I don't understand the point of "Favours"

ESO_player123 · July 10

Syldras wrote: »

Day 2:
- Fetch stuff from one location, bring it to a different location.
- Kill world boss.
- Deliver item.

The letters vary between a random story snipped about having killed mudcrabs, some babbling about duty and the Dominion or so, and an old Lady I don't care for telling me very private aspects of her life story because I killed two random bosses for her on 2 successive days... I mean, maybe some interesting little story will develop through the letters over time (or perhaps not), but it does feel a bit random.

I liked the mudcrab bit though.

DoofusMax · July 10

Firstmep wrote: »

I was hoping for some special rewards but only dropped zone set pieces afaik.

I have two characters (one NA and one EU) who fiddled with the Freerunner missions and that's mostly what they got on the first day (overland set gear). The second day had a couple of furnishing plans and a couple of mythic leads drop in addition to the overland gear. The EU toon is new and got stuff they hadn't collected both days (coffer says "curated"); the NA toon has been around for a while, so "decon fodder" gear, but still a furnishing plan they hadn't found yet and a mythic lead was worth the trip.

JustLovely · July 10

Season 1 writing seems pretty generic to me. Was ZOS already relying way to heavily on AI generated content?

metheglyn · July 10

Syldras wrote: »

Day 2:
- Fetch stuff from one location, bring it to a different location.
- Kill world boss.
- Deliver item.

The letters vary between a random story snipped about having killed mudcrabs, some babbling about duty and the Dominion or so, and an old Lady I don't care for telling me very private aspects of her life story because I killed two random bosses for her on 2 successive days... I mean, maybe some interesting little story will develop through the letters over time (or perhaps not), but it does feel a bit random.

You should look at Urcelmo's letter more closely, because there are hints of something more dramatic in there--like why he's not Ayrenn's personal bodyguard anymore. Maybe he'll spill the tea and we'll get the details! But then, I like the Urcelmo character, and if I recall correctly, you have no particular feelings for him either way. I think that makes a difference when reading the letters. I'm not fond of Lady Arabelle, so her telling me about her youth is a bit odd--I felt like she was using me as her personal journal. And since Urcelmo's letter made it clear they don't know who we are (aside from being the same person who did their first favor), since these letters all pass through the Freerunners, I'm curious how forthcoming they will choose to be with us. Maybe at some point they will find out who we are.

I was able to do the second round of favors this morning, and there's a decent variety of tasks so far. Sure, none of them are very deep or difficult, but these are supposed to be favors, and the word 'favor' (at least to me) conjures up something quick and relatively simple.

I like the letters, and I like the way they appear in our lore libraries--I actually prefer reading them in that format (where they look like they're on parchment) than in the mailbox format.

Edit to add: Today one of my boxes had a lovely furnishing recipe in it that I hadn't known, so the rewards seem good for the effort I put in.

SkaiFaith · July 10

On the topic of rewards, I am unsure if I got it from these quests or from Dynamic Events, but I tend to think it was a Freerunner quest - this lead: "Blessed Dais of Almalexia" which I never got before. (Not new btw)

Syldras · July 10

metheglyn wrote: »

You should look at Urcelmo's letter more closely, because there are hints of something more dramatic in there--like why he's not Ayrenn's personal bodyguard anymore. Maybe he'll spill the tea and we'll get the details! But then, I like the Urcelmo character, and if I recall correctly, you have no particular feelings for him either way. I think that makes a difference when reading the letters. I'm not fond of Lady Arabelle, so her telling me about her youth is a bit odd--I felt like she was using me as her personal journal. And since Urcelmo's letter made it clear they don't know who we are (aside from being the same person who did their first favor), since these letters all pass through the Freerunners, I'm curious how forthcoming they will choose to be with us. Maybe at some point they will find out who we are.

Well, I have the intention to continue playing these daily quests, and see if some interesting story will develop, or if it will just be some random, unconnected 5-line short stories giving us random snippets about those characters. Which would be a little underwhelming, even if some of these (ultra)short stories might be amusing for a moment.

Or perhaps I just expected to much. From how it sounded to me in the announcement stream, I expected there to be some ongoing story both in the quests and the letters. Maybe nothing too complex, and certainly also some fetch quest every now and then (or delivering some item), but I expected some little story. I did not expect "Kill random delve boss", for example. Well, we'll see how it continues!

Anyway, I still do find the letters a bit weird. If these people don't know who we are (Which I generally question to be a good decision, it's just sad being treated like a stranger after we've actually cooperated a lot with these characters in earlier stories), why would they tell us very private things just because we've delivered some package for them? I don't tell my postman stories about my youth...

Also, when turning in the quest, there's a generic thank you message popping up, mentioning that they'll take the time to write a real, more detailed letter later. If they send that to us, how can they not know who we are? How is that letter even delivered to us? If they send it to us, they need to know our name - so, why do they not remember us then?

Gabriel_H · July 10

SkaiFaith wrote: »

On the topic of rewards, I am unsure if I got it from these quests or from Dynamic Events, but I tend to think it was a Freerunner quest - this lead: "Blessed Dais of Almalexia" which I never got before. (Not new btw)

It drops from safeboxes in Deshaan.

metheglyn · July 10

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

You should look at Urcelmo's letter more closely, because there are hints of something more dramatic in there--like why he's not Ayrenn's personal bodyguard anymore. Maybe he'll spill the tea and we'll get the details! But then, I like the Urcelmo character, and if I recall correctly, you have no particular feelings for him either way. I think that makes a difference when reading the letters. I'm not fond of Lady Arabelle, so her telling me about her youth is a bit odd--I felt like she was using me as her personal journal. And since Urcelmo's letter made it clear they don't know who we are (aside from being the same person who did their first favor), since these letters all pass through the Freerunners, I'm curious how forthcoming they will choose to be with us. Maybe at some point they will find out who we are.

Well, I have the intention to continue playing these daily quests, and see if some interesting story will develop, or if it will just be some random, unconnected 5-line short stories giving us random snippets about those characters. Which would be a little underwhelming, even if some of these (ultra)short stories might be amusing for a moment.

Or perhaps I just expected to much. From how it sounded to me in the announcement stream, I expected there to be some ongoing story both in the quests and the letters. Maybe nothing too complex, and certainly also some fetch quest every now and then (or delivering some item), but I expected some little story. I did not expect "Kill random delve boss", for example. Well, we'll see how it continues!

Anyway, I still do find the letters a bit weird. If these people don't know who we are (Which I generally question to be a good decision, it's just sad being treated like a stranger after we've actually cooperated a lot with these characters in earlier stories), why would they tell us very private things just because we've delivered some package for them? I don't tell my postman stories about my youth...

Also, when turning in the quest, there's a generic thank you message popping up, mentioning that they'll take the time to write a real, more detailed letter later. If they send that to us, how can they not know who we are? How is that letter even delivered to us? If they send it to us, they need to know our name - so, why do they not remember us then?

I think they are sending everything through the Freerunners. So they write a more-detailed letter, hand it off to a Freerunner, who then gets it to us. For gameplay reasons, this happens all in an instant, which kind of breaks immersion a bit, but I don't know that a time delay in us getting the letter would have worked out too well.

As for telling us private things: so far only Lady Arabelle has done that, and it's very much in line with her character. She's somehow both coy and over-confiding at the same time. Like I said, I'm not fond of her, but I can't deny the tone of her letters is very on point for her character.

Whether the other two ever do open up to us remains to be seen. I could imagine, if they know we are the same person doing their favors every day (even if somehow they don't know who exactly we are) a bit of camaraderie might develop between them and our characters. Or it might be a case of it being easier to tell some things to a veritable stranger than it is to confide in a friend. I mean, I've never felt that urge, but I know it's a thing that exists. Either way, so far the tone of their letters seems fitting to what I know of them as NPCs.

I do think it would be fun if, at some point, they discover who we are and, based on our character's previous quest history, we could get a more specific letter tailored to our character--but I really don't know how viable that would be.

I hope this a system they can keep adding to, though, and so we'll get more NPCs in the mix. How fun would it be if we got favors to do for Revus Demnevanni? Perhaps for him we'd be out collecting rare ingredients for his experiments. I bet his letters would be some good reading!

BardokRedSnow · July 10

All I wanna know is, is there decent loot for doing the quests? If not I will ignore it.

AzuraFan · July 10

I fed cats today! My opinion of them has improved. I like them. They're quick and the rewards are decent.

SeaGtGruff · July 10

I didn't have any preconceptions about these, as I hadn't paid close attention to everything being said and demonstrated in the dev live streams (I'm usually playing games while watching Twitch), hadn't read any writeups or watched any CC videos about them, and dont try things out before release anymore (I haven't installed the PTS on the gaming laptop I play ESO on).

So far, I've done only 1 of these on 2 servers-- yesterday on PCNA, and today on PCEU-- and did the same one on both, hence I really haven't seen enough of them yet to know the full range of jobs or rewards to expect, but following are my reactions for the time being.

First of all, this looks exactly like the kind of thing I'd occasionally suggested in these forums-- daily jobs for fighting WBs or running delves in the base game zones. Now, I haven't seen a job to kill a WB come up yet, just one for completing any delve in Rivenspire; but from some of the posts in this thread, I gather that some of the jobs offered are for killing WBs. The reason I'd suggested this sort of thing in the forums was to reengage vet players with base game content, especially in a way that might be helpful for newer players, such as increasing the likelihood of finding other players who can help them kill WBs in zones that vet players might not frequent very much anymore.

For my first favor, I went to Aldcroft in Glenumbra and (as already mentioned) got a job to complete any delve in Rivenspire, so I chose a delve I hadn't been to in so long that I couldn't even remember what it's like as far as layout, mobs, and the boss-- Flyleaf Catacombs (chosen simply because it's the leftmost delve on the map).

I had very different experiences on PCNA and PCEU, because I just breezed through it on Adventurer difficulty on PCNA, but decided to switch to Vestige difficulty on PCEU to see how much more engaging it would make things. BTW, I'm thinking that the new Challenge Difficulty feature goes really well with the new Favors feature, and that it's really nice (and smart) that they released the Challenge Difficulty feature first, so players could become familiar with it and then apply it as desired when doing these sorts of daily quests which tend to be "easy-peasy snooze fests" for a lot of vet players. There isn't much to say about my experience on PCNA, so I'll relate how it went on PCEU.

Just going from the Tamrith Camp Wayshrine to the Flyleaf Catacombs on Vestige difficulty was definitely more challenging than usual. While I hadn't been in the delve for years, I've certainly traversed that area of Rivenspire plenty of times to reach the Eyebright Feld Dolmen or the Aesar's Web WB. TBH, I usually try to avoid the giant bats so they won't annoy me, but this time I decided to engage with them, along with the skeevers and various other animal and human enemies. It brought back memories of "the good ol' days" when running around Tamriel on a low-level character without semi-decent gear and a slew of super-helpful CP perks or fully-upgraded-and-morphed skills was a real adventure.

When I reached the location of the delve, I saw that the Eyebright Feld Dolmen had just become active. I knew that if I tried to solo it on Vestige, I was going to get stomped on hard and probably be one-shot repeatedly, so I hesitated. But then another player ran up and started attacking the Worm Cultists, so I decided to join in, and at least one more player came along during the fight, so I managed to stay alive throughout, but I certainly didn't contribute much killing to the fight.

Then I went into Flyleaf Catacombs and fought every mob I encountered on the way to the boss. It was a lot more engaging than just melting through them or racing past, and felt like the days when trying to tackle 3 or more low-level enemies at the same time required careful managing of my Stamina and Magicka usage, plus attentiveness to impending attacks so I could dodge or block them.

The boss one-shot me with his first attack, so I rezzed and tried again-- only to be one-shot again. Maybe I could have tried dodge-rolling out of the way, but his attack was so deadly that it insta-killed me, and there was a low-level enemy with him, and I was trying to eliminate the low-level enemy first. Fortunately, we can change our Challenge Difficulty setting while we're a ghost, so I switched to Master difficulty and tried again. It turned out that Master difficulty was perfect for making the fight engaging and challenging without being "impossibly difficult" for my character.

When I left the delve, I decided to switch back to Vestige difficulty to fight my way back to the wayshrine. As I was fighting a giant bat, another player rode up on his horse and asked "boss?" NGL, the first thought that popped into my head was if he was being sarcastic because of how long it was taking me to kill the giant bat! I couldn't respond while fighting, so I kept on fighting for another 10-to-15 seconds before finishing off the giant bat. Then I asked "which one?", thinking maybe he wanted to kill the Valeguard Tower WB (because it's too difficult for me to solo, and I know that a lot of other players also have a hard time killing it). But instead, he replied "behind one," meaning the Aesar's Web WB which was right behind us. That's when I noticed he was on a level 43 character, so I figured he might be new to the game and not have any CP perks or OP gear and skills yet. I changed back to Adventurer difficulty and we took on the boss together. A third player came up and joined during the fight, and judging by how long it took us to kill the boss together, I'm guessing the third player was also fairly new and not yet "massively OP." I mean, I've soloed that boss many times before, and it seemed like the fight was taking just as long with the 3 of us as it does when I solo it (my DPS is pretty mediocre at best). When we finished, I said "gg." The first player said "thank you," and the second player said "TY" (as if in a loud voice), so it really made me feel good that (1) the game seems to still be attracting new players despite this week's "doom and gloom" (although I don't know when these 2 players had actually started playing ESO); and (2) the new Favors feature does seem to be getting players to engage with base game content, and I think that's going to be healthy for the game and its playerbase.

As for the rewards, I didn't get much beyond already-collected "decon fodder" for the gear, plus a few other items I don't need, and a treasure I could sell for a bit of gold. I'm okay with that, because it actually seemed a bit better than the usual rewards for completing dailies in non-base-game zones. Plus, I think it's easy for vet players to become jaded about rewards-- and to complain about the low RNG chances on the additional potential rewards such as motif pages, recipes, leads, etc.-- and forget that a lot of these "trash" daily rewards can be really helpful to, and appreciated by, newer players who are still working on their stickerbooks or who need a lot of "decon fodder" to help them acquire crafting mats, especially those for traits, styles, and improving gear.

And finally, I'm fine with the letter I got from Lady Arabelle Davaux. True, she wrote to me as though we hadn't already met. But keep in mind, we get the letter immediately upon putting our "proof" inside the chest and accepting the quest reward, so that means it's just a note she'd written ahead of time to be included with our reward, and she's thanking whoever happened to complete one of these favors for her-- in advance, with no way of knowing who would be completing the favor. It isn't as though she'd received a report telling her that it was I who had done her a favor, then written a personal message to me and had it delivered to my "permanent mailing address" (wherever that might happen to be-- on Tamriel, beyond Tamriel, or even somewhere beyond Nirn). So, yeah, I'm not inclined to find fault with the way she addressed me, or with any specifics about the thoughts she chose to share with me.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to doing more of these in the future. I don't know whether I'll do all 3 favors each and every day-- I'm more inclined to do just 1 or 2, and not always every single day-- but I think it's a good idea and I like its implementation.

Syldras · July 10

metheglyn wrote: »

Whether the other two ever do open up to us remains to be seen. I could imagine, if they know we are the same person doing their favors every day (even if somehow they don't know who exactly we are) a bit of camaraderie might develop between them and our characters. Or it might be a case of it being easier to tell some things to a veritable stranger than it is to confide in a friend. I mean, I've never felt that urge, but I know it's a thing that exists. Either way, so far the tone of their letters seems fitting to what I know of them as NPCs.

The tone didn't seem wrong, I agree with you. I'm just curious where that leads to, if there will be an interesting enough story or not in the end - guess we'll know more in a few days (and in slightly over 2 weeks, we've reached the end of that storyline anyway)!

metheglyn wrote: »

I do think it would be fun if, at some point, they discover who we are and, based on our character's previous quest history, we could get a more specific letter tailored to our character--but I really don't know how viable that would be.

It certainly would! I think it would be technically possible to send out two different versions of letters, depending on if we've done their content before or not. I'm just not sure how likely it is that that amount of effort had been put into this. Well, I won't judge it before I've seen all of it. Just leaving my initial impressions and thoughts here.

metheglyn wrote: »

I hope this a system they can keep adding to, though, and so we'll get more NPCs in the mix. How fun would it be if we got favors to do for Revus Demnevanni? Perhaps for him we'd be out collecting rare ingredients for his experiments. I bet his letters would be some good reading!

His letters surely would be amusing. I'd prefer to see him again in person, but if letters are the only thing we can possibly get, it's better than nothing, at least. I'd really hope there was a recognition of the player character then, though. Also, I'd like to see tasks that really fit the character. That's my main issue so far: Many tasks feel generic. They aren't really very specific for the character we're supposed to be doing them for.

AScarlato · July 10

AzuraFan wrote: »

I fed cats today! My opinion of them has improved. I like them. They're quick and the rewards are decent.

Well, now I want to do them lol.

Recent · July 10

Each day you unlock more story (via mail) from each of the three alliance lore characters - like what you'd see from crafting hirelings. The drops from the boxes are also curated drop from dungeons, arenas, and trials. I got at least six things for my stickerbook yesterday from doing them on a couple characters. I'd say a win.[/quote]

Could you please tell me where i start these favors? I have no idea where to go to start one.

YffresTrill · July 10

Recent wrote: »

Could you please tell me where i start these favors? I have no idea where to go to start one.

The boards are in Aldcroft, Ebonheart, and Skywatch. They are near the wayshrine and the quest markers should be immediately visible. The boards also have their own map marker (quill icon).

anadandy · July 10

I got a lead today (Thrassian Stranglers) as well. I think that's smart to make these dailies an alternate source for those. I also liked the NPC and background of the Freerunners.

merevie · July 10

I did one yesterday and thought that if I was starting ESO, I'd really appreciate them.

I've been getting a bunch of sticker book items and leads from all the new events, and appreciate that system.

Syldras · July 10

metheglyn wrote: »

Once you take the quest notice from the board, you do get an item in your quest inventory that tells what it is--basically the same thing as what shows up in the quest journal, but it's nice to have a related quest item to read without opening the journal. You also get an item in your quest inventory to turn in to the box as proof, which is another nice detail.

I checked that today and, indeed, it provides a bit more context and story to the whole thing. I think it's unfortunate it's relatively easy to miss, as there's no indicator showing that we actually get some new item in our inventory (especially when receiving "proof" to put into the turn-in box). I don't think most people look into the quest inventory very often?

I also found Urcelmo's third message a bit strange, telling us details about troops the Dominion lost - wouldn't that be too sensitive info to give to a random stranger?! Especially considering the courier service is not associated with the Dominion in any way, but run by Imperials?

metheglyn · July 11

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

Once you take the quest notice from the board, you do get an item in your quest inventory that tells what it is--basically the same thing as what shows up in the quest journal, but it's nice to have a related quest item to read without opening the journal. You also get an item in your quest inventory to turn in to the box as proof, which is another nice detail.

I checked that today and, indeed, it provides a bit more context and story to the whole thing. I think it's unfortunate it's relatively easy to miss, as there's no indicator showing that we actually get some new item in our inventory (especially when receiving "proof" to put into the turn-in box). I don't think most people look into the quest inventory very often?

I also found Urcelmo's third message a bit strange, telling us details about troops the Dominion lost - wouldn't that be too sensitive info to give to a random stranger?! Especially considering the courier service is not associated with the Dominion in any way, but run by Imperials?

I agree it's easy to miss the inventory quest item. The reason I checked the first time I did it is because when I interacted with the board, the message merely said there was a report outlining what needs to be done, and the player interaction was "you take the report." It made me wonder if I did, in fact, take an actual report, so I checked the quest item section of inventory and there it was. That then made me curious about the "proof" I was expected to deliver, and I was glad to see there was an item for that, too.

I'm a day behind you on the favors, though, so I won't see Urcelmo's third message until tomorrow.

Gabriel_H · July 11

Just an FYI: Favour Reward Coffers can drop leads

ESO_player123 · July 11

AzuraFan wrote: »

I fed cats today! My opinion of them has improved. I like them. They're quick and the rewards are decent.

That was a nice one. But for the love of the Divines please silence whoever is sniffing every passerby near the favors boards.

metheglyn · July 11

ESO_player123 wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

I fed cats today! My opinion of them has improved. I like them. They're quick and the rewards are decent.

That was a nice one. But for the love of the Divines please silence whoever is sniffing every passerby near the favors boards.

You mean the NPC who can smell your hunger? Yeah, that gets tiresome.

ESO_player123 · July 11

metheglyn wrote: »

ESO_player123 wrote: »

AzuraFan wrote: »

I fed cats today! My opinion of them has improved. I like them. They're quick and the rewards are decent.

That was a nice one. But for the love of the Divines please silence whoever is sniffing every passerby near the favors boards.

You mean the NPC who can smell your hunger? Yeah, that gets tiresome.

That's the one. Sniff-sniff 3x2 (pick-up and deliver) times a day for the next several weeks is going to be really irritating.

DoofusMax · July 11

ESO_player123 wrote: »

That was a nice one. But for the love of the Divines please silence whoever is sniffing every passerby near the favors boards.

If it helps, that problem was reported while U50 was up on PTS. The detection radius which causes them to start touting their quest is way too large. In Aldcroft, follow a line from the Fighters Guild entrance through the stables until you hit a building. The NPC is directly behind that building, and their tout radius extends at least as far as the wayshrine, so basically everyplace within the walls of Aldcroft. Ebonheart isn't much better. I never found the NPC that I recall (EDIT: found her; she's kind of behind the Freerunner board) , but I could hear them at least as far away as the Fighters Guild.

I think those NPCs showed up with U49 and the Vampire/Werewolf quest starters in the first zones, but I didn't notice them until messing with the Freerunner boards.

anadandy · July 11

DoofusMax wrote: »

I think those NPCs showed up with U49 and the Vampire/Werewolf quest starters in the first zones, but I didn't notice them until messing with the Freerunner boards.

It's particularly annoying that it still triggers for my already a werewolf character. Thoreki always had the active quest marker too but at least she didnt stalk me and be a creeper.

metheglyn · July 11

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

Once you take the quest notice from the board, you do get an item in your quest inventory that tells what it is--basically the same thing as what shows up in the quest journal, but it's nice to have a related quest item to read without opening the journal. You also get an item in your quest inventory to turn in to the box as proof, which is another nice detail.

I also found Urcelmo's third message a bit strange, telling us details about troops the Dominion lost - wouldn't that be too sensitive info to give to a random stranger?! Especially considering the courier service is not associated with the Dominion in any way, but run by Imperials?

I did another round of favors today and got the third message from Urcelmo. At first glance, it does seem a bit odd that he's telling us about troop movements, but since what he's telling us already happened, there's not a lot of sensitive information in there. He doesn't get into specifics, really--he says the maneuver was ultimately successful, and one group of soldiers was lost. Now whether or not he should be telling such things to someone whose identity he doesn't know is a question, isn't it? Perhaps that plays into the overall story they're telling about him. I'm quite interested to see where all this leads, but this message did seem more akin to a confessional than anything else.

By the way, I loved the "proof" we delivered for feeding the cats. It was called "Proof of kitten assistance" and was "a slip of parchment with a cat's footprint pressed into it." I imagine Urcelmo receiving that and thinking, "What?" Or maybe he thought, "Great job!" Ah, but mostly I just appreciated being able to feed a bunch of cats.

And I got antiquity leads today from two of the three boxes, so I definitely appreciate the rewards.

AzuraFan · July 11

I got one this morning that seemed a little odd. I took the quest, then all I had to do was turn around and put something into a basket. I didn't have to go anywhere. That's too easy lol.

Syldras · July 11

metheglyn wrote: »

I did another round of favors today and got the third message from Urcelmo. At first glance, it does seem a bit odd that he's telling us about troop movements, but since what he's telling us already happened, there's not a lot of sensitive information in there. He doesn't get into specifics, really--he says the maneuver was ultimately successful, and one group of soldiers was lost. Now whether or not he should be telling such things to someone whose identity he doesn't know is a question, isn't it? Perhaps that plays into the overall story they're telling about him. I'm quite interested to see where all this leads, but this message did seem more akin to a confessional than anything else.

He told us the number of divisions he directed, and his strategy behind the way they were moved. For a military stategist, this could be interesting info to predict future movements. He also told us one whole division died, which is also something the enemy might not be completely aware of (if it was a whole division or a fraction, how many might have survived injured or were able to escape when the situation became hopeless) , since a battlefield is chaotic; so that's also interesting info on how many soldiers are left now. Sharing this info with some rando who could use it to the advantage of the enemy just feels careless. (Also, no matter if it's useful info or not, I would expect military-related info to be confidential out of principle.)

metheglyn wrote: »

By the way, I loved the "proof" we delivered for feeding the cats. It was called "Proof of kitten assistance" and was "a slip of parchment with a cat's footprint pressed into it." I imagine Urcelmo receiving that and thinking, "What?" Or maybe he thought, "Great job!" Ah, but mostly I just appreciated being able to feed a bunch of cats.

An evil Khajiit would just use his own paw and eat the food himself. Yes, that's a big paw print, but a cat is a cat, right?

metheglyn · July 11

AzuraFan wrote: »

I got one this morning that seemed a little odd. I took the quest, then all I had to do was turn around and put something into a basket. I didn't have to go anywhere. That's too easy lol.

Haha, that's my kind of favor! Some of them are definitely very quick and easy, to be sure.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

I did another round of favors today and got the third message from Urcelmo. At first glance, it does seem a bit odd that he's telling us about troop movements, but since what he's telling us already happened, there's not a lot of sensitive information in there. He doesn't get into specifics, really--he says the maneuver was ultimately successful, and one group of soldiers was lost. Now whether or not he should be telling such things to someone whose identity he doesn't know is a question, isn't it? Perhaps that plays into the overall story they're telling about him. I'm quite interested to see where all this leads, but this message did seem more akin to a confessional than anything else.

He told us the number of divisions he directed, and his strategy behind the way they were moved. For a military stategist, this could be interesting info to predict future movements. He also told us one whole division died, which is also something the enemy might not be completely aware of (if it was a whole division or a fraction, how many might have survived injured or were able to escape when the situation became hopeless) , since a battlefield is chaotic; so that's also interesting info on how many soldiers are left now. Sharing this info with some rando who could use it to the advantage of the enemy just feels careless. (Also, no matter if it's useful info or not, I would expect military-related info to be confidential out of principle.)

I did question whether he should be telling us all this. And I still think that because it already happened, anyone paying attention to the matter (such as a military strategist of the other alliances) would already have that information at hand to predict future movements. The Pact knows he drew them off with one division and used another to secure the tower. They are likely very well aware that they wiped out an entire division, since they were involved in the fighting. And since all the alliances have scouts all over Cyrdodiil, I'm guessing the Covenant got a good idea of what happened, too. Also: what are the chances that a freerunner is a military strategist or at all connected to the fighting in Cyrodiil?

Worst case scenario: each alliance has spies working undercover as Freerunners to glean as much information about the other alliances as they can. The letter might have contained some information the Covenant didn't know, but the Pact was likely already pretty well aware of what happened. Yes, a case can be made that Urcelmo has loose lips--I don't dispute that--but we're just at the beginning of the favors, and it may be that this plays into the larger story being told, for good or ill.

Meanwhile, Lady Arabelle seems to be writing her autobiography one page at a time.

Syldras wrote: »

metheglyn wrote: »

By the way, I loved the "proof" we delivered for feeding the cats. It was called "Proof of kitten assistance" and was "a slip of parchment with a cat's footprint pressed into it." I imagine Urcelmo receiving that and thinking, "What?" Or maybe he thought, "Great job!" Ah, but mostly I just appreciated being able to feed a bunch of cats.

An evil Khajiit would just use his own paw and eat the food himself. Yes, that's a big paw print, but a cat is a cat, right?

He wouldn't even have to be an evil Khajiit--just an opportunistic morally grey one. But I think it unlikely any Khajiit would do that to kittens.

SaffronCitrusflower · July 11

These quests definitely did not need a real person to create them. I'm not upset about the quests except that it seems pretty obvious that no effort was put into their development, and I fear this could be an indicator of the quality of content we can expect going forward.