What Is Going On With Veteran Ranks

You might know that ZOS has been considering the removal of the Veteran Rank system for some time now. Just take a look at this article, written just before Veteran Rank 16 was first introduced, for some context on the situation. It has been confirmed for some time now that the VR system would eventually be replaced – but we are still missing some crucial details. What happens to our Veteran Ranked gear? What about the 16 Attribute Points and Skill Points? How will characters progress after Level 50? Will Level 50 even be the cap? Well here is what we know so far.

There will be no further Veteran Ranks before they are removed. VR16 is as far as the VR system will go in ESO.

The ESO community didn’t really respond that well to the announcement of VR16 back in July. ZOS has confirmed this time around that no new Veteran Ranks will be added, even with the release of the next two DLC packs – Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood. The source of this information is the official forums here and again here.

So when is the VR system going?

We don’t really know. There are rumors that it will be removed half way through next year, after the Dark Brotherhood DLC. There are also rumors that the system will go by the end of 2015. These are just rumours, spreading as they always do, with no actual announcement to back them up. The people at ZOS have repeated that the system will be removed, and they are working on it, but they want to do it right and take the time to ensure a smooth transition to whatever comes next. I’m going to guess that we won’t see the removal this year, but perhaps early next year?

The big question is… What is replacing Veteran Ranks?

Well basically the Champion System is replacing Veteran Ranks. If you played ESO way back in early beta you would know that Veteran Ranks were actually a late addition to the game meant to allow all characters to visit and play through other Alliances zones. They were never really designed to be a long term character progression system. When ESO was released Veteran Ranks didn’t even grant any Attribute Points. At the Guild Summit in 2014 ZOS introduced the Champion System as a potential replacement to the VR system. The people there described the transition as involving several phases. The first phase was reducing the grind of Veteran Ranks by reducing the XP required per Rank. The next phase was to introduce the Champion System over the top of the Veteran Rank system and let them exist at the same time. The final phase is the removal of Veteran Ranks completely.

This final phase has taken the longest – and for good reason. The entire gear system in ESO is tied to Levels and subsequently Veteran Ranks. What happens to Veteran Rank gear, potions, food and recipes? The answer seems like it is going to be Champion Points.

On November 20 2015, Rich Lambert, the Creative Director for ESO, posted on the forums outlining some early development plans for a post-Veteran Rank ESO. It is important to note that he stated several times that this information was subject to change and was not finalised.

• Level 50 will be the new cap.
• After Level 50, Champion Points will take over character progression and this includes gear progression.
• It is likely that gear will be tied to Champion Points, so the more you have the better the gear.
• The existing 16 Skill Points and Attribute Points will remain in the game and will instead come from Achievements related to Champion Points. So every 10 CP that you earn, up to 160, gets you a Skill Point and an Attribute Point.

What about the transition process?

ZOS want to ensure a smooth transition, especially for players which are already at VR16. You will be able to equip all of your current gear.

• Veteran Ranks will be converted into Champion Points.
• At the time that Rich Lambert posted he suggested that 1 VR = 10 CP.
• Players will also revived 2.5 CP for each Veteran Rank that they had. This was ambiguous, is it 10 CP / VR or 2.5 / VR?
• When the transition occurs all players will be able to equip their current gear as all players will have a minimum CP of their old Veteran Rank times by 10. So if I have a VR 9 character, I will have no less than 90 Champion Points after transition. If I have a VR 16 character I will have no less than 160 Champion Points. So upon transition you will receive those extra CP if you don’t have them already, thus allowing you to equip your current gear.
• The transition is based off your highest Level character at the time.

What about gear, potions, food and recipes?

When Veteran Ranks are removed, we don’t know what ZOS plans for old gear and equipment that was scaled up based on the VR system. The same goes for crafting and materials. We can only assume at the moment that these things will stay in the game and simply be converted into Champion Point locks, rather than Veteran Ranks. So you might not be able to use certain gear, depending on the amount of Champion Points you have. We really don’t know, however.