Farming Stave of the Seer

[cforce]

Anyone with good enough memory to think back to the July 2006 timeframe when you used to run Ghola-Fan a lot? Just *how* rare is the Stave of the Seer drop? I've had weekly ransacks on that chest since the update dropped trying to grab one of the new ones, still skunked. Is it that rare a drop, or am I just unlucky?

[Mercureal]

I've done a few farming runs of the Isles quests looking for any of the named items, though not recently, and never got anything worthwhile. I think I ransacked the chests about three times, and all I ever saw was the falchion with +4 trip - twice. I gave up looking at that point.

[Archangel666]

It's pretty rare. Not quite Royal Guard Mask rare, but bloomin' close.

Be aware though that there's a nice new "Feature" that's been added to Ghola Fan recently.

The Quari Forged Key that you buy from the Ogre near the Quest giver now drops when entering Ghola Fan or leaving the Explorer Area, so you'll have to buy a key each time unless you want to take the long way to the Quest. Was going to farm a second Royal Guard Mask when I discovered that. The key I'd had for a life and a half dropped when I entered Ghola Fan and while the quest is fairly quick, I'm not sure it's 5 minutes quick so you're unlikely to have time to get back out in time to pick up the key again before the Explorer Area resets.

[Sebastrd]

I got lucky and bought one from someone in the party after the run I hit ransack. I got the Fellblade once, and the Mystic Band once. However, the guy I bought my Stave from said he had like five of them.

The key is totally unnecessary. You can run past everything getting back to the quest.

[brian14]

Huh. I never realized Staff of the Seer is that rare. I do not have Restless Isles pack, and ran Ghola-Fan only once (maybe twice), on a pass. Got Staff of the Seer, and never thought it was anything special. Just a True Seeing clickie for levels 8-15 -- and now that I can craft True Seeing shard, 8-10.

[PestWulf]

I'm running it with a friend trying to get the Stave as well for my Druid/Monk staffer. The stave is phenomenal for that niche build and with the augment slots you can actually use it for a lot more content.

I'm currently waiting until this Thursday due to ransack, we've ransacked once so far with two of us doing it and no special loot has dropped yet.

As for why anyone would want it...the new updated version is a base 2d6 wooden staff usable at level 8.

What this means for me in my build is doing 5d6 + 30 base damage and 9d6 + 30 on a great cleave by level 8. No other staff comes close to this type of damage that I can find.

I also just came from farming the Sword of the Thirty for a wonderful low level greatsword. I'm guessing the Stave is going to be as rare as that one was to get. I ransacked on two character, my friend on two characters and then we ran it on a duo together and it finally dropped. So 5 Ransack runs to see the Sword of the Thirty, i'm betting it's a similar rarity.

[PestWulf]

Just thought I'd update. My friend and I have been ransacking the seer's chest weekly now since level 10ish. Three more ransacks under our belts and no stave drop as of yet.

In comparison, the Sword of the Thirty has also been ransacked by us at least three times as much as the stave chest due to it being a lower level quest and we have more characters eligible for it. That sword has only dropped once.

So the rarity on these items is very large. I guess I can understand it since with certain builds the staff can be uber powerful, but I'm approaching almost a month of farming for it, also checking the auctions since it doesn't say bound to account or character on pickup. At this point I'd be willing to throw all kinds of plat or shards at it...sigh. I was really wanting one for our next TR for a monk/druid staff build but looks like that isn't going to happen this TR unfortunately.

[PestWulf]

My last update in case it helps anyone. Went through 5 Ransacks on the chest with two characters (mine and a friend). On the 6th round my friend pulled two seer staves on back to back runs. So 7 or 8 runs x 2 characters x 5 weeks / 2 staves.

So 1 in 40. Not a statistically relevant sample size, but it's all I can offer

[RudedawCDN]

My last update in case it helps anyone. Went through 5 Ransacks on the chest with two characters (mine and a friend). On the 6th round my friend pulled two seer staves on back to back runs. So 7 or 8 runs x 2 characters x 5 weeks / 2 staves.

So 1 in 40. Not a statistically relevant sample size, but it's all I can offer

What mode did you run the quest in Hard or Elite?

I'm assuming if you run in Elite there's a much better chance of rare gear dropping?

[RudedawCDN]

What mode did you run the quest in Hard or Elite?

I'm assuming if you run in Elite there's a much better chance of rare gear dropping?

Farmed on elite - got the stave after 5 trys and the teleport mask on my first run.