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Arcane Writings drop rate SAD. :(
strathkin
Member Posts: 1,798 Arc User
It's honestly quite SAD when after spending 2+ months running River... while I admit I've take a little break the last few weeks... initially my writings were progressing reasonably well but the last several weeks I'm lucky if most my toons get barely 1 writing!
I look at my 3 main characters that I play the most and every one of them has 110-130 ground jade which is useless unless your trying to restore a mirage weapon. But since I want Aboleth I'm progressing fine on Arcane Focus since the change to the daily and weekly quests but still greatly behind in my writings which is require.
Still I have a lot of completely useless ground jade that drops like 5-10x more frequently than writings do. Sure you could sell Jade and use it too buy writings. The only problem is the market is a lot slower for Jade and your lucky if you can sell 40 of it for 10k and even if you could that barely buy you 1.5 arcane writings cause they often sell for 7-10k each.
Surely you can increase the chances of Arcane Writing dropping from a dig, treasure, or HE a little more often? Cause often you get jade along with weapons, riches, or magic and sometimes often even 2 ground jade not even one but rarely if ever get a Arcane Writing which is rather crazy...
@nitocris83 @strumslinger
I look at my 3 main characters that I play the most and every one of them has 110-130 ground jade which is useless unless your trying to restore a mirage weapon. But since I want Aboleth I'm progressing fine on Arcane Focus since the change to the daily and weekly quests but still greatly behind in my writings which is require.
Still I have a lot of completely useless ground jade that drops like 5-10x more frequently than writings do. Sure you could sell Jade and use it too buy writings. The only problem is the market is a lot slower for Jade and your lucky if you can sell 40 of it for 10k and even if you could that barely buy you 1.5 arcane writings cause they often sell for 7-10k each.
Surely you can increase the chances of Arcane Writing dropping from a dig, treasure, or HE a little more often? Cause often you get jade along with weapons, riches, or magic and sometimes often even 2 ground jade not even one but rarely if ever get a Arcane Writing which is rather crazy...
@nitocris83 @strumslinger
Post edited by strathkin on
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Comments
Not from HE neither. Only ship one seems to be a bit better chance.
If I can solo a HE (as nobody joins in when I am doing that), it seems the chance of getting HE is higher.
The only reliable way to get one is through secure the district. You always get one.
Use your best DPS toon to farm that. I have been doing that.
But that Ground Jade is gold - use it to convert Jade and Abandoned Treasures into Reclaimed Weapons, Riches and Magic (in that order of magnitude) and then:
a) Upgrade dig sites to complete Secure the District (which is a guranteed AMW)
b) Use Reclaimed Riches to turn in for the Ship HE (but I've had horrible RNG and hardly ever get AMWs this way)
If you don't want that Jade, I'll take it all
Do sewer digs in preference to the others but maintain a stock of magic as well. As you do other tasks, check guard posts to see if upgrades are available. Weapons are the primary resource, but magic is needed for the golems. It seems as if many players don't buy the golems, presumably because they don't farm magic. 1 golem doesn't move the bar much but it helps.
Donate riches to the treasure ship. It is very resource intensive and has a lower RoI but you can't do anything else with them. In a pinch, use magic as well.
Spam HEs as much as possible. AFAIK, there isn't a difference in drop rates between small and big HEs. If you can solo SHE, do so. If not, get a buddy to run with you. Join in the Ship HE when it pops. If the meter is nearly full, use your riches to complete it. (best to call in chat beforehand to get others en route)
Do the stencil cypher quest and every map from dig sites. Drop rates are low but you're going for as many chances as possible. As mentioned above, farm them on better geared characters and more efficient classes. My TR can run all the content but the CW or GWF can run it a lot faster. Of those 6 chars I mentioned, only 2 are farming for weapons but as long as the others are running, it makes sense to put them to maximum effect.
I can't imagine trying to get Mod 11 weapons on more than a couple characters without spending a gob of AD on AMWs.
If you have good DPS toon, pay attention to what type of enemy can give you one "secure the district" point per kill.
Just grinding and no RNG involves.
Here are my initial thoughts
Not all mobs at the docks give you Security Points
Trolls and other "elite" mobs aren't worth the time it takes to kill them for the 1 point they give you
I don't think mobs attacking guardposts give you security points (but I'm not sure)
I think using this method, a person could easily get 4 or 5 AMW per hour (maybe more depending on your DPS) and no RNG involved. Throw in a few ship runs and upgrading guard posts and it is much more reasonable.
Again, thanks, great advice.
Still as it seems to clearly be the case the drop rate of ground jade is 5-10x or more higher from dig sites, treasures, or HE's than writings are even though you're not limited in the how jade you can obtain per day like writings.
Clearly something could be done to improve the drop rates for Arcane Writing especially since your limited as I've heard to no more than 3 per day.
I know what some people have done to speed it up is run the daily's on all their characters to only mail all the writing they earn to one character till they have enough, then they simply start the process on the next toon over the next month. It still doesn't change the fact that's 3 months of running daily's as I've run them for 2 and most my toons have 20-30 only and not even close to restoring both weapons.
While I have not done that as I had hoped most would have made good enough individual progress to earning them they clearly are not and it is rather sad.
Seriously guys, try to actually play the game before you come here and moan. This kind of virtual problems are covering the serious issues and needs this game has now.
I haven't heard anyone complaining on AMW drop in my guild or alliance. Seriously, they are even pretty fun to get, since you can do the small HE solo or at a small party (I do them solo with my tactician GF, so please don't tell me it's hard). They also drop protector seals which you can convert into AD - this is a win-win situation for me actually. And if you don't feel like you can or want to do solo small HE, convert the ground jade and pump the ship. Many times I got 2x AMW from Ship HE. These things drop like crazy.
And there's no cap on the daily drop. When I was grinding weapons for my GF I got like 15 one day.
Born of Black Wind: SW Level 80
I filled AMW for 3 toons now. Another 2 toons to go. No, I don't want to pay 8K for 1 AMW but I guess I can farm to sell though.
Still I find it highly surprising and I think most would agree that you managed to get 5 arcane writing in as little as 30 minutes... Cause honestly that sounds like an extremely unlikely event or your either extremely lucky with horseshoes galor! Playing on one toon I had 30 writings but over 140 ground jade.
While I admit I will TRY some suggestions of doing more Ship HE's as some people denote a larger payout in that HE I can also say I've sometimes done it 4 or 5 times and been lucky to get 1. Still it doesn't change the FACT that they could drop a little more frequently from dig sites, treasures, or other HE's slightly more often... This is clearly a fair observation as people like variety and don't want to sit at just the ship waiting for people to spawn the same HE over and over and over again.
Still the drop rate for Arcane Writings is very poor...
Since I don't like RNG and advocate to do "secure the district", I have just checked how fast I can get 100 points of secure the district to get one AMW. I use my best dps toon to kill 100 (no dig site donation or ship donation), that took me 9 minutes. Since it is a late night and nobody was competing with me, it made it a bit easier.
I clear small HE withing 3-5 minutes solo with my HR. Even faster when someone joins. I'm getting AMW very often from them since the drop chance for it is the same in Ship HE and and small HEs. There's nothing strange about it. If it would be hard to farm there wouldn't be so much of it on AH. Seriously, I just go to RD for 30 minutes and get few AMW per day and sell it. They drop very often from HEs and they sell good.
And I disagree with your need for AMW to drop more often in dig sites. Dig sites already give reclaimed resources and ground jade. Both of them you can use to pump secure the district that WILL give you Arcane Magical Writing.
I don't belive in what you're saying because people don't complain about AMW drop rate (also I never did). There was a problem with Arcanic Focus and it was solved in a proper way. There was never problem with AMW. River District campaign and weapons grind was done amazingly well and after awful grind for Relic Weapons it was a breeze of fresh air in this game.
...but honestly that's just pure insanity especially when my Paladin has earned two boons in the campaign, also has cleared the docks, and restored commerce as well yet barely earned 21 Arcane Magical Writings at the same time. That means he requires still another 64 to go. *sigh*
> earned 21 Arcane Magical Writings at the same time. That means he requires still another 64 to go. *sigh*
You need a total of 105 AMW. 85 is the amount of Arcane Focus (that you also need).
I have 5 toon to do RD. 3 are done. 2 to go (another 200+ AMW).
Surely *a lot* of people benefited early on with DIG rewards doing considerable farming before it was corrected...
Still I find a lot of people who claim they are lucky today if they get 1 Arcane Magical Writing maybe 2 spending between 30-45 minutes in the area each day unless their spending hours on just a single toon... So that clearly is no where close to the few who claim to get 5 within 30 minutes; sure if you convert ground jade at travelling merchant that will allow you to build up sizeable resources still even then if you get 2 or 3 chests from that donation only earns 2 or 3 writings. That's something you can only do every so many weeks so it's not a regular occurance.
The plain and simple fact is Since River District was released the most any of my toons has earned is barely 30 at this point without having purchased a few more at great expense.
The fact a single writing costs upwards of 10k is proof enough they drop rate is extremely poor!
Cryptic should increase drop rates for Arcane Writings plain and simple.