Blackwood Dolmens

PrimusTiberius

I check the first several pages to see if this has been brought up already and didn't see anything, so I apologize in advance if this is redundant question, however.... Where the hell are they? There are no markers, no indications you can see from afar, that the Dolmens are spawning and who in development thought playing hide and seek with dolmens was a good idea? (Whoever thought of this should not get their year end bonus)

I finished the main quest couple days ago, hit all the delves and public dungeons and during that time, have come across the dolmens several times. I don't even remember where I saw some of those portal locations.

To the Developers, throw your fan base a bone, we need some kind of indication that the Dolmens are opening, it would be nice to see something on the map or preferably something in the horizon because running around the map looking for Dolmens is simply ridiculous.

matterandstuff

There are specific points at which Oblivion Portals open/may be open, with some map add-ons marking them already.

I tend to ride between the four or five spawn spots east/north of Gideon as there's a bunch within easy riding distance.

PrimusTiberius

matterandstuff wrote: »

with some map add-ons marking them already.

add-ons are great if you're on PC, if you're on console (as I am) you're screwed.

It's still ridiculous to have to ride around and hunt for them, it's simply a poor design/concept for a Dolmen, just my opinion.

BlueRaven

PrimusTiberius wrote: »

show previous quotes

matterandstuff wrote: »

with some map add-ons marking them already.

add-ons are great if you're on PC, if you're on console (as I am) you're screwed.

It's still ridiculous to have to ride around and hunt for them, it's simply a poor design/concept for a Dolmen, just my opinion.

Yeah, they thought they were being clever, but it’s just a mess.
They made a gauntlet of difficult (for most players) mobs and then ended it with a boss that drops terrible loot. And then on top of it, made the portals themselves hard to find.

There were so many bad decisions, it’s just baffling.

phaneub17_ESO

Not being able to see who is there beforehand, not being able to see what has already been cleared, entering and finding everything already dead wasting your time... awesome. Best to stick with outdoor events so at least players can gauge what they need to do or if its worth getting involved with it or not. It's much like when fighting Dragons or Harrow Storms, I swap abilities I normally would not use doing other outdoor content; this I'm just walking in blind.

I figure these will die off way faster than any previous group content from the sheer duckery. quack quack.

JamieAubrey

No dolmen's but you get Portals

Djennku

There's two portals near leyawin, one in the hills behind the tower and on on the larger island that you can see from the outside Wayshrine. Whenever I've checked them, I usually see at least one of these two open at any time, and if not, then they pop up not much later.

whitecrow

PrimusTiberius wrote: »

It's still ridiculous to have to ride around and hunt for them, it's simply a poor design/concept for a Dolmen, just my opinion.

I like it. They aren't really random, but they appear to be and it's exciting to come across one when you weren't expecting it. It's certainly more immersive than previous world event mechanics.

trackdemon5512

@PrimusTiberius the portals always spawn in the same places. Also you can warp to friends who are currently in one to join them.

Some say they dropped the ball but the change is fantastic. Not only does it encourage exploration but the zone’s beauty isn’t marred by these events. Skyrim and The Reach were ruined by the gigantic Harrowstorms dominating the skylines. Summerset to an extent on the coastlines but the colors and mountains of the region obscured that.

I for one am very happy about this.

lillybit

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Not being able to see who is there beforehand, not being able to see what has already been cleared, entering and finding everything already dead wasting your time... awesome. Best to stick with outdoor events so at least players can gauge what they need to do or if its worth getting involved with it or not. It's much like when fighting Dragons or Harrow Storms, I swap abilities I normally would not use doing other outdoor content; this I'm just walking in blind.

I figure these will die off way faster than any previous group content from the sheer duckery. quack quack.

Everything in them respawns in 5 minutes so it's just a short wait if you find everything dead. You can just stay in and farm them too, no need to find another portal.
It's effectively a public dungeon, there aren't different versions. Except for the random mini boss near the beginning it's all the same. Only the end boss is any harder (I'm assuming! Never got a chance to try and do it solo, so it's hard to tell) than the bosses in any other public dungeon so you can plan accordingly.
The only hard bit is actually finding an entrance in the first place!

I actually prefer them because it cuts down on the endless loadscreens trying to find an event that's up. Also, I remember the 2 days I spent camped at that harrowstorm waiting for it to spawn after Greymoor released - just finding any portal is childs play after that

Alinhbo_Tyaka

There is usually one that can be seen from the road just to the NW of the Blackwood Crossroads wayshrine. I don't bother with the others as once you are in the instance you can wait for the boss to respawn and farm it.

geonsocal

JamieAubrey wrote: »

No dolmen's but you get Portals

have we gotten any dolmen's in additional content (dlc's or chapters) since wrothgar?

ectoplasmicninja

geonsocal wrote: »

have we gotten any dolmen's in additional content (dlc's or chapters) since wrothgar?

No, because we ended the Planemeld. That's the one noticeable thing we did that actually stuck and hints at a fixed chronology and the passage of time in ESO.

vivisectvib16_ESO

Bruh, there are no Dolmens in Blackwood.

JamieAubrey

geonsocal wrote: »

show previous quotes

JamieAubrey wrote: »

No dolmen's but you get Portals

have we gotten any dolmen's in additional content (dlc's or chapters) since wrothgar?

No, that's why Summerset has Geysers as a replacement

manglerius

trackdemon5512 wrote: »

. Skyrim and The Reach were ruined by the gigantic Harrowstorms dominating the skylines. Summerset to an extent on the coastlines but the colors and mountains of the region obscured that.

I for one am very happy about this.

I think that the looming harrowstorms lined up with the story of the zone, I think the portals in blackwood do as well. Harrowstorms by nature couldn't be hidden. They are huge spells that destroy cities and wreck large areas. But the portals are meant to be precursors, finding one is "lucky" as you have "caught" the enemy infiltrating your world and utilized their own gate to turn the tables. . Both events play into the story of the zone nicely

katanagirl1

On console, I have to pull up a map of Blackwood on my iPad and start visiting each location to try to find one. There are quite a few of these, so it would be nice to know where to go directly on game map since we don’t have add-ons.

Otherwise, I am wasting food riding around until someone posts in zone text chat that one is open, if I’m lucky. The zone is very empty of players so that has happened only once.

It was nice to stumble upon the first one, but there are times when you do want to do them and times you don’t. If you want to do them, visiting a dozen or so sites until you find the right one is not fun.

fizl101

I like them this way, they fit the story that they are the precursor to the big oblivion gates and to be honest its lovely to just run around the countryside without someone suddenly playing a giant alpine warhorn in your ear......HHHHHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Supreme_Atromancer

PrimusTiberius wrote: »

(Whoever thought of this should not get their year end bonus)

Don't forget you're talking about real people. Be respectful and constructive, not impetuous and toxic.

Anyway, I like the way the portals work because it gives more reasons for people like me to be in the world, and they feel a lot more organic and spontaneous. They're part of the adventure and the story, not just boring camp spots.

Because the portal doesn't eject you, you can do the same braindead camp as we all did before anyway.

And more broadly - they're obviously experimenting with new ways of doing things, seeing what works to make the game more dynamic and fun. Sometimes they're gonna have to review how they do things (maybe quest markers are a good idea for some people?) but if they never dare again to try out cool ideas for fear of "losing their christmas bonus" because little timmy is chucking a tantrum the game would become a lame, boring button-clicking simulator, where the only innovations permitted are those that serve to expediate efficient (boring) grind. Kind of like a pinball machine with some vaguely elder-scrollsy picture painted on the playfield.

geonsocal

thing I like most about the blackwood map is not aggroing stuff every five meters I travel...

wnights

I don’t mind them so far.
The random element doesn’t bother me

I haven’t found any portal dailies though. Does anyone know how to unlock them?

zelaminator

BlueRaven wrote: »

They made a gauntlet of difficult (for most players) mobs and then ended it with a boss that drops terrible loot.

You DO know that there is a chest right.?