Wailing Substance..... how rare is it?

[Skratchen]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here and I was hoping to get some guidance on where I can find wailing substance. I know it used to drop from Owlbears in Hollowshade Moore, but last night I must have killed over 200 Owlbears of all different names and various locations over the course of the evening. Not once did a wailing substance drop for me. If I can't find a reasonable source for this, I don't see how smithing the Humming Orbs and Shadow Scream armor are a feasable method for gaining skill ups in smithing.

I hope some of you seasoned Shadow Scream smiths can point out my errors or worst case scenario, confirm that wailing substance is just very rare. What is the drop rate of wailing substance from your experiences? I know with shrieking substances, I get those to drop off of approximately 2 out of 3 wolves in TM. I can live with a lower drop rate of wailing substance, but 0 out of 200 is ridiculous. It's just not worth it if that's the case...

[Mahlig]

I am far from a Shadow Scream veteran, but I have made about 4 bags of humming orbs recently, and I can assure you the owlbears on the big (south) island drop the substances pretty consistantly at 1 in 4 roughly. If you got none, I am not sure why. I can move back to HS and kill again. As it is, I have almost 2 stacks of wailing and no shrieking to combine it with. =/

[Velurian]

I've heard it said that the drop rate of the substances anywhere but the south islands is incredibly low. I don't know if this is still true since the zone fixes a month or so ago, but before those fixes, at least, you generally didn't want to even try to farm anywhere but the islands.

On the islands, however, I get a pretty consistent 1 in 4 or so from both the wolves and owlbears. I have had some bad runs -- as many as 25 or 30 kills without a substance drop -- but nothing like 200.

[Bregalad]

Standard picture on Xev: people whack the grimlings out of the picture, and then just let the zone rotate naturally:
bears take south, start farming bears
wolves take north
bears take east
wolves take south, start farming wolves.
bears take north
wolves take east.
now bears will be trying to get south again, you can either kill their army off to keep farming wolves, or let them through if you want to switch back to bears.

But yes, wailing/shrieking drops on islands only. Got 2 stacks of each yesterday in about 2 hours.

[Iceblossom]

I usually hunt the grimy owlbear cubs in Paludal for their substance. Boring camp. Put on a movie and turn off the /ooc and shouts, and watch it while you hunt, but I have over two stacks of owl substances.

Have just under 4 stacks of swirlies. Lovely that they are not only no-rent any longer but are not no-drop.

For me, the wolf substance is the worst. I tried hunting the other night but two different sets of people were manipulating the war, and sadly that was in the Owlbear's favor. I'd be like one hit away from a kill and POOF the mob would despawn. In about three hours I got a total of 2 substances.

I have gotten wolf substance from near the bridge before the war fix and when the wolves had substantial control of the zone. I have gotten wolf substance from the cave when they have the cave. I would tend to agree that the drop rate is higher on the islands, but it is by no means the ONLY place to get it.

Am still stuck at 191. Last night I did the two Shadowscream combines I had and 12 acrylia. Failed on one shadowscream and succeeded on all others. I have at least 100 (if not over) combines on this skill point now.

They call it ShadowSCREAM for a reason.

[Slippyblade]

I agree with a previous poster. On Xev the only folks I ever see in Hollowshade are smiths hunting substance and they tend to let the war go naturally and farm whatever is up at the time. After wiping grimlings of course. I have met some really wonderful smiths in Hollowshade since the war fix was implemented.

Of course, this does mean that I end up with more Bear stuff than wolf stuff though.

[Skratchen]

I just want to thank everyone for the replies and the tips. I had totally forgotten that only the owls on the islands dropped the wailing substance. The night before, I was hunting all over the zone. (it's been over a year since I actually hunted in the zone actively) The owlbears in the caves, near Shar Vahl and the few owlbears that I had whacked on the far west island didn't drop wailing substances for me so I just went nuts.

Anyway, I looted 3 stacks of wailing substance in about an hour to match my supply of shrieking substance that I had previously collected. And most importantly, I made my first batch of Humming Orbs. Skilled up smithing from 122 to 131 in under 20 combines
I didn't know that the orbs weren't stackable though =/
It looks like the patch on Wednesday for shared bank space is just coming in the nick of time.

Thanks again for all the tips and info!