New survey drop rate from writs

BergisMacBride

I wanted to know what everyone is seeing thus far with the recently adjust survey drop rates from writs.

Per the 2.6.2 patch notes (this wording isn't in the 2.6.5 notes but I'm assuming it hasn't changed):

Survey Reports

Survey Reports now drop half as often from Crafting Writs, but rich nodes at survey sites now provide twice as many materials as they did previously. This should result in roughly the same amount of materials from Survey Reports overall, but each individual report is now more lucrative.

Thus far over two days of running writs, here are my results:

• Day 1: 13 equipment writs, 16 alchemy\enchanting writs, 1 survey drop(woodworking)
• Day 2: 22 equipment writs, 16 alch\ench writs, 1 survey drop (ench)

Now I know it's early after the patch and I understand all about how the RNG can be a fickle vicious god, but even considering that I must say so far I'm pretty disappointed, especially since I'm currently sitting at a 3.5% drop rate of surveys. I'm going to keep at it for at least a week and follow the results daily. At that time, I hope to have accumulated enough data to make a reasoned judgement based on a larger sample size. (Good thing I hoarded surveys for two weeks prior to the patch so I have enough materials!)

Is anyone else tracking the survey drop rate? And if so, what are your results and thoughts to date?

Nestor

Getting less Surveys too, initially.

However, since all I can see are Ruby Mats as far as my View Distance will allow, in every zone, everywhere, ad nauseum, Mat prices are going to plummet.

BergisMacBride

Well I mainly do writs as they're my best source for tempers. I therefore have always tolerated some base level of material loss as acceptable. I'll keep doing them as long as the loss isn't too steep. I also track my weekly net material gain/loss and as long as is isn't too bad, I'll likely keep doing them. Just seems to me the drop rate of surveys is lower than states or intended, although I realize it is still too early to know for sure.

Skorol007

same here, did clothing + blacksmith writs on 12 characters. In 2 days, I only got 2 surveys....

Beardimus

Have you harvested a Survey yet tho to see how much more you get?

Nestor

Beardimus wrote: »

Have you harvested a Survey yet tho to see how much more you get?

@Beardimus

Yes, just one survey. 6 Nodes, most gave me 20 Ores, one gave me 18. I have the passive that gives a chance to double, so either it procced everytime, or, there is a ton of mats to be had from the Surveys.

I have to say I am really liking the Survey Map stacking now. At least for all the Surveys I have horded....

Beardimus

Wicked, thanks @Nestor and agreed current survey stock is all zone, unsure how regularly I'm gunna trek down the scattered new ones. That said as you pointed out mats will not be rare now!!

BergisMacBride

18-20 is standard return for all but the leather crates, which are more. I received 40 rubedite from a node in one of my saved surveys earlier today.

Wreuntzylla

My Treasure Maps addon, which also does survey locations, stopped working with the patch. Is there another addon that marks yoour current surveys on the map?

Then I'll do the surveys and provide data on a boatload of surveys!

Nestor

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

My Treasure Maps addon, which also does survey locations, stopped working with the patch. Is there another addon that marks yoour current surveys on the map?

Then I'll do the surveys and provide data on a boatload of surveys!

@Wreuntzylla

Those addons have to manually enter the locations to show the X, it is not a dynamic generation. If the new surveys are in a different location than the old surveys, the addon won't show them. I am sure they will be updated soon.

However, the Survey Maps are easy to figure out if you look at them. Unlike the Treasure Maps......

nikolaj.lemcheb16_ESO

36 writs so far. Not a single survery. It is far less than 50% of the old chance.

Wreuntzylla

Nestor wrote: »

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

My Treasure Maps addon, which also does survey locations, stopped working with the patch. Is there another addon that marks yoour current surveys on the map?

Then I'll do the surveys and provide data on a boatload of surveys!

@Wreuntzylla

Those addons have to manually enter the locations to show the X, it is not a dynamic generation. If the new surveys are in a different location than the old surveys, the addon won't show them. I am sure they will be updated soon.

However, the Survey Maps are easy to figure out if you look at them. Unlike the Treasure Maps......

As it turns out, I am only having the issue with Wrothgar.

disintegr8

I like the idea of survey maps stacking but reading all of your comments about reduced drop rates, it doesn't look like they needed to introduce it

If every node I see is going to give me top level mats I will possibly stop doing crafting writs that give me maps as all of my characters are max level in all crafting lines and I only do them now for the surveys. I will be finding plenty of raw materials in my travels so will not need to rely on the surveys.

Unless I am missing something, the only writ worth doing for me will be the provisioning writs for the psijic recipe fragments, which I only sell anyway. I will get enough crafting improvement tempers from raw materials I find. My craft bag is so full of alchemy and provisioning ingredients that picking up whatever I see when travelling will keep them stocked up.

Am happy to stand corrected but it looks like they have removed any reason for doing writs for characters at max level.

Ourorboros

Slightly off topic, but I was surprised when the bonus mats for not getting a survey turned out to be much lower in level. Based on patch notes, I expected them to be just one level lower, but it seems they can be ANY lower level.

smacx250

I've done the writs the past two days on one character, and gotten a total of 3 surveys (for 3 out of 10 possible).

BergisMacBride

Day 3 update:

• Day 1: 13 equipment writs, 16 alchemy\enchanting writs, 1 survey drop(woodworking)
• Day 2: 22 equipment writs, 16 alch\ench writs, 1 survey drop (ench)
• Day 3: 23 equipment writs, 16 alch\ench writs, 5 survey drops (2 BS, 1 each of WW, Cloth and ench)

Better results from RNG today.13% drop rate today and 6.6% overall. Anyone know what the intended drop rate was before 2.6?

helediron

Before 2.6 drop rate was about 33% from one writ. I did 11 days with 12 crafters all writs. That is 11*12*5 = 660 writs that might drop a map. I got 215 maps. 215/660*100=33% . Originally posted here .

bellanca6561n

Yes, the nodes in surveys have higher yields. But it's a rather moot point for those of us who don't have a dozen crafters doing all the writs each.

Fact is, if you have one smithy, one tailor, one carpenter, these writs no longer pay for themselves....not when you're getting shipping crates with iron or rawhide in them certainly.

These adjustments were made in response to the volume writ machine players at the expense of players who don't go in for extreme redundancy. It also makes digital life easier for them.

In short, the durable goods writs no longer break even for single crafter players. If I have to use 40-50 ruby ingots to get this....

How many days can I do this for 600 gold and no survey?

Or this....

And it's not just the absence of a survey or a temper or the like. These "shipments" of useless, low level materials feel insulting. I have to wonder what the reasoning behind them as they'd only make sense for players whose craft skills are in the teens.

smacx250

bellanca6561n wrote: »

Yes, the nodes in surveys have higher yields. But it's a rather moot point for those of us who don't have a dozen crafters doing all the writs each.

Fact is, if you have one smithy, one tailor, one carpenter, these writs no longer pay for themselves....not when you're getting shipping crates with iron or rawhide in them certainly.

These adjustments were made in response to the volume writ machine players at the expense of players who don't go in for extreme redundancy. It also makes digital life easier for them.

In short, the durable goods writs no longer break even for single crafter players. If I have to use 40-50 ruby ingots to get this....

How many days can I do this for 600 gold and no survey?

Or this....

And it's not just the absence of a survey or a temper or the like. These "shipments" of useless, low level materials feel insulting. I have to wonder what the reasoning behind them as they'd only make sense for players whose craft skills are in the teens.

Those low-level crates replace what used to be given when you didn't get a survey - nothing. If you don't like getting something instead of nothing, destroy it. They were added to help max-level crafters that craft for lower level characters get some of the mats they'd need, since this update essentially eliminated the ability for them to harvest them. ZOS claimed they halved the survey rate, and doubled the survey return. On average it should have the same return as before, but you don't need to do the surveys as often to get that return (which may be somewhat helpful if the surveys are spread around more than before - though I haven't seen that yet).

BergisMacBride

helediron wrote: »

Before 2.6 drop rate was about 33% from one writ. I did 11 days with 12 crafters all writs. That is 11*12*5 = 660 writs that might drop a map. I got 215 maps. 215/660*100=33% . Originally posted here .

Thanks for posting this info - nice to use as a comparison. While my data is not as detailed or thorough as you did with the Two decent days with the RNG, now at 11.1%. Will likely not update until after a few more days to get more numbers.

bellanca6561n wrote: »

Yes, the nodes in surveys have higher yields. But it's a rather moot point for those of us who don't have a dozen crafters doing all the writs each.

Fact is, if you have one smithy, one tailor, one carpenter, these writs no longer pay for themselves....not when you're getting shipping crates with iron or rawhide in them certainly.

Certainly the new system is much more prone to poor runs with the RNG and does not favor those who have only 1-2 chars run writs for a given craft each day. I'm not certain I would do them either if I had only 1-2 chars running them.

These "shipments" of useless, low level materials feel insulting. I have to wonder what the reasoning behind them as they'd only make sense for players whose craft skills are in the teens.

As stated before, these were introduced to given CP 160 max level crafters some method of obtaining the lower level materials since they can no longer harvest them with universal node scaling. Admittedly, this is not an ideal system, but they can always be vendored (Ta?, anyone) or sold on a guild merchant if the market is right.

All these changes to writs and harvesting relative to the larger game changes has me thinking that ZOS is kind of "lost in the wilderness" as far as crafting is concerned. They have definite ideas of the direction they want to take the larger game with One Tamriel, but when it comes to crafting they seem to be reactive rather than proactive. IMO, this is why we get seemingly illogical and frustrating changes to crafting with each update.

disintegr8

@bellanca6561n - can you tell me how many ingots and mahogany were in the shipping crates?

I have had a hard time getting these lower level materials since my characters are all leveled up and am curious to know if the return is beneficial at all. A change they could make to improve this is to make the crates contain the raw materials, rather than refined material. This would at least make it possible to get gold improvement items from refining them.

smacx250

disintegr8 wrote: »

@bellanca6561n - can you tell me how many ingots and mahogany were in the shipping crates?

I have had a hard time getting these lower level materials since my characters are all leveled up and am curious to know if the return is beneficial at all. A change they could make to improve this is to make the crates contain the raw materials, rather than refined material. This would at least make it possible to get gold improvement items from refining them.

25 refined materials in every crate I've gotten (about 15 crates so far). I don't agree about making them unrefined mats - that's what the surveys are for.

bellanca6561n

Oh, I know full well that this is a system prone to mood swings

And the answer is 25 items in each crate.

I've enjoyed the update. LOVE the pole dancing....er...dueling even though I'm about 50/50 in wins/losses. LOVE the new world bosses. And I really enjoy questing on my lower level characters in a way I never have before because I don't have to worry about quest sequence anymore.

In Coldharbor, for example, I got to do two of my favorite quests - the rescue Stibbons from amorous Daedra quests - long before I did the somewhat soul crushing final quest chain, even though it's very well done.

What the writs had given me before was a way to maintain a decent quantity of ruby materials without becoming a hunter, a miner or wood forager, combing Wrothgar for red spots, or killing endless landscape critters for their hides.

I didn't need lower level materials. Why? Because all of my characters break down their loot and have keen eye coming up. Started playing at launch. Thus I have thousands and thousands of pieces of those materials.

If you can have multiple accounts with maxed out crafters in every craft, how could you avoid having piles and piles of rawhide, leather, thick leather, and so on for all the crafts?

You cannot build a new character without also having numerous opportunities to get level appropriate materials, either by putting keen eye on all of them in various crafts, or by breaking down their loot.

This is why I'm so bewildered at getting such "shipments" on my top level, nine trait, most every friggin motif crafter, Aethelwulf.

bellanca6561n

BergisMacBride wrote: »

Certainly the new system is much more prone to poor runs with the RNG and does not favor those who have only 1-2 chars run writs for a given craft each day. I'm not certain I would do them either if I had only 1-2 chars running them.

That's all I'm saying. The system is now designed for factory writ folks. It fails in its original intent: to help folks who are building crafters or as an aid to people who have just the crafters they need to...craft things.

XDragonDoomX

@ZOS_GinaBruno

Please - could the crafting changes be reviewed ? The changes are making it difficult to justify continuing to do daily writs.
The rewards don't even cover the materials used either in replacing or a gold equivalent (at least at current guild merchant prices).

Synfaer

I read in one of the earlier versions of the PTS patch notes that they were going to reduce the drop rate of surveys but increase the amount gained from each survey harvested. When I read this I saved all my surveys leading up to OT and went on a survey extravaganza when OT went live which has substantially increased my resource stocks.
When I saw this post I went back to try and find this in the patch notes to quote, but could find no reference to the change anywhere. I did exist at some stage in the patch notes or I wouldn't have started hoarding surveys.

.

BergisMacBride

Synfaer wrote: »

When I saw this post I went back to try and find this in the patch notes to quote, but could find no reference to the change anywhere. I did exist at some stage in the patch notes or I wouldn't have started hoarding surveys

As in my original post, the changes were stated in the 2.6.2 patch notes, but not in included the final (2.6.4) notes for some reason. IMO it's reasonable to assume that they did make it in since they never stated they reverted this change. I think in regards to writs\surveys, the final notes were more like an update to their prior changes with OT and not all-inclusive.

Additionally, they also didn't specifically talk about double survey harvesting returns (added in 2.6.2) in the final patch notes but they are clearly here as well. Both the decrease in droprate of surveys from writs and the increased harvesting returns from surveys is something we are both seeing now, so IMO you were correct in saving your surveys.

InvitationNotFound

@ZOS_GinaBruno , @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

The changes introduced to crafting simply suck. I'm doing writs with multiple characters as well.
Received almost no surveys, as everyone else is stating.

Furthermore, you now have to collect them (surveys) everywhere wasting a lot time.

It's not really worth the time / effort anymore... who comes up with such things at ZOS?

bryanhaas

Nestor wrote: »

Beardimus wrote: »

Have you harvested a Survey yet tho to see how much more you get?

@Beardimus

Yes, just one survey. 6 Nodes, most gave me 20 Ores, one gave me 18. I have the passive that gives a chance to double, so either it procced everytime, or, there is a ton of mats to be had from the Surveys.

I have to say I am really liking the Survey Map stacking now. At least for all the Surveys I have horded....

Wait the maps stack? I'm n console but does this mean you can put a stack in your bank pull it up with one character and do all the maps at once? That would be sooooooo much easier if it is now working that way.

I_killed_Vivec

bryanhaas wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Beardimus wrote: »

Have you harvested a Survey yet tho to see how much more you get?

@Beardimus

Yes, just one survey. 6 Nodes, most gave me 20 Ores, one gave me 18. I have the passive that gives a chance to double, so either it procced everytime, or, there is a ton of mats to be had from the Surveys.

I have to say I am really liking the Survey Map stacking now. At least for all the Surveys I have horded....

Wait the maps stack? I'm n console but does this mean you can put a stack in your bank pull it up with one character and do all the maps at once? That would be sooooooo much easier if it is now working that way.

Surveys now stack, so you can have multiple instances of the same map in the inventory of a single character.

As you'd expect, you burn one when you harvest the survey, however you have to log out and back in again to refresh the nodes for the next go. It does make it a lot easier.

helediron

I_killed_Vivec wrote: »

bryanhaas wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Beardimus wrote: »

Have you harvested a Survey yet tho to see how much more you get?

@Beardimus

Yes, just one survey. 6 Nodes, most gave me 20 Ores, one gave me 18. I have the passive that gives a chance to double, so either it procced everytime, or, there is a ton of mats to be had from the Surveys.

I have to say I am really liking the Survey Map stacking now. At least for all the Surveys I have horded....

Wait the maps stack? I'm n console but does this mean you can put a stack in your bank pull it up with one character and do all the maps at once? That would be sooooooo much easier if it is now working that way.

Surveys now stack, so you can have multiple instances of the same map in the inventory of a single character.

As you'd expect, you burn one when you harvest the survey, however you have to log out and back in again to refresh the nodes for the next go. It does make it a lot easier.

You DON'T need to logout/in. Just run away about 100 meters and back, and the nodes have respawned.