Still Uncertain About Quality of Crafting Writ Rewards for VR14 Master Crafters

LonePirate

At the moment, I am uncertain how I feel about the quest rewards for the various writ quests in 1.5.

For my VR14 character who is level 50 in all crafting skills, the writ quests reward the following:

• 20,000 Inspiration points for the skill (10,000 for Provisioning)
• 75 gold
• A skill specific goodie box
• Quest XP

The Inspiration points are useless given how I am at level 50 for all skills already. The quest XP, while not helping my character right now, may possibly help accumulate future champion points since ZOS is tracking this stuff now.

The 75 gold is a bit of a mixed bag. This is considerably more than I would have received if I had sold my Alchemy, Enchanting and Provisioning writ items to a vendor, although other players might have purchased my Enchanting glyph (white monumental glyph of health) for more than a vendor would.

However, the 75g is much smaller than the amount of gold I would have received from vendors for the Blacksmithing, Clothing and Woodworking writ items. For instance, I was required to craft 2 void helms, 2 void pauldrons and 5 void daggers which would have netted me 378g from a vendor. The Clothing items would have earned me 252g from a vendor and the Woodworking items would have sold for 408g.

That leaves the skill specific gear boxes I received. For Blacksmithing, the box contained a single Sapphire and a Grand Repair Kit. For Clothing, it contained one Diamond, a Greater Repair Kit and a pair of Shadowspun Gloves (which were not an item I crafted). For Woodworking, I received one Almandine and a Nightwood Lightning Staff which sold for about the same amount as the quest reward. Surprisingly, the Provisioning pack was the best one as it contained 10 Imperial Flour (63g each from a grocer),10 Golden Malt (another 63g apiece), 3 Piquant Jazbay Grapes and a green Eye-Opener recipe. For the writ, I only needed to craft a single Honey Pudding and a single Bervez Wine (126g in grocer bills for the mats and I still have 3 of each remaining).

Each of the skill chests was numbered like treasure maps are which makes me think the chests may contain the same items if I receive the same one multiple times.

I thought the Survey Reports might add some value if they did lead to a dense field of nodes and an increased chance of harvesting Nirncrux stones. Unfortunately that did not happen with the Survey Reports I received for Alchemy and Enchanting. None of the 14 total nodes from the two reports which I harvested contained a Nirncrux stone.

The Alchemy report led me to a collection of "Lush" plants which yielded two of each plant when harvested instead of the usual one. Overall, the field granted me 4 total Bugloss, 4 Lady's Smock, 2 Blessed Thistle, 2 Columbine and 2 Cornflower. If there had been some Mountain Flowers in the mix, I could have profited nicely from the 8 potions I could have made. Perhaps the next one will offer that.

The Enchanting report led me to a collection of "Dual" nodes where 2 Aspect, Essence or Potency stones could be harvested from each node instead of the usual one. I received 4 Rekuta, 2 Ta, 2 Kura, 2 Rekura, 2 Makkoma and 2 Oko in total.

Overall, I have not yet formed an opinion on the value of completing these quests for max level players like myself, especially given the time needed to gather the various mats for the big three skills. I will need to complete more of these writ quests, for which there is an achievement with three levels, that highest of which is completing 250 of these 6 a day quests.

Update: After completing the Alchemy, Enchanting and Provisioning writs for a second time, I received the same numbered reward chests as I had received yesterday. The contents of the chests differed, although I did received one of the same survey maps. It would appear the numbers after the chest refer to the improvement level in the passive skills: Solvent Proficiency for Alchemy; Metalworking for Blacksmithing; Tailoring for Clothing; Potency Improvement for Enchanting; Recipe Improvement for Provisioning and Woodworking for Woodworking.

Sasky

Without the survey reports, it sounds like it's garbage for bs/ww/cloth and maybe a slight benefit for alchemy/provisioning/enchanting.

The survey reports seem to add a nice boost for alchemy, provisioning, or enchanting, but unless you get purple improvements, gold improvements, or nirncrux stones, I don't see how it'll be a boost for bs/ww/cloth.

PBpsy

The BS/Clothing/WW rewards are kind of terrible if you are already at max level you get maybe half what you would get if you just sold the mats to a vendor.
I am kind of let down by Enchantment writs also. Acquiring a Denima from a node to complete when I have 200 in my bank is a bit to much of RNG induced waste of time for me.

Mountain_Dewed

I'm a bit sleepy from taking care of my sick dog(won't get into specifics) but where do I get the survey reports from please?

LonePirate

Mountain_Dewed wrote: »

I'm a bit sleepy from taking care of my sick dog(won't get into specifics) but where do I get the survey reports from please?

The survey reports are random rewards for the writ quests. Of the six writ quests I completed yesterday, I received two survey reports.

The reports are found in the supply chests that are given as the quest reward for every writ quest. Each chest is numbered and named like Alchemy Vessel III or Provisioner's Pack IX. It is possible that only certain chests contain the reports. More data is needed. The reports themselves are named and numbered uniquely as well, just like treasure maps.

Mountain_Dewed

ok thank you, I completed 5 I think and didn't get any. Couldn't do Enchant because it won't recognize(bug I guess?) that I have the essence rune but yeah thank you again.

Mountain_Dewed

I was thinking and it did scroll with the quest complete thing and said "have survey signed" for 2 of the writs when I put in chest. Does this mean I should have a couple surveys?

I do apologize as I should have paid better attention but am dealing with a very sick dog and am trying to play this to get my mind elsewhere once in a while...

LonePirate

Mountain_Dewed wrote: »

I was thinking and it did scroll with the quest complete thing and said "have survey signed" for 2 of the writs when I put in chest. Does this mean I should have a couple surveys?

That text is just part of the quest completion. The actual surveys are found in the chest you receive as the quest reward upon completion. You will always receive a chest for every writ quest you complete; yet these chests will only contain surveys some of the time. There are no surveys within the Provisioning chest ass they have been replaced by recipes which you will always receive.

kaorunandrak

The BS/WW/Clothing rewards were terrible I spent more resources completing the quests than I got as a reward. I can see the benefit for those who aren't max in the three lines yet but for those who are I see no point in pursuing these quests. The time and resources invested in the quests and getting a survey and finding the location you could have double the amount of materials "reward". I got 36 void stones, 37 void bloom, and 35 nightwood the quests called for 2 G.swords, 2 H.gloves, 2 H.boots, 2 L.helms, 2 L.boots, 3 L.belts, 3 F.staffs, 3 I.staffs, and 3 L.staffs. Even by doing the minimum vet 9 crafting there is little to no gain and mostly a cost to completing the quest.

Takuto

I had a woodworking quest to create 6 top tier bows and 2 shields. The sell value on which was around 590 gold for the items, and used 94 nightwood.

I was rewarded 75 gold, and a white item worth ~50 gold. I also received a survey report, but when I used the report I received 31 nightwood, 14 mahogany, and 7 ash.

I think it would be foolish to do this quest at level 50 crafting as is. Had I not received the survey report I would have been throwing away nearly 440 gold, even with the survey report I'm throwing around ~260 gold.



For enchanting I had a great deal of trouble. The gathering part of the quest doesn't recognize items in my inventory or vault, nor does it recognize deconstruction. I gave up on the first quest as it was a stamina essence rune, and I knew it would likely take several hours to happen across one in a random rune spawn. The quest I got today was for a Ta rune, but when I picked up the rune it didn't give me credit, as it turned out I already had a Ta rune in my inventory, and it didn't recognize the rune because it was stacked. Unstacking didn't fix the problem, so I destroyed it. I then created the glyph, which used the Ta rune, setting me back to 0. It was the most frustrating quest I've had in a long while.


tldr;
-Increase reward for Blacksmithing, Woodworking, Clothworking
-Remove gathering step from Enchanting and Alchemy

Mountain_Dewed

Well hopefully this is when the PTS will do its job and they will make it worth our(master crafters) time...?

Stalwart385

I did one smithy survey report and found 4 nirncrux (two weapon and two armor).

Maybe I was just really lucky, but I was happy enough to consider crafting in 1.5 an occupation and not just a state of being.

Everybody can make their own stuff, so at least there is something to do with the skill points invested when you don't need new armor. Even if in the end crafting is still just about trading rare mats.

Hciliata

The quest XP, while not helping my character right now, may possibly help accumulate future champion points since ZOS is tracking this stuff now.

Are you able to see how much xp? If this is a significant amount towards the new passives these quests may be helpful, even if they are a net loss in mats/gold.

Mountain_Dewed

Day 2 and still no survey... :-(

amasuriel

I have to echo the sentiment here. Not only do the rewards not make the quests worth doing, doing the quest looks like it will actually cost you money in most cases, maybe even on average.

So this becomes another useless achievement grind where I decide if I want to pay 1k and an hour day or so over 2 months to get a new dye color or something.

I like the idea of having something to do with my craft skills (since its basically impossible to sell gear since all the dropped sets are the same or better, with the gap widening further in 1.5 looks like, but I digress), but it would be super cool if it was actually a reward for my time, not a resource sink for my time.

LonePirate

@amasuriel

The Provisioning Writ is definitely worth doing every day as it seems to be the most profitable one by far. On Monday, I received 20 of the 63g mats that previously were only sold by grocers. On Tuesday, I received 10 of those mats. Both days I had to buy 2 mats from grocers; but I only had to turn in 4 of the 16 food/drink items I created. I suspect those remaining 12 items will be needed in future writ quests so there will be no need to make them. Also, with the Provisioning revamp coming with new VR10 recipes, the writs are an easy way to obtain those recipes, if the writs drop blue and purple recipes. I have only received green recipes thus far.

Enchanting might be profitable if you have a stack of Ta and other stones and if you receive a survey report and if the report's rune field contains Rekuta or Kuta. It is up to you if that is worth your time.

Alchemy seems to be a wash with the possibility of a slow net gain in the mat gathering process over time if you receive enough reports.

Blacksmithing/Clothing/Woodworking are a net loss and not worth doing more than once unless you want to gamble on receiving a survey report and that report leading to a field with several Nirncrux stones in it (like the guy who found 4 of them with his report). If you do not care about Nirncrux, then you should skip these three writs after completing them the first time. If you are not a level 50 crafter in these skills, then the Inspiration points might be of value to entice you to complete them multiple times.

Stalwart385

Seeing what everyone is saying I see I must have been really lucky. I did one writ for 6 voidstone smithy items and received a survey. The survey yielded 4 nircrux plus mats to replace some of the voidstone. I stopped there thinking they may be too overpowered.

Is everyone doing lvl 50 tier writs? Maybe higher levels have higher chances of reward?

LonePirate

@Stalwart385

I am level 50 in all of my skills. I have completed the Black/Cloth/Wood writs once and I did not receive survey reports for any of them. I will try them again today and/or tomorrow.

Mountain_Dewed

I am maxed on all even enchant and yet to get survey, is cool though...

Wyld

Did the Blacksmithing and gave a survey which gave: 49 Voidstone ore, some galatite anf quicksilver ore and 5 Nirncrux.

Clothing Survey gave: 36 Voidbloom, some silverweed and ironweed, nothing special.

Woodworking only gave: Diamond and a staff.

Provisioning gave: 10 Pinguis and some other ingredients and a blue recipe.

To be specific, I got Blacksmithing, Clothing, and woodworking writs from Rawl'ka, Provisioning from Vuhlkil Guard.

Natjur

Wyld wrote: »

Did the Blacksmithing and gave a survey which gave: 49 Voidstone ore, some galatite anf quicksilver ore and 5 Nirncrux.

Clothing Survey gave: 36 Voidbloom, some silverweed and ironweed, nothing special.

Woodworking only gave: Diamond and a staff.

Provisioning gave: 10 Pinguis and some other ingredients and a blue recipe.

To be specific, I got Blacksmithing, Clothing, and woodworking writs from Rawl'ka, Provisioning from Vuhlkil Guard.

5 Nirncrux? Well I guess when patch 1.5 comes out Nirncrux will drop in price fast (currently 15k each)

Time to sell mine fast I guess

Unknown_poster

They have also gated it to stop crafting alts from benefiting from the activity. I have a level 20 with maxed crafting. Crafted the stuff and it tells me to deliver to belkarth in craglorn, which isn't possible.

LonePirate

Unknown_poster wrote: »

They have also gated it to stop crafting alts from benefiting from the activity. I have a level 20 with maxed crafting. Crafted the stuff and it tells me to deliver to belkarth in craglorn, which isn't possible.

Please tell me you logged a /bug on that. The level of sloppiness in these writ quests is astounding. If these had been released without being reviewed by us on the PTS, the regular user base would have exploded in fury and ZOS would have needed to issue a hotfix to disable them while they worked on fixes.

Unknown_poster

Another great feature....say I have a char with 34-36ish in blacksmithing. It's not a crafting character but I want to do the writ. Even though I only have the basic 1/9 level in bs for skill points spent. I still need to craft ebon whatever. Crafting on another toon and sending it to them doesn't work. Has to be crafted by them. So if I want to do the writs I have to spend the skill points to be able to craft at the same level as my skill level. So instead of having one maxed bs, I will need at least the top skill line to highest available level to craft on each individual toon if I want to do writs. Think you had storage issues before? So I guess the intended effect is to make it so you only do writs on a single toon.

LonePirate

As much as I am starting to dislike the other Writs, the Provisioning Writ may be my new favorite quest outside of Cyrodiil. I have long since held stacks of ingredients for all of the VR5 recipes. So when I pick up the Provisioning Writ quest, I head to the nearest grocer and purchase the one food and one beverage ingredient I need. I then make the items and turn in one of each while keeping the other three of each. Today's reward included 10 Pinguis and 10 Imperial Mash along with 3 Pepper. So for about 2 minutes worth of worth, I turn a 126g investment into 1260g worth of goods I don't need to purchase later when making and selling food in Cyrodiil. I fully expect this Writ's rewards will be nerfed tremendously by release simply because I enjoy it so much.

Wyld

Day 2 got a survey report from Blacksmithing Writ and got 2 more Fortified nirncrux and 3 Potent nirncrux.

One thing to note is I've only gotten nirncrux from survey reports that take me to Nirncrux mines (Both very close to trolls).

Mountain_Dewed

I finally got a survey and did receive a purple honey pudding recipe also. I wonder if motifs are a possible?

Wood survey produced no Nirncrux and other was Alchemy.

Ok, for the ones that were having problems with rune stones not registering for the writ while getting out of the bank, I had the same problem.

Today I needed a Rede and had 100 or so in bank, got one out and did not register so I discarded it. Like yesterday I went on a search and finally found a Rede and it worked, the quest completed, so I guess we need to actually find some of these stones and not already have in inventory.

AssaultLemming

So anyone other than blacksmiths found nirncrux?