Some Basic Questions...

Altair · January 2015

So... I was in the beta. Reported many bugs. Then, shortly after release, I stopped playing for RL reasons. My highest level character was a level 14 Imperial Dragonknight in the Daggerfall Covenant.

I was looking the other day, and found that... somehow... I never cancelled my subscription. So I've been on auto-pay for all this time, and never played the game. Stupid me, I know. Anyways, after realizing that, I logged in the other day... I've got a bunch of pets now, loyalty rewards or something, and my skill points are all reset. The highest level I had gotten any of my characters to was level 14.

I want to start playing again, now that I have some time, and have a couple basic questions. I am in fact trying to find answers to these questions via google search, but there's an awful lot written on the subject to sift through, and yet much of it is old information.

1 - Treasure Maps. I have a bank full of these darn things. There must be 20 of them. What, in blazes, am I supposed to do with these items? I mean, do they get recorded in a "treasure journal" or something to where I can go find the treasure, but not have to hang on to the items? Or do I really need to keep my bank half filled with these items?

2 - Crafting. When I last played, you could do any or all crafting disciplines. Now I'm seeing things in the game talking about crafting specialities, and the like... I'm trying to find some type of primer on it to understand the changes. Can I only specialize in one type of crafting now, or something? Who are these "crafting masters" I am being told to speak to, and if I talk to one am I able to talk to the others?

3 - Growth. Has the game population grown? It seems like most of the people I encounter are all former beta testers... including on this forum. I am guessing most people I saw in game as well, because probably 2/3 of the characters running around town were non-DC races, and IIRC you had to pre-order to do the "any race in any faction" thing.

AshySamurai · January 2015

Altair wrote: »

So... I was in the beta. Reported many bugs. Then, shortly after release, I stopped playing for RL reasons. My highest level character was a level 14 Imperial Dragonknight in the Daggerfall Covenant.

I was looking the other day, and found that... somehow... I never cancelled my subscription. So I've been on auto-pay for all this time, and never played the game. Stupid me, I know. Anyways, after realizing that, I logged in the other day... I've got a bunch of pets now, loyalty rewards or something, and my skill points are all reset. The highest level I had gotten any of my characters to was level 14.

I want to start playing again, now that I have some time, and have a couple basic questions. I am in fact trying to find answers to these questions via google search, but there's an awful lot written on the subject to sift through, and yet much of it is old information.

1 - Treasure Maps. I have a bank full of these darn things. There must be 20 of them. What, in blazes, am I supposed to do with these items? I mean, do they get recorded in a "treasure journal" or something to where I can go find the treasure, but not have to hang on to the items? Or do I really need to keep my bank half filled with these items?

2 - Crafting. When I last played, you could do any or all crafting disciplines. Now I'm seeing things in the game talking about crafting specialities, and the like... I'm trying to find some type of primer on it to understand the changes. Can I only specialize in one type of crafting now, or something? Who are these "crafting masters" I am being told to speak to, and if I talk to one am I able to talk to the others?

3 - Growth. Has the game population grown? It seems like most of the people I encounter are all former beta testers... including on this forum. I am guessing most people I saw in game as well, because probably 2/3 of the characters running around town were non-DC races, and IIRC you had to pre-order to do the "any race in any faction" thing.

@ZOS, it's so fair to give a special reward to one who never played since release and not give it to all who played all this year.

Sorry, mate. Don't want to offend you. Just my personal drama.

1. As far as I know - nope, just treasure maps. You can use it as any other treasure map in game - find location, dig hidden chest and get some loot from it. After it this map disapear from your inventory.
2. You still can master all crafting disciplines. Don't worry about it.
3. Hard to say. Because of B2P old players returns, but noone know numbers. And you're right about explorer's pack, but you still can buy this code on ebay.

Altair · January 2015

You aren't offending me, I can see how you would feel sleighted by them... I never liked the idea of exclusive rewards to certain player blocks in games.

I did pay $15 a month for the past year, even though I didn't realize it.... so it's not like I got them for nothing. Anyways, sorry if that is upsetting to anyone... it wasn't the intent of my post.

AshySamurai · January 2015

Altair wrote: »

You aren't offending me, I can see how you would feel sleighted by them... I never liked the idea of exclusive rewards to certain player blocks in games.

I did pay $15 a month for the past year, even though I didn't realize it.... so it's not like I got them for nothing. Anyways, sorry if that is upsetting to anyone... it wasn't the intent of my post.

How I agree with you. In fact you just bought this reward and in that case it should be possible to buy it for everyone.

Well, it's not your fault

Hope I answered your questions about game.

Rook_Master · January 2015

There are many good reasons to read your credit card statements.

You can add this one to the list.

Altair · January 2015

Rook_Master wrote: »

There are many good reasons to read your credit card statements.

You can add this one to the list.

Hold on... where's that "insightful post" button.... I know it's around here somewhere...

UrQuan · January 2015

Altair wrote: »

I was looking the other day, and found that... somehow... I never cancelled my subscription. So I've been on auto-pay for all this time, and never played the game. Stupid me, I know.

Ouch. I don't know about you, but I hate finding out I paid for something I didn't use. Sorry to hear that.

Altair wrote: »

1 - Treasure Maps. I have a bank full of these darn things. There must be 20 of them. What, in blazes, am I supposed to do with these items? I mean, do they get recorded in a "treasure journal" or something to where I can go find the treasure, but not have to hang on to the items? Or do I really need to keep my bank half filled with these items?

You look at them and they lead you to treasure. You either have to try to figure out where that treasure is based on what the map displays, or you can always use google or an add-on to show you the location of the treasure. Once you get to the right location there'll be a mound of dirt, you dig it up, and it unearths a chest that's got better loot in it than a standard treasure chest. Once you get the chest the treasure map disappears.

Altair wrote: »

2 - Crafting. When I last played, you could do any or all crafting disciplines. Now I'm seeing things in the game talking about crafting specialities, and the like... I'm trying to find some type of primer on it to understand the changes. Can I only specialize in one type of crafting now, or something? Who are these "crafting masters" I am being told to speak to, and if I talk to one am I able to talk to the others?

You can do all forms of crafting now just like you could before.

The biggest difference is the new system of crafting writs. These are repeatable 1/day quests available for each crafting skill that ask you to craft something particular, and grant xp, inspiration (crafting xp), gold, and items appropriate to the crafting skill (provisioning ingredients and sometimes recipes for provisioning, etc.), which sometimes include a survey which functions like a treasure map, but leads you to a location where you can harvest some nodes appropriate to the crafting type. These nodes provide more materials than standard nodes.

In order to be eligible to complete writs you need to become certified in the craft you want to do writs for. There are 2 npcs in the first city of each alliance that will each certify you in 3 crafts (one does the equipment crafts, and the other does the consumables crafts). Certification in each craft is a small quest that walks you through the basics of the craft, while granting a reward along the lines of what you get for the writs. If you're already above a certain skill level in the craft you can skip the certification quest and just choose to get certified without it.

Altair wrote: »

3 - Growth. Has the game population grown? It seems like most of the people I encounter are all former beta testers... including on this forum. I am guessing most people I saw in game as well, because probably 2/3 of the characters running around town were non-DC races, and IIRC you had to pre-order to do the "any race in any faction" thing.

Hard to say. I actually think that (aside from bots, spammers and gold farmers who have been mostly wiped out) the population has probably stayed about the same, as some people have left and others have joined, but I really have no idea. That's just a guess.

rawne1980b16_ESO · January 2015

AshySamurai wrote: »

@ZOS, it's so fair to give a special reward to one who never played since release and not give it to all who played all this year.

He was still subscribed.

The rewards were for subscribers which he was for all that time.

Your comment is irrelevant. He never cancelled his sub.