And i have had the complete opposite experience, but i will tell you one thing..explore...explore...explore some more. This game will not hold your hand and it's one of the lesser linear MMO's out there compared to the rest of the on-rails hand holding MMO's.

Kinda lame to use esohead to guide your way, might as well just have a huge arrow above your head leading the way to your next quest.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a way to maximize your (leveling) experience by being able to do/find quests within your level range. There simply isn't. It's natural and just makes damn good sense to do things you're capable of (due to skills being locked/unlocked at your level) rather than wandering, figuratively, several miles outside your level zone to find quests, die (or not die) several times trying to complete them, only to then stumble upon quests you've leveled yourself out of because you somehow missed this random NPC in the middle of nowhere.

Yes, we all know that the little white and black arrows along the meter up top help guide us towards quest givers and quest destinations but it is completely unreliable when you're too far away from any given quest NPC for it to show up. It's a flawed system that relies far to heavily on exploration of every nook and cranny.

I am, in no way, saying that questing should be made linear because, honestly, I feel that would kill not only immersion but limit (my) enjoyment that the freedom to roam allows, but I am saying that a better indicator for potential quests isn't out of line as it would be very nice to be able to complete ALL the quests in an area (however small/large) before moving to the next and be made to feel like an idiot/failure when (you) find an NPC you missed because it was in a spot just outside your radar's range only to be now found because you're half a foot to the left/right of where you were previously.

It wouldn't kill immersion and doesn't make people 'immature' or stupid to want a better way to maximize their game play. It just makes them players with a different play style than those that don't have the same frustration with the current system.

Going back to the starter islands from the home city was my idea as well. Allowed me to not only level up against mobs that were at my level, but the plethora of crafting mats help out to start crafting right away. In fact i still make a run to Stros M'Kai to gather iron rather quickly since it's all over the place there. Jumping right into Daggerfall's quest straight from Coldharbour just didn't seem like a good idea, and thought the better choice was to do the starter islands first. But to each his own, if it works for you, then go for it.

Bunzinator wrote: »

It seems that there are a lot of people spawning in Daggerfall, and trying to do the quests there, that are levels above them. Maybe the message that you get from the first quest-giver sending you back to Stros M'Kai should be a little "stronger"? I don't know.

And I totally disagree that a quest system that relies on exploration is in any way flawed. I much prefer it over the mindless hand-holding you get from WOW et. al. That *** is flawed, right there. This, after all, is an Elder Scrolls game, and the Elder Scrolls philosophy should prevail over the hum-drum MMO philosophy, IMO.

I agree. The game is set up specifically that way to reward you for exploring. It's an essential essence of the Elder Scrolls single-player series of games that they've brought to this MMO version. So many other online games do not reward for wandering about and using your actual eyes to explore the world your character's a part of. It's a boon to the game that ESO does.

Bunzinator wrote: »

And I totally disagree that a quest system that relies on exploration is in any way flawed. I much prefer it over the mindless hand-holding you get from WOW et. al. That *** is flawed, right there. This, after all, is an Elder Scrolls game, and the Elder Scrolls philosophy should prevail over the hum-drum MMO philosophy, IMO.

It is, on a level, flawed when the indicators for finding quests are not strong enough. When a person standing in a location doesn't see any kind of indicator for a quest in their area and, for example, moves to the left when the quest giver is on the far right which they're now moving away from and wasn't aware they were moving away from it -- yeah, tiny bit flawed.

No one is asking for hand-holding, just a stronger indicator for quest NPCs.

kstauthamerb16_ESO wrote: »

If you see an empty spot on your map, you can be pretty sure there is a dungeon or quest there.

^ good advice.

Another thing to remember is that icons on your minimap start black and turn white after you've completed the "main quest chain". So if you see a broken black tower symbol, go and explore it.

And obviously, don't forget the short dungeon things with the torch symbols - there's usually a skyshard, a new quest chain starter and an achievement/loot...

Similarly, the skull-and-crossbones can usually be completed by either asking in zone chat or waiting a few minutes for some people to turn up.

I too have been falling behind in the leveling. I'm now level 25 and the only quests I can find are level 30+. I started being maybe 1-2 levels under the quests while I was in my teens. Now I'm finding myself 5 levels below the quests I'm being given.

I'm not sure what more I can do for exp., other than maybe go do Cyrodiil activities. I explore entire zones, do anchors, kill the skull and crossbones elites, etc.. I even kill extra mobs in any given area just for some extra experience. When I look at the map there's no part I haven't explored, yet I'm still falling further and further behind somehow.

I did not fully do Stros M'kai, which may be part of the problem, but I can't see any value in going back there now. I don't think the quests/exploration there will provide me with any appreciable experience at level 25.

For what it's worth, this seems to be a fairly common issue. I've seen a few people in zone chat stating that they are having the exact same problem with being under-leveled. I also seem to see a lot of people who are level 24-25 doing quests that are level 28-29. I assume they probably aren't doing these higher quests by choice, these are probably the only quests they can find.

Also, just an observation, but I've been seeing a number of AoE grinding groups pop up in various areas. I think that some people have simply decided that AoE grinding is a superior method of leveling. I can't help but think that some of these folks have run out of quests too, and therefore have to look for alternative means of gaining experience. I'm not saying that grinding groups are a problem, per se, but I can't imagine that's the sort of leveling behavior the devs had planned for ESO.

I have nearly filled out the maps (In all areas up to Stormhaven) and a lot of people misunderstand. I don't want an on rails game telling me the location of every quest. I would prefer if the range of the undone quest marker was largely increased, as it only appears when you 10-20 meters away from it and it can cause a lot of confusion in finding these quests. I much prefer exploration games and exploring for experience, not hide seek with the damn quests. Which it feels like right now. Looking for empty spaces on the map is a great idea, but once you've found all but four or five quests, that method is irrelevant. I can spend a good hour looking for a quest and maybe find one now. The PvE experience is great, but the navigation needs to be buffed up. An easier method of finding quests needs to be implemented.