What is the best way to level up?

BuhLight69 · June 2015

ESO is my first elder scrolls game. Is the best way to level up simply constant questing or is there a faster way?

UrQuan · June 2015

There's a faster way, but there isn't a better way. The fast way is to just find good grind spots and grind mobs all day long. If that's all you do, though, you'll miss out on a ton of stuff - including skill points from quest rewards, and learning to actually play. Seriously, I've run into a few people who did nothing but grind to get to VR1 and were the worst players I've ever tried to do a dungeon with, with absolutely no clue what they were doing.

The best way to level is to just do all of the quests, the public dungeons (not so good for XP, but good for learning to fight large groups of mobs and bosses, and good for a skill point each if you do the group challenge), and the group dungeons, and maybe some PVP in Cyrodiil if you have any interest in PVP.

I guess my point is that you should feel free to do some grinding to quickly level if you're into that, but make sure you do the other stuff too, because otherwise you'll have a rude awakening when you hit "endgame".

Johngo0036 · June 2015

Hey,

Grinding is dead boring but it will get you through your levels quickly,
There is of course a downside,

You will not complete quests which can give you valuable experience,
If you don't complete the main quest you will not get to go to the other factions,
and get all the XP there is there as well as valuable skyshards and skillpoints,

I did every quest with my first Character,
my 2nd i just did the grinding and have now gone back with him to do final quest coz i need more skill points

Hope this helps.....

My 6th, 7th and 8th i am doing a mix of grinding and questing.

Cuyler · June 2015

Personally I prefer to grind them after I did all the quests the first time through. In addition I don't get the "lose out on valuable experience" arguments either. Reason?

because you'll have to do at least some of the quests to efficiently grind anyhow. This includes the main story arc and at least the Cadwell's silver story Arc. Not that it's a ton of experience, but these quests cover almost all the required mechanics necessary to be "experienced".

If this is your first character however, and you want to do crafting, you WILL need to gather more skill points from somewhere (i.e. mages fighters guild quests, skyshards etc.)

UrQuan · June 2015

Cuyler wrote: »

Personally I prefer to grind them after I did all the quests the first time through. In addition I don't get the "lose out on valuable experience" arguments either. Reason?

because you'll have to do at least some of the quests to efficiently grind anyhow. This includes the main story arc and at least the Cadwell's silver story Arc. Not that it's a ton of experience, but these quests cover almost all the required mechanics necessary to be "experienced".

Well, if you're doing that much of the questing, and you're also doing public dungeons and group dungeons, then I wouldn't put you in the category of a pure grinder. I've met a couple of players in-game who literally only did the main story quests and aside from those got to VR1 purely by grinding mobs. They were freaking terrible and had no idea what they were doing.

Cuyler · June 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

Personally I prefer to grind them after I did all the quests the first time through. In addition I don't get the "lose out on valuable experience" arguments either. Reason?

because you'll have to do at least some of the quests to efficiently grind anyhow. This includes the main story arc and at least the Cadwell's silver story Arc. Not that it's a ton of experience, but these quests cover almost all the required mechanics necessary to be "experienced".

Well, if you're doing that much of the questing, and you're also doing public dungeons and group dungeons, then I wouldn't put you in the category of a pure grinder. I've met a couple of players in-game who literally only did the main story quests and aside from those got to VR1 purely by grinding mobs. They were freaking terrible and had no idea what they were doing.

I can'T see how any grinder would grind all the way to v14 in v1-5 zones. The XP/hr would be practically non-existent.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO · June 2015

My opinion is do all the quests first. If you still arent high enough level to go to the next zone do all the dolmens, delves and public dungeons. If you have friends also the group dungeons give good xp. You will get your fill of grinding later when you hit VR10 and run out of options other than craglorn.

UrQuan · June 2015

Cuyler wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

Personally I prefer to grind them after I did all the quests the first time through. In addition I don't get the "lose out on valuable experience" arguments either. Reason?

because you'll have to do at least some of the quests to efficiently grind anyhow. This includes the main story arc and at least the Cadwell's silver story Arc. Not that it's a ton of experience, but these quests cover almost all the required mechanics necessary to be "experienced".

Well, if you're doing that much of the questing, and you're also doing public dungeons and group dungeons, then I wouldn't put you in the category of a pure grinder. I've met a couple of players in-game who literally only did the main story quests and aside from those got to VR1 purely by grinding mobs. They were freaking terrible and had no idea what they were doing.

I can'T see how any grinder would grind all the way to v14 in v1-5 zones. The XP/hr would be practically non-existent.

You might want to re-read my post - the people I was talking about got to VR1 by doing essentially nothing but grinding as a pair, not to VR14.

I encountered them in a PUG when they were wanting to do the "endgame" vet dungeons now that they were "at endgame" and they were the absolute worst DPS I've ever played with in any group dungeons, vet or not. They didn't know what most of the skills they had access to actually did, they just spammed a couple of skills over and over, they didn't block or dodge, they stood in the red, they didn't pay any attention to the boss mechanics in each fight... Even when running the first group of 3 dungeons at level 12-15 I've never encountered players who knew as little about how to play.

But I'd be surprised if anyone could get to VR14 just via grinding and be as clueless as that. Well, unless it was a case of someone hiring someone to grind to VR14 for them and then just starting to play with a max level character. I'd like to think that doesn't happen though. I hope.

Anyway, my whole point is that if you want to grind mobs to level quickly, go for it, just make sure you're doing other stuff too so that you don't miss out on skill points and learning basic skills like how to behave in a boss fight. And I think you'd agree with me on that @Cuyler.

Cuyler · June 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

You might want to re-read my post - the people I was talking about got to VR1 by doing essentially nothing but grinding as a pair, not to VR14.

Ah I see it now, my eyes played tricks on me. The current state of the lvl 1-49 game doesn't really prepare players for the vet experience. They're are one or two fights that do. In the statement you originally quoted I was referring mostly to the silver quests providing good experience to practice endgame mechanics (vet quests) so I assumed you were referring to that as well. My brain defaulted to v14

UrQuan wrote: »

Anyway, my whole point is that if you want to grind mobs to level quickly, go for it, just make sure you're doing other stuff too so that you don't miss out on skill points and learning basic skills like how to behave in a boss fight. And I think you'd agree with me on that @Cuyler.

I concur, this is solid advice. It's important to realize that grinding mobs is by no means preparing you for endgame where mechanics vary greatly from boss to boss and that knowing every skill available to you can either mean completing a dungeon or walking away empty handed.

UrQuan · June 2015

Cuyler wrote: »

UrQuan wrote: »

You might want to re-read my post - the people I was talking about got to VR1 by doing essentially nothing but grinding as a pair, not to VR14.

Ah I see it now, my eyes played tricks on me. The current state of the lvl 1-49 game doesn't really prepare players for the vet experience. They're are one or two fights that do. In the statement you originally quoted I was referring mostly to the silver quests providing good experience to practice endgame mechanics (vet quests) so I assumed you were referring to that as well. My brain defaulted to v14

UrQuan wrote: »

Anyway, my whole point is that if you want to grind mobs to level quickly, go for it, just make sure you're doing other stuff too so that you don't miss out on skill points and learning basic skills like how to behave in a boss fight. And I think you'd agree with me on that @Cuyler.

I concur, this is solid advice. It's important to realize that grinding mobs is by no means preparing you for endgame where mechanics vary greatly from boss to boss and that knowing every skill available to you can either mean completing a dungeon or walking away empty handed.

See, I was pretty sure we were actually in agreement on this

KayleeSeranada · June 2015

I would reaffirm what others are saying here - do the quests for the experience and understanding of the game. Frankly, the quests are some of the best-written content I've ever seen in an MMO and would recommend them regardless. I fid that if I do *every single* quest (which I know isn't everyone's style), I will end up being so over-leveled that I can skip the 4th zone altogether if I so choose. So if getting to VR1 is your game, it's about 20% quicker than it looks by questing while still getting the experience under your fingers and the skill points on your character.

kylerjalen · June 2015

My opinion.

Pre-Veteran levels:
1. Do all quests
2. Explore everything
3. Do dungeons
4. Do dolmens
5. Do pledges
6. Craft craft and craft some more
7. Group up with people and do all of the above

Veteran levels:
1. Do just the Cadwell's Silver and Gold
2. Explore everything in the veteran zones
3. Do dungeons
4. Do dolmens
5. Do Veteran pledges
6. GRIND in zones where mobs respawn
7. Group up with people and do all of the above.

kylerjalen · June 2015

UrQuan wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

Personally I prefer to grind them after I did all the quests the first time through. In addition I don't get the "lose out on valuable experience" arguments either. Reason?

because you'll have to do at least some of the quests to efficiently grind anyhow. This includes the main story arc and at least the Cadwell's silver story Arc. Not that it's a ton of experience, but these quests cover almost all the required mechanics necessary to be "experienced".

Well, if you're doing that much of the questing, and you're also doing public dungeons and group dungeons, then I wouldn't put you in the category of a pure grinder. I've met a couple of players in-game who literally only did the main story quests and aside from those got to VR1 purely by grinding mobs. They were freaking terrible and had no idea what they were doing.

THIS so much. Questing and exploring enables you to refine your skills/abilities/rotation/understanding of the enemy mechanics. Grinding is BORING and repetitive which may make you awesome at killing mobs, getting loot, and leveling up but awful and fighting bosses and doing everything else.