Maintenance for the week of December 15:
· [COMPLETE] PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – December 15, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
· [COMPLETE] Xbox: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – December 15, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
· [COMPLETE] PlayStation®: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – December 15, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
· [COMPLETE] PC/Mac: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – December 15, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
· [COMPLETE] Xbox: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – December 15, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
· [COMPLETE] PlayStation®: NA and EU megaservers for maintenance – December 15, 4:00AM EST (9:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EST (17:00 UTC)
SAUCY JACK'S GUIDE TO ANTIQUITIES: HOW TO SCRY AND EXCAVATE
Saucy_Jack
✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭
(Posting this here since it's relevant to the current event. This guide was written when antiquities were first available on the PTS, so some stuff might have changed slightly, but overall the system's relatively the same)
Rather than some big to-do of an intro, let's get into it! (NOTE: at the time this guide was written, the actual opening quest for this was buggy; if a step doesn't seem to be working, some people (including myself) found it fixed itself if we exited the game completely and restarted fresh. YMMV.)
1. Start by getting the "Antiquarian's Eye" tool from the Antiquarian's Circle, located between the Bard's College and the Blue Palace in Solitude:
2. Once you've got the Eye, in order to scry something, go to your journal, to the Antiquities tab, highlight what you want to scry, and press E to scry. NOTE: if your scrying skill level is too low for an item, it won't let you scry it. If you're not in the same zone as an item, it also won't let you scry it.
3. In the scrying screen, you have (at the lowest skill level, anyway) TEN CLICKS (the meter of which is shown by the arrow) to highlight all of the shining hexes.
4. You start from the bottom center; with each click, you highlight the "patch" of connected tiles all with the same symbol. Every subsequent click must be on a "patch" of similar tiles that border the tiles you've already highlighted.
5. The more shining hexes you can highlight, the more the false digsite areas will be whittled away. If you manage to highlight them all, only one digsite area (the true one) will show up on your zone map. If you don't like how you did, you can choose to re-scry the item (step 2) and attempt it again, with (currently) no penalty. ***NOTE: WHEN YOU SUCCESSFULLY SCRY AND IT SHOWS YOU THE DIGSITE ON THE MAP, PRESS E! OTHERWISE YOUR MAP WILL BE BUGGED OUT WHEN YOU TRY TO PORT OR USE A WAYSHRINE.***
6. You can hotkey the Eye by going to inventory to set your quickslots; one of the subcategories will be "Tools" and the Eye is there.
7. Once you're actually within the digsite area blue boundary, use the the quickslotted Eye and a blue orb will appear above your head. It sort of has a comet-tail-looking thing, and that indicates the direction to go to find the actual digsite. It helps to put the camera in a top-down view when you do this, so you can view the orb as sort of a clock hand pointing in the right direction. The digsite will look like a treasure map mound. Passives will give the mound a glow for easier spotting. (NOTE: sometimes no orb will appear; use the "exit completely and restart" method to fix this - again, YMMV.)
8. Once you start excavating, you have X amount of clicks (shown by that beige bar at the top - it's ~40 clicks at the lowest skill level; you get more with passives) to find AND dig up the artifact. Using the augur on the right, you're essentially playing a one-boat game of Battleship to find WHERE the artifact is. Red means cold; orange means warmer, yellow = hot, green = a square containing part of the artifact itself.
9. The brush tool on the left (press W or click on it to use) is for actually digging up the artifact. Keep in mind that the more clicks you used to find it, the less clicks you'll have to dig it up. Each square contains multiple layers of dirt, so digging up a single square could take up to four clicks for green items, more for higher-tier items. As you grow in skill level, you'll get other tools that dig up more ground per click. Once you've dug up the artifact, the rest of your clicks can be used to dig up random squares to find up to three bonus items. If you dig up all bonus items, the minigame ends, even if you still have clicks left. In this case, I found all three bonus items, because Snugglorr the Magnificent, King of the RNG and Nirn's one TRUE god, smiled upon me this day.
10. Hooray! You did it, you antiquarian, you!
Rather than some big to-do of an intro, let's get into it! (NOTE: at the time this guide was written, the actual opening quest for this was buggy; if a step doesn't seem to be working, some people (including myself) found it fixed itself if we exited the game completely and restarted fresh. YMMV.)
1. Start by getting the "Antiquarian's Eye" tool from the Antiquarian's Circle, located between the Bard's College and the Blue Palace in Solitude:
2. Once you've got the Eye, in order to scry something, go to your journal, to the Antiquities tab, highlight what you want to scry, and press E to scry. NOTE: if your scrying skill level is too low for an item, it won't let you scry it. If you're not in the same zone as an item, it also won't let you scry it.
3. In the scrying screen, you have (at the lowest skill level, anyway) TEN CLICKS (the meter of which is shown by the arrow) to highlight all of the shining hexes.
4. You start from the bottom center; with each click, you highlight the "patch" of connected tiles all with the same symbol. Every subsequent click must be on a "patch" of similar tiles that border the tiles you've already highlighted.
5. The more shining hexes you can highlight, the more the false digsite areas will be whittled away. If you manage to highlight them all, only one digsite area (the true one) will show up on your zone map. If you don't like how you did, you can choose to re-scry the item (step 2) and attempt it again, with (currently) no penalty. ***NOTE: WHEN YOU SUCCESSFULLY SCRY AND IT SHOWS YOU THE DIGSITE ON THE MAP, PRESS E! OTHERWISE YOUR MAP WILL BE BUGGED OUT WHEN YOU TRY TO PORT OR USE A WAYSHRINE.***
6. You can hotkey the Eye by going to inventory to set your quickslots; one of the subcategories will be "Tools" and the Eye is there.
7. Once you're actually within the digsite area blue boundary, use the the quickslotted Eye and a blue orb will appear above your head. It sort of has a comet-tail-looking thing, and that indicates the direction to go to find the actual digsite. It helps to put the camera in a top-down view when you do this, so you can view the orb as sort of a clock hand pointing in the right direction. The digsite will look like a treasure map mound. Passives will give the mound a glow for easier spotting. (NOTE: sometimes no orb will appear; use the "exit completely and restart" method to fix this - again, YMMV.)
8. Once you start excavating, you have X amount of clicks (shown by that beige bar at the top - it's ~40 clicks at the lowest skill level; you get more with passives) to find AND dig up the artifact. Using the augur on the right, you're essentially playing a one-boat game of Battleship to find WHERE the artifact is. Red means cold; orange means warmer, yellow = hot, green = a square containing part of the artifact itself.
9. The brush tool on the left (press W or click on it to use) is for actually digging up the artifact. Keep in mind that the more clicks you used to find it, the less clicks you'll have to dig it up. Each square contains multiple layers of dirt, so digging up a single square could take up to four clicks for green items, more for higher-tier items. As you grow in skill level, you'll get other tools that dig up more ground per click. Once you've dug up the artifact, the rest of your clicks can be used to dig up random squares to find up to three bonus items. If you dig up all bonus items, the minigame ends, even if you still have clicks left. In this case, I found all three bonus items, because Snugglorr the Magnificent, King of the RNG and Nirn's one TRUE god, smiled upon me this day.
10. Hooray! You did it, you antiquarian, you!
ALL HAIL SNUGGLORR THE MAGNIFICENT, KING OF THE RNG AND NIRN'S ONE TRUE GOD! Also, become a Scrub-scriber! SJ Scrubs: Playing games badly to make you feel better about yourself.
12
-
Hapexamendios✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Artaeum is popular for leveling up because it's so small. Probably will be crowded there during the event.1 -
Provin915✭✭✭Great guide. Did my first scrying/excavation today exactly as the one you posted. Had no clue how to do any of it. Eventually, I got it figured out and now I'm reading this guide and it's incredibly helpful mate.0 -
Sylvermynx✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Awesome! You da man....
As for Artaeum, small yes - but no mobs! However, I'm just leveling by chasing the green leads then the blue ones in each zone. I'll leave the purples for later.
Best thing besides the event: it's really good gold.1 -
Grianasteri✭✭✭✭✭
✭Ive still never engaged with the Scrying content at all, although I keep finding things to Scry, so this guide has helped understand the process and what is involved, thank you!
Now I just need to find time to actually give it a try.0 -
Sylvermynx✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I got my PC EU level 23 character to 10 in excavation - but she still needs 21 points in scrying. I don't know why that's so far behind, very odd. I should be able to finish scrying up tomorrow - I'm just chasing Void Crystal Anomaly leads in Coldharbour to finish.
Then I'm going to have to take a break and level Mages Guild on her, so I can get her to Eyevea. I wouldn't normally put a low level character through that, but since she was the one with the most available skill points.... "tag, you're it"!0 -
StabbityDoom✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭This guide was *crucial* for me to learn how to do antiquities. I was completely lost after the tutorial in game. Thanks @Saucy_Jack !!
1 -
Zer0_CooL✭✭✭✭✭
✭Oh god i was searching the digsites without the eye all the time. Soo much time could have been saved if i'd known this
0
