Surveys are now broken.

AlienSlof · May 2016

Off I went to pick up my stuff in a survey...

but when I arrived there, my little map disappeared, map marker (from add-on) disappeared and my patch of plants was not there. Nothing.

I realise you're trying to fix an exploit, but by doing it this way, you're punishing those of us who don't cheat. I lost map and plants because everything was just wiped the moment I was close. Please don't punish the rest of us for an exploit YOU guys should have spotted, that cheaters made use of. There's little point to even doing writs right now.

Please sort this in a better way.

Volkodav · May 2016

The map disappears when you get close to the patch,..but,the whole thing was gone? Did you submit a ticket? This hasnt happened to me yet.

istateres · May 2016

You wouldn't happen to have been in Upper Craglorn?

JelliedBigfoot · May 2016

I have had similar issue, I'm not sure what your add-on does for the map tick but I usually snap a photo of the map with my phone because it dissappears from my inventory about 40-50 meters away. Fortunately I have keen eye on, but if you can't find and leave the area I believe they are lost. Just try and stick with it. They are nearby, sometimes I find I just need to look up and they are up on a cliff but if I am having a hard time the photo I snapped really helps.

idk · May 2016

They have already said a different method will be employed in a later patch. This was a quick fix.

With that, the nodes don't disappear as you approach. Only the map. You just have to have a decent idea where the are.

daemonios · May 2016

In Wrothgar there are a couple of spots where the survey map will disappear while you still have a long way to go to reach the nodes, such as one enchanting survey that you can trigger from below a cliff, but have to go a long way around to get to the top and harvest.

Also, in upper Craglorn some woodworking nodes would randomly disappear, but only after you harvested the first one. I submitted at least one ticket on this account but don't remember ever getting a reply.

If you're sure you were at the right spot and the nodes disappeared, send a ticket and keep replying to the emails until you get a human to reply and tell you whether or not they can help.

Megalex1 · May 2016

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

They have already said a different method will be employed in a later patch. This was a quick fix.

With that, the nodes don't disappear as you approach. Only the map. You just have to have a decent idea where the are.

They said that about a lot of things, better get used to the way it works now.

nine9six · May 2016

I haven't kept up to date, but with the recent exploit, did they change the way it works?

Mine always went away after I harvested one of the nodes. Not ever before.

myrrrorb14_ESO · May 2016

I just collect the surveys for now. I'll cash them in once DB goes live and they have a fix. I do the surveys enough where I know the landscape decently well, but don't want to chance missing one. It's a lot of material to just throw away.

MissBizz · May 2016

nine9six wrote: »

I haven't kept up to date, but with the recent exploit, did they change the way it works?

Mine always went away after I harvested one of the nodes. Not ever before.

@nine9six Yes they did. Rather than removing the map after the first node, the map is now removed once you get to the survey location. Unfortunately, the game seems to think you are at the location from pretty far away.

Tandor · May 2016

I don't use addons, but I wonder whether those addons that relate to survey map nodes are incompatible with the changes recently introduced?

AlienSlof · May 2016

istateres wrote: »

You wouldn't happen to have been in Upper Craglorn?

I was in Coldharbour. I have keen eye on and I found lots of other nodes in the area, but not my survey ones.

myrrrorb14_ESO wrote: »

I just collect the surveys for now. I'll cash them in once DB goes live and they have a fix. I do the surveys enough where I know the landscape decently well, but don't want to chance missing one. It's a lot of material to just throw away.

This is a good idea, and I think I will do the same for now. I do the writs mostly for a chance of getting a survey, so for them to not work properly is definitely a downer.

Nestor · May 2016

I have not lost a survey yet, but I have had the map marker go away on my addon a long way away from the survey location.

I think a better fix for this exploit would be to make it so the Surveys can not be banked. Then the exploit is fixed, and it does not affect anyone using the survey in their inventory. I am so concerned about this that I am sitting on about 20 surveys right now. I can only imagine how many I will have by the time DB drops.

@ZOS_GinaBruno

Has any consideration been made to making the surveys unbankable? You did it with Rare Fish and Trophies, something that was never exploited.

STEVIL · May 2016

Nestor wrote: »

I have not lost a survey yet, but I have had the map marker go away on my addon a long way away from the survey location.

I think a better fix for this exploit would be to make it so the Surveys can not be banked. Then the exploit is fixed, and it does not affect anyone using the survey in their inventory. I am so concerned about this that I am sitting on about 20 surveys right now. I can only imagine how many I will have by the time DB drops.

@ZOS_GinaBruno

Has any consideration been made to making the surveys unbankable? You did it with Rare Fish and Trophies, something that was never exploited.

I would object to this. I have three enchanter and having to go out and about for each is a huge pain. Having one char get in position and then cycle the surveys is one reason for the banker.

I would do it as they do now, kill survey when close but then add a map marker for the nodes. Makes them easy to find.

medusasfolly · May 2016

"Nestor wrote: »

"I think a better fix for this exploit would be to make it so the Surveys can not be banked. Then the exploit is fixed, and it does not affect anyone using the survey in their inventory.

Please, no. I bank all my surveys so that my character who has the 10% chance of getting an extra mat can do all the harvesting.

myrrrorb14_ESO wrote: »

I just collect the surveys for now. I'll cash them in once DB goes live and they have a fix. I do the surveys enough where I know the landscape decently well, but don't want to chance missing one. It's a lot of material to just throw away.

The problem with that is that you can't have duplicates either in the bank or on your character. You can keep them in the containers, but the containers themselves can't be banked. Unless you are running a character that is strictly crafting, that will make for a very bloated toon by the time DB comes out.

I completely understand that this was a quick fix to the exploit and applaud that ZOS addressed this promptly. But like AlienSlof, I feel like I'm being punished for something I had nothing to do with.

Nestor · May 2016

STEVIL wrote: »

I would object to this. I have three enchanter and having to go out and about for each is a huge pain. Having one char get in position and then cycle the surveys is one reason for the banker.

I used to do this too, but it is such a pain when all the alts are getting surveys in the same location as you can't have dups either in the bank or on your character. So, the most surveys you can move around are 2 for each location. Now I just take each character out surveying once a week or so and let the rest collect containers holding the dups.

Now, this non bankable condition would only be until they fixed the exploit, then it can go back to the way it is before.

starkerealm · May 2016

I usually just let the surveys back up in my inventory, and run out a couple times a month. Though, this change did cost me, because I got an unfamiliar alchemy survey in Wrothgar, and couldn't find the plants at all.

myrrrorb14_ESO · May 2016

medusasfolly wrote: »

"Nestor wrote: »

"I think a better fix for this exploit would be to make it so the Surveys can not be banked. Then the exploit is fixed, and it does not affect anyone using the survey in their inventory.

Please, no. I bank all my surveys so that my character who has the 10% chance of getting an extra mat can do all the harvesting.

myrrrorb14_ESO wrote: »

I just collect the surveys for now. I'll cash them in once DB goes live and they have a fix. I do the surveys enough where I know the landscape decently well, but don't want to chance missing one. It's a lot of material to just throw away.

The problem with that is that you can't have duplicates either in the bank or on your character. You can keep them in the containers, but the containers themselves can't be banked. Unless you are running a character that is strictly crafting, that will make for a very bloated toon by the time DB comes out.

I completely understand that this was a quick fix to the exploit and applaud that ZOS addressed this promptly. But like AlienSlof, I feel like I'm being punished for something I had nothing to do with.

Yeah, very bloated even with maxed inventory spaces. Wish they stacked. I had 96 surveys when TG launched... it took forever to gather all the nodes.

myrrrorb14_ESO · May 2016

Nestor wrote: »

STEVIL wrote: »

I would object to this. I have three enchanter and having to go out and about for each is a huge pain. Having one char get in position and then cycle the surveys is one reason for the banker.

I used to do this too, but it is such a pain when all the alts are getting surveys in the same location as you can't have dups either in the bank or on your character. So, the most surveys you can move around are 2 for each location. Now I just take each character out surveying once a week or so and let the rest collect containers holding the dups.

Now, this non bankable condition would only be until they fixed the exploit, then it can go back to the way it is now.

Pretty much this. I try and wait until I have at least one of each then go around and collect them. Moving them through the bank was a pain. You go out collect everything and then go around and do it again after you go to the bank.

Acharnor · May 2016

Yea not a big fan of my red x marks the spot disapearing from the map when I get close. I have been marking it with a targeting point (not sure what they are called) right over the x. I lost track of one after being attacked by mobs. Arghh. I killed em good but then could not find the survey. LOL - I know I was close.

Lore_lai · May 2016

Yes - I have had this happen to me recently with the Enchanter survey at the Morkuldin forge area.
I approached it from the wrong direction and I couldn't climb to it, the location got "discovered" by the game because I was close, I rode to the nearest wayshrine to port to another in Wrothgar so I can get to the survey - I get there and poof, no nodes.

Sent a ticket to ZoS. I got a reply but it wasn't really helpful.

@ZOS_GinaBruno

Argruna · May 2016

I know it sounds silly, however you can make your own marker on the map. Before you hit the spot where the survey shows you, open you map and find the X for it. Mouse over and hit F. It creates a custom marker that doesn't disappear till you make a different one. That way, at least when you get to there, you still have that point on the compass and map to go by if the X from the add-on disappears. It's helped me out a bunch since the Wrothgar ones I only do every other day so I've not memorized them completely yet.

sickboy2808 · May 2016

Check my thread about Surveys if you want

nine9six · May 2016

MissBizz wrote: »

nine9six wrote: »

I haven't kept up to date, but with the recent exploit, did they change the way it works?

Mine always went away after I harvested one of the nodes. Not ever before.

@nine9six Yes they did. Rather than removing the map after the first node, the map is now removed once you get to the survey location. Unfortunately, the game seems to think you are at the location from pretty far away.

That sucks.

helediron · May 2016

Nestor wrote: »

STEVIL wrote: »

I would object to this. I have three enchanter and having to go out and about for each is a huge pain. Having one char get in position and then cycle the surveys is one reason for the banker.

I used to do this too, but it is such a pain when all the alts are getting surveys in the same location as you can't have dups either in the bank or on your character. So, the most surveys you can move around are 2 for each location. Now I just take each character out surveying once a week or so and let the rest collect containers holding the dups.

Now, this non bankable condition would only be until they fixed the exploit, then it can go back to the way it is before.

I too object binding to character. It is more effective to save the maps to bank and collect the surveys to one character. Just let the maps lay in inventory. They can pile up, and when there are enough, i run extra round collecting them. RNG sorts them out usually in few days. I also reverse the order characters i do the writs, and that melts out the piles.

edit: and i forgot that i also rotate the harvesting duty. Is some character has multiple times the same map, it can harvest the area multiple times and gets rid of the pile in one run.

SpAEkus · May 2016

I haven't done any Crag Surveys since the issue and the fix.

Did they also change the Survey Locations?

Before now all i had to do was know which survey I had and the location was the same always for that Survey #, whether it was Alchemy or Enchanting at least, I didn't do too many BS-WW-Cloth.

Nestor · May 2016

helediron wrote: »

I too object binding to character. It is more effective to save the maps to bank and collect the surveys to one character. Just let the maps lay in inventory. They can pile up,

How?, you can't bank Dups, unless something has changed. The only way I know to have dups of Survey Reports is to keep them in the Writ Container, and I don't think those can be banked either. I could not the last time I tried, but that was a long time ago.

EDIT I do have about 15 surveys on one character, I will try to bank the dups tonight to see if that can be done now.

Divinius · May 2016

Nestor wrote: »

Now, this non bankable condition would only be until they fixed the exploit, then it can go back to the way it is before.

You and I both know that if they just make them non-bankable, that will be the fix to the exploit.

Case-in-point, there was a dupe glitch with guild banks. To quickly prevent the glitch, they just prevented items from stacking in guild banks.

That was 2 years ago. Guild bank items still don't stack to this day.

I wouldn't be surprised if the current "solution" ends up being the permanent solution. But if they switch from this to the option of making them non-bankable, I will pretty much guarantee that that will be the permanent solution.

paul_j · May 2016

Happened to me yesterday in wrothgar

BenevolentBowd · May 2016

Nestor wrote: »

I have not lost a survey yet, but I have had the map marker go away on my addon a long way away from the survey location.

I read and tried a suggestion on another post: if you use the add-on Lost Treasure, there is a setting to show the markers all the time instead of the just the maps in your inventory.

helediron · May 2016

Nestor wrote: »

helediron wrote: »

I too object binding to character. It is more effective to save the maps to bank and collect the surveys to one character. Just let the maps lay in inventory. They can pile up,

How?, you can't bank Dups, unless something has changed. The only way I know to have dups of Survey Reports is to keep them in the Writ Container, and I don't think those can be banked either. I could not the last time I tried, but that was a long time ago.

EDIT I do have about 15 surveys on one character, I will try to bank the dups tonight to see if that can be done now.

The key is to not worry too much about dups. Dups can't go into bank, but one can always be moved, and that's usually enough. Dups stay in writ box and most of them move to bank next time.

I just let the dups collect up in inventory in writ boxes.When all the characters have enough of them, i make an extra round through characters, save to bank and go harvesting. I think it as a bonus round.

Reversing the order of characters doing writs spread dups more evenly. Finally, if some character really gets repeatedly the same map, use that for farming. This in fact happens rarely. Farm that area first with the one in inventory. Take next from writ box, run away like 100 meters and come back to re-harvest.