Robbery Missions are Lousy

FlopsyPrince · July 2019

Sure, I am sure a few aces here can do it all in the very limited time, but most of us struggle along. I am just blasting people now, not even paying attention to the timer, since it will run out well before I can do anything anyway.

And the high end mobs in some are bad, especially with the current lag. I have been killed multiple times because my self heal failed to execute and the boss mob got multiple hits in with no animation or indication of that.

Don't do an event where things are this broken!

All this to get the tickets. Grrrrr.

FlopsyPrince · July 2019

The kill someone quest is equally as bad. The lag kills it, literally.

Please plan better events so we don't have to spend 3-4K per event ticket.

idk · July 2019

I expect those who are actually interested in doing it well take the time to figure it out. The rest probably just blast their way in and give up pretty quick. Not sure what is up with your heal but I doubt it has to do with the event.

UntilValhalla13 · July 2019

If you're being spotted, yeah, you're probably going to have a bad time. There's always some form of hiding spot near the lantern holders. Sometimes you just have to wait for them to pass. Cloak past everything else. For the sacraments, the assassination timer doesn't start until you kill the main target. There's also usually hidden passages that aren't revealed on the map, for shortcuts.

zaria · July 2019

Have far more luck with the heist than the DB missions for some reason even if the DB ones are simpler.

Recremen · July 2019

I don't think it really requires an ace to get it in time, but each particular heist does have its own quirks that help you work around the huge number of NPCs and such. I would also highly recommend crafting a 5-piece set of Night's Silence gear (ignores the movement speed penalty of sneak) and buying 3 pieces of the Night Terror set (5 piece not important, but the 3 piece gives you reduced detect radius and reduced sneak cost). With those two things I think even magicka characters can blow through these. Good luck if you decide to go that route!

Zacuel · July 2019

Make potions of invis and speed. Run potion cool down glyphs on some trash jewelry. It'll help.

MakeMeUhSamich · July 2019

Recremen wrote: »

I don't think it really requires an ace to get it in time, but each particular heist does have its own quirks that help you work around the huge number of NPCs and such. I would also highly recommend crafting a 5-piece set of Night's Silence gear (ignores the movement speed penalty of sneak) and buying 3 pieces of the Night Terror set (5 piece not important, but the 3 piece gives you reduced detect radius and reduced sneak cost). With those two things I think even magicka characters can blow through these. Good luck if you decide to go that route!

^^^This. I did exactly that to finish up all the TG and DB Achievements on my MagSorc.

Now, for the event, I can happily march right through them killing everyone that moves for a couple quick tickets.

Cundu_Ertur · July 2019

The DB sacrament is fine.
Heists are a hot mess. The timer should work differently. The optional objectives for the heist should be: don't get caught (use the alert mechanic from the DB quest) and kill no-one. As it stands, the best way to do a heist is just to run in and murder everyone in your way, which is not the thiefly way to do things. If the time runs out, the overseer shows up with one or two additional lantern guards, which makes the being undetected and kill no-one bits harder to do on your way out. Or something like that.

daemonios · July 2019

Craft a set of gear to help with sneaking and stamina. 5 pieces medium Night's Silence does wonders as it lets you sneak with no speed penalty and increases you stamina. You also have potions and skills (NB cloak, rapid maneuvers) that help you navigate faster and more stealthily.

All heists are pretty easy once you get to know the maps, the trouble is Sacraments and the short timer you get to leave the place after you kill your mark, coupled with potentially time wasting unavoidable guards. Still, you don't need a perfect run to get a ticket. You just need to complete it.

Jeremy · July 2019

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Sure, I am sure a few aces here can do it all in the very limited time, but most of us struggle along. I am just blasting people now, not even paying attention to the timer, since it will run out well before I can do anything anyway.

And the high end mobs in some are bad, especially with the current lag. I have been killed multiple times because my self heal failed to execute and the boss mob got multiple hits in with no animation or indication of that.

Don't do an event where things are this broken!

All this to get the tickets. Grrrrr.

They're designed for quick and stealthy characters. They're annoying to do on other builds. I'm not sure what's up with the lag on this game lately either. I had significant improvement for awhile there. But now it's back to freezing and stuttering. It can definitely get you killed.

darthgummibear_ESO · July 2019

The current state of the game is making these missions a real miserable experience.

redlink1979 · July 2019

Aces become aces after running the heists/sacraments a few times. There are 5 places for the heists and 3 places for the sacraments so: after knowing the patrols paths, getting some gear or not and some invisibility pots for the most difficult situations you can also be an ace. The trick is to know a path, where you don't have to stop long times besides when you are collecting the items.
NB with cloack makes its easier but you can run them with any classes. I usually run with a DK, most of the runs go smoothly.
Regarding sacraments, I just make them simpler by sniping the patrols (patrols only have 30k hp) while hiding. Clearing the path can help a lot.
Both TG n DB are easy, just need a little practice and patience.

Hallothiel · July 2019

If all you want is the event tickets, just steamroller it. No real problem.

But advice given above about gear / skills / potions all helps. Have done them on a magden (have to remove the bear!)

Uryel · July 2019

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

I am just blasting people now, not even paying attention to the timer, since it will run out well before I can do anything anyway.

Same. That timer is a nonsense to start with, anyway. Some guy goes to post an add for a shady job on a board in the thieves' den, then WAIT for someone to take the job, and all of a sudden we have like 5 MINUTES to complete the job ? What the heck ?

But then, we have the magic lanterns that see through even the most potent invisibility potions. The traps that are not even where they appear to be, courtesy of the desync bug. The AoE marker of the lanterns not showing sometimes, leading to you being discovered when you turn a corner. The map that doesn't show all locations, even after you've discovered them over and over.

And generally speaking, the fact that this isn't based on stealth, but is just one giant quick time event. I am a Master Thief, I've maxed Thieves' guild years ago, I used to be able to run through any delve or public dungeon entirely unseen until proper stealth was removed from Bosmers... Now it's slightly harder, even with more stealth oriented gear... And yet I can't bother trying to sneak through those missions. They're just boring and exactly what a stealth mission should not be.

redlink1979 · July 2019

darthgummibear_ESO wrote: »

The current state of the game is making these missions a real miserable experience.

This is actually one of the few content I can run without having an overwhelming lag. I could see all the enemies and their attacks.

Michae · July 2019

I found them quite easy for the most time, but I main stamblade so maybe I'm just used to it. I like stealth games, they require a little more patience. The mechanics in those missions aren't exactly great but they are easy to master. Shadow Cloak does wonders. If you don't roll a particularly bad chest alignment you can plan your route and get through the whole thing quite quickly and painless.

redlink1979 · July 2019

Michae wrote: »

I found them quite easy for the most time, but I main stamblade so maybe I'm just used to it.

I've ran them with various classes, all are viable to complete heists/sacraments. You just need practice and patience.

Neoealth · July 2019

Today I was reminded why I don't normally do the heists in eso. Doing one for the event ticket and yeah I tend to agree with you OP, they are frustrating and not really very fun. I can understand the logic of a timer during a heist, after all time is of essence when you're breaking in and committing criminal actions, but for most players that timer is just way to short for the amount of npcs patrolling with lanterns, and not to mention the regular npcs who patrol around and often park themselves right on top of the item you need to steal. And they don't mind loitering for ages as well. They are in no rush. Meanwhile that damn timer is ticking down.

I normally love playing the thief in TES games, but honestly in ESO it feels like a chore. And an annoying one at that. I've managed to do a perfect run once i think, but i think half of that was pure fluke. I'm certain it's very much possible to master it with enough patience and time until it becomes second nature, I have no denial that it's very much possible that I just suck at them, but in the past TES games have always been made me feel like a master thief and were not too frustrating. I just feel deflated and annoyed after doing heists in this game. I often lose my temper with it and just slaughter them all, damned to the bounty.(Or in the case of heists:breaking immersion) And that annoys me even more. I think they got the difficulty balance wrong. That's just my personal opinion.

Perhaps trim down the amount of patrols, or increase the timer by a few minutes more.

The sacraments are not that much better either.

heaven13 · July 2019

The heists definitely take more practice for the routes. I do them on my stamsorc with the same gear Recremen advised above. My Night's Silence isn't even CP (I think it's level 14 or so) since I only ever wear it for these quests. The lantern bug is definitely annoying but if you're in a safe space, you can uncrouch and immediately crouch again to remind the game what it's supposed to be doing.

I do think this event highlights just how bad the Sacrament rewards are though. Perfect run yesterday (0/5 spot, all objectives completed) and in one of my coffers all I got was a pair of blue Sithis guards. That's it.

haelene · July 2019

To echo a lot of people in here, love the sacrements, hate the heists. For me it's less there's timer, it's more that I can't take out people in my way (in a stealthy way) without it affecting the timer. I know lore wise it makes sense, since the TG don't like murder. I just personally find it annoying.

albesca · July 2019

Uryel wrote: »

And generally speaking, the fact that this isn't based on stealth, but is just one giant quick time event.

I may agree with the first part of the sentence, but besides activating synergies I don't recall anything in ESO even remotely resembling a quick time event

FlopsyPrince · July 2019

MakeMeUhSamich wrote: »

Now, for the event, I can happily march right through them killing everyone that moves for a couple quick tickets.

This is what I am doing now. Seems to miss a lot, but I do get the ticket, and lots of heat and such.

Jeremy wrote: »

They're designed for quick and stealthy characters. They're annoying to do on other builds. I'm not sure what's up with the lag on this game lately either. I had significant improvement for awhile there. But now it's back to freezing and stuttering. It can definitely get you killed.

The lag causes the blade of woe to fail many times and/or I am surrounded by the time I get done. May as well just kill everything that moves at that point. Lots of heat and cost, but better than trying to do it slowly, unfortunately.

redlink1979 wrote: »

darthgummibear_ESO wrote: »

The current state of the game is making these missions a real miserable experience.

This is actually one of the few content I can run without having an overwhelming lag. I could see all the enemies and their attacks.

Good for you, but not the case for me.

redlink1979 wrote: »

Michae wrote: »

I found them quite easy for the most time, but I main stamblade so maybe I'm just used to it.

I've ran them with various classes, all are viable to complete heists/sacraments. You just need practice and patience.

You are like the PvPers telling me the same thing. I am good at watching lots of things, but too many things going on here for me. Perhaps running them 30+ times would help, but I doubt I will keep doing this much after the event.

randomkeyhits · July 2019

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

redlink1979 wrote: »

Michae wrote: »

I found them quite easy for the most time, but I main stamblade so maybe I'm just used to it.

I've ran them with various classes, all are viable to complete heists/sacraments. You just need practice and patience.

You are like the PvPers telling me the same thing. I am good at watching lots of things, but too many things going on here for me. Perhaps running them 30+ times would help, but I doubt I will keep doing this much after the event.

They definitely look complicated at first but its like everything in this game, once familiar you see the patterns and learn the boundaries. They are also a lot simpler than they first look, think point to point rather than big areas.

Something not always mentioned for the heists is that there is usually an easier route, I always go anti-clockwise at deadhollows and for the glittering grotto I always only go to the right hand section, never ever to the north. Maxing out the lockpicking perk for forcing locks can also help with a couple that are somewhat time constrained but doing that doesn't give any XP for the action

rotaugen454 · July 2019

I do the heist first at a sprint. Lose out on bonus but finish very quickly. Then I do same on assassination. Kill everything and get large bounty, finish, then log out of that character for the day and have no bounty next day.

FlopsyPrince · July 2019

rotaugen454 wrote: »

I do the heist first at a sprint. Lose out on bonus but finish very quickly. Then I do same on assassination. Kill everything and get large bounty, finish, then log out of that character for the day and have no bounty next day.

That has been my approach. I ended up with a 5K bounty today on one kill mission because it took me forever to find the entrance to the secret area, even when seeing a map showing where it was.

At least most of the steal missions allow you to kill everyone without too much problems, though I have found that avoiding the boss that spawns near where you head back is a good idea.

I did get 30 seconds to get out before the big guy (I forget the name) came, far too short to make it in time. He was beaming in just as I ran past that part to leave the scenario though. Really annoying to have so little time after spending forever to find the guy to kill.)

Jaraal · July 2019

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

The kill someone quest is equally as bad. The lag kills it, literally.

Please plan better events so we don't have to spend 3-4K per event ticket.

Sacraments are reasonable because the only timer is 2 minutes to escape after you complete the final objective, plus you get 5 chances to be detected, but no time loss. Heists are garbage because the (short) timer starts as soon as you enter, the timers reduces drastically every time you are spotted, and many of the objectives are unobtainable in the time limit (especially collecting 7 items) due to overlapping guard circles and wait times.

Dusk_Coven · July 2019

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Sure, I am sure a few aces here can do it all in the very limited time, but most of us struggle along. I am just blasting people now, not even paying attention to the timer, since it will run out well before I can do anything anyway.

It has always been really tight without running a Nightblade and basically having invisibility whenever you need it.
I've done it on a sorcerer without thief sets and gotten the full bonuses, but it's really hairy.
I think they did nerf the one where you had to get 10 gemstones and now you only need 7?

In any case, top tier rewards are somewhat too easy with a Nightblade and too hard for everyone else. Not sure if this is intended.

The bottom of this blog post talks about how to reset Heists and Sacraments for best results in case you screw it up. http://gq-game-mods.blogspot.com/2019/01/elder-scrolls-online-tips-for.html

FlopsyPrince · July 2019

Jaraal wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

The kill someone quest is equally as bad. The lag kills it, literally.

Please plan better events so we don't have to spend 3-4K per event ticket.

Sacraments are reasonable because the only timer is 2 minutes to escape after you complete the final objective, plus you get 5 chances to be detected, but no time loss. Heists are garbage because the (short) timer starts as soon as you enter, the timers reduces drastically every time you are spotted, and many of the objectives are unobtainable in the time limit (especially collecting 7 items) due to overlapping guard circles and wait times.

I got about 1/4 of that the last time I ran a sacrament. Quite annoying. The overseer was beaming in right as I ran by.

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Sure, I am sure a few aces here can do it all in the very limited time, but most of us struggle along. I am just blasting people now, not even paying attention to the timer, since it will run out well before I can do anything anyway.

It has always been really tight without running a Nightblade and basically having invisibility whenever you need it.
I've done it on a sorcerer without thief sets and gotten the full bonuses, but it's really hairy.
I think they did nerf the one where you had to get 10 gemstones and now you only need 7?

In any case, top tier rewards are somewhat too easy with a Nightblade and too hard for everyone else. Not sure if this is intended.

The bottom of this blog post talks about how to reset Heists and Sacraments for best results in case you screw it up. http://gq-game-mods.blogspot.com/2019/01/elder-scrolls-online-tips-for.html

I use my pet sorc because she is my main (I have far too many alts though) and easily kills things. My nightblade would not likely live long in many battles. I just end up with a lot of heat many times, especially when I am running on the EU server from an NA location. The lag has gotten horrible these days, to the point where a mob will not be in place for my blade of woe, even though they were when I launched it.