Surveys need an update

zaria · October 2022

tmbrinks wrote: »

endgamesmug wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

endgamesmug wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Stop looking at all the Surveys as something you need to do all right now.

If you are doing writs on multiple characters you can dedicate an alt to Farming Surveys. Equip them with Speed Gear and have them carry all the Surveys.

Then, log into that alt every day or three and pick a zone or two or three. Farm the surveys, spend about 15 minutes. then log to another alt and do something else.

Best thinking here 😁i use wildhunt/fiords/cowards/1pce bloodspawn for the stam recon an orc with the reduced sprint cost and increase to sprint speed, get everything done daily in no time 😀

Does sprinting really help that much? I find the reset part sucks up the most time.

Heartrage wrote: »

barney2525 wrote: »

I'm so glad you made this post to tell me how I Must think and what I Must believe is or is Not fun. And here I was under the impression I enjoyed taking a break, running around stocking up on crafting material which I can process and some of which is very valuable. I was so certain there was some benefit to making a few million gold.

Thank you for telling me how Everyone is required to feel about the game, as obviously it is not simply your Opinion. It's nice to find out who the dictators of the game are.

They didn’t, they expressed their opinion on the matter. If you enjoy surveys as they are, that’s fine and you can post about how much you love them as much as you like but we can also post as much as we want about the opposite side.

When did ZOS express a firm view on surveys?

ChuckyPayne wrote: »

- I like collect. I do it every week or 2 week
- I don't have problem with where are there.
- I don't have problem with how close they are to each other.
- just this one.

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

Just let me collect all the surveys I have at once and not have to keep running back and forth if I have multiples of the same one.

Stay safe

Their closeness to each other would go away if you didn't have to collect them for each survey.

I estimate 7 seconds away then the same amount back to reset, works for me anyway. Letting them pile up just doesnt work for me ive gotta nip it in the bud for my own sanity 😆

The resets are for the most part far less than that 7 seconds. There are only a half dozen or so that are actually annoying distances. There seems to be a lot of over-exaggeration as to the "reset distance" required to run, like it takes running across the map or something

Some has very long distances other is fairly short. I assume its based on an grid system and you have to move out of current grid to reset, now if an node is almost in an corner say northwest one but you can only go south and east because of mountains or water it get annoying.

The alchemy node is south east Greenshade is one horrible example, same with the enchanting one south of Windhelm.

Lydawobbles · October 2022

I just wish they dropped furnishing mats. I’m fine with them how they are, otherwise 🤷🏻‍♀️

boi_anachronism_ · October 2022

zaria wrote: »

tmbrinks wrote: »

endgamesmug wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

endgamesmug wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Stop looking at all the Surveys as something you need to do all right now.

If you are doing writs on multiple characters you can dedicate an alt to Farming Surveys. Equip them with Speed Gear and have them carry all the Surveys.

Then, log into that alt every day or three and pick a zone or two or three. Farm the surveys, spend about 15 minutes. then log to another alt and do something else.

Best thinking here 😁i use wildhunt/fiords/cowards/1pce bloodspawn for the stam recon an orc with the reduced sprint cost and increase to sprint speed, get everything done daily in no time 😀

Does sprinting really help that much? I find the reset part sucks up the most time.

Heartrage wrote: »

barney2525 wrote: »

I'm so glad you made this post to tell me how I Must think and what I Must believe is or is Not fun. And here I was under the impression I enjoyed taking a break, running around stocking up on crafting material which I can process and some of which is very valuable. I was so certain there was some benefit to making a few million gold.

Thank you for telling me how Everyone is required to feel about the game, as obviously it is not simply your Opinion. It's nice to find out who the dictators of the game are.

They didn’t, they expressed their opinion on the matter. If you enjoy surveys as they are, that’s fine and you can post about how much you love them as much as you like but we can also post as much as we want about the opposite side.

When did ZOS express a firm view on surveys?

ChuckyPayne wrote: »

- I like collect. I do it every week or 2 week
- I don't have problem with where are there.
- I don't have problem with how close they are to each other.
- just this one.

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

Just let me collect all the surveys I have at once and not have to keep running back and forth if I have multiples of the same one.

Stay safe

Their closeness to each other would go away if you didn't have to collect them for each survey.

I estimate 7 seconds away then the same amount back to reset, works for me anyway. Letting them pile up just doesnt work for me ive gotta nip it in the bud for my own sanity 😆

The resets are for the most part far less than that 7 seconds. There are only a half dozen or so that are actually annoying distances. There seems to be a lot of over-exaggeration as to the "reset distance" required to run, like it takes running across the map or something

Some has very long distances other is fairly short. I assume its based on an grid system and you have to move out of current grid to reset, now if an node is almost in an corner say northwest one but you can only go south and east because of mountains or water it get annoying.

The alchemy node is south east Greenshade is one horrible example, same with the enchanting one south of Windhelm.

Bruh the green shade one is awful..

disintegr8 · October 2022

Zyva wrote: »

I would love to have surveys combined!

I'd prefer to see the ability to fillet multiple fish brought in first.

CharlieFreak · October 2022

NeKryXe wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

The run to reset is much quicker most of the time than the initial run to the site for the first one. I like when I get multies because that means more material in a much shorter period of time. At least they let them stack unlike treasure maps. So the inventory thing is mostly a non issue.
Last time I did my surveys I got 21 Chromium Grains. Definitely worth running around doing surveys for that.

It was supposed to be a reward that turned into a forced grind with no game. I'd prefer a faster or enthusiastic way to collect it.

I'm also inundated with surveys constantly. I get around 7-10 a day doing writs on all my alts. But claiming that this is a forced grind? No. It's like being too rich and complaining that it's a chore to keep track of all your investments?

I certainly wouldn't mind if they made it easier, though.

Wolf_Eye · October 2022

Some days I just give up. Surveys can be so annoying and tedious that I just don’t bother. Which in turn leads me to not get much money since I’m not doing them. Which in turn leads me not to buy as much stuff. So like all the stuff coming out in Crown store and everything I’m becoming increasingly apathetic to. I just don’t think I care about crown exchanges or new motifs or anything anymore because my annoyance at surveys outweighs anything I could want..

At the very least. When I do happen to do them, I always delete the most annoying locations because the resources they could provide aren’t worth the value of the time spent getting there.

Icyfire369 · October 2022

I agree to combining multiple of the same survey into one. It would be a HUGE quality of life improvement for the game.

Heartrage · October 2022

CharlieFreak wrote: »

NeKryXe wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

The run to reset is much quicker most of the time than the initial run to the site for the first one. I like when I get multies because that means more material in a much shorter period of time. At least they let them stack unlike treasure maps. So the inventory thing is mostly a non issue.
Last time I did my surveys I got 21 Chromium Grains. Definitely worth running around doing surveys for that.

It was supposed to be a reward that turned into a forced grind with no game. I'd prefer a faster or enthusiastic way to collect it.

I'm also inundated with surveys constantly. I get around 7-10 a day doing writs on all my alts. But claiming that this is a forced grind? No. It's like being too rich and complaining that it's a chore to keep track of all your investments?

I certainly wouldn't mind if they made it easier, though.

It’s more like being rich but complaining that the bank won’t let you withdraw more than 20$ at a time with the cashier only letting you withdraw an additional 20$ if you step outside of the building then come back in.

NeKryXe · March 2023

I just tried to do a few clothier surveys in Auridon... it's insane!!!! I need to run almost one quarter of the map and return for it to reset. I really prefer to delete all surveys like this. This system is painful. There's no pleasure in playing this thing.

Please, please. Fix the surveys. It's really needed. At least reduce the distance we need to run away for it to reset. There are some places so unbearable that I just delete all surveys. Turn this thing into a reward and not a nightmare.

sup · March 2023

I like the idea of combining them into more rewarding ones, or having an NPC that I can summon and exchange them for mats (at a convenience fee, I assume).

kringled_1 · March 2023

NeKryXe wrote: »

I just tried to do a few clothier surveys in Auridon... it's insane!!!! I need to run almost one quarter of the map and return for it to reset. I really prefer to delete all surveys like this. This system is painful. There's no pleasure in playing this thing.

Please, please. Fix the surveys. It's really needed. At least reduce the distance we need to run away for it to reset. There are some places so unbearable that I just delete all surveys. Turn this thing into a reward and not a nightmare.

You're doing something very wrong as far as that particular survey goes. I don't have any of that survey on me rn, but you only need to ride from the survey location along the coast to the south to where the stone circle is, just before the overhead stone archway and AD NPCs. It takes ~10s each way. Surveys are already by far and away the quickest way to get raw mats.

LuC1ll3atTh3Wh33L · March 2023

i have an idea.
give me all your surveys and i'll run around harvesting the nodes. your return will be 30% of collection based on no cp points or events.
deal?

I_killed_Vivec · March 2023

I share them out between my characters, according to where they can go and where I'd like them to explore.

And for historical reasons, my main (who can go everywhere) gets all the jewellery surveys - this was originally so that they would definitely be platinum, but that's meaningless now that all of my chars are master crafters.

So even though I have thousands stored up, because they are spread between chars it's not an issue.

For QoL I'd prefer it if I could use all the surveys for a particular location in one go, rather than running away or logging out.

I'd like it if all enchanting surveys were guaranteed to give at least two kuta. Most times I don't get any, but they are protean, they give double rewards... so how come I sometimes get only one?

I'd love it if hirelings could get them for me, but I do understand that ZoS introduced the current survey mechanism to encourage people to explore, instead of just getting surveys for the region where they handed them in, which used to be the case (hint... go to Craglorn).

tmbrinks · March 2023

kringled_1 wrote: »

NeKryXe wrote: »

I just tried to do a few clothier surveys in Auridon... it's insane!!!! I need to run almost one quarter of the map and return for it to reset. I really prefer to delete all surveys like this. This system is painful. There's no pleasure in playing this thing.

Please, please. Fix the surveys. It's really needed. At least reduce the distance we need to run away for it to reset. There are some places so unbearable that I just delete all surveys. Turn this thing into a reward and not a nightmare.

You're doing something very wrong as far as that particular survey goes. I don't have any of that survey on me rn, but you only need to ride from the survey location along the coast to the south to where the stone circle is, just before the overhead stone archway and AD NPCs. It takes ~10s each way. Surveys are already by far and away the quickest way to get raw mats.

Agreed.

I've always found the "surveys need to be fixed" to be a tired argument. It's a bonus reward for doing writs. Writs are already one of the most profitable things to do in the game... and the surveys are extremely efficient for the time spent as well.

In the other million or so threads on the same topic, I've repeatedly said, I'd be all for the ability to trade your survey to an NPC for 15 max tier materials and 10 random at a lower level... which is what you would have gotten had you not gotten a survey.

I'd also be all for surveys going into the craft bag, which would allow them to be collected on any character.

NeKryXe · March 2023

LuC1ll3atTh3Wh33L wrote: »

i have an idea.
give me all your surveys and i'll run around harvesting the nodes. your return will be 30% of collection based on no cp points or events.
deal?

That seems fine for me. I don't know if I can trust you but as I don't plan to ever collect the Wrothgar ones we can do a test with those. I know we can't trade surveys directly with players, so... what's your idea? Will it work sending by mail? Or is there other way? Guilds maybe. I can send you 100 jewelry surveys for a first try and you just return to me the materials from 30 surveys, you can keep 70 for you. If it goes well I'll send you more. My ID in game is the same I use here.

kringled_1 · March 2023

To be clear, you can't actually trade the surveys in any way shape or form. I suspect LuC1lle knows that and is just making a comment about the value of the mats.

LuC1ll3atTh3Wh33L · March 2023

kringled_1 wrote: »

To be clear, you can't actually trade the surveys in any way shape or form. I suspect LuC1lle knows that and is just making a comment about the value of the mats.

yeup.

i use to run around getting mats from surveys but like someone mentioned previously, several crafters = several surveys. i don't think it's too much. i save them. i harvest them when double nodes event comes up IF i'm running through those zones. i love they are stackable. i don't see a need to invest resources for this issue(?) when there are other more game affecting concerns.

Amottica · March 2023

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

Sarannah wrote: »

Amottica wrote: »

If people are not doing them and just collecting them they are creating their own problems. As far as changes in the game the remedy should not be a priority for Zenimax.

When doing crafting dailies on 18 characters per day, I receive about 15-20 *different* surveys every day. Collecting that many, every day, is practically impossible. As I am not playing with add-ons, I will actually have to find the locations. Which would take me a little over an hour a day to do the crafting dailies + 5 mins for each survey ( 15x 5 min ) = 75 mins. Doing this would cost me a daily minimal time of 2h 15mins.
Which means I might as well quit the game, as this would leave me hardly any time to actually play the game anymore. Not even going to mention the maintenance days, daily endeavours, or ticket events.

Surveys are a good way to gain crafting materials, and collecting them is alright except for the time it takes. Getting surveys as a crafting daily reward isn't an issue as well. But ZOS does need to come up with a way to mass collect many surveys at once.

PS: Atleast surveys stack above 100.

Yes, I can see how that can work to create a problem. It is another example that we can easily create our own problems. Maybe do them on fewer toons or set aside time to complete the associated tasks.

No, players are not "creating their own problems". They are playing the game how they want to play, supposedly a key feature. ZOS needs to add some QoL tweaks to simplify collection.

Doing more writs than they want to do surveys for seems to be a choice. If we choose to not do the writs, let them stack up until our inventory is burgeoning and the time it takes has become hours instead of minutes that is all due to our choice in how we play the game but it is also creating our own problem It is no different than hoarding gear and getting upset that oru inventory is so full.

No, it is ZOS making a feature that is hard to use.

Please quit blaming players because they save things.

I agree in as much as the surveys are a pain because they are spread out across various zones instead of one zone (or one zone per alliance).

Outside of that point, procrastination and maybe doing writs on more alts than a player can manage the surveys for is th issue.

Mayrael · March 2023

It's really not that complicated. All we need is for each node in the survey to return a standard amount of materials multiplied by the number of surveys we have for that specific location. If you're worried about the performance of "Plentiful Harvest," we can simply do the calculations in a loop, so the amount of materials received wouldn't change, we would just remove most of the time-consuming and boring task.

Everyone would benefit from this. More surveys completed means more materials in circulation, and increased supply leads to lower prices.

Last time I checked, games were meant to be fun and enjoyable, not to make players get tired of them because of boring and repetitive tasks.

RichestGuyinEso · March 2023

Mayrael wrote: »

It's really not that complicated. All we need is for each node in the survey to return a standard amount of materials multiplied by the number of surveys we have for that specific location. If you're worried about the performance of "Plentiful Harvest," we can simply do the calculations in a loop, so the amount of materials received wouldn't change, we would just remove most of the time-consuming and boring task.

Everyone would benefit from this. More surveys completed means more materials in circulation, and increased supply leads to lower prices.

Last time I checked, games were meant to be fun and enjoyable, not to make players get tired of them because of boring and repetitive tasks.

Exactly this. Please, would be a great Qol improvement which should be not too hard to impliment.

NeKryXe · March 2023

LuC1ll3atTh3Wh33L wrote: »

kringled_1 wrote: »

To be clear, you can't actually trade the surveys in any way shape or form. I suspect LuC1lle knows that and is just making a comment about the value of the mats.

yeup.

i use to run around getting mats from surveys but like someone mentioned previously, several crafters = several surveys. i don't think it's too much. i save them. i harvest them when double nodes event comes up IF i'm running through those zones. i love they are stackable. i don't see a need to invest resources for this issue(?) when there are other more game affecting concerns.

Looks like you see that need afterall. Since not even your proposal is possible. So, at least we should be able to send surveys by mail. We all win. You enjoy picking it, I enjoy playing other stuff. So, I don't mind to give you 70% of those materials and just keep 30% and be doing a different activitiy in the game while you have fun doing it. Seem fair to me. We both win.

Something must have been done. Making it easier to collect or, at least, allowing us to send surveys by mail.

Zyva · March 2023

being able to sell surveys might be neat. I do wish they would just combine or, allow us to immediately consume another survey without running away and back.

DMuehlhausen · March 2023

They need more locations. It's already a boring part of the game. At least give us more spots to go to

Kite42 · March 2023

If you go to a survey area with 5 copies of the respective survey, then can't the system just roll for resources 5 times?

For alchemy, maybe make each supernode a mix of alchemical plants and roll multiples as above to avoid people rerolling until they get the plants they want?

joergino · March 2023

Mayrael wrote: »

It's really not that complicated. All we need is for each node in the survey to return a standard amount of materials multiplied by the number of surveys we have for that specific location. If you're worried about the performance of "Plentiful Harvest," we can simply do the calculations in a loop, so the amount of materials received wouldn't change, we would just remove most of the time-consuming and boring task.

Everyone would benefit from this. More surveys completed means more materials in circulation, and increased supply leads to lower prices.

Last time I checked, games were meant to be fun and enjoyable, not to make players get tired of them because of boring and repetitive tasks.

This is the very thing I've been requesting for years. Please, please, finally do this. This riding to and fro to make a survey reset is an utterly horrible mechanic.

Lydawobbles · March 2023

I would appreciate any change. Or, or, add housing materials to them lol

KS_Amt38 · March 2023

We finally need an update here, at least we should be able to gather all mats in one run (without resetting like 15 times in every node).

daim · March 2023

Add random Mudcrabs cages to alchemy surveys .. I hate go farming those dang things.

I stack like 1k surveys before I go do them. It's a chore but worth it in gold, at least it's less running when doing them all at once .. but yeah resetting the nodes is the most annoying part. Luckily they fixed the bug (mostly) that made your gathering get "stuck" for a short while.

btw did surveys get nerfed at some point or did they amp up the requirements to craft the dailies ? Before I hardly had to buy any extra mats for the dailies, now I need to do it once in a while.

daim · March 2023

DMuehlhausen wrote: »

They need more locations. It's already a boring part of the game. At least give us more spots to go to

This would definately make it even more annoying. Wrothgar is a good example of this with a dozen different locations in the area, and the extra space the surveys take from the inventory.

If you want majority of the people to delete surveys instantly then this would be a great idea.

NeKryXe · March 2023

daim wrote: »

DMuehlhausen wrote: »

They need more locations. It's already a boring part of the game. At least give us more spots to go to

This would definately make it even more annoying. Wrothgar is a good example of this with a dozen different locations in the area, and the extra space the surveys take from the inventory.

If you want majority of the people to delete surveys instantly then this would be a great idea.

Yep! That's true. Usually the Wrothgar surveys are the first ones I delete. Also because Wrothgar surveys were the ones that we need to run the farest to reset, but lately I've been noticing that they increased the distances to reset everywhere. Most surveys are now unbearable.