After completing Cadwell's Silver a couple of weeks ago, I had been leisurely dividing my time between exploring and skyshard hunting in the VR6-10 zones and engaging in PVP in Cyrodiil. I consider myself to be an average, casual player who almost always plays and completes quests solo. I will lend a hand, though, if someone asks in zone chat, be it with a quest or dolmen or world boss. Still, the vast majority of my time in the Veteran zones has been as a solo player.

As such, I have learned (or tried to learn) how to survive on my own during fights and how to complete objectives without having someone there to cover my back and share the pain of the Veteran zones prior to Monday’s patch. I had to learn how to block and interrupt in order to survive. I learned how to play because there was no other choice when facing opponents that could easily deal 700-1000 damage in the blink of an eye – damage that sometimes could not be avoided even if I tried to block it. All of this super powered damage from mobs is what made the Veteran zones, especially the upper zones, extremely difficult and unenjoyable for me and other (solo) players.

In my VR travels, I learned not to fear any single mob unless they were a Storm Atronach or Harvester. Mob two packs almost never posed me a problem unless lag or a button mix-up or a personal mistake lost the fight for me. Mob three packs were a different story. In the VR7-10 zones, I would say I died over half of the time while trying to whittle a three pack down to two or one so I could finish them off. I always carried plenty of soul gems, VR5 Fortified Sweetrolls and other potions which I used liberally. I had to switch my 5/2 Heavy/Medium build to a 5/2 Light/Heavy build in order to survive even though I refused to give up my trusty bow and its awesome Focused Aim skill that paired nicely with Volcanic Rune. My destruction staff always remained my mop up weapon of choice.

I had already completed all of the VR6-7 delves along with the first one in my VR8 zone (Greenshade) when last Thursday’s announcement was made of the upcoming Veteran content changes. I decided I wanted to see how many of the remaining VR8-10 delves I could complete and how far along I could make it in the Cadwell’s Gold quest before the changes took place. I wanted the battle scars to prove that an average skilled player like me could survive the punishing VR6-10 zones while playing solo.

After playing several hours on Thursday and Friday, I was able to complete all of the remaining VR8-10 delves (17 in total). Of those 17, I completed 16 of them as a solo player with only one of them completed with another player who entered one of the VR9 delves shortly after me. Other than that one player, I only saw a small handful of other players during my hours in these upper VR zones. The zones were dead empty. Nothing was being said in chat and the zones looked completely abandoned. I couldn’t receive any help if I needed it because there was no one around to help. I had to survive those VR10 trolls in one Reaper’s March delve without anyone to help me. I fought hard to earn that Explorer Achievement for clearing all of the delves in all three alliances and in Cyrodiil; yet it was very painful and exhausting. It was not fun at all. It’s no wonder so many people hated the VR content because it was far more difficult and unenjoyable than any game should be.

I then went back to my VR6 zone (Auridon) and I started tackling the Cadwell’s Gold quests. After being bloodied and beaten to a pulp in the VR8-10 delves, the VR6 quests were a refreshing change of pace with the slightly easier hitting mobs and the lower mob density. I struggled a little but not much. I completed all of the VR6 Cadwell quests solo – like usual – and I moved to VR7 Grahtwood. The quests and bosses there were tougher but I was still battle seasoned so it felt much easier by comparison. I completed the Cadwell quests in VR7 Grahtwood and moved on to VR8 Greenshade where reality slapped me in the face.

The first Cadwell quest to defeat the wood orcs was amazingly difficult. The cave housing the boss was filled with mob three packs and the boss himself had two minions with him, one of whom dropped an anti-magicka banner. I lost count of the number of times I died while trying to learn the fight and to defeat the three of them as they showed a resistance to my DK Standard ultimate skill. It was a horrible experience and I felt only relief when I finally completed it. The remaining seven (!) Cadwell quests in this zone seemed easy by comparison, although many of them were very challenging when completing them solo. I racked up some four digit repair bills and I had to purchase a new stack of empty soul gems which I had to fill – a task which was way more fun than those VR8 quests.

On late Sunday afternoon, I finally completed the final Cadwell quest in VR8 Greenshade and moved to VR9 Malabal Tor. I received a group invite about half way through the completion of the first Cadwell quest which made finishing that quest a breeze. It was the only Cadwell quest in my VR6-10 zones I completed with another player. It gave me a false sense of security as every other Cadwell quest in this zone was an absolute horror. The final fight against The Hound and his constant spawn of werewolves was easily the most difficult encounter I have had in this entire game. It was nightmarish as no one in zone or guild chat was around to help or offer tips. Previous cheats of pulling him away from the werewolf spawn point had been fixed so there was no solution at hand. I must have modified my skill bar at least ten times and I died 25 or more times in this fight before somehow defeating him. I still have no idea how I did it and I am unsure if I could
defeat him again with his stats prior to Monday.

It was now very early Monday morning before the patch so I tried the first VR10 Reaper’s March Cadwell quest. Perhaps due to exhaustion and game frustration, I couldn’t survive the waves of 2-3 black shadowy mobs that spawned while closing the portals at Fort Grimwatch so I quit for the night. The quests in these last three VR zones were simply not fun at all.

I restarted the Cadwell quests in VR10 Reaper’s March after Monday’s patch and I loved what I discovered. Mobs were only doing about 50% of the damage they were doing the night before. They still were not pushovers but they did not make me rage and fume with anger when I battled them. I was able to survive fights against mob three packs without dying, unless I did something stupid like aggravate a second mob or fail to weapon swap or heal in time. My character actually felt powerful again. I forgot to apply a food buff until about halfway through one of the Cadwell quests and I loved that I was not required to use the buff in order to survive and complete content. The quests were fun again as I died less during all of the VR10 Cadwell quests combined than I did during any single VR9 Cadwell quest.

I was able to relax and enjoy the wonderful quest stories about the twin sisters and the two moons. I soaked up the beauty of the zone without a sense of dread that consumed me. I was loving the game again – a feeling I had not had since defeating Molag Bal. This was the ESO game I wanted to experience. I enjoy video games for the stories, characters, game design, game play and overall experience. This game now gives that to me. Before Monday’s patch, the game was little more than a very brutal and painful slugfest that was far more challenging and unenjoyable than it had any right to be. It was not a fun game to play in the Veteran zones until now, that is.

I completed all of the VR10 Cadwell quests solo like usual but I started seeing other players in the zone as I traversed it – something I did not see when I completed the delves in the zone a few days earlier. There were even discussions in zone chat. I entered the public dungeons in both VR9 Malabal Tor and VR10 Reaper’s March and I actually saw several other players moving through them. We helped each other complete quests and achieve the group challenges. Over the course of a single patch (or day), the VR zones went from being ghost towns to showing signs of life. I know some people absolutely loved the insane difficulty of the VR zones; but they were few and far between. I never saw these people in the zone or in zone chat. They never answered my pleas for help with The Hound. Where were these people? If nothing else, this VR content change has breathed some desperately needed life into the upper VR zones.

With this patch, this game has gone from being an unpleasant online exercise in masochism to being an MMO again. I am now optimistic about this game’s future as it is fun again as the average player can take their time and look around a little without fear for their lives. Food buffs and potions are now optional for completing content – just like they should be. They should never be required like they were before Monday. Yeah, VR10 Storm Atronachs are still a death sentence but there is a glimmer of hope when fighting them solo now. I am now looking forward to completing the quest Adventurer achievements in my VR6-10 zones as this game is no longer a chore. It is a game I want and love to play now.

This VR content change is wonderful and I want to say thank you to ZOS for making it. I much prefer the new VR content to what existed prior to Monday’s patch. I think I still have some PTSD from this past weekend as the previous content was nightmarish for a solo player like myself – a solo player by necessity due to the empty zones. Thankfully that is fading. I hope those who oppose the VR content change will give the game a chance and look at the bigger picture – which is more people playing and enjoying the game. That is possible now. I want more content in these zones. I want more zones and new levels. I think this VR content change will draw more players to the game which can only make things better for us all.