Colossal Reactant drops

Do colossal reactants drop from the daily tradeskill apprentice lotto when making decorative level 90 recipes, or just the equipped items recipes?
Do colossal reactants drop from lower than level 90 recipes, or is it the reactant appropriate for that tier?

It's just from doing the daily quest, it doesn't matter what you are researching.
Everytime you hand in the daily quest you get a chance to get the reactant appropriate to whatever level you are in crafting.

Not sure what you mean by decorative items.. if you mean crafting ordinary things no you dont get reactants that way. You get your tradeskill apprentice placed in your house, everyday you can do a speed up reseach and craft something for him when you take it back you get a reward IF your lvl 90 crafter you have a chance at getting a colossal reactant and it doesnt matter what tier you are researching you still have a chance at getting colossals as long as your 90 crafter. The only zone I have seen a colossal drop in is EoW so you still have a chance to get them even without being a crafter. As for the reactants for lower tiers yes you can get those off mobs from ex chests pretty much anywhere.

They're referring to the reforging ornaments.

Finora@Everfrost wrote:

TY.
I asked because I'm researching the level 90 items and doing the daily quests to make equipment for my apprentice on all 9 crafters. Over the first 3 weeks, I got 3 colossals. Except for the provisioner, all have graduated from the armor/jewelry items to the "Greater Essence of X", which I called the decorative items in the OP. Since then, over 36 days x 9 crafters I've gotten zero colossals, and a guildy with similar effort also has gotten zero.
Somewhere back there the decorative recipe changed to not need a colossal to make it, instead using roots. I've gotten a pile of rare everythings over the weeks, including the roots, and wondered if the level 90 decorative recipes research stopped dropping colossals at the same time.
I don't mind the grind, as it's quick after taking a little time to premake the items, but didn't want to find out 3 months from now they'd stopped dropping and I'd missed the memo.
So I take it from the response that most people are getting colossal drops "regularly" while researching the Greater Essences?

Caster_III wrote:

I don't think anyone is getting colossal reactants "regularly". Ever. Maybe if your running 27 crafters like one person around here is, but most of us with 9 or less arn't. For the record, I started day 1 doing these with 5 90 crafters and I've gotten 2 in the 5 months we've been at it with very few days missed. Like I could count the days missed on one hand.

Meirril wrote:

I'd have to agree with that. I have seven level 90 crafters working daily on this. The number of days I've missed could be counted on one hand. I've received a grand total of five colossal reactants. None at all in over a month, now.

Meirril wrote:

What the 2 of us in this guild who do it regularly noted was that early on, we got a low but decent drop. I got 3, he got 4. Maybe 1 a week in 7 x 9 = 63 tries each. After that, we have gotten zero in over a month, and like you, rarely a day missed. It almost looks like the drops were throttled back.
Again, I didn't want to be continuing the exercise if someone knew they'd discontinued the colossal drops for the Greater Essences either intentionally or unintentionally back when they changed the recipes to not utilize colossals.

Adir wrote:

That's my point. Zero in over a month is a lot less then the previous scant numbers. I see them drop from dungeons on occasion, from chat channel bidding, but has something changed on the tradeskill side?
I'd feel a lot better if some doing the level 90 Greater Essence research had gotten even one in the last month.

Caster_III wrote:

I agree completely. It feels exactly like they've changed the drop rate on the colossals. As that's my only outlet for obtaining them, I'm less than thrilled. I play at odd times, and never see the places they do drop, and can't afford to buy them, either. With a limited and dwindling number of recipes, I'm on the verge of sending all my assistants back home to mother. I really don't like feeling like I'm wasting my time, and that's how it's starting to feel.

Adir wrote:

You probably should send them back. TAs were never meant to be a decent source for reactants. The amount of effort put in to getting one should've been enough of a hint. They were only meant to provide good recipes for people to learn and the opportunity to have some time as the person to do business with for one item or another.
I play at odd times, too. I dont' see myself getting to some of those zones anytime soon, so getting a colossal reactant is kinda moot. There's new gear coming in april that will be close enough in stats.

Deveryn@Crushbone wrote:

With a limited number of recipes, I'd never consider the TAs a "decent" source of reactants. For me, they were the only source. Eventually the recipes will run out and then the TAs turn into a house decoration, nothing more. With seven level 90 tradeskillers working daily, I didn't have a problem with getting one every couple weeks. The fact that they appear to have dried up completely, however, does bother me. As for the notion that I can always make things for other people, in all this time, I've made a total of one item for someone else. Too many cooks, not enough broth.
I've decided I'll continue doing the missions until the recipes currently in progress are complete, and then no more. There is no point in it for me.
As for the new gear coming out, I really have no expectation of seeing that stuff, either. If I can't afford/obtain Drunder level gear, what expectations should I have in being able to obtain the newer, better gear?

Adir wrote:

I'm with you. The only thing that keeps me going is Stone threatened to make my coffee away if I quit doing the apprentice quests. Though I can say that I did receive my second colossal reactant last week. With the upcoming lvl increase I forsee a drop in the need for the reactants based on what people are saying in chat..
I don't see myself obtaining Drunder level gear or the new gear either. .

Adir wrote:

Once all the recipes are researched, you can still keep doing the daily quest and get the rewards. Whether you want to do that is a completely different thing
I went for 47 days without a reactant, not to mention the crafters that have not received one at all from day one. RNG can be really fickle and frustrating.

Xianthia wrote:

what is RNG if i may ask?

shots01 wrote:

That stands for Random Number Generator.

Xianthia wrote:

I wasn't aware that you could continue doing the daily quests after the recipes were done. That's nice to know, but the only award that makes it worthwhile (to me, anyway) is the chance at a colossal reactant. In the amount of time it takes me to run all my tradeskillers through their missions I can pop over to a tier 9 zone and come away with more harvests and more rares than I can get from doing the missions. The potions aren't bad, but I rarely use them, and probably have more, at this point, than I ever will.
You said you went 47 days without a reactant...how many crafters do you have running the missions? With seven crafters, I just broke 40 days without getting one.
And it is possible that the RNG is just being fickle; however, it feels more and more like it's something else. And for those players who haven't gotten any at all, I can certainly feel for them.

Xianthia wrote:

I wasn't aware that you could continue doing the daily quests after the recipes were done. That's nice to know, but the only award that makes it worthwhile (to me, anyway) is the chance at a colossal reactant. In the amount of time it takes me to run all my tradeskillers through their missions I can pop over to a tier 9 zone and come away with more harvests and more rares than I can get from doing the missions. The potions aren't bad, but I rarely use them, and probably have more, at this point, than I ever will.
You said you went 47 days without a reactant...how many crafters do you have running the missions? With seven crafters, I just broke 40 days without getting one.
Anyway, I realize the RNG is fickle; however, this is really starting to feel more and more like something else. And, for those who have never gotten one, I can certainly understand their frustration.

Adir wrote:

What does what you can harvest in the same time have to do with anything? (btw, I'll take that bet on the rares and who cares about the junk harvests) It's at most a 5 minute quest even with zoning twice and crafting...or you could stock up on a bunch of finished products instead and just hail and turn in.

Adir wrote:

I have double of each craft class and some triples... T9 all of them. Some have not received a reactant and that's from day one of the apprentices being released.
Who knows if it's something else, it's not until something gets "fixed" sometimes that we (the players) find out something was broken