Yes, there is more leveling in the CP system but that part is account-wide instead of character specific. I noticed my character became weaker when I hit level 50. I was told the buff my character had to make it equivalent to a CP 160 made it stronger while leveling but that falls of at level 50. This is also why your level 4 character is strong.

As you gain CP that will change as a fully leveled character is much stronger and much more capable.

Nope, seems like you have understood perfectly.
(Excuse my cynicism).

You'll have to figure out what brings you the most enjoyment, and invest in that. Could be chasing achievements, could be housing, could be training for trifecta achievements, but if you do a little research on the forums, you'll see that overland is easy. The hard stuff is in groups. Looking for a sense of accomplishment in overland content (ie beating bosses) is not where you'll find it.

Veteran dungeons, trials (normal and vet) might be what you'll want to look in to, and for normal most groups require at least CP160 (some 300), and for vet content there are progression groups that each have their own requirements (CP, gear, roles, etc.). The mechs are much more interesting and challenging in group content like that.

The CP levels come a lot faster than the first 50. You will unlock a good part of your power and perks there. As for the harder content you do t necessarily have to play in a group to run it. You can solo quote a bit of it, at least the things that don’t require other members to stand on pressure plates or kill adds that are pinning you. At level 4 you are still gated from running any solo dungeons, those unlock progressively as you level up to 50, however if it is a challenge you are looking for than go ahead and take your level 50 into normal Banished Cells 1, Fungal Grotto 1, Elden Hollow 1, Spindleclutch 1, Arx Corinium or Volenfell and tell us how it goes.

Those dungeons eventually on normal you will be able to roll over with relative ease solo. Once you can do that go ahead and try their vet versions and you’ll will notice the game is about more than just burning enemies down. Now go try some DLC dungeons solo, on normal of course because you aren’t doing these on vet.

You’ve also got world bosses, some are easy to take down others not so much. Go try your luck at soloing the WB’s in Summerset if you like or maybe stuck to the Geysers if you are alone. Those will be hard enough. Next try to solo a Dragon in Elsweyr or a Harrowstorm in Skyrim.

Don’t neglect you solo arenas either, VMA and VVH.they aren’t easy your first try or even your 10th try, but you’ll need to go in there often to get some of the weapons you’ll need. NDSA can be soloed as can NBRP but for the latter you had better have a proper build and be able to kill thinks while tanking, self healing and sustaining. This things will take you hours to complete start to finish not seconds like those delve bosses you are rofl stomping at the moment.

There is harder content if you know where to look which comes with a progression of difficulty. Compared to overland it doesn’t seem like nearly as much but keep in mind not everyone wants a challenge. The RP and social communities are much larger here than the endgame sweaty hardcore raiders.

I think you forget that if you tried to solo a dungeon at level 4 when you first started playing you'd have been pasted. It's not just that your character has changed your skill level has likewise. And yes - once you've played the game a bit you can do the non DLC dungeons solo, or in underpants but if they were harder then new players would have nowhere to learn.

(For that matter after a while you can do the easier veteran dungeons in underpants too)

As to where to go - depends on play style. There is a huge amount of quest content and you can find most of the ones you missed with the zone guide off map (not all some seem to be missing - not sure if that's a bug or a feature). There is PvP, and a whole ton of end game trials and the like if that rocks your boat. And there's fishing.. although quite why anyone wants to fish all of tamriel and get a boat thing for their house still eludes me 8)

SirAndy wrote: »

Yes, at level 50 you'll be weaker than at level 4 because level scaling has carried you from 1-50 so you wouldn't die horribly to the first mudcrab you encountered (That actually was a thing during beta).

That brings back memories lol. I remember fighting that mudcrab boss for the first time during that period in the games history. Until you out leveled it the thing was the most fearsome mudcrab in Tamriel.

I think the biggest thing here that made me the happiest was that scaling drops off at lvl 50, I did not know this and it sounds great that I will actually be seeing improvement as I get to 160. Just want to feel like I am advancing

This is an Elder Scrolls story game. While I would enjoy more opportunities for character development I am in it primarily for the lore

@Wanakanabe its a clunky, unintuitive system that is the product of a bunch of different levelling systems sort of just built on top of over the years. Unfortunately, 50 levels are just an arbitrary point you have to get to before progressing to an entirely different levelling system. Much the same as cp160 is just an arbitrary amount of CP you have to get to before gear cap.

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

End game pretty much consists of three things:

3. Some sort of housing/RP combo. This part never interested me much, but some people seem to love it.

Indeed.

Housing and fashion are the true endgame of ESO. Seriously, do you know how much completed content, resources and time they require?

You're still doing the tutorial until you reach CP160, then the game begins.

For me, the original ESO leveling system at launch (which ended with "One Tamriel") was much, much, much, much, much more fun, challenging, rewarding. It was also much more difficult, which made it even more fun, challenging, and rewarding. I am so very glad I was able to play ESO per its original design. I wish Microsoft would release a single-player version of the game as it was at launch (with the bugs fixed, of course), with just the 15 Alliance zones and the associated training islands. That would be fun!

Comparison: As the game was originally designed (at launch) it took me more than 100 hours to get my first character to level 50 (completing all the Aldmeri Dominion alliance zone quests and the Main Quest). Now players get to level 50 in under an hour. Quite frankly, the original design was much more fun.

Well, ESO is what it is now. At level 50, you have a lot more fun ahead of you. Sadly, the overland PvE content is no longer difficult enough to be challenging, except maybe a worldboss fight. If you are not having difficulty running the PvE content, and if you want to get CP more quickly, get a complete set of gear with Training trait on all pieces. Having a blue-quality set of gear with Training trait will give you an 80% XP buff per kill (purple quality Training gear will give 87% XP buff per kill). One may get from level 50 to CP 160 very quickly in all-Training gear. You can find players who will make you gear for free, especially if you join a Social guild or PvE guild.

If we were having a pint or a quart at the pub, I would tell you not to worry about level and CP, just yet. I'd suggest that you just wander around and explore and have fun. Forget "grinding" for level. Run each of the three PvE alliance zones, in order, starting by completing the training island(s), then doing the five zones in each alliance in order. These zones were designed (originally) to be performed in order: the stories and dialogue make most sense if you do them the first time in order. I would run the alliance zones BEFORE you run the DLC zones.

If you like quests, there's at least 500 hours of game-play in the "base game," and more than another 500 hours in the expansions/DLC. If you don't like quests, I suppose you are limited to running 4-player group dungeons, 12-player trials, and PvP (battlegrounds or Cyrodiil). I quite enjoyed running all the quests when the game first launched.

Here are things to do (in no particular order):
- Start "Riding Lessons" immediately: they take 6 months per character to complete!
- Start crafting research soon, but don't place Skill Points into Crafting skill trees until you have sufficient points in offensive and defensive Active and Passive Abilities.
- Get the FREE house: Just complete the main quest sequence in Elswyr. (It's a big house, after one gets the FREE expansions to the house.)
- Join the following: Mages Guild; Fighters Guild; and the Undaunted.
- Run the Quests in all the alliance zones. A lot of folks hate quests. I thought they were amusing.
- Complete the following: Mages Guild quest line; Fighters Guild quest line; Psijic Guild quest line.
- Get the Antiquity System skill trees, and start leveling up the skill trees. It might be good to do this before you run the Zones.
- Go exploring. Just walk, run, or ride around the landscape as you go from place to place. I love the artwork, and the surprises.
- Start running all the 4-player Group Dungeons. Run them at "normal" difficulty. Try to join a PvE or Social guild where you can find friends to run these dungeons. You can run them as part of the daily Undaunted pledge if you want.
- Run all the delves and dolmen and worldbosses in each of the alliance zones.
- Run quests and skyshards and delves in the Expansion/DLC zones. I had fun with all the new zones: Craglorn; Wrothgar/Orsinium; Morrowind; Summerset; Elswyer; Greymoor; and Blackwood. I didn't really enjoy Imperial City.
- Play a new character in the under-level-50 PvP campaign in Cyrodiil. Enter Cyrodiil at level 10 to 15, run the skyshards and delves, then join the PvP action. You can go to Cyrodiil and complete the training quest in total safety (no enemy players around to kill you), and you get 2 skillpoints upon completion. You can also pickup 2 skyshards while you are at it, with no risk to life, limb, or pride.
- Consider completing the Thieves Guild quest line.
- Consider completing the Dark Brotherhood quest line.
- Consider playing around with Vampire and Werewolf.
- Pickup a "companion" in Blackwood!

housing and roleplay - true and currently only endgame in ESO my friend