Please buff the Watchling lead drop rate

Scallan · June 2022

I think people were so focused trying to get the Oakensoul Ring they didn't realize that the real grind is getting the Watchling lead for the Mora's Whispers mythic.

After looking through the new patch notes I see that they've doubled the drop rate and added a secondary drop location for the Murkmire Oakensoul lead.

I would ask the devs to please consider buffing the Watchling lead drop rate in Atoll of Immolation. I've killed nearly a 1000 now and haven't gotten a single drop. Now that doesn't sound like much until you realize that there is maybe 4 or 6 of them that spawn, have a respawn rate of 5 minutes, and worst of all - rarely ever drop loot of any kind, let alone a lead. It's not uncommon to spend 3 hours farming a day and still not get a drop. I've heard horror stories (and am experiencing one right now).

Please buff the drop rates for this lead devs, I beg of you!

Bat · June 2022

If you think that's bad just wait until you see what's in store for you in the Vile Manse.

Someone posted this gif earlier which indeed is exactly what you will see before following through that cellar door.

Scallan · June 2022

Vile Manse lead was far less painful, trust me. The Watchling lead is true hell.

Oetkar · June 2022

Interestingly the Watchling dropped on second kill, for the Torn Cloth had to harvest about 20 nodes.

By now I have opened about 150 chests on both levels in Vile Manse, no drop.

Killed about 100 Watchers in Deadlands, Cauldron, where i could find some, no drop.

Did run Imp Prison several times, no drop, neither from watcher boss loot nor from its mob.

And yeah I tried different times, even got up 04:30 in the morning, no dice.

Yeah I want to try the Mora's Whisper in a build or two, but I guess I wait until loot degradation is over

Ratzkifal · June 2022

I don't think there is any good lead on that list aside from maybe the ICP boss, because at least you know what you are getting yourself into.

gamergirldk · June 2022

3 days so far on the big Watchers, got the lead on watchling pretty fast.

James-Wayne · June 2022

The Vile Manse chest was super easy, go to the bottom level and the chests spawn very fast plus no one farms that spot so 100% chance of opening them all for yourself.

Murkmire Oaken lead drop second chest for me today, so glad I didnt farm that one and waste time.

Watchling <shudder> so bad right now, I'll probably wait for things to calm down. It should drop from any watchling, not just Deadland Atoll ones.

Sindarin · June 2022

but there are a LOT of watchlings and it easy to get that lead, Watchers are much more painfull to drop that lead :x

KlauthWarthog · June 2022

Rare drop from a rare mob which rarely drops anything, and pretty much only spawns on an area which is not instanced.
You might think that this would be enough of a clue on how bad an idea this lead would turn out to be.

Soulfly311 · June 2022

I've farmed so many Watchlings on my crafter that he's now almost at rank 10 fighters guild. He was rank 2 when I started. STILL NO LEAD.

Vile Manse is despicably bad too.

I would stay well away from this mythic until they correct the drop rates. ZOS disrespect players' time too much with this one.

Qagh · June 2022

Dont't kill the Behemoth near Boss in Atoll. He opens portals with Watchlings. It's the best way for the lead. Let the Behemoth open the portals.

KlauthWarthog · June 2022

Qagh wrote: »

Dont't kill the Behemoth near Boss in Atoll. He opens portals with Watchlings. It's the best way for the lead. Let the Behemoth open the portals.

Yes, I tried to do that. Unfortunately, the place is not instanced, which means that other players can and will show up and kill the Behemoth, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it.

Soulfly311 · June 2022

I finally got the Vile Manse lead. Took me close to 200 chests to get it. Here's a screenshot of some of the chests I located on the bottom level to help anyone who's looking.

Alphawolf01A · June 2022

I keep hearing different lead sources for both the watchers and the watchlings. Are the leads only in the Atoll or can they be acquired in the Deadlands?

Necrotech_Master · June 2022

the only mora lead ive been having difficulty with is the watchlings, that one has been extremely painful (ive done approximately 10-15 hours total now of straight camping mobs in atoll, in a spot with 4 mobs that have 2 watchlings each)

took me like 2 or 3 runs with a group to get the regular watcher lead farming cauldron, and took 1-2 runs to get lead from ICP boss, maybe 2 chests in vile manse to get that lead lol

overall the worst leads ive had with this patch are:

watchlings
mages guild dailies
daily crafting writs

ellmarie · July 2022

Omg, this one is ridiculous. I've gotten 2 pale order rings in the meantime! Can't even loot a watchling.

Tan9oSuccka · July 2022

This is just poorly designed. The PTS testers are really doing a crack job. (Or ZOS isn’t listening to feedback)

After several hours and even different days farming chests and watchlings….I give up. Not a single lead from any of the five components.

Ah well.

robpr · July 2022

The drop chance would be fine if there would be a consistent place where Watchlings spawn outside the Atoll. While I farmed the lead there, it felt a bit exploity and there was always that one hero running over to the Duke of Storms and killing the Behemoth everyone was camping on. Ugh, never again.

The Cauldron feels the same - go in, kill first pack of monsters, go out, reset with a buddy, repeat.
ICP lead took me at least 5 tries before I stopped counting. At least you can solo it if you have a companion with melee weapon without the need of using Precognition.

Nirntrotter · July 2022

The vast majority of Watchlings don't even leave a lootable corpse for me, I must be in the triple digit Watchling kills by now and I still don't have it. I'm not even one to complain about grind, but this one in particular is so insanely unrewarding feeling.

phileunderx2 · July 2022

I've spent around 6 hrs trying for the watching lead and I'm about to give up.
Very few even drop anything at all and it's difficult to try and farm the behemoth as people who see him up always kill him.

RevJJ · July 2022

I finally got mine from an overland group of watchlings south of False Martyr’s Folly wayshrine. Put a character there, queued for some specific dungeons I still needed gear or leads from and waited. Killed 5 watchlings every 5 mins but I could do other stuff while waiting instead of endlessly camping in an atoll. Probably killed over 2000+ watchlings to get it though (including farming in atoll).

spartaxoxo · July 2022

I agree that this needs to be looked at. It's frankly not the only one. Devs should really reconsider how much grind is required for some of these leads. Not getting it right away is reasonable, but needing 1000 kills is not.

Hapexamendios · July 2022

This lead was poorly conceived and needs to be changed to something reasonable.

Necrotech_Master · July 2022

spartaxoxo wrote: »

I agree that this needs to be looked at. It's frankly not the only one. Devs should really reconsider how much grind is required for some of these leads. Not getting it right away is reasonable, but needing 1000 kills is not.

theoretically even if the drop rate was higher, someone could still need 1000 kills if they are unlucky, the problem is just compounded by attaching the lead to an enemy that already only drops something maybe 1 in 10 times (so your getting into double RNG territory)

leads arent the only thing that probably need a drop rate increase, monster trophies that are used for nothing but the achievement (that have what is considered "common" dyes) are also considerably hard to get (for some of them at least)

jle30303 · August 2022

RevJJ wrote: »

I finally got mine from an overland group of watchlings south of False Martyr’s Folly wayshrine. Put a character there, queued for some specific dungeons I still needed gear or leads from and waited. Killed 5 watchlings every 5 mins but I could do other stuff while waiting instead of endlessly camping in an atoll. Probably killed over 2000+ watchlings to get it though (including farming in atoll).

exactly where might this be, do you know? I can't find any watchlings south of FMF wayshrine...

MidniteOwl1913 · August 2022

I gave it up as a waste of time. I took it as the universe telling me I really didn't need that mythic after all...

redspecter23 · August 2022

The drop sourcing for this lead is ill conceived at best and an intentional troll of the players at worst. Watchings in great numbers can be found in only one area, they drop loot rarely to begin with and then the drop rate on the lead is likely 1% or less as well. If we had more areas with watchlings and they could be legitimately farmed at a reasonable rate, then the drop rate might be fine. We don't have that though. What we have is some players killing hundreds of watchlings at a rate of about 5 per minute max with no end in sight. Sure, you can farm them faster than that, but it's most certainly unintentional.

DoggedBark24 · August 2022

I've spent HOURS farming for the watchling lead today and nothing. nothing from the occasional watcher either. I did somehow manage to pull a Spider Daedra's monster trophy of all things.