9 1/2 hours to do crafting surveys

Twenty0zTsunami

Nova Sky wrote: »

Metafae wrote: »

Yes, this is normal now that surveys are more "fun" as the devs put it, by making them drop for all areas in tamriel.

As a writ doer, I really was getting bored with the convenience of all my surveys being in the same zone, I really enjoy traveling around the whole of tamriel to harvest my surveys that previously didn't take too long given they were all in one spot.

I don't see why anyone would complain about it.

This. This! THIS!!

lol it takes no time at all to do surveys, even scattered as they are. at least you aren't just constantly running back and forth, reloading the same board. that sounds boring as ***.

Minyassa

I find them really relaxing, actually. I'm not being sarcastic, there's just something soothing about them.

HOWEVER.

This is SINCE I installed the Lost Treasure addon! Before that, I really hated surveys and treasure maps and would save them up for a long time and then do them all in one long day and get very grumpy. Now I do them every few days and enjoy it immensely.

Armatesz

DoctorESO wrote: »

Armatesz wrote: »

Never thought as many surveys I did today would take this long to do, and an hour to refine them as well. Amount of surveys is well over 400. Been saving them for quite a while and curious if others have had this happen as well?

Note for those thinking to suggest an addon I am on Xbox one, I cannot have addons.

Congrats! That sounds so boring, though! 9.5 hours straight of surveys!?!?

Not really that boring imo, you get to explore quite a bit and it had me to explore sights I don't typically go to so I relished in the sight seeing.

Armatesz

Twenty0zTsunami wrote: »

Nova Sky wrote: »

Metafae wrote: »

Yes, this is normal now that surveys are more "fun" as the devs put it, by making them drop for all areas in tamriel.

As a writ doer, I really was getting bored with the convenience of all my surveys being in the same zone, I really enjoy traveling around the whole of tamriel to harvest my surveys that previously didn't take too long given they were all in one spot.

I don't see why anyone would complain about it.

This. This! THIS!!

lol it takes no time at all to do surveys, even scattered as they are. at least you aren't just constantly running back and forth, reloading the same board. that sounds boring as ***.

You would be surprised at how long it would take you if you have hundreds... now picture having at least 400, maybe have 600 surveys. It takes a long time and this is not wasting much time mind you. But boring is a subjective thing that varies between person to person, I actually enjoyed all the sight seeing I was doing.

Aurielle

Inklings wrote: »

When it comes down to a gold / time ratio. Surveys arnt worth doing whether you have a bunch of stacks or just one. The only reason to do them is if you don't mind and want to save a little bit of gold. There needs to be something else tied to them to make them worth the time to harvest. I do 180 writs a day. I literally have thousands of surveys stacked in my bank. Once you understand how to take advantage of the other means in the game to obtain mats and legendary upgrade materials you will realize how obsolete surveys are.

When I was invited to ZoS studios a few weeks ago to beta test Summerset I had a nice long talk with Philip Draven the lead systems designer about this. We bounced a lot of ideas off each other about these issue and other crafting writ woes. It was by far, for me one of the best conversations I had while at the studio. I hope some good comes out if it for the future of how writs work.

I really hope you didn’t speak for all of us when you told the lead systems designer that crafting surveys are “obsolete.” Crafting surveys are great for people like me who don’t habitually farm resources or have the time to do an obscene number of writs per day. I’d rather spend my time running dungeons or PVPing, and ocassionally taking the time to blast through some surveys to replenish my stock and make some gold.

Merlin13KAGL

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

mesmerizedish wrote: »

I do them as soon as I get them, because I'm not a coward.

...what does bravery & cowardice have to do with harvesting mats?

"Who fears no Node of Smock or Ore? Undaun....err...nevermind."

Mirelurk wrote: »

Saw a useful tip on the forums the other day. Get to the survey spot, pick up the nodes, port to a house you don't own, walk out the door and you are back at the spot with nodes refreshed.

It saves riding some indeterminate distance away and back which can be a real pain in some swampy or forested zones.

Unless you are referring to previewing from the crown store, it doesn't work like exiting a dungeon, releasing you back to your original spot. . Exiting a house, owned or otherwise simply places you on the other side of the door, in the zone of the house.

Armatesz wrote: »

Twenty0zTsunami wrote: »

Nova Sky wrote: »

Metafae wrote: »

Yes, this is normal now that surveys are more "fun" as the devs put it, by making them drop for all areas in tamriel.

As a writ doer, I really was getting bored with the convenience of all my surveys being in the same zone, I really enjoy traveling around the whole of tamriel to harvest my surveys that previously didn't take too long given they were all in one spot.

I don't see why anyone would complain about it.

This. This! THIS!!

lol it takes no time at all to do surveys, even scattered as they are. at least you aren't just constantly running back and forth, reloading the same board. that sounds boring as ***.

You would be surprised at how long it would take you if you have hundreds... now picture having at least 400, maybe have 600 surveys. It takes a long time and this is not wasting much time mind you. But boring is a subjective thing that varies between person to person, I actually enjoyed all the sight seeing I was doing.

It's still going to be less time than harvesting the same mats outright, significantly so.

So unless you're comparing it to gold farming and purchasing the raw mats, it's still generally worth the time.

Armatesz

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

mesmerizedish wrote: »

I do them as soon as I get them, because I'm not a coward.

...what does bravery & cowardice have to do with harvesting mats?

"Who fears no Node of Smock or Ore? Undaun....err...nevermind."

Mirelurk wrote: »

Saw a useful tip on the forums the other day. Get to the survey spot, pick up the nodes, port to a house you don't own, walk out the door and you are back at the spot with nodes refreshed.

It saves riding some indeterminate distance away and back which can be a real pain in some swampy or forested zones.

Unless you are referring to previewing from the crown store, it doesn't work like exiting a dungeon, releasing you back to your original spot. . Exiting a house, owned or otherwise simply places you on the other side of the door, in the zone of the house.

Armatesz wrote: »

Twenty0zTsunami wrote: »

Nova Sky wrote: »

Metafae wrote: »

Yes, this is normal now that surveys are more "fun" as the devs put it, by making them drop for all areas in tamriel.

As a writ doer, I really was getting bored with the convenience of all my surveys being in the same zone, I really enjoy traveling around the whole of tamriel to harvest my surveys that previously didn't take too long given they were all in one spot.

I don't see why anyone would complain about it.

This. This! THIS!!

lol it takes no time at all to do surveys, even scattered as they are. at least you aren't just constantly running back and forth, reloading the same board. that sounds boring as ***.

You would be surprised at how long it would take you if you have hundreds... now picture having at least 400, maybe have 600 surveys. It takes a long time and this is not wasting much time mind you. But boring is a subjective thing that varies between person to person, I actually enjoyed all the sight seeing I was doing.

It's still going to be less time than harvesting the same mats outright, significantly so.

So unless you're comparing it to gold farming and purchasing the raw mats, it's still generally worth the time.

Yeah I'm not looking at it in a way of "making money from mats" There are far better ways of doing it and some of those ways don't involve selling stuff to other players

Merlin13KAGL

Armatesz wrote: »

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

mesmerizedish wrote: »

I do them as soon as I get them, because I'm not a coward.

...what does bravery & cowardice have to do with harvesting mats?

"Who fears no Node of Smock or Ore? Undaun....err...nevermind."

Mirelurk wrote: »

Saw a useful tip on the forums the other day. Get to the survey spot, pick up the nodes, port to a house you don't own, walk out the door and you are back at the spot with nodes refreshed.

It saves riding some indeterminate distance away and back which can be a real pain in some swampy or forested zones.

Unless you are referring to previewing from the crown store, it doesn't work like exiting a dungeon, releasing you back to your original spot. . Exiting a house, owned or otherwise simply places you on the other side of the door, in the zone of the house.

Armatesz wrote: »

Twenty0zTsunami wrote: »

Nova Sky wrote: »

Metafae wrote: »

Yes, this is normal now that surveys are more "fun" as the devs put it, by making them drop for all areas in tamriel.

As a writ doer, I really was getting bored with the convenience of all my surveys being in the same zone, I really enjoy traveling around the whole of tamriel to harvest my surveys that previously didn't take too long given they were all in one spot.

I don't see why anyone would complain about it.

This. This! THIS!!

lol it takes no time at all to do surveys, even scattered as they are. at least you aren't just constantly running back and forth, reloading the same board. that sounds boring as ***.

You would be surprised at how long it would take you if you have hundreds... now picture having at least 400, maybe have 600 surveys. It takes a long time and this is not wasting much time mind you. But boring is a subjective thing that varies between person to person, I actually enjoyed all the sight seeing I was doing.

It's still going to be less time than harvesting the same mats outright, significantly so.

So unless you're comparing it to gold farming and purchasing the raw mats, it's still generally worth the time.

Yeah I'm not looking at it in a way of "making money from mats" There are far better ways of doing it and some of those ways don't involve selling stuff to other players

@Armatesz , I'm not even referring to selling to players. I'm simply saying "How much time does it take to collect X mats from a single survey vs how much time it takes to farm enough gold to buy said mats?"

I've honestly never done the math (nor do I technically farm for gold). I know in cases of gear, it's often easier for me to purchase than to pray to RNG.

In both cases, some may feel differently, and as long as there are some that like doing one and some that like doing the other, then the market and the need remain healthy on both sides of the house.

Stewart1874

I have a few i'm still working through. Anniversary event flooded me with them which is good. Should hopefully give me a chance to stock up on mats and maybe punt the excess for some quick gold.

Mirelurk

Twenty0zTsunami wrote: »

Armatesz wrote: »

"Survey the World" adds an indicator next to a zone's name ( */.<Zone Name> ) when you have a treasure map or survey for that zone in your inventory.

Lost Treasures marks the location of your surveys/maps on your world map with a big unmistakable red X

Those two add-ons make the process a breeze. Literally takes all the thinking out of it and I can just get it done and get on to actually playing the game.

Just installed them and, yes, they are great!

Loves_guars

Sorry for necro but I was going to complain about the same thing like a baby yes, much tears.

Honestly I think I reached a point... the last time I had to collect all the surveys I spent all my night. The loading screens, plus the riding time... it's not fun at all. And I like visiting Tamriel and all but it's just too much to the point I stopped doing writs with most of my characters because I dread the survey collecting moment.

Can we do something else instead of surveys? Even if it means slightly less rewards, I'll take it. Transmute them to direct mats rewards (less) like the gem system? Or let us sell them. Maybe let us combine 10 into one super survey where we can get all the mats at once?

Sylvermynx

I can't even imagine messing about with a hundred, much less more than that. I do them all on my main, and on a day when everyone gets a couple or more, it takes most of my day (my "playable day" I guess that would be). Some of that is due to lag, some of it due to IRL interruptions.

I refuse to save them up. Good LORD no. I do them as I get them. If I had a hundred or more waiting, it's dollars to doughnuts whether I'd delete them or not.

Now, having stated that - basic crafting writs are valuable. I'm not arguing with that.

PS4_ZeColmeia

I have bank space dedicated to every survey location. I'm not sure how many i have but I have no less than 5 in every stack and no more than 28. Someday I'll have an excuse to cash them in.

firedrgn

Waffennacht wrote: »

I just trash all of em

. Surveys are worth their wieght in gold especially the jewelry.

firedrgn

I just did 60ish at one time .. i use add on and full speed mount. I do the longest run from wayshire last so i can port to next map for 147 gold.

I love that they stack i can do one survey every 30 seconds

Nova Sky

I have several hundred surveys in storage. I BEG OF YOU, ZOS, GIVE US A WAY TO DO THEM QUICKER!

Petoften

I sometimes spend hours on a single map - mostly the treasure chests - looking for them.

ATomiX96

Waffennacht wrote: »

I just trash all of em

It would be cool If you could sell them on guild traders
If you are on PC there are 2 addons i use for surveys:
Lost treasure and survey the world

LadyLethalla

After ignoring mine for a week or two, doing all then ignoring again until they built up I got jack of it and, coinciding with a complete inventory overhaul, decided to do them maximum every 2 days along with all MW no matter how small. So far, so good.

blacksghost

Stop saving them up .... simple

Perwulf

Could take long if you don't have addons for survey locations but overall in PC, if you have addons, this is just right because farming nodes versus surveys takes the same amount of time with the same value.

firedrgn

Perwulf wrote: »

Could take long if you don't have addons for survey locations but overall in PC, if you have addons, this is just right because farming nodes versus surveys takes the same amount of time with the same value.

Not if you wait and stack them. You pull ahead a fair bit

zaria

Aurielle wrote: »

Inklings wrote: »

When it comes down to a gold / time ratio. Surveys arnt worth doing whether you have a bunch of stacks or just one. The only reason to do them is if you don't mind and want to save a little bit of gold. There needs to be something else tied to them to make them worth the time to harvest. I do 180 writs a day. I literally have thousands of surveys stacked in my bank. Once you understand how to take advantage of the other means in the game to obtain mats and legendary upgrade materials you will realize how obsolete surveys are.

When I was invited to ZoS studios a few weeks ago to beta test Summerset I had a nice long talk with Philip Draven the lead systems designer about this. We bounced a lot of ideas off each other about these issue and other crafting writ woes. It was by far, for me one of the best conversations I had while at the studio. I hope some good comes out if it for the future of how writs work.

I really hope you didn’t speak for all of us when you told the lead systems designer that crafting surveys are “obsolete.” Crafting surveys are great for people like me who don’t habitually farm resources or have the time to do an obscene number of writs per day. I’d rather spend my time running dungeons or PVPing, and ocassionally taking the time to blast through some surveys to replenish my stock and make some gold.

This so much, its an way to get materials used for writs back. Without them writs would probably not been very cost effective at all. The materials you get from doing the writs are usually low level stuff who is pretty useless.

Riverlynn

I used to do them as I got them.

I say used to, because I haven't had one for a couple of weeks now, from at least three characters completing writs every day... I had assumed they'd been dialled down, but I guess the RNG is being especially random with me.

AlienSlof

You folks who trash the surveys - please send them to me @AlienSlof on PC EU and NA!

I'm always short of mats and love running around doing the surveys. I'd love to take them off your hands.

Cpt_Teemo

AlienSlof wrote: »

You folks who trash the surveys - please send them to me @AlienSlof on PC EU and NA!

I'm always short of mats and love running around doing the surveys. I'd love to take them off your hands.

You do realize Survey's are Bop and always have been they should allow us to combine the same ones into a multiplier map so that we only have to do it once, I have nearly 2,500 surveys on my survey char atm to lazy to go back and forth 100 times to the same spot x 25

Katahdin

Just dont let them build up...

I do writs on 2-3 characters.
I run the surveys once or twice a week.
They don't stack up that way and don't seen like so much of a onerous task.

Once I get more than about 15-20, it becomes a slog

sudaki_eso

Why wait till you get 400? even if it would take only one minute to do one survey it sums up to almost 7h...

I collect them with my 3 crafters over the week and do them all on sunday, this way i never have to spend more then 1h doing those...

AlienSlof

Cpt_Teemo wrote: »

AlienSlof wrote: »

You folks who trash the surveys - please send them to me @AlienSlof on PC EU and NA!

I'm always short of mats and love running around doing the surveys. I'd love to take them off your hands.

You do realize Survey's are Bop and always have been they should allow us to combine the same ones into a multiplier map so that we only have to do it once, I have nearly 2,500 surveys on my survey char atm to lazy to go back and forth 100 times to the same spot x 25

Oh, yeah you're right. Shame, that.

firedrgn

Cpt_Teemo wrote: »

AlienSlof wrote: »

You folks who trash the surveys - please send them to me @AlienSlof on PC EU and NA!

I'm always short of mats and love running around doing the surveys. I'd love to take them off your hands.

You do realize Survey's are Bop and always have been they should allow us to combine the same ones into a multiplier map so that we only have to do it once, I have nearly 2,500 surveys on my survey char atm to lazy to go back and forth 100 times to the same spot x 25

Sobthey stack 25 high? Highest stack ive had was 4 .. man they are real easy if they are all stacked likebthat. Literally take 30 seconds a survey