While U49 saw the introduction of "Unopened Treasure Maps," it has taken a while to be able to adequately test the distribution of zone-specific maps generated when using the new, unopened variety. The drop rate for unopened maps was too low to test during the U49 PTS, and not much better during U50 PTS cycle. After U50 went live, the drop rate for new Unopened Treasure maps appeared to gradually increase. At this point I finally had what I felt was a sufficient quantity of maps to do a proper opening and accounting of the results during the U51 PTS cycle.

The following is a summary of the distribution of zone-specific treasure maps obtained from opening 674 Unopened Treasure Maps on the PTS during the NA Character copy on August 15, 2026. To save space, the partial list includes the top and bottom ranges as well as a representative section of the larger core of drops that fell in the expected median range.

All the unopened maps were collected on the Live server directly, and none were purchased from other players or purchased from guild traders. The opening took just over 30 minutes to complete.

Observations

• With maps covering 44 zones, an average drop rate would 2.33% or 15.3 maps per zone for this test.
• The actual rates varied more than expected but not excessively for what should be a random distribution and a modest test sample size.
• The drop rate was noticeably higher for starter zones, with the AD starter zone Khenarthi's Roost topping the list at 3.86% (26 maps). Whereas most starter zones only have two maps, which can drop, Khenarthi's Roost has four. This compares with six potential maps for larger base-game and legacy Chapter zones and two for smaller DLC zones.
• Certain zones have Antiquity leads for furnishings that only drop from Treasure Chest Maps, which maps are in high demand. These zones include Apocrypha, Telvanni Peninsula, West Weald and Solstice. Likewise, Deadland Treasure Maps can drop leads for rare Ancient Daedric motifs. Starting with U51, digging up Vvardenfel Treasure Maps will have a chance to drop a new structural furnishing plan along with looting chests in the Nowhere Vault. The summary includes drop rates for each of these zones.
• The Necrom Chapter was split between two zones (Apocrypha and Telvanni Peninsula). Separately, the drop rates for these zones were each well below the average expected rate. However, the combined drop rate was only slightly lower than the expected average.
• Solstice maps dropped slightly above average at 2.82%.
• West Weald maps dropped at a lower-than-expected rate of 1.48%.