QoL Request - Please make gathering Survey Maps easier!

DMuehlhausen

TaSheen wrote: »

I love wandering around completing surveys. I do not want them made "easier". I like them the way they are.

The issue isn't the wandering..it's why when I have say 5 blacksmithing surveys I have "leave the zone" or run away and come back. Why can't I just harvest like 140 ore from each node.

The only one that would cause an issue would be Alchemy but I don' think people would care if they harvested like 40 corn flower or something one time. It just doesn't make sense.

FlopsyPrince

DMuehlhausen wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Or you could just preview a home you don't own, immediately leave the home, and voila! You're right back at the exact same spot with the nodes respawned.

Just open your map, move to the Houses tab, select any random house from the Not Owned list, and clicky. That simple.

Due to load times on different computers this will almost always take you longer than mounting up and running off and back. Like it's a creative idea, but really doesn't solve the problem only makes it take longer.

I haven't timed the "go to an unused house" lately, but I know loading a character goes much quicker on the PS5 than on the PC now. I remember my PS4 being horridly slow before.

FlopsyPrince

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Or you could just preview a home you don't own, immediately leave the home, and voila! You're right back at the exact same spot with the nodes respawned.

Just open your map, move to the Houses tab, select any random house from the Not Owned list, and clicky. That simple.

I own far too many of the homes now, so that is very non-trivial. Plus it is often crashing now for me like that, especially on the PS5.

That method still added too much overhead, but did make things better when I didn't own many homes. Though I see no valid reason for not going with bulk collection.

So long as there is one home you don't own this will work. That aside for what you get running a bit and going back isn't much activity for the reward. And if you kill a few critters along the way in the base zones you have a chance of snagging an Aetheric Cipher.
The game activities do not need to be farther streamlined.

So, no-add-ons for PC players because it just streamlines the game to much and encourages laziness. ZOS can just disable them, and we all can have the pure game the way the developers intended.

Finding a home you don't own and jumping in and out would take even more time to do them and is not a good idea.

Just don't understand someone asking to help the grind be a little easier and people just attack them. Even if they do it attack them kindly. All they are asking for is just a little help to ease the grind the same way add-ons ease the game for PC players. After all, a lot of people on the forums were complaining about the grind in the last event.

Stay safe

This is something that continues to amaze me. Fine if another doesn't want it, but why the hostility to many Quality of Life changes.

I ironically have gear still on some alts that I precrafted on some PS5 alts which I did for crafting dailies when the PS4 was my main platform. That was before the current "Only quest" option in the interface was enabled and doing daily crafting was much more of a pain, so I would pre-craft 3 days worth each time I crafted something. I am glad it is simpler now and making it that way was not meaning I was lazy for wanting it!

(I stopped playing on the PS for quite a while, before I built up on the PC for addons. I do some things on the PS5 now, but not as much as I had, especially since 4 servers gets a bit tedious even now.)

Mesite

I have loads of surveys in my bank and in my crafter on my last account. When my inventory gets too full and I get overwhelmed, I buy a new account.

Maybe that's an exaggeration but, subconsciously, maybe I've identified a flaw in my approach to inventory.

I'd like to be able to sell them like I sell all my treasure maps. Some people enjoy doing surveys and do lots of crafting. I'd like to be able to share the joy of doing my surveys with others.

ake

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

I would gladly pay for the assistant (5K Crowns) to get them as someone else noted! I would even pay 10K Crowns for that QoL changed!

same!

Jack-0

twev wrote: »

Jack-0 wrote: »

It’s tedious and dull and I have several hundred surveys banked as a result. It’s even worse that in more recent dlc, the nodes tend to be spaced further apart from each other, too. Players have been asking for a bulk collection method for years now, I hope we get it one day soon.

See post #13.
The game aims to maximize your engagement with it over time.
Therefore they use time-sinks, and survey map collection is a big one.
Your actual enjoyment is secondary.

I understand the probable intention of them being a monotonous grind…What I’m saying is that this particular element doesn’t really work on me (or players like me) to drive my engagement, because I do the bare minimum number of surveys to have the materials I need to craft whatever I’m crafting, and the rest occupy bank space indefinitely. Or in the case of enchanting runes, I’m more likely to buy more oko when I run out than I am to waste time doing surveys in the hope of getting the one rune that’s used disproportionately often in daily writs.

Trials and dungeons and pvp are examples of engaging content that keep me playing the game for hours at a time. Surveys are an annoying chore that the game could do without.

I would totally drop 5k crowns for an assistant that would do them for me, as others have suggested above.

EdjeSwift

DMuehlhausen wrote: »

The issue isn't the wandering..it's why when I have say 5 blacksmithing surveys I have "leave the zone" or run away and come back. Why can't I just harvest like 140 ore from each node.

The only one that would cause an issue would be Alchemy but I don' think people would care if they harvested like 40 corn flower or something one time. It just doesn't make sense.

Actually there's another reason this wouldn't work well. I'd feel extremely upset if I only got 140 resources per node from my surveys. Having the CP which potentially doubles your yield means sometimes I can get upwards of 200+ resources per node. Sure you can say just take the CP into account while hitting the node but there's something nice about seeing 38/40 when hitting the node that just feels good.

derkaiserliche

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

derkaiserliche wrote: »

Imo lazyness should not be rewarded (in terms of stacking stuff in the bank)

People already abuse these daily crafting rewards pretty hard, so letting them have all the surveys at one go would be not the best idea.

How is saving them up "laziness"? And how is using things we have "abuse"? Please elaborate.

Yes, some continue to claim that, but why must they all be acted on in a tedious manner?

LalMirchi wrote: »

MMOs are by design time wasters therefore it's quite doubtful that 1-click solution would be forthcoming.

Possibly, but would you have expected multi-crafting before it was implemented? I remember a guild member making me a stack of enchants so I could learn them to master the skill line. It took a LONG TIME one at a time.

Some would say multicrafting encouraged laziness. Or that only showing items needed for a quest encouraged that. Neither is true of course, but tedium for the sake of tedium is bad.

That was the final straw for me with World of Warcraft. I was too much of an altoholic there too, but I got tired of repeating the same thing on different alts. I had a customer service agent there tell me "but MMOs are grinds" as if no more grinds existed.... (End of Mists BTW)

Yes, MMOs have a griind, but making gathering surveys easier would not reduce a bit of that and would make it easier to collect them. That is a win-win as the saying goes, at least for most of us.

People who dont do things directly are "lazy", since they procrastinate their duties (here surveys).

The players here told us already that they do these daily craftings on like 10-20 chars every single day because the rewards are so nice. The only effort is actually getting the mats from surveys. If they stack, people would get even lazier and probably create another account just for more daily crafting rewards.

Lazyness should not be rewarded --> just do them once you get them like other players

zaria

The_Boggart wrote: »

You can always port to imperial city then exit thru the door

Previewing an house and exiting is faster.

kargen27

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Or you could just preview a home you don't own, immediately leave the home, and voila! You're right back at the exact same spot with the nodes respawned.

Just open your map, move to the Houses tab, select any random house from the Not Owned list, and clicky. That simple.

I own far too many of the homes now, so that is very non-trivial. Plus it is often crashing now for me like that, especially on the PS5.

That method still added too much overhead, but did make things better when I didn't own many homes. Though I see no valid reason for not going with bulk collection.

So long as there is one home you don't own this will work. That aside for what you get running a bit and going back isn't much activity for the reward. And if you kill a few critters along the way in the base zones you have a chance of snagging an Aetheric Cipher.
The game activities do not need to be farther streamlined.

So, no-add-ons for PC players because it just streamlines the game to much and encourages laziness. ZOS can just disable them, and we all can have the pure game the way the developers intended.

Finding a home you don't own and jumping in and out would take even more time to do them and is not a good idea.

Just don't understand someone asking to help the grind be a little easier and people just attack them. Even if they do it attack them kindly. All they are asking for is just a little help to ease the grind the same way add-ons ease the game for PC players. After all, a lot of people on the forums were complaining about the grind in the last event.

Stay safe

Actually would have been fine with me if we didn't get add-ons from the start. To many players would leave now if they were taken away. Consoles could use more functionality that some of the add-ons provide. I don't jump to a home and instead just run a distance gathering and killing as I make the short loop. Finding a home not owned is as easy as opening the map and clicking on a zone. Loading screen time may vary though so might not work for everybody.
There is no add-on on PC that lets a player gather a stack of surveys all in one go. We port or run just like console players do. If this was a request to provide something add-ons provide I would not object again so long as there is no impact on performance.
The grind in the last event affected all players that wished to participate the same. No add-on helped with that and there is nothing that links that grind to the gathering of surveys. They are completely separate issues.

CrashTest

DustyWarehouse wrote: »

I'd pay 5k crowns for an assistant that goes and "collects" my surveys. Just give them the surveys, and some time later you can take the materials from them.

A survey vendor that did that would also be a huge QoL.

kargen27

CrashTest wrote: »

DustyWarehouse wrote: »

I'd pay 5k crowns for an assistant that goes and "collects" my surveys. Just give them the surveys, and some time later you can take the materials from them.

A survey vendor that did that would also be a huge QoL.

It would lead to zones being even less populated by players than they are now. While out doing surveys or other stuff in zone it is nice to see other players around. We don't need something that makes the zones feel more empty than they already do.

Amottica

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

LalMirchi wrote: »

MMOs are by design time wasters therefore it's quite doubtful that 1-click solution would be forthcoming.

Possibly, but would you have expected multi-crafting before it was implemented?

We had multicrafting before Zenimax added it to the game.

So yes. Very much yes. Yes, a thousand times.

You didn't on console!

Too many only think of PC for things!

I did not think only of PC. There is a history of PC add-ons that makes my comment 100% relevant to the consoles.

For starters, there is the buff/debuff tracker that PC has via addons and Zenimax ended up bringing to the base game for all platforms.

Then there is multi-crafting, which again originated on PC via add-ons and was eventually brought to all consoles by Zenimax.

Good things come from PC to all so my comment is extremely relevant and accurate.

Araneae6537

ZOS wants us engaged with and spending time in the game, and materials are in general relatively abundant and easy to amass in quantity. Thus, I don’t see ZOS making surveys easier, maybe if the reward from them was also reduced, and I don’t want to see surveys be made less profitable for those of us willing to take the time to do them.

Amottica

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

The simple solution is to have them located in only one to three zones instead of most of the base game zones. It creates less traveling which speeds up the process significantly.

As for being able to harvest multiple maps at once, that is extremely unlikely since Zenimax is not likely to desire such a change due to the risk of opening up survey maps to exploitation again. There is a history of this, and we know that making a change has the chance of unintended consequences. Especially with this type of change considering the previous exploit.

How would it be exploitable? Make it a "get them all why you are there or you lose it, like I think it works now. I see no other way to exploit it. I just want to gather mine much easier and with far less tedium.

I am still searching for skyshards, wayshrines, etc. Plenty to keep even "intense casual me" playing. Eliminating grinds like this are very helpful and make the experience much better.

I would gladly pay for the assistant (5K Crowns) to get them as someone else noted! I would even pay 10K Crowns for that QoL changed!

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/262926/game-breaking-exploit

The exploit I referred to was a big issue. They shut down the ability to harvest surveys while they worked on a fix. Developers tend not to want to tinker with things they previously fixed due to an exploit and the request made in this thread falls squarely into that area.

I am not arguing against the suggestion and even offered a suggestion that is more likely to happen, as I do agree this should be a little easier. I am just pointing out a very logical reason based on historical facts as to why it is not likely.

Czeri

Not only are the surveys tedious, there are also far too many of them. Before One Tamriel only one zone in the game would give the highest level mats, so only that zone surveys were awarded for turning in writs at the highest level. Now you get surveys from every single zone in the game, with a new zone added each year. It's madness!

Amottica

Czeri wrote: »

Not only are the surveys tedious, there are also far too many of them. Before One Tamriel only one zone in the game would give the highest level mats, so only that zone surveys were awarded for turning in writs at the highest level. Now you get surveys from every single zone in the game, with a new zone added each year. It's madness!

This is what I noted earlier though I did not know it used to be limited to one zone.

I had suggested one zone or even the highest-level base game zone per alliance. That would lead to a lot less traveling, which is what is most time-consuming.

This would make surveys much more efficient and less time-consuming without changing mechanics or risking opening up a new exploit.

TaSheen

As long as whatever changes are OPTIONAL.

FlopsyPrince

It is not lazy to not gather surveys immediately. Please support your argument if you want to claim that! I have plenty to do, why must I immediately gather a survey or be "lazy"?

Paying to have a Crown-purchased assistant gather them would make them more Crown sales and help make this part better.

Do we have to running around to get our crafting assistant stuff (the ones emailed to us now)?

And thinking surveys keep the zones crowded is simply not true. Most times I see no one else when gathering survey mats. Not very crowded if that was the reasoning.

Czeri

Amottica wrote: »

Czeri wrote: »

Not only are the surveys tedious, there are also far too many of them. Before One Tamriel only one zone in the game would give the highest level mats, so only that zone surveys were awarded for turning in writs at the highest level. Now you get surveys from every single zone in the game, with a new zone added each year. It's madness!

This is what I noted earlier though I did not know it used to be limited to one zone.

I had suggested one zone or even the highest-level base game zone per alliance. That would lead to a lot less traveling, which is what is most time-consuming.

This would make surveys much more efficient and less time-consuming without changing mechanics or risking opening up a new exploit.

Oh yeah, it used to be just one zone. That's why Craglorn and Wrothgar have multiple survey sites, to break the boredom a bit. I didn't appreciate how good we had it back then...

derkaiserliche

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

It is not lazy to not gather surveys immediately. Please support your argument if you want to claim that! I have plenty to do, why must I immediately gather a survey or be "lazy"?

Paying to have a Crown-purchased assistant gather them would make them more Crown sales and help make this part better.

Do we have to running around to get our crafting assistant stuff (the ones emailed to us now)?

And thinking surveys keep the zones crowded is simply not true. Most times I see no one else when gathering survey mats. Not very crowded if that was the reasoning.

I think you wanted to quote me and another person here right?

But actually i dont need to "support" anything, since i already explained my point of view.

Just imagine someone with 3 accounts, stacking up his surveys for a whole year, because he never felt the need of doing them. Should he be rewarded for not doing them with this QOL-change?

Of course it makes the daily craftings even easier, but some work should still be work. The daily craftings are already nearly "broken" rewardwise. And this is coming from me with 8 characters doing these every single day as well.

If you dont want to do the surveys, just delete them.

And on top:

Shall we get an assistant who does the daily craftings then too? Or maybe an assistant who grinds some gold for us?

FlopsyPrince

derkaiserliche wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

It is not lazy to not gather surveys immediately. Please support your argument if you want to claim that! I have plenty to do, why must I immediately gather a survey or be "lazy"?

Paying to have a Crown-purchased assistant gather them would make them more Crown sales and help make this part better.

Do we have to running around to get our crafting assistant stuff (the ones emailed to us now)?

And thinking surveys keep the zones crowded is simply not true. Most times I see no one else when gathering survey mats. Not very crowded if that was the reasoning.

I think you wanted to quote me and another person here right?

But actually i dont need to "support" anything, since i already explained my point of view.

Just imagine someone with 3 accounts, stacking up his surveys for a whole year, because he never felt the need of doing them. Should he be rewarded for not doing them with this QOL-change?

Of course it makes the daily craftings even easier, but some work should still be work. The daily craftings are already nearly "broken" rewardwise. And this is coming from me with 8 characters doing these every single day as well.

If you dont want to do the surveys, just delete them.

And on top:

Shall we get an assistant who does the daily craftings then too? Or maybe an assistant who grinds some gold for us?

I just quoted the prior comment.

But yes, that player still earned all those surveys. It turns out I am a piker compared to some here, but why should I have to suffer through gathering 20+ surveys just because I didn't want to run them each time I got them.

Rewards are rewards. Saving them is not a bad thing. It is a good thing if anything since the market had fewer mats before I gathered them making them get purchased by me more often because I didn't want to collect my surveys!

FeedbackOnly

Kk sell me an NPC for this please or a companion

kargen27

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

derkaiserliche wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

It is not lazy to not gather surveys immediately. Please support your argument if you want to claim that! I have plenty to do, why must I immediately gather a survey or be "lazy"?

Paying to have a Crown-purchased assistant gather them would make them more Crown sales and help make this part better.

Do we have to running around to get our crafting assistant stuff (the ones emailed to us now)?

And thinking surveys keep the zones crowded is simply not true. Most times I see no one else when gathering survey mats. Not very crowded if that was the reasoning.

I think you wanted to quote me and another person here right?

But actually i dont need to "support" anything, since i already explained my point of view.

Just imagine someone with 3 accounts, stacking up his surveys for a whole year, because he never felt the need of doing them. Should he be rewarded for not doing them with this QOL-change?

Of course it makes the daily craftings even easier, but some work should still be work. The daily craftings are already nearly "broken" rewardwise. And this is coming from me with 8 characters doing these every single day as well.

If you dont want to do the surveys, just delete them.

And on top:

Shall we get an assistant who does the daily craftings then too? Or maybe an assistant who grinds some gold for us?

I just quoted the prior comment.

But yes, that player still earned all those surveys. It turns out I am a piker compared to some here, but why should I have to suffer through gathering 20+ surveys just because I didn't want to run them each time I got them.

Rewards are rewards. Saving them is not a bad thing. It is a good thing if anything since the market had fewer mats before I gathered them making them get purchased by me more often because I didn't want to collect my surveys!

Saving them and then wanting the rewards for not doing them isn't a good thing. Surveys as they are now are one of the best returns for your time investment in the game. There needs to be time involved just to keep surveys somewhat in line with other game activities.

Sandmanninja

You can turn your view distance to one and you don't have to move so far away.

LunaFlora

Sandmanninja wrote: »

You can turn your view distance to one and you don't have to move so far away.

sadly that's only an option on pc

twev

Jack-0 wrote: »

twev wrote: »

Jack-0 wrote: »

It’s tedious and dull and I have several hundred surveys banked as a result. It’s even worse that in more recent dlc, the nodes tend to be spaced further apart from each other, too. Players have been asking for a bulk collection method for years now, I hope we get it one day soon.

See post #13.
The game aims to maximize your engagement with it over time.
Therefore they use time-sinks, and survey map collection is a big one.
Your actual enjoyment is secondary.

I understand the probable intention of them being a monotonous grind…What I’m saying is that this particular element doesn’t really work on me (or players like me) to drive my engagement, because I do the bare minimum number of surveys to have the materials I need to craft whatever I’m crafting, and the rest occupy bank space indefinitely. Or in the case of enchanting runes, I’m more likely to buy more oko when I run out than I am to waste time doing surveys in the hope of getting the one rune that’s used disproportionately often in daily writs.

Trials and dungeons and pvp are examples of engaging content that keep me playing the game for hours at a time. Surveys are an annoying chore that the game could do without.

I would totally drop 5k crowns for an assistant that would do them for me, as others have suggested above.

Mostly awesome, so you got one.
Tho I balk at the idea of a 'gatherer drone' being able to do all your running for you in a relative blink of an eye while you/we go about doing 'fun' stuff, thereby effectively playing two toons doing two tasks, simultaneously.

twev

derkaiserliche wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

derkaiserliche wrote: »

Imo lazyness should not be rewarded (in terms of stacking stuff in the bank)

People already abuse these daily crafting rewards pretty hard, so letting them have all the surveys at one go would be not the best idea.

How is saving them up "laziness"? And how is using things we have "abuse"? Please elaborate.

Yes, some continue to claim that, but why must they all be acted on in a tedious manner?

LalMirchi wrote: »

MMOs are by design time wasters therefore it's quite doubtful that 1-click solution would be forthcoming.

Possibly, but would you have expected multi-crafting before it was implemented? I remember a guild member making me a stack of enchants so I could learn them to master the skill line. It took a LONG TIME one at a time.

Some would say multicrafting encouraged laziness. Or that only showing items needed for a quest encouraged that. Neither is true of course, but tedium for the sake of tedium is bad.

That was the final straw for me with World of Warcraft. I was too much of an altoholic there too, but I got tired of repeating the same thing on different alts. I had a customer service agent there tell me "but MMOs are grinds" as if no more grinds existed.... (End of Mists BTW)

Yes, MMOs have a griind, but making gathering surveys easier would not reduce a bit of that and would make it easier to collect them. That is a win-win as the saying goes, at least for most of us.

People who dont do things directly are "lazy", since they procrastinate their duties (here surveys).

The players here told us already that they do these daily craftings on like 10-20 chars every single day because the rewards are so nice. The only effort is actually getting the mats from surveys. If they stack, people would get even lazier and probably create another account just for more daily crafting rewards.

Lazyness should not be rewarded --> just do them once you get them like other players

Simple.
Though I agree with your premise of not rewarding map gathering with an express lane for gathering 20 to 30 maps worth of nodes by visiting each of 6 nodes once, I'd rather go to a wayshrine in a zone and grab 20 or 30 surveys in one or two locations, and repeat that process at all the other wayshrines in the same zone, than do the same thing for one survey location at each wayshrine in a zone.
And it also reduces the probability that I have one survey map taking up a slot causing me to go back to the same wayshrine in the next several days.
Will I get a few of those single maps taking up a slot in the next few days? Sure I will, but not every survey map location will be attained every few days.

I care less about whether or not I can harvest 20 or 30 maps in one go, than I do about having to zone to every survey for a single map.
And then repeat it the next time I get a single map for the same location.

Will I have to spent a metric tonne of time doing 20 or 30 maps one at a time?
I sure will, but it's less time than zoning to very map and every wayshrine for a single map at a time.
It's not lazy, it's more efficient/map.

TheImperfect

I'd love to be able to get multiple surveys at once, an assistant would be ok but I'd prefer bulk collection.

FlopsyPrince

I just spend 2-3 hours yesterday gathering Alik'r surveys I had (about 80). I did nab some other mats along the way and help out with a few Dolmens, but that was a horrid amount of time.

This should be a bonus, not a second job!