Draught of Midnight -- Not a Good Deal

[Lithic]

Try using it in catacombs Pt4?

[Qaliya]

Tried one of these out to see how I would do. Ended up with 513 motes in 50 minutes, which is 615 per hour. They cost 500 motes, so that's +115.

However...

That was on a level 20 cleric with full ship buffs and only obtainable by running around for the solid 50 minutes blasting everything in sight. (No, not "kill stealing".) Anyone but a cleric or wiz/sorceror or very well-geared char probably wouldn't be able to get as much.. a meleer would lose motes on the deal. And if you have to stop for any reason.. such as I did after 50 minutes to waste an ethereal key.. you lose out.

Price should be lowered... if the point is to help people get more motes. If the point is to let people convert TP into motes, well, I guess it doesn't matter...

[Qaliya]

Try using it in catacombs Pt4?

I don't think you get the regular Mabar drops outside Mabar, which would make using it anywhere else counterproductive.

Also, it says that it gives you a number based on your relative level, so the trick people used at CC (slaughter kobolds) won't work here.

[MrTops]

Slaughtering Kobolds wasn't a trick. Definitely WAI!

Probably why cove could open so frequently.

[Afyndax]

Slaughtering Kobolds wasn't a trick. Definitely WAI!

Probably why cove could open so frequently.

It seems like a trick that a lvl 20 could do kobold assault on casual and get items needed for an epic item. My guess is this is WAI.. thankfull I think I am still in range to do the Catacombs quest.

[Qaliya]

Unless you shamelessly kill steal every mob you see, you won't get 500+ motes to cover the cost of the potion.

I guess it depends on what the definition of "kill stealing is".. but this is not far from the truth.

I found a way to get quite a bit more than 500... but it involves finding a big group of people so there are lots of spawns, waiting around near them, and then blasting all the mobs that I can get to in the general vicinity.

Is that "kill stealing" in the same sense as running up to someone actively fighting? I don't know. When I did this I never stayed in one area too long, so as not to be a nuisance, and frankly I do have a right to spawns as much as the next guy, but it still seemed a bit cheap.

ETA... this came in after I posted...


its not 1 for 1. Kill high level mobs and get multiple motes, 5, 6, 7 at a time. Then kill mobs of 20 and see motes rack up. You guys were just not killing fast enough.

Precisely. But to get those packs of 20 you need to be near large groups, and what do they think of you killing everything?

[Maxallu]

its not 1 for 1. Kill high level mobs and get multiple motes, 5, 6, 7 at a time. Then kill mobs of 20 and see motes rack up. You guys were just not killing fast enough.

[Maxallu]

That was on a level 20 cleric ..

That was your first problem. Should have ran it on a lvl 20 fire spec sorc, would have done some real damage.

[munificence]

Unless you shamelessly kill steal every mob you see, you won't get 500+ motes to cover the cost of the potion.

[Maxallu]

Precisely. But to get those packs of 20 you need to be near large groups, and what do they think of you killing everything?

Im in that group, they are all clerics with their slow heal spells and bursts, im blasting stuff with DBF and killing everything before they do.

[perylousdemon]

Draughts of midnight only cost 25TP on the store. Why not try that instead? After an hour, I ended up with 519 motes that dropped directly from mobs, and an additional 1700 or so from collectible turn-ins (on my monk). It tends to be a bit more effective if you're soloing, at least in my experience.

[stoerm]

I don't think you get the regular Mabar drops outside Mabar, which would make using it anywhere else counterproductive.

Ummm. I though the whole point of the draught is you can go questing and still get motes. For example:


This potion will cause CR 2 and higher undead that you kill anywhere in game to have a chance of dropping Motes of Night.

...

Now, with Draughts of Midnight, you can get Motes from any undead on Eberron instead! It doesn't matter if it's in a crypt here... or in Necropolis... or anywhere!

http://www.squidoo.com/endlessnight-ddo#Potions

Whether you can actually profit from it after spending 500 motes on it is another thing. Looks like it's not worthwhile if you purchase it with motes.

[Ugumagre]

That was your first problem. Should have ran it on a lvl 20 fire spec sorc, would have done some real damage.

:confused: ...I seeeeee... a lvl 20 Cleric is just a hjealer, and does not deal real damage...oh, well....

[KillEveryone]

Get big groups together and use a caster.

If you and a few others each have a separate free account for mules or other characters and are set up to multibox, you can park your other characters while you and a few friends kill the larger spawns.

Characters that are not in a group don't get anything when they are just sitting there.

I like to use my spellsinger on my mule account so that I can stay out longer.

[Matuse]

I ran the Draught a couple of times last year. Typically in one of those giant spawn farming groups. I was generally pulling 750-800 extra motes per hour. 50% payoff seems well worth it to me.

[Lavek]

basically run around and kill steal

[Qaliya]

Get big groups together and use a caster.


You don't get motes for other people's kills. You have to do a significant amount of damage to each mob to have a chance at it.

And the draught isn't really good for using in other places because you don't get the regular drops which are worth more motes than the draught gives you. This is why the mechanic is broken compared to Pirate's Grog.


I ran the Draught a couple of times last year. Typically in one of those giant spawn farming groups. I was generally pulling 750-800 extra motes per hour. 50% payoff seems well worth it to me.

Yes, and annoying the hell out of everyone else in those groups. Is that the behavior Turbine is trying to encourage?

They could fix this problem easily by making the draught cheaper, or making the fingerbones etc. drop outside Mabar.

[FengXian]

I was able to get up to 1kish motes in 1 hour (just by kills, no turn-in), but you really have to find a good spot and not have many other casters/healers around...plus you lose many potential motes if you go afk/cant find a good area in that 1h.

Draught is likely to give you +250ish motes from what I've seen, might be worth it on a caster but I don't like having to be there for 1h...if they made the timer pause out of delera in public areas it would be ok, as it is I'd rather not use it, still plenty of motes from turn-ins anyway :)

[Matuse]

Yes, and annoying the hell out of everyone else in those groups.

Um, whatnow? It was a group of level 20s triggering those big spawns and wiping them out. We all got motes. Who was being annoyed?

[Lalangamena]

radiant servant lvl 16 with 11 bursts

1 drought from the DDO store coupon. 60 minutes with small breaks to refill mana and bursts.

510 motes, totally not worth buying with motes.

[somenewnoob]

I got the free one with the coupon code last night. Ran around with a full raid group, level 20 fighter with a couple disruptors, got maybe 480ish.

So get the free one and use it, but don't spend motes or tp on it.

[brian14]

I too got the freebie Draught last night. After 1 hour of concentrated undead bashing with one quick break in the inn to restore clickies, I had exactly 500 motes. :)

Doubt I will spend any TP on it, and certainly not motes!

[Edited] That was in a party

[~Cavalier9999]

Totally depends on your character. On my lvl 20 fire savant Sorc I get about 1500 per hour. This is in a full 12 person group. I'll get a few more if the group is dps heavy and few less if it is mostly arcanes.

A word on the leeches. The size of the spawn is tied to the number of characters in the vicinity. While the drops of the motes with a draughts are tied to kills, the drops of the turn-in items are distributed somewhat randomly among the groups that dealt damage, but is not proportional to the damage dealt. In this regard it is productive to be in a small (i.e., solo) group so that you get all of your group's drops. Jumping on another group's large spawns will get you more drops, but at their expense. Yes, it's productive, but it's also greedy and unfair and you are scum if you do it.

[JOTMON]

Return on cost ratio is pretty poor.

Cleric burst seems to give me very little in Motes.
I tend to burst first (turn of meta if killing in 1 burst) then mass cure, that seemd to work a bit better.

Melee ratio to kills was almost break even so not worthwhile.

On my caster the ratio was much better, got easily 2-3x more motes blasting mobs.

Definitely more worthwhile working with a large group of casters than healers or melee

[cforce]

For me, 25TP for 400-500 motes is a good deal, so I'll probably do that just to make sure I finish off my shopping list in time.

But the turn-in one, I agree, is a ripoff for most except for the occasional nuking caster in a big party.

[Darkrok]

Totally depends on your character. On my lvl 20 fire savant Sorc I get about 1500 per hour. This is in a full 12 person group. I'll get a few more if the group is dps heavy and few less if it is mostly arcanes.

A word on the leeches. The size of the spawn is tied to the number of characters in the vicinity. While the drops of the motes with a draughts are tied to kills, the drops of the turn-in items are distributed somewhat randomly among the groups that dealt damage, but is not proportional to the damage dealt. In this regard it is productive to be in a small (i.e., solo) group so that you get all of your group's drops. Jumping on another group's large spawns will get you more drops, but at their expense. Yes, it's productive, but it's also greedy and unfair and you are scum if you do it.

I had the same experience on my Air Sorc. When I was the only sorc in the group I got 1700 motes in the hour for a net of 1200. Again, this isn't leeching, this is in a full 12 man group. Later we had one wizard that was really on the ball and 2 other sorcs and I still managed to pull down about 1100 motes for a net of 600.

It really is all about the casting speed and timing. I can toss a ball lightning and chain lightning both right as the mobs activate before the cleric can finish one spell.

[somenewnoob]

For me, 25TP for 400-500 motes is a good deal, so I'll probably do that just to make sure I finish off my shopping list in time.

But the turn-in one, I agree, is a ripoff for most except for the occasional nuking caster in a big party.

Yeah at least it's cheap. If I get my last scale I need and still need motes I might just buy one so I can finish the farm and get on with life a little faster. (4000 tp with nothing really to buy so.....)

The event itself isn't pleasant......the shinies are nice though!

[brian14]

I think mote drop rate changed since last year. In 2010 I do not remember ever getting more than 4 motes per kill, and it seemed independent of the mob's type. This time around I almost always get 8 motes from mummies and 5 from frostmarrows (ALMOST -- can be as little as 1). One time I killed a lich with DoM running, I got 10 motes. Whereas weak undead only give 1-4 motes.

On the second thought, maybe it is because my main was much lower level then, and simply did not kill any mummy lords?

[Mujaki]

I got the free draught of midnight. I went to a less populated instance of Deleras. I just ran around solo and killed things as they spawned. In one hour I got almost 2000 motes around 1000 just from the draught and 1000 from the items I cashed in. This was on my lvl 20 monk. Personally I thought the draught was a pretty great item.

[spyyder976]

the whole point of this potion is that you can go questing or slaying in wilderness zones where there are undead if you so choose and still get some motes without being stuck in the graveyard; if you are making some profit at all, it's better than nothing, because you are getting to grind motes (although much more slowly) while also doing quests

[MaximumCharisma]

the whole point of this potion is that you can go questing or slaying in wilderness zones where there are undead if you so choose and still get some motes without being stuck in the graveyard; if you are making some profit at all, it's better than nothing, because you are getting to grind motes (although much more slowly) while also doing quests

If you are going to necro a thread
Might as well be about undead :)