warning to human smiths...

[Emelyn]

for every run of 60 combines I need 120 sea foams

You're not gonna get a whole lot of sympathy here from anybody who isn't a human smith. Human smiths have the easiest skill up path via their cultural.

For example for every run of 60 combines of high elf cultural you need 320-350 morning dew (varies depending on pieces made, that's a ballpark).

[kiztent]

I have done 420 smithing combines since I hit 188, a combination of field plate and imbued field plate (and gotten, yes, 21 skill ups, no complaints about that). That's 840 mugs of sea foam I've collected so far. Yes, I can get a stack here and a stack there but for every run of 60 combines I need 120 sea foams.

To do 420 1 sheet cultural combines I need 1470 large bricks of adamantium enchanted (of course, 1 sheet items are trivial, it's 2730 large bricks for 2 sheet items). I realize that having your drops rates changed annoys you but I'm all tapped out for sympathy. I also have to collect temper components as well.

[Araon]

You're not gonna get a whole lot of sympathy here from anybody who isn't a human smith. Human smiths have the easiest skill up path via their cultural.

I have nothing but admiration for non-human smiths going the GM route. As I said above, I would never even have attempted it without the human cultural option being open to me.

Well, the whole point to it is, I believe, that GMing smithing is not supposed to be fast OR easy.

I certainly never expected it to be "fast or easy". But to have the drop rate of a crucial ingredient in your combine get reduced when you are part of the way through a difficult task is pretty frustrating. I think anyone affected by such a change would have the right to complain, even those of us doing human cultural

However, since there it appears there is no evidence the drop rate has in fact changed, my worries were premature.

[Cubwynn]

While home sick yesterday, I did a careful study of what drops I got from the Cyclopses I killed. I'll post my findings later tonight.

[TheRealDuuece]

re nerfed Mugs

Thats just great....

As if spending 5 hours killing chromodracs for 3 essence of sunlight or HOUR upon endless HOUR of fishing (who want to play vitual fishing for hours on end!?! That has to be the lamest idea of EQ EVER Thank goodness for 2 boxing or I would never ever use the freeport forge) was not bad enough....now they make ANOTHER part of human smithing hard to get.

[Cubwynn]

I kept track of one particular session on Seafury Island to figure out the drop rate of Mugs of Seafoam.

Number of Cyclopses 85

Cyclops Toes 22/85 (26%)
Cyclops Eyes 19/85 (22%)
Mugs of Seafoam 14/85 (16%)
research items 13/85 (15%)
jewelry items 6/85 (7%)
gems 6/85 (7%)

I'll see if I can run a comparative sample in Mistmoore regarding Essence of Moonlight drops (another item that you need two of make a temper)

[Sylphan]

When I find that I'm getting less than normal drops from a mob, the first thing I think is 'rogue'. Maybe someone's been pickpocketing them... for gems, for pp, or for mugs for their smith.

Any time the drop rate is off, I make a note of how much coin is dropped. If I get 1 pp 1 gp 1 sp from any of the mobs that's pretty much proof that there's a pickpocket about.

[Cubwynn]

I also kept data on how much cash was dropped each time, and I saw no evidence of thievery. The zone was pretty much empty, except for 3-5 other caster types during the day.

[Araon]

Useful data Cubwynn and it corresponds to my more unscientific sense of what is dropping from the seafuries.

I organized a small group to hunt seafuries last night and after about 3 and a half hours or so got about a stack of sea foam to drop, along with an equivalent amount of jewelry/gems. We were also camping Gornit, which slowed the rate at which seafuries were being hunted a bit. I would have kept better records but was playing my bard and trying to be master looter all at once.

It seems clear now that the addition of the cyclops eyes to the loot tables has not affected the drop rate of mugs of sea foam. Still slower than we wholesale consumers might like but no different than before.

[mrjimorg0]

I've noticed it too

It used to be that you'd get one from each SF on average and now its been very rare. They definately nerfed it. I could understand them wanting to nerf cultural armor that was too easy to get, but the problem is that Freeport cultural armor really really sucks! I've been trying to sell rodcet nife imbued cultural armor for a while now and cant get back the money I put into the HQ metal let alone trying to make up for the tempers. I've gone completely to shadowscream now. I'm just worried that one day they'll completely nerf that <shivers>
-Marie

[Cubwynn]

I'd have to agree with mrjimorg0... it's definitely been nerfed. These days I'm lucky to leave the island with half a stack, where before I'd have 1.5-2 stacks of the stuff.

[kuronekosama]

It used to be 1 each? sheesh if that was the case then it was brought down a good bit ago because it never had that good a drop rate when I was doing imbued field plate for my smithing. I would go and fish and buy them off of people hunting seafurbies and I know they killed a lot more than the 20 foams or so I'd get during a few hours of fishing