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Scrying and Excavating Takes Too Long to Level Up
PhxOldGamer68
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When I started the game, I found gold and purple leads. I’m CP 255 now and have 22 purple and 20 gold leads. That’s ridiculous. Leads should be based on level. I should only be getting green and blue. Not fair to watch the purple and gold leads expire before I can get to the skill level.
PSN NA/EU: DesertDweller99
PC NA: KaktusKing
PC NA: KaktusKing
5
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DrMedBorn✭✭✭its fine. Just level it up to level 5-7 in artaeum with scrolls and then do the better leads in the world7 -
Eskibidus✭✭✭They already increased gold leads duration by a lot. Just level it once and never think about it ever again.🤡4 -
Malyore✭✭✭✭✭
✭They already increased gold leads duration by a lot. Just level it once and never think about it ever again.
Except that the passive to better see treasure chests is also in the line. It's very useful for any character who is often in dungeons and trials. Otherwise I would just level it once3 -
DenverRalphy✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Purple and Gold leads expiration timers have already been increased to 8 months - 1 year. How long would one need?
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Deserrick✭✭✭Yes; since achievements no longer contribute to levelling the skill line, the gain from excavating should be increased to compensate.4 -
Oblivion_Protocol✭✭✭✭✭
✭It really doesn’t take that long considering how easy it is. And you only need to do it on one toon. If you want the treasure chest passive on another toon, just buy the skill token.1 -
AcadianPaladin✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭While the ideas here to make leveling scrying/excavation a bit less painful are indeed welcome and helpful, I agree with OP that both skills level too slowly.PC NA(no Steam), PvE, mostly solo3 -
Vonnegut2506✭✭✭✭✭
✭AcadianPaladin wrote: »While the ideas here to make leveling scrying/excavation a bit less painful are indeed welcome and helpful, I agree with OP that both skills level too slowly.
I honestly wouldn't care how long they take to level if they would just move the treasure chest passive to level 2 so I didn't have to keep constantly leveling any character that does dungeons. It's not like I need multiple characters able to scry and excavate, but that passive is pretty nice.4 -
spartaxoxo✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭AcadianPaladin wrote: »While the ideas here to make leveling scrying/excavation a bit less painful are indeed welcome and helpful, I agree with OP that both skills level too slowly.
Yeah. I agree. It doesn't need to be done all in one day. But they never rebalanced it after things changed with AWA and now it takes too long.
Not the same situation but similarly the drop rates for ToT stuff is too low. They nerfed the boxes like 3 times because people were getting too many. But then also rebalanced the NPCs so it wasn't as easy to defeat them instantly. But they never unnerfed the boxes. The drop rates still seem to assume you can get a box like every 1-2 minutes when it's more like 10. So, the rewards went from feeling on par with other parts of the game to completely terrible. And they never fixed it.Edited by spartaxoxo on April 10, 2026 12:37AM4 -
DenverRalphy✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭DenverRalphy wrote: »
Certain Antiquities achievements, like Scrying Initiate
That achievement contributes nothing to leveling scrying. You get the achievement along the way while leveling it, but it in no way contributes to leveling it.
Edited by DenverRalphy on April 10, 2026 1:47AM0 -
Deserrick✭✭✭DenverRalphy wrote: »DenverRalphy wrote: »
Certain Antiquities achievements, like Scrying Initiate
That achievement contributes nothing to leveling scrying. You get the achievement along the way while leveling it, but it in no way contributes to leveling it.
It used to.3 -
DenverRalphy✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭AcadianPaladin wrote: »While the ideas here to make leveling scrying/excavation a bit less painful are indeed welcome and helpful, I agree with OP that both skills level too slowly.
FWIW, since the scrying reputation points come from digging them up, you can scry leads on one toon, and excavate with another. And it's easy to excavate digsites 1 rank above your scrying rank. (ie.. if your scrying rank allows scrying blue leads, you can excavate purple leads)
I've used this method to speed up leveling scrying and excavation on some of my alts.1 -
PeacefulAnarchy✭✭✭✭✭
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When the achievements were per character they did contribute to leveling scrying and excavation.DenverRalphy wrote: »DenverRalphy wrote: »
Certain Antiquities achievements, like Scrying Initiate
That achievement contributes nothing to leveling scrying. You get the achievement along the way while leveling it, but it in no way contributes to leveling it.
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Alastrine✭✭✭✭Why does everyone want everything to be fast and easy. Level characters fast, level this fast, that takes too long.... it's an MMO and things - or at least some things - should be a bit of a grind imo. There are other games that provide the quick easy fix, top level in everything almost immediately, etc. This is not that kind of game and I hope it never is.
Antiquities is not much of a grind compared to other things and you can do it when you want, no big deal. Unless you want to be top level in a blink and want the mythic pieces. Welp, that takes a bit of time. And that's ok
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zaria✭✭✭✭✭
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Agree, now if its the fist time I would start in artaeum until you can do purple, then do all the zones 3 times to get the purple one. Once you get gold I go to hollow city pick flowers until you get the gold lead, dig up that, repeat until 10.AcadianPaladin wrote: »While the ideas here to make leveling scrying/excavation a bit less painful are indeed welcome and helpful, I agree with OP that both skills level too slowly.
Save the purples in zones for alts who you want to level so they get the treasure chest passive.
Grinding just make you go in circles.
Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.0 -
daim✭✭✭✭✭Gotta be honest, scrying grind is tedious. Especially if you're doing it more than once to get the treasure hunter passive. Almost as bad as companion rapport (which I haven't even bothered and I suspect only a small part of player base have them maxed out).""I am that which grips the heart in fright, hearkens night and silences the light." It was written on my sword, long…long ago." ―Ajunta Pall
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frogthroat✭✭✭✭✭
✭You have a year to do those purple and gold ones. You need rank 5 to do the purple ones.
- Until rank 3 - go to Artaeum and dig up 20 green things. (Green gives you 1 point. 20 is needed for rank 3.)
- Rank 3 until 5 - still in Artaeum, dig green, then blue 18 times. (blue gives you 3 points. 70 is needed from rank 3 to rank 5.)
- Rank 5: dig one last time green -> blue -> purple. Purple Zone antiquity comes only one time. No point continuing here further.
- Rank 5: go and dig those purple ones in your list if you like. Purples give you 5 points.
- Rank 5: go zone by zone digging green -> blue -> purple, switch zones. You get 8 points per zone this way. From rank 5 to rank 10 you need 610 points. So yeah, doing zones once is not enough so also shorten your list in the mean time.
Why Artaeum at first? No enemies, small size so even if you don't get all nodes during scrying, it's not far to ride from a spot to spot.0 -
frogthroat✭✭✭✭✭
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No. XP scrolls don't help with point based levelling, like Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, Undaunted, Scrying, Excavation. Or progress based, like Soul Magic. Or things that require other kind of points like Alliance War (where you need AP instead of XP).rockDokRock wrote: »Do XP scrolls count with scrying?
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LatentBuzzard✭✭✭✭frogthroat wrote: »You have a year to do those purple and gold ones.
Only if they have ESO+, otherwise it's 120 days for purple leads and 180 days for gold leads.
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rockDokRock✭✭✭frogthroat wrote: »
No. XP scrolls don't help with point based levelling, like Fighters Guild, Mages Guild, Undaunted, Scrying, Excavation. Or progress based, like Soul Magic. Or things that require other kind of points like Alliance War (where you need AP instead of XP).rockDokRock wrote: »Do XP scrolls count with scrying?
That's what I thought. The post I replied to was implying it did so just checking. I would be kicking myself if that was true!0 -
Malyore✭✭✭✭✭
✭Why does everyone want everything to be fast and easy. Level characters fast, level this fast, that takes too long.... it's an MMO and things - or at least some things - should be a bit of a grind imo. There are other games that provide the quick easy fix, top level in everything almost immediately, etc. This is not that kind of game and I hope it never is.
Antiquities is not much of a grind compared to other things and you can do it when you want, no big deal. Unless you want to be top level in a blink and want the mythic pieces. Welp, that takes a bit of time. And that's ok
I've already been playing this game for several years. Why would I want every step for a thing that I have already done and spent so much time on to continue to keep taking forever?
We also have lives to participate in outside of MMOs.
I'm not going to redo all of the psijic, legerdemain, scrying, mages guild, etc lines whenever I decide to have another character that is used just to run a 10 minute daily dungeon before logging out. Or to log in on only when I decide to run an occasional trial with a guild.
What value do you see in making things unnecessarily slow to repeat something that has already been achieved and earned?Edited by Malyore on April 10, 2026 4:29PM5 -
redlink1979✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Eyevea is the best place to level up scrying and digging, you just need to complete the Mages Guild quest line to access it."Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear"- Sons of the Night Mother | VforVendetta | Grownups Gaming EU | English Elders [PS][EU] 2500 CP
- Daggerfall's Mightiest | Eternal Champions | Legacy | Tamriel Melting Pot [PS][NA] 2300 CP
- SweetTrolls | Spring Rose | Daggerfall Royal Legion | Tinnitus Delux [PC][EU] 2525 CP
- Bacon Rats | Silverlight Brotherhood | Canis Root Tea Party | Vincula Doloris [PC][NA] 2300 CP
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Alastrine✭✭✭✭Why does everyone want everything to be fast and easy. Level characters fast, level this fast, that takes too long.... it's an MMO and things - or at least some things - should be a bit of a grind imo. There are other games that provide the quick easy fix, top level in everything almost immediately, etc. This is not that kind of game and I hope it never is.
Antiquities is not much of a grind compared to other things and you can do it when you want, no big deal. Unless you want to be top level in a blink and want the mythic pieces. Welp, that takes a bit of time. And that's ok
I've already been playing this game for several years. Why would I want every step for a thing that I have already done and spent so much time on to continue to keep taking forever?
We also have lives to participate in outside of MMOs.
I'm not going to redo all of the psijic, legerdemain, scrying, mages guild, etc lines whenever I decide to have another character that is used just to run a 10 minute daily dungeon before logging out. Or to log in on only when I decide to run an occasional trial with a guild.
What value do you see in making things unnecessarily slow to repeat something that has already been achieved and earned?
My first thought would be why would you level it up on every character? The leads are account wide, any character can do them... I have 14 accounts but only one character on each of them is levelled up in scrying. I'd never bother doing another one in each of them anyway, there's no point.
Same if I had a character that only runs a dungeon. I have ones that only do the crafting writs - they are levelled in crafting but I don't worry about anything else.
Of course we have lives outside of MMOs. Please don't insinuate that those that don't mind the grind don't.
If you are stressing about levelling up your MMO and letting it interfere with your offline life then I'd say give up your MMO lol.1 -
My first thought would be why would you level it up on every character? The leads are account wide, any character can do them... I have 14 accounts but only one character on each of them is levelled up in scrying. I'd never bother doing another one in each of them anyway, there's no point.
I'm not the person you're replying to there, but there is a very valid reason to level up each character to at least level 7 in Excavation: the Keen Eyes: Treasure Chest passive. Please remember, while PC has had add-ons for years to help with things like finding chests, Consoles have only recently gotten add-ons and even now they are only available if you have a latest Gen console. Based on console sales numbers, I'd guess at least half the console population is still on older Gen consoles.
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Malyore✭✭✭✭✭
✭Why does everyone want everything to be fast and easy. Level characters fast, level this fast, that takes too long.... it's an MMO and things - or at least some things - should be a bit of a grind imo. There are other games that provide the quick easy fix, top level in everything almost immediately, etc. This is not that kind of game and I hope it never is.
Antiquities is not much of a grind compared to other things and you can do it when you want, no big deal. Unless you want to be top level in a blink and want the mythic pieces. Welp, that takes a bit of time. And that's ok
I've already been playing this game for several years. Why would I want every step for a thing that I have already done and spent so much time on to continue to keep taking forever?
We also have lives to participate in outside of MMOs.
I'm not going to redo all of the psijic, legerdemain, scrying, mages guild, etc lines whenever I decide to have another character that is used just to run a 10 minute daily dungeon before logging out. Or to log in on only when I decide to run an occasional trial with a guild.
What value do you see in making things unnecessarily slow to repeat something that has already been achieved and earned?
My first thought would be why would you level it up on every character?
...
If you are stressing about levelling up your MMO and letting it interfere with your offline life then I'd say give up your MMO lol.
What do you mean? All of those skill lines have valuable uses– especially in content where others are relying to some degree on you.
Being able to spot a hidden master treasure chest can save a lot of effort if you're after gear, too.
And no, I don't stress about leveling up lines again all over in this game, because I don't waste my time with doing so. I've already done it and had my fun. Why would I allow it to interfere with my life? It's precisely because I have things to do that I'm not able/willing to go through the super long grinds over and over and over again.
What is your answer to my question in the post you quoted?1 -
allochthons✭✭✭✭✭
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This. I'm on playstation. I've leveled 19 characters to at least 7 (Keen Eye I) and most are at 9-10 (Keen Eye II unlocks at 9). Now that I can access the add-on that shows chest spawn points, I feel a bit stupid having spent that time, but I'm very glad I didn't spend the money to buy the skill-line. I think I bought it on 1 character.FlamesOfLife wrote: »I'm not the person you're replying to there, but there is a very valid reason to level up each character to at least level 7 in Excavation: the Keen Eyes: Treasure Chest passive. Please remember, while PC has had add-ons for years to help with things like finding chests, Consoles have only recently gotten add-ons and even now they are only available if you have a latest Gen console. Based on console sales numbers, I'd guess at least half the console population is still on older Gen consoles.
She/They
PS5/NA (CP3100+)0 -
Malyore✭✭✭✭✭
✭allochthons wrote: »
This. I'm on playstation. I've leveled 19 characters to at least 7 (Keen Eye I) and most are at 9-10 (Keen Eye II unlocks at 9). Now that I can access the add-on that shows chest spawn points, I feel a bit stupid having spent that time, but I'm very glad I didn't spend the money to buy the skill-line. I think I bought it on 1 character.FlamesOfLife wrote: »I'm not the person you're replying to there, but there is a very valid reason to level up each character to at least level 7 in Excavation: the Keen Eyes: Treasure Chest passive. Please remember, while PC has had add-ons for years to help with things like finding chests, Consoles have only recently gotten add-ons and even now they are only available if you have a latest Gen console. Based on console sales numbers, I'd guess at least half the console population is still on older Gen consoles.
I am also console but have never used add-ons. I always hear stories of them somehow breaking one thing or another... I already have to deal with that in vanilla ESO and wouldn't want to add complications.
But if they're really that much of a time saver, then maybe I should look into them...0
