Why FIVE?

Gabriel_H · July 27

There are several quests (outside of crafting) in the game where the player is required to find/make craftable items and take them somewhere. There have been several as part of the freerunner quests - that require you to bing FIVE of said items. There are a couple of other quests that do this, asking for TWO or THREE, but the freerunner quests really highlight the problem.

Does anybody at ZOS want to take a guess as to why FIVE is a bad number for this?

Hint: Crafting Passives will give a clue.

CptTekashi · July 27

It’s a couple of extra resources who cares 🤣

raystormusa · July 27

Aha!
Yet another indication that the DEVs make the game but do not actually play it.
Many many examples of this. :-)

Gabriel_H · July 27

CptTekashi wrote: »

It’s a couple of extra resources who cares 🤣

It demonstrates a lack of understanding in how things work, or a failure to account for existing systems. That's worrying.

fizl101 · July 27

Lady Arabelle doesnt really care about in game passives,she wants 5 cheese boards to share for a party of 10.

Gabriel_H · July 27

fizl101 wrote: »

Lady Arabelle doesnt really care about in game passives,she wants 5 cheese boards to share for a party of 10.

She should be more anti-social and have a party of 8, or less anti-social and have a party of 12.

SilverBride · July 27

Not everyone will put points into the passives that create extra product. I am not bothered if I end up creating more than needed. I'll just vendor the extras.

Gabriel_H · July 27

SilverBride wrote: »

Not everyone will put points into the passives that create extra product. I am not bothered if I end up creating more than needed. I'll just vendor the extras.

At present this only benefits someone with 0 in the passives. Standardising it to 4 like other craftable quests will benefit those with 0, 1, or 3 in the passives.

SilverBride · July 27

But the extras we get are free. It doesn't use any more materials to craft them and we can vendor the extras for a handful of gold. There is no downside to it.

Gabriel_H · July 27

SilverBride wrote: »

But the extras we get are free. It doesn't use any more materials to craft them and we can vendor the extras for a handful of gold. There is no downside to it.

Eh? The extras are using up materials - not everyone has access to the craft bag, and it's just a frankly silly choice given virtually every other crafting quest works on multiples of 1 or 4.

SilverBride · July 27

Gabriel_H wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

But the extras we get are free. It doesn't use any more materials to craft them and we can vendor the extras for a handful of gold. There is no downside to it.

Eh? The extras are using up materials - not everyone has access to the craft bag, and it's just a frankly silly choice given virtually every other crafting quest works on multiples of 1 or 4.

Google says they don't use extra materials but they have been wrong before which I verified and posted about below.

Gabriel_H · July 27

Te

SilverBride wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

But the extras we get are free. It doesn't use any more materials to craft them and we can vendor the extras for a handful of gold. There is no downside to it.

Eh? The extras are using up materials - not everyone has access to the craft bag, and it's just a frankly silly choice given virtually every other crafting quest works on multiples of 1 or 4.

Google says they don't use extra materials but they have been wrong before. I'll see if I can verify if it does or doesn't when I log in later.

With the passives to create 4 of something requires x ingredients. To create 5, you have to create 8, meaning 2x of each ingredient. That's the point. You end up using twice the ingredients and having 3 left over.

The same is true for the daily crafting writs, but you can store the excess in the bank, as the quest cycles around every few days. The same isn't true for these favours.

It makes no sense from a system viewpoint or a design viewpoint for it to be five. It should be 4, that way people with 0, 1, or 3 passives aren't wasting mats.

SilverBride · July 27

Gabriel_H wrote: »

It makes no sense from a system viewpoint or a design viewpoint for it to be five. It should be 4, that way people with 0, 1, or 3 passives aren't wasting mats.

I tend to agree with Google on this one. They even recommend having this passive for crafting items that use expensive ingredients like Perfect Roe because we would get 4 servings from one Perfect Roe.

Haenk · July 27

SilverBride wrote: »

Google says they don't use extra materials but they have been wrong before. I'll see if I can verify if it does or doesn't when I log in later.

If you have set your skills as a crafter, 1 set of mats will give you 4 drinks/whatever. To create *5*, you will need 2 sets of mats, and create *8*, so 3 more than needed, ready for the dumpster. This is another rather nonsense game development decision, creating 4 would have been plenty good enough to show your commitment, and would not waste your resources and time.

Alphawolf01A · July 27

The part that gets me, is that we don't get to choose what to donate. The game just takes something that fits the bill. It took 5 gold tier sugar skulls for the sweets. Not happy.

SilverBride · July 27

I logged in and verified that the extra portions do not use any additional materials. I sold all but 92 Poultry then crafted one Chicken Breast, which gave me 3 additional portions. I was left with 91 Poultry.

So the extra portions above what the quest needs do not cost us any more in materials.

Usureki · July 27

I think these favor quests were vibe coded with AI. Either that, or we're back to 2000s tech and creativity levels.

Gabriel_H · July 27

SilverBride wrote: »

I logged in and verified that the extra portions do not use any additional materials. I sold all but 92 Poultry then crafted one Chicken Breast, which gave me 3 additional portions. I was left with 91 Poultry.

So the extra portions above what the quest needs do not cost us any more in materials.

Yeah, except you are forced to create 2 portions and have 3 items left over that are no use whatsoever. As I said the standardised amounts for crafting are either in multiples of 1 or 4 to keep them inline with the system (passives). Having to craft 5 makes absolutely no sense.

BetweenMidgets · July 27

Inventory bloat is often by design.

wolfie1.0. · July 27

Gabriel_H wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I logged in and verified that the extra portions do not use any additional materials. I sold all but 92 Poultry then crafted one Chicken Breast, which gave me 3 additional portions. I was left with 91 Poultry.

So the extra portions above what the quest needs do not cost us any more in materials.

Yeah, except you are forced to create 2 portions and have 3 items left over that are no use whatsoever. As I said the standardised amounts for crafting are either in multiples of 1 or 4 to keep them inline with the system (passives). Having to craft 5 makes absolutely no sense.

It does if the intent is to make players use up more mats, storage space, and annoy players.

I am NOT SAYING that this was intended. Just that if you wanted to justify intent you can.

But honestly, it probably was just a rough oversight when designing the quest. Zos staff havn't exactly had a good year.

Gabriel_H · July 27

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

It does if the intent is to make players use up more mats, storage space, and annoy players.

Seems a convoluted way to annoy players, especially with nowhere-to-be-found keys in game.

SilverBride · July 27

I don't think every quest should be built around what an optional crafting passive does.

Joe_90 · July 27

Of all the bonkers issues to worry about.

Gabriel_H · July 27

Joe_90 wrote: »

Of all the bonkers issues to worry about.

A lack of consistency and/or failure to understand how existing systems works is "bonkers" to worry about?

karthrag_inak · July 27

Gabriel_H wrote: »

CptTekashi wrote: »

It’s a couple of extra resources who cares 🤣

It demonstrates a lack of understanding in how things work, or a failure to account for existing systems. That's worrying.

or an understanding of the system and an editorial requirement on the part of the quest author that 1 iteration should never be sufficient for the quest reward.

Arunei · July 27

karthrag_inak wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

CptTekashi wrote: »

It’s a couple of extra resources who cares 🤣

It demonstrates a lack of understanding in how things work, or a failure to account for existing systems. That's worrying.

or an understanding of the system and an editorial requirement on the part of the quest author that 1 iteration should never be sufficient for the quest reward.

How is five any different than one? And if it's such a requirement that something be "worth" the effort put in to get it, then why not just make it in 8s like Master Writs for Prov or 16s like Poisons? Like the argument was never "oh it should only be one item required!" so I don't get what the point of saying it was. The point is why not make the required amount divisible by two or four so it lines up with the Prov Passives.

o_Primate_o · July 28

I don't know what you want zos to do - would the ideal number be 12 then? so that regardless if your skill points are set to 1/2/3/4, you will produce no extra food/drink items? so you sell the extras, omg.

Somewhere, some supply sergeant put in an order for five alcoholic drinks or sweet food items. That person is who you should direct your frustrations - but you won't get anywhere with them as they won't care if you can bake only a dozen cookies or a gallon of soup at a time - if they need three cookies and two quarts, that's what they are going to order.

ajkb78 · July 28

Perhaps they specifically want you to have to spend more than one set of mats...