farming uw ectos

Hey, been farming UW solo with my rit for a while. my ectos drop rate have shot down recently. i ran UW 3 times last night and twice this morning with no ectos dropping! i usually get 1/2 per run just killing all the smites. im getting very few now and have seen people say it could be things like amount of enemies taking on at a time or wether you kill them at the same time like VwK does also effecting ecto drops. anyone know the best way to make soloing UW work i.e take on loads/few or any kill patterns anyone is noticing. 5 runs with no ectos could just be bad luck

thanks


EDIT: i forgot to add my build which works really well. usueal run is around 15 mins to kill all the smites. its the original rit/me build from someone on guru which got nerfed with the av/sv changes but i changed one skill to channeling and it works like a dream!

arcane echo
VwK
vengeful weapon
ancestors visage
sympathetic visage
illussion of haste
physical resistance
channeling

illussion 9
inspiration 9
restoration 16

smites are obviously easy. start with channeling, pr, arcane and vwk. keep spamming VW and dead very quickly.

graspings are where the timing comes in. takes 2 mins from starting UW to killing the 3 sets of graspings. get first ones from the left hand side and drag down. allow first 1 or 2 hits from each then cast sv/av. WAIT for a few hits then ech then vwk and spam VW.

then move to other stairs. wait for both sets of graspings to move next to each other as they always do and same again. BUT very very rarely they may interupt sv and av but this has only happened a few times. if anything goes wrong just chuck on vwk if possible and when it runs out try av/sv with the boost and keep spamming vw. like i say this is rare tho. quickest runs are usually around 13 mins or so depending on your route around the smites but i get more items by taking on slightly smaller groups. usually 3-8 is about right.

hope this helps! please post results from usuing the build as id like to see how others drops are going

any opinions anyone?

I think this is a really old build

I think its just bad luck, or maybe Anet has nerfed Ecto drops in Normal mode, although I doubt this. As you are doing nothing wrong, I'd say bad luck or Nerf is the only answer to your question.

Quote: Originally Posted by samcobra I think this is a really old build i did mention that but i did say the old build got nerfed and i have swapped one skill which now makes this build work. i just wanted people to know if they didnt already as i have not seen any changes to that build for UW and im regularly on the boards

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrAnt1c² I think its just bad luck, or maybe Anet has nerfed Ecto drops in Normal mode, although I doubt this. As you are doing nothing wrong, I'd say bad luck or Nerf is the only answer to your question. Finally after my seventh run an ecto dropped. a single ecto. hardly even makes it worth while! think ill do few more runs and call it a day for UW farming. solo anyway. me and m8 gonna try the dual rit build to see if that nets us anything good

the original build is from user "Dahnel". credit to him for the whole build. like i say im just making aware that switching soothing memories for channeling now means this build is usable after the av/sv changes.

Last weekend I went to UW with my ranger/mesmer for solo trapping, and in 4 or 5 runs, killing all aatxes grasping and smites, I came back with 1 only ecto, dropped by an aatxe in the area close to dryders.
I spent a very long time and after each run I barely got the 1k entrance fee selling the junk to the merchant.
Then did 3 smite runs with an ele I have on another account, and no ectos at all.

I think that normal mode is nerfed in some way, or too many players were doing UW runs at that moment.

that is very unlucky. finally get farming uw sorted and its gets nerfed...i think. thats the spirit of anet tho i suppose. like i say it could just be bad luck or that diff methods of killing results in diff rare drops. im sure someone will shed a light. ill post some more results when i have time for more runs.

It's called paranoid theory...aka people think when the drops are getting worse it's because of anet nerfing it

I'm getting at least 1 ecto each run. Doing it with my Dervish, Warrior, Ele, Assassin and sometimes with a Ranger. No problems at all.

I'd say they should nerf it, prices of ecto's are too low in my opinion. UW farming is made too easy...

hehe, ya, think ive just been unlucky lately then. thanks for confirming. UW getting boring anyways. time to find a new place

I know that killing a group all at the same time is much worse drop wise than killing each one individually. This was not supposed to affect rare material drops however... In general, as was stated by holymasamune, it's probably paranoia. When drops are good it's accepted as what SHOULD be happening. When drops are bad, it's assumed something is wrong. It's all averages, sometimes they work in our favor and sometimes they don't but going extended periods of time w/o a certain drop is normally just bad luck. Sure the chance of that happening is relatively low, but so is that run a few days back when you got 3 in one run.

As for testing, I'll jump on my warr and try an old dragonslasher build I made, not sure if the bugger will still work but it should fall together easily enough. Will post once we get favor...

If you have heard of the Anti-Farming Code, it could be that. If you farm the same area for too long, you can get it, which causes enemies' drop rate to significantly, not 'OMFGUBERGIDGJRVDIJFKD *could not understand this part* ANET HAS NERFED UW!!!'.

Nope Entering the same area over and over for a long time has been " un-nerfed " by Anet when Hard mode was introduced. Drops are no longer reduced...

You were just unlucky to catch a good time for ectos. If you don't get atleast 1 ectos in first run, chances are you caught a sh*tty time to farm. If I don't get atleast 1 ecto first run, ill do one more run at the most and see if anything drops. Definately not worth doing any more than 2 runs without seeing any ectos. Catching a good time for ecto drops makes all the difference in UW.

Quote: Originally Posted by Equites I know that killing a group all at the same time is much worse drop wise than killing each one individually. This was not supposed to affect rare material drops however... I live this also in Gates of Kryta Solo Farm with my monk. You know the big mob at left in the beginning. I kill like about 30 foes almost at the same time and only a few drops from them. Then I kill a normal group of undeads and they drop more items.. You just work harder to kill more mobs in less time just to finish the run in less time to farm much faster but hey what? They drop less. This is unfair if you ask me. As I've noticed, its about with what frequency you kill them. Like if you kill them with at most 1 second time intervals, their drop rate is decreased. But this is only something I can say among my experiences. So, if you have patience, I suggest you to farm smites by killing one by one at least for a while, but which is gonna take you more time to finish each run.

Quote: Originally Posted by vita lite 5 runs with no ectos could just be bad luck This is something like I'd lived before Hard Mode released with my ele in UW. I remember 10 runs in a row with not even one ecto drop, but then I was getting at least an ecto drop in every two runs for a while again. Thing is I tried UW farm again in NM after the Hard Mode is realesed and didn't get any ecto drop in like 10 runs again in a row. Then I left the UW farm. Because ecto's price was already dropped, so why I should need to bother myself to farm them anymore? I just can farm something else much easier, and gain money much faster and then buy it if I need.

I haven't seen the help message, about the farm code anymore, so i think it's gone. Also, I have farmed Byzzr wingmender about 3 hours non-stop ( yes I'm crazy, I know...) And still got elite tomes etc... So I'd say it's definitely "un-nerfed"

Welcome to my world. What you describe is what I always get , about 1 ecto per 5-8 runs. Every great now and then I get 2-4 ecto per 8 runs but my normal average is 1 per 5 runs. It has always been this bad for me when running solo.
I have noticed absolutely no change in drops from when I started solo running UW long before the hard mode update and even with the exemption from loot scaling of ecto there is still no change for me. Just be happy that your luck is usually better than mine and you have just hit a slump.

Quote: Originally Posted by Thargor