AllenaNightWood wrote: »

theres like 5

i actually found that one to be the best one out of all of them

Syldras wrote: »

3rd quest: Help a group of adventurers who got into an argument (to be honest I'm not sure why they needed my help, being adults and most of all adventurers themselves).

Weakest quest for me - drug out way too long for the topic and yes, it was odd that these adventurers who were a party together for years needed us for the role we had.

Malyore wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

Malyore wrote: »

How many quests are there for this? It doesn't seem to be like other holiday events where the quests are random, rather these are set in order. I'm only on the second quest, and I've already abandoned it. I have no interest in dealing with Sanguine.
How many quests are there after the malcontents one? And what rewards are there? I'm debating if I should force myself to participate, probably on a different character, for it to get whatever the rewards are in the quests.

1st quest: Help a theatre group (I enjoyed that one).
2nd quest: Do 3 Sanguine-related tasks, though you have dialogue options to refuse task 1, and can "trick" the npc in task 2 and 3.
3rd quest: Help a group of adventurers who got into an argument (to be honest I'm not sure why they needed my help, being adults and most of all adventurers themselves).
4th quest: "Bring all your learnings back to Kuzam-jo and make a critical decision that will shake the foundations of Tamriel". The "critical decision" is a dialogue option on whether you want to hug the priest or not. That's it.

Rewards were 1 event box each per quest, and perhaps a bit of gold inbetween? I'm not even sure. And at the very end you get an item from the Mara priest which you need for the event achievements. If you want to do those, you have to do all event quests for that item.

I may try to do this on another character, just to get a giant khajiit hug...

I assume the hug isn't even gonna be that rewarding with 50 players swarming around him with their pets, companions, VFX, etc. taking away from any moment that is supposed to be appreciated in this narrative.

Hug bugged out for me and nothing happened. Just stared in place and then I got the arrow and the quest was over. Can't rehug either.

Not sure if it was because the game couldn't handle 1000 people in the same spot, but yeah...nothing.

Malyore wrote: »

Doesn't tricking the NPC in the 2nd quest require theft?

Yes, you need to steal a bottle of wine for that. So no option for absolutely non-criminal characters, sadly.

Malyore wrote: »

But I really thought the quests were gonna be more related to our own companions, considering they were the forefront of the advertising for the event.

It's a pity. Some event boxes drop gifts we can give to our companions, but (apart from raising disposition a bit) only the purple-quality gifts will trigger a reaction (you'll find a letter in your mailbox), all other ones cause no reaction at all - not even some emote - there's only one line of text showing up on the screen that the companion "appreciated your gift". But the letter I got from Azandar was nice, at least! Edit to clarify: It's no game item, no furnishing or so, but only a text message among the other in-game mail. Also it will self-delete after a month

Malyore wrote: »

That item and the achievements, does it do anything? Or is it just for the additional letters and numbers to be tucked away into the journal menu?

I don't think it does anything. It glows when used. There's text that says it might have some "special reaction" when used at the correct locations (which I assume are the ones from the achievement list?), but I didn't see anything. Maybe it's bugged or the server was overcrowded, so the "special animation" (what ever it might be) didn't show.

Oh, and the achievements earn you 1 event box each per achievement. But I don't think those differ from the other event boxes you can also get through killing bosses and such.

AScarlato wrote: »

Didn't know there were letters - I only got one blue gift for Isobel who I don't use.
Are they house items as well like the other companion letter you get when you finish their quests, or just a game mail?

Only in-game mail like the hirelings letters. Including that 28-day deletion timer, or how long it was, sadly!

I wish those letters were actually housing items!

😮‍💨

I can see the glimmer of improvements in these quests, considering the last new content I played was Gold Road. But a lot of it still feels like it hasn't been thought through.

Malyore wrote: »

I guess it's an accurate description of doing random dailies– everyone splits off at a minor inconvenience.

The strangest thing is that those characters are supposed to be old friends. Who'd end a decades-long friendship over such trivial "problems"?

Malyore wrote: »

Happy Heart's Week everyone!

Happy Heart's Week!

Which reminds me: I still need to get a gift for Master Gothren. Moustache wax, perhaps.

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

The adventurer party quest was terrible and felt like such a sorry excuse of a quest. Why am I there and helping them, why are they not doing these things themselves and talking like adults, especially when they are supposed to be guild friends or something who has known eachother for a long time.

They even said tank in dialogue!

It really was a missed moment to show genuine heart and comradery for the event, and for players to exercise choice in different dialogue. Maybe someone is more of a talker and mediates them to see each others side and trust again without the items, or maybe someone would rather just grab items to "fix" the situation. Or maybe we could actually be allowed to fail a quest for once due to choices, especially quests as trivial as this.

I know my reaction was wanting to intimidate them into just being quiet and getting over it. Imagine how much better they'd get along when they have a common irritant (or threat) from the player; They decide to leave together, the quest fails, and the mara priest is disheartened that we weren't in the spirit of the holiday. He offers us a hug to try to open our heart.

I would welcome "bad" choices that aren't always successful. Especially when there is something as dynamic as a friendship amongst four being destabilized as the core of the quest. Let it feel alive.

AScarlato wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

The adventurer party quest was terrible and felt like such a sorry excuse of a quest. Why am I there and helping them, why are they not doing these things themselves and talking like adults, especially when they are supposed to be guild friends or something who has known eachother for a long time.

They even said tank in dialogue!

I think it was an attempt to break the 4th wall and try to mimic how some players behave.

But overall, it fell flat for me. The quest meandered and was way too long for these incredibly uninteresting characters I couldn't care less about. Having updates like "go find our friend while we stand around doing nothing" was a bit eye-rolling.

That this quest came right after the potentially more interesting Sanguine quest really made the difference worse.

The sanguine one I also couldn't care less about and wanted to banish Samara. I'm here to celebrate love and my companion, not daedric princes. It was a bad choice to make that mandatory.

AScarlato wrote: »

Malyore wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

The adventurer party quest was terrible and felt like such a sorry excuse of a quest. Why am I there and helping them, why are they not doing these things themselves and talking like adults, especially when they are supposed to be guild friends or something who has known eachother for a long time.

They even said tank in dialogue!

I think it was an attempt to break the 4th wall and try to mimic how some players behave.

But overall, it fell flat for me. The quest meandered and was way too long for these incredibly uninteresting characters I couldn't care less about. Having updates like "go find our friend while we stand around doing nothing" was a bit eye-rolling.

That this quest came right after the potentially more interesting Sanguine quest really made the difference worse.

The sanguine one I also couldn't care less about and wanted to banish Samara. I'm here to celebrate love and my companion, not daedric princes. It was a bad choice to make that mandatory.

I'm honestly glad they had the Sanguine quest - not just because of the history of the holiday in lore, but also because not everyone plays "good" characters that solely care about Mara/love & friendship.

It would have been nice for some alignment options where you could more meaningfully thwart Samara if you don't like her, or help her cause trouble for the NPCs the Mara Priest wanted to help if you wanted to align more with Sanguine.

Exactly. Player choice is paramount. It is cool that they have the quest for those who want it, but it is the mandatory nature that is defeating to the game's playability, in my opinion.

I have a character who is morally gray, but simply hates the daedra and wants nothing to do with them.
I also have a character who is evil and would have drenched all of belkarth in a sanguine hue, if given the chance.
It's frustrating that I have to completely exclude my main character from a quest, just in order to both respect them and play the game. Rather, if they had options, both characters could partake and I would even WANT to do so in order to see the quest progression in multiple styles.

And yes, I'm sure there are good characters for others, but this is difficult to gauge the range of, as ESO usually also makes doing the "good" thing mandatory as well.
So yes, while the inclusion is nice, that's not necessarily the heart of the historic fuss from players.

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

Malyore wrote: »

AScarlato wrote: »

NotaDaedraWorshipper wrote: »

The adventurer party quest was terrible and felt like such a sorry excuse of a quest. Why am I there and helping them, why are they not doing these things themselves and talking like adults, especially when they are supposed to be guild friends or something who has known eachother for a long time.

They even said tank in dialogue!

I think it was an attempt to break the 4th wall and try to mimic how some players behave.

But overall, it fell flat for me. The quest meandered and was way too long for these incredibly uninteresting characters I couldn't care less about. Having updates like "go find our friend while we stand around doing nothing" was a bit eye-rolling.

That this quest came right after the potentially more interesting Sanguine quest really made the difference worse.

The sanguine one I also couldn't care less about and wanted to banish Samara. I'm here to celebrate love and my companion, not daedric princes. It was a bad choice to make that mandatory.

Even as someone who likes daedric princes, with Sanguine being one of my favourites I loathed this as much as the Jester Festival one. Princes should be used sparingly and with a certain seriousness, impact or subtlety, because of what they are imo. Yes, even "sillier" ones, because they aren't silly little beans, they are eldrich beings from before mortal time. Their cultists and people who worship them can appear instead, although those I would also be done well and not scream I'm an evil cultist, look I worship Hermeus Mora my robe is covered in eyeballs. Instead of just wearing a normal robe or clothing.

It's like how no DnD is better than bad DnD. I rather have no portrayal over bad portrayal.

Yeah, the writing is still definitely very weak.

I liked the setup for the quest with the adventuring guild, it's exactly the kind of problem real groups have sometimes.

I agree that the quest went on too long though. Once you resolved the first problem they should have been able to handle the rest themselves. I get that the crafter didn't want to tell the others the materials got lost, but he should have been able to go looking for them himself, and it really made no sense that they'd send you to find their lost friend instead of going themselves.

I thought the dialogue was fine, but I'd have prefered a series of quests (maybe daily ones) where they have a new problem each day and invite you to join in with solving it, rather than one long series of them not talking to each other.

emilyhyoyeon wrote: »

I only liked the 4th quest giving Kuzam-jo a hug, to be honest. But other than the quests I love the reward boxes and the cute companion gifts.

The Sanguine one would've been good as a holiday quest if there were proper refusal options for each of the three tasks for characters who don't want to entertain Sanguine at all despite Kuzam-jo's encouragement. Although I still take issue with the use of the daedric deities in these contexts, at all, for the exact reasons @ NotaDaedraWorshipper mentions above.

And as a side: I get that the Heart's Week festivity came from Sanguine's worshipping day and stuff or whatever, but I still don't understand why this means he would be involved now, specifically in the way that the Priest of Mara wants us to interact with it. Really knowing what Sanguine is, it's just not believable to me that an aedric priest would, after bringing this to their attention, be like "I won't pretend to be familiar with his traditions, or those that Samara plans to perform with you, but I trust your judgment. After all, Hearts Week is open to both friends and fiends alike". Sanguine is not Dibella, and it feels like he's being treated that way in the lore as of late.
The only daedric sphere I could see anyone being this chill about in this kind of context would be Azura.

Honestly as a RPer in a Mara-themed guild, I was shocked that the priest was written to have that reaction personally. The quest paths should there have diverged and ended differently depending on which side you chose to adhere to IMO.

emilyhyoyeon wrote: »

I only liked the 4th quest giving Kuzam-jo a hug, to be honest. But other than the quests I love the reward boxes and the cute companion gifts.

The Sanguine one would've been good as a holiday quest if there were proper refusal options for each of the three tasks for characters who don't want to entertain Sanguine at all despite Kuzam-jo's encouragement. Although I still take issue with the use of the daedric deities in these contexts, at all, for the exact reasons @ NotaDaedraWorshipper mentions above.

And as a side: I get that the Heart's Week festivity came from Sanguine's worshipping day and stuff or whatever, but I still don't understand why this means he would be involved now, specifically in the way that the Priest of Mara wants us to interact with it. Really knowing what Sanguine is, it's just not believable to me that an aedric priest would, after bringing this to their attention, be like "I won't pretend to be familiar with his traditions, or those that Samara plans to perform with you, but I trust your judgment. After all, Hearts Week is open to both friends and fiends alike". Sanguine is not Dibella, and it feels like he's being treated that way in the lore as of late.
The only daedric sphere I could see anyone being this chill about in this kind of context would be Azura.

This is one reason I thought it would'be been better if Samara didn't exist, just a couple of Mara priests, and one of them giving the quest would actually be a Sanguine cultist. Then it would make sense for him to be all "Oh it's no big deal, it's all part of Heart's Day, as long as no one is really harmed I trust your judgement" thing he has going on. As it is now it should've split into two or three paths where one is to completely refuse anything to do with Sanguine no matter how harmless it seems.

But this is not the first time we have weird and frankly bad writing regarding Divines and Prince worship lately, some of the latest is even again related to Sanguine, albeit Sanguine and Dibella instead of Mara. Which is on Solstice, where the Dibella worshippers are behaving extremely puritan and consider even some mild drinking and partying horrible, and the Sanguine worshippers just want to drink a little and have a mild party. Like the issue is the moderate drinking, not anything daedric. It was all rather soapboxy (which apparently happens more than once in solstice's quests).