I'm willing to help. To start, please post your current build using one of the build calculators available (I prefer esohead's), as well as what equipment you're using. The more information you give us, the better chances we have of getting you out of your rut. Oh, and tag me in the post when you make it so that I see that its there.

I honestly wish I knew, I never had much of a problem with the game, and the majority of the time have found it to be too forgiving. I can do my best to help out and see where the problems are.

What is your current build? What skills you are using and how you use them can mean the difference between life and death, as well as knowing when to block and interrupt. Those two are far more important early game then red marks imo.

Do you find yourself under-leveled for the quests you currently have?

My build I've got as much into the assassination tree as I can with a point in siphoning strike to self heal and the stealth in the other tree. I only have I think 12 skill points total.

For gear all I have is a few pieces of green medium armor that I've gotten from quests up till now. Does the gear really matter that much at such a low level that I can't quest without gearing up? People ingame tell me I need to make and enchant my own gear to play which sounds really, really boring.

As already said I do dodge everything that seems dodgeable and I interrupt any attacks that charge up. All of my quests are now 1 level above me which means I can't do them at all because I can't kill a single mob a level over me. Even if I'm building and gearing completely wrong I don't understand how I can still be this weak at LEVEL 9.

I've made it about halfway across the first zone and I think I've covered every part of this half. The quests are just barely over me. I'm 3/4 of the way through level 9 and all my quests are level 10, but I still can't do them.

I haven't done any crafting though or even encountered any sort of ingame explanation of how to craft anything yet so I figured it just came up later. I really hate crafting in games, but I guess I have no choice.

Where can I find out how to craft stuff? Do I need to talk to an NPC to pick up that profession, do I need to use a special worktable for each profession? There has been absolutely 0 mention of anything crafting in the game so far except that I've picked up one or two mats.

tconlin93 wrote: »

Where can I find out how to craft stuff? Do I need to talk to an NPC to pick up that profession, do I need to use a special worktable for each profession? There has been absolutely 0 mention of anything crafting in the game so far except that I've picked up one or two mats.

tconlin93 wrote: »

Is the gear I craft that much better than what I find?

Well gritting my teeth through it won't work. I've been gritting my teeth and now have only come to the forums for help because I'm completely incapable of doing any more quests. How do I progress at all from here if I go back and don't find any other lower quests I missed?

Have you gone back and quested through the original starter areas?

They changed it for some reason in the beta, but initially all players began on a small starter island that led to another introductory area to quest in before finally moving onto the cities we currently start in now (Davon's Watch, Daggerfall etc).

Not played through the Aldermi Dominion yet, but for Ebonheart these areas are Bleakrock and Dhalmora, and for Daggerfall Covenant it is Stros M'Kai and Betnikh. These areas are pretty forgiving, and are a great place to get your head around not only the mechanics of the game but also familiarity with all of the map icons.

Not to mention that you end up reaching level 7 or so by completing them both, so you can begin working on the current starter map with a bunch of skill and attribute points under your belt.

I have no idea why they decided to change it universally in the beta. If you decide to play through the Coldharbour prison break introduction, then chances are you are new to the game and would benefit from playing through these original starter areas first as well. Starting off in Davon's Watch/Daggerfall/etc probably should have been reserved for those that opted to skip the introduction at character creation.

Just a hint; the telepoting strike thingy of Nightblade does a ton of more damage if you use it from stealth and hit the enemies back. Most normal mobs loose about 70% of their health in one shot.

Also, did you travel to the "tutorial" island when you got out of the prison? The quests there are a lot easier and you'll gain at least couple of levels there.

Being new to the game, you gotta familiarize yourself with it. Don't let this get you down. I remember in beta, I didn't do too well as a melee class. I felt better with casters. But as I learned the game, and what to do, I tried NB again, and I love it. You'll get better at it, you just have to let go the worries, and have some fun. Mess around with other classes. Who knows, you might turn out to be a lot better with something else.

tconlin93 wrote: »

Well gritting my teeth through it won't work. I've been gritting my teeth and now have only come to the forums for help because I'm completely incapable of doing any more quests. How do I progress at all from here if I go back and don't find any other lower quests I missed?

Eso isn't very forgiving when you outlevel the available quests. This was a problem for me too dating back to beta. The best answer is when you feel your character is too weak, upgrade your gear and/or modify your build.

Upgrade your gear by crafting or join a big guild that wants to get rid of their low level junk from their guild bank. The other thing to do is check out the different builds. Maybe the build you have doesn't fit your play style. Nightblades can be nearly all melee combat or nearly all ranged combat depending on your build.

For a Nightblade soloing, crouching for stealth and using a heavy attack to open can significantly increase your odds in fighting.

Also, abilities which stun or snare opponents are great at keeping incoming damage down; especially if you kite opponents back a little to prevent too many hitting you at once. Bows have some solid abilities in this area, as does siphoning later on.

Over the next few levels placing some points into medium armour passives will assist your damage (crit chance) and give more efficient stamina usage.

quick answer to your question "is crafting gear better then the stuff thats dropped". at lower levels (anything under cap) the answer is yes. the base stats of a white crafted item will be better then a green item of the same level that is dropped.

there's a mild tradeoff: dropped items have a chance at better enchants and traits can be a bit higher. but for anything under lvl 20 you can craft a white item (especially if you add a trait and enchant it), and it will be better then anything you find for that level.

And I encourage you to explore everything! keep an eye on your radar as you run around looking in nooks and crannies...if something pops up on the radar thats black, it's something you haven't explored yet. and it will most likely have a quest associated with it as well. more exp, and more loot.

And here's a second for reading your skills (all of them) and seeing which ones work well with others. as the above poster said about stealth...one of your ablities does damage when unstealthed...but when stealthed it also knocks down your opponent (a.k.a stuns them). if your a melee player, stuns are just as critical as blocks and interrupts. they will keep you alive. stun things. learn to finish off a mob with siphon for the extra healing while your not taking damage. pop stealth a few times in combat to get that KD, or some extra damage, or even to just get around a mob pack.

.