Desert Loot (Seals and Shards)

[KezekTigh]

First off I know that this is a long shot and I doubt this will get changed as a lot of the loot out in the desert is outdated but you never know.

I've been running the Demon Queen 1 and 2 (on epic) for a long time (several years) and in all that time I have never pulled let alone seen a some of the shards for items that I have wanted to turn epic. I know there is a ton of items out there but to have never seen a Shard of Sting (for example) is crazy. I totally get that addressing issues like this in older content is a low priority (which still may be an understatement) but is there anything that can be done? Maybe add a turn for seals and shards like there is for scrolls? What about making them unbound?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

- Stryk

[Pyed-Pyper]

First off I know that this is a long shot and I doubt this will get changed as a lot of the loot out in the desert is outdated but you never know.

I've been running the Demon Queen 1 and 2 (on epic) for a long time (several years) and in all that time I have never pulled let alone seen a some of the shards for items that I have wanted to turn epic. I know there is a ton of items out there but to have never seen a Shard of Sting (for example) is crazy. I totally get that addressing issues like this in older content is a low priority (which still may be an understatement) but is there anything that can be done? Maybe add a turn for seals and shards like there is for scrolls? What about making them unbound?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

- Stryk

Your best bet probably is to accept the meta and go from there. Generate 5-11 alt accounts and multibox both parts of the raid. And practice crossed fingers for the 20th.

[Fivetigers33]

Maybe add a turn for seals and shards like there is for scrolls?

I would love this. I'm still a fan of the S/S/S items even if most of them are outdated and underpowered now, but the amount of luck needed to get some of them is just ridiculous.

[LightBear]

I would love this. I'm still a fan of the S/S/S items even if most of them are outdated and underpowered now, but the amount of luck needed to get some of them is just ridiculous.

There are some really sweet items there that still hold their niche value.
If not, then why this request of course?

Anyway, good to bring this up and maybe this time the devs will roll a one on their will checks.
(They must have granted them self some blank immunities as this has been requested so many times now. )

[Riddle_of_Steel]

Agreed they could easily x3 the chance of drops and it would still take FOREVER to get the seals and shards of the items you really want. I got REALLY lucky with my eRoSS, like crazy lucky with the drops but I have run these quests A LOT and never seen another of either.

Hell I am lucky if I get 2 Shards / seals from running all the quests back to back. There are times when I get exactly 0, many times in fact.

[Xanthrawl]

Your best bet probably is to accept the meta and go from there. Generate 5-11 alt accounts and multibox both parts of the raid. And practice crossed fingers for the 20th.

And grind enough TP on all of these alts to purchase the pack. And buy a new PC capable of multiboxing 6-12 accounts at a time...

Desert drop rates have always been atrocious. They allegedly got a "boost" a few years back. I'm not saying everyone should be able to farm an epic Ring of Spell Storing in a week, but it should be a carrot! People still farm for Jibbers with a terrible drop rate, but IT DROPS. I've been farming for eRoSS for a DECADE. Same with the shard of the Red Dragon Armor in eVoN6.

I love this game, but I sincerely hate whoever designed these loot tables.

[Enoach]

I feel Scrolls and Seals for the most part are the easier part to acquire for these items. Shards are another animal altogether

However, of the S/S/S items I feel the desert chain does have two items that are rather powerful utility items that just about any build would benefit from having

Epic Ring of Spell Storing - Spell Point clicky
Epic Dusk Heart - Mass Deathward clicky

But I would love to see a meaningful conversation happen to work out what is best for this system. IE change their power to match the difficulty of obtaining or rebalance the drop rate in such a way that makes the effort more desirable without making it too easy.

[Benfe23]

I hear the OP. Been soloing the raid for a while now on EE, and the only times i would see a shard is typically when they introduced them in 20th completion end reward. Even then i seem to be getting the same shards every time. Never saw any "good" shards other than torc that is questionable to epic. Been a while since i got a seal from DQ1 too, not sure what's going on over there.

[Enerdhil]

Nothing to add, but bump cause i want my ross (i'm pretty sure i made already at least 500 adq dq runs throughout the years). Personally i like the system, but amount of items + s/s/s drop rates makes items in sands almost impossible to create (while in other old content they're just the matter of time and patience). Also in terms of ross i dont think it's still so op item (with all blue mana dots spawning in reaper).

Btw maybe it's just my personal feeling, but last days i noticed improvement in amounts of shards dropping in dq, but seals disappeared from entire sands.

[Annex]

There is something magical about finding an ultra-rare item. I think there should be (a lot) more ultra-rare items in the game, not less.

I enjoy when a player posts about finding some super rare thingamajig and other people go crazy with envy. I really do. It always inspires me to look for the thingamajig. Maybe I will get lucky!

I know my view is extremely unpopular but I never play the lottery expecting to win.

[Fivetigers33]

There is something magical about finding an ultra-rare item. I think there should be (a lot) more ultra-rare items in the game, not less.

I enjoy when a player posts about finding some super rare thingamajig and other people go crazy with envy. I really do. It always inspires me to look for the thingamajig. Maybe I will get lucky!

I know my view is extremely unpopular but I never play the lottery expecting to win.

There is a difference between super rare items like Jibbers that, run it enough and it will drop. I've seen 4 or 5 drop in my time, and I don't run it constantly as a daily. Compare that to the number of sands items that people have virtually no chance of ever making epic. It's not JUST the EROSS that is rare. Good luck making an epic version of any of the sands items (Xuum? Bejeweled Letter Opener?). It's an entire pack's worth of items that for the most part never see the light of day. In hindsight it seems like a giant waste of dev time making items players will never get.

[Annex]

There is a difference between super rare items like Jibbers that, run it enough and it will drop. I've seen 4 or 5 drop in my time, and I don't run it constantly as a daily. Compare that to the number of sands items that people have virtually no chance of ever making epic. It's not JUST the EROSS that is rare. Good luck making an epic version of any of the sands items (Xuum? Bejeweled Letter Opener?). It's an entire pack's worth of items that for the most part never see the light of day. In hindsight it seems like a giant waste of dev time making items players will never get.

We could not disagree more.

[simo0208]

Agree that the loot drops in desert need to be hugely increased. 99% of the items are firstly awful anyway and will serve as food for sentient items. A compromise would be to allow for trades like with scrolls. It makes total sense and is way easier to code - being a database. You don’t even have to introduce a new trade-in person.

I’d love epic explorer desert and the items get a significant upgrade too, BUT I’d settle for much hgiher drop rates.

And why shouldnt an ERoSS be a farm for a week or two item? It’s not even particularly good. It’s a quality of life item like Jibbers.

[simo0208]

We could not disagree more.

So you think that having epic items that never are created is not a waste of dev time? Ok.

[Wipey]

We could not disagree more.

Yep. I think desert items should stay rare, couple "holy grails" in rpg is rather nice.
Desert epics remind me of times when epic items were actually "epic". Every item has its own description, look, even some flavour, theme and "soul" ?
Unlike recent packs - couple ransacks and you get everything in a day or two. And just bigger numbers , stats which we don't even need with every update.

[Xanthrawl]

Yep. I think desert items should stay rare, couple "holy grails" in rpg is rather nice.
Desert epics remind me of times when epic items were actually "epic". Every item has its own description, look, even some flavour, theme and "soul" ?
Unlike recent packs - couple ransacks and you get everything in a day or two. And just bigger numbers , stats which we don't even need with every update.

Greatest. Model. Ever!

Old, outdated, antiquated loot? Rare as hell!

New, shiny, best in slot loot? couple ransacks and you get everything in a day or two.

Good design.

[Fivetigers33]

Yep. I think desert items should stay rare, couple "holy grails" in rpg is rather nice.

The problem is it's not just a couple items, it's every single sands item. 30+ items.

[AbyssalMage]

I am going to preposition this with it will probably sound snarky but you can read my "sig" and realize we agree more than we disagree.

Yep. I think desert items should stay rare, couple "holy grails" in rpg is rather nice.

It's nice. But having a social life away from the keyboard is also nice.

Desert epics remind me of times when epic items were actually "epic". Every item has its own description, look, even some flavour, theme and "soul" ?

Cosmetically, I have my preferences. The fact that they reuse some looks doesn't bother me. With Glamoring Took Kits, its a non-issue. Descriptions bother me only because they insist on Copy/Paste way too much. The Heroic and Epic weapon should have very different descriptions. Wait...I can go into a whole rant about this. I must step away. Flavor, theme and soul I can agree with. It feels like they attempted to return to this with AoR (providing many weapons with Archaic) but seems hit/miss with most updates. The loots doesn't always feel right for the pack/expansion.

Unlike recent packs - couple ransacks and you get everything in a day or two. And just bigger numbers , stats which we don't even need with every update.

I like that they allow you to socialize in real life (read my first response). I really hate the "Bigger numbers" too with inflated stats to negate the bloat they pumped the NPC's with. There are so many effects (and even more now that they broke up Resistance) that they no longer need to inflate stats. They can just more things around to different gear slots (like the original developers did). They could reintroduce the Quori and their DR/Glass/crystal (and create new DR combinations with new NPC's that are thematically relevant).

Honestly, truth be told, the current crop of developers had horrible teachers. DR/Bludgeon is the only thing consistently being used at higher levels of the game for weapon type DR's. They have literally given up on durability of the itimization of this game in order to get players to ransack treasure chests.

[Matuse]

When Sands first went epic, I believe it took somewhere around 25 runs of WizKing before a seal for anything dropped for me.

[slarden]

I feel Scrolls and Seals for the most part are the easier part to acquire for these items. Shards are another animal altogether

However, of the S/S/S items I feel the desert chain does have two items that are rather powerful utility items that just about any build would benefit from having

Epic Ring of Spell Storing - Spell Point clicky
Epic Dusk Heart - Mass Deathward clicky

But I would love to see a meaningful conversation happen to work out what is best for this system. IE change their power to match the difficulty of obtaining or rebalance the drop rate in such a way that makes the effort more desirable without making it too easy.

These are the 2 I like and the reason I farmed it. I made a sting at one point long ago and fed it to my sentient weapon. I checked my bank and have a sting shard + seal but no desire to make it. I would never farm for another item from there, but I still run it once every epic life and see wilderness shards and seals in the ADQ. I see way more there than in the raid, so if you really want to farm it keep an opener account that never completes.