Piles of gravel help!

[Mefsolis]

Greetings everyone.


I recently came back to everquest and was happy to see the new don armours we blacksmiths can make. I plunged into this sites recipies and lore and proceeded to do my ancestral books quest then dived into the horror that is my masters augment book quest. 17 hrs later i finished my augment book quest, and was like cool lets proceed to collect the rest of items i needed.

To my horror no mobs that know of drop the piles of gravel. I tried the gargoyls in the hole 28 gargoyls(the 3 that spwn on roof by the broken gate) killed not a single drop. I tried the rock mobs(the ones look like statues) in barindue. 4 deaths and 25rocks guys deaths later no drops. I did a search for pile of gravel supposdly the gargoyls in PON drop it. 29 gargoyls in last 2 days not a single pile of gravel.

Can anyone who has recently aquireed this item please please confirm what gargoyls drop it?


I know that master level don armour and also the Grandmasters sets are supposed to be difficult to make but if one can not even get the drops needed how can one even try to make it. I do not mind long camp for the pile of gravel to drop I just wish to confirm that it does drop from what im kiling as to not waste hours upon hours of time.

Mefsolis the tired smith.

[Gruda]

I have so far found 3 piles of gravel. Two off of the stoneworker guys in RCoD, and one off a gargoyle in PoN. They are extremely rare.

A couple days ago, I was conversing with someone who wanted me to make some master's chain armor for his alt. I told him I would hit combine for free, if he brought me the piles of gravel. He said, "Sure, I'll farm it tonight with my main (level 70 ranger)." I haven't heard back from him.

[Xulan]

I get 1 to 3 on average in 30 minutes in the hole each day (do get 0 sometimes, have had 4 also) as a by-product of xp'ing. You need the gargoyles that are dark blue to 70 (55+ mobs) which are in the last long tunnel between the city and the bottom lair (guardian of the seal/ echo of nortlav, and the undead tower is at the halfway point in the tunnel). I can't remember if the golems drop them as well. You can keep everything as a single pull if you are careful and take your time and pull back so roamers don't add.

Had so/so luck with the gargs in PoN. Imo, PoN gargs are harder and the drop rate seems less.

[Mefsolis]

Thank you for confirmation!!!

Thank you for confirmation folks!

I realy looking forward to aquiring and making some of these armours.

Hole gargoyls do drop intresting I guess i have to epxlore that tunnel you mention further down. I stayed away from it due to fact that most of the gargoyls thier are unslowable or extremely MR even after my pet chanter howls of tashan them. I am 66 and the single broken gargoyls i pulled was difficult to kill since i couldnt slow it. I can kill him but have a lot of downtime afterwards since i 2 box 66 paladin and 64 enchanter. use up alot of mana healing self during the fight.

Mefsolis the tired smith.

[Mefsolis]

broken gargoyls dont drop it

Hello everyone

Went back into hole and spent 6hrs today kiling nothing but broken gargoyls. They have same drop tables it seems as the elemental mobs in the zoen ie drops of mercury varius research, iron oxides, some gems. Not a single pile of gravel. I did find the stone warden further down but my mind being numb from the the kiling of broken gargoyls i made a mistake and got my chanter killed after only kiling 3 stone wardens. The 3 stone wardens i kiled also didnt drop the pile of gravel.


For those of you who have had it droped in hole how long since you had it drop and of what type of gargoyl in particuler has it droped form please?

Mefsolis the tired smith.

PS also kiled some gargoyls in pon tonight and on my 16th one tonight finaly got 1 pile of gravel to drop.

[Xulan]

Just last week for me for gravel. I haven't been doing gargs sinch then though as I shift to the undead tower when I have someone with me.

[Mefsolis]

Just last week for me for gravel. I haven't been doing gargs sinch then though as I shift to the undead tower when I have someone with me.

Hmmm ok guess i jst to keep plugging away at HOLE and PON for my piles of gravel.


thanks for info.


mefsolis the tired smith.

[Mefsolis]

212 gargoyls and only 1 pile of gravel.

Hello everyone.

Well just though i would update you all on the struggles with piles of gravel.

since It was confirmed by fine folks here that piles of gravel from plane of nightmare and The hole gargoyls i have proceeded to spend much time in these two zone. 8 days and 90 plane of nightmare gargoyls and 1 pile of gravel only. same 8 days 122 mix of destroyed , ruined , broken gargoyles and not a single pile of gravel. kiled 5 stone warden in them same 8 days and not a single pile of gravel.


I have yet to try to get the DON Dwarf GM material for bars but from what i have read it easier than this. how sirously whacked is this ?


I have given up completly and will not farm any more material Ill jst go xp and do other stuff i have lost heart in don smithing.


Mefsolis the tired smith.

[Dvinn]

I hate to say this but although the DoN armors sound exciting and all, if you just want good armor then level to 70 and buy it from the DoN merchant for 340 points, which is about 9 creator missions (that's about 7 hours playtime).

I have my ranger at 222 smithing now, was planning on getting to 260, but when I think about having to use 3 metallic drakes scales for one attempt at a GM tunic, it makes me feel like it's not really worth it, I mean we're talking about 40,000 plat (3 scales) just for one attempt, then another 15,000 plat for the augment scale. So 55,000 plat for a tunic "attempt" that I can buy from a DoN merchant after one long gameplay session. The balance is far out of whack.

They should have made the GM armor much better and kept the rare drops no trade, but put them on accessible creatures, where they can be farmed by the smith. The current system is just plain not worth the effort.

[Xulan]

Hello everyone.

Well just though i would update you all on the struggles with piles of gravel.

since It was confirmed by fine folks here that piles of gravel from plane of nightmare and The hole gargoyls i have proceeded to spend much time in these two zone. 8 days and 90 plane of nightmare gargoyls and 1 pile of gravel only. same 8 days 122 mix of destroyed , ruined , broken gargoyles and not a single pile of gravel. kiled 5 stone warden in them same 8 days and not a single pile of gravel.


I have yet to try to get the DON Dwarf GM material for bars but from what i have read it easier than this. how sirously whacked is this ?


I have given up completly and will not farm any more material Ill jst go xp and do other stuff i have lost heart in don smithing.


Mefsolis the tired smith.

Yuck on the hole garg's. And you are killing the highest level gargs in the zone? The ones which are in the tunnel town to the bottom or on top of the undead walls/tower?

[Mefsolis]

Yuck on the hole garg's. And you are killing the highest level gargs in the zone? The ones which are in the tunnel town to the bottom or on top of the undead walls/tower?

I kiled only 5 those stonewardens which is highest i could find they are way down thier and even with my self 66 paladin and 64 chanter 2 boxing was difficult to get down thier.

[Xulan]

I kiled only 5 those stonewardens which is highest i could find they are way down thier and even with my self 66 paladin and 64 chanter 2 boxing was difficult to get down thier.

That is where I get all of my gravel.

[Mefsolis]

Thank you for responses.


The first two tiers of DON smith armour are not to terribly difficult to make and accomplish for all the races invovled. my bone to pick with soe is how they decided to implement the Master level don smith armour for all but a few "chosen" races. 4 races only have to farm yitrium ore for thier don cultural bars to make the chain and plate armours. While yitrium can be a bit of time consuming its is not overaly duanting or requiring days upon days to get a few drops.

In doing my master augment book quest i farmed 32 bricks of yitrium from the deep. now consider that yitrium ore drops in many other luclin zones these 4 races are diffintly favored the current "chosen" of soe. The rest of the races are totaly boned. if you dont know it already the rest of the non "chosen" races have to farm great reptile teeth, midnight stones, and my personaly torture piles of gravel. All 3 of these items you would think would drop from luclin zones with mobs of appropiat levels to match the mobs that can drop yitrium, But NO soe decide that these three items come from plane of nightmare. great reptile teeth form the crocs in PON only a few mobs but reseanable drop rates. MIdnight stones much harder than the great reptile teeth but more mobs in PON can drop them. Piles of gravel from gargoyls in PON but EXTREMELy RARE, yes they paid lipservice to those who have to farm pile of gravel and said they can drop form the hole gargoyls, well i think i have shown that is not the case. Unless you can farm the stone warden way way way down in the hole < these gargoyls unslowbl magicly>.

The masters level don plate armour are about on par with the luclin level plate armour ie roughly 60 to 85hp when augmented. what i mean is from what i have expeierenced ssrra , vex thal the level of hp given by the don master plate armour is comparable. all the component for DON master smith armour should be droped by appropiat level mobs as those that drop yitrium (luclin mobs).

here are my suggestions:

Great reptile teeth- grey, maidens eye (wurms ), deep (umberbulks, mushrooms)

Midnight stones- maidens eye, akeva ruins (think very appropiat due the armoudn shadowy mobs in these zones)

Piles of gravel- maidens eye (gorgonga , xin thal centians), akheva ruins(rock mobs) and some of the aliens.



Mefsolis the Tired smith

ps i have to edit tommorow for spelling

[Xulan]

That is where I get all of my gravel.

Oops, sorry I mean that I get them from the stone ward's and the broken gargoyles. All of the 55+ gargs on that long tunnel stretch (as well as those on the undead walls/tower).

EDIT: I feel for you being a midnight stone user. I really do not enjoy PoN. Anyhow, Master level drop availability is currently on the tradeskill top 10 list.

[Queletan]

Did some farming today for Gravel in the Hole.

Level 70 cleric, level 68 (turned 69) Warrior.. I dropped down into the Guardian's room, and then killed the 2 "A Stone Ward" that are right outside his room, along with the occasional "Broken Construct" or "A Broken Gargoyle" if I got ahead of the spawn. The 2 stone wards are on about a 5 minute timer, for the most part I was killing them just barely faster than they popped. After a bit a Paladin joined me, and we just did circles, up to the keep, then jumping down to the Guardian's room, and repeating.

Anyway here were my results for the night (kills are approximate, might be a few high or low)

A Stone Ward: 42 Killed: 2 Piles of Gravel: Kills #1, and #31

A Broken Gargoyle: 23 Killed: 0 Piles of Gravel

A Broken Construct: 30 Killed: 0 Piles of Gravel
(I'm guessing that it doesn't drop off the Construct, but I included it anyway just in case)

Total time spent was about 60 minutes duoing, and about 90 minutes with the Paladin too. The exp was pretty good, I think I got about 2.5 blue with the Vet AA. I'll probably go back there a few more times when I don't feel like grouping, I'll try to remember to keep tabs on my kills/drops.

Q