#Getting ready to go to Hew's Bane

[nuwanders]

I know you made the travel time maps for the Elder Scrolls a couple years ago, but they have been super helpful for writing for me and I was wondering what you used to make them? I wanted to make one similar to use for Hammerfell, but I am honestly so lost

hello!

so in terms of tools, i used Krita and a seriously outdated wacom tablet + bamboo stylus. when i had the image ready, i would add text and symbols using the microsoft paint 3D app 🙃

for my base maps, i would look out for a few things. the higher the resolution the better, but i also tried to prioritise finding maps that came from an official/canon source (or at least that were based on an official map) and, where available, maps that included in-game locations.

if you want to take a stab at hammerfell, you will need to do what i did for morrowind, which is to find as blank of a base map as you can, and then put a jigsaw of the ESO maps on top. i would recommend something like this for your base!

i actually did save copies of the ESO maps back when i was planning on doing a map for every province. tumblr might eat up the quality but here you go:

(in order, that's the alik'r desert, bangkorai, craglorn, and hew's bane. i saved these in 2022 and can't remember if ESO has added any new hammerfell zones since then).

you will need some kind of art software to cut these up along the hammerfell borders, trace the roads, and then piece them together on top of the base map. layers are your best friend!

for the blank spaces in between the ESO maps, i guesstimated the roads using the Arena map:

now, for actually calculating the distances, i would overlay a gridline (each square being 40 x 40 "real life" miles) so that i had a rough guide at all times.

getting this right might be a little finicky as i would always start with my skyrim map to keep my distances consistent across all maps. as in i would paste the skyrim map onto a map of tamriel, along with whatever other province i was going to be working on, and then copy an exact replica of the gridline over to the WIP province (adding extra gridlines where necessary). this would help me keep everything in proportion. you can kind of see what i mean here (it's not super clear but the grids on each map are roughly the same size):

i found this scale to be realistic, with each province being roughly equivalent to a medium-sized european country, as well as lore-friendly, as it lines up with the in-game claim that mournhold is about 250 miles from red mountain.

for calculating travel times, i started with the base assumption that the player character would be able to travel about 17 miles a day on foot. so first you use the gridlines to get a rough idea of the length of a journey in miles, then you divide that number by 17 and round it up or down to get the length of each journey in days :)

sorry that got quite complicated! the process was more involved than i think i realised. hopefully it all made sense and let me know if you have any questions! good luck! <3

[louanja]

A Thief’s Den

Sometimes you need a place to store your ill-gotten gains while you are on holiday

[lilambrosia-blog]

🎃 A Guide to Preparing for Witches Festival 2k17

(UPDATED 2017)

by 🌺 lilambrosia (ARodianNip-slip)

ok hi this guide is a compilation of information that will mainly focus on Maximizing Returns for Witches Festival. The first part of the guide will focus on preparing your account for longevity while the second part will cover drop information and how to best get all of the festival-exclusive drops. We will first detail how to properly set up your alternate characters so you can focus on getting drops during the event while simultaneously leveling those characters. I would only recommend the first part of this guide if you already have a main account at Champion Level 160 or are very familiar with the long-run portion of ESO. This will prevent possible “grind burn-out” if you have not already experienced much of the game on a main.

🎃 The Basic Basis:

Witches Festival is a ~2 week event where you can get +100% Experience

Plunder Skulls will drop from bosses during this event from any boss. Many items can be found inside the Plunder Skulls including Runebox masks alongside exclusive motif, furniture and provisioning recipes including the BiS recipe for magicka-based users.

A full list of items and much more information on this will be provided later.

🎃 How to Get the Most:

Alts- all of the alts that u wish for.

From a Catalyst Tank, a Blossom Healer, or even an Orc the Stamsorc Gatherer- make ANY alt that you wish, but make sure you choose the correct race for the build that you will want in the end. We will be preparing these alts to use during the festival, and they will get many, many drops in the leveling process.

PLS NOTE: There is no longer an experience cap. It is possible that ZOS will bring back the +Experience% Cap for the duration of this festival. Previously this cap was +185% Experience, has since been lifted, but MAY return during this two week period. 

🎃 Preparing all of the Alts:

Choose your race wisely. Alcast and Xynode provide great info about tested up-to-date builds that you may find useful if you wish for help choosing the best race for your desired class and build.

Skip the Tutorial. Open your options and turn Auto Loot on, Profanity Filter off, turn Nameplates on (then Friendly Players: Targeted), change Resource Numbers to ‘number and percent,’ turn all Combat Text on, toggle All Buffs on (then Permanent Effects off).

Join the Undaunted, Fighters, and Mages Guilds; interact with each of the 6 crafting stations (no need to craft anything), then pick a pocket or open a locked door/chest. This will unlock all of the skill lines for your alt. Equip 5/1/1 armor with the Training trait (ex. 5 medium / 1 light / 1 heavy) to level all of the armor-based skill lines simultaneously. Your weapon(s) of choice should also have the Training Trait for now.

You may also stack with any Experience Potions or Scroll without capping. IF the +Experience% Cap of 185% returns, you will now be at +max XP% (for monsters killed). This is counting the +100% Experience from the event, +80% for full Purple Training Gear (+90% if dual-weild), and +10% if you are a subscriber to ESO+, meaning there will be no need for XP Pots during the event (not confirmed, only applicable if the +Experience% Cap is returning for the event). You may also stack with any Experience Potions or Scroll without capping

Slot 1 skill from each of the 3 Class skill lines and level up your character however you wish until you reach Level 10. This will allow you to enter Cyrodiil. Enter Cyrodiil and complete (or skip) the Cyrodiil tutorial to unlock the Assault and Support skill lines. Assault’s Rapid Maneuver (no morph) will be very useful during this event and unlocks immediately without requiring any PvP. Optional: You may wish to PvP for additional skillpoints gained from both leveling your PvP rank and leveling your character. The skills Vigor, War Horn, Revealing Flare, or Caltrops may also be of interest to your build.

Slot Rapid Maneuver. This will allow for quick travel between bosses during the event. Your alt is now ready for fast leveling and Witches Festival Farming.

This week prior to the event, it is recommended that your time is spent upgrading your stable, gathering skyshards, questing, PvP’ing, or being carried through dungeons for skillpoints- ANYTHING involving the gain of skillpoints. Do not worry about leveling your character as we’ll be able to do this quickly during the event. It is also recommended that you level all of your crafting trees to 50 during this week to allow your alt to be able to do Daily Crafting Writs. Remember, deconstructing ~275 level 10 potency glyphs will get you from 1 to 50 Enchanting provided that you are allocating skillpoints to the crafting tree.

This whole section was created to help maximize your alt and ensure you’re focusing on getting returns from the festival by minimizing the amount of time spent doing random preparation-based things. Taking these steps can wildly boost multiple characters while you farm the exclusive loots for your main. Spending this week before the event gaining skillpoints on your alts can ensure that they are ready for end-game builds and/or are able to do daily crafting writs. Easy Gold; Easy Materials.

🎃 How to Begin Witches Festival:

Go to the Crown Store and obtain the free Crow Caller whistle

Use the whistle and complete the quest The Witchmother’s Bargain.

Use the quest reward Witchmother’s Whistle  to summon a Witchmother’s Cauldron. Using the whistle will grant you and your party +100% Experience for 2 hours, while interacting with the cauldron will turn you into an undead for 2 hours. Special Boss Rewards, Plunder Skulls, can be obtained with or without use of the whistle and cauldron.

Once the event is over, you’ll be able to keep the Witchmother’s Whistle as a memento, but all of its supernatural powers will be gone.

🎃 How to Effectively Farm for Plunder Skulls:

You now have alt characters that can level hella while gathering all of the event items that you want for your main. You will be farming bosses on these alts for the Plunder Skulls.

There will be easy ways to farm bosses. Your goal is to farm Plunder Skulls, an item that drops from bosses. Overworld bosses, Dungeon bosses, Delve bosses, Dolmen Bosses- even the purple random event overworld bosses will drop Plunder Skulls. The drop rate is 100%, though there will be an invisible 3 minute cooldown timer for the drop frequency of Plunder Skulls. Meaning you will always get one as long as 3 minutes has passed since the last boss has been downed.

Here is a Plunder Skull add-on for PC users,

though any 3-minute timer set after death will suffice. As a PS4 player I consistently have timers ready.

The quickest way to farm bosses but also not give a damn about the cooldown timer is to continuously run Fungal Grotto 1 or to join normal dungeon PUG groups. Either way you’ll be killing 3 bosses every 6 minutes with no downtime, effectively farming experience and plunder skulls while ignoring the timer. This will create a more casual grind, though it’d still demand active attention from the player.

Other possibly effective locations:

Delves: (boss spawns every 5 minutes after death)

Gold Coast delve bosses have a chance to drop Assassin’s League motif pages; Hew’s Bane Delve bosses have a chance to drop Outlaws motif pages

Dolmens: (dolmen begins 5 minutes after downed)

The top 12 DPS / Tank / Healers will be rewarded with a drop from the boss

Dungeons:

Maelstrom Arena is great for solo play.

Undaunted Dailies are great for Double XP + daily keys.

Silken Ring motif pages may drop drom the final boss in Cradle of Shadows. Mazzatun motif pages may drop from the final boss in Ruins of Mazzatun.

Any Normal dungeon with 3 minute timer set between boss downs are effective for Plunder Skull farming.

Public Dungeons:

Wrothgar public dungeon bosses have a chance to drop Ancient Orc motif pages.

Vvardenfel’s Forgotten Waste has mobs that will drop pieces of the Sixth Robe Costume Runebox. Vvardenfel’s Nchuleftingth’s mobs have a chance to drop pieces of the Dwemer Theodolite Pet Runebox. 

🎃 What Items Drop from Plunder Skulls?

All items from 2016 are available in the 2017 Plunder Skulls.

Below are all of the drops, listed by year:

Witches Festival 2017′s added unique drops:

Runebox: Hollowjack Spectre Mask

Runebox: Thicketman Spectre Mask

Pattern (Purple): Witches Corpse, Wrapped (Clothing)

Praxis (Blue): Hagraven Cauldron, Rough Stone (Enchanting)

Random Loot: Alchemical Resin, Bast, Clean Pelt, Decorative Wax, Heartwood, Mundane Rune, Regulus

Furnishing Item (Blue)

Witches Bones, Offering

Witches Totem, Gnarled Vines and Skull

Witches Totem, Twisted Vines and Skull

Furnishing Item (Green):

Branch, Curved Burnt

Branch, Curved Laurel

Branch, Forked Burnt

Branch, Forked Laurel

Branch, Sturdy Burnt

Branch, Sturdy Laurel

Saplings, Burnt Cluster

Saplings, Burnt Sparse

Saplings, Burnt Tall

Shrub, Burnt Brush

Witches Festival 2016 had 26 possible unique drops:

Runebox: Scarecrow Spectre Mask

Runebox: Pumpkin Mask

Motif: Individual Hollowjack Motif Pages (1-14)

Style Crafting Ingredient: Amber Marble (Hollowjack trait stone)

Recipe (Gold): Double Bloody Mara

Recipe (Purple): Witchmother’s Potent Brew

Recipe (Purple): Witchmother’s Party Punch

Recipe (Blue): Crisp and Crunchy Pumpkin Snack Skewer

Recipe (Blue): Crunchy Spider Skewer

Recipe (Blue): Ghasty Eye-Bowl

Recipe (Blue): Bowl of “Peeled Eyeballs”

Recipe (Blue): Frosted Brains

Recipe (Green): Sweet Sanguine Apples

Random: Loot that may contain “creepy” themed crafting items such as Guts, Spider Eggs, Crawlers, etc.

🎃  Witches Festival In-Game Achievements

there are a total of 140 achievement points obtainable only by participating during the annual Witches Festival (with the exception of learning every chapter of the Hollojack Motif Style as it can be purchased year ‘round). Below are a list of the Titles, Details, and Points of each achievement.

Pumpkin Pairs Well With Guts - Drink the Witchmother's Brew during the Witches Festival. (5) Achievement Points

Plunder Skull Enthusiast - Earn your first Plunder Skull. (5) Achievement Points

Plunder Skull Aficionado -  Earn 50 Plunder Skulls. (10) Achievement Points

Plunder Skull Fanatic - Earn 100 Plunder Skulls. (15) Achievement Points

Reaper's Harvest - Complete the Witchmother's Bargain quest. (5) Achievement Points

Happy Work For Hollowjack - Collect and learn every chapter of the Hollowjack style book found during the Witches Festival. (50) Achievement Points

An Unsparing Harvest - Complete the listed achievements for the Witches Festival.  (50) Achievement Points

🎃  Conclusion

Thank you for bearing with me throughout my first guide. I will be updating this to keep up with newly released information in 2018. If you have any questions, recommendations, or would like to roast this guide, feel free to message me here.

🎃🌺🌺🌺🎃🎃🌺🌺🌺🎃🎃🌺🌺🌺🎃🎃🌺🌺🌺🎃🎃🌺🌺🌺🎃🎃🌺🌺🌺🎃🎃🌺🌺🌺🎃