I wouldn't mind leveling it so much if it weren't for the fact that the purple leads for the zones only drop once per account, which means that the alts after that first character uses them have to rely on other leads to level up once they hit purples. If they just fixed that, I'd be happy to grind it.

As it stands now, I'll still grind it, because I won't pay crowns for skill lines, but I'll be grumpy about it.

Hey, I know this is random but can't find an answer anywhere...

Does anyone know if I am playing on alt characters will the leads I get with them be scry'd on my main? Like can my main character do the leads instead of my alt?

Raideen wrote: »

No, what needs to happen is that purple leads should be able to be scry'd and dug up on all characters.

EXACTLY. And for anyone who's confused about this:

As I said to the poster above, leads are account-wide, so when they drop for one character (regardless of the color or level of the lead) any character on the account can then scry them and dig them up (assuming they have the needed level of Scrying and Excavation skill). Usually, this is a good thing, because it allows players to dig up a lead that unexpectedly drops on a character without having to level up Antiquities on that character - they just go to their character that has the skill lines unlocked and leveled.

However, there's a problem as well, and it relates to how the "free" zone leads that most people use to level Scrying and Excavation currently drop. In each zone, there is a Green lead that can be "farmed" indefinitely. From that Green lead, there is a Blue lead - it drops 3 times, and can be dug up 3 times. Then, there is a Purple lead, which drops from the Blue lead only 1 time.

The problem is that the account-wide nature of the Antiquities system, while usually good, doesn't seem to have been designed taking these "free" zone leads into mind. You see, those drop numbers are per account, not per character - they're based on Codex* entries, and once you fill the Codex information about them, they don't drop any longer. As a result, anyone trying to level up a second character in the Antiquities skill lines very quickly runs into problems when they hit the Purple level of Scrying and Excavation, as there aren't usually many "free" leads left for them to farm to level the line.

*The Codex is a thing that lets us learn tidbits of Elder Scrolls lore through the Antiquities system, and like the rest of the system, is account-wide. The reason the Green leads drop indefinitely is that they don't have corresponding Codex entries - they're just random bits of vendor trash type treasure, like what you would get from pickpocketing.

Sarannah wrote: »

Personally I do not want the scrying/excavation skilllines buyable. The treasure chest showing is way too much of an advantage to let players have it without effort. However, the skillines should be more easily leveled after the first character.

Solution: Have the 5k purple leads be repeatable, but make them only give 1.5k gold after the first one.

which would still be easier to get then a purple steal(since whatever nerf to PP last year ive nabbed a whopping 3 in one monththis year

Talyndor wrote: »

While it would be nice to buy the skill line (and I am in favor of it being offered for the reasons people mentioned above), since found leads are account-wide, is it really necessary to level every toon for those skills? I have one toon maxed in those skill lines and when I get a lead I want to pursue on any of my characters, the next time I log the toon with those skills, I go for it with that toon.

While it's not necessary to level the skill lines on every toon, people have a variety of reasons for wanting to level them to a certain point on some or all of their toons. For example:

1) The final passive skill in the Excavation skill tree makes treasure chests glow. This is useful on characters that might be taken into dungeon runs, trials, or used for group or solo overland play. For players who run more than one type of character (tank and healer, or both magicka and melee DPS, etc), that means they'll probably want it on all of them so they can spot chests on content runs. It's also beneficial for players to have on characters that they use for farming in overland, as it allows them to spot chests more readily. Some players might be content simply reaching this skill, while others may want to level the line enough that they can max this skill out, to increase the glow intensity and distance as much as possible.

2) Some players may want to switch up which character they do their Antiquities hunting on. They may have leveled the skill lines on their main character, and have later switched main characters. If they're "completionist" players, even if they restrict that to only their main toon, this may mean they want to max out all possible skill lines on their main. It's also possible that they leveled the skill line initially on a toon without realizing entirely how the system worked (there was a lot of confusion when it was first released), or what it entailed, and a lot of people just went with whatever character they were on at the time. Now that they know more about it, they may want to do their Antiquities hunting on a different character than the one they initially leveled it on.

3) Some players may want to max out all possible skill lines on all their toons. These are the true "completionist" players, and the "you don't need it on more than one" argument does not and will not work with them. Completing and collecting things is a huge part of gameplay for these players.