Infinite Archive Update

Cloudtrader · January 10

Hello fellow adventurers in Tamriel! I'd like to discuss the Infinite Archive.

I really love IA as a feature. I do it usually a few times a week for a few arcs. I also love the rotating vendor from Filer Ool (thank you to @Maitsukas for the weekly updates on this vendor every Tuesday). IA is a great place to grind some EXP for your Companions, to test builds and skill set-ups, or to just have fun fighting while earning Fortunes.

However, it hasn't been refreshed in awhile. I have gotten every collectible, achievement, set piece, and lead in IA on two servers (PCEU and PCNA). I'm hoping for a few more collectibles, maybe some more leads, possibly some new furnishing recipes, and definitely the 3rd class set for each class will come soon! I was a bit sad that they didn't mention any such refresh in the recent stream, but there's always hope they'll be added.

Please chime in here with what you'd like to see added to IA. Different level designs? More Marauders? New types of NPCs to fight? More collectibles? More leads? More furnishings? More set pieces? A new mechanic? More achievements? Different side room mini-games?

I also understand some people loathe IA and don't want any of this. You may, of course, express your opinion here, too.

Treeshka · January 10

I would love if IA can pull levels from already existing locations in the game.
Imagine while you are doing Arc 5-2-1 you are in Sunport, and then in Arc 5-2-2 you are in the back streets of Wayrest. Then so on. This would change the repetitiveness of the arena.

Erickson9610 · January 10

Most of all, I want the 3rd Class Set to be introduced through here.

Cooperharley · January 10

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Most of all, I want the 3rd Class Set to be introduced through here.

As long as it's actually good, thematic, and fun to use, unlike a vast majority of the currently introduced sets. I'd love for them to take the current ones back to the drawing board too.

SkaiFaith · January 10

Treeshka wrote: »

I would love if IA can pull levels from already existing locations in the game.
Imagine while you are doing Arc 5-2-1 you are in Sunport, and then in Arc 5-2-2 you are in the back streets of Wayrest. Then so on. This would change the repetitiveness of the arena.

Agree. Since its inception I lamented that I would have preferred if the landscapes in IA were taken from other regions, and I don't mean closed ones but open-sky ones, as you suggested. Would love to see this.

As for adding drops - I have all achievements but I am still sooo behind with leads; I think I got all of them 1 time; 2 times the two crafting stations; but still far away from completing codex. And I am extremely behind with outfit styles. So increasing the rewards' pool doesn't sound like a good idea to me, tbh...

Soarora · January 10

I’m still trudging through collecting the sets so I really would not like the next sets to come out until after the classes get redone (and then can go back and reevaluate the existing sets as well).

I really want some way to save arcs, even if there’s a limit on how long you can save it (like a week). Even if it’s only for solo runs.

More quests in there could be nice too for reducing the grind of trying to get all the sets.

SilverBride · January 10

I want a save or I will never be able to see the higher levels. It's too tiring and unhealthy to sit for hours at a time.

Necrotech_Master · January 10

they usually do the updates fairly regularly, i think its only been about a year or so since they added the 2nd series of class sets

i would like to see more arenas and enemy groups though, but i understand they rotate updates between systems (scribing also seriously needs to be expanded too)

Decimus · January 10

What Infinite Archive needs the most is progression saving...

Pushing for #1 scores can be very unhealthy when you're forced to sit there for 13+ hours since your instance will just reset while you're resting.

Cloudtrader · January 11

Treeshka wrote: »

I would love if IA can pull levels from already existing locations in the game.
Imagine while you are doing Arc 5-2-1 you are in Sunport, and then in Arc 5-2-2 you are in the back streets of Wayrest. Then so on. This would change the repetitiveness of the arena.

I really like that idea! But, in keeping with the theme of IA, the "Sunport" of IA should be OFF. Like, a description in a book, so weirdly tilted from the "reality" of the actual Sunport.

Cloudtrader · January 11

SkaiFaith wrote: »

As for adding drops - I have all achievements but I am still sooo behind with leads; I think I got all of them 1 time; 2 times the two crafting stations; but still far away from completing codex. And I am extremely behind with outfit styles. So increasing the rewards' pool doesn't sound like a good idea to me, tbh...

I understand your point, but to contrast it... I have the full codex of everything in IA on both servers, and also half a dozen of each crafting station and the mythic. Therefore, I must respectfully disagree that increasing the rewards pool would be a bad idea. Maybe some sort of weighted drop system? Like, spend 1,000 fortunes at the beginning of a run to increase the drop chance of a category of items? Would be another way to spend fortunes, thus incentivizing running IA more and also allowing people who dislike IA to focus on precisely what they want out of it.

I would also like it if they added more outfit styles to IA. Battlegrounds keep getting more, so why not IA, too? They don't necessarily have all be based on the class set, either, in my opinion.

Soarora wrote: »

I’m still trudging through collecting the sets so I really would not like the next sets to come out until after the classes get redone (and then can go back and reevaluate the existing sets as well).

You're probably right in that they shouldn't add more until after the class refresh, but ughhhh, that's going to take so long! Boo.

DenverRalphy · January 11

If there's ever a 3rd class set, I'd much rather it dropped somewhere other than IA.

Farming out 2 class sets for all 3 weights for every class takes entirely too long. Add a 3rd class set from the same source, and the time investment for any player starting fresh would just be absurd. Not to mention, I'd much rather new class sets be stylized in somehting other than apocrypha/necrom style.

I'm all for a 3rd crack at class sets. Just puhleaz make it available from anywhere that's not IA.

Cloudtrader · January 11

DenverRalphy wrote: »

If there's ever a 3rd class set, I'd much rather it dropped somewhere other than IA.

Farming out 2 class sets for all 3 weights for every class takes entirely too long. Add a 3rd class set from the same source, and the time investment for any player starting fresh would just be absurd. Not to mention, I'd much rather new class sets be stylized in somehting other than apocrypha/necrom style.

I'm all for a 3rd crack at class sets. Just puhleaz make it available from anywhere that's not IA.

I disagree. I don't think farming IA is really much different than farming a full stickerbook from a trial, and people do that all the time. It's about 2.5x more items right now, but without the hassle of having other people to help, so it evens out. Another set for each class would be 36x7 more items. But, if you farm on the class you want the set on, it really does happen quite fast.

Everyone has activities they enjoy or don't in the game, and they must each have incentives for people to do them. I have had the full sticker book, full codex, and all the collectibles from IA on two servers for many months now. I'd really like more incentives to do it, because it is a mode I enjoy.

I do think there should be more class sets from other places! I do still hope they add one more for each class to IA, too.

tsaescishoeshiner · January 12

They need to add a way to jump ahead a few Arcs for better difficulty/rewards. Maybe with a token, and you can share it with a friend.

I don't have time or interest to slog through Arcs 1-5 until it actually starts being somewhat of a challenge and rewarding for me.

If I want to do a dungeon, I don't need to complete it on normal, then veteran, then hardmode all in one sitting. I wish the Archive didn't make the first several Arcs mandatory.

Gabriel_H · January 12

I'm not a fan of the Arena format. I find them dull. IA is the best of a bad lot. Just saying that upfront.

That said, I'm close to finsihing farming the last of the class sets, at which point the only reason I will need to go back to IA is to farm AFs so I can buy the various things in Ool's rotation - mainly furnishing plans and lorebooks.

With the Gold Coast Bazaar coming, will Ool effectively be obsolete? If so, I suspect IA will become another piece of content that drops from a lot of players play-rotation.

Of course Tomes will probably be used to "force" players to engage with some of the obsolete content, at which point some extra shiny like another class set would help balance out the monotony.

Thumbless_Bot · January 12

IA is the best pve content they have ever added to the game.

The literal only gripe I have is that the one marauder is too strong... the one with the axes. Small gripe.

I would love to see more transformation avatars... maybe around class. Warden seems to be covered by the ice one but not the others.

The first time I ever made it to the end of arc 4 I happened to have the ice avatar on my warden. That was a truly awesome gaming moment for me. I wish I had recorded it.

LunaFlora · January 12

i wish we had the option to skip Stages and only do the Cycle boss fights in-between Tho'at

Maitsukas · January 12

There are a few things I'd like to see added:

Voskrona Colossal Avatar from the Solstice Storyline.
Add the Captain Kaleen and Card Conjuring Fragments to Filer Ool's rotation, since the drop rates for those are basically non-existant.
Return the Tales of Tribute Clues to Filer Ool for the players that haven't had any luck with those as well, they were removed from rotation after U43 launched on all platforms.

PathosDante · January 12

LunaFlora wrote: »

i wish we had the option to skip Stages and only do the Cycle boss fights in-between Tho'at

The stages are fun. Boss fights aren't a problem in the later arcs.

LunaFlora · January 12

PathosDante wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

i wish we had the option to skip Stages and only do the Cycle boss fights in-between Tho'at

The stages are fun. Boss fights aren't a problem in the later arcs.

to me, the person who you are responding to, the Stages are not fun and harder than Cycle bosses.
especially in arc 2+.

PathosDante · January 12

LunaFlora wrote: »

PathosDante wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

i wish we had the option to skip Stages and only do the Cycle boss fights in-between Tho'at

The stages are fun. Boss fights aren't a problem in the later arcs.

to me, the person who you are responding to, the Stages are not fun and harder than Cycle bosses.
especially in arc 2+.

The fact that it's challenging is already fun ^_^

Cloudtrader · January 14

Maitsukas wrote: »

There are a few things I'd like to see added:
Voskrona Colossal Avatar from the Solstice Storyline.

Add the Captain Kaleen and Card Conjuring Fragments to Filer Ool's rotation, since the drop rates for those are basically non-existant.

Return the Tales of Tribute Clues to Filer Ool for the players that haven't had any luck with those as well, they were removed from rotation after U43 launched on all platforms.

Yes, please! All of those are awesome suggestions for additions.

Soarora · January 14

LunaFlora wrote: »

PathosDante wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

i wish we had the option to skip Stages and only do the Cycle boss fights in-between Tho'at

The stages are fun. Boss fights aren't a problem in the later arcs.

to me, the person who you are responding to, the Stages are not fun and harder than Cycle bosses.
especially in arc 2+.

Agreeing with LunaFlora here, the stages are not fun and usually the cause of me dying. The only part I actually enjoy doing in IA is the cycle bosses because I like guessing where the boss originated from and seeing how ZOS has adapted the mechanics. The cycles feel like a slog. 2/3 through arc 1 I start wondering “can I be done yet?”

LunaFlora · January 14

PathosDante wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

PathosDante wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

i wish we had the option to skip Stages and only do the Cycle boss fights in-between Tho'at

The stages are fun. Boss fights aren't a problem in the later arcs.

to me, the person who you are responding to, the Stages are not fun and harder than Cycle bosses.
especially in arc 2+.

The fact that it's challenging is already fun ^_^

please just read my words and understand we are not the same people.

katanagirl1 · January 17

I ran the IA for an arc or two to get enough Fortunes to buy most of the upgrades and a few leads. I don’t enjoy the content and it’s just a means to an end for me. I don’t really have much of the gear or style pages and I only have one codex entry to the leads. I’m rather happy they haven’t updated it recently. I haven’t run it in months and I can’t really stomach having to go back and do it ever again if I need more Fortunes.

richo262 · January 17

I want IA to drop items from Arenas. Not the end weapons such as Masters / Maelstrom gear.

I'm referring to the Footman and Para Bellum etc sets that are a pain in the ass to get for little reward. Even if there is a requirement for the player to have the achievement for veteran completion of the arena before they enter the loot table.

These sets are no greater or worse than standard overland sets, they are just a pain to collect. I'm only missing items from Maelstrom, and I would have easily had them all collected by now if the collection system existed years prior.

Orbital78 · January 17

I'd like the class sets rebalanced, bugs fixed, and then maybe a double currency event. I haven't touched the place in almost a year because of the bugs.

Ilumia · January 17

I really like IA, and play it, preferably with someone else, when I have time.
I do feel like it's missing an update though, and I'd be especially interested in earning a new permanent boost. It could be 1 free reroll of visions per arc for instance, or the ability to block one vision for a run, and another ability to block a verse for a run. Anything is welcome though.

Thumbless_Bot · January 17

Maybe another powerful stacking perk like focused efforts for non-status effect game play. Maybe something that works like dragon's appetite and increases damage done and applies a heal , both stacking five times.

Maybe make it a decision point, fe or da, but only one path because both would be very strong.

Cloudtrader · January 19

Orbital78 wrote: »

I'd like the class sets rebalanced, bugs fixed, and then maybe a double currency event. I haven't touched the place in almost a year because of the bugs.

Oh, I really like the idea of a double currency event! Maybe if they do an even for the Ithelia story line (like they recently did for the Daderic War story line) they could incentivize IA with a double currency event and/or a double drops event. Or perhaps they could do random weekend events for it, like they do for Battlegrounds?

AzuraFan · January 19

SilverBride wrote: »

I want a save or I will never be able to see the higher levels. It's too tiring and unhealthy to sit for hours at a time.

Same. I like the IA, but the only update I care about right now is a save feature.