Or because it's rather easy to level.. Why spend high amounts of gold on something you don't need? That's my theory.

They nerfed pve CP grinding, also reduced the amount of xp required for VR so less time can be spent farming between 6-14. No one is leveling alts because we all in IC farming each other.

Mettaricana wrote: »

I feel psijic should be an hour since you can't do much in 30 mins 1 delve and a world boss between running from point a to point b and the load screens given the effort to make them it should be an hour

+1. Bought Psijic ambrosia from a trader, found it too be pointless for 30 minutes of extra gain.

Mettaricana wrote: »

I feel psijic should be an hour since you can't do much in 30 mins 1 delve and a world boss between running from point a to point b and the load screens given the effort to make them it should be an hour

You can buff the time to 50 minutes with the provisioning skill line. There's a passive that adds 20 minutes to the duration of any drink consumed and it works for Psijic Ambrosia.

silky_soft wrote: »

They nerfed pve CP grinding, also reduced the amount of xp required for VR so less time can be spent farming between 6-14. No one is leveling alts because we all in IC farming each other.

I think this is the big difference. But those hell bent on gaining CP at the fastest possible rate are still going to buy them but it's cut down the demand. I've also noticed the recipe fragment prices have dropped from about 35k to 25k. I saw the gold recipe for 160K in zone chat. It's definitely impacted the market.

Tessie wrote: »

Mettaricana wrote: »

I feel psijic should be an hour since you can't do much in 30 mins 1 delve and a world boss between running from point a to point b and the load screens given the effort to make them it should be an hour

@Mettaricana @phairdon
If you take the provisioning passives you can get 50 minutes each.

Nice to know. Unfortunately the character I used it on is not a my provisioner.

Eiagra wrote: »

I'm wondering if there are players out there who have just plain stopped using experience boosters due to the load screen issues.

I'm one of those (event though I'm not one of your customer since I "fish" my roe myself and craft my ambrosia myself). No more XP boosts as long as the loading screens take up 50% of booster's time.
I will happily use them again as soon as the loading screen issue is fixed.

Kammakazi wrote: »

Potions used to be 20k... now they're 4500-5000 o_o

On PC NA potions have not been 20k since the first week they came out. They've been under 5k for a while now.

I don't think the loading screens matter that much, but that's because I wouldn't use an XP pot if I was going to be porting around a lot. I'd use it if I stayed in the same area.

Considering the XP in IC, even with the loading screens, it's worth using them if you are running around killing things. That said, I'm fine with the XP I get without them.

A lot of very interesting and valuable insights here. Thanks, everyone.

Now, the related conundrum: What changes need to be implemented in order to make experience boosters more valuable?

So far, I'm seeing:
- Fix the issue with long load screens.
- Increase the duration of the potion (at least a little)
- Confirm experience boost is actually applying; fix this bug if it is not.
- Accommodate players who prefer grind-style XP progression.
- Rebalance base XP gains so that it's more challenging.

Not all of those are GOOD solutions, or compatible with Zenimax/Bethesda's vision of the game. I can see a lot of casual players griping if XP gains become harder to make boosters worthwhile, and I doubt the devteam REALLY wants players grinding the same single area over and over when they put so much hard work into other areas.

Thinking onto other games I've played, I know of at least one that adopted a different approach to XP boosting. Rather than a time-duration boost, it instead gave a percentage boost on the next so-many points gained. For example, the booster would give 150% XP for the next 400,000 points. You couldn't use another boost until the first one expired, and all it did was make that 400K come faster. The boost application would be permanent until you burned through said 400K experience, so the player could take advantage of it at their leisure once applied -- be it quickly in a dungeon grind, or more slowly through questing.

The downside to that is that if you have a strategy for raking in a ton of XP within a short span of time, you could potentially gain more XP with a duration-based booster than a point-based booster.

Still, I wonder if, given the state of affairs regarding load screens and such, a point-based boosting system would be more beneficial.

So, for those still tuned in, let me ask you this question:
- Would you rather see experience boosters provide experience faster (ex. +50% more XP) for a set number of points (ex. 400K before it expires)? Or do you prefer the current duration-based system (+50% more XP for 30/50 to 120 minutes)?

The numbers above are just examples -- the final numbers to such a system would entirely depend on what the developers find works best to maintain a balanced system. It could be double XP for 300K, +50% for 850K, who knows. But the core system here, that's what I'm asking about.

Which would you prefer?

Tessie wrote: »

Mettaricana wrote: »

I feel psijic should be an hour since you can't do much in 30 mins 1 delve and a world boss between running from point a to point b and the load screens given the effort to make them it should be an hour

@Mettaricana @phairdon
If you take the provisioning passives you can get 50 minutes each.

o0O!! I thought that passive was applied to the drinks/foods! Is this the same for alchemist passive?

Looks like the market is dying off or perhaps stabilizing a bit. It may bounce back a bit after IC furor has died down.

I like your idea of having it be for a certain amount of xp, but its probably more fitting to have it work by time like other food items.

the demand for Perfect Roe and Ambrosia are still strong for consule players. Im on PS4 and my guild and I have been selling Perfect Roe for 10,00-12,000 like hotcakes. And there are people fishing EVERYWHERE now.....especially Craglorn. Went to my favorite spot last night and there were 3-4 people at every fishing hole and the lake had 6 holes going when igot there. It was ridiculous. Never seen so many people fishing at the same time

XP ANYTHING is a waste IMO.


"here, let my BUY something that REDUCES my playing time for a game I bought!"

Da faq?

Some people use XP potions to catch up to a group, so that they can play together. Others use it because they need to push their level a bit due to an area becoming too challenging (usually because they skipped content, but that's just their playstyle I guess). And of course there's the folk who are too impatient to actually do the content, so just want to boost and grind their way to endgame.

I'm not questioning the core purpose or individual playstyles that create a need for XP boosters. I'm just trying to determine how their relevancy and popularity has changed between pre-IC and post-IC, whether a change to their function would make them more worthwhile, and whether certain in-game activities (fishing for perfect roe, working towards finding/buying the full Ambrosia recipe, actually using the XP boosters, etc) have become significantly less valuable for those who may have them as one of their in-game goals.

For example, let's say one of my goals in the game is to save up the gold to buy the Ambrosia recipe components so I can learn it. I'm using Perfect Roe sales to fund this. Learning the recipe isn't for my own benefit so much as for other people's -- I am usually 1 or 2 levels ahead of a PvE area because I try to 100% clear it before moving on. But if there's no benefit to XP boosters anymore, then I would need to change my goals.

Likewise for anyone with similar goals. This is a place to discuss and assess such a thing.

Elektrakosh wrote: »

As someone who can't catch up to anyone because of XP potions being too darned expensive, I simply gave up looking. Enemies are way too strong for my character and I have to simply "suck it up." I'm v1 and having a hard time in the first area of Cadwell's silver.

Pleased? Nope. Want to play something else? Yes I do. Do I answer my own questions? Yes I do. It's the only good sense I'm getting.

All in all I'm not surprised if it is linked in some way.

I'm surprised.
If XP pots are too expensive why not craft them yourself ? I mean, you might not have the recipe at first but having it does not require character's strength, nor player's skills... just a little bit of method.
Getting your char to lvl 50 in provisioning is a matter of a few hours, not more.
Then doing daily provisioning writs is a matter of minutes every day. There you get recipe parts. Say 1/week on average, give or take. By the time this system has been out you should have all recipe parts together, if not you can trade those you have twice, that costs nothing but a few zone messages.
Now that you have the recipe you have to gather a few baits - they drop everywhere at any level, in 1-2 hours you have enough baits for a good fishing session.
Then you go fishing - that is also available everywhere and costs nothing but a bit of method and patience.
Fish 300-400 fish... you'd be extremely unlucky not to get AT LEAST one roe out of filleting them.
Go to a cooking fire, there you have your XP pot.

None of this requires hard grinding nor skills nor strength. Just a little bit of method and willpower.