That's all I'm saying, I think it should at least drop off of creatures every time. I have over 300 iron in my bank, but. I'm constantly running out of medium armor resources because the drops and places to acquire supplies is so inconsistent. All of my characters rely on iron and only four rely on leather/hide.

ever heard of item exctraction?

I was finding the same thing for a couple of my characters. I came to the conclusion that critter kills (specifically creatures as opposed to npc kills) only regularly drop materials if you hit them in the head. I know that sounds crazy but it seems to work I chop at their bodies, nada, whack their heads, 70% chance of material drop. I only worked this out because my Templar generally charges up to the Alits and "Aedric Spears" them in the face with a regular drop whereas my DK had been whacking at wolves with nothing dropping. There's probably some other actual mechanic at work because I can't see the rationale in a game of requiring head damage only for material drops.

It'd be nice to have someone else test the theorem because I can't help but wonder if I'm just deluding myself on this subject . Also I do wonder whether "stealth" kills get a drop on non-critter animals like deer, because I never get anything on them.

Exactly, and then after doing so you don't usually get much in the way of resources. They at least need to make it so the drop rate is a guarantied 1:1, and make drop locations abundant enough that locations don't become completely over farmed.

IceDread wrote: »

Lazrael wrote: »

So I have worked on all crafting in all fields, and so far I feel like finding materials for leather crafting the the most prohibitive, due to spawn and drop rates compared to other fields that are based purely on node spawns. Anyone's else feel like this is a bit of am issue? Not a major issue, but something worth addressing at some point?

To lvl it, just do some light armor as well... not a problem then.

Fair point.

I agree that the drop rate for leather-type resources is sub par.
But, on a divergent note, why do the Devs think it makes sense for crabs to drop this? The outer part of a crab's body is made of chitin, not dermis & epidermis, because crabs are arthropods, not vertebrates.
By the game's rationale, spiders should have an equal chance of dropping leather resources as crabs.

You can create light armor as well and it is plentiful, though I've never had trouble with accumulating enough leather to craft something if needed. I primarily leveled on cloth gear.

Are people really not doing that? Why wouldn't you harvest the plentiful cloth and use it, though the bulk of materials for me has always come from deconstructing, not gathering.

I've never had any issue with leather. I'm 48 clothing. I get enough mats just de-constructing loot, I barely bother going after animals just for the mats. In fact, I doubt I ever hunted beasts for their skin, since around level 35ish.

Clothing is super easy to level, however, for actually getting leather mats, I get most of my mats from deconstructing leather gear I get from quests or drops.