Old Sorcerer Character under-performing...

Belphe · May 2017

Hi,

I recently started playing again after 2,5 years... I beta-tested ESO and played for a couple of weeks after the premiere but had to stop soon after. I had a lvl 20 sorcerer and decided to continue with that character now. However, I noticed that I wasn't doing too well in areas that I was already in (Grathwood). I was taking very long to kill normal mobs and fighting 3 standard opponents usually meant death.. My friend who just started playing ESO and rolled a Nord Dragonknight has not put a single point in anything magic related and yet his skills are far superior to mine even though I'm level 21 and he is lvl 17, e.g.: my Spell Resistance is 5.5k while his is 15k! He also deals more damage (1.3k Spell vs. 1.8k Weapon). I created another Sorcerer and took it to level 8. I ended up with 1.4k Spell Damage at level 8! However, moving my gear over to the old level 21 Sorc did not render the same results! The gear only gave me 1,1k damage and much less resistance... This has led me to think that perhaps my old character is bugged.... ? How is this possible? I've been using this guide to help myself grinding but obviously had little luck: http://deltiasgaming.com/eso-magic-sorcerer-dps-build/#Leveling

I'd appreciate any help I can get!
Thanks!

Asardes · May 2017

Well the game is very different now. But I've leveled a sorcerer and was much easier than other characters. Just pick the right race (high elf, dark elf or breton) put all attributes in magicka, wear at least 5 pieces of light armor. Put either destro staves on both bars or resto front destro back. Put your DoTs on back bar and your instant skills on front bar. There are a lot of guides so I won't go into details. Just look them up here on the forum.

Belphe · May 2017

I get all that but how do you explain my level 17 Dragonknight friend have 3 times more Spell Res than me?

Jadednatas · May 2017

Maybe your friend has better gear that is closer to their level.. since one tamriel update we've had low characters scale up in all zones to 160.. so if your friend is a level 17 an wearing level 17 armor and you are a 21 wearing anything below there is a chance friend will have better stats.. an more spell res sounds like they have heavy armor, an as sorc i imagine you have a lot of light armor. We level out of armor usefulness fast now.

Magdalina · May 2017

Well it seems a big part of what's confusing you is battle leveling. Back when you started playing we all had actual levels, a level 20 was always stronger than a level 10 but if he went into a zone with level 35 mobs he'd likely get slaughtered(not to mention that awesome part where you only got full xp for killing things within 5 levels' range of your own level). This all changed with One Tamriel update. Now everything in the world is level cp 160, max gear level. This includes you. You, as well as every single other player who is not cp 160 yet, are getting scaled to cp 160. This allows all of us to play together (potentially) without oneshotting WB or getting one shotted by mudcrabs.

Now how this system works may be a bit confusing at first.
It buffs you the most at low levels, compensating for missing skills/game knowledge, then as you level up it slowly wears off. So in fact you become kind of weaker as you level up. However, rather than being artificially buffed skyhigh you're acquiring tools that help you actually make your character stronger. You can unlock new passives, stronger skills, etc. At lvl 15 you unlock wep swap. As you learn crafting you can craft yourself full set of gear without having to hunt what drops in the zone.

Another thing about battle leveling is that to get the biggest benefits out of it you need to make sure your gear is as close to your level as possible. So if you're say level 24 in level 22 gear it's okay, though a bit weaker than a level 24 in level 24 gear, but wearing level 14 gear at level 24 will make your stats drop a whole lot. Same goes for food, potions etc. Battle leveling will scale your gear/food/stuff to cp 160 but the bigger the gap between its level and your level, the weaker the scaling.

I don't think your character is bugged, it's hard to say exactly what your friend and you are doing different based on the info you provided. It's possible he has gear up to his level where you didn't, he might also be wearing heavy armor for resistance whereas you were wearing light, he could be using a full set he picked up in the world while you didn't have any, etc etc.

Don't compare different levels toons as battle leveling gets weaker as you level up - a level 8 is actually ridiculously op in the right gear, it may not have many skills but its stats are buffed skyhigh. Also at level 8 level 8 gear will be getting scaled all the way to cp 160, while at level 21 level 8 gear would be getting scaled very weakly as it's severely underleveled.

Get some (set) gear of your level, eat a food, don't forget to unlock passives/new skills/skill morphs as they become available and you should be fine