Possible level issue looting hides

hlc2ga_ESO · October 2014

For whatever reason, my character level tends to lag behind the level of the zone I'm in (for example, I just started V9 Al'Akir and I'm almost V8). The mining nodes, crates/barrels, wood, etc all give materials appropriate for the zone, but when I kill a beast the hide that drops is for my level, not the zone level. I have the skill maxed out so I can use any hide to create armor, so that's not the issue. The effect of this possible issue is I can't pregather the materials for making the appropriate level armor when I'm about to cross the cusp - like, I couldn't make V6-V8 armor until I had been a V6 for a while and had gathered sufficient materials to start crafting, since as a V5 in a V6 zone I couldn't gather Superb Hide.
I'm not sure if this is by design, but doesn't go along with all the other materials being appropriate for the zone level.

Nestor · October 2014

Up until a recent patch, if you were overleveled, you did not get any leathers from mobs. So, its good that it came back.

I feel your pain on the level transitions. You don't start getting the gear for the next level to decontruct until you are at that level and the drops are keyed to your level, or lower. Go back to the starter zone and all you get is Rawhide.

Although, if you are in the higher level zones, then just deconstruct the armor drops your getting as they should be at the level you need. You will probably need to decon about 30 to 40 pieces to get enough refined mats to make a set for yourself.

Or, go to the Guild Stores and buy a stack of materials to make your first set for the next level. It's what I do. Refined Stacks are pretty cheap, usually in the 600 to 800 range for a 100 Stack. Keep checking guild stores until you find that price range. You will need a bit more than a 100 for a full set at the higher VR levels, so you might have to also buy a partial stack.

hlc2ga_ESO · October 2014

Nestor wrote: »

Although, if you are in the higher level zones, then just deconstruct the armor drops your getting as they should be at the level you need. You will probably need to decon about 30 to 40 pieces to get enough refined mats to make a set for yourself.

That's basically what I've been doing, being generally too miserly to buy stacks 8^) though that's changed a bit since I sold a couple of purple motifs ... It just seemed strange that I could mine zone level ore, chop zone level wood, pick zone level plants, get zone level provisioning mats from crates/barrels, etc, but not get zone level hide from zone level beasts.

Woolenthreads · October 2014

I would recheck your thinking. The materials you get from animals relate to their level not the zones. Most of the regions have varying critter levels across them, for instance Rivenspire Critters range from about L23 to L31, so you wouldn't gather Leather unless you were killing L25+ critters in that zone.