Master Writs...is this right?

Furinol · April 2017

Hi folks,

Relatively new player here with a question about master writs.

I have an NB that I use purely as a thief and crafter. crafting skills are maxxed (except for keen eye which only gets 1 point). I have been performing all 6 crafting writs every morning for about 3-4 weeks and so far have earned a grand total of 7 tokens - all of which came from 2 alchemy writs.

I took a look at what you can buy with these tokens and ....holy S***.....I will be on social security before I can buy regular crafting stations etc.

Is this normal? I have read that the chance to get a master writ increases with motifs and traits etc. Right now I am ~5-7 traits for BS/Clothing/Woodworking so not maxxed but I honestly expected more from this system.

Considering just not wasting my time on these writs anymore. Which would likely spell the end of my interest in the game as setting up a crafting home base and the depth of the crafting system has been the main draw for me but this just does not feel rewarding.

(also - guild trader system has to DIAF) - a little side whine.

Alanar · April 2017

Master writs have relatively low base drop rates even if you have the relevant crafting skill maxed out (research, motifs, traits, etc...). As well, a large percentage of the average writ vouchers dropped comes from very rare writ invitations that give a high number of writs. All it takes is one 100+ writ invitation to shoot your average way up.

Overall, it's a numbers game. Doing more vouchers on more characters with more crafting skill smooths out the drop rate, but it's always lumpy. If you don't want to worry about that, you can always buy writ voucher rewards on guild stores or from other players, they're all tradeable.

Nestor · April 2017

The Return rate on Master Writs is quite low. What helps is knowing all your Traits, and complete Motifs or Purple/Gold Recipes, and have all your Alchemy and Enchanting Achievements. Even then, it is a low return as RNG is a large factor in getting the master writs. I just recently got two writs that paid 257 and 96 Vouchers but most are for 2 to 6 Vouchers, and not many of those either.

disintegr8 · April 2017

If you are only doing them on one or two characters, I would not recommend doing them solely for master writs. I have always done daily writs, at various levels depending on material stocks (not always max level writs), for the survey maps and materials, so see the master writs as a side reward.

Since Homestead, I have been doing 45 max level writs a day (7 x 6 , 1 x 3) for more than 6 weeks now and might still only get 2 or 3 master writs a day - 2 days ago I got none and I think the most I got in one day was 7 or 8.

I do however make several hundred thousand gold a week selling mats and things I get from them, so if I want to buy mw's I can.

davey1107 · April 2017

As others have said, you'll get a good one eventually that'll help you out. In the meantime, learning motifs and keeping that research churning is the best way to increase your odds.

As with anything in this game, if you dislike the grind why not go earn income doing things you enjoy then buying the thing you're frustrated about earning? For example, I personally like the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild daily heists. I can earn three motifs a week that sell for $25k. At $2k per writ voucher right now, something like this would be one way to earn the vouchers you want.

Dagoth_Rac · April 2017

The biggest bump in writ chance comes from knowing 9 traits on everything in that craft (Wood, Clothier, Blacksmith). It does not seem to be a smooth continuum from 1 trait known to 2 traits known, etc. It seems like knowing that 9th trait is a big jump in chance. After that, knowing complete motifs adds very small increases in chance. But there are a lot of motifs and odds can add up if you know them all. But you must know all chapters of motif. If person X knows all 14 chapters of Trinimac and nothing else, and you know 13 out of 14 chapters on every motif in game, person X has better motif-based boost at master writ. Your character with 13 of 14 chapters of every writ is considered to have knowledge of zero motifs. And blue motifs that do not come in chapters (like Altmer, Nord, etc.) do not count. And motifs that were cash shop only (like Grim Harlequin and Stalhrim) also do not count.

Beardimus · April 2017

The prices to buy these have plummeted too 1k per vcher is very common. So just hunt for profitable ones.

Mike0987 · April 2017

The master writ drop rate on my main crafter has been 50% less than most of my others. Having a 9 trait(all styles) and 7 others(40-80% styles) that are 6-9 trait; I can only say this. Damn me for achieving...

RNG only knows one thing and that is if you finish an achievement it no longer drops said item. Case in point, I finished ambrosia on my 8 crafters about 2-3 months ago, hence no longer get ambrosia pages on 8 writs x60+ days and counting. DO NOT COMPLETE ACHIEVEMENTS/GOALS 100% !!!!

Furinol · April 2017

Thanks for the feedback folks, purchasing the writs had never occurred to me. It seems that the time would in fact be better spent earning gold and purchasing them. Thieving seems to generate gold pretty fast once a good safebox route is established so perhaps this is a faster route to my goal.

Thanks again all - still a bit frustrated by the system but see a better path forward now.

Great community!

Kozai · April 2017

Nestor wrote: »

What helps is knowing all your Traits, and complete Motifs or Purple/Gold Recipes, and have all your Alchemy and Enchanting Achievements.

I was actually curious about the Achievement thing, each of the crafts has an Achievement for learning furnishing recipes. How big a factor is that? I had been selling them, but the price has dropped enough that maybe I should learn them.

smacx250 · April 2017

I've done the 6 writs on one character each day, and I've gotten a total of 52 master writs in ~70 days in doing them. My best estimate is that they returned a total of about 700 vouchers. That character has 9 traits in b/c/w, 100% knowledge in enchanting and alchemy, knows a good majority of the recipes, but doesn't know quite a few of the motifs.

Nestor · April 2017

Kozai wrote: »

I was actually curious about the Achievement thing, each of the crafts has an Achievement for learning furnishing recipes. How big a factor is that? I had been selling them, but the price has dropped enough that maybe I should learn them.

Not sure on the furnishing ones. Part of me thinks they have nothing to do with the Master Writs as there are no Master Writs for Furnishing. Probably because there are a 1000 plus Furniture Recipes of various kinds. I have been moderately active of late in collecting recipes and I am at less than 25% known.

However I have noticed that my Enchanters, Alchemists and Provisioners who have all the requisite achievements for those crafts get Writs for those 3 somewhat regularly. Then again, that is the main measuring bar for those crafts. Equipment Crafting can add in Traits and Motifs too.

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

The biggest bump in writ chance comes from knowing 9 traits on everything in that craft (Wood, Clothier, Blacksmith).

You would think. However I will say that most of the equipment writs I have received came on my secondary crafter who knows a smattering of motifs and next to no traits. She is currently learning traits, starting the 6th one on armors and metal, and the 7th one on Wood. My master crafter who knows 9/9 and all but 5 motifs (all but 3 as of this morning) gets gear writs less often than my secondary.

So, RNG has a much bigger impact on who gets writs than it should.

philosofreaky · April 2017

I was about ready to give up - after 8 solid days of trying, I didn't get a single master writ and then BAM! Two days in a row I got 100+ so I was able to learn that Ebony style book afterall (which is all I was trying for) so now everything is gravy. But just like that darn Blackest Sacrament achievement/trophy - it's about the time that I'm planning to throw in the towel, that luck will turn around.

Creepy ESO, you in my head.