» Tue Mar 04, 2014 1:23 pm Warning! Some minor spoilers exist below.
Here are some of my experiences and thoughts from this weekend’s stress test where I spent the majority of my time searching for skyshards and performing PvE quests in Cyrodiil. I had completed all of the quests for my PvE zone except for some of the outer world elite (Skull and Crossbones) bosses which are almost impossible to complete as a solo player – especially one who plays as a two-handed melee player like I do. Cyrodiil was the only accessible game area which contained PvE content for me apart from seeking out crafting materials in the PvE zone because I want to leave the other two zones untouched prior to the game’s release. I did not engage in any AvA battles or AvA quests. I also was on a constant lookout for enemy alliance players. Sometimes I was able to see them before they saw me and I was able to flee. Other times, I was not so fortunate.
Keep in mind that I am somewhere between a casual and a hardcoe PvE player who shuns PvP combat and encounters as much as possible. I enjoy the group PvE opportunities and co-op play in ESO; but I could not find anyone who wanted to tackle the other two group dungeons since we can travel to them once we complete the first one. I don’t classify myself as a hardcoe PvE player because I freely admit I am not a good player when it comes to the combat portions of this game, be they in the PvE or PvP zones, especially when it comes to weapon switching and blocking. I have also hated my previous forays into Cyrodiil for a number of reasons be they server performance, other players and my own inexperience. That being said, here goes.
Cyrodiil is a very dangerous place for solo players once you leave the confines of your zone’s gates with the wayshrines. Anything that breathes can easily kill you, especially if they make the first attack. You need a lot of patience, luck and complete familiarity with the game and all of its mechanics if you wish to have any semblance of success while as a solo PvE player in Cyrodiil. Even then, some things are still exceptionally difficult if not impossible, at least for me.
I started the weekend as a level 17 Nord for Ebonheart. I created this character during the early February weekend test and I had completed all of the quests but a bugged one last time. I ended this weekend at level 24, with almost all of the new experience points coming from Cyrodiil. The rest of the points came from looting dozens of chest in the PvE zones, some combat while traversing the PvE zone for mats and soul gems and some points from joining a few others in a couple of elite boss kills and dark anchor closures.
Levelling via PvE quests in Cyrodiil is a slow process. I have no idea how levelling is via PvP; yet I would be very surprised if it was slower. If there is a discernible difference between experience point leveling in Cyrodiil and in the PvE zones, I did not notice it.
Almost all of the quests found in the cities and towns in Cyrodiil are repeatable quests unlike the ones in the PvE zones which are always once and gone forever. If you are hitting a wall in your PvE zone and you want another level or two for your character to help you along, seeking out quests in Cyrodiil may be something to consider. Most of the quests I completed were for towns in or near my zone (Cheydinhal and Cropsford); but I was able to tackle some other quests in cities from other zones, namely Bruma and Vlastrus with the latter being the most dangerous city by far for my character. I never made it to Chorral this time. It goes without saying that once you leave your zone and enter enemy territory, your risk of death increases substantially.
The amount of gold received for Cyrodiil quests was not significantly higher than the gold received from completing the regular PvE quests (not the brief go to this location type of PvE quests). Your character’s level is the greatest determining factor on the gold received, not the location of the quest. The higher level my character was, the more gold I received, even when completing the same quests. At this point in time, I do not agree with those who say the quest rewards are greater in Cyrodiil than in the PvE zones. I am open to factual objections or proof otherwise, though. Also, I typically received 3 pieces of gold for each NPC enemy I killed whereas 1 piece was usually the norm in my PvE zone.
I almost never received any loot as a result of completing a quest in Cyrodiil. However, enemy NPCs dropped loot far more frequently than enemy NPCs in my PvE zone. The loot I received was almost always at my level or perhaps a level or two below me. Sometimes I would even receive a green item. All of it was better than the loot I received in my PvE zone after factoring in the level differences when I played my PvE quests. I received plenty of oak bows and staves, steel gear of all sorts and plenty of linen goods not to mention many other level appropriate types of gear. The loot received from PvE quests in this game is an insult, especially compared to the NPC loot in Cyrodiil.
Combat with NPCs in Cyrodiil for my solo two-handed Dragonknight character was very challenging at first; but I learned how to defeat some NPCs, so long as they were solo NPCs and were not elite bosses or were not special bosses with extra health stats (but not enough to qualify as an elite boss). Battling two enemy NPCs at once was exceptionally difficult for me because I could not sneak attack them from afar, apart from using the Extended Chains skill. I typically had to consume a food buff and apply the Volatile Armor and Green Dragon Blood skills before attacking a single enemy NPC. Attacking two at once was only successful maybe 50% of the time for me, and my Ultimate ability helped me win a majority of those fights when I was the victor. A more skilled player than me may have a better success ratio.
One quest I received led me to a bandit hideout which sometimes spawned a chest to open and loot. This chest, when it appeared, was always guarded by two enemy NPCs which made this chest a challenge to access. Luckily, I was able to loot it three times, I think, and each time it contained a blue item at my level or one level below, two digits of gold, a soul gem and usually something else. Unlike the PvE chests which almost always contained items at least two or three levels below my character, this chest seemed to scale with my character. Perhaps chests in Cyrodiil operate under different circumstances.
Another quest I received required me to kill three NPCs in one encounter and needless to say, I was killed far more often than not. I think I defeated them three or four times in total, all due to my Ultimate skill lending a big helping hand. My hat goes off to any solo melee player who can regularly or easily defeat three enemy NPCs at once in Cyrodiil while only being a high teens or lower twenties level player, especially without using an Ultimate skill.
I tackled the infamous Nirnroot Wine quest given in the heart of the AD territory in Cyrodiil. This quest requires you to venture to Lake Rumare around the Imperial City and collect 10 Ash Mountain Tufts so some wine can be made. This is a bit of a journey on a horse, let alone on foot. Then there are the infrequently spawning quest items (the Tufts) which require you to cover a lot of territory in the heart of Cyrodiil, which is about the most dangerous open space in the game. Once I completed this long quest, I received an ordinary amount of gold and a bottomless bottle of wine that supposedly makes my character drunk. I never sampled the wine so if it has any other effects, I would love to hear about them. Otherwise, this quest certainly tops my list of quests where the reward does not come anywhere near being worth the risk or time needed to complete it.
If you tire of hanging around Dark Anchors in the PvE zones in order to level your Fighters Guild skill, then Bruma is the place to go as the city is infested with Daedra.
During the previous Beta test in early February, I was able to defeat a small Imperial guard encampment in Cyrodiil and I received a Cyrodiil Treasure Map as part of the loot. I found the treasure during this past weekend and the treasure chest was on par with the locked chest mentioned above. It was definitely better than the PvE zone treasure map chests.
I spent quite a bit of time searching for Skyshards while I was in Cyrodiil and I found about 18 of them. With one exception, all of the ones I found were outside in the open world and not in dungeons. Unlike many of the outside world Skyshards in the PvE zones, almost all of them are guarded by enemy NPCs of some sort. For solo players, these are no walk in the park to obtain as you may need to kill several NPCs and have some luck on your side.
As for that one Skyshard I found in a dungeon, I was exceptionally lucky to find it. Almost all of the dungeon entrances are guarded by at least two or more enemy NPCs so entry for me was almost never possible. One of the dungeons I did enter presented a Skyshard that was somewhat easy to reach after killing some solo NPCs and dropping down from a ledge. Of course, I died while trying to leave but I had found and absorbed the Skyshard so it was a worthwhile death.
There is a special Achievement related Skyshard located atop a mountain and behind an elite boss (a giant). This Skyshard is not tracked with the other Cyrodiil zone related Skyshard Achievements. Of course this giant killed me immediately when he saw me; but I used a soul gem and then ran to the Skyshard which I absorbed immediately after I could activate it, thus earning me the Achievement for it. I also looted a Master level chest that was there. The loot was on par with the other Cyrodiil chests I had found. I was hoping a Master chest in Cyrodiil would grant a large amount of gold and some above level gear. Alas, that was not the case.
Crafting materials are very, very sparse in Cyrodiil. The most abundant ones I found, apart from the hide and leather dropped from wolves, lions and tigers were the Yew logs. Even then, the logs were few and far between, especially compared to the Maple logs in the PvE zones. This was my biggest complaint about Cyrodiil this weekend from a game play and environment perspective. Of course I reported my comments with the /feedback option. I guess I did find plenty of Provisioning materials; however I could not use any of them as I did not have any recipes that required them. I never once found or looted a single recipe while I was in Cyrodiil so I don't know if the recipes for these materials exist only in the upper level PvE zones or if finding Cyrodiil recipes is the Holy Grail of this game.
While bumbling around some rocks trying to find a cave entrance, my cursor flagged an ordinary looking rock as an Ebony Ore node. Unlike the Iron Ore nodes in the PvE zone which are a relatively bright rust red color, the Ebony Ore nodes in Cyrodill are a dull gray/black and they easily blend into the environment. They are very easily missed. I decided to burn one of my Cyrodiil Skyshard skill points on the Blacksmithing Passive Skill of Keen Eye. That helped me find more Ebony Ore nodes although it was still far less than the instances of Iron Ore nodes from the PvE zones, which suddenly became more difficult to find as their color scheme became more bland and dull after activating the skill. Of course, I could not do anything with this Ebony Ore as I would have needed to burn several more skill points on the Metalworking skill and even then I could do nothing but sell those items as you cannot equip Ebony gear until level 45. Similarly, the Ebonthread plant for clothing was very difficult to see unlike the alchemy plants or the Jute plants from the PvE zones. I would recommend the Keen Eye perk for Clothing if you seek the Ebonthread resource.
Werewolves inhabit the Lunar Dock in the southeast section of the AD territory. They are noticeably more difficult to kill than the other enemy NPCs in Cyrodiil. I never found any vampires in my travels.
I encountered a giant and some mammoths in the northeastern section of Cyrodiil but I left them alone as I knew I would receive an instant death if I engaged them. I should have scouted the camp to see if there was a chest to loot. Next time, perhaps.
I was already aware not to venture very far into the water surrounding the Imperial City due to the Slaughterfish there. So I did not cross too many rivers or ponds in Cyrodiil just to be safe. In fact, I never stood more than knee deep in any water in Cyrodiil so if there are safe waters in Cyrodiil, please let me and everyone else know.
With a couple of exceptions, all of the merchants I found in Cyrodiil require you to pay for items with Alliance Points. Repairs can still be paid for with gold. If you are a PvE player who shuns PvP combat, you are not going to have enough or any Alliance Points to purchase items. So I had to travel back to the PvE zone many times to collect mats for buffs or to purchase empty level 10-19 soul gems which I could fill in the PvE zone. The only merchants I found who sold items for gold were one who sold soul gems and such and another who sold consumable beverages and food, I believe.
While I was still level 17-19, I stocked up on level 10-19 soul gems and filled them in my PvE zone for use in my travels in Cyrodiil. Once I hit level 20, all of that changed as there are no level 20-29 enemies in the Beta’s accessible PvE zones or in Cyrodiil. So I could not charge soul gems for my character or weapons. That left me the option of buying very expensive filled soul gems or collecting them via loot, which was very rare. Needless to say, I had to pick my battles, spend time charging my Ultimate and using it wisely. I died frequently and had to run back to my objective many, many times. I wasn’t sure if I could fill Grand soul gems and then apply them to my lower level items. If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know.
During one of my times in a quest hubs, I noticed a player from an enemy alliance reading their map or journal. I could have easily attacked this player and I likely would have killed him since I would have gotten the jump on him. Instead, I left him alone while I went to speak to one of the quest givers. Unfortunately, this player did not return the favor as he promptly attacked me while I was talking to the quest giver. I was able to defeat this player only because my level was higher (23 vs. 16, I believe) and because I used my Ultimate skill against him. Even then, the first couple of shots he got in before I could react nearly killed me. I hope he regretted his decision to attack me as he did nothing but reinforce every negative stereotype many PvE players have about PvP players.
The most important advice I can give if you PvE quest in Cyrodiil as a solo player is to be patient and know your skills, especially if you are a melee player and don’t rely on ranged combat. Personally, I need to learn more about weapon switching as that might come in handy during combat. So if you have mastered that process, you might have more of an advantage than I did because as I stated earlier, I am no combat expert by any means.
If anything, this weekend in Cyrodiil made me want to become more proficient with a bow because I could not imagine a more difficult way to quest in Cyrodiil than as a solo melee player. If you are able to group up with other players who want to quest and dungeon dive in Cyrodiil, please seize upon that opportunity. The outside world elite bosses in the PvE zones are still more difficult to kill than almost anything I battled in Cyrodiil; but Cyrodiil is no cakewalk by any means even though I grinded from level 17 to level 24 over the course of this weekend.
I probably won’t spend much time in Cyrodiil once the game launches, at least not until I reach Veteran status and I am on a true equal level standing (or above) with the NPCs there. (Do not believe the hype about the scaling in Cyrodiil making everyone equal!) I might make an exception or two and travel to Cyrodiil if I need to increase a level or two in order to help me progress in the PvE zone. I will not use Cyrodiil to advance my character several levels above my PvE zone because PvE zone NPCs stop dropping gold and loot if you are several levels above them. I might tackle some of the AvA scouting quests in the next Beta as those supposedly can be completed without any combat if you are lucky. I have nothing against the PvP content in this game. It's just not my cup of tea and I certainly do not begrudge others who enjoy various siege battles and PvP combat.
If you are a PvE player and decide to quest in Cyrodiil, I wish you all the best as you will need plenty of luck, patience and skill to succeed there, especially if you tackle it solo like I did.
