Level Up: From Wailing Prison to VR12 in less than a week

IcyDeadPeople · July 2014

Here is a link to a steam guide I wrote, with a goal of helping new players learn how to level up quickly: http://steamcommunity.com//sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=288937648

Please take a look and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for improving the guide.

GFBStarWars · July 2014

Wow, really, and i played over 2 and a half month to get my main to vr12, and you did it in under 1 week? Fantastic!

You are the best person ever!
Now everyone can reach vr12 and don't know how to play!

I really hope to see new player in pug for veteran dungeon and wipe all day!

tengri · July 2014

GFBStarWars wrote: »

I really hope to see new player in pug for veteran dungeon and wipe all day!

Bitter much?

While I do not approve excessive XP farming, the guide itself is nicely done.
I am sure some will find this useful...

IcyDeadPeople · July 2014

GFBStarWars wrote: »

Wow, really, and i played over 2 and a half month to get my main to vr12, and you did it in under 1 week? Fantastic!

You are the best person ever!
Now everyone can reach vr12 and don't know how to play!

I really hope to see new player in pug for veteran dungeon and wipe all day!

I leveled two different characters from 10 all the way up to vet ranks through PVP in Cyrodiil, and it is far too slow. In both cases, it took me well over 300+ hours to reach vet rank this way, and then another 150 hours to reach vet 5. For most people who only have enough time to play a few hours each day, it would take more than six months to reach VR12 from PVP.

To be good at PVE is quite different from being good at PVP. There are many players who do PVE quests and group dungeons all the way to VR12 and then realize they need to completely change their build, or learn new skills because they didn't take time to practice their abilities fighting other players in Cyrodiil while leveling.

Some players have no interest in PVP. In my case, I've been playing this game for a long time, since last year on PTS. At this point I have no interest in PVE. I'd much prefer to level every character entirely in Cyrodiil and never do a single PVE quest; however, it is exponentially slower to level in Cyrodiil compared to leveling in PVE.

KleanZlate · July 2014

My main is also just closing on VR12 after playing since early release. I don't know if I'd like to take the same route with a new character. Leveling fast might be just the ticket to get another class character into PvP.

GFBStarWars · July 2014

IcyDeadPeople wrote: »

I leveled two different characters from 10 all the way up to vet ranks through PVP in Cyrodiil, and it is far too slow. In both cases, it took me well over 300+ hours to reach vet rank this way, and then another 150 hours to reach vet 5. For most people who only have enough time to play a few hours each day, it would take more than six months to reach VR12 from PVP. [...]

The pvp xp gain is really slow and its a known issue that will be fixed sometime in the future so that pvp player will be able to level character as effective as in pve by slaying other alliance members.

The fact that endgame pve player are not good in pvp is just a joke, if you learned to beat trials and vr dungeons you are generally better at pvp than the base 75%.

If you grinded to endgame that its a complete different situation, and if you did it with your main its even worst.

IcyDeadPeople · July 2014

Speaking only for myself, there are no NPCs or dungeon bosses that are ever going to compare to the fun and challenge of fighting human players. For many of us, Cyrodiil is the entire game, and we'd like to spend as little time in PVE as possible.

I understand patch 1.4 will increase the XP gain a bit for player kills; however, in my view it needs to be massively increased. It takes about 5x longer to level in PVP at this point, and many of the players you will be fighting are wearing VR12 armor sets with good bonuses.

GFBStarWars · July 2014

Not really, it's pretty easier to kill player in pvp that doing most of vr dungeon on the appropriate level.
As a templar focused on healing in pve and not really good as a dd, in pvp taking out single player or even group of 2/3 in solo its pretty easy. (not talking about level 10, but about vr12 players)

JD2013 · July 2014

Whilst grinding is certainly not my play style of choice at all, I applaud you.

Kcttocs · July 2014

Nice guide, when I re-roll, I will take advantage of some of the grinding spots you mentioned to stay a level or two above where I am questing, but will still complete the content as that's a lot more fun than straining my hand in the fast pace grinding. Being a VR8 player, I probably gained a level and a half by grinding in Craglorn, and a level PVPing, but man, I just can't do the craglorn grinding anymore. Its so fast pace you barely have time to sip on your coffee or beer, god forbid you need to take a leak... guess you can just wait till they make the circle. Good to know about being in the top 12 damage or healers to gain the exp.

cuz_mike200 · July 2014

Thanks man this is a great guide!

scarydrew · July 2014

great guide, but it does say in 1 week, it doesnt say how many hours of gameplay, if i play for 1 hour per day how many days will this take?

IcyDeadPeople · July 2014

scarydrew wrote: »

great guide, but it does say in 1 week, it doesnt say how many hours of gameplay, if i play for 1 hour per day how many days will this take?

It varies depending on your circumstances. In certain spots, with an organized group and high dps, you can go up a level every 15-20 minutes.

At the other end of the spectrum, if it's taking more than an hour or two for non-veteran level (1-49), that would suggest something is not working, either you need to move to a better spot or adjust your tactics.

Zabus · July 2014

Yep, leveled my alt in less than a week to v12 using votf ebonheart leveling guide. I must admit that once I hit v1 I trashed the guide and hit v12 in 2 and a half days.

Kcttocs · July 2014

xsfkxnub19_ESO wrote: »

Yep, leveled my alt in less than a week to v12 using votf ebonheart leveling guide. I must admit that once I hit v1 I trashed the guide and hit v12 in 2 and a half days.

Wow! 18-20 hours a day?

Kungfu · August 2014

@IcyDeadPeople‌

Just wanted to say thank you for this guide. It has renewed my entertainment in VR levels. I'm on my second nightblade and hadn't done these grinds before...

For anyone curious about timeframe, over the course of the past three days, I have played an average of four hours per night and I have gone from zero xp at VR2 up to 25% xp into VR6 by doing Tower runs.

Some suggestions I would like to see if you might add to your guide (specific to Tower Grind) though. Some of them you may have in your guide, now that I think about it... I haven't re-read it since I learned the Tower. Please forgive if I rewrite here something you already have.

First and foremost - Before you head out and "/zone LFG for Tower Grind" -- Save yourself some headache and Google up anything you can on the Tower's second floor "maze" or "invisible path". It is confusing and difficult for many first-timers.
- The second floor has a trick to getting through. I'll add my version of the short route at the bottom of this post.
- The best way to learn the route is to watch the players in your group and try to follow their footsteps.
- When your group finishes killing the boss inside the tower that's after that second-floor room, you will see them appearing at the portal that takes you back to the first floor. Even if you have not figured out the path by this time, GO WITH THEM. If they're leaving, they are on their way to kill the other four bosses that are on the run... don't skip four bosses because you can't seem to get to one.
- Your group will make their way back around to the tower again later and you can try again then.
The Tower Grind will NOT make you rich. And the item drops are not as good as the other grinds. It IS the best xp per minute though. If I sell everything I loot, I usually end up making about 500 - 1000g after repairs and my daily horse-feed from a four-hour (-ish) run. If you can spare to lose the money, this grind is EXCELLENT for deconstructable objects. A hybrid plan can help you even things out a bit -- pick it all up, sell the whites, and decon the non-set greens, blues, & purps.
Bring your own crystals and PLENTY of them to rez yourself. I carry 50 - 100 empties and often use these grinds to charge a bunch of them up.
There are two bosses that spawn on pedestals \ pads \ daises - call it what you like - a couple of things to keep in mind:
- If you are taking damage and "not getting enough heals" get on the pad. Many healers are firing Resto-staff ae heals... and they're going to be concentrating them on that pedestal. You won't always have a Templar's 'smart' heals in the group.
- If you are taking damage, block and keep blocking until you walk your mob back up on the pad and / or someone tanks it off of you.
- If you are not standing on the pad / pedestal and you see your group taking a ton of damage or if you feel like your group is not just JAMMING through these bosses, GET ON THE PAD. It helps optimize heals, aoe damage, and it tends to lessen the amount of adds that spawn with at least one of these bosses.

And one last issue that seems to be the cause of an argument (albeit a small one) every time I get into this grind: Stop trying to skip the "normal" mobs.

In the courtyard outside of the tower, as the group is heading back into the tower, people consistently try to skip the pull on the stairs and the next one around the well. It's so easy and so much more beneficial to just... kill... them...

So - pull the mobs on the stairs and then by the well on your way back into the tower. If you still disagree, here are four good reasons why:

Biggest reason - a good grind group moving at the right pace has to wait for the first tower room to respawn every time anyway. Better to kill mobs than sit on your thumb waiting for clannfears to pop.
It only takes 30 seconds MAX for a decent grind group to mow these mobs down. To be fair, most of the groups I've been in end up waiting on the boss after Clannfears anyway.
Clearing these mobs on your way INTO the tower means any players who are slow, running behind, lost, trying to join up, etc. etc. etc. have a safe route to get to the group. Dead players = lost time for everyone... even if it's just a second off the overall dps. Great grinds = maximum efficiency.
More loot.
It's small xp but it's MORE xp

Thus, before you come into a tower group feeling as though you know everything there is to know about it - YES, we know you can skip half of the mobs that we end up pulling. Just because you can skip some atronachs by jumping up a rock, it doesn't mean you should.

We are all impressed and happy that you're able to jump up a rock. Now let's get to grinding and knock this SOB VR stuff out.

Again, @IcyDeadPeople‌ - my apologies if this is material you've already posted.

Love your name, btw. hehe

**The short route through the Tower's second floor:

I'm sorry I cannot provide screenshots. I'm at work.

When you enter the room, there will be a portal at either end. There is one big, long hidden path that winds through the room. If you follow this path exactly, you will make it to the portal. If you step off the path at all, you will simply be ported back to the portal where you entered the room. **NOTE** This is not painful - you will not lose any resources (health, magicka, stam, etc) or durability and you will not cause your group any pain or trouble by failing to make it.

Unless you're the only healer, I guess. But if you're the only healer for a 12-man grind group and you've never done this, remove yourself now and save yourself the pain. But I digress...

The long route requires that you first head left from the first portal. This is not for that route.

Take the short version:
From the starting portal, step over to the right. You'll want to start just a step or so to the right of the big pillar that's closest to your starting location.

Point yourself at about a 30 - 45 degree angle toward the right wall. If you've got your angle correctly, you should be looking at stomping through first one plant, then another behind it before you plant your nose in a big ol' wall-sized bookshelf.

Do that. Plant your nose into that bookshelf like you're gonna lick the freakin' binding. At least until you learn the route enough to know where you can & can't go.

Now turn yourself such that your right hand is on the bookshelf and you're facing straight ahead. Follow that wall -- VERY closely. If you are too far left or if you step up on the small "dirt hill" that is now to your left, you'll port back.

Now then, that bookshelf ends on the wall in a big ol' pillar that pokes out from the wall. Move along the bookshelf until you are at least to the edge of that pillar. Going past it a step or two is what I usually do.

Now, turn and face the bottom of the staircase that leads up to the portal that you're trying to get to.

You will know you're in the right spot when you see a sort of miniature ditch, or it might look like a crack in the ground to you, that winds between the dirt mound that I just described (it's on your left still) and a 'new' dirt mound that is on the right.

As you head for the staircase, stay to the right of that 'ditch'. While there are a few spots that you can step to the left of it, I find more consistent success by just staying on the right side of it.

Once you're at the foot of the stairs & back on stone floor, you're good to go.

So, to recap:

From portal - head slightly right straight through two plants to bookcase.
Follow bookcase to its last pillar
Turn left
Follow ditch / crack on right side forward and slightly curving
Run up the stairs
Win

IcyDeadPeople · August 2014

Thanks so much for these excellent suggestions, KungFu! Working on updating the guide to incorporate this.

Kungfu · September 2014

@IcyDeadPeople‌
(in case anyone sees me advertising for Tower groups, I am:
Kung Fu / KungFu on DC
Love Handle / Love Handel / Love Handles on AD)

I am now doing the Tower grind over on AD and we've come up with a slight twist to the route that worked out REALLY well last night. The only drawback is that it may be hard to get a group in the rhythm of it... especially if they've been skipping all of the adds forever.

It has been really hard to get people to change (why do so many group leaders get so pissy about changing their route?). But I had a lot of success and met with a group full of open-minded, logical people last night. So we were able to really maximize the run!

The problem we had with the route I explained previously was that we ended up waiting on the clannfears at least once per round because we were killing the 'courtyard stairs' and 'well' pulls on our way back in from the Bridge Boss. Instead - save that pull for just after you've killed the second pedestal / pad boss.

This change alleviates most, but not all of that clannfear wait and plugs in an add pull worth 5-6k (@vr9+) during those 5-10 seconds.

As everyone knows, a grind can only be at its best by limiting the xp gain's downtime.

So, here's a description of what we did specific to the add pulls:

Group leaders may need to constantly tell everyone to move together as ONE GROUP until they get this routine burned in.

When you leave the tower and head out for the bridge, everybody needs to stop and AE the courtyard (the close-group of mobs just as you jump down the first set of rocks). This should take 5-7 seconds if everyone runs into the middle and AEs.

SKIP the "yard" pull - the next pull through the 'doorway' where all the mobs are spread out in front of the house.

Run for the bridge but stop before it. Pull those bloodfiend lookin' mobs and AE them until all of the ones coming up from the water below are dead, too.
Here again, this should take 7-10 seconds if everyone is together.

Once those are dead, move for that big ol' boss at the other side of the bridge. Ignore any of the adds that are coming down from the 'yard' and trying to follow you. They will stop and turn around before they get over the bridge.

*NOTE* if you are running from mobs and they won't seem to turn around - hit them once with any attack. If they are out of their programmed "range", that will trigger them to turn back and head for their original spawn spot.

Now then, when you pull the boss (the one that I call the "bridge boss" cuz I can't remember his name), pull the stairs with him. This is the group that's on the stairs to the ... SouthWest-ish I think? ... it has a fire atronach in the group.

If you add those into the fight, it can be painful but good heals will keep you all alive and you'll get more xp for roughly the same time invested on that boss.

On your way BACK up through the 'yard', keep moving but try to kill those mobs while you move. Walk backward, aoe, throw some heals whatever you need to do... but don't pay too much attention to whether these die or not.

Now you go back up to the LEFT and ... yes .. jump the rock to get back into the tower.
*Note* I know I said in my previous post that you should go up the stairs and through the well adds but this ends up being a better way.

DO the tower, then both of the pedestal / pad bosses. BUT>>> this time, after you finish the second pedestal / pad boss - head back to the tower door and go pull the well & stairs pull UP to you from the tower door.

Please bear in mind that you will likely still have to wait on the Clannfears to pop. But not for very long -- depending on your overall DPS, of course.

TehMagnus · September 2014

Awesome to level up Alts. It's a lil bit different for 1-30 than the others that exist for EP so I'll check it out with me Alts

s7732425ub17_ESO · September 2014

This is a good guide, but I would not recommend it for new players at all. They would end up missing 100 hours of single player experience.