Swirling Shadows the Bane of Shadowscream armor

[Gryfalia]

ok, they drop like water. I don't see people farming them for PP, it's not economical to farm something that is SO common. What is nice is that low levels can now sell them to vendors.

I would see them being on vendors in the bazaar for, at most, 10PP each. I would GLADLY pay 20PP per combine for smithing skill ups. Actually, I already pay my wife more than that to farm for me..hehe

Vendor Farming HO!

Gryfalia

[Menion]

ok, they drop like water. I don't see people farming them for PP, it's not economical to farm something that is SO common.

Are we talking about the same Shadows? I farmed 2600 of these darn things in TS, with my Ranger tracking and killing Shadows as soon as they spawned and it still took me 6+ hours PER 10 slot backpack. That's not dropping like water. :roll: Especially considering that 10 slot backpack is really only 100 combines. (or roughly 5 skill ups if you go by the 20:1 ratio.)

I very seriously doubt anyone is going to be farming Shadows for cash unless they dramatically increase the drop rate of the shadows. (Something I really don't see them doing especially now that the shadows are not NO RENT anymore)

[Gryfalia]

You got 100 combines worth in 6 hours and you think that's BAD? Dat's pretty good.

There are some tradeskill items that do drop faster (tainted essence comes to mind), but the drop rate in TS is quite high.

Gryfalia

[kiztent]

You got 100 combines worth in 6 hours and you think that's BAD? Dat's pretty good.

There are some tradeskill items that do drop faster (tainted essence comes to mind), but the drop rate in TS is quite high.

Gryfalia

Uh, no, he got enough swirling shadows to do 100 combines in 6 hours. That's ~30 SS per hour. That doesn't count wailing or shrieking substances.

[Gryfalia]

Yes, I know he didn't include those. Those are stunningly simple to get.

Especially if you have an AoE.

Swirling Shadows has always been the problem.

Ok, that's not true. A totally screwed up war system in HSM is a problem too, but that's a different issue. Once you have it the way you want it, it's pretty easy to get some arbitrarily large amount. Indeed, I only 'powered', at most, 40 combines of SS because I refused to screw around with the no rent aspect of Swirling Shadows.

Gryfalia

[Bennan]

Wailing and Screaming substances, have never been a problem. Its only been a problem if a player choose to do small runs of combines.

That being said, changing HSM so that one would always have the opportunity to be able to pop the needed mob type, would allow the small run (less than 200) type of player a more time feasible path.

I am glad on one hand with the SS change, as I can now just pop into T.S and gather some shadows, and not worry about them at all. Which I feel is a positive change, the shadows being no-rent was a major pain, more-so for those that could not access another toon to corpse lock them with any great ease.

On the other hand, I have some trepidation about the change, as I don't want the skill to be made to trivial.

I don't think anyone can really predict what the end result of this change will be (most players have zero idea what Swirling Shadows are for). My personal opinion is that its great that the developers are looking into Smithing, but for myself it will be wait and see what the end results are.

[cattywumpus]

Lesser shades are frequently farmed for shadeling silk used to make leather padding. I used the silk to fund most of the equipment I wear now. I would save the shadows and give them to any smiths that came around since I had no use for them at the time.

Knowing this I'm guessing the shades in SWT will be an even more thoroughly farmed mob now. I doubt prices will be that bad in the bazaar due to competition between farmers. The silks are going for 3-10pp each, most in the low end of that range. I would expect the shadows to sell for roughly the same price once the initial gold rush ends.

The gist of this is the availability of the shadows should go up dramatically both in the bazaar and on vendors. I think that would be a good thing since most players of a level capable of making shadowscream armor can farm plat faster than they can farm the shadows.

[feressa]

[quote="kiztentThat's ~30 SS per hour.[/quote]

30 Swirls an hour is a VERY good rate. I find a full pop of TS shadows can yield anything from 5 to 15 swirls, and the respawn is around 25+ mins.

I can't believe anyone is complaining about this change. I used to bind next to the forge in Katta and do combines in between respawn, so it doesn't make much difference to me, but will ease things for those without that facility.

[kiztent]

Wailing and Screaming substances, have never been a problem. Its only been a problem if a player choose to do small runs of combines.

You know Bennan, some of us have jobs and families. I'm really sick of your attitude.

[Zhorn]

Wailing and Screaming substances, have never been a problem. Its only been a problem if a player choose to do small runs of combines.

You know Bennan, some of us have jobs and families. I'm really sick of your attitude.

It IS nuts to do small runs of shadowscream. Just for the pure fact that it can be a real pain in the ass to get the correct mobs up.
Therefore it IS a good idea to pharm, say 100 of each substance at a time.
Ideally 200.

But yes RL > becoming a GM smith.... I think!

[Bennan]

You have two choices when collecting Substances, you can work with the war or against it.

Even casual players like myself (10 to 14 hours a week if that), can collect 600plus of each substance. Thats all I did when I started, mobs up I kill them for an hour or two. If not I do something else. I am not saying you will get them all in a day or two. But its something that can be done (2 and half weeks I think thats what I posted here).

And now with this change, instead of going and doing something else if the mob type is not up, we can collect shadows (which is a positive, and the more I think about it a really good one).

I don't sit in the zone and wait 5 hours for the mobs to launch the attack I am after, and I don't sit in the zone and bug petition the GM's then wait for the zone to be reset. If thats what players choose to do, then that is their choice. I don't.

[Milla]

On the topic of the substance farming in HSM:

Is the best farming only available in the southern islands? Or can I expect some shrieking substances to drop from the wolves in the NE camp, while the owlbears are occupying the south?

Right now on my server, there is a guy farming owlbears in the south just after server reset. He told me he helped them win in order to do so. What I thought was odd was that while the wolves were in their normal NE territory, there were Grimlings occupying the NW cave... how can this be? How could the Grimlings and Owlbears "trade places"?

/boggle

[Samandary]

Ok,

first thing, the spawn rate isn't faster. It's a newbi ground with n00b rules. What does that mean? It means more n00bs hunting fasters spawns. If you want to farm extremely fast then get 2 friends over and hunt with 3 people. If you are alone the spawn rate dependence on the time the mobs keeps alive. You will notice as soon you go short afk. Spawn rate drops immediate.

Why make Swirlings No Drop? No one says you have to go to the market and buy them. And no one can use them without dealing with the HSM War and farming the other stuff. Well ok hummling Orbs aren't no drop, but who is crazy enough to make them and go sell them when he could use them for own skillups?

[Hateborn]

Substances in HSM

If you scour the threads on the topic you will find occasional (mistakenly triumphant) references to substances dropping elsewhere than on the southern islands. While the drops are I am sure true - they are as rare as rocking horse droppings. The only place to viably collect stacks is on the southern islands.

If the islands are camped and you are desperate to farm at that time - do shrieking in Tenebrous mountains (slower than islands but faster than wolf cave by far) and wailing in paludal (slower than islands but faster ... etc).

You can also now opt to go collect some swirling shadows