Not enough quests? Always underleveled? You may have MDMMOPS. Read on!

chriss23

Excuse me but how do you know what level your enemies are? I'm reading your guide having reached the 'not sure if this is for me' stage (but I'm determined and stubborn old woman(!) and finding it very useful as I'm very new to online gaming

Ironblaze

Not standing in fire... that explains the issue with those dremora...
Well-put all around, just one comment I'd add is:
X) If the quest is bugged, feel free to skip it and return, but don't let that stop you from killing everything in sight first!

Keshka

chriss23 wrote: »

Excuse me but how do you know what level your enemies are? I'm reading your guide having reached the 'not sure if this is for me' stage (but I'm determined and stubborn old woman(!) and finding it very useful as I'm very new to online gaming

Hello Chriss! When you put your mouse over an enemy you'll be able see their level number displayed next to the health bar at the top of your screen.

Just be careful placing it over any Khajiit targets as they have an annoying tendency to chase it.

AlchemyDevil

An excellent post, thank you for sharing this. I hope some of the players complaining on the forums regarding this issue are enlightened.

chriss23

Thanks Keshka, I hadn't spotted the little number next to the character! I think I must have been too busy concentrating on the game!

Qorvus

I always seem to be overlevelled for places I'm meant to go. Most quests I pick up are green already.

Ibura

Well said!

kongkim

You people must be doing something wrong. Im always have gray quests as im over the level there. have NO problems at all with leveling and even skip some quest to go to next area.

drkeys143

Love the post, great advice and very humorously put, a joy to read

Aicilef

This design is simply nonsense... I did every quest in Roost, Auridon and Ghratwood and I was only level 23 after that. This is probably because you receive WAY less XP when you do the quests in the wrong order: you get less XP killin lvl 17 mobs when you're 21 then when you're 17. So, even if you do all the quests, but you do them in a different order, you're screwed.

And for the record, I only missed one quest in Ghratwood, but because THERE IS NO LIST OF QUESTS THAT YOU FINISHED, it is impossible to know which one. You need to be either a really big fanboy or a public-relation-employee-in-disguise to find this acceptable.

Also, the fact that we're underleveled is also due to the fact that the game decides which areas you HAVE TO DO and in what exact order. Unlike other MMOs that have 2-3-4 zones for each level, this game only has one.

Saying 'it's your own fault, you don't run around enough' is simply not true. This underlevelling is because a) there is no decent quest log and b) there is only one area for your level and c) the XP per kill lowers alot when you're a higher level.

It's the game's design, not because of 'MDMMOPS'.

Elloa

This thread is gold! Thank you @Keshka to have written it, it was a good moment of laugh, and also some very good tips for the players that may find questing difficult!
I've shared this on Anook.com hope you do not mind!

I've tested in the PTS to level a character while skipping the first island, and it's a lot more tedious. In addition, one is missing some really good stories and skyshard and landscapes by skipping it, so why doing so, unless you have already completed it five time.

Personaly I'm always outleveling the content. I guess I'm doing too much stuff. I need to abandon grey quest, and refrain myself of doing too much Dungeons. I really have to do EFFORTS to only be 4 lvl above my quest area.
I'm a very slow, very unefficient leveler, but i've tons of fun and a huge collection of screenshots!

jesterstear

Is there a way to check your quest completion rate for each zone? I thought I was behaving quite well, but I am getting behind... level 25 and all my quests are at least 27. So I spent two hours grinding an orc camp which has got me almost to 26. I have low dps as a tank/healer. Not looking forward to another 2 hour grind to catch up tbh

Sleepwalker

Aicilef wrote: »

This design is simply nonsense... It's the game's design, not because of 'MDMMOPS'.

Your unfortunate experience with questing doesn't make it the "game's design". Many people here have replied about being higher than the content they're running, myself included. I have not run a single quest above my level at 38. I've also not run a dungeon more than once and skipped some anchor points. If you are under-leveled, then you skipped some content. It's just that simple. Just because you aren't aware what it is you skipped doesn't make us wrong.

(Had to tell that to some deluded simpleton in zone chat the other day as well since he was going on and on about the "design" in this same way... Coincedence?)

Qujz

Well I`ve done all that and still wind up under leveled for zones and I`m the type that does do a lot of exploring and has done it more in this game than any other mmo I`ve played

kennylpj_ESO

12.7 STARS

habbahen

Actually there is another problem - I am trying to do all quests, get all achievements and explore all map, and I am constantly ~2 levels above quest level.

jesterstear

Before we start accusing each other of being lazy or sucky players, is there a way to show time /played on each character?

Quests completed out of possible quests completed per zone, even mobs killed?

Obviously there are those that stand around in a city all day having cybersex ,they are not going to level much despite many hours played.

On my low dps support character it takes 2 hours to grind a level fighting on-level mobs... my repair bill looks like it's going to be horrendous too, I was at 700 armour when I began, now down to 400, and I couldn't loot much (only the 1 gold per humanoid) due to having no bag space. I'm a melee only character equipment wear is unavoidable..

Sleepwalker

Being over-leveled for quests doesn't equal "good player", and being under-leveled does not equal "bad player" (although whining about it, threatening to leave the game if it's not "fixed", and/or not taking advice of people that don't have the same problem does...)

The difference is simply "how much content you've completed as it's been offered". That's it.

Asava

I bet that some people also fail to notice a quest npc pop up on their compass on the top of the screen when they're running around in the wilds. Not all quests are in the cities/villages.

Elloa

I really do not understand how players manage to get under level. I'm always above it, even when skipping whole chain quest. There is something wrong in the way I'm playing me guess!

MasterSpatula

It would be "For the Eight's sake," not the Nine. Tiber Septim is either not yet born or just another Nord soldier at this point.

Everything else? Spot on.

choren478b14_ESO

I'm just bad at the grinding of mobs, truthfully. Get distracted by all those nice plants laying about everywhere. I also have a hard time grinding mobs by myself, I'll eventually get bored and then try to beat what ever quest I'm stuck on...

Novelin

While I don't suffer from MDMMOPS, I did read this out of sheer curiosity. It's genius, love it! This is great for players new to MMOs and hilarious for veteran MMO players.

Matrinka

Very solid, although you'll be grinding a lot more than you'd like as the game has just launched so the developers are probably trying to fix bugs with current quests and will add more quests to existing areas at a later date.

Banjin

I insist on the first rule. Don't go after higher level quests, it'll just widen the gap.

Also never group with higher levels, they have an anti-powerlevel system that will just kill all the xp you should be gaining.

And when you're buddy goes offline, degroup, coz there seems to be a bug that kills all your xp if you're grouped with someone that's logged out. Literally, all your kill xp will drop to zero. So watch out for that. I fell 2-3 levels behind on this bug alone.

That said, it sucks that the only solution is grinding. Recent MMOs avoid this problem, and this takes us back to the stone age. Grinding really really blows. Perhaps if they made some repeatable quests, as seen on other MMOs. That could help close the gap.

Anyway, if you've fallen behind, go for the dark anchors, good xp there.

Or go kill 119,050 mudcrabs...

Palidon

The game is against you from the start. Heck they might as well do away with the dodge function. Spells are like homing missiles. There is no way to get away from them. Even hiding behind something does not work. Invisibility is also a joke. If you are invisible they still know where you are. Even if a certain quest is marked at lvl 40 and the player is lvl 42 there is a strong chance you will not be successful. Prices are way out of line. If you are killed it is best just to leave. Repeated attempts will be a shock once you get to a vender and find out how much it is going to cost you to repair your gear.

Talmet

Palidon wrote: »

The game is against you from the start. Heck they might as well do away with the dodge function. Spells are like homing missiles. There is no way to get away from them. Even hiding behind something does not work. Invisibility is also a joke. If you are invisible they still know where you are. Even if a certain quest is marked at lvl 40 and the player is lvl 42 there is a strong chance you will not be successful. Prices are way out of line. If you are killed it is best just to leave. Repeated attempts will be a shock once you get to a vender and find out how much it is going to cost you to repair your gear.

some missiles can be dodged...and some have to be blocked...invisibility does work, but I don't think you can dodge missiles with it if that's what you mean.

if you are lvl 42 & you are losing to mobs that are lvl 40, then either a) you are attempting to fight like 10 mobs at once, or b) you need to look at your skills/equip/stats and rework some stuff. While ZoS says you can play as you want...there is a limit to the gimpness that is allowed even in non-vet content. (i.e. making a character that only uses dw weapon abilities, wears full light armor while having every stat/enchant in magicka isn't going to work well....)

True, repeatedly dying to the same mob over and over and over again is not a good plan. If you die more than once/twice at a mob/boss, that's the game's way of telling you "Your doing something wrong, go level up some, and/or go back to town and find out what is wrong with your character before coming back."

GamePlayer7

OP forgot to mention that when the game early-released on Sunday March 30th, ESO had a slew of bugged quests and npcs. Your experience might vary depending on what faction you chose, what quest options you chose, when you played, (some npcs bugged when too many people attempted to interact with them), whether you knew to try to re-log, etc..

Some players were left with multiple quest chains, (half a dozen or more at a time), broken. So not only were they locked out of experience gain from those individual quests, they were also unable to gain exp. from the quests that should have been available further down the chain, (completion of a chain gives a large chunk of exp.). This left some people in a situation where they would find themselves out of quests and under-leveled.

Notice how now that we have had a few bug fix patches, and those quests have been fixed, we no longer see so many people complaining about the quest progression? Weird huh?

EmmanuelFR

This topic comes from a good intention but i m wondering who deson't already know all about what is explained in the OP. This is like saying "before entering a closed room, open the door" xD

phairdon

This is a source of frustration for me too. Find myself stuck at level 48 after completing all Aldmeri & Cold Harbor quests. In the process of running around the lower level maps trying to find a few hidden side quests.
next venture might be crafting although I am unsure if crafting aids much when it comes to leveling.
See more & more players with veteran ranks so I must be doing something wrong.