Leveling from VR1 to V14 is no longer difficult. You can easily achieve it by joining any grind group in craglorn. However, I will warn you that it will be a very monotonous and boring path to vr14.

So I suggest, just do some grinding in Craglorn but if it gets boring then do some questing in the VR zones because you will also need the skyshards and the skill points in the VR zones.

I think the game designers made a big mistake by requiring us to do every single quest (more or less) in all zones, and then some, to reach level cap through "normal" means (PvE, occasional visits to PvP but no exploits or grinds). A faster progress would have meant that you would outlevel a zone before it was vacuumed clean for quests, and some quests would have been skipped in the first playthrough. Then there would have been new encounters and new experiences for an alt or two. This is how every other TES game has worked so far, and it is how I would have wanted PvE in this game to be. As it is now, I don't particuarly enjoy leveling my second (and third) character through all the quests. Yes, they are good, but not good enough for a replay so soon, and there is really only one way you can complete most of them. (All choices you can make are relatively minor and inconsequential for every other quest and for what NPCs think about you.)

In other TES games, all side quests were optional, and you could do wildly different stuff with two characters to level them up. In ESO, side quests are more or less mandatory, every character does the exact same things, and even in more or less the same order. For me, this was the main staying power with those games, and it is something they lost completely in ESO.

I think ESO is a very good game the first time through the zones, but it has an unusually bad replayability, which is particularly bad for a game that on the surface seems to want to encourage you to create alts and try different classes. They even increased the allowed number of characters from 4 to 8 just before release.

I think ESO is a very good game the first time through the zones, but it has an unusually bad replayability, which is particularly bad for a game that on the surface seems to want to encourage you to create alts and try different classes.

Disagree. I have a number of alts I've created and each one I enjoy thoroughly. I created a new one recently in AD so I could play with my brother, and even though I've done Kenarthi's Roost 3 or 4 times since Beta, I still had fun. A player new to the game asked me to group and we had a great chat conversation and a great time.

I am leveling an another alt that just made VR1 last night. I certainly plan to do all the content again. I guess what makes it bearable for me is once I become VR I stop looking at the XP and am really just going for all the shards and mats. The XP follows regardless.

Having leveled 3 characters to VR1 and finishing up my fourth this week and doing all achievements (except fishing), I can understand your frustration. The only thing that helps (besides the game actually being fun) was copious amounts of Skooma and just taking a week or so off now and again.

I haven't done the VR content, but am about to delve in next week dragging 4 VR1 toons along for the crucible.

Sounds to me like maybe you are hitting a wall and might benefit from some time away doing something else. You know, change it up. Shadows of Mordor comes out next week and for me -- it looks like exactly the type of game to help me fill out those moments of tedium that are sure to come in the VR content.