The story behind Hollow City looting

RefLiberty

So the question is simple, what is the story behind Hollow City looting, why is stealing disabled?
I cannot understand why the city is created that way by ZOS, it does not seem logical at all.
I know that armor and weapons are worth 0 but there is a pretty decent amount of bags, crates etc.
It is kinda stupid to walk into Inn and just loot everything.
In advance, thank you for clarifying this for me.

Danikat

Skwor wrote: »

RefLiberty wrote: »

So the question is simple, what is the story behind Hollow City looting, why is stealing disabled?
I cannot understand why the city is created that way by ZOS, it does not seem logical at all.
I know that armor and weapons are worth 0 but there is a pretty decent amount of bags, crates etc.
It is kinda stupid to walk into Inn and just loot everything.
In advance, thank you for clarifying this for me.

When you first get to hollow city in the main quest line it is practically empty except for a VERY VERY few, basically everything there is left from those who abandoned the city, therefor no one really has a claim on it and can be looted at will.

That is the backstory in a nutshell, now if you want to go on about the new people moving in I would say they have not yet set up shop so most items are still up for grabs.

I do not want to add more because I do not want to go into spoilers

And once you've finished the story you find out that even the residents who remained would probably let you take what you wanted because

The city is inhabited by followers of Meridia, who arranged for it to be pulled into Coldharbour specifically so it would be there for you and the guild & alliance forces to use as a staging area in the fight against Molag Bal and who has been overseeing the city and its inhabitants since then. The entire thing exists to support you and your allies, so they'd be unlikely to object to you taking stuff you might need.

Skwor

RefLiberty wrote: »

So the question is simple, what is the story behind Hollow City looting, why is stealing disabled?
I cannot understand why the city is created that way by ZOS, it does not seem logical at all.
I know that armor and weapons are worth 0 but there is a pretty decent amount of bags, crates etc.
It is kinda stupid to walk into Inn and just loot everything.
In advance, thank you for clarifying this for me.

When you first get to hollow city in the main quest line it is practically empty except for a VERY VERY few, basically everything there is left from those who abandoned the city, therefor no one really has a claim on it and can be looted at will.

That is the backstory in a nutshell, now if you want to go on about the new people moving in I would say they have not yet set up shop so most items are still up for grabs.

I do not want to add more because I do not want to go into spoilers

Vizikul

There aren't any guards either, so stealing would be far too easy.

Reverb

The better question is “where does the stuff in Hollow City come from”? There’s always fresh produce in the grocer, and a traveling furniture salesman with different wares each week, and food and drink in the tavern, cabinets and crates endlessly filled with treasures from Nirn. But it’s been years, how are they getting it all? Where is their food and clothing coming from?

RefLiberty

Reverb wrote: »

The better question is “where does the stuff in Hollow City come from”? There’s always fresh produce in the grocer, and a traveling furniture salesman with different wares each week, and food and drink in the tavern, cabinets and crates endlessly filled with treasures from Nirn. But it’s been years, how are they getting it all? Where is their food and clothing coming from?

Although I asked question about the city, which I'm not done with the story yet, the answer to your question is simple, once you restore the city you will have the conversation with Groundskeeper saying that Mages guild have opened stable portals with Nirn allowing trade routes and travel possible.

Danikat

RefLiberty wrote: »

Reverb wrote: »

The better question is “where does the stuff in Hollow City come from”? There’s always fresh produce in the grocer, and a traveling furniture salesman with different wares each week, and food and drink in the tavern, cabinets and crates endlessly filled with treasures from Nirn. But it’s been years, how are they getting it all? Where is their food and clothing coming from?

Although I asked question about the city, which I'm not done with the story yet, the answer to your question is simple, once you restore the city you will have the conversation with Groundskeeper saying that Mages guild have opened stable portals with Nirn allowing trade routes and travel possible.

But all that stuff is there before you even start the quest. Some of the NPCs will talk about how it's hard to find anything edible in Coldharbour, and even harder to find anything you'd want to eat but all these boxes and bags are full of perfectly edible food.

Of course a lot of tombs, caves, dungeons etc. have a similar problem. These are supposed to be long forgotten or abandoned places inhospitable to most of the population of Tamriel, but they have everything from stacks of fresh food to books on recent events.

It's one of those unfortunate places where immersion and game design clash. I suspect to save time all crates, bags, boxes, bookshelves etc. share loot tables so you can find the same stuff regardless of where it's placed, which is also an effective solution to making sure everywhere will give you at least some useful or sellable items. It's just unfortunate that many of them won't make sense in context.

jircris11

Danikat wrote: »

RefLiberty wrote: »

Reverb wrote: »

The better question is “where does the stuff in Hollow City come from”? There’s always fresh produce in the grocer, and a traveling furniture salesman with different wares each week, and food and drink in the tavern, cabinets and crates endlessly filled with treasures from Nirn. But it’s been years, how are they getting it all? Where is their food and clothing coming from?

Although I asked question about the city, which I'm not done with the story yet, the answer to your question is simple, once you restore the city you will have the conversation with Groundskeeper saying that Mages guild have opened stable portals with Nirn allowing trade routes and travel possible.

But all that stuff is there before you even start the quest. Some of the NPCs will talk about how it's hard to find anything edible in Coldharbour, and even harder to find anything you'd want to eat but all these boxes and bags are full of perfectly edible food.

Of course a lot of tombs, caves, dungeons etc. have a similar problem. These are supposed to be long forgotten or abandoned places inhospitable to most of the population of Tamriel, but they have everything from stacks of fresh food to books on recent events.

It's one of those unfortunate places where immersion and game design clash. I suspect to save time all crates, bags, boxes, bookshelves etc. share loot tables so you can find the same stuff regardless of where it's placed, which is also an effective solution to making sure everywhere will give you at least some useful or sellable items. It's just unfortunate that many of them won't make sense in context.

Same when finding good food in crypts lol

TheUndeadAmulet

RefLiberty wrote: »

Although I asked question about the city, which I'm not done with the story yet, the answer to your question is simple, once you restore the city you will have the conversation with Groundskeeper saying that Mages guild have opened stable portals with Nirn allowing trade routes and travel possible.

Ah yes, I find that I am able to sell most of my goods in THE OBLIVION REALM OF THE GOD OF SCHEMES AND BRUTALITY.

max_only

TheUndeadAmulet wrote: »

RefLiberty wrote: »

Although I asked question about the city, which I'm not done with the story yet, the answer to your question is simple, once you restore the city you will have the conversation with Groundskeeper saying that Mages guild have opened stable portals with Nirn allowing trade routes and travel possible.

Ah yes, I find that I am able to sell most of my goods in THE OBLIVION REALM OF THE GOD OF SCHEMES AND BRUTALITY.

Wait until you meet the (spoiler) merchant... he’s rather funny too.