Not getting any master writs.

PixelatedDonkey

My main character has almost everything researched for all the crafting skills (except for provisioning). I have done dozens of crafting writs and got no master writ contracts at all. My second character only had woodworking up to 50 with most things researched to 5-7 mods and got a master writ contract after only second crafting writ go.
What gives?

eco_TR

Take the main to the bath.
Just kidding. Sorry.

It is just RNG. They will drop.
But after the last patch, I believe the drop rate is a lot less than before.

Asardes

Only maximum tier CP150 ordinary writs will have a chance of dropping master writs. A number of conditions will increase the odds of getting one:

Alchemy: having all reagent properties discovered, and the associated achievements.
Enchanting: having all runes translated, and the associated achievements.
Provisioning: knowing purple recipes and maybe having achievements associated with crafting them [Master Chef]
Blacksmith/Clothier/Woodworking: having traits researched, knowing motifs and maybe having achievements for tempering.

Generally the Alchemy and Enchanting master writs will be much more numerous than the other, since the conditions for maximizing their drop chance are less stringent: it takes 10-15 minutes to translate all runes and discover all reagent propertites. Note that provisioning will drop less often, because, just like any other master writ, it drops only from maximum tier ordinary writs. Provisioning is actually split between CP50 and CP150 recipes, and only when the writ asks for the latter does a master writ does actually have a chance to drop.

Concerning the gear ones, from my experience I would say that traits researched have more influence than motifs known since there's barely any difference between my characters that have all the the traits researched, but few motifs learned, and the one that has all the traits researched and motifs known, but there's a noticeable difference between chars that have neither traits researched nor motifs known and the former. Also the number of voucher per writ seems to be completely random: you have better odds of receiving one with traits and motifs known, but there's no guarantee you'll get a 200 voucher or a 6 voucher one. I've even gotten 100+ voucher ones from inexperienced crafters with no traits researched and only the basic motifs known.

The only thing you can do to get a steady supply of master writs is to have multiple characters doing the writs every day. And there's actually more in it for you since you'll receive kuta and legendary tempers quite regularly from those.

PixelatedDonkey

Thanks guys.
Don't think I'll be wasting time and resources on it then. Not really worth the effort for the "rewards" I am getting. Using the top tier materials just to receive a few coins and low level materials in return is a waste of time, in my opinion. Specially is the thing I'd like to get has that many conditions and RNG. I'll be better of crafting gear and selling it.

eco_TR

PixelatedDonkey wrote: »

Thanks guys.
Don't think I'll be wasting time and resources on it then. Not really worth the effort for the "rewards" I am getting. Using the top tier materials just to receive a few coins and low level materials in return is a waste of time, in my opinion. Specially is the thing I'd like to get has that many conditions and RNG. I'll be better of crafting gear and selling it.

I disagree.It is not a waste of time. Asardes already explained clearly.

Of course it is all up to you, but if your char is capable of doing the daily writs, you better do them.

If you get a master writs with a good point and easy to do, you may even sell it for good gold. Or if you do the writs and collect the points, you may buy some good stuff to make money by selling them as well. In any case, I don't think you will be loosing with daily crafts and master writs. Be careful though, for not spending an alloy/wax/rosin for a low point writ.

Violynne

PixelatedDonkey wrote: »

Thanks guys.
Don't think I'll be wasting time and resources on it then. Not really worth the effort for the "rewards" I am getting. Using the top tier materials just to receive a few coins and low level materials in return is a waste of time, in my opinion. Specially is the thing I'd like to get has that many conditions and RNG. I'll be better of crafting gear and selling it.

Yep, this is pretty much it. Some do it because there's a chance a writ can be triple digit.

Most of mine sit at 2 or 5, and definitely not worth giving up Dreugh Wax or Rosin, which are extremely difficult to get.

The irony: you can actually get more Dreugh Wax and Rosin just doing the daily crafting writs.

PixelatedDonkey

eco_TR wrote: »

PixelatedDonkey wrote: »

Thanks guys.
Don't think I'll be wasting time and resources on it then. Not really worth the effort for the "rewards" I am getting. Using the top tier materials just to receive a few coins and low level materials in return is a waste of time, in my opinion. Specially is the thing I'd like to get has that many conditions and RNG. I'll be better of crafting gear and selling it.

I disagree.It is not a waste of time. Asardes already explained clearly.

Of course it is all up to you, but if your char is capable of doing the daily writs, you better do them.

If you get a master writs with a good point and easy to do, you may even sell it for good gold. Or if you do the writs and collect the points, you may buy some good stuff to make money by selling them as well. In any case, I don't think you will be loosing with daily crafts and master writs. Be careful though, for not spending an alloy/wax/rosin for a low point writ.

The problem is the rng factor for me. With the main character I have done at least 50 writs (likely more because I've been doing them since pretty much as soon as I could) and I have gotten not even one master writ voucher. The amount of gold given for completing writs is miserly. I can get much more gold just doing the thieves guild "tip board" mission. The only materials I have gotten back were useless to me (iron ingots, flax and the like) since I am using gear that is 160. I get higher drop rate of useful materials from just running through some delves or pub dungeons (not counting the gold, soul gems and whatever else I get from deconstructing the equipment I find in those places).

Asardes

Why would anyone craft CP160 instead of CP150 gear for writs? And I have a really long experience doing them. Started out with 2 characters, expanded to 4 then to 6, 10 and now I'm expanding to 14. I can really see the bag filling with gold tempers, the bank with surveys, and also my storage alts with writs. I have managed to get 4K worth of writs over the last 3 months in addition to ~300 gold tempers of each type both from writs themselves and refined surveys. There are bad days and there are good days, but overall each writ has about an ~1/3 chance of getting me a gold temper or kuta, and the achemy and enchanting master writs drop like candy. I bulk craft those with an addon and I turn them in one after the other.

PixelatedDonkey

I am not doing 160 for writs. Where do I say that?
And if I have to start a dozen characters just to get those vouchers that proves that it's just not worth doing them.

Asardes

I wasn't claiming you have to start a dozen characters to get any master writs. My only claim is that my experience is much more relevant due to the bigger sample used. It seems unlikely you cannot get any writs during a very long time. For example if I had just 2 characters instead of 10 doing writs, I would have gotten around 800 vouchers and 60 gold tempers instead of 4K and 300 respectively.

Kuramas9tails

Asardes wrote: »

Only maximum tier CP150 ordinary writs will have a chance of dropping master writs. A number of conditions will increase the odds of getting one:

Alchemy: having all reagent properties discovered, and the associated achievements.
Enchanting: having all runes translated, and the associated achievements.
Provisioning: knowing purple recipes and maybe having achievements associated with crafting them [Master Chef]
Blacksmith/Clothier/Woodworking: having traits researched, knowing motifs and maybe having achievements for tempering.

Generally the Alchemy and Enchanting master writs will be much more numerous than the other, since the conditions for maximizing their drop chance are less stringent: it takes 10-15 minutes to translate all runes and discover all reagent propertites. Note that provisioning will drop less often, because, just like any other master writ, it drops only from maximum tier ordinary writs. Provisioning is actually split between CP50 and CP150 recipes, and only when the writ asks for the latter does a master writ does actually have a chance to drop.

Concerning the gear ones, from my experience I would say that traits researched have more influence than motifs known since there's barely any difference between my characters that have all the the traits researched, but few motifs learned, and the one that has all the traits researched and motifs known, but there's a noticeable difference between chars that have neither traits researched nor motifs known and the former. Also the number of voucher per writ seems to be completely random: you have better odds of receiving one with traits and motifs known, but there's no guarantee you'll get a 200 voucher or a 6 voucher one. I've even gotten 100+ voucher ones from inexperienced crafters with no traits researched and only the basic motifs known.

The only thing you can do to get a steady supply of master writs is to have multiple characters doing the writs every day. And there's actually more in it for you since you'll receive kuta and legendary tempers quite regularly from those.

I must be an exception. My Alchemy isn't max on one of my characters. Not all alchemy ingredients are researched and I surly do not have all points in my alchemy. She's a little behind. But some how, I got a master alchemy writ yesterday from her.

eco_TR

PixelatedDonkey wrote: »

eco_TR wrote: »

PixelatedDonkey wrote: »

Thanks guys.
Don't think I'll be wasting time and resources on it then. Not really worth the effort for the "rewards" I am getting. Using the top tier materials just to receive a few coins and low level materials in return is a waste of time, in my opinion. Specially is the thing I'd like to get has that many conditions and RNG. I'll be better of crafting gear and selling it.

I disagree.It is not a waste of time. Asardes already explained clearly.

Of course it is all up to you, but if your char is capable of doing the daily writs, you better do them.

If you get a master writs with a good point and easy to do, you may even sell it for good gold. Or if you do the writs and collect the points, you may buy some good stuff to make money by selling them as well. In any case, I don't think you will be loosing with daily crafts and master writs. Be careful though, for not spending an alloy/wax/rosin for a low point writ.

The problem is the rng factor for me. With the main character I have done at least 50 writs (likely more because I've been doing them since pretty much as soon as I could) and I have gotten not even one master writ voucher. The amount of gold given for completing writs is miserly. I can get much more gold just doing the thieves guild "tip board" mission. The only materials I have gotten back were useless to me (iron ingots, flax and the like) since I am using gear that is 160. I get higher drop rate of useful materials from just running through some delves or pub dungeons (not counting the gold, soul gems and whatever else I get from deconstructing the equipment I find in those places).

Let me put it another way. If you are doing daily writs for master writs as the main target, you will continue to be disappointed. On the other hand, if master writs are not the main goal, then you need to be aware that daily writs is a very strong tool to obtain wax/temper/rosin/kuta, which have very good prices in market and needed by everyone. You can use or trade for your own purpose, or you can sell and convert to gold quiet easily.

All these are coming either from the daily drop as a gift of the daily writ, or mostly from refining the materials which you should be collecting from the survey awards of daily writs. their drop rates are almost fixed

If your target is making gold, I can tell you that only doing writs and going for wax/temper/kuta will be an efficient way. If the target is having something specific from the writ points merchant, you need to be patient. It goes slow. Either case, you will never ever loose from doing daily writs.Neither gold, nor material, as long as you collect those reward surveys from time to time.

PS. having eso plus and craft bag helps a lot for this.

Asardes

Kuramas9tails wrote: »

Asardes wrote: »

Only maximum tier CP150 ordinary writs will have a chance of dropping master writs. A number of conditions will increase the odds of getting one:

Alchemy: having all reagent properties discovered, and the associated achievements.
Enchanting: having all runes translated, and the associated achievements.
Provisioning: knowing purple recipes and maybe having achievements associated with crafting them [Master Chef]
Blacksmith/Clothier/Woodworking: having traits researched, knowing motifs and maybe having achievements for tempering.

Generally the Alchemy and Enchanting master writs will be much more numerous than the other, since the conditions for maximizing their drop chance are less stringent: it takes 10-15 minutes to translate all runes and discover all reagent propertites. Note that provisioning will drop less often, because, just like any other master writ, it drops only from maximum tier ordinary writs. Provisioning is actually split between CP50 and CP150 recipes, and only when the writ asks for the latter does a master writ does actually have a chance to drop.

Concerning the gear ones, from my experience I would say that traits researched have more influence than motifs known since there's barely any difference between my characters that have all the the traits researched, but few motifs learned, and the one that has all the traits researched and motifs known, but there's a noticeable difference between chars that have neither traits researched nor motifs known and the former. Also the number of voucher per writ seems to be completely random: you have better odds of receiving one with traits and motifs known, but there's no guarantee you'll get a 200 voucher or a 6 voucher one. I've even gotten 100+ voucher ones from inexperienced crafters with no traits researched and only the basic motifs known.

The only thing you can do to get a steady supply of master writs is to have multiple characters doing the writs every day. And there's actually more in it for you since you'll receive kuta and legendary tempers quite regularly from those.

I must be an exception. My Alchemy isn't max on one of my characters. Not all alchemy ingredients are researched and I surly do not have all points in my alchemy. She's a little behind. But some how, I got a master alchemy writ yesterday from her.

The respective skill must be at 50 and the main passive should be fully specced in order to get maximum tier writs and thus a change of getting master writs:

Alchemy: Solvent Proficiency 8/8
Blacksmithing: Metalworking 10/10
Clothier: Tailoring 10/10
Enchanting: Potency Improvement 10/10
Provisioning: Recipe Improvement 6/6 *
Woodworking: Woodworking 10/10

*as I explained you only get that chance 1/2 of the times due to how the writ asks for CP50 and CP150 recipes alternatively, and only the latter has a chance of begetting a master writs.

Since I ran out of space to store them due to the influx of motif pages, I've crafted all the master writs gotten between January 2nd and April 22nd from 10 characters and gotten 4.8K vouchers in total. That's almost 4 months, so slightly more than 1.2K vouchers per month, dividing that by character it would amount to something like 120 per character per month, or 4 a day on average. I think due to the size of the sample it should be statistically relevant. Someone running writs for a few months and not getting anything is obviously doing something wrong, like not having the skill fully trained and specced into (see above).

Enchanting is usually pre-leveled, since as soon as I create a character and start training riding, I position it conveniently close to an enchanting station (Daggerfall is perfect for this). When I get white dropped glyphs and also the green ones given by the writs themselves in bank, and once I've gotten a few I go and deconstruct them all. It takes a couple of weeks to level that way, with minimal time investment, since I log the character anyway for the riding. When the character gets leveled and I do a skill respec (they give you a scroll as leveling rewards nowadays) I get enough skill points to spec enchanting. For starters I spec Potency Improvement 10/10 also spec Aspect Improvement 4/4, then go to the vendor, check which potency runes I have in the craft bag, buy what I'm missing, then craft cheap glyphs to include those and all unknown essence runes with Ta and translate 2 at a time. I combo the CP150-160 ones with Jejota, Denata and Rekuta. Those usually get fed back into the process if I have another character waiting to level enchanting. The final step is to craft a prismatic glyph: Repora- Hakeijo-Kuta which gets sold on guild stores, with a slight profit. I sometimes start turning in Master Writs right away since I usually have a bunch of those stowed away, in case the new char still has skills that need training, by simply speccing those and putting them on the bar. Since I do this during double XP events it goes pretty fast, and I level several weapon lines completely, have everything morphed right to rank IV. Then do another respec to get only a few combat skills and the rest into crafting.

I train alchemy and discover all reagent properties in the process by using this guide. I craft poisons since solvents are easier to find, thus cheaper, and also poisons are crafted in stacks of 4. Thus I can vendor them at the end and recoup some of the cost of consumed ingredients. As soon as I hit a round number 10/20/30/40 I spec into the passive and switch to the next solvent so I get more inspiration. Discovering the properties gets me to ~22 since those achievements give extra inspiration. Then I craft a cheap combo like Wormwood-Spider Egg until it hits 50. The whole process takes around 20 minutes.

Provisioning is even simpler: I go to a bar, start crafting Level 15 drink or food, and then at 20/30/40 I spec the passive and buy the next recipe from the vendor, then start crafting that; some of my characters do actually have those recipes since I tend to pass the green ones down the chain. This also takes 20 minutes.

Gear is even simpler than that, and similar to enchanting, since I deconstruct white/green/blue CP160 useless drops. But I only start doing that once I get a character to 50, since there's a condition that prevents you from recovering materials if you are lower level and that is lost. Normally this also takes a couple of weeks, or even less with a steady influx of intricate items from my other characters; some people also sell those in guild stores, but I don't bother since they are only ~150 gold a piece.

My speed leveled storage & crafting alts end up with:
- 24 skill points to fill 2 bars with combat skills (morphed)
- 7 in Alchemy: Solvent Proficiency
- 9 in Blacksmith: Metalworking
- 9 in Clothier: Tailoring
- 9 in Enchanting: Potency Improvement
- 5 in Provisioning: Recipe Improvement
- 9 in Woodworking: Woodworking

That's a total of 72 skill points:
- 64 for leveling to 50
- 1 from the tutorial (2 for post Morrowind characters)
- 1 from normal Maelstrom - that's where I grind them
- 1 from starter zone Public Dungeon
- 1 from the first zone main quest
- 3-4 from skyshards in those areas