Official Discussion Thread for "The Witches Festival is Coming!"

Preyfar · October 2016

Conduit0 wrote: »

Honestly crafted gear and by extension motifs are pointless fluff at this time anyways. Until ZOS gives us crafted sets on par with dungeon gear or gives us the ability to change an item's style, crafted gear might as well be a cosmetic item you can only wear in town.

If we could change the motifs on dropped gear that would be huge, and then the CS motiifs would be worth far, far more. As it is right now, I don't want to even be seen in most dropped gear because I think it looks awful.

emilyhyoyeon · October 2016

does anyone know if the "giant pumpkin orange" dye is only available as a dye pack from the crown store or if it's obtainable as an event reward? I think it's the former but I want to be sure since I'd really like that dye to use freely

WhiteCoatSyndrome · October 2016

SantieClaws wrote: »

Khajiit has question.

The whistle business transforms us into something yes? But all the nice costumes and things - what is the use if we are all transformed the same? An identical zombie army across the whole of Tamriel.

In short is there any way yes to receive the relevant boost but still retain the look you choose?

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

@SantieClaws I didn't see anyone answer this yet so--sort of. If you have a disguise on, that will overwrite the brew look; my Templar runs around in the Bleakrock Bandit disguise and I had to take it off to see the skeleton look.

MissBizz · October 2016

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

SantieClaws wrote: »

Khajiit has question.

The whistle business transforms us into something yes? But all the nice costumes and things - what is the use if we are all transformed the same? An identical zombie army across the whole of Tamriel.

In short is there any way yes to receive the relevant boost but still retain the look you choose?

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

@SantieClaws I didn't see anyone answer this yet so--sort of. If you have a disguise on, that will overwrite the brew look; my Templar runs around in the Bleakrock Bandit disguise and I had to take it off to see the skeleton look.

Interesting. I was wearing a crown store costume and it made me a skelly

atreides · October 2016

I'm disappointed at the lack of effort put into this holiday quest event. It's pretty pathetic.

Izaki · October 2016

MissBizz wrote: »

IzakiBrotheSs wrote: »

DPShiro wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Going to try and answer everyone's questions, but first, want to explain how this event is going to go down.
First, you'll want to pick up a (free) Crow Caller from the Crown Store.

Then, start the quest “The Witchmother’s Bargain” by using your Crow Caller.

Complete the quest to receive the Witches Festival Whistle.

Use the Witches Festival Whistle to summon the Witchmother’s Cauldron.

You can use the Witchmother’s Cauldron to turn you and anyone you are grouped with into an Undead (each use will last for two hours, but you can use it as many times as you like until the end of the event).

Once the event is over, you’ll be able to keep the Witches Festival Whistle as a memento, but all of its supernatural powers will be gone.

There are a number of rewards you can get from the Plunder Skulls (dropped from bosses) including:
The Hollowjack Motif book

A Halloween mask (either a pumpkin or scarecrow)

Spooky (sometimes gross) recipies

Amber Marble, the Hollowjack style item

Gross stuff, like worms and guts

Hope this helps! Now, onto the questions:

Caff32 wrote: »

No mention of XP boost...

Sorry about that! Yes, you will be able to get a double XP boost by using the Witchmother's Cauldron.

Daz_dingoeb17_ESO wrote: »

will the grim harlequin motif drop during the event or will it be a crown store exclusive?

The Grim Harlequin is going to be exclusive to the Crown Store. However, purchasing the Grim Harlequin will net you 54 Mimic Stones, which you can use to craft gear (including the Grim Harlequin). You can use this crafted gear to deconstruct and have a chance to get a Grinstone - the Grim Harlequin style item. All this can be traded, too, if you wish.

Minute_Waltz wrote: »

So do we have an exact time of this event starting? Will it start at 0:01AM EST? Will we have another 8 hour maintenance to enable this?

We'll be starting to add this event onto each realm at 10:00am EDT. It won't require any downtime, and shouldn't take too long to complete.

TheDarkRuler wrote: »

Will the Motif crafting materials of the festival motif be farmable forever?
Or are the style materials gone once the festival ends?

No, only during the duration of the event.

Voidnova wrote: »

Will console players be able to participate?

Yes, of course!

SunshineSen wrote: »

I'm new to the game so I was wondering if the "boss monsters" that you have to kill are only those that are found in group dungeons etc. or do the bosses found in (solo) delves count as well?

Nope, it's any boss found in the game. Dungeons, delves, etc.

RebornV3x wrote: »

RomansXXI wrote: »

Aldmor13 wrote: »

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

So this is droping on PS4/XBox before 1T does. So on PS4/XBox there will still be low level world/dungeon/delv bosses dropping skulls, up until the 1T patch next week? On the other hand, those servers will be down for a day or more during this event FOR the patch...

I have this question also. Are console players missing out and getting pushed to the back again? I don't want to be missing 2 days or more of the event due to downloading the patch. What is the reason for making it the 13th and not the 18th with the console being on the same level as pc

So yeah what up with console players

There will be some downtime while we publish One Tamriel next week on console. That said, we're also publishing incremental patches on PC, so everyone is going to have some patches here and there. The event lasts until 10:00am EDT on November 1st, so you'll have lots of time to play and enjoy it.

Regarding this, can I continue farming VMA and they drop from those bosses too?

Now THAT is really interesting to know. But probably they won't drop cause ya know chests.

Gina ninja'd me with knowledge.

*makes a few thousand potions and goes into vMA for 3 weeks without showing any signs of life to the real world. fails uni exams. blames YOU and Gina.*

Seriously though, I'm off to vMA and its your fault. But thank you for the info

MissBizz · October 2016

IzakiBrotheSs wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

IzakiBrotheSs wrote: »

DPShiro wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Going to try and answer everyone's questions, but first, want to explain how this event is going to go down.
First, you'll want to pick up a (free) Crow Caller from the Crown Store.

Then, start the quest “The Witchmother’s Bargain” by using your Crow Caller.

Complete the quest to receive the Witches Festival Whistle.

Use the Witches Festival Whistle to summon the Witchmother’s Cauldron.

You can use the Witchmother’s Cauldron to turn you and anyone you are grouped with into an Undead (each use will last for two hours, but you can use it as many times as you like until the end of the event).

Once the event is over, you’ll be able to keep the Witches Festival Whistle as a memento, but all of its supernatural powers will be gone.

There are a number of rewards you can get from the Plunder Skulls (dropped from bosses) including:
The Hollowjack Motif book

A Halloween mask (either a pumpkin or scarecrow)

Spooky (sometimes gross) recipies

Amber Marble, the Hollowjack style item

Gross stuff, like worms and guts

Hope this helps! Now, onto the questions:

Caff32 wrote: »

No mention of XP boost...

Sorry about that! Yes, you will be able to get a double XP boost by using the Witchmother's Cauldron.

Daz_dingoeb17_ESO wrote: »

will the grim harlequin motif drop during the event or will it be a crown store exclusive?

The Grim Harlequin is going to be exclusive to the Crown Store. However, purchasing the Grim Harlequin will net you 54 Mimic Stones, which you can use to craft gear (including the Grim Harlequin). You can use this crafted gear to deconstruct and have a chance to get a Grinstone - the Grim Harlequin style item. All this can be traded, too, if you wish.

Minute_Waltz wrote: »

So do we have an exact time of this event starting? Will it start at 0:01AM EST? Will we have another 8 hour maintenance to enable this?

We'll be starting to add this event onto each realm at 10:00am EDT. It won't require any downtime, and shouldn't take too long to complete.

TheDarkRuler wrote: »

Will the Motif crafting materials of the festival motif be farmable forever?
Or are the style materials gone once the festival ends?

No, only during the duration of the event.

Voidnova wrote: »

Will console players be able to participate?

Yes, of course!

SunshineSen wrote: »

I'm new to the game so I was wondering if the "boss monsters" that you have to kill are only those that are found in group dungeons etc. or do the bosses found in (solo) delves count as well?

Nope, it's any boss found in the game. Dungeons, delves, etc.

RebornV3x wrote: »

RomansXXI wrote: »

Aldmor13 wrote: »

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

So this is droping on PS4/XBox before 1T does. So on PS4/XBox there will still be low level world/dungeon/delv bosses dropping skulls, up until the 1T patch next week? On the other hand, those servers will be down for a day or more during this event FOR the patch...

I have this question also. Are console players missing out and getting pushed to the back again? I don't want to be missing 2 days or more of the event due to downloading the patch. What is the reason for making it the 13th and not the 18th with the console being on the same level as pc

So yeah what up with console players

There will be some downtime while we publish One Tamriel next week on console. That said, we're also publishing incremental patches on PC, so everyone is going to have some patches here and there. The event lasts until 10:00am EDT on November 1st, so you'll have lots of time to play and enjoy it.

Regarding this, can I continue farming VMA and they drop from those bosses too?

Now THAT is really interesting to know. But probably they won't drop cause ya know chests.

Gina ninja'd me with knowledge.

*makes a few thousand potions and goes into vMA for 3 weeks without showing any signs of life to the real world. fails uni exams. blames YOU and Gina.*

Seriously though, I'm off to vMA and its your fault. But thank you for the info

Don't worry. my plan all along was to farm nMA (scrub life) whenever I'm done with random normals (for XP) on all my lowbies with friends

See you on the other side @IzakiBrotheSs !

Izaki · October 2016

MissBizz wrote: »

IzakiBrotheSs wrote: »

MissBizz wrote: »

IzakiBrotheSs wrote: »

DPShiro wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Going to try and answer everyone's questions, but first, want to explain how this event is going to go down.
First, you'll want to pick up a (free) Crow Caller from the Crown Store.

Then, start the quest “The Witchmother’s Bargain” by using your Crow Caller.

Complete the quest to receive the Witches Festival Whistle.

Use the Witches Festival Whistle to summon the Witchmother’s Cauldron.

You can use the Witchmother’s Cauldron to turn you and anyone you are grouped with into an Undead (each use will last for two hours, but you can use it as many times as you like until the end of the event).

Once the event is over, you’ll be able to keep the Witches Festival Whistle as a memento, but all of its supernatural powers will be gone.

There are a number of rewards you can get from the Plunder Skulls (dropped from bosses) including:
The Hollowjack Motif book

A Halloween mask (either a pumpkin or scarecrow)

Spooky (sometimes gross) recipies

Amber Marble, the Hollowjack style item

Gross stuff, like worms and guts

Hope this helps! Now, onto the questions:

Caff32 wrote: »

No mention of XP boost...

Sorry about that! Yes, you will be able to get a double XP boost by using the Witchmother's Cauldron.

Daz_dingoeb17_ESO wrote: »

will the grim harlequin motif drop during the event or will it be a crown store exclusive?

The Grim Harlequin is going to be exclusive to the Crown Store. However, purchasing the Grim Harlequin will net you 54 Mimic Stones, which you can use to craft gear (including the Grim Harlequin). You can use this crafted gear to deconstruct and have a chance to get a Grinstone - the Grim Harlequin style item. All this can be traded, too, if you wish.

Minute_Waltz wrote: »

So do we have an exact time of this event starting? Will it start at 0:01AM EST? Will we have another 8 hour maintenance to enable this?

We'll be starting to add this event onto each realm at 10:00am EDT. It won't require any downtime, and shouldn't take too long to complete.

TheDarkRuler wrote: »

Will the Motif crafting materials of the festival motif be farmable forever?
Or are the style materials gone once the festival ends?

No, only during the duration of the event.

Voidnova wrote: »

Will console players be able to participate?

Yes, of course!

SunshineSen wrote: »

I'm new to the game so I was wondering if the "boss monsters" that you have to kill are only those that are found in group dungeons etc. or do the bosses found in (solo) delves count as well?

Nope, it's any boss found in the game. Dungeons, delves, etc.

RebornV3x wrote: »

RomansXXI wrote: »

Aldmor13 wrote: »

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

So this is droping on PS4/XBox before 1T does. So on PS4/XBox there will still be low level world/dungeon/delv bosses dropping skulls, up until the 1T patch next week? On the other hand, those servers will be down for a day or more during this event FOR the patch...

I have this question also. Are console players missing out and getting pushed to the back again? I don't want to be missing 2 days or more of the event due to downloading the patch. What is the reason for making it the 13th and not the 18th with the console being on the same level as pc

So yeah what up with console players

There will be some downtime while we publish One Tamriel next week on console. That said, we're also publishing incremental patches on PC, so everyone is going to have some patches here and there. The event lasts until 10:00am EDT on November 1st, so you'll have lots of time to play and enjoy it.

Regarding this, can I continue farming VMA and they drop from those bosses too?

Now THAT is really interesting to know. But probably they won't drop cause ya know chests.

Gina ninja'd me with knowledge.

*makes a few thousand potions and goes into vMA for 3 weeks without showing any signs of life to the real world. fails uni exams. blames YOU and Gina.*

Seriously though, I'm off to vMA and its your fault. But thank you for the info

Don't worry. my plan all along was to farm nMA (scrub life) whenever I'm done with random normals (for XP) on all my lowbies with friends See you on the other side @IzakiBrotheSs !

Well I would totally do nMA but I still need ONE weapon (guess what? the fire staff...), so I have to torture myself. But first I'll finish grinding my lobbies too. After that vMA will actually seem fun! xD See ya there!

Donum-Dei · October 2016

Whoa...
I though I was going to have a huge quest here.... I guess this event is more driven by achievements and group content than the quest itself?

James-Wayne · October 2016

lordrichter wrote: »

SunshineSen wrote: »

I'm new to the game so I was wondering if the "boss monsters" that you have to kill are only those that are found in group dungeons etc. or do the bosses found in (solo) delves count as well?

I believe it is any boss. Dungeon, Delve, and overworld.

Craglorn bosses in delves do not drop anything.

Chaos0720 · October 2016

While I'm not happy that ZoS put a motif behind a pay wall, my only problem with this as far as the game goes is this: People that farm and sell gold are breaking the terms of service/code of conduct; however, people that pay ZoS money for mimic stones, convert those stones into the harlequin style material and then sell that for gold is perfectly okay? The message I get from this is selling gold only breaks the rules if ZoS isn't getting a cut. This is not a good step to take.

At the very least, until the style material can be farmed in game, the gear and style material need to be bound. And this is coming from a crafter.

Iselin · October 2016

I like these funky new recipes with two hour duration and a mix of attribute buff AND regen all in one.

I also notice that they are "level free" and scale all the way from level 1 to CP160. Any chance that regular recipes in the future will also scale like this?

notimetocare · October 2016

AzuraKin wrote: »

saxgooner wrote: »

The harlequin is crown store only

the start of pay to win.

Yea totally, crown store exclusive vanity leads to p2w

Coolio_Wolfus · October 2016

Undead Morph Bugs:

Blocks crown store armor/clothing previews.
Can be masked ingame with a wearable disguise.
Can wear off under said disguise after the time is up without any indicated warning.

RNG:
Scarecrow Mask seems to have the smallest RNG drop and usually from final dungeon bosses,
Is this a BUG???

Elsonso · October 2016

Coolio_Wolfus wrote: »

Undead Morph Bugs:
Blocks crown store armor/clothing previews.

Can be masked ingame with a wearable disguise.

Can wear off under said disguise after the time is up without any indicated warning.

RNG:
Scarecrow Mask seems to have the smallest RNG drop and usually from final dungeon bosses,
Is this a BUG???

1 is a problem, 2 is a good thing, 3 is the punishment for a good thing.

Chaos0720 · October 2016

notimetocare wrote: »

AzuraKin wrote: »

saxgooner wrote: »

The harlequin is crown store only

the start of pay to win.

Yea totally, crown store exclusive vanity leads to p2w

Not sure if you're just white knighting, being a troll, or are just completely clueless, but let me explain to you why this is the start of pay to win.

Use real money to buy the motif. Use real money to buy mimic stones. The only way to get the style material for the harlequin motif is by crafting it with a mimic stone and then deconstructing it.

For 2400 crowns, roughly $17, you get 54 mimic stones.

Assuming you have terrible luck and only end up with 27 style materials from the deconstruction of the harlequin gear. Most people that try to sell gold (and for the record, I don't buy they just spam their crap everywhere) I've seen them sell something like 100,000 gold for $10.

So a little math for you:

$17 would be worth 170,000 gold to a person who was to buy gold straight out
If you get 27 of the style materials, you try to sell each for 6300 gold each (whether they would sell or not is a different discussion) the people that buy there gold would reach their happy price. Even if you would only try to sell for 5000 gold, for every 2400 crowns ($17 dollars), you could potentially make up to 270,000 gold if you ended up getting all 54 of the style material.

Why is this a problem?

Well I want a full set of gold gear and lets just saw for arguments sake that all the gear will cost 1mil gold. Well, whip out the credit card buy 9600 crowns, (2 packs of 5500 runs you $80), and presto $80 real world money gives you access to a full set of gear that you would otherwise have to earn yourself or farm/play the game and sell in game items.

If you can explain to me how this isn't pay to win, I'm all ears.

And before you go on a rant of, well only I would think of that. Use your brain. There are people who make it their business to get an edge in this game by any means possible, which means they were planning on this as soon as they found out that the motif would be crown only and the style material wouldn't be available in game. Once you can convert cash to gold, you can then buy association convert cash to alliance points and cash to tel var stones. Thus the in game economy dies because the people that have money to waste in real life can get whatever they want without having to do anything, thus gaining an advantage over those who don't have the money to waste.

The grim harlequin motif is no different than the people that are selling gold for cash. Only change is that ZoS is the ones selling gold for cash now.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_JessicaFolsom Please forward this to whoever needs to see this, but the items crafted from the grim motif and the style materials need to be bound to your account until they can be farmed in game. Otherwise the above scenario is going to be what occurs. And if you don't want this game to be pay to win then this will need to be patched.

Chaos0720 · October 2016

Coolio_Wolfus wrote: »

Undead Morph Bugs:
Blocks crown store armor/clothing previews.

Can be masked ingame with a wearable disguise.

Can wear off under said disguise after the time is up without any indicated warning.

RNG:
Scarecrow Mask seems to have the smallest RNG drop and usually from final dungeon bosses,
Is this a BUG???

Friend got a Scarecrow Mask from a chest while running DSA, low rng doesn't equate to a bug, its just low rng

feyii · October 2016

MissBizz wrote: »

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

SantieClaws wrote: »

Khajiit has question.

The whistle business transforms us into something yes? But all the nice costumes and things - what is the use if we are all transformed the same? An identical zombie army across the whole of Tamriel.

In short is there any way yes to receive the relevant boost but still retain the look you choose?

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

@SantieClaws I didn't see anyone answer this yet so--sort of. If you have a disguise on, that will overwrite the brew look; my Templar runs around in the Bleakrock Bandit disguise and I had to take it off to see the skeleton look.

Interesting. I was wearing a crown store costume and it made me a skelly

It doesn't work with COSTUMES. You have to wear a DISGUISE to override the skeleton. So every equipable quest disguise will do. My vamp is running around with the bloodthorn disguise from Bethnik, so he looks neither vamp nor skeleton

Legedric · October 2016

@ZOS_GinaBruno I like the festival itself, but why on earth did it have to be a Memento to apply the buff?
Especially the XP buff?

I mean... did anyone ever thought about the fact that entire Cyrodiil and Imperial City is being excluded from the XP boost as Mementos are not working there?

Yes, I do know ZOS doesn't care much about PvP but did you have to make it that obvious?

anitajoneb17_ESO · October 2016

Legedric wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno I like the festival itself, but why on earth did it have to be a Memento to apply the buff?
Especially the XP buff?

I mean... did anyone ever thought about the fact that entire Cyrodiil and Imperial City is being excluded from the XP boost as Mementos are not working there?

Yes, I do know ZOS doesn't care much about PvP but did you have to make it that obvious?

How is it exactly in Cyro ? You cannot refresh the buff, or you get no buff at all even if you drink the elixir elsewhere before ?

Coolio_Wolfus · October 2016

Hollowjack Sword Motif Achievement is bugged, can have the motif active but it doesn't tick off in the achievement listing.

Edit: Relogging updates it and fixes it, but it should still auto update with every book used!

Dagoth_Rac · October 2016

Can you add Plunder Skulls to dolmen chests, please? A lot of us are grinding dolmens for jewelry and, even in skeleton form, I am not seeing Plunder Skulls. But people grinding dungeons for BoP gear or people grinding World Bosses for weapons seem to be getting Plunder Skulls like crazy.

And throw a bunch into Rewards For the Worthy emails, too.

Thanks!

wenchmore420b14_ESO · October 2016

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

Can you add Plunder Skulls to dolmen chests, please? A lot of us are grinding dolmens for jewelry and, even in skeleton form, I am not seeing Plunder Skulls. But people grinding dungeons for BoP gear or people grinding World Bosses for weapons seem to be getting Plunder Skulls like crazy.

And throw a bunch into Rewards For the Worthy emails, too.

Thanks!

Plunder Skulls drop off Dolman Boss, not in chest.

EQBallzz · October 2016

I remember when ZOS was adamant about not having these holiday type events because because lore or something. I guess since they have gone back on every other thing they said they might as well for this as well. Not surprising I really. What is surprising is that they aren't selling this junk in the crown store.

Rev Rielle · October 2016

It's nice for what it is. But it was dishonest calling this a festival. There's simply no content.

Development; please educate yourself about what's going on in the MMO world before using such terms. In any other sphere of employment you'd never get away with such deceit (well perhaps politics).

Solus · October 2016

clocksstoppe wrote: »

AzuraKin wrote: »

saxgooner wrote: »

The harlequin is crown store only

the start of pay to win.

LOL it already started. You seriously call this garbage pay to win when they sell infinite inventory space for 15 bucks a month?

Its not infinite inventory space, that only applies to crafting items, and at .50 cents a day, thats not really bad. Anybody with a full time job can afford .50 cents a day. Ill tell you, its super useful to be able to pick up every single crafting item and not have to worry about it filling up your bank or your inventory. It is an MMO, and its one of those games that really needs a majority of your gaming time to excel. I havent played anything else but ESO for a long time.

The next game i will play will be friday the 13th when it comes out, but thats it really.

Solus · October 2016

Cazzy wrote: »

What happens when the event is over? How will we get gems to craft Harlequin?

Its day one and i have over 200 of those. I highly doubt anyone would run out by the time the event is over. and if you do, expect me to charge 10k per stone

;]

Solus · October 2016

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

The event lasts until 10:00am EDT on November 1st, so you'll have lots of time to play and enjoy it.

hey thats my birthday ^.^

Elsonso · October 2016

Rev Rielle wrote: »

It's nice for what it is. But it was dishonest calling this a festival. There's simply no content.

Development; please educate yourself about what's going on in the MMO world before using such terms. In any other sphere of employment you'd never get away with such deceit (well perhaps politics).

Actually, fhe term 'Witches Festival' is Elder Scrolls lore going back to Arena.

wenchmore420b14_ESO · October 2016

Solus wrote: »

Cazzy wrote: »

What happens when the event is over? How will we get gems to craft Harlequin?

Its day one and i have over 200 of those. I highly doubt anyone would run out by the time the event is over. and if you do, expect me to charge 10k per stone

;]

No, the craft stones for Harlequin don't drop in game. The marbles are for the Hallowjack Motif style.
To get the style stones for Grim Harequin, you must buy it in Crown Store with the Mimic stones, craft the gear with Mimic stones, then decon and then it will return the style mats..