The Problem with Event Boxes

FlopsyPrince · May 2019

The problem with the event boxes is that it has so few of the key yellow motifs. I find I am getting a fair number of purple motifs across my 8 crafters (NA server), but far fewer yellow drops than in Week 1. (I gave away a bunch of Prophet ones then and I still have several around. Annoying to get them instead of the others.)

Getting the other purple motifs is a good thing, but the failure to get most of the yellow ones ends up making the whole effort seem far less worthwhile than it would otherwise. That means that ZOS isn't getting the good feelings it is probably aiming at with this event.

I would suggest a few changes in the future:

- Find a good balance between the overabundance in Week 1 and the nerf levels since.
- Make it more likely I will get a yellow motif I don't have if I get one a box rather than a dupe of what I do have.
- Have the yellow motif tell me if I do or do not already have it when it is viewed. Why should these behave differently than the others?
- Give me an easier way in game to track which special (yellow) motifs I still need. I have bought a couple on guild vendors that I already had since my Notepad list got out of sync since I hadn't been to the event vendor for a while.

I did finally give in and spend a chunk of gold to buy the ones I still needed, but it was much more expensive than I wanted. I will probably get a bunch to drop now, but I am going to hold those for a bit until we are a bit far out and they will be worth at least something on a guild vendor. Though my bag space is crying because of it.

Vildebill · May 2019

Guild stores are flooded with style pages, and they are cheap. Just buy them if you're unlucky to get them yourself.

And I totally agree that you should be able to see if you've learned a style page or not.

AndyMac · May 2019

I suspect the drop was increased significantly for the final week.

The prices I am seeing in my NA PC tier 2 trade guild have cratered from last week.

russelmmendoza · May 2019

I have been doing bg all this anniversary.
Except when momma lyris style event.
I did not get any style from event boxes.
When I was hunting for titanborn, just love that name, lyris style pages I only got 2 or 3, baught 4 lyris style pages in the impressario.

lientier · May 2019

well I would be really happy if you would be able to put them in the bank to get them from one character to another (for trading, not selling, I know learning is accountwide)

MikaHR · May 2019

Just use guild store for that list it for 1g -> cancel and pick up mail on whatever character you want.

lientier · May 2019

MikaHR wrote: »

Just use guild store for that list it for 1g -> cancel and pick up mail on whatever character you want.

good idea

p_tsakirisb16_ESO · May 2019

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

The problem with the event boxes is that it has so few of the key yellow motifs. I find I am getting a fair number of purple motifs across my 8 crafters (NA server), but far fewer yellow drops than in Week 1. (I gave away a bunch of Prophet ones then and I still have several around. Annoying to get them instead of the others.)

Getting the other purple motifs is a good thing, but the failure to get most of the yellow ones ends up making the whole effort seem far less worthwhile than it would otherwise. That means that ZOS isn't getting the good feelings it is probably aiming at with this event.

I would suggest a few changes in the future:

- Find a good balance between the overabundance in Week 1 and the nerf levels since.
- Make it more likely I will get a yellow motif I don't have if I get one a box rather than a dupe of what I do have.
- Have the yellow motif tell me if I do or do not already have it when it is viewed. Why should these behave differently than the others?
- Give me an easier way in game to track which special (yellow) motifs I still need. I have bought a couple on guild vendors that I already had since my Notepad list got out of sync since I hadn't been to the event vendor for a while.

I did finally give in and spend a chunk of gold to buy the ones I still needed, but it was much more expensive than I wanted. I will probably get a bunch to drop now, but I am going to hold those for a bit until we are a bit far out and they will be worth at least something on a guild vendor. Though my bag space is crying because of it.

A certain Nord losing her pants more often than my Khajiit use moonsugar on their food

barney2525 · May 2019

I thought the problem with the boxes is that they are a 'meh' beige color

8)

barney2525 · May 2019

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

The problem with the event boxes is that it has so few of the key yellow motifs. I find I am getting a fair number of purple motifs across my 8 crafters (NA server), but far fewer yellow drops than in Week 1. (I gave away a bunch of Prophet ones then and I still have several around. Annoying to get them instead of the others.)

Getting the other purple motifs is a good thing, but the failure to get most of the yellow ones ends up making the whole effort seem far less worthwhile than it would otherwise. That means that ZOS isn't getting the good feelings it is probably aiming at with this event.

I would suggest a few changes in the future:

- Find a good balance between the overabundance in Week 1 and the nerf levels since.
- Make it more likely I will get a yellow motif I don't have if I get one a box rather than a dupe of what I do have.
- Have the yellow motif tell me if I do or do not already have it when it is viewed. Why should these behave differently than the others?
- Give me an easier way in game to track which special (yellow) motifs I still need. I have bought a couple on guild vendors that I already had since my Notepad list got out of sync since I hadn't been to the event vendor for a while.

I did finally give in and spend a chunk of gold to buy the ones I still needed, but it was much more expensive than I wanted. I will probably get a bunch to drop now, but I am going to hold those for a bit until we are a bit far out and they will be worth at least something on a guild vendor. Though my bag space is crying because of it.

I tried that with Charity writs

Not a good idea

Once the event passes, no one is looking for them anymore

albesca · May 2019

What about making the style pages bankable?
Trading them is a pain cause when I see somebody in chat asking for a trade that might interest me I'm never on the right character

Skwor · May 2019

Vildebill wrote: »

Guild stores are flooded with style pages, and they are cheap. Just buy them if you're unlucky to get them yourself.

And I totally agree that you should be able to see if you've learned a style page or not.

You can see just go to one of the event dealers and look at the style pages, if red you already have.

Acharnor · May 2019

Oh yes - I wish it would tell me if I had learned it or not. I find this little pesky thing very annoying.

VaranisArano · May 2019

I'm not seeing the same trend with Style Pages as the OP.

With 9 characters, here's my (admittedly not statisically significant) data from doing crafting writs:

Week 1
71 motifs/435 Writs (16%)
29 Prophet pages /435 Writs (6.6%)

Week 5
58 motifs/ 383 dailies (15%)
47 style pages/ 383 dailies (12%)

So its possible that I'm just getting fantastically lucky with the Style Pages drop rates, getting twice the number I did from Week 1 percentage wise.

Or maybe ZOS increased the drop rate.

AlnilamE · May 2019

I feel like the drop rate is similar than week 1, it's just that now we are getting 4 style page types.

Also, because we are missing fewer than we were, we tend to disregard the ones we already have as less useful.

And we have 3 and a half days to go.

ghastley · May 2019

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

- Have the yellow motif tell me if I do or do not already have it when it is viewed. Why should these behave differently than the others?

Is there any reason not to just use one when you get it? It either adds to your entire account's knowledge, or it doesn't, and nothing happens. A style page is not like a regular motif chapter, which is specific to the character reading it, so there's nothing you need a warning about.

What I'm missing is an easy way to determine what ones I don't have yet, short of visiting the Impresario during week 5.

Kiralyn2000 · May 2019

Yeah, I had less motif pages the last 2-3 days, and what feels like piles of Styles (many of them dupes).

...my one character had 4 different Prophet pages in a single day's writs. That would have been a nice drop, in the first week.

tmbrinks · May 2019

Statements like this are useless, without actual tracked data to back it up. Otherwise it is anecdotal, and we humans are absolutely terrible at tracking data anecdotally.

One person has provided hard, tracked data, showing that there has not been a reduction in drop rate. Thanks @VaranisArano

As far as knowing which ones you don't have... I agree that should be more easily accessible, rather than having to go to the Impressario or checking your style tab.

Vapirko · May 2019

The problem with free stuff is... nothing, it’s free.

Oreyn_Bearclaw · May 2019

Based on my limited sample size, it seems pretty clear that they reduced the drop rates of yellow style pages. It does make sense, however, if you ask me. Obviously writs allow people to get more boxes than just about every other activity combined, at least assuming we have limited time. The prophet pages were so abundant you that you couldn't even give them away in zone. I had over 50 spare pages. Meanwhile, the other pages were selling for 5 figures and up.

I am assuming they didnt want to completely tank the market on this, even though practically speaking, they already have. We are about halfway through, and I only need a handful of pages at this point, and I didnt get a single box since week one. They are still dropping, and I already have enough to trade for the pages I need (just dealing with duplicates).

End of the day, it's all free stuff. I already got a cypher and millions in mats and motifs. No complaints from me.

Ye_Olde_Crowe · May 2019

My weeks 1+3/week 5 style/motif page drops seem to be pretty similar. Not statistically significant, either, but still: My two crafters make about 25* boxes/day, with about...
...3 style pages
...4 motif pages
...3 purple furniture recipes.
I cannot compare the drops to those of week 4 because I did not do any mission there, and I was too lazy to do much in week 2.

_______________________________
*My main character also does Cyrodiil board/town quests, but he doesn't fight other players. - This would seem like the right time and place to send kudos to the yellow player who stopped attacking me today when I tried to retake Vlastarus all by myself on Sheogorath!
I despawned all my pets when they attacked me, and then I perma-blocked to show that I didn't seek a fight - I just wanted to turn in my last quest but couldn't enter the building due to the flag guards attacking me. This player could have done me in easily, but they let me be. Thanks again.

luen79rwb17_ESO · May 2019

Companion style pages are technically free now. Prices are tanking. Wormcult motif tho...

UrQuan · May 2019

I think you're getting style pages and motifs mixed up in your original post, which makes it somewhat confusing to read, because there are gold style pages and gold motifs, and they aren't the same thing (although they're similar).

Style pages are containers that, when opened, unlock a style for a specific item that can then be applied at an outfit station by any character on your account. If your account has already unlocked that style, then no characters on your account can open another container with the same style page.

Motifs are not containers, and when you read one it both unlocks the style for that item so that it can be applied at an outfit station by any character on your account, and also grants the character that read it the ability to craft items in that style. Additionally, it counts towards that character's achievements, grants a (very small) amount of XP, and impacts the chances of that character receiving master writs from turning in max-tier Clothing, Blacksmithing, and Woodworking writs. Multiple characters on the same account can all read the same motif, because it's not just an account-wide unlock, and has other effects specific to the character that reads it. Gold motifs are extremely rare, with the Imperial motif being probably the most common one (I've had 1 drop in 5 years), and others being full book versions of motifs that are usually broken up into 14 individual purple motif pages.

So from context I assume you're talking about style pages when you say gold motifs, but using the wrong terminology makes it a little confusing, because at first I thought you were actually talking about gold motifs.

Arunei · May 2019

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Based on my limited sample size, it seems pretty clear that they reduced the drop rates of yellow style pages.

Except they didn't. People seem to forget the 'random' part of the RNG that determines if you get a Companion drop or not. People were getting fewer boxes Weeks 2-4 which obviously results in fewer boxes overall, which in turn should obviously mean fewer chances to get the stuff inside the boxes, including Companion motifs. When you add in the RNG that ZOS loves so darn much for whatever reason, that's why it seemed the drop rates had been lowered. People were getting Prophet pages out the butt during the first week because of slews of crafting writs that are relatively easy and fast to do.

Seriously, why do so many people believe ZOS stealth-nerfed the drop rates when it's clearly a matter of people not having been getting as many boxes aside from Weeks 1 and 5? If ZOS had changed something they'd have made mention of it somewhere; they don't go in and nerf or buff drops or whatever on things unless something is happening more or less often than intended. Now people seem to believe the drop rates have been increased this week when they're the same as they were, it just feels like it's been bumped up because people are getting scores of boxes again.

Krec · May 2019

I have all the companion styles and didn't even do week four. We still have till thursday, and prices have cratered. So, I suspect you can buy everything you need for 10k or less now.

ManwithBeard9 · May 2019

lientier wrote: »

well I would be really happy if you would be able to put them in the bank to get them from one character to another (for trading, not selling, I know learning is accountwide)

You can also mail them to a friend and tell them to RTS (Return To Sender) that way you dont have to worry about someone buying them while your swapping characters.

tmbrinks · May 2019

ManwithBeard9 wrote: »

lientier wrote: »

well I would be really happy if you would be able to put them in the bank to get them from one character to another (for trading, not selling, I know learning is accountwide)

You can also mail them to a friend and tell them to RTS (Return To Sender) that way you dont have to worry about someone buying them while your swapping characters.

You don't have to swap. Just list and immediately cancel. They "return" the item via your mail. You can then pick up the mail on any other character.

Jayne_Doe · May 2019

Ye_Olde_Crowe wrote: »

My weeks 1+3/week 5 style/motif page drops seem to be pretty similar. Not statistically significant, either, but still: My two crafters make about 25* boxes/day, with about...
...3 style pages
...4 motif pages
...3 purple furniture recipes.

You've gotten purple furniture recipes? In the hundreds of boxes I've opened, I haven't seen a single purple furniture plan, so I had assumed they weren't dropping. I've gotten a good number of blue ones, though.

JadeCoin · May 2019

Jayne_Doe wrote: »

Ye_Olde_Crowe wrote: »

My weeks 1+3/week 5 style/motif page drops seem to be pretty similar. Not statistically significant, either, but still: My two crafters make about 25* boxes/day, with about...
...3 style pages
...4 motif pages
...3 purple furniture recipes.

You've gotten purple furniture recipes? In the hundreds of boxes I've opened, I haven't seen a single purple furniture plan, so I had assumed they weren't dropping. I've gotten a good number of blue ones, though.

Yes, I've gotten a few purple furniture recipes as well. One Alinor windowbox, one Argonian ceremonial drum, and another that I can't recall off the top of my head.

Kiralyn2000 · May 2019

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

Yeah, I had less motif pages the last 2-3 days, and what feels like piles of Styles (many of them dupes).

Meanwhile, today I had (56 boxes) 7 motifs & 7 style pages.

"RNG is _____"

FlopsyPrince · May 2019

UrQuan wrote: »

I think you're getting style pages and motifs mixed up in your original post, which makes it somewhat confusing to read, because there are gold style pages and gold motifs, and they aren't the same thing (although they're similar).

I have not gotten a single gold style page the entire event, only the special motifs. I have only gotten purple style pages.

Vildebill wrote: »

Guild stores are flooded with style pages, and they are cheap. Just buy them if you're unlucky to get them yourself.

The stores were not flooded. I may very well have paid more than I should have (idiotic guild store system was no help), but I could not find a few ones (especially Sai's) less than 20K each.

AndyMac wrote: »

I suspect the drop was increased significantly for the final week.

Not when comparing the results from doing crafting dailies in Week 1 and Week 5.

I have yet to see anyone giving away Sai's, for example, unlike the Prophet ones.

albesca wrote: »

What about making the style pages bankable?
Trading them is a pain cause when I see somebody in chat asking for a trade that might interest me I'm never on the right character

That is a major part of the problem. Not stacking as well. They made them be a container unlike the Styles. Poor choice there.