Content scaling

Raeshlavik · January 2015

Howdy! Beta / release player here returning after being gone for most of a year...

I know I am probably just doing it wrong, but the content scaling seems really - odd - and my question is; am I doing it wrong?

For example: I am level 8 in a level 8 area, and I find a quest giver who wants me to go give some teleport scrolls to some kidnapped folks.

I scope out the nearby tunnel, and it has a level 8 giant bat - not having fought one of these before I pull it out so I have some room in case it is social or has some cool abilities... Just a cone stun, no biggie to avoid, and I kill it.

Okay! Proceed through said tunnel nuking the bats one by one. I'm feeling pretty awesome, there is some challenge to the pulls, but things are fun.

I get to the other end of the tunnel - wolves! These are social and come in groups, but they are also level 8. So I change up my tactics a bit and after a close call where I get four on me, I make it to the tower.

Yay me! I'm the hero!

Find an NPC, give her a scroll, get to talk to a projection of some mage, and hit the portal...

Okay, the difficulty has turned up a notch - caster fire atronachs! But they are level 8 and I can solo pull them. So I learn to avoid their AOE fire damage to get to the next NPC because I'm rolling with the punches and things are pretty groovy!

I talk to her - and she spawns a level 9 elite that kills me instantly.

Fuuuuuu....

This is where I turn off the game, because this is the third time I've run into this scaling cliff in the last few hours.

It seems like the content just lacks any sense of progressive difficulty. You go along just fine and *BAM* dead - no option. So you retreat and head elsewhere where you go along just fine until *BAM* dead - no option.

I get that elite stuff should be hard - but there is no indication that you've just crossed the line from solo to group content. At least, I assume elites are group content because there is no way in hell they are soloable for someone working the area at the level of everything else.

So is this a common thing in ESO these days, or am I just ***?

failkiwib16_ESO · January 2015

Hello, you can check the level of the quest intended too, if you look in your journal. It even indicates them with colors....

burningcrow · January 2015

I would also suggest throwing on some heavy armor and shield for certain encounters. And make sure to use health pots.

Enodoc · January 2015

On average, a quest at-level should be doable, as should any quest in the near level range. Quests' relative difficulty is shown by their colour; yellow quests are viable at your level; green quests (3 levels below) get a bit easy; grey quests (6 levels below) are very easy (and the mobs give no loot or XP); orange quests (4 levels above) are pretty hard; red quests (8 levels above) are not advisable.

In addition to that, Group Content is now indicated - anything with the

on the loading screen or in the Journal is designed for a group. In the overworld, it's still only the Dark Anchors and World Bosses that need a group (until you hit Craglorn). Elites (health bar with extra pips like this:

) are designed to be the hardest encounters at-level for a solo player. (Only elites in the group locations above are designed for groups; all most others are soloable with the right gear/tactics/potions.)

UrQuan · January 2015

I remember the quest you're talking about in Auridon (I should - I've done it 8 or more times on different characters).

When you come across a boss like that in a quest, it's meant to be more of a challenge than the mobs (which should all be super easy to kill at level if you go one on one, and only usually become challenging in groups of 4 or more).

I don't exactly remember the mechanics of that particular boss fight, but with most bosses what you really want to do is look out for the special attacks and either block or interrupt them - or just dodge out of the way. They'll telegraph that they're preparing for these, giving you a little time to react. Depending on the attack, though, some can't be blocked, some can't be interrupted, and some can't be dodged. Only experience will tell you what type of attack is coming, and what the most effective way is to defend against it. If you don't avoid getting hit full on by these, you'll get slaughtered. If you haven't put a decent amount of your ability points into health, there's a good chance you'll get one-shotted.

Also, try to make sure that your gear is decent. If you're crafting your own gear, try to make sure you make yourself a new set of green or blue quality gear every 4 levels while leveling. If you're equipping yourself with stuff that drops from your enemies, make sure to replace older stuff with newer stuff and try to keep it all as close to your level as possible. And make sure that you're not going into boss fights with gear that's so damaged it's useless. Either repair or replace.

UrQuan · January 2015

Oh, one more thing: did you do Khenarthi's Roost before starting to explore and quest in Auridon? If not, as you're still not too high level to do it, I suggest you go back and do the Khenarthi's Roost quests. The starter islands will help teach you the ins and outs of the game, and if you do them and all (or almost all) of the other quests and such along the way, you should be pretty consistently 2-4 levels above the new quests that you get (aside from the ones that scale to your level), thus making them easier.