Endless Archive vendor leads – unreasonable timeframes?

Virenic · December 2023

There’s been a bit of discussion here and there regarding the leads sold by Filer Ool in the Endless Archive, but I haven’t seen anyone unpack just how player-unfriendly the situation actually is.
Filer Ool is a vendor that changes inventory every week. Filer Ool sells two antiquity leads at a time. These leads currently appear to be sourced only from the pool of composite antiquity leads (i.e. mythics and multi-part furnishings/collectibles).

A breakdown of these leads is included below:

Mythics (130 total leads)

Mythics

(5) Bloodlord's Embrace
(5) Malacath's Band of Brutality
(5) Ring of the Wild Hunt
(5) Snow Treaders
(5) Thrassian Stranglers
(5) Torc of Tonal Constancy
(5) Pearls of Ehlnofey
(5) Ring of the Pale Order
(5) Death Dealer's Fete
(5) Gaze of Sithis
(5) Harpooner's Wading Kilt
(5) Shapeshifter’s Chain
(5) Belharza's Band
(5) Markyn Ring of Majesty
(5) Spaulder of Ruin
(5) Dov-rha Sabatons
(5) Lefthander's Aegis Belt
(5) Mora's Whispers
(5) Oakensoul Ring
(5) Sea-Serpent's Coil
(5) Faun's Lark Cladding
(5) Stormweaver's Cavort
(5) Syrabane's Ward
(5) Cryptcanon Vestments
(5) Esoteric Environment Greaves
(5) Velothi Ur-Mage's Amulet

(130) Total

Composite furnishings - leads found in overworld (35 total leads)

Composite furnishings - leads found in overworld

(15) Blackwood Tapestry
(10) Druidic Provisioning Station
(10) Telvanni Alchemy Station

(35) Total

Composite furnishings - leads found as drops (25 total leads)

Composite furnishings - leads found as drops

(3) Apocryphal Well
(3) Trifold Mirror of Alternatives
(10) Music Box, Glyphic Secrets
(3) Music Box, In Dreams and Memories
(3) Daedric Enchanting Station
(3) Shipbuilder's Woodworking Station

(25) Total

Composite collectibles - leads found as drops (48 total leads)

Composite collectibles - leads found as drops

(10) Barkroot Blessing
(7) Spore Savant Body Marks
(7) Spore Savant Face Marks
(17) Ebon Dwarven Wolf
(7) Dwarven Scarab

(48) Total

Given the 238 possible composite antiquity leads currently available in the game, it will take approximately 2.3 years for each lead to cycle through the vendor. This will only get worse as new content is released and new antiquities are added to the game. For comparison, if the golden had every monster helm and shoulder available in her inventory and cycled through them at equal rates, it would take half as long to cycle through all monster sets.

Some people have pointed out that leads that are readily available by interacting with them in the overland should not be included in Filer Ool’s rotating inventory. I agree with this, however, it would only reduce the total number of eligible leads to 203, meaning it would still take approximately 2 years for each lead to cycle through the vendor (and again, this would still get worse as new antiquities are added).

It’s possible that the leads included in Filer Ool’s rotating inventory are not just limited to composite antiquities, which would compound the issue further. It’s also possible that Filer Ool specifically offers one mythic lead and one lead for a composite furnishing or collectible each week, which would increase the time to cycle through each mythic lead. There’s a limited sample size at the moment so we don’t really know any of this for sure.

I think that, at minimum, the number of leads available from Filer Ool each week should currently be increased to four. Alternatively, it would be great if Filer Ool could sell (at a higher price) a curated lead for an antiquity that you do not currently have all codex entries for. Curious to see what the rest of the community thinks about this.

EdjeSwift · December 2023

Overall, I'm fine with Ool's offerings as is.

The overland interactables aren't great and I'd be fine pulling those. As for the tiny scope of their inventory, that's perfectly fine, Filer Ool isn't supposed to be a replacement or a regular source for leads, they're a supplement and a nice bonus. My signature is antiquities addict and it's true, but I don't feel like we need to push for much more from the filer. I do like the curated idea, but keep it as a random box or something that might be fun, but the price is gonna be high for that.

Araneae6537 · December 2023

I hope it won’t only be composite leads but would rather all leads behind RNG, even if that doesn’t exclude many. I will be sad if I can never buy leads for Echoes of Aldmeris or the Mushroom Classification Book!

And yes, it would be great if he offered a larger selection of leads each week. Personally, I don’t see the point in the public dungeon collectable pieces or the EA fragments that you get by playing (rather I would be glad if there was a way we could trade these in for currency or better the player receives bonus EA currency instead of the EA fragment if they already have the associated collectible).

(Edited for clarity.)

Virenic · December 2023

Just realised that I forgot the new leads from the endless archive (Infinite Tome (3), Vision of Mora (3) and Apocryphal Clothier Station (5) ) so that may add to the number of composite furnishing leads included in Filer Ool's inventory.

EdjeSwift wrote: »

Overall, I'm fine with Ool's offerings as is.

The overland interactables aren't great and I'd be fine pulling those. As for the tiny scope of their inventory, that's perfectly fine, Filer Ool isn't supposed to be a replacement or a regular source for leads, they're a supplement and a nice bonus. My signature is antiquities addict and it's true, but I don't feel like we need to push for much more from the filer. I do like the curated idea, but keep it as a random box or something that might be fun, but the price is gonna be high for that.

I don't know, as a fellow antiquities addict I think it's easy to forget just how hard it must be for new players to catch up on the huge number of antiquities that only continues to grow. As for Filer Ool not being a replacement for the regular sources of leads, I do agree somewhat. But increasing the number of leads offered each week wouldn't really change that either. It would still be significantly faster in the vast majority of cases to simply farm the lead from it's regular source rather than wait for it to be available from the vendor.

Araneae6537 wrote: »

I hope it won’t only be composite leads but would rather all leads behind RNG, even if that doesn’t exclude many. I will be sad if I can never buy leads for Echoes of Aldmeris or the Mushroom Classification Book!

And yes, it would be great if he offered a larger selection of leads each week. Personally, I don’t see the point in the public dungeon collectable pieces or the EA fragments that you get by playing (rather I would be glad if there was a way we could trade these in for currency or they were curated drops once the associated achievements were completed).

It would drive me crazy if those leads were added to the vendor as that would only further dilute its inventory, but I do understand the pain of trying to track down a specific antiquity furnishing. I'm saving my archival fortunes to dump into Telvanni Peninsula treasure maps when they eventually become available (still need a third Mushroom Classification Book before I can start buying them from the achievement furnisher).

I agree that the public dungeon collectibles are a strange choice for the vendor considering just how easy they are to farm these days. I don't mind the EA fragments being sold (although personally I wouldn't consider buying them until I was completely finished with the archive - all set items, all style pages, all achievements, all antiquities - and that's still a while away).

Araneae6537 · December 2023

EdjeSwift wrote: »

Overall, I'm fine with Ool's offerings as is.

The overland interactables aren't great and I'd be fine pulling those. As for the tiny scope of their inventory, that's perfectly fine, Filer Ool isn't supposed to be a replacement or a regular source for leads, they're a supplement and a nice bonus. My signature is antiquities addict and it's true, but I don't feel like we need to push for much more from the filer. I do like the curated idea, but keep it as a random box or something that might be fun, but the price is gonna be high for that.

Not as the primary source, no, and I’d be fine with the price reflecting that. I would pay extra for a lead that’s long alluded me or behind the rare activity I have no desire to do.

katanagirl1 · December 2023

I appreciate having an additional source for leads, I got the Graven Deep one today from Filer Ool. That is not a dungeon I get a chance to run often.

I hope this new source does not excuse the ridiculous grind for getting leads the regular route. I gave up one the ToT lead and hope to get it from EA too. The drop rates should be adjusted when so many players like me just keep farming the leads and they don’t drop, but now they may not change it at all and want us to grind EA instead.

I’ve said this before, but it’s just like putting random furnishing envelopes for purple (or worse, mixed) furnishing plans in dlc areas instead of increasing the drop rate. It’s better than nothing but still a band-aid approach.

YffresTrill · December 2023

I personally think it is.. acceptable, though I would certainly not complain about more weekly offerings.

As someone who despises grinding, especially with:
- multiple layers of RNG behind it
- competition with other players
- necessary grouping

I had given up entirely on filling out the codex as I originally intended (fortunately the lore tidbits, which were the primary motivator, can all be read on UESP thanks to some players with far more tolerance for this sort of thing than I have) until EA was added with the ability to purchase leads with fortunes.

I don't even love EA, but because it can be done entirely solo with no competition with others, and just doing it gains you consistent currency to buy leads with, I might actually be able to fill out the codex eventually. I can be patient!

I do hope they add leads for RNG-based antiquities that are not made up of multiple components, and remove ones that can just be found around and have no RNG element behind them. No idea why anyone thought including the latter was a good idea... this will only confuse people who don't realise they can just find this thing out in the world, causing them to waste fortunes. Not everyone will look up the source beforehand, nor should they be expected to, as this information is not available in-game.

That said, all of this is irrelevant for me personally if I cannot even purchase leads I am eligible to purchase, when this is so time-limited: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/discussion/648336/endless-archive-cannot-purchase-nonreactive-cincture-lead#latest

LunaFlora · December 2023

the overland leads for
- the Telvanni Alchemy Station,
- Druidic Provisioning Station,
- Blackwood Tapestry
aren't otherwise locked behind rng thankfully yes,
but i know even with searching the locations online it still wasn't easy to find them in-game.

more leads available per week would be awesome though.

Sordidfairytale · December 2023

Coffers with leads by source would be fantastic. Grind the game the way you dislike the least.

Only finding those toxic; "this is how you should play, bro" casuals for dungeon leads? Don't relish the idea of lockbox farming leads? Hate the idea of digging through the muck searching for alchemy node leads? Hit up the Archive.