Am I just plain unlucky?

[Lord_Winn]

I've played since December of last year. All my toons (16 of them now) are all at mid level, either 9 or 10 level. But I have never came across a tome of any kind. Instead I can only pay high prices at AH. Is this because I am so unlucky? I ran a lot of Tears of Dharkan on elite, Gwylans on elite, even Tempest Spine, but only end up in disappointment. For once, just like to be lucky once.

[ElfedLied4]

IIRC +1 tomes are the equivalent of ml 10 loot. They are also rare.

The MAXIMUM loot level dropped by a quest is equal to level minus three. (level -3)

To get the barest minimum shot at seeing one, you need to run level 11 quests on elite (Elite is +2 to difficulty, making the quest EffectiveLevel 13, giving a shot at lvl 10 loot), level 12 quests on hard (Hard is +1 to diffuculty, making the quest EL 13), level 13 quests on normal, level 14 quests on Casual (Casual is -1 to difficulty, making the quest EL 13)

You also mentioned Tempest Spine, which is a raid. Raid chests give a maximum loot value equal to quest level, so level 10 raids and above can drop tomes.


So, first: You aren't guaranteed drops at the maximum possible value.
Second: Tomes are rare drops anyway.


My suggestion is to level further because you're more likely to see them from higher level quests.

PS. Gwylan's Stand Elite is EL 9, so the best loot you'll see is ML 6.
Tear of Dhakan Elite is also EL 9.
Tempest Spine, being a level 10 raid has a chance at dropping tomes, as long as you're not running Casual.

[Zigana]

I didn't pick up my first tome until I was in gianthold, and even then, only +1's. I see them drop occasionally now, but I don't think they drop as frequently as some people seem to make them out to. Give it a few more levels in and you should start seeing them.

[Baahb3]

From my experiance the chances of a tome at the level of quests that you are running is pretty slim.

Tempest Spine should give you a chance, moreso on hard or elite but getting one out of tear or gwylans you would have to be pretty lucky. In all my times running those quests I have never pulled one out of either of those quests, and I have run then alot.

About the lowest level quest I have pulled one from is Stormcleave, I don't remember if it was on hard or elite though.

Just keep plugging away at it, you'll get some eventually.

[Lord_Winn]

IIRC +1 tomes are the equivalent of ml 10 loot. They are also rare.

The MAXIMUM loot level dropped by a quest is equal to level minus three. (level -3)

To get the barest minimum shot at seeing one, you need to run level 11 quests on elite (Elite is +2 to difficulty, making the quest EffectiveLevel 13, giving a shot at lvl 10 loot), level 12 quests on hard (Hard is +1 to diffuculty, making the quest EL 13), level 13 quests on normal, level 14 quests on Casual (Casual is -1 to difficulty, making the quest EL 13)

You also mentioned Tempest Spine, which is a raid. Raid chests give a maximum loot value equal to quest level, so level 10 raids and above can drop tomes.


So, first: You aren't guaranteed drops at the maximum possible value.
Second: Tomes are rare drops anyway.


My suggestion is to level further because you're more likely to see them from higher level quests.

PS. Gwylan's Stand Elite is EL 9, so the best loot you'll see is ML 6.
Tear of Dhakan Elite is also EL 9.
Tempest Spine, being a level 10 raid has a chance at dropping tomes, as long as you're not running Casual.

Are tomes as rare drops as the "collapsible hole"? I have came across three of them, doing Deleras once, doing Mirra's Restless Nights, and the last one, can't recall. Oh, well, probably be easier just look out for a discounted one on the AH, but biddings tend to be fierce, averagin 10K pp for most 1+ tomes.
Thanks for the advice. I guess you really got to be lucky afterall. One person recently got a planar thing from Xorian Cipher and she didn't even know it.

[Antheal]

I got one as an end reward from "Invaders!" in the Harbor, I also pulled one from a Chest after a Rare Encounter in Gianthold.

One of my party members got one as an end reward after doing "The Church and the Cult".

I think those pulls were pretty lucky, as that's only happened on that one occasion (respectively).

So I'd have to say you're just suffering from a run of bad luck. Sorry to hear that. :(

[Lorien_the_First_One]

+1 tomes were VERY rare until at least GH came out. Anything below that level you have very little chance of seeing one.

[NUDS]

Sort of off-topic but does having a full party in slayer areas make it scale up like dungeon scaling?

For example, I did GH on my own and opened around 60 rares chests without pulling any tomes, then I ran it once with a full party and BAM two +1 tomes in one run.

[Spoprockel]

I've only pulled 3 +1 tomes myself in about one year of playing.

One +1 con in Caverns of Corromar in house K on hard i think, not 100% sure about the
difficulty, but it was the beholder chest (end chest). I guess i was extremely lucky there.


One +1 wis tome in one of the gianthold quests on elite, can't remember which one.


One +1 char tome somewhere in one of the shroud quests, i think on hard or elite, can't remember the quest.



So i guess they can be considered quite rare. And btw, I've yet to pull a planar gird on any of my chars :P

[rayflo]

IIRC +1 tomes are the equivalent of ml 10 loot. They are also rare.

The MAXIMUM loot level dropped by a quest is equal to level minus three. (level -3)

To get the barest minimum shot at seeing one, you need to run level 11 quests on elite (Elite is +2 to difficulty, making the quest EffectiveLevel 13, giving a shot at lvl 10 loot), level 12 quests on hard (Hard is +1 to diffuculty, making the quest EL 13), level 13 quests on normal, level 14 quests on Casual (Casual is -1 to difficulty, making the quest EL 13)

You also mentioned Tempest Spine, which is a raid. Raid chests give a maximum loot value equal to quest level, so level 10 raids and above can drop tomes.


So, first: You aren't guaranteed drops at the maximum possible value.
Second: Tomes are rare drops anyway.



My suggestion is to level further because you're more likely to see them from higher level quests.

PS. Gwylan's Stand Elite is EL 9, so the best loot you'll see is ML 6.
Tear of Dhakan Elite is also EL 9.
Tempest Spine, being a level 10 raid has a chance at dropping tomes, as long as you're not running Casual.

if your talking about tomes being pulled in quests that loot mechanic is flawed. elite caverns of kor drop tomes occasionally and thats a base level 8 quest

[LightInDark]

Don't forget the Desert have pulled 2 +1s from rares in there in the last 6 months. Have never pulled a +2 however so its all turns and roundabouts

[ReaperAlexEU]

I've played since December of last year. All my toons (16 of them now) are all at mid level, either 9 or 10 level. But I have never came across a tome of any kind. Instead I can only pay high prices at AH. Is this because I am so unlucky? I ran a lot of Tears of Dharkan on elite, Gwylans on elite, even Tempest Spine, but only end up in disappointment. For once, just like to be lucky once.

its about time you chose one character to take higher then. get heavy fort (necky in black anvil mines is lvl9) and go into the desert or gianthold. try to get to lvl14-16 then go into the vale. if you spend a lot of time in the vale you'll start to see +2 tomes.

if you have access do the orcahrd, +1 tomes drop for there and more importantly the best heavy fort item to level up with, minos legens (you can get better after raid/epic crafting, but you'll hit lvl cap before that).

so, as others have said, level up. your currently farming content thats just a little too low for tomes.

the game goes get harder from the gianthold and beyond, so try taking your most survivable character up first, with heavy fort.

[Standal]

its about time you chose one character to take higher then. get heavy fort (necky in black anvil mines is lvl9) and go into the desert or gianthold. try to get to lvl14-16 then go into the vale. if you spend a lot of time in the vale you'll start to see +2 tomes.

if you have access do the orcahrd, +1 tomes drop for there and more importantly the best heavy fort item to level up with, minos legens (you can get better after raid/epic crafting, but you'll hit lvl cap before that).

so, as others have said, level up. your currently farming content thats just a little too low for tomes.

the game goes get harder from the gianthold and beyond, so try taking your most survivable character up first, with heavy fort.

You'll also find that plat is less of a problem after Menechtarun or Gianthold. You start to pull a lot high plus vendor trash. I do a lot of soloing with hireling, so contracts were really hindering my plat buildup. Just running rares now keeps me in however much plat I feel I need. Prices for desirable loot on the AH don't seem as ridiculous when you start to run quests where a broken barrel has gold in it and chests have plat, gold and a +7 weapon.

Particularly in the Orchard, you're going to need Deathward (either from a lvl 14 hireling or a Silver Flame trinket). It's not as necessary as heavy fort, but except for the beholder rare it completely protects you from negative levels.

[d4rkstars]

i got a tome in cavern of korromar so i imagine the "quest -3 level thing" isnt totaly true (korromar is 8, 10 in elite)

anyway, tomes are pretty rare so many people will report never see one.


why dont you level above lvl 10 :( your missing some great stuff! :)

[MateCarefor]

For f2p areas, I actually got my first +1 tome from a rare chest in Ataraxia,
and have seen portable holes and other tomes drop there as well.

As you move up in level, you will get more chances for rare drops like tomes and such.
So, you are not unlucky, just not astoundingly lucky to have come across something below level range!
:D

[sweez]

Uhh, so you have SIXTEEN level ~10 toons? How about actually capping one of them, doing high level quests and then buying all the tomes you want just from vendoring end-rewards?

And, that math up there in the second post must be wrong, because I've seen a few +1 tome drops in Xorian Cypher, namely the falling floor room chest.

[Farayon]

I got half a dozen +1 tomes from Sands, GH and Orchard explorer areas while farming a bloodstone, relics and taps respectively just for one single toon.
Most drops in ddo are random but the probability increases with higher level content.

Also you stated that +1 tomes are only 10k plat on your server? That seems really cheap. One sweep through the orchard rares will net you more in just shop food than that.

Hang in there for a few more levels and you'll start seeing more tomes and plat regularly.

[NaturalHazard]

I dont know if anyone has said this but if you want loot concentrate on leveling only a few charactors instead of all of them for a while and get your toon/toons running vod/hound/shroud/gh/IO ect and you should see a huge increase in loot that you can feed to your lower levels. 2 level 20 toons will pull more plat/better loot than 20 level 10 toons.

[tihocan]

Tomes are pretty rare. The very large majority of those I looted were in L12+ content.

[Zenako]

The loot tables in D&D which DDO is based on, have a possible upscaling effect. You can get a rare roll (like 1% of the time) on lets say Loot Table 9, which is Reroll on Loot Table 10. Just like you can in theory get powerful stuff from Copper Festival coins, like you would from the gold coins, it rarely ever happens.

That would easily explain those rare exceptions people cite. Play long enough and eventually you will get some lucky rolls. Those same loot tables are exactly why it is so uncommon to pull tomes on the level 10 and under quests, but one starts to see them more and more often on higher level quests and explorer areas.

[ElfedLied4]

I really can't remember where I learned the loot formula that I posted earlier, but it's what I was taught, and it seems to be true, even after all the time I've played. Quest level - 3 loot*, generally, for chests in quests (with some chests being of higher or lower level than the quest) and quest level loot for end rewards and raid chests/rewards.

The main point brought up is that tomes are dropping at lower levels than my formula predicted, but this is easily explained. In my post I said
IIRC +1 tomes are the equivalent of ml 10 loot. If they are being looted in lower level quests I must have been mistaken on their loot level equivalency. Based on the responses here, it seems that tomes are equivalent to ml 8 or 9.


If I'm totally baseless, I'd like to be corrected.


*Loot Level refers to the highest minimum level requirement that you find on the items. Named items are an exception and will drop in their specific chests.

[Oolung]

looting the quest "raid the giant's Vault" (level 19), a few runs ago I had pulled a +2 CHA tome. 4 runs later, I pull a Dex tome, which is what I'm after, but lo and behold, I pulled a +1. That's right, a +1 Dex tome, in a level 19 quest. Apparently they can still drop in higher level quests, but are rarer than +2's :D (this coming from the experience of pulling 2 +2 Wis tomes and 1 +2 CHA tome before my lovey +1)

[Theolin]

Well you could have my luck, in 4ish years i have pulled exactly 5 tomes (+1s & +2s)
never seen a +3 or +4
Granted I only play about 10 hours a week but even so

[youngsheep67]

i got a tome in cavern of korromar so i imagine the "quest -3 level thing" isnt totaly true (korromar is 8, 10 in elite)

anyway, tomes are pretty rare so many people will report never see one.


why dont you level above lvl 10 :( your missing some great stuff! :)

From the beginning, I know it's gonna take awhile for all my toons to get to level 20. Since I am a premium player, only paid twice for turbine points, I need to do a lot of favors so I can start buying adventure packs.
I still am looking to buy Sands and Gianthold when they go on sale, since they are so expensive. Just bought Red Fens, like it a lot. Also still have Grey Moon and Cult of Six series, played some.
I am going to pick the fittest one in each class and advance them accordingly. That way I can have a feel of each class and race. Boy, it's gonna take me another year before I get them all to level 20.
Believe me, can't wait to get started on the gianthold and Vale of Twilight!

[Aranticus]

this has been said and i will say again. level up, run harder content, get better loot

to many players with multiple L20 toons, +1 tomes are just pocket change. personally, i still have over 30 +2 tomes in my bank. some toons even have +3 tomes (raid tomes, unbound +3s and +4s are extremely rare drops from festivult) waiting for their next TR

i have a fighter who have taken 6 +3 tomes, i even deleted 2 toons with a combined 10 +3s between them. how you may ask

reaver's fate: +3s 5% chance, every 20th 5% chance
shroud: no +3s but chests drop +2s frequently, every 20th a choice of 6 tomes, +2 or +3s
hound: chance of +3s, every 20th chance of +3s
vod: see hound
tod: chance of +4s, every 20th chance of +4s
epic raids: +3s or +4s

note: L17 and above quests drop +2 tomes, +1 tomes drop in L9 or higher quests