Official Discussion Thread, "Make the Most Out of Making Things During the Crafter’s Celebration"

Maythor · February 16

Dances_At_Dolmens wrote: »

Has anyone else had Writ vouchers randomly be collected/added while grabbing resources during this event? I haven't had many but I was not expecting that, bit confused on it.

If it was 1 or 2 it is likely as an endeavour reward yesterday for collecting water plants and waters.

TGreenleaf · February 16

TheMajority wrote: »

My experience so far with the event:

Double writ vouchers only on writ vouchers produced during the event-
Somehow my account which usually produces 3-5 master writs per day has magically not given me any today...hmm.

Same. Suddenly my 20 characters have been extremely "unlucky" at getting master writ drops.

tindomiel4 · February 16

Rufusstan wrote: »

The issues are not the surprise nature of the event, but the content within. Its almost the level of bait and switch, where at first glance it looks great, but the more deeply you look into it the less appealing it seems, to the point where it is almost pointless.

Destai wrote: »

On top of that, this is the 2nd event this year, and it's February, with some big issues. The scope was pretty large, needed more testing, and communication. The rolled back feature list we have now is more appropriate for a surprise event, but now they have to do deal with the fallout of changing something once it was delivered.

These, exactly. Even as a dedicated crafter (who actually DOES use spreadsheets to organize said crafting, because that is how I like to play), my issues with what's happened on this event are not that I'm getting slightly fewer extra rewards. It's that this event, like way too many other things, showcases ZOS' trends toward worse communication, ignoring and/or misinterpreting players' feedback, hoping players will grind nonsense just so they're at least playing the game, and promising something then delivering less.

I know that ESO is a complex beast of a game, but the overall pattern of how ZOS deals with players is not good. As someone said earlier in the thread, the official responses in this and related threads alone are frankly more concerning than soothing, especially as we head into what's supposed to be an exciting year of anniversary celebration. Ultimately, the individual issues of voucher totals or transmute math (or set nerfing, or RNG percentages, or, or, or) are not the point. In my opinion, it's the pattern that's the problem.

IndyMike26 · February 16

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

xosaara137ox wrote: »

Thanks @ZOS_Kevin!

Can we get clarification on this:
+100% Writ Vouchers earned from Master Writs created during the event

Does this mean the voucher buff is only applied to new writs DURING the event window? Or can you save the new master writs for after the event and still get double vouchers?

If the writ was obtained during the celebration window, saving them for after should keep the bonus amount. So you can cash them in after and get the bonus still.

This is the most poorly described event ever. Do you have any idea the number of people who are frustrated because they went out and bought writs to complete to turn in because of the poor wording of this event combined with no notice where anyone could seek clarification on the poor wording?

“+100% Writ Vouchers earned from
Master Writs created during the event” does not say “only writs that drop during this event will be valued at 100% increase over their normal value.”

OhDraw · February 16

Echoing what's been said before: the event description is misleading in ways that cause actual problems.

1) Players who know better can exploit players who don't by selling writs at inflated prices.
2) Players will end up spending transmutes on things they thought would be discounted.

I'm fine with the event being what it is, but the description really, REALLY needs to be fixed.

Words. They matter.

Araneae6537 · February 16

Destai wrote: »

Araneae6537 wrote: »

Destai wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Belegnole wrote: »

Would have been nice if ZOS was professional enough to announce this a few days before it began, instead of after.

We noted this elsewhere but this was meant to be a surprise event. So we did not plan on announcing this in advance. We planned on having the article published when the event went live, but we then had some event issues that changed up the timing. We understand the rollout has been confusing and are working to address this in the future.

So why are surprise events even a thing then? It's pretty clear advanced notice is required, especially if most of the players are professional adults. You can say you understand the frustration, but seeing surprise events with issues, doesn't make me feel like that perspective's even being considered. Feels like a vicious cycle here, because this points keeps coming up. When you say you're "working to address this in the future", does that mean ZOS will be prepared to provide advanced notice on every event? Cuz that's what's being asked for.

I hope surprise events continue to be a thing! The ticket events are announced in advance, usually. Why must everything be??? Some of is actually like pleasant surprises so having a mix of announced and surprise events seems ideal to me.

Were this something with smaller scope out-the-gate, like double XP or something, then I wouldn't bat an eye.

When an event is focused on major activities that normally require a lot of gold and grind to get, then advanced notice is nice. Getting transmutes stones and gearing takes a while; getting master writs takes a while too, even with alts. Crafting is a major activity that requires a lot of work. Any event around it should be treated carefully and with notice.

On top of that, this is the 2nd event this year, and it's February, with some big issues. The scope was pretty large, needed more testing, and communication. The rolled back feature list we have now is more appropriate for a surprise event, but now they have to do deal with the fallout of changing something once it was delivered.

I'm incredibly disappointed that writs only double their vouchers if they're acquired this weekend. People hoard them, so we can get the crafting tables for guild halls. 77 sets. That's my goal for the year. If not longer. That's something I spent $400 over the holiday to support getting a guildhall. Seeing the things I've worked towards not get the surprise bonus they sprung on us, feels pretty insulting.

And lastly, I've been pretty clear that I appreciate the gesture of a surprise event. Getting crafting bonuses for a weekend is much appreciated.

If it was double vouchers for ANY writ, then I could well understand people being upset as having hoarded them or not would make a huge difference in the reward, but since it’s only for writs that drop during the event, everyone has the same chance based on the usual factors that influence drops from crafting writs.

I do agree that the description of the event is confusing, made worse by having recon discount oh so briefly and then not, which all makes it feel more frustrating than it should.

Elvenheart · February 16

For me, the thing I find most odd and probably what never will be explained is how such an OBVIOUS problem made it live. In a way it’s not even an exploit but the reclamation of transmute stones from reconstructed items working as intended. While someone at ZOS saying, “I know! For a surprise event, let’s cut the transmute stone cost of reconstructing an item in half!” sounds great and is really a good idea, how did someone else not immediately ask, “What about when people deconstruct an item they reconstructed for 12 stones, how many stones would they get back?” This is what just boggles my mind.

Necrotech_Master · February 16

the biggest miss on the event for me would be it not including all master writs, it makes little sense to me that you would have to generate new master writs to take advantage of the event

like other people i also have like 100 some master writs in my bank (though not all of which i can due to lack of mats or knowledge of motifs) that i would have put more focus on doing as im still trying to fill out my grandmaster stations (i have 38/308 stations filled in now, or roughly 12% completed, its a long process lol)

TheMajority · February 16

Elvenheart wrote: »

For me, the thing I find most odd and probably what never will be explained is how such an OBVIOUS problem made it live. In a way it’s not even an exploit but the reclamation of transmute stones from reconstructed items working as intended. While someone at ZOS saying, “I know! For a surprise event, let’s cut the transmute stone cost of reconstructing an item in half!” sounds great and is really a good idea, how did someone else not immediately ask, “What about when people deconstruct an item they reconstructed for 12 stones, how many stones would they get back?” This is what just boggles my mind.

This is what worries me too. Makes me concerned that people who don't actually know the game very well are working on it. Seems like a mistake someone who didn't understand the games workings would make, like they were new or something and didn't realize the game was hard coded to give back 25 transmutes.

Not trying to bash/make up conspiracies or something. I'm just expressing real concern for the state of development if these kinds of mistakes have slipped through more than once. First with Maelstrom, now with this huge oversight.

TaSheen · February 16

I love surprise events. Don't need notice for myself. But then, I'm retired.... I feel like there should be a minimum of 24 hours prior notice, because those of us who don't work any more are likely few on the ground compared to those who have to maneuver game events around their real lives.

TheMajority · February 16

Same. Suddenly my 20 characters have been extremely "unlucky" at getting master writ drops.

I finally got a single writ today (on an account that usually generates 3-5 per day..)...20 vouchers and it wants nirnhoned as a trait lol...*facepalm*

smnlvr · February 16

Doh! How to make a hash of things and wind up a community - talk about unintended consequences??? - there is now no benefit to crafters during the crafter's celebration! Crafting anything costs exactly the same and yields no benefit. Reconstructing stuff was supposed to cost 50% less but now doesn't. Refining stuff has no benefit. Deconstructing has no benefit. Inspiration bonus is useless to existing crafters. Doing writs in my bank yields no benefit and I have had only 1 new writ drop so far - worth an amazing 4 vouchers!!!

kojou · February 16

UrQuan wrote: »

I'm going to summarize my experience with this surprise event.

After logging in and seeing the announcement about the event and what it gives:
"Oh cool, double writ vouchers from master writs, I'll go ahead and do those master writs I've been slowly earning!"
"Oh even cooler, half price gear reconstruction, I'll go ahead and gear up some of my characters I've been meaning to set up with new builds!"
"Oh, and double node yields and it doesn't say survey nodes are excluded, I'll go and do the surveys that have been building up in my bank!"

After an hour or so:
"Wait, the double writ vouchers are only for master writs earned during the event. Which will be hardly any. Well, that's pretty useless."
"Oh, and they took away the half price gear reconstruction, so there's no point in rushing to gear those characters up now."
"And, of course despite it not saying so, survey nodes don't get double yields, so no point in doing those surveys now."

Way to get me excited about a mini event and then immediately take away everything I was excited about.

I just wanted to say you captured my sentiments exactly. I just got back from a trip for work yesterday to see this pop up, and was immediately let down by the fact that the reconstruction costs were not actually reduced because of the developer oversight, writs are only doubled for master writs I get the days of the event, and doubling overland nodes is nearly worthless.

If I wanted to farm nodes I would just do surveys as I have a ton of them and it is more productive even with this event going.

Reducing the cost of direct transmutes is not very valuable either since I can get transmute crystals back from things I reconstruct when I deconstruct them, so it only makes sense if there is something that I have that would cost more than 50 to reconstruct.

Anyway, I hope you will consider including surveys next time so at least there will be that...

smnlvr · February 16

There is nothing in this event for crafters. Did you think to ask what people would appreciate? Half the cost of improving items, yes - half the cost of reconstructing (although not really crafting) but this has been dropped because of exploiters, half the cost of creating potions and poisons. Double the output of creating enchants, food and drinks. Make all writs produce 2 x vouchers. Double the output of surveys. Drop motifs and chapters in hirings deliveries. etc. Lots of options.

WiseSky · February 16

I was making a prize for one of the writers yesterday of the Immersive Quests addon, the prize was the 1000 writs time of day changer.

Was excited to find out that we would just have to earn 500 writs...

They got back to me saying that the writs are not doubled

I consider myself a person with a reading comprehension of at least an adult, the way they worded the event it seamed like we were getting double the writs.

Turns out we had to read the "Fine Print in an After Forum Post"

Events should not be like trying to understand a SCP Documents with Addendums

Estin · February 16

I've already expressed my disappointment in how this event was handled and how there's next to no incentive to participate in this event now, but in the nature of honest feed back on how to improve this specific event in the future, here are some Ideas. All ideas are related to crafting and targeted towards players who aren't already maxed.

All reductions can be 25-50%
All increases can be 25-100%

Reduced Research Timers:
A reduction on any researchable trait. For any timer that was started before the event, those timers should be reduced by the same amount too. This would incentivize new players to research items, as well as give a helpful time reduction to players who already have 6-8 traits researched. This should stack with the passives that already reduce research timers. This can further be improved with the next idea.

Increased Research Slots:
Either an extra research slot, or double the amount of research slots based off of how many you currently based on the passive that increases the slots. The incentives and benefits remain the same as above.

Reduced Equipment Crafting Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting equipment. This really only sees any benefit for CP160 equipment where it costs between 100-150 per item. Benefits new players and equipping yourself or alts with crafted gear.

Reduced Equipment Upgrade Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for upgrading equipment. Benefits all players since players are selective on what gear they want to gold out, either for themselves, or for an alt. This should stack with the passive that already reduces the cost of upgrade materials

Reduced Material Cost for Crafting Consumables and Furnishings:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting consumables and furnishings. An issue that I could leave open for suggestion is any item that only needs 1 material to craft, such as gold food or furnishings that need only 1 style material. For those use cases, they can either always produce 2 of the crafted item, or have a % chance to not use the material. Benefits players who are into housing and PvE'ers + PvP'ers who want to use the best possible food.

Increased Drop Rate of Furnishing Materials:
An increase in the drop rate of furnishing materials. While these are already affected by the green CP passive that doubles farmed materials (At least I believe it does), the drop rate is rather low. Benefits players who are into housing.

Increased Fishing Bite Rate or Perfect Roe from Filleting Fish:
Either one or the other, or both. Either choice would increase the amount of Perfect Roe obtained. Benefits the same players who want to use the best possible food.

These are all ideas that I can currently think of. Since this is meant to be an event for crafting, it would make sense to include some or all of these to provide more of an incentive to participate in the event.

For the reduced reconstruction cost, I would hope to see it brought back in the future in it's current form but with the exploit fixed. If that is not possible to do, then a floor of 25 crystals will be the second best solution.

FlopsyPrince · February 16

So I just do daily crafting writs on however many characters I can tolerate. That could be 50+, but I rarely get above 5-10 these days.

I think I may get extra harvesting when out, but I do that as I feel like it, especially since it dismounts me along the way.

How do we know if we got a Master Writ during the event? That is not clear. They clearly know if internally, but I see no way to find it. I think I did get double for one Alchemy writ I did, but that may have also dropped from crafting in this time.

Not sure what other benefit this event is to me. As others have noted, make sure the event has and impact and people notice it, not just the announcement about it. Otherwise you are not gaining much "fun" out of the event.

I was thinking I could grind out a bunch of the Master Writs I have piled up, especially on console, but I then read that this will only work for new ones I get now. Not as much value there especially since I can't tell if a writ is new or old.

Doing BS, Cloth or WW writs on console is a pain. Very challenging to validate I know the proper pattern before I start crafting. They really need to add the mark to the interface so we don't accept something we can't make (due to knowledge or specialized mats). Hopefully that comes in the Quality of Life updates, but I won't hold my breath. I can use an addon to precraft things on the PC as well, so I make sure I make (and can make) exactly what is needed before accepting the writ. Some styles require finishing hard content (for me at least) or paying a LOT of gold on a trader, if you can find it. I am not rolling in as much gold on console.

Araneae6537 · February 16

sh4d0wh4z3 wrote: »

I've already expressed my disappointment in how this event was handled and how there's next to no incentive to participate in this event now, but in the nature of honest feed back on how to improve this specific event in the future, here are some Ideas. All ideas are related to crafting and targeted towards players who aren't already maxed.

All reductions can be 25-50%
All increases can be 25-100%

Reduced Research Timers:
A reduction on any researchable trait. For any timer that was started before the event, those timers should be reduced by the same amount too. This would incentivize new players to research items, as well as give a helpful time reduction to players who already have 6-8 traits researched. This should stack with the passives that already reduce research timers. This can further be improved with the next idea.

Increased Research Slots:
Either an extra research slot, or double the amount of research slots based off of how many you currently based on the passive that increases the slots. The incentives and benefits remain the same as above.

Reduced Equipment Crafting Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting equipment. This really only sees any benefit for CP160 equipment where it costs between 100-150 per item. Benefits new players and equipping yourself or alts with crafted gear.

Reduced Equipment Upgrade Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for upgrading equipment. Benefits all players since players are selective on what gear they want to gold out, either for themselves, or for an alt. This should stack with the passive that already reduces the cost of upgrade materials

Reduced Material Cost for Crafting Consumables and Furnishings:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting consumables and furnishings. An issue that I could leave open for suggestion is any item that only needs 1 material to craft, such as gold food or furnishings that need only 1 style material. For those use cases, they can either always produce 2 of the crafted item, or have a % chance to not use the material. Benefits players who are into housing and PvE'ers + PvP'ers who want to use the best possible food.

Increased Drop Rate of Furnishing Materials:
An increase in the drop rate of furnishing materials. While these are already affected by the green CP passive that doubles farmed materials (At least I believe it does), the drop rate is rather low. Benefits players who are into housing.

Increased Fishing Bite Rate or Perfect Roe from Filleting Fish:
Either one or the other, or both. Either choice would increase the amount of Perfect Roe obtained. Benefits the same players who want to use the best possible food.

These are all ideas that I can currently think of. Since this is meant to be an event for crafting, it would make sense to include some or all of these to provide more of an incentive to participate in the event.

For the reduced reconstruction cost, I would hope to see it brought back in the future in it's current form but with the exploit fixed. If that is not possible to do, then a floor of 25 crystals will be the second best solution.

These are great suggestions! And I hope that ZOS never rewards extra vouchers for writs that players already have. That would only reward hoarders and the wealthy. While I may accumulate a few before a relevant event (or when busy with other activities), I do try to stay on top of writs and surveys as I earn them.

FlopsyPrince · February 16

sh4d0wh4z3 wrote: »

I've already expressed my disappointment in how this event was handled and how there's next to no incentive to participate in this event now, but in the nature of honest feed back on how to improve this specific event in the future, here are some Ideas. All ideas are related to crafting and targeted towards players who aren't already maxed.

All reductions can be 25-50%
All increases can be 25-100%

Reduced Research Timers:
A reduction on any researchable trait. For any timer that was started before the event, those timers should be reduced by the same amount too. This would incentivize new players to research items, as well as give a helpful time reduction to players who already have 6-8 traits researched. This should stack with the passives that already reduce research timers. This can further be improved with the next idea.

Increased Research Slots:
Either an extra research slot, or double the amount of research slots based off of how many you currently based on the passive that increases the slots. The incentives and benefits remain the same as above.

Reduced Equipment Crafting Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting equipment. This really only sees any benefit for CP160 equipment where it costs between 100-150 per item. Benefits new players and equipping yourself or alts with crafted gear.

Reduced Equipment Upgrade Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for upgrading equipment. Benefits all players since players are selective on what gear they want to gold out, either for themselves, or for an alt. This should stack with the passive that already reduces the cost of upgrade materials

Reduced Material Cost for Crafting Consumables and Furnishings:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting consumables and furnishings. An issue that I could leave open for suggestion is any item that only needs 1 material to craft, such as gold food or furnishings that need only 1 style material. For those use cases, they can either always produce 2 of the crafted item, or have a % chance to not use the material. Benefits players who are into housing and PvE'ers + PvP'ers who want to use the best possible food.

Increased Drop Rate of Furnishing Materials:
An increase in the drop rate of furnishing materials. While these are already affected by the green CP passive that doubles farmed materials (At least I believe it does), the drop rate is rather low. Benefits players who are into housing.

Increased Fishing Bite Rate or Perfect Roe from Filleting Fish:
Either one or the other, or both. Either choice would increase the amount of Perfect Roe obtained. Benefits the same players who want to use the best possible food.

These are all ideas that I can currently think of. Since this is meant to be an event for crafting, it would make sense to include some or all of these to provide more of an incentive to participate in the event.

For the reduced reconstruction cost, I would hope to see it brought back in the future in it's current form but with the exploit fixed. If that is not possible to do, then a floor of 25 crystals will be the second best solution.

I was going to suggest some research benefit. I have most of my characters maxed here, but the times get really long and even saving a day if getting on the character daily or even just once during the event would be a very nice aspect.

I would even grind crafting on almost all my characters, but I am not seeing the benefit for that now.

lydra · February 17

@ZOS_Kevin
Not gonna lie, feel pretty bad you've had to be the face of all this to the community. I can't imagine the way this event was structured is something you personally got much, if any, say in.

I've thought about it over the last couple days, and I actually do really like the idea of surprise events. Weekends that speak to parts of the game that are not just standard PVP "Chaosball Weekend" and etc. would be a refreshing change of pace. I hope the team keeps trying these.

The problem I'm having with this event, and I think many others are too, is that a surprise event needs to be pretty low FOMO. If I feel really upset that I missed an event, that's not a great player experience. "Oh shoot, it was Chaosball weekend, I could have spent a little more time doing my prefered battleground if I wasn't on this work trip," is about the vibe a surprise event should be able to handle.

Low FOMO

Double Resource node drops
Chance of better Master Writ Drops
Improved Inspiration from Crafting
Increased chance of upgrade materials from decon

Extreme, Unbelievable FOMO, There has never been a more amazing event reward

50% off Transmutation

Add into the mix that the exploit is the most obvious thing I have ever heard... This strongly suggests the devs are massively out of touch with the player base. Seriously, someone on the team needs to think through the QA process here–this getting through is unbelievably embarrassing. I suspect that asking 50 players to review the original list to see what they planned to do first, at least half would have said "go transmute gear" and if you asked them the second thing they would do when they did that they would say... "oh hmm, test if I can decon the gear into 25 transmutes?".

Add the insult to injury that the event was announced with this unbelievably tempting feature which was then pulled. If it had never been on the list, it probably would have read more like the Low-FOMO event I think it was intended to be. A nice opportunity to enjoy mat farming and crafting on the long weekend, but nothing to freak out about. Instead we have this thread.

And then on top of that, the in-game posting for the event where the majority of players see the splash screen still lists this feature (I realize this is a technical limitation...but this is a good example of why better QA is important) while the blog post about the event differs but has no explanation of why. Leading to confusion... is the blog post right? The in-game post? What is going on? I would be very surprised if the majority of players are actively reading the forums, and even though I occassionally do, it took some digging to find this thead.

I LOVE the idea of half-off transmutation. I really, really hope the team brings this back. In an event that is communicated ahead of time, that lasts more than a weekend, and with transumation fixed so that the crystals refunded on decon match the costs to make.

At any rate, I really hope your week hasn't been too terrible becuase of all this. I hope the larger team is able to review this feedback and incorporate it successfully. I'm pretty sure most of the people here get that you're the messenger regarding what is happening and not the one who personally built the entire event. Thanks for getting us the info you were able to, even if it's not what most of us hoped for.

Destai · February 17

lydra wrote: »

@ZOS_Kevin
Not gonna lie, feel pretty bad you've had to be the face of all this to the community. I can't imagine the way this event was structured is something you personally got much, if any say in.

I've thought about it over the last couple days, and I actually do really like the idea of surprise events. Weekends that speak to parts of the game that are not just standard PVP "Chaosball Weekend" and etc. would be a refresshing change of pace. I hope the team keeps trying these.

The problem I'm having with this event, and I think many others are too, is that a surprise event needs to be pretty low FOMO. If I feel really upset that I missed an event, that's not a great player experience. "Oh shoot, it was Chaosball weekend, I could have spent a little more time doing my prefered battleground if I wasn't on this work trip," is about the vibe a surprise event should be able to handle.

Low FOMO
Double Resource node drops
Chance of better Master Writ Drops

Improved Inspiration from Crafting

Increased chance of upgrade materials from decon

Extreme, Unbelievable FOMO, There has never been a more amazing event reward
50% off Transmutation

Add into the mix that the exploit is the most obvious thing I have ever heard... This strongly suggests the devs are massively out of touch with the player base. Seriously, someone on the team needs to think through the QA process here, this getting through is unbelievably embarrassing. I suspect that asking 50 players to review the original list to see what they planned to do first, at least half would have said "go transmute gear" and if you asked them the second thing they would do when they did that they would say... "oh hmm, test if I can decon the gear into 25 transmutes?".

And the insult to injury that the event was announced with this unbelievably tempting feature which was then pulled. If it had never been on the list, it probably would have read more like the Low-FOMO event I think it was intended to be. A nice opportunity to enjoy mat farming and crafting on the long weekend, but nothing to freak out about. Instead we have this thread.

And then on top of that, the in-game posting for the event where the majority of players see the splash screen still lists this feature (I realize this is a technical limitation...but this is a good example of why better QA is important) while the blog post about the event differs but has no explanation of why. Leading to confusion... is the blog post right? The in-game post? What is going on? I would be very surprised if the majority of players are actively reading the forums, and even though I occassionally do, it took some digging to find this thead.

I LOVE the idea of half-off transmutation. I really, really hope you bring this back. In an event that is communicated ahead of time, that lasts more than a weekend, and with transumation fixed so that the crystals refunded on decon match the costs to make.

At any rate, I really hope your week hasn't been too terrible becuase of all this. I hope the larger team is able to review this feedback and incorporate it successfully. I'm pretty sure most of the people here get tha you're the messenger regarding what is happening and not the one who personally built the entire event. Thanks for getting us the info you were able to, even if it's not what most of us hoped for.

Absolutely fantastic post, calmly explaining my sentiments on this. You win the forums!

TaSheen · February 17

@lydra - you are an awesome person! Great post. Welcome to the forum!

UrQuan · February 17

sh4d0wh4z3 wrote: »

I've already expressed my disappointment in how this event was handled and how there's next to no incentive to participate in this event now, but in the nature of honest feed back on how to improve this specific event in the future, here are some Ideas. All ideas are related to crafting and targeted towards players who aren't already maxed.

All reductions can be 25-50%
All increases can be 25-100%

Reduced Research Timers:
A reduction on any researchable trait. For any timer that was started before the event, those timers should be reduced by the same amount too. This would incentivize new players to research items, as well as give a helpful time reduction to players who already have 6-8 traits researched. This should stack with the passives that already reduce research timers. This can further be improved with the next idea.

Increased Research Slots:
Either an extra research slot, or double the amount of research slots based off of how many you currently based on the passive that increases the slots. The incentives and benefits remain the same as above.

Reduced Equipment Crafting Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting equipment. This really only sees any benefit for CP160 equipment where it costs between 100-150 per item. Benefits new players and equipping yourself or alts with crafted gear.

Reduced Equipment Upgrade Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for upgrading equipment. Benefits all players since players are selective on what gear they want to gold out, either for themselves, or for an alt. This should stack with the passive that already reduces the cost of upgrade materials

Reduced Material Cost for Crafting Consumables and Furnishings:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting consumables and furnishings. An issue that I could leave open for suggestion is any item that only needs 1 material to craft, such as gold food or furnishings that need only 1 style material. For those use cases, they can either always produce 2 of the crafted item, or have a % chance to not use the material. Benefits players who are into housing and PvE'ers + PvP'ers who want to use the best possible food.

Increased Drop Rate of Furnishing Materials:
An increase in the drop rate of furnishing materials. While these are already affected by the green CP passive that doubles farmed materials (At least I believe it does), the drop rate is rather low. Benefits players who are into housing.

Increased Fishing Bite Rate or Perfect Roe from Filleting Fish:
Either one or the other, or both. Either choice would increase the amount of Perfect Roe obtained. Benefits the same players who want to use the best possible food.

These are all ideas that I can currently think of. Since this is meant to be an event for crafting, it would make sense to include some or all of these to provide more of an incentive to participate in the event.

For the reduced reconstruction cost, I would hope to see it brought back in the future in it's current form but with the exploit fixed. If that is not possible to do, then a floor of 25 crystals will be the second best solution.

All of these are better ideas than what we ended up getting. All are useful for new players or those still leveling crafters, and most are also useful to players who are already maxed-out master crafters. None are really exploitable, either.

For the research ones, though, I'd suggest that it would probably be much easier (read as: lower likelihood of something going wrong) to instead have those instant research scrolls that reduce your research timer by a day drop from the appropriate daily writs during the event (blacksmithing writs drop instant blacksmithing research scrolls, and so on).

MidniteOwl1913 · February 17

sh4d0wh4z3 wrote: »

I've already expressed my disappointment in how this event was handled and how there's next to no incentive to participate in this event now, but in the nature of honest feed back on how to improve this specific event in the future, here are some Ideas. All ideas are related to crafting and targeted towards players who aren't already maxed.

All reductions can be 25-50%
All increases can be 25-100%

Reduced Research Timers:
A reduction on any researchable trait. For any timer that was started before the event, those timers should be reduced by the same amount too. This would incentivize new players to research items, as well as give a helpful time reduction to players who already have 6-8 traits researched. This should stack with the passives that already reduce research timers. This can further be improved with the next idea.

Increased Research Slots:
Either an extra research slot, or double the amount of research slots based off of how many you currently based on the passive that increases the slots. The incentives and benefits remain the same as above.

Reduced Equipment Crafting Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting equipment. This really only sees any benefit for CP160 equipment where it costs between 100-150 per item. Benefits new players and equipping yourself or alts with crafted gear.

Reduced Equipment Upgrade Cost:
A reduction on the cost of materials for upgrading equipment. Benefits all players since players are selective on what gear they want to gold out, either for themselves, or for an alt. This should stack with the passive that already reduces the cost of upgrade materials

Reduced Material Cost for Crafting Consumables and Furnishings:
A reduction on the cost of materials for crafting consumables and furnishings. An issue that I could leave open for suggestion is any item that only needs 1 material to craft, such as gold food or furnishings that need only 1 style material. For those use cases, they can either always produce 2 of the crafted item, or have a % chance to not use the material. Benefits players who are into housing and PvE'ers + PvP'ers who want to use the best possible food.

Increased Drop Rate of Furnishing Materials:
An increase in the drop rate of furnishing materials. While these are already affected by the green CP passive that doubles farmed materials (At least I believe it does), the drop rate is rather low. Benefits players who are into housing.

Increased Fishing Bite Rate or Perfect Roe from Filleting Fish:
Either one or the other, or both. Either choice would increase the amount of Perfect Roe obtained. Benefits the same players who want to use the best possible food.

These are all ideas that I can currently think of. Since this is meant to be an event for crafting, it would make sense to include some or all of these to provide more of an incentive to participate in the event.

For the reduced reconstruction cost, I would hope to see it brought back in the future in it's current form but with the exploit fixed. If that is not possible to do, then a floor of 25 crystals will be the second best solution.

Yes!

I love the idea of a surprise mini-event. But being so short on time it needs to have some really awesome rewards. What we got was so underwhelming as to be pathetic. These suggestions would be a good place to start to make it better.

Sarannah · February 17

And I think ZOS did it right with only granting double vouchers from master writs received during this event, otherwise it would have been an add-on fest where players spam thousands of master writs! Crafting add-ons should be removed from the game in my opinion, as they completely invalidate the entire crafting part of the game.

tinythinker · February 17

Yeah, see why people would be frustrated with the inaccuracies and late notice for something like extra vouchers. Very sorry to see that confusion and writs spent that would have been saved for another time.

My characters though appreciated the extra inspiration because basically other than this even the only crafting practice they get is during the anniversary event. I've actually been doing my writs every day since Thursday

Dragonredux · February 17

So haven't played the game in a few days. Saw there was an event crafters and saw the reduced reconstruct cost on the character select. Thought neat I probably have enough to finish that Master Architect project I had planned. I went to do it, saw it still said 51, and maybe just thought it was a UI error....it was not a UI error so paid the full 51. I come to the forums to see what the deal was (to see if there's an item or quest I missed that I need to do first). Turns out it got removed 🙃

Otherwise the idea of the event is good, I don't mind low fomo events like this just...make them work.

polaris86 · February 17

Despite the missteps and negative reception, I hope we will continue to see crafting mini events going forward. There are some good ideas here that should be considered for next time - reduced research time, research scroll drops, extra food/drink/potion production, etc.

BenevolentBowd · February 17

UrQuan wrote: »

I'm going to summarize my experience with this surprise event.

After logging in and seeing the announcement about the event and what it gives:
"Oh cool, double writ vouchers from master writs, I'll go ahead and do those master writs I've been slowly earning!"
"Oh even cooler, half price gear reconstruction, I'll go ahead and gear up some of my characters I've been meaning to set up with new builds!"
"Oh, and double node yields and it doesn't say survey nodes are excluded, I'll go and do the surveys that have been building up in my bank!"

After an hour or so:
"Wait, the double writ vouchers are only for master writs earned during the event. Which will be hardly any. Well, that's pretty useless."
"Oh, and they took away the half price gear reconstruction, so there's no point in rushing to gear those characters up now."
"And, of course despite it not saying so, survey nodes don't get double yields, so no point in doing those surveys now."

Way to get me excited about a mini event and then immediately take away everything I was excited about.

If it wasn't for @UrQuan , I would have completed a large number of 500+ Voucher JC sealed writs consuming vast amounts of JC improvement mats...

FlopsyPrince · February 18

Araneae6537 wrote: »

While I may accumulate a few before a relevant event (or when busy with other activities), I do try to stay on top of writs and surveys as I earn them.

It would give an incentive for some to clear them out! Why bother for those of us who just collect things in the game anyway? It would be nice to have an incentive to go through the trouble, especially on console!