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My experience doing the 6 dungeon weekly by running RNDs

AzuraFan
AzuraFan
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I've been playing ESO for several years, but I'd only run an RND once. When the weekly endeavors popped up this week, I decided not to do the one I'd usually do (30 WBs), but to try something new and do the 6 dungeon one. Not by soloing FG1 six times, but by doing RNDs. Here's how it went:

Day 1: Fungal Grotto 2

Believe it or not, I had only run this for the first time two weeks prior with guildies, so I'd already done the quest. But this was only my second run of this dungeon. It was a speedrun. Everyone ran ahead, and I followed. It's an easy dungeon, so I didn't mind. But if I hadn't just run the dungeon, I would have been so confused at the end, when you have to run back to the entrance. I wouldn't have known about doing that, and I wouldn't have known about the shortcut to get back. So this probably wouldn't have gone so well for me if I hadn't recently done this one. I probably would have been stuck back where we killed the second to last boss, wondering what to do.

Bonus: The last boss dropped the lead for me.

1/6 for the endeavor.

Day 2: Selene's Web

Another speedrun, but I can solo this dungeon, and I'd already done the quest, so I didn't care. It went quickly, and I got some new items for my stickerbook.

2/6 for the endeavor

That evening I ran FG1 by myself. I had a little extra time. So that brought me to 3/6 on the endeavor.

Day 3: Elden Hollow 1

I can solo this dungeon and had already done the quest. As usual, there was no communication and we went fairly quickly, but this time people waited if anyone fell behind. Picked up more items for my stickerbook.

4/6 for the endeavor.

Day 4: Castle Thorn

Uh-oh. Not only a DLC dungeon, but one I hadn't done before. Fortunately this wasn't a speedrun. We went quickly, but there wasn't one person just barreling through and leaving everyone else behind. When I saw someone else go to the quest giver, I decided to pick up the quest myself. I didn't wait for the dialogue, though. Click-click-click. As I found out, the nice thing about this quest is that you only have to speak to someone twice - once to pick up the quest and once to turn it in.

The run went well. Just like Elden Hollow 1, we moved quickly, but at certain points, waited until everyone had caught up. We also killed everything along the way. Only one death (not me), at the final boss. Otherwise things went smoothly, and I was able to turn in the quest and get the skill point. Don't ask me what the story was about though lol. I also picked up a lead I hadn't gotten before, but I believe it's available in overland too. Still, a lead, items for my stickerbook, and the quest, made for a satisfying run.

5/6 for the endeavor

Day 5: Blackheart Haven

I'd done this dungeon once before with guildies, and so I had the quest, which was fortunate, because this was the most disorganized run of them all. I partly blame ZOS for this. Things started out ok, until we reached the first door you have to go through. Well, we couldn't go through it, because we were "still in combat", even though we weren't. So we backtracked, killed some mobs nearby, went back. Nope. Backtracked, started randomnly attacking stuff. People separated. Finally we were able to go through the door, but we lost someone. No idea what happened to them. They didn't leave the group, but they might have left the dungeon. Anyway, out of the three left, one was always running ahead. I realized the other one was doing the quest, so I stuck with them. At one point they backtracked to speak to someone, then we ran to the leader, who was in another area waiting for us near the next boss. From there, things went smoothly. More items for my stickerbook

Conclusion

I had fun! Nothing dire happened, I picked up a couple of leads (one off a final boss, which is great), and lots of items for my stickerbook. Also got a lot of scripts and transmutes I don't need, but that's okay.

I will definitely do this again, and do it a lot during the upcoming undaunted event. If anyone has been afraid to try RND, just give it a shot. I would NOT do vet RND. I know my DPS isn't where it should be. But for normal, the dungeons are easy. Most of the time, you can ignore mechanics (just stay out of the red) and power through. I can solo base game dungeons that don't have a mechanic that requires two people, and I don't know any of the boss mechanics. I just power through and stay out of the red.

If you're interested in doing the quest just for the skill point, try RND - it might work out, or it might not. But if you're interested in listening to the story, exploring, picking up all the books, then don't use RND for this. Join a guild, or use the group finder. Next time my guild does Castle Thorn story time, I'll take another character through so I can listen to the story.

To ZOS: Fix the "still in combat" bug already!
  • EldarOfSuburbia
    EldarOfSuburbia
    Soul Shriven
    You mention you're in a guild, and run with them; why not make it a habit to group with 3 of them and run RNDs on all your characters? The biggest boon of running RNDs is getting the 10 transmute crystals, and you get those once per character. (Sorry if you knew all this already. But you didn't mention it....)

    You are correct that Vets are pointless, the rewards are the same. Save the Vet runs for pledges.
  • AzuraFan
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    You mention you're in a guild, and run with them; why not make it a habit to group with 3 of them and run RNDs on all your characters? The biggest boon of running RNDs is getting the 10 transmute crystals, and you get those once per character. (Sorry if you knew all this already. But you didn't mention it....)

    You are correct that Vets are pointless, the rewards are the same. Save the Vet runs for pledges.

    For me right now, the biggest boon is filling my sticker book and trying for leads. Eventually that won't be true, but it will be for a while because I need so many set pieces. OTOH, I don't need transmutes. I'm at 1000/1000 with some in my inventory, waiting to be cracked open.

    Thanks for the suggestion, though. :)
  • Pelanora
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    I liked this post OP. Thank you.
  • AlnilamE
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    AzuraFan wrote: »
    Day 5: Blackheart Haven

    I'd done this dungeon once before with guildies, and so I had the quest, which was fortunate, because this was the most disorganized run of them all. I partly blame ZOS for this. Things started out ok, until we reached the first door you have to go through. Well, we couldn't go through it, because we were "still in combat", even though we weren't. So we backtracked, killed some mobs nearby, went back. Nope. Backtracked, started randomnly attacking stuff. People separated. Finally we were able to go through the door, but we lost someone. No idea what happened to them. They didn't leave the group, but they might have left the dungeon. Anyway, out of the three left, one was always running ahead. I realized the other one was doing the quest, so I stuck with them. At one point they backtracked to speak to someone, then we ran to the leader, who was in another area waiting for us near the next boss. From there, things went smoothly. More items for my stickerbook


    To ZOS: Fix the "still in combat" bug already!

    For that door at the first boss, if everyone sneaks by the door, the mobs do de-aggro after a few seconds and you can get through. But it is annoying and should get fixed.

    The Moot Councillor
  • AzuraFan
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    AlnilamE wrote: »
    For that door at the first boss, if everyone sneaks by the door, the mobs do de-aggro after a few seconds and you can get through. But it is annoying and should get fixed.

    Ah, I noticed a couple of the others went into sneak mode at the door, so I did the same, though I was just following along. But maybe the other person who was doing the quest didn't know and didn't sneak. If one of the other players had simply typed, "sneak here," perhaps we would have gotten through without having to keep killing stuff.

    Note to people who want to speed through these dungeons: if you notice someone isn't doing something you think they should be doing, sometimes a few words is all it takes. Not everyone has run these dungeons a lot.

    I forgot to add in my OP that for most of the dungeons, people did take the time to type "tyfg" or "gg" when we finished.

  • Silaf
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    The strongest boss in a dungeon is usually the door. Learn to fear the door!
  • FlopsyPrince
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    Silaf wrote: »
    The strongest boss in a dungeon is usually the door. Learn to fear the door!

    That boss is in several dungeons!
    PC
    PS4/PS5
  • Bradyfjord
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    Silaf wrote: »
    The strongest boss in a dungeon is usually the door. Learn to fear the door!

    That boss is in several dungeons!

    This needs a balance pass.
  • AzuraFan
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    Bradyfjord wrote: »
    Silaf wrote: »
    The strongest boss in a dungeon is usually the door. Learn to fear the door!

    That boss is in several dungeons!

    This needs a balance pass.

    Absolutely. After all, in all my runs, it was the door that took out one player lol.
  • Lixiviant
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    When you said that you ran the dungeon with Guildies, I was jelly. The Guilds I am in only want to do Trials or Vet content, and I'd really like a Guild that just picked one 4 man dungeon one a week and helped people understand the mechanics.

    Yes, I've searched for guilds that do beginning and normal content (so they say) but once accepted into the guild it seems their focus is elsewhere.

    Great write-up!
  • AzuraFan
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    Lixiviant wrote: »
    When you said that you ran the dungeon with Guildies, I was jelly. The Guilds I am in only want to do Trials or Vet content, and I'd really like a Guild that just picked one 4 man dungeon one a week and helped people understand the mechanics.

    Yes, I've searched for guilds that do beginning and normal content (so they say) but once accepted into the guild it seems their focus is elsewhere.

    Great write-up!

    There's a Story Time dungeons guild on PC/NA. I haven't joined, so I don't know how often they run events, or even if they still do, but that's something to look into. They're listed in the guild finder.
  • Anifaas
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    Awesome! It is wonderful to read about your experience in RND.

    I love the random dungeon finder and use it every day. The mechanics and pace of ESO's dungeons really threw me for a loop at first. But after spamming the group finder for a few weeks my confusion and misunderstandings were cleared up. It also helped me transition to veteran dungeons and eventually trials. I also discovered most random dungeon peeps on PC-NA are pretty chill. It's a great scene in my opinion.
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