swirling shadows

[greebmushroome]

Just a datum on swirling shadows:

(Tried to) farm swirling shadows tonight for a little less than 1.5 hrs. Got 15 as a result. Not stellar at all. Shouted in zone for any newbs that had any, but none did.

I'm a 52 cleric, btw. I was out near the "hole" at the end of the north road, and was using 'sense undead'. was killing pretty much non-stop, 2-3 hits per mob -- I didn't keep count of how many shades i killed, though.

cheers,
-greeb

[Suva]

I hunt mine in twilight sea. Not sure if at 52 you'd be able to solo them there, but might be good if you can get a few people to come with ya. Much better drop rate there.

[greebmushroome]

I have been to twilight sea. i can solo okay, but have a little trouble with adds. dunno what would happen in a train (okay, i have all too good of an idea).

for another datum, i logged back in and was in shadeweavers for about another half hour and got about 10 shadows that time.

cheers,
-greeb

[Kradlum]

Why were you using sense undead?

If you're by the hole at the end of the path, then you don't need sense undead. They spawn all around you. If you're using sense undead to differentiate the shades from the other skeletons, then that may slow down your farming rate. You have to kill everything that spawns in the area to keep up the Shade spawn rate. If you only kill Shades, then you will begin to see less and less of them, as more skeletal warriors spawn in their place and go wandering off into the zone.

I always kill any undead roaming the zone that I find on my way from the PoP book to the farming area. This seems to keep more of them spawning in that area.

[Shalteth]

I've tried farming the shadows in Hollowshade with my 52 cleric and my 37 Ranger, and the ranger is faster. Not by a lot, but it all adds up. My average is two dozen shadows an hour.

The best plan is just to kill everything to make the spawn rate as fast as possible. And I mean everything that's on that hillside, not just shades and hunters, but any other skellys, swarmers, chitterlings, etc. The nuisances are particularly worth killing as they attack the shades.

I've tried using both sense the dead and track, but actually they just slow me down. You quickly learn where the mobs spawn and basically just have to run in a pattern killing everything that moves. In this way I can just keep up with the spawn, checking track every now and again to make sure nothing's wandered off. Unless there's some other magic way to make them spawn faster I reckon that this average of 24 an hour is about as fast as it gets here (RNG wierdness not permitting).

[Araon]

I occasionally farm Shadeweaver's Thicket for rockhopper hides and shadeling silk to make leather padding, as well as odds and ends like chitterling barbs and chunks of condensed shadow to sell in Bazaar. I often end up with swirling shadows as well since I am hunting the the Lesser Shades for the silk. Try to combine the hunt for the shadows along with other tasks, doing two (or three or four or....) tasks at once can save you time overall

[Phinnin]

Outsolo'd by a ranger?

A 52 cleric getting outsolo'd by a 37 ranger?! Are you kidding? Load up Upheaval, tag mobs with the fastest weapon you can find, get like 30 chasing you, then nuke em down in one shot. I guarantee it will help....

[Zaviax]

Actually the Ranger would be faster. I use my 37 monk to farm them over my 57 Shaman. One or two hits they're dead and my Monk hits much faster than my Shaman .It pretty much takes just as much effort to kill them with a melee than it does to tag them.

I could summon Scooby and target one skele after the other like I do when farming substances in Hollowshade but I lose track of wich ones I looted because I don't like to loot all the crap stuff. Just shadows and silks.

I've taken a break from farming them but managed to buy some in Bazaar at decent prices. 15pp and under. Even saw someone sell them for 2pp each once, unfortunately he only had 7 or so though

[Silound]

Bah, you guys must have bed luck. I take first path to the right coming from SV, and go to end (north? idk) around hole. too many for a 52 bard to keep up with. I average about 3 stacks in an hour min, more if I can kill faster. My druid can tag whole lot with upheaval and have time to med to FM (without kei and only FT1, no AA's) before the whole lot pops again. I think however, that shadows are the least of the problems for me, seeing as on Prexus, HSM is perma camped now by people trying to get haste belt or FT1 ranged item

Silound
Minstrel of Prexus

[Taushar]

Well, I have hunted there more nights than I wanted to and I average about 1.5 stacks per about 2-3 hours hunting. 65 Cleric with 63 hammer. I kill everything in sight and usually I can keep up with the spawns near the tunnel and beyond. Usually takes me 1-2 hits to kill any spawns there. I did find a quicker way to clear them. Since I only want to loot lesser shades, I send out my hammer pet to non shades and let it take care of it and I only go after the shades. I found that this does speed up the clearing a bit.

I did try twilight and the drops seems a bit better but they take longer to kill each. So the results are about the same at the end of the night. Usually I usually two box my druid in twilight for snare duty. Too many adds as it is without having mobs running and bringing more.

Taushar

[aramere]

Bah, you guys must have bed luck. I take first path to the right coming from SV, and go to end (north? idk) around hole. too many for a 52 bard to keep up with. I average about 3 stacks in an hour min, more if I can kill faster. My druid can tag whole lot with upheaval and have time to med to FM (without kei and only FT1, no AA's) before the whole lot pops again. I think however, that shadows are the least of the problems for me, seeing as on Prexus, HSM is perma camped now by people trying to get haste belt or FT1 ranged item

Silound
Minstrel of Prexus

I'm a bit sceptical on this, esp as the drop rate on shadows isnt that high. This is faster than i get AOEing the whole TS island in one shot. Ive pulled and killed everying in this area in SWT using a 65 druid and with my gf playing my 59 warrior- i dont get anywhere near 3 stacks an hour- much closer to 20-25 or so

[Reflan]

People usually exaggerate things.

[Kradlum]

My druid can tag whole lot with upheaval and have time to med to FM (without kei and only FT1, no AA's) before the whole lot pops again

I'm also a bit sceptical, since a new skeletal hunter or shade pops as soon as you kill one.

[Velurian]

My druid can tag whole lot with upheaval and have time to med to FM (without kei and only FT1, no AA's) before the whole lot pops again

I'm also a bit sceptical, since a new skeletal hunter or shade pops as soon as you kill one.

I had heard that it was as soon as you loot one (i.e., when the corpse disappears), and that leftover corpses still hold the spot that the new mob would spawn in, so it's always faster to loot everything completely if you're trying to maximize spawn rate.

Can anyone speak with any confidence on this?

[Kradlum]

Yes, I can confidently say this is an urban myth. Looting a corpse has absolutely nothing to do with when the next one will spawn.

Just come look at the killing field I leave behind me when farming the lesser shades. There are piles and piles of corpses, either completely unlooted (Skeletal hunters) or partially looted. The piles of corpses have no effect on the spawn rate.