Skills leveling immediately when slotted.

TybaltKaine · November 2023

Pretty sure this behavior is not intended.

I was leveling new skills on my main two days ago, namely the Psijic skill Time Stop, and it shot to level 4 after being used once.

My wife was playing a new Tank character this morning and slotted Puncture, it shot to level 4 immediately after finishing a fight.

This seems to only be happening to random skills, not quite sure how to reliably reproduce it, so I wanted to see if anyone was noticing similar behavior, or if these skills are just benefitting from the rework to Exp gain. It wouldn't be entirely outside the realm of possibility for a skill to level up quickly while a double XP event was going on, but I've never seen it happen this fast.

Anyone else seeing this behavior at all? Feel free to chime in.

virtus753 · November 2023

Those skills are very early in their skill lines. They do not take much to level compared to skills further down in their lines.

Depending on the fight, I could see this happening with the event buff (plus any other buffs and especially with enlightenment, if you have that).

Are the other skills you’re seeing it with also high up in their lines (meaning they open earliest)?

boi_anachronism_ · November 2023

If you are doing your first random normal and say have an exp scroll active during the event or are gaining xp at an accelerated rate for the day because you are cp already this is pretty common with an unmorphed skill.

TybaltKaine · November 2023

I just had it happen with a level 21 Necro and Weakness to Elements. Slotted the skill, killed a couple of mudcrabs, boom level 4.

No scroll active, not in a group, no exp boosting gear, not in a dungeon, just walking on a beach in Auridon.

I'm just gonna hold off using new stuff for now as I suspect this is something wonky and will be over corrected.

tomofhyrule · November 2023

The first skill in the line does level extremely quickly, and that's when there's not a 'double XP event going on.

If we were talking about levelling the morphed version up to rank IV, then that could be an issue. But the unmorphed version of a first-in-the-line skill? If that didn't level to morphable within three mobs and a location discover during this event, I'd be surprised.

TybaltKaine · November 2023

Wife just clarified further her experience:

"I slotted it and it leveled immediately without use. I couldn't use it as I wasn't wearing a shield. I wasn't in a dungeon or delve, and it did happen after a fight. I wasn't in a group, I was by myself. Just occurred to me that I wanted to level it and I slotted it, and it shot up."

Level 37 character. Scroll was active.

As for my experience with Time Stop, I cast it a single time on a group of 3 bandits, with no scroll active and it immediately leveled to 4. I was at CP as it was my main.

The necromancer Weakness to Elements was an outlier.

I've been playing long enough to know how skills level, this isn't normal at all.

Kisakee · November 2023

You don't need to use any skills to level them. In fact you can level as many skill lines, weapon lines, guild skills and whatnot and the slotted skills itself at the same time if you're able to squeeze one of each on your active bar. You can even put your Werewolf abilities there and level them while in human form.

LunaFlora · November 2023

well witches' festival has a 100% xp bonus and a scroll would make that even more so it doesn't seem super weird.

Araneae6537 · November 2023

TybaltKaine wrote: »

Wife just clarified further her experience:

"I slotted it and it leveled immediately without use. I couldn't use it as I wasn't wearing a shield. I wasn't in a dungeon or delve, and it did happen after a fight. I wasn't in a group, I was by myself. Just occurred to me that I wanted to level it and I slotted it, and it shot up."

Level 37 character. Scroll was active.

As for my experience with Time Stop, I cast it a single time on a group of 3 bandits, with no scroll active and it immediately leveled to 4. I was at CP as it was my main.

The necromancer Weakness to Elements was an outlier.

I've been playing long enough to know how skills level, this isn't normal at all.

Maybe the combination of witches festival boost plus inspiration (for the skill on a CP level character)? I have noticed that unmorphed, the first skills in a line level very quickly even without any of these boosts, and you definitely don’t need to use it but just have it on the bar. I’m passively leveling some weapons on characters currently relegated to crafting this way.

Edit: Now the destruction staff Weakness to Elements skill on a level 21 character without XP boosts leveling that fast doesn’t sound right to me, so maybe something is off. Or maybe they were mighty mudcrabs…

Grizzbeorn · November 2023

The higher your level when you start a new skill line, the faster those early skill levels will come.
But hitting level 4 on a skill even with a new character takes minutes if you've been consistently engaged in combat since slotting it.
*IF* this is broken (I do not think it is), then it has been so for at least 5 years, for as long as I've been playing.

boi_anachronism_ · November 2023

Grizzbeorn wrote: »

The higher your level when you start a new skill line, the faster those early skill levels will come.
But hitting level 4 on a skill even with a new character takes minutes if you've been consistently engaged in combat since slotting it.
*IF* this is broken (I do not think it is), then it has been so for at least 5 years, for as long as I've been playing.

Yeah same. I think i fought like 2 skellies during the last xp event and crushing could be morphed for me. Baby toon too. Level 40 something if i remember correctly.

virtus753 · November 2023

TybaltKaine wrote: »

As for my experience with Time Stop, I cast it a single time on a group of 3 bandits, with no scroll active and it immediately leveled to 4. I was at CP as it was my main.

The necromancer Weakness to Elements was an outlier.

I've been playing long enough to know how skills level, this isn't normal at all.

It sounds very normal, actually. To reiterate what was said above: you can level any active skill in game without using it even once. It only needs to be on your bar when you gain xp, which you did.

I just leveled Poison Injection, Stampede, Carve, Deadly Cloak, Whirlwind, and Elemental Blockade on two new-ish characters (just hit level 50 this week) without having the associated weapons equipped. That's the way it has worked for years, if not the lifetime of the game.

Haruhii · November 2023

There are some abilities that level from Rank 1 to Rank 4 (base morph) extremely quickly compared to others.

There is no cohesive reasoning as to why it's designed this way.

Example:
- Vigor
- Time Stop
- Accelerate
- Soul Trap
- The first 2 abilities in a weapon line

Seminolegirl1992 · November 2023

This happened to magicka detonation for me. Had never even used the skill. Unlocked it, then bam, level 4 and could morph it. Was playing on a stamarc altmer pcna if that matters.

Izanagi.Xiiib16_ESO · November 2023

TybaltKaine wrote: »

I just had it happen with a level 21 Necro and Weakness to Elements. Slotted the skill, killed a couple of mudcrabs, boom level 4.

No scroll active, not in a group, no exp boosting gear, not in a dungeon, just walking on a beach in Auridon.

I'm just gonna hold off using new stuff for now as I suspect this is something wonky and will be over corrected.

There are certain skills as other posters have mentioned which do this. This was because the skills were changed some time ago and player progression was lost on them so in compensation they reduced the levelling time for those skills.
if you want to check whether something is broken try morphing one of the Undaunted skills - those used to take ages so should give a clearer picture if they are instantly levelling up.

autocookies · November 2023

Kisakee wrote: »

You don't need to use any skills to level them. In fact you can level as many skill lines, weapon lines, guild skills and whatnot and the slotted skills itself at the same time if you're able to squeeze one of each on your active bar. You can even put your Werewolf abilities there and level them while in human form.

I can confirm when you slot things they will level up even if they are not related to the weapon your using. Also using the weapon + each extra skill slotted from the line appears to add to the amount of experience you receive and level it up even faster.

When I was starting out with testing things, I put the werewolf skill that gives you major sorcery and brutality on my necro bar to get the buffs for slotting it.

TybaltKaine · November 2023

For the love of cheese.

I appreciate everyone telling me how leveling works, even though I've been playing the game for 4 years and have leveled to champion across two accounts on two systems.

I ask you to test it for yourself.

Take a relatively new character, with no bonuses beyond the event active, slot a mid tier skill (Weakness to Elements) and get in a single fight. If this does not happen to you, great. If it does, please post that it does.

I don't need 10 posts telling me how leveling works, I promise. I literally help people level in one of my guilds.

PrinceShroob · November 2023

The amount of experience needed to level a skill or skill line is static while the amount of experience you receive from quests and from killing enemies is dynamic.

Here's an example:

Let's say that Force Shock needs 125 exp to morph. This amount is static--the skill always takes 125 exp to morph regardless of what level your character is.

However, the amount of exp an enemy or quest gives you is dynamic and depends on your level. You get more exp (in absolute value) from doing things as a higher-level character than you do as a lower-level one.

Let's say killing a bandit gives 10 exp at level 1. That same bandit might give you 200 exp at level 20. You normally won't notice this because the amount of exp you need to reach the next level or gain a Champion Point also increases as you level.

Since the amount of experience you need to rank up a skill is constant, early skills tend to rank up extremely quickly at higher levels (since the skill might need 500 exp to reach rank IV but you're now getting 1,200 exp for every group of enemies you kill).

Skills like Puncture and Time Stop have always been easy to morph since they don't require much exp relative to the amount of exp you can gain easily--I've often had these skills ready to morph after one fight.

That's compounded by the double exp event going on, as well.

Does that make sense?

virtus753 · November 2023

TybaltKaine wrote: »

For the love of cheese.

I appreciate everyone telling me how leveling works, even though I've been playing the game for 4 years and have leveled to champion across two accounts on two systems.

I ask you to test it for yourself.

Take a relatively new character, with no bonuses beyond the event active, slot a mid tier skill (Weakness to Elements) and get in a single fight. If this does not happen to you, great. If it does, please post that it does.

I don't need 10 posts telling me how leveling works, I promise. I literally help people level in one of my guilds.

As for how a skill levels: The quote you shared from your wife about Puncture leveling without a sword and board equipped suggests she didn't expect it to level when she couldn't even use it. But that is normal, as we've tried to explain. Perhaps you knew this already, but the quote suggests she didn't. Some people here are attempting to clarify that's to be expected.

As for how quickly a skill is leveling, which seems to be *your* concern: If you are on PC, you can use Harven's Improved Skills Window add-on to see exactly how much xp is required to level each skill and compare it to the xp you are gaining in whatever activity you're doing. That will help show whether these skills should be leveling this fast.

Some have very low requirements, lower than one might expect.

Sordidfairytale · November 2023

TybaltKaine wrote: »

Anyone else seeing this behavior at all? Feel free to chime in.

Yes, this has been my experience for quite some time.

Brakkish · November 2023

Enjoy.

TybaltKaine · November 2023

Since it is apparent that people don't seem to understand what I am saying, that skills are leveling faster than expected, even with the event buff active, so much so that it has alarmed me and prompted me to post this in the first place I am humbly requesting that this thread be closed and purged.

I attempted to highlight an aberrant behavior in skill leveling, but it appears that people are intent to explain to me, despite my asking them not do so, how skill leveling works.

My wife knows how skill leveling works, I asked her to elaborate and presented a series of leading questions to ascertain the exact nature of her situation in regard to Puncture (she turned to me and said, something is wrong with leveling, which is what prompted me to attribute my experience regarding Time Stop as more than a simple overflow of EXP gained due to the event).

Again, thank you all for the exhausting repetition of known facts but that is not the purpose of the thread.

@ZOS_Icy @ZOS_Kevin could one of you please close this thread before it veers even further off course?

Thank you.

Gwahiir · November 2023

TybaltKaine wrote: »

.
I attempted to highlight an aberrant behavior in skill leveling, but it appears that people are intent to explain to me, despite my asking them not do so, how skill leveling works.

And there have been people explaining how they don't see it as aberrant behaviour following with why. It seems you just want people to agree with you and not liking it when they don't.

virtus753 · November 2023

Here's your testing:

Puncture requires 63 points to max rank 1, 457 to max rank 2, 1272 to max rank 3, and 2293 to max rank 4.

That is going to happen as soon as you look at a mob at level 50 with an event buff, especially with other xp buffs running.

ETA: All of your xp gain is applied to this skill directly, so it is literally just 4,085 xp no matter how you get them. Less if you are an Imperial with the 15% bonus to sword and shield xp gain.

ZOS_Hadeostry · November 2023

Greetings everyone,

After further review we have decided to move this thread to a category we think is more appropriate for this topic, as it's asking the community for assistance. We have also closed this thread, upon request of the original poster.

Thank you for your understanding.