NoS trade-skill visible armor component drop rate needs reviewed

Slot specific, no drop components just means it'll take far longer to get the needed items and, eventually, these items will rot because nobody needs 37 wrists.

Generally a bad idea however you look at it.

But I guess they needed something to keep players 'occupied' for a year ?

Maybe add in a simply quest where someone can take the slot item they don't need to an NPC and trade it in for one the do ?

I'm just curious if that's 122 Under Siege missions. Another person pointed out that each mission has it's own list of possible Otherworldly drops with Under Siege dropping the visible pieces. That's been my experience, too. I haven't seen the legs drop, yet, but I've seen all the others.

I am in the same boat. Most of my Visible gear has come from Under Siege. I have almost 2 complete sets and have never seen legs yet. I have finished the expansion but raids on my Main and did hunters about 3 times over.

No I've run 30 something undersiege.

If they wanted to slow down gear acquisition, they should stop making chests candy land. Look at EOK expansion as a different way of doing things. Then you have specific bosses with unique drop lists, and you camp the boss that drops what you want. That is what classic EQ did.

If they want us playing longer, give us something to work on that takes a long time - don't make everything that you had before take far longer. Evolving gear is actually a good thing. No one has to work on it, but for the completionists, it keeps them playing longer, with a reward at the end.

In addition to fixing the drop rate (how about no more chests with 0 TS pieces to start), I think they should set up a Mission Currency vendor, just like they have for raids, enabling us to spend mission currency on any TS drop piece we still need. It's a huge double standard to have this available for raiders and not group content, especially when casual players typically play more moderately and have less opportunity to gear up.

I have 3 group level toons that are almost 100% done with their mission TS Type 5 augs but are missing a bunch of group level TS pieces still. My raid toon is going to get geared faster than they will.

So add these items to the group gear merchant, https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/npc.html?id=58614

I wouldn't have pointed this out, their solution will be to remove raid currency.

It's BEYOND unfair that the raiders have the luxury of just buying what they need, but group players are left to deal with the harsh nature of the RNG.

30 raid currency a week doesn't buy much.

In a few months it'll be more like 300 raid currency every 5 days though.

But raiders ARE getting it and CAN just eventually buy whatever they need.

Group players have no such system, yet they're the ones gettings screwed over the most by these slot specific, RNG drops. I never want to hear raiders complain about not getting things in chests when they're still getting currency to get what they need.

Sure, add these items to the group merchant.
Make sure that specific items are only made available after completing specific missions, to give non-raiders the same experience as raiders.

-deleted my rude comment about your false reality-

Why not start by making a true comparison. 1 raid chest is currently dropping 1 to 2 trade skill items. 1 raid is normally filled at 54 people (plus some on wait list until spring). 1 group chest is currently dropping 0 to 1 TS item with a drop rate of about 25-30%. 1 group mission usually has 2-4 players, not the max of 6. Currently raiders can only do 3 events every 4.5 days, while groupers can do 4 per 6 hours. Do I need to do the math to show you who has the better chance of actually getting the trade skill items?

Ok, so there is a purchase system in place for raiders but not groupers.

Sure, raiders get the chance to buy the items eventually. But that time doesn't actually come around until ?march? for the first time because raid coins per event are 10? now but will go up later. In previous expansions, it's normal for people to have only 1 or 2 Trade skill items and to buy their 3rd. It isn't until mid summer when raiders actually start pulling in a lot of the trade skill items because there are more events and a higher currency reward. Let me hear just 1 group geared person say that would be an acceptable time table for them to acquire their T3 Trade skill items. Because all I keep hearing is how they should have a 100% chance of 1 drop per chest / named every time. Some people have even said 1-2 per group chest.

But hey, you do the math and make an honest comparison. Why not put it like this... 1 group = 1 Trade skill item per chest every time. So groupers get 1 TS item and raiders get 9 per chest. Change the raid currency vendor to sell only type 19 augs or luck augs. That would be a win-win for everyone and we can all be done with the game by the end of May.

And group players don't even get that option to come around at all, even though we still have to deal with mission chests/named mobs not dropping any "ores" most of the time.

Raiders get to start gearing up with what they need in 2-3 months...group players will always be at the mercy of the RNG for the life of the expansion.

I've done a bunch of Shadowhaven missions. I've only seen T2 drops for rings, earrings, charms, and ranged (idol).

Only non-visables drop in that mission.

Non-Visables - Close the Door
Visables - Under Siege
Weapons/Shields - Darklight
Augs (Heroism/Fortitude) - Mean Streets

Interestingly, I found the drop rate on the Aug "ores" to be really common. I can't remember the last Mean Streets I've run where one didn't drop. The other categories in the other missions are far more rare.

I got a TS head armor from When One Door Closes. one total visible piece and I've been boxing it 6 times a day (2 teams @10am, 4pm and 10pm) today I managed to get a 3rd team running, so hopefully a second drop before valentines day.

I've gotten 2 blood-soaked drops in the meanwhile.

Once again... 'Start gearing up in March' (4 months after release) vs can gear up shortly after expansion release. Sure it's RNG to a point (see my post back in December where I said which mission chests can drop which trade skill items), and yes, you will see many duplicates. But reality is it will be much much faster for the group players to get a set of T3 group armor when compared to a raider getting a full set of trade skill armor.

And don't get me wrong, I have advocated for a trade-in system for the group trade skill items (or a purchase option). But I believe going to 100% chance per chest / named is the wrong way to go.

Implementing a purchase system at a low price of 500 group currency, I have done enough for 10 purchases on my main. That's far beyond the 120 total raid currency possible at this point. So once again the group vs raid argument doesn't hold up.


I geared out a character in complete T3 group by the first week of January. Now I have 2 others who are missing only 6 of the 21 slots (not counting augs because I've directed them towards other characters and back slot because they have the evolving item). Arms, legs, and rings have been very rare for me, but I did get enough of them to finish the set on one character already. I can promise you, there isn't a raider on any server who has a full set of trade skill raid armor. Don't quote my math here, but raid guilds have only had the opportunity to have seen 12 total chests. That's like less then 20 total trade skill drops for 54+ people.

I would check your logs to be sure you got a visible slot item from the Shadow Haven group mission.

I've likely done close to 80 Shadow Haven missions and have not seen a visible slot item. All of my visible slots have dropped off of the Under Siege mission or named mobs.