Does the Medusa destruction staff drop in anything besides ice?

CaffeinatedMayhem

After getting my 5th (!) Medusa ice staff today, I'm beginning to think this set does not have a fire or lightning staff.

CaffeinatedMayhem

Ice staff works ok on my Warden for damage, Sorc, not so much.

scorpius2k1

Oh, it drops....Remember endless City of Ash I farming for that sweet, sweet Burning Spellweave staff that isn't even used much anymore?
Pepperidge Farm remembers...

And now they added Medusa to that type snore fest of a grind. Thankfully I had been on PTS and new about the changes before they were announced and was farming it on Live. The loot tables/rng is absolutely horrible now trying to get the staff, and necklaces are not far behind. Rings, most easily dropped. I have 9 ice staffs since patch dropped and have done 53 runs of Arx Corinium to try for a second inferno staff for my other toon. No luck yet.

ZoS, please, for the love of sanity and FUN factor, do something about your RNG methods because they are pretty outlandish.

This took me only 2 days and only 8 runs before the patch...

Rebiludo

Chest, Greaves and 3 Jewellery (5light/2heavy) is better for 100 Uptime IMO

the1andonlyskwex

Based on my luck, all staffs seem to drop about 3x as much in ice as they do in the other elements.

RefLiberty

They will probably nerf it, that crit is OP for 5 item set

CaffeinatedMayhem

scorpius2k1 wrote: »

ZoS, please, for the love of sanity and FUN factor, do something about your RNG methods because they are pretty outlandish.

Yep. Farming gear for my tanks isn't any different. Want a Leeching shield? The only one I've ever gotten was a quest reward for ICP; the one that talks every time you bar swap. *goes insane*

Grinding for an SPC resto staff for my healer, bc the one I had got deconned in the last 3 years. All I get are destruction staves, never a resto. It's like whoever assigns probability in the loot tables WANTS to make us insane with grind.

Edit: I did about 10-12 runs of Arx before the patch, that's how I got 2/5 ice staves and 1/3 resto staves I've pulled so far.

kmkastl

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

Yep. Farming gear for my tanks isn't any different. Want a Leeching shield? Yeah, the only one I've evergotten was a quest reward for ICP, the one that talks to you every time you bar swap. *goes insane*

Aww I actually love the shield. I made sure I used the sword and shield of Leeching so Lord Warden can yell at me. But he also doesn't do it every time I bar swap..just occasionally.

CaffeinatedMayhem

Rebiludo wrote: »

Chest, Greaves and 3 Jewellery (5light/2heavy) is better for 100 Uptime IMO

I backbar MA desto, and what would I use on front then? Asylum? Not a fan and I only have an Asylum ice staff. I can't single bar Necroptence, that' even worst than losing minor force on my AoE.

Masel

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

Rebiludo wrote: »

Chest, Greaves and 3 Jewellery (5light/2heavy) is better for 100 Uptime IMO

I backbar MA desto, and what would I use on front then? Asylum? Not a fan and I only have an Asylum ice staff. I can't single bar Necroptence, that' even worst than losing minor force on my AoE.

Siroria or False god works liks a charm! literally no need to farm that staff...

dsalter

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

Rebiludo wrote: »

Chest, Greaves and 3 Jewellery (5light/2heavy) is better for 100 Uptime IMO

I backbar MA desto, and what would I use on front then? Asylum? Not a fan and I only have an Asylum ice staff. I can't single bar Necroptence, that' even worst than losing minor force on my AoE.

get another necro staff...?
i mean having 2x5 set bonuses up 100% of the time is far more beneficial especially with a 2 set monster.

CaffeinatedMayhem

Masel wrote: »

[

Siroria or False god works liks a charm! literally no need to farm that staff...

Siroria is a nightmare when you have high lag, same with ele weapon. I just ditched False God's because I get better DPS with Necroptence. (Alcast does not know how to build for warden).

CaffeinatedMayhem

dsalter wrote: »

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

Rebiludo wrote: »

Chest, Greaves and 3 Jewellery (5light/2heavy) is better for 100 Uptime IMO

I backbar MA desto, and what would I use on front then? Asylum? Not a fan and I only have an Asylum ice staff. I can't single bar Necroptence, that' even worst than losing minor force on my AoE.

get another necro staff...?
i mean having 2x5 set bonuses up 100% of the time is far more beneficial especially with a 2 set monster.

Eh, 1 bar medusa literally all I lose is the mInor force on Wall and Winter's Revenge. Most of Warden's damage comes from Deep Fissure and Screaming Cliff Racer/Force Pulse, which are front bar slots.

gatekeeper13

I did 22 runs in vArx. Medusa inferno destro staff did not drop for any of us. It dropped only 1 time in Ice staff. Other people I talked too said the same, they never saw it dropping as inferno.

Drop rate is certainly bugged/broken. Not saying it's not dropping at all, it has dropped but drop rate seems lower than any other weapon.

Personally stopped farming for it. I will go 2 heavy divines (chest-greaves), 3 jwlry and use light for monster set.

Dagoth_Rac

RefLiberty wrote: »

They will probably nerf it, that crit is OP for 5 item set

Why would they nerf it? It is a worse version of Mother's Sorrow (which has a Maximum Magicka bonus that Medusa lacks) and the Minor Force can be gotten from other means than a 5-piece bonus. In terms of stat density, Mother's Sorrow + a separate source of Minor Force > Medusa.

Medusa feels more like a convenience set. Where you can get more DPS from Mother's Sorrow and using Channeled Acceleration or Barbed Trap, but find CA or BT to be kind of clunky and annoying. You are sacrificing DPS for convenience and an extra bar slot.

Also, Medusa is Heavy Armor, giving you significant limitations and drawbacks over light armor Mother's Sorrow. You either have to go weapons and jewelry, losing about 8% crit chance and 10% crit damage on back bar. Or, use 2 heavy body pieces and jewelry for 100% uptime on that 8% crit chance and 10% crit chance, but are forced into both monster pieces being light armor and losing out on some Undaunted passives that increase DPS.

In addition, Channeled Acceleration is only cast every 36 seconds and Barbed Trap is a stamina skill. Using Medusa and replacing CA or BT with a typical 10-second DoT increases your resource drain noticeably over a long fight. It will be harder to sustain a Medusa build, making it more likely you need to sacrifice some DPS stats for sustain stats.

It actually seems like one of ZOS' better designed sets. It has good stats, but has clear drawbacks.

CaffeinatedMayhem

gatekeeper13 wrote: »

Personally stopped farming for it. I will go 2 heavy divines (chest-greaves), 3 jwlry and use light for monster set.

I'm debating doing this, but all my monster helms are heavy, so they can do double duty in PvP. I'd have to refarm all of them (Skoria, Zaan, Iceheart). It's possible, but not fun.

MellowMagic

I'm so glad I decided to keep that inferno staff I got like 2 years ago lol.

kojou

I am in the camp that prefers to have it on body pieces. I will not be farming a staff.

CaffeinatedMayhem

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

RefLiberty wrote: »

They will probably nerf it, that crit is OP for 5 item set

Why would they nerf it? It is a worse version of Mother's Sorrow (which has a Maximum Magicka bonus that Medusa lacks) and the Minor Force can be gotten from other means than a 5-piece bonus. In terms of stat density, Mother's Sorrow + a separate source of Minor Force > Medusa.

Medusa feels more like a convenience set. Where you can get more DPS from Mother's Sorrow and using Channeled Acceleration or Barbed Trap, but find CA or BT to be kind of clunky and annoying. You are sacrificing DPS for convenience and an extra bar slot.

Also, Medusa is Heavy Armor, giving you significant limitations and drawbacks over light armor Mother's Sorrow. You either have to go weapons and jewelry, losing about 8% crit chance and 10% crit damage on back bar. Or, use 2 heavy body pieces and jewelry for 100% uptime on that 8% crit chance and 10% crit chance, but are forced into both monster pieces being light armor and losing out on some Undaunted passives that increase DPS.

In addition, Channeled Acceleration is only cast every 36 seconds and Barbed Trap is a stamina skill. Using Medusa and replacing CA or BT with a typical 10-second DoT increases your resource drain noticeably over a long fight. It will be harder to sustain a Medusa build, making it more likely you need to sacrifice some DPS stats for sustain stats.

It actually seems like one of ZOS' better designed sets. It has good stats, but has clear drawbacks.

This is a really good analysis. I'm using Medusa so I can use the extra slot for a self-heal or frost cloak. I find I *lose* a lot of DPS with CA, because if bar swap fails I go into my front bar (spammy) rotation, and it takes a bit to realize that I'm stuck in channel, then have to cancel, bar swap, etc... Never tried BT because I find I do better with as much mag as possible, and I always have major expedition on (magden main).

If I get into a trials guild again I still have False Gods/MS to use with CA. But I'm still doing about 10k more with Medua/MA and Necro with Skoria than FG/MS/Zaan.

I also have high lag (for the US), and hand/wrist issues, so my reaction time is limited. Not everyone can weave perfectly all the time, and when bar swap fails regularly, it's almost a moot point because I'm having to stop to make sure my bar swaps.

Kwoung

I did some testing myself, not being the perfect weaver or being able to maintain complicated rotations and all... and losing about 10K DPS with the patch on my FGD/MS/VS. I found Medusa/Mothers Sorrow/Slimecraw got me right back up there and a bit more with a fairly easy rotation.

Kwoung

...as for the drop rate, wholly crap, I have been through Arx about 100 times now in the past week (no exaggeration) and have yet to see a Inferno Staff!

JinMori

The only inferno staff i saw so far went to a 140 cp player, what a *** waste.

Eifleber

Seems it's a bit the same as the CoA Spellweave staff, after 60+ runs I still haven't seen it drop once.

scorpius2k1

Eifleber wrote: »

Seems it's a bit the same as the CoA Spellweave staff, after 60+ runs I still haven't seen it drop once.

Yep. Been thinking the same exact thing.

SORjosh

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

After getting my 5th (!) Medusa ice staff today, I'm beginning to think this set does not have a fire or lightning staff.

It's part of the new meta and as such zos will throttle the drop rates to 1 in 100 runs (or worse) to increase playtime in a crap dungeon from yesteryear. Its peak zos and should be expected at this point.

Qyrk

It drops. Currently own both fire and lightning, but OMG took me 100+ runs!!

zvavi

I just finished farming the second one.

kaizen914

Pretty dumb that a yes or no answer is getting asked in a poll on the forums AND people are confident enough that it does not drop that they are answering it incorrectly. Just check through Google. It's been dropping and getting deconned for years before this change.

Rebiludo

Finally mI loot Neck after 50+ run

josiahva

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

RefLiberty wrote: »

They will probably nerf it, that crit is OP for 5 item set

Why would they nerf it? It is a worse version of Mother's Sorrow (which has a Maximum Magicka bonus that Medusa lacks) and the Minor Force can be gotten from other means than a 5-piece bonus. In terms of stat density, Mother's Sorrow + a separate source of Minor Force > Medusa.

Medusa feels more like a convenience set. Where you can get more DPS from Mother's Sorrow and using Channeled Acceleration or Barbed Trap, but find CA or BT to be kind of clunky and annoying. You are sacrificing DPS for convenience and an extra bar slot.

Also, Medusa is Heavy Armor, giving you significant limitations and drawbacks over light armor Mother's Sorrow. You either have to go weapons and jewelry, losing about 8% crit chance and 10% crit damage on back bar. Or, use 2 heavy body pieces and jewelry for 100% uptime on that 8% crit chance and 10% crit chance, but are forced into both monster pieces being light armor and losing out on some Undaunted passives that increase DPS.

In addition, Channeled Acceleration is only cast every 36 seconds and Barbed Trap is a stamina skill. Using Medusa and replacing CA or BT with a typical 10-second DoT increases your resource drain noticeably over a long fight. It will be harder to sustain a Medusa build, making it more likely you need to sacrifice some DPS stats for sustain stats.

It actually seems like one of ZOS' better designed sets. It has good stats, but has clear drawbacks.

Medusa actually appeals to me because it is a HEAVY armor magicka set....and in that regard is far superior for when you need survivability to mother's sorrow. yes, I know most of the people here are farming Medusa for weapons and jewelry....but this will pair nicely with Rattlecage for my Tank/DPS hybrid allowing me to mix and match as needed. You are absolutely correct though, for most builds, MS will still be better.

zaria

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

scorpius2k1 wrote: »

ZoS, please, for the love of sanity and FUN factor, do something about your RNG methods because they are pretty outlandish.

Yep. Farming gear for my tanks isn't any different. Want a Leeching shield? The only one I've ever gotten was a quest reward for ICP; the one that talks every time you bar swap. *goes insane*

Grinding for an SPC resto staff for my healer, bc the one I had got deconned in the last 3 years. All I get are destruction staves, never a resto. It's like whoever assigns probability in the loot tables WANTS to make us insane with grind.

Edit: I did about 10-12 runs of Arx before the patch, that's how I got 2/5 ice staves and 1/3 resto staves I've pulled so far.

Yes, farmed it 50 sometimes with no resto staff, also no SPC jewlery outside the necklaged from quest.
Ended up using the key vault and a million something gold.
But so many SPC bows