Crafting Surveys: They are not fun and feel like a chore. Suggestions

elven.were_wolf

Crafting Surveys are such a chore, that I stopped doing writs all together. As whenever I get one I just put it on a pile of them in my inventory and procrastinate doing them, because they are such a bother.
My suggestion would be that we only have to do them once and after we do them/“collect” them we instead get a survey cache with resources roughly the same as we would get from manually harvesting them.

FoxMichele

my solution is collect the entire stack in only one run
I have 15x of some survey and it's annoying run around for the spawn

elven.were_wolf

FoxMichele wrote: »

my solution is collect the entire stack in only one run
I have 15x of some survey and it's annoying run around for the spawn

Thanks for your suggestion! Though, I’d say it’s more of a workaround rather than a solution.
Video game’s should be fun, not have mechanics that feel like a chore.

RedMuse

Rather than bound they should be made tradable like treasure maps so that those of us who enjoy doing them could buy them off those who find them a chore.

BenevolentBowd

I stack thousands of surveys on one character (usually 175ish slots) and visit a few of each crafting type when I'm low on mats.

BeamMeUp addon is good at fast travelling you to survey locations but it also tracks all your surveys by location and you can enable a countdown feature that counts down the number of surveys at your current location.

Heh, fun fact my largest stack is now 117.

Now if treasure maps only stacked...

elven.were_wolf

BenevolentBowd wrote: »

I stack thousands of surveys on one character (usually 175ish slots) and visit a few of each crafting type when I'm low on mats.

BeamMeUp addon is good at fast travelling you to survey locations but it also tracks all your surveys by location and you can enable a countdown feature that counts down the number of surveys at your current location.

Heh, fun fact my largest stack is now 117.

Now if treasure maps only stacked...

Thanks for the tip! But unfortunately, I play on Console. So no add-ons for me

Also, as much as these suggestions are good tips, they are workarounds to something that could be improved.

Reverb

I would pay 20k crowns for a hireling to do my surveys. Would I pay more? Maybe.

Oliviander

It would br great if they went into the crafting bag,
So that each of my toons could see the locations when they are near a writ spot
So that they could be done when you are near a spot anyway.

elven.were_wolf

I should remind everyone of that forums post where someone recorded himself destroying his entire collection of surveys stating he’s had enough XD And he had soooo many it made all the crafters cringe.

Nestor

My solution is to pick a zone or two and do the surveys in that zone. I go alphabetically. Sure, I may get some surveys for Alikir a few days after I do that zone, I just wait until Alikir is in the rotation again.

Also built an Orc Speed Farmer to collect the survey nodes. And I use the Baandari Guar Mount and the Pack Rat Pet. So, the whole squad looks appropriate.

SilverBride

I do my surveys the same day I get them. I don't find them annoying at all. In fact, I've found quests I had missed in zones I thought I'd completed a few times while going to survey sites.

katanagirl1

It’s free stuff, just do it. It doesn’t have to be fun.

maximusrex45

I would be more into surveys if they also dropped furniture mats. It feels pointless to spend time clearing surveys that give me most more mats I have a lot of, but don't give me any of the mats I actually need more of. Also making multiple surveys for the same site work better would be nice, like just give me 5x mats if I have 5 surveys.

Lugaldu

maximusrex45 wrote: »

I would be more into surveys if they also dropped furniture mats. It feels pointless to spend time clearing surveys that give me most more mats I have a lot of, but don't give me any of the mats I actually need more of.

Definitely! If they wood bring heartwood, bast etc. then I would do them regularly, as it is now I usually destroy them (except for jewelry) because it's just time consuming.

Maybe they could make them more attractive if we could find a furnishing plan or antiquity leads in between.

elven.were_wolf

SilverBride wrote: »

I do my surveys the same day I get them. I don't find them annoying at all. In fact, I've found quests I had missed in zones I thought I'd completed a few times while going to survey sites.

When you do writs on multiple characters everyday you can get heaps of surveys, which can take hours of just loading screen and mounting. I understand that it makes us cover places of the maps we’ve been to before, but that what antiquities, treasure maps and fishing is for…

If they at least add some sort of shortcut for designated crafters, I’d be really grateful.

SilverBride

elven.were_wolf wrote: »

When you do writs on multiple characters everyday you can get heaps of surveys, which can take hours of just loading screen and mounting.

How many characters do you do writs on daily?

I only have 3 characters and I do writs on them every day. I don't need more than that because I make more than enough gold with them, and it takes little time. I want to spend my game time playing, not working.

tmbrinks

elven.were_wolf wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I do my surveys the same day I get them. I don't find them annoying at all. In fact, I've found quests I had missed in zones I thought I'd completed a few times while going to survey sites.

When you do writs on multiple characters everyday you can get heaps of surveys, which can take hours of just loading screen and mounting. I understand that it makes us cover places of the maps we’ve been to before, but that what antiquities, treasure maps and fishing is for…

If they at least add some sort of shortcut for designated crafters, I’d be really grateful.

So, because of your personal decision to do writs on a lot of characters, you want to make what is already the best gold making tool in the game even better?

(I say this as somebody who did writs on 36 characters a day for 3 years.... taking a break from that at the time being)

Everstorm

SilverBride wrote: »

I do my surveys the same day I get them. I don't find them annoying at all. In fact, I've found quests I had missed in zones I thought I'd completed a few times while going to survey sites.

Same, and I find it a nice change of pace. But I would probably feel different about them if I couldn't use add ons. I honestly don't understand how people can play ESO without them...

Brrrofski

I just wait up till I have like 4 or 5 of the same one and do it. Just grab it, run 100 foot and come back.

They kinda should be a bit of a chore to be fair.

They give a lot of mats and are a good alternative to traditional farming.

FoxMichele

Nestor wrote: »

My solution is to pick a zone or two and do the surveys in that zone. I go alphabetically. Sure, I may get some surveys for Alikir a few days after I do that zone, I just wait until Alikir is in the rotation again.

Also built an Orc Speed Farmer to collect the survey nodes. And I use the Baandari Guar Mount and the Pack Rat Pet. So, the whole squad looks appropriate.

It's a good idea!

wolfie1.0.

elven.were_wolf wrote: »

Crafting Surveys are such a chore, that I stopped doing writs all together. As whenever I get one I just put it on a pile of them in my inventory and procrastinate doing them, because they are such a bother.
My suggestion would be that we only have to do them once and after we do them/“collect” them we instead get a survey cache with resources roughly the same as we would get from manually harvesting them.

Or you could just go out and do them, or not do them, or destroy them, or dont do crafting writs which will give you more.

Heres the deal though part of the cost of getting these extra mats is that you have to go out and collect them. For some such as alchemy and jewelry surveys it's a lot more efficient to farm these than to farm in the wild where you have to compete with node spawns and other players. These are guaranteed to be there you just have to go do it. It's no different than doing any other farming in the game.

I mean I would LOVE it if I could complete VMA one time and get all of the perfected weapons at once, or even love to be able to buy trail gear from players so I didn't have to spend a hour doing one.

EnerG

Personally I love surveys, I build them up and choose a day off to spend the whole day farming and chatting with friends and guildmates. I understand YOU may find that a chore, but I do not. I go on a fast alt, and I farm any nodes between me and the next survey spawn so I end up with TONS of materials, usually a good money maker but I'm an altoholic so I refine them for gold tempers haha.

elven.were_wolf

I see, so a lot of you actually enjoy them. For me personally, doing them on 4 characters is crazy enough for me. The reason I also find them annoying I would say is inventory space. And that is the sole reason they irk me. I love doing housing a lot too so I am always trying to juggle my inventory space to do the game activities I want to do, but then there’s always a bunch of surveys I got to do to free up my space. Storing furniture in houses is also impractical as you need to remember which house you stored it in.
So surveys are a space issue for me more than anything aside the need to go out and do them to get myself extra space XD

SilverBride

elven.were_wolf wrote: »

The reason I also find them annoying I would say is inventory space. And that is the sole reason they irk me.

They don't take up space if you do them every day.

WrathOfInnos

I’m with you. I get no enjoyment from writs or surveys, and haven’t done either in years. Better to spend time on the fun things. Gold and crafting materials are easy to come by,

FlopsyPrince

BenevolentBowd wrote: »

I stack thousands of surveys on one character (usually 175ish slots) and visit a few of each crafting type when I'm low on mats.

BeamMeUp addon is good at fast travelling you to survey locations but it also tracks all your surveys by location and you can enable a countdown feature that counts down the number of surveys at your current location.

Heh, fun fact my largest stack is now 117.

Now if treasure maps only stacked...

Not available on consoles. Should be part of the game however.

Though allowing us to harvest all in our inventory at once instead of the forced "run far enough away" required now would make it much better, even on consoles!

FlopsyPrince

SilverBride wrote: »

elven.were_wolf wrote: »

The reason I also find them annoying I would say is inventory space. And that is the sole reason they irk me.

They don't take up space if you do them every day.

You will spend a LOT of time on that. Better to let them pile up a bit, though resetting nodes is still a pain.

FlopsyPrince

wtlonewolf20 wrote: »

elven.were_wolf wrote: »

Crafting Surveys are such a chore, that I stopped doing writs all together. As whenever I get one I just put it on a pile of them in my inventory and procrastinate doing them, because they are such a bother.
My suggestion would be that we only have to do them once and after we do them/“collect” them we instead get a survey cache with resources roughly the same as we would get from manually harvesting them.

Or you could just go out and do them, or not do them, or destroy them, or dont do crafting writs which will give you more.

Heres the deal though part of the cost of getting these extra mats is that you have to go out and collect them. For some such as alchemy and jewelry surveys it's a lot more efficient to farm these than to farm in the wild where you have to compete with node spawns and other players. These are guaranteed to be there you just have to go do it. It's no different than doing any other farming in the game.

I mean I would LOVE it if I could complete VMA one time and get all of the perfected weapons at once, or even love to be able to buy trail gear from players so I didn't have to spend a hour doing one.

This argument is somewhat off target. Don't just automate them, but get rid of the "reset the node" part that is such a pain.

SilverBride

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

elven.were_wolf wrote: »

The reason I also find them annoying I would say is inventory space. And that is the sole reason they irk me.

They don't take up space if you do them every day.

You will spend a LOT of time on that. Better to let them pile up a bit, though resetting nodes is still a pain.

I don't. The most surveys I ever received in one day was 7, but I average 1 to 4 a day. That takes 10 minutes or less.

xv1_me

the thing that kills me is the loading screens especially for doing writs. character load can take minutes sometimes. oh and malabal tor surveys cant stand em

redlink1979

elven.were_wolf wrote: »

(...) My suggestion would be that we only have to do them once (...)

Personnally I don't like this idea because getting the surveys all at once might lead us to collect less raw mats than collecting the surveys separetely: similar to refine all your raw mats at once vs refining raw mats in small batches/stacks.