Quests can be completed together - randomly chosen?

strebor2095 · February 2017

Is there a sort of system or logic behind what parts of quest objectives can be done per person in your group, and which ones you can all contribute to?

E.g.,

1) in the Alik'r Desert public dungeon quest where you need to gather relics, if you are grouped up with someone you can't share relic drops. You each need to go and get the items, (which vanish after one person gets them!) making the quest take actually longer to do in a group!

2) In the Craglorn Mage questline (The Shattered and the Lost), where you have to gather the sight gems - each person needs to grab all 3! It would make far more sense to split your group up into 3 people, and then go and get them altogether.

So yeah, is there any sort of logic behind this system? I get they don't want people to just be able to group up and get free quest turn ins - gating the quest by stages seems like a reasonable in-between (For the Shattered and the Lost, if you want to get to Elinhir quest bit you need to do all the prereq parts, but if someone is gathering sight gems in your group, you don't need to get them. Or having to talk to the NPC for each quest stage update is another way to stop people from getting free quest completion)

For an MMO, it seems especially difficult to do stuff in multiplayer - you can't really work as a group, its just a bunch of people fighting in the same area sharing EXP.

Turelus · February 2017

At launch the game was entirely solo, when grouped objectives such as "loot x" or "interact with y" were entirely solo and each had to do it alone.

Shared quest objective completion was added later but not fully or in a way which works entirely well.

ESO has very poor group based questing mechanics, but as most people play quests solo I don't think ZOS has any real desire to invest the time in an overhaul.

pattyLtd · February 2017

I'm pretty sure point 2 is changed since 1T.

I remember only being able to pick up 1of the gems but they made craglorn "solo friendly" i suppose this is part of that change.

For quests In general it works better if quests are shared by one that picks them up from the quest giver.
Hope that helps

strebor2095 · February 2017

@Turelus , I know! That's why it confuses me that some quests can be done with friends, and others cannot. Who went over the system and arbitrarily checked some stages in each quest? I was wondering if its systemic, but it appears not to be.

I would have thought that with 1T encouraging low and high level players to quest together, that they would have made it work consistently. I often go into a main zone questline place and group up with someone lagging behind me, so we both get boss kills and stuff, but then I have to wait for them to finish solving a puzzle, or they have to wait for me to activate a lever that was already pressed by them.

Do you know if there is anyone at ZOS who does quest related information specifically? I'd love to have a list of quests that can be done with friends, so I can tell my mates to do the other ones solo to catch up!

@pattyLtd I remember in 1T before you each needed one of the elemental infusions for Spellscar, and now you can get them all on one character. I don't recall the sight gems

And yet, for some quests there's no way to see if someone accepts it! You have to get them to check if they already have it, abandon it, then resend it!