Where is the ink?

TaSheen

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

0 Luminous Ink in 20+ hours of PvP (Cyro/BGs)

How are PvPers supposed to use Scribing if we can't get the mats to craft skills?

I guess you're supposed to do the whole quest line on lots of alts?

red_emu

I wish you could just buy the ink at this point. 30 hours later, not a single drop.

Maybe we could buy these with Seals Of Endeavour? (Not crowns though).

SeaGtGruff

Ulvich wrote: »

So far I have picked up 12. Not sure from where. I just loot anything and everything I come across, so it could have been from anywhere.

I have 11 on PC EU. 6 are from doing the Indrik and Netch storylines, 1 is from killing a Grievous Twilight in IC Temple District while doing the district daily, and 1 is from killing a Black Dagger bandit while triggering an ambush for a Chorrol town daily, but I have no idea where the other 3 came from. I'm thinking that killing and looting mobs might be a better source than just farming resources, but I dunno.

Yamenstein

Been playing casually since the new chapter came out. Other than the ink that i received from the scribing quests i have yet to get any new ink! Again I ask, what is the purpose of this new system if you don't have enough materials to actually use it?

Yamenstein

TaSheen wrote: »

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

0 Luminous Ink in 20+ hours of PvP (Cyro/BGs)

How are PvPers supposed to use Scribing if we can't get the mats to craft skills?

I guess you're supposed to do the whole quest line on lots of alts?

Yep - create alts, unlock via quest, delete alt, repeat from the start.

Yamenstein

merevie wrote: »

Suggest that one does not experiment when there are excellent class guides out. Get the known top unlocks, then experiment casually with casual ink drops.

True.
This is why ZoS has fudged up a another system. Why even open up all these options - just give us the skill with the best possible combinations and call it a new skill line. No point giving options if no one can actually try out the different options.

I'm curious if the team is actually playing this game and finding it actually fun. Or maybe they just have company perks enabled to get more drops. It's ridiculous. And yet again no communication at all from the team. No acknowledgement on the situation, whether it was intended or maybe something else is going on. If it's even being investigated.

Orbital78

Yamenstein wrote: »

Ink drops so bad I can only assume there is a bug where they aren't dropping as they should.
50 nodes harvested - no ink. Not even 1.
Once again silence from ZoS on this as well.

Did you use plentiful harvest cp? 50 isn't really that much harvesting. I think I sold like 30 of them today. Sometimes I get two at a time too.

I was thinking the Endless Archive would be a good spot with all the ink creatures, but I didn't have luck there.

joergino

Yamenstein wrote: »

I'm curious if the team is actually playing this game and finding it actually fun. Or maybe they just have company perks enabled to get more drops.

Why should they be playing this game? It's their everyday job, so I would expect them to not even think about it in their spare time.

EF321

Got 2 drops back to back. So RNG.

Yamenstein

Orbital78 wrote: »

Yamenstein wrote: »

Ink drops so bad I can only assume there is a bug where they aren't dropping as they should.
50 nodes harvested - no ink. Not even 1.
Once again silence from ZoS on this as well.

Did you use plentiful harvest cp? 50 isn't really that much harvesting. I think I sold like 30 of them today. Sometimes I get two at a time too.

I was thinking the Endless Archive would be a good spot with all the ink creatures, but I didn't have luck there.

Yeah I do use it! No luck.
I don't think it's asking for much when I say it should at least drop a handful of times when you have harvested 50 nodes. Since that post I have harvested a lot more and still no luck.
I don't think it's a big ask to have a couple of drops per 50 harvested nodes. 100? How about that...

Yamenstein

joergino wrote: »

Yamenstein wrote: »

I'm curious if the team is actually playing this game and finding it actually fun. Or maybe they just have company perks enabled to get more drops.

Why should they be playing this game? It's their everyday job, so I would expect them to not even think about it in their spare time.

I would imagine that some of them would be .. based on previous comments they have made.
There is a difference between working and enjoying afterwards.

I do understand what you mean though and if that is the case then so be it. Guess it makes it easier for them to come out with this kind of content ...

Elsonso

joergino wrote: »

Yamenstein wrote: »

I'm curious if the team is actually playing this game and finding it actually fun. Or maybe they just have company perks enabled to get more drops.

Why should they be playing this game? It's their everyday job, so I would expect them to not even think about it in their spare time.

Some of them do play this game, and on a regular basis. Per their statements, they do not get in-game perks or abilities on their personal accounts.

I have never felt the issue with this game is that they don't play the game.

Orbital78

Yamenstein wrote: »

Yeah I do use it! No luck.
I don't think it's asking for much when I say it should at least drop a handful of times when you have harvested 50 nodes. Since that post I have harvested a lot more and still no luck.
I don't think it's a big ask to have a couple of drops per 50 harvested nodes. 100? How about that...

bad roll of the dice then, 50 harvests and sometimes I don't get any Nirncrux. Sometimes I loot 20 and get two, I do think killing and looting enemies does have a greatly reduced drop chance. Probably to avoid pushing AoE grinding and help with resource inflation, etc.I think they should make it drop more in the Archive though, lore wise it could work IMO. I think the issue is that most of the mobs don't drop loot other than the random treasure scamp with bosses or marauders. It could also be added to the fortunes vendors perhaps.

Necrotech_Master

red_emu wrote: »

I wish you could just buy the ink at this point. 30 hours later, not a single drop.

Maybe we could buy these with Seals Of Endeavour? (Not crowns though).

luminous ink is sellable on guild stores

but due to the rarity the asking prices are pretty high (PC NA is like 100-150k+ per unit, which would be like 300-450k gold to scribe 1 spell)

virtus753

red_emu wrote: »

I wish you could just buy the ink at this point. 30 hours later, not a single drop.

Maybe we could buy these with Seals Of Endeavour? (Not crowns though).

Which sources were you trying to get it from for 30 hours, and do you have the Sigils unlocked?

Enemies aren’t really farmable, even after Indrik—it’s one of those things where you hope it drops while you’re doing other things (questing, dungeons, trials, xp grinding).

Resource nodes should be giving you something in 30 hours, if you’re farming those.

But you must have the Sigil of the Indrik to get it from enemies and Sigil of the Netch to get it from resource nodes. You get those by doing the corresponding wing quest once on your account.

Do you have those?

SolarRune

So after a couple of hours farming nodes I am pretty consistently seeing about a 0.5% drop rate, others seem to be getting much more from chests etc - so I will be focussing there.

darvaria

Cobble123 wrote: »

Ok I found 11 during my usual hour of farming this evening. They’re certainly out there if you’re prepared to look for them.

I'm past the point of "farming". And so are many other players. We need easy ink sources RN.

Players are already not buying the expansion because of this problem.

cyclonus11

I got two yesterday in maybe an hour - one off of a Recollection enemy in Haldain Lumber Camp in West Weald, and one from a Rubedite ore node from Forgotten Crypts in Deshaan.

They are out there, though I am not personally going to go out of my way to farm them. If I did that, they wouldn't drop at all, guaranteed.

wolfie1.0.

Expansion has only been out 3 days. Supply is going to be short realistically.

At least it seems more common than aetherial dust.

Let's see where things stand in a few weeks before pitchforking. The new scrinding system needs a bit of seasoning and maybe some thyme to flavor it up a bit.

WanderingMuse001

Just another 2 cents to add in the no ink dropped thus far department: I did the Scribing quest on my main 1st thing at launch and haven't received another ink since. I've been in the Infinite Archive for hours, done dozens of daily quests throughout several zones, run trials, and killed gods-knows how many enemies at this point. I've gotten a lot of scripts from the dailies, more than I expected...but no ink. So I can't use the system to make new skills even though I'm learning the pieces to make more.

Why did there even need to be a crafting cost associated with this system? I mean, it makes logical sense to write down new spells, but then why make the ink such a rare drop? You can't make them if you don't have the ink!! Why would I want to spend dozens of hours (if not more) mindlessly farming nodes or killing mobs when I'm already doing extremely repetitive daily quests for a low chance at a crafting material necessary for this scribing system? Pay hundreds of thousands in gold on guild traders? All of this to try and either get the new scribing achievements, or play the way I want to with the many scribing options.

Sure doesn't feel like playing the way I want to play this game if I can't even get the ink to make the new skills to experiment with. So like others here I'm very, very disappointed with this drop rate. If this doesn't change, I'll just unlock scribing on my alts and shelve this system, until it changes. Making ink a guaranteed drop from either specific daily quests or as a daily dungeon reward on a per toon basis, like transmutes, would be a significant improvement.

I'm not opposed to grinding for crafting supplies, but I do expect them to be reasonably obtainable. I thought ZOS would have learned their lesson after making the gold style pages so rare in the last event. I personally took a break from ESO after getting so frustrated and refusing to spend 50+ hours of my life waiting for WBs to respawn without getting anything to show for it.

red_emu

virtus753 wrote: »

red_emu wrote: »

I wish you could just buy the ink at this point. 30 hours later, not a single drop.

Maybe we could buy these with Seals Of Endeavour? (Not crowns though).

Which sources were you trying to get it from for 30 hours, and do you have the Sigils unlocked?

Enemies aren’t really farmable, even after Indrik—it’s one of those things where you hope it drops while you’re doing other things (questing, dungeons, trials, xp grinding).

Resource nodes should be giving you something in 30 hours, if you’re farming those.

But you must have the Sigil of the Indrik to get it from enemies and Sigil of the Netch to get it from resource nodes. You get those by doing the corresponding wing quest once on your account.

Do you have those?

Yes, I finished the full quest line, including the crow. I've been killing enemies in different zones, dungeons, delves, world bosses, new dolmens, gathering, etc.

Bad rng I guess. Might as well wait until the ink drops in price on Guild stores.

sarahthes

red_emu wrote: »

virtus753 wrote: »

red_emu wrote: »

I wish you could just buy the ink at this point. 30 hours later, not a single drop.

Maybe we could buy these with Seals Of Endeavour? (Not crowns though).

Which sources were you trying to get it from for 30 hours, and do you have the Sigils unlocked?

Enemies aren’t really farmable, even after Indrik—it’s one of those things where you hope it drops while you’re doing other things (questing, dungeons, trials, xp grinding).

Resource nodes should be giving you something in 30 hours, if you’re farming those.

But you must have the Sigil of the Indrik to get it from enemies and Sigil of the Netch to get it from resource nodes. You get those by doing the corresponding wing quest once on your account.

Do you have those?

Yes, I finished the full quest line, including the crow. I've been killing enemies in different zones, dungeons, delves, world bosses, new dolmens, gathering, etc.

Bad rng I guess. Might as well wait until the ink drops in price on Guild stores.

If people complain more about the ink instead of farming it, it'll never drop in price.

CrashTest

red_emu wrote: »

I wish you could just buy the ink at this point. 30 hours later, not a single drop.

I really hope ZOS doesn't monetize this by selling ink in the crown store.

SeaGtGruff

EF321 wrote: »

Got 2 drops back to back. So RNG.

How true! And the "feast or famine" nature of RNG can be frustrating. I've learned to mostly ignore the urge to grind and just let myself be pleasantly surprised whenever I do get a drop.

Luke: "I got one!"

Han: "Great, kid! Don't get optimistic."

The best "reliable option" I've seen anyone suggest so far is to create a throwaway alt, zip through the Luminaries' quests to get 12 ink, delete the alt, then do it again as often as desired. I don't know if they were being sarcastic, but it actually sounds like a winning idea-- if someone has an available character slot, that is.

Necrotech_Master

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

EF321 wrote: »

Got 2 drops back to back. So RNG.

How true! And the "feast or famine" nature of RNG can be frustrating. I've learned to mostly ignore the urge to grind and just let myself be pleasantly surprised whenever I do get a drop.

Luke: "I got one!"

Han: "Great, kid! Don't get optimistic."

The best "reliable option" I've seen anyone suggest so far is to create a throwaway alt, zip through the Luminaries' quests to get 12 ink, delete the alt, then do it again as often as desired. I don't know if they were being sarcastic, but it actually sounds like a winning idea-- if someone has an available character slot, that is.

the idea of the alt is consistent, but i think it requires getting the character to at least lvl 30 to do scribing, and then all of the travel involved (lack of wayshrines) might make that take longer than expected but still guaranteed results over RNG drops that are rarer than nirncrux

darvaria

I agree there should NOT be a crafting cost with Scribing Skills. We have never had crafting costs with skill and don't need them. Stop feeding the trade guilds. Stop feeding the bots.

Dagoth_Rac

Drop rate seems similar to potent nirncrux, but drops everywhere, not just one zone. So in the long run, it should be a lot more global supply than potent nirncrux. And there are probably a lot of players who have not even done the quests to unlock Sigil of the Netch yet. Once they do, more ink will start getting farmed.

Maybe the ink drop rate will indeed need to be increased. But I think we are jumping the gun and should give it some time. Most people will not try all 4000 scribing combinations on 20 characters. They will scribe a handful of skills they think look cool, on their 2 or 3 total characters, and then be done. And at that point, just start selling ink. And they will not need to do targeted farming, like with potent nirncrux. It is going accumulate on casual players in a way potent nirncrux never has.

So, not everyone has unlocked ability to farm ink, decreasing supply. While demand is at highest in first week of release. As supply increases and demand decreases, we need to see where prices settle. I don't think we need to panic that ink is too expensive. At least not yet.

virtus753

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

EF321 wrote: »

Got 2 drops back to back. So RNG.

How true! And the "feast or famine" nature of RNG can be frustrating. I've learned to mostly ignore the urge to grind and just let myself be pleasantly surprised whenever I do get a drop.

Luke: "I got one!"

Han: "Great, kid! Don't get optimistic."

The best "reliable option" I've seen anyone suggest so far is to create a throwaway alt, zip through the Luminaries' quests to get 12 ink, delete the alt, then do it again as often as desired. I don't know if they were being sarcastic, but it actually sounds like a winning idea-- if someone has an available character slot, that is.

the idea of the alt is consistent, but i think it requires getting the character to at least lvl 30 to do scribing, and then all of the travel involved (lack of wayshrines) might make that take longer than expected but still guaranteed results over RNG drops that are rarer than nirncrux

I was able to start the Second Era of Scribing on a level 4 character.

Level 30 should only be necessary if you don't already have CP on your account.

Necrotech_Master

virtus753 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

EF321 wrote: »

Got 2 drops back to back. So RNG.

How true! And the "feast or famine" nature of RNG can be frustrating. I've learned to mostly ignore the urge to grind and just let myself be pleasantly surprised whenever I do get a drop.

Luke: "I got one!"

Han: "Great, kid! Don't get optimistic."

The best "reliable option" I've seen anyone suggest so far is to create a throwaway alt, zip through the Luminaries' quests to get 12 ink, delete the alt, then do it again as often as desired. I don't know if they were being sarcastic, but it actually sounds like a winning idea-- if someone has an available character slot, that is.

the idea of the alt is consistent, but i think it requires getting the character to at least lvl 30 to do scribing, and then all of the travel involved (lack of wayshrines) might make that take longer than expected but still guaranteed results over RNG drops that are rarer than nirncrux

I was able to start the Second Era of Scribing on a level 4 character.

Level 30 should only be necessary if you don't already have CP on your account.

thats not bad, though the travel is still an issue

i wasnt sure if the lvl 30 was a minimum level requirement to do this skill line, like some of the other ones such as undaunted have a minimum of lvl 10 now

Jaraal

I spent a few hours farming and got about 30 inks, from nodes and NPCs.

The problem seems to be that some players don't want to spend time farming, and I get that.