If your purpose is to maximize the number of Master Writs collected, then you need motifs, rather than traits, on multiple characters.

tmbrinks wrote: »

It would be very difficult to collect enough data to definitively state, because of the number of possibilities.

But, it appears that the base chance of a master writ is somewhere around 6-7% (for WW/BS/Clothing)

Learning all 9 traits, increases this by what it appears to be 2-3%

Learning all the motifs can increases this by upwards of another 7-8%

So, for the cost, learning the traits is one of the cheapest ways to increase the drop chances.

The important thing with these numbers is whether they represent a step or a continuous peak. If 8 traits gets you nothing, but nine turns on an extra factor, then it's worth getting the extra.

We know that only complete motifs are counted, not pages/chapters, so it would not be surprising if traits work the same way. On the other hand, you don't have to learn all the motifs before increases start, which argues the opposite.

As I said, I'm uncertain. The sheer number of possibilities limits doing testing on the scale needed to prove anything.

That said. ZoS has stated that the drop rates are tied to achievements. There is a specific achievement for learning nirnhoned (along with one for learning the 8 original traits). It's also likely that you don't need to be a "full" 9-trait crafter to get the full benefit. You simply need to learn each trait on one armor/weapon on each character. That can take a matter of hours, because the first trait you learn of each armor/weapon type only takes 6 hours to research (less with ESO+ and passives).

They do seem to be tied to individual achievements, and each motif has it's own achievement tied to it. And I suspect it is diminishing returns as you learn more motifs.

Such as...

1st motif learned increases drop chance by 1%
2nd motif learned increases drop chance by 0.5%
3rd motif learned increases drop chance by 0.33%
...

This would provide an upper bound on the benefit of learning a huge number of motifs, while still allowing for benefits to be gained and realized early on.

(Just to be clear, those numbers are a complete "educated" guess, not based on any actual data from changing motif knowledge on different characters, just the general "anecodal" evidence I've seen from doing a lot of writs over the past few years)