[Suggestion] Survey Stack Multiplier Option for Crafters

TooManyToons · July 17

Hi all,

As a long-time crafter in ESO, I appreciate the ability to stack surveys. Still, having to harvest the same location over and over is frustrating, especially with 30+ surveys.

If you’ve ever had that many, this is the routine:

Harvest the node
Run away to reset it
Return and harvest again
Repeat dozens of times

It becomes tedious and time-consuming.

Proposed improvement:
When players have multiple surveys for the same location, let us harvest once and receive multiplied yield equal to the number of surveys.

Example:
If I have 25 surveys, one harvest gives 25x the materials.

Behind-the-scenes behavior (ideal):

The system loops per survey to simulate an individual harvest
Champion Point procs apply per harvest
Rare materials (e.g., Nirncrux) are rolled per instance
Total results match manual harvesting—just without the repetition

Fallback idea:
If simulation is too heavy, offer it as an optional toggle—letting players choose speed over full RNG stacking.

Why it matters:

Saves significant time
Reduces repetitive gameplay
Maintains loot balance
Improves quality of life without breaking anything

Would love to hear others’ thoughts—it’d be a huge help for crafters buried in survey stacks.

– Tedd (TooManyToons)

SilverBride · July 17

I would love a way to make gathering surveys more efficient and really like this idea.

The only thing I'm not sure about is how this would work with Alchemy since it doesn't spawn the same plants every time.

Desiato · July 17

The problem is addons. It's easy to complete all writs within 1 minute per character. We see during events like the Jubilee in which players get extra rewards, some players will not only do them on all characters, but on multiple accounts.

As a result of years of addons, it's normal for players who do them daily to have a huge number of them saved and they are unmotivated to complete them. Surely that is why you are posting here.

We can call those surveys sequestered. Kind of like sequestered methane that's trapped in permafrost and at risk of being released as the world warms up. Well, if all of those sequestered surveys were released, they would have downstream economic impacts, especially impacting harvesters. Players who enjoy harvesting and earn an income doing that.

We would see a crash in the price of crafting mats that are earned through refining raw mats, but especially gold upgrade mats.

Furthermore, if it were so easy to redeem surveys, then players would be more motivated to grind a greater number of them, resulting in long term economic impacts impacting harvesters and traders -- but especially harvesters.

On top of that, upgrading gear is supposed to be a meaningful activity. I have a lot of gold, but I don't upgrade everything to legendary. When I upgrade a new set, even if it's a set I already have upgraded to gold on another character, it's still exciting to me after 11 years. But should they become even cheaper than they are now.

Finally, grinding writs on addons is TERRIBLE gameplay. It should not be incentivized. I doubt anyone actually enjoys it. They may enjoy the rewards, but not accepting a quests, going station to station pressing e, turning in the quest and letting the addon deliver the mats to their craft bag. But that's what happens in MMOs as we see during gift box events. If the reward is good enough, players will do the most mundane activities imaginable.

So no thank you. It's not currently hard to redeem surveys, even if it may be boring. if it were easier, the tedium would just be moved to another boring activity, grinding writs. The game should encourage us to do fun activities. The kinds of things we imagined when we decided to play a game like these. Even if it was crafting, surely it was not that.

Keep in mind, writs were originally designed to help crafters level crafting skills without adventuring. The rewards were supposed to be for taking the time to complete writs manually. They weren't supposed to be a one stop shop for all of your upgrades.

tl;dr: bad for the economy; bad for harvesters; bad for traders; bad for the health of the game.

DenverRalphy · July 17

Desiato wrote: »

<snipped for brevity>

tl;dr: bad for the economy; bad for harvesters; bad for traders; bad for the health of the game.

^^^^---- All of this and them some.

Despite the negative connotation, Time Sinks are sometimes essential to the health of a game. For a myriad of reasons. Players rarely recognize this though

kargen27 · July 17

Do the surveys before you have so many they become tedious. I don't always follow my own advice but I do try to do them before they really pile up. Usually I'll grab a couple of zones worth and look for players asking for help with a boss or something while I do them.

tomofhyrule · July 17

Out of curiosity, is this suggestion any different than any of the other hundreds of times this exact thing has been suggested?

I have a great secret myself to not letting surveys pile up: I don't make a job out of ESO. I do writs on one character a day, because I can. not. be. bothered to waste time doing the much more. I have a friend who makes it his mission to do (or rather, have Dolgubon's do) 20 characters' worth of writs on NA plus 8 or so on EU every day - he also has a WFH job so he has the luxury of time to do that, and because of the number of writs he gets, he also runs surveys every single day.

If your surveys are piling up too much, you can - I know this is controversial - don't do so many daily writs? Don't make this game a job and then complain that it feel like a job.

SilverBride · July 17

I think this suggestion is different because the OP isn't asking to have the process of gathering surveys to be done by an assistant, or our Companions or anyone other than the player as others have suggested.

All they are asking is that all the surveys for the same exact spot be gathered by the stack rather than having to keep running out of the area and running back to the same exact spot over and over to do them one at a time.

I think it's the most reasonable suggestion for surveys I've seen yet.

DenverRalphy · July 17

SilverBride wrote: »

I think this suggestion is different because the OP isn't asking to have the process of gathering surveys to be done by an assistant, or our Companions or anyone other than the player as others have suggested.

All they are asking is that all the surveys for the same exact spot be gathered by the stack rather than having to keep running out of the area and running back to the same exact spot over and over to do them one at a time.

I think it's the most reasonable suggestion for surveys I've seen yet.

It's still just another "let's cut out the work requirements" idea.

Aliniel · July 17

As someone who does daily writs on 20 characters and (probably) has 1000+ surveys - I think this is a bad idea. There's a huge number of surveys like mine in waiting and the moment this gets implemented the market will flood with cheap mats.

Currently, mats are already very cheap. Probably the cheapest they've ever been. If we get an influx of mats from these surveys, the prices will drop even further.

Even now there's absolutely no reason for a player to pick up an enchanting rune. And I imagine almost no one picks up anything other than jewelry seams. The time you spend picking up a node is just not worth the gold you "earn" in doing so.

These are simply the side effects of having the same endgame materials for a decade.

SilverBride · July 17

DenverRalphy wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I think this suggestion is different because the OP isn't asking to have the process of gathering surveys to be done by an assistant, or our Companions or anyone other than the player as others have suggested.

All they are asking is that all the surveys for the same exact spot be gathered by the stack rather than having to keep running out of the area and running back to the same exact spot over and over to do them one at a time.

I think it's the most reasonable suggestion for surveys I've seen yet.

It's still just another "let's cut out the work requirements" idea.

No, it's not. If a player has 5 blacksmithing surveys that are located at the exact same spot it makes sense that they would gather them all at once.

Just like if we go to the grocery store to buy 5 carrots. We wouldn't go to the produce department and pick up 1 carrot, leave the produce department, then come back and pick up a second carrot, over and over until we get all 5. We would get them all at once.

SilverBride · July 17

Aliniel wrote: »

Even now there's absolutely no reason for a player to pick up an enchanting rune. And I imagine almost no one picks up anything other than jewelry seams.

I gather every type of survey I get every day, not just jewelry seams. And I always run into other players doing the same.

Aliniel · July 17

SilverBride wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I think this suggestion is different because the OP isn't asking to have the process of gathering surveys to be done by an assistant, or our Companions or anyone other than the player as others have suggested.

All they are asking is that all the surveys for the same exact spot be gathered by the stack rather than having to keep running out of the area and running back to the same exact spot over and over to do them one at a time.

I think it's the most reasonable suggestion for surveys I've seen yet.

It's still just another "let's cut out the work requirements" idea.

No, it's not. If a player has 5 blacksmithing surveys that are located at the exact same spot it makes sense that they would gather them all at once.

Doesn't matter how you frame it, you're cutting down the work required to do the surveys. The forums are overflowing with these requests.

So, yes:

It's still just another "let's cut out the work requirements" idea.

SilverBride · July 17

Aliniel wrote: »

Doesn't matter how you frame it, you're cutting down the work required to do the surveys. The forums are overflowing with these requests.

So, yes:

It's still just another "let's cut out the work requirements" idea.

We need to just agree to disagree.

Mayrael · July 17

To those opposing this idea:

- Isn’t curating loot the same kind of time-saver, since you don’t have to farm the same boss a million times to get the desired drop?
- Isn’t the ability to change traits also a time-saver?
- Aren’t Experience Scrolls a time-saver, as they reduce the time needed to level up?

It seems to me (though I can’t be certain... but nevertheless I’m almost sure someone who religiously collects 1000 surveys and loves running back and forth to reset every node will show up and will oppose the idea) that most negative opinions come from people who aren’t affected by the issue but just don’t want others to have an easier time.

Mayrael · July 17

One more thing. By opposing this change, you think it’s good for the economy because people with huge stacks of surveys aren’t collecting them. Wrong. Most people I know with large amounts of surveys collect them anyway (about 95% of those players). They just waste time doing it, so the claim about a “negative impact on the economy” is nonsense.

Not long ago, everyone was whining because one dreugh wax cost 20k. Now, suddenly, its dropping price is a problem? Make up your minds.

Aliniel · July 17

- Isn’t curating loot the same kind of time-saver, since you don’t have to farm the same boss a million times to get the desired drop?
- Isn’t the ability to change traits also a time-saver?
- Aren’t Experience Scrolls a time-saver, as they reduce the time needed to level up?

Surverys and mats from them have an impact on the economy of the game.

that most negative opinions come from people who aren’t affected by the issue but just don’t want others to have an easier time

I am affected. I have 1000+ surveys right now sitting in my bags.

I really don't understand people sometimes. One day they cry about not having things to do in game, the other about making something faster, automated, simple. Well, it's a game. You play, you get rewarded. Yes, it can be boring, but that's just the way it is.

What people with these suggestions are asking for is, almost but not quite, "give me free loot for doing nothing". Well, it's not how things work.

Pro tip: play a podcast, a TV show, or a movie, and collect your surveys. You're on autopilot anyway.

Mayrael · July 17

Aliniel wrote: »

- Isn’t curating loot the same kind of time-saver, since you don’t have to farm the same boss a million times to get the desired drop?
- Isn’t the ability to change traits also a time-saver?
- Aren’t Experience Scrolls a time-saver, as they reduce the time needed to level up?

Surverys and mats from them have an impact on the economy of the game.

that most negative opinions come from people who aren’t affected by the issue but just don’t want others to have an easier time

I am affected. I have 1000+ surveys right now sitting in my bags.

I really don't understand people sometimes. One day they cry about not having things to do in game, the other about making something faster, automated, simple. Well, it's a game. You play, you get rewarded. Yes, it can be boring, but that's just the way it is.

What people with these suggestions are asking for is, almost but not quite, "give me free loot for doing nothing". Well, it's not how things work.

Pro tip: play a podcast, a TV show, or a movie, and collect your surveys. You're on autopilot anyway.

See I knew someone like you would come. Curating drops and traits swaps had impact on economy but maybe youre to short with us to remember it. I see you're here with us longer than I am then I can't understand why you cherry pick arguments. Don't you remember how expensive was gear with certain traits and type? E.g. sharpened/precise flame staves etc.? How it is different from surveys which are collected anyway it's just more tedious.

Oh, and btw I know how to kill the time spent on collecting surveys, I do them usually when I get to something around 2k and watch movies or listen to an audiobook (it's more time saving than doing them each day - if you compare time needed to get to node from wayshrine and to reset node in most cases youre better with resetting).

darkriketz · July 17

SilverBride wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I think this suggestion is different because the OP isn't asking to have the process of gathering surveys to be done by an assistant, or our Companions or anyone other than the player as others have suggested.

All they are asking is that all the surveys for the same exact spot be gathered by the stack rather than having to keep running out of the area and running back to the same exact spot over and over to do them one at a time.

I think it's the most reasonable suggestion for surveys I've seen yet.

It's still just another "let's cut out the work requirements" idea.

No, it's not. If a player has 5 blacksmithing surveys that are located at the exact same spot it makes sense that they would gather them all at once.

Just like if we go to the grocery store to buy 5 carrots. We wouldn't go to the produce department and pick up 1 carrot, leave the produce department, then come back and pick up a second carrot, over and over until we get all 5. We would get them all at once.

I have 6 characters, I complete the daily writs with all of them every day, it usually doesn't take much time (except today for whatever reasons related to loading screens), and it really takes me time to get as many as five identical survey maps. To be honest it never happens, I collect the materials before, the maxium I've ever reached was 3 identical maps. How many characters and how many daily writs do you need to pile up survey maps this quickly ?

To those in favor of the idea, no need to be patronizing. You've been clearly explained the reason this idea is bad and just another way to not play the game. Last time I saw a post about someone willing to earn much gold from these surveys without actually taking the time to do what's necessary to deserve that gold was... what, three weeks ago, maybe a little more...

Again, my thanks to the remarkable DenverRalphy for the useful and relevant answers to the matter.

lillybit · July 17

It might come as a surprise to some, but there are other servers besides PC!

On Playstation we've been doing our writs for years without the aid of addons, so blaming them for making it too easy is an oversimplification. People who want to do writs will do them anyway and addons are just a time saver. I know it's still early days but I haven't noticed anyone who wasn't doing them already rushing to start.

Our mats are definitely not "cheap enough already." Since ZoS has managed to cut down on bots, you're actually lucky to find any on sale at all. After years of stockpiling surveys and buying mats instead because they're so awful to do, I'm taking advantage of addons making them marginally easier to stock up, not for profit but because I have to. It's the only way I can do the writs in the first place without the time saver of guild traders.

Would it have an impact on PC economy? Probably. But once everyone burns through their stores in the initial excitement, there won't be all that much difference; people will either do them straight away with no noticeable difference or do a stack every now and then when they have to, with a much reduced time sink. People that hate doing them will still hate doing them and still do the minimum they can get away with.

On the other hand, Playstation and (I'm assuming!) Xbox will be massively improved by a change like this. I'll be able to coast again on other people's effort and go back to ignoring them

Yökarhu · July 17

Free loot for doing nothing? Mate you do know how ridiculously difficult it is to accumulate gold on this game if you are casual player? If I play for eso+ and get them overpriced content passes I just wanna play the game the way it brings me joy. Running back and forth with materialnodes it not it.

If we have many surveys on the sama node, just let us have the option to merge them together. It can't be that hard really. If not all, then like 10 max. It would still cut the running time.
If they are alchemical, the game can just randomly choose one of them to be the template to all merged. I have 18 characters I do writs daily and crafting is the best part of the game for me. The surveys are important for my trading, but it is not a good game design to make ppl leave the area and then return to force respawn and pend their time like this. It takes about an hour to do the writs and horse trainging (and random daily dungeon for the low lvl characters)for all my characters and not gonna run the surveys after that. I wanna actually play the content I enjoy

I do surveys usually once a month or so, when I am mentally prepared for the bordom.

Imagine if this could be avoided and ppl could focus on the fun part.

Kawagane · July 17

Another option is to have a companion or assistant who accepts between 5/8 surveys each day per account and brings us the materials the following day (20-hour cooldown). This saves time for regular players, has a limited impact on trade, and ZOS makes money.

darkriketz · July 17

Kawagane wrote: »

Another option is to have a companion or assistant who accepts between 5/8 surveys each day per account and brings us the materials the following day (20-hour cooldown). This saves time for regular players, has a limited impact on trade, and ZOS makes money.

And we're back to the previous proposition that was made, DenverRalphy and I already saw it, there was a debate and it already was a bad idea in the first place (https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/680053/crafting-survey-assistant/p1)

I don't know how many times it will be needed to repeat it but : if you have too many survey maps, don't complete daily writs that often. If you want to get materials from a survey spot, go on the location pick it up.
If you don't want to do that, you get nothing, that's the thing, crafting involves both the making and the collecting.

Yökarhu · July 17

That can't really be the solution.

"Just don't do them".
They bring gold and exp, not just surveys. The game should change the way we could get gold and materials (i get about 100k a day just by doing the writs), not just us not do the content that gets boring. If many ppl are complaining that the current system does not work well, why not try to improve it? If it doesn't effect you, it changing shouldn't matter to you then. Merging surveys together or making the looting faster doesn't crash the economy. I already did the work by doing the writs.

darkriketz · July 17

Yökarhu wrote: »

That can't really be the solution. "Just don't do them".
They bring gold and exp, not just surveys. The game should change the way we could get gold and materials (i get about 100k a day just by doing the writs), not just us not do the content that gets boring. If many ppl are complaining that the current system does not work well, why not try to improve it? If it doesn't effect you, it changing shouldn't matter to you then. Merging surveys together or making the looting faster doesn't crash the economy. I already did the work by doing the writs.

100k everyday and you can't afford to buy the materials that you need for the daily writs ?
Oh man, these materials must be SO expensive O_O

No seriously, it's mathematical, the more crafters you have, the more materials you need because you don't get enough with the daily supply to craft so many items everyday. But again, if you want to get rid of the survey maps problems, slow down on the daily writs. If you can't find a balance between what you spend and what you earn, it's because you're spending too much material.

twisttop138 · July 17

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

<snipped for brevity>

tl;dr: bad for the economy; bad for harvesters; bad for traders; bad for the health of the game.

^^^^---- All of this and them some.

Despite the negative connotation, Time Sinks are sometimes essential to the health of a game. For a myriad of reasons. Players rarely recognize this though

I couldn't care less, personally, for the price of crafting mats or how much gold people can make. When I need stuff I just go out and get it, or if I have to buy it why wouldn't I want it cheap. That said though, I think you touch on something very important. The health of the game. It takes many different kinds of players to make up a healthy mmo. While I might not care about people making gold, many do, so tanking their economy wouldn't be good for the health of the game. Also, what you said. Time sinks. This is an mmorpg. I've been playing MMOs, probably like many here, for many years. Time sinks are what keep people invested. Logging in. Finishing the grind for that damn lucent echos shield or the MA 2h. The little acorns that drop from the public dungeon. Harvesting enough mats to hold your gear. Making enough gold to finally finish that one horse you've been working on since 2017, come on beautiful wife it's gonna look amazing lol. These are the things that keep us coming back even though people may not like it. Yes doing surveys are part of that. I dislike them but I do them occasionally. Now with PS5 add-ons it's easier then ever. So while I know that none of our opinions, like dislikes or votes mean anything to the devs, and I cringe when I read people saying this in these forums, my votes no.

whitecrow · July 17

SilverBride wrote: »

Just like if we go to the grocery store to buy 5 carrots. We wouldn't go to the produce department and pick up 1 carrot, leave the produce department, then come back and pick up a second carrot, over and over until we get all 5. We would get them all at once.

Then think of the survey as a shopping list that you are meant to do as soon as you can. You wouldn't let multiple shopping lists pile up.

MJallday · July 17

i intentionally let them pile up

then i use the fast travel to a house and exit, rather than running away

quicker innit

emerald_owl · July 17

I'd suggest a new skill line like harvesting. Which could be leveled only while harvesting. And as an ultimate an ability to collect N surveys at once for example.

DenverRalphy · July 17

Mayrael wrote: »

It seems to me (though I can’t be certain... but nevertheless I’m almost sure someone who religiously collects 1000 surveys and loves running back and forth to reset every node will show up and will oppose the idea) that most negative opinions come from people who aren’t affected by the issue but just don’t want others to have an easier time.

Care to take a guess at how many surveys I have in my bank at any given time? Or how many surveys I knock out every weekend?

EldarOfSuburbia · July 17

I do writs every day on 10 toons, and dig up surveys every Sunday. I could use addons for the daily writs, but don't, so maybe it takes me a bit longer. But, doing the writs also involves a visit to the trader (and the vampire has to go in the Outlaws Refuge for that) and the bank (including guild bank), addons can't automate that. I save up the surveys through the week, and collect them all on Sunday afternoons. Of course I'm not just zipping from survey to survey, I'm running everywhere hitting nodes and whatever else along the way, and scrying, and the odd drive-by dolmen or WB.

Most I've ever stacked of a single survey is 3. I don't ever recall getting 4 or more. And honestly, the tedium for me is not the running around resetting the survey, it's getting to some of them in the first place. Jewelry survey in Shadowfen, anyone? Make it faster/easier to get to the spots, something like custom wayshrines or mark/recall.

SilverBride · July 17

whitecrow wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Just like if we go to the grocery store to buy 5 carrots. We wouldn't go to the produce department and pick up 1 carrot, leave the produce department, then come back and pick up a second carrot, over and over until we get all 5. We would get them all at once.

Then think of the survey as a shopping list that you are meant to do as soon as you can. You wouldn't let multiple shopping lists pile up.

I don't let them pile up. I do my daily writs, then my main crafter does all the master writs I got that day (I only do alchemy, enchanting and provisioning ones and sell the others), then I do all the surveys I got that day.

Sometimes I get duplicates and I find it illogical that I can't pick up 2 surveys that are in the exact same spot together. It doesn't make sense to have to run away from the area and come back for them.