Why does ZOS continue to ignore things like this that people actually want, but instead dedicate time to creating things that nobody wants like custom harvesting animations?

I_killed_Vivec wrote: »

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).

I say its smarter to divide up on zones so one get all the original zones and another the dlc ones. Its often an advantage to do multiple surveys in an zone as many are close together.

Please ZOS at least let us harvest multiple surveys at once instead of resetting them 20 times. We all want this Quality of Life Imporevement.

The_Boggart wrote: »

For a pile of surveys I send out a mule collect 1 survey then log on my main to continue questing, before logging out finally, I log back to the mule and collect another node set, it may take several days but there is no hurry.

Nice, then imagine some people have thousands of surveys...

Mayrael wrote: »

I'm not going to let go of this topic because it's one of the issues plaguing this game. Old MMOs placed a great emphasis on grinding because it built a sense of "sacrifice" and value in relation to the time spent to achieve something. However, times have changed, more adults play MMOs who have limited time to play and such a grind is simply discouraging. That is why we need to work on easing tasks that are boring and discouraging.

I'm not talking about automating the collection of surveys, but about the solution mentioned earlier, namely multiplying the amount of materials collected by the amount of surveys available for a given location. Even automatic renewal of nodes without the need to reset them by traveling back and forth would be welcome.

Grinding isn't just supposed to be a timesink, though. It's in symbiosis with the RPG mechanics of the game that are intended to shorten the grind - if the baseline isn't at least slightly annoying there is no incentive for character progression.

IMO, surveys aren't very well designed in this regard, because there are no in-game mechanics that make them more easily completable (aside from the Master Gatherer perk, but that applies to all harvesting). Their annoyance isn't part of the gameplay loop, it's just an oversight. Which either has to be fixed by some of the suggestions we've already heard, or they have to be reworked to fit into the gameplay loop - e.g., let's say a Stormhaven Blacksmithing Survey increases the yield of any 7-10 ore nodes in Stormhaven. So you wouldn't have to go to a particular location and do the whole survey-respawn-dance, but just do the normal harvesting gameplay with better results.

On a similar note: The whole harvesting/crafting experience could be improved RPG-wise, e.g. with crafting ultimates that buff yield or extraction chance, etc. While they're at it, they should add a fishing skill line. It's all so incredibly dull atm.

Heartrage wrote: »

tmbrinks wrote: »

Heartrage 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.

Doing writs on many characters is probably the best way to farm a huge amount of guaranteed gold risk-free. If the game is set up in a way that one of the best farming method also clunk the inventory and gives reasons to play the game in a very unfun unhealthy way, the game has a problem.

Many players want to optimize their time playing. There is nothing wrong with that, they also deserve to have a good time while doing it.

-Master writs require expertise, if you don’t have the right motif/ traits you can’t do them. Time spent on your motif collection is rewarded.
-they can be done quickly within a guild hall.
-Writs can only be obtained from them and are used to buy rare furnishing plans.
-They can be traded if you don’t want to/ can’t do them.

I haven’t heard anyone complaining about how master writs are a pain to do or boring yet.
/quote]

My main issue with Master Writs is that it doesn't tell you if you know the motif before clicking on it so you're looking though the crafting menu to verify that you can do the writ before consuming it. A simply tool tip on the master write stating "motif/trait known/unknown" would solve this.

kringled_1 wrote: »

mrLuckyCat wrote: »

The way I would change survey is to make them act like an experience scroll.
You consume the "survey" and for 1 hour you get double drops from the type of survey (mining, wood,...)

They can easily stack that way, you can do them at any location you want and it would be very convenient for console user who can't use adons.

Eww. No. Right now, one survey takes me a minute or two to pick up and I'm up 120—200 of the mat in question. With your idea I'd need to spend much more time on farming nodes to get benefit.

Yeah. No thanks.

Let us send out our companions to gather them for us. Put it on a 15-minute timer, during that time the companion cannot be summoned.

Surveys are the worst system this game has IMO. There are no interactive elements to them, they are just time consuming busy work that is extremely dull.

How about something new? An active "Gathering skills" tree for gathering.

You could have skills such as (Skill names are only examples :P):
1. "Hawkeye" - Skill allowing detection of nearby nodes, one of the morphs could increase the detection range while the other could, for example, refresh the survey - in this way the process would not be fully automatic (to avoid any potential issues with premature reset), yet much more convenient than going back and forth.
2. "Greed of a gatherer" AoE skill that allows you to gather several nodes at once (with a cast time equivalent to the time it would take to gather one node).
3. AoE skill "Enter Sandman" that can only be used in PvE and does not trigger combat, allowing you to gather nodes without fighting.
4. "Make it Before Dusk" which grants Major and Minor Expedition for 60s but is interrupted when in combat (and can't be used in combat).
5. "Transmutation" - allows you to change a node into a different random type of node for 20 seconds, after which the node returns to its original form. One morph could provide higher chances for nodes with clothing, blacksmithing, or woodworking materials, while the other could focus on alchemy, enchanting, and jewelry nodes.

I collect all my surveys and then spend an entire day just doing them all at the end of the month and would gladly buy surveys from players if ZOS allowed that.

johnjetau wrote: »

I collect all my surveys and then spend an entire day just doing them all at the end of the month and would gladly buy surveys from players if ZOS allowed that.

Me too. Enjoy just pootling around doing all surveys, treasure maps and random antiquities.