IDS drop nerfing?

This isnt a omg Anet increase the IDS dops thread.

Just wondered really, has anyone else noticed a nerfing or am I extremely unlucky?

I have overkill farmed topk/new uw. So I figure ill go farm a couple of IDS to sell and that will clean up my topk area drop degrade. Totally clean to the farm (meaning I havent been there for ages) I go there and to cut a long story short I ended up staying for a while. A few hours later I must have done 15 - 20 completed runs and not one drop (this is all solo to two man).

Is this a bad farm day or have the IDS drops been severely nerfed since I last did them?

you have beeen farming outside of granite right?????????????????? if not im sorry but i have LOL. anywho the ids doesnt drop in TOPK

doesnt this comment belong in the jerk thread *cough*

anyway, yeah me and some of the guild have noticed a lack of drops from random runs but it still seems to making a presence on the trade channels sufficent enough to think it is still being dropped

I've seen them on the trade channel too, but this could be the same ones cycling through. I haven't seen an IDS drop in ages, but I thought it was just a luck thing. This isn't the first thread I've seen like this, so I'm beginning to think maybe the drops were nerfed. I still have 2 IDSs. Maybe I'll hang on to them in hopes that the prices will rise again.

Hasn't the novelty worn off on IDSes yet? I'm surprised people still want them.

M8 im sorry but it was geniunely funny to me i thought he siad he was farming TOPK i didnt mean it to bring offense maybe u have to calm down abit lol i was simply stating that it was funny that he thought an IDS was gonna drop out of TOPK. i never called him a noob nor implied it. i recommend u do a bit more thinking before u start accusing ppl of being a jerk m8 i was simply asking where he was farming if that might help the sit. please dont assume u know my tone form how i am typing.
TY

Wow all rants but not helping the guy out. ONLY and i mean ONLY IDS drop in Mineral Springs in the far upper ice cave with the 20+ ice imps and only ice imps drop the IDS. NO other areas drop the sword.

if you read op you will see that the poster knows where and what to do - he was just wondering if anyone else experienced a "low" on the ids...

i have been hunting ids when they were new, took me a whole week to lure the first drop out of those imps (so many frigid hearts...) but then i got 6 in a single hour (4 went to friends, 1 to random guy who was with me, first one stayed with me of course) - i'd say it's plain luck...

anyhow, 2 days ago i was showing a guildmate how to solo it and we ended up clearing the cave a lot of times without any ids dropping. but i talked to people in the citadel who had them drop - so i believe they are still available.
and tonight i will get some proof. O_o

When AN adds new rare item(s) (such as greens) they increase the spawn rate to put the items into the economy and provide a demand, then they drop the rate to normal and the items take their true rare item value. This has happened with the furnace greens and now the IDS, guess the UW greens might be next, maybe.

I did a few runs two days ago - and I had two IDS drop in the same group on the same run. So either I just got an extremely lucky run, or the drops haven't been nerfed.

This is due to the auto loot system. The more people farm a certian spot the less drops happen. If you have never been there before and this is your first time your drops would be horrible because everyone else has been farming there for 2 months.

Since there is only 1 area in the entire game that his sword drops expect it to see an acute change in drops.

I don't know why people want these swords. They can only be half moded anyways. I tried a run once, and it was a complete waste of time. Nothing dropped, I'll stick to my running service, at least its more of a sure thing.

IDS are varity collector, the drops are getting lesser so people when them for looks, and pretty good max damage sword to use and can be modded.

Not a bad sword but i got a FDS with a 13% dmg over 50% health from SF.

But it can only be half moded.......you can change the pommel, but you cant change the hilt. Which in my opinion makes this sword inferior. Its just pretty.

Farming IDS is such a waste of time, its a long trip that may or may not give you one.
The thing is that its over and over farmed that the area is dry.
And to top it off its only in the cave, its not like farming the desert where you get drops by whatever monster you kill.

Ya, at least if I farm solo I'm guaranteed to get something. It may not be the items that I'm looking for, but the collection of gold and stuff sold to the merchant will make up for it. If your trying to get the sword as a personal item for you to use, then just farm gold and buy it from someone.

It does feel like a big ol' waste of time. Especially now that the IDS has lost it's luster. Too bad they don't drop in other places, i.e. Grotto or Port Sledge. Then maybe people wouldn't waste their time trying to farm them in MS.

I have to agree with the previous posts ...

They only sell for ~20k. Doing it solo, some are runs already screwed due to enemy placement.

1) Area just before the Mineral Springs. The mob of heretics and 20 other dwarfs might be hanging around the center area instead of the upper left corner where they should be (for success). Sometimes you can still make it.

2) Boss Avicara. The one that slows you down. Not a run killer, but you can die here.

3) Avicara + Imps outside the Ice Cave entrance. Even with hod helm, you can't make a run for the cave, so either you seperate them or basically start over/die.

4) Trolls times 2 or Ice Golems might be a problem for some, but I have figured out how to deal with these, so they are not run killers anymore.
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A successful run lasts quite a long time too; I'd say over 20 mins solo (YMMV), and you are not gauranteed a sword drop. You make more money doing 'else, so basically it is a good waste of time unless you really must have one. And if you really must have one, just buy it for 20k and get the money from somewhere.

I disagree with some of that.

Even with all of the heretics and other stone summit in the middle of the area, it is usually quite easy to simply sprint as far as you can through the area, and trigger the res shrine. Then its simply a matter of a quick run through the portal.

I don't find this boss to spawn much on the route that I take, and even when he does it isn't that big of an issue. Just need to make sure you trigger your speed boost as soon as his slowdown wears off.

It is possible to kill them together. It isn't as easy as kill them seperately, so usually I'll just use a bow to pull the Avicara back a bit. If I need to though, I'll just kill them together.

Never had a problem with the trolls or ice golems. Keep the Imps outside of your aggro circle and they won't maelstorm you, so the slowdown doesn't affect you because you don't need to move. As for the trolls, just spam a spell you don't need so they waste their distract on that.


It usually takes me less than 10 minutes to get up there, and roughly another 5 minutes to kill the imps, depending on how close together the various groups are. I'll usually farm the Avicara on the way up as well, which only adds another 30 secs for each group, and I almost always get enough drops from them to validate the time spent in the run, if I don't get a IDS.