is overall.)

Now as far as traits and hundrigs and all that other stuff, I cant find any of it for sale, and even if I could, I dont want to waste the money on it just to replace it in a day or 2 when I hit 50. I cant afford that.

Im following the "Build advisor" for "Baleful Summoner" which is supposed to be a Magicka DPS class... and yet every other power it tries ramming down my throat is a friggen healing skill.. Im NOT a healer. Do not want to BE a healer, in ANY way shape or form. Have no idea why its ramming healing skills down my throat for a magicka DPS class.. but I aint doing it. IDGAF what the stupid thing says.

https://ibb.co/CQY1KNQ
https://ibb.co/ydy4kjP
https://ibb.co/XsRzCMB

If you're on PCNA I can hook you up with 2 complete level 40 crafted gear sets for free, no strings.

FlopsyPrince

Fennwitty wrote: »

nazgull2k1ub17_ESO wrote: »

Just to show my work, so to speak. This is what Ive currently got equipped, powers, abilities, gear levels etc. Im only 40.. and I just dont have the know-how regarding everything they've butterballed this game into progression-wise.

Hell I just finished the main story quest, and when I took the next one from Cadwell, it just jacked me out of my Ebonheart Pact faction and away from my wife, and stuck me in Daggerfall.. and the only way I can see to get BACK to Ebonheart Pact is to pay ESO 2500 Crowns for a faction change BACK... (Dont even get me started on how angry this makes me, or how absolutely silly this is overall.)

Now as far as traits and hundrigs and all that other stuff, I cant find any of it for sale, and even if I could, I dont want to waste the money on it just to replace it in a day or 2 when I hit 50. I cant afford that.

Im following the "Build advisor" for "Baleful Summoner" which is supposed to be a Magicka DPS class... and yet every other power it tries ramming down my throat is a friggen healing skill.. Im NOT a healer. Do not want to BE a healer, in ANY way shape or form. Have no idea why its ramming healing skills down my throat for a magicka DPS class.. but I aint doing it. IDGAF what the stupid thing says.

https://ibb.co/CQY1KNQ
https://ibb.co/ydy4kjP
https://ibb.co/XsRzCMB

If you're on PCNA I can hook you up with 2 complete level 40 crafted gear sets for free, no strings.

Almost any guild should be a help here too. Plenty on PCNA that can help.

BTW, he does need at least one self-heal. Not more, but one to hit to keep health up in a fight.

Your offer to make crafted gear is also good. It isn't up for sale because it is not worth it to craft and try to sell without a direct need. Going with whatever drops and some synergies is useful while leveling.

Work on the Witchmother's potion from the last event. Should still be available at a reasonable cost. Good for leveling magicka characters.

Check out something like AltCastHQ or HackTheMinotar for some guides and get advice. Don't be a slave to their builds, but they have lots of good stuff (as do similar others).

geonsocal

sounds like you're a bit frustrated OP - most important thing about gaming to remember:

FlopsyPrince

geonsocal wrote: »

sounds like you're a bit frustrated OP - most important thing about gaming to remember:

Exactly!

Anyone can ping me in game on PCNA (if you can get my attention) and I can recommend a couple of decent guilds if you can't find anyone to help. I solo mostly, so I am not the best example, but several of my guilds seem quite nice.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Gundug wrote: »

For the people arguing against level scaling, I played this game before One Tamriel, where zones were set for specific level ranges. It was terrible. No XP or rewards for being out of your zone. Grouping with buddies out of your level range was unrewarding. You could go anywhere, but there was no point in being outside of your level range, since mobs either were like nothing and dropped no rewards, or like veteran bosses and dropped no rewards. Many zones were completely dead. Literally no players around anywhere. The game came to life after One Tamriel.

There were pros and cons to the before and after, that is for sure. The one major con, which I think OP is touching on, even if he doesnt know it, is that with no CP sub 50, you can feel like you are getting weaker as you level. That should not happen in a game, but it certainly does in ESO. Best way to avoid that is to always be within a few levels of the gear you are wearing.

To the OP, best advice is to rip the bandaid off and get to Level 50/CP 160 and reevaluate. Overland difficulty is one of the oldest jokes in eso, it is absurdly easy with a decent build. Even without CP, it is not hard to cruise through overland content at low level, as long as your build passes the smell test.

I have played a decent amount of necro. It is not the most intuitive class, and probably struggles more with wonky animations than any of them. That said, it is actually a very easy class to play solo. Perhaps post the bars you are using and we can give you some pointers on some easy changes to make. I don't like to post cookie cutter builds (we have alcsat.hq for that), but would certainly help you adapt what you are working with.

Without even knowing your bars, I can tell you are doing it wrong. No, I am not talking about weaving, I am talking about skill order and rotation. you should never need to cast 6 skills to kill anything, and on a necro, every third skill should always be the same, Blast bones. Blastbones, Bonyard, Spam, Blastbones, spam, spam, will take you all the way through overland and any quest in this game. Bonus points for keeping up the skeletal mage/archer for more damage, and Spirt Mender for a passive heal. Class spam skill options are skull for single target, sycthe for AOE. And that is just the tip of the iceberg of what a necro can do.

geonsocal

oh yeah, hold off on any more "permanent" gear choices until you hit cp160...then the real fun/grind for gear can begin...

another suggestion i would make - leave those build provider sites alone for a while...just spend time reading through your skill descriptions and try to figure out the best skills and rotations to use to make sure you: shield, heal, buff, de-buff, attack, defend...also work on timing your blocks and roll dodges...

as the saying goes - enjoy the journey...there's no pot of gold waiting for you at the end of the rainbow, just more journey...

no doubt since you've been away for a good while there are a lot of zones/areas for you to explore...i'd suggest finding some you enjoy, go explore, collect skyshards and clear out some public dungeons...

i have toons now that are six plus years old, their development never stops...