Collectable Farms

[Thud]

I use this a fair bit, strangely I like farming collectables for specific items I need. Those cultural ones can be a pain though.

+1

[Greyhawk6]

I used to use the crafting system a lot before they changed it. Now I don't use it at all. While the gear is better, the collectable requirements are just too over the top. Before I used to make a set of standard equipment for my toons (UW breathing, Ghost Touch etc). Now I can barely make even basic stuff without having to farm collectables or get stupidly high level.

I just started a new guild on Wayfinder. My main on there is 13th and I'm still unable to make even the most basic items due to not having anywhere near enough essences or collectables.

This could have been miles better. It's a real shame.

[Thud]

I used to use the crafting system a lot before they changed it. Now I don't use it at all. While the gear is better, the collectable requirements are just too over the top. Before I used to make a set of standard equipment for my toons (UW breathing, Ghost Touch etc). Now I can barely make even basic stuff without having to farm collectables or get stupidly high level.
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This could have been miles better. It's a real shame.

Ask around. There are usually people around who have collectibles that aren't crafting and would be glad to help.

[Vindraxx]

I can't give anymore reputation, but I use this guide all of the time to help me in gathering collectables for crafting. All of the time put in making the videos and assembling it into a really user friendly format I truly appreciate. It is one of the only bookmarks I actually have on my computer.

[DownClan]

I didn't see any information about the drop rates for Eberron Shards. Those have value as well, so getting information on what nodes drop them, how often, level ranges, etc. would be useful.

Also, when I am looking to farm a specific material, part of my decision making process on where to farm is, what are my chances of getting other useful items during the same farming time.

You have scoring for materials. How about calculating an aggregate score for each quest. So, along with, "Time to farm one Silver Bowl: xx:yy", also include "Aggregate farming score for this quest, zzzz / minute."

[EllisDee37]

I didn't see any information about the drop rates for Eberron Shards. Those have value as well, so getting information on what nodes drop them, how often, level ranges, etc. would be useful.

All nodes at all levels have the same very low chance to drop Eberron dragonshards.

Also, when I am looking to farm a specific material, part of my decision making process on where to farm is, what are my chances of getting other useful items during the same farming time.

You have scoring for materials. How about calculating an aggregate score for each quest. So, along with, "Time to farm one Silver Bowl: xx:yy", also include "Aggregate farming score for this quest, zzzz / minute."

I do include total nodes for each quest. When setting up the data display, I briefly considered adding a "nodes per minute" (or whatever) stat but it would have made the display even busier than it already is. You can eyeball those totals pretty easily.

Note that the sort order is first by most efficient for the specific collectable type, then if tied it sorts by best aggregate. That's why, for example, Temple of Vol is listed ahead of Precious Cargo for tier 6 cultural: Both are 25 seconds per Any node, but temple of vol also gets you an arcane for your trouble.

[Azdraugnor]

With the Ravenloft expansion, there's a pretty good new spot to farm T6 collectables. The quest "Raven At The Door" has a Rubble right near the entrance-- you can be in and out in around 10-15 seconds.

Doesn't let you focus on a single type, but it's so fast that it's probably worth it anyways even if you only need one type.

[fmalfeas]

With the Ravenloft expansion, there's a pretty good new spot to farm T6 collectables. The quest "Raven At The Door" has a Rubble right near the entrance-- you can be in and out in around 10-15 seconds.

Doesn't let you focus on a single type, but it's so fast that it's probably worth it anyways even if you only need one type.

That's probably the best one, since Rubble can have all types, right?

[Azdraugnor]

That's probably the best one, since Rubble can have all types, right?

With the exception of natural, since there's that one spot that has five of them within 40 seconds of the entrance.

[fmalfeas]

Looks like Raven At the Door heroic could be used for T2 (casual) and T3 (everything above) as well.

[Matuse]

Gargoyles at any level drop Tier4 Culturals.

Go into Old Grey Garl, run down the tunnel, open the chest and 6 gargoyles will ambush you. Annihilate them, D-Door out.

[EllisDee37]

With the Ravenloft expansion, there's a pretty good new spot to farm T6 collectables. The quest "Raven At The Door" has a Rubble right near the entrance-- you can be in and out in around 10-15 seconds.

Doesn't let you focus on a single type, but it's so fast that it's probably worth it anyways even if you only need one type.

Nice! A more efficient Ornate Charm farm is great news. As a general rule, "Any" dispensers are less efficient than dedicated dispensers for natural, lore and arcane.

I'm guessing it ends up around 15 seconds per pull, though. Shadow Crypt has an arcane right at the entrance and is listed at 25 seconds per pull, but you have to recall out since there's no exit door. Assuming an exit door, chop off 10 seconds for the recall and you end up at 15 seconds. (There's a door to exit out of, yes? I don't own Ravenloft so I can't test it.)

Even still, 15 seconds would be a massive improvement for ornate charms. Right now the best farms are precious cargo and temple of vol, both listed at 25 seconds per Any dispenser. At that rate you're looking at 250 seconds per charm. Chopping that down to 150 seconds would be huge. After one hour of farming: 14.4 charms @ 25 seconds per, 24 @ 15 seconds per, for a net increase of +67% production. Yowza.

Looks like Raven At the Door heroic could be used for T2 (casual) and T3 (everything above) as well.

Tier 2 and 3 "Any" dispensers aren't useful, really. The main advantage of "Any" nodes is culture, but you don't need to farm Blades of the Dark Six (Tier 2) or Amulets of the Lost Empire (Tier 3), so that leaves just arcane, lore and natural.

Any node drop rates
50% Culture
20% Arcane
20% Lore
10% Natural

Just looking at high-value collectables in that range:

Tier 3 Arcane: Glass Phials
24.5 seconds per arcane in Through a Mirror Darkly
75 seconds per arcane via Ravenloft "Any" farm (assuming 15 seconds per Any)

Tier 3 Lore: Runic Parchments, Romantic Sonnets, SF Hymnals
30 seconds per lore in Eyes of Stone
75 seconds per lore via Ravenloft "Any" farm (assuming 15 seconds per Any)

Tier 3 Natural: Fragrant Drowshood
8.3 seconds per natural in Assault on Summerfield (!)
150 seconds per natural via Ravenloft "Any" farm (assuming 15 seconds per Any)

EDIT: This is why I never included Chamber of Rahmat as a collectable farm even though you port into the quest directly on top of a backpack, and can then turn around and exit the door without having to recall. It covers Tier 2 and Tier 3 but is just not as efficient as dedicated lore/arcane/natural farms in that level range, and Tier 2 and 3 Cultural are better acquired from undead, goblinoids, gnolls, trolls and giants.

[Azdraugnor]

Nice! A more efficient Ornate Charm farm is great news. As a general rule, "Any" dispensers are less efficient than dedicated dispensers for natural, lore and arcane.

I'm guessing it ends up around 15 seconds per pull, though. Shadow Crypt has an arcane right at the entrance and is listed at 25 seconds per pull, but you have to recall out since there's no exit door. Assuming an exit door, chop off 10 seconds for the recall and you end up at 15 seconds. (There's a door to exit out of, yes? I don't own Ravenloft so I can't test it.)

Even still, 15 seconds would be a massive improvement for ornate charms. Right now the best farms are precious cargo and temple of vol, both listed at 25 seconds per Any dispenser. At that rate you're looking at 250 seconds per charm. Chopping that down to 150 seconds would be huge. After one hour of farming: 14.4 charms @ 25 seconds per, 24 @ 15 seconds per, for a net increase of +67% production. Yowza.

Yes, there's an exit door.

With Leap of Faith, I can typically go in, grab the collectable, and get back out in 8-10 seconds (not counting load screens). Without it, it would be slower. Also, Leap of Faith charges don't recharge fast enough to do that nonstop, so it would be a bit slower on average unless you're periodically tabbing out to surf the web or something (and you'll eventually need to go refill your SP).

[EllisDee37]

Yes, there's an exit door.

With Leap of Faith, I can typically go in, grab the collectable, and get back out in 8-10 seconds (not counting load screens). Without it, it would be slower. Also, Leap of Faith charges don't recharge fast enough to do that nonstop, so it would be a bit slower on average unless you're periodically tabbing out to surf the web or something (and you'll eventually need to go refill your SP).

Loading screens most definitely count.

For Leap of Faith, I limit uses to what's sustainable. Consider if you need 20 ornate charms, so you're going to be running for an hour. If that means you can only use wings once per run (since they take 15 seconds to recharge) then so bet it; you only get one per run. From the sound of it, I'm guessing you can reliably use 3 wings every 2 runs, so maybe see if there's an optimal way to use them.

For comparison, here's my Tomb of the Unhallowed farming run, which consists of running in, clicking the node, running out, and using wings. It sounds like it might be similar to the ravenloft one. It ends up around 30 seconds per run so I use two wings per run: Once on the way in, once on the way out. It takes ~18 seconds not counting loading screens.

[Azdraugnor]

Loading screens most definitely count.

For Leap of Faith, I limit uses to what's sustainable. Consider if you need 20 ornate charms, so you're going to be running for an hour. If that means you can only use wings once per run (since they take 15 seconds to recharge) then so bet it; you only get one per run. From the sound of it, I'm guessing you can reliably use 3 wings every 2 runs, so maybe see if there's an optimal way to use them.

For comparison, here's my Tomb of the Unhallowed farming run, which consists of running in, clicking the node, running out, and using wings. It sounds like it might be similar to the ravenloft one. It ends up around 30 seconds per run so I use two wings per run: Once on the way in, once on the way out. It takes ~18 seconds not counting loading screens.

Here's a video.

You can use the wings at basically any point, since there's only one turn and nothing to jump over, it doesn't really make a difference when and where.

[EllisDee37]

Here's a video.

You can use the wings at basically any point, since there's only one turn and nothing to jump over, it doesn't really make a difference when and where.

Nice!

It looks to me like if you drop down to 3 wings every 2 runs and include the time it takes to turn around, click the entrance, and reenter the quest (typically 3-4 seconds for me), all told it will probably end up being 25 seconds per node. Which, unfortunately, makes it the same as Precious Cargo and Temple of Vol. (Plus Temple of Vol gets you a "free" arcane for your troubles.)

If you'd be willing to do one more test, how long does it take you to hit the node 10 times in a row? Start and end the timer when you click the button to enter the quest. (1st entry = start, 11th entry = end.) For wings, alternate runs of 2 wings and 1 wing and you should be able to keep it going.

I'm guessing it will end up being a little over 4 minutes. (~250 seconds)

[Azdraugnor]

Nice!

It looks to me like if you drop down to 3 wings every 2 runs and include the time it takes to turn around, click the entrance, and reenter the quest (typically 3-4 seconds for me), all told it will probably end up being 25 seconds per node. Which, unfortunately, makes it the same as Precious Cargo and Temple of Vol. (Plus Temple of Vol gets you a "free" arcane for your troubles.)

If you'd be willing to do one more test, how long does it take you to hit the node 10 times in a row? Start and end the timer when you click the button to enter the quest. (1st entry = start, 11th entry = end.) For wings, alternate runs of 2 wings and 1 wing and you should be able to keep it going.

I'm guessing it will end up being a little over 4 minutes. (~250 seconds)

Took me 3:27. Probably could have shaved off a second or two, because I fumbled and targeted the wrong thing once or twice, but honestly, that's pretty normal when you're farming this so it should probably stand as is.

It's worth noting, though, that I have an SSD, which (I think?) cuts the load times significantly. For people who are using an HDD, things would probably be noticeably slower. On the other hand, more time on loading screens means more time for wings to recharge, so it's maybe not as big a loss as you'd think.

[EllisDee37]

Took me 3:27.

Excellent, thanks much! That's 21 seconds per pull, which is a clear improvement over 25.

In the video you posted, was that 3-second loading screen because it was the first time you ran it and so it wasn't cached?

In terms of collectable farming, even for a HDD the loading screen times are pretty quick because it's cached after the first run.

[Azdraugnor]

Excellent, thanks much! That's 21 seconds per pull, which is a clear improvement over 25.

In the video you posted, was that 3-second loading screen because it was the first time you ran it and so it wasn't cached?

In terms of collectable farming, even for a HDD the loading screen times are pretty quick because it's cached after the first run.

The loading time going in seemed... about the same each run? I didn't really notice a difference, anyways.

It also might have been a bit slower in the video because I was recording, I don't know how much of a performance impact that had.

[Kinerd]

i'd hit a wall crafting T3 recipes and this thread turned it around in short order for me, thanks!