ESO's Writ system vs Skyrim's crafting - why does one feel like a job?

[NordOfSolitude]

I've been grinding ESO writs on my alts and it just hit me how different the crafting loop feels compared to Skyrim. Like, in Skyrim you can just... smith whenever you want, right? You loot some iron ore, you craft daggers while listening to dialogue, maybe you sell them off. It's integrated into the world naturally.

But ESO writs feel like actual homework. You log in, you check your mailbox, you have a specific order for 10 iron daggers or whatever, you craft them, you turn them in for vouchers. It's efficient but it's also kind of a chore? And I'm not even mad about it - that's clearly the design - but I'm wondering if anyone else feels like Skyrim's approach just lets you breathe more as a crafter.

Like there's no penalty for just grabbing random materials and making whatever. You can be inefficient and it's still fun. ESO's system is way more optimized but somehow less relaxing.

 

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

you're hitting on something real here. skyrim's crafting works because it's integrated into the actual gameplay loop - you loot stuff, you're already carrying materials, so you might as well smith while you wait for your follower to pick a lock or whatever. it's friction-free. there's no "crafting session" - it just happens.

eso writs are fundamentally a task system, not a gameplay loop. you're right that it's by design - they want you logging in daily, checking your board, completing objectives for rewards. it's engagement metrics disguised as content. and yeah, it's efficient if you're chasing vouchers, but it strips away the organic feel.

the thing that makes skyrim crafting actually relaxing though isn't just the lack of penalties - it's that you're making decisions. do i want to level smithing right now or would i rather use these materials for something else later? should i make jewelry or weapons? there's actual choice baked in, even if it's not mechanically consequential. eso writs remove that layer. you know exactly what to make, how many, and what you're getting back. it's optimized down to zero ambiguity.

that said, if you're doing writs on alts purely for the vouchers, you're kind of using the system as intended but also in the most joyless way possible. writs are better when you're just casually doing them while doing other stuff, not grinding them as a separate activity. but yeah, the systems are solving different problems - skyrim wants crafting to feel like part of being in the world, eso wants it to be a reliable reward structure.