Loam Drop Rates

[drhoads]

bout 3 hours in Steam Factory last night . Group managed to get one Porous Loam no Alkalai no Exquisite Fluids or Marrow.

[Vilforn_Majel]

SoE doesn't really want any of the new cultural armor in the game. If someone DID actually get the ingredients to make it, then the developers would have to nerf the armor, since it's too overpowered.
So:
Don't allow the ingredients to drop in sufficient quantity to be useful and you don't have to address the alleged "over-powered armor" issue.
Simple, yet elegant (yes, pun intended) solution.

Bravo!

[drhoads]

Again Christmas Eve about 4 hours of grinding in Steam Factory; not a single Porus Loam nore Exqusite Spinnerette Fluid nor Marrow. No Alkalai Loam . Is Alkalai meant to be as rare as Porus ? Again this was killing a variety but alot of supposed Humanoid Gnomes.

[Angelsyn]

You could easily take a Porous Loam (200-300kpp) and turn it into 25-50 Alkalai Loams (7-12kpp)... at least on Xegony.

[Tyranthin]

I really don't think it's a good idea to have the drop rates of these components increased, due to the exceptional stats on the armor and symbols. Keep in mind that this is tradeable Tier 3 armor, the only tradeable Tier 3 items in the game.

Another thing that people have to remember is that Everquest is a very old game, and some of the older servers have a lot of platinum floating around. There are many people with bankrolls in the tens of millions and likely more than a handful of people with net worth in excess of 9 figures. When you have that much money, dropping 300k on a porous loam (or even 4.8 mil on components for a full set of elegant/sublime armor) is just a drop in the bucket.

It is not really hard to make money in the game. All it requires is a little bit of common sense, a little bit of research and some effort. The problem is that too many people are not willing to put forth that effort, then complain when prices are "too high". When an item placed for sale in the 250-300k range sells quickly on a regular basis, the price is not too high. Just because you aren't willing to pay that much doesn't mean someone else isn't.

This isn't the primal scream forum, so I'll refrain from expressing my opinion on those who feel that purchasing platinum is the only way to "keep up with the Joneses".

Every minute spent whining about prices in the bazaar is a minute spent not doing other, more productive things. Stop worrying about what you can't control and focus on what you can. You'll be better off in the long run.

[Daveon Silverstring]

Vilforn,

I am a half-elf smith on Cazic, and I've made quite a few pieces of Elegant armor. I've gotten Porous loam as drops, bought some, and had people bring the loam to me to make armor. If you do get ahold of some Porous loam, come see me.

I'm not sure where you're hunting, and while I haven't been xp'ing much in zones that drop Porous Loam recently (so I can't speak to drops rates the last week or two if somehow the drop rate got ninja changed), if you hunt in the T3 zones, eventually you'll get one (I've even had Porous Loams drop in FM as well).

[Kross]

SoE doesn't really want any of the new cultural armor in the game. If someone DID actually get the ingredients to make it, then the developers would have to nerf the armor, since it's too overpowered.
So:
Don't allow the ingredients to drop in sufficient quantity to be useful and you don't have to address the alleged "over-powered armor" issue.
Simple, yet elegant (yes, pun intended) solution.

Bravo!

this is hardly the case. the drops were in game and dropping from tiers that they weren't supposed to drop from. (porous loam and exquisite marrow/fluids shouldn't be dropping in zones lower than gyro zeka.) this is the biggest upset was how common the gear was and how easy it was to make with the materials being baazar'd right after launch and bam, new gear almost solteris quality (minus focus and effects)

now, i think that the drops are more in line now where they should be. i do believe the level 75 loams, marrow, fluids are a bit off considering i got most my stockpile back in ashengate before sof went live. i'd think they'd be more common in the lower tiers of sof.

with the combination of last bloods and elegant/sublime, its a serious jump heh. that deserves attention but not to the level that its gotten.

loams needed a higher drop rate because of the number of classes that use them, and the marrow/silk needed nerfed. putting the lvl 80 armor/symbol supplies in the correct tier 3/4 zones would have probably saved cultural/last bloods a nerf but i think its settling down some now. time will only tell now, i think that some kind of nerf is going to go through...and i think its a bad business decision for soe at this point. eq is a very old game and bad calls like this that affect the majority of the population won't end well.

[drhoads]

Farming update Spent about 3 hours killing only cogswheel brownies I think they are called from one of their rooms off the brownie tunnels in Steam Factory. No other types of mobs in that room just Humanoid model brownies. Not one Loam of any kind. I think we got a couple Exquisite Silks whoot.

I do want Porus like everyone else but with that in mind some have spoken elegantly about selling stuff and buying the Porous . Ive been trying to make money by making Exalted Symbols useing Akalai but wouldnt you know I rarely see an Alkalai drop. Ive been buying them when I can find them for close to 10k in the bazaar; so I ask is Alkalai Loam supposed to be as rare as Porous loam ?

[Aldier]

Farming update Spent about 3 hours killing only cogswheel brownies I think they are called from one of their rooms off the brownie tunnels in Steam Factory. No other types of mobs in that room just Humanoid model brownies. Not one Loam of any kind. I think we got a couple Exquisite Silks whoot.

I do want Porus like everyone else but with that in mind some have spoken elegantly about selling stuff and buying the Porous . Ive been trying to make money by making Exalted Symbols useing Akalai but wouldnt you know I rarely see an Alkalai drop. Ive been buying them when I can find them for close to 10k in the bazaar; so I ask is Alkalai Loam supposed to be as rare as Porous loam ?

Alkalai would not be expected to drop in Steam Factory. You need to hunt in level appropriate zones with golems and humanoids (that made the list). Also, it probably is rare like porous, but not as rare.

[Sigi]

Alkalai would not be expected to drop in Steam Factory. You need to hunt in level appropriate zones with golems and humanoids (that made the list). Also, it probably is rare like porous, but not as rare.

I would say that Alkalai is not nearly as rare as Porous, as I have personally looted around 10 of these. I have NEVER looted a Porous loam or an exquisite spinneret fluid, and I am only hunting in the tier 2/3 zones daily. Plenty of silks and ores, no loams or fluids. A bit sad. The porous loams are now for sale on CT at 600k +. Sure makes a fail painful.

[Finavar]

I have been hunting in T2/T3 for the last several days with a full group of TSS raid geared folks. We kill an easy 40-50 mobs an hour for several hours at a time. So far we have looted about a dozen Tantalum Ores, 2 Exquisite Spinnerets and NO loams of any type.

On EMarr Porous Loam, when it's for sale at all, is 1,000,000pp each (that's one MILLION plat). And, it's price has been steadily rising over the last two weeks from 300K about two weeks ago. I don't see it coming down significantly in price, ever. Most of the cultural gear for sale in the bazaar is held by the big names that are always selling only top end stuff for retarded prices. At this point, it's better to camp zone rares and sell the drops (whose prices *are* steadily falling as more people take this path) than to hope to farm your own drops for cultural gear.

Alkalai Loam isn't available. Seems it's all getting turned into augs, plenty of Exalted Symbols for sale (30-80K each).

[Salroth]

Well it really depends on whether or not you were fighting in a tier 2 or a tier 3 zone.

Now the tier 2 zones...don't expect any in the tier 2 zone at all. Nada, zero, zip, zilch.

Now comes my main point:

Porous Loam, Exquisite marrow, Exquisite Spinneret Fluid are supposed to be rare!

How much do people expect from these camps? From everything I have seen, good grinds in Tier 3 zones turn up a Loam, marrow, or fluid every 3-5 hours of intense grinding. What more can anyone expect? This is supposed to be rare and is dropping now exactly as intended.

This expansion is a year long expansion. We can't start complaining because we don't have a full suit of every type of gear in the expansion less than 1 month after the release date.

I know people have said it time and time again but this Loam is supposed to be obtained by well geared players, whether this be through raid gear or getting tier 2 drops and appropriate AAs. It isn't meant to be gotten by your gimp lvl 75 toon. Also, this cultural armor may not be for your ultra casual player. I don't see how they can reasonably expect the stuff to be obtainable by them if they don't put in enough time to get it.


Oh on a side note.. all of the cultural loams and other drops are, from my understanding, to be rare across the board. The only reason you see so many of the lower level loams is because the mobs that people are killing that drop them can be kill 20x faster than the stuff that drops the Elegant level stuff.

One last thing... Porous Loam on Quellious as of 12/28/07 are, on trader, 175k plat or less. You can pick it up in buyer mode for 140k. The supply right now seems to be pretty good. I do know that lots of players are farming in the appropriate zones... or the people farmingit are less greedy!

[drhoads]

Alkalai would not be expected to drop in Steam Factory. You need to hunt in level appropriate zones with golems and humanoids (that made the list). Also, it probably is rare like porous, but not as rare.

? so your saying Alkalai would only drop in zones somewhere Lower then T3 zones . I allways understood (level appropriate) meant from a spcific level and HIGHER not say 75-78 but from 75- 75 + for example.

[Salroth]

Sorry about that, I wasn't as specific as I should have been. I think it is possible to have cultural components drop within a certain range of the intended lvls... it's just drastically more rare outside of the intended upper and lower level limits.

So yeah, I would expect to see Alkalai loam in Tier 2 but never plan on seeing Porous Loam there. On the flip side I would expect to see Porous in Tier 3 but no Alkalai. Obviously there will be exceptions but for the most part i would go by this if you are attempting to farm one or the other.

Then there is always that bad luck factor... it's a killer

[Aldier]

Alkalai would not be expected to drop in Steam Factory. You need to hunt in level appropriate zones with golems and humanoids (that made the list). Also, it probably is rare like porous, but not as rare.

? so your saying Alkalai would only drop in zones somewhere Lower then T3 zones . I allways understood (level appropriate) meant from a spcific level and HIGHER not say 75-78 but from 75- 75 + for example.

The way the drops work (and this is my understanding from what Ngreth has told us and my own experiences)

Based on the level of the mob, the mob has a primary drop. That is the level appropriate drop. That mob has a small chance to drop the level below it, and a smaller chance to drop the level above it. If you are hunting in Steam Factory, I would not expect an Alkalai Loam (that would be a level below the intended), you would expect Porous.

If you are hunting in Ashengate, Thallius, or Loping Plains, you would expect Alkalai and to get a Porous is a RARE feat.

At lower levels, the mob level ranges overlap more and the drops are more common so you can see one mob drop 2 or 3 different levels of loams/ores/marrows/pelts/fluids/silks. That is what I meant by hunt in level appropriate areas for Alkalai loam.