Tried a couple times before work and almost got it solo. Going to try again after work with Pale Order ring equipped.

Agreed! I really like this quest!

Azphel wrote: »

Soloed it on a magblade. I wouldn't say it's hard, but you have to focus on tombstones and stay on the move. Adding a line of dialogue about "gathering allies" or a confirmation pop-up to enter the instanced zone alone would solve the problem of people being unpleasantly surprised by the difficulty.

I think it's a good addition to the event, even if the rewards are a bit lacking. 300 gold and 3 plunder skulls won't make people feel like they've missed out if they don't do it, at least.

Went in and soloed on a stamplar, wasn't even hard. Those tombstones are godsent if you're in pale order + vicious ophidian (or mag equivalent false god) because that horde of weak adds they produce died on 1-2 jabs and gave unlimited sustain to parse on the boss...

trackdemon5512 wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

trackdemon5512 wrote: »

spartaxoxo wrote: »

trackdemon5512 wrote: »

[Quoted posts Removed]

If you engage in PVE it’s impossible to not accumulate the requisite feathers.
- several skulls for public dungeons
- several skulls for a dungeon
- several skulls for a trial
- several skulls for an arena
- easy skulls for world bosses, insurgents, delve bosses
- random skulls from a myriad of enemies

There is no real barrier to entry if you do ANY PVE content

If a player is not engaging in any PVE then why should harder PVE content be designed for them?

Won't get skulls while farming crafting mats, won't get skulls while pvp'ing (plenty of people transition to pvp when pve gets dull and would be enticed back by harder content), won't get skulls while decorating.

Those activities are specifically not engaging in PVE. Again, if you aren’t participating in even basic PVE then why would a developer spend time trying to entice you with content above that? Why not just tweak the regular level content.

You must not want to engage in any PVE at all in order to not get plunder skulls because even quest bosses drop them.

Farming is pve. And again, more people would do it if it was more challenging. What is the problem with this boss? He is literally as unobtrusive as possible, you don't even get an achievement from him. He's literally just fun and there's a lot of people interested in trying him out. Have you seen the crowds of happy people? That's the point.

You’re trying to thread the needle here.

PVE and PVP are specifically the practices of outfitting oneself for combat. PVPers focus on Cyrodiil/BGs, PVEers focus on overland, dungeons, and trials.

Crafters and Homemakers can be either or neither. Those that focus on crafting go through painstaking efforts to minimize combat engagement as it cuts into mat gathering. Difficult engagements mean less mats.

Homemakers focus on acquiring furnishings and mats while at the same time minimizing combat encounters.

Farming for mats really does not count as PVE. It’s an activity but really it lies outside. People already are throwing in their two cents. It was a good one time boss but it’s just not worth it to repeat it seems.

No. PvE is just player versus environment. Killing stuff to get your heartwood or whatever is PVE. Farming plans is PvE.

As a casual scrub, there's no way I can solo him. My wife and I grouped and managed to kill him, although we each died once. And my wonderful reward from the 3 plunder skulls was some fleshfly larvae and bait. So I don't think I'll bother fighting him again.

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

This boss event for me is a skip, due to not being able to complete it even with said companion.

I just soloed the boss on my lvl 31 NB Healer with Bastian as a tank. He died at roughly 15-20% though the rest was just a bit of kiting and cursing. So it is definitely beatable solo, though the companions are more likely to die regardless how much care you put on them and how much you try to heal them.

In regards to the "poor" kill-reward: You guys should watch two videos Bellular did recently where he and his comrade are talking about the inherent problems WoW and most other MMOs currently suffer - external motivation systems that are proven by research to have a negative impact on the enjoyment scale of users:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmrSPKYoi30
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dSfDUyAdz8

I am not doing that event for shiny rewards but for the fun of it, to get challenged, wipe, adapt my strategy, improve on my attempts and at some time beat it. I couldn't care less if I got 3 skulls or nothing or some yellow item I probably wont use either. Unfortunately, ESO has way to few things that really challenges solo players IMO. I remember Craglorn in its first days when groups of V12-14 guys wiped on simple trash packs while I as solo-tank fought like 25 minutes but suceeded. It was not for the reward those mobs dropped, it was just for the part of being challenged, seing what I can do and where I struggle. Trying to come up with a setup that is more benefitial and so forth. Overcome some obstacles and learn in that process is what gives much more enjoyment any loot could give IMO.

Kessra wrote: »

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

This boss event for me is a skip, due to not being able to complete it even with said companion.

I just soloed the boss on my lvl 31 NB Healer with Bastian as a tank. He died at roughly 15-20% though the rest was just a bit of kiting and cursing. So it is definitely beatable solo, though the companions are more likely to die regardless how much care you put on them and how much you try to heal them.

In regards to the "poor" kill-reward: You guys should watch two videos Bellular did recently where he and his comrade are talking about the inherent problems WoW and most other MMOs currently suffer - external motivation systems that are proven by research to have a negative impact on the enjoyment scale of users:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmrSPKYoi30
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dSfDUyAdz8

I am not doing that event for shiny rewards but for the fun of it, to get challenged, wipe, adapt my strategy, improve on my attempts and at some time beat it. I couldn't care less if I got 3 skulls or nothing or some yellow item I probably wont use either. Unfortunately, ESO has way to few things that really challenges solo players IMO. I remember Craglorn in its first days when groups of V12-14 guys wiped on simple trash packs while I as solo-tank fought like 25 minutes but suceeded. It was not for the reward those mobs dropped, it was just for the part of being challenged, seing what I can do and where I struggle. Trying to come up with a setup that is more benefitial and so forth. Overcome some obstacles and learn in that process is what gives much more enjoyment any loot could give IMO.

Or..... you just wasted time
Sooo many way to perceive one single event

Kessra wrote: »

...snip
I am not doing that event for shiny rewards but for the fun of it, to get challenged, wipe, adapt my strategy, improve on my attempts and at some time beat it. I couldn't care less if I got 3 skulls or nothing or some yellow item I probably wont use either. Unfortunately, ESO has way to few things that really challenges solo players IMO. I remember Craglorn in its first days when groups of V12-14 guys wiped on simple trash packs while I as solo-tank fought like 25 minutes but suceeded. It was not for the reward those mobs dropped, it was just for the part of being challenged, seing what I can do and where I struggle. Trying to come up with a setup that is more benefitial and so forth. Overcome some obstacles and learn in that process is what gives much more enjoyment any loot could give IMO.

I fully understand that point of view and I commend those that want a challenge in the games they play.

But, I spent to many years having to put up with customers and deal with management to even care about a challenge at this point in my life. If I cannot kill it within a few minutes I just skip it. I may be an aberration here but I have always played these types of games to feel like the hero of the story; I.E. something I'll never be. To add to this I consider that when you die you have failed so I try very hard to avoid anything with one hit kills or difficult mechanics for that reason.

Honestly all I want out of a game is to kill things to feel epic once in a while, but I am glad you like a challenge. In closing we can't all derive our enjoyment out of having to <place foot here>, <do this while here>, <continue to another point while avoiding the spiders> etc., ect.. To me that isn't fun, it is a chore and I already have a job.

Just to add, if they ever make overland like craglorn I will leave this game as I have many, many others.

This has to qualify as one of the most badly thought out messages in quite awhile.

You have the technology with the portals in Blackwood to allow players to move through an entrance and all end up in the same instance, so why in the name of sanity didn’t you do it here!

Instead, we get dozens of players all spamming +crow into the chat, not realising that absolutely nobody is configured to accept it to form groups automatically. The result is that you get crowds just standing there! Because I’m telling you now , If you can solo that boss you are categorically in the top 0.00 one percent, like it or not.

Definitely not bothering with that one again. Getting a group for it was impossible, everyone just stood there spamming that same phrase even though they were getting nowhere. Gave it a bash on my own and after being repeatedly one shotted, despite having 60 K health and max resistances, I got bored and left.

Not worth the effort

Doing this boss doesn't feel to be worth it. I mean I did solo it, but the time it takes... I would argue that it is far better to camp one boss in public dungeon (plunder skulls per minutes).
5 or more plunder skulls or a gold one ? Then maybe. But I do think that curently the reward is basically "meh". Maybe if this boss had solo mode with less HP, so it takes 3x less time to beat it solo. Also it would be nice if it was a "public dungeon" instance so more people could fight at once automatically.

Right now it is basically a "world boss" (that usualy a lot of solo players can fight at once), but it is locked in a group dungeon without a queue...
Not well though out & flawed design.

Dark_Lord_Kuro wrote: »

Or..... you just wasted time

Well, under these circumstances, if you're not either creating computer games or living off of these in some form (streaming, gaming magazine, ...) games in general tend to be just a time sink.

Most of those games in some form give enjoyment as reward, though in MMOs for some reason there is always the carrot on a stick developers put into the game players chase constantly. Some of those systems seem to work like drugs. You get some endorphines off of them, you want more, you do these activities again to get enjoyment but it never gives you the same enjoyment like the first time you felt that and you request more which you get served by the devs. At one point in time, on looking back, you just realize how much stuff devs put into this game to give you a short moment of enjoyment where further additions are just considered to weak and while granting some enjoyment the reward feels odd in comparison to previous rewards. Just look at the recent events and how people complaint about the "reward".

This in the end lets people play the game for the wrong reasons. ZOS here trained us players to expect certain rewards for doing stuff, while the activity itself should be the reason why we players want to do them.

Kessra wrote: »

I am not doing that event for shiny rewards but for the fun of it, to get challenged, wipe, adapt my strategy, improve on my attempts and at some time beat it. I couldn't care less if I got 3 skulls or nothing or some yellow item I probably wont use either. Unfortunately, ESO has way to few things that really challenges solo players IMO. I remember Craglorn in its first days when groups of V12-14 guys wiped on simple trash packs while I as solo-tank fought like 25 minutes but suceeded. It was not for the reward those mobs dropped, it was just for the part of being challenged, seing what I can do and where I struggle. Trying to come up with a setup that is more benefitial and so forth. Overcome some obstacles and learn in that process is what gives much more enjoyment any loot could give IMO.

My main complaints are simple...

1. This quest is a long thing. You need a certain amount of feathers from Plunder Skulls just to get a seat at the table. Pick your method, which may coincide with other activities, or may be something that you do just to get a seat at the table. Either way, all you are doing is working just to get a seat at the table.
2. You perform the game design ritual to open the portal, then you go into the portal. Surprise! You find out that this is actually a group event that no one else is going to show up for, no matter how long you stare down the Big Bad. Now you either solo it (not a trivial task) or head back out and form a group before heading back in.
3. The Big Bad is somewhat of a dragon in a bottle. This part of Evergloam is just an arena with the Big Bad standing alone in the middle waiting for you to show up. Just for once, can we come across the Big Bad while they are doing laundry?
4. Three normal plunder skulls for all of that work. This quest is work, especially the first time, and especially if the player is not forewarned.

In the end, the attraction here is the potential reward. The collection of feathers is just a buy-in, and isn't really engaging. The ritual to open the portal and the story around that is pretty mundane. The only thing interesting is the Big Bad, but it takes a lot of work to get to the loot.

If you are looking for a solo challenge, this is a good quest that will test your ability to either burn the boss down before the tombstones start showing up (DPS) or sustain/heal through the boss while doing add management. I am not certain how many times people will need to kill this boss solo before they decide they are done.

If you are looking for something new, it is worth a single go 'round with a group. There is no achievement for completing this task.

If you are looking for Plunder Skulls so you can collect the items that are dropping for the event, I would suggest avoiding this quest. The boss fight is worth 9 minutes in public dungeon Plunder Skulls, but will probably take more than 9 minutes from the collection of the last feather to the final quest reward. It is definitely more of a hassle than three public dungeon bosses.

So, no, this is not a quest that I will suggest that people do. I actively suggest not doing it. The whole thing simply does not feel well thought out.

Maybe next year, after the encounter team has a chance to try again...