Removing Map Based Leads?

MidnightDuel · April 24

There are four major pain points associated with Antiquity Furnishings where the leads come from zone Treasure Chest Maps:

Leads are locked behind rare maps, which have a low drop rate, effectively double-locking such leads through "RNG nesting."
Poor chance of getting desired leads due to low drop rates, artificial throttling of second and third leads, increased rarity for purple and gold leads, and a large pool of potential leads from the same source.
Codex hurdle for buying additional Antiquities from the Achievement Vendor (when this hurdle does not exist for recreating Mythic gear)
Antiquities that cannot be purchased from an Achievement Vendor, even when the requisite codex is complete.

Subsequently, we suggest the following remedies:

Improve the drop-rate for rare maps from Unopened Maps, preferably by making the zone where maps are opened by a player the location for the map received.
Increase the drop rate for Antiquity furnishing leads and remove the artificial throttling of leads for the second and third lead to drop.
Eliminate the need for Codex completion and allow Antiquity furnishings to be purchased after the first successful acquisition of any Antiquity furnishing.
Add the green and blue quality Antiquities to the Achievement vendors for the zones where they can be excavated (i.e. West Weald, Solstice, Telvanni Peninsula and Apocrypha).

Peace_Walker · April 25

I agree

MidnightDuel · May 12

Solstice Treasure Maps are back in the Infinite Archive merchant Ool's offerings for sale this week:

It's doubtful that many players still have Archival Fortunes left from the last time.

anadandy · May 12

I may have a few left from the last time Ool was selling West Weald maps...

MoonPile · May 12

Re: Solstice maps for sale at Filer Ool week of May 12 - 19, 2026 –
I wish this could reach all of the (usually-newer) players who don't know:
https://moonpile.tumblr.com/post/808642600457338880/info-treasure-map-antiquities-leads-02-2026

hf trying to get 424,000 Archival Fortunes

I won't be going in IA at all. Who cares anymore

MidnightDuel · May 15

Opened 110 "Unopened Treasure Maps" on PTS today, and the results were disheartening. Only two (2) Solstice maps dropped (1.8% rate). Other rare maps had the following drop rates in this very limited sample:

Apocrpha Treasure Map I = 3 maps (2.7%)
Deadlands Treasure Map 1 = 2 (1.8%)
West Weald Treausre Map II = 2 maps (1.8%)
West Weald Treasure Map V = 1 (0.9%)

There were zero (O) Telvanni Peninsula maps dropped in this sample. Three (3) Glenumbra Treasure Maps also dropped.

MidnightDuel · May 16

Against my better judgement, I bought 18 Solstice Treasure Maps (36,000 Archival Fortunes) from the IA vendor this week. The result? Zero (0) leads.

The Solstice Treasure Maps returned to the IA vendor, Ool, sooner than anticipated. So I hadn't built up as much of the IA currency with Night Market and other things taking up so much time. Probably for the best since I had forgotten how angry Solstice makes me. Double-locked Antiquities is an absolute waste of time and Archival Fortunes.

Thoriorz · May 16

MidnightDuel wrote: »

The Solstice Treasure Maps returned to the IA vendor, Ool, sooner than anticipated. So I hadn't built up as much of the IA currency with Night Market and other things taking up so much time. Probably for the best since I had forgotten how angry Solstice makes me. Double-locked Antiquities is an absolute waste of time and Archival Fortunes.

I'd prefer Treasure Maps to stay as they are—when you got the Treasure Map as a drop, it was for a specific region right away—but I'd like them to be stackable, that's good now, and definitely not labeled I, II, III, etc.; "Auridon Treasure Map" would suffice.

Because buying Unopened maps with a ~2% chance of getting a map for the zone you want is a total ... and as for buying specific maps, players can end up spending tens of millions gold, considering the odds of getting Leads from maps and how many types of Leads there are in a single location (see Solstice, West Weald).

To be honest, I'd like to know what the devs think about this problem (at least for me, this is a problem), because the average player doesn't have tens of millions to spend on maps if they want to complete the codex, and trying to complete the codex with unopened maps is like trying to get struck by lightning in the Sahara...

@ZOS_Kevin Hi, could you tell us if the developers are considering any changes, or what their opinion is on this?

MidnightDuel · May 16

Thoriorz wrote: »

To be honest, I'd like to know what the devs think about this problem (at least for me, this is a problem), because the average player doesn't have tens of millions to spend on maps if they want to complete the codex, and trying to complete the codex with unopened maps is like trying to get struck by lightning in the Sahara...

@ZOS_Kevin Hi, could you tell us if the developers are considering any changes, or what their opinion is on this?

After spending over 100 million gold on Apocrypha, Telvanni Peninsula, West Wealed and Solstice Treasure Maps, I still have three Solstice furnishing antiquities for which completing the codex isn't worth the effort. The fact that IA sells maps for Archival Fortunes tells us all we need to know about what the Devs think--they know there's a problem and they don't care.

At this point, I don't plan to buy any more maps or open any of my "unopened treasure maps" ever again. Nor will I sell them. I'll continue to let them stack indefinitely, until such point as maps can be player-curated for a specific zone and/or the lead drop rates have been addressed satisfactorily. Or until my inventory of unopened maps makes it impossible to play, at which point I'll just quit the game altogether.

Contraptions · May 16

Pretty sure I saw Gina or something say the devs noted this issue back in Feb. The fact that nothing has changed since then means that the current situation is intended. They're a massive resource sink, and they like it that way. Terrible really.

onyxorb · May 17

Contraptions wrote: »

Pretty sure I saw Gina or something say the devs noted this issue back in Feb. The fact that nothing has changed since then means that the current situation is intended. They're a massive resource sink, and they like it that way. Terrible really.

Nod, I'm kind of stressed that nothing has clearly been stated about this. Just a line in one of the roadmaps would be nice.

Seriously, some of the best furnishings are locked behind this Gatcha systems that makes even REAL Gatcha games jealous.
It's just a bit frustrating that they create these nice furnishings, then don't give us a 'reliable' way of farming them.

I agree with the earlier comments about Furnishing being the only place where this is the case. Mythics only require digging a lead once, and saving up a few transmutes (that you get from tons of sources) and you can clone that mythic as much as you want. Yet for furnishings, we have to go through multiple levels of RNG for EACH time we need to dig an item, AND we need to do this THREE times in order to purchase. That just feels wrong.

Can't create a system like that, and then say you want to see all the wonderful creations people create with these furnishings, that they can't actually obtain.

Well at least we've been getting decent furnishing plans lately. Those are something we can actually obtain.

PS I do like how readily leads in Night Market have been dropping, so that's an improvement, but it doesn't solve the map based lead issue.

Thoriorz · May 17

MidnightDuel wrote: »

Thoriorz wrote: »

To be honest, I'd like to know what the devs think about this problem (at least for me, this is a problem), because the average player doesn't have tens of millions to spend on maps if they want to complete the codex, and trying to complete the codex with unopened maps is like trying to get struck by lightning in the Sahara...

@ZOS_Kevin Hi, could you tell us if the developers are considering any changes, or what their opinion is on this?

After spending over 100 million gold on Apocrypha, Telvanni Peninsula, West Wealed and Solstice Treasure Maps, I still have three Solstice furnishing antiquities for which completing the codex isn't worth the effort. The fact that IA sells maps for Archival Fortunes tells us all we need to know about what the Devs think--they know there's a problem and they don't care.

At this point, I don't plan to buy any more maps or open any of my "unopened treasure maps" ever again. Nor will I sell them. I'll continue to let them stack indefinitely, until such point as maps can be player-curated for a specific zone and/or the lead drop rates have been addressed satisfactorily. Or until my inventory of unopened maps makes it impossible to play, at which point I'll just quit the game altogether.

Now imagine this: let’s say you’re grinding IA and patiently waiting for the vendor to sell the specific maps you want—right?—and then you go for a ten-day vacation with your wife and kids for example (for example, from Monday through Thursday of next week), and that very week, the vendor in IA happens to have exactly the maps you want. So you’re totally screwed, yknow. And you can wait another weeks, months, or whatever.

MidnightDuel · May 17

onyxorb wrote: »

Well at least we've been getting decent furnishing plans lately. Those are something we can actually obtain.

The drop rate for the Solstice furnishing plans was better than it had been in a while. But I hate to break it to you, the Ancient High Elf Ornate structural plans coming with U50 have a very low drop rate, akin to the plans that dropped from Necrom and West Weald. On the PTS, the drop rate was less than one (1) plan for every twenty (20) Summerset Daily Recompense boxes opened (1 in 20 or 4.6%) for the 305 coffers I opened.

Thoriorz wrote: »

Now imagine this: let’s say you’re grinding IA and patiently waiting for the vendor to sell the specific maps you want—right?—and then you go for a ten-day vacation with your wife and kids for example (for example, from Monday through Thursday of next week), and that very week, the vendor in IA happens to have exactly the maps you want. So you’re totally screwed, yknow. And you can wait another weeks, months, or whatever.

I hope this is hypothetical, but I'm supposing it's not.

Thoriorz · May 17

MidnightDuel wrote: »

Thoriorz wrote: »

Now imagine this: let’s say you’re grinding IA and patiently waiting for the vendor to sell the specific maps you want—right?—and then you go for a ten-day vacation with your wife and kids for example (for example, from Monday through Thursday of next week), and that very week, the vendor in IA happens to have exactly the maps you want. So you’re totally screwed, yknow. And you can wait another weeks, months, or whatever.

I hope this is hypothetical, but I'm supposing it's not.

It’s just a hypothetical scenario, but I can imagine that something like that could happen to someone, yknow.

LootAllTheStuff · May 17

Semi-related question: One of the Oakensoul leads drops from ore nodes in Glenumbra. Does this include those found via blacksmithing surveys, or is this another QoL improvement that ZOS could make?

lillybit · May 17

LootAllTheStuff wrote: »

Semi-related question: One of the Oakensoul leads drops from ore nodes in Glenumbra. Does this include those found via blacksmithing surveys, or is this another QoL improvement that ZOS could make?

I'm not 100% certain with that particular lead but normally surveys will give leads too

MidnightDuel · May 17

Thoriorz wrote: »

MidnightDuel wrote: »

Thoriorz wrote: »

Now imagine this: let’s say you’re grinding IA and patiently waiting for the vendor to sell the specific maps you want—right?—and then you go for a ten-day vacation with your wife and kids for example (for example, from Monday through Thursday of next week), and that very week, the vendor in IA happens to have exactly the maps you want. So you’re totally screwed, yknow. And you can wait another weeks, months, or whatever.

I hope this is hypothetical, but I'm supposing it's not.

It’s just a hypothetical scenario, but I can imagine that something like that could happen to someone, yknow.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine with one of the purchasable leads for mythics and then with one of the scripts. FOMO can be very real and turn into actual missing out with rotating and short-time inventories.

Thoriorz · May 18

LootAllTheStuff wrote: »

Semi-related question: One of the Oakensoul leads drops from ore nodes in Glenumbra. Does this include those found via blacksmithing surveys, or is this another QoL improvement that ZOS could make?

Yes, you can earn that Lead from survey nodes.

Ordinator199 · May 18

What leads are people trying to get from those chests? I only know of one for the "forest skin" in galen i think

Thoriorz · May 18

Ordinator199 wrote: »

What leads are people trying to get from those chests? I only know of one for the "forest skin" in galen i think

It’s mostly about furnishings—if you look at West Weald or Solstice, for example, the Treasure Maps contain several furnishing leads. Then some maps (such as Deadlands) contain Motifs pages, but the real problem is those furnishing Leads: there are too many of them, they aren’t curated in any way, and the drop rate for 2/3 and 3/3 Codex entries is absolutely terrible.

anadandy · May 18

Ordinator199 wrote: »

What leads are people trying to get from those chests? I only know of one for the "forest skin" in galen i think

There are three tapestries and a fresco furnishing that drop from West Weald treasure maps. Coming up on two years later, I'm still at 1/3 for all of them.

Lokiator · May 18

Like most of you, I've been working for ages to complete the codex. I'm down to less than 100 entries, and 45 of them are furniture drops from treasure chest leads. Most of the others are 9/15 entries with that one lead that just won't drop (I'm looking at you, 400+ Vile Manse chests).

I've had lots of time to think on the matter, and I think an ideal solution for both finding leads and purchasing the associated furniture would be an achievement chain in each of Telvanni Peninsula, West Weald, and Solstice.

There's already a precedent for leads at vendors that are locked behind an achievement (the Antique Map of XXXXX leads). So why not add an achievement chain for excavating 5/10/25/50 treasure chests? Or 10/25/50/100 chests. Whatever works for the game economy... Each stage completed unlocks leads for green, blue, purple, or gold furnishings for purchase at the general vendors in their zone.

Consider it a "mercy rule" option for finding leads, while also providing the ability to purchase as many furnishing as you want (with the added steps of scrying and digging them up).

Emeratis · May 19

Down to 95 leads myself, 41 are from treasure maps, 44 are multipart leads (14 eligible to drop currently) which make most of my remaining leads annoying. My progress in leads has been stalled for months and it's definitely exhausting. Really hoping for some news on lead QOL/progression system.

Lilarna · May 28

📊 RESULTS Are In! Treasure-Map Antiquity Poll — 170 Player Responses 🗳️

➡️ https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/693294/

BradTheNord · May 29

All they have to do is add a purple variant of the “unopened map” that are all DLC area guaranteed treasure maps …. Problem solved you’re welcome.

Gabriel_H · May 29

Just to jump back into this thread. There is also another kick in the nether regions with the change to Treasure Map drops. Having maps stack was fine, but the addition of having maps in an unopened container has resulted in players no longer selling specific maps, as the odds of an expensive map are low, and the price for an unopened map is a lot more than the price for most maps.

LootAllTheStuff · May 29

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Just to jump back into this thread. There is also another kick in the nether regions with the change to Treasure Map drops. Having maps stack was fine, but the addition of having maps in an unopened container has resulted in players no longer selling specific maps, as the odds of an expensive map are low, and the price for an unopened map is a lot more than the price for most maps.

I was honestly taken aback when I saw how much people were charging for unopened maps, given that the contents aren't decided until a player opens one. It's nuts.

Gabriel_H · May 29

LootAllTheStuff wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Just to jump back into this thread. There is also another kick in the nether regions with the change to Treasure Map drops. Having maps stack was fine, but the addition of having maps in an unopened container has resulted in players no longer selling specific maps, as the odds of an expensive map are low, and the price for an unopened map is a lot more than the price for most maps.

I was honestly taken aback when I saw how much people were charging for unopened maps, given that the contents aren't decided until a player opens one. It's nuts.

It was a predictable outcome. Had I known about the "unopened map" before it went live I'd have been posting about it until ZOS either responded or banned me.

MidnightDuel · May 31

Stacking of zone-specific maps is generally a good thing that many players have asked for for years. The stacking of "unopened" treasure maps is likewise good, but the side-effects were as @Gabriel_H has said "predictable," including the drop in availability of maps on traders and the increase in prices for rare zone-specific maps and the "unopened" maps themselves.

Personally, I haven't opened any "unopened" treasure maps on the live server, since they were introduced and started stacking. (I have opened them on PTS to see how the distribution of rare maps falls out.) Going forward, I don't plan to open or sale any "unopened" treasure maps until the larger issues of double-locked leads is addressed. We've already suggested in this thread that curation of map drops from unopened treasure maps based upon the player's location at opening is a possible remedy for part off the double-locked problem. If that's ever implemented, I'll want my stacks of unopened maps.

I have also noticed that "unopened treasure maps" seem to be dropping a lot less often than the previous zone-specific maps. I don't know if it is by design or not, but it is something that I've noticed. Where I used to often get two zone-specific maps from Thieves Troves, it's now very rare for a Thieves Trove to drop one unopened treasure map, let alone two.

I still have three Solstice-sourced Antiquity furnishings that do not have a completed codex. But I am no longer trying to collect them given the current state of double-locked leads. It's just not worth my time.

MidnightDuel · May 31

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Had I known about the "unopened map" before it went live I'd have been posting about it until ZOS either responded or banned me.

Back in January we tested the "unopened" treasure maps on the PTS and gave feedback about the probable side-effects. We even suggesteed in this thread on Janaury 27th that a level of curation could be added to the at-that-time new "unopened" maps to remedy part of the double-locked lead problem.

MidnightDuel wrote: »

The change to "Unopened Treasure Maps," which stack, is a good idea and will help a lot with player/character inventory issues. One suggestion for making the treasure map process better (and players happier) is to add a level of curation to the opening of the new Treasure Maps. Instead of randomly generating a map for any of the Tamrielic and Daedric zones, opening an "Unopened Treasure Map" in a particular zone could generate one of the available maps for the current zone only. This would go a long way to reducing the effect of double-locked leads that torment players by reducing the hunt for rare maps for new zones, such as Solstice and West Weald.

Unfortunately, our feedback and suggestions during U49 were ignored and nothing positive has changed for rare zone maps during testing of U50, which update will now go live in just over a week from now.