The leaving the 4 pinions till the end thing, that was said to NOT be on the case on ESO Live a while back. Press 'em as you go.

Darthgil wrote: »

I'm trying to "collect" all the generals from the dolmens, but I'm making this solo. However, I'd just like to know if the amount of people doing the anchor increases the chance of a general spawning. I've made 50 dolmens yesterday and today and like 2 generals spawned in total. I've also heard that if you only activate these 4 dolmen balls that give you your resources back in the very end, when no mobs spawn anymore, it would increase the chance of a general spawning. Note: these anchors are in Cyrodiil, there are a few reasons why I don't just make them in the PvE areas.

There are a number of older threads on this topic, if you search, which detail this achievement. No truth to the pinion rumor, as prior post confirmed. It also does not matter how many players are at the dolmen. What does matter is WHERE the dolmen is. The odds of getting a certain general are MUCH better clearing the dolmens in your home alliance. Each of the zones only spawn a few specific generals, while in Cyrodiil and veteran zones, ANY of the generals could spawn. Of course, there will be no loot if you clear dolmen in your home alliance once you are vet, but you have much better odds of getting specific generals. If you search, you can find which generals spawn in which zone, but in general (pun intended) the achievement list is evenly divided between zones from top to bottom, with the first zone in which general spawn at the top of the list.

If you do decide to tackle the dolmens in your home alliance as a vet, polite behavior is to provide only heals and minimal support if at-level players are also on the dolmen. You will still get the credit for the general while not incurring the wrath of the other players for one-shotting everything.

The ONLY confirmed fact about these generals is that each zone (excluding your alliance's first zone) has a much higher chance to spawn 4 of the generals. These follow the order listed in the achievement, so for the first four go farm your alliance's second zone, for 5-8 go to the third zone, etc. I've confirmed this myself, as I completed the achievement following this strategy.

All generals can spawn in Cyrodiil, but I'm guessing you'll get a lot more repeats this way. Plus it takes much longer to move around.

Anything else - number/level of players doing the dolmen, leaving pinions open or closing them - seems to be superstition/confirmation bias/selective memory.