Why are monster trophies such low drop rate?

Recent · July 1

Hi there,
Some of us are completionists by nature and such low drop rate for these monster trophies are pure frustration. Many of us will be dead before we can complete such achievements that require these monster trophies. I am aware they drop from specific creatures in various zones, ive done the research.
My concern is that if i just go about my game doing various activities, these monster trophies will never have a chance to drop drop for me cos there is so much to do in this game that i dont get the time to farm specific creatures that might drop the monster trophies. Without farming the specific creatures needed i have 0 chance of getting them. Im not here to complain so i apologise if i sound that way, just really could use some advice about this.
I know it's just pixels but i play eso to enjoy the game and collecting and completing is what i do enjoy. Once i get busy with night market and tome challenges i have no time to focus on this f9r a while.

Thank you if you read this far

dcrush · July 1

Agree. Drop rate is terrible for something linked to achievements that give “common” dyes. In my own experience the drop rate is something like 0.2% for most of them (I kept track through the “rng hate counter” add-on). I’ve been playing for six years and still don’t have them all.

DoofusMax · July 1

LOL! Lost count of the characters who have done Coldharbour over the years and still no Spider's Crown from the Shrine of Kyne (or any other Spider Daedra, for that matter). I played Orkin-man around that shrine for a couple of hours after noticing that I still needed it and got nothing.

Munkfist · July 2

Huh. The drop rates have been much higher than in past years. Just running around Tamriel, they drop like candy it seems.

Orbital78 · July 2

Munkfist wrote: »

Huh. The drop rates have been much higher than in past years. Just running around Tamriel, they drop like candy it seems.

If you get them eventually, subsequent drops are way more common it feels. Some were a pain, due to the mobs being less common or spread out but I was able to get them all without too many problems. It is a farm and was intended to be, I think.

Munkfist · July 2

Orbital78 wrote: »

Munkfist wrote: »

Huh. The drop rates have been much higher than in past years. Just running around Tamriel, they drop like candy it seems.

If you get them eventually, subsequent drops are way more common it feels. Some were a pain, due to the mobs being less common or spread out but I was able to get them all without too many problems. It is a farm and was intended to be, I think.

Agreed, had done them years ago for the dyes and remember some being a pain (Buzzing Spine, looking at you), but even on an alt account, they have been very easy to come by compared to when I did them on my main

Hotdog_23 · July 2

Munkfist wrote: »

Orbital78 wrote: »

Munkfist wrote: »

Huh. The drop rates have been much higher than in past years. Just running around Tamriel, they drop like candy it seems.

If you get them eventually, subsequent drops are way more common it feels. Some were a pain, due to the mobs being less common or spread out but I was able to get them all without too many problems. It is a farm and was intended to be, I think.

Agreed, had done them years ago for the dyes and remember some being a pain (Buzzing Spine, looking at you), but even on an alt account, they have been very easy to come by compared to when I did them on my main

Played since release on console been at max CP for a long time also and never got the "Buzzing Spine". I have tried to farm it as well numerous times over the years and still no luck. Had the others for probably like 5 years. I finally gave up and it after 10 years.

Stay safe

yNiriel · July 2

6 years of ESO and I still haven't had the Crypt Jar drop. I actively farmed for months1 to 2 hours a day and got nothing. I just wanted to have all the dyes, but it looks like that’s not going to happen.
*edit typo*

SilverIce58 · July 2

I actually used to find them a lot more in the past. I play on my alts often and none of them have found a monster trophy in recent years like they used to.

averyfarmanb14_ESO · July 2

It took actual years, IRL, to receive my last monster trophy, Everfrost. The drop rate is ridiculous for a few of them, and Everfrost (from Frost Atronachs) was notorious for its rarity.

Necrotech_Master · July 2

yNiriel wrote: »

6 years of ESO and I still haven't had the Crypt Jar drop. I actively farmed for months1 to 2 hours a day and got nothing. I just wanted to have all the dyes, but it looks like that’s not going to happen.
*edit typo*

the best place i found to farm for that was in the alikr public dungeon, right near where the group boss spawns as theres like 3-4 mobs within pull distance and at least 1 boss that still counts as the enemy type that drops the item

it still took awhile of camping out there to actually get said drop though, but that was the best place i found to farm it

ESO_player123 · July 2

Munkfist wrote: »

Orbital78 wrote: »

Munkfist wrote: »

Huh. The drop rates have been much higher than in past years. Just running around Tamriel, they drop like candy it seems.

If you get them eventually, subsequent drops are way more common it feels. Some were a pain, due to the mobs being less common or spread out but I was able to get them all without too many problems. It is a farm and was intended to be, I think.

Agreed, had done them years ago for the dyes and remember some being a pain (Buzzing Spine, looking at you), but even on an alt account, they have been very easy to come by compared to when I did them on my main

They are easy until you hit one or two that just plainly refuse to drop. I have all of them on PCNA, but I got exactly one wolf tooth necklace in 6 years of playing. And I killed a gazillion of wolves since they are everywhere in the base game zones.

AllenaNightWood · July 3

some just dont drop at all but ive got so many drauger hands and chattering skulls

fall0athboy · July 3

They are a ridiculously low drop rate. It's something that was from the beginning of the game and I think ZOS never looked at this feature again.

I genuinely have to wonder if the monsters of newer zones have the trophies in their drop tables.

GeneralGrundmann · July 3

averyfarmanb14_ESO wrote: »

It took actual years, IRL, to receive my last monster trophy, Everfrost. The drop rate is ridiculous for a few of them, and Everfrost (from Frost Atronachs) was notorious for its rarity.

Interesting, levelling in Craglorn made this one of my first drops.

Buzzing spine and crypt jar were a real pain. Funny enough, I had to slaughter thousands of wolves and hundreds of gargoyles for their drops. Almost everything else dropped by playing through the storylines and quests of the whole game with all dlcs.

YffresTrill · July 3

Seven years on this server, hours of braindead grinding at the Qharroa Ruins, and the Stony Heart continues to elude me. I have pretty much given up on it. Doesn't help that gargoyles are so rare.

The only advice I can offer is that if you get more than one trophy drop while doing other things, it seems your loot table for the session is set to increased chances for trophy drops overall, so that is the best time to grind for the ones you actually need. This did help me get some of the other ones I was missing.

Haenk · July 3

Completed my second achievement this week (I think 7 years after my first one). After 10+ years of playing, and 2000+ CP, while killing almost everything I meet on my journeys.
This just can't be right.

SerafinaWaterstar · July 3

Can’t remember which ones I still need but these have been the worst drops ever.

10 years plus playing on multiple characters. Still not got them all. Ridiculous. And depressing.

cozmic72 · July 3

11 years of almost daily play and still missing 2. It’s absurd to the point that I just don’t care anymore.

allochthons · July 3

Agreed. For me it was buzzing spines too. I went as far as to make a map of where all the wamasu in S. Shadowfen are. And I ended up getting it in Grahtwood, in the gray mire.

@Recent Which one(s) do you need? Folks can point at good locations to farm them.
That goes for anyone else farming these.

tomofhyrule · July 3

One of the other tricks is that your RNG seed seems to be set when you log in. Basically, if your seed is not optimal, you basically don’t get one. But if you high roll, you’re likely to keep high-rolling.

People have noticed that if you get one trophy drop, you’re really likely to get another.

If you ever notice one drop, the best thing to do is to stop what you’re doing and then go farming for more, especially if you can do so without going through a loadscreen. Like if I’m in the Rift and I drop a troll skull, it’s a great time to just run around farming the sabre cats to try to get that one.

virtus753 · July 3

fall0athboy wrote: »

They are a ridiculously low drop rate. It's something that was from the beginning of the game and I think ZOS never looked at this feature again.

I genuinely have to wonder if the monsters of newer zones have the trophies in their drop tables.

They have definitely looked at these trophies several times, but for some reason they haven’t addressed this particular aspect of them. Early on (U7) the trophies were changed from being account-bound consumables to character-bound vendor trash. More recently (though still prior to mid-2021) they increased the vendor price to 250 from something utterly…nominal, I think I’ll say. Like 9 gold or thereabouts?

I get more 1500-gold vendor trash than these guys, though, so I’m not sure the value is there at all. And I’m sure the drop rate isn’t.

To call some of the dyes associated with these “common” (like the atro Elemental White) also feels incredibly out of touch with the actual experience of earning them. Or was that meant to be a comment on how common it is to ask players to spend so much of their time grinding?