kargen27 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

All we want is to spend our game time doing the things we enjoy. A Survey Assistant could give that time to us. I hope ZoS seriously considers this suggestion as it would be very beneficial for a lot of players.

I see this as detrimental to the overall game. Something detrimental to the game isn't beneficial for any player. At it's most base there is an activity that gets players out into different zones. The players are offered a reward for participating in that activity. You want the reward but don't want to participate. A decent solution would be to allow you to sell/trade surveys to a player that believes the reward is worth the effort.

What may be detrimental to one could be a huge quality of life feature to another.

Surveys may get players briefly in different zones but they aren't interacting with each other, because most players gathering surveys are just rushing to get them done.

I spend time every day doing daily writs, so I am participating, and I am not going to sell my surveys to other players.

SilverBride wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

All we want is to spend our game time doing the things we enjoy. A Survey Assistant could give that time to us. I hope ZoS seriously considers this suggestion as it would be very beneficial for a lot of players.

I see this as detrimental to the overall game. Something detrimental to the game isn't beneficial for any player. At it's most base there is an activity that gets players out into different zones. The players are offered a reward for participating in that activity. You want the reward but don't want to participate. A decent solution would be to allow you to sell/trade surveys to a player that believes the reward is worth the effort.

What may be detrimental to one could be a huge quality of life feature to another.

Surveys may get players briefly in different zones but they aren't interacting with each other, because most players gathering surveys are just rushing to get them done.

I spend time every day doing daily writs, so I am participating, and I am not going to sell my surveys to other players.

I didn't say detrimental to a player. I said detrimental to the game. Detrimental to the game is detrimental to us all. I simply do not think it would be good for the game to remove any incentives for players getting out and about in the zones.

I did about 3k surveys over the first few weeks console had addons, between 20-70 of each one so lots of time at each place. Lots of people did the same. With the many hours I spent "out in the world" and with an elevated number of other people there too, I saw 3 or 4 others, most of them also doing bulk surveys they probably wouldn't be doing if it wasnt for recent addons. I'd see questers occasionally if I went past towns but I very much doubt their game would be greatly impacted if they'd missed out on seeing me for the 3 seconds it took to race past. Nobody goes to survey sites except to collect surveys so why do they need to appear full?

And anyway the argument that surveys are needed to make the world look full is a very selective view, because we don't log on just to do surveys. If we didn't have to waste our time with them we would be out in the world doing things we actually enjoy instead, which is a far cry from detrimental to the game.

Being able to trade surveys is a great idea too, but how would that be any different to having an assistant doing them - there would still be massively more surveys being collected and it would have the same effect on mat prices. If any. There hasn't been any change on Playstation even with so many more surveys being done. Generally those of us who hoard surveys aren't the ones selling the mats. If you want to profit from them it's probably a good enough incentive to actually do them.

Either way, if I'm going to trade the surveys for (the cost of) 75% of the mats, why does it have to be to another player? Surely it's better for your argument if that other 25% is removed from the game rather than in the hands of another player.

I personally think a better solution is to be able to gather whole stacks in one go. People will still be out in the world and after the initial burst it would promote hoarding - you aren't saving any time if you do them as you get them.

Most of us don't really care what the solution is tho, we'd just like to see one!

Erickson9610 wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

If you don't want to do them then don't do them. Simple solution to a player created problem.

I will pay ZOS money to have these surveys automatically collected for me. I'm sure ZOS knows this and will consider giving people a way to pay to cut down on the time it takes to collect surveys and treasure maps.

If you don't want to use an Assistant to collect surveys for you, then don't use that Assistant. That's a simple solution to the problem people have with such an Assistant — you can continue going out into old zones to collect surveys. You can be one of the people you want to see in the world.

No that is not a simple solution if you read my objection to the assistant. My objection is it takes away incentive for players to go into different zones leading to those zones feeling more empty. That isn't good for the game. ESO is an MMO and should feel like it.

Population density should not be uniform everywhere. Cities should be more populated than the wilderness, for instance. There is an ongoing war in Cyrodiil, so there should be a lot more players there than in most places. There should be emptier places in the world because it makes the populated places feel genuinely livelier.

Surveys only serve to take time away from other activities to briefly populate predetermined places in the wilderness for 5 seconds or so.


If I were to give a suggestion, it'd be to create some sort of incentive for players to visit towns instead, rather than the wilderness. Maybe Surveys and Treasure Maps could be automatically collected by visiting a special NPC in the main town of that zone? You could pay them a fee in Gold, Writ Vouchers, Alliance Points, or something else to get the rewards.

That way, instead of people riding all the way out into the wilderness, they have the option to quickly port to town and harvest that zone's Surveys and Treasure Maps automatically, which takes less time overall.

Didn't say population should be uniform I said they should include things in the game that makes sure a population exists. Trials only serve to take away from other activities. Treasure maps, antiquities, fishing, dolmans and world bosses only serve to take away from other activities. Surveys take less time than most those activities and give better rewards. So if your statement is true mine is more so.
Surveys need not exist at all if players don't have to venture into the world to complete them.

Surveys are an activity for some players who enjoy them. The same can be said for Trials, Cyrodiil, and anything else that takes up our time.

I highly disagree with the notion of activities that should only exist to get players out into the world. Surveys should still exist even if players weren't required to venture into the wilderness to collect them. To claim that Surveys shouldn't exist at all if the trip was optional is insane — what about all of the people who genuinely do enjoy the treasure hunt?

More options won't hurt. People who want to treasure hunt, can. People who want to pay to skip the treasure hunt, should.


Further, players will always have a reason to look around the wilderness. That's called exploration, and it's something we choose to do in our Elder Scrolls games.

Zones typically have a myriad of things to do like main/side quests, repeatable quests, resource nodes, incursions, and world bosses that players will be in the wilderness for anyway. Surveys are not the last line of defense for ensuring there's always a player in the world.

Besides, sometimes it's nice to explore in a place without other players nearby.

It would be a stretch to say I enjoy doing surveys. It’s an efficient way to get a lot of mats for less time. It makes up for when I can’t spend more time farming mats overland. The downside is I get zero furnishing mats this way. On the other hand, it takes a really long time to farm a significant number of those.

The fact that some players don’t do surveys indicates that normal mats are in plentiful supply now. Furnishing mats are not, and are much more expensive, and vast quantities are needed for housing.

SilverBride wrote: »

One thing I would like to add is that I feel that Endeavors and Golden Pursuits asking to do a survery or harvest so many nodes should only count if the player does them themselves. As much as I want a Survey Assistant to help reduce the daily grind, I don't want it to provide advantages for completing these other features.

If a Deconstruction Assistant counts for deconstructing at any crafting station, then a Survey Assistant should count for completing surveys of any type.

SilverBride wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

One thing I would like to add is that I feel that Endeavors and Golden Pursuits asking to do a survery or harvest so many nodes should only count if the player does them themselves. As much as I want a Survey Assistant to help reduce the daily grind, I don't want it to provide advantages for completing these other features.

If a Deconstruction Assistant counts for deconstructing at any crafting station, then a Survey Assistant should count for completing surveys of any type.

The difference I see is that a Deconstruction Assistant is not gathering our gear and deconstructing it. It is just standing there and we have to bring the gear to them, just like we take it to a crafting station now.

A survey assistant would be seen as going out into the world and doing the actual harvesting.

I mean, if we're going to be paying 5000 Crowns for such an Assistant, it might as well be useful for endeavor tasks. After all, we can buy an Aetherial Well for 3000 Crowns to get the "Use Ultimate Abilities x Times" endeavors done easily.

SilverBride wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

One thing I would like to add is that I feel that Endeavors and Golden Pursuits asking to do a survery or harvest so many nodes should only count if the player does them themselves. As much as I want a Survey Assistant to help reduce the daily grind, I don't want it to provide advantages for completing these other features.

If a Deconstruction Assistant counts for deconstructing at any crafting station, then a Survey Assistant should count for completing surveys of any type.

The difference I see is that a Deconstruction Assistant is not gathering our gear and deconstructing it. It is just standing there and we have to bring the gear to them, just like we take it to a crafting station now.

A survey assistant would be seen as going out into the world and doing the actual harvesting.

I mean, if we're going to be paying 5000 Crowns for such an Assistant, it might as well be useful for endeavor tasks. After all, we can buy an Aetherial Well for 3000 Crowns to get the "Use Ultimate Abilities x Times" endeavors done easily.

I was curious how the Golden Pursuits were worded for deconstructing and found this.

The task says to "Deconstruct 25 items at a Jewelry Crafting Table" but the tooltip says "Deconstruct items using the Jewelry crafting skill". It is the same for all the other Crafts.

So does using a Deconstruction Assistant count for this? If so that should be made clear.

Yes, it counts. All that the game checks for is that a Jewelry Crafting item is deconstructed, and normally the only way to deconstruct one is to do so at a Jewelry Crafting table.

Well, based on the update 47 preview. I don't think an assistant is comming anytime soon.

The devs indicated that the unknown surveys not only stack like the unknown master writs. They are tradeable. Which means you can sell them.

But also with this change i will say, that if ZOS does release such an assistant then I wont argue against it being a crown exclusive. As tradeable surveys I feel can balance the difference between those that can or cant afford the assistant.

To be fair, I didn't want to spend 5000 Crowns on another Assistant, anyway. I'll just let the surveys stack in my inventory until it becomes a problem somewhere down the line. Then I'll start collecting them manually.