What did you all expect the veteran zones to be like?

Cody · June 2014

There have been many threads complaining about them, but I have yet to see one(and I did type this exact question into the search to see if someone made it) thread asking this. What did you guys expect the veteran zones to be like? For those of you that knew about them before you hit VR1 and went to them? It may seem pointless to tell these thoughts now, but im just curious. and put some detail in it, not just "not a boring grindfest"

Still_Mind · June 2014

Absolutely love questing in VR areas. Exploration and immersion factor is great, mainly due to the fact that there's fewer players than in non-VR areas.

Grinding V12 is absolutely boring. Been there, done that. Following the stories, discovering spectacular locations in the world - adds a lot to the experience.

That said, I don't find VR advancement mechanics to my liking. The 1-12 advancement really seems more like cheap time padding and player segregation. The Veteran zones might as well be "just" a source of skillpoints (via special quests and skyshards) and gold.

Bromburak · June 2014

NookyZooky wrote: »

What did you guys expect the veteran zones to be like?

More challenging and rewarding.

martinb16_ESO80 · June 2014

I expected there to be some more original content, not just higher-level versions of the other regions content. It seems lazy and if you ever wanted to play an alt, or if you already started playing an alt it makes vr levelling even more boring.

ZiRM · June 2014

I expected them to be fun with great rewards, loot and content. I was totally wrong.

AKSb16_ESO2 · June 2014

I expected more quests of the faction I chose in the beginning.
I don't like doing quests of the enemy faction.

Oronell · June 2014

Enjoying the challenge. Forced me to adapt and pace myself. No longer feel the need to rush to the level cap as I was from 1-50. The difficulty has given me the opportunity to test and discover new combinations of abilities that I had never considered before.

Started out feeling wrong "fighting" for the other side until I began thinking about it as a testing and period of discovery for my character, both player skill and story wise. Think about it, if you were really fighting for the other side wouldn't you be questing in the "real" lowbie zone? Not sure if this was the intention of the devs but from the standpoint of immersion it is where I find myself atm. I have traveled further down the rabbit hole and Caldwell is simply "the Oracle".

leandro.800ub17_ESO · June 2014

With more people to group and bigger rewards.
Also why do they drop low level ingredients?

Drakoleon · June 2014

Better rewards rare objects better weapons and armor drops etc....Craglorn did that and most players dumped the main maps quests etc....simple

Mehsive · June 2014

I think the problem is that you choose an alliance, not expecting to have to do the other 2/3 of content that the game offers, and everyone was hoping to make alts on other alliances and complete it then, however you're then forced (either that or grinding realistically) to complete questing material that you'd otherwise have saved for other characters, all the meanwhile gaining very little character progression, or the feeling of getting stronger (which you had from 1-50) while mobs become exponentially harder.

To draw similar parallels it's like Dinging 90 on a WoW Horde character then being told to do 1-90 again on alliance side, imagine the QQ there would be!

unfortunately i was unprepared and didn't have any idea of what veteran levelling was, or the amount of time it would take, and i'll admit i gave in and went grinding from vet7 upwards. I'd double the Experience and maybe make vet 1-10 encompass only once extra alliance, and the player gets to choose which alliance this is, for example i'd have done the DC veteran zone allowing myself to create an alt which could go through EP and not having the story or immersion feel like "oh i've done this already *yawn*."

i'll admit, i've been very delightfully surprised with how hard certain aspects of the end game can be (spent 3 hours doing shada's Tear last night) but i think that Vet content is too long and time consuming and doesn't correctly build players up to experiencing the actual end game content and instead leaves a sort of bitter taste since it feels like needless levelling just for the sake it.

leandro.800ub17_ESO · June 2014

We need more rewards in VR5-10 zones specially. Also those achievements in VR zones could unlock special things not only the upcoming colors

Thechemicals · June 2014

I expected that as soon as i entered the veteran zone, it would be faster paced and epic quests. I would enter and see unique monsters slaughtering veterans left and right and massive wars and/or skirmishes would be raging everywhere to a point that i had to constantly be either fighting or running with very few places to hide, like old abandoned barn houses littered with dead npc heroes and players who were just trying to catch their breath before having to go back out. I expected the Daedric legions would be in large packs of 10-15 and mercilessly attacking me and players would help each other out, even if they didnt want to, they would because it would be disastrous to not work together in some places.

I expected anchors to have legions of Daedric armies dropping from sky in numbers of 10 or more at a time, and the final boss to be unique in appearance and unique in loot. Quests would be less in number but longer in continuance, sometimes taking more than a couple of hours to finish but always giving skill points upon completion and unique trinkets that were practical and treasure...lots of treasure at least 20X more than the 5 gold pieces and 2 white items i have come to know as standard loot from bosses.

I expected everything the intro video sold me....now i fight daedric monsters in packs of 1-2 and 3, run 20 ft and repeat.

MKLS · June 2014

I expected almost exactly what we have got - as I read it in the pre-game blurb it said that once you had reached level 50 you would have the opportunity to visit the other alliance areas and do their quests - which is basically exactly what you can do.

No-one has to do the quests in the other alliance areas - there are PVE daily quests in the PVP area's, PVP combat and dungeons not to mention Craglorn etc for those that want to get to the max level without doing them.

For those that are completionists and want to get every skyshard and accomplishment then yes - you need to do these areas - but for me that is no hardship as I enjoy the questing and will finish those quests even if I am already V12 which is very likely.

I would like more of the containers to give more level appropriate items for recipes - but thats not a major for me.

One note - those who have used addons for finding lore books, skyshards etc may be finding it more boring as if they have already found the books they are not in the vet area it seems at the early levels - but I still find them as I missed some first time round- so again I'm happy.

Edit:
Also I'm in no rush to level so have a different perspective to those that just want to reach max level ASAP so they can PVP or do Trials at max level - problems for that style of player is that no new game will have enough engame content 3 months from launch to keep them happy if they have ignored 3 months of the games natural leveling speed for the casuals by skipping quests and fast leveling grinding.

Oronell · June 2014

Thechemicals wrote: »

I expected that as soon as i entered the veteran zone, it would be faster paced and epic quests. I would enter and see unique monsters slaughtering veterans left and right and massive wars and/or skirmishes would be raging everywhere to a point that i had to constantly be either fighting or running with very few places to hide, like old abandoned barn houses littered with dead npc heroes and players who were just trying to catch their breath before having to go back out. I expected the Daedric legions would be in large packs of 10-15 and mercilessly attacking me and players would help each other out, even if they didnt want to, they would because it would be disastrous to not work together in some places.

It would actually be pretty cool if you were "marked for death" after defeating Molag Bal, with Daedric Assassins trying to kill you at random throughout every VR zone.

Falmer · June 2014

With the vast multitudes of possible content that exists in the various Planes of Oblivion. I was hoping that VR content would take place there.

Would have LOVED to see each of the Daedra Princes in their own unique realms.

Replaying the same content that my characters in other factions have already done, doesn't seem nearly as compelling.

Enkshar · June 2014

I expected a fun experience as the 1-50, where i could still played the way i liked and was all about the journey through the maps and stories.

Instead i found a really boring experience and lots of time frustrating where the focus was not the journey but being efficient in combat, only focused on dps as u need to be able to kills things fast or else ull be dead in seconds.

I think trials are the best examples of VR experience. The reward its not the story or the achievment its having the best dps to run through them as fast as posible. Story?, no time for it must rush through raid. Play the way u like? no sir ur stamina build it not ganna make it through the dps checks. The only thing that matters is having the best dps so u can get a reward at the end of the week.

So in the end if u only care about having fun, not rushing through content, playing with friends no matter their builds, enjoying the stories Tamariels offers u, then ull get no reward, most likely u wont be able to finish trials at all. And if u want to solo on VR maps with the build u like ull eventually hit a wall that u wont go through unless u change ur build to "the way it should be"

ShADoW0s · June 2014

Bromburak wrote: »

NookyZooky wrote: »

What did you guys expect the veteran zones to be like?

More challenging and rewarding.

Rewarding? Mate 10 gold is not rewarding in by books.

I did not really know what I expected in Vr zone, because I did not read about them. I just assumed it would be further questing to progress your character. Turn out to be very less rewarding then I expected for the difficulty and time spent.

Kyubi_3002b16_ESO · June 2014

Nightmare mode in diablo II

smokes · June 2014

honestly i thought the other faction content was going to be optional for the skyshards, skillpoints and lore - not mandatory to get to endgame.

i really thoroughly enjoyed 1-50, then i hit my first VR zone and my enthusiasm divebombed.

i'm clinging on in the hope they fix/alter the way the veteran zones are implemented, it'd be nice to see my g/f playing again too - she stopped at VR2, i made it to VR4 before grinding anomalies in craglorn like a mofo in the hope that re-visiting VR4+ areas would be slightly easier and less repair intensive on my templar.

i could never have been more wrong.

i'm not sure if it's the content that is overtuned, or that my templar is underpowered - in all honesty, i think it's a bit of both.

whats worse, is that i'd level an alt instead - but the prospect of hitting VR1 then going through VR1-10 just puts me off big time. zenimax apparently like to play the game of "lets move the goalposts". if level 50 was endgame and VR1-2 was craglorn, i would've been a much happier customer.

tacking on VR levels, to re-purposed 1-50 content for the other factions was a fairly cheap, but ultimately dirty move that could actually spell the end if not rectified. the class balance issues, bugs and bots are a whole other can of worms that i can live with in the life of mmo-game development.

but the direction of endgame, ultimately feels like it was changd at the last minute without due care and attention - whereas the entire 1-50 content seems to have had every last piece of due care and attention fixated on it. which is great, until you hit level 50.

Thechemicals · June 2014

I was expecting this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL940XjIl8o

talon_vib14_ESO · June 2014

VR Zones are so obviously a last minute addition to the game. Clearly the way the game was designed is to get through your factions lvls and achieve lvl 50. At that point you'd have enough skill points for a build and would still get more from dungeons and pvp. Veteran ranks were clearly meant as a player status and not the additional lvl system it is now. I mean really whats the point of calling them veteran lvls and having to clear an entire zone to gain one. Why not just make the lvl cap 150. people would probably enjoy that more because at least the lvling would be a consistent lvl an hour or so.

So the devs at the last minute decide to allow you to do the other factions zones as an alternative to doing pvp and or dungeons to gain veteran status. This of course breaks the game because the only reason you need to respec is if you morphed something wrong because you have 3 times the skill points you need if you complete all the content. To make it more obvious you can tell buy the dungeon loot lvls and as mentioned by other players the mats you get in these zones.

I love this game so far but it really pisses me off when gaming companies pull this kind of crap and expect the players not to notice or don't care if we do. I mean that is EA level ***.

For me I think I'll skip the VR zones unless I roll an alt through those factions. If it takes me forever to lvl doing PVP and veteran lvl dungeons well so be it. I let myself get immersed in this game and there is no way I can do that when I'm questing in enemy territory and helping them.

Oh and for the people who have to be max lvl and grind to VR12...why did you buy this game. That's like buying resident evil and finding an exploit in the mansion lobby that lets you skip to the Tyrant fight and then complain because there was only one boss fight before the credits roll.

Cody · June 2014

I expected you going to the other factions lands, but instead of this "alternate timeline" crap, I thought you would be taking the fight to the other alliances you spent 3 months fighting. You would go to them, and everyone there would KNOW who you are, and the leader of that alliance, would utilize whatever means to take you down. A lot of cool ideas were posted here. I doubt zenimax will do a complete overhaul of veteran zones, but maybe they will change some things to make it more fun, and worth going thur all of it, for something besides a rank.

Bromburak · June 2014

ShADoW0s wrote: »

Bromburak wrote: »

NookyZooky wrote: »

What did you guys expect the veteran zones to be like?

More challenging and rewarding.

Rewarding? Mate 10 gold is not rewarding in by books.

You might should read the thread title again, it helps you to understand my answer!

Yankee · June 2014

I did not know what to expect. But the result of my VR adventure is that I left my main in a VR7 zone, and have not played more than a couple hours over the last couple weeks. And my NB sits in VR1.

And I do not feel motivated to raise another alt through the same quests and zones I have already done.

So....I guess thats it.

PBpsy · June 2014

Exactly like this and they were great until 1.1.2 when the messed the mob damage outputs.
I certainly didn't hope for nine times more content than any mmo had at release like some people in this thread appear to have wanted.

kgallellab14_ESO · June 2014

AKSb16_ESO2 wrote: »

I expected more quests of the faction I chose in the beginning.
I don't like doing quests of the enemy faction.

I was also expecting the same thing. I don't mind too much doing the other factions' content (makes me wish I hadn't played alts in the other factions) but I was hoping for more Daggerfall Covenant stuff.

Wifeaggro13 · June 2014

talon_vib14_ESO wrote: »

VR Zones are so obviously a last minute addition to the game. Clearly the way the game was designed is to get through your factions lvls and achieve lvl 50. At that point you'd have enough skill points for a build and would still get more from dungeons and pvp. Veteran ranks were clearly meant as a player status and not the additional lvl system it is now. I mean really whats the point of calling them veteran lvls and having to clear an entire zone to gain one. Why not just make the lvl cap 150. people would probably enjoy that more because at least the lvling would be a consistent lvl an hour or so.

So the devs at the last minute decide to allow you to do the other factions zones as an alternative to doing pvp and or dungeons to gain veteran status. This of course breaks the game because the only reason you need to respec is if you morphed something wrong because you have 3 times the skill points you need if you complete all the content. To make it more obvious you can tell buy the dungeon loot lvls and as mentioned by other players the mats you get in these zones.

I love this game so far but it really pisses me off when gaming companies pull this kind of crap and expect the players not to notice or don't care if we do. I mean that is EA level ***.

For me I think I'll skip the VR zones unless I roll an alt through those factions. If it takes me forever to lvl doing PVP and veteran lvl dungeons well so be it. I let myself get immersed in this game and there is no way I can do that when I'm questing in enemy territory and helping them.

Oh and for the people who have to be max lvl and grind to VR12...why did you buy this game. That's like buying resident evil and finding an exploit in the mansion lobby that lets you skip to the Tyrant fight and then complain because there was only one boss fight before the credits roll.

I agree with you mostly the problem is they only have 6 dungeons. and Cyrodil is rather bland for content. it was definately a move to extend the life of their content.
Right now the end game is rather poor and it shows the lack of Development time that went into it.

Darzil · June 2014

I was expecting what we got, as it's what they promised before launch. As a result I didn't alt much, which I normally would have. I am a little shocked that combat balance is so poor at veteran level. Some content is still faceroll easy, other bits very hard. But that's probably a balance issue (eg monsters which aren't affected by stuns/knockbacks/snares, but are otherwise just as tough as other monsters).

Wifeaggro13 · June 2014

its really builds. if your light armor and destro resto everything is easy pretty much for any class. aside form NB. you get into medium and heavy armor with melee skills the game is overly punishing

Palden_Dorje · June 2014

Oh.. I was childish to expect something like the content for lvl 60 in WOW vanilla time.
Some kind of Onyxia,Zul Gurub and Molten core.
Legendarys to wear only for those who bite through special designed instances and raids in good organised guilds.
But now I will play 3 chars in the 3 alliances, a sorc, a DK and a NB to the max lvl.
Because this is pure fun, although some questline bosses are kind of though.
Try out PVP,stop my sub and wait for new content.
I will not play the Vet levelling. No way! I expect, I won't be the only one.
And thats really a pitty, because this game has earned more than this lousy idea of an "endgame" whitch the devs had managed to design as the end of the game for me and certainly for many others

Worstluck · June 2014

I expected them to be challenging, yet rewarding. I don't feel they are very rewarding at all. The only reward I got out of it was experiencing the other factions stories, something I would have done anyways with alts. I also expected that the story that occurs throughout the game would continue beyond level 50, but it ends right there. I wanted to continue to serve the Daggerfall Covenant.

Veteran levels feel tacked on, which they are. At least they could have made your character a spy, and alter a few of the quests. Maybe instead of Cadwell's Silver/Gold, they could have had you reporting to a spymaster, reporting information about what the enemy is doing and planning.