Levelling a character to full is too time consuming

Aelorin

Allright folks, I don't mean the levelling from 1 to 50 cause that goes extremely fast. The CP's also come when you play.

My target is the book collecting for mages skill line and Mora's whispers, skill point gathering, scrying, Psijic order skill line,...

After doing this with several characters, I don't have the spirit anymore to go through all this hassle with my Arcanist. The fact that Arcanist will eventually get nerfed to the ground (it happened to Warden who has recovered after years, and it has happened with Necromancer, who is not recovered yet) also does not help. I also don't want to open my wallet for it anymore.

I think I just go back to my first character who became a crafting alt over the years, it's a sorcerer - still a great class - and has allready all the books and lot's off skill points.

What's your opinion?

AlterBlika

That's why I'd like a class change token or more account-wide stuff

jaws343

On my Alts, I only level the skill lines they actually need. And only three of my 20 characters actually use any mages guild skills, so they are the only ones that have the books collected.

And skill point wise, I only do enough collecting to get the skills, morphs, and passives I need for a build. So once I hit that point, pretty much done leveling the character.

And that usually happens in the course of leveling the normal skills lines for a class through doing every dolmen in the game and running/collecting things in routes between them all. By the time that adventure is done, my characters are generally level 50, with everything they need for the build.

Gray_howling_parrot

Many of the things in this game are built like this, more times than not, to sell the solution in the crown store - skill line skips.

Most monetization in this game is pay for convenience and to do so, they have to make certain things take very long, be monotonous sometimes, etc. (see leveling of psijic guild, antiquities, mages guild, legerdemain, DB & TG; see selling character bound instead of account wide outfit and armory slots; see crown crates vs endeavors)

It’s just the business model for ZOS and is unlikely to change

GimpyPorcupine

Other than glowing treasure chests, what is the purpose of levelling scrying on alts?

Gray_howling_parrot

GimpyPorcupine wrote: »

Other than glowing treasure chests, what is the purpose of levelling scrying on alts?

Completionism more than anything and I guess being able to do antiquities on any character and not having to re log 🤷🏻‍♂️. Point is it’s a grind to level it to max regardless. Feels good/fine the first time, not so much subsequent times

kringled_1

GimpyPorcupine wrote: »

Other than glowing treasure chests, what is the purpose of levelling scrying on alts?

If you want to use the lancers, you need to have a character on whatever particular alliance with excavation leveled to some extent - the items are tied to the alliance of the character who digs them up

NeoniKa

Aelorin wrote: »

Allright folks, I don't mean the levelling from 1 to 50 cause that goes extremely fast. The CP's also come when you play.

My target is the book collecting for mages skill line and Mora's whispers, skill point gathering, scrying, Psijic order skill line,...

After doing this with several characters, I don't have the spirit anymore to go through all this hassle with my Arcanist. The fact that Arcanist will eventually get nerfed to the ground (it happened to Warden who has recovered after years, and it has happened with Necromancer, who is not recovered yet) also does not help. I also don't want to open my wallet for it anymore.

I think I just go back to my first character who became a crafting alt over the years, it's a sorcerer - still a great class - and has allready all the books and lot's off skill points.

What's your opinion?

I reached CP 800 in 3 months and I've been able to do a lot vet content at this level.

Seems ok to me. And now I have another 3 more characters at the same level just by reaching level 50.

So, it's pretty easy to level up an alt after leveling up the main character.

The only big issue I see are the riding skills. 180 days to level up a mount is too much. It's the only reason making me lose interest in creating more characters.

Elsonso

Aelorin wrote: »

Allright folks, I don't mean the levelling from 1 to 50 cause that goes extremely fast. The CP's also come when you play.

My target is the book collecting for mages skill line and Mora's whispers, skill point gathering, scrying, Psijic order skill line,...

After doing this with several characters, I don't have the spirit anymore to go through all this hassle with my Arcanist. The fact that Arcanist will eventually get nerfed to the ground (it happened to Warden who has recovered after years, and it has happened with Necromancer, who is not recovered yet) also does not help. I also don't want to open my wallet for it anymore.

What's your opinion?

Fully leveling a character is not required. People may lay requirements on others for certain skills in order to be part of their "club" but there are always other players out there. It is never required to be fully leveled or have the "meta" to play this game.

Specifically, with respect to leveling up the Mage's Guild, I have to admit that in 10 years, I don't think I have ever done this. Maybe incidental to just playing the game, but I don't recall it happening. I definitely never hunted down books for the purpose. If I hunt down books, it is to get rid of the glow around them.

My suggestion is to level what you feel like leveling, and if you don't feel like it, then don't do it. If you feel compelled to do it for some boon that comes from it, and you don't want to level it, then I just suggest finding an alternative. There are usually alternatives. The great thing about alternatives is that almost all of the content in this game, if not all of it entirely, can be played from a variety of different builds. Having an optimal, or meta, build is not required by the game.

AngelicaDLynn

Cooperharley wrote: »

Many of the things in this game are built like this, more times than not, to sell the solution in the crown store - skill line skips.

Most monetization in this game is pay for convenience and to do so, they have to make certain things take very long, be monotonous sometimes, etc. (see leveling of psijic guild, antiquities, mages guild, legerdemain, DB & TG; see selling character bound instead of account wide outfit and armory slots; see crown crates vs endeavors)

It’s just the business model for ZOS and is unlikely to change

You do realize that those skill line skips weren't made available for years after the game began right? They haven't made leveling those lines you can skip harder either so that pretty much destroys what you are saying. Is there too much monetization in the game? Yes but it isn't done on the skill lines.

Danikat

My 'fix' for a lot of things is not levelling them on all my characters. I have 1 character who does scrying (although I want to level a second one at some point), 1 character in the Dark Brotherhood, etc.

Obviously it's a bit different with characters who need the skill line, but as a lot of people said I only level the ones I know they'll need.

I do tend to level the Mages Guild skill line on all my characters, just because I find books as I'm going along, but I won't go out of my way to max it out if they don't need it.

ShadowPaladin

Well, you don't need all of it - Scrying, Psijic, etc. - on ALL chars.

Scrying for example you only need on one perhaps two chars the most. Why? Because, you can collect leads with ALL of your chars. Digging them up you only need to do on one char.

About Psijic and the skill line, with all the skills, we can argue. I think, you don't need it on every char for your builds. Yes, it may be BiS, BUT even without the skill(s) you will do more than fine . I've been playing without them until now and had no probs so far.

Fighters Guild is pretty easy to level. Especially right now with the dolem farming for the event style page drop !

Mages Guild takes a bit, but if you play the game you will reach max. at a point. I always was at max when I finished the Main Quest, my Alliance Story Quest + all Zone Quests for my Alliance Zones. At that point I also had a good number of Skyshards collected .

Getting Skyshards is also easy. There are only 4 shards which are a stupid pain in the butt . Those are the 2x 2 Shards in the enemy Alliance Homebase areas in Cyro, which you can only reach when the gates are open. I always recommend doing those during PvP-Mayhem event, when you can find instances 100% controlled by your Alliance.

Btw., you don't only get Skillpoints from Skyshards, you also do get them from certain quests. For example, AD story gives 15, Couldharbour 3, Main Quest 11, Group Dungeon Quests 1 (so each dungeon give one), Public Dungeons Group Boss 1, etc.. Check HERE for mor information.


At the end it all comes down to one thing in my opinion. If you just play the game with your chars, then you will get everything you need at some point. It will take some time, but you will get there. If you want everything fast or even right now, then you should think about stop playing a MMO, since this kind of game takes time !

AcadianPaladin

I agree completely with OP. I've quit creating any new characters. Class change ability is the ONLY option I'll consider when considering trying a new class.

Tandor

Cooperharley wrote: »

Many of the things in this game are built like this, more times than not, to sell the solution in the crown store - skill line skips.

Most monetization in this game is pay for convenience and to do so, they have to make certain things take very long, be monotonous sometimes, etc. (see leveling of psijic guild, antiquities, mages guild, legerdemain, DB & TG; see selling character bound instead of account wide outfit and armory slots; see crown crates vs endeavors)

It’s just the business model for ZOS and is unlikely to change

To be fair to ZOS, some of the things they introduced in the Crown Store to speed up levelling for those who wanted it were down to the players requesting those particular shortcuts - some of us have consistently cautioned "be careful what you wish for" as it was obvious these things if provided would be offered through the Crown Store. I think it's actually a fair way of doing it as those who want the shortcuts pay for them and those who don't aren't impacted by a general change to the game's structure. There's always going to be a debate about the actual cost charged and whether it's too much, too little, or about right.

However, many players don't want these things speeded up and want to play all their characters fully through the game, or at least through those parts of the game appropriate to their individual characters. I certainly don't want any of the things the OP is requesting made account-wide, there's far too much of that already, but if people want those things then putting them in the Crown Store seems perfectly fair to me in a game that has to be monetised in that way because its business model is based on subscriptions being purely optional.

SaffronCitrusflower

Aelorin wrote: »

Allright folks, I don't mean the levelling from 1 to 50 cause that goes extremely fast. The CP's also come when you play.

My target is the book collecting for mages skill line and Mora's whispers, skill point gathering, scrying, Psijic order skill line,...

After doing this with several characters, I don't have the spirit anymore to go through all this hassle with my Arcanist. The fact that Arcanist will eventually get nerfed to the ground (it happened to Warden who has recovered after years, and it has happened with Necromancer, who is not recovered yet) also does not help. I also don't want to open my wallet for it anymore.

I think I just go back to my first character who became a crafting alt over the years, it's a sorcerer - still a great class - and has allready all the books and lot's off skill points.

What's your opinion?

What's the problem? You can buy all that stuff in the crown store.

PrimusTiberius

AlterBlika wrote: »

That's why I'd like a class change token or more account-wide stuff

but the business side of ESO knows that by re-rolling a new characters, the player could potentially shop at the store and buy those achievements that have already been achieved, they're time consuming for a reason

Melivar

I normally grab all the skill lines right away when I make a new character as some get filled in pretty quick in the natural progression or leveling and doing dungeons. Typically do a daily random dungeon and battleground for the huge XP boost and do Public Dungeons (group event (1 SP and skyshard 1/3 SP) while in que.

By 50 I normally have all the skill points needed for the build I am intending to play so extra skill points I just go after as I am doing things.

If Mages and Psjic are needed for a character, then there is actual effort required to get to the skills or finish leveling the lines but doing them at the same time does eliminate some of the running around like a chicken who's lost is head.

Gray_howling_parrot

AngelicaDLynn wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

Many of the things in this game are built like this, more times than not, to sell the solution in the crown store - skill line skips.

Most monetization in this game is pay for convenience and to do so, they have to make certain things take very long, be monotonous sometimes, etc. (see leveling of psijic guild, antiquities, mages guild, legerdemain, DB & TG; see selling character bound instead of account wide outfit and armory slots; see crown crates vs endeavors)

It’s just the business model for ZOS and is unlikely to change

You do realize that those skill line skips weren't made available for years after the game began right? They haven't made leveling those lines you can skip harder either so that pretty much destroys what you are saying. Is there too much monetization in the game? Yes but it isn't done on the skill lines.

Never said they were difficult/hard. I said monotonous/long. That’s absolutely true lol. Every single thing you can imagine is monetized. Not bashing ZOS, it’s just a fact.

Tandor

Cooperharley wrote: »

AngelicaDLynn wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

Many of the things in this game are built like this, more times than not, to sell the solution in the crown store - skill line skips.

Most monetization in this game is pay for convenience and to do so, they have to make certain things take very long, be monotonous sometimes, etc. (see leveling of psijic guild, antiquities, mages guild, legerdemain, DB & TG; see selling character bound instead of account wide outfit and armory slots; see crown crates vs endeavors)

It’s just the business model for ZOS and is unlikely to change

You do realize that those skill line skips weren't made available for years after the game began right? They haven't made leveling those lines you can skip harder either so that pretty much destroys what you are saying. Is there too much monetization in the game? Yes but it isn't done on the skill lines.

Never said they were difficult/hard. I said monotonous/long. That’s absolutely true lol. Every single thing you can imagine is monetized. Not bashing ZOS, it’s just a fact.

But only for those who want instant maxing of alts, for those who prefer playing the game fully with all their characters there's nothing in the Crown Store they need to buy for levelling. It doesn't mean they have more time than other players, just that they take the progression more leisurely.

Hapexamendios

For me it's like this:

Fighters Guild - easy
Psijic - usually first one I do, done in 4-5 hours
Mages Guild - a slog imo
Assault/Support - level as needed
Thieves Guild/ Dark Brotherhood/ Ledgermain -as needed, not every character does
Mount training- worse than Mages
Scrying/Excavation- not done on every character

Gray_howling_parrot

Tandor wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

AngelicaDLynn wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

Many of the things in this game are built like this, more times than not, to sell the solution in the crown store - skill line skips.

Most monetization in this game is pay for convenience and to do so, they have to make certain things take very long, be monotonous sometimes, etc. (see leveling of psijic guild, antiquities, mages guild, legerdemain, DB & TG; see selling character bound instead of account wide outfit and armory slots; see crown crates vs endeavors)

It’s just the business model for ZOS and is unlikely to change

You do realize that those skill line skips weren't made available for years after the game began right? They haven't made leveling those lines you can skip harder either so that pretty much destroys what you are saying. Is there too much monetization in the game? Yes but it isn't done on the skill lines.

Never said they were difficult/hard. I said monotonous/long. That’s absolutely true lol. Every single thing you can imagine is monetized. Not bashing ZOS, it’s just a fact.

But only for those who want instant maxing of alts, for those who prefer playing the game fully with all their characters there's nothing in the Crown Store they need to buy for levelling. It doesn't mean they have more time than other players, just that they take the progression more leisurely.

Well yea lol there’s not a single thing in the crown store you NEED ever. It’s all wants and desires. If you want the newest DLC, you get it. If you want to skip leveling a skill line you get it. That’s not the point at all.

Companies profit off of things because they bring solutions and sell them to customers. Every product works like that. It’s a service in some way. But ZOS is both the creator of the solution and the “problem.” (Using problem loosely). It’s all subjective. Some people love leveling everything and don’t care how long it takes.

The POINT is that no one would buy things that are convenient if there wasn’t a reason to need the convenience in the first place. No one would buy riding lessons if you could train your mounts fully with gold. No one would buy skill line skips for thing like antiquities, legerdemain, psijic etc if it wasn’t a grind they don’t want to do. It’s made to be grindy and fun at the same time, but grindy nonetheless because this will drive some people towards the sale of the product. Even if skips weren’t here initially, that proves the point. They can make money off of these things.

It’s a live service game, it is what it is. They need to keep the lights on and pay the developers we love. All I’ve ever said about it is it’s too much sometimes. I’m fine with skips. I’m fine with dlc, expansions, housing stuff, etc. I just don’t like MMO chase items being sold at a rate of 95% in store to 5% earnable in game like the mounts.

katanagirl1

Mage’s Guild is my most hated one, as I am on console and finding those books is so frustrating.

I don’t do Psijic on alts.

Also having enough skill points to make a full crafter with hirelings is another chore. So many skill points are needed and the lengthy research times means I’ll be leveling them up and crafting research times for a long while.

TaSheen

I don't use an addon for the books. I don't have any problem finding them/reading them on every character. Is console somehow gimped that you don't see books at all when moving through the world?

Honest question - I don't know about consoles because I've never had any use for them. PC user since 1985.

VisitHammerfell

GimpyPorcupine wrote: »

Other than glowing treasure chests, what is the purpose of levelling scrying on alts?

The glowy chests is a huge thing but also the special lancers from Cyrodiil are alliance specific

VisitHammerfell

TaSheen wrote: »

I don't use an addon for the books. I don't have any problem finding them/reading them on every character. Is console somehow gimped that you don't see books at all when moving through the world?

Honest question - I don't know about consoles because I've never had any use for them. PC user since 1985.

We have to look up a guide or app and reference it and look around like blind bats, it's miserable. I just buy Mages and Psijic (unlocked RAT a few times at least), only my NA main has all the books. Without addons being an option, the books are a terrible slog, can't even watch a show constantly looking for the exact spot. The best site for it went offline not too long ago.

katanagirl1

TaSheen wrote: »

I don't use an addon for the books. I don't have any problem finding them/reading them on every character. Is console somehow gimped that you don't see books at all when moving through the world?

Honest question - I don't know about consoles because I've never had any use for them. PC user since 1985.

Yeah, I look at a guide on my iPad and see the book as a dot on the map that is the size of Mournhold. Somewhere in that area is the book, and I have to visually find that corresponding area in the game. There is no map marker pin for books.

Froil

If I make a new character, I'll grab all the skyshards from the starter zones and three full zones plus the public dungeon skill point and that's it.
I don't see the point in buying all the mount upgrades, at least anything more than 10 speed and stamina.

My real question is why level Scrying? Especially if you do it on every character.
I've levelled a lot of characters over the years and deleted a lot more, so I've come to realize what is and isn't needed for an alt, and scrying, Psijic and, yes, even Mage's Guild aren't really that necessary. Maybe two of my characters actually use Mora's Whispers and the rest use other mythics. I can guarantee you're just making the grind worse for yourself.

Uvi_AUT

Whoever asks why is obviously not a completionist.

@Threadstarter: I know exactly what you mean. For me a character isnt finished leveling before he has all skill-lines maxed and everything researched in crafting.
I also cant just play the latest content. I have to play from the beginning.
A new character takes almost a year to be completely leveled.

tsaescishoeshiner

Do you need Psijic, Scrying, and max Mora's Whispers on every char? I only have each of these on one of my 20 chars. You can always grind these things out later on a char.

With skyshards, I usually just need a zone or two worth on top of what I get from PvP and dungeons on the way to 50—at least to get started. It helped that I started resetting skills at level 50, removing all points from any skill, passive, weapon that I'm not using.

We've already seen arcanist nerfs and the class is still popular. I also still see people using their necromancers and wardens for vet DLC dungeons even during patches people say they're weak.

It's fair to not be sure about investing so much time in a new char. But I like my arcanist DPS and healer a lot, and the leveling was very quick. It helps my playtime and enjoyment to have different classes to play—I wouldn't use a class change token for that, because I'd want to experiment with the class at max level first.

Aelorin

SaffronCitrusflower wrote: »

Aelorin wrote: »

Allright folks, I don't mean the levelling from 1 to 50 cause that goes extremely fast. The CP's also come when you play.

My target is the book collecting for mages skill line and Mora's whispers, skill point gathering, scrying, Psijic order skill line,...

After doing this with several characters, I don't have the spirit anymore to go through all this hassle with my Arcanist. The fact that Arcanist will eventually get nerfed to the ground (it happened to Warden who has recovered after years, and it has happened with Necromancer, who is not recovered yet) also does not help. I also don't want to open my wallet for it anymore.

I think I just go back to my first character who became a crafting alt over the years, it's a sorcerer - still a great class - and has allready all the books and lot's off skill points.

What's your opinion?

What's the problem? You can buy all that stuff in the crown store.

I have 20 characters, and yes I've levelled skill lines with them, and yes I have bought skill lines/skyshards etc. The point is that it takes too much time to level to full AND it is too expensive to buy.

Sakiri

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

I agree completely with OP. I've quit creating any new characters. Class change ability is the ONLY option I'll consider when considering trying a new class.

And they won't do it.