When RARE seems to be REDICULOUS..

GreenhaloX · February 2017

Sorry, be warned.. this can also be perceived as a rant.

We all understand how high-end items, i.e. sharpened weapons, divines armor and such, drop in "rarity." You have to farm and farm your butt's off trying to find and get the piece(s) you want. Well, unless you have and are willing to drop the high amount of gold to get the item(s) on sale by another player. Let's take Spriggans, for example. A sharpened sword is seemingly what is hot, and being spammed on zone chats for sale for right around the 250k mark, as well as a few on the traders listed from 400-500k. Although, it is just in-game money, I'm just to frugal to spend that much gold on an item. Granted, every day, there are people spamming the sharpened Spriggan sword for sale on zone chat in Bangkorai, I can't seem to drop the 250k or more to get one from those potential sellers. Plus, due to numerous complains about players getting ripped out by other players on zone chat's transactions, as well as items sent as a transaction are being withheld or left in somebody's inbox for days or weeks until being returned (or not returned at all) to the sender, my distrust on the effective of zone chat transactions is another roadblock.

Thus far, I have been farming like mad since One Tamriel looking for a sharpened Spriggan sword (to use, mind you, and not for any sale.) So far, not even one. Yes, it is rare, but this is when it seems to transcend into the ridiculous realm. I have, so far, put in more efforts in farming for the Spriggan sword than anything else in ESO. 4-6 days a week ( to include the longer hours on the weekends) since mid-December, and through countless cycles/rotations of beating down world bosses (many times, soloing) and the public dungeon's bosses in Bangkorai, as well as tearing apart numerous/countless advanced and master chests and thieves' troves... still, not one single freaking sword. Yet, all these dudes are spamming the swords for sale on zone chats. How lucky are they or how unlucky am I.. What is up with this?!!

I am also a bit suspicious on how some are coming up with the sword (those being on sale on zone chats.) Heck, some are spamming multiple sharpened weapons, i.e. consecutive listing of Spriggan sharpened sword, greatsword, bow, maul and axe, as well as other high-end trait Spriggan pieces by the same person/player. A single person can't be that lucky to acquire all those high-end sharpened weapons and/or armor pieces by normal in-game farming method. What.. do they live in Bangkorai and don't sleep?!

Voxicity · February 2017

RNG is RNG

Me and my wife spent 2 weeks farming for like 8 hours a day and got nothing... then made 1 mil+ in the space of a couple days

Thank god it's over now though, we farmed for 11.4 bil to get all 3 manors and just hit that mark a few days ago. Now we can actually get our lives back

Robo_Hobo · February 2017

A lot of the zone chat sellers are probably buying them from other players and then trying to sell them at a higher price. Thats why they might have multiples of sharpened spriggan weapons.

Xenophis · February 2017

Robo_Hobo wrote: »

A lot of the zone chat sellers are probably buying them from other players and then trying to sell them at a higher price. Thats why they might have multiples of sharpened spriggan weapons.

This.

FloppyTouch · February 2017

I got one from a chest and 2 from public dungeon bosses in 1 week about 2 hours farming each day it's just RNG and it's stupid. I don't even use this stuff too just selling it but when I was farming my BSW sharpen sword that took months to get thousands of runs ugh was a pain in the butt

Cpt_Teemo · February 2017

KaiVox22 wrote: »

RNG is RNG

Me and my wife spent 2 weeks farming for like 8 hours a day and got nothing... then made 1 mil+ in the space of a couple days

Thank god it's over now though, we farmed for 11.4 bil to get all 3 manors and just hit that mark a few days ago. Now we can actually get our lives back

You mean 11.4mill? I was just about to say dang you play Swtor ha.

Cpt_Teemo · February 2017

FloppyTouch wrote: »

I got one from a chest and 2 from public dungeon bosses in 1 week about 2 hours farming each day it's just RNG and it's stupid. I don't even use this stuff too just selling it but when I was farming my BSW sharpen sword that took months to get thousands of runs ugh was a pain in the butt

Yeah better sell now before monday, I see prices dropping every second cause of the pvp vendor

Fudly_budly · February 2017

My personal tale of woe involves 7 consecutive days of dolmen trains in Deshaan for an epic Night Mother's Sorrow necklace. Hundreds of dolmens! When I finally got it I was so excited I posted in zone chat only to be trolled by some guy who said he got 3 in an hour. ESO is a RNG Skinner box and we're all just pigeons!

Last evening. One public dungeon run... Sharpened Elegant Ice Staff worth 30k.

Or, scale 800 fish and not one P Roe. Next day hit 3 P Roes in 10 fish.

My advice is to begin drinking heavily...

Trinity_Is_My_Name · February 2017

I feel your pain. I think many of us do when we intentionally farm a specific item or set. I never farmed for Viper and after three or four runs through Fungal Grotto realized I had three Knife Of Shadows in my inventory plus a full set of armor in divines. I ended up getting a fourth Knife of Shadows from another person in one of my runs one day that didn't want it. So now I have four Knife of Shadows as well as three or four Sharpened 2H swords (Can't remember their specific game name). RNG is nuts for sure. Now I've been farming Elegant and Mother's Sorrow and have had horrible RNG with that. So I finally decided to not specifically spend hours upon hours in a zone farming a Set item but instead just play the game and see what Mother RNG brings me.

Miss_Morphine · February 2017

Weeks? Try farming for MONTHS.
In terms of vMOL:

Miss_Morphine wrote: »

...3-5 runs a week, completing all the achievements I have to go turn around and start farming normal for weapons because I still don't have a sharpened Moondancer lightning staff or sharpened swords.

If I just had really bad luck I get it but I'm far from the only person in this position on the team that I am part of.

It's insane, the RNG seriously needs to change. The system is clearly broken. I mean I must have gotten over 300 vMA weapons by now and still no sharpened inferno.

I'm up for a token system, smart RNG that remembers items you've already gotten - anything that could make this better. There are already plenty of wonderful suggestions on the forums.

If the RNG isn't going to change make more viable weapon traits. Buff precise and nirnhoned to produce slightly smaller numbers than sharpened but ones that are still comparable. When someone in all divides with precise will lose to someone in all prosperous with sharpened it's just not balanced. Something has got to give.

As I originally discussed this with @Oreyn_Bearclaw here's his take :

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Simply put, nothing has me more aggravated with this game as this issue right here. Yes, I farmed VMA for a year to get my staff. It is what it is I guess, its high level gear gated behind difficult content as they cant be obtained via Normal MA. I wont go into that, as it's been beaten to death.

In terms of trial gear, this is a completely different animal and needs addressing ASAP. I raid 3-4 nights a week, and often we get multiple clears a night. Since VMOL came out, our core team has almost exclusively run this trial. We spent several months to where we could easily farm Veteran mode on normal difficulty, then spent some time pushing scores. We then decided to tackle hardmode, and again, we spent MONTHS running this every night. We would get to the last boss in about 25 minutes, wipe for 2.5 hours straight, then turn off hard mode and clear. We would clear, every time we would run. I would wager that in terms of number of veteran clears of VMOL, our group is in the top few percent.

There are basically 3 items that are highly sort after from this place from a DPS perspective, as they are best in slot for certain builds. A Moondancer Inferno in Sharp, a Moondancer Lightning staff in sharp, and Moondancer Swords in (surprise surprise) sharp. I am one of 2 or 3 people in my raid that was lucky enough to get one of these (sharp Inferno), but of course, I play sorc, so I need the sharp lightning, so it sits in my bank. I have never to my knowledge seen a sharp sword drop for anyone in our raid, nor have I seen a sharp Moondancer lighting drop for anyone in our raid (expect one from a coffer that is not tradeable).

This Friday marks the 2 week anniversary of our hardmode clear. Check the video in our signature if you want to hear the audible jubilation that came with that accomplishment.

What happened next? Once my hands stopped shaking, I looted the chest and got a freaking bow of lunar bastion for my accomplishment, and it wasnt the first one. I proceeded to get sauced and celebrate for the rest of the night, and tried to put the pitiful reward out of my mind.

What happened on Saturday? For the first time, I started to grind normal Normal MOL. The first run, I see my elusive staff drop for someone else, good for them I guess, but doesnt do anything for me.

@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_RichLambert Is this what you want? Do you really want your end game raiders forced into a mind-numbing normal mode grind to go after the one or two weapons we need to stay competitive? I am a huge fanboy, but I am sorry. This is a ridiculous state of things. People that grind normal who would get eaten alive in vet have all the weapons they need. Meanwhile, your core endgame community cant get what they are after after months and months of running the same VETERAN content over and over.

We need smarter loot. A alkosh inferno staff or bow of lunar bastion simply should not exist, but our raid could probably equip the entire pact with this stuff.

Edit: Also, I watched poor @Miss_Morphine get 3, count them 3, sharp moondancer RESTO staffs in a row. I myself have 2 lovely sharp moondancer DAGGERS, which of course are no use to anyone. Love it!

Edit 2: At the risk of sounding like an elitist jerk, how about you give anyone with a Dro-m'Athra Destroyer title the choice of one item from the loot table. I dare anyone to say with a straight face that people that put in that kinda work dont deserve it. Or we could go back to grinding normal...

Shader_Shibes · February 2017

Farmed CoA1 3-4 times per day since 1T for the holy grail that is BSW destro and also BSW 1h weps sharpened, and reinforced/impen BSW shield.

Have none of them.

BadLuckCharm · February 2017

RNG seem to revel in Winnie the Pooh logic:

"Well, y'see, we keep looking for home, but we keep finding this pit, so I just thought that if we looked for this pit, we might find home. "

Look for something else. It'll drop on you by surprise.

Balamoor · February 2017

You know you are in for farming hell when your wife says:

Manor? They are going to have Manors....?

How much do they cost?

Malamar1229 · February 2017

At least the items you are seeking are BoE and also available in cyrodiil overland bags with Homestead.

I am on run 250 something in COA for a sharp inferno staff....which is BoP

AzuraKin · February 2017

KaiVox22 wrote: »

RNG is RNG

Me and my wife spent 2 weeks farming for like 8 hours a day and got nothing... then made 1 mil+ in the space of a couple days

Thank god it's over now though, we farmed for 11.4 bil to get all 3 manors and just hit that mark a few days ago. Now we can actually get our lives back

lol i aint buying them manors.[SNIp] i wont spend gold on crappy looking housing.

[Edited for rude comments]

disintegr8 · February 2017

I don't go for BiS gear or high end retail items, my beef is with the stupid Aetherial Cipher and dust. I am out there every day in non-dlc areas fighting monsters, bosses, dolmens, killing everything I see, harvesting every node, plant, rune, etc, that I come across and nothing.

My friend has found one dust, but seeing as he has never even found an imperial motif (I have only ever found 1), he does not believe he will ever see the cipher, so may never get to use it. I don't want the items to sell - I have 7 mil gold - I want the cipher for my master crafter, so I can at least say I know the recipe for it and can make it if I want to.

I know they want it to be rare but this is frustrating.

MLGProPlayer · February 2017

GreenhaloX wrote: »

Sorry, be warned.. this can also be perceived as a rant.

We all understand how high-end items, i.e. sharpened weapons, divines armor and such, drop in "rarity." You have to farm and farm your butt's off trying to find and get the piece(s) you want. Well, unless you have and are willing to drop the high amount of gold to get the item(s) on sale by another player.

Too bad most gear is BoP and can't be bought from other players.

Dungeon sets? BoP (can trade betwen group only)
Trial sets? See above
vMA? BoP, no one to trade with
Monster shoulders? BoP, no one to trade with

MLGProPlayer · February 2017

disintegr8 wrote: »

I don't go for BiS gear or high end retail items, my beef is with the stupid Aetherial Cipher and dust. I am out there every day in non-dlc areas fighting monsters, bosses, dolmens, killing everything I see, harvesting every node, plant, rune, etc, that I come across and nothing.

My friend has found one dust, but seeing as he has never even found an imperial motif (I have only ever found 1), he does not believe he will ever see the cipher, so may never get to use it. I don't want the items to sell - I have 7 mil gold - I want the cipher for my master crafter, so I can at least say I know the recipe for it and can make it if I want to.

I know they want it to be rare but this is frustrating.

Cipher has a miniscule drop rate. Hence why the market rate is 2-5 million gold.

I'm in 3 large trade guilds and we only recently had our first cipher sale.

I've gotten 2 dusts myself. If you need them, just buy them. They currently go for 50k.

MLGProPlayer · February 2017

Shader_Shibes wrote: »

Farmed CoA1 3-4 times per day since 1T for the holy grail that is BSW destro and also BSW 1h weps sharpened, and reinforced/impen BSW shield.

Have none of them.

I had to do it 80 times just for the 5 piece body gear. I did around 30 group runs and 50 solo ones.

max_only · February 2017

If only there were viable alternative crafted sets...

phairdon · February 2017

Lets see. Started playing this game from early access in 2014. Yet to find a Imperial motif, which is the last one required for one of the achievements. Not bad rng huh?

AzuraKin · February 2017

disintegr8 wrote: »

I don't go for BiS gear or high end retail items, my beef is with the stupid Aetherial Cipher and dust. I am out there every day in non-dlc areas fighting monsters, bosses, dolmens, killing everything I see, harvesting every node, plant, rune, etc, that I come across and nothing.

My friend has found one dust, but seeing as he has never even found an imperial motif (I have only ever found 1), he does not believe he will ever see the cipher, so may never get to use it. I don't want the items to sell - I have 7 mil gold - I want the cipher for my master crafter, so I can at least say I know the recipe for it and can make it if I want to.

I know they want it to be rare but this is frustrating.

with ya there. but that is the usually mmo answer when bleeding more old pop over new pop picking up game. put in grind. grind imo does not keep players around, it drives them away.

alexkdd99 · February 2017

GreenhaloX wrote: »

Sorry, be warned.. this can also be perceived as a rant.

We all understand how high-end items, i.e. sharpened weapons, divines armor and such, drop in "rarity." You have to farm and farm your butt's off trying to find and get the piece(s) you want. Well, unless you have and are willing to drop the high amount of gold to get the item(s) on sale by another player. Let's take Spriggans, for example. A sharpened sword is seemingly what is hot, and being spammed on zone chats for sale for right around the 250k mark, as well as a few on the traders listed from 400-500k. Although, it is just in-game money, I'm just to frugal to spend that much gold on an item. Granted, every day, there are people spamming the sharpened Spriggan sword for sale on zone chat in Bangkorai, I can't seem to drop the 250k or more to get one from those potential sellers. Plus, due to numerous complains about players getting ripped out by other players on zone chat's transactions, as well as items sent as a transaction are being withheld or left in somebody's inbox for days or weeks until being returned (or not returned at all) to the sender, my distrust on the effective of zone chat transactions is another roadblock.

Thus far, I have been farming like mad since One Tamriel looking for a sharpened Spriggan sword (to use, mind you, and not for any sale.) So far, not even one. Yes, it is rare, but this is when it seems to transcend into the ridiculous realm. I have, so far, put in more efforts in farming for the Spriggan sword than anything else in ESO. 4-6 days a week ( to include the longer hours on the weekends) since mid-December, and through countless cycles/rotations of beating down world bosses (many times, soloing) and the public dungeon's bosses in Bangkorai, as well as tearing apart numerous/countless advanced and master chests and thieves' troves... still, not one single freaking sword. Yet, all these dudes are spamming the swords for sale on zone chats. How lucky are they or how unlucky am I.. What is up with this?!!

I am also a bit suspicious on how some are coming up with the sword (those being on sale on zone chats.) Heck, some are spamming multiple sharpened weapons, i.e. consecutive listing of Spriggan sharpened sword, greatsword, bow, maul and axe, as well as other high-end trait Spriggan pieces by the same person/player. A single person can't be that lucky to acquire all those high-end sharpened weapons and/or armor pieces by normal in-game farming method. What.. do they live in Bangkorai and don't sleep?!

Sure they can. I have pulled 4 sharpened red mountain daggers from stone falls. Got 1 on my first boss kill there just wondering around and hit the blue crab a couple times.

As others have said rng is rng. It is possible for you to farm every day for a year and not get 1 sharpened sword. Which means it's a good thing you can atleast buy it from someone else. I still think vma is the worst grind. Atleast with trial or dungeon items you can trade with your group for the item and overland you can straight up buy the item. But vma where you are solo, well you are just screwed if rng isn't on your side.

AzuraKin · February 2017

sure if you have 250k+ to pay for overpriced sharpened weapons.

Olupajmibanan · February 2017

AzuraKin wrote: »

sure if you have 250k+ to pay for overpriced sharpened weapons.

I would gladly buy BSW sharpened one-hander or Lightning sharpened Moondancer staff even for 2m gold if it was possible.

cheemers · February 2017

I got the Mages Guild daily quest to go into Razak's Wheel in Bangkorai, in the dungeon killed a boss that was up along the way and got a sharpened Spriggan sword

made it gold and put it on the store - easiest 600k ever made.

Also, it's spelled "ridiculous". Not trying to be a pedant, but just to save you any embarrassment in the future.

Ch4mpTW · February 2017

I'm still waiting for the mythical Shield of the Lich and sharpened Sword of the Lich... I've been told constantly of how both the shield and sword exist, but have never seen it. Nor do I know anyone who has 1, although people claim they have seen others with it.

raasdal · February 2017

NEVER grind for a BoE item. It will ALWAYS be a better choice to grind for the money, to biy said item.

In the case of Spinner Sword. You could grind for 30+ hours, and never get it. But 250k can be grinded in what? 3-5 hours if you are bad? Just take your partner, go to IC on an empty campaign and farm gold, stones and trophys.

If you grind soecifically for money towards that item, your resistance on spending the money, will go away.

SwimsWithMemes · February 2017

On 1Tam release I went and farmed Spriggan like crazy for the initial weekend, 14 hour days for 4 days of just running public dungeon between characters (logging out once I'd hit the loot timer, switching characters, repeat) and when I grew bored/dungeons got too full, joining WB/Delve routes. I never managed to get my sharpened dagger, but the sheer $$ I'd made from purple rings, necks, 2 handers, the occasional sharpened mace easily let me pay the 250k it was then for a Spriggan dagger.

I'd unbind it from my account if I could, and resell it - now I need to grind for twice-fanged snake gear and I can't buy that!

I just can't believe people pay like, 20k for the Scarab's Sting of the Spriggan precise dagger! It's literally free!

Shader_Shibes · February 2017

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

I'm still waiting for the mythical Shield of the Lich and sharpened Sword of the Lich... I've been told constantly of how both the shield and sword exist, but have never seen it. Nor do I know anyone who has 1, although people claim they have seen others with it.

I have a precise 1h axe and a well-fitted shield after maybe 50 runs -_-

I've given up the grind for decent ones, and bsw sharpened weps, it's just so *** up, and has left a sour taste in my mouth.

AzuraKin · February 2017

raasdal wrote: »

NEVER grind for a BoE item. It will ALWAYS be a better choice to grind for the money, to biy said item.

In the case of Spinner Sword. You could grind for 30+ hours, and never get it. But 250k can be grinded in what? 3-5 hours if you are bad? Just take your partner, go to IC on an empty campaign and farm gold, stones and trophys.

If you grind soecifically for money towards that item, your resistance on spending the money, will go away.

lol i have farmed 3 months straight in ic, when it released, sold everything i could, and i never made close to 250k in 5 hours. maybe 50k in 5 hours between key pieces sold at 2k+ ea, and telvar estimation value of 3tv:1g ratio, dont know what it is now sure its much worse ratio. probably 10tv:1g now. and that both solo grinding and group grinding.