A means to an end? Quest broken?

Night_Watch · June 2016

I'm doing 'A means to an end' and have ran into a quest progression problem. I'll put the problem in a spoiler - if you not done the quest and do not want a spoiler - please do not open the spoiler!

I have got as far as returning the goblin totem and hit an issue whereby I cannot return the totem. I have gone to the cave indicated on the map and compass, killed the goblins outside four or so times, searched inside the cave - close up zoomed in and zoomed out, waited for several minutes in case there is a 'spawn' to kill, gone on top of the cave ( in case there is something there to use), reloaded UI, logged out waited a while then logged back in and even quit the client waited and restarted. Nothing seems to work.

I have tried to complete the 'return totem' part using both the 32bit client and the 64bit client with no luck in actually being able to return totem.

Am I missing something? I'm in the right area and have totem in quest inventory.

Under normal circumstance, I would not ask for quest help unless, as looks to be here, the quest seems broken.

Any constructive advise or a working solution would be great. I really do not want to abandon quest to redo if possible.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Clean up!

Nestor · June 2016

So, you have

burned the territory markers, gone back to the original quest giver, went and got the totem from the top of the tower, gone back to the quest giver for more instructions, talked to his replacement, talked to the scholar, and then found the last cave on the left at their camp? That is where the Totem Holder is, its a small marker on the ground

Watch this for a complete walkthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipb0wNiafEg

Night_Watch · June 2016

Though the video shows the quest, I'll answer in a spoiler so as not to give it away!

burned the territory markers, gone back to the original quest giver, went and got the totem from the top of the tower, gone back to the quest giver for more instructions, talked to his replacement, talked to the scholar, and then found the last cave on the left at their camp?

Yes! Done all of that. I'm at the cave and see the 'small marker' but there is no quest arrow! Cannot click on the marker - it is not a target. Quest arrow on map and on compass but not over the 'small marker'.

I'm basically at around 10:17 on the video but cannot do the bit at or anything after 10:20 - where the marker is activated and the quest continues.

Thanks for the answer and, in particular the video, as they confirm to me that I am doing things correctly and have hit a quest progression issue.

I'm staying off the game tonight* and will try the quest again shortly. Should the issue persist, I'll ticket it with a reference to this thread.

*It's a cosy 30C with humidity @ 50% here - already had thunder and electric storms forecast for tonight! Think I'll chill and watch a movie!

Night_Watch · June 2016

UPDATE:

From ESO team after reporting issue:

We are aware of an issue that causes players to be unable to place the Stonechewer Totem during the quest "A Means to an End".

Well! That is disappointing - especially as this is my third quest in a few days to have progression issues. Sure the other two are fixed now - but come on! This is not really making me want to continue with the gam (no you cannot haz mi stuvz).

Nestor · June 2016

Night_Watch wrote: »

Well! That is disappointing - especially as this is my third quest in a few days to have progression issues. Sure the other two are fixed now - but come on! This is not really making me want to continue with the gam (no you cannot haz mi stuvz).

I have played through this game going on 5 times now. Based on that, I will say that a few quests bug out for various reasons, but the vast majority of them don't. Most of the time, dropping the quest and redoing it fixes it. What is really weird, is I did this quest just before DB dropped and it worked just fine. So, the few quests that bug out change from patch to patch.

I wonder if the scope of changes in this patch (removing Vet Ranks is big enough, but the other list of items is huge) caused more issues than normal this time around.

Night_Watch · June 2016

I'm not unreasonable and I know things can go wrong - especially after a large update or patch.

I also know I can go do other things in game and that, if still not happy, simply drop the game.

Thing is, I do genuinely think that ESO is one of the better games 'out there' - and not just because it's part of Elder Scrolls in general.

I think my disappointment is really that there have been three quests with blocked progression for me in a few days. Mix that with a feeling of leaving things undone, if I continue without completing the quest, it's just bugging me! (Pardon the pun).

Thanks for your interest. I think I'm going to have to leave that character (all three issues on same toon) alone for a few days and hope not to get problems on the other one I just started.

ADarklore · June 2016

Nestor wrote: »

Night_Watch wrote: »

Well! That is disappointing - especially as this is my third quest in a few days to have progression issues. Sure the other two are fixed now - but come on! This is not really making me want to continue with the gam (no you cannot haz mi stuvz).

I have played through this game going on 5 times now. Based on that, I will say that a few quests bug out for various reasons, but the vast majority of them don't. Most of the time, dropping the quest and redoing it fixes it. What is really weird, is I did this quest just before DB dropped and it worked just fine. So, the few quests that bug out change from patch to patch.

I wonder if the scope of changes in this patch (removing Vet Ranks is big enough, but the other list of items is huge) caused more issues than normal this time around.

There were a LARGE number of quests that have become bugged since the DB update. Most of them involve 'interactives' and I was thankfully informed that many times an item is put into your 'quest' inventory and can be accessed through it instead of pressing the 'E' button. Up until the DB update, I've NEVER encountered a single quest bug but since the DB update and going through quests with a new alt, I've come across three so far.

Night_Watch · June 2016

I have been out all day and back out again for a while in a mo! If time permits, I'll try the quest again later.

It does seem that the DB update has borked a few (at least) quests for some (read - a lot of) players. I just happen to be one of the unlucky ones affected.

The character is a little higher level than needed for the quest / area and I can move on to other things. It would be nice to be able to complete the quest(s) though. Should there be more quest lines borked as I go along, I'm not going to be impressed at all!

Thanks for the input - it helps!

Happy gaming.

Nestor · June 2016

ADarklore wrote: »

There were a LARGE number of quests that have become bugged since the DB update. Most of them involve 'interactives' and I was thankfully informed that many times an item is put into your 'quest' inventory and can be accessed through it instead of pressing the 'E' button. Up until the DB update, I've NEVER encountered a single quest bug but since the DB update and going through quests with a new alt, I've come across three so far.

@ADarklore

I had a quest the other day in Alikir, related to Stibbons. You have to get a book, then activate 4 pillars with the E Key. I could not get any pillars to activate at first even though the game was telling me to press E. Then I tried to activate the book directly when the game was telling me to press the E Key and then it worked. Never had to do that before.

WanderingJarlPuncher · June 2016

it's not broken . it's working perfectly fine accoridng to standards. and its not broken it just never was fixed because making functionnal content after 2.5 years is too hard.

[edit for flaming]

kratier · June 2016

just bumping this because this is still completely broken and in game right now there are like 10 other players sitting by the totem spot, unable to finish this quest. fix it already.

kratier · June 2016

theres still people showing up to this quest location and its still broken, you guys gonna look into it?

Night_Watch · June 2016

Hi all,

The latest, at time of writing, 'patch' fixed this for me - thanks ZOS!

If anyone is still not able to progress due to the inability to activate the item, I would urge you to 'ticket' the problem in game.

Thanks for the support and happy gaming all.

Eletheia · July 2016

Okay, Zenimax. It is July 1 and this quest is STILL bugged. I have logged out and back in. I have abandoned and restarted the quest. I have gone completely out of the game and come back in again. This is ridiculous, not to say unsatisfactory. We have paid money for a product which is not working properly, priority should be given to fixing it. This is poor business practice.

Bonzodog01 · July 2016

Can confirm, this quest is completely bugged on all platforms, bronze, silver and gold versions. Have had guildies and friends attempting, not a single success from more than 10 players.

bmatson · July 2016

Is this fixed yet? It's been way over a month..

idk · July 2016

There is an ingame feature ideal for reporting broken quests and will likely get it into the hands of the right people much faster. Especially since the right people that are in the forums are not addressed by the OP to get their attention.