Friggin' RNG is killing me!

[Katrah]

Ok, I'm really getting peeved at the RNG lately. I'm up to 120 alchemy combines of the ensnaring concoction VI potions without a skillup. I'm at 292 skill and while combining I'm at 415 wis, 450 str/dex and 365 agi. Hell, I only failed probably 6-8 of those 120.

And let me tell ya, getting mature silkworms has been a royal PITA! People are so tired of helping me forage for this crap. I think only one person is left now. So let me put this into perspective in case a dev ever stumbles in here. Getting 120 combines has taken me almost an entire MONTH! I think this qualifies for a rare combine and hell, make rare combines more than a measely extra 10% to skillup...it should be more around 30% at a minimum!

To see it blown away in 5 minutes with no increase in skills is just gut-wrenching. I don't care what the hell you say about it being bad luck, it's just friggin wrong! So either fix the @$#! or make a NON-FORAGE way to skill up for God's sake!

And yes, if you see bug reports where only a dozen of the 3-4 dozen words are non-curse, they're mine.

Katrah
Pissed off shaman of Prexus

[KB1]

292 to 293 sucks. I stopped at a little over 800 JC combines with 390 int, but my rogue with 255 dex flew right through on her way to 300.

[Wyvernwill]

If it's any consolation, I hit a brick wall in smithing at 292 also. Went through about 117 combines only to follow it up with 98 combines to get to 294.

Up until the 290 range, I had not go much over 25 combines per skill up on smithing, so I am saying 290->300 is considerably harder than it use to be.

[Prelgor]

I'm at a completely different progression point than you, but the RNG is taunting me too.

I'm deperately trying to get all the smithing skillups I can before who-knows-what gets nerfed in the next patch. I logged on briefly this morning for a smithing run, using up the last of the LDON tempers that I've been scavenging from every cheap seller in the bazaar for almost a year. I bought enough materials for a run of 40, starting at skill 209. The new formula says I should get a skillup every 10-11 combines; that should be plenty to take me to the 212 trivial. So ... not one skillup. My strength is capped (255), I'm wearing a geerlok, I almost never fail the first check. The second check should have a pass rate of 9.78%, according to the new formula. The odds of failing the second check 40 times in a row is ... (pulls out geerlok abacus) 1.63%. Darn. It's low, but still not low enough that I deserve to buy a lottery ticket. I'm convinced, the RNG can smell how badly you want a skillup.

[Wyvernwill]

Well, I'll be honest. Seeing your stats are 255, that might be a good part of the reason for the lack of skill ups, but bad luck on the range also too.

[Ixiola]

Preglor, I'd get to 210 with LDoN combines, then equip your geerlok to get an effective 220 skill, and do ethereal sheets of metal to 212.

Takes 2 bricks of ethereal energy which are expensive from vendors but are pretty cheap in the bazaar (I've been buying them for 10p or less, and have found over 3 stacks so far).

I suggest this one over the etheral ring recipe because the sheets are used in plate ornate armor combines, so are probably still in demand in the bazaar to recoup your costs.

I plan to do this myself once I manage to get to 210 skill.

[Eggborn]

Had three stacks or so of stuff do to Shadowscream:

247 to 248
59 combines on Shadowscream boots
248 to 249
one combine on Shadowscream cloak

Well, at least I was stuck on the item that only takes two swirling shadows and not three. lol Had 440 str and dex with geerlock and 15% mod gloves.

Finally got to 254 after 8 more stacks of combines and some GM stuff thrown in there. (They just didn't want to wait for the upgrade attempts, and I dont blame em, so I did them.. well one has to wait longer now on my failure.)

My condolances to my husband and friends while I farm one more week!

Don't forget about enchanted velium bits before the patch. They were a big help to me when I did them, and I made a lot of friends farming in Velks for the velium while they farmed for their shawl silk things.

If you smith well enough for etheral sheets and in a guild, ask your guild to help you. Ever since I got to that point I just started making rings and sheets for the guild for their raid drops. They appreciate it, and keep their eyes out for me on tradeskill drops more now.

[Prelgor]

Preglor, I'd get to 210 with LDoN combines, then equip your geerlok to get an effective 220 skill, and do ethereal sheets of metal to 212.

Takes 2 bricks of ethereal energy which are expensive from vendors but are pretty cheap in the bazaar (I've been buying them for 10p or less, and have found over 3 stacks so far).

I suggest this one over the etheral ring recipe because the sheets are used in plate ornate armor combines, so are probably still in demand in the bazaar to recoup your costs.

I plan to do this myself once I manage to get to 210 skill.

Thanks for the suggestion! I haven't yet found the bricks going cheaply in the bazaar, but I'll keep my eyes open for another day or so. I figure I'm running a net cost of about 20 plat + temper cost on the LDON combines, so I'll need to find the ethereal stuff for cheaper than that. Of course, I'll probably buy 40 and get zero skillups again. I wonder if I can skill an alt up to 220 brewing very fast...

With the recent (at least, more recent than the smithing guide I'm using) price increase of the Spell:Enchant Velium to about 12-13 plat, the net cost of EVB is about the same as LDON plate, if you get the temper for the same price as 2 pieces of velium (effectively cheaper, since velium is easier to farm). I think I'll spend a few days farming velium while I wait for cheap ethereal bricks to show up in the bazaar.

Thank goodness the patch got pushed back a week! Do we know for sure whether EVB will get nerfed?