Master Crafter Writ Arcane Secrets of Mat Farming

Wreuntzylla

I discovered today you can get decorative wax faster than probably any other way by farming hoarvors.

Post your farming secrets here!

Wreuntzylla

Ok, ok, holding secrets close to your vests? Keeping secrets will hurt your soul in the long run! So here is another furniture mat farming tip!

Clean pelts drop from sheep in Kenarthi's roost, the same ones you farm for legerdemain.

Synfaer

Thanks for the tips.
Only wish we could get heartwood from those annoying spriggans

Stopnaggin

I get decorative wax mainly from provisioning sacks and baskets. Also have gotten Alchemical resin from potion bottles.

Eggzie

Old Orsinium is an excellent place for Deco Wax and furnishing recipes.

Also I've done a ton of furnishing recipe farming from dungeon containers and owned containers/pickpocketing. Only place purples come from, as far as I can tell, are in dungeon containers. I haven't gotten a single purple from stealing. Don't know if this means anything though. I've farmed about 15 purps so far from Old Orsinium jars and urns.

Wreuntzylla

Eggzie wrote: »

Old Orsinium is an excellent place for Deco Wax and furnishing recipes.

Also I've done a ton of furnishing recipe farming from dungeon containers and owned containers/pickpocketing. Only place purples come from, as far as I can tell, are in dungeon containers. I haven't gotten a single purple from stealing. Don't know if this means anything though. I've farmed about 15 purps so far from Old Orsinium jars and urns.

That good sir is what this thread is all about! Have an insightful!

Jim_Pipp

I'm not sure why, but the scorpions in craglorn have given me a lot of decorative wax, which is nice of them, but I'd prefer it if they left me alone while I'm farming for useful materials.

lientier

Hall of the Dead in Eastmarch is urn-paradise. So many containers where you can find recipes.
I found purple in stealing containers as well as the public dungeon. So I guess its just a question of luck.
So far I havent felt any difference between stealing containers and normal loot containers.. other than you make more money stealing as you go.
For stealing containers my favourite spot is Wayrest castle and bank.

medusasfolly

Lotso good tips in this thread!

My favorite spot for stealing is the two Daggerfall ships. Loot the left, jump to the right, loot the right, logout, login, repeat.

My second favorite is the warehouse on the beach right in front of the writ drop off in Vulkhel Guard is good for guard-free looting. Not so much for making money as much as levelling. Still can get some good stuff in there. The login, loot, logout, repeat method works here, too.

Third is Bangkori. Loot loop to include the Inn, Mages Guild, Castle and Fighter's Guild. I like this one as it contains several fairly easy silver chests.

Synfaer

I often use 2 characters in different locations with a high density of lootable containers for blueprints etc. Quickly loot all containers on one character ...then log onto other character and do the same...rinse & repeat (as the containers are reset). This is also a good technique for farming motifs from delve bosses in a few areas as you can avoid the time penalty on looting as it takes time on each character location for the bosses to spawn (a few delve/public dungeon bosses also exist close to many lootable containers, so you get double the fun). For example, the delve boss in Bahraha's Gloom,Hews bane spawns in a room with lots of lootable containers (boss drops Outlaw motif pages).

davey1107

I don't know that this is a secret so much as a tip, but im using this farm as an excuse to steal and fence to level my legerdemain up to 20 on every character. Might as well, right? ZOS has said that as of update 11 or 12 your leger skill level influences the RNG for loot quality.

And who knows...with homestead the master writs take crafting skill level into consideration. Eventually some update will come along where you have to be a master thief to have a shot at some rare thing or other. My rule of thumb...just level everything. Will my stamblade ever use a destro staff? I have no idea, but it's at fifty just in case.

Wreuntzylla

davey1107 wrote: »

I don't know that this is a secret so much as a tip, but im using this farm as an excuse to steal and fence to level my legerdemain up to 20 on every character. Might as well, right? ZOS has said that as of update 11 or 12 your leger skill level influences the RNG for loot quality.

And who knows...with homestead the master writs take crafting skill level into consideration. Eventually some update will come along where you have to be a master thief to have a shot at some rare thing or other. My rule of thumb...just level everything. Will my stamblade ever use a destro staff? I have no idea, but it's at fifty just in case.

I totally missed the legerdemain influence on loot. Did they say anything else plays into loot quality (besides CP passive and chests)?

Waffennacht

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

davey1107 wrote: »

I don't know that this is a secret so much as a tip, but im using this farm as an excuse to steal and fence to level my legerdemain up to 20 on every character. Might as well, right? ZOS has said that as of update 11 or 12 your leger skill level influences the RNG for loot quality.

And who knows...with homestead the master writs take crafting skill level into consideration. Eventually some update will come along where you have to be a master thief to have a shot at some rare thing or other. My rule of thumb...just level everything. Will my stamblade ever use a destro staff? I have no idea, but it's at fifty just in case.

I totally missed the legerdemain influence on loot. Did they say anything else plays into loot quality (besides CP passive and chests)?

No, they just said your level now determines the drops. Makes it worth leveling on all characters. I like banks, but I'm gonna try each of the above suggestions.

Indigo_Shade

Update 3/4/17: Out of the all the places I currently steal, this is my go-to place for furniture plans. (Vile Manse in Reapers Marsh comes in second). It's not unusual to find 2-3 furniture plans in one single visit to this house. Granted, if that happens they are all green, but this house and Vile Manse (the house, not the dungeon) are currently my favs for getting furniture plans.

There is a locked, owned house (related to a quest but you don't need it to enter) in Shornhelm, Rivenspire, Daggerfall Convent. There is a bit of everything in here: 9 Urns, fish, red meat, other provisioning mats, bags, barrels, and lots of lootable furniture.

It's a 2 story house and the owner is dead and isn't present even if you haven't done the quest / are from another Alliance. So everything counts as points for Ledgermain when doing the sell/laundry bit. I've nabbed countless green/blue (and a couple gold even) "thieves treasure" items, craft motifs, and green/blue/purple furniture recipes since I added this to my "steal run list", which also includes the Inn, the Fighters Guild, and another deserted/owned house north of the Inn. Oddly, food recipes don't drop much from this location. I've maybe gotten 5 in the 100 so runs I've made here so far.

If I had to pick a favorite steal location that has a little bit of everything, and super easy to run through, this would be it. I'm probably going to get a couple of my mule toons doing this sooner then later.

Quest Tip: Access to this house does not require the quest, and the house can be accessed even after the quest has been completed.

Location Tip: Next to the Mages Guild

Unlocking Tip: Make sure no guards are passing by. They will see you unlocking from the street, even if you hidden, if they pass by the front of the house. Citizens don't seem to care. Update: As of 3/1 there seems to 1 concerned Citzen who sometimes hangs just outside this house. Got nabbed by him twice the other night. Annoying, but avoidable with a little patience. It's a Simple lock.

Leaving Tip: This can be a little tricky. If a guard is walking right in front when you exit, you will get nabbed. (This has happend to me about 5 times, but now I run like hell around the corner of the house and haven't been nabbed since I started to do that).

Looting Tip: I can run through with my 3 main toons about 3 times each, without logging out of the game completely, before loot starts to get really trashy (no recipes, all white treasure, picklocks in all the furniture). Having said this, it's only at that point I ever find Decorative Wax at this location. (And if you want free picklocks, this is a great place to get those).

Wreuntzylla

Indigo_Shade wrote: »

There is a locked, owned house (related to a quest but you don't need it to enter) in Shornhelm, Rivenspire, Daggerfall Convent. There is a bit of everything in here: 9 Urns, fish, other provisioning mats, bags, barrels, and lots of lootable furniture.

It's a 2 story house and the owner is dead (quest related). So everything counts as points for Ledgermain when doing the sell/laundry bit. I've nabbed countless green/blue (and a couple gold even) "thieves treasure" items, craft motifs, and green/blue/purple furniture recipes since I added this to my "steal run list", which also includes the Inn, the Fighters Guild, and another deserted/owned house north of the Inn. Oddly, food recipes don't drop much from this location. I've maybe gotten 5 in the 100 so runs I've made here so far.

If I had to pick a favorite steal location that has a little bit of everything, and super easy to run through, this would be it. I'm probably going to get a couple of my mule toons doing this sooner then later.

Quest Tip: Access to this house does not require the quest, and the house can be accessed even after the quest has been completed.

Location Tip: Next to the Mages Guild

Unlocking Tip: Make sure no guards are passing by. They will see you unlocking from the street, even if you hidden, if they pass by the front of the house. Citizens don't seem to care. It's a Simple lock.

Leaving Tip: This can be a little tricky. If a guard is walking right in front when you exit, you will get nabbed. (This has happend to me about 5 times, but now I run like hell around the corner of the house and haven't been nabbed since I started to do that).

Looting Tip: I can run through with my 3 main toons about 3 times each, without logging out of the game completely, before loot starts to get really trashy (no recipes, all white treasure, picklocks in all the furniture). Having said this, it's only at that point I ever find Decorative Wax at this location. (And if you want free picklocks, this is a great place to get those).

Great info!!!

I have noticed the same thing with decorative wax in the starting areas of imperial city sewers. This happens if you zone up using one of the ladders (it's the equivalent of logging in and out).

Cyrodiil farming is a tip I should have left earlier. The quest towns have tons of lootable containers, but one run and countless containers might net you 1-4 decorative wax and a green furniture recipe. Imperial city sewers starter areas, however, will give you the same and often a blue recipe, and it has a fraction of the containers that the individual quest areas do, and all in one location.

If you don't like PvP, note that the only risk here is in running from a keep to the sewer entrance. The starting areas are enemy free and when you leave using the Cyrodiil door, it takes you to the overland starting area (safe and close to the wayshrine for porting out of Cyrodiil). Nobody has tried to gank me on the way to the IC in more than a year, but that may be more a function of results than opportunity.

The side benefit of this is that there are tons of alchemy bottles and drinks that provide alchemy solvent 4-5 at a time, one run through might net you as many as 40 (or as few as ~20). If you are feeling frisky, the Elven Gardens District includes a number of buildings with 6+ kegs on a stand and the kegs chiefly give solvent. I have cleared over 100 Lorkhan's tears in 15min by hitting all the kegs. Note that although you can be killed there, if you want to leave without traveling through the sewers, just queue for your second PvP server and it will take you to the overland starting area of Cyrodiil.

Reivax

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

Cyrodiil farming is a tip I should have left earlier. The quest towns have tons of lootable containers, but one run and countless containers might net you 1-4 decorative wax and a green furniture recipe. Imperial city sewers starter areas, however, will give you the same and often a blue recipe, and it has a fraction of the containers that the individual quest areas do, and all in one location.

If you're not in the mood for PvP, running a delve will net you similar results. I don't think I ever leave a delve without at least one furniture plan.
Breaking and entering is another great way to get plans. It's pretty common for me to run a 3-4 house raid in Wayrest, for example, and come out with at least 2-3 plans or recipes.
By now, everyone has the purple motif books (Ancient Elf, Primal, etc) but I come across those often as well.

Indigo_Shade

I wanted to post my reply to this thread because I am new to ESO, and a lot of the farming tips I see are for public dungeons (a hassle if your not skilled and geared up), or for PVP areas. I can't be the only newbie who reads the forums, LOL.

I'm not skilled or geared up yet, and forget PVP. No way Jose. So I like finding quick and easy, in-and-out locations to loot and steal from. However, that post from Wreuntzylla regarding Cyrodiil was quite interesting. At some point, I WILL go there. maybe when I hit Champion 160 on my two main toons.

Anways, loving the tips in this thread! Thanks to the Wreuntzylla for thinking of this.

KimberlyannKitsuragi

I actually bought some writs from a guild store. Made me dirt poor but I'm a little closer to the next milestone writ achievement

AboKor

1) Auridon (Gold Coast) - Gold Coast Trading Company 2 storey bld right in front of city gate. - never left without receipe
2) Bahara Gloom
---
Better tell me how to gather proper quantity of Bast and Heartwood

Stopnaggin

Indigo_Shade wrote: »

I wanted to post my reply to this thread because I am new to ESO, and a lot of the farming tips I see are for public dungeons (a hassle if your not skilled and geared up), or for PVP areas. I can't be the only newbie who reads the forums, LOL.

I'm not skilled or geared up yet, and forget PVP. No way Jose. So I like finding quick and easy, in-and-out locations to loot and steal from. However, that post from Wreuntzylla regarding Cyrodiil was quite interesting. At some point, I WILL go there. maybe when I hit Champion 160 on my two main toons.

Anways, loving the tips in this thread! Thanks to the Wreuntzylla for thinking of this.

You can run cyrodiil just fine bud. You have battle spirit and most time the places listed won't have enemy factions around. And while you are there you can pull some quests and get your assult and support skills up. There is a risk but not as bad as you think. Most of cyrodiil is empty map, battles are in concentrated areas, so more than likely you won't even see another player unless you get to close to keeps or resources.

Indigo_Shade

AboKor wrote: »

1) Auridon (Gold Coast) - Gold Coast Trading Company 2 storey bld right in front of city gate. - never left without receipe
2) Bahara Gloom
---
Better tell me how to gather proper quantity of Bast and Heartwood

Update 3/7/17: Out of desperation for cloth nodes, this weekend I went into the Northpoint TOWN (which I cleared via quests about a month ago) and found there are like 15 cloth nodes in the town, all along the interior walls and in the cemetary. It would be hard to do if the mobs were not cleared via the questline. It's such a relief knowing I can come out with about 4 baste, and lots of cloth. My guess is not many know about this, because I rarely see anyone harvesting the nodes.

I found an area in Rivenspire that spawns a fair amount of cloth nodes. However, during prime time, lame players are hitting this spot, collecting the Bast, and moving on, leaving the cloth still there. Start at the very tip of Northpoint, which is at the very North of the map. There are about 10 cloth nodes in the hills and grass along the edge of the Castle, and towards the tiny town. Then, there are 15 more nodes, give or take, along the coastline going West, towards the next Wayshrine.

There are about 10 wood nodes along this entire route is well. Typically find more Heartwood here then Bast, but thats just because RNG hates me.

If I do that run 3 times and nobody is stealing Bast, I end up with about 10 on average. If that seems like a good number, try it out. Oh and I do have the Harvest map add-on, which is how I found this spot to begin with.

Indigo_Shade

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

I discovered today you can get decorative wax faster than probably any other way by farming hoarvors.

Post your farming secrets here!

So ah, what exactly is a Hoarvor, and where sort of area do they like to hang out in?

Waffennacht

Indigo_Shade wrote: »

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

I discovered today you can get decorative wax faster than probably any other way by farming hoarvors.

Post your farming secrets here!

So ah, what exactly is a Hoarvor, and where sort of area do they like to hang out in?

Swampy areas, imo they look like giant bloated ticks.

Imo the best way to farm is to go to the a starter island, lots o materials meaning lots o furnishing stuff.

I'm still looking for a bed... found things to go on the bed... but still looking for a bed.

And I found a painting too! Too bad it's bigger than any of my walls...

Wreuntzylla

Indigo_Shade wrote: »

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

I discovered today you can get decorative wax faster than probably any other way by farming hoarvors.

Post your farming secrets here!

So ah, what exactly is a Hoarvor, and where sort of area do they like to hang out in?

Bloodsucking, bloated bug.

In Malabal Tor there is a, for lack of a better description, large circle of water from connected lakes. You can pull about 8 at a time if you do it right. This is about the only place I found a use for Argonian swim speed.

In the Argonian Pact zone (Shadowfen?), the bottom left corner of the map has a concentration of hoarvors.

There is a delve with Hoarvor in the name that's probably a good bet, but haven't gone back there to try.

Wreuntzylla

AboKor wrote: »

1) Auridon (Gold Coast) - Gold Coast Trading Company 2 storey bld right in front of city gate. - never left without receipe
2) Bahara Gloom
---
Better tell me how to gather proper quantity of Bast and Heartwood

Per @Waffennacht, the starter areas are very good if not overpopulated. Lots of treasure chests also. I typically go to Craglorn because you can also get nirn from harvesting and ragada motifs from chests.

Wreuntzylla

Something else I forgot, you have a chance when fishing to... land a fish. A furniture item.

Indigo_Shade

Eggzie wrote: »

Old Orsinium is an excellent place for Deco Wax and furnishing recipes.

Also I've done a ton of furnishing recipe farming from dungeon containers and owned containers/pickpocketing. Only place purples come from, as far as I can tell, are in dungeon containers. I haven't gotten a single purple from stealing. Don't know if this means anything though. I've farmed about 15 purps so far from Old Orsinium jars and urns.

I've been farming a short and fast stealing route in Stornhelm, Rivenspire. There is a 2 story house that I hit as many times a day as I can manage, and have gotten about 10 purple furniture recipes in the last week. The house has URNS though, so maybe URNS drop more purple items, regardless of the location of said Urn?

Indigo_Shade

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

Something else I forgot, you have a chance when fishing to... land a fish. A furniture item.

Wait..did I read this correctly, or was that sarcasm? I've been waiting for a better reason to fish. It's my least favorite activity in the game, but I know I need to get on that bandwagon eventually.

Stopnaggin

Indigo_Shade wrote: »

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

Something else I forgot, you have a chance when fishing to... land a fish. A furniture item.

Wait..did I read this correctly, or was that sarcasm? I've been waiting for a better reason to fish. It's my least favorite activity in the game, but I know I need to get on that bandwagon eventually.

Yes, some home furnishing are obtained by fishing. Each type of water has a chance to drop different items.

Wreuntzylla

Indigo_Shade wrote: »

Wreuntzylla wrote: »

Something else I forgot, you have a chance when fishing to... land a fish. A furniture item.

Wait..did I read this correctly, or was that sarcasm? I've been waiting for a better reason to fish. It's my least favorite activity in the game, but I know I need to get on that bandwagon eventually.

I'm the same way. I did a couple zones for the achievements and then realized it was the worst grind in the game and stopped. I was dragged into a couple hours of fishing and, unfortunately, i only received one during that time. A blue "fish, medium."

Sioban

There is a little area near Wittestadr wayshrine in Eastmarch where we can farm a lot of heartwood and bast. Khenarthi's root are also a good spot, lots of node.