My Character is Leveling Down Instead of Up

Daniel_Malloy · October 2016

As I have played and leveled my character up on the new One Tamriel scaling system, it has seemed as if my character has been getting weaker as I level up. To convince myself that this is not the case, I came up with a simple test to put aside such thoughts and move on. The test is simple, take a brand-new level 4 Dragonknight and equip it with a basic level 4 single-handed sword and kill the same exact enemy as my level 49 Dragonknight equipped with a basic level 49 single-handed sword. To eliminate any armor effects and test my health at the same time, this was done in the all-together. The following link is the YouTube video showing the fight for each level character.

The Elder Scrolls Online: One Tamriel Scaling System Test #1

Relevant stats I would like to highlight break down as such:

Level 4 Nord Dragonknight
Maximum Health 16013
Health Recovery 533
Weapon Damage 1546
Weapon Critical 10.0%
Health AP 0
Stamina AP 0

Level 49 Nord Dragonknight
Maximum Health 15361
Health Recovery 522
Weapon Damage 1178
Weapon Critical 21.0%
Health AP 30
Stamina AP 18
Note: All racial passives are maxed out.

These stats can be seen in the video. If you do not believe me or think I have edited these, just create a new character yourself to verify.

This leads me to one conclusion: my character is leveling down instead of up. So, are your characters leveling down instead of leveling up too? Can anyone explain this ZoS logic to me?

MasterSpatula · October 2016

You are "overscaled" at low level to compensate for the lack of skills and skillpoints and the abilities and passives that go with them.

Daniel_Malloy · October 2016

MasterSpatula wrote: »

You are "overscaled" at low level to compensate for the lack of skills and skillpoints and the abilities and passives that go with them.

Then tell me, at what point do we ACTUALLY see our "normal" scale? Is it at level 10? This seems logical as it is where you can now enter PvP. Is it ACTUALLY level 50? Are we all screwed until we reach the baseline of CP 160? What happens when you reach CP level 561 then?... We can go on...

SnubbS · October 2016

I was really hoping that somehow you'd gone from level 30 to level 28. I'm disappointed.

sadownik · October 2016

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

MasterSpatula wrote: »

You are "overscaled" at low level to compensate for the lack of skills and skillpoints and the abilities and passives that go with them.

Then tell me, at what point do we ACTUALLY see our "normal" scale? Is it at level 10? This seems logical as it is where you can now enter PvP. Is it ACTUALLY level 50? Are we all screwed until we reach the baseline of CP 160? What happens when you reach CP level 561 then?... We can go on...

Yes you are all screwed untill you get at least 160 cp. Thats the gear max lvl.

MasterSpatula · October 2016

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

MasterSpatula wrote: »

You are "overscaled" at low level to compensate for the lack of skills and skillpoints and the abilities and passives that go with them.

Then tell me, at what point do we ACTUALLY see our "normal" scale? Is it at level 10? This seems logical as it is where you can now enter PvP. Is it ACTUALLY level 50? Are we all screwed until we reach the baseline of CP 160? What happens when you reach CP level 561 then?... We can go on...

Yep, basically, if you actually want to feel yourself growing more powerful, yeah, you're waiting until CP161 to actually progress now. I never said I thought it was a good idea. In fact, I've been saying it's a bad idea for a long time. But it's here. It's popular, even. So get used to it, cause ZOS is married to it now.

Dede_Bug · October 2016

sadownik wrote: »

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

MasterSpatula wrote: »

You are "overscaled" at low level to compensate for the lack of skills and skillpoints and the abilities and passives that go with them.

Then tell me, at what point do we ACTUALLY see our "normal" scale? Is it at level 10? This seems logical as it is where you can now enter PvP. Is it ACTUALLY level 50? Are we all screwed until we reach the baseline of CP 160? What happens when you reach CP level 561 then?... We can go on...

Yes you are all screwed untill you get at least 160 cp. Thats the gear max lvl.

Finally a straight forward honest answer!

Though I'm starting to think that the feeling that my character is digressing rather then progressing is so disheartening that it might not be worth the time, trouble, frustration and annoyance to reach CP 160 to test this theory.

Daniel_Malloy · October 2016

If anyone is interested in what my level 49 character's attribute values are after respec-ing, here they are:

Maximum Magicka 9160
Maximum Health 10935
Maximum Stamina 9697

So when taking the level 4's stats, my attribute points, skill points, and armor now have to compensate for a loss of:
Maximum Magicka 5693
Maximum Health 5079
Maximum Stamina 5156

Slylok wrote: »

I think the OP confused his levels with his intelligence.

I wish I had. That would be much easier to explain! MMO's have always had a numbers element to them. As a player levels up, their base stats increase to allow them to take on more challenging opponents. Here, we are taking away stats and trading them in for skill points to use towards abilities. It is no longer about how long a person invests in their character. This system rewards those who use pre-determined build guides to level their character to take advantage of the new skills they have traded their attributes for and gives a false sense of ability to new players who are enjoying the game as ZoS has advertised they could with the release of One Tamriel. It is true, a new character can go anywhere and do pretty much anything they would like with their friends who have invested hundreds if not thousands of hours into the game.

I agree that we should all have the right to our own opinion but I take offense at your post against me and do not find any value added to this discussion by your attempt to degrade me. However, I welcome you to add some meaning conversation to this post. The way I see it, the more this topic is discussed the better. I would very much like to hear your thoughts.

Iselin · October 2016

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

MasterSpatula wrote: »

You are "overscaled" at low level to compensate for the lack of skills and skillpoints and the abilities and passives that go with them.

Then tell me, at what point do we ACTUALLY see our "normal" scale? Is it at level 10? This seems logical as it is where you can now enter PvP. Is it ACTUALLY level 50? Are we all screwed until we reach the baseline of CP 160? What happens when you reach CP level 561 then?... We can go on...

At level 34

The bonus lowbee scaling is reduced by 3% per level until it goes away.You get 97% of the boost at level 1, 94% at level 2 and so on.

In the first 2 PTS builds you could actually see this extra boost % in the character screen.

But with all these overland sets that drop everywhere now, it's actually tough not to have 2 full 5-piece sets or a 5 piece + 2 3PC sets... most of those will boost your health, magicka or health depending on the set.

The more important question in your example though is are you finding it a tougher going against the same mobs at level 49 than you did at level 4? I'd be very surprised if anyone answered yes to that.

KingYogi415 · October 2016

You have to craft new gear every 5 levels. Just craft your own 3 trait gear and make it blue. Weapons purple if you have the mats.

Daniel_Malloy · October 2016

Iselin wrote: »

The more important question in your example though is are you finding it a tougher going against the same mobs at level 49 than you did at level 4? I'd be very surprised if anyone answered yes to that.

The way I have my lvl 49 character built, it takes me longer to kill an enemy than my lower level characters. This is with all items being Superior or higher and combining 2 sets of bonus gear to increase the attribute bonuses gained. When I equip my lower level characters like my lvl 11 with superior gear, I can chug through mobs faster than I can with my lvl 49.

No, my character is not a pre-determined build I copied from the internet. It has been a combination of trial-and-error over the last month to find what works well for me.

The point of One Tamriel was supposed to be player freedom. Yes, a perfectly tuned cp character I should hope has an easier time running through mobs! Have we lost freedom with our characters with One Tamriel's scaling system? I think so. I started playing BECAUSE it was accessible for a wide array of characters. My girlfriend likes the Elder Scrolls universe so this was a perfect opportunity for us to play something casually together. Now, more often than not we are getting frustrated seeing our characters progress backwards and the point in which we can expect the game to not feel like an epic battle whether we are engaged against a pack of wolves or a handful of trolls. Gone is the casual enjoyment of killing a mob together and in its stead we are forced to wage an epic battle against a group of zombies we destroyed just the other week while watching a movie and eating pizza at the same time.

Yes, I understand One Tamriel has "brought new life" into ESO and vetran players are now able to go back and complete the quests that were more like chores to them. But have we lost the casual enjoyment of this game all-together? Do we have to grit our teeth and take it unwillingly as a victim of the system until we reach the almighty CP 160 level? By the time we get there, can we expect the game to even begin to get easier before ZoS implements another update that changes the balance? Already we see the health increasing in dungeons with the latest patch. Is it not possible that this will continue and we will forever be doomed?

Rastoide · October 2016

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

As I have played and leveled my character up on the new One Tamriel scaling system, it has seemed as if my character has been getting weaker as I level up. To convince myself that this is not the case, I came up with a simple test to put aside such thoughts and move on. The test is simple, take a brand-new level 4 Dragonknight and equip it with a basic level 4 single-handed sword and kill the same exact enemy as my level 49 Dragonknight equipped with a basic level 49 single-handed sword. To eliminate any armor effects and test my health at the same time, this was done in the all-together. The following link is the YouTube video showing the fight for each level character.

The Elder Scrolls Online: One Tamriel Scaling System Test #1

Relevant stats I would like to highlight break down as such:

Level 4 Nord Dragonknight
Maximum Health 16013
Health Recovery 533
Weapon Damage 1546
Weapon Critical 10.0%
Health AP 0
Stamina AP 0

Level 49 Nord Dragonknight
Maximum Health 15361
Health Recovery 522
Weapon Damage 1178
Weapon Critical 21.0%
Health AP 30
Stamina AP 18
Note: All racial passives are maxed out.

These stats can be seen in the video. If you do not believe me or think I have edited these, just create a new character yourself to verify.

This leads me to one conclusion: my character is leveling down instead of up. So, are your characters leveling down instead of leveling up too? Can anyone explain this ZoS logic to me?

Thank you for that video! I now see, regular mobs can kill you! I thought i was OP but no, it this weird system that made me OP in a zone that was "about my lvl".. so if i want difficulty i must go to a lower lvl zone? Did i get that right??

Taternater · October 2016

As you level you get skill points to spend in skill trees that should be leveling with you. One thing I suggest is use stat food. Another thing I suggest is to maybe duel with your girlfriend so you can both practice using your moves, learning how they work. And you may want to farm some set pieces. Jewelry from dolmans, boots and belt from delve bosses, maybe get your 5th piece from a chest or world boss if you like fighting world bosses. Advanced and master locked chests guarantee a set piece, though it could be from any of the zone's sets.

Moloch1514 · October 2016

Re-roll magicka Templars and craft Julianos? Everything will be easy for the 2 of you, even doing Normal group dungeons.

Dede_Bug · October 2016

People making builds based on what they enjoy, casual players with non-conventional build or as I've seen in many posts those who's setup is for RP (have no personal experience with RP) are struggling. From what I've seen and experienced most people not conforming to popular build guidelines are being forced to play in a manner that is less enjoyable to them. What is the point of having so much content if you can't play the way want, why bother with the illusion of choice. I have seen too many posts basically taring down those struggling, saying that they just need to learn to play the game. I have to say this has got to be the worst part of this whole experience for a lot of people; the feeling that voicing their frustrations or trying to get help seems to result in them being degraded by more experienced, more competitive players. The amount of cyber bullying on the forums is horrendous. There is a fine line between having a difference of opinion and degrading someone. Can we not be constructive in our discussions? My experiences with the game and the community thus far have left me feeling like an outcast as I am too high level to be a newb and since I started playing with the release of Gold, too young to be considered a veteran player. One Tamriel just made this separation greater for me to the point where it is impossible to enjoy the game most of the time. The only enjoyment I find in the game anymore is with my in-game friends and guild. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't still be hanging on. Regardless of your attitude towards players like me, the frustration for us is real. We have lives outside of the game, both you and I. We are all people here, not just toons. I would welcome constructive comments or a difference of opinion, but berating players who are already frustrated by the changes we did not want only makes matters worse.

Acrolas · October 2016

ZOS doesn't trust B2P players to stick around for more than a few weeks.
So they've tried to cram $60 of content into the first 10 levels.

The new meta is Pact. Start Pact as Level 3, go to Trolhetta in The Rift, beat that at Level 5, go to Stirk and Coldharbour at Level 6, beat Coldharbour at Level 8, finish the main quest at Level 10, then go to PVP until you get bored of the lag or exploiters and leave for whatever Gamestop puts out next week.

AD and DC force you to do the full Reaper's March and Bangkorai, respectively. So don't waste your time on them.

Daniel_Malloy · October 2016

@Taternater , thank you for the constructive advise. We are by no means new to gaming and do understand the gaining of attribute points and the benefit of consuming in-game food items. We also have bonus sets akin to our levels and even have implemented some of the new set pieces already (thank you to our guild for the help). Sadly, dueling with my girlfriend would do no good... You can't expect a tank to fight a healer PvP and expect each to learn their abilities that they have set to work as a team instead of a solo PvP build. If that were the case, we wouldn't be playing ESO that was supposed to emphasize freedom and player choice. As for gaining set pieces, with our stats continuing to decrease as we level, would we not be locked now in a constant grind for set pieces to maintain a status-quo?

@aheck1111_ESO , wouldn't this remove our ability to try to play more akin to how we want to? a 2-person team composed of a tank and a healer/DPS should be an enjoyable combination. It again seems like we are being forced to consider re-rolling just to keep playing and that eliminates half of the reason we decided to play in the first place. Before the update and the implementation of the scaling system, we were in ecstasy; killing mobs together and taking on dungeons with our friends was fun and exciting and we could relax with senseless killing. Wouldn't the re-rolling still not address these?

@Acrolas , I think you hit it on the head with this, but did forget the "New DLC" to be released in a few months time to spur up revenue again... Rinse and repeat it seems.

SpAEkus · October 2016

Also take into account that the NPC are all CP160 in all areas. And zone content has been upgraded to 2-4 man groups from old solo.

As soon as you step off the boat now Skeevers have 13K+ HP. Mudcrabs have 31K+ HP. And the larger NPC like Crocs have 47K and simple trolls have 108K+. And a simple misc quest overland boss like a bone-colossus pops out with 250K+ HP.

Before the NPC were leveled to the zone, so you could match what was in front of you as you leveled.

Now even with battle leveling, that Level 4 w/o enough gear/stats/skills is not going to output enough damage to one-shot mudcrabs as soon as they step off the boat any more.

Iselin · October 2016

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

Iselin wrote: »

The more important question in your example though is are you finding it a tougher going against the same mobs at level 49 than you did at level 4? I'd be very surprised if anyone answered yes to that.

The way I have my lvl 49 character built, it takes me longer to kill an enemy than my lower level characters. This is with all items being Superior or higher and combining 2 sets of bonus gear to increase the attribute bonuses gained. When I equip my lower level characters like my lvl 11 with superior gear, I can chug through mobs faster than I can with my lvl 49.

I find that hard to believe honestly. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. It's possible that they overdid it with the lowbee boost and, being as it is a hidden modifier, they could very well tweak it I suppose.

The biggest issue in making this transition was making sure that brand new players starting the game with with One Tamriel were able to cope with CP160 mobs everywhere while gearing and skilling up and just plain learning how to play the game. There's nothing more off-putting to a new player than struggling doing the simplest solo quests. In a more traditional MMO with low level mobs and where you can over-level content, that's pretty easy to do. This new system is tougher to do in a way that new players can handle the content.

I agree that feeling a sense of progression is also important and it's why I spent the past month on the PTS leveling low level characters using no CP. I leveled two sorcerers into the high 30s - one magicka and one stamina. In both cases despite the numbers I was seeing for H/M/S, I had a good sense of progression and becoming more powerful as I leveled up. This had more to do with unlocking and morphing higher level abilities and accumulating more passives than anything else.

Just some examples...

For sorcerer damage and survivability, unlocking and morphing Surge is a game changer that boosts your damage by 20% and heals you constantly. That's the 4th ability in Storm Calling and you need rank 30 to unlock it. You'll get that in your mid 20's at the earliest and that's only if you stack your bar with Storm Calling abilities.

For Templar magicka DPS Radiant Destruction and morphs is their game changer. That one unlocks even later at rank 42 of Dawn's Wrath... mid 30's.

Likewise for any class using 2HD and unlocking Momentum @ 42.

I don't know what you built or how you built it but I'd be concerned if my level 11 has an easier time than my level 49... concerned about my build and skill choices that is.

Moloch1514 · October 2016

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

@Taternater , thank you for the constructive advise. We are by no means new to gaming and do understand the gaining of attribute points and the benefit of consuming in-game food items. We also have bonus sets akin to our levels and even have implemented some of the new set pieces already (thank you to our guild for the help). Sadly, dueling with my girlfriend would do no good... You can't expect a tank to fight a healer PvP and expect each to learn their abilities that they have set to work as a team instead of a solo PvP build. If that were the case, we wouldn't be playing ESO that was supposed to emphasize freedom and player choice. As for gaining set pieces, with our stats continuing to decrease as we level, would we not be locked now in a constant grind for set pieces to maintain a status-quo?

@aheck1111_ESO , wouldn't this remove our ability to try to play more akin to how we want to? a 2-person team composed of a tank and a healer/DPS should be an enjoyable combination. It again seems like we are being forced to consider re-rolling just to keep playing and that eliminates half of the reason we decided to play in the first place. Before the update and the implementation of the scaling system, we were in ecstasy; killing mobs together and taking on dungeons with our friends was fun and exciting and we could relax with senseless killing. Wouldn't the re-rolling still not address these?

@Acrolas , I think you hit it on the head with this, but did forget the "New DLC" to be released in a few months time to spur up revenue again... Rinse and repeat it seems.

Agreed. "Play how you want" doesn't work very well in One Tamriel, as you are describing. Really takes the Roleplay/Immersion out of the mix, and inserts min/maxing and ego (dueling).

starkerealm · October 2016

sadownik wrote: »

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

MasterSpatula wrote: »

You are "overscaled" at low level to compensate for the lack of skills and skillpoints and the abilities and passives that go with them.

Then tell me, at what point do we ACTUALLY see our "normal" scale? Is it at level 10? This seems logical as it is where you can now enter PvP. Is it ACTUALLY level 50? Are we all screwed until we reach the baseline of CP 160? What happens when you reach CP level 561 then?... We can go on...

Yes you are all screwed untill you get at least 160 cp. Thats the gear max lvl.

Used to be, leveling targeted 150, rather than 160. No idea if 1T does it that way or not, though. Of course, if the underleveled bonus is 3% per level, once you hit ~34 or 35, you should start becoming, statistically, more powerful as you level. *shrugs*

Daniel_Malloy · October 2016

@Iselin , my lvl 49 Nord Dragonknight is set right now as follows:
Magicka 10
Health 41
Stamina 10

Mundus right now is The Thief but will most likely try changing to either The Lady or The Lord

I am running all heavy armor; 5 pieces Whitestrake and 3 Embershield to maximize health. I have a necklace for max health, ring of mara for xp, and another random ring for health and health recovery.

On my first bar with 2-handed I am running in order:
Hardened Armor
Brawler
Dizzying Swing
Critical Rush
Burning Talons
Ferocious Leap

Second bar with sword and board I am running in order:
Hardened Armor
Pierce Armor
Reflective Plate
Green Dragon Blood
Draw Essence
Immovable (Just added this one to see if it helps but haven't had a chance to use it)

I have all Draconic Power, heavy armor, and Nord passives with the exception of the last Rugged passive for my racial that I unlock at lvl 50.

I run the 2-handed until we need to pull heat off of a member in the group or need a dedicated meat shield. I typically start with hardened armor and jump into the mix with Critical Rush. I then move on to dizzying swing to knock down any healers and mop the rest up with Brawler; taking heavy attacks when needed to refill my stamina.

When I need to pull the heat off someone, I jump over with Critical Rush and switch to my 2nd set to attack with Pierce Armor and start throwing up the defensive abilities as I continue to pull the other's attention to me. Once the group has regrouped I switch back to 2-handed and mop them up with my Brawler to rinse and repeat.

You take this show on the road though against a single enemy or small mob and like I said, I could swear my lvl 11 with nothing can disband the small world enemy or group faster unless I get them to line up and use my brawler. Still disheartening to see my damage inflicted with my normal blows to be 300-500 less than my thow-away toon with a random bow or sword.

More than anything, trying to find her a good Templar healer build for her Dunmer is what will most likely help the most. She's into her CP levels now and dying more than when she was in her lower non-cp levels.

starkerealm · October 2016

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

@Iselin , my lvl 49 Nord Dragonknight is set right now as follows...

[snip]

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me that's taking you longer to kill stuff than your level 4. What you've done is skew heavily towards survival options. You're probably a hell of a lot beefier (in spite of having lower health) than your lowbie is, but you're no longer going to have the same kind of outgoing damage. (And, yes, I realize your 2h bar is primarily offense, but your stat distribution is what's going to hobble that.)

xeNNNNN · October 2016

SnubbS wrote: »

I was really hoping that somehow you'd gone from level 30 to level 28. I'm disappointed.

Yeah I was kinda hoping that too. im kinda salty he wasnt now lol

SublimeSparo · October 2016

Is there any particular reason you are putting so many points in health?
For example, most Damage Dealers will put all their attributes in either stamina or magicka, depending on whether they are a stamina or magicka build
most healers(magicka players as a general rule) will also put all their attributes into magicka
This generally leaves them with around 12k health, to compensate for this food buffs are used,- generally max health+ main attribute blue food, to reach around 16-18k health.
Tanks vary somewhat, ie i have a health build blazing shield templar tank that has all 64 points in health but it is a niche build and clunky and inefficient for solo play.
In contrast my nord dk tank which i tank veteran trials with has about 20 points in health the rest in stamina and uses purple tristat food, this leaves me with ~30k health and ~30k stamina.
Due to the way things work in this game it is advantageous to invest in your primary stat pool as your damage and healing scales with that pool, ie with 17k health and 40k magicka my healer templar can hit 35k+ heals and 40k executes but my templar tank from above with 60k health and 10k magicka can probably barely hit a 10k heal and 10k execute.

Food buffs are very important in game as a new/low level player aim for about 20k health with food buff (even crusty bread you find laying around or green recipe food to get you there is extremely useful) then invest the remaining points in your primary stat pool will benefit your damage and healing.
A tank can easily get away with running 25k health for most content until late endgame.

Daniel_Malloy · October 2016

@starkerealm , Yeah the base damage is still what I get caught up on... It's just hard spending so much time leveling up my character to switch to the throw-away and deal more dmg per strike.

@SublimeSparo , My intent is a tank build I can use to move around attacking quickly (Critical Rush) and gather the enemy agro with (Pierce Armor) and survive the onslaught and put out decent damage to a mob while the group can clean up where needed. For just the 2 of us, its to take the brunt of the attack and allow her to act as a ranged dps. We were fine until the 1T update with her build but its forced us to stop playing like we want to and play more conventional means... The frustration really is hard when trying to figure out a build when you keep going down in stats.

Would I deal more base dmg if I focused all my attributes into one pool then? I know base dmg is just that, a base but I like something solid to work off of.

As for her build, do you have any suggestions on a Dunmer Templar healer build that can hold its own solo?

nilldax · October 2016

Daniel_Malloy wrote: »

@starkerealm , Yeah the base damage is still what I get caught up on... It's just hard spending so much time leveling up my character to switch to the throw-away and deal more dmg per strike.

@SublimeSparo , My intent is a tank build I can use to move around attacking quickly (Critical Rush) and gather the enemy agro with (Pierce Armor) and survive the onslaught and put out decent damage to a mob while the group can clean up where needed. For just the 2 of us, its to take the brunt of the attack and allow her to act as a ranged dps. We were fine until the 1T update with her build but its forced us to stop playing like we want to and play more conventional means... The frustration really is hard when trying to figure out a build when you keep going down in stats.

Would I deal more base dmg if I focused all my attributes into one pool then? I know base dmg is just that, a base but I like something solid to work off of.

As for her build, do you have any suggestions on a Dunmer Templar healer build that can hold its own solo?

For raw damage - it comes from two resources: Max Stat and your Weapon/Spell Damage. Max Stat gives you less damage output than pure damage, however "allows" for longer fights, by simply bigger Stamina/Magicka pool (not counting regens).
As bigger Health bar - you can manage it with, like mentioned, with armor sets, jewelry (Healthy), armor runes (Tri-stat/one-stat), or lastly - right foods usage (Max Stats/regen/ mix like Orzoga recipies). When it comes to survival - much better, in most cases, is out-healing damage, keeping HP in stage preventing from one-shots and putting other points into DPS.

But as for your original post, truly, "lowbies" are much more powahfull with 1T than maxlvls.

outsideworld76 · October 2016

Sounds like the battle leveling in PvP for lowbees. Love the feeling I get when a level 10 completely wrecks me in Cyrodiil.

JoffyToffy69 · October 2016

Without tooting my own horn too much, I put points into health and magika and deal a tonne of damage too (on my main; sorc). With food and gear I sit between 23k to 25k for health. (25 w/resto)
I would say I am quite an experienced player. Online builds don't work for everyone so I suggest look at them and adjust accordingly to yourself.
I found very little loss to dps was nothing compared to having better health pool then most dps. I was able to survive the insta kills from bosses and PvP (just) and could heal and react quickly after.

As someone else said, your 49 has been working towards a niche. Group play where you're a tank. Realistic you can't do everything tank damage heal. Just keep that in mind.
I change my skills accordingly to PvP and PvE, solo and group.

A little advice though, on my DK she is tanky af. Her damage isnt great but all of it is DoTs, so I can last long due to being tanky while enemies slowly die. It works wonders in PvP as enemies waste resources doing practically nothing.
I also use sets that procs from DoTs.
Also depending how my Bar is setup too for group or solo play. Am I fighting large groups of mobs or just a few? I have to adjust accordingly - no escaping that

SublimeSparo · October 2016

The scaling is a pain as you are levelling as it is based from your current gear so if the gear isn't at or near your current level the scaling starts dropping off, the greater the disparity between current level and gear level the worse it gets.
I've not got the update yet as i'm on console but my main advice would be;
-either you or your partner level up provisioning asap and try to get recipes for your level so that you can get easy access to good level appropriate food buffs
-try to use as much gear at or near your level as possible. There should a fair amount of set gear dropping now for you on pc (im console so haven't got one tamriel yet)
-try to find some friends with established characters or a social guild that can help with the above two points, most people are overflowing with provisioning ingredients and will probably be able to sort you out some food, crafted gear sets to help you out.

Generally;
Stamina Damage and heals are based off max stamina and weapon damage
Magicka damage and heals are based off max magicka and spell damage

A notable relevant exception is dragon blood, due it being a percentage based heal, it wont really scale with max stats other than health.

A useful skill for dk tanking is dark talons, morphed to choking talons. This allows you to lock down nearby enemies and reduces their damage, giving you time to either taunt them all, back up and heal, give your partner space so they can stay ranged. Or even in need be escape.
For example if you are in the thick of it in a group of mobs but one slips away and starts attacking your partner you could talons the group, crit rush the escapee, taunt it, then crit rush back to group which will still probably be locked down, and the escapee will then head back to the group.

For a dunmer healer templar you are probably going to want a few sets/ jewellery pieces with magick regen as templars and dunmer don't have a lot of natural regen passives.
The key templar abilities and useful morphs are;
Puncturing strikes > Puncturing sweeps - this deals aoe damage and heals you at the same time. Excellent for solo play
Rushed Ceremony > both morphs are great - this is a powerful burst heal that will smart target the lowest health person.
Spear shards > blazing spear - a ranged cc with strong aoe damage and the synergy restores stamina, great for cc'ing pesky archers/mages while you close the gap to use Puncturing sweeps.
Rune focus > Channelled focus - this gives you an armour buff and a magicka regen buff and increases your healing when the relevant passive is unlocked
Restoring aura> Repentance - passively gives 10% regen to health stam and magick while slotted and when you activate it near corpses you get a free heal and stamina back
Cleansing rirual > ritual of retribution - removes dots/ snares/ debuffs from you, gives a heal over time snares and damages the enemy, and also incteases healing with the passive unlocked.
The Nova ultimate is also great as it does decent damage and reduces damage from the enemies. If you use your dk talons to lock enemies in it they will do a total of 45% reduced damage

Sigtric · October 2016

The way the scaling seems to be working, I think it's going to need some tuning over time now that the masses have a hold of it.

Testing on the PTS is really a small sample size and you mostly get the hard core in there and not likely much of the more casual players.

The scaling is boosting the lowbies and it gradually decreases as the character gets more powerful (I'm gurssing)

If this is the case it's going to have to come down to almost no scaling once you hit cp 159ish so that it's not an abrupt change once you hit 160.

IOW at this point it'll take some time and tuning to get the scaling just so.

To OP: imo flip your stats so you are Stam heavy and use enchants for health.

My Stam Templar tank is only 9 points into health and rest Stam and sits at 30k health buffed and +10k ish or so with shields.

More than enough for Dungeon tanking if I got the heals coming in.