Nirnhoned Research

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

What is the cheapest way to research Nirnhoned items? They sell on average for 30,000 gold (too much for my purse). Can you farm mobs for them, and if so where? I don't have access to upper Craglorn yet.

Nestor

You can only farm Nirncrux in Upper Craglorn. Wood, Cloth and Ore nodes are the main sources. Some say the Alchemy/Enchanting nodes also drop them, but I have not seen a consensus on that. I certainly have not found any from Alchemy/Enchanting Nodes and I have farmed a ton of those. Welwa's also drop them, so perhaps other critters up there do.

In other words, if you can't get to UC, then you have to buy them.

Now, you might be able to find Nirncruxs in the Guild Stores for about 17K (I have never seen them, but Master Merchant tells me that is the average price so they must go fast at that price) and then ask someone who knows the trait to make something with it.

Natjur

Items with the Nirnhoned trait do not drop anywhere. If you finish the quest line in upper Craglorn, you will get one random item with the Nirnhoned trait and this is how all the players first started researching the trait.

The trait stone used to make theses items (once you have researched it) is harvested (0.5% chance per node) from wood, ore and cloth nodes in upper Craglorn.
(If harvesting a node from a survey writ, the change increased from 0.5% to 2% which is still very low)

This is why its so costly, cause the stones are rare (get about 2 per hour farming all nodes in upper craglorn)

I make theses items for research all the time for free for guildmates (if they provide the trait stone).

UrQuan

In addition to what @Nestor says, the actual Nirnhoned items don't drop, period. You get one for completing a questline, but you'll never have one drop from mobs. The only way to get any for research (beyond your initial one that you get from that questline) is to get them from other players who have already researched them and can craft them for you. As @Nestor says, though, if you can find Nirncrux (again, only in Upper Craglorn - but you can get there any time from VR1 on) you may be able to get people to make you stuff with the Nirncrux. Friendly guildies perhaps?

TheShadowScout

I can confirm nirncrux stones to make the stuff also drop from alchemy nodes. Since I found one with a whitecap mushroom the other day.
Not sure about enchanting, but I reckon if it drops with ore, wood, cloth and alchemy plants... who knows, they might even wash up with collecting pure water...

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

Is the only way to upper Craglorn by completing the lower Craglorn main quest line?

Nestor

cgipervert wrote: »

Is the only way to upper Craglorn by completing the lower Craglorn main quest line?

No, you can just walk up there. There are roads.

I think the Destinations Mod has an option to put a red line on the map where the demarcation is. But, basically it is the cliffs across the upper third of the zone. Well, the line that defines the upper third.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

Thank you Nestor! I will be dusting-off my main and heading there tonight.

UrQuan

cgipervert wrote: »

Thank you Nestor! I will be dusting-off my main and heading there tonight.

Be warned: there are a lot of folks farming nodes there. At least there have been every time I've gone there...

Worstluck

I've gone farming there 3 times in the past few weeks, and I've came away with 3 fortified nirncrux. Only farmed for maybe 30-45m tops each time. Just harvest everything, kill helwas, easy. I have not gotten any potent nirncrux however.

Also, the crafting writs that give you the survey maps are good for the nirncrux trait stone.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

What is the difference between the two (regular and potent)?

Worstluck

Potent is for weapons. Fortified is for armor.

driosketch

cgipervert wrote: »

Thank you Nestor! I will be dusting-off my main and heading there tonight.

Good luck friend, spent over an hour there last night, hit all 5 kinds of nodes and killed beasts. Came away with zilch.

Also the farmers up there are pretty cut throat. Remember one of them rode up while I was clearing mobs and snagged my node. Also got to see a chat fight between two farmers over that same thing. So be ready for that.

drschplatt

Also, the crafting writs that give you the survey maps are good for the nirncrux trait stone.

Don't count on crafting writs for this. It'll take dozens and dozens of writs to get a survey (it took me almost 100 writs to get my first survey) and even then the chances of the survey actually dropping a nirncrux are really low. The two surveys I got didn't drop one and on top of that half the nodes weren't even the right tier items but VR 1 - 8 stuff.

Locke_ESO

cgipervert wrote: »

What is the cheapest way to research Nirnhoned items? They sell on average for 30,000 gold (too much for my purse). Can you farm mobs for them, and if so where? I don't have access to upper Craglorn yet.

Seeing as no-one clarified it for you unless they have changed something then only Ore, Wood and Cloth nodes drop Nirncrux. Enchanting and Alchemy nodes do not. I'd also strongly recommend installing the Harvest Map Add on if you want to farm nirncrux.

Grunim

drschplatt wrote: »

Also, the crafting writs that give you the survey maps are good for the nirncrux trait stone.

Don't count on crafting writs for this. It'll take dozens and dozens of writs to get a survey (it took me almost 100 writs to get my first survey) and even then the chances of the survey actually dropping a nirncrux are really low. The two surveys I got didn't drop one and on top of that half the nodes weren't even the right tier items but VR 1 - 8 stuff.

That's odd, I receive survey maps fairly often from completing my writs. But yes, even when harvesting from survey nodes it's quite rare that I'll get nirncrux.

hamgatan

there's no way to research all items without spending serious coin. 30K is too much, 20-25 is normal.

i'm 9 trait woodworking on everything (and 9 trait on some blacksmith/clothier stuff) and I didn't get that without spending a few hundred thousand on the right staves/shield..

having a nirncrux stone is useless if you haven't researched the trait first - and you can't use a stone to do that.

Grunim

hamgatan wrote: »

there's no way to research all items without spending serious coin. 30K is too much, 20-25 is normal.

i'm 9 trait woodworking on everything (and 9 trait on some blacksmith/clothier stuff) and I didn't get that without spending a few hundred thousand on the right staves/shield..

having a nirncrux stone is useless if you haven't researched the trait first - and you can't use a stone to do that.

Having a nirncrux stone isn't useless at all. Give your stone to a nirn crafter and if they are a guildie, they usually won't charge you to craft a nirn item you can use for research. Guildies help each other out that way all the time.

Ourorboros

hamgatan wrote: »

there's no way to research all items without spending serious coin. 30K is too much, 20-25 is normal.

i'm 9 trait woodworking on everything (and 9 trait on some blacksmith/clothier stuff) and I didn't get that without spending a few hundred thousand on the right staves/shield..

having a nirncrux stone is useless if you haven't researched the trait first - and you can't use a stone to do that.

I can go along with the above. You either have to buy an item with the trait or find someone who will craft it for use. I got lucky and found someone who make items with my mats for only 2k g. I don't know if that is a good rate, but it worked for me.

The bigger question is why bother with nirnhone research? I did it only to satisfy my personal goal of learning all traits on one character. Beyond that and bragging rights, knowing all the nirnhone traits has not given me a big advantage. Mostly it has made me a resource for my guilds. I could sell nirnhone items, but I don't need the gold, and it's easier to sell the stones. If the FUBAR with nirnhone trait is the reason, it's likely that will be fixed in the future and that advantage will be gone.

hamgatan

Grunim wrote: »

Having a nirncrux stone isn't useless at all. Give your stone to a nirn crafter and if they are a guildie, they usually won't charge you to craft a nirn item you can use for research. Guildies help each other out that way all the time.

sorry I should rephrase that - the stones themselves are great - but firstly you need to know a 9 Trait crafter, AND trust them enough not to *** off with your extremely valuable stone - What I mean is they are useless for research on their own. I craft for my guild as well provided stones are sent to me in advance.

Sandmanninja

Ourorboros wrote: »

hamgatan wrote: »

there's no way to research all items without spending serious coin. 30K is too much, 20-25 is normal.

i'm 9 trait woodworking on everything (and 9 trait on some blacksmith/clothier stuff) and I didn't get that without spending a few hundred thousand on the right staves/shield..

having a nirncrux stone is useless if you haven't researched the trait first - and you can't use a stone to do that.

I can go along with the above. You either have to buy an item with the trait or find someone who will craft it for use. I got lucky and found someone who make items with my mats for only 2k g. I don't know if that is a good rate, but it worked for me.

The bigger question is why bother with nirnhone research? I did it only to satisfy my personal goal of learning all traits on one character. Beyond that and bragging rights, knowing all the nirnhone traits has not given me a big advantage. Mostly it has made me a resource for my guilds. I could sell nirnhone items, but I don't need the gold, and it's easier to sell the stones. If the FUBAR with nirnhone trait is the reason, it's likely that will be fixed in the future and that advantage will be gone.

To help prepare you for the 10th trait when it comes out.
If you think nirn mats are expensive now, wait until everyone needs them to get to the 10th trait and the 10th hidden crafting station.

Still, having two mundus buffs - max magicka and magicka regen - surely helps my spell caster.

Valymer

From a pure character advancement point of view, if you are VR14 you are better off grinding mobs in Cadwell's Gold or Cyrodiil. If you put in a couple of hours you can easily make enough gold to buy one piece of nirnhorn armor. And at the same time, you will get a lot of experience for champion points.

If you are farming nirncrux just to sell it, that is a different story. But just to get the traits researched, buying it is easier imo. On the NA server the going price for nirnhorn armor for research is 21k. That isn't really so expensive considering that even with ESO+ it can take up to 27 days to research a single piece, so it's not like you don't have plenty of time.

Ourorboros

Grunim wrote: »

hamgatan wrote: »

there's no way to research all items without spending serious coin. 30K is too much, 20-25 is normal.

i'm 9 trait woodworking on everything (and 9 trait on some blacksmith/clothier stuff) and I didn't get that without spending a few hundred thousand on the right staves/shield..

having a nirncrux stone is useless if you haven't researched the trait first - and you can't use a stone to do that.

Having a nirncrux stone isn't useless at all. Give your stone to a nirn crafter and if they are a guildie, they usually won't charge you to craft a nirn item you can use for research. Guildies help each other out that way all the time.

Just want to throw my two cents here about making nirnhone free for fellow guildies. Whether there is a fee will vary, and may come down to any relationship you have with each other. I recently crafted some nirnhome with no expectation of a fee, even though it was offered. However, I paid a lot of time and gold to have all 9 traits researched. I suggested I would accept a tip, and a generous one was given. Don't be a cheap *** and expect a crafter to make nirnhone for free. Even if no fee is asked for, no one who researched nirnhone did it without considerable time and expense. They deserve some consideration for that, even if they don't expect it.

ThePonzzz

Do you need to possess anything or complete anything to find them from a node?

I've not found one in 3 months, and I go on farming sprees for an hour a two when I do. I found one from some nightwood a long time ago, but that's it.

That said, I just buy them from a guild. I usually buy them from my own trade guild to support the guild, as long as it isn't too overpriced. But it's a pricey trait to research, with no real benefits. And 9 trait sets are pretty blah. But good to get it when the 10th trait eventually drops!

Ourorboros

Sandmanninja wrote: »

Ourorboros wrote: »

hamgatan wrote: »

there's no way to research all items without spending serious coin. 30K is too much, 20-25 is normal.

i'm 9 trait woodworking on everything (and 9 trait on some blacksmith/clothier stuff) and I didn't get that without spending a few hundred thousand on the right staves/shield..

having a nirncrux stone is useless if you haven't researched the trait first - and you can't use a stone to do that.

I can go along with the above. You either have to buy an item with the trait or find someone who will craft it for use. I got lucky and found someone who make items with my mats for only 2k g. I don't know if that is a good rate, but it worked for me.

The bigger question is why bother with nirnhone research? I did it only to satisfy my personal goal of learning all traits on one character. Beyond that and bragging rights, knowing all the nirnhone traits has not given me a big advantage. Mostly it has made me a resource for my guilds. I could sell nirnhone items, but I don't need the gold, and it's easier to sell the stones. If the FUBAR with nirnhone trait is the reason, it's likely that will be fixed in the future and that advantage will be gone.

To help prepare you for the 10th trait when it comes out.
If you think nirn mats are expensive now, wait until everyone needs them to get to the 10th trait and the 10th hidden crafting station.

Still, having two mundus buffs - max magicka and magicka regen - surely helps my spell caster.

Good answer to the question I posed, why bother researching nirnhone, and also one of my reasons for learning all traits as well as reaching level 50 in crafts when the practical benefit ends in the low 40s. Because you never know when the caps will be raised and it's easier to hit 60 or 75 if you are already 50. Now, let's just hope that zos makes some much needed changes to the crafting game.

Forestd16b14_ESO

OR maybe and try to follow me... we can remove nirnhond the item and traits from the game cause there so broken and pricey to the point of being stupid.

Ourorboros

ThePonzzz wrote: »

Do you need to possess anything or complete anything to find them from a node?

I've not found one in 3 months, and I go on farming sprees for an hour a two when I do. I found one from some nightwood a long time ago, but that's it.

That said, I just buy them from a guild. I usually buy them from my own trade guild to support the guild, as long as it isn't too overpriced. But it's a pricey trait to research, with no real benefits. And 9 trait sets are pretty blah. But good to get it when the 10th trait eventually drops!

You need patience, perseverance, and luck. The rest is just putting in the time farming the nodes. I have gone days without finding any stones, and I have found 3-4 stones in a few hours times. It's good advice to earn gold and XP/CP through other means, and buy the items to research. Farming is time consuming and gives no XP.

ThePonzzz

Ourorboros wrote: »

ThePonzzz wrote: »

Do you need to possess anything or complete anything to find them from a node?

I've not found one in 3 months, and I go on farming sprees for an hour a two when I do. I found one from some nightwood a long time ago, but that's it.

That said, I just buy them from a guild. I usually buy them from my own trade guild to support the guild, as long as it isn't too overpriced. But it's a pricey trait to research, with no real benefits. And 9 trait sets are pretty blah. But good to get it when the 10th trait eventually drops!

You need patience, perseverance, and luck. The rest is just putting in the time farming the nodes. I have gone days without finding any stones, and I have found 3-4 stones in a few hours times. It's good advice to earn gold and XP/CP through other means, and buy the items to research. Farming is time consuming and gives no XP.

I have no luck But good to know you don't need something.

Grunim

Ourorboros wrote: »

Grunim wrote: »

hamgatan wrote: »

there's no way to research all items without spending serious coin. 30K is too much, 20-25 is normal.

i'm 9 trait woodworking on everything (and 9 trait on some blacksmith/clothier stuff) and I didn't get that without spending a few hundred thousand on the right staves/shield..

having a nirncrux stone is useless if you haven't researched the trait first - and you can't use a stone to do that.

Having a nirncrux stone isn't useless at all. Give your stone to a nirn crafter and if they are a guildie, they usually won't charge you to craft a nirn item you can use for research. Guildies help each other out that way all the time.

Just want to throw my two cents here about making nirnhone free for fellow guildies. Whether there is a fee will vary, and may come down to any relationship you have with each other. I recently crafted some nirnhome with no expectation of a fee, even though it was offered. However, I paid a lot of time and gold to have all 9 traits researched. I suggested I would accept a tip, and a generous one was given. Don't be a cheap *** and expect a crafter to make nirnhone for free. Even if no fee is asked for, no one who researched nirnhone did it without considerable time and expense. They deserve some consideration for that, even if they don't expect it.

Yeah, I gladly accept tips from people when I craft nirn for them. I don't ask for a tip and I thought about mentioning that tipping is usually welcome in my previous post, so I'm glad you brought that up.

Epona222

When it comes to charging, I would not necessarily do it for free for every one of the potential 2500 people who might be guildmates. But sure, the few people I regularly play with doing PvP or pledges, I am not going to charge them extra if they can provide the nirncrux, they probably already rezzed me loads, or gave me potions or food, or took time out to give me build advice, or defended me when I needed defending at some point along the line in our friendship.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

One more question. Do you have to know the Nirnhoned trait before nodes in upper Craglorn will drop nircrux?