The Elder Vaults — Who are we? #1
Welcome to the 1st edition of the Elder Vaults Blog! Today we enjoy 2 interviews: Vice GM mightyskrollan and super active member NerevarineLol as well as 2 quiz questions.
This blog will be published twice a month and every time you will get to learn more about two of your favourite guild members and challenge yourself with two ESO related quiz questions! Top screenshots will also be featured as well as tips and whatnot as we move along.
Hi mightyskrollan! How are you?
I’m fine, thank you
How long have you been playing ESO?
On a regular basis since around a year. Before I’ve been occasionally playing on the PTS
The Public Test Server? What is it?
Yes, it’s a server where you can try some new features or changes before they are released officially. For me it’s been rather because it was accessable for free… so I was messing around with eso before I started it on the regular way
Oh sweet! I’d actually never heard of it. Is this PTS still going?
From what I know it should. You can choose it in the Launcher settings by marking the “Show Public Test Environment” box
Thanks for that. Back to you, mightyskrollan! I’d like to know why you started playing ESO.
It’s been more or less because of boredom to be honest. I was mostly focusing on single player rpgs during the last years. Simply to avoid to get addicted or stuck on a game. When I installed eso I planned to only play it once or twice the week.. The plan didn’t add up
Haha! I know the feeling. I am myself into single player rpg video games and actually was reluctant to even try ESO for years because I wasn’t into the MMO aspect. Have you played other Elder Scrolls games?
I think it’s how it happens for the most players :) Yes, I’ve been starting my Elder Scrolls Series with Redguard in 1998. (Had to check the date here). And I still think it was one of the best of it
Redguard! Colour me impressed. I only started with Morrowind, and I think it is the best of it!
I had mixed feelings for Morrowind. I remember that I was really impressed by the new shader which brought up great water reflections. But I got overwhelmed by the size and the complicated names. So I was spending ages to search for particular unpronouncable NPC’s after I lost the overview in my questlogs
Yes, fond memories for me. How many characters do you have in ESO so far?
At the moment I am having all 8 slots full. Seven of them reached the champion level and one is on level 3
Oh my goodness, you don’t muck around do you. Speaking of which, you are quite the salesperson at the Elder Vaults. How many millions worth did you sell this week. A couple of days ago you were already on 7.5M…?
I completed this trading week with ~10.2M. Which is also my personal record so far
Congrats! I also happened to reach my own personal record this week with 1.3 or 1.4M — I couldn’t check as the server crashed! :O What makes your rosin the best on the market?
I am not sure about rosin specifically. But I am not overpricing my items like crazy (unless there are market changes). So I can always offer a unit price which may not be a bargain, but is at least reasonable by the value. On this way I have a good balance between investment and profit and a high amount of sales.
Too true! Now, what is your background story here at the Elder Vaults?
Well it can be easily described. I joined The Elder Vaults in spring 2017 and became a dedicated member, due to my dedication I became officer.. And again due to dedication and efforts I became the Vice Guildmaster. Now I am representing the guild as second in charge and still give my best to improve the guild in all possible directions. No matter if its about sales, or the social part.
You’re doing a great job, too!
Thank you
Can I ask you what country you live in and what you do in life outside of gaming?
I am living about 35km (21 miles) outside Munich in Bavaria — Germany. If I am not ingame I am a self-employed IT-Technician primary. Allthough I am also a learned photographer and mediadesigner which I run as a side business due to saisonal influences
Sehr ….. something. My German is very rusty. Entschuldigung. What about Tamriel, do you have a home town? Where is one most likely to find you?
I am rational, thats why I am mostly on locations which offer all possibilities near to a wayshrine. So I am personally prefering rawhl’kha and vivec
Rawhl’kha is super convenient for sure. I have not spent enough time in Vivec on ESO. You know what, I am still annoying that the ordinators don’t say things like “Another day, another septim”, or in Mournhold: “Mournhold! City of Light, City of Magic!”
Do you find the ESO is a proud successor of the other Elder Scrolls games?
I think they were giving their best related to quests and the storyline. Which is unfortunately underrated by a lot of players. So yes and no. If you enjoy the quests there is a lot of really good content that can make it a worthy successor. If you only focus on grinding up your chars and play the endgame content it is a whole different game and can’t be compared at all
I have to agree with you completely there. Personally I am happy just walking around Tamriel and throwing mud balls at people in Shadowfen. Now, do you have a most disliked enemy? Like wasps or wisps?
Oh… I generally dislike anything that slows down my movement speed like the shadowdoggos ( I bet the name here is wrong ) on the gold coast. But I don’t have any particular worst enemy
Back to business…. as our top seller week in week out and a Power Seller to boot, I have to ask, do you make much profit from your transactions?
Mhm, it depends on what the market offers. The profit range also varies on the type of items you sell. My average profit is mostly around 15–20%
Allthough I also had weeks with 30% and others which were less due to falling prices on the market
That’s pretty commendable, I would say. Do you take many screenshots while you play?
Not from playing anymore.. In the beginning I was often screenshotting interesting spots that I found. Meanwhile it’s mostly administrative or official stuff that I screenshot. Like farmbots to report or suspicious sellers that needs investigation.
Farmbots! I didn’t even know there were farmbots. How… what… And what constitutes a suspicious seller?
I’m just a bit puzzled. I heard about people hiring others to farm in MMO games and the likes but never paid attention to it. It’s definitely not something I want to ever be a part of that’s for sure.
Oh. I sometimes forget that not everyone is aware about it. Stupidly the sad fact is that there are still a lot of them around. And since we do not support them on any way, they get reported to other guilds and put on the autoban lists as soon as possible
Good!
Well I can do an official statement here. The Elder Vaults did, does and will never support any bot activities, neither by tollerating them, nor by taking advantange by them. Also we do not tollerate members which actively and intenionally support them by purchases to increase own numbers
Well, thank you for your time, and like I said: Last question and you can take your time… If the Elder Vault had a slogan, what would it be?
A slogan? Oh thats not easy.. “Legit — social — successful trading” or… “Satisfaction in all matters” although this last one may be a little bit exaggerated at this point. But our final goal is to make The Elder Vaults a place that provides everything in one guild. Top trades, raids, furnishing events, an even higher social attractive-ness and so on. So I hope it becomes a slogan that wont sound exaggerated at all anymore... one day.
Thanks Skrollan and thank you for everything you do for our beloved guild.
And now let’s hear from regular member NerevarineLoL — the enigma!
Hi NevarineLoL. I have always been intrigued by your nickname. Are you laughing because you’re the Nerevarine?
Hello. When I was growing up, Morrowind was among one of my favourite games. I did not understand much of what was going on, but I liked going around and killing powerful creatures, discovering new areas and just enjoying the game as any 12 year old with little-to-no grasp of English and a small attention span would. At around age of 18, I was finally replaying Morrowind again, now determined to finish every quest, understand the lore (since I could, now) and remember the good old times. At the same time, I have already been playing League of Legends for several years, when they announced that it would be possible to change in-game nick name with the currency obtainable to f2p players. Given my love for Morrowind, as well as my growth, I decided to reinvent myself, starting with a new nickname. Initially, I changed to Saint Nerevar (or was it St. Nerevar?), since Nerevarine was still taken (and the account has not timed out yet) and I was somewhat okay with the nickname, given how Nerevar WAS the champion of Azura and lead the Chimer and Dwemer into battle against Jurgen Windcaller and his Nord army, completely destroying them.
But late I thought — hey, people barely know what “Morrowind” is, even less people known who “Nerevarine” was, so chances of someone recognising Saint Nerevar are minuscule. Plus, I did not like the whole “Saint” part of the nickname. So, it was that I changed my nickname to Nerevarine. As I was climbing through ranks, I thought I might one day end up being good enough player that people would want to watch (even though watching steamers is one of the biggest wastes of time, in my opinion), so I decided to go with NerevarineLoL (as in, Nerevarine League of Legends) in other places, so that if I do become “famous” one day, people could recognise me in other places. Additionally, it meant I could still go as “Nerevarine” even if someone had already taken the nickname in that particular website or game. So, there I decided that, although somewhat awful, my new nickname would be Nerevarine where available and NerevarineLoL where it was not. That’s the story behind my nickname.
Am I glad I asked! So you’re not laughing out loud after all! I too started Elder Scrolls with Morrowind, although I was a fair bit older than 12 or 18 then.
I got a bit obsessed with Elder Scrolls lore and especially Khajiiti and Argonian ones… Anyway, back to you: You said you didn’t speak much English, what is your mother tongue and where are you from? Also: League Of Legends being a multiplayer online battle arena video game, it explains your expertise and your high expectations when it comes to group play in ESO. Yet ESO is not, from what people say, a top notch MMO game, is it? So what keeps you coming? Is it your love for the Elder Scrolls lore?
I did not know much English 10 years back, but now I am able to live in a foreign country (Denmark) and study there, talking every day in English. I moved there about three years ago from my homeland, Lithuania. 3) No, ESO tries to do many things at once, balancing various gameplay styles, but in the end it fails to do anything. The game has to look very accessible to new people, so that people who play ONLY for the lore could be able to enjoy the game, and yet it also has to offer something for the hardcore MMORPG players, who enjoy difficult content. To top it all off, the developers also try to balance the PvP aspect of the game, which might as well be a separate game, given the difference in character builds and play styles. So no, ESO is far from a top notch MMORPG game and it will never be, as long as it is bound by TES lore. For me though — I like lore in my own way. I do not obsess over every little sentence in the in-game books, every accurate detail in the dungeons and all the references to what would occur some thousand years later in the game Universe. No, I enjoy playing the game, while also picking up small details here and there. If something really catches my eye — I can replay the content or read up more about it on my own. However, I knew at the start that ESO would not be what I expected. It was too similar to Skyrim, too simplified for the average player, both in terms of game mechanics and the accuracy of lore. That is why you have, for example, books floating around in middle of era, which are only supposed to be written towards the end of third era — simply to cater to the average casual player who does not know any better. They (ZoS) played it good, hitting all the right nostalgia points, both with base game and ESO:Morrowind.
Then again, it is not difficult to do that in the first place — create a continuation of some old thing people grew up with, give it enough publicity and millions of people will pretend that they are excited to remember the good old times (even though a good chunk of those people were neither born yet to experience the original in the first place, nor did they discover it later in their life — they simply followed the masses). But this is a much bigger problem and going away from the question, so getting back to it — what keeps me playing ESO. Honestly? Nothing. I knew I was not going to enjoy the game much when I bought it and I still am not. But it is something to kill time with and there are still several things I would like to achieve before I quit. It is clear that without investing any more money into the game, I will not be able to experience any of the really difficult content that I might enjoy beating first few times, so the game has nothing to offer for me in a competitive sense. Neither am I interested in fishing for months, trading goods, doing same dungeons over and over so that I could dress up all 8 characters. Nope, I will finish doing the things I want to in several months and then I will quit the game, most likely forever.
Thank you! This was actually a really deep and interesting answer. Most pertinent, I thought. I agree with you entirely with regards to what they did with the lore and the balancing act. I loved what you said about the PvP aspect which could (should) be a different game altogether. It bothers me having to go to Cyrodiil only to be slaughtered by PvP players again and again when I only want to mind my own business and wave a white flag. I wish these players would stick to their war zones. But then again I don’t like PvP. Do you have a favourite place in Tamriel?
Morrowind’s Seyda Neen is by far the most favourite town. Anyone who has similar feelings towards the game would understand why. As for other regions — they just do not have any town that I find appealing. All the towns seen in Cyrodiil during Oblivion have someone murdered, haunted house, some vampires on the loose, etc etc. Never cared much about Skyrim, both the game and the region. Neither Arena nor Daggerfall has anything other than “generic” towns and the only thing that could come close would be Redguard’s Stros M’kai. However, you, as a character, do not feel like you fit in on the island, half of the people are out to get you, the other half cannot really help you find your sister, so Hunding’s Bay is not really a nice place to be. In the end, none of the towns compare to the feeling you get when you arrive at Seyda Neen — a small, quiet town with not much to do, yet such an important location.
Oh yes, when I got to Seyda Neen again, after so many years. It was such an intense feeling. But my strongest memory was Balmora. Balmora was my home away from home. I spend so much time there and had all my most prized possession in a house just north of town.
North of Balmora is Caldera
Heck, not even north, more NE. North is just hills. You’re probably thinking of South, at Odai Plateau, a Hlaalu stronghold you can build
No, it was in the hills. It was a mod, of course… I clearly remember running in the hills testing my new stuff
In ESO, as always with Elder Scrolls, it does not pay to be a Summoner. Well, with Solo play at least it is cool in the lower levels to have a summoned creature keep the enemies busy, acting almost as a tank while you shoot them. But in the higher levels, what is the point? I wish there were more creatures you could summon as well and I wish you could unlock new ones.
Familiar is widely used in ESO because it’s 12–15% of your dps, depending on the build you use. Winged Twilight is also used in double-pet builds, because it adds another 10%+ to your damage (although it’s single target damage). Wardens have their bear and netch, to some extent, counts as a summon as well. Then there are a few monster sets that summon a creature as well (such as Maw). So, summons do have a place in ESO. Summoners were never supposed to be a specific class. That’s what TES games allowed — combine several schools of magic and combat to build whatever character your wish. Conjuration was never a magic that did damage on its own, and same goes for illusion, alteration, and restoration. Mysticism could deal damage in Morrowind, though I recall it was removed in later games (coming back to the point where games are being simplified). So, while destruction was the only means to do damage, other schools provided some useful things — alteration helped move around. Restoration provided healing and buffs. Illusion allowed you to sneak around. Mysticism was used to debuff and detect enemies and conjuration could be used to either conjure daedric creatures to fight by your side or create daedric items to provide you temporary benefits in combat with weapons. So yes, while ESO lacks in variety of summons to use, it is because its a simplified version of an already simplified game (Skyrim), because it is easier to only have 2 pets on a class for balancing purposes.
Again, yes, yes and yes. Well spoken. And thank you for your time, it’s been a pleasure!
Any last words?
Kids — stay at school and don’t do drugs.
Haha love your work!
QUIZ QUESTIONS —
Answer in our Discord for bragging rights:
Who said “My subjects failed me, they deserve to be destroyed”?
a- Mightyskrollan
b- Maiq the Liar
c- Molag Bar
d- Vivec
Who is the female Khajiit who’s excited because she has a date with a Bosmer from the Greenvine Cartel tonight?
a- It’s not possible
b- Salkalar
c- Fae’Shra
d- Maedarri
More interviews next week as well as two more quiz questions and the answers to this week’s! I hope you enjoyed this first edition. Please contact me, Can’t-Fix-It if you’d like to be interviewed or if you’d like to submit screenshots or ideas! In the mean time, may the Hist look after you, and may your sales be swell!
