Bug With Starter Tutorial For Blackwood

KyleTheYounger · June 2021

Created 1st test PC (which is Lvl 1 as Champion point system seems to have been removed with latest update

Progressed in tutorial to part where you enter the new portal room.

Logged out at that point and created a 2nd PC and completed the tutorial with said PC. Had them exit the tutorial and enter the portal that teleported him to the beginner AD zone.

Logged off of this 2nd PC at this point. Relogged back into the 1st. Bugs began at this point.

After respawning in the portal room, the Altmer NPC was missing. So couldn't ask her to transport into the Blackwood DLC.

Tried to start the Blackwood DLC by entering the new Blackwood portal. But no "enter" interaction existed. Only way to escape this final tutorial room was to enter one of the other older DLC or base game portals

So entered game world through Elsweyr. Used the store bought prologue quest to begin the Blackwood DLC by fast traveling to Mornhold to meet the hooded figure.

Hooded figure indicated I travel the Davon's Watch (my PC's alliance as he's a Nord). Traveled there to meet the designated NPC

On entering the house where the NPC was, interacted with NPC & found him bound & gagged. My PC was immediately knocked out by several other hostile NPCs.

When he woke up, he was in the Wailing Prision which is the tutorial start for the MQ??? WTH did I miss?? The quest marker was on the Blackwood DLC....

Is this because you can't begin the new DLC with a Lvl 1 character until you complete the MQ tutorial?? I thought we no longer had to do the MQ (and the other DLC tutorials have now been obsoleted) because of the design of the new portal room setup with Blackwood?

ectoplasmicninja · June 2021

The Coldharbour section after you meet the Hooded Figure is no longer a tutorial, it is the introduction to the main quest. The Hooded Figure has nothing to do with any of the DLC. The new Blackwood tutorial is the global tutorial for all players now, whether or not they own Blackwood. Are you saying that when you began A Mortal's Touch (the Blackwood prologue) it sent you to Mournhold to meet the Hooded Figure?

This might be a stupid question, but if you open your map and navigate to Blackwood, do you see Blackwood as owned and available to travel to? I know that it was being weird on PTS and had been removed from access just prior to release, so it kind of sounds like you don't have access to the area on PTS for some reason.

KyleTheYounger · June 2021

ectoplasmicninja wrote: »

The Coldharbour section after you meet the Hooded Figure is no longer a tutorial, it is the introduction to the main quest. The Hooded Figure has nothing to do with any of the DLC. The new Blackwood tutorial is the global tutorial for all players now, whether or not they own Blackwood. Are you saying that when you began A Mortal's Touch (the Blackwood prologue) it sent you to Mournhold to meet the Hooded Figure?

Yes. As mentioned my PC couldn't enter the portal by game design (i.e. no "Enter" interaction came up like with the other portals). And the Aldmeri mage never materialized for this portal. But she did reappear when I approached any of the other portals for base game and prior DLC? This was the only way my PC was able to escape the end of prologue room. Using the "I'm stuck" option always respawned him at that shrine just outside the portal room.

This might be a stupid question, but if you open your map and navigate to Blackwood, do you see Blackwood as owned and available to travel to? I know that it was being weird on PTS and had been removed from access just prior to release, so it kind of sounds like you don't have access to the area on PTS for some reason.

Blackwood doesn't show up as "owned" because I was on PTS? Was it supposed to do that? Don't recall seeing anything like that if so.

And no, couldn't access any of the wayshrines in the new DLC location. They were all greyed out? I assumed that was the issue due to being unable to interact with the DLC portal in the final room.

Also on PTS server: is your new PC supposed to begin the new DLC as lvl1? This wasn't the case with the Summerset Isle DLC (last DLC I played on PTS). And if this is the case, then is this the case with your main PC on the regular servers? I've got a mature 400+ CP DK battlemage. All of my other alts are low level (under 50). But all have CP points that can be distributed to customize their combat skills. I don't have the new DLC chapter yet (which is why I'm playtesting it on PTS atm). But if I do get it, will the CP go away for the lower level alt characters the way it is now on the PTS?

ectoplasmicninja · June 2021

The greyed out wayshrines would be because your character can't access Blackwood for some reason and should not be related to the tutorial issue. If you want to try it again just choose to skip the tutorial and see where it places you.

When you do character creation there's a dropdown menu at the top left where you can select a maximum level Blackwood template character. This character will be maximum level, have all CP, gold gear, etc, and may be able to access Blackwood, but I don't know how this works exactly because Blackwood isn't in testing anymore and has already been released on all platforms. It might be that it has been removed from the PTS for people who don't own it on live, but I can't test that as I own Blackwood on live.

KyleTheYounger · June 2021

Unless I pick one of the older DLC or base game zones, skipping the tutorial places my PC in the last recently DLC zone I own i.e. Summerset

Also this is on the PTS which is the whole purpose of testing the new DLC? So Blackwood should be available the way Summerset was. The fact that the prologue quest does exist in the PTS store (and I was able to initiate it) somewhat indicates that. But ended up at Wailing Prison for reasons you explaned above instead. Lol.

OK. Will check out the CP max level option later after work (totally missed that). And if teleporting into Blackwood is no longer a viable option, then hopefully I'll be able to complete the prologue quest. Then try to decide whether it's worth buying the new DLC from there. I really want to get it because of the Companion system. But was hoping to play test first because of 3 big red flags:

1. Lack of ability to customize & craft companion gear/weapons etc. to compliment your playing/combat style. The fact your lvl 50 Master Crafter can't craft purple gear for light/heavy/medium armor etc. for your companions is completely illogical IMO.

2. Lack of reliable drops of green and higher companion gear. Farming these are looking like they're going to be a painful nightmare. And that assumes you even get the specific traits in weapons/armor you want to equip them with.

3. Inventory management. Based on youtube videos, this feature is shaping up to be a nightmare. Especially given your toon needs to have at least 12 free inventory slots just to carry your companion's weapons and armor. And that's before adding anything else they might acquire quest wise in the game >,<

ectoplasmicninja · June 2021

Blackwood was on the PTS for something like 5 or 6 weeks, but the time to test it was before its release. Now that it's launched it no longer needs testing as per the purpose of the PTS so I imagine they removed access for those who don't own it on live. You missed the timeframe we were given to check it out for free.

You don't need 12 inventory slots for their gear, what they have equipped is on them and not on you. If you want a spare set of gear, however, you'll need to carry it. The sourcing of gear is a drag, it's been very slow and I only just got my first purple today but I haven't been farming for it so there's that. It does suck that we can't craft, upgrade, or transmute it.

I've seen videos of Bastian tanking vet dungeons and normal trials, but I have him set up as a ranged healer/DPS. All his skills are the 28m range ones just so he hopefully stays out of harm's way.

KyleTheYounger · June 2021

Well that's not set in stone yet. I just got done recreating a new CP toon and picked the Blackwood portal. PTS character was immediately teleported into the Blackwood DLC start point in Tamriel (so no need to have to trigger it from the store) Game play is finally working as it should (or for as long as they opt to keep Blackwood active on the PTS). So I'll be playing this as much as possible to get a feel for the Companion system. Or at least until ZoS dactivates the server lol

Thanks again for the feedback. It's proven very invaluable!

ectoplasmicninja · June 2021

Ah, so it was the template character you needed for access. I thought that might have been possible but figured they had likely pulled Blackwood entirely after launch. Glad you got in. Happy hunting!