Curse

Marlenus Ar · Aug 27, 2009, 07:53 PM // 19:53

Hi all...

This is gonna be a long post so bare with me as I go over what I think is my problem. Its my hope that someone can shed some light on what is happening to me.

I play an Assassin. I farm raptors in Rata Sum. My sin has over 23 million experience points, and 821 skill points at this writing. I use the following build:

Glyph of Swiftness
Deadly Paradox
Shadow Form
Glyph of Lesser Energy
Ebon Battle Standard of Honor
Silver Armor
Radiation Field
Shadow Fefuge

I use a casting staff with 20% enchant, +5e staff head and +5e while enchanted inscription.

Lately, when I farm in hard mode alone, I have been getting worthless drops over and over and over again. Its been literally months now that I have not gotten a single gold, green, sin tome, elite sin tome, or even a purple drop.

I have no trouble killing all the cave raptors at Rata Sum, all 33 + boss. Its just that the drops are not what they used to be, either in the early morning, afternoon, or nighttime. I dont think I have really farmed out the area because I dont farm there that much any more for the following reason:
I'm on a quest for the wisdom title. So, I have buying unid golds and have id'd something like about 6,000 so far. However, I have noticed something that I think needs to brought to attention. As a buyer of unid golds, I have noticed that a couple of Warrior characters have repeatidly given me many golds from Rata Sum...and do so quickly. They will go out in the raptor caves, return to me in less than an hr with 21 or more golds. I ask em where they get them, and they say the raptor caves. You can tell its true, when I buy their gold Great Conches and other items found in the cave. So I say to myself..."Well, golds must be falling, I need to try another run..." I go out, and nothing. Just a few white drops and maybe a scroll...even the boss leaves me with nothing but a couple of Saurian bones. Another run, same thing. Yet the warriors return to me quickly with more golds.

My general feeling is this: Arnet nerfed the skills of the sin a couple of times with Shadow Form, until its much harder to raptor farm. Yet, its still possible to go out and kill all the raptors. So, I think Arnet has decided to nerf the quality of the drops as the only way of further nerfing sins. Now, what I'm asking all those who play sins and farm raptors is this: are you guys having the same trouble I'm having in getting decent drops in rata sum or is it just me? Only sin players will know for sure, based on their previous drops and how their drops are now.

Again, I have no trouble kill all raptors, only the quality of the drops have been reduced to almost all white drops. I have only farmed raptors on and off between my questing of the wisdom title. I really dont farm that much any more, so I fail to see how I would "farm the cave out...."

Any sins have this problem? Suggestions? Comments?

slowerpoke · Aug 27, 2009, 08:02 PM // 20:02

only worth hitting the raptors during special item drop weekends

Thor Tyr · Aug 27, 2009, 08:39 PM // 20:39

taking people along with you is a way to get better drops usally i get better anyways not a fool proof way tho

Silvertalen · Aug 27, 2009, 09:31 PM // 21:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thor Tyr

taking people along with you is a way to get better drops usally i get better anyways not a fool proof way tho

Leechers do not improve gold drop rates.
Gold drops are exempt from loot scaling, the only thing loot scaling affects is Gold(Money) and whites.

Deviant Angel · Aug 27, 2009, 09:40 PM // 21:40

There is a raptor farming build for most professions and the assassin is not the fastest. The number of gold items you get in an hour is determined by luck and how many runs you can do.

Of course the warrior is going to come out on top if they are able to pew pew and repeat more often than you.

xxAWPxx · Aug 27, 2009, 09:46 PM // 21:46

I also farm raptors, and use both a sin and a warrior build. My sin averages about 5 golds an hour while my warrior can do 20+. I do also agree with what was said above, they are only worth farming on double drop, but i dont even know if thats going to help.

mathiastemplar · Aug 27, 2009, 09:51 PM // 21:51

Do a few rounds of RA and try again:P
Usually when I've been doing 4-5+ FoW runs in a row my "luck/rate" on everything sucks.
Then I do a little RA and... back to good drops

/not proving ANYthing, just telling you the way I experience this^^

gl hf

Xiao Erh · Aug 27, 2009, 10:39 PM // 22:39

To the OP I have a question. Apart from getting your Wisdom title, did you use your Sin char to farm other places? Or you just plainly stop for a while to buy Unids and did nothing else with the Sin?

Life Bringing · Aug 27, 2009, 11:44 PM // 23:44

My advice is to switch Rad field and refuge for BUH! and Air of superiority. Now, i don't know exactly how the farm code works, but everything dying at the same time=less drops.

_Nihilist_ · Aug 28, 2009, 01:31 AM // 01:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deviant Angel

There is a raptor farming build for most professions and the assassin is not the fastest. The number of gold items you get in an hour is determined by luck and how many runs you can do.

Of course the warrior is going to come out on top if they are able to pew pew and repeat more often than you.

The Warrior Hundred Blades+Whirlwind Attack build completes a run in less than one minute. I can do 60+ Raptor runs in an hour on my Warrior, which is (24*60)+60 = *1,500* chances to get a Gold item drop (I kill 24 Nestlings each run, and there is a chance that a Locked Chest spawns in or near the Raptor Cave).

Compared to how fast (slow, really) your 'Sin can do it, it's no wonder that Warriors obtain more Gold items from the Raptor Farm than 'Sins do.

masterjer1 · Aug 28, 2009, 05:07 AM // 05:07

Nihilist, you still using that double run skill setup I showed you, or have you improved upon it by now?

Zonk · Aug 28, 2009, 06:11 AM // 06:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by mathiastemplar

Do a few rounds of RA and try again:P
Usually when I've been doing 4-5+ FoW runs in a row my "luck/rate" on everything sucks.
Then I do a little RA and... back to good drops

/not proving ANYthing, just telling you the way I experience this^^

gl hf

This is most likely the easiest way to get your drops back

Nihilist >> a warrior can make around 130% of the runs a sin does in an hour, shouldn't mean they constantly get 20 golds/hour and sin gets nothing. Speed isn't an issue here (allthough the build he posted can be speeded up for sure), overfarming is

wilebill · Aug 28, 2009, 11:31 AM // 11:31

I've noticed same thing. Farming code I guess.

_Nihilist_ · Aug 28, 2009, 01:53 PM // 13:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by masterjer1

Nihilist, you still using that double run skill setup I showed you, or have you improved upon it by now?

Still using that one. The only improvement made was using hotkeys instead of clicking. I've done that run so many times... went from r4 to r10 on Raptors... and still doing that run for my Wisdom/Treasure Hunter Titles, lol.

There's been a build out for W/N that uses MoP, but I cba to bother with it. Why bother? For 75 more Asura rep per run and a chance to get an overfarmed Green or an Elite Assassin Tome?

Btw, I got a couple things for you, bro. Gimme a call sometime (drop me a PM if you forgot my digits) so I can arrange to meet you in-game and get 'em to you!

masterjer1 · Aug 28, 2009, 04:42 PM // 16:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zonk

This is most likely the easiest way to get your drops back

Nihilist >> a warrior can make around 130% of the runs a sin does in an hour, shouldn't mean they constantly get 20 golds/hour and sin gets nothing. Speed isn't an issue here (allthough the build he posted can be speeded up for sure), overfarming is

Last I remember, sins averaged a run in 3 minutes as a warrior averaged 1 minute. Simple mathematics says thats a 300% gain, unless you suffer from the lag monster quite alot.

Zonk · Aug 28, 2009, 08:06 PM // 20:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by masterjer1

Last I remember, sins averaged a run in 3 minutes as a warrior averaged 1 minute. Simple mathematics says thats a 300% gain, unless you suffer from the lag monster quite alot.

Only a bad sin averages 3 mins.. U can get boss + 30 kills in just over 1 min easy, sticking around to wait for the final sliver to recharge and kill the last 2-3 isn't worth it.

Anyhow, that still doesn't explain why he gets 0 golds while some ppl get 20+/hour. Still blaming farm code...

_Nihilist_ · Aug 28, 2009, 09:01 PM // 21:01

There is no "Farming Code" anymore... The Farming Code was done away with and replaced with the loot scaling system, and loot scaling does not in any way, shape, or form regulate the amount of Dyes, Rare Items, Rare Crafting Mats, or Keys/Picks that drop.

Even on my Warrior, I'll have stretches of runs that produce no Gold Items, Dyes, Picks, or Tomes. You just keep running and eventually you'll get some. The faster you can run it, the more chances you have to get them, that's all there is to it.

masterjer1 · Aug 29, 2009, 04:01 PM // 16:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zonk

Only a bad sin averages 3 mins.. U can get boss + 30 kills in just over 1 min easy, sticking around to wait for the final sliver to recharge and kill the last 2-3 isn't worth it.

Anyhow, that still doesn't explain why he gets 0 golds while some ppl get 20+/hour. Still blaming farm code...

Farm code he says lmao. Is this something you heard about reading in these forums? Like Nihilist also said, there is no farm code due to loot scaling being implamented long ago. It all has to do with luck. If you have a ton of bad luck, try something else out for awhile then come back and try again. As for 3 minute sin runs, that was the norm when I was running it (which was back in January). If that has changed since then, I will have to check it out as a leecher so I can have my own proof. There are many claims that aren't backed up in these threads.

Zonk · Aug 29, 2009, 06:11 PM // 18:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by masterjer1

Farm code he says lmao. Is this something you heard about reading in these forums? Like Nihilist also said, there is no farm code due to loot scaling being implamented long ago. It all has to do with luck. If you have a ton of bad luck, try something else out for awhile then come back and try again. As for 3 minute sin runs, that was the norm when I was running it (which was back in January). If that has changed since then, I will have to check it out as a leecher so I can have my own proof. There are many claims that aren't backed up in these threads.

Yes they removed "the" farm code when implementing loot scaling, we all know that...
But, you tell him to go and do something else for a while if his luck is bad, then try again? <-- O.o ?? There is no code regulating his drops, but it's better to do something else and hopefully get better drops later on? Excuse me, but that's the same thing we suggested. AND, shockingly enough (almost falling off my chair here), the same procedure you use to reset anything related to something that don't exist according to some ppl.

There is no such thing as "random" when it comes to programming, no matter how complex the code is you still need a seed (which btw is what you would reset by "doing something else"). Call it farm code, call it drop code, call it super-duper-1337sauce, call it whatever; you still can't argue it's not there.

As for times, "norm" and "average sin" ain't the same as "can be done", just a tip

_Nihilist_ · Aug 30, 2009, 02:09 PM // 14:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zonk

Yes they removed "the" farm code when implementing loot scaling, we all know that...
But, you tell him to go and do something else for a while if his luck is bad, then try again? <-- O.o ?? There is no code regulating his drops, but it's better to do something else and hopefully get better drops later on? Excuse me, but that's the same thing we suggested. AND, shockingly enough (almost falling off my chair here), the same procedure you use to reset anything related to something that don't exist according to some ppl.

There is no such thing as "random" when it comes to programming, no matter how complex the code is you still need a seed (which btw is what you would reset by "doing something else"). Call it farm code, call it drop code, call it super-duper-1337sauce, call it whatever; you still can't argue it's not there.

Grom didn't say anything that resembled the equation of "doing something else = reset on farming code/loot scaling/better drops", he just suggested doing something else for a while and coming back. Look at it this way: If you aren't getting decent drops, why continue to do what you are doing? If you go and do something else, you aren't dealing with shitty drops. Again, it has nothing to do with resetting anything, other than possibly your frustration buffer.

On your second point, no one is arguing that something isn't there - loot-scaling is very much a part of Guild Wars, both on the player end and on the programming end. ANet has stated that loot-scaling exists, just as they have stated that loot-scaling replaced the old farming/anti-farming code. So yes, it can be argued that it is or isn't there. Loot-scaling is there, farming/anti-farming code is not. Period.

There are plenty of times when I am Raptor farming on my Warrior that I get zero drops. Hard Mode, 24 kills, no shinies for my efforts. Sometimes, this happens multiple consecutive runs. A few runs later, I might get 3 golds drop in a single run, or multiple Tomes, or multiple dyes (2 Blacks in one run is my best return there). But again, there are plenty of runs where I don't see a single, solitary Saurian Bone or any other drops, just 24 +276XP's floating upwards on my monitor.