Useless writs and hirelings

Nyx2

Why are these so awful?
If you're going to make me invest 3 skill points then give me something worthwhile in return because I sure have no use for 5 rough oak for lvl 16- 24 (!!!) and 2 argonian style stones. Besides sometimes a worthless green / blue temper thrown in that's how they all look like. Not once have I gotten a legendary temper but not just that, the amount of mats is so insignificant it's basically just spam in my mail folder. They're not free either, that's 9 skill points (provisioning hireling is decent and haven't tried enchanting) I could use elsewhere and skillpoint resets are anything but free.

Then the alchemy writ: what's the point of rewarding us 2x 3 ingredients when nearly every time I have to include 3 nirnroot which if I continue just depletes all the nirnroot I have? It's poorly implemented and there is nearly no reason to do them unless you have the habit of running along rivers all day like so many others try.

Nestor

The secret to Hirelings is to have a lot of them on a bunch of characters and not expect much from them. Having them on one character is an exercise in frustration. These style stones do have use now, if not for you, they sell to folks who want to make furniture for their houses.

As for the Gold Tempers, you get less on the lower end writs. You want more, you have to invest the material passives. Even then the secret is to run writs on multiple characters to get a decent supply. However there is no method in the game that is going to give you steady supply of them. They are supposed to be Rare and hard to get.

And, not sure what level Alchemy your doing, but in my experience the lower level ones don't ask for Nirnroot, at least all the time, only the Top End. Have not done an intermediate level Alchemy writ so don't know on those. There are a few farming areas where you can hit 8 to 12 Nirn nodes in a small area that can help. But the top end writs only ask for Nirnroot if there want a reagent.

I will say that I have stopped doing writs for the most part when they nerfed the survey drop rate, and only do them at L1 Materials as those have a hope of keeping me in the mats I need to do the writs.

Karius_Imalthar

Yeah, some days you'll get, like, one rough ore or wood... wow.

PhxOldGamer68

Provisioning writs and hireling at max level gives me Bervez Juice and Frost Mirium every 3-4 days.
Enchanting wrtis at max level gives me Kuta every 3-4 days, but rare with hireling.
Alchemy writs are good for bundles of Columbine and Mountain Flower, which are used in purple recipes.

Getting the map surveys also makes writs well worth it. Some times a survey can give about 100 or more pieces, which is great with Rubedite, Ruby Ash and Ancestor Silk.

And then refining the materials can net gold mats.

Turelus

I only really have them on my main but don't use them as an expectation of getting anything good, to me it's just same materials which build up over time.

Nyx2

Nestor wrote: »

The secret to Hirelings is to have a lot of them on a bunch of characters and not expect much from them. Having them on one character is an exercise in frustration. These style stones do have use now, if not for you, they sell to folks who want to make furniture for their houses.

As for the Gold Tempers, you get less on the lower end writs. You want more, you have to invest the material passives. Even then the secret is to run writs on multiple characters to get a decent supply. However there is no method in the game that is going to give you steady supply of them. They are supposed to be Rare and hard to get.

And, not sure what level Alchemy your doing, but in my experience the lower level ones don't ask for Nirnroot, at least all the time, only the Top End. Have not done an intermediate level Alchemy writ so don't know on those. There are a few farming areas where you can hit 8 to 12 Nirn nodes in a small area that can help. But the top end writs only ask for Nirnroot if there want a reagent.

I will say that I have stopped doing writs for the most part when they nerfed the survey drop rate, and only do them at L1 Materials as those have a hope of keeping me in the mats I need to do the writs.

If I had all of them on multiple characters, going through them every day just to earn these meagre rewards would turn it even more into a chore. I do expect something or else I can't afford to waste skill points.

I get that it's an "over time" thing but come on, 5 rough oak on max woodworking? I have all crafting on max so it has nothing to do with my passives. You may get used to it but this is still taking up 3 skill points for each hireling. I thought perhaps the results are so bad because it's bugged from increasing it from 0 to 3 immediately or something. But they're just awful and a luxury for those who can afford to throw away hard earned skill points.

I am talking about top end writs. Like hirelings, provisioning writs give a great deal more than alchemy and the concept of paying raw ingredients to receive some other ingredients back is quite silly. Yes, you sometimes get a map that supplies you with a reasonable amount of mats but in the end it still just depletes all my nirnroot. As there is nothing else worthwhile in alchemy writs like recipes or motif pages the mats should really be buffed.

DeadlyRecluse

Hirelings are not a reliable source of tempers, though they do show up.

They ARE a reliable source of raw mats, especially if you run several over time....and raw mats are a reliable source of tempers.

It's exchanging skill points (which there are plenty of) for materials. They really are fine (though I'd love a buff!).

disintegr8

I am happy to have my hirelings on all my characters. Sure they don't send a lot of high end stuff back but retrieving the stuff out of my mail once a day is not really a big deal - I always check my mail for guild sales proceeds any way.

While leveling, getting skill points might feel like hard work, but now that you can go anywhere in Tamriel, it is easier than ever to go and at least grab the skyshards for easy points. Back in the good old days we had to wait to unlock each area, so were always running out of skill points.

As for writs, one issue I have is the time it takes now that I do them on 8 characters. I am happy with the rewards I get and make a lot of money from the writs and selling the rewards I get, so I think the time is well spent for me.

My main issue with writs is the surveys now sending you everywhere. I save them up and then devote a whole game session to going around and harvesting them, but that can be a couple of hours or more depending on how many I have.

They are all parts of the game that you do not have to participate in, so if they don't appeal to you just ignore them and do whatever you find fun. There are other ways to make money in the game, but people will always be after crafting supplies.

scorpiodog

I

Nyx2 wrote: »

Why are these so awful?
If you're going to make me invest 3 skill points then give me something worthwhile in return because I sure have no use for 5 rough oak for lvl 16- 24 (!!!) and 2 argonian style stones. Besides sometimes a worthless green / blue temper thrown in that's how they all look like. Not once have I gotten a legendary temper but not just that, the amount of mats is so insignificant it's basically just spam in my mail folder. They're not free either, that's 9 skill points (provisioning hireling is decent and haven't tried enchanting) I could use elsewhere and skillpoint resets are anything but free.

Then the alchemy writ: what's the point of rewarding us 2x 3 ingredients when nearly every time I have to include 3 nirnroot which if I continue just depletes all the nirnroot I have? It's poorly implemented and there is nearly no reason to do them unless you have the habit of running along rivers all day like so many others try.

I just see hirelings as free gold whenever I want it. 10 Characters with hirelings really stacks up the mats quickly. Need 20k gold? I do Writs on all my alts for a day. Need 100K Gold? I do writs on all my alts for 5 days.

And you are forgetting about the obvious benefit - refining! For approximately every 150 of a material I refine I get a legendary Mat.

So in addition to free gold, Hirelings also give me free gold mats

Nyx2

disintegr8 wrote: »

I am happy to have my hirelings on all my characters. Sure they don't send a lot of high end stuff back but retrieving the stuff out of my mail once a day is not really a big deal - I always check my mail for guild sales proceeds any way.

While leveling, getting skill points might feel like hard work, but now that you can go anywhere in Tamriel, it is easier than ever to go and at least grab the skyshards for easy points. Back in the good old days we had to wait to unlock each area, so were always running out of skill points.

As for writs, one issue I have is the time it takes now that I do them on 8 characters. I am happy with the rewards I get and make a lot of money from the writs and selling the rewards I get, so I think the time is well spent for me.

My main issue with writs is the surveys now sending you everywhere. I save them up and then devote a whole game session to going around and harvesting them, but that can be a couple of hours or more depending on how many I have.

They are all parts of the game that you do not have to participate in, so if they don't appeal to you just ignore them and do whatever you find fun.

You log in and out 8 times (or more) every day, scrap up what little they give you and don't see that as a chore? And even if it wasn't, it takes a lot of time and is extremely tedious to run around for skyshards and play the mainstory for the 8th time... I don't know how that is "easy". Guild sale mails are global across all characters, hirelings aren't. It hasn't bothered me for a long time since it's just free stuff. But to get just 5 mats (for lvl 16-24) + some undesired style stones? I can get more than that from a single node so why does this cost 3 skill points? I don't even want to know what they send on stage 1 of their passive.

Alchemy writs give absolutely nothing other than some mats back. And even at that they are worse than other writs. Alchemy mats are expensive for that exact reason. I could ignore this all, sure. Or I could point out how pointless it is and how there is no need for content that wastes peoples time. I'm generalizing since I've been detailed on the exact issues in the earlier posts. Just look at what provisioning hirelings and writs provide compared to the examples I gave. I see something that's very clearly off and as with their horrendous RNG, people shouldn't keep critique to themselves.

scorpiodog wrote: »

I just see hirelings as free gold whenever I want it. 10 Characters with hirelings really stacks up the mats quickly. Need 20k gold? I do Writs on all my alts for a day. Need 100K Gold? I do writs on all my alts for 5 days.

I'd like to see you turn 5 oak and 2 style stones into that kind of gold. I must have millions of unspent potential gold in my bag.