I don't understand the point of "Favours"

Vrienda · July 27

Okay having now finished them (Except Arabelle's bugged one)

Yeah that was kinda pointless. The letters were pretty poorly written for the context we received them in and the stories never really felt gripping to begin with. Urcelmo's kinda were but half way through it felt like both we and the writer realised 'Oh damn he probably shouldn't be saying this to some random Merc he's never talked to or gotten a letter back from' and it all just kinda fell apart. This was even more baffling when Holguun's quest revealed that these questgivers knew our name and just chose not to mention our past or anything of the sort? Why were we treated like strangers, I've helped all three of these guys plenty.

Gameplay wise it was nice to have something structured to do every day and that final quest felt like one of those 'Oh we might get a special quest every now and then'. Only for it to end up being the last. Also the tasks we got had nothing to do with the content of the letters which also felt kinda de-synchronous (I'm pulling this word out of nowhere, I'm 90% sure there's a better way to describe it but it's not coming to mind. Still, you get the point) to the whole experience

Reward wise it was a nice way to collect missing set pieces and antiquities as someone who did all those zones long before either of those systems were a thing, I missed quite a bit since I was unwilling to go back.

Also am I the only one who finds Arabelle extremely annoying in how she presents herself? I don't know what it is she just rubs me the wrong way, like the writers are trying too hard to make her seem cool and likeable and it's having the opposite effect. Urcelmo feels extremely incompetent and Holguun's tasks being 'get me beer and meat a lot' made me kinda suspect him of being a bit of a glutton but otherwise he's kinda dull.

If these are going to continue, pick better characters, write more interesting stories and maybe add a small currency reward for tamriel tomes or something (Lower than event quests. And for goodness sake give that shop some actual rewards so it's not all greyed out). I hate to say it but this really does feel like something thrown together by an intern which, if so, isn't bad for a first piece of work. But I feel a senior should have gone over it and touched it up a bit before putting it out to the public.

Syldras · July 27

As a general conclusion: I'm not against Favors as a system. I just wished there was more variety when it comes to the tasks, and less generic stuff, and most of all not endless repetitions already within only a few days. I guess even the "kill random delve boss" tasks weren't that bad if there was 1 or maybe 2 of these within 20 days, and not the current amount. Also, I think even a bit of npc interaction of some sort, within some of these tasks, would make the whole thing feel more interesting and actually more like playing a TES rpg. Doesn't even have to be much, just one or two lines with an npc somewhere within some of the tasks, once every few days. It would be better than always just running from box to box and already knowing you won't be talking to any character for the next 20 days anyway (which, for me, immediately makes the whole Favor system much more boring and chore-like).

And most of all, I'd like to see more care going into the letters. If the main motivation for doing these chores is to get to know the questgiver better (and I think this is the supposed purpose, considering we also get their portrait as a housing item as the big final reward), then these letters need to be written in a way that not only actually tells an interesting, logically congruent story, but also somehow evoke feelings, and a believable characterization of the questgiver is needed for that, something that actually makes us care for them and get the feeling that our character deepens their friendship with them. Which isn't really achieved by remaining (or being treated like) strangers all the time, and making the letters so weird that our impression of the questgivers actually gets worse, not better.

Elvenheart · July 28

What I think would be fun is if someone (or someones)who enjoys riding and knows these characters pretty well would write 20 letters in the player generated content area that we could all read and pretend those were the letters that we read during Favors. 😊

Or, it could be a community effort someone could start with a letter that someone else picks up with and does the next one, etc., until an entire cohesive story is told by the final letter.

Oh, ZOS could’ve had a contest and picked the 20 top letters submitted by players! It did not have to be a cohesive story but just 20 well written letters that really got into the lore and really felt like they were really written by the patron.

Usureki · July 28

Oh my god these Freerunner quests are so tiring and lame... I like the concept, I don't even mind if these are a bit grindy, but the quality of the implementation is just below any expectations, the writing, the rewards, the content its so... 2000s tech or just vibe coded [snip].

AzuraFan · July 28

When I went to pick up a favour in Skywatch today, I was disappointed to discover that the quests are no longer available once you've completed 20. I thought they'd continue, just with no letter. Oh well.

(I liked them just for something to do, and because the reward coffers dropped leads.)

Ingenon · July 28

AzuraFan wrote: »

When I went to pick up a favour in Skywatch today, I was disappointed to discover that the quests are no longer available once you've completed 20. I thought they'd continue, just with no letter. Oh well.

(I liked them just for something to do, and because the reward coffers dropped leads.)

Thank you so much for posting this!

Nowhere keys are not dropping for my account from anything except from Favours (1 key for each 10 complete quests from one quest giver on one alt). Other than the one key I got as a quest reward during the new Thieves Guild quest line.

AzuraFan · July 28

Ingenon wrote: »

Nowhere keys are not dropping for my account from anything except from Favours (1 key for each 10 complete quests from one quest giver on one alt). Other than the one key I got as a quest reward during the new Thieves Guild quest line.

Same here. I don't have the key from the TG questline, but I haven't finished it yet (a couple of quests to go). Four keys from favours so far (10th favour for all three, and 20th favour from the Dominion favours). Nothing from anywhere else - keys just aren't dropping for me.

ESO_player123 · July 28

Ingenon wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

When I went to pick up a favour in Skywatch today, I was disappointed to discover that the quests are no longer available once you've completed 20. I thought they'd continue, just with no letter. Oh well.

(I liked them just for something to do, and because the reward coffers dropped leads.)

Thank you so much for posting this!

Nowhere keys are not dropping for my account from anything except from Favours (1 key for each 10 complete quests from one quest giver on one alt). Other than the one key I got as a quest reward during the new Thieves Guild quest line.

What are you talking about? The new TG quest line does not award Unformed Planar keys. If it was, everyone would have gotten one. If you have an extra, that means it dropped from some other place. Looting a thieve trove may be?

And yes, the drop rate is horrendous.

zaria · July 28

ESO_player123 wrote: »

Ingenon wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

When I went to pick up a favour in Skywatch today, I was disappointed to discover that the quests are no longer available once you've completed 20. I thought they'd continue, just with no letter. Oh well.

(I liked them just for something to do, and because the reward coffers dropped leads.)

Thank you so much for posting this!

Nowhere keys are not dropping for my account from anything except from Favours (1 key for each 10 complete quests from one quest giver on one alt). Other than the one key I got as a quest reward during the new Thieves Guild quest line.

What are you talking about? The new TG quest line does not award Unformed Planar keys. If it was, everyone would have gotten one. If you have an extra, that means it dropped from some other place. Looting a thieve trove may be?

And yes, the drop rate is horrendous.

I have one Unformed Planar key, who I assume dropped from the Favor quests.
Not sure what to do with the key, can I enter the nowhere vault again?
It say it will change over time?
Not sure where I got it, it was not in any reward boxes.
But deposit in the bank and take back I got the 10 keys reward.

Ingenon · July 28

ESO_player123 wrote: »

What are you talking about? The new TG quest line does not award Unformed Planar keys. If it was, everyone would have gotten one. If you have an extra, that means it dropped from some other place. Looting a thieve trove may be?

And yes, the drop rate is horrendous.

I found one in my inventory after finishing the Thieves Guild quest Racing into Nowhere.

My concern is that I heard that the keys would be consumed doing the Nowhere Vault later this Season One. And as you say, the drop rate for keys is horrendous.

Different keys were consumed during the Night Market for the Opulent Trial and replacing them was impossible for me when I found out last minute that a guild wanted to run that trial again.

orian34 · July 30

I got 9 keys so far, 5 from favors (last one is bugged), 2 from dynamic encounters, 1 from thief troves, and 1 from maybe treasure map chest?

AzuraFan · July 30

I still only have 5 keys from favours (waiting for Arabelle's quest to be fixed to get the sixth). No keys have dropped for me in the wild.

ellmarie · July 30

zaria wrote: »

ESO_player123 wrote: »

Ingenon wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

When I went to pick up a favour in Skywatch today, I was disappointed to discover that the quests are no longer available once you've completed 20. I thought they'd continue, just with no letter. Oh well.

(I liked them just for something to do, and because the reward coffers dropped leads.)

Thank you so much for posting this!

Nowhere keys are not dropping for my account from anything except from Favours (1 key for each 10 complete quests from one quest giver on one alt). Other than the one key I got as a quest reward during the new Thieves Guild quest line.

What are you talking about? The new TG quest line does not award Unformed Planar keys. If it was, everyone would have gotten one. If you have an extra, that means it dropped from some other place. Looting a thieve trove may be?

And yes, the drop rate is horrendous.

I have one Unformed Planar key, who I assume dropped from the Favor quests.
Not sure what to do with the key, can I enter the nowhere vault again?
It say it will change over time?
Not sure where I got it, it was not in any reward boxes.
But deposit in the bank and take back I got the 10 keys reward.

I believe we'll be able to go to the Nowhere Vault again in the next update 51, Sept 28th. Seems that will continue. Then we should be able to get the other two gems for the Prowler too.

I haven't been keeping a headcount on how many of these favors I've done. A couple days I missed from being sick. Wish there was a tally in the achievements.

anadandy · July 30

ellmarie wrote: »

I haven't been keeping a headcount on how many of these favors I've done. A couple days I missed from being sick. Wish there was a tally in the achievements.

If you go to Journal>Achievements >Lore Library and scroll all the way down to Correspondence you'll find the count for that character.

Moredhel83 · July 31

Ah, so that's why Arabelle's quest disappeared for me, it's broken...

ellmarie · July 31

anadandy wrote: »

ellmarie wrote: »

I haven't been keeping a headcount on how many of these favors I've done. A couple days I missed from being sick. Wish there was a tally in the achievements.

If you go to Journal>Achievements >Lore Library and scroll all the way down to Correspondence you'll find the count for that character.

Wow, I forgot about this tab, lol, tysm!

Syldras · August 10

Ladies and gentlemen, lads and lasses, dear Argonians: I just want to inform you that the last quest for Lady Arabelle can be completed now.

The quest was very short (I expected more after Holgunn's had been a bit longer), and the letter felt just as boring as the earlier ones, but even a bit more random (Can anyone explain to me what setting up nature protection zones around Hist trees has to do with the Three Banners War in Cyrodiil? Also, the last letter also implies that Arabelle knew our name - while still treating us as a stranger the whole time).

Anyway, my business in Bretony is done; and I can now return to Port Telvannis! Finally - back to familiar, native shores.

ESO_player123 · August 10

I started doing the favors on a alt for 2 reasons:
1. I want more keys.
2. I want to know who on earth were all those people that left me letters thanking me for the help I apparently provided them years ago (impossible on main since I finished most of those old quests a long time ago).

thedocbwarren · August 10

Ravenshadow6513 wrote: »

Mashille wrote: »

ESO is already abundant with simple and mundane daily quests to do things like complete Delves etc.

If someone can enlighten me as to how Favours are somehow anything more than additional mundane daily quests to add to the already bloated pile please tell me. But from what I can tell, these aren't really anything different, apart from the abstract notion that they're supposedly for a particular NPC?

Have I missed a reason why favours are anything more than this?

Each day you unlock more story (via mail) from each of the three alliance lore characters - like what you'd see from crafting hirelings. The drops from the boxes are also curated drop from dungeons, arenas, and trials. I got at least six things for my stickerbook yesterday from doing them on a couple characters. I'd say a win.

I just kept getting fetches and now just random world boss requests. This sounds non-story, and way too meta to the game mechanics.

dubq77 · 12:31AM

Some of these quests are just sad. Pick up the daily. Read a note on the desk right beside the board. "Deliver proof" to the chest at the same location. We're y'all even trying with this?