Scribing is a Major Let-Down

RomanRex · June 5

I am a very experienced player with many thousands of hours of playtime under my belt.

In my opinion, scribing is a let-down for the following reasons:

1. **Introduction/Unlock Quests**: These are tedious and boring, even worse than the Psijic Guild quests, which is a low bar. They are time-consuming just for the sake of being time-consuming.

2. **System Complexity**: The system itself is needlessly convoluted. Although it's available to everyone, some skills will inevitably need nerfing or buffing over time. Players will gravitate toward a limited number of practical skills, leaving most unused. Requested changes seldom come to fruition, causing frustration similar to the current lack of balance in existing skills.

3. **Unenjoyable Grinding**: Obtaining components (e.g., ink) to use the system is an unenjoyable time waste. It's another quasi-currency in a game that already has too many, including gold, Archival Fortunes, AP, Tel Var, Event Tickets, Seals of Endeavors, Transmutes, Undaunted Keys, Writ Vouchers, Crowns, Crown Gems, and so on. Couldn't ZoS have integrated it into an existing currency system? For example, converting 50 or 100 Transmute Stones into ink would have been a great option.

These are my opinions, but so far, scribing has not been a great experience. I will update as I continue to interact with it.

Dragonnord · June 5

Opposite to you, I'm enjoying it a lot.

TaSheen · June 5

I LOVE the Psijic quest line.... so when I get around to scribing, I will probably enjoy it on however many characters I decide to do it on - at least 8 (4 accounts both PC megaservers, so 8 total to begin with).

Though I am aware that some of the content types in the long quest chain may not be the type of things I'm able to do. Time will tell.

valenwood_vegan · June 5

TaSheen wrote: »

Though I am aware that some of the content types in the long quest chain may not be the type of things I'm able to do. Time will tell.

Hopefully this doesn't count as a spoiler, trying to be vague here - but the "meaty" part of the quests generally offers a bunch of options for completion. Hopefully there will be things you can enjoy!

I found the quests to be perhaps a bit long, but had fun doing them. Certainly more than I did with the psijic quests. Due to more variety.

I do agree with OP about the grinding for ink (and scripts) part once you complete the questline... I feel like they maybe went a little overboard with that, but it's still early... we'll see. It's kind of what I was expecting for a MMORPG though *shrug*.

I've personally been enjoying it overall and I don't need ALL the things IMMEDIATELY, but I can def see how other types of players may find it very annoying.

CrashTest · June 5

I don't even know why there's such a long drawn out quest chain that leads you all over Tamriel just to even try scribing, and then you have to do the intro scribe quest on every. single. alt. Seriously, why?

I just wanted to login and play with the new system. Nope.

By the Nine, the grind is real in this game.

RomanRex · June 6

CrashTest wrote: »

By the Nine, the grind is real in this game.

Many people have commented that the “grind” isn’t the aspect they enjoy of ESO.

Seems like a way to keep active playing hours high, but doesn’t offer much new in the way of enjoyable content for the player base. The bad RNG for items such as antiquity leads, and now Ink, is lowering the “Quality of Life” in the game.

MudcrabAttack · June 6

I haven’t even finished all the scribing quests and already have more inks than I’ll ever use

I see it as nothing worth grinding over, but that’s a letdown in its own way. The class scripts aren’t all that exciting, and so many skills have a long cast time with not enough damage to compensate

I was originally thinking maybe the Ulfsiids skill would be useful in a DPS build as a prebuff before battle but the first skill I’ll always cast is a big ground AOE Damage over time skill while I’m standing at the edge of a group of mobs. So whenever the little ulfsiid circle pops around my character it hits maybe just one or two enemies from the edge of the group

darvaria · June 6

ZOS has got to increase supply of ink immediately. Anything that is this hard to get just sky rockets in price. And it will be the players that are running bots that will get the most. Any situation like this just creates a market for RWT. INCREASE supply while skill is fresh and players can experiment.

And YES the quests are way too long. Five quest lines. They should have ended upon finding the netch, dragron, indrik, etc. That should have been the end of the quest line. And you have to do it 5 times.

MaraxusTheOrc · June 6

I don’t think the quest line itself is bad. It’s a new chapter. The quests are fine in fleshing out the mechanic and lore surrounding it. The bigger issue is the impact scribing has on play style, or lack there of. It really doesn’t feel like it introduces a new way to play, different way to play, or even meaningfully impact a rotation. Hopefully once people have more time with it we’ll figure out ways to use the system better.

Joy_Division · June 6

The quest in fine. Takes 5 minutes to finish on alts. There are many easy and fast ways to get scripts.

The main thing ZOS ought to look in is ink. It's too big of a bottleneck. I've been playing regularly this week and got three times as much ink from the initial quest than I did for everything else playing the game.

Sonnir · June 6

I agree with the original post.

Scribing unlock quests are needlessly fluffed just to add time. It is frustrating!

The scribing system itself, like ToT, is not player friendly and isn't intuitive at all. I agree that only a few skills will be used and the rest are left by the wayside.

I had low expectations for when scribing launched. It is sad that it is even worse in execution.

Reverb · June 6

So far I’m preferring it to the Psijic grind on alts.

xylena_lazarow · June 6

Love the Scribing system, hate the grind. I paid $40 for Scribing, not daily chores and time gates with rng drops.

Vrienda · June 6

This is honestly the worst questline in the game. I think I'm gonna need a break once I beat it and I haven't even stepped foot in West Weald yet.

The characters are boring, the lore is boring, the quests are REALLY boring if not downright frustrating with all the chores and busywork we have to do and then to top it all off none of this is really account wide meaning I have to do it AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN or pay whatever crown cost they'll charge to skip it.

The FOMO two-seater mount really doesn't help either, seriously what the hell.

Sarannah · June 6

Personally I really dislike the psijjic questline, and have only done it once. But I really love the scholarium quests, and have completed the scholarium three times over already(twice on PC EU/once on PC NA).

Ink doesn't seem to be really rare, and will become more easily available when more players start farming those. Have already found two inks, and I wasn't even trying to find anything. My biggest concern is the scripts not being accountwide, and the cost of scripts(both the scholarium merchant and the infinite archive).

The scribing system does not seem very complex to me, but it takes some getting used to the new terms/workings.

PS: Would also love to see scriptcaches in the wild, which we need to discover with the lens. (similar to how we see psijjic portals)

cyclonus11 · June 6

I enjoyed the Scholarium questline and thought it was fun and one of the better ones. Definitely better than some of the other slogs (antiquarian system, etc.).

Necrotech_Master · June 6

the biggest issue i have with the system right now is the lack of ink

the questline was alright, and least you dont have to redo the entire questline to use the system

getting grimoires/scripts on alts for sure is annoying too, but i find this a minor issue if the entire system is bottlenecked by the ink

no ink = no scribed skills in the first place

for those of us who want to experiment with the different skill combinations, the entire scribing system is basically unuseable with the current amount of ink thats dropped

sarahthes · June 6

The ink bottleneck is going to ease over time naturally. Probably within a few weeks. Without adjustment.

tsaescishoeshiner · June 6

The questline was my favorite in the past few years. It honestly could have been the main story of the Chapter so that we could get sequels and follow-ups to it. Good characters, good lore, really cool vibe and feeling.

Some skills could definitely be balance or reworked. I wonder if anyone's going to get use out of the short range of the Two-Handed skill or the cast time of the torch skills.

The ink grind sucks, but getting affixes seems like it'll be alright. I just wish you could buy them on a character that already knows them and put them in the bank, rather than having to relog to a character who doesn't know them.

I hope they add ink drops to like your first daily quest with a friend/guildmate per day. That would encourage group play while cutting prices for everyone, including solo players. Or somewhere like that, maybe have them drop from endeavors for people who have Gold Road.

EdjeSwift · June 6

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

The questline was my favorite in the past few years. It honestly could have been the main story of the Chapter so that we could get sequels and follow-ups to it. Good characters, good lore, really cool vibe and feeling.

I genuinely love the end part of all the wings, the openers will be tedious and wrote on subsequent alts, but the end parts and the "wrap ups" are so well done I may very well do it 20+ times.

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Some skills could definitely be balance or reworked. I wonder if anyone's going to get use out of the short range of the Two-Handed skill or the cast time of the torch skills.

I concur, I was looking at Shield Throw for my tank(s) and I looked at taunt v. pull and taunt just taunts while pull pulls AND taunts... so.. unless you're kiting, why would you not take pull?

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

The ink grind sucks, but getting affixes seems like it'll be alright. I just wish you could buy them on a character that already knows them and put them in the bank, rather than having to relog to a character who doesn't know them.

I hope they add ink drops to like your first daily quest with a friend/guildmate per day. That would encourage group play while cutting prices for everyone, including solo players. Or somewhere like that, maybe have them drop from endeavors for people who have Gold Road.

Agree with the first bit, hard disagree with the latter, requiring people to group to get rewards isn't going to be very popular with the community given that a great many players are happy being solo players.

RomanRex · June 13

Update: Ink drops are horrendous. Farming nodes for hours and only getting a handful is enough to drive you insane.

Even if they fix the bosses not dropping, it’s just another time sink to try and enjoy this overhyped “feature” with Gold Road.

SilverBride · June 13

The biggest drawback for me is that I find it completely overwhelming. I absolutely hate micromanaging my characters and have never been one to do theory crafting, which this reminds me a lot of.

I don't sit and figure out what gear with what traits and enchants would be the best for my characters... I go to websites of others who have already figured that out and use the builds they came up with. I will do the same with scribing and just wait to see if they update their builds with scribed skills, then do what they recommend.

RomanRex · June 13

SilverBride wrote: »

The biggest drawback for me is that I find it completely overwhelming.

Agreed.

Vulkunne · June 13

RomanRex wrote: »

I am a very experienced player with many thousands of hours of playtime under my belt.

In my opinion, scribing is a let-down for the following reasons:

1. **Introduction/Unlock Quests**: These are tedious and boring, even worse than the Psijic Guild quests, which is a low bar. They are time-consuming just for the sake of being time-consuming.

2. **System Complexity**: The system itself is needlessly convoluted. Although it's available to everyone, some skills will inevitably need nerfing or buffing over time. Players will gravitate toward a limited number of practical skills, leaving most unused. Requested changes seldom come to fruition, causing frustration similar to the current lack of balance in existing skills.

3. **Unenjoyable Grinding**: Obtaining components (e.g., ink) to use the system is an unenjoyable time waste. It's another quasi-currency in a game that already has too many, including gold, Archival Fortunes, AP, Tel Var, Event Tickets, Seals of Endeavors, Transmutes, Undaunted Keys, Writ Vouchers, Crowns, Crown Gems, and so on. Couldn't ZoS have integrated it into an existing currency system? For example, converting 50 or 100 Transmute Stones into ink would have been a great option.

These are my opinions, but so far, scribing has not been a great experience. I will update as I continue to interact with it.

Completely agree. It's one thing to do the quest once, which is long and boring enough but having to unlock everything for all my alts is just a total time burn. Similar but not limited to the Psijic questline, I have better things to do with my time. Could be PvPing on burning time in IA lol.

Long grinds like these are not fun and really take away from the things I actually enjoy doing in the game.

kind_hero · June 13

Great analysis, OP

In my opinion, this breaks down into two parts:

1) how fun/engaging is it to do,
and
2) how long it takes

For the 1st part, I didn't find the quests so fun or engaging, because they recycle old content by adding some new layer on top. From a story telling point of view, the charm is gone from the start, because you know it's a chore, and you are doing it because you need it to unlock something else. That's why, many people just want to skip it.

The 2nd part is the worst, from my experience. I preordered Gold Road, I was excited about scribing, and still haven't changed any ability because of how rare and expensive the ink is.
I know there is a test server, but there really should be some simulation room, where you can test scribing and see if you like it, without spending ink. With my play style, I might get one ink once two or three days of play time, which is really poor. There are no ways to get it by using other currency, like AP or crafting. The devs could have avoided this frustration, by allowing some bound ink to drop more easy or be aquired from other activities.

I am playing from the first day of the launch on PC, and I have 5 inks. I have done the indrik and the netch wings... the rest I just couldn't be bothered, I felt like I am a hamster in a wheel. I hope to be done with those wing quests soon, mostly for the mount, but otherwise, I could do without scribing for a long time, this is how far ZOS missed the mark for me with the introduction of this new system. From very excited to yeah, whatever, I have better things to do.

Firstmep · June 13

I enjoyed the quest part of scribing, I like that we get options on how to progress, and the story itself was interesting for me, although I always enjoy any mages guild related quest lines.

The script grind isnt that bad, pretty much anything I do I get showered with scripts I can funnel to alts, and a good number of scripts are free or outright purchasable.

Ink.. yeah I think the sourcing on this needs to be looked at as well as the availability, especially since many of us play different roles on the same toon.

Vaqual · June 13

SilverBride wrote: »

The biggest drawback for me is that I find it completely overwhelming. I absolutely hate micromanaging my characters and have never been one to do theory crafting, which this reminds me a lot of.

I don't sit and figure out what gear with what traits and enchants would be the best for my characters... I go to websites of others who have already figured that out and use the builds they came up with. I will do the same with scribing and just wait to see if they update their builds with scribed skills, then do what they recommend.

This is an absolute NPC mindset. It is optional. If this is how you play anyway I don't see how this is a drawback. You literally said it yourself, you just need to wait until someone else does the work for you.

SkaraMinoc · June 13

I actually think there's not enough options with Scribing. As someone with intimate knowledge of the combat system, Scribing feels very limited and shallow. It fills in a few gaps here and there with missing buffs for a build, and adds a little more healing/mitigation/damage if you look for it. But that's it. Nothing special really.

SilverBride · June 13

Vaqual wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

The biggest drawback for me is that I find it completely overwhelming. I absolutely hate micromanaging my characters and have never been one to do theory crafting, which this reminds me a lot of.

I don't sit and figure out what gear with what traits and enchants would be the best for my characters... I go to websites of others who have already figured that out and use the builds they came up with. I will do the same with scribing and just wait to see if they update their builds with scribed skills, then do what they recommend.

This is an absolute NPC mindset. It is optional. If this is how you play anyway I don't see how this is a drawback. You literally said it yourself, you just need to wait until someone else does the work for you.

This is a survival mindset. It would kill the game for me if I have to sit down and look at every single combination of skills possible then figure out what I need for every one of my characters.

Those that are doing the work for us are players that get into theory crafting etc. and then share their knowledge with the rest of us so we can benefit from what they have discovered.

lostineternity · June 25

Dragonnord wrote: »

Opposite to you, I'm enjoying it a lot.

I'm genuinely curious what did you like about this questline?
Doing 20 times "Press E button 7 times"? Is it so exciting? They didn't even change the color of the ward.
I'm sorry but scribing quest line isn't 20 quests. It's 20 times exactly the same quest.

I'm so disappointed because TES games have always been famous for interesting quest design and ESO used to be one of the best among mmos.

p.s. I almost closed the game in frustration when a character (so-called riddler) in an attempt to estimate the power of your mind asked you to kill 15 dogs. What a riddle. Only the smartest heroes of Nirn could ever solve it. I don't believe that ZOS even tried to put any effort into this quest line.

TaSheen · June 25

I love the questline for itself. I'm not finding a lot of value for the way I play in scribing itself (unlike antiquities).

It may surprise no one that I also love the Psijic questline and do it on almost all my alts as well as my mains.