Cyrodiil Delves - unreasonably frustrating.

C0pp3rhead · January 2015

Hey ZoS,

I am currently camped out far behind enemy lines in Pothole Caverns in Cyrodiil because I want the Cyrodiil Cave Delver achievement. This delve that I'm sitting in is rather small - your standard loop - and lists 3 bosses. During the nearly HOUR AND A HALF that I have been hiding in this cave, I have killed Serrin Vol 3 times, and Bittertooth 5 times. Previous to this, I sat in Bloodmayne Cave for almost an hour, killing Razorback twice and Ironlash 3 times before (as a friend suggested) going to a different campaign, and trying there. To add this up for you: travel time + making my way through the dungeon time + killing things time + waiting for boss spawns time = MORE THAN 3 HOURS that I have been trying to finish two small delves. As a V14, I am mowing through both the mobs and the bosses in these V5 dungeons. I find it supremely frustrating that the waiting is the most challenging parts of these delves, especially because the loot is close to useless. The only thing I carry out of these dungeons is a few blue quality items that I'm going to deconstruct (which is only minimally useful because I have 50 in all my crafting skills). I don't even get to leave with a new achievement the majority of the time.

During the 10 minute wait between boss spawns, I've been lurking around on the forums. I understand the reason behind the 10 minute wait. What I do not understand is why your game chooses to spawn Cyrodiil delve bosses as it does. Many people that I talk to have had this problem, and not just in Pothole Caverns. The spawning is not random. So how does it work? Is it some mechanic that makes the spawns appear random? The spawns are very not random. They are unreasonable. Let me explain: we don't want random. We want reliable. Boss A spawns, and 10 minutes after Boss A dies, Boss B spawns. !0 minutes after Boss B dies, Boss C spawns. Etc. Even in some of the larger delves that have 4 or 5 bosses, I would not mind waiting 40 or 50 minutes to clear the delve because I know that my waiting is going to pay off. Please fix this. Whatever complex spawning mechanic you're using, just abandon it. Give me a reliable dungeon so that I don't feel like I'm wasting my time & money. This isn't the only thread on this topic in the forums. Please practice what you preach - listen to us. Thank you.

P.S. During the writing of this post, Serrin Vol spawned for a 4th time.

Aeratus · January 2015

Delves with 3 bosses but a spawn cap of 1 are the worst. Fortunately, not all delves are like that, and there are delves with a spawn cap of 2 or even 3. So maybe you just got unlucky with some of the more frustrating delves.

C0pp3rhead · January 2015

@Aeratus‌ - If I were going off of my own experience, I would have to agree with you. It is completely possible that I just got stuck in a string of bad-luck spawns. However, I am one of many people who are having this problem. Statistically speaking, if many people are on the receiving end of bad-luck random spawns, we should begin to look at whether these spawns are truly random.

Many video games use random number generators, but many of these are imperfect. Getting a computer to snag a number out of thin air is really quite hard. Some random number generators (RNG's) are not truly random - they will pick numbers in the same order over & over - they are predictable. To correct for this problem, some RNG's will base their random generation off of obscure, hidden, or completely unrelated variables. This phenomenon is known as seeding. For example, it has been revealed that some dungeons in WoW seeded loot based off of the name of the first character to enter the dungeon. Thus, if certain people entered first, the loot would never drop, whereas if others entered first, it would always drop. There is obviously something wonky with the way the ESO has chosen to seed boss spawns.

Right now, I am in Red Ruby Cave. I have killed Endare 4 times in a row - Zandur has never spawned for me. Using basic math/statistics, the chance of Endare spawning 4 times in a row is 6.25%. One could argue that I am simply unlucky. However, the number of people I see complaining about this subject makes me think otherwise.

Zershar_Vemod · January 2015

It's an unnecessary pain to complete a lot of these delves due to the poor boss spawning.

Gyudan · January 2015

I can foresee a scroll to summon a boss into a public dungeon for 100 crowns.

Theegoliath · January 2015

I am having this exact same issue. Only with Quickwater Cave, deep into EP terrirory. Athal Adus has spawned five times, and no Steel tail yet... This is very frustrating because he is my last boss to kill for the cyrodiil delve achievement...

Here is a link of people that have ideas to help reduce the time it takes to find a boss spawn: forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/114391/cyrodiil-imperial-cave-delver-bosses-possible-spoilerhttp://

Please fix the boss spawns in delves.

Enodoc · January 2015

I also find it unreasonably frustrating that dying in one of these delves puts you back at the Wayshrine if you don't have a soul gem. I'd like to see resurrection at the delve entrance, like in all other (non-Cyrodiil) delves. [Only in the event of a PvE death though.]

C0pp3rhead · January 2015

Enodoc wrote: »

I also find it unreasonably frustrating that dying in one of these delves puts you back at the Wayshrine if you don't have a soul gem. I'd like to see resurrection at the delve entrance, like in all other (non-Cyrodiil) delves. [Only in the event of a PvE death though.]

I don't think this is an unreasonable idea. However, dying right outside the dungeon door from a PvE death will send you back to your Alliance's wayshrine. Very little difference in that situation (spatially speaking). In my mind, if you're lurking around Cyrodiil, you should come prepared. Prepared to get ganked out in the middle of nowhere. Prepared to die in an inconvenient location. Prepared to go deep into enemy territory. If you're afraid that you can't solo a boss, bring a buddy, or work through a few more veteran levels until you can solo those V5 delve bosses. At the very least bring plenty of soul gems.

How to get lotsa soul gems:
1. Buy a bunch of empty soul gems.
2. Put points into the Soul Lock ability of the Soul Magic skill line.

Seriously. I think at 2/2 you have a 10% chance of automatically soul-trapping your opponent. Even if it's just with a weapon kill, that's probably 50% of all kills. So, unless you die more than once per twenty enemies, you'll be fine.

Joy_Division · January 2015

1. You did not get unlucky. You will /sitchair hours in Cyrodiil caves waiting for the right bosses to spawn.

2. Zenimax has been told by many people many times and in many different ways about this issue. The boss timers are working as intended.

3. There have been various theories posted to the forums, but the boss spawns are completely random and everybody's experience will be different. The best you can do is go to boss spawnpoint to boss spawnpoint and kill whatever appears in hopes that the next boss that will spawn will be the one that you need.

4. My personal recommendation is that if you really want these achievements is to do them by YOURSELF, not with a group. While the group theory sounds nice, people will get bored and subtlety and then not so subtlety ask to move on, which means you will have to come back and finish the job at some point in the future. Find a website that has a map of the boss spawns (I forget the one that I used) and read a good book in-between camping the spawn spots.