Scribing is a Major Let-Down

drkfrontiers

I completed Scribing on 12 toons and was grateful for the journey. So much ink, mats and antiquities. Mah house is a palace!

DigiAngel

RomanRex wrote: »

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.

Big time this....honestly I've barely touched ESO since Gold Road and grind it requires. Seems like ZOS is big on selling grind, but scant on actual content.

barney2525

just wanted a cool mount

I'm happy

Sarannah

In games like ESO I make my own fun, so there is no need to force a daily quest grind upon me for almost six months(not doing it) to keep me playing. I don't mind the dailies/quests being there for those who want them, but nothing important like a main endgame system should ever be gated behind them. This same grind needs to be repeated every time ZOS releases new scripts. To me this is completely unacceptable for a main game system.
Now I know some players often complain there is nothing to do in-game, but making things mandatory by placing a main game system behind it is not the way. As that is just wasting a player's playtime, my playtime.

Personally I am not going to bother with scribing at all right now. Unless they either make scripts accountwide, or make scripts drop at a random non-rare curated way for characters, so that they can be gained easily by just playing the game. And not through a specific chore list that needs to be completed daily, and wastes my daily playtime.

PS: I have unlocked all scripts on two characters so far. (Only because I am doing the west weald achievements)
PPS: I always avoid doing any daily quests, except for when a new expansion comes out and I want the 30/30/30 achievement.

Rowjoh

Don't mind the quest. It is what it is for obvious ESO business reasons. There are a few similarities with the appalling Psijic quest but its not nearly as mind-numbing, or as long.

Having to repeat the whole quest for alts however, is utterly tedious, frustrating and unnecessary.

Ink supply isn't an issue at all, as long as you have at least one alt (if you don't, just roll one) - simply run a leg of the quest on an alt for 3 inks (total of 12 if you do the whole quest again which can be done in about an hour with Ring of the Wild Hunt slotted and a good memory!).

But.... you're not going need many inks anyway as most of the skills are bland and functional gap-fillers.

There are a very small handful of half decent ones that are quite useful in PVP (depends on build) so although scribing is seriously underwhelming, it's not a complete waste of time and will hopefully improve, as we've been led to believe.

Necrotech_Master

Sarannah wrote: »

In games like ESO I make my own fun, so there is no need to force a daily quest grind upon me for almost six months(not doing it) to keep me playing. I don't mind the dailies/quests being there for those who want them, but nothing important like a main endgame system should ever be gated behind them. This same grind needs to be repeated every time ZOS releases new scripts. To me this is completely unacceptable for a main game system.
Now I know some players often complain there is nothing to do in-game, but making things mandatory by placing a main game system behind it is not the way. As that is just wasting a player's playtime, my playtime.

Personally I am not going to bother with scribing at all right now. Unless they either make scripts accountwide, or make scripts drop at a random non-rare curated way for characters, so that they can be gained easily by just playing the game. And not through a specific chore list that needs to be completed daily, and wastes my daily playtime.

PS: I have unlocked all scripts on two characters so far. (Only because I am doing the west weald achievements)
PPS: I always avoid doing any daily quests, except for when a new expansion comes out and I want the 30/30/30 achievement.

i usually only do daily quests for 3 reasons: achievements, leads, or tied to an event lol

only occasionally ill help a friend with a boss that they had the daily for, or say like a bastion nymic where its common etiquette at this point to share the quest for those before going in

so far i dont really feel like the script gains are too bad, just completing the scribing intro and buying the scholarium vendor out unlocked about 40% of all scribing stuff for my alts (i have 11 alts, and they all have at least 40% all scripts and grimoires unlocked, some are higher than that because they have leftover daily boxes lol)

my bottleneck with the system has been mostly ink, so because im severely lacking ink, i cant even use the scribing system anyway while im in process of learning scripts

Taggund

I'm at 21 ink, 13 of which were received on the first day. Without a major change in how ink is received I'll not be doing any scribing.

Aurielle

Taggund wrote: »

I'm at 21 ink, 13 of which were received on the first day. Without a major change in how ink is received I'll not be doing any scribing.

Yup. This has been the biggest let down of all. I can see how meta-chasers would be disappointed with the scribing skills themselves, but for people like me who enjoy theorycrafting and whatnot, scribing was SUCH an exciting idea. Hard to experiment with it when ink is virtually non-existent, alas. Then, when you come to the forums to leave feedback about ink, people with good luck who are profiting very well off their good luck insist nothing is wrong and bait you into arguments... Deeply frustrating all around.

gvgisdi

Unnecessary time sink just like scrying. Make drops rates 100 percent. Grinding is the worst game mechanic imaginable and really shows what the developers think of the playerbase, mindless “task” masters. Look I defeated the master of tasks and in doing so I hoped I freed burn from such useless task chasing. But it looks like instead it unleashed it upon all future developments.

Rowjoh

gvgisdi wrote: »

Unnecessary time sink just like scrying. Make drops rates 100 percent. Grinding is the worst game mechanic imaginable and really shows what the developers think of the playerbase, mindless “task” masters. Look I defeated the master of tasks and in doing so I hoped I freed burn from such useless task chasing. But it looks like instead it unleashed it upon all future developments.

Except scrying is totally necessary.

Without it, you can't get mythic items and without mythics you're at a significant disadvantage in most PVE endgame content. Mythics are also a key component in many PVP builds.

Bradyfjord

I kept wishing for a skip dialogue choice. The voice acting is talking at you. I get so disappointed that my character is a moron that has to consult everyone in the scholarium. And I don't know how many times I've slain those liches back in the day, so they should just give us that one if you have the undaunted trophy.

Vulkunne

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.

Unfortunately, you're right and I hope they can make improvements over time.

MidniteOwl1913

EF321 wrote: »

MidniteOwl1913 wrote: »

The cast are off-putting, in particular 2 seconds for the staff line is disappointing. I'm not sure what exactly the Mage line means when it says it procs with any skill that cost but any thing you put on it has a cost...

I find the idea of an area wide interrupt interesting but I'm no sure how that would work.

The idea of the heals however with heals you or an ally seems unusable to me. If I need a heal *I* need a heal. Maybe good for group content, but if I'm solo but other people are around can they get my heal?

If I had more ink I'd just scribe them and give it a try.

Area interrupt is something DKs already have on Deep Breath.

For contingency, it does nothing when you cast it, but procs when you cast next ability that has cost (including recast itself). It can be proced with dodge roll too, which isn't obvious.

Wield soul heal is most horrible option for self heal there is, but good for support. It goes to anyone low on health around you, not just in front/cone like many class burst heals, but more like sorc bird. It went to guard behind me, fighting daedra in Bruma, instead of me...

Ah so the Mage line has a stealth cast time, okay. Thanks!

Scaletho

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.

I'm saying that since day one, and all I get is a forum ban of 72 hours. Figures.

Lixiviant

I purchased Gold Road because of the new zone and scribing line. Enjoyed everything, quests, new delves and dungeons and WBs. I was really excited to start scribing, so the related quests were enjoyable. I liked doing the dailies to get the scripts and didn't mind buying the grimoires. I had a list of the new scribe combinations I wanted to try on my characters.

So after all of this, I realized that a requirement was Luminous Ink, which was probably the most rare item I've ever had to grind. At least for me on the PS5 NA, and I've never minded picking up nodes. It was just a normal thing to do as you traveled from place to place.

Very disappointed in this chapter. Why ZOS has to take a great idea and make it so difficult to get one item to make the new skill line work, is beyond me. And, to make the solution "well, do the same quest on ALL of your characters" is insane.

tomofhyrule

Sarannah wrote: »

In games like ESO I make my own fun, so there is no need to force a daily quest grind upon me for almost six months(not doing it) to keep me playing. I don't mind the dailies/quests being there for those who want them, but nothing important like a main endgame system should ever be gated behind them. This same grind needs to be repeated every time ZOS releases new scripts. To me this is completely unacceptable for a main game system.
Now I know some players often complain there is nothing to do in-game, but making things mandatory by placing a main game system behind it is not the way. As that is just wasting a player's playtime, my playtime.

Personally I am not going to bother with scribing at all right now. Unless they either make scripts accountwide, or make scripts drop at a random non-rare curated way for characters, so that they can be gained easily by just playing the game. And not through a specific chore list that needs to be completed daily, and wastes my daily playtime.

PS: I have unlocked all scripts on two characters so far. (Only because I am doing the west weald achievements)
PPS: I always avoid doing any daily quests, except for when a new expansion comes out and I want the 30/30/30 achievement.

Bolded is already how it works.

Scripts are curated by characters based on what they ate. If a character is awarded a Script, it will be one that that specific character still hasn't eaten.

Each account is guaranteed 9 scripts a day from various activities. Further activities of the same type will have a 25% chance of dropping another Script.

• Focus Scripts: Found in Rewards for the Worthy containers, Mages Guild dailies from Alvur Baren at MG halls in the capital cities, and any Delve daily quests from DLC zones
• Signature Scripts: Found in Cyrodiil daily quest reward boxes, Fighters Guild dailies from Cardea Gallus at FG halls in the capital cities, and any World Boss daily quests from DLC zones
• Affix Scripts: Fount in Imperial City daily reward boxes, Undaunted dailies from Bolgrul at Undaunted Enclaves, and any Incursion daily quests from DLC zones

This means that if you are trying to farm Scripts for a specific character, it's best to make sure that character is the first one of the day to open the boxes which could contain Scripts.

One mistake a lot of players make (myself included) is to run through the above things on their mains, which will reward random Scripts since their main has already eaten them. Instead, take the character who needs the Scripts on those quests to specifically target the things they need.

I was annoyed for a while trying to get a specific Script for one of my characters. Once I heard they were curated by character, I took that character through and got the Script I needed on the first pull since I had a 1/4 chance of the one I needed instead of a 1/14.

Eternalscourge1

Lixiviant wrote: »

I purchased Gold Road because of the new zone and scribing line. Enjoyed everything, quests, new delves and dungeons and WBs. I was really excited to start scribing, so the related quests were enjoyable. I liked doing the dailies to get the scripts and didn't mind buying the grimoires. I had a list of the new scribe combinations I wanted to try on my characters.

So after all of this, I realized that a requirement was Luminous Ink, which was probably the most rare item I've ever had to grind. At least for me on the PS5 NA, and I've never minded picking up nodes. It was just a normal thing to do as you traveled from place to place.

Very disappointed in this chapter. Why ZOS has to take a great idea and make it so difficult to get one item to make the new skill line work, is beyond me. And, to make the solution "well, do the same quest on ALL of your characters" is insane.

Sell stuff, buy ink. Time is money

Aurielle

Eternalscourge1 wrote: »

Lixiviant wrote: »

I purchased Gold Road because of the new zone and scribing line. Enjoyed everything, quests, new delves and dungeons and WBs. I was really excited to start scribing, so the related quests were enjoyable. I liked doing the dailies to get the scripts and didn't mind buying the grimoires. I had a list of the new scribe combinations I wanted to try on my characters.

So after all of this, I realized that a requirement was Luminous Ink, which was probably the most rare item I've ever had to grind. At least for me on the PS5 NA, and I've never minded picking up nodes. It was just a normal thing to do as you traveled from place to place.

Very disappointed in this chapter. Why ZOS has to take a great idea and make it so difficult to get one item to make the new skill line work, is beyond me. And, to make the solution "well, do the same quest on ALL of your characters" is insane.

Sell stuff, buy ink. Time is money

The prices are ridiculous, though. I agree with Lixiviant — the ink grind is so disappointing, and has soured what should have otherwise been a fun system that inspires build creativity.

SeaGtGruff

Mathius_Mordred wrote: »

Every grimoire I've tried is mediocre at best and the best ones have a long cast time making their overall DPS poor. Better to start this way than OP and future nerfed maybe?

The only skill I've scribed so far is the one from the Two-Handed grimoire. I added extra DOT to help increase the overall DPS. It actually works quite well for me, as it's an AOE skill that damages multiple enemies if they're within the cone-shaped AOE as well as within range.

Eternalscourge1

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Mathius_Mordred wrote: »

Every grimoire I've tried is mediocre at best and the best ones have a long cast time making their overall DPS poor. Better to start this way than OP and future nerfed maybe?

The only skill I've scribed so far is the one from the Two-Handed grimoire. I added extra DOT to help increase the overall DPS. It actually works quite well for me, as it's an AOE skill that damages multiple enemies if they're within the cone-shaped AOE as well as within range.

The skills are great for tanking and no death dungeon runs

Elvenheart

Rowjoh wrote: »

gvgisdi wrote: »

Unnecessary time sink just like scrying. Make drops rates 100 percent. Grinding is the worst game mechanic imaginable and really shows what the developers think of the playerbase, mindless “task” masters. Look I defeated the master of tasks and in doing so I hoped I freed burn from such useless task chasing. But it looks like instead it unleashed it upon all future developments.

Except scrying is totally necessary.

Without it, you can't get mythic items and without mythics you're at a significant disadvantage in most PVE endgame content. Mythics are also a key component in many PVP builds.

Maybe what ZOS should do is create a required energy source for scrying, it could be called Luminous Aether, that is a very rare drop like ink from nodes and mobs, and you need 3 Luminous Aethers to be able to activate the scrying tablet to scry. Then the two systems would be more comparable.

EdjeSwift

Elvenheart wrote: »

Maybe what ZOS should do is create a required energy source for scrying, it could be called Luminous Aether, that is a very rare drop like ink from nodes and mobs, and you need 3 Luminous Aethers to be able to activate the scrying tablet to scry. Then the two systems would be more comparable.

You mean like leads? Which can be an even rarer drop than ink and can only come from very specific sources? There are some folk still searching for leads from two/three years ago despite trying regularly.

SilverBride

I still find myself not liking it any more than I thought I would... which is not at all.

Davvy123

I found the full quest chain to unlock scribing just too long, repetitive, and frustrating.

I think that the system is poorly designed, confusing, and not explicit enough about its benefits.

The intro quest that alt characters must do is fine, it's not that long.

However getting inks is going to be a big grind for anyone who is in a hurry to collect the scripts they think they need.

Me, I'm just going to go back playing the game I like to play it and not worry about the grind. When scripts and inks drop for me, I'm just stashing them in my bank, once I have enough, I'll look into using them, there's definitely no hurry.

That's what I like about ESO, overall - there's so much to do, even when they give us meh systems, we can just sidestep them, and hopefully the next content they give us will be better, more fun.

tsaescishoeshiner

Rowjoh wrote: »

Don't mind the quest. It is what it is for obvious ESO business reasons. There are a few similarities with the appalling Psijic quest but its not nearly as mind-numbing, or as long.

Having to repeat the whole quest for alts however, is utterly tedious, frustrating and unnecessary.

Ink supply isn't an issue at all, as long as you have at least one alt (if you don't, just roll one) - simply run a leg of the quest on an alt for 3 inks (total of 12 if you do the whole quest again which can be done in about an hour with Ring of the Wild Hunt slotted and a good memory!).

But.... you're not going need many inks anyway as most of the skills are bland and functional gap-fillers.

There are a very small handful of half decent ones that are quite useful in PVP (depends on build) so although scribing is seriously underwhelming, it's not a complete waste of time and will hopefully improve, as we've been led to believe.

You don't need to re-run the quest for anything except ink. Alts just have to do the intro 5-minute quest. Nothing else.

Running them for ink might be the fastest way, but I think it's pretty comparable to farm mats because you get ink and mats (which you can exchange for gold to buy ink). If it's frustrating to rerun the questline, I'm not sure why anyone would.

TaSheen

Elvenheart wrote: »

Rowjoh wrote: »

gvgisdi wrote: »

Unnecessary time sink just like scrying. Make drops rates 100 percent. Grinding is the worst game mechanic imaginable and really shows what the developers think of the playerbase, mindless “task” masters. Look I defeated the master of tasks and in doing so I hoped I freed burn from such useless task chasing. But it looks like instead it unleashed it upon all future developments.

Except scrying is totally necessary.

Without it, you can't get mythic items and without mythics you're at a significant disadvantage in most PVE endgame content. Mythics are also a key component in many PVP builds.

Maybe what ZOS should do is create a required energy source for scrying, it could be called Luminous Aether, that is a very rare drop like ink from nodes and mobs, and you need 3 Luminous Aethers to be able to activate the scrying tablet to scry. Then the two systems would be more comparable.

Uh. PLEASE don't give them ideas!

Sarannah

tomofhyrule wrote: »

Sarannah wrote: »

In games like ESO I make my own fun, so there is no need to force a daily quest grind upon me for almost six months(not doing it) to keep me playing. I don't mind the dailies/quests being there for those who want them, but nothing important like a main endgame system should ever be gated behind them. This same grind needs to be repeated every time ZOS releases new scripts. To me this is completely unacceptable for a main game system.
Now I know some players often complain there is nothing to do in-game, but making things mandatory by placing a main game system behind it is not the way. As that is just wasting a player's playtime, my playtime.

Personally I am not going to bother with scribing at all right now. Unless they either make scripts accountwide, or make scripts drop at a random non-rare curated way for characters, so that they can be gained easily by just playing the game. And not through a specific chore list that needs to be completed daily, and wastes my daily playtime.

PS: I have unlocked all scripts on two characters so far. (Only because I am doing the west weald achievements)
PPS: I always avoid doing any daily quests, except for when a new expansion comes out and I want the 30/30/30 achievement.

Bolded is already how it works.

Scripts are curated by characters based on what they ate. If a character is awarded a Script, it will be one that that specific character still hasn't eaten.

Each account is guaranteed 9 scripts a day from various activities. Further activities of the same type will have a 25% chance of dropping another Script.

• Focus Scripts: Found in Rewards for the Worthy containers, Mages Guild dailies from Alvur Baren at MG halls in the capital cities, and any Delve daily quests from DLC zones
• Signature Scripts: Found in Cyrodiil daily quest reward boxes, Fighters Guild dailies from Cardea Gallus at FG halls in the capital cities, and any World Boss daily quests from DLC zones
• Affix Scripts: Fount in Imperial City daily reward boxes, Undaunted dailies from Bolgrul at Undaunted Enclaves, and any Incursion daily quests from DLC zones

This means that if you are trying to farm Scripts for a specific character, it's best to make sure that character is the first one of the day to open the boxes which could contain Scripts.

One mistake a lot of players make (myself included) is to run through the above things on their mains, which will reward random Scripts since their main has already eaten them. Instead, take the character who needs the Scripts on those quests to specifically target the things they need.

I was annoyed for a while trying to get a specific Script for one of my characters. Once I heard they were curated by character, I took that character through and got the Script I needed on the first pull since I had a 1/4 chance of the one I needed instead of a 1/14.

Did exactly that for two characters, but the problem is: It still forces me to waste a lot of my daily playtime doing those crappy dailies EVERY day. And I always avoid those like the plague as doing dailies is not my idea of fun in-game. Getting all the scripts takes atleast a week per character if you farm it on that character. To do 20 characters, that is 20+ weeks!! To me that is totally unreasonable for a main endgame system! Which is why I stopped doing this, and just decided not to use scribing at all.

It should work like all other game systems, where the build up is characterbased, but the main endgame system is accountwide. For example excavation(but also the gear stickerbook/skillstyling/CP/achievements/outfitting/housing/upgrades/currencies/companions/events/etc): The build up per character is leveling scrying/excavation to 7-9 depending on what you need to excavate, which can be done in a few hours(not weeks!). But the main endgame system gated behind it is accountwide, the leads and mythics. Imagine if leads and mythics were characterbound with an accountwide cooldown on leads, that is how scribing feels to me.

Personally I would not mind the main endgame system being gated(scribing). Either behind a week of dailies if it were accountwide, or by having to complete the scholarium entirely to unlock scribing fully for an alt, or by having scripts drop like ink in a non-rare curated way for characters. But the 20+ weeks grind/waste of daily playtime for a main endgame system is just far beyond anything reasonable. Add to that ZOS gating the characterwide scripts on an accountbased cooldown.

PS: As I love farming, I have no problem with ink being the main thing gating scribing. But that should be it, otherwise the scribing system isn't really usable.

xylena_lazarow

TaSheen wrote: »

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.

Feels like there's very little overlap in the demographic who enjoy these quests, and the demographic who enjoys the mechanical rewards. So the grind players have nothing to grind for, and the combat players feel like their time is being wasted.

ESO_player123 wrote: »

I also loved the Scholarium questline (minus the dispelling the wards part). To me its storyline is one of the best from what they produced in a long time.

That's the problem, it's a 6 hour quest with 5 hours spent on the same brainless minigame over and over. If it was clicking through a story I'd be cool with that, but repeating dozens and dozens of wards, they're just insulting our time.

TheNuminous1

[

Really I wish I'd never bought Gold Road. It's been nothing but frustrating.
[/quote]

Meanwhile I've been selling my ink, my shreds, the new furnishings and everything in-between and have never been happier and richer !!!!

Elvenheart

EdjeSwift wrote: »

Elvenheart wrote: »

Maybe what ZOS should do is create a required energy source for scrying, it could be called Luminous Aether, that is a very rare drop like ink from nodes and mobs, and you need 3 Luminous Aethers to be able to activate the scrying tablet to scry. Then the two systems would be more comparable.

You mean like leads? Which can be an even rarer drop than ink and can only come from very specific sources? There are some folk still searching for leads from two/three years ago despite trying regularly.

I was just trying to be funny and point out how ridiculous it is to require 3 Luminous Inks to scribe a skill WHILE ALSO making Luminous Inks so rare. It would be ridiculous to do something like that to Scrying, and it’s just as ridiculous to have it in Scribing. 🤣