Craglorn and leveling...

So, today one of the best leveling methods was nerfed to the ground.  I'm talking about Kardala.  It was the fastest grind in the game *repeated boss summoning which now gives 0xp and 0loot at all.*
Anomalies, the second fastest method, still work... but you need to be crazy fast to get VP on all of them.  It's like people think it's a race!

So, I am going to see about several things.  First, I am making a forum petition to revert the summoned bosses in Kardala to give XP and Loot once a day, or every 12 hours, or something similar.  Second, I will probably run some pickup groups for delves... which are the 4 man dungeon crawls in Craglorn *far easier than a VR dungeon, imo.*  Third, I may look into a group for questing through Craglorn... not that we all haven't had enough questing, but it's annoying doing the anomalies with so many zergs around.
One thing of note:  I already bug reported the mobs in Craglorn.  6 mobs in CL gives ~2,400 VP.  That's about the equivalent of 2 mobs in VR8-10 areas.  Hopefully that gets bumped up some.

Sadly, all the wonderful people you know from AvA seem to have abused Kardala to level, and are VR12 already... too bad we can't just use that method too.

Well, everyone I heard talking about this in RC and saw in Guild Chat was expecting this to happen.  No one really thought it was intended by ESO that this occur and the unfortunate thing is it happened at all which let people level 2 ranks in just hours.   The V ranks are suppose to be a challenge and obviously something went wrong with the coding somewhere along the line.

I do agree that it makes no sense for it to be zero exp and zero loot and the idea of once a day or once every 12 hours seems quite reasonable.

I am just nearing VR ranks and I know and expect I have a long haul in store for me.

Yeah... it was definitely broken.  Not much more broken than Anomalies are still, so I wonder when that will get trainwrecked.

That is my big complaint so far.  They don't think at all about how something will be abused, and when it is we all get nerf bat action beyond what is called for.

Oh well, still having fun!

a simple shutdown of the xp and loot is a quick fix... they will surely balance it out, just give them a chance.....  exploiters always find a way to take advantage of something, doesn't matter how much precaution you can put into it they will still find a way........  and I wouldn't say they nerf it to death.. they stoped an exploit till they can fix it properly

I would be interested in doing the delves v12 tank. The anomaly grind is still very doable and good exp though. I would also like to put a trial group together but I had a hard enough time spamming guild for 4 people to do vet dungeons I don't have much hope in getting 12 for the trials.

Alll ways up for trials. Gotten a few groups by saying lfg trials  in zone. 

I don't understand why they nerfed kardala yet keep the anomaly grind the way it was. At least in Kardala you had to coordinate to kill dungeon bosses. The anomaly grind is mindless blobbing. 

That being said, I am not really going to complain too loud. I was not looking forward to grinding out V6-10 so the anomaly grind is a welcome shortcut.

Ok, here's the update following the exploratory event that Denny hosted -and- a little exploration of options of my own:

1.  Anomalies are probably the fastest VP right now, but there is no guarantee of VP from them with all the zergs.

2.  Burial grounds offer another means of similar VP, are a little less farmed, and are surefire VP.

3.  About 2/3rds of the scenic points are areas that are the base of a monster with a varied amount of minions.  Defeating this boss is a solid chunk of VP.  These are the least farmed of the three big open world areas.

4.  Delves... give a decent amount of VP, but are nowhere near as much as the other methods.

5.  All other VR content still gives VP, which makes running some of the stuff you haven't done a great method of getting some more VP.

So....fixing an exploit has lead to players grouping together and playing with each other; a turn for the good I'd say.

I don't think that players have taken to the Veteran Ranks feature the way that ZOS assumed they would.  Over-achievers are a goofy lot: Give them a level-less game and they complain that its boring.  Give them levels to gain, but with a single, fast spawning NPC that allows max level to be attained within ~39 hours of gameplay, and that NPC will be swarmed with those same players, who are skipping sleep and peeing in a bottle, just to max out their level.

What is the point in having levels anyway? It always ends up in the lower level zones being empty'ish and people that care about the storyline will do the quests anyway.

I like leveling up my skills by using them and getting gear instead by having to work for it (craft, buy or find), but leveling my character is kinda meh and a waste of time.

You know... I agree a lot with that Booie.  I would play a game where levels either did not exist or didn't make a significant difference so much as currently exists in MMOs quite gladly.

As for bringing people together to play, I suppose you could call the toxic mosh pit of trying to one up each other to possibly get the experience that only drops if you manage to do enough group play.  Personally it is an infuriating exercise in dealing with people who don't care about you and would just as soon not be grouped.  Not only that, but the 'exploit' that was fixed actually required a cooperative group of four players who didn't treat each other like disposable used diapers.

And yes, the VR stuff is a massive grind that most people do not want.  That said, I cannot imagine a less pleasant way to get it done than being involved with an uncooperative zerg of people who really want nothing to do with you.

Oh, and there is actually a spot still in the game where you can regularly spawn a boss in a delve in Craglorn, getting loot and VP.  It is on a timer, it seems, and not as fast, so not so abused.

Well with the veteran system they might as well have said max is 150 instead of 50, because honestly doing all three alliances is just that. I fear the day my alt gets to vet rank. 

On a side note grinding bosses and the like in craglorn brings me back to old DAoC days. If only I could be a bard again and just stand there having to play power regen songs. 

I dunno, I am torn. It is nice to have a fast level option, IF you have completed the content. If you have not, then all you are doing is giving people a way to not play your game. The whole point of developing a game is to make people play it and experience it. We will see if it gets nerfed with todays patch.

Edit: Fast leveling content for an alt, IF you have completed the content on another toon. Just like how they let you bypass the coldharbor intro. AT VR1, you can go level in craglorn as long as you have a VR12 who has completed Caldwell's quests, and craglorn itself.