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Not enough quests? Always underleveled? You may have MDMMOPS. Read on!
Keshka
✭✭✭
The following are some personal observations from my experiences through the early part of the game. Hopefully this will help a few of those people who are struggling with the levelling aspect of the game and loudly proclaiming in chat: "I'M QUITTING THIS GAME. I HATE IT. I'M GOING TO MAKE A SORROW SANDWICH NOW."
Statements like this cause me to die a little inside, and feel a little hungry. It's time to stop the madness.
I also hope that any of the condescension employed in the following text, for the purposes of my amusement, are both forgiven and outweighed by any value found therein. I want to be clear: the flavour is tongue-in-cheek but the content is genuine, I hope it helps someone. I should also point out that this is from the perspective of a soloist; a person who sees other players as erratic, questionably named, non-interactive bots.
Anyway, without further adieu, let us begin.
Your attention, adventurer!
Do any of the following apply to you? Be honest!
"There aren't enough quests in this game!"
"I'm always X levels behind."
"The mobs always kill me, I'm too low level!"
Recognise any of this? You may be suffering from a common affliction: Modern Day MMO Player Syndrome, or MDMMOPS.
But fear not, I have a few simple rules which may help to alleviate the symptoms of MDMMOPS while playing ESO.
Rule One: Be At Level
Never do a quest you're not the right level for. If you start doing this you will steadily become more and more out of sync with the available quests, and you'll end up being the kind of person who needs to come here and read this forum post. But don't worry, by the end of reading it you won't be that kind of person anymore, so you never had to come here and read it in the first place, and none of this ever happened.
If you are not the right level for your next quest, or you have no quests, see rule two.
Rule Two: Explore
Quests in ESO are not neatly grouped into Obvious Hubs of Questing Laziness. You may actually need to go out into the world and explore your immediate area. Look at your map; have you been to that spot? No? GO THERE. If all the enemies you see around you are 2+ levels above you, you're very likely not ready for that area yet and you'll probably end up running, dying, crying, and very possibly all three.
If you are truly desperate, there are sites online which provide maps of quest givers in a zone. I'm not going to give you any links because I don't want to feed your MDMMOPS. The goal of these rules is to help you beat your disease, not to support it! At the very least, having to Google it will add points to your personal Finding Things Myself skill line.
Finally, if you have done all the quests at your level, and explored all that you can, rule three may just save you.
Rule Three: Just Grind It
Employ the ancient, near-forgotten technique of your MMO forebears: Grinding. If you have absolutely nothing else to do, go find a nice place with plenty of enemies at your level, and kill them. And do it again. Many times. The process may be more pleasurable if you select one of the beautifully rendered locales on the surface world, and not a dark, smelly dungeon that may lead you to question your purpose in life while you wail on skeletons.
Having said that, it's not all that horrific; grinding isn't as bad as it sounds. As far as I've observed, if you've correctly followed rules one and two, and the tips below, you shouldn't find yourself grinding for very long at all.
Finally, for some bonus tips:
Bonus Tip: Don't Skip The Starter Zones
By all means, you can go ahead and skip the tutorial after the first time. That is unless you are a caster and you want a staff, in which case upon not finding one in your urn you may quizzically ask the ZOS developers if you have indeed found the secret fists-only 'Monk' class.
After the tutorial however, you will want to do the special island starter zones. You can get to these zones from a quest giver who is generally standing right outside the door of the room you start the game in. This is actually the first in a number of meta quests entitled "Using Your Eyes".
Bonus Tip: Kill As You Go (KAYG)
When you're questing, make an effort to kill enemies you come across. Don't avoid them. Don't take the lazy path. Remember that any enemies you skip now, you may have to grind later. This is especially true at the game's launch, when there are a lot of players around killing the enemies that were, by the game's design, supposed to be killed by you. Not Lord Buffinstuff. Not Sir Castsalot. Not that guy with the bow you'd like. YOU.
Bonus Tip: Go into those random dungeons...
When you see Torch icons on your map, it means there is a dungeon that no quest will send you to. Go into these dungeons and clear them out. You'll usually find a quest inside. Take note: If the enemies in the dungeon are higher than your level, wait until you are at that level before doing the dungeon. Treat them the same way you treat quests; with respect for the level requirement and perhaps a small amount of misinformed disillusionment.
Bonus Tip: Are you doing it right?
If you're having trouble killing stronger boss type enemies in quests, as long as the enemy is at your level, there shouldn't be any reason you can't beat them. Look at other factors: Is your gear up to scratch? If not, craft some! Are you using your skills properly? If not, practice! Do you have a skill that can slow down or incapacitate multiple enemies? If so, use it! Are you interrupting and blocking special moves? If not, DO IT. Could you use a potion/food/drink to give you an edge? If yes, consume it! Does this fight have any special mechanics, like bubbles you must shoot to gain health? If so, bubbles! Are you standing in fire? For the Nine's sake, DON'T STAND IN THE FIRE.*
While the ZOS developers may be lurking in some sort of GM spectator mode, sitting around watching new players die whilst stuffing down popcorn and cackling maniacally because they deliberately tuned the fight to be too hard, just to make people come in droves to the forums to complain about how hard the game is... they probably aren't.
Probably.
Remember, if you see someone who needs help to be free, just tell them to search for MDMMOPS!
* For the Red Shirt Guys in the audience, I am aware there are only eight divines in the ESO period. Take a deep, calming breath and put the pitchfork down.
Edited by Keshka on April 20, 2014 7:32AM Statements like this cause me to die a little inside, and feel a little hungry. It's time to stop the madness.
I also hope that any of the condescension employed in the following text, for the purposes of my amusement, are both forgiven and outweighed by any value found therein. I want to be clear: the flavour is tongue-in-cheek but the content is genuine, I hope it helps someone. I should also point out that this is from the perspective of a soloist; a person who sees other players as erratic, questionably named, non-interactive bots.
Anyway, without further adieu, let us begin.
Your attention, adventurer!
Do any of the following apply to you? Be honest!
"There aren't enough quests in this game!"
"I'm always X levels behind."
"The mobs always kill me, I'm too low level!"
Recognise any of this? You may be suffering from a common affliction: Modern Day MMO Player Syndrome, or MDMMOPS.
But fear not, I have a few simple rules which may help to alleviate the symptoms of MDMMOPS while playing ESO.
Rule One: Be At Level
Never do a quest you're not the right level for. If you start doing this you will steadily become more and more out of sync with the available quests, and you'll end up being the kind of person who needs to come here and read this forum post. But don't worry, by the end of reading it you won't be that kind of person anymore, so you never had to come here and read it in the first place, and none of this ever happened.
If you are not the right level for your next quest, or you have no quests, see rule two.
Rule Two: Explore
Quests in ESO are not neatly grouped into Obvious Hubs of Questing Laziness. You may actually need to go out into the world and explore your immediate area. Look at your map; have you been to that spot? No? GO THERE. If all the enemies you see around you are 2+ levels above you, you're very likely not ready for that area yet and you'll probably end up running, dying, crying, and very possibly all three.
If you are truly desperate, there are sites online which provide maps of quest givers in a zone. I'm not going to give you any links because I don't want to feed your MDMMOPS. The goal of these rules is to help you beat your disease, not to support it! At the very least, having to Google it will add points to your personal Finding Things Myself skill line.
Finally, if you have done all the quests at your level, and explored all that you can, rule three may just save you.
Rule Three: Just Grind It
Employ the ancient, near-forgotten technique of your MMO forebears: Grinding. If you have absolutely nothing else to do, go find a nice place with plenty of enemies at your level, and kill them. And do it again. Many times. The process may be more pleasurable if you select one of the beautifully rendered locales on the surface world, and not a dark, smelly dungeon that may lead you to question your purpose in life while you wail on skeletons.
Having said that, it's not all that horrific; grinding isn't as bad as it sounds. As far as I've observed, if you've correctly followed rules one and two, and the tips below, you shouldn't find yourself grinding for very long at all.
Finally, for some bonus tips:
Bonus Tip: Don't Skip The Starter Zones
By all means, you can go ahead and skip the tutorial after the first time. That is unless you are a caster and you want a staff, in which case upon not finding one in your urn you may quizzically ask the ZOS developers if you have indeed found the secret fists-only 'Monk' class.
After the tutorial however, you will want to do the special island starter zones. You can get to these zones from a quest giver who is generally standing right outside the door of the room you start the game in. This is actually the first in a number of meta quests entitled "Using Your Eyes".
Bonus Tip: Kill As You Go (KAYG)
When you're questing, make an effort to kill enemies you come across. Don't avoid them. Don't take the lazy path. Remember that any enemies you skip now, you may have to grind later. This is especially true at the game's launch, when there are a lot of players around killing the enemies that were, by the game's design, supposed to be killed by you. Not Lord Buffinstuff. Not Sir Castsalot. Not that guy with the bow you'd like. YOU.
Bonus Tip: Go into those random dungeons...
When you see Torch icons on your map, it means there is a dungeon that no quest will send you to. Go into these dungeons and clear them out. You'll usually find a quest inside. Take note: If the enemies in the dungeon are higher than your level, wait until you are at that level before doing the dungeon. Treat them the same way you treat quests; with respect for the level requirement and perhaps a small amount of misinformed disillusionment.
Bonus Tip: Are you doing it right?
If you're having trouble killing stronger boss type enemies in quests, as long as the enemy is at your level, there shouldn't be any reason you can't beat them. Look at other factors: Is your gear up to scratch? If not, craft some! Are you using your skills properly? If not, practice! Do you have a skill that can slow down or incapacitate multiple enemies? If so, use it! Are you interrupting and blocking special moves? If not, DO IT. Could you use a potion/food/drink to give you an edge? If yes, consume it! Does this fight have any special mechanics, like bubbles you must shoot to gain health? If so, bubbles! Are you standing in fire? For the Nine's sake, DON'T STAND IN THE FIRE.*
While the ZOS developers may be lurking in some sort of GM spectator mode, sitting around watching new players die whilst stuffing down popcorn and cackling maniacally because they deliberately tuned the fight to be too hard, just to make people come in droves to the forums to complain about how hard the game is... they probably aren't.
Probably.
Remember, if you see someone who needs help to be free, just tell them to search for MDMMOPS!
* For the Red Shirt Guys in the audience, I am aware there are only eight divines in the ESO period. Take a deep, calming breath and put the pitchfork down.
166
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software_goddess✭✭✭I wholeheartedly agree with NOT skipping the starter island. I skipped it and went exploring in the world and got creamed! I felt deflated and worthless; then I finally talked to the guy who directed me to the ship captain, and my life was changed! The starter island had enemies that were 3 levels behind me. It was such an ego boost to plow my way through them. It was also FULL of ingredients needed to build up my cooking, woodworking, and all the other crafting skills…
…Go to the island!
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TheGodless1✭✭✭Dude, this is great! Well put! People DO need to stop having their hands held all the time with links and maps...Elder Scrolls games have ALWAYS been an exploration bonanza. My guild leader today told me our site has maps of all the Shards...no way I'm going to use that when I have either exploration or even hints in my achievement tracker.Tell someone to look a lil and they ignore you for being a troll....just trying to give them a little personal accountability and responsibility. I found these things so I know you can too since you say how intelligent and "PRO" you are in gen chat...That's my way of thinking anyhow...you just put it in a way I never would have considered. wish I could vote for this again!0
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Laura✭✭✭✭✭
✭Lets all thank ShoddyCast for the starting island. God forbid you have to spend 1 hour of liner in an MMO that has at least 300 hours of entertainment in JUST the leveling experience.
Anyway if I could give you a million insightfuls I would this was an excellent post.
your "MDMMOPS" is why we have 10000 WoW clones and not enough great games. People are afraid to take a chance hurrah to ZoS for taking that chance.Edited by Laura on April 2, 2014 9:23AM8 -
marybarwick1b14_ESOSoul ShrivenI couldn't agree with you more. I was running around yesterday and suddenly realized that all the quests I had were two levels ahead of me. While I was able to do them with a little difficulty my first thought was "what did I miss" ran back around the lower area of the map and viola quest heaven! While I may still be a low level I see now reason to plow through the content instead enjoying the scenery, looting all those crates, and just plain walking up to a mob that looks at me funny and blowing him up.Goddess to one, elf to all3 -
kijima✭✭✭✭✭
✭ShoddyCast has always had a lot to answer for.Been here since Feb 2014 - You'd think I'd be half reasonable at this game by now...
A'marta - AD Sorc Tank
Kijima - AD DK Derps
Annure - AD NB Derps
Boom Crash Opera - AD Sorc DPS0 -
Stautmeister✭✭✭Explore, do all dungeons, hang around public bosses and youl never be underlevelled. (dont just follow the zones main quest it will only get you through 50%) of the quests.
Ive been saying this a lot. No spot on the actual map is empty. See an empty spot? Explore.An orc marrying a wood elf?! Enjoy your Borsimer mutants!1 -
mlecho74✭Three things:
1) Excellent article. Very well written and helpful to people who may have never played an MMO before.
2) You can skip the tutorial? I did not know that. Thank you.
3) I'm a little surprised that people *didn't* know that they should stick to their level. To me that seems obvious - if something is higher level that you, it's unlikely you can kill it by yourself.
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Nooblet✭✭✭✭Probably because it's very easy to kill things 2-3levels higher than yourself. I know because I unintentionally skipped a starter island. Realizing it around 14 it was too late. But took time to make sure I don't miss anything else since then.
I spent a few hours in PvP to gain 2 levels to kinda catch up a little, and I'm still fighting the uphill battle.
But yes I would recommend not doing quests above you thinking you will catch up... cuz you won't. I'm now 23 and about finished with this zone, and I think the next is 26.0 -
Nooblet✭✭✭✭I probably would have questioned it more earlier.. but most the people around me were lower level also. So I just thought maybe the level scaling isn't quite right.0
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Deadarth✭Just one thing you may not have mentioned ... if you have discovered a place but there might be something you can do there, the place icon will be white border and mostly black icon .... if it's the other way around you probably have nothing to do there ... at least that's what it seemed like to me. Anyone can confirm or prove me wrong ?1
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Xelphos✭✭✭Huh, I already do all of that, I am still 2 levels below where I should be. I completed everything on the two islands in Daggerfall, completed Glenumbra and Stormhaven. I should be level 24, but I am only level 22.1 -
iaindoc92b16_ESOSoul ShrivenI keep seeing people at level 14 wondering around the level 20 areas. Me being the pleasant person I am I generally just sit and watch them get killed rather than contributing to their MDMMOPS4
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Ciovala✭✭✭Love it.
I really don't understand how people are under-levelled, though. I have the opposite problem and it just makes the game too easy when you're 2 levels over everything. Looking for a mature and helpful social guild - play PvE, PvP, and like crafting.0 -
nice said it was a like they say in Belgium this is a strong argument *** BOW ***Crazy ??? ...... Yes , I am
and Whats you're excuse ??? 
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I keep returning to the starter islands to just get some time to cool off and think and gather resources so i can keep increasing my crafting skill so i say: A-freaking- men man.1
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SuperScrubby✭✭✭I'd have to say this is pretty funny. Yeah I don't mind hand holding for the first hour, but after a while it gets kinda clammy and awkward. This game did a good job introducing me to the basics, some things could be a little more straightforward or at least have a better FAQ/Self help section so I can look it up rather than being forced to read everything. SWTOR was a little too forceful with tips, but it was pretty comprehensive so I could look it up really quick rather than spam an already spammed zone chat for an answer. That and I don't want to look like a NOOB.0
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I love the way this game promotes exploration. I love nothing more in games than exploring, regardless of level. I'm cruising around as a lvl 12 Dragon knight and bump into a level 18. FIGHT ME! It didn't work so well when I bumped into a lvl 43, but I tried anyway. There's nothing wrong with dying, it's part of the game!1
