What do I do?

Cybrdroyd · June 2014

First, let me say I am probably the worst NB in ESO history. Just so you know...

I am level 22, and I have hit a wall on my level 20 mainstory quest, as well as a couple other quests that are far below my level. Some monsters just destroy me and I can barely touch them. Its only certain quests I am having difficulty with. I've decided to go off and collect skyshards, and try and level up my clothier and cooking skills. I've even spent some time leveling other characters who can make weapons and enchantments.

The going is slow and I wondered if I am the only one with this problem. What should I do?

PharmaChief · June 2014

After you level up your cooking, you could try serving those monsters a meal... maybe they will go soft on you...

(sorry just kidding)

fromtesonlineb16_ESO · June 2014

The quests in the Main Story are horribly over-tuned and many (likely the majority) only manage them several levels later.

There's no need to do the main story on-level, in fact you can leave it to 44 or thereabouts before having to get up to date on it to get to Coldharbour.

Ignore people who sneer and say "it's easy", for some players and some builds it's pretty simple, but it's far from easy for most.

ebondeath · June 2014

Which particular quest is it and what weapon/abilities are you using?

Cybrdroyd · June 2014

Well I figure better quality food will give me better bonuses. Very funny though. I do need to spend more time bettering my crafting skills, better armor does help a lot. I've been collecting skyshards too. As many as I can find. I think I am going to try cyrodil and see about some of those skill lines I have been hearing about. I found myself feeling like, I'm level 22, this should do-able at my level, what am I doing wrong? There is this other quest for Rahjin's mantle I am having trouble with. The gargoyles mop the floor with me.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO · June 2014

ebondeath wrote: »

Which particular quest is it and what weapon/abilities are you using?

I think the level 20 one is Castle of the Worm, aka. rescue Abner.

Cybrdroyd · June 2014

ebondeath wrote: »

Which particular quest is it and what weapon/abilities are you using?

As I said, the level 20 mainstory quest. Also the Rahjin's mantle quest in grahtwood

ebondeath · June 2014

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

ebondeath wrote: »

Which particular quest is it and what weapon/abilities are you using?

I think the level 20 one is Castle of the Worm, aka. rescue Abner.

I figured, but it's been a bit since I've been level 20. I assume it's the last fight you're having trouble with, the skeleton mobs?

Cybrdroyd · June 2014

ebondeath wrote: »

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

ebondeath wrote: »

Which particular quest is it and what weapon/abilities are you using?

I think the level 20 one is Castle of the Worm, aka. rescue Abner.

I figured, but it's been a bit since I've been level 20. I assume it's the last fight you're having trouble with, the skeleton mobs?

Ya, its the skeleton mobs. I know they have decreased the difficulty of it, and I am actually level 23 now and gained slightly better gear, I am thinking of retrying it.

Fleymark · June 2014

The main story quests serve as an important check on your build. When starting out it's very easy to get into the groove of building your toon as you envision it, but you may be neglecting things you need to round it out for the long haul like cc and healing. Getting stuck on a particular main story fight is a good indication you might need to round out your build in some way so when this happens, have a good look at your skills and tactics.

Fleymark · June 2014

By the way, Castle of the Worm was the first one that gave me trouble, too. Freaking skellys were just too much for my nightblade build at that point. So I added a couple of skills and changed a few things around that have been with me since and my overall gameplay has been better since.

With the limitations on abilities and gear, flexibility based on situation is key in this game. The solo main quest kills are here to teach the need for that flexibility, IMO. The rest of the pre-50 game is so easy it could be very easy to think too rigidly about your build and keysets, otherwise, I think.

Good luck.

ebondeath · June 2014

Make sure you take down the caster, fire-ball spewing mobs first, those will kill you faster than anything, but as long as you interrupt them and dodge fire on the ground you'll be okay. Then kill the melee guys. When the big bone guy comes out, give Lyrics a few seconds to pick him up and let her tank him while you wail on him. Kite if you pull him off of her.

If you've got the Fighters Guild skill line, Silver Bullets is great against undead.

Make sure to keep potions on you and have at least one kind of healing/self-heal ability on your bar. It will probably take a few tries will you get the rhythm of it, but you can do it.

Also you can buy repair kits per your gear level from general merchants and carry them with you into the fight, rather than having to leave the instance to repair.

Cybrdroyd · June 2014

Fleymark wrote: »

By the way, Castle of the Worm was the first one that gave me trouble, too. Freaking skellys were just too much for my nightblade build at that point. So I added a couple of skills and changed a few things around that have been with me since and my overall gameplay has been better since.

Agreed, since I got my arse handed to me on a shiny silver platter multiple times, being that was the first quest I had any real trouble with, I have sought more survivability passives, skills and enchantments, so hopefully when I get brave enough to try it again, I won't die so tragically.

etherin77 · June 2014

hey fellow crap NB

its not just you, i have struggled rto the point of re-rolling several diff toons due to my fail NB. but over the coarse of time ive managed to get my noob ass up to 33. the main story line quests (and almost every other one ) are a royal pain in the ass. Ive tried going your basic cookie cutter build (bow and duel) duel is a complete mystery to me and i cant seem to take out a skeever without serious injury to myself and with bow it has been trial and comedy of errors. the push back from bow seems to have helped with most mobs but i still find myself over whelmed with 3 or more. I have gone the route of waiting to do the main story line till im 5-6 lvls higher

So with all that said, its not you its the game. they have us nerfed/broken. but yes buffs/armor/weapon upgrades are a good help

aldeera_terab16_ESO · June 2014

The Abner quest is a pain in the butt, plain and simple. I recently did the quest at ... 27 or whatever I was then, and I failed the first time. Badly. And I simply abandoned the Garin (or whatever that dude's name is) quest, too, because I simply could not solo the guy even though I was several levels ahead of the quest requirement.
Honestly, the story and guild quests are sometimes impossible, likely depending on your build. And since reskilling costs a fortune ... yeah, well. I just abandoned the ones I couldn't handle, and I'll do them later.
The funny thing is that I was perfectly able to do higher level quests in "red" areas while I was unable to solo aforementioned "quest end bosses". I am currently a level 29 NB and have reskilled twice, even though there are so many possible options it's merely experimental at this point. I can easily go and kill monsters that outlevel me by 10 levels but I was not able to take down some of the quest bosses.

If you find yourself "stuck" at 20 I'd suggest travelling to the higher level areas to find new quests. It's impossible to finish every quest in a zone, even if you're at the right level, so don't worry about it and just come back later. Remember that you can "travel to player" to anyone in a guild that you're a member of (your faction only, of course), so grab those wayshrines and bask in the glory of taking down higher level monsters while you plot your revenge against those lower level quest bosses.

It's what I'm doing, anyway....

Edit: Also - softcap. GODS, that annoying thing ... hit a cap on health regen, REALLY? HOW am I supposed to NOT DIE in a fight if I can't even stack up on regen effects? Seriously. This game.

BBSooner · June 2014

I'd suggest updating your gear to current level, use potions and food, since you're a nightblade keep siphon up, interrupt the channels and heavy attack the staggered, and block when you're expecting an attack. Focus on the skeletons on the opposite side of the room as your partner first, dodge red circles, between waves feel free to leave a weak 1 alive and use multiple potion cooldowns to get to full while you block.

For reference my NB (2h and heavy) completed this using those tactics (that eventually phase in to your standard play, ideally).

Vendersleigh · June 2014

I have not managed to do it at level 26 so do not despair. Take the advice of those posting before me and hopefully we shall both get it done in time

.

sylviermoone · June 2014

When I did this quest as a NB, my order of attack was ambush, funnel health, impale, with some flurry attack (DW) when I was low on magicka.

Also, at that time, the skellies seemed to be extra sensitive to sneak. Meaning, I would attack and kill one, dodge roll back and hit sneak, and none of the others would come after me. This allowed me to get a sneak crit on every single one of them, greatly reducing the time of the fight.

If I remember right, some if those buggers hit hard with AoE attacks, so make sure you stay out of the red circles.

I did this quest a touch over leveled (it's lv 20, and I think I did it at 25). I'm also running a Kahjit in Med armor, so I have some bonuses there.

I beat these guys in one go, but my husband's Kahjit Templar had a REALLY hard time, until he started spamming the sneak button between fights, too.

Hope that helps!

IrishGirlGamer · June 2014

There's a lot of good posts in this thread. Since I'm playing as an NB, this has been helpful.

Kind of reading between the lines, and as a follow-up to the OPs question, what's the best AoE/CC solution for an NB. Right now I'm not having any problems, but I thought it would be smart to start working on that skill now.

For DPS, I've been relying upon teleport strike and veiled strike as my major damage attacks. Using DW, I focused on flurry. I do okay, but I can see in the future where something like what's happening to the OP will happen to me.

Thanks!

sylviermoone · June 2014

Usually, I play my NB with someone else, so I haven't had to deal with CC much.

However, I recently unlocked Agony, and have been utilizing that a bit in forced solo (mages and fighters guild) quests, and I only use it when I have to fight 3+ mobs. I cast that at one person, and they are out of the fight for 12s. I use that time to focus on the other folks standing, and usually can have them down before the 1st guy gets back up. I've only used this on 3 packs so far, though, but it works great for me.

As far as AoE as a NB goes..... I've got nothing. I usually just run around and spam funnel health, go invisible, and stealth off to a hidey-hole so my magicka can regen (also, potions & raise magicka foods/drinks).

Silver Bolts is my other go-to stamina using skill, especially for undead and daedra (but it works well for anything). From full stamina, I can shoot that 4 times before switching back to magicka based attacks.

I'm currently only level 38, so though this works for me now, I'm not sure of it's viability in VR content. I also don't PvP much anymore, so I can't report how it works in that setting. I'll be testing it out once the non-VR campaign comes online though!

Cybrdroyd · June 2014

Update: Well, I went back at level 24 and I completed the quest finally. A lot of your suggestions helped, so thank you very much for the help.

GreySix · June 2014

Wife and I plan on doing Castle of the Worm around Level 35 or do, since the dimwits who designed the game thought it would be a swell idea to force solo play in a major MMO.

Once we reach Level 50, hopefully someone on the dev team with a functioning brain cell will have unlocked cooperative play. Otherwise, we'll likely just move on to another more group- friendly MMO.

Cybrdroyd · June 2014

Many mmos have some solo quests. EQ2 had them, Age of Conan has them, and usually they occur every so many levels, like milestone levels. Usually they are quite challenging. I was unable to complete the AoC solo class quests because they were just too hard.

GreySix · June 2014

@Cybrdroyd‌

... Forced-solo as part of their main story quests?

sylviermoone · June 2014

My husband and I regularly play together, even in the main story quests. I mean, obviously we are not fighting through the instance in view of each other, but he can see my screen and I can see his. If either of us is having trouble, the other one can at least offer suggestions (as we obviously know each other's playing style and char builds quite well).

It IS more fun when we can truly fight the baddie together, but we don't feel like we are exactly solo either.

Cybrdroyd · June 2014

GreySix wrote: »

@Cybrdroyd‌

... Forced-solo as part of their main story quests?

Yep. I believe also in Lord of the Rings Online you had to do solo class quests which gave you really sweet gear as a reward. They were fun, but frustratingly hard, lol.

GreySix · June 2014

Cybrdroyd wrote: »

GreySix wrote: »

@Cybrdroyd‌

... Forced-solo as part of their main story quests?

Yep. I believe also in Lord of the Rings Online you had to do solo class quests which gave you really sweet gear as a reward. They were fun, but frustratingly hard, lol.

If that's the case and a player couldn't complete the main story quest without being forced into solo play, then I may have given ZOS too much credit in having invented such stupidity, and it's a mechanic they would have done we'll not to adopt.

Don't misunderstand: I don't oppose solo play, but it should never be forced.

sylviermoone · June 2014

Cybrdroyd wrote: »

Update: Well, I went back at level 24 and I completed the quest finally. A lot of your suggestions helped, so thank you very much for the help.

Hey, glad you could get through!! Awesome!

cigarsmoker · June 2014

You are not alone. The nightblade is currently broken in some very significant ways and if you are not playing one very specific build you'll hit that wall and never get past it unless you modify your gameplay style.
Collecting skyshards and just fighting mobs is a good way to kill time and level past that wall.