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Crafting Writs or Just Refine and Sell?

Tavore1138
Tavore1138
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4 days of crafting writs down and so far it looks like a worthless pursuit.

I am at 50 in all crafts so inspiration is worthless to me.

I am at VR14 so the experience is of little current value.

Of the 5 only provisioning seems consistently of value in bringing lots of 10 rare ingredients.

The 3 weapon/armour ones have yielded 2 writs from 12, 1 writ just gave me extra woods to refine, the other was actually of value as I got some nirncrux. The others have just given a basic style jewel of which I have too many anyway and a piece of white trash gear. The missions rewards do not cover the price at which I could sell the materials.

Alchemy is broke so we'll see.

Enchanting granted 1 writ which basically gave me a load of Ta's and otherwise a couple of green runes which serve no purpose to me.

These writs were an interesting idea but as of now they are literally not worth the effort as you are gambling on a small chance of getting something that might be worthwhile against a larger chance of getting eff all.

I wish ZOS would at least guarantee that the quest would lead to a net reward and not a net loss.
  • Rosveen
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    I do blacksmithing for the chance of getting nirncrux and provisioning and enchanting because they're quick and easy. I'd do alchemy too, but it's bugged. Woodworking and clothing aren't worth it, IMO.
    Edited by Rosveen on November 7, 2014 7:03PM
  • Mud_Puppy
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    I do not see a valid reason to use the writs.

    Manually farming resources is vastly more productive than the survey reports.

    Ignoring the writs and leveling a craft yourself out performs the exp gain from said writs.

    Puppy no understand point of writ :(
    /kill
  • Garetth
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    I have done the blacksmithing, clothing and woodworking dallies 5 times now and each time it costs me 80-100 nightwood, void ingots, shadowhide or void cloth.

    So this week I used 400-500 of each of these refined materials and in return each day I get about 300 gold, a repair kit and some worthless trait stones or some white junk item. I don't even break even cost wise and that's not even considering the time it takes to farm these materials

    15 turn-ins and not one survey map. Bad RNG? Maybe, but this daily certainly isn't worth it IMHO.

    Just another great idea totally f*cked up by the developers because their stupid implementation.
  • Epona222
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    I think it's one of those things that you either love or hate.

    If you look at it in purely financial terms, it's probably not worth doing them, the mats you use outweighs the reward probably 9 times out of 10.

    If you enjoy doing them however, then it is a nice extra thing to do, it's also good for characters that are mostly focused on crafting as you can earn a small bit of XP (and some inspiration if you're not already maxed).

    I do them - not because I am getting great rewards for doing so, but because I enjoy doing them. If you don't enjoy them, then it may not be worth it to you, so just don't do them.
    GM - Ghost Sea Trading Co - NA PC

    Epona was a Romano-Celtic goddess dating back to around 1800 to 2000 years before computer games were invented.
  • Slurg
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    I find the writs useful for the crafts where I'm not at 50 yet. And provisioning gets you some nice stuff.

    It seems to me that with the price of Nirncrux coming down and the low odds of getting the right survey, max level crafters who just want the Nirncrux can save their time and buy it with the money they make refining and selling the mats and tempers.
    Happy All the Holidays To You and Yours!
    Remembering better days of less RNG in all the things.
  • s7732425ub17_ESO
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    Crafting writs are designed to be a resource sink.

    Right now, there are way too many useless resources in the game. Check out the price for a refined stack of VR12 material. It's 500-600g in most guild stores and NPCs for 400g. This means that there is a huge supply and no demand. I only need 20 refined nightwood to make my VR14 weapon. I harvest 4 nodes, and I already have enough wood to make a weapon that will last me months of use. So what else am I going to do with all the wood I collect? Right now, I've been NPCing stacks and stacks of refined mats because they have absolutely no use.
  • AaronMB
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    I've gained some good XP from the enchanting writs and the two survey reports that I've received have paid off very well and decently well, respectively. My enchanting is only in the upper 30s which helps keep enchanting writs viable for me, for now.

    The one survey report that I received from a wood writ was also rewarding. But there's been a huge loss otherwise considering time and materials.

    It's the same bs with the BS writs. But I'm looking for that Nirn' survey report so I'll keep trying...

    I get the concept but it doesn't leave much for the experienced, maxed-out crafter. It would be nice if the lack of experience gained was offset by a break-even payment.
  • Tavore1138
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    The one I found especially cruel is when you get a medium armour missions which considering to get medium pieces you can't just get nodes for 3 or 4 bits but have to kill something level appropriate just for a chance to get 1 piece is truly mean spirited.
  • Alphashado
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    I think they are a great idea if the rewards were appropriate. But just like many other great ideas in the game, the rewards simply do not outweigh the time and effort.
  • zaria
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    Woodworking don't seems to be cost effective because of the good prices for the bows/ staffs. Clothing writs will usually give an profit, alchemy too if you have enough square runes.
    Grinding just make you go in circles.
    Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.
  • Tavrin_Callas
    Just got a whole Amethyst from a Blacksmith's pack. So I'd say all in all, worth the time and effort, considering the difficulty of getting these. We'll worth the 5 voidsteel daggers, 2 helmets and bracers.

    OK. I'm crap at adding images.
    Edited by Tavrin_Callas on November 8, 2014 7:07AM
  • spoqster
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    Epona222 wrote: »
    I think it's one of those things that you either love or hate.

    If you look at it in purely financial terms, it's probably not worth doing them, the mats you use outweighs the reward probably 9 times out of 10.

    If you enjoy doing them however, then it is a nice extra thing to do, it's also good for characters that are mostly focused on crafting as you can earn a small bit of XP (and some inspiration if you're not already maxed).

    I do them - not because I am getting great rewards for doing so, but because I enjoy doing them. If you don't enjoy them, then it may not be worth it to you, so just don't do them.
    How can you enjoy them? There is no skill required. You get the materials, craft the gear and bring it somewhere. The intellectual stimulation of these quests is 0. How can this be fun in any way?

    (Not trying to be offensive here, just honestly intrigued.)
  • Epona222
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    spoqster wrote: »
    Epona222 wrote: »
    I think it's one of those things that you either love or hate.

    If you look at it in purely financial terms, it's probably not worth doing them, the mats you use outweighs the reward probably 9 times out of 10.

    If you enjoy doing them however, then it is a nice extra thing to do, it's also good for characters that are mostly focused on crafting as you can earn a small bit of XP (and some inspiration if you're not already maxed).

    I do them - not because I am getting great rewards for doing so, but because I enjoy doing them. If you don't enjoy them, then it may not be worth it to you, so just don't do them.
    How can you enjoy them? There is no skill required. You get the materials, craft the gear and bring it somewhere. The intellectual stimulation of these quests is 0. How can this be fun in any way?

    (Not trying to be offensive here, just honestly intrigued.)

    It is a fair enough question, however I am slightly disconcerted that you need to ask it, you do know that people like different things, right? We don't all want to spend all our time fighting stuff!

    I just enjoy pottering around town and crafting stuff, going out and finding mats. It's also not been pointless for me, since I made the post you have quoted I have earned 5 nirncrux and 2 kuta from survey maps that are part of the crafting writ rewards, so despite it starting out as just something I was having fun doing, it's actually been quite lucrative.

    Just next time you struggle to imagine someone enjoying something different to you, try to remember that we are all individuals and have different likes and dislikes. Just because you don't enjoy something, doesn't mean it's worthless to others. If you don't like crafting writs, just don't do them, no-one is forcing you to.
    GM - Ghost Sea Trading Co - NA PC

    Epona was a Romano-Celtic goddess dating back to around 1800 to 2000 years before computer games were invented.
  • spoqster
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    That's precisely why I asked rather than making up my mind. I think it's interesting to understand other people, but sometimes I can't if I don't ask. If there was a mini game involved in crafting I could have understood independently of whether I like it or not. But since there is no such thing I am intrigued.
  • Alphashado
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    EDIT double post.
    Edited by Alphashado on November 8, 2014 7:14PM
  • Alphashado
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    Alphashado wrote: »
    15s6i5e.png

    Two days in a row now I have gotten this from the BS Writ. So almost a full stack of ore that is currently selling for 1.5k - 5k... for this. I understand some people enjoy them. I also understand the appeal of maybe getting some Nirncrux. But this just feels like wasting 10 bucks on a scratch off ticket. I think I will just sell my ore and make a profit instead.

  • spoqster
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    The worst thing about the crafting writs is that they are mat sinks.

    ZOS designed them so that there is a secondary use to the materials beside crafting so that eventually the prices for the mats will rise and farming (and grinding) will be more rewarding.

    But that to me is a terrible approach. Watching your precious mats take the form of a useless low level helmet and then vanish into nothingness is terrible in terms of giving the user a feeling of achievement. Add the reward lottery where the minimum reward is much much lower than the ticket price and you've got a painfully bad system.

    There are so many ways they could have done this better. And since this is an MMO I would have expected them to create a tool that improves trade between players: Have the writs created by other players who get the crafted items and pay the reward.

    It is SOOOO FRUSTRATING to see them take an idea with great potential (in terms of creating an interactive open world game) and just turn it into a collection of monotonous, mind numbing and sense-of-achievement-killing fetch quests.

    I don't mind the bugs or the balancing issues, but this kind of game design is a huge motivation killer.

    I had hoped that ESO would be innovative, that it would do for the MMO world what the Elder Scrolls series has done for the single player sector, but it just isn't.
  • Welka
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    Alphashado wrote: »
    Alphashado wrote: »
    15s6i5e.png

    Two days in a row now I have gotten this from the BS Writ. So almost a full stack of ore that is currently selling for 1.5k - 5k... for this. I understand some people enjoy them. I also understand the appeal of maybe getting some Nirncrux. But this just feels like wasting 10 bucks on a scratch off ticket. I think I will just sell my ore and make a profit instead.

    1.5k - 5k a stack of voidsteel? Who buys at that price when you can get as much by farming 20mn...
    Edited by Welka on November 9, 2014 11:53AM
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