Grieving mother personal quest(doesn't advance,usual trick doesn't work)

[loup.solitair]

Hi!

As I'm near the end of the game(have to complete a couple quests and tasks of Act III,Teir Evron ones,and main quest),I decided to do the personal quests of my companions,including the ones I've not used.

After some searching,I read that for Durance(used but no quest advance)and grieving mother,we should spend some times with them and "sleeping" at Caed Nua several times is enough to make their quests advance,as long as we're far enough in the game.

So I did it;for Durance,no problem,I got his second talk very quickly.But for grieving mother,it doesn't work at all.So far,I only had the first talk with her,when she joins the party,and a short talk,only a few lines from her,not asked to answer anything to her(like we have sometimes with other companions too).

I used the Caed Nua trick a lot,spending 1 month in-game time "sleeping" in it,but nothing happened.I tried to go to an inn(Heartsong one)to "sleep" a couple times in it,nothing;I too restarted the game,in case of a script problem,but it doesn't help.

So,my question is:is there something special we had to do to advance her quest(like fighting with her in the party a minimum of times,doing some of the few quests I still need to do,using a specific inn or similar)?

It doesn't prevent to finish the game,but I'll be very frustrated to be unable to finish this quest,as I've finished almost every other one of the game(I'm a bit completionist about questing)...

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Please don't try to rely on "tricks", which have not been confirmed officially and may be based on a player's false impression. Still the best way to do the companion quests is to let the companions join early and have them in the party while advancing through the game. That is the intended way to play the game, since companions add comments during exploration and because certain locations, events and XP gain will trigger their personal quests.

[loup.solitair]

The problem is we’ve few informations about what trigger it and how long it’ll be between two events,so,except if we search for it before making the party(and spoil the content of the game),or if it is at least a second playthrought,it is difficult to know what party we should make to be able to complete all the companions quests without too much troubles(and it makes the people wanting to complete it to play with char they don’t like(personnality,gameplay...)).

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

If you don't like the companions, why would you want to do their quests?

Durance and GM are the two, who should stay in the party for a longer time, so just do that. And once you know the game enough, you can meta-game the others and let them join only temporarily. Yet no removed companion can comment on story events, so you would not see all content anyway.

The game offers more than what could be experienced in a single playthrough.

[loup.solitair]

If you have read my initial post,you should know that I do their quest for completion purpose.And any player should be able to play how he want to,without being made to play only as the devs wanted.

Anyway,it is not the matter here,so I refocuses the discussion:Is there something I’ve to do to make her quest advance?

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by loup.solitair:

If you have read my initial post,you should know that I do their quest for completion purpose.

You can't have the cake and eat it too. There are more story companions than free slots within the party. If a specific companion is missing when s/he should be present as a member of the party as to experience story/exploration events (such as soul contact), bad luck. Then you only get to see the game content that is specific to your party members.

Originally posted by loup.solitair:

And any player should be able to play how he want to,without being made to play only as the devs wanted.

It's exactly the opposite. Player is bound to the design of the game and its story development. If spam-resting has been designed as a way to advance a personal quest, that would be an option. If it hasn't, you cannot force your will upon the devs. And meta-gaming is just that. It exploits a game based on prior knowledge of a game, so e.g. Aloth and Eder can be added to the party a bit later than the first trigger-point for their personal quests.

[loup.solitair]

Well,it is pretty clear we won’t agree about the way to play a game,so it would be pleasant if you stop making this topic focused on other parts that my initial question.And as we won’t convince each other,we spend time with a very useless talk.

Debate close for me;each of us should play as they want and can.

For other people,my question about how to advance grieving mother personal quest is still valid.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Feel free to play as you like, but if it the particular playstyle isn't compatible with the game implementation and breaks it, you get to keep the pieces.

For example, stronghold adventures are implemented with a dependency on gaining quest XP, which is the only thing that advances stronghold turns. Resting for days or weeks isn't an accepted way to advance stronghold turns.

And if you add story companions to your party late or much too late, they may be past their companion quest trigger points already. That isn't specific to Durance and GM.

[loup.solitair]

In case someone has the same problem,I've finally solved it.

It was pretty easy to solve,in fact.

When I got her,Hiravias and Zahua too(and their quests didn't launch),I directly sent them to Caed Nua,without taking them in the party.And it seems it prevents their quests to launch automatically,or the icon appearing on their picture.

To solve it,you only have to speak to them by using this possibility on their action bar;if they have a quest ready to advance or launch,it'll do it,and apparently,the quests work fine after it.I can finish the grieving mother quest after this way to speak to her by "sleeping" several times in Caed Nua,until I can finish it.

Notice you may have to speak several times with the companion before you can get access to to the dialogue option starting the quest.

So,no hidden trigger,only the game not handling well the situation if you don't take them in the party to speak a bit with them before sending them to Caed Nua.