This is seriously godawful.

Vraok · April 2014

First of all, don't get me wrong, I love this game. That doesn't prevent me from writing the following;
I'm -permanently overleveled-, the enemies I fight are -atleast- 3 levels below me. Sometimes when I get lucky I find one 5 levels below me. Heck, I could take that damned public dungeon that was swarming with worm cultists on by myself.
That also leads to me having to -buy- crafting materials from other players since in my zone the nodes are just not sufficient enough. Try getting some goddamned spidersilk/dwarven ore or god forbit *** piece of *** hickory in Greenshade/Malabal Tor, I can't talk about the DC/EP areas since I haven't been there, but it better be the same.
Now - how come? I haven't grinded yet. Not in the slightest, I didn't come to a TES title for grinding. No, I did what's actually supposed to be intended - I explored, took my time, went through every quests to get that extra lore in and so forth -I have every achievement from the starter island to Greenshade completed. And what prize did I pay for that? Being overleveled since I left the starter area. Hell yeah.

On a sidenote: Storm Atronarchs are ridiculously overpowered for their level. When I had to fight some to collect a charging stone or whatnot, I think I was level 38 or 39 and the storm atronarchs between 33 and 36 (can't remember exactly). Now to beat one, I had to use cross-hotbar buffs, always a health pot, never miss a disrupt and hope he doesn't whitehit me to death because he has a bad day. And even with all that, I ended up with 5% health left, the windup time of his whitehits saved my ass more than once.
Conclusion? They hit like a truck, take their sweet time to die and can't be cc'd. Seriously, they're just as enjoyable as the goddamned nestmother who also just whitehitted you to death, fighting her doesn't involve skill whatsoever, just multiple people whacking cc and ults at her. Beta Doshia and Gutsripper were fairer and more enjoyable fights than Nestmother or your average Storm Atronarch.

rioinsigniab16_ESO · April 2014

I suffer from over leveling too. However a RL who is leveling at the same time is under leveling.....go figure. We've check the number of quests and we've done the same. We can't figure it out. Maybe it's class specific (I'm a mage, he's a templar).

This is why I think Zenimax should allow us to halt PVE xp gain, thus allowing us to proceed through PVE content and bring ourselves "back into line" with the intended level range. Yes, there is a risk that a player could end up being "under level". However, such a Halt-XP option could reset back to its "off" state with each login.

As for mob difficulty....be aware of the games' "Con system". i.e. the little lights to the side of mob health bars.

No lights = normal difficulty.
1 light each side = Harder. WTF?? Oh crap!
2 lights = Even harder. I'm gunna need help here.
3 lights = "Brings friends....a LOT of them" (Sammy Davis Jr - "Cannonball Run")

Vraok · April 2014

rioinsigniab16_ESO wrote: »

No lights = normal difficulty.
1 light each side = Harder. WTF?? Oh crap!
2 lights = Even harder. I'm gunna need help here.
3 lights = "Brings friends....a LOT of them" (Sammy Davis Jr - "Cannonball Run")

No offense, but I'm neither a noob nor an idiot. And some of the 3 lights can be beaten. I remember one of them in a public dungeon (the one I solo'd, and well, I obviously solo'd him aswell. I think I did that dungeon around 5am so there's really no one around.)
There're really only 3 factors that play a role in how the fight will play out;
1. Is the enemy cc-able?
2. Is his healthbar ridiculously high?
3. Does he use alot of whitehits or does he mainly use abilities?

If it's the latter for the 3. then the enemy is solo-able, it just takes either a considerable amount of skill, or time. Or both. But he IS soloable.

virreab16_ESO · May 2014

I have quest to kill storm atronarchs now. (in malabal) at 4 lvls higher (me 36) they are impossible to kill.(they 32 rare) which leaves me either waiting for help or come back antoher 4 lvls higher which is rediculous. There is a guy at the beginning for help but i choose to not put skills in intimidate and or persuade.
It looks like zenimax dont want you to solo these quests.

3 hits from them and I am done. I have this on other characters as well. bosses that are impossible to kill. I playing this as ranger, I even put on all heavy armor which has almost no effect. feels like my character is just crap now.

Slowly starting to hate this game. And no, not just because of this, there is a lot more crap going on.

Csub · May 2014

virreab16_ESO wrote: »

I have quest to kill storm atronarchs now. (in malabal) at 4 lvls higher (me 36) they are impossible to kill.(they 32 rare) which leaves me either waiting for help or come back antoher 4 lvls higher which is rediculous. There is a guy at the beginning for help but i choose to not put skills in intimidate and or persuade.
It looks like zenimax dont want you to solo these quests.

3 hits from them and I am done. I have this on other characters as well. bosses that are impossible to kill. I playing this as ranger, I even put on all heavy armor which has almost no effect. feels like my character is just crap now.

Slowly starting to hate this game. And no, not just because of this, there is a lot more crap going on.

Haven't been to that zone yet (I'm an EP player) but being 4 levels lower than a quest mob is hardly the game's fault. You have obviously missed many quests, dolmens and dungeons. Why dolmens and dungeons aren't a must (well nothing is really), they still give nice xp for the first time you do them (dungeons around 15-20%, dolmens 10%).
I occasionally see underleveled people struggling and I don't know if I should feel sorry for them or not since they were lazy to do quests.

You don't have to do every quest, I think around 75% of the quests in each zone are hard to miss, for the rest, you might need to get out of your comfort zone and start exploring a bit, or looking up a guide. Even if you don't do the ones that are not in your face, you shouldn't.be underleveled by more than 2 levels which is not too difficult and I know this since between like 10-17 I was underleveled, since.then I am constantly on the level or over leveled.

Also, you might just had wandered to the far end of the map after entering, thus you face higher level enemies.

Srugzal · May 2014

I've been through this with each of my characters. Eventually you encounter something that you have to kill, but can't. The answer is always the same. Change your skills, level up, come back later, rinse and repeat. Sometimes I've had to come back three different times. And yes, I've thrown my mouse across the room. Frustration sucks, too.

There's no shame in this, it's part of the way it works. Every build has limitations; sooner or later you find out what they are, and go back to the drawing board.

BTW, I've found persuade/intimidate problematic at times from an RP perspective, but I've long since decided that I don't have to be comfortable with what my character does. It's a story, and not, you know, me.

OTOH, those two passives have saved me a great deal of time and aggravation, both of which I prefer to use sparingly. If having an NPC tank for you will allow you to get a better result, why not?

Misty · May 2014

What does annoy me at times, is were I will be happily solo questing away only to run into a quest that is way above me such as the kill the head werewolf.

I simply cannot kill the mobs of assassins on my own and my fellow players are running around doing their own parts of the quest, so getting any form of workable group is near impossible.

I could not find any other quests at this stage of the game, so I am stuck, and for now, have had to abandon that character and move on to another.

I can't help it, it's silly stuff like this that can quickly turn my love for the game to hate.

ArRashid · May 2014

Yeah storm atronachs are absurdly OP for their level.
Frost Atronachs are bad too, but they at least don't have ranged spells and are somewhat slow (unless you get hit by melee which chills your for the entire duration of the fight). Anyway, frosties melt in fire rather easily, it's the melees that have problems with them.

Storm Atronachs however, are a FAST bunch, spamming AoE spells that hit like a truck, swing their "arms" around hitting like a truck, and have a death stare worse than your average Harvester.

Vraok · May 2014

Srugzal wrote: »

I've been through this with each of my characters. Eventually you encounter something that you have to kill, but can't. The answer is always the same. Change your skills, level up, come back later, rinse and repeat. Sometimes I've had to come back three different times. And yes, I've thrown my mouse across the room. Frustration sucks, too.

There's no shame in this, it's part of the way it works. Every build has limitations; sooner or later you find out what they are, and go back to the drawing board.

BTW, I've found persuade/intimidate problematic at times from an RP perspective, but I've long since decided that I don't have to be comfortable with what my character does. It's a story, and not, you know, me.

OTOH, those two passives have saved me a great deal of time and aggravation, both of which I prefer to use sparingly. If having an NPC tank for you will allow you to get a better result, why not?

Alrighty. So you're telling me that even if I outlevel the Atronachs by two levels, changed to a build that's solely DPS/buffs, have leveled armour and weapons -and- buff foods/potions, it's alright that I just barely kill them? Like, I don't mind a challenge. Their design isn't bad, you can interrupt the ridiculous hard hitting AoE, or dodge it if you're fast. The thing that -really- pisses me off, is the fact that their whitehits are way too strong. If they wouldn't use any skills whatsoever at all, I'd lose to them. Every time. The only reason I even stand a chance is because they bother using skills, which in return I can interrupt, giving me a small breather.

Jeremy · May 2014

Vraok wrote: »

First of all, don't get me wrong, I love this game. That doesn't prevent me from writing the following;
I'm -permanently overleveled-, the enemies I fight are -atleast- 3 levels below me. Sometimes when I get lucky I find one 5 levels below me. Heck, I could take that damned public dungeon that was swarming with worm cultists on by myself.
That also leads to me having to -buy- crafting materials from other players since in my zone the nodes are just not sufficient enough. Try getting some goddamned spidersilk/dwarven ore or god forbit *** piece of *** hickory in Greenshade/Malabal Tor, I can't talk about the DC/EP areas since I haven't been there, but it better be the same.
Now - how come? I haven't grinded yet. Not in the slightest, I didn't come to a TES title for grinding. No, I did what's actually supposed to be intended - I explored, took my time, went through every quests to get that extra lore in and so forth -I have every achievement from the starter island to Greenshade completed. And what prize did I pay for that? Being overleveled since I left the starter area. Hell yeah.

On a sidenote: Storm Atronarchs are ridiculously overpowered for their level. When I had to fight some to collect a charging stone or whatnot, I think I was level 38 or 39 and the storm atronarchs between 33 and 36 (can't remember exactly). Now to beat one, I had to use cross-hotbar buffs, always a health pot, never miss a disrupt and hope he doesn't whitehit me to death because he has a bad day. And even with all that, I ended up with 5% health left, the windup time of his whitehits saved my ass more than once.
Conclusion? They hit like a truck, take their sweet time to die and can't be cc'd. Seriously, they're just as enjoyable as the goddamned nestmother who also just whitehitted you to death, fighting her doesn't involve skill whatsoever, just multiple people whacking cc and ults at her. Beta Doshia and Gutsripper were fairer and more enjoyable fights than Nestmother or your average Storm Atronarch.

I agree with you about the leveling on this game. It is too fast, and I find myself outgrowing the content quicker than I would like to. This is especially the case since loot stops dropping for you after you reach a certain threshold and can make farming for items you need difficult.

So I would like to see an option that allows you to turn off character experience gains. That way I could progress at my own pace. This would also allow me the time I need to farm up rarer crafting materials such as honing stones and dwarf oil... since this game's economy is a nuisance to deal with and very unreliable to depend on.

So far I haven't ran into anything I would consider ridiculously overpowered. Even most world bosses I've been able to solo, though some are definitely a challenge. It's more difficult than your average MMO to be sure. But I like that. MMORPGs have become way too easy recently to the point of boredom. And I'm glad to finally find a game that is challenging enough to reward hard work and training.

eNumbra · May 2014

virreab16_ESO wrote: »

I have quest to kill storm atronarchs now. (in malabal) at 4 lvls higher (me 36) they are impossible to kill.(they 32 rare) which leaves me either waiting for help or come back antoher 4 lvls higher which is rediculous. There is a guy at the beginning for help but i choose to not put skills in intimidate and or persuade.
It looks like zenimax dont want you to solo these quests.

3 hits from them and I am done. I have this on other characters as well. bosses that are impossible to kill. I playing this as ranger, I even put on all heavy armor which has almost no effect. feels like my character is just crap now.

Be glad you're not dealing with them in VR currently. The flame ats were a joke at only 2k health and the frost at just stood there casting while I kited around him dodging everything he had and just slapped the 7k out of him.

Stupid storm ats with 12k hp that can't be CC'd and bull-rush me and just punch me to death if I try to kite. Tried abusing stealth to just get him down by constantly breaking combat, but he seems to be able to ignore that as well.

I'll be waiting for help for that quest.

Khenarthi · May 2014

The same thing happens to me as well. Since I love exploring and getting lost chasing whatever is just over the next hill, I'm always at least 2-3 levels over my enemies, and I do try to slow down levelling as much as I can -level too much and dead mobs won't drop loot or charge your ultimate. It came to such an absurd point that often I sneak past mobs to avoid the xp gained by killing them.

The opportunity to toggle off xp gain would be perfect. I'll leave /feedback in game and I invite the rest of you to do the same...

Bryong9ub17_ESO · May 2014

I'm at Veteran Rank 2 and I have yet to have a problem with fights. Some were hard and I had to try different strategies before I was able to get past them, but that's a good thing.. That's what video games should be about and it should be a challenge. Everyone now a days just want things handed to them and don't want to do the hard work/problem solving. Figure it out and please exercise your mind.

Skjlvald · May 2014

Soooo you are always over leveled and storm atronachs are too powerful. Gotcha.

devincutlerb14_ESO · May 2014

To be fair, storm atronaches are the kings of the atronach hierarchy. They should be pushing the very boundary of level limits.

Merlin13KAGL · May 2014

rioinsigniab16_ESO wrote: »

I suffer from over leveling too.

This is why I think Zenimax should allow us to halt PVE xp gain, thus allowing us to proceed through PVE content and bring ourselves "back into line" with the intended level range.

Indirectly, they do this now...just not in a manner I care for. Once you're more than 6 levels above an enemy, your XP ceases and your drops all but disappear...

Leveling does need to be balanced. If you do try to complete all quests in a zone, you seem to gain about 50% faster than what the zone appears to be set for. In our experience, each area is intended for about 10 levels...inevitably, we've ended up gaining about 15.

The XP halt at six levels is understood in some ways. I get that they do not wish someone to farm while massively overleveled... At the same time, if you are trying to cover all quests, they end up being greyed out due to overleveling, and the end of quest XP (which is minor, in the grand scheme of things) is all you end up with out of it.

You effectively reach a point where you are doing it for the achievement, not for the XP's...

You still have to make your way through the mobs, which is not difficult. I'd like to see at least 1 XP and 1 gold dropped though...it will help offset the repair costs from the mobs you still have to clear. I'd also like to see the damage (at least to armor) cease when the XP does...

If I gain nothing from fighting this enemy, it must mean it's no longer a challenge...therefore, I would also assume this enemy would pose no threat and I'd take no (armor) damage. As an example, I should be able to aggro a level one mudcrab and not even bother once I'm above level 7...

Consider it enemy self-preservation...At a certain differential, they know better than to mess with you... When's the last time you saw that same mudcrab attack a storm atronach?

The lack of gain (you wish the option to turn off), actually makes it less appealing to complete the quests. I hope they can implement a sliding scale of sorts...dialing down (but now eliminating) the XP gains as you level a zone. I'd at least like to see a version of this, much like the OP.

Last note, storm atronach's are tough...but they're supposed to be. They're still quite manageable, especially if you are overleveled.

virreab16_ESO · May 2014

Csub wrote: »

Haven't been to that zone yet (I'm an EP player) but being 4 levels lower than a quest mob is hardly the game's fault.

I was the one that was 4 levels higher.

Ulvich · May 2014

Once I hit VR6 I still found quest in the starting areas. Needless to say all the mobs there were dropping dropping like flies once I started in on them. And the mats? Well, I haven't found one thing yet I could use. Even the quest items are worthless. Maybe I'll go hunt for a zone that I can quest in. Hey, now there's an idea.

Csub · May 2014

virreab16_ESO wrote: »

Csub wrote: »

Haven't been to that zone yet (I'm an EP player) but being 4 levels lower than a quest mob is hardly the game's fault.

I was the one that was 4 levels higher.

Oh, sorry, my bad!

drogon1 · May 2014

Vraok wrote: »

First of all, don't get me wrong, I love this game. That doesn't prevent me from writing the following;
I'm -permanently overleveled-, the enemies I fight are -atleast- 3 levels below me. Sometimes when I get lucky I find one 5 levels below me. Heck, I could take that damned public dungeon that was swarming with worm cultists on by myself.
That also leads to me having to -buy- crafting materials from other players since in my zone the nodes are just not sufficient enough. Try getting some goddamned spidersilk/dwarven ore or god forbit *** piece of *** hickory in Greenshade/Malabal Tor, I can't talk about the DC/EP areas since I haven't been there, but it better be the same.

Complaining cause you're overleveled? LOL, speechless.

There are some important problems with the game - being overleveled is not one of them. As in any other MMO, why not simply move to an area that is level-appropriate instead of coming to the forums? You don't want to miss any content you say? Roll an alt and experience the skipped stuff fresh (because most of the stuff you will have already done). Don't want to miss a skillpoint? Just do the 1 or 2 quests that give the skillpoint then move on.

Why am I wasting my time here lol.....

KerinKor · May 2014

On my Templar through DC I was often doing green quests towards the end of a zone .. on my Sorc going through EP I rarely am up to level until nearly the end of the zone.

TicToc · May 2014

You have done everything there is to possibly do and you leveled content. That is going to happen. There is nothing to be done for that. If they make it so that people like you are perfectly on level, then people that don't want to do everything, will be under leveled, and it is far worse to be underleveled, so they have to balance that way.

You can always skip some of the rather mundane quests, to try and catch up to where you should be.

jircris11 · May 2014

i personally enjoy being over leveled, makes some quest so much easier. Complaining about being over leveled is...quite stupid. But i guess some people are OCD about their level and the quest level they are doing.

Pele · May 2014

I was the opposite; I was always under-leveled by 4+ levels until I reached the veteran zones. I crafted gear until I was level 20 because I realized drops worked just fine. I wore a few level 20s-30s drops up until my 40s levels because I liked the look. The only gear I kept on-level were my weapons.

As for the atronachs, they were indeed difficult. I wish I had some wise sage advice for you, but I didn't do anything special for them that I don't do when I fight other difficult mobs. i.e. kite, dodge, and block like mad until they're dead. Ultimates and summons helped too.

Vraok · May 2014

drogon1 wrote: »

Vraok wrote: »

First of all, don't get me wrong, I love this game. That doesn't prevent me from writing the following;
I'm -permanently overleveled-, the enemies I fight are -atleast- 3 levels below me. Sometimes when I get lucky I find one 5 levels below me. Heck, I could take that damned public dungeon that was swarming with worm cultists on by myself.
That also leads to me having to -buy- crafting materials from other players since in my zone the nodes are just not sufficient enough. Try getting some goddamned spidersilk/dwarven ore or god forbit *** piece of *** hickory in Greenshade/Malabal Tor, I can't talk about the DC/EP areas since I haven't been there, but it better be the same.

Complaining cause you're overleveled? LOL, speechless.

There are some important problems with the game - being overleveled is not one of them. As in any other MMO, why not simply move to an area that is level-appropriate instead of coming to the forums? You don't want to miss any content you say? Roll an alt and experience the skipped stuff fresh (because most of the stuff you will have already done). Don't want to miss a skillpoint? Just do the 1 or 2 quests that give the skillpoint then move on.

Why am I wasting my time here lol.....

You're either trying your very best -not- to understand my point or you're just looking for a reason to argue.
No, the real problem is finding crafting mats without having to buy them from other players, being overleveled means either running around in underleveled gear and/or having to buy crafting materials from other players. This post was created alot earlier, when there weren't that many players that sold the crafting mats and if they did, for ridiculous prices. That made it really difficult for me to keep up gear-wise which was highly frustrating. But you're wasting your time here anyway.

Phantorang · May 2014

Why not move on to someplace with a challenge? Nothing forces you to do every single quest right now, in a later stage in the game perhaps you will be happy you got something else but veteran stuff to do.

Try and enjoy the stories in the quests, they are great.

Vraok · May 2014

Phantorang wrote: »

Why not move on to someplace with a challenge? Nothing forces you to do every single quest right now, in a later stage in the game perhaps you will be happy you got something else but veteran stuff to do.

Try and enjoy the stories in the quests, they are great.

Apart from the EP ones, that is.