Western Skyrim: Now a dead zone?

storm105

Swordancer wrote: »

HS are hard to do with small group and rewards are usless. There is no point to grind them. WB are easy to solo. Large house that cannot be bought with gold.

You're joking right?

Swordancer

No im not.

SeaGtGruff

storm105 wrote: »

Swordancer wrote: »

HS are hard to do with small group and rewards are usless. There is no point to grind them. WB are easy to solo. Large house that cannot be bought with gold.

You're joking right?

About which part? I'm not saying I agree with any of that, just wondering which part(s) you think he was joking about.

Personally, I don't find the WBs easy to solo-- but then, I'm not a META/BIS chaser or high DD/OP player.

As for the large house, I guess he must be talking about the big vampire mansion or whatever it is, since Proudspire Manor can be purchased with in-game gold and the new antiquities place is free right now.

DamagedInc666

I've only just started Greymoor after a break from the game and it does seem quiet but I've not done a lot of the zone yet, I did however finish a Harrowstorm today and it was awful, admittedly I had no idea what was going on but at the end the "rewards" did not seem to align with the amount of effort to finish the thing, I won't be rushing to do another.

Jaraal

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Personally, I don't find the WBs easy to solo-- but then, I'm not a META/BIS chaser or high DD/OP player.

I soloed a couple of the world bosses (Skrag seems the easiest), but I've never soloed a harrowstorm.

Prof_Bawbag

ccfeeling wrote: »

I think ZOS only listen the feedback from high tier players ?

And that's why it's never really a good thing. You end up with dead zones after all the fanfare because those players you mention are away doing trials, MA etc.

We all want more difficult zones and whatnot, but in practice, they're dead in no time because the novelty soon wears off. You only ever hear from those players again when things are getting dumbed down. Happened with Crag. No one wanted to do. Yet as soon as it got nerf'd, you'd be excuse for thinking it was the busiest zone in the game based soley on the griping. Most of those complaining probably hadn't ventured past the main town hub in years other than to farm nirn.

Jaraal

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

ccfeeling wrote: »

I think ZOS only listen the feedback from high tier players ?

And that's why it's never really a good thing. You end up with dead zones after all the fanfare because those players you mention are away doing trials, MA etc.

We all want more difficult zones and whatnot, but in practice, they're dead in no time because the novelty soon wears off. You only ever hear from those players again when things are getting dumbed down. Happened with Crag. No one wanted to do. Yet as soon as it got nerf'd, you'd be excuse for thinking it was the busiest zone in the game based soley on the griping. Most of those complaining probably hadn't ventured past the main town hub in years other than to farm nirn.

And yet they continue to release content that has artificial anti-soloing mechanics. Virtually every DLC dungeon has some sort of pin-down mechanic that requires at least two people. In fact, they've even gone out of their way to block off dungeons that were previously soloable (Direfrost Keep). So instead of releasing challenging content for the solo player, they require grouping...... which many people avoid because of the potentially toxic nature of pick up grouping, lack of time to dedicate to go at someone elses pace, etc.

That leaves the solo player with limited options to truly test their skills. And, while I don't have access to the data and can't say so definitively, it certainly seems to me that there are more solo players than players playing in groups at any given moment (based upon glancing at guild roster player locations and guild chat). I don't know why they like locking parts of the game away from some of their player base.... you would think inclusivity is conducive to increased activity, which in turn leads to more profits for the company.

SeaGtGruff

Jaraal wrote: »

And yet they continue to release content that has artificial anti-soloing mechanics.

Given that ESO is a multi-player game, I'm actually okay with some of its content being non-soloable.

I mean, I'd like to be able to solo all content, since I play solo pretty much all of the time.

But it also makes sense that the world of Tamriel is going to have dungeons and monsters and bad people that require two or more heroes working together to vanquish.

A lot of single-player RP adventure games even allow-- and in many cases require-- you to recruit one or more NPCs to go on quests with your character. That's not a thing in ESO-- aside from a few quests where your character is accompanied by some NPC-- but it might be interesting if solo players could recruit NPCs to help them tackle group content, except it might create problems of one sort or another.

Jaraal

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

And yet they continue to release content that has artificial anti-soloing mechanics.

Given that ESO is a multi-player game, I'm actually okay with some of its content being non-soloable.

I mean, I'd like to be able to solo all content, since I play solo pretty much all of the time.

But it also makes sense that the world of Tamriel is going to have dungeons and monsters and bad people that require two or more heroes working together to vanquish.

A lot of single-player RP adventure games even allow-- and in many cases require-- you to recruit one or more NPCs to go on quests with your character. That's not a thing in ESO-- aside from a few quests where your character is accompanied by some NPC-- but it might be interesting if solo players could recruit NPCs to help them tackle group content, except it might create problems of one sort or another.

That's one thing I miss about the original EverQuest. You could hire NPC mercenaries (tank, DPS, or healer) that could help you solo slightly more difficult content. I can usually only play in brief blocks of time, so that concept kept me playing that game a lot longer than I would have otherwise.

tigerborn62

Vevvev wrote: »

The zone is boring and not worth sticking around in and has several issues like...

1. It has a terrible crafting area plagued with load screens.
2. Harrowstorms don't drop loot good enough to be worth doing.
3. The zone is empty and lacking good grinding spots.
4. The city of Solitude acting as a separate instance so you can't log out instantly inside, but you can near the battlegrounds guy. As you can guess this is very annoying for alting.

I cannot agree with this post any more than I do. So true. They really messed this one up.
I would have LOVED to see dragons there, btw. And the zone story is so boring to me. I just keep pressing A all time. No cares given. Very poorly done.

Swordancer

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

storm105 wrote: »

Swordancer wrote: »

HS are hard to do with small group and rewards are usless. There is no point to grind them. WB are easy to solo. Large house that cannot be bought with gold.

You're joking right?

About which part? I'm not saying I agree with any of that, just wondering which part(s) you think he was joking about.

Personally, I don't find the WBs easy to solo-- but then, I'm not a META/BIS chaser or high DD/OP player.

As for the large house, I guess he must be talking about the big vampire mansion or whatever it is, since Proudspire Manor can be purchased with in-game gold and the new antiquities place is free right now.

With the right build you can go make some coffee and get back when it's done.

Lord-Otto

Swordancer wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

storm105 wrote: »

Swordancer wrote: »

HS are hard to do with small group and rewards are usless. There is no point to grind them. WB are easy to solo. Large house that cannot be bought with gold.

You're joking right?

About which part? I'm not saying I agree with any of that, just wondering which part(s) you think he was joking about.

Personally, I don't find the WBs easy to solo-- but then, I'm not a META/BIS chaser or high DD/OP player.

As for the large house, I guess he must be talking about the big vampire mansion or whatever it is, since Proudspire Manor can be purchased with in-game gold and the new antiquities place is free right now.

With the right build you can go make some coffee and get back when it's done.

Not with the werewolves.

Hurbster

markulrich1966 wrote: »

Jaraal wrote: »

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

Morwaenna wrote: »

It's boring waiting ages for a Harrowstorm for such awful rewards. RIP Skyrim.

So, how many people still don't know that Harrowstorm spawns are random and the fastest way to do them is to ask in zone where the active one is and go there?

I've had plenty of cases where I've asked multiple times in zone chat where the active storm is, only to be met with silence. So while I'm porting around trying to find it myself, I'll spot it in the distance and start riding (or running, on my alts that had Rapids taken away from them by ZOS) in that direction only to see the sky clear and a group of players riding towards me at the wayshrine.

So I wait 15 - 20 seconds after they have all ported away, and ask again in zone chat where the storm is. Surely they're still en route and not too busy to answer, right? Wrong. I'll start porting around again, find the storm, and get there to find the same folks have almost finished off the current storm. If I'm lucky, I can get in a couple hits and get credit, but often times I arrive too late.

While contemplating all this, it occurred to me why a coordinated group has no interest in telling folks where the storm is. It's quite likely that they might think that I (or any other random person in the zone) would be the guy who doesn't know the mechanics, and they don't want some clueless person running packs of trash around, training shrikes to their location, whacking on the wrong pike and spawning extra bosses, killing their stunned ghosts, or what have you.

In the same way that some PUG dungeon groups are hampered by the play of certain individuals, the overland version of a mechanic-ized dungeon (the harrowstorm) can also be made more difficult than it has to be. The only difference is that there's no vote kick available at these public events, so you're stuck with whoever shows up.

Like this it works:

travel between these 3 shrines:

giants coast
northern watch
southern watch (from here you see chillblain, old karth and black morass)

If you see no storm from one of these, it is currently hailstone valley, so travel to the Morthal wayshrine.

Now, if you just started, do NOT ride yet to the current storm, as it might end already in some seconds.

Instead, wait until it collapses, then do the 3 wayshrine tour again. And NOW ride to the currently active storm, as this time it just started so you can reach it even without rapids.

From this point on, repeat the tour, you now are in sync with the respawns and should no longer miss one.

That sounds like so much fun and a great way of spending time.

Avoranti

I wish I could agree that maybe players just got burned out but I don’t think that’s the issue. The crafting area is nice but the load times to enter clothing or enchanting are really annoying. I’m unsure the technical reasoning for this since other crafting locations don’t have such load screens.

But, regarding the HS’s, and such. I played the event start to finish across 10 characters. The dailies and scrying. Even managed to run some daily dungeons as well. But, when the event ended, I assumed there would still be at least enough players going for the achievements for doing the dailies. But no matter what time of day I play, the zone still just seems to be dead. I’ll see maybe 2-3 players but they are usually in solitude just standing around.

Calling out for help is only met with silence (Blackreach seems to have a little more people). The HS could be solo’d or done with 2-3 people if the mini bosses didn’t constantly spawn and the shrieks didn’t have ridiculously OP attacks like Carrion Swarm.

So yeah, I can understand how difficulty is part of the problem here.

Compared to other chapter zones, Summerset is always packed when I go there. So is Morrowind. But seems most played are back in the base game zones, mournhold, devons watch, etc.

MentalxHammer

I wouldnt be concerned. After an event the zone is usually lower population, as everyone just spent a week playing in that area. Give it a few weeks and it will repopulate.

BleedMe_AnOcean

Vevvev wrote: »

1. It has a terrible crafting area plagued with load screens.

This right here. The load screens take longer than my crafting writs. 🙄

Zephiran23

It wasn't great this evening approaching maintenance. A player was searching for more for Hordrek. Did my crafting dailies and they were still looking, so joined to make a group of 3. It took over 15 minutes (and some failed attempts) before we could get any more to join us and we were able to complete the boss about 5 minutes before shutdown.

Not purely the effect of post-event syndrome, but combined with Oceania region players knowing maintenance was scheduled for prime time there weren't many other players in the zone. No calls/requests for Harrowstorms or any other bosses were made during our time trying to complete the quest.

Aznarb

The area and landscape are amazing, I like this region.
But after doing all the quest + success then doing daily event on 6 char to get the full collection of the new motif, yeah, I'm taking a break.

I love HS, they're very challenging to solo, but I agree, reward are total crap and not worth doing.

SickleCider

This happens after every event like this. They're so generous with the rewards that everyone ends up with most of what they want, and the dupes and stacks of things plummet in value. The incentive to do the activities after the event is virtually gone. I don't know what the solution is. I don't want the events to give less. Perhaps they need to give something different?

Personally speaking I've already been back to Skyrim several times since the event. I love the zone. I dig the gloomy winter aesthetic, I love vampires, werewolves and spooky stuff, and the fact that it's so quiet right now appeals to me.

storm105

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

storm105 wrote: »

Swordancer wrote: »

HS are hard to do with small group and rewards are usless. There is no point to grind them. WB are easy to solo. Large house that cannot be bought with gold.

You're joking right?

About which part? I'm not saying I agree with any of that, just wondering which part(s) you think he was joking about.

Personally, I don't find the WBs easy to solo-- but then, I'm not a META/BIS chaser or high DD/OP player.

As for the large house, I guess he must be talking about the big vampire mansion or whatever it is, since Proudspire Manor can be purchased with in-game gold and the new antiquities place is free right now.

WB being is what I meant zones if you think wbs are easy to solo. Especially Ysgmar sine he freezes you in place. The House argument is also terrible because of Proudspire and that free house they gave away. The only other homes in the zone were notable homes which can only ever be brought with crowns. I understand not liking a zone, and I don't really care if they do but two of there reasons for dislike the zone just seem like lies.

Elvenheart

Except for the two doors blocking the clothing and alchemy/enchanting areas I really like the crafting area for doing my writs, especially the drop off points being just around the corner. I hope they do away with those doors at some point.

Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Sorry... as soon as the event was over I went straight back to dragon hunting

Like everyone is pointing out, they are just too crazy for meh rewards. I would rather spend my time hopping between dragon hunting grounds with a steady group of randos, so I can get dragons blood for maras.

And I feel performance is just so much worse during harrowstorms than dragons, or even crowded dolmens. So much so that you literally die with no clue as to how. Your health bar will just disappear and you only know your HP dropped because the sound indicates the boogie man is about to get you, then to your surprise you evidently took 5 hits at some point, as you sit there confused, reviewing your death summary... its just frustrating. Plus having to travel between upstairs and downstairs just to chase a storm, when lots of times your efforts turn into a huge waste because you miss it anyways, is a major mood kill. At the very least, we could get a map indicator like dragons have.

I do enjoy the mechanics of harrowstorms, but the way they actually play out.... B- from me.

Another frustration is the crafting area. I'll continue to do my writs in Alinor. The load screens are brutal. Not much else, at least for me, to beckon my return.