Not sure if your characters are still levelling. Thing about crafting is that these days, it's impossible to keep crafting up with levelling--in other words, crafting gear as you go won't work. It is very useful other than that, some of the most practical item sets are crafted item sets. You will save a fortune if you can make your own glyphs. At the end of 2017, I left PC and started from scratch on Xbone. I now have one high level character on Xbone that can serve as crafter to other characters as they level.

Lynnessa wrote: »

Not sure if your characters are still levelling. Thing about crafting is that these days, it's impossible to keep crafting up with levelling--in other words, crafting gear as you go won't work. It is very useful other than that, some of the most practical item sets are crafted item sets. You will save a fortune if you can make your own glyphs. At the end of 2017, I left PC and started from scratch on Xbone. I now have one high level character on Xbone that can serve as crafter to other characters as they level.

This. My nightblade (originally my main back at eso launch on pc, transferred to ps4 when given the option) has all crafting skills at 50 and most research done now, so he's my go-to for gear on any new characters I level.

Lynx7386 wrote: »

you're going to feel subpar until you get to champion rank 160, at which point you can finally start using top level gear. The characters you see at lower level mowing down enemies are probably more effective due to the battle scaling system this game uses (which gives low level characters a huge stat boost to 'bring them up' to veteran level, you lose that bonus once you hit level 50, and you're kinda left struggling until you get to cp160 to make up the loss with gear). You're really just in a bad spot at the moment and the only way to get out of it is with grinding out experience.

That's a really good point; I hadn't considered that, and that very well could be true!

@Black12Jack44 Heya welcome to the game!
I'm going to assume that you came here with no prior knowledge of an mmo, so I'll try and make this as simple as I can to introduce you to some game mechanics. There are a few fundamental differences from this game to the morrowind skyrim game but a lot of it is similar enough for players to compare them to it.

Alright let's get to it then. Firstly, don't panic! The good thing about this game is that there are many others within the game that is willing to help you out, as this is an mmorpg. The social aspect of the game is really amazing and while you might come across a few bad apples here and there, most are your everyday people.

Next I'm assuming you are using your abilities and skills that you have unlocked during the progress of your levelling. A build consists of selected skills and abilities that work together, in a fashion. An apt analogy would be a deck of cards and how you "win" against your opponent is to have a good set of card combinations. So a good 'build' would consist of buffs, direct damage, dots (damage over time), debuffs and utility (movement, harassment, heals, etc).

An example of a build would be to use elemental blockade, burning talons, deep breath, fiery breath and molten whip. You basically cast these skills in a rotation, 1,1,2,3,4,1,1 etc. Of course, while it does seem daunting to look up each and every skill, the rewards are definitely worth it.

It does seem that you didn't update your character's gear to the same level as you are. This will hinder and hamper your progress through the cp levels as gear plays a very important part of your character. Always change your gear to your level, be it from drops, crafted or bought. Do note though that all gear is capped at cp160 and does not go beyond that so keep updating your gear till then!

Don't hesitate to ask questions though, be it in game or otherwise, it also pays to be in a guild that is willing to help out whenever they can. (yes this is a shameless promotion for the guild that I am in. Do check it out! https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/307726/of-wolf-and-raven-a-casual-solo-friendly-guild-beginners-and-veterans-welcome#latest)

RavenSworn wrote: »

@Black12Jack44 Heya welcome to the game!
I'm going to assume that you came here with no prior knowledge of an mmo, so I'll try and make this as simple as I can to introduce you to some game mechanics. There are a few fundamental differences from this game to the morrowind skyrim game but a lot of it is similar enough for players to compare them to it.

Alright let's get to it then. Firstly, don't panic! The good thing about this game is that there are many others within the game that is willing to help you out, as this is an mmorpg. The social aspect of the game is really amazing and while you might come across a few bad apples here and there, most are your everyday people.

Next I'm assuming you are using your abilities and skills that you have unlocked during the progress of your levelling. A build consists of selected skills and abilities that work together, in a fashion. An apt analogy would be a deck of cards and how you "win" against your opponent is to have a good set of card combinations. So a good 'build' would consist of buffs, direct damage, dots (damage over time), debuffs and utility (movement, harassment, heals, etc).

An example of a build would be to use elemental blockade, burning talons, deep breath, fiery breath and molten whip. You basically cast these skills in a rotation, 1,1,2,3,4,1,1 etc. Of course, while it does seem daunting to look up each and every skill, the rewards are definitely worth it.

It does seem that you didn't update your character's gear to the same level as you are. This will hinder and hamper your progress through the cp levels as gear plays a very important part of your character. Always change your gear to your level, be it from drops, crafted or bought. Do note though that all gear is capped at cp160 and does not go beyond that so keep updating your gear till then!

Don't hesitate to ask questions though, be it in game or otherwise, it also pays to be in a guild that is willing to help out whenever they can. (yes this is a shameless promotion for the guild that I am in. Do check it out! https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/307726/of-wolf-and-raven-a-casual-solo-friendly-guild-beginners-and-veterans-welcome#latest)

Thanks for all of the advice! It seems like there is a great community for this game, and you are correct that I am new to MMOs and don't have much knowledge about them. Although my characters I have made so far are weak, I do appreciate the challenge and find that fun. Skyrim got a little boring after you could kill the almighty world-ender Alduin with 2-3 hits .

I am still working on figuring out the guilds and plan to continue to do so as I get further into the game. Thanks for the offer, and I may take you up on it down the road. I have no problem whatsoever with shameless self-promotion!

Black12Jack44 wrote: »

I have seen other players who are lower levels than this (for example, 20s-40s) that just seem to mow down each enemy in 2-3 hits. How can I get like that haha?!

Its not so simple! below level 50 we are "battle leveled" & if you wear a good gear you get "battle leveled" through the roof...
some of the best face rolling fun in the game is as a lvl 20-ish in good gear!
Also like others have said, there's no way to tell how many CP that level 20 is really running with.

Black12Jack44 wrote: »

Thanks again for all of your help everyone! I was wondering what you all thought of the builds provided here. I would be interested in the PvE builds:

https://alcasthq.com/

I figured that just following one of these templates would be preferable to me spending a ton of time trying to figure out something on my own. The current character I alluded to at the start of this thread still is really struggling at around 180 champion points, I think in large part to my poor design planning originally and then trying to remedy it as best I could later on after learning a bit more. For example, I have been playing some dungeons with my brother recently and am really holding us back, as I die super quickly against crowds of enemies, often in only several hits. I think this probably is due to poor skill point and health/magicka/stamina point assignment. So, long post for asking if you think the builds at the link provided are solid! If so, I probably will follow one of those for my next character.

Alcast's site has been very helpful to me. I am fairly new to the game, a few months, have a few characters at lvl 50/CP275 or so. I would definitely recommend reading his explanation for things as well as Deltia's.

However, in your first post, you noted you are mostly playing solo. The tendency about his and Deltia's builds are that they are epic BUT meant mostly to be played in a decent group. Of course, they do sometimes note 'solo' build or 'PvP', so I'm definitely not talking about that, but for example:
My most recent 50, I consulted his guide https://alcasthq.com/eso-stamina-sorcerer-build-pve/
And in a pick up group (e.g. random dungeon group) I run almost the same. I have Crit Surge rather than Shrouded Daggers for the 20% damage buff AND heals.

For solo, I swap Caltrops for Hurricane, and put Steel Tornado (more AoE - which is usually overkill in a group) there. I also run Overload ultimate so I can have access to a few utility powers on that 3rd bar, including Shuffle and Dark Deal which make me harder to kill and able to sustain forever respectively. I also have Vigor (heal) there, but frankly only have to use that if I do something stupid.

So his build, definitely is more overall damage. In a group with a tank and a healer, heck ya. Solo, my character still mows down even large Public Dungeon groups and bosses in seconds.

That's just an example.

But it, like the good advice of @RavenSworn both follow common sort of patterns that work in this game
buffs (here, Crit Surge, Bound Armaments, Rearming trap (damage but also a buff)
Dots (Endlesss hail, hurricane, deadly cloak)
Direct damage (rending slashes (and dots))

Think about those patterns, why you are using which power when, what combos make sense? What passives give bonuses to powers? What works toward a particular strategy?

With most overland mobs at this point with 275ish CP and merely purple gear, I rarely get to the direct damage or even weave in light/heavy attacks unless they move out of the Hail. They are just dead too fast.

An example of an overall build strategy: My DragonKnight tank is built around fast ultimate generation. Has armor sets that make ultimates cheaper and give ultimate; spams igneous shields to proc mountain's blessing; spams heroic slash for ult buff; has 'decisive' weapon that adds ultimate. This all adds up and with the BattleRoar (Earth) passive, I am popping back to full mana, stam, health and shielding or buffing my group all the time.

But another point I think you should understand coming from a non-MMO. There IS content that you wont be able to beat solo even after you get your builds and gear set up. It is just designed that way.

And maybe I should say SHOULDN"T. I have, for example, soloed some world bosses, when I was in a mood and wanting some achievement, and no one was responding to zone msg, but I had to change skills up to be so defensive...it was slow and so boring.

Just wanted to send another thank you to everyone who contributed input on this thread and a couple of others I posted. My character that I have revamped is far from "optimal," but is now much more effective and usable. I was able to run through a couple of the easier level 1 dungeons solo (Fungal Grotto, Spindleclutch, Wayrest Sewers) with my now level 275 or so character while only dying a couple of times over the course of each. Huge difference from a month ago or so back at the time of my original post when I couldn't get through these and had to die many, many times to even get through groups of enemies in them.

I don't think this character is great by any means, but it will be a useful character for crafting and was a good learning experience. I am happy to provide rookie tips to any others who are new to this game and to MMOs!