1.5 Solo Quest Difficulty - Scaling Issues

Berylin · November 2014

Do the level 1-49 solo quests now scale in difficulty with player level? For example, if a level 42 player enters a level 40 (or 30!) solo quest, do all the monsters automatically scale up to 42?

If this is true, I know at least one player who is well and truly hosed. My partner lacks the coordination and FPS-style skills to block, dodge and circle. As a rear-rank healer or DPSer in a 2-4 person group she does very well, but on her own she's been unable to do any solo quest without a 2 to 5 level advantage and appropriately good equipment with an equivalent level advantage. My fear is that the 1.5.2 patch just eliminated any chance of her acquiring the advantage she needs in solo quests.

The sad thing is, she was finally starting to enjoy the game, despite her difficulty with FPS style controls and dislike of solo-only quests.

~Berylin

Syntse · November 2014

Your partner just needs to get beaten some and the solo content should become easier. Though I think nobody has actually tested this.

Still_Mind · November 2014

Well, different playstyles\setups have different priorities. A healer built in a certain way won't have to dodge\block anything in solo content. With proper sets and resource management, tank and outlast any hard-hitting monster in solo content. Not talking about full purple gear. Just properly crafted greens and blues.

While it is important for solo content to be accessible, I also think that it's equally important for the game to nudge the player to think a little to improve their character and their strategy. ESO gives us a lot of freedom in this regard, it's what sets it apart from more orthodox MMOs.

Berylin · November 2014

I have confirmed that solo content levels up to the character's level. I am extremely curious about the "certain way" a healer should be built. My partner has been an awesome healer since EQ back in '99, the mainstay of many a party, and we have yet to see her heals stand up against boss beat-downs. Please enlighten us about the proper sets, skills and tactics. We're only 42 right now, and still have a variety of level 35+ solo quests (not to mention the 40s) that seem entirely out of reach for her.

Syntse · November 2014

Most of the times Templars have it easy... just heal themselves and chip in damage and eventually the mobs die. It will be slow but at least doable. Then of course one can pick up couple of offensive skills for Templar just for those solo missions just to make it through them a little bit faster.

On a side note basically only main quest is must if running dedicated healer for dungeons and trials and such, one can basically skip just about everything else of course missing some skill points.

Still_Mind · November 2014

Syntse wrote: »

Most of the times Templars have it easy... just heal themselves and chip in damage and eventually the mobs die. It will be slow but at least doable. Then of course one can pick up couple of offensive skills for Templar just for those solo missions just to make it through them a little bit faster.

On a side note basically only main quest is must if running dedicated healer for dungeons and trials and such, one can basically skip just about everything else of course missing some skill points.

Pretty much for Temps. Blazing shield, healing jabs spamming, quick siphon from restostaff.

In case of DKs, Igneous shield, healing ward while they burn, whip their booty if they can be immobilized\stunned - free damage, free healing. Reflect makes mage\archer encounters trivial without putting a lot of stress on your mana (if you're light armour, with good regen and cost reduction).

Siphonblades have pretty much unlimited resources for healing, but they do lack class shields, so, depending on the playstyle, it may be wise to have a bigger HP pool. Otherwise Ward works just fine.

Haven't played a healing Sorc, but I'm fairly confident that shields+overload is also a way to go.

5Seducer and restostaff heavy attacks during levelling should be enough for mana sustainability. Blue HP+mana food is optional, but very nice to have, green usually suffices. 1h\shield secondary style helps tank stuff, specially if you use quick siphon, because attacks are quick and healing adds up a lot over the course of the fight.

guybrushtb16_ESO · November 2014

Is she maybe using a wrong build? If you build your templar right, I can't think of anything in the game right now you can't beat by just spamming puncturing sweep over and over and over again...

Rune_Relic · November 2014

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Woolenthreads · November 2014

guybrushtb16_ESO wrote: »

Is she maybe using a wrong build? If you build your templar right, I can't think of anything in the game right now you can't beat by just spamming puncturing sweep over and over and over again...

At the same level? I can, I ran into the bassid in Deshaan, The Alchemist. The World Bosses take more too. I have to assume that other end-of-extended-quest bosses are generally just as painful. Mostly though, the NPC Nightblades, like the Alchemist, are quite aggravating with their use of "Agony" and "Summon Shade".

Berylin · November 2014

She's using a templar build, but clearly doesn't have the optimal mix of skills. Thanks for the advice, she's not a theory-crafter either (as I supposed you can guess).

cote-bmsb16_ESO · November 2014

I know of an older fellow who loves ESO and just dinged to V1 two weeks ago; hes been playing since launch. Scaling is an issue for me at v14, and I bet he won't have a much better time.

Still_Mind · November 2014

Berylin wrote: »

She's using a templar build, but clearly doesn't have the optimal mix of skills. Thanks for the advice, she's not a theory-crafter either (as I supposed you can guess).

Well, would help if we knew more about her setup

Cuyler · November 2014

Try to get her spell crit chance to soft cap eventually. This is done easiest by using inner light (magelight morph) from mages guild skill line an wearing light armor which has a inc chance to crit passive.

Heals take advantage of crit just like a dps skill would healing for the critical which can be significantly more than what the tooltip states.

Think about a couple of light armor sets that have those spell crit inc (ie. Willow's path, soulshine, imperium, and wise mage). Although wise mage you won't get until trials or you get lucky and someone is selling it. willow's you can craft. Healer's habit set at 5 pc will give a straight 8% heals inc too.

A staple among those using mana is the seducer set which really helps in reaching that mana regen/max mana softcap. It's 3 traits which can be crafted very early on. Also the warlock set but its also a dropped set.

Enchants should be infused on chest head and legs with mana enchants. This will give an inc of at least 7 mana per piece. Use divines on the rest.

A theoretical low level armor build could be:
head - seducer with infused and mana enchant
chest - seducer with infused and mana enchant
legs - seducer with infused and mana enchant
shoulders - seducer with divines and mana enchant
gloves - seducer with divines and mana enchant
belt - willow's path with divines and mana enchant
boots - willow's path with divines and mana enchant
neck - Focus of the warlock
ring - signet of the warlock
ring - signet of the warlock
weapon 1 - Willow's path resto staff with precise and
weapon 2 - Willow's path destroy staff with precise and

An endgame build to shoot for could be:
head - wise mage
chest - wise mage
legs - healers habit
shoulders - healers habit
gloves - wise mage
belt - healers habit
boots - healers habit
neck - healers habit
ring - Imperium ring
ring - Imperium ring
weapon 1 - Imperium Staff
weapon 2 - Imperium Staff

*obv many ways to do this.

Your mundus should be either the ritual for inc healing effectiveness (5%) or the thief for inc crit chance (5%). Thief is generally used more as your crit heals are what is going to make the most difference.