The M11 Dig site lockout issue

adinosii · March 2017

Yesterday I made detailed notes on my dig site exploration.

I do not include the names of the dig sites here, but #1, #2 and #3 are the Nostura chain, #4, #5 and #6 are the Gyrion chain and #7, #8 and #9 are the Kabal chain.

At the time I started it had been over 16 hours since my last dig site visit, so any 1-hour limits should have expired long ago.
I must note that as I was riding between the dig sites, I would upgrade guard posts whenever I could, and I would also stop and open any treasure chests I encountered on the way.

#1 at 18:21 - open
#2 at 18:30 - open (even got an Arcanic Focus. Yay!
#3 at 18:41 - open
#4 at 18:55 - open
#5 at 19:07 LOCKED OUT
#6 at 19:09 LOCKED OUT
#7 at 19:10 LOCKED OUT
#8 at 19:12 LOCKED OUT
#9 at 19:14 - open

At this point I waited a bit to allow a full hour to pass, spent a bit of time just using the remaining treasure maps I had and then did a second round.

#1 at 19:28 LOCKED OUT
#2 at 19:35 LOCKED OUT
#3 at 19:47 LOCKED OUT
#4 at 20:09 LOCKED OUT
#5 at 20:11 LOCKED OUT
#6 at 20:35 LOCKED OUT
#7 at 20:38 LOCKED OUT
#8 at 20:40 LOCKED OUT
#9 at 20:49 - site needed activation, but after that I could get in.

At this point I gave up for a while, used a few portal stones to visit Gyrion and chased down the rest of the Incriminating Documents I needed. Then the Live stream started and I took a break. After the break I did a third and final round.

#1 at 00:08 - open, got an Arcanic Focus
#2 at 00:23 - open, got another Arcanic focus...what is going on?
#3 at 00:30 LOCKED OUT
#4 at 00:31 LOCKED OUT
#5 at 00:33 LOCKED OUT
#6 at 00:35 LOCKED OUT
#7 at 00:49 LOCKED OUT
#8 at 00:50 LOCKED OUT
#9 at 00:52 - open. Got yet another Arcanic Focus.

So, in 27 attempts, I was locked out 18 times. By LOCKED OUT I mean that after upgrading the guard post (if possible) and clearing any nearby enemies (if present), the option to buy a site pass is greyed out. No explanation or anything. Just...greyed out.

Now, I was unusually lucky - in the 9 attempts where I actually could get in, I got an Arcanic Focus 4 times, but given the drop rate I have seen, I would have expected zero or one...two as a maximum.

Still, locked out for no reason in every 2 out of 3 attempts? There is no way this HAMSTER is working as intended.

gormenghast1 · March 2017

Really Devs, we could have done well with an hourly reset of all dig sites instead of this unbelievably messy system. More and more people are experiencing the lockdown issue and, with the abysmal drop rates of Arcanic Focuses, this bug makes it even more painful to gather them.

Please look into it before next maintenance, or at least do something to do a global reset of the cooldown counters while you work on a more permanent solution

adinosii · March 2017

My initial post shows the results of my dig site exploration two days ago. Yesterday I continued, and did a total of 5 dig site runs, spread over a 12-hour period.

What I did different this time was to not interact with any of the treasure chests at all - just let the maps pile up in my inventory.

The result: Well, every single run was identical:

#1 - open
#2 - open
#3 - open
#4 - open
#5 LOCKED OUT
#6 LOCKED OUT
#7 LOCKED OUT
#8 LOCKED OUT
#9 - open

On two occasions I had to open up one of the dig sites that I list as LOCKED OUT, After doing that I would get the red "Has been 1 hour" message.

(As a side note, English is only my third language, but that just feels wrong - it should be "It has been less than 1 hour..." or something like that.)

The point is, however, is that this is nonsense. Stupid HAMSTERing, HAMSTERy nonsense HAMSTER.

It has actually been several days since I was able to enter any of those dig sites. You want me to farm them to get Arcanic Focus? Well, how am I supposed to do that if I cannot get in?

As a side note, I did not get a single Arcanic Focus drop yesterday. Out of 45 attempts to get in a dig site, I managed to get in 25 times, and while I walked away with a pile of other stuff, I did not get a single copy of what I was actually trying to get.

Quite frankly, someone needs to get their HAMSTER together and fix this.

As a side note, and this is pure speculation, but is it possible that the issue is caused by passes expiring unused? When I buy a pass, I use it right away, but when I opened the treasure chests, I sometimes got site passes and didn't always use them, so they expired unused. Maybe those passes matched the 4 sites where I seem to be locked out.

beckylunatic · March 2017

I mentioned this in the main bug thread, but I always throw away passes I have used or can't use, and have thus far not experienced a locked site.

But I'm also not farming heavily, so my data set is smaller than yours.

sobac · March 2017

beckylunatic said:
I mentioned this in the main bug thread

So did others day one. TWO WEEKS later - same HAMSTER. Todays patch is just another BS. Another post wouldn't hurt. Maybe even create two more, they might see one of them. Glad i have only two permalocked digsites. But arcanic focus drop rate is abysmal. Oh well...

/bigfacepalm

xxxhansolxxx · March 2017

I never got the bug, but I dont pick up maps anymore, and always discard my dig site pass when I'm done.

I'm guessing you might have pinpointed the problem ...

Unknown · March 2017

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namelesshero347 · March 2017

I've been running four toons through the dailies for two weeks and been averaging around 0.75 focus per toon per day. That is like three toons getting one focus every day and the last one gets nothing. I wonder if the cap is per account as well. What a hairbrained scheme if it is.

adinosii · March 2017

Update for yesterday. Three Arcanic focus in the first round of sites, then nothing. Indeed, it seems pointless to continue after you get 3.

And yes, I AM STILL LOCKED OUT OF THOSE 4 DIG SITES Fourth day in a row.

It is interesting to note that in the original post, when I was opening the treasure chests I came across, the clocked sites would change between rounds, but after I started ignoring the chests there have been no changes - it's always #5, #6, #6 and #8 that are locked. So, for now I just let the maps pile up in my inventory, taking 17 slots (for some reason I get no maps for one of the chests).

fishfishyfish · March 2017

I've had similar issues with dig sites as well. In my case, the first round of dig sites goes relatively well with only the two west-most dig sites being ALWAYS locked. Then the next 2.5-3 hours I'm locked out of almost every single dig site, sometimes 1 or 2 dig sites will be open before the 3 hour wait. After the 3 hours I'm able to access every single dig site (including the two west-most dig sites). Every day since M11 launch I've been spending about 5 hours straight in The River District just kind of waiting for my dig sites to open up again and my results aren't always identical but it's very close.

Another thing to note is that only recently I noticed that I only got 3 Arcanic Focus per day. I could have sworn that I've gotten more during the beginning of M11 but just yesterday I farmed dig sites with different parties for more than 12 hours and I've received 3 Arcanic Focus.

gormenghast1 · March 2017

defiantone99 said:
I sort of found the pattern of Focus. So, you are supposed to only get 3 a day. Each individual Focus has a 24 hour personal timer. You can, if you keep digging, get more than 3. If you do, you will only get one the next day. If you do not dig at the exact right time, you will get none. So, it is best to set a time of day to dig, dig up 3 Focus and quit digging. Always dig at this set time. I am now locked in a pattern where I can get the one early in the day and the other two late at night.

I thought that too in the beginning, but having once found 2 Arcanic Focuses late at night and 3 straight away during the first round of dig sites after reset (likely 10 hours or so later) led me to guess that the 3 AF daily cap resets coincidentally with NW daily reset. I'm getting my AF every day at around the same time, if the internal CD timer would be given for each one the harvest would shift later and later and eventually force to skip a day (which is not happening).

The 3 AF daily cap is confirmed, though.

gormenghast1 · March 2017

adinosii said:

And yes, I AM STILL LOCKED OUT OF THOSE 4 DIG SITES Fourth day in a row.

One of my toons has been locked out from 3 sites since day 2 of mod 11. He has to be the black sheep of the family or something, because the other one never experienced even a delay in the hourly dig site's cooldown. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Unknown · March 2017

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gormenghast1 · March 2017

Actually everybody is complaining about dig sites that keep being locked in an everlasting cooldown or either showing a very inconsistent CD system, as @adinosii has clearly shown in this thread. To confirm what I wrote in my previous post, today I got the daily amount of AF in 3 hours after reset, while yesterday the same character got the last one around 6 hours past it. If the 24h internal cooldown existed, that wouldn't have been possible.

What I find worrying is that the number of post and thread about the dig sites issues is growing, but we're not getting a single response by developers or NW's community manager on the matter. Mod 11 got live almost 20 days ago but there's no sign that any of it's issues are been worked on, or even aknowledged. At this point any response by Cryptic would be appreciated.

beckylunatic · March 2017

sobac said:

beckylunatic said:
I mentioned this in the main bug thread
So did others day one. TWO WEEKS later - same HAMSTER.

To clarify, I had previously added my data about 100% success at avoiding site lockouts to the bug thread, before reposting it here.

So far, my experience is still consistent that continually throwing away site passes rather than allowing them to expire has resulted in all sites remaining accessible.

Unknown · March 2017

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gormenghast1 · March 2017

beckylunatic said:

To clarify, I had previously added my data about 100% success at avoiding site lockouts to the bug thread, before reposting it here.

So far, my experience is still consistent that continually throwing away site passes rather than allowing them to expire has resulted in all sites remaining accessible.

My guess is that the issue could be related to having duplicates of dig site passes derived from treasure chests and possibly discarding them. While on one character I didn't discard passes due to sufficient inventory space and he never experienced this bug, I did free the affected one's bags from dig site passes once I explored them. There have been no other significant differences other than that so, if you feel masochistic enough to replicate the dig site issue, you could try messing with pass duplicates and see if it "works"

beckylunatic · March 2017

I'm not that masochistic, nooooo. As I mentioned, my data set is really small compared to folks who've really been trying to farm.

I mostly only loot treasures with maps from a previous day and loot the sites for any passes I get. Occasionally, I will have bought a site pass or two and grab a treasure anyway because I was running past it. If I end up with duplicate passes for any reason, I discard the extra immediately. I discard every pass from sites I've been to. Because I never do more than one round a day and don't even hit all the sites, I don't need the passes as any kind of reminder of where I've been. So far, everything works fine, though I'm never getting 3 focus/day.

This type of bag management is probably no help to anyone already affected, but it might help others going in.

We can all hope that Terramak will have a nice beefy set of notes for a big fix build today, like he hoped he would.

strathkin · March 2017

Now IF these don't work for you that's also SAD but disagreeing with things stated below when they often work for many sounds more like someone is sad.

But I do hope you cheer up soon.

If your unable to buy a pass from the DIG SITE MANAGER, then try these additional methods:

Purchasing a Crypt Map, Sewer Map, or Dungeon Map from the guy in River where you get your DAILY quests from then visit the sparkling Cart by the DIG SITE MANAGER.
Open all your TREASURE MAPS you may first have in inventory and using the specific site pass that is LOCKED by also visiting the DIG SITE MANAGER and selecting to use the specific site pass.
FINAL and last resort method to TRY which almost always resolve the issue is get in a party with 2-5 other players and have each try the 3 different methods to UNLOCK the site--one of the party member's should be able to UNLOCK it.

I suggest you TRY exploring all 3 additional methods aside from the obvious first choice of buying them from the DIG SITE MGR for 1 Weapon, Riches, and Magic.

Unknown · March 2017

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rundosrun · March 2017

3 sites perma locked for me

this REALLY is an issue folks

adinosii · March 2017

strathkin said:
I
It could be locked out because you visited their too recently (1 HR) OR it could be because the DIG SITE has been overwhelmed by Enemy...

That's different, and not what this thread is about....where you are locked out from a specific subset of the dig sites for days.

Anyhow, I have now started throwing away all dig site passes after use or after I get them from chests, and the problem has not gotten any worse. Yes, I am still locked out from 4 out of 9 sites, but one or two passes through the remaining 5 are enough to get me my daily 3 Arcanic Focus, so I'm sort-of OK.
I will have my weapons tomorrow, and eveything I need to restore them...with the exception of the Arcanic Focus of course, but I am hopeful that there will be a change.....there is no good reason for the daily cap - time-gating like that is kind-of pointless anyhow, as there is already time-gating because of the EoE.

Alternatively, they might lower the requirements a bit - that would work too.... the current system is just bad, but there was a whole, long thread about that, and I'm not going there again.

Unknown · March 2017

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rundosrun · March 2017

the whole mod seems 2 be rushed...8 focus 2 go for my mainhand...rnjesus is a HAMSTER

bvira · March 2017

There are 2 dig sites I couldn't access 3 days straight. This is ridiculous and it better be fixed soon.

vespera33 · March 2017

This maybe a dumb question (sorry if it is) but have anyone here that is locked out of certain dig sites tried grouping for them and letting other person (one that is not bugged) buy the pass and then entering with them? I've been farming dig sites a lot on 4 of my characters and encountered the bug maybe twice. Another person in party got the pass, we entered, next time everything worked fine.

Note - dig site cooldown is per character, not account. You can do 50 in a row as long as someone in party is not on cd.

strathkin · March 2017

adinosii said:

strathkin said:
I
It could be locked out because you visited their too recently (1 HR) OR it could be because the DIG SITE has been overwhelmed by Enemy...
That's different, and not what this thread is about....where you are locked out from a specific subset of the dig sites for days.

Anyhow, I have now started throwing away all dig site passes after use or after I get them from chests, and the problem has not gotten any worse. Yes, I am still locked out from 4 out of 9 sites, but one or two passes through the remaining 5 are enough to get me my daily 3 Arcanic Focus, so I'm sort-of OK.
I will have my weapons tomorrow, and eveything I need to restore them...with the exception of the Arcanic Focus of course, but I am hopeful that there will be a change.....there is no good reason for the daily cap - time-gating like that is kind-of pointless anyhow, as there is already time-gating because of the EoE.

Alternatively, they might lower the requirements a bit - that would work too.... the current system is just bad, but there was a whole, long thread about that, and I'm not going there again.

I've clarified my comment so I suggest you read it again. Still to disagree with what is trying to be purely a HELPFUL suggestion to solve the problem seems really unfair and would ask you also TRY all 3 additional methods possibly 4 before saying it is not what your thread is about or disagreeing... because it is what the thread is about a problem and people TRYING to HELP you resolve the issue.

Now if after trying all the additional methods it still doesn't work you should still be thankful others offered to at least TRY to make the effort to help you.

adinosii · March 2017

defiantone99 said:
I am now locked out of almost every site. I quit doing maps a while ago, so it has nothing to do with it.

Hmm....scratch that suggestion then. Nothing has changed for me recently - I am still locked out of the same 4 sites as before. Mund you, having access to 5 sites is enough - the Arcanic Focus drop rate is high enough so that I can get my daily quota of 3 just by visiting those sites once or twice. Farming dig sites beyond that is pointless, so I am actually saving a lot of time in the campaign by basically only doing the daily quest by doing dig sites (well, and the weekly one as well) - I get the EoE I need to progress in the campaign and 3 Arcanic Focus, and there is no point in doing anything else.

So, It's back to playing elsewhere for me....for the most part. I hope Mod 11-B will bring something more interesting.

adinosii · March 2017

strathkin said:

Purchasing a Crypt Map, Sewer Map, or Dungeon Map from the guy in River where you get your DAILY quests from then visit the sparkling Cart by the DIG SITE MANAGER.

I always carry around a few copies of each map. That has no effect whatsoever on the issue in question and does not help at all.

strathkin said:

Open all your TREASURE MAPS you may first have in inventory and using the specific site pass that is LOCKED by also visiting the CART by the DIG SITE MANAGER to open the site.

That was of course the first thing I tried. If I am carrying a pass to one of the locked sites, the entrance shows the red "Has been 1 hour...." message, instead of showing nothing at all.....but in reality it has been days since I last entered the site.

strathkin said:

FINAL and last resort method to TRY which almost always resolve the issue is get in a party with 2-5 other players and have each try the 3 different methods to UNLOCK the site--one of the party member's should be able to UNLOCK it.

Well, I am not sure if that will actually unlock the site for me, but it is worth trying at least.

Edit: I partied up with Kriost and yes...it works to get get into a site I was locked out of. The question now is if this will unlock the site or not....I'll check tomorrow if I am able to get in normally.

silverkelt · March 2017

hmmmm

I had to do 9 dig sites today to get my 3 arcane focus on my DC..

My CW did 7 for 2... and I gave up..

My cw went 0 for 5 the other day.. and no not on a personal timer..

My GF has gone 3 straight days without a focus.

I however DO not have your bug on dig sites..

I seem to be having a bug on ARCANE focus loot drops..

My poor gf is at like 12 lol..

Sure I do get 3 right away "sometimes" but its not as often as everyone keeps telling me the are getting there.

So.. not sure why or how the difference is.

namelesshero347 · March 2017

I am starting to suspect the cap might be account wide. There were a number of days I ran 5 dig sites on four toons and never got more than 3 focus combined.

The M11 Dig site lockout issue

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