PTS Update 26 - Feedback Thread for Antiquities

DarcyMardin

*Did you use a copied character or template?*

Copied.

*What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?*

Worst tutorial ever! The only thing good about the tutorial was the appearance of Gabrielle. (Although she didn’t turn out to be helpful at all). Although I found the scrying item in my collections, it did not occur to me to click on my journal in order to get a hint where the bottle was. Fortunately someone in zone chat typed—in German—to look in the journal, and my university-era German was marginally good enough to understand what she was saying.

But once I got outside to look for the bottle, I found the mini-game directions opaque, and I got frustrated searching for a place to dig and gave up before figuring out how to excavate. There was a blue light hanging in the air, apparently indicating a direction, but if there was a mound to dig in, I couldn’t see it. (It was crowded there, as it will surely be on launch, with a lot of people running around looking as confused as I was and a few apparently digging).

Also, what do I dig with? Gabrielle said to use the right tool, and the only thing I had under the tools tab was the scrying eye thingy.

*Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?*

Nope.

*Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?*

Nope, didn’t get it, got tired (it was very late), and went to bed. Maybe I’ll try again tonight, but if this is what I’m going to have to do all over Tamriel, I’ll probably pass. It’s giving me flashbacks to the horrors of doing the Psijic quest on multiple alts.

*What did you think of the rewards themselves?*

Didn’t get that far.

*Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?*

Since I failed to find the initial bottle, nope.

*Do you have any other general feedback?*.

Re-write the tutorial, STAT.

Elsonso

Comments about the in-game help, now that I know it is there.

Antiquities Overview

No real issues. Tells how to start the process, which is critical.

Antiquities Codex

What is the codex and where do I find it? It is my first stop, but what is it and where can I find it? Don't hold back, you can tell me.

I am fairly sure that this is the "Antiquities" tab in the Journal and Map. Maybe include the word Codex on the UI to make the connection.

The help says that the Codex will tell me any Lore Entries that have been discovered for the antiquity. This cannot be accessed from the Scrying page, even if you have obtained one. You have to go to the section (like Western Skyrim) and find the entry for the one you want and click on it. That was not obvious, so I almost reported it as a bug.

Leads

Excavating the antiquity removes the lead, or so it says. The Nord Scrimshaw Pendant is the exception? If not, you might want to say so.

Scrying

This seems clear enough for the basic start. There is no mention of "advanced scrying" where you talk about groups, social distancing, and any other advanced features that come from buying passives.

Locating the Antiquity

This seemed to cover what I know about the system.

Excavation

This also seemed to cover what I know about the system.

Advanced Excavation

As I have not progressed very far in this system, I am not sure how well this is covering things.

Mix

I have some more feedback.

I was trying to track down all the leads for Bleakrock and Bal Foyen. A guildmate suggested maybe some only could be obtained once you were 10 Scry/Excavate. Which is a valid consideration but it does mean I may have wasted a lot of time zooming around killing, looting, fishing, stealing, etc when I perhaps couldn't even get the leads.

I think the Hidden relics could use a tag or hint or note: You need Level 10 Scry/Excavate in order to chase this lead. As a head's up, or maybe an emphasis somewhere else that your skill tree level will effect which you can get leads for? If that is even a thing lol.

It is rather hard to tell if leads are bugged or I am not meeting requirements or not looking in the right place. I like the hunt and am leveling my skills to max now so that I will have zone completion AND scry/excavate maxxed on the same character.

ArchangelIsraphel

Did you use a copied character or template?
Copied max level character
What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?
They were incredibly vague. One is left with no idea as to what they are supposed to do as the flavor text doesn't even begin to describe where to find the list of items to scry- I had to come here to figure out that they were in my journal. As others before me have said, this needs quite a bit of improvement.
Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?
I only managed to find the one during the tutorial quest after several tries and needing to port to another location to get the dig site to appear.
Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?
They seem enjoyable, however...I never got to finish the first quest as the game abruptly decided to throw up a load screen in the middle of digging for the antiquities, just as I found the object I was searching for. I was disconnected from the game and found myself warped all the way back to a wayshrine in Vvardenfell I had used earlier to port in and out of Skyrim. My quest progress had been reset, and I am being told to speak with Gabriell. However, I can no longer scry for the object (it is blanked out, with no ability to hit E) yet the location for the object still appears on my map as if I have scryed, yet there is no dig spot again. I cannot seem to fix this no matter what I do. The quest is now broken.
What did you think of the rewards themselves?
I never got to see them because of the glitch
Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?
I'm not really certain because of the glitch
Do you have any other general feedback?
This seems like it will be a lot of fun, but please fix the kinks in it. Its very disappointing to find what you're looking for only to be booted to a loading screen and logged out of the game in the middle of a dig.

wenchmore420b14_ESO

First impression, confusing. Imo the scry and excavate UI is complicated and looks more at home in a Korean style game.
Will sleep on it and try it again tomorrow, but so far disappointed.

Qbiken

Taleof2Cities wrote: »

I’m surprised more players didn’t use the in-game help section on Antiquities (especially if they felt the tutorials were lacking).

There’s a wealth of information there.

I used it exclusively to complete a Legendary scry and successful excavation.

There's a help section? 5 years later and I still didn't know
/sarcasm (only slightly tho......)

Cinbri

Do I understand right - when you got Lead and even after you get relic associated to it - Lead is not dissapear so you can "farm" this relic at any time again and again?

Qbiken

I had a hard time understanding how to get new items to scavenge for (tried this out in orsinium) Once I had done the three ones (1 green,1 blue and 1 purple treasure) I had no idea what to do next in order to find new things to look for. And where does the leads end up once you pick them up? Couldn't find them in any inventory or anything?

The minigames themselves are fairly straight forward, but the underlying mechanics are confusing to me. If anyone reading this thread has the time to explain I would be more than happy

Hamfast

Did you use a copied character or template?
Copied, max level and had some extra skill points (I think the 2 skill lines require 27 points total)

What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?
I found them with some looking around, but like a number of others, the mound did not show up because others were there working on it. I did go out and find an antiquity before I completed the tutorial, and again, as others have said, the tutorial needs work. I may be an idea to enclose the courtyard with doors to the building or out on the street and make the area instanced so others don't interfere with the quest... the area could then have several "Antiquity students" each working on excavations in the area that could show you how to use each tool, and could be revisited in need.

Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?
Yes, several both in thieves trove, on merchants (with limitations), psijic portals and I think in an advanced chest

Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?
I figured it out, but the scrying is very RNG dependent, the little hexes in the scrying mini game may be in big groups or limited to 1 or 2, which is why the "line" item works so well, it ignores the original symbol. Each and every board in the scrying mini game needs to be able to be completed (get all 6 spots) at the level you are when you get them, I am not saying random clicking should work, just that with study, a path can be found, I had one last night that left 3 unclaimed spots because of the random arrangement of the symbols. I did not stop and try to rescry the same thing for a better configuration, in fact I am not sure I could.

The Excavation is also a bit confusing at the start, the tutorial needs to better explain the process, Search for the right spot, then dig in that area, thankfully I am not color blind but I could see where that would cause an issue... That the Scanner cant see all the way down at times is another issue that gave me pause. brush uncovers 1 square 1 level and builds dig power, dig power is used for trowels and the shovel (when you earn them) the trowel digs 1 square up to 3 levels and needs 2 dig energy, the shovel uses dig energy but lowers 9 squares 1 level, but that was not in the tutorial

What did you think of the rewards themselves?
All I found was vendor trash(so far), but that was OK, it was what I expected.

Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?
Yes, but reasonable is a subjective measure, I had to run over several areas several times to find the spot, I didn't figure out there was anything helping me find a spot, but I will look into that soon. I don't mind the time sink but I can see where others may have issues with it... more so when I ran by a spot several times only to find the pile there on another pass

Do you have any other general feedback?
First, as others have said, Scrying for me seemed to make my mouse stop interacting with the map either directly (m) or with wayshrines, "/reloadui" fixed it, but it was annoying...

Progress is dependent on achievements for both lines, which makes progress slow, and as with the timeframe question above, that could make it less fun for some... As the same item can be found multiple times, (1 green item in each zone with out a lead, others with leads) all of the generic vendor trash items should have more generic names with some unique items at higher levels, but leads should stack more like surveys and not be unique like treasure maps, so if I find one on a vendor that I can buy, I can buy several and not need to return after each run. if I find another chest, thieves trove, pick a pocket, loot a desk or urn, wherever I could find a lead, I can find additional leads for the same antiquity...

Each main item has 3 bits of lore for each one and the first 3 times you find the item, you get one of those bits of lore, I think those bits of lore should be both random (chance to get the slip of lore) and once you have all the bits have been gained, scrying for the item should no longer require a lead, by the same token (I know, more work) 3 bits of lore for a green item is good, with say a 50 to 70% chance to get a bit of lore, but a blue item has 4 or 5 bits of lore and a 40 to 60% chance to drop... purple have 6 to 8 bit of lore and a 30 to 50% drop chance and so on, but again, once all the lore bits have been found, there is no longer a need for a lead... the rarer the antiquity that more bits of lore

Another idea would be a location within the main city in each zone that has multiple "Lore Masters", I would say a building of some type, then each antiquity could be sold as just a piece of vendor trash, or could be traded for a bit of lore instead, so instead of getting the lore when you find the item, you need to give the item to a lore master in the local Antiquity shop... the reason there are multiple Lore Masters in that building is that each will only give 1 bit of lore per item traded, so each item found and traded to a lore master will return 1 of 3 responses, "Thank you, what a Wonderful Find, here is some lore about it" (item is consumed), "I have told you all I know" (item returned) or "I know nothing of this item" (item returned) in the last 2 responses, the item can then be offered to a different lore master... another idea would be to allow some of those lore masters to know more then 1 bit of lore... at some point all of the lore masters will return the item, but at that point you should have all the lore, then the item is only good for vendor trash.

Olauron

Elsonso wrote: »

What is the codex and where do I find it? It is my first stop, but what is it and where can I find it? Don't hold back, you can tell me.

I am fairly sure that this is the "Antiquities" tab in the Journal and Map. Maybe include the word Codex on the UI to make the connection.

The help says that the Codex will tell me any Lore Entries that have been discovered for the antiquity. This cannot be accessed from the Scrying page, even if you have obtained one. You have to go to the section (like Western Skyrim) and find the entry for the one you want and click on it. That was not obvious, so I almost reported it as a bug.

Agreed, that is rather confusing that an item appears two times in the tab, once in the scryable section and once in the zone section. Worse that it appears with different options. Why not use E for Scry and R for Codex, for example?

I think that a system similar to motifs, styles and colors will be more easy to understand. Instead of scryable section there should be implemented two checks, "Show locked antiquities" and "Show antiquities from other zones".

Mysanne

Did you use a copied character or template?

Template (EU server player here!)

What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?

It was not very clear. I searched inside the house for a long time before trying outside. I came across the new "archeology" tabs in the journal and on the map by chance. I groped a lot but I finally understood (a little).

Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?

No

Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?

I have understood enough to be able to find and obtain some items, but all is not yet very clear in my mind.

Some items already found are still in my journal: I don't know if I can search for them and obtain them indefinitely (like green treasures that we can sell to merchants). I looked for a green object 4 times while the codex indicated: 3/3.
I still haven't understood what a codex is. I am French and I don't understand English very well, so I think my difficulty in understanding comes from that.

What did you think of the rewards themselves?

I love them, especially the furniture! But I did not understand if you could get the furniture several times.

Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?

Yes, no probem with that. Except some mobs may be a problem.

Do you have any other general feedback?

I did not understand the smoke and explosion system and when an antique is destroyed or not. I think you shouldn't dig the location with the smoke, but I'm not sure. Maybe it's just a question of depth ...

The failure of an excavation is not very clear either. I think we can start again to dig, but it's fuzzy in my mind.

I sometimes found a pile to excavate, but nothing happened: I think it was because I was missing clues and that I had two possible locations. This one was wrong.

Everything will be easier with more practice!

I'm pretty happy with this new aspect of TESO, even if we are moving further and further away from the initial TES.
This allows you to visit all of Tamriel again and it's pretty good. (I play a little everyday since February 2014!)

Chaos2088

I really like that this has been added to the game, has been real fun getting and doing them. plus the rewards are really ace! Kudos to ZOS

Did you use a copied character or template?
-Well I am on EU server so experimented with a new character, which I have grown fond of, so if the new chapter comes with a character slot that would be ace!

What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?
-The explanation in a tool tip could been added, once I did the 1st quest I was like yeah boi! Search for it was abit of a mission (as im colour blind and finding that light blue(might be another colour lol) area was hard) Also did know that if you slot the srying tool and use it in zone a ball of light would appear and show you the direction till after 1st try. Unless I skipped that bit .

Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?
-Yes a few droped in labyrinthia which was cool.

Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?
-I like the mini games, fun and easy to play really good addition to the game and can see this being expanded ina good way in the future.

What did you think of the rewards themselves?
-Seen a video of someone collecting @Elara_Northwind (great video btw) and the rewards look amzing and you added some snow elf stuff!! woop woop.

Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?
-Yes as satted before didn't known you could slot the srying tool and a ball of light would point you in the direction. Made the fidning of it way easier due to the colours.

Do you have any other general feedback?
-Each major town should have a little guild hall for the antiquities crew, maybe a little preview of some of the items you can get in that zone.

Elara_Northwind

I really enjoyed doing the antiquities!

I used a template character.

I managed to find the quest easily but I don't feel like we were given a clear enough explanation. There are lots of confused people wandering around in Solitude right now I feel like the way it works could have been explained in a much clearer way.

We did find some leads while in one of the new public dungeons.

I managed to figure out how it all worked eventually, and I actually found it very enjoyable! Even after spending too many hours collecting all of the furnishings

The rewards are amazing, really really love them

Yes, I was able to find the dig sites quickly enough.

For general feedback I have a few comments to make. Firstly, as I already stated, I feel like there could be a clearer explanation for how this all works, because it can be very confusing. I feel like the tutorial quest for it could be a little more detailed in telling you exactly what it is that you need to be doing.

When at a dig site, there is a bar that charges to show when you can use the shovels, and after I while this became very annoying because it is placed over the top of some of the blocks, meaning that you can't see what you are doing properly at times. I feel like this little bar would perhaps be better if it were at the top or bottom, or to the side rather than right in the middle where it gets in the way!!

There are also a couple of bugs. In Northern Elsweyr, it just doesn't work at all, but also sometimes when you dig for an item and uncover it fully it still tells you that you have failed and you have to search all over again. There is also a little annoying thing when you use the eye in an area, and the directional cue appears inside a wall or rock so you can't see it and have to wait for the eye to charge again.

I think that is about everything I had to comment on antiquities, but overall it is a really fun and interesting addition to the game, and I personally really enjoyed it

Elsonso

Feature request...

Is it possible to put a marker on the Antiquities Codex tab when there is a new Lead, like with collections? Then, in the codex, identify the sections where the new lead(s) are? I just got one and had to go through every page to find it. It spanned pages, so I had to look through several to find them all.

Ilsabet

Cinbri wrote: »

Do I understand right - when you got Lead and even after you get relic associated to it - Lead is not dissapear so you can "farm" this relic at any time again and again?

The starter-level green items in each zone seem to be infinitely repeatable, but each time I found a lead for a blue-quality relic and then dug it up, the item appeared in my scrying journal with text saying that I needed to acquire the lead. So it seems that with relics that require you to find a lead, you have to find a new lead each time you want to obtain the relic.

KMarble

Elsonso wrote: »

Feature request...

Is it possible to put a marker on the Antiquities Codex tab when there is a new Lead, like with collections? Then, in the codex, identify the sections where the new lead(s) are? I just got one and had to go through every page to find it. It spanned pages, so I had to look through several to find them all.

^^ Yes, please.


I'd love to see an NPC in or around the place where we acquire the antiquities skill line who would drop hints about "new" leads from time to time. Something along the lines of : "my informants (or whatever) tell me that there is a beggar in Balmora who keeps on talking about some (insert hint to some antiquity here) when they were doing (insert activity here)."

Just something to give me some guidance, or as I say most times I go into a dungeon: "tell me what to do, and I'll try my best". I feel that without it, I'll be paralyzed not knowing what do to, and will end up doing nothing.

I know that this suggestion isn't easy to implement, especially so late into testing, but it might be helpful to people like me.

Margha_Ralmoren

Did you use a copied character or template?
A template

What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?
I looked on the internet to see that there was a dedicated Antiquities building. My first instinct was to go to the mages guild.
Maybe if the building was represented with an icon on the map ?

Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?
Yes, quite easily. In thieves troves, backpacks, cupboards and treasure chests.

Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?
I clicked randomly at first but when I understood I had to start scrying from the bottom everything went smoothly.

What did you think of the rewards themselves?
Pretty satisfied. Who can say no to shiny pieces of furniture and more gold ?

Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?
When I understood I had to follow the particles and not the ball side it was ok. However at the second treasure the eye refused to work and I didn't find the treasure. No more batteries ?

Do you have any other general feedback?
Yes actually. Would it be possible to get the leads in the form of a consumable that is bound to our account, instead of them being consumed on pickup ? That way we'll be able to store them in our bank and only have one dedicated antiquarian character to do them.

Rhonya

• I used a template made max level character.
  
• I did not find ANY leads while playing. I tried looting any containers that I found, stealing, nothing from mobs, etc. Granted I only played a few hours, but still I found the drop rate to be pretty bad. Maybe I was just really unlucky.
  
• As others have already said, the tutorial needs some work. A popup telling us to go find the new tab (and where to find it), as well as one telling us we can use the Antiquarian's Eye on a quickslot.
  
• I found the minigames to be understandable and I also liked them. I can see myself having a lot of fun with this whole system.
  
• The rewards need a preview for the furnishing items.
  
• The bubble above your head when you use the Antiquarian's Eye is not clear enough. It's quite hard to tell at the moment in which direction it points, it's more a guessing and I usually found the dig sites faster without using it. The cooldown on the Eye is also way too long.
  
• The "charge" bar for the first unlockable ability (shovel) showed up in the middle of the screen for me, on top of the dig site, blocking the 4 fields in the middle. Very annoying.
  
• It's not clear how the bonus items work. Do we just dig around anywhere and try to get lucky? Can we see how many there are?

Mix

At level 6 Scry/Excavate it really started to feel grindy. (part could be due to a bug i reported regarding the changing difficulty of item).

I wouldn't really care if I knew FOR SURE that leads were not related to skill level. You can't Scry the hard stuff until level 10 Scry anyways, but it really worries me that I would miss a lead because I wasn't max Scry/Ex level and that makes me want to grind the skills to max which takes away from the enjoyment.

Really, lead hunting is a dive back into a zone, a deep dive and not something I want to do twice per zone really. So my "lead" checklist: (in no particular order)
1. Talk to all NPCs, checking merchant inventories.
2. Safeboxes
3. Pickpocket and Container stealing.
4. Treasure Chests
5. Thieves Trove
6. Harvestable Nodes
7. Kill all World Bosses, Delve Bosses, Anchors/Geyser/Dragon/etc
8. Kill some of every different named mob

I am sure at some point someone will publish a source list but this investigating is really fun for me - provided I don't have to worry about my skill level!

Ilsabet

Mix wrote: »

So my "lead" checklist: (in no particular order)
1. Talk to all NPCs, checking merchant inventories.
2. Safeboxes
3. Pickpocket and Container stealing.
4. Treasure Chests
5. Thieves Trove
6. Harvestable Nodes
7. Kill all World Bosses, Delve Bosses, Anchors/Geyser/Dragon/etc
8. Kill some of every different named mob

Have you gotten leads from each of those sources? I was particularly wondering if they came from crafting nodes.

ArchangelIsraphel

The problem where I am logged out of the game and booted to the log-in screen while using the antequarians eye continues to persist, although I did manage to scry a few locations and get a taste for the system. It's quite a lot of fun, but being booted to log in is getting a bit irksome!

starkerealm

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official feedback thread for Antiquities. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

• Did you use a copied character or template?

Yes. (Both)

• What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?

The scrying tutorial was obtuse. It took some blind clicking to figure out what was going on.

The dig tutorial was aggravating. The dirt mound refused to spawn until I'd relogged (and repeated the scrying segment), at that point I was still somewhat unclear on how the system worked.

I still have almost no idea how to use the shovel or trowel (on the template.) The tooltips are a bit unclear.

• Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?

Yes. (On both.)

The template's leads all came from excavations, the copied character found a lead in a thieves cash, but lacked the skill necessary to scrye it.

• Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?

Scrying is fine. The regenerating resource took a few tries to understand, but the basic puzzle loop is solid.

Excavation is a bit obtuse. Tools are not entirely clear, and even after coming to understand what the tools were supposed to do, the trowel rarely reacted the way I'd expected.

• What did you think of the rewards themselves?

Strange.

The treasure items are nice, though the gold payout seems a little low for the time investment, though I suspect with practice those will feel more reasonable.

The random vendor trash was just that, random vendor trash.

The gray tier dungeon set items were weird. I'm not opposed to the idea of digging up dungeon set pieces, but having them drop at gray rarity seems exceptionally strange. (Because they're gray rarity, they cannot be upgraded to white, and they're also non-CP meaning there's no application for these except as vendor trash.)

Ironically, I was most interested in a reward I couldn't follow up on (a purple furnishing item that I found on my copied character.)

• Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?

Uncertain. Certain digsites seemed to take an inordinate amount of time, except that may have been the missing digsite bug. In at least one case, I'm certain I walked past the digsite's location several times.

• Do you have any other general feedback?

I like the orange rarity for Mythics. It makes them really pop.

I have some reservation about balance with the mythics.

As mentioned earlier, the gray rarity dungeon set drops are perplexing.

The UI feels a little underdeveloped. It's functional, but on a purely visual level, it's a little underwhelming. With the scrying interface, the icons are functional, but the monotone visuals are uninspiring. In particular the dot and blank hexes have no real identity. Honestly, I think this could just afford to be more colorful. With the excavation it's difficult to determine the depth.

The trowel says it will create chain reactions, but I have no idea how that works, and have only seen it appear once.

The dig power mechanic seems thematically inconsistent. One would think the bladed tools would be good for getting started, but then risk damaging the artifacts, leading to using the brush for the fine work at the end, however the only danger to the artifact seems to be the fissures, and the brush appears to simply be a resource builder. From a puzzle perspective this is fine, but it's a little counter-intuitive.

There does not appear to be a way to abandon an excavation once initiated. For example, if you come under attack.

Hotdog_23

Ilsabet wrote: »

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

Can the "leads" be given to another character on your account or does the character that finds the lead have to scry and find the item. I would perfer my main to do all the scrying and digging but I am not on that character all the time.

I did some investigating on this, and it seems that leads are account-based. I logged in on a different character, and she had the same leads as my main character in the Antiquities journal. (I did have a message saying that scrying required the skill line available in Solitude, so I couldn't do anything with any of the leads.)

I took this character thieving in a zone my main hadn't found any leads in, and I did eventually find a purple lead in a safebox. When I switched to my main character, the lead showed up in the journal for her (although I can't scry it yet because my skill line is too low).

So this tells us two things: You can find leads on characters who haven't done the Antiquities tutorial quest or unlocked the skill lines, and leads found by one character can be pursued by other characters.

Thanks so much for taking your time to investigate and explain it. This makes me very happy. Have a awesome Also thanks to opaj also.

Saucy_Jack

Did you use a copied character or template?
Copied.

What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?
Was able to find them; aside from bugging out (could scry, couldn't dig; had to try everything under the sun before the quest finally worked) the tutorial for scrying and excavation both need to be redone. Scrying uses the journal AND the Eye as an inventory item; this wasn't made clear. The finer points of scrying aren't made clear; the finer points of digging aren't made clear.

Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?
Yes, though I don't want to spoil locations.

Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?
I eventually understood them enough to make a guide on the PTS, and now that I understand them I like them. However, there's much about both skills that isn't made clear during the tutorial quest. Using the journal to start scrying instead of using the actual Eye inventory item, for one thing. Explicitly pointing out the click limit meters on the scry and excavation screens, for another.

What did you think of the rewards themselves?
I mean, some are useful (motif pages, higher-tier items for gold); the bonus items could be a little better - they're currently mostly the equivalent of laundered white items, but given that finding bonus items is a matter of pure luck, they could use a boost in terms of either usefulness or monetary value.

Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?
When the hotkeyed Eye works as intended, yes. When the orb doesn't show up due to a bug, no.

Do you have any other general feedback?
There's many aspects of scrying and excavation that could do with added tutorials - maybe make it so when you unlock a new ability in scrying or a new tool in excavation from passives, Gabrielle has another tutorial quest for you to explain more clearly what each new ability or tool does. Perhaps make tutorials for when you unlock new scrying/excavation hazards with the purple+ items.

On another note, it doesn't seem like you get any notification when you gain a level in either scrying or excavation. Currently you can't tell you've gained a level unless you make a point to check them on your skills screen.

Next, please allow us to at least link leads in chat. The lead itself doesn't say anything about WHERE it was found, so it's not like linking them in chat would be location spoilers. But it'd be nice to be able to show what leads are currently available to a given player.

Lastly, I would resist any urge - if it exists - to put leads on Trial bosses. Delve/dungeons, sure, I guess. But currently only a tiny fraction of the people who play the game actually run trials, and since leads aren't sellable/shareable, it doesn't make sense for trial bosses to have needed leads for a system that, from what I can tell, is meant to be exploration-based.

Overall though, I like the system and the life it breathes into old and new areas alike, and I love the added lore the system brings to the game.

Vicarra

Further feedback

Very occasionally, when I'm excavating the game board seems to randomly half-rotate, and then go back to its original position. I'm not sure what triggers this - it seems to happen when I click and hold for too long on a particular tile, but then if I try to do this on purpose to recreate it, it doesn't happen. Is there a way to rotate the board? If not, why is it rotating at all?

Now that I'm collecting multiples to see the lore entries, I'm noticing a lot, and I mean a -lot-, of spelling and grammatical errors in them. Many of these are so obvious that I'm surprised they were not run through at least a spellchecker before being pushed into the game. I already went through the list of rewards to pick up all the mismatches and spelling errors etc which I reported via the ingame bug finder, but there are just too many codex entries available for me to sit and obtain them all so I can see where they are. Can I politely suggest having someone carefully proof read all of these text snippets (examples below). I would be happy to offer my services to do this, but I'm not going to sit for days and hunt for the codex entries myself.

In addition, now that I'm paying more attention to the bonus rewards, I'm noticing that the weapons you sometimes get have a weird text glitch when the name appears on screen that isn't present when the item hits your inventory.


Should read "gorgeous scabbard" and "aetherial fragments"


Should read "forge-wife's longhouse"

Qbiken

Has anyone figured out if there is a consistent way to find leada that gives you the location of mythic items? I know that some leads that gives furniture can be bought from merchants? Just wondering about the mythic items, or will it be purely RNG based?

Faulgor

>>Did you use a copied character or template?
Template, don't have my (EU) characters yet.
Probably noteworthy that doing the introductory quest reset the template's skill in Scyring and Excavation back to 1.

>>What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?
Yes, and they seemed pretty straightforward as far as the gameplay of the mini games goes. I'm yet unsure how to proceed further, though, that is, how to acquire leads and work on the rewards I'd like. It's all a bit obscure, but maybe that's intentional?

>>Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?
Nope. I really wouldn't even know where to begin, which is honestly a bit upsetting and feels like a road block.

>>Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?
I was surprised how much I liked the mini games. They are a fine diversion and addition to ESO imo. If anything I was disappointed I had to first find an item to scry again!

>>What did you think of the rewards themselves?
Ah, this is the part that makes me worry. I'm quite disappointed with the rewards themselves, and don't see a lot of incentive for me to continue with this on live.
Mythic items are great for what they are, but I hoped we'd see more, especially more that allowed for different PvE gameplay. So far, only the light gloves stand out in this regard, and I don't think that's enough to keep me engaged.

The motifs as well as the mount are just reskins of old content. Especially the Ancestral motifs seem lackluster to me, because while overhauling the old styles would have been a great opportunity, the general design in shape and texture is just too similar to the base game styles. They still seem crude compared to newer styles, and especial the Orc motif isn't even a notable improvement (remember, Orc was already overhauled once shortly after release).
I was really expecting something unique to come out of this new system. As it stands, running delve and world boss dailies in DLC areas will give me more unique styles than grinding for leads, scrying, and excavating day in and day out. So rewards and effort don't seem in proportion.
I might still take a look at some furnishings, although I'm not as interested in those.

And all of that are the exceptional rewards, most of it is "just" treasure to feed into merchants. And while I absolutely love every bit of lore they add, in terms of gameplay, you can get treasure much, much faster through the justice system.

>>Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?
Yes I'd say so, even at level 1 Excavation.

>>Do you have any other general feedback?
Just to reiterate: I think you built a solid, non-combat activity here, that can keep people engaged for a long time, but you need to fill it with more unique rewards that are worth the effort. Because it is considerable more effort than other sources of motifs, mounts, furnishings, and even treasure.

wenchmore420b14_ESO

We aren't gonna see these new Ancestral Motifs pop up in Master Writs are we???
@ZOS_GinaBruno ??

Mix

@Ilsabet

So my "lead" checklist: (in no particular order)
1. Talk to all NPCs, checking merchant inventories. Leads Found
2. Safeboxes Leads Found
3. Pickpocket and Container stealing.
4. Treasure Chests Leads Found
5. Thieves Trove Leads Found
6. Harvestable Nodes Lead Found
7. Kill all World Bosses, Delve Bosses, Anchors/Geyser/Dragon/etc
8. Kill some of every different named mob Lead Found
9. Fishing (forgot about this earlier)

I don't think it is at all random. I think leads are from a particular source or sources.

@Qbiken I found the lead for 1/5 of the Snow Treaders from the Frostedge Sentry on Bleakrock (twice, but it wouldn't let get that piece twice so I guess you have to complete the item once before you can go after the pieces again). I would say the source of Mythic item pieces/fragments are VERY specific. I don't appear to have taken a screenshot though, if I find another mythic thing I will!

Examples of Leads found:
Map of Ancient Zone - Innkeeper/General Goods Merchants, the dig should be in the zone you buy the lead in

The Dutiful Guar (Bal Foyen furniture item) - Safebox in Bal Foyen

Ruby Dragon Skull (Bleakrock furniture item) - Wood Node, Treasure Chest and Thieves Trove in Bleakrock - so it would appear some have multiple sources.

The Safebox leads seem to drop fairly fast - if you open a dozen safeboxes and get none I would move on, usually it is in the first 3 or 4.

Treasure Chest/Crafting Nodes: this seems pretty hit or miss. I was just interacting with EVERYTHING on Bleakrock - which is a bit of a special zone because the main town is on fire and npcs gone after the main quest is done, so no Safeboxes then.

Thieves Trove, I open when I see them but only one lead so far from those (they could just share with Treasure Chests because not everyone can open them as TG DLC is needed)

I fished several pools on Bleakrock and found no leads but I don't know if bad luck or no leads from fishing there lol.

Definitely have the "kill some of each mob type" on the list because it seems that Mythic fragments may be from only one type. I don't have a very big sample pool - a whole one mob type lol

Today I plan to test bosses, pickpocket/stealing and fishing more.

Vea

Did you use a copied character or template?
Template.

What did you think of the introduction and tutorial quests? Were you able to find them?
Yes, with a bit of effort. Take me a bit to realize the Eye was in my journal.

Did you discover any Antiquity Leads while playing?
Yes, from Boss. Maybe the drop rate of chests is a bit low.

Did you understand how Scrying and Excavation worked? What did you think of them?
Yes, it is clear enough. I like the new system and the interface.

What did you think of the rewards themselves?
Pretty interesting on what i've seen till now.

Were you able to find the individual locations within dig sites within a reasonable timeframe?
Generally yes, sometimes not.

Do you have any other general feedback?
I will edit eventually.