Scavenger Hunts Corrupted

MochaForumFiend · December 2022

Hello other guild leaders!

Like many other guilds before ours, we hosted an ongoing scavenger hunt in our guild hall with some hefty prizes because they were very difficult. Recently, we had a "winner" confess to us that they did not find the item through tireless searching and hours of parkour. Rather, as a visitor to the home with the minimum allowable privileges (Limited Visitor), they were able to open the housing menu to browse the list of items in the guild hall. There, they can see the direction and distance to the item, and select the "set destination" option. That puts a diamond on the compass that leads the person directly to the object they have selected.

I cannot say for certain when "Inspection Mode" became an option in the housing menu, or whether it was always this way. No one else that I've spoken with about this was aware that visitors could get a complete inventory of a home in which they are only Limited Visitor. Were you aware that this was a thing? Do you happen to know when this feature became available?

This "mechanics abuse" may not be widely known, but I am aware that other guilds are still sponsoring Scavenger Hunt events in their guild halls or other homes, and this recent discovery has effectively destroyed what was otherwise a fun event that our members truly enjoyed. It nearly cost us one million gold, but we were fortunate that the person disclosed the tactic they used. I hope this post reaches a few other guilds that may still be running these types of events so they don't get scammed.

I am puzzled why this option exists for limited guests. If this is a recent change, I will also suggest to ZOS in a separate thread that it needs to go.

MochaForumFiend · December 2022

The view of a home's inventory, as a limited guest, indicating the direction and distance to an object, and the option to set the object as a compass target

The view arriving at the target object with the blue diamond on the compass showing the direction, and showing that it was the object being sought.

Aislinna · December 2022

This was added during U36: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/620696/pc-mac-patch-notes-v8-2-5-firesong-update-36

tsaescishoeshiner · December 2022

As part of this feature, guest editors can also use the "retrieve" feature, so it's a huge quality of life bonus for them.

While it sounds like it's definitely a setback for you, luckily it hasn't ended scavenger hunts! Here are some ideas to work around it:

Have a player hide
Use more vague categories. "Find the statue holding a light source" so the player couldn't just check every light source.
Use multiples of the hidden item! For example, tell the players to look for the one sweetroll that's upside down, or the only candle that's turned on. Or the flower that's in the dark.
Or be mean and hide 30 of the items underground so the Inspection view makes it look like they're everywhere lol
Put the hunt in a maze lol. Doesn't matter if it's 8 meters away if you can't get there. Alternatively, use hidden doors or tricky jumps
Do it treasure map style—"Walk 8 meters from Ezabi, turn left at the flaming corpse, and look up. What item do you see?"
Hunt for places instead of objects. IE Find Ezabi's favorite place to sun herself. Pose in the opening in the hedge wall. Find the spot where you can see the following 3 objects. Etc
Use follower pathing? Set a bunch of pets on paths with things like "find the gryphon's favorite snack." Find the cup the cat wants to knock over. Find the room where the dog and the frog have their beds. Then people have to follow them. For the ghost or magical pets, they could even go underground and pop up in front of the hunted items. I would love to watch this lol

Idk, good luck

spartaxoxo · December 2022

This is a massive quality of life buff for all serious guest decorators, and absolutely should not go. I definitely understand wanting a new permission setting that disallows it but they absolutely shouldn't go back to not allowing it at all

MochaForumFiend · December 2022

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

As part of this feature, guest editors can also use the "retrieve" feature, so it's a huge quality of life bonus for them.

While it sounds like it's definitely a setback for you, luckily it hasn't ended scavenger hunts! Here are some ideas to work around it:
Have a player hide

Use more vague categories. "Find the statue holding a light source" so the player couldn't just check every light source.

Use multiples of the hidden item! For example, tell the players to look for the one sweetroll that's upside down, or the only candle that's turned on. Or the flower that's in the dark.

Or be mean and hide 30 of the items underground so the Inspection view makes it look like they're everywhere lol

Put the hunt in a maze lol. Doesn't matter if it's 8 meters away if you can't get there. Alternatively, use hidden doors or tricky jumps

Do it treasure map style—"Walk 8 meters from Ezabi, turn left at the flaming corpse, and look up. What item do you see?"

Hunt for places instead of objects. IE Find Ezabi's favorite place to sun herself. Pose in the opening in the hedge wall. Find the spot where you can see the following 3 objects. Etc

Use follower pathing? Set a bunch of pets on paths with things like "find the gryphon's favorite snack." Find the cup the cat wants to knock over. Find the room where the dog and the frog have their beds. Then people have to follow them. For the ghost or magical pets, they could even go underground and pop up in front of the hunted items. I would love to watch this lol

Idk, good luck

These are very creative ideas, and I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to brainstorm some fun activities for guild hall adventures. We have tried so hard to have an active guild hall, and the scavenger hunts were really effective for helping our members realize the tremendous amount of utility and resources that are available there. Without the scavenger hunt, they may never have visited at all, so indeed, this U36 change was a setback.

I'm really pleased that for guest decorators there are new options, but I can't fathom why "Limited Guest" should have any such visibility whatsoever. That was the nature of my initial complaint, and despite your sincerely heroic effort creating new and different ideas, I still hope they will reconsider. Thank you very much, though, shoeshiner. I mean that.

SerafinaWaterstar · December 2022

It’s bloody annoying and ruined our guild hunts.

@tsaescishoeshiner fine ideas but not all of us have that much time to make mazes or reset pathways etc.

We had fun hunts just hiding things, some easy some hard. All enjoyable.

Can hope that people wont cheat but they will….

And can’t see how it helps guest decorators as they can’t move anything!

spartaxoxo · December 2022

SerafinaWaterstar wrote: »

And can’t see how it helps guest decorators as they can’t move anything!

Guest Decorators can move things from the retrieve menu now. They can also use the list to find things, so if they are just giving suggestions but aren't given permission to move things; they can tell you exactly what to move, what items to get more of, etc.

I just want to repeat that I support giving the people the option to turn this off in their own homes, preferably through a new visitor permission setting and leaving limited as is. I just don't support reverting it.

everseeing_njpreub18_ESO · December 2022

Many of the suggestions offered by tsaescishoeshiner and others, i think would add more fun than just "find object" and require some thought. It could become a more guild based event if they have to discuss options to solve the location riddle or whatnot, and if found maybe all involved get the "win" and divide the prize.

I see this as a change, but certainly not destroying hunts.

Snowfaeriewings · December 2022

Well Crap! I am running one of these right now! If I catch you cheating you will be disqualified for the prizes!
Please consider adding a new option ZOS! I do these scavenger hunts a 2-3 times a year!

Elessar1993 · December 2022

I found this out today. Didn't know about it and I had a small 'find item X in one of 3 houses' event. Gave people limited visitor permissions because I was sure they wouldn't be able to interact or get to see a list of items. Some of the screenshot of people who found the object showed indeed that they could highlight it.
It is very unlucky that even visitors with the lowest permissions can see such things.
I would really like it if this was changed, I don't care that they can see it on visitor permission, but this is a real disappointment. Will be making some changes to the next one I had planned for this week.