Sooo...Scribing

VouxeTheMinotaur · June 4

I'm seeing a lot of mixed reviews about the new scribing system that's being introduced into the new chapter, some concerning, some exciting. As a console player, I will have to wait a bit longer and do not have access to the PTS like PC/Mac does.

What's your overall take on the chapter?
How's the Scribing?
Is the ink drop rate that atrocious, is it meant to be that way?

I ask because I've thought for a bit now on buying the pre-purchase bundle, thinking "well a new trial and scribing does seem like a good investment", but seeing the feedback from the PTS is making me think twice.

I imagine ZOS will make adjustments to the current concerns, hopefully. If not, well.. sheesh.

Vonnegut2506 · June 4

I haven't done the main quest yet, but I have finished the scribing quest chain.

Scribing seems to be pretty niche from what I have seen so far. I haven't found anything that just screams got to have it. I am really looking forward to shield throw with a pull, but still haven't gotten that drop yet.

The quest chain is rather painful unless you really enjoyed the Psijic quest line, then you will love it.

I haven't had one ink drop in two days, so it seems to be pretty atrocious.

CrashTest · June 5

VouxeTheMinotaur wrote: »

How's the Scribing?

The grind just to get it all especially on alts will eat at your soul. I'm not even going to bother.

VouxeTheMinotaur wrote: »

Is the ink drop rate that atrocious, is it meant to be that way?

Yes.

LannStone · June 5

I've been wondering about scribing as well
My concern is why do I need new skills since the ones I have already pretty much do the job
Are the new skills really that useful or just something to mess around with and spend time on?
Update: I just noticed my questions are pretty much answered on the thread called "Already done with this (scribing)"

MudcrabAttack · June 5

I got on the PTS and tested things, but saw nothing worth grinding over. I usually play a DPS in PVE, but all the new stuff just doesn’t really pop out as a replacement for anything. I'll do the quest line on a couple characters to unlock the possibility of finding the scribing items, but no big rush on ever getting anything in particular

Elvenheart · June 5

I actually liked the quest chain for the story, although I will admit, there were some tedious parts to have to do in between to advance the story. The tedious parts were pretty cleverly worked into the overall chain, however. As far as scribing itself, I haven’t yet figured out a use for it yet because I like the builds on all my characters and can’t imagine how any of the scribed skills could make them better. Except for the shield throw, I have an alt that I plan to use that on even if it replaces a skill that’s arguably better, just because I like the animation. 🙂

Tannus15 · June 5

the ink drop rate is kinda irrelevant imo.

right now it's low and no one has enough. you get a boost by doing the quests, but it's only 12, which is enough for 4 skills.

however, ink drops, rare as they are, will eventually bank up. you're not going to be changing scribed skills for every bit of content. most likely you'll setup one or two skills to use in a flex spot in some conditions and that's about it. in 6 months time we'll all have 100+ ink and no use for it.

the bigger problem is that the use cases for skills are all niche.

there are some good support abilities, there are some good pvp abilities, but there are no good straight up damage abilities. for most players, they are better off just not using scribing and sticking with class skills.

SilverBride · June 5

I'm doing the quest chain just to do it even though I really have no interest in scribing. I spent all afternoon on it and am still not done, but I'm not one to give up, even though I really have not enjoyed it at all. The worst part has been trying to find the Wards to dispell because not all of them are easy to spot.

I won't say that I'll never use scribing because I've said that about other things in the past then changed my mind. But this quest chain sure isn't making me want to try it.

StihlReign · June 5

It's a cool quest line, I liked it. The Zone is really nice, definitely one of the better ones, the skills are under-powered even for PvP (need to be buffed ASAP), and the ink-drop rate is beyond horrible.

Almost forgot - duplicate scripts. Shame on you Devs...just wow. At least let us convert them to bound inks.

Lags · June 5

so i have a question if anyone knows, if you get a focus/signature/affix script on your main character, from some kind of RNG drop like a daily or something. And then you learn it on your main character, can you then buy it on an alt? Maybe from the vendor in the scholarium? Or do you have to farm all these scripts that are RNG based? Surely that isnt the case.

Trinotops · June 5

Lags wrote: »

so i have a question if anyone knows, if you get a focus/signature/affix script on your main character, from some kind of RNG drop like a daily or something. And then you learn it on your main character, can you then buy it on an alt? Maybe from the vendor in the scholarium? Or do you have to farm all these scripts that are RNG based? Surely that isnt the case.

No, you can't buy it on an alt. You have to grind the 50 or so RNG scripts on each alt individually. The Scholarium and IA vendors sell some of the RNG scripts which rotate out weekly. They're bankable and curated so it could be worse, but it's still a massive grind if you want to to use Scribing on a lot of alts.

Lags · June 5

Trinotops wrote: »

Lags wrote: »

so i have a question if anyone knows, if you get a focus/signature/affix script on your main character, from some kind of RNG drop like a daily or something. And then you learn it on your main character, can you then buy it on an alt? Maybe from the vendor in the scholarium? Or do you have to farm all these scripts that are RNG based? Surely that isnt the case.

No, you can't buy it on an alt. You have to grind the 50 or so RNG scripts on each alt individually. The Scholarium and IA vendors sell some of the RNG scripts which rotate out weekly. They're bankable and curated so it could be worse, but it's still a massive grind if you want to to use Scribing on a lot of alts.

if what you say is true then thats legit the worst choice i have ever seen them make. And ive played this game for a long time and seen many bad choices. this is just silly and a massive time waste for no reason. But thanks for the info

FelisCatus · June 5

I enjoyed the quest and the story although it was tedious. However to me Scribing seems like a great base but very incomplete. I feel like we're gonna need several new spells each update otherwise it's just going to be relegated to some niche skills you will rarely use or for fun.

Pelanora · June 5

Dispelling wards makes very little sense. Why remove them? Why are there so many? Don't they need them? Where did I get the power from to remove them?

At least closing space time rifts made basic sense, and at least the skull was funny.

And then I have to go do random delves/anchors/bg which just omg.

It just seems designed for the lowest common denominator player with the least thought put into it.

Erickson9610 · June 5

Trinotops wrote: »

Lags wrote: »

so i have a question if anyone knows, if you get a focus/signature/affix script on your main character, from some kind of RNG drop like a daily or something. And then you learn it on your main character, can you then buy it on an alt? Maybe from the vendor in the scholarium? Or do you have to farm all these scripts that are RNG based? Surely that isnt the case.

No, you can't buy it on an alt. You have to grind the 50 or so RNG scripts on each alt individually. The Scholarium and IA vendors sell some of the RNG scripts which rotate out weekly. They're bankable and curated so it could be worse, but it's still a massive grind if you want to to use Scribing on a lot of alts.

Once you have unlocked the Class Mastery Script, you can buy it on your alt characters:

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

After reading through your feedback, we realized repeating the Class Script chase across multiple characters was unnecessarily lengthy, so we’ll be making the following changes to better align with Grimoires.
As you achieve Class Script Scraps, you’ll immediately consume them to advance the achievement. Once you have enough to complete the achievement, Class Script Scraps will no longer drop. When you consume your final Class Script Scrap, you will receive the achievement and the Class Mastery Script for the character you are currently on.

When playing an alt character after completing the Class Mastery Achievement, you will be able to purchase the Class Mastery Script from Chronicler Firandil.

Orbital78 · June 5

VouxeTheMinotaur wrote: »

What's your overall take on the chapter?
How's the Scribing?
Is the ink drop rate that atrocious, is it meant to be that way?

I enjoy the aesthetics of the zone, the incursions feel bigger than dolmens or even newer world events. The trial has some interesting new mechs and some remixed stuff. More challenging than vSE it seems so far. The chapter does feel a bit smaller without the daedric plane like blackwood and necrom. Maybe there is more to come, the companions haven't been released yet either.

Scribing is going to be a grind, the quest line I enjoyed, though trying to rush can ruin it some. I don't think people have had time to get enough scripts to fully judge it unless they tested on pts. I can't wait to get the pull, heroism, etc.

The ink seems fairly rare, but I haven't tried to farm it really. I haven't found enough scripts to really need it yet. I plan to do some archive runs and may do some AOE farming to see how many I can get. If the demand is that high it may be worth selling it.

Lugaldu · June 5

I'm almost at the end of the scribing questline. The characters in the questline are entertaining, but the quests themselves remind me a lot of the Psijic Order questline where you're rushed all over Tamriel. This might be a nice introduction for a new player, but for the "old hands" (like me) it's just boring and feels like recycling.
It's clear that this system is an extreme grind if you want to get something specific out of it. Since I have little interest in sets, builds and cosmetics, this system is completely uninteresting for me.

Shara_Wynn · June 5

The quest to unlock it all is far, far, far too long. I am losing the will to live just trying to trudge through it. I thought I was done with The Dragon but now I have The Crow's labyrinth to do. It is beyond boring already.

Hours of my life, consigned to mundanity, I shall never get back.

Aurielle · June 5

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

The quest to unlock it all is far, far, far too long. I am losing the will to live just trying to trudge through it. I thought I was done with The Dragon but now I have The Crow's labyrinth to do. It is beyond boring already.

Hours of my life, consigned to mundanity, I shall never get back.

And to add insult to injury, you have to do the first quest again on every single alt if you want them to have access to scribing.

WhiteCoatSyndrome · June 5

StihlReign wrote: »

Almost forgot - duplicate scripts. Shame on you Devs...just wow. At least let us convert them to bound inks.

Those should be curated if you’re learning them as you go.

xylena_lazarow · June 5

I love Scribing in for my PvP builds! Fixes many playstyles and opens up some new ones. The questline is brain melting boredom, but mercifully they listened to feedback and we only need to do it once. Being able to immediately buy Grimoires for gold is awesome, but daily chore grinds for Scripts are lame. At least the chores are mercifully short, but I hope game devs get away from this sort of design in the future. Paying $40 should directly buy the content I want.

Orbital78 · June 5

Aurielle wrote: »

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

The quest to unlock it all is far, far, far too long. I am losing the will to live just trying to trudge through it. I thought I was done with The Dragon but now I have The Crow's labyrinth to do. It is beyond boring already.

Hours of my life, consigned to mundanity, I shall never get back.

And to add insult to injury, you have to do the first quest again on every single alt if you want them to have access to scribing.

It is rather easy at least, you only have to go to collections, double click upgrades>scribing, go talk to the starter npc. Run through a few mobs and close the doors and grab the crystal. Then they are set. Easier than the companions at least.

dcrush · June 5

The quest line is full of bugs that prevent some people from completing it. Says it all.

agelonestar · June 5

There is a bit of a grind. Better than Psijic or Antiquities IMHO. Not terrible. Possibly even fun......

The implementation of what is essentially spell crafting / customisation is really good. This is one of those times where ZoS produced the goods. Mats will become more common over time (they always do) so the apparent scarcity of ink etc won't be such a huge concern in the weeks and months to come.

Overall I'm really pleased with it. A++

Seravi · June 5

I've only completed the scribing quests on one character. Took two days to finish...ugh! Lots of competition out there for the flowers and such.

Quite disappointing to see all these new "oohs and ahhhs" show up on all of my characters skills but they cannot access them until THEY have competed the quest and obtained the scripts and such.

I do have a question. Can all alts farm for ink or can only the characters that have completed the scribe quests farm for ink?

SilverBride · June 5

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

The quest to unlock it all is far, far, far too long.

I agree. It is also repetitive and I haven't enjoyed a single minute of it.

Long tedious unlocks unfortunately have become the norm. Just look at how long the Companion unlocks have become.

I'm not saying that unlocks should just be one step but I spent over 3 hours on this yesterday and I'm still not done. The only redeeming factor is that we don't have to repeat it on all our alts, which I hope they start doing with the Companion unlocks, too.

TaSheen · June 5

Seravi wrote: »

I've only completed the scribing quests on one character. Took two days to finish...ugh! Lots of competition out there for the flowers and such.

Quite disappointing to see all these new "oohs and ahhhs" show up on all of my characters skills but they cannot access them until THEY have competed the quest and obtained the scripts and such.

I do have a question. Can all alts farm for ink or can only the characters that have completed the scribe quests farm for ink?

My understanding from other posts is that once unlocked on alts, they too can find inks.

Aurielle · June 5

SilverBride wrote: »

Shara_Wynn wrote: »

The quest to unlock it all is far, far, far too long.

I agree. It is also repetitive and I haven't enjoyed a single minute of it.

Long tedious unlocks unfortunately have become the norm. Just look at how long the Companion unlocks have become.

I'm not saying that unlocks should just be one step but I spent over 3 hours on this yesterday and I'm still not done. The only redeeming factor is that we don't have to repeat it on all our alts, which I hope they start doing with the Companion unlocks, too.

And yet, this is what you said in another thread asking for an optional QOL feature that would give players the option to unlock quest progress on alts once their main had completed it:

SilverBride wrote: »

NO!

I do every quest on every character and I love every minute of it. I would be extremely upset if this was no longer possible.

But when it comes to quests and skill unlocks that you personally find tedious, you’re suddenly all for account-wide unlocks?

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I agree with you in this thread. The scribing quests are so, so tedious (as is the process of unlocking companions), so the thought of repeating the intro to scribing quest on all of my alts makes me want to not even do it.

But yeah, I’m just curious about the apparent disconnect between these two threads. The way you feel about repeating scribing quests and unlocking companions on alts is the way that I (and many other PVPers) feel about repeating zone story quests on our alts for the skill points after we’ve already slogged through them on our mains…

sarahthes · June 5

Lags wrote: »

so i have a question if anyone knows, if you get a focus/signature/affix script on your main character, from some kind of RNG drop like a daily or something. And then you learn it on your main character, can you then buy it on an alt? Maybe from the vendor in the scholarium? Or do you have to farm all these scripts that are RNG based? Surely that isnt the case.

You can bank and trade them between characters. They're curated tho so once you learn it on your main you can't farm it on the main again until you've gotten everything in that type of script.

Seravi · June 5

Yeah I am starting my SECOND scribe quest. I have several characters I play at different times for different reasons but they all farm while they are adventuring so I guess June will be the Month of The Scribe as it will most likely take me that long to get through the quest on each of them, LOL!

Is it too early to ask if they would put this in the Crown Store under Skill Lines?

Shara_Wynn · June 5

So I am finally done with the scribing quest line and have become so fatigued by it, that now all I want to do is anything other than scribing spells. Ugh. Way to kill the mood ZOS.

However, I am now free to actually get out and start exploring West Weald! Yay!

And maybe pick up some ink and scripts while I'm at it.