I would say Mainquest(s) with training armor. I did it with a DK and was exactly 50 when facing Molag Bal. All Cadwells silver/gold then is optional. And all DLC of course.

If you do quests and fully explore the zones I think you can go from level 5 to 50 in about 3 alliance zones nowadays. If you take it really slowly, listen to the dialogues and enjoy the scenery it can take 2-3 weeks. I remember leveling my first 4 characters before One Tamriel, when XP was much lower than nowadays since zones didn't scale, and once you got 5 or more levels above them you ceased getting any XP. By the time I had finished all 5 zones of their alliance they had almost gotten to 50.

1. Random daily dungeon every day.
2. Random daily battleground every day
3. Do the dumb mages/undaunted delve dailies every day--they level up those skill lines you need eventually and give you a handful of XP. You can do the fighters, too, but that skill line kinda takes care of itself (or can be ground up in a couple hours on dolmens).
4. Other character work that needs doing (want psijic skill line? work on that and take any XP as a bonus, rather than grind/quest to max level and then have to go back and do that guild line).
5. Quests that reward skill points (main quest, faction quests).

If I were just trying to get an "endgame" toon as fast as possible, that would be my routine, basically in order of priority. Make sure you are grabbing skyshards and books as is convenient. And do every dolmen you pass, too. And make sure you've joined the 3 guilds (undaunted, mages, fighters) asap.

On my main i did area by area - Main Quest Factions Side quests public dungeons mages/fighters quests & all the books & sky shards of course & all crafting to 50 & Cadwells silver/gold. Was CP 600 before I did a pledge or group dungeon. That was because I solo'd without a guild and did not want to group with strangers very much.

Frankly you can do it any damm way you like as long as you have fun - I enjoy taking my time but YMMV of course.

Training armor + XP potion or scroll, and then main quest-line.
AND
Doing master writs also gives a huge amount of XP, so find some cheap master writ that's easy, that your character will be able to do in a guild trader. Then turn it in while using a 100% XP scroll or 150% XP scroll.

El_Borracho wrote: »

SydneyGrey wrote: »

Training armor + XP potion or scroll, and then main quest-line.
AND
Doing master writs also gives a huge amount of XP, so find some cheap master writ that's easy, that your character will be able to do in a guild trader. Then turn it in while using a 100% XP scroll or 150% XP scroll.

Not trying to be a cynic, but can a Level 1-50 player do a master writ? Might not have the skill points necessary at that low a level

I typically see this done with Alchemy, that being one of the fastest to level and the easiest to do the writs for. So you really only need enough skill points to level up Alchemy and a bunch of purchased Master Writs. I suppose Enchanting and Provisioning could also work, but its more effort to learn the recipes/decon glyphs.

I let the character's level take care of itself. When starting a potential end game character I find lots of more important things to focus on:
Horse training, leveling up undaunted/FG/MG, getting skillpoints via quests and shards, bringing up Psiijic and/or Alliance skills if necessary for that character.

Level 50 happens way before all that other stuff is anywhere near ready for prime time.

When my char hits 50 and jumps to full CP, I don't want them performing like a char who got there by running the Desert Dolman Train to 50.

As I mentioned, I did not grind my first 4, but I did my other 11, with 3 more most likely coming in October, at the next Witches Festival. This is how I did the latter:

1) I create a character - usually at chapter launch or whenever a new character slot becomes available - do the tutorial, do the crafting certification quests, join Undaunted, Mages Guild, Fighters Guild then do various activities till I hit level 14-15.

2) Camp him/her in a location with easy access to bank, crafting benches and stables for the next 4-6 months - Vivec is ideal - then start research for Woodworking, Blacksmith, Clothier & Jewelry crafting (easily 5-7 traits till the end), horse training, and break up dropped glyphs to level Enchanting (takes ~2 weeks to 50). This phase usually takes around ~5 months (chapter launch late May, Witches Festival, late October), so I have capacity 60, speed 60 and endurance 30-40. In this phase the character is basically just a mule, so that's why I expand the capacity first.

3) At the next double XP event I equip purple training gear - using the same one from 2016, crafted for levels 14/24/34/44 - and start grinding normal Maelstrom till level 50 - it takes 6-8 hours with 150% XP scroll and the bonus from the event. Probably not the fastest but it has the advantage of being easy enough to allow me to put any random skills on my front bar and just light/heavy attack trough it so I get every class skill leveled, 2 weapon skills and one armor skill. Importantly, I don't invest anything in passives and all points gained trough leveling are spent on active skills - unlock, level, morph, level again. By the end I would have leveled those lines to 50 and have almost all morphs to rank IV. By this point I should have around 66 skill points. I go to the Undaunted enclave in the Alliance capital, and complete the quest, grab my first key(s) and use them.

4) I swap to CP160 gear from various dropped sets I have with either 5/1/1 or 1/5/1 configuration, depending if the character is magicka or stamina and put the training gear back in storage for the next character. I do the Cyrodiil tutorial, and unlock a Rapid Maneuver - the AP from the quest should leave you at AR3 or so - and grab the 2 sky shards behind own alliance gates. I start clearing the alliance starter island(s), then clear the first alliance zone - shards, public dungeon, main quest. For stamina characters I also do a further grind on dolmens in certain areas (not Alik'r since the XP gain is not optimal due to overcrowding); the trash drops, especially jewelry are quite useful for leveling the 4 crafting skills for stamina character to fully level Fighters Guild, and the other 2 weapon skills - 1H+S and either 2W or 2H, depending on what I had leveled before; by this time heavy armor . I may do a quick morph respec during that time. Once I'm done with that I should have 82-83 skill points.

5) I do a full respec - a respec scroll is available as one of the leveling rewards - then only spec fully into Enchanting: Potency Improvement X and Aspect Improvement IV. I go to an enchanting vendor and buy every Potency rune I don't have in craft bag, then I start crafting various combos until I translate them all and get the relevant achievements. The last is the Truly Superb Glyph of Prismatic Defense (Repora-Hakeijo-Kuta, simultaneous translation) which I then sell, the others I just break up again since they're cheap and not sought after. Next I go and level Provisioning, using the recipes I had learned beforehand, and speccing into Recipe Improvement up to VI and Recipe Quality up to III as I go along. At the end I craft a blue food and drink and a purple food and drink for the achievement. Next I do another respec to free up Aspect Improvement & Recipe Improvement. Next I level Alchemy while discovering all reagent properties along the way (except the chapter specific ones that are expensive and don't unlock any achievements) and investing into Solvent Proficiency as go along. After I discover every property I just go on crafting poisons with inexpensive reagents till I fully level the skill. By this point I will have the consumable crafting skills all at 50, with the relevant achievements fully unlocked - they greatly increase Master Writs drop rate.

6) I spec into Woodworking, Blacksmith, Clothier main passive up to the highest unlocked - those skills may have not reached 50 yet - but not Jewelry Crafting unless it's at 50, which is unlikely since it's slower. At this point the character is ready to do writs. The intermediate tier materials for the former 3 are inexpensive, but the Jewelry ones are a few times more expensive than either. From now onward I just deconstruct the intricate items dropped by other characters already doing writs and also trash white/green/blue items dropped from mobs till I reach 50, and 48 in the case of jewelry crafting - for the last 2 levels I port to Summerset and read the book at Augury Basin then spam various book shelves at the Illumination Academy or Shimmerene temple are good locations since they have lots of them for the 2nd skill book. This doesn't take more than a few minutes, and it's faster and cheaper than deconstruction - intricate jewelry is still pretty expensive.

7) Depending if I want to play the character or not - some will stay as bank extensions indefinitely - I now either spec the remaining skill points in a few fully morphed abilities to fill 2 bars (24) but not any passives at this point - or fill hireling & research multiplier passives. In the first case the character then proceeds to clear further zones and quest lines in order to unlock more skill points and skills to make them viable for combat. From my experience they're easy enough to be done without any passives at first, including soloing most world bosses, as long as you have a self heal and buff skills either from your own class skills or weapon/mages guild skill lines. Once I have enough point the active ones get hirelings and research passives as well, and in the end even temper ones, to become fully functional crafters. 5 characters have thus far followed the former path, and 5 more the latter one.