We need to talk about furnishing mats/prices

Mascen

Hi sorry if some ppl feel this should be relegated to housing but I need this to be heard in general considering how it impacts the ingame player economy.

I run with a housing guild. We hold a bazaar every Sunday where we sell furniture often to newer players without the time/resources to learn the blueprints. Problem for us is that the cost of furnishing mats keeps ratcheting up and we really need something to be done about it. I can understand paying over 100k for an Alinor Greenhouse, but not for one stack of decorative wax. Nevermind Mundane runes which already cost a small fortune for a stack as is; its ridiculous.

So please, is there anything someone at ZOS can do about this? Idk if im the only one that feels this way but its very frustrating.

phaneub17_ESO

Organize harvesting runs? Pick a zone with a group and each pick an area to harvest clean!

FrancisCrawford

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Organize harvesting runs? Pick a zone with a group and each pick an area to harvest clean!

Evidence that supply/demand is in play:

At least on PC/NA, it seems as if the expensive furnishing mats are associated with cheap crafting mats, and vice-versa. E.g., alchemy has expensive crafting mats but cheap furnishing mats, while enchanting has the opposite. Blacksmithing materials may be fairly cheap in both areas -- but when one farms blacksmithing nodes one also necessarily farms jewelry nodes, and vice-versa.

So yeah -- more node farming should probably be in the mix.

kevkj

Allowing furniture to be deconned would alleviate the inventory/slots problem and might slightly help with the prices since some would be recycled.

valenwood_vegan

I think a relatively easily implemented solution that might help would be for surveys to have a chance of dropping some furnishing mats.

I also like the idea of allowing furnishings to be deconned for a chance to get some of the mats back, though this would probably be a longer-term thing, as it would be more complex to add into the game.

Certain furnishings have abnormally high mat requirements compared to other ones, and this could be looked at and balanced out as well.

Finally, and I do realize this may not be everyone's cup of tea... but I spend a good bit of time farming and I never need to buy mats. Ever. Basically, gotta spend the time farming or spend the gold for someone else to do the farming. I am just mentioning this because it's worth pointing out that no one *has to* buy mats at the current prices.

But yes it does seem like some furnishing mats are getting quite expensive and ways to increase the supply or reduce the demand are certainly worth consideration by the powers that be.

(Since furnishings are sold in the crown store, however, I'm not sure they're all that motivated to do anything about it).

bmnoble

Not much you can do, it's a supply and demand issue only way I ever see it being resolved is with them adding furniture mats to the various furniture vendors at a somewhat high set price that still incentives selling for below that price on traders, so that if people try to jack up the prices too high on traders people can have the option to buy from vendors in stead in the same way we can buy grand repair kits.

As someone else said organizing guild harvesting runs and having all the mats donated at the end, is of my trade guilds options for weekly dues, they then go in the guild auction.

Instead of an auction you could divide up the furniture mats to those that need them most, while selling any regular mats collected to buy more of what ever your short on off traders or just have your members to hang onto anything not furniture related to sell instead to make organization of the process easier.

Mascen

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Organize harvesting runs? Pick a zone with a group and each pick an area to harvest clean!

Evidence that supply/demand is in play:

At least on PC/NA, it seems as if the expensive furnishing mats are associated with cheap crafting mats, and vice-versa. E.g., alchemy has expensive crafting mats but cheap furnishing mats, while enchanting has the opposite. Blacksmithing materials may be fairly cheap in both areas -- but when one farms blacksmithing nodes one also necessarily farms jewelry nodes, and vice-versa.

So yeah -- more node farming should probably be in the mix.

Problem is that normal gear crafting mats are arguably artificially deflated because of the hunting for furniture mats. I do agree with some of the proposals in this thread though. Deconstruction might be harder to implement, but guaranteed furnitute mats from surveys sounds like a great idea IMO.

FluffWit

This has been bought up so many times with so many simple solutions offered- increase the drop rate, drop them from surveys, drop them from hirelings, etc etc.

I've never seen ZOS reply to any of them.

It's really just three mats that are a problem- Mundanes, Heartwood and (recently) Decorative Wax. The others are fine.

CGPsaint

The root of the problem is that furnishings cost so many mats to craft. I built a dueling arena that cost 1 Culanda Lacquer per structural furnishing crafted. I used over 300 pieces and at the time the Culanda Lacquer were selling for 3K gold each. Most of the furnishings also required 9 Mundane Runes which is somewhere north of 4.5K per furnishing. Farming Culanda Lacquer is a pain, but is still faster than farming Mundane Runes given the drop rates. Long story short, I stopped crafting furniture and am not longer messing with housing. ZOS definitely dropped the ball in regards to housing and the corresponding furnishings.

Mascen

FluffWit wrote: »

This has been bought up so many times with so many simple solutions offered- increase the drop rate, drop them from surveys, drop them from hirelings, etc etc.

I've never seen ZOS reply to any of them.

It's really just three mats that are a problem- Mundanes, Heartwood and (recently) Decorative Wax. The others are fine.

I mean will giving up solve the problem either? Good things come to those who are persistent

N00BxV1

I will gladly trade all of my furnishing materials for Columbine.

I have thousands of each furnishing material (that I sometimes destroy when I don't have craftbag+) but always struggle to get Columbine for making tri-pots. People are charging anywhere from 3k - 6k for EACH Columbine on PC/NA... I'm not even trying to make a profit... I just need the potions for personal use... And it's not realistic to spend all day/week/month running around harvesting trying to only find Columbine because that's all I need. When I run out of potions, I'd rather just log off and go do something else... I actually look forward to the Crown Tri-Pots from daily login rewards because it's currently one of the most valuable things that you can get...

I'd say we need an increase in most crafting materials because the prices on PC/NA are just freaking ridiculous. And it doesn't help that resource nodes in this game are so scarce and shared... There's just so many things in game that are still stuck in the 2014-ish era that could really use updating once in a while. More resources from nodes and more gold from all sources would be a good start.

johnjetau

Cheap furnishing mats do exist. I regularly put up mats below TTC recommended price all the time. The issue is that re-sellers tend to buy them first.

They do exist. You just have to be quick or on the look out for them.

But, I do agree. Being able to decon unwanted furniture would help.

FeedbackOnly

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Organize harvesting runs? Pick a zone with a group and each pick an area to harvest clean!

Evidence that supply/demand is in play:

At least on PC/NA, it seems as if the expensive furnishing mats are associated with cheap crafting mats, and vice-versa. E.g., alchemy has expensive crafting mats but cheap furnishing mats, while enchanting has the opposite. Blacksmithing materials may be fairly cheap in both areas -- but when one farms blacksmithing nodes one also necessarily farms jewelry nodes, and vice-versa.

So yeah -- more node farming should probably be in the mix.

Alchemy has writs, imperial city, event boxes

bmnoble

CGPsaint wrote: »

The root of the problem is that furnishings cost so many mats to craft. I built a dueling arena that cost 1 Culanda Lacquer per structural furnishing crafted. I used over 300 pieces and at the time the Culanda Lacquer were selling for 3K gold each. Most of the furnishings also required 9 Mundane Runes which is somewhere north of 4.5K per furnishing. Farming Culanda Lacquer is a pain, but is still faster than farming Mundane Runes given the drop rates. Long story short, I stopped crafting furniture and am not longer messing with housing. ZOS definitely dropped the ball in regards to housing and the corresponding furnishings.

FluffWit wrote: »

This has been bought up so many times with so many simple solutions offered- increase the drop rate, drop them from surveys, drop them from hirelings, etc etc.

I've never seen ZOS reply to any of them.

It's really just three mats that are a problem- Mundanes, Heartwood and (recently) Decorative Wax. The others are fine.

That is because ZOS wants you to arrive at their solution buy furniture packs from the crown store or fully furnished houses, they want it to be a convoluted process to get your own furniture in game so that you shell out for stuff that costs crowns, for them it makes zero business sense to fix the issue.

spartaxoxo

bmnoble wrote: »

CGPsaint wrote: »

The root of the problem is that furnishings cost so many mats to craft. I built a dueling arena that cost 1 Culanda Lacquer per structural furnishing crafted. I used over 300 pieces and at the time the Culanda Lacquer were selling for 3K gold each. Most of the furnishings also required 9 Mundane Runes which is somewhere north of 4.5K per furnishing. Farming Culanda Lacquer is a pain, but is still faster than farming Mundane Runes given the drop rates. Long story short, I stopped crafting furniture and am not longer messing with housing. ZOS definitely dropped the ball in regards to housing and the corresponding furnishings.

FluffWit wrote: »

This has been bought up so many times with so many simple solutions offered- increase the drop rate, drop them from surveys, drop them from hirelings, etc etc.

I've never seen ZOS reply to any of them.

It's really just three mats that are a problem- Mundanes, Heartwood and (recently) Decorative Wax. The others are fine.

That is because ZOS wants you to arrive at their solution buy furniture packs from the crown store or fully furnished houses, they want it to be a convoluted process to get your own furniture in game so that you shell out for stuff that costs crowns, for them it makes zero business sense to fix the issue.

What's funny is that I would probably be more willing to use crown furniture if the mats weren't so prohibitively expensive. Although the coin that I'm spending on mats, I might spend on crown sellers. Or I'd be in a better mood and more willing to purchase something from the crown store using my own money. Right now, the only time I buy packs is when I'm actually able to enjoy decorating and it's just missing that perfect item. I've never used it as a replacement for mats and don't know many housing people who do. I wonder how much of that stuff in the furniture store in houses is actually selling, and how much they would be making if people were decorating more. So many people don't bother at housing at all because it's too expensie and I don't blame them.

bmnoble

spartaxoxo wrote: »

bmnoble wrote: »

CGPsaint wrote: »

The root of the problem is that furnishings cost so many mats to craft. I built a dueling arena that cost 1 Culanda Lacquer per structural furnishing crafted. I used over 300 pieces and at the time the Culanda Lacquer were selling for 3K gold each. Most of the furnishings also required 9 Mundane Runes which is somewhere north of 4.5K per furnishing. Farming Culanda Lacquer is a pain, but is still faster than farming Mundane Runes given the drop rates. Long story short, I stopped crafting furniture and am not longer messing with housing. ZOS definitely dropped the ball in regards to housing and the corresponding furnishings.

FluffWit wrote: »

This has been bought up so many times with so many simple solutions offered- increase the drop rate, drop them from surveys, drop them from hirelings, etc etc.

I've never seen ZOS reply to any of them.

It's really just three mats that are a problem- Mundanes, Heartwood and (recently) Decorative Wax. The others are fine.

That is because ZOS wants you to arrive at their solution buy furniture packs from the crown store or fully furnished houses, they want it to be a convoluted process to get your own furniture in game so that you shell out for stuff that costs crowns, for them it makes zero business sense to fix the issue.

What's funny is that I would probably be more willing to use crown furniture if the mats weren't so prohibitively expensive. Although the coin that I'm spending on mats, I might spend on crown sellers. Or I'd be in a better mood and more willing to purchase something from the crown store using my own money. Right now, the only time I buy packs is when I'm actually able to enjoy decorating and it's just missing that perfect item. I've never used it as a replacement for mats and don't know many housing people who do. I wonder how much of that stuff in the furniture store in houses is actually selling, and how much they would be making if people were decorating more. So many people don't bother at housing at all because it's too expensie and I don't blame them.

I will admit I have caved a few times over the years I bought the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary in the Gold coast, Wraithhome in Rivenspire fully intending to decorate them but could not be stuffed, so they became furniture warehouses for stuff I got playing the game and the last one I bought a few years ago the Vampire Castle in Blackreach fully furnished.

Aside from that I bought a few more by paying gold to have houses gifted but gave that up when the crown to gold prices sky rocketed.

Bought the bulk of the houses you can purchase for gold, largely as a gold sink other than using them as teleport locations I largely don't bother with any of them, sure a well decorated house can look nice but at the end of the day to me at least they serve no purpose if I want the utility stuff I just visit one of the guilds I am in, guild houses that has everything.

I can't rule out that I won't cave again in the future and buy some nice looking house I don't need, I am not even a big fan of housing and they got hundreds of dollars out of me, doubt I am the only one that thought something looked cool and blew some money on it.

Shagreth

They are super expensive in EU too. What I find ridiculous is that you can't make money by crafting furniture, even the super rare ones. People always sell them for even less than the cost of creation.

kind_hero

I hope this won't be moved again to housing, where most people won't read it.

In my opinion, critical mats such as mundane runes, decorative wax, or heartwood, should drop more often from crafting related activities: survey maps, reward caches, or if you have a perk active (from champion points), get way more furnishing mats from heavy sacks and treasure chests. Also, events should have some daily for crafters or some boon to increase the amount of runes (etc) found in the world.

I also think that vendors should provide very basic furnishings, mainly stone and wood platforms, and basic blocks. The rest should be craftable. This has been done to some extent in Summerset, where you can buy various marble like blocks.

The game is due for a furnishings overhaul. The simple structural items should be much cheaper to build or obtain, like I said above. There is little difference between crafting an epic or a superior item in terms of mats. Also, the visual difference between epic and superior is hard to notice, except maybe padded chairs and some furniture. Green and blue items should be cheaper to make.

Then is the problem of style materials. Why can't we use mimic stones? The mimic stones should be also a drop from doing crafting activities for those investing points in crafting. Some style materials can only be obtained by doing a daily quest, which besides being very grindy and boring in the long term, it drastically limits the amount of items one craft.

spartaxoxo

Shagreth wrote: »

They are super expensive in EU too. What I find ridiculous is that you can't make money by crafting furniture, even the super rare ones. People always sell them for even less than the cost of creation.

It's for a few reasons. One, pre-crafted furniture really don't sell easy anyway. Two, many of the listed items are extra stuff people had lying around, not stuff that they crafted for a profit. Three, there's an unspoken thing within the housing community where they try to help each other out. People will give away stuff to members of housing guilds, sell small amounts of mats at normal price when events inflate the price, etc.

So it's much closer to like second hand, bargain economy than a dedicated trader one.

Liguar

Furniture crafting mats should be available from surveys, and have better drop rates in general farming. I have a massive pile of surveys that I can't be bothered doing because they don't drop the mats I need (and because doing a bunch of them is a tiresome process that requires time and an audiobook).

johnjetau wrote: »

Cheap furnishing mats do exist. I regularly put up mats below TTC recommended price all the time. The issue is that re-sellers tend to buy them first.

They do exist. You just have to be quick or on the look out for them.

I don't bother trying to buy mats anymore, I just look for reasonably priced furniture. (Reasonable being not horribly overpriced according to TTC, but still the biggest gold sink overall ingame for me).

While I like the idea of guild traders in theory, I find the way they currently work (and chasing listings that are already gone) to be a source of irritation... It's not just resellers but other ways of manipulating the TTC. It's not really a good market for being a casual consumer. I'm sure there are other tools to make it "easier", which makes me side-eye the whole process and wish there was an auction house that was not readable by addons.

Somber97866

I've been screaming about this forever and nothing has ever been done

Northwold

Of course, the other aspect of this is that ESO has a trading system that effectively excludes anyone from selling anything who doesn't want to join a guild. And that is a lot of people. So people who don't do housing just put their mats in the craft bag and ignore them.* If they don't have ESO+ they end up junked.

The entire trading economy has artificially restricted supply where buyers outnumber sellers. It's not at all well thought out, as if solo players would suddenly decide not to play solo in an MMO that got and gets a large chunk of its userbase from people fed up of waiting for the next single player Elder Scrolls game.

* No, people really are not going to spend their days spamming zone chat with "WTS 10 mundane runes".

DinoZavr

it is alarming that "we need to talk" does not worry Developers.
we (players) can and do discuss the scarcity of furnishing materials, with zero changes in the game.

it is not the first, and, i believe, not the last discussion.
earlier there were ideas like making furnishing mats available at NPC traders for fixed price (which shall be seriously bad for the game economy)

i would like furnishing materials surveys to keep furnishing prices reasonable, as due to inflation, materials are too expensive and very often crafters sell theirs furnishings below the used materials price.

furnishing crafting got no love from @ZOS. all we have novice/expert/master furnisher achievements for learning 1/25/100 recipes (different number for different crafts) - BUT the reward nothing.

a good (imho) idea is to implement a separate furnishing crafting daily quest - to craft a random piece of furnishing rewarding with container with 100% drop chance of furnishing materials survey and low chance of blue or purple furnishing recipe drop.

Not only materials are an issue, but some furnishing plans are.
Currently the prices on several redguard plans are inflated beyond the logical reasons:
you can check TTC for PC EU
(May,03 2023)
- Diagram: Redguard Cannister, Gilded - ONE offer 18M
- Diagram: Redguard Censer, Hanging Bell - SIX offers starting with 3.6M
- Diagram: Redguard Censer, Hanging Horn - SIX offers starting with 4M
- Diagram: Redguard Spittoon, Gilded - ELEVEN offers starting with 3.5M
- Pattern: Redguard Mat, Desert Sun - FOUR offers starting with 5M
- Pattern: Redguard Mat, Sunrise - FIVE offers starting at 3.5M
- Pattern: Redguard Satchel, Heavy - SEVEN offers starting with 5.5M
- Praxis: Redguard Bowl, Gilded - FOUR offers starting with 7M
(these ones do NOT drop from Rolis Hlaalu master furnishing envelopes)
what causes these recipe prices not in line with other Redguard plans? error in drop tables? @ZOS_Kevin?
I am not talking about
- purple Vampric plans moved by ZOS soleley to the Harrowstorm satchels and dropping rare (the lowest Vampiric recipe prices are 500K+ at PC EU) is low.
- purple Ayleid plans which are 10M+ due to exceptional rarity
- purple Dwarven (old base-game dwarven from Razak's Wheel, not new Arkthzand dwarven from Bthar-Zel) 1.5M+
- new Firesong purples are expensive too and if the major source of these are the boxes at Dreadsail Reef, the price would not drop significantly (as the drop rate from Galen dailies rewards deserves much better).

The supply/demand situation worsens either with furnishing materials, or with recipes and to keep amount of grinding required some measures should be taken by Zenimax. Deploying a daily furnishing daily quest with attractive rewards can alleviate the issues we are facing now caused by inflation, as i see that.

Haenk

I don't see a problem.
The game does offer a lot of features to go deeper into - but honestly you can't have them all.
And you need to invest - time or money. You can't have everything at once, and that's probably good, as it keeps you in the game.
You think item xyz is too expensive? "Work" for it, pay for it, or leave it. I for sure know that my chance of finding one of those ultra-rare plans is likely zero. Just doing farm runs on the other hand is pretty predictable, and - as nobody wants to do those - will bring in a good amount of money. To purchase the stuff you will likely never find by yourself.

And honestly - I don't expect to ever own all plans, but I will try. So that's a long term goal, getting them all at once on day one would be boring.

AnduinTryggva

Mascen wrote: »

Hi sorry if some ppl feel this should be relegated to housing but I need this to be heard in general considering how it impacts the ingame player economy.

I run with a housing guild. We hold a bazaar every Sunday where we sell furniture often to newer players without the time/resources to learn the blueprints. Problem for us is that the cost of furnishing mats keeps ratcheting up and we really need something to be done about it. I can understand paying over 100k for an Alinor Greenhouse, but not for one stack of decorative wax. Nevermind Mundane runes which already cost a small fortune for a stack as is; its ridiculous.

So please, is there anything someone at ZOS can do about this? Idk if im the only one that feels this way but its very frustrating.

I have to agree to some extent. While in principle it is ok that demand/supply regulates the price one really has to come to the conclusion that specifically standard mats required for most furniture items to be crafted like mundane runes, wax and heartwood are in very high demand and low supply. Their drop rate is really bad even with cp buff active driving up prices like insane.

I've spent almost all my wax and my heartwood on two houses and I had quite a lot (1.5 thousand wax, 3000 heartwood). I've now put housing on a full stop for a couple of months now as my supply in these essential mats has faded away and I am now trying to stock up my pile. And no, I don't consider hours after hours, days after days of farming mats only as some fun that I love spending my rare spare time on.

Liguar

Haenk wrote: »

The game does offer a lot of features to go deeper into - but honestly you can't have them all.
And you need to invest - time or money. You can't have everything at once, and that's probably good, as it keeps you in the game.

Yes and no.

Housing is already a time sink in and of itself. I accept it as luxury, but I think it's a real shame if prohibitive costs put new players off what is one of the nicer player housing systems I've seen in games. I didn't touch it beyond having a basic set of crafting stations in an apartment for a really long time, and yet now I'd say that pottering around my main house is one of my favourite parts of the game.

Only because I got lucky with one rare drop that I could sell and turn into a lot of furniture.

Lumenn

Unfortunately on Xbox na with the bot issues they have majority of supply, so they set the prices. It's one reason I actually wish zos would just put all crafting mats on a vendor at SOMEWHAT reasonable prices. It would decimate the bot industry and keep them from allowing greed to inflate prices over what the vendor sells them at, and still allow people to farm for their own or even allow new players to farm/sell for a slight discount from vendor prices.

Zos would kill 2 birds with one stone by removing the need for coding/balancing adjustments to drop rates and having to flush bots (or have a reputation for bot infestation.) It also might promote more activity in the housing community.

Twig_Garlicshine

--Flippers--and --Hoarders--
The game is designed to benefit those 2 groups.
"Why should I farm when I can spend less time flipping, and triple quadruple my money?"
"I just race other flippers, and stuff it in my craft bag to feed into the market later, slowly."

I have known hundreds of people who have joined game for a month, and left after seeing just how the economy in Eso works with regard to crafting, furnishing, and housing.
"I'm going to this game, housing and crafting are feasible hobbies there. Flippers don't rule that game."
Hundreds of subs, and crown housing sales lost.
I do hope Zos has tracked these losses to see if the income they lost is balanced against the income they kept.
I doubt they did though. Non-existent->> "Yea, I told Zos why I quit in my exit survey."

When scarcity is able to be artificially restricted, it is no longer a basic supply/demand market economy, most inflation becomes seller inflation. Add in the fact that most trading guilds are not a single guild but 1 of multiple trading guilds run by the same person. Guild cartels. Oligopolies.
This is what the game's economy designer intended.
Would furnishing mats added to surveys fix this?
Maybe.
Or maybe it would just fill hoarder craft bags and prices would continue inflating.
I do know what would fix it, and no I won't even bother suggesting it.
Why?
It would just cause a flood of:
"That'd just destroy teh economy, dude."
"Why you reckin mah game?"
etc etc
It wouldn't destroy anything, as has been proven elsewhere - people adapt under any rules, regulations, or systems.
The game is what it is, and it is under the control of Flippers and Hoarders.
As intended and as designed.
Leave or stay the choice is yours and limited to that.
Unfortunately.

DinoZavr

Haenk wrote: »

I don't see a problem.
The game does offer a lot of features to go deeper into - but honestly you can't have them all.
And you need to invest - time or money. You can't have everything at once, and that's probably good, as it keeps you in the game.

I do see a problem. There are certain boundaries after which grinding becomes inappropriate, for the majority of players.
Of course, there are very motivated enthusiast, chasing Ayleid Brazier, or Enchanted Khajitii Brazier for YEARS, but they are few. "average" player gets bored after a month or two of 3+ hours a day grinding and simply, gives up.

The issue is that inflation brings some simple recipes into "barely unattainable" category. I can understand Ayleid furnishing plan offered for 15M..20M, but why ordinary base game Redguard plans are now in the same category?

Furnishing materials become more and more expensive, making furnishing crafting completely unprofitable, because the majority of potential customers are not ready to pay that much for a simple single piece of furnishing.
Why?

Should be anything done by game-makers to counter that sad trend? I believe, yes. As current situation on the crafted furnishing market became already bad and it is steadily worsening.

Haenk wrote: »

"Work" for it, pay for it, or leave it. I for sure know that my chance of finding one of those ultra-rare plans is likely zero. Just doing farm runs on the other hand is pretty predictable, and - as nobody wants to do those - will bring in a good amount of money. To purchase the stuff you will likely never find by yourself.

My question is how long would you sustain dumb boring monotonous grinding for several hours a day? For example grinding Mundane Runes to sell the full stacks of these? One month? Two? And the demand is slightly shrinking, because prices and bad perspective of selling the furnishings with profit. Making it and expensive hobby for a few instead of a healthy market for many.
The situation develops in an ugly way you need more and more time and efforts for quite simple goals and the prices for furnishing materials are the good indicators of the trend. Demand and supply stay the same or decrease, a value of gold coin rapidly decreases, making furnishing items too expensive for the most of customers. Should that be so? Was it planned by Zeni? Are countemeasures to be taken to make market healthier? Crafting profitable? These are a bit more complex questions, rather than "take it or leave it", are not they?

TL/DR; steady inflation is the factor seriously affecting furnishing crafting. i believe corrective measures are to be taken by Zenimax, making furnishing crafting and, thus, furnishing trading viable. As it is not nowadays.

Lauranae

I do a lot of housing, and as a lot at first i was in need of those rare mundane or heartwood. (i own 5 accounts, i play really one, and housing all of the others)

Then, i decided to change my questing routine : so now whenever i see runes, wood, cloth or urnes, i pick those. Nothing is left on my way besides the chests I see a lot of people running by those and just going on. While leveling doing this would help them a lot for later

Of course my questing time is not the same, quite a bit longer, but i sit now with over 2k of each mats, growing and growing, and allowing me to do what i want when i want with my houses.

Also, i know there is some furnitures i use frequently in my houses, so when i am not in the mood to decorate, i craft those furnitures, and stock them away for the futur. And in the meantime i go back to questing/farming to rebuild my stock.

I will never buy mats or furnitures over 1m from a player

---
doing this i am able to pick up 50 mundane by day at minimum, so at the end of the week i have at least a stack of those at minimum.
Heartwood are more difficult to get, its 35 by day at minimum but not a stack at the end of week, rather 150

wolfie1.0.

there are a lot of problems with crafting right now, and honestly i hope that ZOS takes a look at it and rebalances it. especially when it comes to furnishings and furnishing mats.

the only source of furnishing mats in the game outside of events is direct farming in the wild. other mats can be obtained through questing, deconstruction, refinement, spending AP/Tel Var, surveys.

to help here are my suggestions:

Add Tel Var furnishing mat packs to iC similar to the alchemy bags
'give surveys a chance to drop furnishing mats, at survey quantities

Allow crafted furnishings to be deconstructed. you can exclude any item that doesn't have a furnishing plan. you can even make it. right now ALL furnishings do is encourage hoarding.

i stopped doing housing not because of the lack of mats, but because i ran out of space to put stuff that i thought i needed that i don't. i currently have 2 private guild banks, 6 accounts, and many houses that are just holding furniture for storage. furniture doesn't sell to other players, and its not worth the cost of the crafting materials to vendor, or trash them. If i could decon a lot of them i would do so, just to be able to reclaim the mats.