Solo Veteran Levelling - Help an Altmer out!

Ragged_Claw · July 2014

So I hit VR1 sixty years ago. I'm now VR3 and a half and by my calculations it will be another 90 odd years before I get anywhere near VR12. I'm happy to take my time, but I have done quest upon quest and my xp bar moves glacially if at all. The only time I got any significant XP was from an XP run of the Hircine dungeon thingy in Craglorn. That was great, but there were ten of us and they all knew what they were doing, I just waved my destro staff around a bit.

So does anyone have any advice on how to grind quicker for someone who mostly solos? I'm happy to group up, but that's not always possible because I play anti-social hours and tbh no self-respecting group particularly wants me. I know the latest patch proclaimed that soloing in Vet levels would be easier, and it is I think, at least I haven't been one-hitted by a Skeever since, but a multi-stage quest that takes several hours yields so little XP as to make it a dispiriting waste of time (not to mention the lame quest reward, but that's another discussion).

Here's an example, I joined a group in a group dungeon to get the special 'group' boss skill point, we got that and they all took off and left me on my own, somehow I managed to kill mobs of draugr, skeever and ice wraiths in order to get out. 'Wow!' I thought, impressed with myself, 'I bet I got a shed load of XP for that!' Well, no.

So can anyone advise me on how to speed things up a little? I'm not adverse to grinding if that's what it takes. I'm not impatient, but it would be nice to feel like I'm making some progress, and although I joke, it has taken me at least a month to get from VR1 to VR3 and that is not funny.

Cody · July 2014

hmm.... well, here is how you need to look at it in order to understand why it takes so long. lets say stonefalls is your VR1 zone(idk what your VR1 zone is, but lets just pretend) you are covering about 16 levels in one rank. apply that principal to the other vet zones(not every vet zone will cover 16 ranks, but im sure you know what I meant) and that's why it takes that long. when you complete one vet zone,(all of the quests. dolmens, world bossess dungeons, all that lovely stuff) you should receive at least one vet rank.

im not going to sugar coat it for you, it will take awhile no matter how fast you go thru it. I suppose you could only do the cadwells almanac quests, but that will leave you under lvled when you get thru. I play more than most people do, and it took me about a month and a half to get done with these vet zones(im almost done with my VR10 zone) if you cant force yourself thru the VR1-VR10 zones, then grinding in craglorn is your only other option. PvP is not, atm, a good way to earn XP(or VP, however you see it as) as you don't earn a lot from PvP, and it will take you twice the time it will take you to rank up from vet zones.

Ragged_Claw · July 2014

NookyZooky wrote: »

hmm.... well, here is how you need to look at it in order to understand why it takes so long. lets say stonefalls is your VR1 zone(idk what your VR1 zone is, but lets just pretend) you are covering about 16 levels in one rank. apply that principal to the other vet zones(not every vet zone will cover 16 ranks, but im sure you know what I meant) and that's why it takes that long. when you complete one vet zone,(all of the quests. dolmens, world bossess dungeons, all that lovely stuff) you should receive at least one vet rank.

im not going to sugar coat it for you, it will take awhile no matter how fast you go thru it. I suppose you could only do the cadwells almanac quests, but that will leave you under lvled when you get thru. I play more than most people do, and it took me about a month and a half to get done with these vet zones(im almost done with my VR10 zone) if you cant force yourself thru the VR1-VR10 zones, then grinding in craglorn is your only other option. PvP is not, atm, a good way to earn XP(or VP, however you see it as) as you don't earn a lot from PvP, and it will take you twice the time it will take you to rank up from vet zones.

Ah, Ok, that explains a lot, thanks. I just thought pehaps I was doing something wrong. And sorry to be dim, but what are Cadwells quests? I spoke to him to unlock my VR zone, but I don't have anything else in my journal.

Reevster · July 2014

Hang in there, I finished Cadwells Gold as a High Elf Sorc and yes it was a long haul but I found just taking one zone at a time and doing as many of the quests that you can but not overdoing it, I would log on and spend maybe 2 hours here and there , sometime twice a day etc and it made it much more pleasurable then grinding for 10 hours straight etc, just focus on the Cadwells silver/gold main story line in each zone and do as many of the side quests you can along the way.

Ragged_Claw · July 2014

Reevster wrote: »

Hang in there, I finished Cadwells Gold as a High Elf Sorc and yes it was a long haul but I found just taking one zone at a time and doing as many of the quests that you can but not overdoing it, I would log on and spend maybe 2 hours here and there , sometime twice a day etc and it made it much more pleasurable then grinding for 10 hours straight etc, just focus on the Cadwells silver/gold main story line in each zone and do as many of the side quests you can along the way.

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm trying to pick up all the quests in each area before moving on, and I've started a new alt just for a bit of light relief lol. I'm not even that bothered about reaching the level cap tbh, I'm just hoping to find those rare motifs XD.

Cody · July 2014

Ragged_Claw wrote: »

NookyZooky wrote: »

hmm.... well, here is how you need to look at it in order to understand why it takes so long. lets say stonefalls is your VR1 zone(idk what your VR1 zone is, but lets just pretend) you are covering about 16 levels in one rank. apply that principal to the other vet zones(not every vet zone will cover 16 ranks, but im sure you know what I meant) and that's why it takes that long. when you complete one vet zone,(all of the quests. dolmens, world bossess dungeons, all that lovely stuff) you should receive at least one vet rank.

im not going to sugar coat it for you, it will take awhile no matter how fast you go thru it. I suppose you could only do the cadwells almanac quests, but that will leave you under lvled when you get thru. I play more than most people do, and it took me about a month and a half to get done with these vet zones(im almost done with my VR10 zone) if you cant force yourself thru the VR1-VR10 zones, then grinding in craglorn is your only other option. PvP is not, atm, a good way to earn XP(or VP, however you see it as) as you don't earn a lot from PvP, and it will take you twice the time it will take you to rank up from vet zones.

Ah, Ok, that explains a lot, thanks. I just thought pehaps I was doing something wrong. And sorry to be dim, but what are Cadwells quests? I spoke to him to unlock my VR zone, but I don't have anything else in my journal.

cadwells almanac. press J and you will see a new icon.(looks like a page) click it and you will see them

LonePirate · July 2014

The repeatable city quests in Cyrodiil give VP based on your level and the amount of VP earned is actually quite good compared to the time invested. Other than grinding in Craglorn, those quests offer a noticeable increase in your progress bar after an hour or two.

Ragged_Claw · July 2014

[/quote]cadwells almanac. press J and you will see a new icon.(looks like a page) click it and you will see them
[/quote]

Found them, many thanks!

Ragged_Claw · July 2014

LonePirate wrote: »

The repeatable city quests in Cyrodiil give VP based on your level and the amount of VP earned is actually quite good compared to the time invested. Other than grinding in Craglorn, those quests offer a noticeable increase in your progress bar after an hour or two.

I've been playing in Cyrodiil a bit, but for some reason, people keep killing me.. :'( I really am not very good at this game, I'm suprised I managed to reach the Veteran levels at all XD.

SBR_QuorTek · July 2014

By completing each zone you can gain up to 1.5 vr level per, if persistent at it you can even do them rather fast.. end result should be vr10-11ish and alot of skill points... archievements... and experience of what mobs can do to you or the 101 ways to die and how to survirve.

Also keep in mind pvping a bit... and other stuff for brief periods of time..

yelloweyedemon · July 2014

Why people feel the need to "grind" stuff to get to lvl cap? Just play the game, do the quests in your area and you'll be V12 quick enough.

You can also PvP if you want, but the XP won't be as good, unless you join a zergball.

The only thing I can actually advise you, is to completelly avoid running Veteran Dungeons with strangers (group finder), because 90% of the people are terrible, and you won't complete the dungeon. Even if you somehow manage to complete it, it will be after 4 hours, and with a 2k repair bill. (The above applies at least in the 90% of the runs you'll do).

Ragged_Claw · July 2014

yelloweyedemon wrote: »

Why people feel the need to "grind" stuff to get to lvl cap? Just play the game, do the quests in your area and you'll be V12 quick enough.

You can also PvP if you want, but the XP won't be as good, unless you join a zergball.

The only thing I can actually advise you, is to completelly avoid running Veteran Dungeons with strangers (group finder), because 90% of the people are terrible, and you won't complete the dungeon. Even if you somehow manage to complete it, it will be after 4 hours, and with a 2k repair bill. (The above applies at least in the 90% of the runs you'll do).

I'm not in any particular hurry to hit the level cap, I was just wondering why I seemed to be making no progress at all (but NookyZooky kindly explained that to me). I just wanted to get up a bit higher in the hopes of finding rare shiny things XD

And yes, I know what you mean about the dungeons. I have been left alone twice today in group dungeons. The second one I somehow managed to do the boss alone (no idea how) but there are several that I still haven't managed to finish because people just go haring through them without allowing me to pick up the quest etc. Which brings me back to why I solo so much...

Sapphy24 · July 2014

I feel your pain as its mine as well but....
I got 2 vet lvls in 3 days. How you might ask... well I grouped with a grinding group.
If you put in zone chat..Lfg grinding you may be invited to do one of these...Thief, Burials, Towers or Anomalies.
All you do then, is accept and wave your staff around..hehe
I don't want to take time, I want to go out there and kill in pvp, that's why I did it.
Keep your chin up, you will make it.
Sending you a big hug.

Ragged_Claw · July 2014

Sapphy24 wrote: »

I feel your pain as its mine as well but....
I got 2 vet lvls in 3 days. How you might ask... well I grouped with a grinding group.
If you put in zone chat..Lfg grinding you may be invited to do one of these...Thief, Burials, Towers or Anomalies.
All you do then, is accept and wave your staff around..hehe
I don't want to take time, I want to go out there and kill in pvp, that's why I did it.
Keep your chin up, you will make it.
Sending you a big hug.

Aww, thanks

It would be nice to be able to go into pvp and not get steam-rollered every time. I need some revenge...

freespirit · July 2014

The big VR xp point scorers in the normal VR areas are Dolmens and Delves, there are always at least 3 Dolmens and around six Delves(Marked with a torch), I'm not sure exact xp amounts but definitely 30,000+ each

Ragged_Claw · July 2014

freespirit wrote: »

The big VR xp point scorers in the normal VR areas are Dolmens and Delves, there are always at least 3 Dolmens and around six Delves(Marked with a torch), I'm not sure exact xp amounts but definitely 30,000+ each

That's some nice XP! I've been doing most of the delves, but at 4.00 am there's usually no-one around to help me with the dolmens, so I stand about twiddling my thumbs and then go 'sod it' and try to do it on my own. Epic fail and huge repair bill ensues. I must learn to keep more sociable hours - or do them naked XD

Cody · July 2014

Sapphy24 wrote: »

I feel your pain as its mine as well but....
I got 2 vet lvls in 3 days. How you might ask... well I grouped with a grinding group.
If you put in zone chat..Lfg grinding you may be invited to do one of these...Thief, Burials, Towers or Anomalies.
All you do then, is accept and wave your staff around..hehe
I don't want to take time, I want to go out there and kill in pvp, that's why I did it.
Keep your chin up, you will make it.
Sending you a big hug.

if PvP would be your intention, you don't have to really worry about hitting VR12 just to be able to play it for too much longer. ZOS SHOULD be adding in non-vet/vet only campaign in the next update or 2. that way you can actually PvP before VR12:) and im pretty sure that all of those people that expoited to the max VRlvl(which if the rumors are correct, is quite a lot) wont even step foot in the VR only campaigns, as those kind of people don't want actual competition.

gladen5rwb17_ESO · July 2014

I play late hours also, no one is about usually for doing delves and dolmens either. I had hoped ESO would at least relax the difficulty setting in delves in order for us to at least be able to solo those.

Cody · July 2014

gladen5rwb17_ESO wrote: »

I play late hours also, no one is about usually for doing delves and dolmens either. I had hoped ESO would at least relax the difficulty setting in delves in order for us to at least be able to solo those.

I soloed some of those.:/ in fact, the very last dolmen I did, I soloed. I asked in zone chat, got no responses for 15 minutes(and no one showed up) so I soloed it. had to kill a "dread storm atronach" by myself....... was NOT fun

sommazzatoreb14_ESO · July 2014

Also keep in mind that your xp scales with level. So no matter the quest unless its a group dungeon quest, I was getting 1.5k xp at Vet 1. But at vet 11 I was getting something like 32k xp per quest. I think they buffed those numbers since, but thats basically the scale.

aleister · July 2014

Ragged_Claw wrote: »

So I hit VR1 sixty years ago. I'm now VR3 and a half and by my calculations it will be another 90 odd years before I get anywhere near VR12. I'm happy to take my time, but I have done quest upon quest and my xp bar moves glacially if at all. The only time I got any significant XP was from an XP run of the Hircine dungeon thingy in Craglorn. That was great, but there were ten of us and they all knew what they were doing, I just waved my destro staff around a bit.

So does anyone have any advice on how to grind quicker for someone who mostly solos? I'm happy to group up, but that's not always possible because I play anti-social hours and tbh no self-respecting group particularly wants me. I know the latest patch proclaimed that soloing in Vet levels would be easier, and it is I think, at least I haven't been one-hitted by a Skeever since, but a multi-stage quest that takes several hours yields so little XP as to make it a dispiriting waste of time (not to mention the lame quest reward, but that's another discussion).

Here's an example, I joined a group in a group dungeon to get the special 'group' boss skill point, we got that and they all took off and left me on my own, somehow I managed to kill mobs of draugr, skeever and ice wraiths in order to get out. 'Wow!' I thought, impressed with myself, 'I bet I got a shed load of XP for that!' Well, no.

So can anyone advise me on how to speed things up a little? I'm not adverse to grinding if that's what it takes. I'm not impatient, but it would be nice to feel like I'm making some progress, and although I joke, it has taken me at least a month to get from VR1 to VR3 and that is not funny.

Yeah, veteran point gain is absurdly slow. Since the VR content nerf, I went back and did Cadwell's silver and got maybe half a level. I guess I'll go do Cadwell's gold and maybe that will get more into VR11 and I'll just go back to grinding in Craglorn to get VR12.

Questing is really your only option solo. The major zone quest lines can give a pretty chunk of VP, but there are only a few per zone and as you mention, they take a substantial time investment.

Unless you can solo dolmens and world bosses over and over, I don't see how anyone could get to VR12 by solo'ing alone without playing for weeks straight.