Spongy Loam Rarity - are you kidding?

[hammong]

<DIV>Spongy Loam and Moonstone were already highly prized on Mistmoore, and now with the LU23 change, Scouts are being switched from one highly sought-after rare to an even more highly sought-after rare.    I don't know what the actual chance to obtain the rares are in the field, but I do know that for every 4-5 acrylia clusters and 4-5 moonstones I find, I am lucky to find one spongy loam and one xegonite cluster. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Kimage]

<P>I have to agree wit you hammong - I am a healer and am still stuck with the Moonstones - honestly the only reason I know they do truly exist is because I have bought a couple on the broker. I have only harvested one Moonstone and never seen a spongy EVER!!!!!!!!!</P> <P>Personally I'm hoping the Moonstones come down a little bit since now only 1 class needs them for thier Adept 3's but they need to up the harvest of the spongies if they are gonna require 2 classes to use them . Though I am one that will go for a month without ever obtaining more than a stone or flower. So on second thought maybe I shouldnt even speak as to the rarity of the rares, cuz for ME they are ULTRA RARE!!!!! A friend of mine harvest less than I do and he gets a rare a nite. Me I harvest till my fingers bleed and dont get one  /sigh</P> <P>SOE please increase the rare drop rate!  I know that rare are supposed to be just that rare - so answer this - why is that some peeps dont have to work as hard to get that rare, while some of us go on streeks like this!  I have only harvested about 20 rares total in all my time in EQ ( and thats not an exaggeration ). </P> <P>/rant off</P>

[zorkan]

Huh? Prices for Moonstones should drop now that only Priests can use them. Also IMHO mages and priests are much moredependent on higher spell qualities, I know mages are since we don't really have any weapons we could use to do damage.Scouts and Fighters have more equipment, but it might be tougher for them to upgrade spells. I don't want to start a flamewar, it's just my opinion. And as stated before, they should be rare. If you can't find them, you can buy them. It will takeyou some time, but what's the fun in upgrading all your spells at once? I find it rewarding when I finally find a rare stoneand prefer that to just acknowledge it mildly.<div></div>

[defect9]

makes me glad I invested in some acrylia before ANY changes were announced.  i can sell those and buy a loam or two (depending on market prices)

[Scort]

Yep, it was smoke wacky weed day at SOE when they made this decision.

[Balic]

I'm a warrior.  Welcome to our world in KoS.

[Jaimster]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Scortch wrote:<BR>Yep, it was smoke wacky weed day at SOE when they made this decision.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>...Maybe if they passed it around this would seem funnier to the rest of us...</P> <P>But seriously.</P> <P>If they up the chances of spongy loam that'd be great. I am usually what people would consider reasonablly "lucky" when it comes to rares. I've found a few xegonite, a few moonstones (which thankfully i used 2 days before this update), and a bunch of acrylia.  After 400+porous loams, 500+ adamantine clusters (that's ones that I didn't delete or give away), I have found ZERO spongy loams. If I hadn't seen them before I would swear they didn't exist... I can see making priests/mages sharing Acrylia. I could even see giving scouts spongy loam if fighters got xegonite (or vice versa).  But to make 2 whole classes share the rarest, most expensive rare on the market is ludicrous... I usually try to offer alternatives instead of just [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] and complain, but this change is one of the most ridiculous, even discounting the outrage the announcement on test caused because folks bought up all the cheap acrylia and are now selling it for more.</P> <P>It's not the end of the world. Nothing is because it's just a game... but it's sure going to tick a lot of people off... </P> <P> </P> <P>edited to make slightly humerous comment a bit less snarky.</P><p>Message Edited by Jaimster on <span class=date_text>05-04-2006</span> <span class=time_text>03:51 AM</span>

[Killerbee3000]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> zorkan wrote:<BR>Huh? Prices for Moonstones should drop now that only Priests can use them. <FONT color=#ff0033>Also IMHO mages and priests are much more<BR>dependent on higher spell qualities</FONT>, I know mages are since we don't really have any weapons we could use to do damage.<BR>Scouts and Fighters have more equipment, but it might be tougher for them to upgrade spells. I don't want to start a flame<BR>war, it's just my opinion. And as stated before, they should be rare. If you can't find them, you can buy them. It will take<BR>you some time, but what's the fun in upgrading all your spells at once? I find it rewarding when I finally find a rare stone<BR>and prefer that to just acknowledge it mildly.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>you seem to forget the bards and bards are scouts. also as a member of a raiding guild the dmg of the weapons doesnt matter anyway because i have to stay out of aoe range all the time. (and the aoe range is bigger than the one of your weapons so you dont hit with them)<BR></P><p>Message Edited by Killerbee3000 on <span class=date_text>05-03-2006</span> <span class=time_text>05:59 PM</span>

[retro_guy]

I usually don't like to agree with anyone on these boards, but in this case I do. From the many hours of harvesting, Spongy does seem to drop far less freqently. I have not harvested 1 spongy, but have many acrylia, moonstones, roots, xegonite and ebony. Also I buy the cinder ore when I see it cheaply and create a temporary alt to hand in the cinder ore collection quest, this yields acrylia 50% of the time, and moonstones or xegonite the rest of the time (25% each), but this quest does not give spongy loam! It would make sense to have 1 rare per architype, how hard is that? <div></div>

[zixtent]

I agree they need to increase the drop rate of spongy loam. My husband plays a sk and he is level 70,I think he has found one spongy loam in all the time he has gathered. Tonight he looked on the freeport broker no spongy loam was to be seen. I looked on the qeynos broker and they are 8 pieces of spongy loam from 3plat to 8 plat. I feel for all you scouts and fighters. It is not fair and they need to change something.<div></div>

[Malandrin]

<DIV>Simple, consistent and fair:  every rare (moonstone, acrylia and spongy) usable for every adept III.</DIV>

[minionofdeath]

Agreed.  I know T7 had the crafting revamp, but why change something that worked perfectly for the previous 60 lvls?  Either give each class a rare of their own or balance the % they are harvested so we don't get Acrylia vs Spongy Loam on some 100 to 1 ratio.  This stinks of ignorance unlike anything I've seen in this game to date.  It's <font color="#ffff00"><u>NOT</u></font> working as intended.  Cure the problem SOE instead of making it utterly worse. <div></div>

[Sheodrath]

<DIV>reducing the drop-quality in the lyceum, adding the scouts to those desperately searching for spongy loam. these changes make fighters live quite uncomfortable. i have found 2 spongy loams so far, 10 moonstones, 20 acrylia (fear tainted isle), due to the few spots, where u can easily harvest spongy.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>idea: adjust the mob-level on gazers isle to the range on fear tainted isle, for fighters can get their rares as easily as priest, mages and everything is fine. the current state is unbalanced, LU 23 made things worse.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <P>Message Edited by Sheodrath on <SPAN class=date_text>05-04-2006</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>05:26 AM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Sheodrath on <span class=date_text>05-04-2006</span> <span class=time_text>05:27 AM</span>

[Graton]

<blockquote><hr>Malandrin wrote:<div>Simple, consistent and fair:  every rare (moonstone, acrylia and spongy) usable for every adept III.</div><hr></blockquote>ding ding ding, tell him what he's won!!! yes, it's abundantly obvious what the fair thing would be to do here. not sure why something so obvious wasn't a better answer. anytime you radically change the relative value of rares all at once you create a windfall situation for one lucky group, in this case mages but it could have been anyone and it still would have made no sense.<div></div>

[Kegofbud]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Graton wrote:<BR><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Malandrin wrote:<BR> <DIV>Simple, consistent and fair:  every rare (moonstone, acrylia and spongy) usable for every adept III.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>ding ding ding, tell him what he's won!!!<BR><BR>yes, it's abundantly obvious what the fair thing would be to do here. not sure why something so obvious wasn't a better answer. anytime you radically change the relative value of rares all at once you create a windfall situation for one lucky group, in this case mages but it could have been anyone and it still would have made no sense.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>It WAS a better answer, from T1 - T6. Then came KoS, which made tradeskilling DOA. The new expansion is going to try to make tradeskilling worth while again, guess I'm not really holding my breathe at this point.<BR>

[OperationsX]

<DIV>On our broker right now:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Spongy loam: Amount 4 , prices 7p,6p50g,5p50g,5p</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Moonstone: Amount Over 60, down to 1p</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Acrylia: Amount Over 70, down to 80g</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So balanced, thanks Soe for devaluing 2 rares to make them not even rare anymore and making the rarest one more inaccessable than ever, we appreciate it :smileyindifferent:</DIV>

[Aerious Eldrin]

<P>The problem w/ the amount of spongy loam on the broker is not a matter of the harvest chance of getting a rare.  The real problem is that in KoS there is only one place to harvest ore without agro at 70.  There are two major places in TT to harvest moonstone / acrylia.  They could have at least made all the gazers level 59 vs 60.  then at least we could harvest that mass amount of ore there, but alas.  </P> <P>And from a scouts prespective to the guy who thinks mages only have it hard.  As a ranger I buy one weapon for dmg and that is a bow.  I have to upgrade my spells ASAP.  All other gear, just like mages, is for stats and nothing more.  </P> <P>Also, have to strongly agree w/ the poster that said make all the spells rares work for any class just like the other 60 levels.  This class kinda class specific / kinda shared spell rare is for the birds. It's pretty simple really, 3 types of spell rares, 4 major class archatypes...either share all, or make 4 rares.      </P>

[ShimmeringFacade]

<DIV>On Lucan server, we already have a huge shortage of moonstone, and loam. It is truly unfair to both the fighters, who will now have to compete for loam, and to scouts, who move from a rare drop, to an ULTRA rare drop. Frankly, making it so that priests and mages have their own rare for adepts is not sensible. Here's a thought:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Moonstone </DIV> <DIV><STRONG>Xegonite </STRONG></DIV> <DIV>Spongy Loam </DIV> <DIV>Acryllia</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>That looks like 4 to me... Assign whatever class you want to them - it'll at the very least be more balanced for all classes.  For the record? I'm a Swashbuckler. Yes, I have a motive for wanting this to not go through, but think about it...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>In response to whoever said scouts don't need their skills as much as priests and mages? Here's some food for thought:</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>- <EM>Troubador and Dirge</EM> songs will be less effective at adept 1. Don't tell me you wouldn't notice - bards do a LOT for a group. <STRONG>Bards provide valuable buffs to casters</STRONG> and DPS alike, so think about that before you cheer for your newly cheaper spells. Bard songs are made to compliment your spells and combat arts - think of them as a walking focus effect.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>- Got Debuffs? You won't without an adept 3! <EM>Swashies and Brigands</EM>  are there to make things easier for ALL dps, by debuffing, snaring, slowing, and all sorts of marvellous things. The adept 1 is useful, but put an adept 1 rogue against an adept 3 rogue and you will definately notice the overall toughness of the mob -does- drop significantly. Often, <STRONG>casters have a hard time hitting a mob for the full potential of their spell when it has not been dispatched / constrained by a rogue.  </STRONG></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>- Think of the <EM>Rangers and Assassins</EM>! They're already upset about being gimped earlier on, do you really wanna hear all that whining AGAIN? *runs and hides* Just kidding - but in all seriousness, your ranged physical DPS make things go more smoothly. I know that in many raids, when you get to the ranged fights you really see these guys shine. <STRONG>The mages will just have to work even harder if predator DPS drops.</STRONG> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>So, remember. EVERY class in this game is EQUALLY useful - not just the finger-wigglers!</DIV>

[Leawyn]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> zorkan wrote:<BR>Huh? Prices for Moonstones should drop now that only Priests can use them. <FONT color=#ff0000>Also IMHO mages and priests are much more<BR>dependent on higher spell qualities,</FONT> I know mages are since we don't really have any weapons we could use to do damage.<BR>Scouts and Fighters have more equipment, but it might be tougher for them to upgrade spells. I don't want to start a flame<BR>war, it's just my opinion. And as stated before, they should be rare. If you can't find them, you can buy them. It will take<BR>you some time, but what's the fun in upgrading all your spells at once? I find it rewarding when I finally find a rare stone<BR>and prefer that to just acknowledge it mildly.<BR> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Mmkay... while you enjoy your pathetically cheap "rares", I will just laugh as you steal agro again and again because fighters can't afford to upgrade those taunts. Or their buffs, so they die easier. Or (for pallies) heals and wards that save your butt when you slam down another one of those big Adept 3 nukes that my Adept 1 taunts can't keep up with.</P> <P>This is an exaggeration of course. I have all my taunts, buffs and heals at adept 3 or better, with only my damage spells currently suffering from adept 1 (or worse!) because it simply isn't cost effective for me to drop 5p+ on a loam for a damage spell when i could spend that on a better peice of gear.</P>

[Barakuz]

<DIV>Zorkan,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Another way of looking at it is this...finger wagglers only need upgraded spells to do damage, ( not entirely true but anyway) Fighters, plate wearers in particular need upgraded spells (taunts) to keep aggro, and the expense of upgraded armor on a per tier basis in order to do their job properly...thats not exactly fair when you consider the cost of the fighter rares.</DIV> <DIV>I am a lvl 67 Guardian and spent almost 30 plat last night, upgrading my T7 spells to Adept3. And that only covered a portion of the ones that need upgrading <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> . </DIV> <DIV>Fortunately (if you can look at it that way) T7 crafted armor is crap, so at least I don't have that expense, I would rather Raid and run instances to get armor drops.</DIV> <DIV>Either way there should be parity on pricing for the rares...why should one class get 2.5 x spell upgrades for the price of my one ?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Barakuzz</DIV>

[Belaythien]

Just a few numbers from my sever to visualize this insanity:Broker:7 pieces of Spongy Loam,  3.3 to 5 p.103 pieces of Acrylia Cluster, 1.1 to 2.5 p.38 pieces of Rough Moonstone, 1 to 2 p.That means a tank/scout has to pay over 300% of the price a mage/priest has to pay AND there hardly are any even IF you'd want to buy some.

[Oakum]

Maybe the thought behind it being able to harvest grey areas for stones (2) and ore (1) is that fighters and scouts can mow through green mobs faster then priest, who kill slowly at best and barely have to time if at all to harvest an area after clearing before repops, and mages, who can burn down mobs fast but then have to wait for power at some point if their are a lot of mobs in the area. They can still do a lot of damage with autoattack where as priest and mages can't when power is gone. A green mob will eat through a mage's cloth, therefore his hitpoints and power pretty quick as they have to kill as quick as possible in order not to get hit. For priest its pretty much the same even although you can switch the power usage to heals and, or root chain casting while taking longer overall for the kills.  Even though bruisers and monks wear leather, they have much higher avoidance then priest and mage classes and higher autoattack of course therefore can mow through greens a lot quicker.  Just an idea why it may seem to be more balanced then it appears at first glance.

[Belaythien]

<div><blockquote><hr>Oakum wrote:<div></div>Maybe the thought behind it being able to harvest grey areas for stones (2) and ore (1) is that fighters and scouts can mow through green mobs faster then priest, who kill slowly at best and barely have to time if at all to harvest an area after clearing before repops, and mages, who can burn down mobs fast but then have to wait for power at some point if their are a lot of mobs in the area. [...]<hr></blockquote>Hehe ... that actually brought a tear to my eyes. Don't know when I was laughing as heartily as I was reading your post. "No offence intended"(tm) but Mages can clear a whole zone before a tank has cleared a single spawnpoint ... more or less <span>:smileywink:</span> You have to consider that while a tank is fighting he does not get mana regeneration. Tanks and Scouts are always the first who are out of mana and once mana is gone ... hehe ... auto attack damage ... muaha ... sorry where was I?Oh yes auto attack damage ... well as a Dirge (read gimped scout) my experience is that you actually kill a green mob with autoattack damage alone ... a single green mob that doesn't bring any buddies ... no up arrows of course ... if you are suicidal and have LOTS of time to spare.If that was a point they chose while considering the redistribution of rares ... hehe ... oh well ... then my opinion of SOE would drop below ... well ... the lowest point on any scale measuring ANYTHING positive <span>:smileyvery-happy:</span></div>

[Leawyn]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Oakum wrote:<BR> Maybe the thought behind it being able to harvest grey areas for stones (2) and ore (1) is that fighters and scouts can mow through green mobs faster then priest, who kill slowly at best and barely have to time if at all to harvest an area after clearing before repops, and mages, who can burn down mobs fast but then have to wait for power at some point if their are a lot of mobs in the area. They can still do a lot of damage with autoattack where as priest and mages can't when power is gone. A green mob will eat through a mage's cloth, therefore his hitpoints and power pretty quick as they have to kill as quick as possible in order not to get hit. For priest its pretty much the same even although you can switch the power usage to heals and, or root chain casting while taking longer overall for the kills.  Even though bruisers and monks wear leather, they have much higher avoidance then priest and mage classes and higher autoattack of course therefore can mow through greens a lot quicker.  Just an idea why it may seem to be more balanced then it appears at first glance.<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>You can't be serious... Do you REALLY think they picked rare distribution in grey area's because priests and mages need more help killing mobs? No, I think a more logical choice is they distributed the rares before they distributed the mobs.

[masakre]

<DIV>what i dont understand is why Sony made rares even more rare in the high end. It is harder to get to the resource without dying in the high end, why does it have to so [Removed for Content] rare to actually get a rare? It is cake to harvest all day long in the lower level zones, and you are even more likely to get a rare. If they are "rare" shouldn't they be obtained just as often as any other zone, just a different rare based on the resource you are harvesting? As you get higher in level, they feel the need to increase the time sync? why do they keep nerfing our characters, and increasing the difficulty of the environment? What about the game we all thought we were buying when it was released? Now that we own it and pay a monthly fee, you feel the need to change it on us and take away from the experience. I just don't understand the direction your taking and why you think it is a good thing.</DIV>

[ranlaen]

<DIV>Agreed,at the very least make spongy loam drop rate similar to other rares.Atm with scouts and fighters both in need of it surely it should have a more descent drop rate.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>come on SoE !</DIV>

[Forsaken Falc]

<P>Lol I made a tread about this very subject the 1st day the changer's were implaced.</P> <P>Due to a tad hostility they deleted My pose which was just a flame war by that point. WHERE WERE YOU GUYS WHEN THIS POST WAS UP! Anyway's I'd had only 2 spell's to upgrade so the changer's didn't screw Me over personaly however I did yell and scream that every othere player should have the same benafit's as in term's to the range and priceing on rare's for adept 3's.</P> <P> </P> <P>At the end of another day though SOE just doesn't care, The only way We'd get to see an change is if EVERY single main scout player were to simply cancle subcription however that's never going to happen <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P>

[OrcSlayer96]

<DIV>They seriously need to either allow all the classes to use either spongy loam/moonstone/acrylia, or revamp their rares need to make the spells.   If they didnt want to share the rares to make a adept3 then they need to redesign the rares needed.  Nimbus root for Mage rares, Ebony for Priest rares, dragonhide pelts for Scout rares, and Moonstones for fighters.  The use of the rare to clas could be switched around, but it would mean that each of the 4 paths of players would have a unique node to harvest from that has a decent drop rate.  I thought the way rares we explained in the begginning of KOS that they wanted to promote crafting without the competition of using the materials for adept 3 but that was blown away in no time at all.  The ore harvesting node is completely messed up, not only is there a scarcity of nodes to harvest in grey areas but you share way too many things on the node:  adamantium cluster,porous loam , xegonite cluster, scintallating item, heritage quest crafting item, spongy loam.  The whole loam thing would have been better if they revamped the fungis node and placed that in it but that makes too uch sense i guess.  How many people have noticed that you can usually get 2 porous loams for every adamintine let alone any of the uncommon and rare items in the table.  Tier 7 is the only tier i have went thru that has not allowed me to be able to devote a couple weeks or more to be able to get my adept 3's for that tier and i can guarantee i am not the minority among fighters and scouts.</DIV>

[Leawyn]

<blockquote><hr>OrcSlayer96 wrote:<div>[usual awesome post by Steel] </div><hr></blockquote>*stalk on!* Hey Steel. I (of course!) agree completely!<div></div>

[Krooner]

<P>Alright did a little experiment this week.  I know there are those out there that are going to disagree and some trolls that are going to BLAH BLAH its wasnt very scientific but here it is.</P> <P>100 hard metal nodes in TT</P> <P>267 porous loams</P> <P>33 Adamantium </P> <P>0 Xegonite</P> <P>0 Scint stones.</P> <P>ZERO Spongy</P> <P>100 hard metal nodes in Bonemier</P> <P>244 porous loams</P> <P>56 Adamantium </P> <P>0 Xegonite</P> <P>0 Scint stones </P> <P>ZERO SPONGY! ! !</P> <P> </P> <P>Thats all I had time to test.  I dont see anything there for Barren sky BLAH BLAH BLAH shouldnt matter.  I hit some nodes in BS and the results were just that B.S. </P> <P> </P>

[Nezumigami]

<DIV>By making rares even rarer (for master drops and ad3 mats) the endgame, as it were takes longer to cap and SoE keeps its players longer. It's like adding free conetent without really doing anything. Though this may just be some sort of paranoid speculation:smileywink:</DIV>

[lithium20x]

Just to add more evidence to back this up Everfrost Spongy loam (1) 5p Rough Moonstone (42) 1p54g-4p20g Acrylia (137) 1p13g-3p <div></div>

[valkyrja]

<div><blockquote><hr>Warbird1 wrote:<div></div> <p>Alright did a little experiment this week.  I know there are those out there that are going to disagree and some trolls that are going to BLAH BLAH its wasnt very scientific but here it is.</p> <p>100 hard metal nodes in TT</p> <p>267 porous loams</p> <p>33 Adamantium </p> <p>0 Xegonite</p> <p>0 Scint stones.</p> <p>ZERO Spongy</p> <p>100 hard metal nodes in Bonemier</p> <p>244 porous loams</p> <p>56 Adamantium </p> <p>0 Xegonite</p> <p>0 Scint stones </p> <p>ZERO SPONGY! ! !</p> <p>Thats all I had time to test.  I dont see anything there for Barren sky BLAH BLAH BLAH shouldnt matter.  I hit some nodes in BS and the results were just that B.S. </p> <hr></blockquote>so you got no rares at all in 200 nodes, what's your point?  I've had way longer dry spells than that (as I'm sure everyone has)</div>

[Krooner]

<DIV><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> sparql wrote:<BR> <DIV><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Warbird1 wrote:<BR> <P>Alright did a little experiment this week.  I know there are those out there that are going to disagree and some trolls that are going to BLAH BLAH its wasnt very scientific but here it is.</P> <P>100 hard metal nodes in TT</P> <P>267 porous loams</P> <P>33 Adamantium </P> <P>0 Xegonite</P> <P>0 Scint stones.</P> <P>ZERO Spongy</P> <P>100 hard metal nodes in Bonemier</P> <P>244 porous loams</P> <P>56 Adamantium </P> <P>0 Xegonite</P> <P>0 Scint stones </P> <P>ZERO SPONGY! ! !</P> <P> </P> <P>Thats all I had time to test.  I dont see anything there for Barren sky BLAH BLAH BLAH shouldnt matter.  I hit some nodes in BS and the results were just that B.S. </P> <P> </P><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE>so you got no rares at all in 200 nodes, what's your point?  I've had way longer dry spells than that (as I'm sure everyone has)<BR></DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>So have I.  Now go out there and harvest 200 gem nodes and tell me how many rares drop.  I have got 7 acrylla on one pass on fear tainted Island along with 2 moonstones.  </DIV>

[Knesh]

<DIV>I will have to agree, spongy loam is WAY to expensive on my server 4plat for 1 adept 3 is insane... And thats just for rare. SOE needs to seriously address the drop rates or switch rares or something.... I can't live with adept's 1 and masters are WAY WAY to overpriced, paladin masters range T7 from 13plat-23plat each. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Would love to see a dev resposne on this...</DIV>

[Kimage]

<P>I am surprised they made scouts also use the spongy. Though it is possible that SOE "forgot" about xegnoite? /shrug</P> <P>They do need to even out the drop rate of the rares. I have NEVER harvested a spongy, only 2 moons, and about 6 arcylias. Though I am one of the extreamly unlucky peeps who dont get rares - they might as well be mythical to me. :smileytongue: I would however like to see what the devs say about the drop rates and such. I'm particuarly interested in why they didn't make xeg also an adept 3 mat. Though I would ASSUME ( and well we all know how to spell assume ) that their argument would be that it would also be double dipping because the xeg is used for the rare armor crafts. Though I know VERY few who are actually wearing the xeg rare armor because well it aint that much better than the cobalt and the other items you can get on the market just is better. Now granted there is something to be said about having matching armor ( yea I'm weird ) , but I am a defiler, and to max my wis I will wear mixmatch as I think most peeps in T7 will do for better status. So I ask again devs - Why not make xeg a A3 mat?</P> <P> </P>

[Krontak]

<DIV>Maybe with The Great Nerf of '06 coming up they'll let us use acrylia in exchange for spongy loams or even moonstone?  I sure wish they're remove this differentiation of class and rare used for adept III's.  I can't figure out exactly where they were trying to go with different rares for different classes no matter how I juggle it in my head.  Take heed devs, please.</DIV>

[Belaythien]

It's getting worse every day.The prices for acrylia and moonstone are dropping (30-60g over the last week).Spongy loam get's more and more expensive. It went up about 50g in the same time and there are only half as many loams in the broker as before.A mage can currently get FOUR adept 3 spells for the price of ONE scout/tank spell. Mage/Priest Adept 3s are now even cheaper than T6 Spells *G*That really was a half-baked change <span>:smileysad:</span>

[Krooner]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Belaythien wrote:<BR>It's getting worse every day.<BR><BR>The prices for acrylia and moonstone are dropping (30-60g over the last week).<BR><BR>Spongy loam get's more and more expensive. It went up about 50g in the same time and there are only half as many loams in the broker as before.<BR><BR>A mage can currently get FOUR adept 3 spells for the price of ONE scout/tank spell. Mage/Priest Adept 3s are now even cheaper than T6 Spells *G*<BR><BR>That really was a half-baked change <SPAN>:smileysad:</SPAN><BR><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Dont worry rest assured that right after we all pay WAY too much for spell upgrades SOE will make it to where Spongies pop like rabbits or we can use any rares.</P> <P>Then right after we pay for those mobs on Grazier will be dropping master chests daily with spells in them. ... hmmmm sound familiar ( DOF )</P>

[Allowin]

you guys dont really expect a dev or somebody of importance to actually respond to this thread to inform us of what they were intending to do, or to even explain their avenue of thinking by screwing over the fighters/scouts with that LU?if you are, i have some really nice ocean front property in arizona i need to sell quick. ill make you a great deal too<div></div>

[ranlaen]

<P>I think the purpose of the thread to make devs aware of the problems this is causing.</P> <P>From a player point of view this is quite severe ,as it means you have to spent loads of plat to upgrade due to the rarity of the spongy loam .and with 2 group of classes now fighting over the loam the problem has just worsened with the changes.</P> <P>As a guardian and an assasin i feel it hard for one as i am sure anyone who plays scouts or fighters do.</P> <P>On the pve server i can cope.First its older servers so you have more money and 4-5p is not a huge pinch.Secondly even if i did not have adept3 ,app 4 works fine enough there to cope.</P> <P>On pvp server,the edge is so needed.From gear to spells.So when you make spongy loam a super rare it hurts and hurts bad for fighters and sout.It also puts them in a pvp disadvantage as other classes are using adept 3 against your app4/adept 1.Also,money is much harder to get there due to nature of the server and fact its only a few months old.</P> <P>I for one do not expect a developer reply but giving a feedback on the problems encountered as related to the "spongy loam" affair.</P>

[Finora]

<P>I feel bad for those having trouble finding loams. I'm not one of those. I've found as many loams as I have moonstones, and I have a network of friends that I trade the rares I don't want for the ones I do. Seems silly but the more I want a moonstone, the more likely I am to see a spongy or an acrylia.</P> <P>That all being said, spongy loams are ridiculously priced on my server in comparison to other rares. Of course part of that is because people willingly toss out the 4-6 pp a pop and one guy on the server buys up any priced below him and jacks the price up. And people still buy them.  </P> <P>The new distribution of rares is fair on paper if you look at what the rares are used for. Much more even than it was.</P> <P>acrylia - mage spells, jewelry, furniture</P> <P>moonstone - priest spells, jewelry, furniture</P> <P>spongy loam - fighter & scout arts</P> <P>That is what SOE was looking at. I believe they had not noticed that it was more rare to get certain rares than it was others.</P> <P>Now they have:</P> <P>- Changed Gem/Precious Metal harvest rare drops to be more inline with<BR>what other classes drop rates are instead of being twice as common.</P> <P>Though I'm certain that isn't the direction you wanted them to change it.</P> <P> </P> <P> </P>

[Rolande']

<DIV>- Changed Gem/Precious Metal harvest rare drops to be more inline with<BR>what other classes drop rates are instead of being twice as common.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> The way I read that, Gem(Moonstone) and precious metal(acrylia) will drop less, instead of being twice as common. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> Now that in no way helps spongy loam drop rate, but it doesnt hurt it, and after a little bit of time might help make them tradeable at or near the same value.</DIV>

[Lairdragna]

Brilliant... so the proposed change after every T7 mage and priest on the server was able to upgrade their spells on the cheap is to cut back the acrylia/moonstone drop rate?  HELLO!  There was and still is a glut... supply exceeds demand and thus the low price.  This does NOTHING to solve the problems facing Scouts and Fighters.  How about the collection quests... are you going to just make Xegonite the reward for that?  Because if you don't, or add spongy as a reward, you still have an unbalanced distribution.  Yes, acrylia and moonstone can be used for furniture... but guess what?  Since all the T7 mages and priests already upgraded their spells... there isn;t anything else to use it for!  Meanwhile Scouts and Fighters are running around with Adept 1s, an occassional Master if they get it to drop and win the roll and maybe one or two adept 3s.This system is still [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn]ed up!  Where are all the fanbois who said to give it a couple weeks and it would all even out?<div></div>

[StealthM0]

<DIV>I never said that, ex-fanboi here. Sig says it all.</DIV>

[OperationsX]

The gathering revamp is going to fix this issue, scheduled with LU#24 which is scheduled delayed till 6/14. By now its too late though, if you think every mage didn't grab on those 80g acrylias and priests didn't grab those 1p moonstones and fighters and scouts overpayed for 4p spongy loams your kidding yourself. They also said they are toning down acrylia and moonstone so they dont become worthless..the gathering change is gonna bring more rares into overall every tier, skill will now effect your amount of chance of getting a rare, all myths aside that is new.<p>Message Edited by OperationsX on <span class=date_text>05-23-2006</span> <span class=time_text>10:09 PM</span>

[Tybr]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> hammong wrote:<BR> <DIV>Spongy Loam and Moonstone were already highly prized on Mistmoore, and now with the LU23 change, Scouts are being switched from one highly sought-after rare to an even more highly sought-after rare.    I don't know what the actual chance to obtain the rares are in the field, but I do know that for every 4-5 acrylia clusters and 4-5 moonstones I find,<FONT color=#9966cc size=4> I am lucky to find one spongy loam and one xegonite cluster. </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Yea...these are almost impossable to aquire. </P> <P>I have an easier time getting fabled gear than this stuff.</P> <P> </P>

[Belaythien]

"- Changed Gem/Precious Metal harvest rare drops to be more inline withwhat other classes drop rates are instead of being twice as common."Isn't spongy loam a Gem or Metal too? Does that mean it will get even MORE rare? As I see things the "other classes" are leather, lumber, etc. <span>:smileysurprised:</span>

[Jay]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Belaythien wrote:<BR>"- Changed Gem/Precious Metal harvest rare drops to be more inline with<BR>what other classes drop rates are instead of being twice as common."<BR><BR>Isn't spongy loam a Gem or Metal too? Does that mean it will get even MORE rare? As I see things the "other classes" are leather, lumber, etc. <SPAN>:smileysurprised:</SPAN><BR><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>No, I believe this refers to acrylia and moonstones. If I'm reading it right, they're basically planning to make acrylia and moonstone drop as often as spongy loam.</P>

[Myrcul]

<DIV>Yes, because everyone should be paying 5P per raw material.  Brilliant solution.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Problem is, Acrylia and Moonstones are still going to be more common because they are easier to harvest for numerous reasons. Like Aggro/greyed out zones.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>M</DIV>

[Finora]

There are places to harvest ore and loam (in greater numbers as well) that are greyed out at 70.

[LanatirInno]

What exactly is spongy loam? i heard rumors about it, but i havent seen one so far on my server.

[svek]

<DIV><FONT size=2>First of all, I'm not trying to start a flame war here this is just my opinion.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>We got spoiled when DoF hit, all of a sudden everyone was running around with</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>full t6 rare armors and ad3's. Then they made fableds drop even more so people</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>who weren't raiding could still get those fabled armors (I know they were hardly as good</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>as the raid fableds but still) and master 1's.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>Sure in KoS they changed the fableds to legendary etc but still people was expecting</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>to run around in full ad3's and fully legendary or better.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>I guess my point is that back in t5 if you had a full rare armor and ad3's you had to</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>work hard for them, really hard. If you wanted fableds or master 1's well you had to</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>raid to get them, why? Because you didn't really need that kind of armor or spell</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>quality unless you raided and you had to raid lesser mobs to get them so you</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>could raid the more dangerous ones.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>It was kind of a progression stairway but that was sweeped away with the launch of</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>DoF and imho it wasn't all that bad, people were getting by fine with their treasured</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>armor drops and occassional rare armor piece they got hold of.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>I guess the balance is now totally out of whack and that's something we can't go</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>back to which is a shame imo but that's how people wanted it to be so SOE</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>backed down.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>The most stupid post I've ever seen on this forums was about this actual scenario,</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>the claim that person made was a bit extreme but it kind of proves a point.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>This person was soloing exclusively and still thought he should be able to</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>equip himself in fabled gear and with master 1's.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>And again, this claim is so rediculious because a person soloing, even</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>though it would make his life a lot easier he still has no real need</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>to have that kind of equipment.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>These days wearing fableds, having all your spells in master 1's doesn't</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>really mean much, it even means so little that ad3's and rare/legendary </FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>armor are considered </FONT><FONT size=2>standard these days instead of high end gear</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>for those who does not raid.</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>But I guess that's how people wants it to be *shrug*</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>Make the game too easy and people will stop playing since there</FONT></DIV><BR> <DIV><FONT size=2>are no longer any goals to achieve.</FONT></DIV>

[Kine]

<P>Id have to agree with your basic premise Svec. Gear was very easy to acquire...easier than perhaps it shouldve been.</P> <P>The big problem here though is the huge disparity between the difficulty of obtaining adept 3's for mage/priest vs fighter/scouts. Making acrylia and moonstones more rare is not going to fix the problem because the damage is already done. I have no problems with the nefring on the drop-rates on these other stones, as long as they went back to the T6 system in which all classes use any of the stones.</P>

[Oxie]

<DIV>Another thing about moonstones vs. acrylia vs. spongy loams:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There are two collection quests that give you either a moonstone, acrylia, or a xegonite. The other three rares (nimbus root, ebony wood, and spongy loam) are not given as a quest reward. This is all fine and dandy for those that can use moonstones and acrylia, because folks can basically buy the needed collection items and have a 1:3 chance of getting something to make spells for their priest or mage.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I know I did this on my 5 mule toons before they changed it to scouts to now needing spongy loams instead of moonstones. I ended up getting 10 rares handed over and 5 of those ended up being the desired moonstones (yay!), which I quickly handed over to a jeweler to get adept 3s made for my main (swashy). I also foraged like crazy in the areas in TT that are grey to a 70, and ended up getting twice as many acrylia as I did moonstones (meh!). Though, now that they are going to change the forage rates for the moonstones and acrylia, I'll eventually toss those extra acryila on the market once the over-abundance of acrylia dries up. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My quest is: do they plan on upping the rates of spongy loams to be consistant with the moonstone and acrylia forage rates??? Or are they going to lower the forage rates of acrylia and moonstones? Honestly, finding 1 rare every 1.5-2 hours of constant foraging should be the absolute max rate. Ya don't want to make it too easy, but in turn, don't make it too mind numbingly dull.</DIV>

[svek]

<P><FONT size=2>"Id have to agree with your basic premise Svec. Gear was very easy to acquire...easier than perhaps it shouldve been.</FONT></P><P><FONT size=2>The big problem here though is the huge disparity between the difficulty of obtaining adept 3's for mage/priest vs fighter/scouts. Making acrylia and moonstones more rare is not going to fix the problem because the damage is already done. I have no problems with the nefring on the drop-rates on these other stones, as long as they went back to the T6 system in which all classes use any of the stones."</FONT></P><P><FONT size=2></FONT></P><DIV><FONT size=2>I definitly agree with you there, when I first heard about it I thought it was a stupid move and</FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT size=2>it proved to be.</FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT size=2>I still don't understand why they changed it since there really was no need for it, the pre t7 system</FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT size=2>worked fine and you could clearly see that from the way rares were priced back then.</FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT size=2>Gems/metal prices were roughly the same in t6 and now in t7 there are huge differences which</FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT size=2>points to that something is totally out of whack.</FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT size=2>Hopefully they'll abandon the new system or go back to the old one instead of just fixing the drop</FONT></DIV><DIV><FONT size=2>rates when it's time for a new tier but untill then they need to fix the lack of spongy loam vs gems.</FONT></DIV>