Coldin's Trapmaking Guide

[Memnir]

Excellent work.


+Rep

[Cap_Man]

From what I can tell, magical traps actually use the DC from the scroll being used. So a glitterdust trap is only going to have a DC of 12.

Great write up!

But for these magical traps, since it appears the trap uses the DC of the scroll, why would I use 10-50 scrolls (plus all the trap parts) to make 5 traps instead of just casting from the scroll?

[Azaron_Nightblade]

Excellent work.


+Rep

Indeed!

[Coldin]

Great write up!

But for these magical traps, since it appears the trap uses the DC of the scroll, why would I use 10-50 scrolls (plus all the trap parts) to make 5 traps instead of just casting from the scroll?

I'm not sure.

The advantages of a magical trap is that you don't have to make a concentration check to set it, and you can set them in advance if you plan to use them for an ambush.

Unfortunately, the DC being so ineffective basically means any real use of magical traps is a near pointless effort.

[Coldin]

Small error on my part. Magical Traps only require 10 scrolls no matter the level. It's only the Magical Trap Parts that need to be increased.

[lord_odin]

A side note on the gernades/mines. Gernades can be thrown in public area's and in pvp. They deal your element dammage type plus blunt damage, and follow the thrown weapons rules for sneak attack. Found that out when i threw one at an unsuspecting target, so i checked my combat log to see what all it did. Mines however cannot be used in public areas and that includes the pvp bar fights.

[Ode1st]

Really nice write-up, +1 rep, but:

It kind of seems like the time spent farming, crafting + the amount of parts needed + the fact that you need a wizard or lots of platinum (according to the AH) to buy soul gems != the worth of traps. Which is really sad, because my mechanic was so excited to play with traps.

Maybe in the future, if these seemingly steep trap requirements don't change, we can add some kind of "easy way to farm parts" guide. On my level 15 mechanic II, I went into things like Bookbinder's Rescue, Bounty Hunter, Church and the Cult, and because of doors that needed to be opened and things like that, it was much harder to solo through because you fall out of hide/sneak when you open the doors. So, coupled with that and the large amount of trap parts, I think a guide is in order :P.

[Coldin]

A side note on the gernades/mines. Gernades can be thrown in public area's and in pvp. They deal your element dammage type plus blunt damage, and follow the thrown weapons rules for sneak attack. Found that out when i threw one at an unsuspecting target, so i checked my combat log to see what all it did. Mines however cannot be used in public areas and that includes the pvp bar fights.

Yep, meaning if you hit a monster with the physical part of the grenade, and you're close enough, you'll deal sneak attack damage. They'd be really useful if you could use the splash damage to deal sneak attack damage as well.

Really nice write-up, +1 rep, but:

It kind of seems like the time spent farming, crafting + the amount of parts needed + the fact that you need a wizard or lots of platinum (according to the AH) to buy soul gems != the worth of traps. Which is really sad, because my mechanic was so excited to play with traps.

Maybe in the future, if these seemingly steep trap requirements don't change, we can add some kind of "easy way to farm parts" guide. On my level 15 mechanic II, I went into things like Bookbinder's Rescue, Bounty Hunter, Church and the Cult, and because of doors that needed to be opened and things like that, it was much harder to solo through because you fall out of hide/sneak when you open the doors. So, coupled with that and the large amount of trap parts, I think a guide is in order :P.

Yeah. Farming parts can be a pretty time consuming process. Right now I'm trying to figure out some places to acquire a lot of parts in a short amount of time, but it's been difficult. Maybe as time goes on, they're reduce the amount of parts required for each trap, or increase how much comes from boxes. I hope to at some point in the near future have a small write up on good places to farm trap parts.

Btw, I've found Church and the Cult surprisingly easy to solo sneak. There's a few undead that are nearly impossible to get by, but most of the humans are easy enough. If you're having issues with doors, try out some of the noisemakers to distract any NPCs away.

Also, through more testing, I'm thinking quest difficulty matters very little in how many trap parts you can scavenge per box. Normal generally has similar results to Elite. If there is a change in number, it's so slight that the random chance essentially makes it invalid.

[Taurnish]

Very good thread! I have been playing my now lvl 12 mechanic most of the day and through GH and some other quests (mostly VONS) have a variety of parts but a guide would be great as far as time vs. number of trap type XX obtained. Also, if one can get this by sneaking as you comment above would be of great help.

I too hope the
1. Provide a trap making ingredient bag (yes ...another bag )
2. Maybe cut down on the number of parts needed for some traps....as you say the soul gems are very pricey on the AH and for those rogues who do not have a wizard as a good friend they may not be able to afford some of the better traps.

Again, great thread and I will let you know my experience in gathering as I level my new rogue.

Cheers!

[Draccus]

Nice job!

+1

[lord_odin]

A guide to quick part farming would be nice, not sure if we should start a new thread for it, or continue here. Up to Coldin really since he started this thread, however i'll add what i've found at the bottom for now. As far as a trap bag goes, we do not really need one since the small holds 12 i believe, and there is only 8 different kinds of parts. You're not likely to be carrying around extra flasks, since the vendor is right near the work bench. If you feel you need a bigger ingredient bag, then buy a medium, or buy the vale of twilight pack and get the free large. Unless of course you meant for this new trap bag to also hold your created gernades and mines, then im all for it.
One quest i find easy is Hiding in plain sight(HIPS), its a f2p quest and there is always 3 traps in it that you can sneak to, and occasionaly there's 1-2 more traps on the route to the last trap that always spawns. The quest takes maybe 5-6minutes to sneak through for those traps. The first trap will always give you a chance for acid parts, the 2nd and 3rd trap will always give a chance for mechanical. The two traps that occasionally spawn depends on which it is, if its the bladed one then mechanical, and if its the fire darts, then you'll get fire parts. The next quest i have done is a p2p one in the Inspired quarter called Dream Conspiracy. I have gotten 14 magical and 14 mechanical parts from there in one run, however you will have to fight at the start, and then you can sneak past the next room, and then probly have to fight 2 more guys at the trap boxes. Another quest i have heard that is good, but havent checked to see if its soloable for trap parts, is another p2p quest called Monastery of the Scorpion in the Reaver's Reach adventure pack.

[gimik1214]

As far as farming parts at high level mechanical parts are easy to come by in bulk. In Monastery of the Scorpion on Normal with my 20 Assassin I was able to nab 109 mechanical parts in just the first tunnel section. Only the small groups of scorpions and a couple drow to deal with. Now I may have been a bit lucky, as I haven't done it again yet, but it only takes a short time to get them.

[ascunion]

I have also discovered that gwylan's stand also provides a good gathering point for parts. Especially for the lower level rogues wanting to attempt this.

[Stillwaters]

not sure if i saw it above - but ive farmed UNHOLY parts... wonder what i can use em for////

[RobinofSpiritwood]

Thanks Coldin- this guide is exactly what I've been looking for.

The rogue forums have some threads about Quest/item farming- don't know if that's appropriate for here though.

[drac317]

made some strong frost grenades the other day and it was a stack of 10 not 5 if i recall correctly.

as far as the unholy parts screenshot or it didnt happen

but id love an UNHOLY hand grenade

[Coldin]

made some strong frost grenades the other day and it was a stack of 10 not 5 if i recall correctly.

as far as the unholy parts screenshot or it didnt happen

but id love an UNHOLY hand grenade

Sorry. All grenades come in sets of 10. Had a typo there due to my liberal use of copy/paste.

All the numbers SHOULD be right now.

[Mockduck]

You really did a great job on this guide. Gotta say, though, after running a couple of trap-heavy nights worth of quests on the Build Guild Mockduck I'm pretty much thinking "meh - not worth it." I think what I'll do is take those rare tiny piles of ingredients and throw 'em up on the AH cheap for others' benefit. Too much work, too much grind, not enough benefit.

[Coldin]

You really did a great job on this guide. Gotta say, though, after running a couple of trap-heavy nights worth of quests on the Build Guild Mockduck I'm pretty much thinking "meh - not worth it." I think what I'll do is take those rare tiny piles of ingredients and throw 'em up on the AH cheap for others' benefit. Too much work, too much grind, not enough benefit.

My main issue with them is the sheer amount of parts needed to make the stronger traps. I haven't found any good place to get a large amount of any elemental trap part in a relatively short amount of time.

Eladrin mentioned they didn't want to go overboard on traps, so were starting low. Hopefully that means as more updates come out, they'll continue tweaking the system, and improve the viability of traps.

[Draccus]

Magical trap parts are some of the easiest I've found to farm in the game -- because of one quest.

Relic of a Sovereign Past, on elite, netted me 70 magical trap parts on my first run and 68 on my second. The final long hallway, which is accessed after pulling the two main levers, has a poison trap about evey 30 feet. It's magical trap part heaven.

Yes, you do have to pretty much complete the entire quest to get there but it's super easy to stealth most of it and I had no trouble assassinating any of the mobs guarding levers. You could probably use noisemakers to avoid killing the guards if you wanted to.

But here's the question: Is there no magical mine? If all you can use magical trap parts is scroll traps, then they are a waste of time.