Holy Shitsnacks, we can now change our username and email address from our account page.

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Fantastic. My formerly over-long username should be less annoying now. Thank you, monkey!

Looks like my week of cursing them out had some good results after all, lol. I wrote them daily with a log of how long it was taking them to change my email address, kind of embarrassing for a company full of computer programmers that they couldn't have their account system handling that via computer like Steam does (Steam handled it in under one hour, it took ESO a week).

I feel vindicated now, lol.

One thing that concerns me regarding Master Writs...

Is the "tracking your learned motifs" based on the individual motifs related to the crafting skill, or you having the completed motif regardless of whether it's used for the skill?

The latter would probably limit the kinds of Writs everyone but my Crafting Monkey gets.

I'm not sure what you mean here, but my character was only offered Master Writs for crafting skills she had put skill points into Mastering. (not just them being at level 50) = don't know if that will change or not.

Ah, I guess I misunderstood. For some reason I was under the impression that you'll only get requests for certain motifs if you learned them. Turns out motif knowledge just changes the frequency of getting them. :V

Still, I wonder what that means for, say, a Woodworker. Would they get Master Writs at the same frequency as a Blacksmith with the same amount of achievements otherwise? Smithing has 11 chapters per motif associated with it as opposed to Woodworking's 3.

The notes say "associated with the skill" so I guess I can assume that the frequency is tweaked accordingly. Or maybe motifs only count towards the increased frequency if all chapters are learned? That would contradict the former statement, so maybe not.

I'm overthinking it now.

This post has been edited by monkeyemoness: Jan 19 2017, 04:43 AM

I don't think it has to do with achievements at all, but by skill level bought by skill points. But more than likely, you will get Writs you don't have the knowledge or stones to fill. I got one for Malacath style yesterday. In the real game, I would have no way of doing that Writ.

(on the PTS they give you the stones and knowledge if you start a new character - plus 10,000,000 in both gold and Telvar stones).

The Attunable Crafting Stations, the Target Skeleton (and a few other rare crafting recipes/plans), and the Ebony armor motifs are about the only thing you can get for doing those Master Writs. (plus the mats to make the target skeleton).

The Attunables are 250 each; all plans are 125 each; and the Ebony Armor is 25 each motif. The mats for making the skeleton are unique items, they are 8 and 35 per each stone. I don't know how many stones you need to make one.

Yesterday I did 12 Writs. The minority of them would have cost me a minimum of 8,000 each had I been buying the mats from a Guild Store; the majority of them would have cost me over 15,000 - 56,000 to make because they required Hakeijo (10,000 gold) ; Kuta (5,000 gold) ; or 8 gold tempers (minimum 7,000 each if buying from Guild Stores). And that isn't counting the Epic tempers; Rapora or Itade stones; etc. - which I need to check the price on.

The guy pays you only 300 gold for doing the writ regardless of what it cost you to make it, and then he gives you a random number of "Vouchers" toward the purchase of his wares. No extra gifts like mats to replenish your supply, etc. (like the regular Writs give).

Of those 12 Writs I did, 6 of them gave me only 2 vouchers. One gave me 4 vouchers, two gave me 5 vouchers, 2 gave me 7 vouchers, and one gave me 9 vouchers.

That means after 12 Writs that would have cost me approximately 350,000 to make if I had to buy the tempers and rare runes - I've only received 3,600 in gold and 49 vouchers toward buying something from him = that won't even get me two of the Ebony motif books (they are 25 per each).

So, unless Zenimax is handing out the stones in the game like they are on the PTS, (which is very doubtful) - I don't see me wasting my time and money doing those Master Writs (unless after a bunch of complaining they revamp the system a bit so it is a bit fairer to the player). I've already complained to them in Bug Reports, and from what I hear there are many others on the official forums that are voicing their outrage that they are costing such ridiculous amounts and giving so little back.

But I will say this - if you have any mats, hang onto them like gold, because in a few weeks you will be able to sell them for HUGE amounts higher than they are selling right now!







This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 19 2017, 02:23 PM

monkey, I wonder that too. For example Darnand has a lot of staff, shield, and bow motif chapters because he is a top-tier woodworker, but if he learns the metal weapon and clothier/armorer chapters as well, will that increase his chance of getting a Master Woodworking writ?

From what I've read the Master writs look like a great idea poorly implemented. I get why they are difficult to fill, though the cost in materials (Hakeijo runes? Nirncrux? Really?!) is excessive. But the reward should be epic. Not 1/20th of the chips you'll need to put a cook pot in your apartment.

I can see the logic behind Zenimax's ideas for the system here, but I hope they do reduce the costs a little when housing is released. This is what the PTS is for, after all.

QFT, and said better than I could.

They really need to consider the in-game market.

The voucher rewards are all over the place with what determines how many you get. A blacksmith writ asking for legendary equipment can give out from 20 to 200 vouchers depending on the style and traits, which should be the other way around with the quality level increasing the vouchers exponentially based on whether it's Epic or Legendary while the motif is based on rarity and set based on number of traits. 9 traits seem to give around 200 by default, based on the writs I've seen, and Nirnhoned gear also give out a bunch, but the rage is almost as weird as Legendary quality gear. It's almost like they didn't put much thought into the rewards, tbh.

This isn't the first time they've messed up like this. Anyone remember when they wanted to completely remove Potency runes from Rune nodes? At least they pedaled back and changed that. Hopefully they pedal back a bit here, too, and least adjust the writ rewards to something more logical and change the material usage to something a little less insane.

This post has been edited by monkeyemoness: Jan 19 2017, 09:53 PM

I did plenty of Legendary Writs and never got 20-200 vouchers for it; if they gave that many for them then I would have no complaints and not feel it was such an exploit of the player.

But I will say this = as of today, they have lowered the number of racial stones required to craft your own furnishings !!! WOO HOO !!!

That's good to hear. I can see, say, a chair being expensive in gold from the NPC vendor in order to allow a market for player-made chairs, but when the material cost is ridiculous then no one will want to make them at all much less make extras to sell.

When I got on the PS4 NA server I noticed that there seemed to be more harvestable nodes. A lot more, and there were plenty of other players around not harvesting them. Made me wonder.

Too bad you can't harvest over there and send them to yourself on the PC game,

Not from consumable writs, which is stupid IMO, but from equipment writs. At least, based on the numbers I'm seeing from someone who did several of them for a while. Looks like the smallest from a Legendary weapon is about 12 (unless I skipped something). Doesn't change the fact that the majority of them are undesirable and will probably be dumped on sight should they remain as they are, just like such request would be if they came from another player. Realism! Immersion!


But yeah. I'm tempted to get into the PTS solely to add to the disgruntled voices and influence changes, cause that sounds great.

I was doing equipment writs too, hence the "tempers" I was talking about above. It took me 8 gold tempers to make the legendary weapons; and 4 or 5 to make it epic first (I didn't count the blue and green tempers, but used 2 green and 3 blue). If you only count the 8 gold tempers you are talking about 56,000 for that alone - I need to get in game to check the price of the Epic tempers.

I did 12 Master Writs yesterday, and numerous ones the day before as well - never once got over 9 vouchers, with all those Writs = not once.

I am hoping by what you are saying here that Zenimax has fixed their robbery to a more reasonable reward, that would be Awesome! As of yesterday, it was still way down on the rewards; nothing like what you are talking about here. I think that might be what they wish it was, or would be acceptable to them. It sure isn't what they have been giving.


* Yes, most def get on the PTS! There isn't much more time, probably a week or less; but it is a blast!




This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 20 2017, 02:39 AM

It could be. I'm referencing dominoid's (now huge) spreadsheet that i posted earlier.
Their experience with writs sounds like it went a lot better than yours in some ways, but whether that was because of a recent update isn't clear. (also their list isn't exhaustive, it's just all the ones they bothered to do)

The consumables writs are especially painful. For something like Psijic Ambrosia, 8 vouchers is nowhere near enough for what goes into it(technically 32, assuming you ever get 3 more to use all four of them up, but still). None of them seem to ever give out anything in the double digits, except for that single Hakeijo glyph. Gross.

If this is the result of a recent patch, they need to do a lot better.

I hope they are planning on instituting that voucher distribution; (at the least) because it is much higher than what is on the Test Server. Still, on that list it seems like they are only paying well for the Nirnhoned stuff; not the Legendary quality equipment or the Prismatic glyphs (double the cost of the Nirnhoned) or Kutas (which are the same price as the Nirnhoned at the Guild Stores).

Nirnhoned stones are only 5,000 gold in the Guild Stores, (exactly the same as a Kuta stone) and to craft the Nirnhoned weapons only require one stone. But just the tempers to make Legendary weapons run upwards of 56,000 because you need 8 of the golds (which comes to 56,000) = PLUS the green/blue/and epic tempers you have to use prior to the gold tempers to get it ready for Legendary.

Whoever did those voucher distributions probably doesn't play the game, because they have no clue about the value of the items required to craft these things. They don't realize you have to buy them in the Guild Stores, (because the game doesn't give you enough of them to improve your own set of armor, lol).

Anyway, the list they have of weapons and armor pieces on there is accurate, just not the voucher distributions.



I ran the Alchemy Master Writs tonight, they ran at 2 vouchers per each, which is fine because ingredients are all farm-able easily enough. Two of them gave me 5 vouchers. Three days of doing Master Writs at the rate of 12 per day and I'm only at 78 vouchers = still not enough to get a furniture plan, a Target Skeleton, or an Attunable Crafting Station.




This post has been edited by mALX: Jan 20 2017, 08:42 AM

This.

I remember a few weeks back one of the devs from another game I play was saying that when you work on a game you only ever see it in bits and pieces, never the full game, so sometimes something might sound like a great idea from a developer point of view, but when it's actually implemented it doesn't work out that well.

Again, this is why the PTS is so handy - provided they actually act on people's feedback. I also think a lot of people might feel better about stuff if the devs actually spoke about their thought processes more - tell people why things work the way they do. Dev-to-player communication is really important in games like this.

Agreed with everything you said here. It is like the difference between a Cop that sits behind a desk and one that is out on the streets. If they aren't in game, they have no idea what the prices are on the guild shelves.

There has to be some kind of equitable agreement, they can't expect Players to pay out 35,000-75,000 and in return get just 2 vouchers and 300 gold. I don't want a skeleton target dummy that badly. And the regular crafting stations are just 35; Misa can just continue to travel to the other crafting stations just like she always has rather than spend that much to get an Attunable one.

Besides - will probably be broke for some time just getting furniture in the house, that will give the rest of the members plenty of time to beat Zenimax down on their price,