Can't you farm somewhere else... like Velks or ToFS??

[Rewde]

Ok, I am not of a really low level to say you're stealing my exp, go away, when I am in CC trying to get enough velium to do the smithing for my 8th shawl, and a level 65 person comes in. Though, I do occasionally have to kill an Oracle or Watchman that IS lightblue to me.

I normally farm from the entrance to the first bridge. Root, 3 dots, snare, rinse, repeat on the next mob. I can generally get through the whole cycle and back to the start with a minute or two to med back up to full mana. When "MOST" people come in, they generally do an /ooc camp check. Last night, I was just starting my 3rd cycle when a 65 druidess comes in, goes past me after killing the first miner pop while I am busy dotting the watchmen, then proceeds to go down the tunnel to the bridge, killing all of hte spawns I was doing in my cycle. So, I sent her a tell asking her if she was working her way down or if she was taking over from the entrance to the bridge. She sends me a tell back that she is working her way down, and that she normally goes to Velks, but she needed the velium for some poles.. something about spectral parchment she said.

So, I'm thinking to myself "so why not go to Velks?" But, I don't persue it, and just wait for the mobs to respawn. A while later, a 63 necro comes in, runs past me as I was on my way back to my starting point. Fortuneately, only 1 random mob had popped back in the offshoot that holds 3 miners.

What happened to politeness at the higher levels?

I can't go to ToFS to farm. I have never been there, and there are never enough people in my guild on during the time I play to try to go there and get the needed keys.

I CAN go to velks, but, nobody wants me in there group, and also the same reason as above, never enough guildies on...

/sigh

[kiztent]

Getting keyed for the wedding is work. Not a lot mind you, but it is work.

And velks used to be overrun by soloing warriors/monks/whoever since it was blue at 60. Now on person botting can pretty much clean up all the spiders.

Plus it's sort of fun to park a pet at the base of the well and float down the well aggroing everything in sight (fearing it is more fun) then killing it all.

Anyone farming velium to buy a spectral MQ is... lame. I hope that's not what the druid is doing there (do fishing poles take velium for the solstice earring?).

[Serenya]

Originally posted by kiztent
Anyone farming velium to buy a spectral MQ is... lame. I hope that's not what the druid is doing there (do fishing poles take velium for the solstice earring?).

Yes, albeit not a great deal. The small pieces are broken down with a CVT into bits, which are used to make the spool.

[Chenier]

ToFS sounds like a perfect place for you (I lived there farming). While I think you could solo your way to getting the keys needed, you could easily do it with a group. Do you not have some folks who could get into helping you for an evening or two?

Personally, I hated going to CC because of either AE farmers or lower levels farming/xping more slowly. And luckily, I've had the keys to ToFS a long time, so it was easy to just go there and farm until I couldn't move.

[Noni DeeCups]

I hate to say this but if the velium farmers weren't trying to gouge our eyes out with a spork by charging such insane prices in the bazaar then most higher level people would not go farm it themselves. Personally, I don't want to farm velium at all but if I have to it will be as quick as possible and that means CC. That also means I will not be happy Not an excuse, just a reason.

I have no problem paying 40 or if I am desperate 50 plat per small brick - block but there is no way I will pay 125 per small brick or 50 - 100p for a piece of velium.

btw, if people are there farming for the 8th shawl I normally offer to swap velium with them. They need blocks and I don't care what I get because it will all end up in pieces anyway.


Edit: 8 more points and I swear I will never make another velium stud - EVER however I will continue to make the blessed fishing poles.

[Dunthor Warsmith]

Re: Can't you farm somewhere else... like Velks or ToFS??

I find CC to be the best place to get velium usually, if I'm in for a decent hunting session.

It has a forge, a bank, and merchants, allowing you to farm indefinitely without much of a detour to "unload". The mobs are (compared to Velks/ToFS) lower level, making it much less dangerous and farmable by a larger crowd. It also has a good drop rate, although it seems to be much heavier on the pieces/small bricks than lrg bricks & blocks.

Velks - I've never really understood how people can consider this place a viable alternative for velium farming. Maybe I'm just unlucky, but usually after a 2-5hour session soloing, I'm lucky to walk away with a single velium drop. In a 2-3 hour group, assuming it isn't crowded, its normal to see around 4-10 velium drops. While it can be nice to xp and get useful drops, that's an abysmally slow rate compared to CC or ToFS.

ToFS 5th floor golems have a nice drop rate, and seem to be heavier on the blocks than pieces/small bricks. They green out around lvl 53 if I remember right. The main issue with ToFS is being in the middle of no where - excluding druids/wizards, getting out there is a long run, and for melee/hybrids its again a nice long run back. Last time I timed it, it was on the order of a half hour each way if I remember right (random note - you can actually swim to the dock, catch the raft, and use the Freeport book in roughly the same time as it takes to get across Iceclad, EW, and GD to use that book, assuming run3 and 200swim skill). The trip from 1st to 5th floor is non-trivial either - for me at least, the 4th floor is still a significant threat (its higher level than 5th), especially with all the shadow casters. I've found ToFS is nice if I'm in the odd situation of having time to burn to run to & from, but don't have enough time to farm more than one full load. I used to farm there for cash & block combo, but with the modern prices for velium, CC would probably wind up being far more cash for the same amount of time, more than enough to buy blocks to make up the difference.

[Stugein]

Re: Re: Can't you farm somewhere else... like Velks or ToFS??

Originally posted by Dunthor Warsmith
Velks - I've never really understood how people can consider this place a viable alternative for velium farming. Maybe I'm just unlucky, but usually after a 2-5hour session soloing, I'm lucky to walk away with a single velium drop. In a 2-3 hour group, assuming it isn't crowded, its normal to see around 4-10 velium drops. While it can be nice to xp and get useful drops, that's an abysmally slow rate compared to CC or ToFS.

My Velks experience has been drastically different. Maybe it's the camp or the level of the spiders in certain areas, but recently I have been doing exp groups with my guild in Velks. We usually set up in the "TR" camp (I don't know what the acronym stands for....I always think "Table Row" camp). The upper floor camp where the named with the SCHW is. Anyway, after a few hours there I usually walk away with a few stacks of bits and almost 3 deluxe toolboxes full of various blocks and bricks. As with most stuff in this game YMMV, but I've never had a problem leaving Velks with a nice chunk of velium for my efforts. I've also never "farmed" velium so I don't know if this is a good rate or not, but I've yet to be disappointed.

[Sanna]

/vote Velks if your lvl can stand it.

1. Decent velium drops. granted i wasn't paying the hugest amount of attention (i wasn't there for it at the time), but it seemed that in 15 min, there would be 5 drops of some kind, generally of a non-stacking kind. Maybe not the highest EVER, but to me, decent.

2. Cryssilk, the droppable kind. Useful for fending off Wu's for a while.

3. Cryssilk Threads, no drop for 5th shawl. SOMEONE wants these. And they only come from Velks.


When Piff's guild was all doing shawls, I went and joined them AOEing the floor. They were all 65. I started at 47 and ended up nearly 49, after only 4 pulls. IOW, if your levels really CAN stand it, use it to help a lower friend get some XP. And get them to haul some velium back for you as payment. ^_^

Plus Velks has the coolest non-planar zone music, for the first 15 minutes. After that, turn on the MP3 player. ^_^

-- Sanna
/ooc 34 chanter lfg for velks...

[splunge]

Zone music?

/look puzzled

[Daikoku Ashikaga]

Velks is...
Well if you were not mid 50's to level 60, pre sol, you have no idea.

Kind of like KC, if I hadn't decided to do the VP key, or my wife wanting her druids eppic I would never go back.


Dai

[Thicket Tundrabog]

I often farm velium for Velious tailoring combines.

As a 65 druid I can continuously farm all of the orc miners in Crystal Caverns. They a one-shot kill using Summer's Flame. With C3 I have no down time between miner spawn cycles. Without C3 I have to med a few extra minutes. I sell the gems/pages for plat and break down the bricks and blocks in the Frostone town forge. There is a banker in the town. Of course farming all of the miners is rude if there are other people hunting them.

After a while, you get to know all the spawn points, exactly how many wanderers there are, and their pathing. I use innate camoflage to bypass the watchmen.

I haven't tried TOFS, but Crystal Caverns is much more efficient velium farming than Velketor's.

Thicket

[Chenier]

Dunthor,

I totally agree that ToFS would be difficult for a non porting or even non gating class. But Rewde to whom I was giving advice is a druid and can easily hop to IC and back.

One point I didn't think about is when I go there now, I'm lvl 65. I drink an ITU potion to get past the 1st and 2nd floors, but just regular invis the rest of the way up. Stuff does see through it, but because of my higher level (and that I can get from the entrance to the 5th floor in about 30 seconds), I don't aggro anything.

A lvl 46 tho would probably have to do some killing working through the 4th floor.

[Zacatac]

So if I show up with a level 40 twink and tell you to leave because I'm getting xp here, would you? I often level up characters in CC to help gather my velium for me.

Velium prices in bazaar at 100pp or more per brick/block will start to make people spend an hour or so mining it themselves, just as you are. Just because you're 47 and they are 65, it doesn't mean they have to go somewhere else.

If somebody says "I'm camping pit", fine I'll stay away from that area. But if you're like me and just continuously roaming the tunnels looking for orc spawns to kill, then I'll just roam the other direction and try to kill ones I find first.

The big reason to do CC, no matter what level, is that there is a bank and a forge in the zone! I go down there with a couple stacks of coldain tempers and smithing tools ready to convert everything into stackable items while I'm there in the zone.

[Sanna]

for pharming only Velium, yes, CC is probably more efficient. But in my opinion, Velks has more reasons to go there. Velium, yes, Cryssilk, yes, and Cryssilk Threads, because there is probably someone who wants those threads who is just not high enough level to kill for them on their own yet. (Like Tingbang ^_^!)


BUT:
I thought the original point of the complaint was that pharming in CC was so common that even pharmers are getting in the way of each other (and don't start me in on if pharming is taking xp from those who need it). A level 46 can't go to Velks with ease, and ToFS is right out. THUS, if you CAN go to Velks/ToFS, you should at least give it a thought, is what I gathered from the beginning.




... am I the only one who listens to zone music?
/auc WTB tinkered spit so I can fish, forage, and bake in Tranquility because I'm sick of Knowledge music.....

-- Sanna


edit
/agree zactac, sharing is best, even if the one getting xp is a 'twink'. no, a pharmer doesn't have to entirely leave zone, but so few people in eq actually try to share anymore, sometimes that's easier in the long run. /sigh. ^_^

[Rewde]

Originally posted by Zacatac
So if I show up with a level 40 twink and tell you to leave because I'm getting xp here, would you? I often level up characters in CC to help gather my velium for me.

Actually, yes. I have gone into CC on occasion and have left because there were lower level groups there doing what I wanted to do. No big deal to do it.

Originally posted by Sanna
thought the original point of the complaint was that pharming in CC was so common that even pharmers are getting in the way of each other (and don't start me in on if pharming is taking xp from those who need it). A level 46 can't go to Velks with ease, and ToFS is right out. THUS, if you CAN go to Velks/ToFS, you should at least give it a thought, is what I gathered from the beginning

That is exactly what I was trying to point out.

I have read the info on getting the keys for ToFS. I could probably get the first key solo. After that, I would probably need a good group to get the rest up to the 5th floor. Unfortunately, though my guild does have quite a few people, as I stated above, it is very rare that anyone is on during the same time I am. I guess I need to get out and make some more friends.


There is music and sounds in game? Lol... Since day 1 of playing, I have had to have the sound off as it was annoying to my wife.