Darklight Woods Master / Ornate chests dont exist

[Gherig]

<p>Ok this has been a major problem for years in EQ2.  I actually quit the game after lvl 70 / 70 and 100 AA's when it was clear and apparent Master and Ornate chest drops were broken in almost all non-raid instanced one group content.  Few weeks ago Neriak and Darklight Woods was added, I figured "hey I bet they fixed the chest drop issues, no way they ignored it [Removed for Content] all the people complaing for months"</p><p>Boy was I wrong.  So far, in Darklight Woods I have gotten 0 master chests, 0 ornate chests.  I am level 16, killed only in Darklight Woods, no place else.  I have killed almost every mob in 2/3rd of the zone at lesat 5 times each.  I have killed every named in 2/3rd of he zone at least 5-10 times each.  I have YET to see a quality chest drop, even once.</p><p>In every other noobie zone, heck even the darn noobie island, I would have seen at LEAST 10 chests ornate or master by level 16.  So i can only conclude the a) SOE removed Master/Ornate chess from the game (they would be idiotic if they actually did that) or b) the chest system is STILL broken and now to a major degree.</p><p>Why should I be forced to buy upgrades from a broker or leave my home area, designed to be utilized from lvl 1-25ish, to get upgrades to I can come back and fight in my home area?</p><p>Does anyone else see how big of an issue this is?  I cant even imagine how bad it is on PVP servers where gear makes 1000'x the difference between 2 same level characters.  If you cant get chests to drop for upgrades, whats the point of even playing?</p>

[re1master]

<p>I got a ornate chest (master I) off a solo con mob there....your idea is flawed.  I've got around 20 Master 1 books now at 45, most of them from killing named mobs in RoV/RE, but I've gotten some of them from trash heroic mobs or even one or two trash solo mobs.</p><p> Don't expect to be able to solo and get decked out in fabled equipment and masters.</p>

[Gherig]

Alexander@Guk wrote: <blockquote><p>I got a ornate chest (master I) off a solo con mob there....your idea is flawed.  I've got around 20 Master 1 books now at 45, most of them from killing named mobs in RoV/RE, but I've gotten some of them from trash heroic mobs or even one or two trash solo mobs.</p></blockquote><p> Hi, taking about Darklight Woods, not RoV/RE, two zones the universally everyone over the past 2 years agrees has a massive high curve for ornate and master chests drops.  I have been able to pull 10-15 master/ornate chests a night from those 2 zones when I played last, how does that help me at lvl 16 in Darklight Woods?  The issue is Darklight Woods, stay on topic.</p><p>I asked everyone in /ooc last night and today in all 3 instances of Darklight on Mistmoore Server, and out of the over 50 people all 4 times I asked in the last 48 hours not one single person said they got a Ornate or Master chest to drop ever in Darklight.  If you got one Alexander then you should count yourself as one of the luckiest people in Darklight Woods.</p>

[steelbadger]

You cannot complain about a low probability of masters off very low level solo mobs... You do not NEED masters or fabled or legendary gear, no one NEEDS it. My dirge (hardly an awesome soloer of awesomeness) has NO problems at all soloing with App 1's and random quested gear.

[SenorPhrog]

Darklight Woods is solo content so....well duh.  Of course you aren't going to see any.  I've only seen a handful off solo mobs in the entire time I've been playing. 

[Gladiia]

<p>im lucky to get 1 or 2 ornate/exquisite chests by level 16 in any area soloing, even when including killing every named I can locate.  If you are used to getting 10 or 15 by level 16 then it is YOU who are the lucky one <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Karlen]

>>>In every other noobie zone, heck even the darn noobie island, I would have seen at LEAST 10 chests ornate or master by level 16. <<< I was into my 30s before I got my first Master, so I have trouble coming up with sympathy for the OP.

[bensilvi]

oh wait you are corret SOE is missing it on the farming end. Duh, they should allow you to farm that zone thats it. Quit again alrdy instead of whinning about something like that.

[sfarugger]

<p>If they were nerfing Master and Ornate drops in future expansions, I would welcome it with open arms!  I'm a fan of masters and a fan of cash, but the drop rates are pretty rediculous and it's screwing up the economy.</p><p>Oh, I who the hell is the person paying over 100PP for there T7 masters!   Come on people, be reasonable <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Mareth]

If you can solo all the mobs in Darklight Woods several times over, that's a very good reaso why there shouldn't be metal chests there.

[Taityana]

<p>Although I agree wholeheartedly that because Darklight Wood is a solo zone, there shouldn't be any massive number of chest drops, there is a problem.  I just created two new alts.  One was Freeportian and completed all the quests on Newbie Isle.  I was lucky enough to get 2 ornate chests.  They dind't "look" ornate, but they were labeled as such and even had legendary gear inside.  In fact, most of my characters have gotten at least one legendary chest drop while on the island.  Of course, it's always in a stat I don't really need... </p><p>I think the OP is trying to bring this problem to light.  The other starting zones *DO* drop ornates and exquisites, yet Darklight has none.  If it isn't supposed to because of being a lowbie solo zone, then they need to be removed from the other starter zones as well.</p>

[Sabutai]

<cite>Gherig wrote:</cite><blockquote>Alexander@Guk wrote: <blockquote><p>I got a ornate chest (master I) off a solo con mob there....your idea is flawed.  I've got around 20 Master 1 books now at 45, most of them from killing named mobs in RoV/RE, but I've gotten some of them from trash heroic mobs or even one or two trash solo mobs.</p></blockquote><p> Hi, taking about Darklight Woods, not RoV/RE, two zones the universally everyone over the past 2 years agrees has a massive high curve for ornate and master chests drops.  I have been able to pull 10-15 master/ornate chests a night from those 2 zones when I played last, how does that help me at lvl 16 in Darklight Woods?  The issue is Darklight Woods, stay on topic.</p><p>I asked everyone in /ooc last night and today in all 3 instances of Darklight on Mistmoore Server, and out of the over 50 people all 4 times I asked in the last 48 hours not one single person said they got a Ornate or Master chest to drop ever in Darklight.  If you got one Alexander then you should count yourself as one of the luckiest people in Darklight Woods.</p></blockquote>You're right, I mean seriously why aren't level 10 people walking around in full fabled, fully mastered.  This game has some serious flaws if the RAREST level of gear and spells has magically popped in everybody's inventory by the time they're level 15. Grow up, the initial intent of this game was to make fabled gear and master spells the rarest items in the game, with the onset of KoS they took a major U-Turn with that and allowed stuff to drop off single or single group encounter mobs.  I'm sorry you want to feel as special as the people who raid and have fabled gear but get on with yourself that you haven't seen a single drop in the first 15 levels which takes all of 10 mins to do in this game.

[Zarafein]

Found a master chest in darklightwood while playing on test for less than 3 hours.

[Alaza]

I got a level 5 or 6 Conjuror master off of one of the crocs in the river in DLW.  Master/Ornate chests do drop there.

[Sassinak]

Of course newbies don't <i>need </i>ornate/exquisite chests.  They are just in there to make the early levels more interesting, and to introduce loot/spell tiers to the newbie.  The newbie isles drop them at a decent rate.  Darklight should drop them at the same rate.  Currently, the rate is very very low in DLW and most players don't even know they exist.

[Liral]

<p>Sigh..   quit your whining already....</p>

[Gherig]

<p>You guys are all missing the point.  You can get Master and Ornate chests in the following level 1-25 zones for years now.</p><p>Isle of Refuge Grimgash's Lair Queen's Colony Outpost of the Overlord The Graveyard The Peat Bog Oakmyst Forest The Source of Evil The Down Below The Sprawl The Thieves' Way Sunken City The Forest Ruins The Caves Crow's Nest The Cache Commonlands Antonica Decrepit Crypt The Ruins The Wailing Caves Blackburrow Indoor Stormhold The Serpent Sewer Vermin's Snye Thundering Steppes Nektulos Forest Greater Faydark</p><p>And alot more zones then listed above.  If I can get a consistant Master Chest drop in everyone single zone listed above, why should Darklight Woods be any different.  And for the people thinking this is for farming, your wrong.  Some people actually enjoy the game from 1-30 and like to try to build the best character they can for that level range.  A Legendary or Fabled item at lvl 8 is STILL a level 8 item, its not going to win you an y battles in Ruins of Varsoon, but its certainly appropriate for a lvl 8 character in a lvl 5-15 zone.  </p><p>If they are going to allow appropriate level Masters drop in the 27+ zones listed above then they should also allow it to happen in Darklight Woods.  Its called game balance. </p><p>Also, if level 1-15+ Masters, Fabled and Legendaries were not appropriate for the game at those levels, then why are they in the game?  Why do spells drop at master level for those levels?  Everyone posting that you dont need them as some seriously flawed logic going on.  You dont "NEED" anything in this game, but since its available in every single other noobie area in Everquest II, then why is it not available in Darklight Woods as player obtained drops?  Some people like to hunt for the gear, not hunt for the plat to buy the gear off a farmer on the broker.</p>

[Gherig]

Taityana wrote: <blockquote><p>I think the OP is trying to bring this problem to light.  The other starting zones *DO* drop ornates and exquisites, yet Darklight has none.  If it isn't supposed to because of being a lowbie solo zone, then they need to be removed from the other starter zones as well.</p></blockquote> Finally someone else that gets it.  I dont want every kill to drop a master chest, I am not an idiot, I did play this game for 3 years to lvl 70/70/100 as I stated.  But what I do want is consistancy.  If I can hunt Oakmyst for 6 hours and get 1 Legendary item, then im fine with that.  But when you hunt Darklight for 17 levels now and still dont see a chest past wood, thats a problem with consistancy in the early game.  Which needs to be addressed to keep the game balanced at aLL levels of gameplay.

[re1master]

<cite>Gherig wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Ok this has been a major problem for years in EQ2.  I actually quit the game after lvl 70 / 70 and 100 AA's when it was clear and apparent Master and Ornate chest drops were broken in almost all non-raid instanced one group content.  <b>Few weeks ago Neriak and Darklight Woods was added, I figured "hey I bet they fixed the chest drop issues, no way they ignored it [Removed for Content] all the people complaing for months"</b></p><p>Boy was I wrong.  So far, in Darklight Woods I have gotten 0 master chests, 0 ornate chests.  I am level 16, killed only in Darklight Woods, no place else.  I have killed almost every mob in 2/3rd of the zone at lesat 5 times each.  I have killed every named in 2/3rd of he zone at least 5-10 times each.  I have YET to see a quality chest drop, even once.</p><p>In every other noobie zone, heck even the darn noobie island, I would have seen at LEAST 10 chests ornate or master by level 16.  So i can only conclude the a) SOE removed Master/Ornate chess from the game (they would be idiotic if they actually did that) or b) the chest system is STILL broken and now to a major degree.</p><p>Why should I be forced to buy upgrades from a broker or leave my home area, designed to be utilized from lvl 1-25ish, to get upgrades to I can come back and fight in my home area?</p><p>Does anyone else see how big of an issue this is?  I cant even imagine how bad it is on PVP servers where gear makes 1000'x the difference between 2 same level characters.  If you cant get chests to drop for upgrades, whats the point of even playing?</p></blockquote> How could people be complaining for months about a zone that has been out for weeks? (note you went on to mention that you got masters in pretty much every other zone)

[Karlen]

>>>If they are going to allow appropriate level Masters drop in the 27+ zones listed above then they should also allow it to happen in Darklight Woods.  Its called game balance.<<< If it is harder to level to 20 in Darklight Woods than it is in the other starter/low-level zones, then there is a balance issue. Is it harder to reach 20 in DW?

[Armawk]

<p>If they have arranged things so that farming doesnt work so well then I think most of us will be pleased.. there might be a damned named available for normal players to kill and get decent gear and nice experience from.</p><p>Oh and Ive had one ornate in DLW and only ran two charcters from 0-15 ish in there doing normal questing. I was happy as a bunny, if they dropped too often it would get boring.</p>

[Cathars]

<cite>Taityana wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I think the OP is trying to bring this problem to light.  The other starting zones *DO* drop ornates and exquisites, yet Darklight has none.  If it isn't supposed to because of being a lowbie solo zone, then they need to be removed from the other starter zones as well.</p></blockquote> I don't think a run of bad luck is worth a two page thread.  Others have stated they've found master chests in Darklight.  On a related note, I dont think we've seen a 'Relic no longer droping?' thread this week.

[Armawk]

Gherig wrote: <blockquote><p>If I can get a consistant Master Chest drop in everyone single zone listed above</p><p> And for the people thinking this is for farming, your wrong. </p></blockquote> All of them? consistently? there arent enough hours in the day if you played 16 hours a day to play ALL of those zones enough to get master/ornate drops regularly in all of them. The sheer number of kills would boggle the mind!

[Ranger13]

<p> Does anyone spend enough time in the 10's or 20's to actually use a Master drop?  Geez, it's not like I'm a hardcore gamer or anything, but I find myself leveling so quickly I could care less if I got a Master drop until I was in my mid 30's or 40's.</p>

[LarryTalbot]

I have had 3 Master chests drop. Two while soloing and one in group with a guildmate (we were waiting for a another guildie to rev, started killing random mobs while we waited for her to get back and a Master chest popped that actually had a Master that my guildy could use immediately --- how often does that happen?)

[Gherig]

<cite>Ranger1325 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p> Does anyone spend enough time in the 10's or 20's to actually use a Master drop?  Geez, it's not like I'm a hardcore gamer or anything, but I find myself leveling so quickly I could care less if I got a Master drop until I was in my mid 30's or 40's.</p></blockquote><p> Some people dont race through the levels.  There is alot to see from 1-30 in this game, even raiding.  I know of several people who actualy have turned off EXP a long time ago so they can stay in lower zones and do all the quests and events level appropriate.  I might not be somehting for everyone, but for others its a playstyle that suits them fine.  Turing off combat EXP makes htis possible where in other games its rush, rush, rush or you outlevel the quests.</p><p>Heck we have a guildmate that plays everyday almost, shes still level 32 and enjoys The Enchanted Lands so mush she has had EXP turned off for almost a year now just so its still fun for her.  She doesnt use a broker, shes not a farmer, she just likes that part of the game the most so she stays at that level.</p>

[Gherig]

Alexander@Guk wrote: <blockquote><cite>Gherig wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Ok this has been a major problem for years in EQ2.  <span style="color: #cc3366">I actually quit the game after lvl 70 / 70 and 100 AA's when it was clear and apparent Master and Ornate chest drops were broken in almost all non-raid instanced one group content</span>.  <b>Few weeks ago Neriak and Darklight Woods was added, I figured "hey I bet they fixed the chest drop issues, no way they ignored it [Removed for Content] all the people complaing for months"</b></p></blockquote> How could people be complaining for months about a zone that has been out for weeks? (note you went on to mention that you got masters in pretty much every other zone)</blockquote><p> Read the sentence before that, the part your quoting is not the issue we are talking about.  The comment was that last year, this board was flooded with people saying there are little to no master / ornate chest drops from T4+ in one group instances, and people were running Acadachism, Poets and zones like that 15-20 times a week across the whole guild and having 0 Masters chests drop at all.  My hope was after all that focus last year from players on those zones, they fixed the drop rates.  Darklight Woods clearly shows that is not the case.   The "complaining for months" was in reference to the hundreds of posts and replies last summer and fall supporting the idea that master / ornate chest drop rates were broken past T4.</p>

[Netcaitiff]

I just restarted EQ2 after about a 1 1/2 year break.  I have been trying to settle on a new character, and have taken 3 characters though lvl 18-20ish range in DLW.So far, I have had 2 masters drop in that time frame.  I know things have changed since I last played, but to me, that actually seemed like an increase in the rate of Master chests from when I played before.  And, on a complete sidenote, the gear you get through quests in DLW seems fairly decent for its level, and the quests are fun and entertaining.  I am pretty impressed with the zone. 

[liveja]

<p>I got an Exquisite Chest from "a docile slither" the day Darklight Woods went live.</p><p>/shrug</p>

[idonthe]

I got a master spell off some trash mob in Darklight wood.

[Cakassis]

Got an exquisite chest off one of the mage mobs near the bazaar respawn area two weeks ago when I was leveling a coercer. 

[Beldin_]

<img src="http://beldin.be.funpic.de/eq2/EQ2_000333.jpg" border="0">

[Rahatmattata]

<p>I agree with the OP. The argument saying level 1-20 toons dont need masters or nice gear is completly bogus. Maybe you could give 2 squirts about your character and equipment, but many of us do care and like to be as ubah as possible at every level in the game. All you people that "do fine" with app1s and random quested <u>crap </u>are the same people that get me killed time and time again in Wailing Caves and Fallen Gate trying to kill heroic mobs you really have no business messing with. This isn't even considering the fact that if you're on a pvp server at that level you are surrounded by level locking plat buying AA farming twinks where any piece of legendary gear or ad3 is going to cost you 50g+.</p><p>And even that is not the real issue.</p><p>The problem is Darklight Woods is not on the same level as Qeynos and Freeport T1 zones and Antonica and Commonlands. Neither is Gfay btw. How come there are at *least* 3 <u>solo </u>named orcs in The Ruins (2 ring events, 1 lotto pop) that almost always drop a master or legendary or both in 1 box, even if the ph pops instead of the named? How come there are also at *least* 3 heroic named orcs in The Ruins (1 ring, 2 lotto) that almost always drop master or legendary? Why are there tons of heroic mobs, named, and even some epic mobs (both contested and quested) in Commonlands and Antonica, but not in Darklight or Gfay that drop masters, fabled gear, and legendary gear? Why are there no heroics or epics in Darklight Woods and very very very few heroics in Gfay and I think 1 epic? Where is the Wailing Caves/Blackburrow equivalent in Darklight or Gfay?</p><p>I'll tell you why... Gfay and Darklight or glorified noobie isles. They aren't realy overland T2 zones like one would expect. It's instead a big giant Outpost of the Overlord that goes up to 20. The only thing Darklight has going for it is it looks cool and it's hands down the best place where you can stay in 1 zone and get AAs levels 1-20 or so. If you want any sort of decent loot or an xp group, you have to goto the old world zones in T2. Darklight and Gfay are purely solo and quite honestly the quested gear rewards suck. Much of it isn't even on par with level 10 hand crafted (except some jewlery and secondary slot stuff). I actually had to purchase gear off the broker on my assassin around level 14 to continue doing the quest lines involving solo mobs even level to 1 level higher. I was just getting owned too much in the quested "loot" I earned in Darklight (and yes I know how to play).</p>

[liveja]

<p>I solo'd every quest in Darklight Woods that I've done so far, using mostly the quest rewards -- until I got rich enough to get some crafted armor at level 10 -- in quest rewards.</p><p>As a Troubadour.</p><p>It's perfectly easy, it's nowhere near as hard as some people make it out to be, & yes, occasionally exquisite chests drop there.</p><p>/shrug</p>

[Rahatmattata]

<p>While I have no idea why anyone would roll a troubador, it really has nothing to do with the quality of loot and quest rewards in Darklight Woods. Most of the quested rewards don't even hold up to level 10 handcrafted gear, and yea I blew through Darklight on my warden in quested gear and app1s, and I don't know what level your troubador is, but you won't get far relying on the crap you quest in that zone. </p><p>Try going through the whole questline as an assassin relying on nothing but quested gear and loot drops from Darklight and come back and tell us how well you did. Give us your KvD ratio. Now, obviously you probably aren't going to do that (and I don't blame you), so then try it with your troubador. But oh, you said you already bought gear. </p><p>Anyway even beside that all one has to do is look at the quest rewards and see that they suck. Sure you *can* kill some stuff and do a few quests using the quested and looted gear, hell maybe even naked, but tbh you're probably just better off buying the level 10 crap from a vendor just for the mitigation. Funny its a purely solo zone but the quest rewards gives you small stats like 2 str or 2 agi or w/e, yet horrible horrible mitigation, which when you are soloing at that low level mitigation and avoidance are really all that matter. Not to mention the weapons both quested and looted... you might as well duelwield string cheese.</p><p>I guess I just find it odd that so many people are defending the sub par loot in Darklight Woods. Sure it's a neat zone, yea there's lots of quests and cool things to look at. It's new and fresh to EQ2 and a welcome change from the isles. But come on, don't even play like those quest rewards and the loot tables in Darklight are even half way respectable for T2. It's crap. It's vendor trash. It's transmuting fodder. If you want some halfway decent T2 gear hit up The Ruins and The Caves. Some of that stuff rivals mastercrafted.</p><p>And pretty much every trash solo mob in the game has some % chance to drop a master, but that doesn't really count. What's missing are named mobs that have loot tables that drop their own treasured/legendary pieces and a higher chance of masters. Pretty much all the same stuff can be said about Gfay too.</p>

[Taabissa]

<cite>Rahatmattata wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Try going through the whole questline as an assassin relying on nothing but quested gear and loot drops from Darklight and come back and tell us how well you did. Give us your KvD ratio. Now, obviously you probably aren't going to do that (and I don't blame you), so then try it with your troubador. But oh, you said you already bought gear.</p></blockquote>Hello!  2nd character ever created was an arasai assassin.  I solo'd all of DLW up to the Lumbering Crawler without any problems before leaving DLW to quest in the commonlands.  I did it all on quested gear with very few deaths.  Patience and stealth helped a lot.  Looking back i'd say I only died about 10 times in DLW taking into account a few bad pulls in the spider caves taking out Zerilla. Keep in mind that I'm new to the game, with this character the highest level i have right now (27).

[nadym]

I guess i was very lucky. Ive had two exquisite in darklight woods. One in venekor starting a warlock pvp character. I got the master i think in one of the first 10 mobs i killed, still in the first or second quest about killing the wolfs and the small elementals around. It was a lvl 1 master ofc, but still you get a nice surprise =) I got another master in my normal server, crushbone with a sk alt, around level 12 or so, when entering in the crater where all those mobs are trying to summon a god. I killed one of the mages in the center of the crater and there it was a coercer master =) Playing later with the sk, and as i like to twink chars from the very beginning, i killed the two spider nameds, one named skelly close to the tower of bone, the named ghostly bat, and the thexian named in his camp. All of those dropped treasured. Hope you get more luck in your next try <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> (and me too) Cheers,

[ChickenCasual]

<p>no flaw in the game </p><p>had 2 or 3 master chests on darklight woods. from trash mobs. </p>

[Beldin_]

<cite>Rahatmattata wrote:</cite><blockquote>I guess I just find it odd that so many people are defending the sub par loot in Darklight Woods. Sure it's a neat zone, yea there's lots of quests and cool things to look at. It's new and fresh to EQ2 and a welcome change from the isles. But come on, don't even play like those quest rewards and the loot tables in Darklight are even half way respectable for T2. It's crap. It's vendor trash. It's transmuting fodder. If you want some halfway decent T2 gear hit up The Ruins and The Caves. Some of that stuff rivals mastercrafted. </blockquote><p>The quest rewards not only in Darklight Woods suck, they are crap everywhere compared to the revamped mastercrafted. At the start of the game everyone was happy to get things like Danielles Bearhide Armor in NQ .. or whatever .. but if you look at that now even every crappy item from DW will be much better. The revamped caves are the only zone i think where you can get solo decent quest-armor, for Ruins you need a group because of all the roaming heroics and social aggro.</p><p>However .. the thread was about masters, and they drop from time to time, but really nobody needs them, i normally give my character mastercrafted Armor at 12, leave the jewlery they get on the way till 22 and spells are mostly App 4, and with that you have absolutely no problems to solo also some green ^^^-mobs from time to time. </p><p>So now you can next complain that you don't get a rare from every node .. or whatever <img src="/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[colleekitty]

As a noob returning to the game, I thought the quest rewards in Darklight were excellent.  I remember completing the zone will my fury with a hat with stats, +10 heath, +25 power and some other nice stuff.  True, it isn't as good as master crafted, but not crap.  My fury is approaching 27 and hasn't found a nicer hat.  I tried rolling a neutral race on the island and I couldn't believe how crappy my gear was, compared to the very low level stuff in Darklight.  As for the chests, I've rolled 6 characters through darklight and spent countless hours there getting used to the game and harvesting.  I've never had a higher level chest drop, so they must be very rare.  On the other hand, my first time to the Ruins, I killed 3 named mobs and had 3 ornate chests drop in a row.  This was after a server reset I believe.  Same thing with other lower level zone, many more higher level chests.  I'm not complaining, but there is defiantly a lower drop rate.  I almost see it as a trade off...If I'm going to level in darklight I will not get any higher chests, but the gear will be better and *grins* I can level up to 17-18 without leaving the zone.  And all the names who drop the regular chests with loots I can sell, make up for it as well. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Guy De Alsace]

<p>I've never had a master chest drop in Downbelow. </p><p>DOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!</p>

[Sunlei]

<cite>Gherig wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Ok this has been a major problem for years in EQ2.  I actually quit the game after lvl 70 / 70 and 100 AA's when it was clear and apparent Master and Ornate chest drops were broken in almost all non-raid instanced one group content.  Few weeks ago Neriak and Darklight Woods was added, I figured "hey I bet they fixed the chest drop issues, no way they ignored it [Removed for Content] all the people complaing for months"</p><p>Boy was I wrong.  So far, in Darklight Woods I have gotten 0 master chests, 0 ornate chests.  I am level 16, killed only in Darklight Woods, no place else.  I have killed almost every mob in 2/3rd of the zone at lesat 5 times each.  I have killed every named in 2/3rd of he zone at least 5-10 times each.  I have YET to see a quality chest drop, even once.</p><p>In every other noobie zone, heck even the darn noobie island, I would have seen at LEAST 10 chests ornate or master by level 16.  So i can only conclude the a) SOE removed Master/Ornate chess from the game (they would be idiotic if they actually did that) or b) the chest system is STILL broken and now to a major degree.</p><p>Why should I be forced to buy upgrades from a broker or leave my home area, designed to be utilized from lvl 1-25ish, to get upgrades to I can come back and fight in my home area?</p><p>Does anyone else see how big of an issue this is?  I cant even imagine how bad it is on PVP servers where gear makes 1000'x the difference between 2 same level characters.  If you cant get chests to drop for upgrades, whats the point of even playing?</p></blockquote><p>  On pvp they have merchants where you can get awesome gear for pvp points, so good drops aren't as much of an issue.</p><p> Agree with you, soe made the best chests not drop in those 2 new zones. Lot of regular chests drop, got a lot of adepts, treasured stuffs from named, tons of shineys where the turnin gives jewelry good for 1-20. Really plenty of nice stuff to wear or even sell on the broker for decent golds to the transmuters or to other 1-20 lvl players. The loot drops are fine for a real newbie/casual player and seem to have more than average chest drops to keep a newbies interest. Will an experienced player looking to 'farm' the better stuff be happy with this zone? no, but I think that was soes intention...keep the experienced farmers out so there's actually named up for people to see. </p><p>Come on, you're not 'forced to buy from the broker at lvl 1-20'..get out to the newbie zones where we *know* the good chests drop if you *need* that fabled gear/newbie masters. </p><p>I can see where soe would turn-off master and fabled chests in that new zone because the experienced players will have been farming the hell out of the zone.</p><p>oh lol edited cause i see a screen above of a good chest drop in darklight woods, hehe guess soe made them very rare drop....have to kill 1000 named for one drop <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[DiatribeEQ]

<p>I've gotten a couple Masters I's in Darklight so far, a couple Legendary items as well (not very Legendary if you ask me, but ah well).</p><p>Point is:  It's all stupid random luck.  Period.</p><p>Have a nice day.</p>

[Lortet]

<p>Don't know that many of the responses here have much to do with the OP's statement actually. I didn't detect any qualification that these exquisite/ornate drops were necessary (they aren't) or even about the chance of them dropping from trash mobs (they do, like from trash mobs anywhere - not very often, but they do).</p><p>I think he was suggesting that the named (albeit they seem to be only ^ on the whole) mobs in DW don't seem to have them in their particular drop schedule, like the named mobs in the old world starter areas. </p><p>I ran around the Qeynos starter zones last night with a twinked (i admit it lol) lvl 14 swashie (tracking for the win) - and in 30 minutes had 1 exquisite and 4 ornate chests for one master and four legendary weapon/armour pieces. Also got the "pitted halberd of the marsh" treasured from King Itchide which is actually a better drop than any of the legendaries. All from "nameds". I did not get any of the three ^^^'s in the caves btw, and only one ^^^ overall - the Unicorn in Oakmyst (treasured belt drop).</p><p>Are these necessary? - no - too easy to get? - maybe, but other than the master, nothing too special. The big question though - Do they make it more fun, with the anticipation of a big metal chest appearing? I would think yes.</p>

[liveja]

<cite>Rahatmattata wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>but you won't get far relying on the crap you quest in that zone.</p></blockquote><p>I did, however, get far enough to complete the quests I needed to do, prior to "twinking" my Troubie in regular crafted gear, which was good enough to let me solo all but one named from the DRT HQ, which got me better armor.</p><p>I think that's the point of the quest rewards -- to get you through the quests in the area. Note that I never claimed the quest rewards were "good", I merely implied that they are adequate to the zone challenges, which they are.</p><p>Not sure why you'd say you don't know why anyone would play a Troubie. They're fun to solo. In fact, since I've had less trouble soloing my Troubie than you've apparently had with your Assassin, I'd wonder why anyone would roll an Assassin. But that's just me. </p>

[Fasci]

I picked up a master chest this morning from a Shimmering Wisp (or whatever it's called)  in the Harrowglade.  /shrug    I also got a nice trunk from the named bat (Echobreath?) by T'Vatar Post last week. (on one of my alts: a lvl 13 Bruiser)

[lilmohi]

<p>Only problem i have with the zone is the treasured drops seem a bit light.  Usually by the time i finish with IoR i have picked up about 10 adepts (mostly can't use them).  I've leveled 3 chars up to lvl 10 in darklight and each time i only got about 3 adepts.</p><p>The other issue is at least so far i haven't seen any heroic named in darklight, whereas IoR and the other newbie dungeons have a number of heroic named mobs.  I think the lack of heroic named counts a long way to the shortage of legendary and fabled chests.</p><p>Other than that i love the quest progression and the rewards are very nice.</p>

[Devilsbane]

<p>Master chests do drop in Darklight Woods. They just do not drop in the same ratio as they do in Freeport outer zones. No other tier 1 zones drop half the number of master chests that do in the Freeport outer zones. Kill plenty of npcs (regular, heroic, or named) and master chests will drop eventually. The lack of Ornate chests (legendary chests) are the problem. They legendary items simply do not exist for Darklight Woods, GFay, or Stormhold. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Edit: Look what I just got tonight and from what. Seems Master chests are less rare then quests starter drops. (I was looking for a Far Seas Requisition #OKF050 quest drop.)</p><p><img src="http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3954/fabledmystailratvq1.jpg" border="0"></p>

[jikken]

guess im 1 of the very lucky ones that actualy found a ornate chest in dlw but the drop rate is insanly low and not only in dlw thay said this game is goin to be more solo friendly but as far i saw they made a few soloable zones with the general crap that only is bought for transmuting

[Novusod]

Darklight woods the easiest zone in the entire game. If you factor in risk VS reward then it is perfectly reasonable that it would have the lowest drop rate. Darklight Woods has no heroic mobs which IMO is good thing but with the loss of challenging mobs so goes the loss master / ornate drops. I think a good compromise to get new players a nice little peice of gear would be to add an instance onto darklight woods. Make it work just like the T7 instances. It would have heroic ^^^ mobs maybe around level 19 and named boss mob with a guarenteed loot drop. Put a lock out timer on the zone and make the loot no-trade. It does not have to have an extensive loot table, maybe just one piece of legendary for each class arch-type such as: a robe, a tunic, a Gi, or breast plate. The idea is to offer a good risk VS reward ballance for those who are willing to take the risk.

[Devilsbane]

<cite>jikken wrote:</cite><blockquote>guess im 1 of the very lucky ones that actualy found a ornate chest in dlw but the drop rate is insanly low and not only in dlw thay said this game is goin to be more solo friendly but as far i saw they made a few soloable zones with the general crap that only is bought for transmuting </blockquote><p> <img src="/smilies/0320a00cb4bb5629ab9fc2bc1fcc4e9e.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Oh really? Do you still have the item? Maybe you make a screen shot of the examination window and post here. </p>

[jikken]

aah sorry not the ornate but the other with a fabled book and the idea to put a named with always drop.....there will be standing some sk farming the named over and over again just like everywhere else people who really need them wont be able to get them same as the uber pvp toons those  guys r scared again that other people could have some 'elite items' or that their huge amount of items would drop in price

[Novusod]

<cite>jikken wrote:</cite><blockquote>aah sorry not the ornate but the other with a fabled book and the idea to <span style="color: #cc0000">put a named with always drop.....there will be standing some sk farming the named over and over again</span> just like everywhere else people who really need them wont be able to get them same as the uber pvp toons those  guys r scared again that other people could have some 'elite items' or that their huge amount of items would drop in price </blockquote>Aah but SoE already knows how to solve this problem: instance + lock out timer + no-trade loot = no farming.