I attempted to experience the Writhing Fortress but got lost (twice) before Skordo unfriended me

Cat_Sìthe · November 19

I don't use these forums a lot yet, and I don't know where else to post this. Please pay careful attention to the next paragraph and be kind to me. I've had a really rough week.

On 19 November 2025 at approximately 8:15 UTC, I followed Skordo the Knife's quest instructions and approached the Writhing Wall for the Phase 3 part of the Writhing Wall event. I hadn't attempted to get my Wall Breaker title beforehand as I experienced a death in the family on the 11th, and I've been grieving and travelling for the funeral which I attended earlier on in the day (I am explaining this because it will further emphasise why I was even further upset when my gaming experience soured).

I've kept a casual eye on general zone chatter among other players, and I know that the Writhing Fortress has had problems. (Although shout out to [this recent announcement] that explained we can all get 8,000 Seals of Endeavor on Day 1 of December's Daily Login Calendar Rewards as an apology.) Despite my awareness that problems existed, it still didn't prepare me for the emotional heartbreak that I unwittingly stumbled into.

Following the quest marker, I watched Skordo the Knife talk to two unnamed NPCs in a scripted event and was then puzzled when I walked through a short tunnel into Eastern Solstice and didn't see an update to my quest marker's location. I discovered the Grand Juncture Pass Wayshrine as I wandered in an aimless circle before I backtracked and realised there was a portal to the left of the quest marker (that should have really been marked by the quest marker) that I had missed. I entered the portal and emerged inside the Writhing Fortress.

I was then confused for the second time when I encountered Keshu the Black Fin who informed me that I'd missed something, and that I needed to catch up to other players. However, as I wasn't in a group with other people, I didn't understand how I could have possibly missed anything inside the Writhing Fortress as I'd only just arrived. After wandering around confused in an empty landscape for a few minutes, I realised that other players were progressing my quest without me, despite the fact that I wasn't even in a group with anyone! Annoyed that I may have missed NPC dialogue (which is a huge pet peeve of mine), I left the Writhing Fortress and then reentered to see if anything would reset.

Upon entering the Writhing Fortress for the second time, I heard the end of what appeared to be a group of Stirk Fellowship NPCs finishing a scripted event that had started without me. Growing even more annoyed, I left the Writhing Fortress yet again and then abandoned the quest with the intention of restarting it.

I spoke to Skordo the Knife at the foot of the stairway to the Meridian Lens and rapidly went from annoyed to upset when I learned that he suddenly had different dialogue. I felt like he was speaking to me as though I was a stranger, which admittedly especially hurt as I'd just gotten home from my close family member's funeral before signing into ESO. I abandoned the quest for the second time and tried to pick it up from the Crown Store to completely start over. However, I was unable to find the Support the Fellowship quest starter in the Crown Store before the NA Xbox server went down at 9:00 UTC for planned maintenance.

At the time that I'm posting this, the server is still down, and I'm terribly anxious that I'm going to have a repeat negative experience. I don't know if the quest starter has now been removed from the Crown Store or not, and I'm not looking forward to having to time my reentry into the Writhing Fortress (by constantly walking in and out like an idiot) so that I can see the scripted event between the Stirk Fellowship NPCs before other players progress the instance on me. Genuinely, I only want to be able to experience the scripted events that are occurring without me before I run past and try fighting something - like, I wouldn't pay to sit in a movie theatre just to watch only the final quarter of a film. I paid money for this content so that I could get the limited-time only title, and yet I still feel left out.

Ilsabet · November 19

If it helps, I recorded a Fortress run on PTS where I was the first one in and got all the NPC dialogue at the beginning, and I spliced their lines into a visual for posterity:

I hope you're able to get the experience you want in the actual Fortress, but in the event the timing doesn't work out to see everything at the beginning first-hand, hopefully that will fill in the gaps.

And if you don't mind some friendly advice, if you get another instance where you can hear the NPCs talking at the beginning, I'd stay there since you'll get the most action compared to an instance where a bunch of the objectives are done already.

(Also condolences to you and your family.)

Cat_Sìthe · November 19

@Ilsabet Genuinely, thank you so much! Everything in your reply was both helpful and kind (thank you especially for the condolences). I feel a little bit better now that I've read your visual (which was a godsend), and I'm going to follow your advice when I log in again after sleeping. I can't thank you enough!

Now I just have to figure out if I can (and want to) redo the Support the Fellowship quest again, or if I have to settle for Skordo's distant tone.

joshisanonymous · November 19

Yeah, it's not clear at all really at any point. No idea why they have a gap in the wall before you do the fortress that's literally right next to the fortress public dungeon entrance. And I get that having it be a big ongoing event makes it feel more epic, but it's not really clear where you should be going or what you should be doing at any point, so of course you miss the story and NPC instructions, too. Kind of a mess.

Ilsabet · November 19

Cat_Sìthe wrote: »

Now I just have to figure out if I can (and want to) redo the Support the Fellowship quest again, or if I have to settle for Skordo's distant tone.

I would go ahead and do it. The earlier stages are pretty quick to run through, and the reward at the end is a crown which would be nice to have.

Just tell yourself that Skordo is feeling a little addled after trying to coordinate this huge war effort.

shadyjane62 · November 19

Some people never understand how lucky they are.

AcadianPaladin · November 19

I had a gutfull of the confusion/chaos/looking for ballista parts and having no idea what was going on - even though I was not in danger and actually making progress and at some point one of the bosses was killed. Anyway, I decided that playing confused herd ball was no fun and ported out of the dungeon - with no intent to return.

I only do stuff that I find fun and Writhing Fortress did not check that box. No problem, as there is tons of stuff in ESO that I do find fun.

Recent · November 19

I realised that i had tomgomthrough left portal hit some pillons with a ballista, repair it every second use then skordo gave me a prompt to move on. There is a path that you follow and you will see other players there somnot hard to follow the crowd if you get overwhelmed. Then you end up in areas where you need to grapple to get across tomthe othercside and kill,some mobs, eventually you get a big gate o9en and the boss is there, kill mobs, kill boss with ballista and then that side is done...loot chest before you leave. Then you get portal to where you started, then go into the right portal to complete that boss. It takes a while but once you kill the boss on the north side, you will get a complete. Seriuosly just follow the crowd and even if you lag behind there will be another group starting and you can follow them.
It looks daunting cos its so huge in there but soon you realise there are paths that lead to the bosses eventually.

My sinerest condolences for you loss.