Harborage lvl 20 Quest, (snip) is this shet?

thebigfist · June 2014

Says Lvl 20. ok, I am lvl 20. Am I doing something wrong or is there any reason I CANNOT beat the waves of skeles?
DK, overloaded armor, dang near overloaded spell resist, dropping that banner, overloaded health and mana. All the other mobs are childs play. Although I would not be surprised. Game design = armor and spell resist especially dont mean crap when it comes to pve.
So wtf is the secret? This is pissing me off and even more so because I CANNOT LEAVE THIS AREA.

And if I hear one more *** time about the hero who saved the king...

EDIT: Ok I got it eventually by dumping all mana into heal and sitting behind a shield letting mana regen for next wave while kiting around the last melee skele. Still, the level of difficulty from mobs -> boss scene AND not being able to leave the area... ㅗ to somebody

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Cursing & Profanity]

Selstad · June 2014

This is due to some fundamental flaws in the game design. For some reason, staff attacks from monsters counts not as spells, but as weapon damage, meaning that armour is necessary to mitigate that damage.

However, the other fundamental flaw is that the damage output of the monsters does not match up with the player's level, meaning that without armour they hit like a tank, with armour, they hit like a slightly smaller tank.

They also have an AoE "heat wave" that you can dodge, if you get the queue for it that is. Both when I did it on my main and when I've now tried it on my alt, I've taken massive heat wave damage 2-3 seconds before the animation for it starts.

Now that's just for 1 skeleton, there are several pyromancer skeletons in that area, which mounts up to something that is frustrating to say the very least.

So what kills is the combination of flawed game design, flawed damage output Vs player level and a healthy dose of delays. Welcome to Elder Scrolls: Online. Leave logical thinking to your right, your sanity to your left and put on a restraining jacket before entering.

SDZald · June 2014

LOL I feel your pain. The Mages Guild, Fighters Guild and Main Quests are all solo only. I always wait to do the Mages and Fighters until they turn at least green, sometimes gray. For the main quest I let them lag way behind.

What I don't understand is why we are forced to solo quests that are clearly way over our heads at the specified levels.

AngryNord · June 2014

SDZald wrote: »

What I don't understand is why we are forced to solo quests that are clearly way over our heads at the specified levels.

It is so the fanbois can say 'learn 2 play, n00b' and 'quit crying and go back to WoW, whiner'.

Drawberrry · June 2014

I had a lot of trouble with some of the quests for that line, I am a Nord Nightblade archer for reference. Now at Vet4 heath and stamina are 24 and 25 respectively with no points in magicka. I was able to get by focusing on the main target and dodging adds as much as I could. If it's the quest I am thinking about they where the skeletons that would attack and explode for area damage? I basically ran my ass as far from them as I could to avoid taking a hit and they'd just explode off in their sad little skeleton corner.

The fighters guild quest line where you have the three mini bosses and one is the harvester? I had to quit that 4 times and level up and try new techniques before I finally figured out the right moves. But once I did she went down easy.

vyndral13preub18_ESO · June 2014

I love some of these quest. In the last story line quest, there is a fight with 4-5 skeletons where a certain person is tied down. You even have backup with you, yet this fight with 4-5 skeletons has been harder then any other fight i have had in any quest. And that includes the end boss of the story line who is after those skeletons.

thebigfist · June 2014

SDZald wrote: »

LOL I feel your pain. The Mages Guild, Fighters Guild and Main Quests are all solo only. I always wait to do the Mages and Fighters until they turn at least green, sometimes gray. For the main quest I let them lag way behind.

What I don't understand is why we are forced to solo quests that are clearly way over our heads at the specified levels.

^^^ this. good call man. I have decided to do the same from now on, let them turn green or grey and save myself some rage.

Noswell · June 2014

thebigfist wrote: »

EDIT: Ok I got it eventually by dumping all mana into heal and sitting behind a shield letting mana regen for next wave while kiting around the last melee skele. Still, the level of difficulty from mobs -> boss scene AND not being able to leave the area... ㅗ to somebody

Well, balance of the fight aside, well done on figuring out a way to get it done somehow. I've always found that getting through an impossible spot with a Wiley Coyote strategy is so much more fulfilling than most encounters. And in 20 years you'll be able to tell those young whippersnappers how you had to fight skeletons uphill in the snow

Sleepwalker · June 2014

I feel your pain. The fight is pretty unforgiving on most builds. Sounds like you scraped together a good enough strategy to get through that junk though. Good on ya. That's pretty much all that anyone can do there.

Done this on three different characters now. I had figured that the first bad experience with it was just because of inexperience with the game, but when my newer sorcerer had the same frustrating time with those skeleton groups of four (when he was steamrolling literally everything else), I was convinced that it's just the level of difficulty of the encounter. It's a little much for any young build. I'd never slammed my fist against a piece of furniture as hard as I did that day... still a little bruised...

UrQuan · June 2014

Hmm, I've done this fight on 3 different characters now (a Dragon Knight, a Templar, and a Nightblade), and in each case I did it as soon as I got the quest at level 20. In each of those cases I remember it being challenging, but in each case I got through it on my first attempt.

Having said that, a friend of mine with a Sorcerer tried it a ton of times and eventually just gave up. I think he's at level 28 now, and I'm not sure if he ever went back and managed to beat that fight.

poodlemasterb16_ESO · June 2014

It's tough. You will find two of the four skeletons are casters and it's these two that do most of the damage. Smoke them first.

As well if you go stealth as they spawn, it's slow, they do not target you right away and you can chose who to start on.

It is tough. I've gotten 3 through there too. The sorc was easiest and the DK the hardest. The NB did surprisingly well really, considering I'm not very good at them yet.

Kenthros · June 2014

Eh i died a few times, did them before the 1.2 patch though so not sure if anything changed. Anyways died a few times and made and strat and learned what was dealing the damage then beat it. Think I died 3 times.

columbineb14_ESO · June 2014

I also find that the difficulty of the end fight in that quest depends a LOT on whether you happen to get Actually Tanks Pretty Well Lyris or Stands Around Drooling Lyris that particular day.

Estin · June 2014

I did it at like level 23 as a nightblade. It was pretty easy, though I did have some close calls. I only ever had problems with Veteran mobs and Some level 47-50 mobs if there is more than 2-3.

c1r3gamerb16_ESO · June 2014

I've also had problems with some of the Harbourage quests usually when the end boss is helped with multiple allies i.e. the skeletons, yet on the other hand some of the storyline quests have been easy - so you get caught out

I learned the hard way when you get stuck in one of these instances (die - res to wayshrine which conveniently is inside the instance - die - res .... and so on) and the door is locked so you can't quit. Just exit the game for about 10 mins and usually when you re-log the game should have kicked you from the instance on a timeout.

And as has been suggested above I also now wait until I'm a few levels higher than the quest indicator

Woolenthreads · June 2014

I worked out on Alt3 that it is essential to have started up and run with the Fighters Guild Line to beat the Main Quest because the FG skills are about killing Undead/Daedra and the Main Quest is pretty much all Undead/Daedra. Other than that it's hard work.

fredarbonab14_ESO · June 2014

You talking about Mannimarco? (sp). Also you can teleport out of the place btw.

Granted, it is a bear of a fight, but there are many strategies that do help, some suggested above. It is doable at level, of course if too frustrating, get a little bit more power, come back another day and get even.

wafcatb14_ESO · June 2014

didn`t have any trouble with this encounter and that was on my lvl 20 nightblade , bow /2h , target the skellys , and move dodge etc

Slash8915 · June 2014

My girlfriend is a lvl 23 Sorc, and she's still having problems with this quest. I'm a Temp tank, and back when I did this quest, I beat it the first try. Yes, it took me a while, and I had to use a ton of health potions and kite tank a bit... But I still managed.

Lisa · June 2014

I'm a level 26 Templar and I've decided to save it till it's the last quest in my journal, if possible. I keep healing my tag-a-long buddy, but she isn't so good in a fight.

Rosveen · June 2014

sh4d0wh4z3 wrote: »

I did it at like level 23 as a nightblade. It was pretty easy, though I did have some close calls. I only ever had problems with Veteran mobs and Some level 47-50 mobs if there is more than 2-3.

wafcatb14_ESO wrote: »

didn`t have any trouble with this encounter and that was on my lvl 20 nightblade , bow /2h , target the skellys , and move dodge etc

The world is ending, nightblades do better than DKs.

Funnily enough, I had the same experience. The first time I did this quest, I was playing a DK and I got my ass handed to me. This taught me to stay slightly overleveled for main quests, which might explain why I later didn't have as much trouble with Halls of Torment as everyone else seemed to have.
My next character was a nightblade. Either something changed about the quest (maybe Lyris decided to actually be useful...) or I just knew the battle inside out from dying so many times before, but I beat it the first try.

KaedianEQ · June 2014

thebigfist wrote: »

Says Lvl 20. ok, I am lvl 20. Am I doing something wrong or is there any reason I CANNOT beat the waves of skeles?
DK, overloaded armor, dang near overloaded spell resist, dropping that banner, overloaded health and mana. All the other mobs are childs play. Although I would not be surprised. Game design = armor and spell resist especially dont mean crap when it comes to pve.
So wtf is the secret? This is pissing me off and even more so because I CANNOT LEAVE THIS AREA.

And if I hear one more *** time about the hero who saved the king...

EDIT: Ok I got it eventually by dumping all mana into heal and sitting behind a shield letting mana regen for next wave while kiting around the last melee skele. Still, the level of difficulty from mobs -> boss scene AND not being able to leave the area... ㅗ to somebody

Irony is beating it first attempt ... on a broken NB.

Attorneyatlawl · June 2014

Have never had any trouble on this on any of the four classes during beta, PTS, or live, in the slightest on ANY of the main quests including my live nightblade (vr12) and dk (vr12) doing all quests at-level... then again I didn't think Mannimarco (L40 main quest) before he got nerfed about seven or eight times in a row pre-launch was hard either, just fun and about right (he used to have 70k hp and be a lot more dangerous

). I'd recommend looking into how you've laid your abilities and gear out and fixing them before coming to the forums to beg for encounter nerfs.

Phantorang · June 2014

I think its great that the Main Story is extra hard. Some real challenge and I felt really good about myself when I finished it.

If something is to hard, then level a bit and go back. Im not going to spoil to much, but that main quest you did is only the beginning of many extra ordinary challenges

Singular · June 2014

thebigfist wrote: »

EDIT: Ok I got it eventually by dumping all mana into heal and sitting behind a shield letting mana regen for next wave while kiting around the last melee skele. Still, the level of difficulty from mobs -> boss scene AND not being able to leave the area... ㅗ to somebody

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Cursing & Profanity]

Ah, fudge.

meghuskoow · June 2014

I didn't complete that quest untill lvl 26. My brother is a dk and lvl 26 now and getting murdered in that quest. I only survived since I was a templar and stacked in mana lol.

UrQuan · June 2014

Woolenthreads wrote: »

I worked out on Alt3 that it is essential to have started up and run with the Fighters Guild Line to beat the Main Quest because the FG skills are about killing Undead/Daedra and the Main Quest is pretty much all Undead/Daedra. Other than that it's hard work.

Ah, good point! Now that I think about it I remember that I used Silver Shards (morphed Silver Bolts from the Fighters Guild skill line) extensively each of the 3 times I beat this fight. The knockdown and chance to auto-kill vs undead and daedra is huge.

jkbennettb14a_ESO · June 2014

Can't wait to read your reaction to the Valley of Blades harborage quest. It ought to be epic.

weritisb16_ESO · June 2014

I have heard from several players in guild- and/or zonechat that certain quests from the main quest line were hard. In my experience, some of them were challenging, and i will admit i might have died two or three times in the course of the main quest line. But those deaths all were my own fault and completely avoidable. I have learned to pay attention, block and carry a healing staff in my secondary weaponslot just in case. I would hate for those encounters to get nerfed, with a bit of a challenge also comes a sense of accomplishment once you beat it.

That being said, my gf had problems with that quest too. I don't know whether it was because of this, but after i had sent her two pieces of jewelery enchanted with fire resist glyphs, she managed to beat that encounter on her NB while only being slightly overleveled (i think 21 or 22).

PS.: The one thing that comes close to being "unfair" imho is the combination of Harvester+narrow corridors.

phaneub17_ESO · June 2014

Wait til you get to the level 35 quest, I kept getting one shotted at full health and the NPC's that were with me just stood there doing NOTHING!!!

UrQuan · June 2014

jkbennettb14a_ESO wrote: »

Can't wait to read your reaction to the Valley of Blades harborage quest. It ought to be epic.

Yeah, that one was tough. I had to run away from combat screaming like a little girl multiple times before I managed to beat it. Oh, and I died a couple of times in there too.