New player here asking about leveling and challenge

Vilhone

Hello and thanks in advance. First of all im absolutely love in eso, playing series x. Im an old wow veteran who wanted to get back into mmo gaming. Im level 29 stamina necromancer and im amazed how rotation and combat is more complex to wow and with controller! Using right skill, swapping action bars bow to 2h it feels much more exiting, specially when i learned the class to divide the skill for bow and 2hander with different heals and aoe with light and heavy attacks plus block. It feel much more wholesome than alt tab rotation in wow which i also liked.

But the concern is about challenge. What content do you play to feel the progress of new gear and skills? Becouse dungeon finder instances are so fast and easy you barely get to hit anything other than bosses. Runs are super fast rushes. I like the dungeons and storys but there is no time to absord anything. I have to sprint my stamina and maybe get 2 hits in aoe packs if im fast. Ive yet never seen any1 to die in instances. Will there be any challenge and feel of progress? How i am supposed to lvl up and experiencing the journey?

Yesterday i entered grp area and soloed some quests it felt the difficulty is now pretty accurate for solo play. Some outside bosses maybe a little difficult. I even soloed "the mages staff" instances and some encounters i died couple of times, it felt i needed to use all my skill and knowledge to keep alive and deal enough of damage. I barely made it but felt so rewarded. But if it get any more difficult i cannot solo grp dungeons, is this how the game is supposed to be played? All the others in the area were in groups.

ZOS_Icy

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the Players Helping Players section, as it is better suited there.

Thank you for your understanding.

etchedpixels

Overland is pitched at people new to the game so if you a veteran of other MMO or similar content you may well find it a bit of a cakewalk. For solo content the public dungeons and the Craglorn group delves are a bit tougher. You can walk in the door of most group dungeons and solo them but some have (mostly gratuitious) anti-solo-player mechanics. Skyreach Catacombs is always good fun.

The DLC dungeon content is harder but the game won't give it you yet in the finder and whilst you can do the trials at that level you'll probably struggle to find a group who will take you (but try some progression guilds).

Veteran DLC dungeon content is much harder than base game content, and the veteran trials, plus some of the arenas are not easy either. If you've not already go for a stroll through Maelstrom and Vateshraan arenas as well.

Once you get to 50 CP 160 you'll probably find content more attuned to your skills.

fred4

The random normal dungeon (rnd) gives you valuable rewards once a day (10 transmute crystals). Everyone runs them and veteran player rush, rush, rush. To experience the story, it's better to find equally new players, friends or guildies, and do the dungeons with them. It's probably best to actually avoid experuenced players. The base game dungeons are easy enough on normal mode. The DLC ones are tougher, even on normal mode.

Like etchedpixels said, overland content / questing is easy, designed for people who don't learn much about combat.

Public dungeons and Craglorn group delves are marginally harder.

Each of the original zones has 6 world bosses, one of which is harder than the others. DLC world bosses are harder. One of the hardest to solo is the Unfinished Dolmen in Wrothgar.

Skyreach Catacombs in Craglorn is one of the places people use for grinding, because there are so many mobs in there and they follow you. You don't lose aggro, like you normally do when you cover some distance. Experienced players will do the main areas of the upper level in about 3 pulls in total. It's not particularly hard, but you need to be familiar with AOE damage, healing, and interrupts. You can start by biting off as much as you can chew. I liked the "throne room", one of the side rooms in Skyreach when I was a new player.

There are two solo arenas, Maelstrom and Vateshran. On veteran mode, these are hard. Maelstrom especially is well worth doing (on vet) as it will teach you a lot. Try it from maybe CP600 onwards. Vateshran is more AOE focused with a more even difficulty until you get to the last boss, which is hard. To be honest, there is specific gear that makes these arenas easier, but I'm not going to divulge all the secrets yet .

There are also two 4-man arenas, Dragonstar and Blackrose Prison. Dragonstar will give you a fair bit to learn on vet. It's kind of medium difficulty, except for the final boss, which is hard. Long and boring for experienced players. Blackrose Prison on veteran mode is said to be among the hardest content in the game. If you reach let's say 1K CP and you run a particular build, you can solo the first arena on vet. I think someone has done the first two. Doing that is, perhaps, the ultimate test of how good your build is and how well you handle the base game mechanics. However at that level, you're very much at the limit of what can be done solo and there isn't a one fits all solution. Some veteran DLC 4-man dungeons have also been soloed and require an entirely different class / build / playstyle than Blackrose Prison.

OK, so the above was kind of a detour to the very hardest thing you can do solo. Aside from PvP, of course. There is always PvP. Being good at PvE and PvP requires pretty different skillsets. Should you be into PvP, probably start with duelling friends and doing Battlegrounds. I prefer open world, but it's unpredictable. As a brand new player you will likely be streamrolled wherever you go, but more so in open world. Grouping up can help, of course.

Anyway, in terms of dungeons, normal DLC dungeons are harder than base game ones, probably on the level of the easier base game veteran dungeons. This is 4-man content I'm talking about now. Vet DLC dungeons are just plain hard. All vet dungeons have an even harder "hard mode" too. In some cases the last boss is just a little harder. In the newer DLC dungeons you can activate hard mode for multiple bosses and there are secret bosses that may open up an additional challenge boss at the end, for example in Black Drake Villa and Coral Aerie. This is something to look forward to as you accumulate more CP.

Trials involve 12-man groups. There is no group finder. You can do the with a guild or you can go to Belkarth, in Craglorn, and watch zone chat for people looking for trials. Some of the normal mode trials are easy and / or you will be carried. You will have to learn the lingo. LFM = Looking for more. DD = damage dealer. H = healer. T= Tank. nCR+0 = normal mode Cloudrest / easy mode. nHRC = normal mode Hel Ra Citadel, and so on. Hel Ra and nSS - normal Sunspire - will yield two very useful sets for solo play, Vicious Ophidian and False God's Devotion.

Plectro

If you like the challenge and enjoy the combat mechanics, there's definitely some difficult content to look into. Most questing and stuff you find on the map is pretty trivial. However, in general the progression onwards from normal dungeons and trials will look something like this. Some people may disagree and swap those around but this in general is a good way to progress through content if you're interested in a challenge:

Arenas - 1-player / 4-player
Dungeons - 4-player
Trials - 12-player

You can also try to solo some dungeons. Soloing normal dungeons is fairly doable. If you're really up for a challenge, you could try to solo veteran dungeons. I have even seen some players solo DLC Hardmode dungeons while I struggled there over a month with a full 4-player group. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. Some very skilled players can truly push the limits of what is possible.

Here's my personal progression recommendation if you're thinking getting through the PvE game in terms of difficulty and developing your combat skill:
- Difficulty level 2:Veteran Dungeons (non-DLC)
- Difficulty level 3:Veteran Dungeons (DLC)
- Difficulty level 4:Veteran Trials (non-DLC, a.k.a. "Craglorn trials") (Sanctum Ophidia, Hel Ra Citadel, Aetherian Archive)
- Difficulty level 5:Veteran Dungeon Hardmodes (DLC)
- Difficulty level 5:Veteran Arenas (Maelstrom and Vateshran are solo, Dragonstar and Blackrose Prison are 4-player)
- Difficulty level 6:Veteran DLC Trials
- Difficulty level 7:Veteran DLC Trials Hardmodes
- Difficulty level 8:Trial Trifecta achievements (No-Death, Speedrun, Hardmode all in the same run. Gryphon Heart / Godslayer... and such)
- Difficulty level 9:Scorepushing and leaderboard competition. (The gap between lvl 8 and 9 is massive. Players who have already gotten all trifecta achievements may move on to improve their score and try to get those achievements with a faster time, higher DPS, optimize as much as possible)

Necrotech_Master

Plectro wrote: »

If you like the challenge and enjoy the combat mechanics, there's definitely some difficult content to look into. Most questing and stuff you find on the map is pretty trivial. However, in general the progression onwards from normal dungeons and trials will look something like this. Some people may disagree and swap those around but this in general is a good way to progress through content if you're interested in a challenge:

Arenas - 1-player / 4-player
Dungeons - 4-player
Trials - 12-player

You can also try to solo some dungeons. Soloing normal dungeons is fairly doable. If you're really up for a challenge, you could try to solo veteran dungeons. I have even seen some players solo DLC Hardmode dungeons while I struggled there over a month with a full 4-player group. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. Some very skilled players can truly push the limits of what is possible.

Here's my personal progression recommendation if you're thinking getting through the PvE game in terms of difficulty and developing your combat skill:
- Difficulty level 2:Veteran Dungeons (non-DLC)
- Difficulty level 3:Veteran Dungeons (DLC)
- Difficulty level 4:Veteran Trials (non-DLC, a.k.a. "Craglorn trials") (Sanctum Ophidia, Hel Ra Citadel, Aetherian Archive)
- Difficulty level 5:Veteran Dungeon Hardmodes (DLC)
- Difficulty level 5:Veteran Arenas (Maelstrom and Vateshran are solo, Dragonstar and Blackrose Prison are 4-player)
- Difficulty level 6:Veteran DLC Trials
- Difficulty level 7:Veteran DLC Trials Hardmodes
- Difficulty level 8:Trial Trifecta achievements (No-Death, Speedrun, Hardmode all in the same run. Gryphon Heart / Godslayer... and such)
- Difficulty level 9:Scorepushing and leaderboard competition. (The gap between lvl 8 and 9 is massive. Players who have already gotten all trifecta achievements may move on to improve their score and try to get those achievements with a faster time, higher DPS, optimize as much as possible)

good way to look at things, although there are some things that might need to be broken out

for example i would say vet dragonstar arena is way way easier than vet blackrose prison (in your list i would put vDSA at around level 3 or level 4 difficulty)

SeaGtGruff

Vilhone wrote: »

Becouse dungeon finder instances are so fast and easy you barely get to hit anything other than bosses. Runs are super fast rushes. I like the dungeons and storys but there is no time to absord anything. I have to sprint my stamina and maybe get 2 hits in aoe packs if im fast.

Vilhone wrote: »

But if it get any more difficult i cannot solo grp dungeons

As far as the comments I've singled out above, if you want more time to explore a dungeon's environment and its story, then aside from manually forming a group with one-to-three other players who all want the same thing, your best bet is to run the dungeon solo.

It will be more difficult than running it in a group, so you might need to work out a different stategy and pay more attention to boss mechanics. For instance, most dungeon groups I've been a part of try to draw all of the mobs from a given area together so they can melt through them at the same time as they fight the boss in that area, but when soloing you might need to tackle the mobs first before taking on the boss.

Also, when soloing a dungeon you need to handle all three roles-- tanking, damage-dealing, and healing-- by yourself, so be prepared for that.

If the dungeons seem too difficult, start with the dungeons from the base game, because they tend to be easier than the DLC dungeons. And check your Group settings to see whether you've got Normal or Veteran select as your difficulty. Veteran is a lot more difficult than Normal, so if you're having trouble with Veteran dungeons then switch to Normal.

Vilhone

Im lvl 42 or 44 and feel the dungeons got more difficult. Atleast i couldnt solo one instamce i tried to gain experience for fighters guild. I couldnt even kill the first boss and died on trash before it too. I just got notification i unlocked dlc dungeons when i leveled up, i though i were allready playing those. Have to test it today. Im positive vet dungeons with grp finder party will be challenging enough and trials if i get into any.

Necrotech_Master

Vilhone wrote: »

Im lvl 42 or 44 and feel the dungeons got more difficult. Atleast i couldnt solo one instamce i tried to gain experience for fighters guild. I couldnt even kill the first boss and died on trash before it too. I just got notification i unlocked dlc dungeons when i leveled up, i though i were allready playing those. Have to test it today. Im positive vet dungeons with grp finder party will be challenging enough and trials if i get into any.

do keep in mind that there is a scaling power bonus that scales down from lvl 1 to lvl 50

it usually becomes much more noticeable in the 30-35 range, and if your trying to level proper you want to try to use gear within 5 levels of your current lvl (the further above the armor level you are, the worse the armor gets)

etchedpixels

Vilhone wrote: »

Im lvl 42 or 44 and feel the dungeons got more difficult. Atleast i couldnt solo one instamce i tried to gain experience for fighters guild. I couldnt even kill the first boss and died on trash before it too. I just got notification i unlocked dlc dungeons when i leveled up, i though i were allready playing those. Have to test it today. Im positive vet dungeons with grp finder party will be challenging enough and trials if i get into any.

Vet dungeons are a weird mix. Some of them are little more than "normal dungeon with more health/resist" or "we made the hard aoe attack at the end actually hurt a lot", others - particularly DLC ones - take on a whole new complexity.

Normal trials are easier than most DLC dungeons. It does vary by trial - Hel Ra is rather easier than Sunspire and Sunspire is a lot easier than the recent ones.

Nestor

Vilhone wrote: »

Yesterday i entered grp area and soloed some quests it felt the difficulty is now pretty accurate for solo play. Some outside bosses maybe a little difficult. I even soloed "the mages staff" instances and some encounters i died couple of times, it felt i needed to use all my skill and knowledge to keep alive and deal enough of damage. I barely made it but felt so rewarded. But if it get any more difficult i cannot solo grp dungeons, is this how the game is supposed to be played? All the others in the area were in groups.

One thing to keep in mind, until you get to CP160, Gear Levels are weird. When you are 10 or 15 levels off your gear, you get really weak. This goes on to CP160. Fortunately, your alts after this will only have to deal with L1 to 50. Once you reach L50, your at your CP Rank for you account (if you have any), so get your first character to CP160 before you start an Alt.

What I would do is bribe a guild mate (mats or gold) to make you a set of leveling gear for each 10 levels L10 to L50, then CP10 and maybe CP80/100, so 5 or 6 sets. Use some generic sets as these are not build sets. Don't worry about intermediate CP11 to CP160 over much, you will fly past those levels, just find a fun Public Dungeon to grind on, or overland content to enjoy.

Keep the leveling gear on a Mule so your Alts can use it as you bring them up.

Vilhone

The game is much better now im lvl48 and ran some dungeons and even wiped couple of time. I died many times. The tank left and we tried to play it without but got spanked by boss and couldnt advance until tank joined it was some new instance prison of something i think. I think the dlc dungeons are better or then game sometimes miss match the group. But last run were nicely balanced and challenging i love it. I may even find vet dungeons hard when im eligble to join someday. It was very easy to die allready. I liking the game more and more.

Plectro

You should be eligible to join base-game veteran dungeons from lvl 50 onwards. And DLC from CP300 and higher. (CP is a lot faster to get than levels, once you reach lvl 50).

Also keep in mind that if you form a group of friends / guildies or something, you can even teleport or just travel directly into dungeons which you aren't eligible to queue for. If you teleport in with a custom group, you can attempt to do it just fine. Although I would say don't try to do DLC veterans until you at least get some decent gear sets which normally come after CP160