Need help understanding Champion Points from level 50.

Violynne · February 2017

I started a new character since I've been away for over a year. I just hit level 50, and now I'm 223 CP. Everything is now well above my ability to craft, provision, etc. Why did the game do this?

The last armor and weapons I just crafted are only level 48. Is this going to be a problem going forward? I'm currently in Coldharbor, working to defeat Molag Bal.

I do have another character, but I just assumed the CP level was a restructure from the old Veteran rank system. I've never seen a CP level 1 since starting this game.

Do I continue crafting as I have or is CP just a "bonus" for hitting level 50?

Not sure I'm liking this new system.

FriedEggSandwich · February 2017

I don't quite understand. Are you sayimg you literally just hit 50 and immediately got to cp223? If that's the case then those cp were earned by your other character but are account wide so can be used on all your characters, even those below lvl50; you can allocate any cp you have to a fresh level 1 if you like. You've never seen a cp1 because if you're leveling your 1st character you get given 10cp as soon as you hit 50, because cp10 is equivalent to the old vet rank 1. There are no cp1's. Your cp rank shouldn't affect your crafting, it will just mean you can wear cp160 gear immediately.

Violynne · February 2017

FriedEggSandwich wrote: »

I don't quite understand. Are you sayimg you literally just hit 50 and immediately got to cp223?

Yes, this is precisely what happened. I figured out how I got to CP 222 pretty quickly, but that's not my concern.

My concern is crafting. I found a runestone which immediately spit out a level 10 rune. I just unlocked level 6 today, and there's no way I can craft level 10. I left the game to come here to figure out what's going on.

I haven't found any other mats yet to see what they're dropping, but if they are also high, I'm pretty boned because if I can't craft, my level gear is stuck at 48 with NO way to level up now that items are well above my rank.

I can't even go to lower levels anymore, since everything scales.

Did ZoS even consider this to people who wanted to start a new character but aren't new players?

This is so damn baffling. I thought mats were supposed to ranks with the mat level, not the player level.

cjhhickman39 · February 2017

The way the nodes are supposed to work now is on a 50/50 system. Half kick at the player level( why you got the level 10 rune) and half at crafting ability level . Takes a little more framing as you level crafting but when you max out you will be glad to have a lot of top end mats on hand

davey1107 · February 2017

You're right, it's a little more confusing with One Tam...but once you get the hang of it, it's actually better.

When your character "sees" a node, it considers two things:

1. What's your character level (you are currently C220-whatever, thereby making you "max level" in terms of nodes, which go up to c160)
2. What's your proficiency in that node's craft line? For example, if you've spent points in your first smithing passive so you can craft up to champion 10 gear, the system sees you as "c10 smithing."

It then hypothetically loads nodes in a zone in a 50/50 rng, so that half will be c160 (rubedite) and half will be c10 metal (???). It does this because it assumes you might want to craft items at your max craft skill level, but it also assumes you want people to make you gear you'd wear, so it doesn't want to deny you the rubedo/rubedite/repora/etc that you'd need to pass off to someone to make you c160 stuff.

How to level

You're also misunderstanding the craft skill leveling. You don't get much craft leveling (i.e., "inspiration") from making items. You get four times as much from deconstructing items. And you will actually be able to level your characters much faster now because your vet will be getting c160 junk drops...which offer the most leveling inspiration. If you tear apart everything you find, you'll be at 50 really, really quickly.

Writs are a little tougher. It takes longer to farm mats for lower level writs. But writs don't provide that much inspiration anyway, and the fact that higher writ levels return better bonuses means you pretty much want to max your passives and do max level writs. At that point your character will only see max level nodes. But if you're having trouble farming the right level mats for writs, your best bet is a guild store.

Efficient way to level crafting:

Wood, smith, cloth: decon junk from dungeon runs, do writs then decon intricate items rewarded.

Provision: buy recipes from guild stores then stacks of ingredients. It might be easier to put out zone chats "I'm leveling provision, can anyone sell me 200 corn and 200 wheat". This stuff is garbage to players with craft bags. I leveled a guy today...I have 5,800 seaweed.

Alchemy: check out sunshine daydream's guide to efficiently learn the traits. Then make most potent possible poisons...I like spiders eggs and mud crab...I was able to get up to 50 spending about 15k on huge stacks of these. (I can go earn a motif to sell for 15k in a half hour, so spending beats the heck out of farming).

Enchanting: pray, swear, smash something, repeat. Lol. This is the slowest grind. It's horrible. Either decon junk glyphs you find...in which case it will take months, or buy a bunch of denata (blues) and have one character craft highest level possible glyphs to send to ANOTHER CHARACTER for decon. Don't decon a character's own glyphs...worthless. The grind bored me, so I deconstruct the green glyphs I get from writs and dungeon glyphs and just let them get to 50 enchanting when they do.

zaria · February 2017

cjhhickman39 wrote: »

The way the nodes are supposed to work now is on a 50/50 system. Half kick at the player level( why you got the level 10 rune) and half at crafting ability level . Takes a little more framing as you level crafting but when you max out you will be glad to have a lot of top end mats on hand

Thanks this explains why my alt with no points into crafting found so much iron ore.
Sounds like an plan to send cp160 stuff to her to boost her at least to her level or a bit above, she don't really need skills in crafting but its nice for harvesting.

Raises an question if really needed for enchant and alchemy? is not just one of the runes and the water leveled?

cjhhickman39 · February 2017

At work so can't give you the exact numbers but there are around five different water levels and the same for runes ? Could be ten but you will only harvest at two levels your crafting skill and your characters

zaria · February 2017

cjhhickman39 wrote: »

At work so can't give you the exact numbers but there are around five different water levels and the same for runes ? Could be ten but you will only harvest at two levels your crafting skill and your characters

My point was that the square runes and the water is so common its not an priority for an alt to have high enchant and alchemy.

Merlin13KAGL · February 2017

This is effectively not much different than it was when vet levels were in play - you still had to have the skill level to be able to make level XX gear. It's just tiered on CP now instead of VR. I'm assuming when you left, you had at least one VR16 character? How were you making/enchanting your gear then?

The good news is, when you get one or more characters to that crafting level, you'll be good to craft forever after.

Violynne · February 2017

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

I'm assuming when you left, you had at least one VR16 character? How were you making/enchanting your gear then?

Yes, my previous character was VR16 + CP points (though I don't remember the total). When I returned last month, she was CP 222.

When I saw my new character had CP to spend, it didn't take me long to figure out the new CP system.

As for crafting, I did it the old school way: slowly, and through Cadwell's silver and gold. I didn't mind the slow grind.

Having read the comments, I feel a little better now that I understand how things work. I'll spend a couple extra hours grinding to complete my writs through level 50, then upgrade all my skills to max 10. Time to go Skyshard hunting! Most are hovering in the 30s-40s, so it won't take long to max them out.

Provisioning was the first to hit 50. >:] Loves me food! (plus, I suck at this game and every bonus is a plus).

Thanks for all your help, everyone!