Cheers for Ethereal Weapons

[Meirril]

I just wanted to compliment Dev on the idea. A limited availability item of very high quality that you get for just playing the game. The limited time makes people want to spend more time playing. Summer always seems like a low time for server population so this really couldn't come at a better time.

I'm not sure if they are getting people who wouldn't be playing during the summer to log in, but the people who do log in seem to be spending more time in-game. So kuddos for finding a carrot to dangle in front of the players that encourages good play instead of having everybody flock into a single zone to chase the same thing and fustrate each other.

[Syrce]

I agree with you, 100%

However, if this turns out to be some lame promotion for the new Mini-Game "pay to play" with SC, I will be very dissapointed!

[Grumble69]

I haven't gotten one to drop.  But I like the idea as well.  They're not very practical to farm which is a good thing.  There is a very limited number of them.  And they're not "game breaking".  If I do manage to get one, I'll end up selling it so that I can buy other pieces of gear.

It would be nice to keep this rolling, except maybe switch out the items to keep it fresh as the game progresses.

[Eirele]

Grumble69 wrote:

They're not very practical to farm which is a good thing. 

I think they are perhaps too easy to 'farm'. One or two people on my server have had 15+ drop each.

The way the drop rate works currenly favours those people who are set up for farming, but having said that I am not sure what can be done about it (as they are killing thousands of mobs to get these drops, just not in the same way as the rest of us) other than SoE taking a stronger stance on people running third party programs.

[Draylore]

Have only gotten one to drop and of course given my fail luck it was the Mage lVL 92 1hander......and I only have Assassin and Guardian toons

[anaugi]

I dont know about easy to farm.. a bunch of in guild have been putting in an extreme amount of time just rail roading mobs and instances, with no drops.  The first day they went live, guild had 6 drop.. then a patch came, and haven't had any in guild drop since.

Personally I've put in a ton of time. ridiculous amounts of master-spells, fabled drops, legendary up the wazoo.. no ethereals.  I did 2.5 hours in WL after the patch yesterday, chain pulling, doing 16 nymphs at a time, as many drakes as I could lasso.. me killing one mob, pet killing the other, and not a single chest of *any* sort dropped.  Pretty frustrating.

I know people will bring up the RNG, but I'm trying to decide if they tweaked the numbers after that first day feeling that too many were coming into the world.  The past couple of days has seen very few if any drop from the chatter in channels.

So... are they still dropping?

An.

[Grumble69]

Eirele wrote:

I think they are perhaps too easy to 'farm'. One or two people on my server have had 15+ drop each.

The way the drop rate works currenly favours those people who are set up for farming, but having said that I am not sure what can be done about it (as they are killing thousands of mobs to get these drops, just not in the same way as the rest of us) other than SoE taking a stronger stance on people running third party programs.

Wow & dang.  I hate that those folks wreck it for the rest of us.

...maybe they can consider flagging those folks that gets lots of drops for a GM to monitor their in-game activities.

[bks6721]

random luck is such an achievement.

[Dreamclouds]

I think it is really true the drops have come to a screeching halt. Could be a couple things... there may be a finite number of these weapons, and we are reaching the bottom of the pool, or they drops were adjusted because of the farmers. Its really sad cause the players trying hard and enjoying the hunt will have less of a chance, those farming with bots will still be able to kill thousands and thousands.

Is there a red name that can address this? It would be helpful to know what has changed.

Thanks In Advance

[Leawyn]

I can say with a certainty that I have have not logged a single extra second to try to get one of these weapons. My husband has tried farming them but it was during times he would already be playing anyway. So yeah... maybe you're misunderstanding people's reasons for being online.

[ranga]

Grumble69 wrote:

Eirele wrote:

I think they are perhaps too easy to 'farm'. One or two people on my server have had 15+ drop each.

The way the drop rate works currenly favours those people who are set up for farming, but having said that I am not sure what can be done about it (as they are killing thousands of mobs to get these drops, just not in the same way as the rest of us) other than SoE taking a stronger stance on people running third party programs.

Wow & dang.  I hate that those folks wreck it for the rest of us.

...maybe they can consider flagging those folks that gets lots of drops for a GM to monitor their in-game activities.

Well, Windstalker posted and said there was no 'hocus pocus' goin on with the drop chances. But for a single person to get 15 and maybe 15000 others to get zilch, perhaps there was no intentional 'hocus pocus' but that SEEMS TO BE the effect.

So, many appear on the broker in the first day and the drop rate gets nerfed further. More to the point, I have heard of no Mythicals dropping in SS since the Ethereals were released. Please post if you have found one during that time, then we can at least see if the E replaced the M pro tem.

Apart from two refs to Ethernere in the Qeynos Rises lore, I can find no reference to support the appearance of these weps. I posted it on another thread but to repeat, it's OK for devs and storyliners to have great ideas, but FGS let us in on it or it's completely wasted!!

[anaugi]

Yea Windstalker said there was no monkey business about the distribution or drop rate.  That being said it still seems pretty clear that in the first couple of days they were dropping like mad... and now nothing.  I havent even heard of one dropping at all since the 14 patch.

So while no monkey business, she also said it's for a limited time and related to in-game lore (Im' assuming the Etherene.. we all assumed it was the whole month.. who knows maybe it's done.  No one wants to say more than that officially while people run around thinking they can get one still when they might not be able to

An.

[Thor]

The truth is that first week we had 5-6 drop in guild. Since then even more people have spend even more time to try find them but we have seen one.

One member made a remark that sounds very possible. He thinks the ethereal weapons will be added as reward in the mini game, i.e. you pay to have your chance to get one.  The ones that has already been droped in game are teasers for the players.

I hope that's not SoE's itention to run such dirty tricks but who knows...

[ranga]

Thorine@Oasis wrote:

The truth is that first week we had 5-6 drop in guild. Since then even more people have spend even more time to try find them but we have seen one.

One member made a remark that sounds very possible. He thinks the ethereal weapons will be added as reward in the mini game, i.e. you pay to have your chance to get one.  The ones that has already been droped in game are teasers for the players.

I hope that's not SoE's itention to run such dirty tricks but who knows...

They actually said Ethereals are scheduled to drop until the last day of August. Drop rate is anyones guess but it def appears to have been nerfed.

Windstalker actually said it was part of a great storyline yada yada but like I said, it's only great if you let the players in on it. I have heard of no lore that suggests a continuation or emergence of any new story line. If the lore is attached to the disco of an ethereal, people are keeping pretty quiet about it lol.

So when are the storylines going to actually get out of SOE HQ and into Norrath????

[hansomepete]

Draylore wrote:

Have only gotten one to drop and of course given my fail luck it was the Mage lVL 92 1hander......and I only have Assassin and Guardian toons

I have the exact opposite luck, I get nothing but fighter and troub stuff.

LOL in our guild a memember got the fighter 92 sword then she transmuted it by accident. That was funny.

[Tylia]

Two guild members each got one on the 14th, after the servers came back up.  They are still dropping, and it's all at the fate of the RNG. 

[Fendaria]

Meirril wrote:

I just wanted to compliment Dev on the idea. A limited availability item of very high quality that you get for just playing the game. The limited time makes people want to spend more time playing. Summer always seems like a low time for server population so this really couldn't come at a better time.

I'm not sure if they are getting people who wouldn't be playing during the summer to log in, but the people who do log in seem to be spending more time in-game. So kuddos for finding a carrot to dangle in front of the players that encourages good play instead of having everybody flock into a single zone to chase the same thing and fustrate each other.

I completely disagree.  It is/was a bad idea.

Limited time part sucks.  Either you will be lucky and get one, or you will be out of luck with nothing you can do.  Its out of your control completely.  The old 'world events' were so much better.  Limited time quests and things you at least had some control over.

This hasn't gotten one extra person to play in our guild.  The only people trying to get these are the ones who are already playing lots of hours, and it just ends up anoying them to no end.

And how does this encourange good play?  I see the exact opposite happening.  People off farming junk mobs for a miniscule chance of a drop?  Its not fun and they just log off the game angry at time wasted.

There isn't any lore about this stuff.  Over 75% of my guild didn't even know what they were or that something had even been done.

Some carrot.

A 'world event' this is not.  Those were done so much better...back when there was enough staff to actually implement them.

Fendaria

[benda]

A limited availability item lol  i have played 14 hours or more in the last 3  weeks atleast with 2 lvl 92 S BL and  Zerk had zero drops even  after few in my circle had luck the first week getting theres if you ask me they just tossed a few bones out there to give a little hope... oh i should add thats my option(how many hours should i free up a week ? to cream all lvl 90 or above mobs including city guards ? and no i dont think they should be or giving to toons with 7 years plus paying 12mo year in fact if anything iv learned that none instance mobs in any zone are weak lol

[Rendoir]

Fendaria wrote:

Meirril wrote:

I just wanted to compliment Dev on the idea. A limited availability item of very high quality that you get for just playing the game. The limited time makes people want to spend more time playing. Summer always seems like a low time for server population so this really couldn't come at a better time.

I'm not sure if they are getting people who wouldn't be playing during the summer to log in, but the people who do log in seem to be spending more time in-game. So kuddos for finding a carrot to dangle in front of the players that encourages good play instead of having everybody flock into a single zone to chase the same thing and fustrate each other.

I completely disagree.  It is/was a bad idea.

Limited time part sucks.  Either you will be lucky and get one, or you will be out of luck with nothing you can do.  Its out of your control completely.  The old 'world events' were so much better.  Limited time quests and things you at least had some control over.

This hasn't gotten one extra person to play in our guild.  The only people trying to get these are the ones who are already playing lots of hours, and it just ends up anoying them to no end.

And how does this encourange good play?  I see the exact opposite happening.  People off farming junk mobs for a miniscule chance of a drop?  Its not fun and they just log off the game angry at time wasted.

There isn't any lore about this stuff.  Over 75% of my guild didn't even know what they were or that something had even been done.

Some carrot.

A 'world event' this is not.  Those were done so much better...back when there was enough staff to actually implement them.

Fendaria

This. Although I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

[Lordbelgarion]

I love the Idea of Ethereal Weapons. 

It seems you have two kinds of people. Those who "got theirs"and pharmed in the first few days of August and the rest who are now out of luck.

Developers use these gimmicks often. I've seen them do it often when they release a new expansion. The drop rate is increased to get players invested into the game again, then after a while along comes a patch, the drop rate is stealth nerfed and you have the veritable "working as intended" quote from the people at SOE letting you know that nothing is wrong and all is well.

It's a bit sad for the rest of us whom may have just found out about this promotion. Oh well.

[Lizabethan]

Lordbelgarion wrote:

the drop rate is stealth nerfed and you have the veritable "working as intended" quote from the people at SOE letting you know that nothing is wrong and all is well.

People also have to realize when you call CS that those people don't have access to things like loot tables or information about how things drop. I can't tell you how many people over the last few days have said in channel that they've called "Sony" for this one, but you're actually calling CS, who really don't delve into these matters. They almost (maybe they do) have to say that everything is working as intended, because I'm not sure any one of them know for sure, and the poor guys are just trying to do their real jobs - handling account questions.

/off soapbox

As for the ethereals, I'm excited by them. I only know of one person who's gotten one, but that's not really my focus. There's been hints that they're tied into lore, and to see speculation about why they've come out is wonderful! It's gotten at least some people really excited about the story again, and who knows where they'll take us..

[faydh]

to easy to farm?

In my guild only two have seen one drop. those two were duoing at the time. So only one has droped to a hole f... guild.

And no it is not because we have not tried.

I have by now given up. 12 days of hard farming. Only grapping a few hours of sleep now and then and no RL to speak of were enough for me. I only did see that one Etheral that droped for me and a guildy.

I do not know how some can get multipli drops and so many get none. Something seems wrong to me.

[ranga]

faydh wrote:

to easy to farm?

In my guild only two have seen one drop. those two were duoing at the time. So only one has droped to a hole f... guild.

And no it is not because we have not tried.

I have by now given up. 12 days of hard farming. Only grapping a few hours of sleep now and then and no RL to speak of were enough for me. I only did see that one Etheral that droped for me and a guildy.

I do not know how some can get multipli drops and so many get none. Something seems wrong to me.

Plus, many people that found one didn't even want it hence so many are on the broker. Go figure. Sony doesn't care, they introduced enough in the first few days to garner much interest and then turned the tap off.

Don't get me wrong, I would like to find one for sure, I have been farming in the vain hope of getting one. But it should have been a world event not a random luckfest for 3 or 4 days.

[Councellor]

Well my wife was out doing her dailies in Stonebrunt on 8/15 when one dropped right in her lap. She, nor any of our guild (Retributions Blade) has even attempted to "farm" these incredible weapons, so when she got hers she was so pleasantly surprised. We discussed her using it versus selling it and she chose to put it on the broker for an insane price (there were 6 others on there as well) thinking there was no way in the world it would ever sell. Low and behold this morning she got up and to her amazement it had sold!  She ran around the house like a schoolkid excited for their first day at school. lol First, who in the world has that kinda plat to spend?? Holy cow! and well.. now she does!  and Second, thanks to SOE for giving her a bit of excitement and joy.  For all the good and bad points about it, I can say that if anyone gets any amount of happyness out of these dropping then hats off to whomever decided to run this. 

My only wonder is the wording that was released "These ethereal weapons will not be present in this realm for long. As the month of August draws to an end, so too will the availability of the items."  Does this mean that after the end of August ALL of these weapons will vanish from game including the ones already dropped (giving limited playtime on the ones now in game)? or is just the dropping of them going to discontinue and vanish from game... has anyone heard from a red name definatively on this?

[convict]

Councellor wrote:

Well my wife was out doing her dailies in Stonebrunt on 8/15 when one dropped right in her lap. She, nor any of our guild (Retributions Blade) has even attempted to "farm" these incredible weapons, so when she got hers she was so pleasantly surprised. We discussed her using it versus selling it and she chose to put it on the broker for an insane price (there were 6 others on there as well) thinking there was no way in the world it would ever sell. Low and behold this morning she got up and to her amazement it had sold!  She ran around the house like a schoolkid excited for their first day at school. lol First, who in the world has that kinda plat to spend?? Holy cow! and well.. now she does!  and Second, thanks to SOE for giving her a bit of excitement and joy.  For all the good and bad points about it, I can say that if anyone gets any amount of happyness out of these dropping then hats off to whomever decided to run this. 

My only wonder is the wording that was released "These ethereal weapons will not be present in this realm for long. As the month of August draws to an end, so too will the availability of the items."  Does this mean that after the end of August ALL of these weapons will vanish from game including the ones already dropped (giving limited playtime on the ones now in game)? or is just the dropping of them going to discontinue and vanish from game... has anyone heard from a red name definatively on this?

That would be extremely stupid, I know it's SoE, but let's add something really rare to the game, and 1 week after someone gets/buys one, we remove it, uh

I would like to know if they're done dropping or the red names going to keep quiet?

[Dreamclouds]

it sure looks like they are done with..no one has mentioned getting one for days. I am sad that I didnt get a chance to see one, perhaps they will resurface at the end of the month!

This is a neat idea though, cant wait for the lore stories...

[Beytill]

I got one last night....  I have been meaning to try for the last couple weeks, but haven't been able to log onto the game'till night before last.  Wife and I got bored after a couple hours and did something else... then last night I went over to EW and 1H Mage Staff dropped after about 10 min.  This led to another 5 hours repetitively killing mobs 'till I got tired/quit.  I guess I just got lucky, my brother has been trying since they came out and still no sign.

[Vulkan_NTooki]

Fendaria wrote:

Meirril wrote:

I just wanted to compliment Dev on the idea. A limited availability item of very high quality that you get for just playing the game. The limited time makes people want to spend more time playing. Summer always seems like a low time for server population so this really couldn't come at a better time.

I'm not sure if they are getting people who wouldn't be playing during the summer to log in, but the people who do log in seem to be spending more time in-game. So kuddos for finding a carrot to dangle in front of the players that encourages good play instead of having everybody flock into a single zone to chase the same thing and fustrate each other.

I completely disagree.  It is/was a bad idea.

Limited time part sucks.  Either you will be lucky and get one, or you will be out of luck with nothing you can do.  Its out of your control completely.  The old 'world events' were so much better.  Limited time quests and things you at least had some control over.

This hasn't gotten one extra person to play in our guild.  The only people trying to get these are the ones who are already playing lots of hours, and it just ends up anoying them to no end.

And how does this encourange good play?  I see the exact opposite happening.  People off farming junk mobs for a miniscule chance of a drop?  Its not fun and they just log off the game angry at time wasted.

There isn't any lore about this stuff.  Over 75% of my guild didn't even know what they were or that something had even been done.

Some carrot.

A 'world event' this is not.  Those were done so much better...back when there was enough staff to actually implement them.

Fendaria

This is the only thing that has brought me back to EQ2 for the time being.. I started playing TSW this summer, and hardly played eq2 since, but when I heard of Ethereal weapons I finally saw a reason to return.

I wish eq2 had more of this.. In TSW they have something called Signets(like adorns).. U can solo farm green signets, and 10 green of the same type can be crafted to blue signets. and 10 blue can be crafted to purple.

Some signets are more rare than others (like 11000 mobs killed and I only found 10 of a certain type).. This gives me something to do while not doing instances or questing. And when kids are awake and I cant group with people.

With ethereal weapons, I suddenly got the same kind of game in EQ2.. and I love it.. even tho I havent found 1 yet.