Cadwell Silver/Gold and playing the "wrong" faction?

jle30303

So... Since One Tamriel (now a few years ago), you can not only completely ignore your own faction's questline, but play another faction's alongside it - or instead of it. How would that work with Cadwell's Gold and Silver? (Assuming that in order to actually get even asked to do them, you need to complete the Coldharbour questline and recover your soul from Molag Bal.

I found out today that you can open up Coldharbour without having actually completed your own faction's questline: on a Pact toon, who is level 50 by virtue of having done nothing but RNDs, event quests, writs, and the *early* stages of the Pact (Bleakrock, Bal Foyen and the first skillpoint only in Stonefalls, raising and then banishing Balreth) - I went through the whole Harborage quest line, formed the Council of the Five Companions, and have apparently convinced all three alliance leaders to go to Stirk, without having EVER interacted with my own alliance leader (other than to hit Jorunn with a revelry pie and a mudball). Thus I assume it's possible to complete Coldharbour, stop the Planemeld, get my own soul back and become a Soul Mage Maven, without having ever done the Pact quests...

But what do you get from Cadwell then? Does he ask you to do a Silver for a "wrong" faction even when you haven't completed your own faction? Or do you have to complete a faction first?

And what if the first faction you complete is the wrong one? What if, for example, I were to decide to give up on the Pact storyline, and do the Covenant quest line instead, and complete it, with this Pact character, as my first full faction quest? What would Cadwell ask me to do, for Silver - or would he have nothing to say until I'd actually finished the Pact line (as well as Coldharbour)?
- The Dominion, because he usually asks for Dominion after you've finished the Covenant?
- The Pact, because I hadn't done it?
- The Covenant, which I'd already completed but is the usual thing asked for as a second faction after finishing the Pact? (and would I then be credited with Silver for doing a second faction despite having not done the "first"?)

And if he didn't talk to me till I'd finished the Pact line, but I did the Covenant first, and *then* followed up with the Pact... would he then automatically credit me with completing the Silver because the Covenant quests were already done?

I'm expecting, IF the design were sensible, that Cadwell would have nothing to say no matter which other factions I'd done, until I'd completed the actual Pact storyline, and only then would he offer me the Silver or Gold (which might have been already pre-completed, and would automatically credit me with either or both if I had...)

FriedEggSandwich

I've just beaten Molag Bal on an AD character that had only completed Auridon. Cadwell gave me his quest when I got back to the Harborage, and when I accepted it I was teleported to Bleakrock Isle. I immediately TP'd back to Grahtwood to continue that story line first, and I can pick up Cadwell's Silver again by going back to Bleakrock Isle whenever I want. The 2 quest lines can co-exist. I think you have to do the silver and gold quest lines in that order, but you can pick up the main quest for any zone whenever you like. When you come to do Cadwell's Silver or Gold, any progression you've already made in those areas will count towards Cadwell's quests. I'm pretty sure this is how it works anyway.

Nestor

You fan do the Alliance Quests as part of the Main Quest or Caldwells Silver and Gold.

Or just do the Alliance quests yourself, in order or combo you want.

The only weirdness is you have to do the last quest for Zone 5 in your Allinace to get Messages Across Tamriel to flow the Main Quest as needed. You dont have to much if any of Zone 5 to do that quest, but in some cases it helps to do the zone first.

SeaGtGruff

AFAIK, you can start the Main Quest from within any alliance, regardless of your actual home alliance-- as you've done-- and from that point on the Main Quest treats that alliance as though it were your home alliance. In other words, when you escape from the Wailing Prison you'll be sent to the starter zone of that alliance, and you'll need to keep visiting that alliance's version of the Harborage throughout the Main Quest.

I haven't played that way on any of my characters, but I assume that Cadwell's Silver and Gold will follow the normal order for your "Main Quest home alliance":

AD -> EP -> DC
DC -> AD -> EP
EP -> DC -> AD

Of course, your actual home alliance-- as chosen when you created the character, not necessarily as determined by race-- will AFAIK still be your home alliance for other things, such as master crafting writ turn-in and alliance-locked war campaigns.

jle30303

NonNone of the above

Nestor wrote: »

You fan do the Alliance Quests as part of the Main Quest or Caldwells Silver and Gold.

Or just do the Alliance quests yourself, in order or combo you want.

The only weirdness is you have to do the last quest for Zone 5 in your Allinace to get Messages Across Tamriel to flow the Main Quest as needed. You dont have to much if any of Zone 5 to do that quest, but in some cases it helps to do the zone first.

This is not correct. I have just been able to start, AND COMPLETE, "Messages Across Tamriel" without having done ANY of the zone 5 - or 4, or 3, or 2 - quests for this toon's alliance, which is the Pact. A portal to Stirk has been created and I can pass through it.

As I said: I've done only Bleakrock, Bal Foyen and the first skill point in Stonefalls... but I have completed all the Harborage quests. I have done no Dominion or Covenant quests at all. So I have not done the "final" quest of ANY of the factions.

It looks like FriedEggSandwich's comment implies that which faction is "Cadwell's Silver" and "Cadwell's Gold" does not change, and thus it is possible to complete the Silver and possibly the Gold as well, without having completed the Bronze. I wonder if you could test this out on the AD toon you're just talking about, by finishing the Pact (Silver) and Covenant (Gold) while the Dominion questline is still stuck at Auridon?

SeaGtGruff

I did the alliance quests all jumbled together on my PC NA main, and when I eventually started and later completed the Main Quest those quests which I'd already done were credited toward Cadwell's Silver and Gold.

However, I didn't even get the option to do Silver and then Gold until after I'd completed the Main Quest, so I don't think you'll be able to complete Silver or Gold first, at least not as far as being able to interact with Cadwell to accept them and then get credit for having completed them, even if you've already completed their respective alliance quests.

Darlon

jle30303 wrote: »

NonNone of the above

Nestor wrote: »

You fan do the Alliance Quests as part of the Main Quest or Caldwells Silver and Gold.

Or just do the Alliance quests yourself, in order or combo you want.

The only weirdness is you have to do the last quest for Zone 5 in your Allinace to get Messages Across Tamriel to flow the Main Quest as needed. You dont have to much if any of Zone 5 to do that quest, but in some cases it helps to do the zone first.

This is not correct. I have just been able to start, AND COMPLETE, "Messages Across Tamriel" without having done ANY of the zone 5 - or 4, or 3, or 2 - quests for this toon's alliance, which is the Pact. A portal to Stirk has been created and I can pass through it.

This is right. You do not have to do any zone quest to get the "Messages Across Tamriel" quest. Could do it ona character that hasn't done any zone content of the original zones, just the Harborage quests, it triggers just the same as all the other harborage quests.

DarcyMardin

In the original version of the game, that is to say, before they changed it to One Tamriel, we only got a new Harborage quest every five levels. And we were locked into our alliance area and unable to go into the other two areas or do any questing there. Cadwell’s Silver opened up another areas for us to explore and a whole new questing storyline which we supposedly were able to work on *as if* we were a member of that other alliance and hadn’t already defeated Molag Bal. When we completed that, Cadwell’s Gold opened up.

This all changed with One Tamriel, which gave us the ability to go anywhere and accept any quest, regardless of alliance. Now, if you finish the Harborage quests and defeat Molag Bal in any alliance (you can still only enter The Harborage in your character’s original alliance, last time I checked), you can still pick up Cadwell’s Silver and Gold, but doing them doesn’t really have a big benefit except that you complete all the main alliance quests and get the available skill points.

If you have already done some of the quests in the other alliance areas, they will be checked off in Cadwell’s Almanac when he gives you the Silver and Gold questlines, so you won’t need to redo them.

wolfie1.0.

On one character (An EP one) i did all of the faction quests for Gold and Silver in AD and DC prior to doing the EP faction quests. Here is what happened. When Cadwell tells you to go do the other factions quest for Silver you go to that factions harborage and check complete silver, then go to the Gold harborage and check off Gold. thats it.

PrinceShroob

"Messages Across Tamriel" can be started either by completing the zone questline for your alliance's last zone. It must be your alliance's zone -- if you complete another alliance's zone, such as completing Bangkorai on a Pact character, the leader will say that Galerion wants to talk to you but you won't get a quest. You only have to complete the questline for the last of your alliance's base game zones and aren't required to do the preceding four zones' quests. Alternatively, you can get the quest by completing "Council of the Five Companions." "Messages Across Tamriel" will either be given by your alliance's leader or by Vanus Galerion, who will come cannonballing out of the sky on top of you once you enter a city after finishing "Council of the Five Companions."

Cadwell's Silver and Cadwell's Gold don't require you to complete your own alliance's questline, merely whichever alliance's questlines you're instructed to "experience." You also aren't required to complete the "tutorial island" for the alliance you're experiencing, and aren't required to do the quests in order.

Upon officially receiving the Cadwell's Silver or Cadwell's Gold quest, whatever parts of the other two alliance's questlines you've done will be counted towards your progress. If you've already completed that alliance's questline, you'll be instructed to touch the Light of Meridia, but instead of being transported to Bleakrock Isle, Stros M'kai, or Khenarthi's Roost, you'll remain in the Harborage and receive an update to talk to Cadwell for your reward.

Galwylin

Cadwell's really should have gotten a rework when One Tamriel came along. The Prophet offering his quests either should have just been smoothed out so you take it after the previous one and he doesn't need rest so much. Or tired to your level as he started out with. And Cadwell's is missing the period of reflection about why you would want to help an opposing alliance and fight your own. Probably not getting to Coldharbour at all until all Alliances are brought together in strength. But then they didn't help it was only the Fighter's Guild and Mage's so... it just needs a total rewrite.