Is auric amber still dropping from pijic portals?

MidniteOwl1913 · June 21

The pulizied auric amber use to drop in about 80% of the pjic portals. Lately I've seen almost none maybe 2 dropped in over a dozen. Is it just me? I like infused as a ring trait, this is really slowing me down.

SeaGtGruff · June 21

Personally, I think some players might be selectively looting Psijic Portals, resource nodes, chests, etc., taking what they think are the best bits and leaving what they think is trash. I've been seeing far too many Psijic Portals with almost nothing but the Enchanting runes to believe otherwise.

SilverIce58 · June 21

I had one drop from a portal like two days ago.

MidniteOwl1913 · June 21

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Personally, I think some players might be selectively looting Psijic Portals, resource nodes, chests, etc., taking what they think are the best bits and leaving what they think is trash. I've been seeing far too many Psijic Portals with almost nothing but the Enchanting runes to believe otherwise.

Yes, and I too wondered if that was the reason that all of the portals didn't have amber. This change is recent. I farm a lot and there are far far fewer drops of amber now.

SilverBride · June 21

I got an Aurbic Amber a few days ago, but they have never been a frequent drop for me.

DreamyLu · June 21

Yes, they still drop. I got one yesterday and didn't notice a change re frequency. I keep getting them fairly regularly.

I'm a resource farmer. I do always the same rounds and over time, my experience is that there are phases. For example, recently, several weeks in a row, I couldn't get any Kutas anymore. Since last week, they're back and I even got up to 6 within same round some days ago.

Gauss says hello...

Zodiarkslayer · June 21

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Personally, I think some players might be selectively looting Psijic Portals, resource nodes, chests, etc., taking what they think are the best bits and leaving what they think is trash. I've been seeing far too many Psijic Portals with almost nothing but the Enchanting runes to believe otherwise.

You are lucky. I see a psijjic portal maybe once a month.

virtus753 · June 21

MidniteOwl1913 wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Personally, I think some players might be selectively looting Psijic Portals, resource nodes, chests, etc., taking what they think are the best bits and leaving what they think is trash. I've been seeing far too many Psijic Portals with almost nothing but the Enchanting runes to believe otherwise.

Yes, and I too wondered if that was the reason that all of the portals didn't have amber. This change is recent. I farm a lot and there are far far fewer drops of amber now.

Are you getting the infused jewelry instead? Of the four infused-related items, there is a chance to get one in each portal. You cannot get an amber of either sort if you get an infused jewelry piece. And it’s only a chance to get one infused item at all.

ETA: if you are still getting about the same drop rate on infused items, even if the split has shifted towards jewelry, then it is less likely to be someone partially looting the node. That happens sometimes, of course, but it’s often hard to tell - especially since portals have been bugged in several zones on release (like West Weald) so they don’t drop their guaranteed set piece. That made portals look partially looted when they weren’t.

Sarannah · June 21

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Personally, I think some players might be selectively looting Psijic Portals, resource nodes, chests, etc., taking what they think are the best bits and leaving what they think is trash. I've been seeing far too many Psijic Portals with almost nothing but the Enchanting runes to believe otherwise.

I'm thinking the same thing, this is bad form!

Psijjic portals should look like regular enchanting nodes, until they are engaged with by a player. This way everyone has a fair chance of finding portals.

PS: Haven't had this same issue with chests or resource nodes, only a handful of times.

soelslaev · June 21

DreamyLu wrote: »

Gauss says hello...

Just letting you know that I appreciate this remark.

But also...

I assume that ESO devs used the most basic of rand libs, and not some fancy schmancy one with *normal* distribution and all that.

ganzaeso · June 21

@ZOS_Kevin

Could the supply of aurbic amber be looked into? I have way too many sealed writs sitting around uncompleted. They are too expensive on guild stores and too time consuming to farm for the rate that they show up on sealed writs.

I would like to see them added to the writ voucher merchant.

SilverBride · June 21

Sarannah wrote: »

Psijjic portals should look like regular enchanting nodes, until they are engaged with by a player. This way everyone has a fair chance of finding portals.

Psijiic portals shouldn't look like enchanting nodes because they aren't enchanting nodes. They are a separate resource node that can spawn in the same spots that enchanting nodes spawn in. Just like platinum seams can spawn in the same spots that rubedite does.

Everyone has the same chance to find any of these nodes as anyone else. Disguising them as something else so players feel that they now need to check every enchanting node would be unfair.

Islyn · June 21

MidniteOwl1913 wrote: »

The pulizied auric amber use to drop in about 80% of the pjic portals. Lately I've seen almost none maybe 2 dropped in over a dozen. Is it just me? I like infused as a ring trait, this is really slowing me down.

Definitely - have rec'd myself just the] other day (I am not farming them so IDK frequency- but had them drop a couple times in the last few days.

Pevey · June 21

They did away with the “grains” system for the jewelry upgrade materials. They should do the same for the “pulverized” system for jewelry trait materials. It lessens supply too much as compared to the demand given the master writ drop rate and general crafting/research needs.

Sarannah · June 21

SilverBride wrote: »

Everyone has the same chance to find any of these nodes as anyone else. Disguising them as something else so players feel that they now need to check every enchanting node would be unfair.

Actually, that would be the only fair choice. To disguise psijjic portals as enchanting nodes.

These psijjic portal nodes are extremely rare, and only those who targetfarm them are getting them enough to actually make it worthwhile. While everyone else will barely, or never, find any psijjic portals.

The problem with these resource nodes is: someone takes enchanting nodes and they spawn psijjic portals for everyone else. Not for themselves. So unless you are specifically farming psijjic portals or going over the same area for some reason, you basically get none. Normally questing should also grant these psijjic nodes, but at the moment they barely ever do. If ever!

This is the only way I can explain it.

PS: I do understand those who targetfarm psijjic portals do not want these to change, as they are their moneymakers. But to me, normal gameplay should always trump farming methods. It's a game not a business, and gameplay should always be selfsustainable resource-wise.

Cave_Canem · June 21

I thought the psijic portals in Solstice weren't dropping, but after a few weeks I've finally found 2 portals and got 1 amber. As per usual, I just had kept at it while playing normally and enjoying the new zone.

Tatanko · June 21

Sarannah wrote: »

These psijjic portal nodes are extremely rare

They really aren't. I suggest unlocking the first level of the Psijic skill line on all your characters.

oldbobdude · June 21

Drop rates seem about the same for me on both PCNA and EU. Fairly frequent pulverized and occasional whole aurbic amber.

smallhammer · June 21

Are psijjic portals still in the game? Ok, I know they are, but they are sooo rare, it's ridiculous.

SilverBride · June 22

Sarannah wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Everyone has the same chance to find any of these nodes as anyone else. Disguising them as something else so players feel that they now need to check every enchanting node would be unfair.

Actually, that would be the only fair choice. To disguise psijjic portals as enchanting nodes.

Hiding any resources from players would be extremely unfair. And what would be the benefit? It would just make them all the more difficult to find.

I find one or two about every day just going around gathering surveys and questing.

DreamyLu · June 22

I get an average of 4 portals on a daily basis (min 2 up to max 6) on normal days. On days they're for endeavors, I get up to 15 within one hour! But such cases are only because players suddenly all farm runestones...

Edited for precision: I talk about psijic portals, with reference to the posts right before my.

Sarannah · June 22

Tatanko wrote: »

Sarannah wrote: »

These psijjic portal nodes are extremely rare

They really aren't. I suggest unlocking the first level of the Psijic skill line on all your characters.

Have done this, but as you can see they are too rare. Even those saying they are not rare are saying they are too rare(lol):

Cave_Canem wrote: »

I thought the psijic portals in Solstice weren't dropping, but after a few weeks I've finally found 2 portals and got 1 amber. As per usual, I just had kept at it while playing normally and enjoying the new zone.

smallhammer wrote: »

Are psijjic portals still in the game? Ok, I know they are, but they are sooo rare, it's ridiculous.

DreamyLu wrote: »

I get an average of 4 on a daily basis (min 2 up to max 6) on normal days. On days they're for endeavors, I get up to 15 within one hour! But such cases are only because players suddenly all farm runestones...

SilverBride wrote: »

I find one or two about every day just going around gathering surveys and questing.

Please tell me you do not think that should be the normal droprate for a resource.

I get it, some players do not want to lose their moneymaker source, but this spawnrate for normal players is ridiculous. This is due to some players being able to targetfarm these portals, while others who play the game normally barely ever get any, if any.

ApoAlaia · June 22

In my opinion this is something that should have been addressed when they reworked the jewellery platings (thus long overdue).

'Dusts' should have been removed from jewellery trait items - or converted into 'full' trait items on a 1:1 ratio - and the matter of the supply of aurbic amber addressed.

Adding it to the loot table of regular enchanting nodes and giving it a higher chance to drop from psijic portals would address the current supply issues.

Alternatively given that the infused trait is more common in a PvP environment add it to PvP vendors like dawn-prism. Given that psijic order skill usage is also more common in PvP maybe something something condensation of something something psijic quantum particles made the resource more common in Cyro, idk, I am no Kirkbride.

Either way this is a regular crafting resource that has been allowed to remain an outlier for too long, is nigh time it gets the same treatment other outliers have been subjected to.

EDIT: Full disclosure, I lost heaps of (potential) gold with the jewellery plating rework; using the AP from Mayhem to stock up on jewellery from the golden to sell on traders later on was hardly an original strategy, but was a reliable one so the change caught me with a veritable pile of stock that dropped in value by as much as 90%

That doesn't mean that it wasn't the right thing to do IMO.

katanagirl1 · June 22

I still think that nodes and chests should be automatically take all to avoid cherry-picking. It’s hard enough to get rare mats from farming, and looting a Psijic node to get one piece of gear or a single runestone is frustrating.

SilverBride · June 22

Auto looting nodes and chests has its drawbacks. What if the player's bag is almost full and there is no room for all of the items?

code65536 · June 22

In my experience, I see a lot of players running past Psijic portals and never touching them. What this means is that a lot of characters probably don't have the skill line unlocked (which is understandable, as it is by far the most annoying of the guild skill lines to unlock, so I can see people skipping it on alts). If someone doesn't have the skill line, they will see nothing where that portal is (they won't see an enchanting node in its place, they'll just see nothing if that node had spawned as a portal).

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I still think that nodes and chests should be automatically take all to avoid cherry-picking. It’s hard enough to get rare mats from farming, and looting a Psijic node to get one piece of gear or a single runestone is frustrating.

The respawn timer for a node/sack/chest starts when it is first opened, not when it is fully looted. Leaving stuff behind has no effect aside from giving a passerby a little bit of false hope. With what you're suggesting, instead of getting scraps, you'll just get nothing.

MidniteOwl1913 · June 22

code65536 wrote: »

In my experience, I see a lot of players running past Psijic portals and never touching them. What this means is that a lot of characters probably don't have the skill line unlocked (which is understandable, as it is by far the most annoying of the guild skill lines to unlock, so I can see people skipping it on alts). If someone doesn't have the skill line, they will see nothing where that portal is (they won't see an enchanting node in its place, they'll just see nothing if that node had spawned as a portal).

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I still think that nodes and chests should be automatically take all to avoid cherry-picking. It’s hard enough to get rare mats from farming, and looting a Psijic node to get one piece of gear or a single runestone is frustrating.

The respawn timer for a node/sack/chest starts when it is first opened, not when it is fully looted. Leaving stuff behind has no effect aside from giving a passerby a little bit of false hope. With what you're suggesting, instead of getting scraps, you'll just get nothing.

I would prefer nothing.

DenverRalphy · June 23

Psijiic portals are only rare if nobody's gathering rune nodes. If you're not stumbling across any organically when you need some, them find yourself a decent rune nodes farm route (I have 6 or 7 myself), and farm it. Psijiic portals will pop often enough.

And by farm it, I don't mean gather rune nodes for 5 minutes them give up if you haven't seen any. My best farm routes are timed well enough that the first one is respawning just as I'm approaching it. I'll average one portal every two run-throughs. But sometimes I'll go 4 or 5 without any, then suddenly I'll get half a dozen on one single run.

And I haven't seen any change in the aurbic amber drop rate myself.

katanagirl1 · June 23

code65536 wrote: »

In my experience, I see a lot of players running past Psijic portals and never touching them. What this means is that a lot of characters probably don't have the skill line unlocked (which is understandable, as it is by far the most annoying of the guild skill lines to unlock, so I can see people skipping it on alts). If someone doesn't have the skill line, they will see nothing where that portal is (they won't see an enchanting node in its place, they'll just see nothing if that node had spawned as a portal).

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I still think that nodes and chests should be automatically take all to avoid cherry-picking. It’s hard enough to get rare mats from farming, and looting a Psijic node to get one piece of gear or a single runestone is frustrating.

The respawn timer for a node/sack/chest starts when it is first opened, not when it is fully looted. Leaving stuff behind has no effect aside from giving a passerby a little bit of false hope. With what you're suggesting, instead of getting scraps, you'll just get nothing.

At least with a chest you can see that it is opened. I can just keep going and pass it by. A Psijic portal does not need to be unlocked like a chest. There is no way to know if it is partially looted.

These things need to despawn faster. It doesn’t matter about the time if you are the unlucky one to run across the thing.

The devs need to do more to keep players from being jerks, because that’s what they are going to do.

DreamyLu · June 23

Sarannah wrote: »

Tatanko wrote: »

Sarannah wrote: »

These psijjic portal nodes are extremely rare

They really aren't. I suggest unlocking the first level of the Psijic skill line on all your characters.

Have done this, but as you can see they are too rare. Even those saying they are not rare are saying they are too rare(lol):

Cave_Canem wrote: »

I thought the psijic portals in Solstice weren't dropping, but after a few weeks I've finally found 2 portals and got 1 amber. As per usual, I just had kept at it while playing normally and enjoying the new zone.

smallhammer wrote: »

Are psijjic portals still in the game? Ok, I know they are, but they are sooo rare, it's ridiculous.

DreamyLu wrote: »

I get an average of 4 on a daily basis (min 2 up to max 6) on normal days. On days they're for endeavors, I get up to 15 within one hour! But such cases are only because players suddenly all farm runestones...

SilverBride wrote: »

I find one or two about every day just going around gathering surveys and questing.

Please tell me you do not think that should be the normal droprate for a resource.

I get it, some players do not want to lose their moneymaker source, but this spawnrate for normal players is ridiculous. This is due to some players being able to targetfarm these portals, while others who play the game normally barely ever get any, if any.

I was talking about psijiic portals, with reference to the posts before my talking about that. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I have added the precision.

Islyn · June 23

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I still think that nodes and chests should be automatically take all to avoid cherry-picking. It’s hard enough to get rare mats from farming, and looting a Psijic node to get one piece of gear or a single runestone is frustrating.

Ooh yeah the worst ppl leaving garbage in nodes