Boot ingredient grind

[Thelmallen]

Get rid of it.

Or at least make it more bearable.

I vociferously opposed the change to ToD when it happened, arguing that you now have to effectively 'double-flag' for that quest, but one of the flags requires randomly-generated ingredients. The second part of that flagging system really only hurts the average and casual player, who, unfortunately, make up the majority of the gaming community. I realize that the intent is to encourage people to run the Battlefield quests. However, the unfortunate reality is those people are largely excluded from running the raid if they don't have boots. I don't know how it goes on the other servers but on Sarlona, a LFM for ToD generally includes the words "Must have boots".

I know that I'm going to get swamped with people saying, "I pulled 3 bloods from one run of Bastion" or "I got my boot ingredients in 2 days for all of my 10 characters" but let me assure you, those experiences are not reflective of what's happening to the average player.

I stopped playing for about 4 months, largely because I was sick of the grind. In the month since I've come back, I've had a blast, being reminded daily why I love this game so much. However, two of my characters don't have boots of anchoring so I thought I had better knuckle down and go get those ingredients. Dozens of runs through Shavarath quests later, I've acquired a total of one mysterious artifact. This experience reminds me why I took a break. I realize that this is bad luck and I may pull ingredients from every end chest for the next 10 runs. Or I may run 50 more and not get any...it's random.

And that's my beef with this raid 'flagging' mechanism. Take out the random, make us do our work and get our results. I have no problem flagging for raids. I have no problem running Vale quests to acquire ingredients for items I choose to build. I do have a problem slogging my way through mobs of CR19 Orthons and Barbazu for 20-30 minutes to earn a 3-5% chance at pulling one of four pieces of a recipe that is now essentially required by the gaming community to run the highest-level non-epic raid.

Okay, I've outlined why I think it's bad, so now a few suggestions:

1) Change Horoth's radius of banishment to what it was before the 'fix'. This will allow people to still participate in the run who do not have boots. The non-boot melees can still kill orthons or Sully while not being actively engaged in melee with Horoth.

2) Increase the drop rate on boot ingredients. I know they've already been increased once, but it's not enough. Consider adding boot ingredients to the other chests in the raid or to other chests in the Battlefield quests or even the rares in the Battlefield. This was done in Gianthold and it has not hurt that adventure area at all.

3) Take out the randomness completely. Random hurts the average player while being a non-factor for power-gamers. Make the ingredients a static drop. If you want to ensure that people run these quests more than once each, make the boots require more ingredients or have the static drops only be part of one ingredient (ala the pieces of epic dungeon tokens but not 1/100, for heaven's sake).

4) Get rid of it completely. I know that's not going to happen and would make many people unhappy as well but it is an option.

That's all I have. Please understand that this is not a rant but does reflect some moderate degree of in my opinion well-earned frustration on my part. And it's not that I don't care but posting your experiences of pulling all your boot ingredients for your entire complement of characters in one afternoon last week is not contributing to the thread.

-Thel

[Sir_Chonas]

So far I'm about 0/30 on boot ingredients. . . While I don't mind running the content. . .It is rather hard to get groups for, and I'd like at least some measure that I'm making progress . . . small shards of devil keepsakes that can be crafted into an average devil's keepsake . . . 20th completion guarantees of ingredients. . something.

[davidcampa]

I personally think the drop rate is fine, I have boots for 4 toons.

My high saves pally got them almost last, Until you get them get the mantle, that helps some.

My fighter was ported about 1/3 of the time until I finally got the boots. no big deal just ran the quests to get the Ingrediants.

I think farming the boots should be part of the quest. I always thought the best part of TOD when it came out is seeing what guildies made it to the end without getting banished.

[sacredtheory]

I completely agree with you. I've had many runs of all the various quests out there, and have not seen just one ingredient drop for me. So combine the ridiculous drop-rates of the ingredients, the insane AH prices for the ingredients, and the non-caster friendly pack that Shavarath is, well I pretty much just hate that whole area. It's totally different for a melee, but I'm sorry, everything out there is extremely boring, tedious, and hard for an arcane caster.

[Vynnt]

Try farming the two 12 quests. Weapons shipment and Wrath of flames are significantly easier and faster than the rest of the quests. Both, drop ingredients.

[elricken]

Uhh... what?

...

Boot ingredients are not a grind, it is actually very easy imo.

Easier than Ascension Chamber flagging for sure.

But maybe its different for me, I can solo sins normal in less than 20 minutes (Not exactly an accomplishment, people do it on elite in that time).

Wrath of the flame takes less than 5?

The other mats can easily be bought off of the auction house, they are cheap (Not that d-bloods or keepsake's are expensive right now).

Or you can easily trade for them.

Not at all a grind, not in the slightest.

Edit:

This post did come off as dismissive and abrasive (It was just after I woke up and before any coffee/breakfast, if that is any excuse) and for that I apologize to the op.

[moops]

Well Thel I feel your pain. . .You know I take people without boots all the time, and usually they do not get banished--only our main tanks whom forget to put their boots back on lol.

I can give you the ingreds for one set of boots--As I am the lucky one Ill be on later.

[soupertc]

I got some extra ingred I can send ya. I expect any UBER desert scrolls as payment !!! I'll be on Wen sometime....let me know what ya need and I'll see what I got for ya.

[Thelmallen]

Well Thel I feel your pain. . .You know I take people without boots all the time, and usually they do not get banished--only our main takes whom forget to put their boots back on lol.

I can give you the ingreds for one set of boots--As I am the lucky one Ill be on later.

Thanks for the offer, Hex but this wasn't a cry for 'help!' from the guildies as y'all have been more than generous with ingredients already! I'll get them eventually, I know, it's just ridiculous the 'luck' that some people have (or don't have).

[sacredtheory]

Maybe it's just me, but I hate the idea that you have to grind your way into a raid, I'm thinking of you Abbot, Gianthold, and ToD (technically the boots aren't needed).

I understand making desirable items a grind (DT, GS), but not getting into a raid.

[soupertc]

I know that I'm going to get swamped with people saying, "I pulled 3 bloods from one run of Bastion" or "I got my boot ingredients in 2 days for all of my 10 characters" but let me assure you, those experiences are not reflective of what's happening to the average player.


And it's not that I don't care but posting your experiences of pulling all your boot ingredients for your entire complement of characters in one afternoon last week is not contributing to the thread.

-Thel

Uhh... what?

...

Boot ingredients are not a grind, it is actually very easy imo.

Easier than Ascension Chamber flagging for sure.

But maybe its different for me, I can solo sins normal in less than 20 minutes (Not exactly an accomplishment, people do it on elite in that time).

Wrath of the flame takes less than 5?

The other mats can easily be bought off of the auction house, they are cheap (Not that d-bloods or keepsake's are expensive right now).

Or you can easily trade for them.

Not at all a grind, not in the slightest.

LOL

some people just don't read to well.

[Thelmallen]

Uhh... what?

...

Boot ingredients are not a grind, it is actually very easy imo.

Easier than Ascension Chamber flagging for sure.

But maybe its different for me, I can solo sins normal in less than 20 minutes (Not exactly an accomplishment, people do it on elite in that time).

Wrath of the flame takes less than 5?

The other mats can easily be bought off of the auction house, they are cheap (Not that d-bloods or keepsake's are expensive right now).

Or you can easily trade for them.

Not at all a grind, not in the slightest.

Thanks for your input. Not helpful but input nonetheless.

And a 3-5% drop rate on a 4-ingredeint recipe is a grind for most people. Sounds like it isn't for you but for most people it is.

320k pp for blood (what it's been on Sarlona recently) is expensive, btw, especially if you have to cough up as much for two of the other three ingredients. That's nearly 1 million pp for each set of boots. That's a lot, no matter who you are.

I've run Wrath and Shipment many, many, many times. Probably run Wrath 30-35 times in the past few weeks and haven't pulled anything. Haven't run Shipment as much lately but I cannot recall ever pulling any ingredient out of those chests. I think I had a guildie give me a Shimmering Arrowhead once months ago but that's it.

[toughguyjoe]

Wrath of the Flame: Demons Blood and Mysterious Artifact

Weapons Shipment: Pure Shavrath Iron and Devils Keepsake

Both of these quests are so easy that as my good buddy Thumpx used to say "A Caveman could do it"

Both can easily be solo'd if necessary or completely over powered and run with a good group in mere minutes.

That doesn't make the ingredients magically appear in the chest, I know.

However I have done ten runs of Wrath farming ingreds and came out with two Artifacts and Three Demons Blood.

Also, on Argo, Mysterious artifacts can be had from the auction house for a mere 5k plat.

[toughguyjoe]

Thanks for your input. Not helpful but input nonetheless.

And a 3-5% drop rate on a 4-ingredeint recipe is a grind for most people. Sounds like it isn't for you but for most people it is.

320k pp for blood (what it's been on Sarlona recently) is expensive, btw, especially if you have to cough up as much for two of the other three ingredients. That's nearly 1 million pp for each set of boots. That's a lot, no matter who you are.

I've run Wrath and Shipment many, many, many times. Probably run Wrath 30-35 times in the past few weeks and haven't pulled anything. Haven't run Shipment as much lately but I cannot recall ever pulling any ingredient out of those chests. I think I had a guildie give me a Shimmering Arrowhead once months ago but that's it.

There is no Helpful input.

If you're looking for Input on how to get your droprates to increase, No one will give you any.

All we can say is "there are two simple quests that drop ingredients in their end chests. Go grind them."

[moops]

Thanks for the offer, Hex but this wasn't a cry for 'help!' from the guildies as y'all have been more than generous with ingredients already! I'll get them eventually, I know, it's just ridiculous the 'luck' that some people have (or don't have).

Well I have been watching you run these quests over and over--and you just have some really really bad luck. Me? Im very lucky---I accidently hit the wrong LFM for weapons shipment and stayed anyway, and pulled a Keepsake lol. I solo Sins and Bastion for fun, so I got some extra stuff.

[redspear]

I agree. I got my first toon "flagged" but since I wasn't flagged, I never bothered runnin it. Started up my now main (dwarf barb) and when the same situation began to happen I just send the 2 ingrediants I had got to him, got lucky on a blood (yay for wrath of flame being much faster and less boring than the weapons shipment) and simply bought the devils off AH.

I really which the drop rate on some things would increase. I have already decided that I will be gettin a bloodstone from the AH as the grind for one (30 so runs and nothing, and havin read some of the nightmares people have with it, Its just not worth it).

[DANTEIL]

Get rid of it.

Or at least make it more bearable.

Excellent suggestions +1

I realize that some people are able to acquire these easily. But in my experience, getting these ingredients is a near-impossible task. Case in point: One recent night I joined up with a group to grind out multiple runs of Weapons Shipment just for this purpose, and nothing dropped for anyone the entire night. I understand that this is simply bad luck, but it is very disheartening, especially since doing so-called "quick" solo runs on *any* Amrath quest to farm for ingredients is out of the question for my character.

The OP has some good ideas that would represent a reasonable compromise, assuming that getting rid of the boot requirement completely is out of the question.

[Xaearth]

It took me so long to get the ingredients for my main, that now no one is accepting a PUG wizzy that hasn't kited pt 2 before.

So I have the boot ingredients, still can't get in the raid.
Just glad I foresaw this and didn't actually make the boots yet seeing as my monk is likely to get flagged before I ever get my wizzy into ToD.

[Thelmallen]

Go grind them."

Lol so that's your response to my "let's fix the boot ingredient grind" thread?

Thx.

[moops]

While staying neutral about whether ingreds are hard to get or not. . .or a Grind

I would like to point out that a Devil Scale sells for more than a Demon's Blood on the AH

And Shrouds are run 20 times more than TODs.

The other ingreds are really really cheap on the AH.